This blog is dedicated to discussion of the ongoing Syrian revolution. Much confusion exists about what is going on in that country, and while I cannot claim to be entirely correct, anymore than anyone else, I’m dedicating time and effort to understanding the situation from an unabashedly pro-revolution, left-wing, anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist point of view.

The view held by a number of groups and individuals on the left, that the Assad regime is either “anti-imperialist” – something simply incorrect – or that, whatever its faults, it is the best thing currently on offer as it struggles against an imaginary alliance of imperialism and Al-Qaida jihadists all trying to destroy the country, is entirely at odds with the reality, and at odds with what I will be arguing here.

In any case, real anti-imperialism does not stem from some abstract schema, but rather from genuine hatred of oppression and exploitation, of which imperialism on a world scale is its highest representative. Such a view entirely precludes supporting some capitalist tyranny, like that of Bashar Assad, against a mass popular revolt, a revolt by the Syrian “sanscullotes,” against gruelling oppression and exploitation in their own country, regardless of any hollow “anti-imperialist” rhetoric the regime may occasionally engage in to buttress its rule. Real anti-imperialism thus involves anti-capitalism at every level and therefore resolute support to working people struggling against oppressive regimes, wherever they exist.

Michael Karadjis