Eight Years into the Syrian Revolution: Understanding the Complex Dynamics
Photo credit: Ali Mustafa
Roundtable discussion with Yasser Munif, Ashley Smith, Oula Hajjar and Brian Aboud
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Wednesday June 20, 2018
6 pm to 8:30 pm
La Maisonnette des parents
6651, boul. Saint-Laurent
Tionni’tiotiah:ke, Kanien’kehá:ka territory
H2S 3C5
(Metro de Castelnau or bus 55)
Facebook event
Eight years into the Syrian uprising, the grassroots movement, the local councils and the ongoing revolutionary struggle are misunderstood or denied outright by many (even on the left). The military strikes carried out in April by the US, the UK and France against Syrian state targets were cynical and opportunistic actions. They must rightly be condemned. Not, as some do, on strict anti-imperialist grounds, opposing only western intervention in Syria, or, from another standpoint, in blind, apologetic support of the dictatorial Syrian regime, and its allies, Russia and Iran. Such perspectives go hand in hand with a denial of the Syrian popular revolt where, in current debates, support for the brutal Asad regime is justified due to the presence of Al-Qaeda, ISIS and other reactionary groups. Rather, a position on Syria, and on political actions in the Syrian conflict, must start with a recognition of the people’s struggle and the violent repression to which it has been subject at the hands of regime forces (responsible for the overwhelming majority of the hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths). It must also listen to the voices from the Syrian uprising calling for dignity and freedom and respect and support the revolutionary agency and autonomy of the people of Syria.
