— Kerry-Anne Mendoza đłïžâđ (@TheMendozaWoman) February 20, 2021
Academics and supporters of civil liberties: Defend Professor David Miller – Defend Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom – Sign the Petition! https://t.co/JfyY22pQki — I signed
Anita Bennett (Chair of family learning disability charity Rescare, Stockport. Bristol NUJ Exec.) Kevin Bean (Expelled member, Wavertree 4, Merseyside Labour Left Alliance)Â John Courtneidge (Co-operator, socialist& Quaker) Terry Deans (Plymouth and region Labour Left Alliance). Deepa Driver (chair Momentum Camden, Free Julian Assange campaign) Esther Giles (suspended CLP secretary, Bristol North West CLP)Â Tony Greenstein (author, blogger, expert (!) on Israel/Palestine) Jackie Walker author and anti-racist campaigner Tina Werkman (co-chair, Labour Against the Witchhunt) and…
Chris Williamson (former Labour MP, Resistance Movement).
Professor David Miller of Bristol University called for an End to Zionism and said that the Union of Jewish Students, which is affiliated to the racist World Zionist Organisation, is using Jewish students as pawns and playing on their fears of anti-semitism.
I can't say this more strongly – supporters of civil liberties: Defend Professor David Miller – Defend Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom – Sign the Petition! https://t.co/7nBMaS9WAi via @UKChange
David Miller is part of the Syria Working Group, a red-brown organ of support for Assad in Syria.
(Youâll see 2 groups pop up a lot: the Org for Propaganda Studies/OPS & Working Group on Syria, Propaganda & Media/SPM, who embody these themes: academic credentials, leftist gloss but multiple connections to fascists, push other denialisms, & promoted by Russian state media) pic.twitter.com/6lW8CIL26M
— Bob From Brockley đ„€ (@bobfrombrockley) April 17, 2020
Vanessa Beeley of David Millers "working group on Syria propaganda and the media" sharing a link that (amongst other things) describes Kristalnacht as a Mossad false flag. H/t @InvestigadoraPpic.twitter.com/tE6zScX05J
On the selection of witnesses, what need to be explained in Douma is who killed the civilians who were filmed by the White Helmets? The recent leak of the engineers report suggests the cylinders were 'placed' not dropped and thus that the attack was probably staged.
We are deeply concerned to learn that you are to take part in the launch today, 5th September, of a CAGE publication co-authored by David Miller, a notorious pro-Assad atrocity denier. You previously appeared on a panel with him at a âSpinwatchâ panel event back on the 26th March.
David Miller, a professor of political sociology at the University of Bristol, is part of a group that systematically denies high profile Assad regime crimes against civilians in Syria, particularly the Assad regimeâs repeated use of chemical weapons. David Miller has also sought to deny Russiaâs responsibility for the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal. Evidence of this is included below.
Labourâs 2017 manifesto, when referring to Syria, committed to work for justice for the victims of war crimes.
As Home Secretary in a future Labour government, you would have responsibility for policy towards Syrian refugees in the UK who are victims ofâand witnesses toâthe Assad regimeâs crimes. You would also have responsibility for the UKâs own investigations into war crimes, currently dealt with by SO15, the Counter Terrorism Command of the Metropolitan Police.
If you associate yourself with a committed war crimes denier such as David Miller, this must undermine confidence in the willingness of Labour to work for the investigation and prosecution of those responsible for crimes in Syria, including some of the worst war crimes and crimes against humanity seen this century.
We hope you will reconsider appearing on this panel and be more careful about who you associate yourself with in future given your responsibilities as an MP and as Shadow Home Secretary.
Yours sincerely,
Batool Abdulkareen and Bronwen Griffiths, Syria Solidarity UK
David Taylor, Vice-Chair, LCID
This is Beely’s latest campaign:
The #BBC now appears to be a fully fledged Stasi agency for UK totalitarian state. #COVID19
Article by @mariannaspring who is accused of infiltrating Facebook groups without informing them of her #BBC links – to basically spy on UK population against warp speed vaxx. https://t.co/BnbYguPwVt
Endless experiments for Big Pharma, no end to lockdown and global tyranny. Way to go "pandemic" believers. I really believe we will end up with two parallel universes. I know which one I choose & it isn't a data colony controlled by parasite class. Choose now. pic.twitter.com/RKL5GPAZL8
Half of the funds raised for the Jo Cox Foundation went to the White Helmets. Chris Williamson just praised the woman who believes they are a legitimate target for Russian planes. Deliberate attacks on humanitarian aid workers is a WAR CRIME. pic.twitter.com/E9oHcc1ty1
Vanessa Beely is the siren of Syrian genocide denial. If this tweet is not crossing a red line then there are no red lines. Expel this fecker. https://t.co/wbJ79mauPk
Former Middle East editor of the Guardian. Author of ‘Arabs Without God’.
One spin-off from the Syrian conflict has been a war of words that reaches far beyond the Middle East. Itâs a battle in which honest reporting and the search for truth have come under sustained attack.
Those leading the attack claim they are simply asking questions that need to be asked. Itâs healthy scepticism, they say. But itâs a selective kind of scepticism where reports from some sources, primarily mainstream media in the west, are dismissed as untrueââânot because evidence shows they are wrong but because they donât fit the desired narrative.
At the same time, reports that do fit the narrative win praise on social media, regardless of supporting evidence, and people who venture to question them are liable to be assailed with abuse.
A prominent example is the work of Vanessa Beeley, a supporter of the Assad regime whose reports from Syria have turned her into a social media celebrity. The Russian propaganda channel, RT, describes her as âan independent investigative journalistâ and, in addition to her Russian TV appearances, she is associate editor of 21st Century Wire, the conspiracy theory website that publishes most of her work.
Beeley (fourth from right) with President Assad in 2016. She described it as her proudest moment.
It is far from clear what is the best position to take faced with the hecatomb of the Syrian civil war.
Few can reasonably argue that a few military strikes are going to end the horrors, or that a full-scale invasion is either about to take place, or would help anybody.
If a sentence could sum up the stand of many of us on the left it’s the one put forward by the group Socialist Resistance.Â
As  Joseph Daher points out: The butcher Assadâs regime is âa despotic, capitalist and patrimonial state ruling through violent repression and using various policies such as sectarianism, tribalism, conservatism, and racism to dominate societyâ. No socialist can support it.
But neither can socialists support imperialist intervention against it. A US led coalition could only bring the regime down by sending in large numbers of troops, a move that would condemn the country to a worse hell than that inflicted on Iraq, in a regional and political situation which is even more volatile. The regrettable fact is that the secular and democratic forces which tried to bring down Assad have been seriously weakened, benefiting the Islamic fundamentalist and jihadist forces on the ground. A settlement based on aggression by the French, Americans, British and their regional supporters will do nothing but create a worse sectarian and ethnic bloodbath.
How should the internationalist left respond to calls from some Syrians and Kurds for assistance from the United States military?
There is definitely no easy answer, especially when people are getting massacred on one side and, on the other, the USA has no willingness of any regime change in Syria, as has been the case since the beginning of the uprising, or, as we saw, to stop the Turkish intervention against the Kurds in Afrin.
Today the main issue is really demanding the end of the war, an end to all military interventions and guaranteeing rights for the civilians. I expanded on this issue in the last question.
However, while disagreeing with groups demanding military interventions, we should still maintain our solidarity with all the democratic and progressive forces in Syria as well as the Kurdish socialist and democratic forces that resist against the two actors of the counter revolution: the Assad regime on one side and the jihadist and Islamic reactionary forces on the other side.
From this perspective, what we can argue is that it is necessary to defend a local dynamic of self-defense rather than increasing the stranglehold of imperialism, and therefore we should also support the provision of weapons and arms to these democratic forces in the region to combat both counter-revolutionary forces. These are important element that could empower the democratic and progressive forces on the ground and give them the tools to defend themselves.
For the people who donât feel at ease with the fact of demanding arms and weapons with no political conditions and strings attached from the West, I would like to invite them to read Trotskyâs âLearn to Think.â [2]
This does not mean of course that we are uncritical of the leadership of these groups that have such demands, and we should maintain our independence and critical opinions, even when dealing with them.
We have to be clear that imperialist actors and regional powers all act according to an imperialist logic that maintains authoritarian and unjust systems. They all oppose the self-determination of the peoples of the region and their struggles for emancipation. Hence, anti-war activists whether in the Middle East or the West need to address all forms of repression and authoritarianism, and condemn all forms of foreign intervention against the interests of the people of the region.
Joseph Daher continues,
What are some direct actions that anti-fascists and anti-authoritarians can take in solidarity with the Syrian people, including those being massacred in Ghouta, Idlib, and Afrin?
Multiple things should be done. I think anti-fascists and anti-authoritarians should call for an end to the war, which has created terrible suffering. It has led to massive displacement of people within the country and driven millions out of it as refugees. The war only benefits the counterrevolutionary forces on all sides. From both a political and humanitarian perspective, the end of the war in Syria is an absolute necessity.
Likewise, we must reject all the attempts to legitimize Assadâs regime, and we must oppose all agreements that enable it to play any role in the countryâs future. A blank check given to Assad today will encourage future attempts by other despotic and authoritarian states to crush their populations if they come to revolt.
We have to guarantee as well the rights of civilians within Syria, particularly preventing more forced displacements and securing the rights of refugees (right of return, right for financial compensations in case of destruction of their houses, justice for the losses of their relatives, etc.).
Assad and his various partners in the regime must be held accountable for their crimes. The same goes for the Islamic fundamentalist and jihadist forces and other armed groups.
We need to support the democratic and progressive actors and movements against both sides of the counterrevolution: the regime and its Islamic fundamentalist opponents. We have to build a united front based on the initial objectives of the revolution: democracy, social justice, and equality, saying no to sectarianism and no to racism.
We of course need to oppose all imperialist and authoritarian actors intervening in Syria.
Effectively the same position is taken by the Alliance for Workers’ Liberty and others:
One theme that has caused great concern on the left is the absence of any clear condemnation of Assad from the main anti-war groups.
Supporters of Counterfire, a split from the Socialist Workers Party, which has paddled in the ocean of revolution but found its home in the safer pond of British pressure group politics, occupies leading positions in the Stop the War Coalition (StWC).
Lindsey German is a member of Counterfire and the national convenor of the Stop the War Coalition.
The StWC claims to oppose Assad. But her most recent article on the anti-war movement does not find the time to mention “the butchery” of the Assad regime” once.
The strikes carried out by the US Britain and France this weekend have achieved nothing in terms of stopping the suffering of the Syrian people or of making the world a safer place. They are purely a gesture to show that western imperialism can âpunishâ Russia and Syria, and to help determine the outcome of the war in Syria.
…….
Western imperialism has no clear strategy except more lashing out with little purpose – which is the net effect of this latest attack. The unintended consequence of the war in Iraq has been the strengthening of Iran. The failed strategy of regime change in Syria has also strengthened Iran. So now Iran will move to centre stage.
Donald Trump has appointed advisers, especially Secretary of State John Bolton, who are neocon hawks determined to overthrow the Iranian government. Next month Trump wants to move the US embassy to Jerusalem and to tear up the Iran nuclear deal – both likely to prove major flash points in the Middle East.
And Russia? Politicians and commentators are sighing with relief that they have managed to pull off a strike that was weak enough to avoid direct conflict with Russia. But the tensions between the powers are worse than at any time since the Cold War, and we have nuclear powers involved in clashes in a cockpit of war.
We live in dangerous times and this strike just made them more dangerous.