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”
rhoderickgates
No, the topic was set by the article author. So….DO you have a relevant post?
Themadmullahofbricklane
Steve E9.
I rather think that the Syrian people would want what we have in the west. Stuff like elections, the rule of law, religious toleration and all of those other terrible afflictions that capitalism and imperialism have forced on us. The proof of the pudding is that if Europe and the US, among others, are so bad why is it that so much of the world wants to be with us?
When the middle eastern component of the Ottoman Empire was carved up after the First World War boundaries were drawn which in no way reflected the religious or ethnic realities on the ground and we are still feeling the effects of that nearly a century later. What the far left in this and other countries fail to take into account is that what we are seeing in Syria at the moment is a popular uprising against what is essentially a fascist regime. Ba’athism is a thinly disguised version of and a mixture of the Hitler/Mussolini regimes with a few local ingredients thrown in for good measure.
I don’t suppose it’s any use pointing out that there hasn’t been any “random” bombing of Syria precisely because the elected representatives of Britain and France refused to sanction it, a point which seems to have escaped your attention. No one with an ounce of humanity can fail to sympathise with the Syrian people.
What you and your ilk strive to do, unsuccessfully, is to blame the west for what is
happening as the whole thing is clearly the fault of “imperialism” a word that has become fashionable again in loony left circles and one that I haven’t heard being bandied around since the Viet Nam war. Interesting how that country like other similar ones is now a one party capitalist state.
John Rees is a disgrace to humanity and is on record as saying that he would support any regime however repressive and undemocratic as long as it opposed western imperialism. Out of the mouths of you and your ilk imperialism has become anything which you say it is. Fortunately you are political joke having been rejected not just by the electorate but civilised society as a whole. The real disgrace here is that the speakers including Owen Jones are prepared to get on the platform at all, that is the real issue.
Rhoderick Gates
“What the far left in this and other countries fail to take into account is that what we are seeing in Syria at the moment is a popular uprising against what is essentially a fascist regime. Ba’athism is a thinly disguised version of and a mixture of the Hitler/Mussolini regimes with a few local ingredients thrown in for good measure.”
I take that into account.
patriciasheerinrichman
…A hijacked popular uprising…
patriciasheerinrichman
So, if Stop the War Coalition is pro-Assad, is the writer pro-organ-eating rebels? Just asking for clarification before I cancel my standing order to StWC.