Vol. 77/No. 33      September 23, 2013

Some 35 people attended the meeting, one in a series of forums taking place in U.S. cities and internationally, hosted by supporters of the Militant newsweekly, in solidarity with the toilers of that country and against Washington’s threat of a military strike.

“We completely oppose those who say, ‘Let them all kill each other, it’s not our problem,’ Fein said. “The Syrian toilers are part of the international working class, struggling and fighting against the Assad dictatorship at the same time they fight to prevent anti-working-class al-Qaeda-linked forces from getting a bigger toehold in the area. We support them in that struggle — they are us, their fight is our fight.”

“I’ve been campaigning door to door, discussing Obama’s bombing threats with working people,” Fein said. “Most people I met say they are opposed to the U.S. bombing Syria. But it’s not from a working-class perspective. Some say they are tired of war, that things didn’t work out too well for ‘us’ in Iraq and Afghanistan — with the ‘us’ meaning ‘America.’ But ‘us’ didn’t carry out those wars, I explain. The U.S. capitalist class and their government and military did, and it had nothing to do with the interests of the toilers in Iraq, Afghanistan or the U.S. If ‘things had worked out better’ for the U.S. capitalists, would that mean workers should favor bombing Syria today?

“Broadly supported protests for democratic rights and against the Assad regime started in early 2011,” Fein said.

“These were not protests based on religious identity, nor did they spring from traditional oppositionists or Islamist groups. And they did not spring from the CIA or some other ‘foreign influence,’ as Assad and his backers claim,” Fein said. “They were protests involving broad layers of working people. Syria is a young country, with 60 percent of the population under 40 years of age — it was young men and women who spearheaded the revolt.”

The response of Assad’s regime was ever-greater use of military violence to crush all resistance, leading to armed resistance and civil war. “Our people, the toilers of Syria, are paying dearly for the bloodbath Assad has unleashed, bearing the enormous weight of casualties and dislocation,” Fein said. “When Assad discovered an area, a neighborhood or a town where there was discontent, he ordered the army to annihilate it. The main enemy of Syria’s toilers is the Bashar al-Assad regime.

“At the same time, I urge those I talk with campaigning door to door to oppose Obama’s threats to bomb Syria,” Fein said. “U.S. imperialist military or political intervention in Syria would only make things worse for toilers there.”

No support to ‘anti-war’ protests

“Today in Times Square, in front of the White House and at other locations, various petty-bourgeois ‘left’ and liberal groups, including some who call themselves socialist, had rallies,” Fein said. “Some of their signs read, ‘War Against Syria — Built on a Lie,’ as if Assad hadn’t actually used chemical weapons. Some of these groups support Assad and try to portray the mass opposition inside Syria as being caused by outside forces.

“Others, like the Black Caucus in Congress, argue that a U.S. strike would cost too much money, that ‘we’ could better use the money here in the U.S. Framed as an ‘anti-war’ stance, such views go completely against the interests of the working class in Syria and in the U.S. The SWP campaign does not support or identify with these kind of ‘anti-war’ protests.”

“There is no revolutionary workers party in Syria today,” Fein said. “That will take time and come through struggle and further experience. It’s true the workers and farmers face difficult conditions in the fight to bring down Assad. But look at Egypt! The workers and farmers of that country — in the space of less than two and a half years — overthrew both the hated Mubarak government and then the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood regime that replaced it, winning more political space to organize and defend their interests and keep fighting. Solidarity with the Syrian toilers to do the same!”
 
 
Related articles:
Solidarity with Syrian workers and farmers!
No to Assad butchery! No to US intervention!
Obama stalls push for military strike
‘Militant’ brings Syrian toilers’ fight to workers door to door
 
 
 
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