Syria Struggles as Assad turns to Genocide and the World Watches

The unprecedented uprising in Syria has been called the “orphan revolution” because the Syrian people have stood almost alone in their epic struggle for freedom. The Arab League observers achieved nothing. The UN has been stymied by Russian and Chinese vetoes in the Security Council. The meeting in Tunis Feb. 24 of the 80-nation “Friends of Syria” failed to produce any aid to the revolution.

Israel, Iran, and Saudi Arabia all have much to lose from the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad’s Baathist family dynasty, as do their imperialist patrons.

The Arab Spring lives on in new struggles emerging in Egypt and Tunisia. Somewhere the smoke of Syria’s tortured cities mingles with the smoke of burning Athens.

As well, the Egyptian, Tunisian, Palestinian, Libyan masses and others clearly see this revolution as their own.

The opposition Syrian National Council has not gained concrete solidarity from state powers, in part because it is unable to guarantee the “stability” that al-Assad has provided. For instance, there is no possibility that free Syrian people would turn their backs on the Palestinian people’s struggle. Nothing spells that out more clearly than Hamas finally being forced to turn its back on its former patron, al-Assad.

Speaker: Gerry Emmett, author of “Syrian revolution fights Assad’s genocide, world powers watch,” World in View columnist, News & Letters

Sponsored by News and Letters Committees

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