Assad and renditions, torture for USA - What to think?

(edited and hosted by the Australian blog candobetter.net https://candobetter.net/node/5092)

Syria is on the cusp of peace, but the propaganda war is still raging in the west. What about Bashar al-Assad's reputation in the west as a torturer? Does the evidence of this mean that the Syrian state has no right to defend Syria?

To paraphrase from the Russian Marxist Plekhanov who wrote about this kind of "moral" argument in 1901 in his essay "Cant Against Kant", it is one thing to morally object to violence, torture, etc. But it is another thing to use this objection to then say that someone attacked in the street should then be forced to fight with their hands tied behind their backs.

The point I am making is not to endorse torture but to say that whatever moral objections one might have to things done by many governments (and certainly Syria has nothing on the US with its Abu Ghraib and secret prisons all over the world and its invasion and occupation of one country after another) the important thing about what is happening in Syria is not whether there is torture or no torture but that the country is being attacked by terrorists in the interests of imperialism and so Syria has the right to fight back.

In terms of characterizing the Syrian government, torture has been used by both "good" and "bad" governments, as abhorrent as it may be, so that does not tell us very much about Syria. But Syria has many policies that many on the left in imperialist countries only dream about for their own countries. To list some:

- parliament seats are 50%+1 reserved for workers and peasants

- city council seats are 25% reserved for low-income residents

- retail prices are capped by popular committees

- the country's loan capital prioritized public infrastructure and investment so much that private businesses had to go to Europe for loans because they were lower in priority, compare this to crumbling underfunded infrastructure in the US

- university education has nominal (practically free) or low cost

- generally free health care for most people

These are things those in the US want for their "own" countries which Syria already has, so that should give us an idea that the US or the West has no moral superiority over Syria. Even with the Maher Arar case it was after all at the US's request, and as mentioned the US has tortured far worse.

About the Author

Saleh Waziruddin is an Indian/Pakistani (South Asian)-Canadian who grew up in Saudi Arabia. He is on the executive committees of the Canadian Peace Congress and also the Canadian Network on Cuba

Comments and amendments on the international section (CPC-PCC Central Convention Discussion Bulletin Contribution)

Submitted by Saleh Waziruddin,

Eric Blair Club, St. Catharines, ON

To the main document:

- replace ISIS, Da’esh etc. with “Islamic State”

The Islamic State itself has been very clear for some time that it no longer recognizes the name ISIS/ISIL and calls itself simply Islamic State. We should concede them at least this. Some imperialist heads of state are reluctant to use this name under the excuse that it would suggest the Islamic State is Islamic, but this anxiety only reveals its own irony because if the imperialists are so concerned about not appearing to be at war with Islam than maybe they should stop bombing and occupying one Muslim country after another. As Shakespeare wrote, they “dost protest too much.” Calling it the Islamic State no more implies it is Islamic than using the name “United States” confers unity.

Even more silly is using the Arabic acronym, which some on the left do petulantly because it displeases the Islamic State because of a negative connotation. But these are just schoolyard name-calling tactics, it’s sticks and stones (or worse) that breaks skin and bones. If we are using English names than we should use Islamic State and not engage in childish name-calling.

Para. 61:

Replace “The Trump Organization” with Trump presidential campaign, and remove ISIS

“The Trump Organization” is the name of a commercial holding company, i.e. hotels, golf courses, etc. While there are formal electoral organizations in Trump’s presidential campaign it’s sufficient to just name his campaign.

With the exception of the BJP, the other organizations in the list (other than Islamic State) are white supremacist organizations that use a fear of Islam and a Muslim “takeover” to fool people in imperialist countries. The BJP is a Hindu supremacist party that uses a fear of Islam to similarly fool people. The Islamic State is nothing like this. It may be used by imperialism in some countries, and at the same time attacked by imperialism in other countries. It may ally with imperialism against a common enemy in some countries and attack imperialism in others. To lose sight of the way imperialism actually works opens the door to an Islamophobic equivalency of the Islamic State with imperialism. It is imperialism which has the power to destroy the world, not the Islamic State, despite all the propaganda from the other groups listed in this section, so it is ironic to lose sight of this and lump them all in the same category.

Para. 66:

Add “and other Arab and African countries” to Saudi Arabia as several other countries including Senegal, Sudan, Egypt etc have sent troops

Para. 68: remove last sentence

“However...” as there is no attempt currently to divide the movement over one state or two state solutions. The movement is solidly for a one-state solution, it is we poor Communists who are lagging far behind the movement. The movement is not threatened by this, it is only our position that is embarrassing to those comrades in the movement.

- Para. 74: delete after “African National Congress”.

It is not just the right or ultra-left who are criticizing the ANC and SACP, former Defense Minister and Umkhonto wa Sizwe intelligence chief Ronnie Kasrils resigned from both ANC and SACP saying they no longer serve the purpose he joined them for in the first place, and asked people to vote for anyone but the ANC. While students in Canada and South Africa fight to “drop fees”. SACP General Secretary and Education Minister said that if students don’t accept his freeze on the fees increase (not just the fees but the increase) he would start a counter-movement to “drop the students”. We should support comrades abroad but that doesn’t mean we should say what they are doing is right, or mischaracterize those veterans of the struggle who criticize them. The SACP has the right to make its own policies but we are not bound by them.