10/25/2016

Tribute from the Anarchists from the D wing of Korydallos prison

We write this text wanting to talk about Abu Al Baraa, a rebel from Aleppo who succumbed to his injuries. He received these injuries, two days ago, from sniper bullets, in a battle against the forces of the bloodthirsty regime of Bashar Al Assad and its allies, to break the siege in southern Aleppo.
Contrary to the stereotype created by propaganda, he was not a fanatic Islamist, but a socialist. Unlike the sellouts of left, he continued to defend the revolution until the end, against the adversities, and battled to break the siege of Aleppo, through his participation in Brigade Leon Sedov. These people prove by their existence, that the struggle is possible in any circumstance. Where the enemy is a mighty military machine that makes indiscriminate air raids. Where residents do not dare to open the light because they are being targeted by the murderous bomber aircrafts of Russia. Where organizations like FSA and Islamist Fateh Al Sham (former Al Nusra) appropriate the revolution, imposing taxes, controlling oil-business, and capitalize their military power into checkpoints, in order to control the transfer of products and get richer. Where these organizations make the rebels kill each other for the sole purpose of their profits. Through the endless slaughter in Syria, where the bomber planes of US and European states, kill people every day, who happen to live in places that get occupied or temporarily used by ISIS, a group created by their own handlings.
In these circumstances, therefore, these people are trying to keep the idea of Revolutionary Coordination Committees alive, which expressed self-organization at the beginning of the revolution and are now eliminated by the organizations-feuds. These people were in favor of the expropriation of the banks during the recent demonstrations, which the above organizations prevented, because they didn't want them to become an obstacle to their interests. They express anti-imperialist analysis against all involved armies. These people were at the head of the demonstration in besieged Aleppo, which required from FSA and Al Nusra to give weapons to people to self-organize their defense against the regime (which the unions refused). They give their lives in battles against murderous military machines. These people have not left Syria, not abandoned the revolution in the hands of enemies.
Here, unfortunately, their voice is not being heard. While Syrian revolution drowned in blood, their voice is stifled by propaganda. A propaganda not only delivered from the right, but mostly from pieces of the left, because the majority has forgotten the social war and has been involved in geopolitical games between imperialist states. Ultimately, rather than defend a revolution, it scorns and abandons entire populations to the imperialist slaughterhouse, speaking with statist terms, and in its extreme form ends up showing Russia as a non-imperialist power and defending the murderer Al Assad. As part of this propaganda, Syrian revolution is declassified and presented as ethnic or religious conflict.
Unfortunately, even pieces of anarchist movement, either regurgitate the statist analyzes of regime left or simply remain unconcerned about an issue that cannot match their ideological preconceptions.

Time to break the silence. To break the political isolation. To do effective and not humanitarian actions of solidarity to the slaughtered Syrian people. When a war is raging for over than 6 years, which has cost hundreds of thousands dead and millions displaced, there is severe lack of organization of an anti-war demonstration. The increase of the internal pressure and the political cost, is the only way to force the imperialist states to stop the bombing. Excuses about the nature of the Syrian opposition have no meaning, as the fact that Saddam was a brutal dictator did not stop anti-war demonstrations for Iraq nor the Islamist references of Hamas prevented solidarity to the Palestinian resistance. Similarly, in the case of Syria, it is a necessity to organize anti-war demonstrations.

Abu Al Baraa, apart from battling daily to break the siege of Aleppo by forces of Assad and allies, was struggling to break the political siege of the Syrian revolution. He was one of the co-authors of the book "Syria in flames, a revolution stained in blood", and he was writing for the Arab newspaper "The truth of the oppressed".
We had correspondance with Abu Al Baraa and the brigade Leon Sedov, and we are going to expose the last letter he sent to us, about a symbolic financial contribution we wanted to send them. We translated and we are publishing it, because it reflects the way of thinking, ethics, and the desire for solidarity, from the fighters who fight there, and they are getting so slandered. It could be addressed to all comrades and not only to us, and personally it makes us consider the responsibilities of our own inactivity.

Anarchists from the D wing of Korydallos prison