You mean the US puppets that were used for strategic purposes for helping the US do imperialism and counter regional counterweights to the west such as Iran and its allies?
Well, I happen to think that non-“white” people have agency. Why couldn’t it have been that Rojava used the US to achieve its goals? I am not denying that some US goals and SDF/Rojava goals aligned, but why should we strip SDF of agency and say they are mindless puppets controlled by the US?
Because this is a US dominated Anglophone website, and imperial citizens generally think of Syrians as chess pieces in an abstract geopolitical game that they’re spectating as a detached fandom. They think “the pawns caused their team to lose by failing to protect their king”, and so they all deserve to get wiped out as punishment for making “the wrong strategic decision”. You could see it in some indignant comments recently about the Syrian army “giving up” and “not fighting hard enough” to “earn” Russia or Iran’s intervention after Assad fled the country. It keeps reminding me of the American liberals who gleefully talk about how they hope Trump kills more Latinos, women, and Arabs because they “deserve it” for failing to back Harris, or how people who voted Green were “Russian puppets whether they like it or not”.
The overthrow of the Syrian government, imperfect as it was, is a tragedy that will result in materially worse conditions for most people in Syria and the rest of West Asia. Having said that, it happened. While being a fragile cornerstone in what limited regional peace and stability there was, Assad’s government failed to protect large parts of the country from foreign aggression for years. People that the former Syrian government failed to protect from ISIS shouldn’t be expected by foreigners to owe some duty of loyalty to that government now that it’s surrendered, or to Assad personally now that he’s fled. The SDF’s past and present collaboration with the empire is absolutely worthy of scrutiny and criticism. Beyond that, I don’t pretend to be educated enough about them to have an opinion on whether they’re “good” or “bad” in an abstract sense. I definitely wouldn’t claim to think they’re on the verge of becoming a functioning internationally recognized state, much less an actually existing proletarian state.
That being said, Assad surrendered the Syrian government to what’s basically rebranded Al Qaeda, who currently appears to be the de facto ruler of the remaining Syrian state authority. Every remaining faction I’m aware of has collaborated with the empire to some extent. Whatever valid criticisms there are of the SDF: they’re not Al Qaeda, they’re not ISIS, and they’re not Turkey, all of whom have a history of imperial backing and all of whom would seem intent to bring about worse material conditions for the people actually living in Syria. I understand most of us are sad about the collapse of the former Syrian government and what it means for regional stability and anti-imperialist resistance, but it feels needlessly cruel and dehumanizing for imperial citizens on this site to let that sadness manifest in nihilistic positions that amount to: “I hope they all kill each other down to the last Syrian while America loots the graveyard; they’re getting what they deserve for failing the Assad family!” As someone who hopes to see a government in Syria strong and stable enough to protect the indigenous population from both foreign exploitation and enslavement by Wahabists, I don’t feel like I’m in a position to be ruling out what few indigenous potential sources of relative regional stability actually exist.
Well, I happen to think that non-“white” people have agency. Why couldn’t it have been that Rojava used the US to achieve its goals? I am not denying that some US goals and SDF/Rojava goals aligned, but why should we strip SDF of agency and say they are mindless puppets controlled by the US?
Because this is a US dominated Anglophone website, and imperial citizens generally think of Syrians as chess pieces in an abstract geopolitical game that they’re spectating as a detached fandom. They think “the pawns caused their team to lose by failing to protect their king”, and so they all deserve to get wiped out as punishment for making “the wrong strategic decision”. You could see it in some indignant comments recently about the Syrian army “giving up” and “not fighting hard enough” to “earn” Russia or Iran’s intervention after Assad fled the country. It keeps reminding me of the American liberals who gleefully talk about how they hope Trump kills more Latinos, women, and Arabs because they “deserve it” for failing to back Harris, or how people who voted Green were “Russian puppets whether they like it or not”.
The overthrow of the Syrian government, imperfect as it was, is a tragedy that will result in materially worse conditions for most people in Syria and the rest of West Asia. Having said that, it happened. While being a fragile cornerstone in what limited regional peace and stability there was, Assad’s government failed to protect large parts of the country from foreign aggression for years. People that the former Syrian government failed to protect from ISIS shouldn’t be expected by foreigners to owe some duty of loyalty to that government now that it’s surrendered, or to Assad personally now that he’s fled. The SDF’s past and present collaboration with the empire is absolutely worthy of scrutiny and criticism. Beyond that, I don’t pretend to be educated enough about them to have an opinion on whether they’re “good” or “bad” in an abstract sense. I definitely wouldn’t claim to think they’re on the verge of becoming a functioning internationally recognized state, much less an actually existing proletarian state.
That being said, Assad surrendered the Syrian government to what’s basically rebranded Al Qaeda, who currently appears to be the de facto ruler of the remaining Syrian state authority. Every remaining faction I’m aware of has collaborated with the empire to some extent. Whatever valid criticisms there are of the SDF: they’re not Al Qaeda, they’re not ISIS, and they’re not Turkey, all of whom have a history of imperial backing and all of whom would seem intent to bring about worse material conditions for the people actually living in Syria. I understand most of us are sad about the collapse of the former Syrian government and what it means for regional stability and anti-imperialist resistance, but it feels needlessly cruel and dehumanizing for imperial citizens on this site to let that sadness manifest in nihilistic positions that amount to: “I hope they all kill each other down to the last Syrian while America loots the graveyard; they’re getting what they deserve for failing the Assad family!” As someone who hopes to see a government in Syria strong and stable enough to protect the indigenous population from both foreign exploitation and enslavement by Wahabists, I don’t feel like I’m in a position to be ruling out what few indigenous potential sources of relative regional stability actually exist.