Darth Nader
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What is a Proxy War?
Is what’s happening in Syria today a revolution, a civil war or a proxy war? Far more than just an argument over semantics, which term is used to refer to the situation in Syria today denotes a political position. Supporters of the Syrian opposition call it a revolution, while those not at all sympathetic to … Continue reading
Latest Posts
This is a statement broadcasted live on Al Jazeera by Muaz al-Khatib, president of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces. Translated to the best of my ability: On the subject of terrorism: Oh brothers, we are against every group, every idea, and every weapon that wants to destroy the social fabric of … Continue reading
Muaz al-Khatib was probably the most popular figure among Syrians on the ground that the outside opposition has had. He was a charismatic figure who had broad appeal among seculars and non-seculars alike (although he was not very popular with the Salafis). His brand of religiosity was seen by many as a reflection of Syrian … Continue reading
Death in Syria has become so normalized that 100 people being killed in a day no longer warrants any international media attention. But there are some images that are so brutal, so gruesome, so inhumane, that they shock us all, no matter how normalized we may be. Well, most of us, anyway. The discovery of … Continue reading
Written by @DarthNader and @thatkhaleeji ——— Yesterday’s emergence of a “Black Bloc” in Egypt on the two-year anniversary of the Egyptian revolution has sparked the interest–and criticism–of many. Black Bloc’s militant tactics are almost always characterized as “senseless violence” or “violence for the sake of violence.” At best, Black Bloc participants are written off as … Continue reading
No, this is not another “who’s who” of the different members of the Syrian National Coalition. I won’t be explaining who Riyad al-Turk is and how he’s different from George Sabra. Rather, this is a rough guide to the different strands in the Syrian opposition that I’ve encountered over the past 2 years (because, contrary … Continue reading
Today, it is with great sadness that we learned about the death of Yusef al-Jader, whose nom-de-guerre was Abu Furat. Liwaa al-Tawhid announced that he was martyred today after leading a successful operation to liberate the Infantry School In Aleppo. Abu Furat was from Jarablus, a city on the border with Turkey in the suburbs … Continue reading
This piece is by Budour Hassan, a Palestinian anarchist and law graduate who is based in occupied Jerusalem. She writes about Weam Amasha, a Syrian from the occupied Golan Heights who was recently released from Israeli prison. You can follow Budour on twitter @Budour48. ——— The Syrian revolution as seen through the eyes of a … Continue reading
I first heard about the “National Unity Brigades” (in Arabic: Kata’eb Al-Wahda Al-Wataniye) from a YouTube video announcing the formation of one of their brigades and their intention to take up arms against the regime of Bashar Al-Assad in Syria. In the first line of the statement, the speaker declares “Religion is for God, and the … Continue reading
By now it should be evident that the mainstream news outlets’ coverage of events in Syria is flawed, at best. Even those news outlets that are accused of being ‘sympathetic’ to the demands of the opposition only scratch the surface of what’s really happening in Syria. Headlines focus on military events, such as the seizing … Continue reading
In the midst of reports that Christians are forming their own militias to keep the Free Syrian Army out of their neighborhoods in Aleppo, and that a brigade in Idlib has named itself after the murderous dictator Saddam Hussein (probably for sectarian reasons), a new video has emerged that challenges the sectarian narrative in Syria. … Continue reading
After the second day of the Democratic National Convention, it is not hard to understand why so many Americans are disillusioned with the American political system, and why so many Americans choose to abstain from voting. At the Democratic National Convention, the delegates needed a two-thirds majority to add an amendment to the Democratic platform … Continue reading
We left Beirut early in the morning, heading North. A bunch of Syrian youth in Lebanon had organized three trucks to deliver food to Syrian refugees scattered throughout the Northern region of Lebanon. I was lucky enough to volunteer to tag along and help out at the last second. Each family was to get a … Continue reading
I am very honored to host this post by Budour Hassan, a Palestinian anarchist law student living in Palestine. She writes about Nawar Qassem, a Syrian activist who was detained on June 28th by the Assad regime. You can follow Budour on twitter @Budour48. – – – - Nawar Qassem: Challenging the Discourse of Sectarianism … Continue reading
On June 24th, the Muslim Broterhood’s candidate, Mohamed Mursi, won the Presidential election in Egypt, defeating Ahmad Shafiq, a candidate who was largely seen as representative of the old regime. Mursi’s win was celebrated by many pro-revolutionaries in Egypt, secular and religious alike, because it was seen as a milestone victory in safeguarding the revolution … Continue reading
It’s horrible that it’s come to this. I never want to delve into stupid sectarian politics. But alas, the pro-Assad right-wing forces have made the sect of the Houla victims part of their propaganda campaign to exonerate government forces with regards to the Houla Massacre. So it has come to this. Directly after the Houla … Continue reading
Today, a graphic video was released showing Assad’s soldiers having fun after a massacre in the countryside of Idleb. It is a very revealing video. The soldiers seem to feel no remorse for the action they just committed. They call the corpses names, swear at them, throw them around, laugh at them, and undress them. … Continue reading
The involvement of Israel vis-a-vis Syria has been a contentious topic since the beginning of the Syrian uprising. Pro-regimers claim that overthrowing Assad is in Israel’s interest, Zionists are supporting the revolutionaries, and some have even gone so far as to claim that there are Zionists operating in Syria today. Basically, they contend that the … Continue reading
When news of the Houla Massacre first appeared, the usual radical skepticism reserved only for the Syrian revolution ensued. Many claimed they wanted to wait to ‘wait for the facts’, because, as you know, they frequently accuse the Syrian opposition of ‘faking’ massacres to garner public sympathy. As news kept pouring out, we finally learned … Continue reading
