NYU Graduate Student Union repeals pro-BDS resolution
NYU Graduate Student Union repeals pro-BDS resolution – International – Jerusalem Post
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According to the FB page GSOC for Open Dialogue on Israel and Palestine
Amazing news! Not only has UAW accepted our appeal to nullify GSOC-UAW Local 2110‘s BDS resolution, they have taken it one step further. No UAW-affiliated union, including student unions at 15 universities, is allowed to endorse BDS. You can read the letter from the President of UAW International, as well as our press release, at this link.
As we celebrate this victory, keep in mind that the battle is far from over. The NYU AWDU caucus, which holds a strong majority of GSOC’s elected leadership, has made BDS an official part of their platform, and they even mentioned it in their statement on the Orlando shooting. Several new (contested, but active) stewards and summer unit representatives are involved BDS activists, and one of the candidates for Fall Unit Representative expressed their enthusiasm for BDS in their candidate statement. But we are optimistic that, despite the challenges, we will continue to have success in our fight for open dialogue and academic freedom, and this new ruling from UAW International is a significant victory along that path.
http://www.opendialoguenyu.com/uaw-appeal-result.html
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Also see here, which includes the letter to Maida Rosenstein, head of UAW 2110: http://legalinsurrection.com/2016/06/huge-blow-to-bds-international-uaw-rules-no-subordinate-body-can-endorse-bds/
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Also see here, which I reproduce in its entirety: http://region9a.uaw.org/local571/index.cfm?action=article&articleID=72A33910-3AF2-4A03-BD1B-311D643C4193
INDEPENDENT REVIEW BOARD AFFIRMS UAW DECISION ON LOCAL BDS RESOLUTION
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United Auto Workers Union
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 31, 2016
CONTACT: Julie Kushner, (860) 674-0143
INDEPENDENT REVIEW BOARD AFFIRMS UAW DECISION ON LOCAL BDS RESOLUTION
NATIONAL – An independent review board of the United Auto Workers (UAW) – a union that represents more than 30,000 graduate workers coast to coast – this month issued its final decision upholding the earlier decision of the International Executive Board (IEB) that the resolution on Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) adopted by members of Local 2865 at the University of California in December 2014 exceeded its authority under the UAW Constitution.
After the board reviewed the constitution, bylaws and details of the vote at Local 2865 as well as the appeals from a UAW member and the local union, it concluded on May 16th that Local 2865’s vote to support the BDS resolution exceeded its authority under the UAW Constitution.
“The UAW is comprised of a very diverse membership and the strict adherence to our democratic principles is the only way to ensure fairness and that the best interests of all our members are protected,” said Julie Kushner, Director, UAW Region 9A. “We remain focused on supporting graduate workers’ fight for rights and benefits at the universities where they work, and helping to make sure they win on the issues that matter to them most, including fair wages and benefits, clear and reliable scheduling and contract enforcement.”
The UAW currently represents about 400,000 active workers and 580,000 retired workers and is responsible for making political decisions and endorsements that reflect the majority of its membership. Members advocating for BDS include fewer than 3,000 workers nationwide – less than 1% percent of UAW membership.
The UAW’s robust, independent review process and structure is unique to the US labor movement, with a set of independent legal scholars – the Public Review Board (PRB) – that helps to ensure that members’ best interests are protected.
From coast to coast, graduate teaching assistants and research assistants are forming their unions with the UAW and winning a voice at the table to help make their universities the best they can be. The UAW currently represents workers at 45 university campuses, including at the University of California, University of Washington, University of Connecticut, and at New York University (NYU). After an eight-year effort to win back their union after the Bush-era NLRB stripped bargaining rights in 2004, NYU graduate workers supported by the UAW won a neutrality agreement with the university administration in 2013 and negotiated another ground breaking contract that was ratified in 2015.
Since then, the UAW has supported active graduate worker campaigns to form their unions at Columbia, Harvard, the New School, and more, and with workers at Columbia, UAW is leading the legal challenge of the 2004 NLRB ruling that stripped graduate workers of their union rights.
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Learned of this today
http://www.jpost.com/International/NYU-Graduate-Student-Union-repeals-pro-BDS-resolution-457563
International
By DANIELLE ZIRI | The Jerusalem Post | 06/23/2016 18:42
NYU Graduate Student Union repeals pro-BDS resolution
“Whatever ‘pledges’ union members may or may not have taken does not free them from their responsibilities as employees of NYU, which rejects this boycott,” said the group’s parent union.
New York University banner. (photo credit:NYU PHOTO BUREAU)
NEW YORK – Two months after the Graduate Student Union at New York University voted to join the Boycott Divest and Sanctions movement against Israel, the decision was repealed by the group’s parent union, the United Auto Workers.
The decision made this week was the result of some members of the NYU student union (GSOC) filing an official appeal against the April decision, claiming it violated the UAW constitution’s own bylaws.
The appeal, signed by Ilana Ben-Ezra, member of GSOC for Open Dialogue on Israel and Palestine, pointed out that the resolution is illicit because it violates the UAW’s pledge “to maintain free relations with other organizations.” Ben-Ezra also noted that the resolution goes NYU’s official position and “vilifies” companies that are members of the parent union.
The UAW decision in favor of Ben-Ezra stated that no subordinate body of the parent union can endorse BDS, which affects graduate student unions at more than 15 universities, including others which have passed similar resolutions. It noted that GSOC’s resolution was indeed “contrary to the position of the International Union” and is void of “force or effect.”
In response, GSOC for Open Dialogue on Israel and Palestine said it “applauds and thanks” UAW for “being the first international labor union to take a strong moral stand against BDS, openly denouncing the movement’s discriminatory practices.”
Informed Grads, a student group at the University of California, which also saw its pro-BDS decision overturned, also thanked UAW for “not tolerating academic and cultural discrimination against union members based on national origin and religion, and vilification against Israelis and UAW members who are of Jewish lineage.”
In April, when the NYU student union voted in favor of the BDS resolution, university President Andrew Hamilton expressed opposition to the decision.
“A boycott of Israeli academics and institutions is contrary to our core principles of academic freedom, antithetical to the free exchange of ideas,” he said at the time. “NYU will not be closing its academic program in Tel Aviv, and divestment from Israeli-related investments is not under consideration. And to be clear: whatever ‘pledges’ union members may or may not have taken does not free them from their responsibilities as employees of NYU, which rejects this boycott.”
The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire 104th Commemoration
Labor Leaders Mark 104 Years Since Deadly Fire at Greenwich Village Factory
http://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2015/03/25/labor-leaders-mark-104-years-since-deadly-fire-at-greenwich-village-factory.html
I paid my respects today on the 104th year of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire at the corner of Washington Place & Greene Street, Greenwich Village, Washington Square NYU campus (Class of 1972). Many children wearing red fire helmets in attendance,accompanied by their teachers. BP Gail Brewer & Council leader Mark-Viverito spoke as did the NY Central Labor Council leaders and a Rabbi led us in prayer.The NYFD had two fire trucks parked on Greene St. & a table set-up w/literature & FREE packages of batteries for smoke detectors. The same NYFD set-up is being used in Midwood, in the wake of the horrific fire and deaths of seven family members. Shirtwaists were hung from poles and each shirtwaist had inscribed a name of a victim. The back of the shirtwaist carried the victim’s age. They were all so young. The mood was commemorative & somber. The return to Alma Mater complete, I took the 6 train back to work.
Italian Futurism, 1909–1944: “Reconstructing the Universe” & Mauro Caneli’s, “Giacomo Matteotti’s Murder and the Rise of the Totalitarian State”
I was impressed by the Guggenheim show on Italian Futurism
Italian Futurism, 1909–1944: Reconstructing the Universe
http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/exhibitions/past/exhibit/5354
I felt however, that there was a missing piece of the narrative. According to Mauro Canelli, the Guggenheim Group was invested in Sinclair Oil’s designs on Italian and Italian colonial oil fields in Libya, for example. . This is new material and is based on declassified files.
Margherita Sarfatti’s Milano salon included Mussulini and Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. Sarfatti became a Minister of Culture during the early years of the regime. She is spotted in a film at Rockefeller Center in the 1930s bantering with Diego Rivera, while he worked on the murals.
Sarfatti was likely Mussolini’s art dealer while she stayed in New York. Sarfatti’s relationship to Italian Futurism and Marinetti, a member of her salon, remains to be explored.
Mauro Caneli : “Giacomo Matteotti’s Murder and the Rise of the Totalitarian State” is NOT an art & architecture talk & book. It provides new information about the context which Futurism developed. I would call these “revelations” from declassified historical documents.
Outstanding presentations at NYU’s Casa Italiana by Mauro Caneli, Giacomo Matteotti’s Murder and the Rise of the Totalitarian State.
There are startling revelations @ 1:24 minutes concerning the role of American business and the rise of Italian Fascism and Mussolini and his brother,. Arnaldo Mussolini . Sinclair Oil (financed through the Guggenheim Group), Morgan Bank & General Electric were the principal American companies involved in a financial scandal in Italy in the early 1920s. Mussolini’s bother was the intermediary with the Americans and quietly sold off Italian oil exploration rights including exploration rights in the Italian colony Lybia. The Italian Ambassador to Washington had been an engineer working for the Guggenheim Group, Generoso Gaetani. Sinclair Oil financed the Fascist newspapers, and other activites. You may remember Sinclair Oil and its role in the Tea Pot Dome scandal.
also:
The Matteotti murder, 1924-2014

The Matteotti murder and the origins of Mussolini’s totalitarian Fascist regime in Italy
Observations on war and warfare in the Middle East on the 100th Anniversary of World War I
Observations on war and warfare in the Middle East on the 100th Anniversary of World War I:
The Arabs, like the British & French, could be savage but I’m skeptical that the level of savagery ever reached the intensity of today’s barbarisms in Iraq and Syria. Trench warfare in WWI was barbaric. Desert warfare was savage and cruel. Suicide bombing was not used by the Arabs during the various WWI campaigns involving Lawrence. I’m aware of Japan’s use of the suicide bomber and all the ritual display of piety to the Sun God and Emperor. I’ve seen the Hamas, Hezbollah and Palestinian sects performing comparable religious rituals preparing for martyrdom. The Japanese targeted warships and the Arabs have targeted civilians. The FLN in Algeria is often cited as precedent for terrorist action against colonialist patrons at pizzerias, cafes, bus stops, markets, train stations. The attacks against civilian colonial French were murderous actions but not suicide bombings, per se. Who can ever forget the Gillo Pontecorvo’s movie, “Battle of Algiers” ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-7j4WVTgWc ). With the latest Gaza-Israel war still smoldering, we have seen truly deadly, bizarre behavior from Hamas and the deaths of approximately 2,200 innocent civilians in Gaza. It is impossible to fight a conventional war against Hamas without committing a war crime. The conflict is designed to achieve this end. War crimes are the lingua franca of modern wars. Both sides commit war crimes. The Middle East has devolved into a war crimes zone. War crimes can materialize at anytime and place.
There is some mention of using civilians as shields during WWI & II but it doesn’t appear to be the modus vivendi for nation state armies. You can find examples of city-states or small nation states, or ghettos, whose people’s backs were against the wall and you will not find anything comparable to Hamas’ use Gazan children, though the stories are also horrifying. If you fight against Hamas you will commit war crimes. It is part of the definition of warfare in the Region. David Mc Reynolds calls Hamas “irresponsible.” Certainly a starting point but adolescents are irresponsible. Hamas shouldn’t be treated like a haughty adolescent, or an errant child. If you are a “non-nation state,” I suppose you may think you can get away with barbarism and war crimes.
The latest revelations concerning the kidnapping of the three Israeli teens continues the bloody, surreal, byzantine subterranean saga of the Palestinian Arab at war. Kidnapping and murder are the preferred method to “spark” conflict. Ransoming of kidnapped victims has become a dependable income stream for ISIS. The income stream from ransom activity could be collateralized for more weapons purchases and military aide. ISIS is inclined to commit war crimes establishing its reactionary Caliphate. “Who lost the Tigris and Euphrates ?”
The Syria is littered with war crimes committed by the Assad government as well as the appalling human rights violations and crimes committed by the Opposition.
I believe it is a mistake to ignore war crimes committed during Protective Edge 2014 by either side. The Hamas military’s use of civilians is scandalous and criminal. The apparent disproportionate use of force by Israel in areas of civilian habitation is intolerable. Hamas & Hzbollah use homes and apartment buildings as sites for missiles and storage of missiles. The statement by Marjorie Cohn needs a re-write. It needs to find balance and proportion in the assignment of blame for war crimes, especially when the Middle East itself is an enduring war crimes zone.
Beyond “Battle of Algiers” The Middle East as a War Crimes Zone.
There was savagery in the deserts of the Middle East during World War I. Interestingly, the historic internecine conflict between Sunni & Shite did not play a major role.
I’ve recently read “Lawrence In Arabia ” War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East” by Scott Anderson ( http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/09/books/scott-andersons-lawrence-in-arabia-revisits-legends.html ) and attended a lecture by Michael V. Korda, author of “The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia.” (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/26/books/review/Macintyre-t.html?pagewanted=all). The author was joined by Dr.Henry Kissinger, former Secretary of State, with New Yorker magazine writer Adam Gopnik moderating, at the Society of Ethical Culture Auditorium on Central Park West at a New York Historical Society event. During his tenure as editor-and-chief at Simon & Schuster, he worked with Dr. Kissinger on his various books and they have remained friends. I thought Dr. Kissinger served as Korda’s “hood-ornament” at the podium. Korda’s presentation was spirited and accompanied by visuals. I have not yet read his book.
My perspective on the Great War has been sharpened by Margaret MacMillan’s “The War that Ended Peace; the road to 1914. ” http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/27/books/review/the-war-that-ended-peace-by-margaret-macmillan.html?pagewanted=all&module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Ar%2C{%221%22%3A%22RI%3A6%22}
Based on this brilliant, though limited introduction, I offer the following observations on war and warfare in the Middle East on the 100th Anniversary of World War I:
The Arabs, like the British & French, could be savage but I’m skeptical that the level of savagery ever reached the intensity of today’s barbarisms in Iraq and Syria. Trench warfare in WWI was barbaric. Desert warfare was savage and cruel. Suicide bombing was not used by the Arabs during the various WWI campaigns involving Lawrence. I’m aware of Japan’s use of the suicide bomber and all the ritual display of piety to the Sun God and Emperor. I’ve seen the Hamas, Hezbollah and Palestinian sects performing comparable religious rituals preparing for martyrdom. The Japanese targeted warships and the Arabs have targeted civilians. The FLN in Algeria is often cited as precedent for terrorist action against colonialist patrons at pizzerias, cafes, bus stops, markets, train stations. The attacks against civilian colonial French were murderous actions but not suicide bombings, per se. Who can ever forget the Gillo Pontecorvo’s movie, “Battle of Algiers” ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-7j4WVTgWc ). With the latest Gaza-Israel war still smoldering, we have seen truly deadly, bizarre behavior from Hamas and the deaths of approximately 2,200 innocent civilians in Gaza. It is impossible to fight a conventional war against Hamas without committing a war crime. The conflict is designed to achieve this end. War crimes are the lingua franca of modern wars. Both sides commit war crimes. The Middle East has devolved into a war crimes zone. War crimes can materialize at anytime and place.
There is some mention of using civilians as shields during WWI & II but it doesn’t appear to be the modus vivendi for nation state armies. You can find examples of city-states or small nation states, or ghettos, whose people’s backs were against the wall and you will not find anything comparable to Hamas’ use Gazan children, though the stories are also horrifying. If you fight against Hamas you will commit war crimes. It is part of the definition of warfare in the Region. David Mc Reynolds calls Hamas “irresponsible.” Certainly a starting point but adolescents are irresponsible. Hamas shouldn’t be treated like a haughty adolescent, or an errant child. If you are a “non-nation state,” I suppose you may think you can get away with barbarism and war crimes.
The latest revelations concerning the kidnapping of the three Israeli teens continues the bloody, surreal, byzantine subterranean saga of the Palestinian Arab at war. Kidnapping and murder are the preferred method to “spark” conflict. Ransoming of kidnapped victims has become a dependable income stream for ISIS. The income stream from ransom activity could be collateralized for more weapons purchases and military aide. ISIS is inclined to commit war crimes establishing its reactionary Caliphate. “Who lost the Tigris and Euphrates ?”
I believe it is a mistake to ignore war crimes committed during Protective Edge 2014 by either side. The Hamas military’s use of civilians is scandalous and criminal. The apparent disproportionate use of force by Israel in areas of civilian habitation is intolerable. Hamas & Hzbollah use homes and apartment buildings as sites for missiles and storage of missiles. The statement by Marjorie Cohn needs a re-write. It needs to find balance and proportion in the assignment of blame for war crimes, especially when the Middle East itself is an enduring war crimes zone.
This is the statement by Marjorie Cohn
National Lawyers Guild, Other Legal Organizations Urge International Criminal Court to Investigate War Crimes by Israeli, U.S. Leaders in Gaza
The National Lawyers Guild (NLG), Center for Constitutional Rights, International Association of Democratic Lawyers, Arab Lawyers Union, and American Association of Jurists (Asociación Americana de Juristas)sent a letter on Friday, August 22 to Fatou Bensouda, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), urging her to initiate an investigation of war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity committed by Israeli leaders and aided and abetted by U.S. officials in Gaza. Under the Rome Statute, the ICC has the power to hold individuals criminally accountable for the most serious of crimes.
“In light of the extreme gravity of the situation in the occupied Gaza Strip, in particular the large number of civilian casualties and large scale destruction of civilian property, including schools, mosques and hospitals, and the ongoing incitement to genocide perpetrated by Israeli political figures and leaders, the [NLG] and endorsing organizations strongly urge the Office of the Prosecutor to use its power under Article 15 of the Rome Statute to initiate a preliminary investigation” of crimes within the ICC’s jurisdiction.
“[Under the Rome Statute, an] individual can be convicted of a war crime, genocide or a crime against humanity . . . if he or she ‘aids, abets or otherwise assists’ in the commission or attempted commission of the crime, ‘including providing the means for its commission’,” the letter reads. “By transferring financial assistance, weapons and other military aid to Israel, members of the U.S. Congress, President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel have aided and abetted the commission of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity by Israeli officials and commanders in Gaza.”
The letter states that on July 20, 2014, in the midst of criminal behavior, Israel requested, and the U.S. Defense Department then authorized, the transfer to Israel of ammunition from the War Reserve Stockpile Ammunition. And in August 2014, Congress overwhelmingly approved, and Obama signed, a $225 million payment for Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system.
“Israel’s clearly disproportionate use of force against the 1.8 million residents of Gaza appears to have little to do with any claim of security,” the organizations wrote, “but seems to be calculated to exact revenge against Palestinian civilians.” The letter quotes statements of Israeli officials advocating vengeance against “the entire Palestinian people” and “calling for the internment of Palestinians in concentration camps in Sinai and the destruction of the civilian infrastructure in Gaza.”
Allegations of War Crimes
The letter lists the following war crimes, and cites supporting factual allegations for each crime:
- willful killing (over 2,000 Palestinians, 80% civilians)
- willfully causing great suffering or serious injury (wounding nearly 10,000 Palestinians, 2,200 children)
- unlawful, wanton and unjustified extensive destruction and appropriation of property (tens of thousands of Palestinians lost homes, severe damage to infrastructure)
- willful deprivation of fair trial rights (450 Palestinians held without charge or trial)
- intentional attacks against civilians or civilian objects or humanitarian vehicles, installations and personnel (bombing of numerous schools, UN places of refuge, hospitals, ambulances, mosques)
- intentionally launching unjustified attacks, knowing they will kill or injure civilians, damage civilian objects, or cause long-term and severe damage to the natural environment (use of ‘Dahiya Doctrine’ to apply “disproportionate force” and cause “great damage and destruction to civilian property and infrastructure, and suffering to civilian populations,” as defined in UN Human Rights Council [Goldstone] Report) (Israel virtually flattened town of Khuza’a).
Allegations of Genocide
Article 6 of the Rome Statute defines “genocide” as the commission of any of the following acts with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group: (a) killing members of the group; (b) causing serious bodily harm to members of the group; or (c) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its destruction in whole or in part.
The letter says, “In light of the fact that Palestinians in Gaza had no ability to flee for safety, it must be assumed the responsible Israeli officials knew that huge casualties and destruction of civilian property and infrastructure were certain during the massive bombardment by land, air and sea of the occupied Gaza Strip.” The letter also lists “the repeatedly inciting public statements made by Israeli officials before and during the course of Operation Protective Edge and the history of Israel’s repeated bombardment of Palestinian refugee camps and populations in Lebanon and in Gaza” as evidence that “Israeli officials may be implementing a plan to destroy the Palestinian population, at least in part.”
Allegations of Crimes against Humanity
Article 7 of the Rome Statute defines “crimes against humanity” as the commission of any of the following, when part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack: (a) murder; (b) persecution against a group or collectivity based on its political, racial, national, ethnic or religious character; or (c) the crime of apartheid(inhumane acts committed in the context of an institutional regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over another racial group, with the intent to maintain that regime).
The letter states, “Israeli forces have killed, wounded, summarily executed and administratively detained Palestinians, Hamas forces and civilians alike. Israeli forces intentionally destroyed the infrastructure in Gaza.” It also says Israel keeps Palestinians caged in “the world’s largest open air prison,” and “controls all ingress and egress to Gaza, and limits . . . access to medicine and other essentials.” Finally, the letter cites arbitrary arrest and administrative detention; expropriation of property; destruction of homes, crops and trees; separate areas and roads; segregated housing, legal and educational systems for Palestinians and Jews; the illegal barrier wall encroaching on Palestinian territory; hundreds of illegal Jewish settlements on Palestinian land; and denying the right of Palestinians to return to their homeland because they are not Jews.
The signatories to the letter conclude that “[t]he initiation of an investigation would send a clear message to all involved either in committing or in aiding and abetting of the aforementioned crimes that they stand to be held personally accountable for their actions.”
It remains to be seen whether the ICC will exercise jurisdiction in such a case since neither Israel nor the United States is a party to the Rome Statute. But if the ICC determines that Palestine can accede to the Rome Statute, the ICC could take jurisdiction over crimes committed by Israelis and Americans in Palestinian territory.
Marjorie Cohn is a professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law and former president of the National Lawyers Guild. She is also deputy secretary general of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers and the U.S. representative to the American Association of Jurists (Asociación Americana de Juristas). Her next book, Drones and Targeted Killing: Legal, Moral and Geopolitical Issues, will be published in September 2014.
The Opinion Pages | Op-Ed Contributor Reprinted from the New York Times
Saudis Must Stop Exporting Extremism
ISIS Atrocities Started With Saudi Support for Salafi Hate
Dr. Ziad Majed
Professor for International Relations, American University (Paris)Right and Left against the revolution
24. May. 2013
Support to Syria revolution against Assad regime in Yemen. Picture: FreedomHouse2, Original: flickr.com, License: CC BY 2.0Why is it that the far Right and certain far-Left groups in a number of Western nations agree in their hostility to the Syrian revolution?For a while now this question has nagged at a number of Syrian friends, who have been shocked by the positions and commentary of various writers and journalists, all of whom criticize the revolution from an overtly hostile perspective, or even defending the regime.
We may go further: Why is it that the Syrian revolution fails to mobilize activist circles within global (or “Western”) civil society, despite the media’s near constant coverage of events and the consequent fact that there exist thousands of images and films depicting the tragedies that Syrians are living through?
The answer to this question appears to be complex, dependent on a set of factors, which are governed both by aspects of the political and cultural perspective on the Arab region as well as the political and ethical standards that guide stances and written opinions on the region’s affairs. These influences contrive to make sympathy or solidarity with the revolution very timid, at least when compared with the zeal with which attacks on the revolution are expressed.
The “complexity”
One of these factors is the fact that many political parties and movements are afraid of taking positions on “conflicts” in the Middle East. They sidestep the issue by pleading their “complexity”: too much wars and conflicts, and increasingly divisive religious sectarianism, many of whose effects might reach out across the Mediterranean to its northern shores.
Another factor is the culturalistic approach employed by researchers whose task is to compare and categorize global issues and conflicts, especially those associated with the Arabs and their countries. To these culturalists, Arabs appear to be a people who “favour violence as a means of resolving conflict”, drink deep from the well of extremism and whose ability to shrug off the burden of Oriental despotism and move to democracy or liberation is ever in doubt. Seen in this way, the violence that accompanies the revolution is not exceptional, not in a broader context of perpetual civil war, and neither does it call for outrage or urgent action.
Islamophobia
One more important issue is Islamophobia, embraced by the extreme Right for racist reasons, and by certain Left-leaning groups on the pretext of espousing secularism, freedoms and women’s rights. So it is that the wordsmiths of the far-Right find common ground with certain individuals on the far-Left in their support for the Assad clan, the first motivated by hostility to “Islamists”, the second by their “secularizing and modernizing discourse”. To these we may add the “minorities” obsessives, whose constant, wretched refrain is the threat posed by the “majority”. To summarize or translate, all of the above might justify the murder of Syrians on the basis that they are socially conservative Islamists and prefer tyranny because it oppresses the majority to keep the minority safe and sound.In this they commit a grave moral failing and give voice to a religious racism and assorted stereotypes diametrically opposed to the human rights and progressive values they claim to respect.
Yet another aspect is the ease with which many political activists have surrendered to conspiracy theories, out of fascination, the desire to give an impression of understanding the way things really work and a conviction that international relations are essentially malevolent in nature. Some on the Left are pretty much addicted to this kind of thing, though they lost their monopoly on their production some time ago now. Bolstered by such beliefs, they refuse to look at the Syrian people, their aspirations and their sufferings and instead make do with clichéd claims about international relations and regional conflicts in terms that explain the “hidden truth” behind the surface appearance.
The conspiracy-theory
The conspiracy-theory is closely linked to another matter: the condescending attitude displayed by certain progressive writers and opinion-makers in analyzing issues that affect populations in the Arab world. They tend to ignore questions such as human dignity and individual freedom, and they rarely touch on aspects of political sociology in their analysis. What concerns them are borders, oil, geo-strategy, the influential roles of regional states and the “decisions” the West makes about them. Some, of course, look to China and Russia, hoping a return to the Cold War. In this they too touch on racism, albeit from a position of “defending” what they consider to be “the interests of Arab world” against “Western imperialism”, dealing with whole nations as if they were abstract entities devoid of flesh-and-blood people with rights of their own, or as if these populations were mindless, mute monoliths whose progress must always be plotted for them, misled by Western lies and mobilized by the media (as if by remote-control). The only solution? To rally around the one who “protects” them from “foreign attack”, even if he crushes them in the process.
There are also those intellectuals and thinkers, many of whom have bravely championed the Palestinian cause, who have steadfastly refused to back the Syrian revolution pleading their fear of Syria’s fragmentation and the spread of chaos, a situation which would “play into Israel and America’ hands” as they say.
Finally, we have those western writers whose fame and credibility rests on decades spent resident in Arab countries criticizing their home countries’ policies towards the region, who are now ready to lie and deceive just to keep their place in the spotlight, stir controversy and counter what they portray as complacent “mainstream” attitudes in their media. Now of course, these mainstream attitudes are no longer in conflict with the “humanist” values they always claimed to take into account.
We could add other factors, of course: the viewer-fatigue and boredom displayed by large segments of Western public opinion towards Arab revolutions, particularly in the wake of the Muslim Brotherhood’s electoral triumphs in Egypt and Tunisia, the war in Libya and the protracted nature of the Syrian revolution itself. We could mention the geographical location of the Levant, the US’s failure in the post-Saddam experience in Iraq, the (legitimate) doubts over roles played by Saudi Arabia and Qatar in Syria and the region, and concerns over the impact of Syrian instability on the region as a whole (Israel first and foremost). No must we forget the exertions of the Syrian regime and its allies (Lebanese and Arab, plus a few European “experts”) who disseminated articles and information (sometimes fabricated and sometimes correct but taken out of context) about the revolutionaries, their activities and the horrors awaiting Christians in Syria and the Levant as a whole.
The Syrian regime and the revolt
All these factors combine to efface the underlying truth, which is uncomplicated and demands no great effort to take a reasonable moral and political position on it: the majority of a population in revolt against a regime that has ruled Syria since 1970, in which time it has shown not the slightest hesitation to commit massacres, to imprison citizens, to rob and exile them, all for the sake of holding on to its (dynastic) power and (mafia-like) privileges. As for talk of regional and international conflicts, of interests and political manifestos and alliances and fears, it certainly has a place in forming positions on this revolution (whether on the Right or Left) and should be expressed, but only after a firm position on the original issue has been stated: the Syrian people’s right to fight until they turn the page of 43 years of tyranny.
To conclude, the Syrian revolution today is not just fighting a brutal regime like the Assad regime, but it is also fighting this regime’s allies – Russia and Iran especially – and furthermore it is dealing with the putrid concepts, alternately racist, indifferent and immoral, bandied about by many Leftists and “anti-imperialists”. Until now, and for many reasons that should be looked into, it has not possessed a political leadership or media office responding regularly to all its enemies and their arguments. To make up for this lack so far, it is counting on bravery and perseverance, on exceptionally courageous and creative intellectuals, artists and activists, and on a great store of patience and hope which has allowed it to soldier on; a store not likely to be exhausted even as the pressure grows and difficulties mount, both within Syria and around it.
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Reply via web post • Reply to sender • Reply to group • Start a New Topic • Messages in this topic (1) .
I’m posting this to the Middle East list and want to make, briefly, some points.
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