GUEST BLOG: Comrade Dave Brownz – A Letter from Aleppo
If anyone wanted conclusive proof that Syria has become the battleground between the two main imperialist blocs collaborating to smash the Syrian revolution all they have to do is look at the fate of Aleppo. A native of Aleppo recently wrote of his terrible decision to finally leave that city because of the Russian blitzkrieg:
A letter from under Russian bombs in Aleppo
“I didn’t ever expect this time would come, but I have to give up. I am leaving for a place I am not sure even exists.”“Dear Rabi,
You ask about Aleppo, let me tell you about the city where we grew up together.
We haven’t seen a good day in years. The shelling never stops, even for an hour or two. Life has changed, all the places you remember are gone: forget them, it is too painful. The bombs dropped by the regime are indiscriminate, destroying everything in their path. Everything is changed, destroyed or deserted, without life.Even in our dreams we no longer know what “safety” means. Every time you open your eyes you don’t know if it the last time you will see your kids. The people you used to know are not here anymore. People from the surrounding towns and villages have moved to the city in the past few years, hoping to find safety. Aleppo was always seen as a safe place. But many of them had to move on. People keep trying to find safer places, so they keep coming and going. We are happy to help, but it is hard and we get tired.
Aleppo is not fully besieged yet. But moving around our city has become very difficult. People are living day by day; their hope has died along with their city and, many times, their loved ones. The simplest things in life have become very hard. To buy food, bread or water for your family you have to wait in a long, long line–and then keep waiting. You spend all the time looking around, paying attention to every noise, as if you could hear whether you are the next one that will be hit by a strike. The remaining time, you think about your family: will they be still alive when you get home? Will your home still be there? In the end you may get what you came for. If you are lucky you get home safely, without being killed by a bomb from a plane.
It is not just fighting on the front lines, it’s not just the continuous bombing. There are snipers hidden in every corner on the way out of the city. We are constantly adapting our lives. Schools have had to move underground, and medical centers have to manage with limited supplies. We tried to build new democratic institutions: we elected new leaders. Everything has been a struggle.
We tried to go north to different neighborhoods, but bombs were falling there. We could see the planes flying above us, they sometimes display Syrian flags, sometimes Russian, sometimes we don’t even know. It feels like they are following us everywhere we go.
The surrounding communities of Anadan, Marah, Tal Refat, Hretan, Bynoon, Azaz are also suffering. These towns and villages started a peaceful revolution. They stood with Aleppo when Syrian government forces attacked civilians in the city. They took in people fleeing the bombs and the shelling. But what happened to them? They were bombed, every single day. People do not know who the planes are aiming for and whether they will be next to die. Tens of air strikes per day, for the last 120 days.
And now it is time to leave. I didn’t ever expect this time would come, but I have to give up. I am leaving for a place I am not sure even exists. Many friends of mine are already waiting along the Turkish border. It is an open, cold space, crowded with 70,000 people, where the temperature is freezing. But my heart will always remain here.
Aleppo stands in front of a big war machine armed only with small weapons. It is not just a geographical target. Aleppo is karama, it is dignity, it is the revolution against injustice. Goodbye Aleppo; my hometown, the place where I spent my childhood, where all my memories are. I hope to see you there again one day, my friend.
Your childhood companion,
S.
Editor’s note: This letter was sent to and translated by Rabi Bana, a human rights activist born in Aleppo in 1984, who left Syria in late 2012. He works in Beirut and Turkey for an international NGO that supports Syrian civil society. Born in Aleppo in 1980, S. has been involved in peaceful protest demanding freedom and democracy from the beginning of the uprising in 2011. He is a founder of the Aleppo Media Center and works in education for the city government.
This Russian blitzkrieg is worse than Guernica the Basque township destroyed by German Nazi bombers during the civil war. In Spain the Republic was attacked by Franco’s fascists with the support of the Western imperialist powers. Around the world the labor movement and the Stalinist Communist Parties rallied to the Republican side in the civil war and many travelled to Spain to form international brigades.
Today, in Syria most of the Western left deny that a civil war exists. They are by default on the side of the fascist regime. Trotsky said that Stalinism without workers property would be a kind of fascism. With the end of the Soviet Union Putin inherited Stalin’s mantle. So the crypto-Stalinists today claim there is no popular insurrection in Syria. They buy Assad’s lies that the US created militias to bring about ‘regime change’ and that most of those militias have been overrun by the IS itself a US proxy. There is no revolution and no side to support in Syria for these crypto-Stalinists except Russia as the only force capable of wiping out IS. Others prefer to back peace talks in the hope that the war can be stopped. But they will not talk to the Syrian people about their struggle for survival. The Syrian people may as well not exist.
There is a third alternative that has been deliberately suppressed by the Western ‘RT left’ and that is the reality of the popular uprising against Assad. Aleppo shows it is a lie to reduce this to a CIA project or to Saudi arms when both (and Turkey) have conspired to stop the arming of the opposition. That is why for all the talk of the US and its proxies, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, arming the rebels, none have provided the only weapons capable of decisively defeating Assad’s planes, Surface to Air Missiles (SAMS).
Aleppo (the largest commercial city) shows it is a lie to claim that Assad is the legitimate ruler with majority support. Until Russia began its bombing of the opposition militias 4 months ago, Assad was losing. Not to the IS but to the many local popular militias such as that which held Aleppo for years. How can anyone claim Assad has legitimacy after his gas attacks and barrel bombing of civilians? After half a million deaths and 4 million in exile? Why if Assad has legitimacy does he now need Russia to blast Aleppo into the European dark ages?
The socialist and anarchist left that buys this ruling class shit is no better than the imperialists who unleash genocide on the Syrians. Why? Because they have turned their backs on their duty to mobilise worker support for the Syrian (and any other) revolution despite and because of the apparently unwinnable prospect of defeating the class enemy on 4 fronts –
(1) The imperialist US and its NATO partners plus the Russia/China bloc who will kill millions for the last drop of oil.
(2) Assad and his mercenaries who will complete the genocide of the people and razing of the cities before they surrender to ‘terrorism’.
(3) The IS and other jihadis who are opportunists attempting to insert themselves into the vacuum caused by the unresolved civil war and who are useful as armed thugs against the revolution.
(4) The Western crypto Stalinist left which sits on the sidelines indulging in geopolitical handwashing tut tutting about how it is all so gruesome and uncivilised as the imperialist armies compete on bodycounts and oilwells.
Fortunately for the fate of humanity, when the people rise up they see clearly that when you count the dead children there isn’t a hell of a lot of difference between Russian bombs, Hezbollah and RT ‘socialist’ lies.
While the Syrian revolutionaries fight on the first three fronts, it’s up to us in the rest of the world to expose and defeat the crypto-Stalinist left that acts as a ‘fifth column’ in the workers movements, and organise a campaign for material aid to the revolutionary militias.
No more Guernicas! No more Aleppos!
Victory to the Arab Revolution!
For the workers of the world to live, capitalism must die!
Comrade Dave Brownz is a NZ socialist blogger asking hard questions of global capitalism.
What a piece of propaganda, You forgot to mention Allepo has been in the hands of the so called moderate terrorists for the last 3 and a half years, you know the ones who burn people to death, throw people to their death, drown them to death and chop of their heads to make them dead, all with the very able assistance of USA, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and about 70 other countries simply by their silence, you remember the Saudis who export the very brand of revolution that their minions ISIS Daesh, Al Qaeda etc use, from where I sit, the Sovereign nation of Syria asked for help, Russia is very ably assisting the sovereign state.
ps, what is the NGO that your native Aleppo guy works for again? wouldnt be propaganda for goodness sake would it? Does this site read content before spewing bull shit?
Yeah what a piece of propaganda (sarc).
Read about the actual war and the battle for Aleppo here:
https://mkaradjis.wordpress.com/2016/02/18/bloody-counterrevolution-in-aleppo-on-russian-blitzkrieg-and-us-betrayal/
and here:
https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/comment/2016/2/18/the-international-betrayal-of-aleppo-has-global-implications
and here:
https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/comment/2016/2/11/syria-enters-its-darkest-days-yet
Then come back with some factual arguments.
Dave brown should check the sources of his propaganda before trying to display words on a screen as being truth, just because you read it and swallow it, there were no facts there, didnt you notice a remarkable similarity from where the writers were coming from and where they have taken you. Read real sites not propaganda platforms Dave.
Get someone to read this aloud to you Tony.
http://pulsemedia.org/2016/02/26/who-are-the-syrian-rebels-the-genesis-of-the-armed-struggle-in-syria/
Another excellent article that compares Aleppo to Guernica.
“Aleppo — one of the last major rebel strongholds — is on the verge of collapse. Backed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the Lebanese Hezbollah, and US-equipped Iraqi militias, the Syrian regime army is advancing from the south; from the east, the Islamic State (IS) is rampaging ahead; and, exploiting the stretched rebel defences, the Kurdish YPG is sneaking in from the north. All have been assisted, directly or indirectly, by the relentless attrition of Russian bombs.”
https://medium.com/@im_PULSE/aleppo-is-our-guernica-and-some-are-cheering-on-the-luftwaffe-ceb10b18a1ca#.rgz89dn2b
And now we have the Kurds uniting with Russian bombing and Assads mercenary killers to wipe Free Aleppo.
Karadjis proves that Free Aleppo is defended by rebels who have established a ‘democratic’ alternative society to the Assad dictatorship.
That is why the US and Russia plus their nationalist allies are determined to wipe out Aleppo as an example of how popular armed struggle can create an alternative to reactionary capitalism and its genocidal wars.
https://mkaradjis.wordpress.com/2016/02/28/the-kurdish-pyds-alliance-with-russia-against-free-aleppo-evidence-and-analysis-of-a-disaster/
The western crypto-Stalinist left makes an appearance in the comments. In no way did Dave Brownz excuse the US.
Name one statement that positions me anywhere on a left right position, you try and smear the messenger so as not to have to take in the comments. Im not left and Im not right, what fool would position himself so? aw yes that right you do!
The SAA are liberating Aleppo from outside aggression!
I see attempts made to give martial aid to Syrian revolutionaries going down like this.
Comrade spotter: *Kirk crackle crackle* comrade pilot got a copy.
Comrade pilot: I have you comrade spotter
Comrade spotter: I have a large enemy convoy heading east down main road, marking my position with red smoke.
Comrade pilot: for the mother land
Excellent article Dave! When will people wake up, and retrieve their humanity? let alone any political sense? Genocide is genocide. People like Tony and Pedro need to stop listening to RT, Russian propaganda. Dave clearly says the problem is both US and Russian imperialism, so stop accusing him of speaking for the US! Start showing some real concern for all the hundreds of thousands killed by Assad and now Russia. It’s disgusting how so many on the so- called left have colluded with this unspeakable atrocity! For five years!!! What was the reason people called themselves socialists or anarchists again? In their kind of world is torture, rape, starvations, bombings okay? The US hasn’t done the most killing in this case, but it has definitely allowed it to happen, and is in discussions right now with Russia for an imperialist carve up of Syria, ie the “peace talks”. Now that all the Syrians are dead, or have fled, their cities bombed to oblivion; the big powers and Assad might consider “cessation of hostilities”, while they help themselves to the oil.
Right on Alexandra!
The RT ‘socialists’ are part of a chorus that includes prominent academics and media stars for Assad:
http://www.middleeasteye.net/essays/how-western-academics-help-spread-assads-propaganda-1937353837
show me where in my opinion printed above do I show allegiance to left or right. I stand in my own thoughts and life, Im not left Im not right, Im open minded and always enjoy when people start using labels instead of facts.
The only progressive outcome to the legacy of Sykes/Pico is a Confederation of socialist republics of MENA that includes a free Palestine a free Syria a free Kurdistan.
Must read:
https://leilashami.wordpress.com/2016/02/25/the-assault-on-aleppo/
Never boring Dave, I will give you that. Who are these crypto Stalinist socialists? Is this the Communist equivalent of, and echo of the Sunni Shiite schism?
Do I hear an excuse for how Communism panned out in Russia, China, Cambodia etc? Is it like so many religious intolerances going to serve as an excuse for Communist crimes against humanity…..”we Shiites / Protestants / Trotskyists are the good guys, it was really the Sunni / Catholics / Stalinists who did those dreadful things”.
Note none of these factions ever admit to their opponents following the same God / faith. I don’t buy it. In fact I will go a step further: the seeds of inhumanity are deeply planted in faith based systems. Capitalism, imperialism, communism, Islam, Christianity etc, check the historic record, it comes part and parcel.
My take is far simpler…maybe a simple minds viewpoint. What is happening in Syria is that people are doing evil in the name of good as they see it. The “good” they do evil deeds to achieve is known by names like Shia, Sunni, capitalism, imperialism, democracy. Doing evil to achieve good wont work. Where is a Gandhi or a Mandela when they are most needed?
Nick my argument has nothing to do with faith. Hope possibly, just as the Syrian people hope that they can survive all the forces that are trying to destroy their struggle against tyranny.
The ‘good’ in this situation is the right of the Syrian people to basic democratic rights such as freedom from political repression and death by bombing.
There struggle is not being waged in terms of any ideology of ‘good’ that justifies ‘evil’ means.
That is something I reserve for the liberals in the West who use their democratic privileges to justify the destruction of Syria.
Stalinism in my book is the actual betrayal of the Russian revolution by a bureaucratic caste under Stalin that eventually led to the restoration of capitalism.
Crypto-stalinism is the covert admiration for the Russian regime run by survivors of the Stalinist regime because its authoritarian centralism is actually opposed to US hegemony so therefore a ‘lesser evil’ means to a relatively ‘progressive’ end.
Dave, lets just put this “faith”, and Stalin thing to bed as it is just to boring to hear Trots etc forever coming up with apologist crap about their breed of socialism and the violence inherent. And a Marxist solution in Syria is going to happen or help if it did.
Like Mohammed and Jihad, Marx called for revolutionary overthrow of the “system”. Marx called for the expropriation of the means of production and property etc, by force (if necessary…how else)? Dont deny that its all in Das Kapital, I have read it. It is faith based, for whilst a very clever piece of sociology it purports to be a singular truth, and that is laid out nicely in dialectic materialism as the driver of history. Paradise on earth, not in heaven. But promised as a matter of faith, regarded theologically by apostles.
So to the Russian revolution….I seem to recall that the Soviet outlawed the death penalty very early, only to have the Bolsheviks bring it back post haste. Then the Red terror set in to counter the White terror, both parties advocating and enforcing the violence of the state against all objectors. One Mr Lenin is recorded as demanding the death of any opposition, something Mr Trotsky and his new Red army did very compliantly and well (assisted admirably by Mr Stalin et al). As per Marx, and agreeing with my contention violence is at the heart of Marxist revolution.
So here we have a Soviet state, and yes Dave it is headed by Lenin and Trotsky and Stalin, and Zinoviev etc etc and they together institute a reign of terror that only slows down when Khrushchev calls out Stalins crimes. This is before Trotsky gets hounded out to go elsewhere demanding more violent revolution. So Dave, this “real socialist faith” right from the start demands the blood of non adherents.
Stalinist monolithic bureaucrats killed the dream? A monolithic state controlled by party apparatchiks, that is how modern industrial societies work. Corporations too have huge bureaucracies. So a bureaucratic caste “betrayed” the revolution? I have worked in bureaucracies, they are run by a caste of corporate Jesuits who don’t question the theology, whether it is Catholicism, capitalism with an MBA, or Leninist Marxism. The caste has a singular trait: institutional non thinking about the means and morality etc, merely keep the wheels turning and go “forward” (where ever that is). And yes, any change to the “faith” is a challenge to their privileges and power. But that is the nature of the beast, apparatchiks did not undermine the Soviet experiment. These guys kept the “faith”, they were paid to, and preferred not see that it was totally flawed from the beginning. It fell apart under their watch from below, the door to the office wasn’t rotten, the foundations were.
Crypto Stalinists as admirers of the new Russian regime? OK so really what that purports is that the same old guard of Stalinists run Russia, nothing changed, and to support the Russian state is to be a “Stalinist”. I’m somewhat reminded of David Icke and giant space lizards.
So to where I agree with you: yes the Syrian people like people everywhere need to be left in peace to live their lives free from oppression. Free from violence. And that is the heart of the issue: violence is about coercion and power. Nobody using force in Syria or elsewhere is doing anything for the promotion of peace or resolution. The argument is that they have to be powerful enough to force “peace” on their terms.
Fortunately we have the examples of Mandela who rejected violent retribution in favour of reconciliation, and of Gandhi who used peaceful means to shame the British. Or the example of Mairead Maguire and Betty Williams who marched with women for peace in Belfast, from which eventually even Paisley and Adams agreed to cooperate peacefully. It can be done, I have little hope that it will be allowed to willingly by the “powers that be”.
Assad is not the devil that the western media make him out to be, there was no peaceful uprising, once again we see a war using Islamic Fundamentalists on behalf of America Saudi Arabia and Turkey and others.
Go Assad and Putin and finish the job, dont leave one terrorist or their supporters left.
This article must be written by the CIA as propaganda.
There are no atheists in foxholes – so of course militias fighting Assad’s oppression will be Islamic – that doesn’t necessarily make them ISIL however. Unless you treat them all alike.
Of course they are not all isil, but most of them act in the same was chopping off heads etc.
Wake up Dave. It’s all about a US-backed attempt to topple the Assad regime so a gas pipeline from Qatar to Europe can be constructed by US corporations and profits can be made.
Also, the US wants Russia driven out of the Mediterranean, so it can be throttled and US fascists -let’s face it, that’s what they are- can go back to looting Russia’s resources like they did in the early 1990s.
Putin won’t allow any of it to happen, of course, because Russia now has far better weapons than the US, and knows how to use them.
Thus, we are witnessing the last gasps of the dying US empire. It is truly fascinating to watch.
Soon we will be rid of the worst rogue state ever to have existed on Earth, the rogue state responsible for more deaths of innocent people than Hitler and Stalin put together.
Listen to what informed Americans have to say on the matter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSiqZN6-TSE
Yeah i saw that map of the oil pipe line they wanted to build a few months ago, i went ha so this is the big why America is using Islamists to fight a war.
Dammit! I keep forgetting. Most people cannot be persuaded to relinquish false beliefs by the presentation of facts or by logical arguments. In fact, quite often, the more evidence that is presented to counter a false belief, the more a false belief is adhered to.
That is one of many reasons why there is no hope for humanity.
Notice how those who condemn Assad and Russia never mention Isis ???
Because that is their allies …………….. that is who they are supporting.
It sounds like the Iranians are doing more than their fair share of fighting terrorists and extremists http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/syria-civil-war-on-the-front-line-with-the-iranian-revolutionary-guards-battling-outside-aleppo-a6891891.html
I’ve never seen more blatent support for Isis & Al-quada than from the posters and governments calling for regime change in Syria.
Supporting terrorists and civil war ………