Through their (in)direct support of Assad, the Stop the War Coalition blindly ignore Russia's own imperialistic goals in the region and prove themselves anything but anti-war.
Noor Barotchi is a British-Syrian national who is a founding member of Bradford Syria Solidarity and a volunteer with the humanitarian aid charities Hand in Hand for Syria and Syria Relief
They call themselves an anti-war movement. Set up in 2001 in the UK to counter the Bush Administration’s ‘War on Terror’, the Stop the War Coalition claims to defend civil liberties.
And yet their binary vision of ‘West equals evil/anti-West equals good’ has led them and other self-professed ‘anti-imperialists’ to adopt a utilitarian vision of the conflict in Syria.
Far from standing with the oppressed, their stance has proven that Syrian blood means little. Most recently, they invited Lebanese-Palestinian nun Mother Agnes Mariam to speak at their International Anti-War Conference, who preaches that Assad is a protector of minorities and all havoc in the country has been caused by militant Sunni jihadists.
The hypocrisy lies in the fact that her views and actions make her the exact opposite of anti-war.
Unfortunately, Agnes Mariam has exploited her religious status to be an accessory to mass murder. Syrian Christians for Peace and Father Paolo Dall’Oglio, an Italian Jesuit priest based in Syria who is now missing (believed to have been kidnapped by the Al-Qaida affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant), have called Sister Agnes a regime agent, the latter claiming that her “interpretation of the facts is always selective and one-sided”.
In 2012, she blamed the Houla massacre on the rebels, claiming that the victims were Alawites and Shia converts. This contradicted the United Nations’ investigation, which found government forces and Shabeeha [paid regime militia] culpable.
Mo’dhamiya (Damascus countryside) has been besieged for almost a year. Civilians living inside are dying of starvation due to the strict blockade imposed by the Syrian government, which prevents food, water and medical supplies getting in. Agnes Mariam allegedly encouraged civilians to evacuate the area by saying that “it is better if unarmed civilians surrender and turn themselves in”. In doing so, she was complicit in the detainment of 200 plus civilians from the area, the fate of whom presently remains unknown.
When the chemical weapons attack was perpetrated in Ghouta, she presented ‘evidence’ to the U.N. to try and pin the blame on the rebels. First, she determined that the videos were “manipulated and disposed with theatrical arrangements.” She then concluded that the children shown in the video were actually Alawite children kidnapped from Latakia (the same line was given by Bouthaina Shaaban, the political and media advisor to Assad).
Her polemics, however, were refuted by many organisations, including Human Rights Watch, who issued a statement saying: “there’s just no basis for the claims advanced by Mother Agnes.”
Agnes Mariam has now ‘withdrawn’ from the conference after two keynote speakers, Jeremy Scahill and Owen Jones, refused to share a platform with her. While this is news worthy of celebration, we should not forgive nor forget the fact that StWC invited her in the first place. Through their (in)direct support of Assad, they blindly ignore Russia’s own imperialistic goals in the region and prove themselves anything but anti-war.
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43 Responses to “The British ‘anti-war’ movement’s hypocrisy over Syria”
The Farney Fontenoy
A quick check shows the author here is rabidly anti-Assad NOT anti-war. His FB page:
https://www.facebook.com/nbarotchi?fref=ts
rhoderickgates
“we should not forgive nor forget the fact that StWC invited her in the first place. Through their (in)direct support of Assad, they blindly ignore Russia’s own imperialistic goals in the region and prove themselves anything but anti-war.”
First of all, there is such a thing as making a mistake, and second there is no “blindly ignore Russia’s own imperialistic goals in the region and prove themselves anything but anti-war”; henceforth no citation is provided. As a Edinburgh delegate for the 2006 conference, I ensured introduction of a motion to oppose ‘unconditional support’ for Iraq guerrillas, given that Islamists had entered the occupation war & other such brutal terrorists, war criminal non-state actors, etc. Thankfully was overwhelmingly passed.
If you want you can ask a delegate for your area to pass a similar motion condemning Russia, if you so wish. Instead of lunging for your PC or laptop to denounce STWC, act more constructively please.
Dee
What ‘imperialistic goals’ does Russia (and China) have?
If Syria falls, the next is Iran – already half killed by sanctions in the usual cruel pre-war weakening phase.
Then it’s the Pivot to Asia – along the rest of the ‘Pipelineistans’ not yet being occupied and / or droned …… and as per Bandar bin Sultans not-idle threat, he will unleash his Wahhabi savages at the winter Olympics …. and we have already seen those threats made good in Russia and heart of Beijing.
So why condemn Russia (and China) for opposing yet another unjust war and destruction of yet another middle east country. As an African, Russia and China standing against the bombardment of Syria is NOT ‘imperialistic goals’ – but is done in the knowledge of the entire plan of both Asia Pivot and Africa Pivot / African – and Russia and China most definitely represent the vast majority of ‘International Community’ being the billions of Asians, Russians, Africans, S.Americans who are totally fed up with WESTERN IMPERIALISM!!!!
SteveE9
This article is another example of grossly dishonest propaganda by ‘humanitarian (sic) inrerventionists’ who want the US/UK/FRANCE to randomly bomb Syria. There have been atrocities and war crimes on both sides. This dishonest dissembling achieves nothing ethical or principled but shows the author and their supporters as allies of the west – not the Syrian people.
rhoderickgates
They’ve been selling arms & sending money, etc, to Assad & providing diplomatic support. I doubt it was for benign reasons.