I honestly can not say I have a deep knowledge of the Syrian civil war except for a few things.

  1. Multiple groups including Isis and the Syrian army are involved, some of which are US backed

  2. Rojava and the Kurds seem genuinely unproblematic and cool, and are currently being attacked by Syria and Turkey, and their support was withdrawn by trump.

  3. The resulting refugee crisis is a big deal, etc etc. I’ve actually been fortunate enough to talk with several refugees as my mother works in local government helping sponsor them, and one family threw a party and invited us. The food was delicious, but I felt like asking a family who had just been reunited with a family member after years about the civil war would not be a good idea. So I can’t say I learned much from the conversations I’ve had.

I see lots of Assad memes. Is it ironic? Is it unironic? Is it a big critical support deal like Kim Jong un? What’s the consensus? Can someone educate me or?

Thanks.

  • comi [he/him]
    2·
    4 years ago

    Meh maybe you shouldn’t unironically critically support him, he’s not a leftist. It’s more like one should oppose US/nato intervention and advocate for better refugee treatment. It’s much more consistent position and easier to argue with libs, compared to “Assad done nothing wrong” thought termination.

    • JoeySteel [comrade/them]
      8·
      4 years ago

      Assad has a higher approval rating than the majority of US presidents

      Assad has done nothing wrong except defend his country against one of the worst crimes the West has committed this century

      • Civility [none/use name]
        1·
        4 years ago

        Assad has done nothing wrong

        😬

        Assad's support from the right-wing has mostly been from the far-right, both before and during the Syrian Civil War. David Duke hosted a televised speech on Syrian national television in 2005.[281] Georgy Shchokin was invited to Syria in 2006 by the Syrian foreign minister and awarded a medal by the Ba'ath party, while Shchokin's institution the Interregional Academy of Personnel Management awarded Assad an honorary doctorate.[282] In 2014, the Simon Wiesenthal Center claimed that Bashar al-Assad had sheltered Alois Brunner in Syria, and alleged that Brunner advised the Assad government on purging Syria's Jewish community.[283][284]

        The National Front in France has been a prominent supporter of Assad since the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War,[285] as has the former leader of the Third Way.[281] In Italy, the parties New Front and CasaPound have both been supportive of Assad, with the New Front putting up pro-Assad posters and the party's leader praising Assad's commitment to the ideology of Arab nationalism in 2013,[286] while CasaPound has also issued statements of support for Assad.[287] Syrian Social Nationalist Party representative Ouday Ramadan has worked in Italy to organize support movements for Assad.[288] Other political parties expressing support for Assad include the National Democratic Party of Germany,[289] the National Revival of Poland,[281] the Freedom Party of Austria,[290] the Bulgarian Ataka party,[291] the Hungarian Jobbik party,[292] the Serbian Radical Party,[293] the Portuguese National Renovator Party,[294] as well as the Spanish Falange Española de las JONS[295] and Authentic Falange parties.[296] The Greek neo-Nazi political party Golden Dawn has spoken out in favour of Assad,[297] and the Strasserist group Black Lily has claimed to have sent mercenaries to Syria to fight alongside the Syrian army.[298]

        Nick Griffin, the former leader of the British National Party, was chosen by the Assad government to represent the UK as an ambassador and at government-held conferences; Griffin has been an official guest of the Syrian government three times since the beginning of the Civil War.[299] The European Solidarity Front for Syria, representing several far-right political groups from across Europe, has had their delegations received by the Syrian national parliament, with one delegation being met by Syrian Head of Parliament Mohammad Jihad al-Laham, Prime Minister Wael Nader al-Halqi and Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad.[288] In March 2015, Assad met with Filip Dewinter of the Belgian party Vlaams Belang.[300] In 2016, Assad met with a French delegation,[301] which included former leader of the youth movement of the National Front Julien Rochedy [fr].[302]

        For someone who's "done nothing wrong" Assad sure tends to hang out with a lot of fucking fascists.

        Also, homosexuality is still illegal in Ba'athist Syria and has been since 1949 with a penalty of 3 years in prison for sex acts.

        Pretty sure "Human Dignity Trust" is a CIA front just by the name but they quote actual Syrian penal code which I couldn't find elsewhere in a hurry: https://www.humandignitytrust.org/country-profile/syria/

        Edit: human dignity trust seems more likely to be MI6 than CIA but you get the picture

        • JoeySteel [comrade/them]
          6·
          4 years ago

          Did Assad write that law or did the Mps of parliament write them? :thinkin-lenin:

          if you asked the average Syrian do you think they would have progressive values comparable to the West or reactionary ones given their economic wealth in comparison? :thinkin-lenin:

          • Civility [none/use name]
            1·
            4 years ago

            What part of giving literal Neo-Nazis medals and TV time says "has done nothing wrong" to you?

            • JoeySteel [comrade/them]
              6·
              4 years ago

              Given Syria and Libyas history (Libya financing IRA)its probably Assads way of fucking with the West and fermenting internal conflict to highlight reprobabtes like that in which case critical support for trying to fuck with the West

              • Civility [none/use name]
                1·
                4 years ago

                Critical support for ... David Duke? in his struggle against ... anti-fascism?

                • JoeySteel [comrade/them]
                  7·
                  4 years ago

                  The only threat to the US state are the right wing nationalists

                  If you were the leader of a country like Syria i could see a very good foreign policy argument in promoting the greatest threat to the US state

                  • Civility [none/use name]
                    1·
                    4 years ago

                    That's not why the Ba'athists are doing it.

                    They took in Nazi officials fleeing Germany and have been supporting international fascism ever since.

      • comi [he/him]
        2·
        4 years ago

        Approval rating in war-torn country is patently meaningless, of course after eight years of this bloodbath people would want to chill and return to some kind of normalcy.

        And Ba’ath party was arresting communists in the 90s I thought? Also Kurds didn’t spontaneously rebel, they had some issues with him. And communist party supported (more or less) more autonomy for them, I believe.

        Frankly, it’s meaningless argument I feel. As I’ve mentioned it’s better if Assad stays and gives concessions to saner rebel groups, then US overthrows him, put some mercenary ghouls around oil fields and funnel weapons around the state to keep divided people fighting over nothing, doesn’t make him a good guy. Politicians by default should be treated with extreme suspicion.

        • JoeySteel [comrade/them]
          3·
          4 years ago

          And Ba’ath party was arresting communists in the 90s I thought?

          And now those communists are behind Assad

          Its almost like when circumstances change so should your strategy:thinkin-lenin:

          • comi [he/him]
            1·
            4 years ago

            Well no shit, doesn’t make him a good guy (tm). Like do you think Chang Kaishek and kmt were good guys? Or they were the least bad option for early cpc to support?