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Chris Slee [in the thread "Sochi didn’t succeed, it’s just that the weapons are hidden” (ANF)"] disputes my assertions that that the SDF commander Ebu Omer Idlibi is fantasising, where he talks about his little group getting kicked out of Idlib by other rebel groups (collectively called “terrorists” acting “under Turkey’s orders” in Apoist discourse) because his group “continued to fight ISIS.” My two main points were, firstly, that ISIS had been driven from Idlib (and all of western Syria) root and branch by the rebels in early 2014, so there was no ISIS to be fighting later in 2014 when these events allegedly occurred, and that in any case, all rebel groups – FSA, Islamists of all stripes, and Nusra – fight ISIS. Chris claims to have discovered ISIS in Idlib later in 2014: “In reality, there was a temporary revival of ISIS in Idlib in the second half of 2014, as a result of the greatly increased prestige and resources it gained through its capture of Mosul in June 2014.” He quotes Aron Lund: "The Islamic State’s whirlwind successes in Iraq in June 2014 sparked a flood of new defections. … In the northwestern province of Idlib, the so-called Dawood Brigade (which was already very close to the Islamic State) also decided to jump on the bandwagon and sent a large convoy of fighters to the Islamic State capital of Raqqa. Stray groups of rebels are in fact arriving to Raqqa from Idlib even now, months later." Chris concludes that “Given that ISIS was present in Idlib in the second half of 2014, there is no reason to doubt that Abu Omar al-Idlibi's group fought against it at that time.” Really, Chris? Lund’s article says nothing about any fight against this little defection to ISIS in Idlib, not because every group would not have fought it, but because he seems to suggest that as soon as they defected, they fled from Idlib to the ISIS capital Raqqa. Even if Chris’ little grouplet, and everyone else, did fight it as soon as it appeared, this would have lasted days at the most – it does not leave much scope for “continuing to fight ISIS.” Still less would “continuing to fight ISIS” be a reason for the alleged crackdown by the other rebels on the groupsicle, since there were no groups that did not fight ISIS. In fact, Chris’ stress that the commander did not say his group “alone” continued to fight ISIS, but also “some forces like us”, puts him in a difficult position, because I don’t think the SDF, or its global backers, see themselves as being “like” the Islamic Front, who were responsible for expelling Dawud from Idlib: “… the Islamic Front, an umbrella group of Islamist fighting forces, had arrested and executed eight Islamic State agents, and that this drove Hassan Abboud, the brigade’s [ie, Dawud Brigade] leader, to head to Raqqa.” https://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-world/article2603226.html#storylink=cpy Back to the SDF commander: "We and some forces like us fighting under different names were removed from Idlib in 2014 by terrorist forces. Jabhat Al Nusra attacked us as we were fighting the regime and ISIS" claims the SDF commander. But Nusra crushed the Syrian Revolutionaries Front (SRF), the largest FSA coalition in Idlib, in November, long after the brief June appearance, and expulsion, of the Dawud defection. The claim that they were then “fighting ISIS”, and even more, that this is the reason they were expelled, is pure fantasy. By the way, I cannot find any reference to “Liwa Shimal Demokratik” in Idlib, in fact, the only reference at all, in English, is to this very article. Regarding the FSA situation around Idlib/northwest in 2014, no such group was among the constituents of the Syrian Revolutionaries Front (http://carnegie-mec.org/syriaincrisis/?fa=53910), or Harakat Hazm (https://www.huffingtonpost.com/charles-lister/american-anti-tank-weapon_b_5119255.html) or the Fifth Corp (http://en.etilaf.org/all-news/news/merger-of-five-rebel-factions-into-the-fifth-corps.html), the three main FSA coalitions. But it’s not really the point. The problem is the tendency to want to grab onto some “real revolutionaries”, to want to find “the left” in such catastrophic situations, and, while that may be understandable in the abstract, to then go on and hang off every word they utter, no matter how self-evidently false and self-serving. The YPG/SDF may have done a lot of good things in Rojava (actually I never said any different, just that I was also willing to recognise it when the opposite was also true), but surely anyone can see that the wooden and self-serving language of the Apoist media is the same old language of Stalinism. Everything revolves around the sect, around the “true revolutionaries”, around … the party (ie the one behind it all, the PYD), everything is good and bad in relation to it. Thus if a microscopic grouplet claims it and perhaps a few other little groups like it, that no-one has heard of, was expelled by “terrorists” in Idlib because their little grouplets alone “continued to fight ISIS”, long after ISIS had been driven from Idlib by the other “terrorist” groups, driven out by groups which everyone knows also fight ISIS when it appears, if this all sounds like fantasy, that’s OK, because it is all about the “true revolutionaries.” I’m sorry to put it that way Chris, but I’m not sure why this language and method is unfamiliar to you. In another post, you highlight the campaign to keep Idlib’s pro-rebel Radio Fresh operating, after the Trump regime cut off all the funding to civil projects in opposition areas in Syria. You say you don't know anything about this radio station, but from what is reported there, “it sounds OK.” Yes, civil revolutionaries who have been operating against the Assad regime (and ISIS when it was there, and still against HTS) for years and years in Idlib, “sound OK”, but presumably not to the Rojava standard. OK, that’s not fair – not everyone knows about everything happening. But I’ll put it to you like this comrade: the DSP’s and Green Left’s orientation for 4-5 years now on Syria has been so overwhelmingly mono-focused on Rojava that it is understandable that you know little of the vast array of radical activism in Idlib and other liberated regions of Syria; this orientation actively discourages knowing about Idlib or anywhere but Rojava; Idlib is run by “terrorists” and “jihadists” is what we need to know. Raed Fares, who is quoted in the article and who is associated with Radio Fresh, is a household name among those who have followed the Syrian revolution in a more embracing way, rather than being only focused on where the PYD dominates. He is responsible for the colourful slogans that liberated Kafranbel has long been responsible for, which I’m sure you have seen. It is the widespread existence and prominence of things like Radio Fresh, elected civil councils, women’s groups, LCC’s, massive demonstrations, and their necessary armed expression, at least for protection, among the FSA groups, all over Idlib, and before being crushed by fascism, East Ghouta, Daraya, East Aleppo, Daraa in the south, Qalamoun, Homs etc, that is the revolution we speak about, not reactionary groups like HTS in Idlib or Jaysh Islam in former east Ghouta, who are/were simply unable to crush this ongoing revolutionary situation. So while much of the mainstream and “left” media, and I suggest Apoist media, likes to call Idlib a “terrorist stronghold” and laughably pretend that groups like HTS are all powerful there in the same way as the Assad tyranny is in its regions, gems such as Radio Fresh prove otherwise. Actually, you Chris seem to be aware of this, congratulations on your recent GLW article which described the outpouring of 10s of 1000s of people all over liberated Greater Idlib, refusing to cower down to Assad’s threats, raising the original slogans of the 2011 revolution (and of course, there was no great “jihadist repression” from HTS to stop it either, despite a few feeble attempts). This was a major achievement for GLW and the DSP, and if you internally had something to with this move to a less sectarian (politically) view of the Syrian situation, well done. Not long ago, Louis Proyect showed that while there had been literally 100s of articles on Rojava, there had not been even one word on Ghouta for 5 years, since the nasty article that said 1400 people had been extinguished in Ghouta by chemical weapons fired from an “unknown” source! So I was very glad to see your article, and hope this new orientation continues. _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
