Syria’s Heroic Fight Against Western Imperialism

Cairo, Egypt — It is hard to imagine a more resilient, more heroic nation than Syria!

With only 17 million inhabitants (according to 2014 estimate), Syria is now facing the mightiest coalition on Earth – the coalition that consists of virtually all traditional Western colonialist and neo-colonialist nations.

It is also facing some of the cruelest and deadliest inventions of the West – the extremist and murderous post- and pseudo-Islamic groupings, similar to those that were already unleashed against the Soviet Union during the war in Afghanistan.

Because of tremendous determination of its people, Syria is still standing! But it is standing against all odds. Its Golan Heights are illegally occupied by Israel, its borders constantly violated by Turkish military, by West’s ‘special forces’ and air force.

Syria’s “political opposition” was created, then has been groomed and financed by the United States and Europe, in the style of “Color Revolutions”, as in all other socialist countries that the West tries to destabilize and return under its deadly rule. Millions of Syrian people have been, during the last six deadly years, terrorized, slaughtered and intimidated by jihadi cadres, implanted by the West and its regional allies: Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar, Israel and others.

It is one terrible and uneven fight! Some of the greatest historical cities on Earth, like Aleppo and Palmyra, now lie in ruins and ashes. What European Christian crusaders did not manage to fully destroy, is now collapsing under the imperialist onslaught. Like everywhere else on Earth, everything that dares to struggle against the Western colonialism is being consistently devastated and burned. Almost everyone who resists is mercilessly slaughtered. Hundreds of thousands of Syrian people have already lost their lives. And with each new day, the awful count is rising.

But Syria is standing!

Five million Syrian people were already forced to leave their country. Now they are being scattered all over the Middle East: throughout Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt, and Turkey. Some even went as far as Europe, Canada or Chile.

How much more can one country endure?

And how can the rest of the world just stand and watch as it is put through hell?

The answer is obvious: the rest of the world does not know; it does not understand! The propaganda coming out from the Western mass media outlets and indoctrination-spreading institutions is so thorough, so professional, that to most of people all over the world everything related to Syria appears to be blurry, murky, incredibly complex. President al-Assad is demonized on daily bases. Heroic resistance is called “regime’s brutal actions”. Pro-`western terror groups are described as moderate opposition.

In reality, Syria suffers because it is refusing to kneel; because it is unwilling to prostitute itself; because it would never beg its torturers to stop and then to grab everything above and under the surface.

The Empire never forgives disobedience. Its fundamentalist terror methods are the most brutal ever invented and implemented on Earth.

All around Syria, countries already lie in ashes. The Middle East hardly exists, anymore. And most of the Syrian people understand: it is perhaps better to die standing, than to live in shackles, on one’s knees, controlled by the kleptomaniacal Western colonialist states!

*****

More terrible is the terror that the West is spreading worldwide in general and in this part of the world in particular, more vicious is its vitriolic propaganda, the brainwashing indoctrination that is flowing incessantly from London, New York and Paris.

If one is watching the BBC, there is no glimpse of objectivity left anymore. The ranks are closed and the West united in its final drive to discredit absolutely everything that is still fighting for survival against its global terrorist exploits.

President al-Assad of Syria, the heroic Syrian army and the closest Syria’s allies – Russia and Iran – are being relentlessly demonized, as if it would be them who began that monstrous war! And Hezbollah, which is fighting countless epic battles against the ISIS, sits firmly on the West’s terrorist list.

Everything seems to be twisted, perverted, up side down.

But what could be really expected from the expansionist hordes, from the bastions of the imperialism? Or was the British (or French) propaganda any different, when their colonialist countries have been, for centuries, grabbing and devastating countless foreign states and territories, slaughtering hundreds of millions of innocent people? Wasn’t anyone who resisted Western conquest always thoroughly ridiculed and demonized?

Countries like UK, France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Spain, Portugal and others, have centuries of experience in how to humiliate the victims, how to justify its own heinous acts, how to brainwash its own populace and even some of the victims! And the United States, the direct product of Europe, its muscular offspring, is just using the same, only a bit more vulgar, propaganda tactics.

Nothing rational and objective can be expected from the people of Europe or North America anymore. Except for those few insignificant protests and rebellious acts, the Western population is in a total slumber, indifferent towards the horrors that are being administered by its regime all over the globe. There is hardly any pressure to stop terror acts against Syria. The only thing that seems to matter to Europeans is how to stop the flow of refugees from the devastated countries.

What a shame! What a thorough shame, people of Europe and North America! Your regime is murdering millions, in one country after another, and you are not even capable of recognizing what goes on… instead you are blaming the victims and those who are rushing to their rescue!

Now your biggest enemy is Russia. Because Russia (same as China) is clearly unwilling to dance to your fatal tune! Because Russia, for many decades, stood by almost all oppressed countries, and supported de-colonizing of the world, in all of its corners. Like China, Cuba and North Korea always did.

Russia is now defending Syria. Not because it needs natural resources, not because it wants to plunder. It does it simply because it is right thing to do. It does it because if the world is abandoned fully to the Western imperialism, there will soon be actually no world at all, or at least there will be no world worth inhabiting!

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“Our country is a socialist country. For us it’s more important to consider the benefits to the entire nation than to particular individuals. I spent more than 50 years dedicating my life to education, which is the backbone of our country, especially now… Sometimes I feel like quitting my job and returning to teaching at Damascus University, but I know that I am still needed where I am now”, I was told by Dr. Farah Motlak, Deputy Minister of Education of Syrian Arab Republic.

We met in Cairo, Egypt, at an international, regional conference. I asked him about the Western propaganda against his country. He replied, shaking his head:

“I am not even angry… I am just endlessly sad. The media attacks; the propaganda that is pouring from the West is clearly designed to destroy our country. But we have hope, and we will continue our struggle.”

The international meetings and conferences clearly show how divided is even the Arab world itself. Syria is a symbol. To some, it is a symbol of resilience, of heroism. To others, mainly to those who are funded and consequently conditioned by the West, it represents everything that is evil.

*****

But Egypt itself (where I’m writing this essay), just three years after the pro-Western military coup, is in ruins. Economically it became a basket case. It is completely devastated, socially.

Of course, its destruction is on the “lighter scale”, compared to Iraq, Libya or Yemen. But it is still bad enough: right during the coup in 2013, at least 1, but most likely 2 thousand people, were murdered by the junta, while tens of thousands were injured. Estimated ten thousand people are now in prisons all over the country; most of them in terrible conditions; many are being tortured, women prisoners are habitually raped.

“The counter revolution has triumphed”, explained Dr. Mohammed Shafik, a member of Revolutionary Socialist movement. “All opposition parties and organizations were squashed. Thousands of revolutionaries were imprisoned, hundreds executed by court orders or liquidated by the police… Neoliberalism is taking hold… people are suffering.”

But the Western propaganda shows no appetite for criticizing the Egyptian military junta. It is, after all, essentially pro-Western; it is capitalist and to a great extent  it is submissive to the Empire and to its allies, including Israel and Saudi Arabia.

As almost all client states of the West, Egypt will never be able to truly improve lives of the majority of its citizens. The country is already stuck deeply and for decades in perpetual social slumber. Those who are benefiting from the situation are the Western powers and their regional allies, as well as the servile Egyptian elites and the grotesquely colossal, omnipotent military.

Would Syria surrender, Egyptian scenario would be ‘the best’ it could hope for. But most likely, it would meet the terrible fate of Iraq or Libya.

*****

62 Syrian soldiers have been reported killed in a U.S.-led coalition airstrike on a Syrian military base Deir el-Zour, on September 17, in Eastern Syria.

The planes destroyed the base whose soldiers were involved in a battle with the ISIS. Almost immediately, the ISIS took over the hill and the area, in what appeared to be a clearly coordinated operation between the West and the “Islamic State”, against the Syrian government forces.

Few days later, a humanitarian convoy was hit near the city of Aleppo. Without presenting any evidence, the West immediately pointed a finger at Syrian government and Russia. But the Russian Ministry of Defense released images of the US predator drone operating in the area during the attack, and called for thorough investigation.

The war goes on. The suffering of Syrian people continues.

There is one simple point that is being constantly overlooked by the West:

The legitimate government of Syria invited Russia, its close ally. It asked Moscow for help, to fight the ISIS and other terrorist groups implanted by the West and its allies.

Nobody invited the West!

Or perhaps those groups that the West itself created and supported inside Syria invited it?

Both Syrian government forces and Russia are fighting brutal foreign invaders who are attempting to destroy one of the oldest nations on Earth and take control over the entire Middle East.

Syria is at the frontline of the battle against Western imperialism. And so is Russia. And also Iran, while China is joining!

The sacrifice performed by Syrian people is tremendous. But against all odds, the deadly advance of the imperialists may be stopped here, after all.

As I wrote earlier, the price may be terrible. Aleppo is turning into the Middle Eastern Stalingrad. But heroic Syrian nation had made its choice: it will fight brutal and barbaric invaders, as it fought the crusaders under the leadership of great Sultan Saladin.

Alternative would be slavery, something unacceptable for the Syrian people!

Andre Vltchek is a philosopher, novelist, filmmaker and investigative journalist. He has covered wars and conflicts in dozens of countries. Five of his latest books are China Belt and Road Initiative: Connecting Countries, Saving Millions of Lives, China and Ecological Civilization with John B. Cobb, Jr, Revolutionary Optimism, Western Nihilism, the revolutionary novel Aurora, and Exposing Lies of the Empire. Also watch Rwanda Gambit his documentary about Rwanda and DRCongo and his film/dialogue with Noam Chomsky On Western Terrorism. He can be reached through his website and his Twitter. Read other articles by Andre.