Statement by Group of Syrian Writers, Artists, and Journalists on US and Russian Policy

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Sep 27, 2016 Syria
[Map of Syria via Wikipedia Commons] [Map of Syria via Wikipedia Commons]

Statement by Group of Syrian Writers, Artists, and Journalists on US and Russian Policy

By : Jadaliyya Reports

[The following statement was issued by a group of Syrian writers, artists, and journalists on 21 September 2016]

Syrian Writers, Artists, and Journalists Speak Out Against US and Russian Policy

We the undersigned are democratic and secular Syrian writers, artists, and journalists who have opposed the tyrannical Assad regime for years, even decades. We are participants in the struggle for democracy and justice in our country, our region and in the world. We unreservedly, and in the strongest language, condemn the Russian and US approach of intervening in our internal Syrian affairs. At least since 2013, these two powers have been working to co-opt the Syrian liberation struggle under the rubric of the “war against terror.” This is a war that has failed to score a single success since its outset, and has led instead to the destruction of a number of countries.

Three years ago the two imperialist nations signed a reprehensible deal on chemical weapons that resolved a problem for the United States, Israel, and Russia, and even for the Assad regime, which had just murdered 1,466 of its subjects. The deal however did not resolve any of the problems facing the Syrian people. Rather it gave free rein to an extremely criminal regime that kills Syrians, destroys their villages and communities, and drives them into exile. The deal has also proved to be a priceless gift to Islamist nihilistic groups like Daesh and Jabhat an-Nusra. Three years into this contemptible deal—with the death count now at around half a million Syrians—Russians and Americans have agreed to freeze the current situation so that the two military powers can carry on their endless war against terror. The agreement remains silent on the untold number of detainees held in brutal conditions, and includes no call for lifting the blockade on besieged areas, or the withdrawal of Iran, the Hezbollah militia, or any other sectarian militia. It is also devoid of any reference to the c

Our feelings of anger over these agreements and their authors know no bounds. And we reject them absolutely. We are also disappointed in the United Nations, angered that, as was recently revealed, it has been financing the criminal oligarchy of Assad and his cronies throughout their war against the Syrians.

As Syrian writers, artists, and journalists, we see the world today heading toward an unprecedented numbing of ethics. Levels of fear and hatred escalate in parallel with the increasing visibility of politicians who invest in the same feelings of fear, hatred, and isolationism. We see democracy in retreat around the world, while surveillance, control, and fear are rife and advancing. We do not believe that our fate is defined by these conditions, but rather that these are a result of dangerous choices taken by dangerous political elites, and that we must work together to voice our opposition to them, right now and wherever we may be.

A destroyed Syria is the symbol of the state of the world today. The Syrian revolution was broken against the solid wall of the international community, and not only against the wall of the forces aligned with Assadist fascism. This international community allows politicians like Obama and Putin, along with their agents and clones—people lacking all sense of humanity—to take decisions that violate our right to self-determination, as individuals and groups but also as a nation. We have not elected them, and we have no access to any mechanism that can call them to account. This is an unfair system that fiercely opposes democracy. Therefore it must change.

Unfortunately, there seems to be too little awareness of how hazardous reality has become. Many, especially in the West, prefer to hide behind fatalistic theories steeped in religion or culture—when they do not attribute events to climate change. This explains why a bad situation has become much worse, but it also absolves the powerful elite, including Bashar al-Assad and his gang, of their political responsibilities.

This world must change. In just five and a half years, it has allowed the destruction of one of the most ancient cradles of civilization. The world today is a Syrian problem, just like Syria today is a world problem. And for the sake of this world, for all our sakes, we call for the condemnation of the politicians responsible for this disaster and for their exposure as nihilistic murderers and terrorists, similar to their arch-rivals in the Islamist nihilistic camp.

The Signatories

Ibrahim al-Jabin, Novelist, journalist

Ahmad Barqawi, Philosopher

Ahmad Hasso, Journalist

Ahmad Omar, Writer

Ahmad Isha, Translator

Usama Muhammad, Film director, screenwriter

Usama Nassar, Journalist, activist

Assaad al-Ashi

Islam Abu Shakir, Story-teller

Anas Yusef, Physician

Anwar al-Omar

Anwar Omran

Aws al-Mubarak, Writer

Iyad Hayatleh, Poet

Iyad Abdullah, Writer

Ilaf Yassin, Journalist

Iman Shaker

Aya al-Atassi, Journalist

Basil al-Awdat, Journalist

Badr al-Din Arudaki, Writer, translator

Burhan Ghalioun, Writer, academic

Bakr Sidqi, Writer, journalist

Tammam Hunaydi, Poet

Jamal Said, Writer

Jamil Nahra, Novelist

Jihad Yaziji, Economist

Hazem Kamal al-Din

Hazem Nahar, Writer

Hizam Zohur Uday, Writer, journalist

Husam al-Saad, Academic

Husam al-Din Muhammad, Writer, journalist

Hasko Hasko, Artist

Hasan Shahut, Poet

Hala Omran, Actress

Hikmat Shata, Engineer, artist

Khaled Sulayman al-Nasseri, Poet, filmmaker

Khodor al-Agha, Writer

Khatib Badla, Writer

Khaldun al-Shamaa, Literary critic

Khalaf Ali al-Khalaf, Poet

Khalil al-Haj Saleh, Translator

Khayri al-Zahabi, Writer, novelist

Dara al-Abdullah, Writer

Durayd al-Bayk, Journalist, engineer

Dima Wannous, Writer, journalist

Raed Wahsh, Poet

Rateb Shabo, Writer, translator

Rashid Issa, Journalist

Rustom Mahmud, Syrian writer, researcher

Rasha Abbas, Story-teller

Rasha Omran, Poet

Rashid al-Haj Saleh, Writer

Rosa Yassin Hasan, Writer

Rima Flayhan, Writer, activist

Zahir Omareen, Writer

Zoya Bustan, Journalist

Samer al-Ahmad, Journalist

Saad Haju, Caricaturist

Said Ghazul, News editor

Samar Yazbek, Novelist

Samih Shuqair, Artist

Samih al-Safadi, Writer

Salam al-Kawakibi, Writer, researcher

Salam Muhammad, Screenwriter

Sulayman al-Buti,

Charbel Kanoun, Photographer

Sadik Jalal al-Azm, Thinker

Sadik Abdul Rahman, Writer

Safi Ala al-Din, Publisher

Subhi Hadidi, Writer, literary critic

Subhi Halima, Writer, journalist

Dahir Ita, Writer

Duha Hasan, Writer

Duha Ashour, Writer

Talib al-Ali, Writer

Talal Daqmaq, Photographer

Adil al-Ayed, Journalist

Asim al-Basha, Sculptor

Asim Hamsho, Writer

Abdul Rahman Matar, Writer

Abdul Rahim Khalifa, Political and human rights activist

Abdul Aziz al-Tammo, Syrian Kurdish writer, politician

Abdullah Turkmani, Researcher

Abdullah Maksur, Novelist

Urwa al-Ahmad, Journalist, actor

Assaf al-ʿAssaf, Writer

Ali Diab

Ali Safar, Writer, journalist

Ali al-Ayed, Journalist

Imad Huriyyah, Theater critic

Imad Obaid, Artist

Ammar al-Jumaa, Poet

Ammar Qat, Journalist

Omar al-Asaad, Journalist

Omar Kaddour, Novelist

Omar Kush, Writer

Ghassan al-Muflih, Journalist

Ghayyath al-Madhoun, Poet

Fadi Dioub, Activist

Fares el-Helou, Actor

Farouk Mardam-Bey, Writer, publisher

Fayez al-Basha, Physician

Fayez al-Abbas, Poet

Fadwa Kilani, Poet

Faraj Bayrakdar, Poet

Fuad Muhammad Fuad, Professor, poet

Qusay Assef al-Shuwaikh, Engineer

Karim al-Afnan, Journalist

Luay Skaff, Engineer

Laila Safadi, Journalist

Lina Atfa, Poet

Majid Rashid al-Ouayd, Novelist, writer

Majid Matrud, Poet, critic

Mazen Haddad, Engineer

Mazen Darwish, Human rights activist

Malik Daghistani, Writer

Mamoun al-Shari, Writer

Mahir Junaydi, Writer, journalist

Mahir Massud, Writer

Muhammad Haj Bakri, Economic researcher, writer

Muhammad al-Haj Saleh, Writer

Muhammad Khalifa, Writer, researcher

Muhammad al-Abdullah, Syrian lawyer, activist

Mohammad al-Attar, Playwright

Marwan al-Atrash, Engineer

Mustafa Suleyman, Artist

Mubid al-Hassun, Writer

Mufid Najm, Poet

Malaz al-Zoabi, Journalist

Mansour al-Sulti, Theater actor, director

Munhil Barish, Journalist

Munir al-Khatib, Writer

Maurice Ayiq, Writer

Musa Rammo, Artist

Maya Sharbaji, Artist

May Skaf, Actress

Michel Shammas, Lawyer, human rights activist

Mikhail Saad, Writer

Nahed Badawia, Writer

Najat Murshid, Teacher

Nashwan Atassi, Writer

Nouri al-Jarrah, Poet

Hala Mohammad, Poet, film director

Hala Alabdalla, Filmmaker

Hind Muri

Hushang Usi, Writer

Haytham Abdallah, Translator

Wael Tamimi, Journalist

Wael Marza, Writer

Wijdan Nassif, Writer

Wafai Layla, Poet

Yara Badr, Journalist

Yasser Munif, Academic

Yassin Suwayha, Writer

Yassin al-Haj Saleh, Writer

Yamin Hussein, Journalist

Yusef Duays, Writer, journalist 
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Past is Present: Settler Colonialism Matters!

On 5-6 March 2011, the Palestine Society at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London will hold its seventh annual conference, "Past is Present: Settler Colonialism in Palestine." This year`s conference aims to understand Zionism as a settler colonial project which has, for more than a century, subjected Palestine and Palestinians to a structural and violent form of destruction, dispossession, land appropriation and erasure in the pursuit of a new Jewish Israeli society. By organizing this conference, we hope to reclaim and revive the settler colonial paradigm and to outline its potential to inform and guide political strategy and mobilization.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is often described as unique and exceptional with little resemblance to other historical or ongoing colonial conflicts. Yet, for Zionism, like other settler colonial projects such as the British colonization of Ireland or European settlement of North America, South Africa or Australia, the imperative is to control the land and its resources -- and to displace the original inhabitants. Indeed, as conference keynote speaker Patrick Wolfe, one of the foremost scholars on settler colonialism and professor at La Trobe University in Victoria, Australia, argues, "the logic of this project, a sustained institutional tendency to eliminate the Indigenous population, informs a range of historical practices that might otherwise appear distinct--invasion is a structure not an event."[i]

Therefore, the classification of the Zionist movement as a settler colonial project, and the Israeli state as its manifestation, is not merely intended as a statement on the historical origins of Israel, nor as a rhetorical or polemical device. Rather, the aim is to highlight Zionism`s structural continuities and the ideology which informs Israeli policies and practices in Palestine and toward Palestinians everywhere. Thus, the Nakba -- whether viewed as a spontaneous, violent episode in war, or the implementation of a preconceived master plan -- should be understood as both the precondition for the creation of Israel and the logical outcome of Zionist settlement in Palestine.

Moreover, it is this same logic that sustains the continuation of the Nakba today. As remarked by Benny Morris, “had he [David Ben Gurion] carried out full expulsion--rather than partial--he would have stabilised the State of Israel for generations.”[ii] Yet, plagued by an “instability”--defined by the very existence of the Palestinian nation--Israel continues its daily state practices in its quest to fulfill Zionism’s logic to maximize the amount of land under its control with the minimum number of Palestinians on it. These practices take a painful array of manifestations: aerial and maritime bombardment, massacre and invasion, house demolitions, land theft, identity card confiscation, racist laws and loyalty tests, the wall, the siege on Gaza, cultural appropriation, and the dependence on willing (or unwilling) native collaboration and security arrangements, all with the continued support and backing of imperial power. 

Despite these enduring practices however, the settler colonial paradigm has largely fallen into disuse. As a paradigm, it once served as a primary ideological and political framework for all Palestinian political factions and trends, and informed the intellectual work of committed academics and revolutionary scholars, both Palestinians and Jews.

The conference thus asks where and why the settler colonial paradigm was lost, both in scholarship on Palestine and in politics; how do current analyses and theoretical trends that have arisen in its place address present and historical realities? While acknowledging the creativity of these new interpretations, we must nonetheless ask: when exactly did Palestinian natives find themselves in a "post-colonial" condition? When did the ongoing struggle over land become a "post-conflict" situation? When did Israel become a "post-Zionist" society? And when did the fortification of Palestinian ghettos and reservations become "state-building"?

In outlining settler colonialism as a central paradigm from which to understand Palestine, this conference re-invigorates it as a tool by which to analyze the present situation. In doing so, it contests solutions which accommodate Zionism, and more significantly, builds settler colonialism as a political analysis that can embolden and inform a strategy of active, mutual, and principled Palestinian alignment with the Arab struggle for self-determination, and indigenous struggles in the US, Latin America, Oceania, and elsewhere.

Such an alignment would expand the tools available to Palestinians and their solidarity movement, and reconnect the struggle to its own history of anti-colonial internationalism. At its core, this internationalism asserts that the Palestinian struggle against Zionist settler colonialism can only be won when it is embedded within, and empowered by, the broader Arab movement for emancipation and the indigenous, anti-racist and anti-colonial movement--from Arizona to Auckland.

SOAS Palestine Society invites everyone to join us at what promises to be a significant intervention in Palestine activism and scholarship.

For over 30 years, SOAS Palestine Society has heightened awareness and understanding of the Palestinian people, their rights, culture, and struggle for self-determination, amongst students, faculty, staff, and the broader public. SOAS Palestine society aims to continuously push the frontiers of discourse in an effort to make provocative arguments and to stimulate debate and organizing for justice in Palestine through relevant conferences, and events ranging from the intellectual and political impact of Edward Said`s life and work (2004), international law and the Palestine question (2005), the economy of Palestine and its occupation (2006), the one state (2007), 60 Years of Nakba, 60 Years of Resistance (2009), and most recently, the Left in Palestine (2010).

For more information on the SOAS Palestine Society 7th annual conference, Past is Present: Settler Colonialism in Palestine: www.soaspalsoc.org

SOAS Palestine Society Organizing Collective is a group of committed students that has undertaken to organize annual academic conferences on Palestine since 2003.

 

[i] Patrick Wolfe, Settler Colonialism and the Transformation of Anthropology: The Politics and Poetics of an Ethnographic Event, Cassell, London, p. 163

[ii] Interview with Benny Morris, Survival of the Fittest, Haaretz, 9. January 2004, http://cosmos.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/php/art.php?aid=5412