the far-right’s assadophilia

Sama Shah

On the Facebook page of James Alex Fields Jr., the man who drove his car into a group of counterprotesters at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, was familiar far-right imagery: swastikas, Adolf Hitler, and Pepe the Frog.[1] Among these appears an image of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in military uniform with the word “undefeated” inscribed underneath.[2] It is this — the far-right’s fascination with and support for Assad, exemplified in this anecdote, yet not limited to it, that I aim to explore and contextualize in this paper. Who are Assad’s fascist supporters? What drives their support? How does their rhetoric seep into mainstream right-wing discourse? What implications does it have in terms of the “Syrianization” of the world?[3]

I center my research on the Western far right because of its political relevance and its adept use of online technology to disseminate its ideology and grow its community. This right has maneuvered its ideological-political goals into the rhetoric of mainstream right-leaning political figures, and, therefore, mainstream discourse. This rhetoric is not relegating itself to niche chat rooms or political margins, but rather expanding to become normalized and palatable. In this paper, I argue that the far right has translated its anti-Muslim, anti-Semitic, and anti-globalization rhetoric, as well as its masculinist fascination with violence, into support for the regime and policies of Bashar al-Assad both online in popular far right forums and social media pages and in ‘real-life.’

Understanding the Far Right

Before I continue, however, I must explain what I mean by ‘Western far right.’ As I understand it, the far right in the West encompasses bodies and movements that “[equate] the people with the ethnic nation and thus [strengthen] the eternal value of the organic community and [reinforce] its exclusionary nature,” situating themselves in opposition to both the capitalist elite whose neoliberal, globalist policies threaten their traditional livelihoods as well as the black and brown poor whose very existence threatens their imagined nation.[4] This opposition manifests itself in critiques of capitalism and the economic inequity that it fosters, as well as proposals to strengthen the welfare state. Here the far right differs from the far left because the left has historically been inclusive of immigrants, racial and ethnic minorities, and women, while the right has created a narrative of a “homogenous people standing against an elite,” thereby advancing the economic and political interests of whites at the exclusion of non-white citizens and immigrants.[5]

In this way, leftist criticism has largely targeted the bourgeoisie and neo-liberal capitalist policies. Its anti-capitalist support for working people is open to diverse identities, while the right has created two enemies situated on opposite ends of the class hierarchy – the mostly white elite and the non-white ‘Other.’ In the far-right’s self-understanding, it exists in the inbetween, exploited by both. The fight of this right is a battle for a new society rooted in neo-Nazi principles, in the separation, and sometimes extermination, of those deemed inferior, of a white working class socialism and an elevation of ‘Judeo-Christian heritage’ at the exclusion of all others. This right, unlike the mainstream political right, which has often been eager to militarily intervene in the affairs of ‘rogue’ Global South nations, has turned inwards, broadly accepting the idea that the rest of the world should sort out its own problems without the expectation of Western solidarity or aid. This hatred they harbor for the ‘Other’ has come out in their anti-Muslim politics and rhetoric, a unifying factor amongst these groups that otherwise share varying philosophies regarding women’s rights, gay rights, secularism, etc.

The Far Right and Islam

The far right’s white supremacist hatred of Islam engenders its support for the Assad regime.  Although Assad is a Muslim, he is of a minority sect — an Alawite. Therefore, to far right activists, he represents the umbrella of minority rights, under which Syrian Christians fall, that are besieged by Sunni Islamists. For this reason, in the Syrian case, these neo-fascists have strategically painted an image of radical Islamists on one side and vulnerable Christians (and ‘good Muslims,’ like Assad) on the other. Examples of these groups are not difficult to find. CasaPound, Forza Nuova, the French National Front, Golden Dawn, the British National Party, the UK Independence Party, Vlaams Belang, Alternative für Deutschland, and high-profile members of the Trump-wing of the Republican Party, which all perpetuate anti-Muslim myths, have come out in support of Assad, whether through denying his use of chemical weapons, hailing him as the defender of the Middle East’s Christians, applauding him for his anti-Zionism and resistance to Western interference, or asserting that he is the only entity preventing Syria’s surrender to the Islamic State.[6] CasaPound’s prime ministerial candidate during the 2018 Italian elections, Simone Di Stefano, said this of the group’s support for the Syrian government in an interview with al-Jazeera: “‘Under the Assad regime, people can celebrate Christmas openly and women are not forced to wear a headscarf.’”[7] Here, he reduces the conflict to one of minority-majority power struggles, in which repression is justified as long as there exist unveiled women. Di Setfano has also insisted that most Syrian refugees “‘flee from rebels and ISIL’” despite a 2015 poll of about 900 Syrian refugees in Germany that revealed that half would return to Syria were Assad to lose power and that the regime and its allies are responsible for up to 94% of the conflict’s civilian death toll, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights.[8] Another Italian, self-identified fascist and Forza Nuova party leader Roberto Fiore, has also come out in support of Assad, tweeting “‘Forza Nuova defends Assad and the Syrian people against attacks by ISIS and the USA,’” adding a picture of party activists holding a pro-Assad banner.[9] In France, Marine Le Pen, who has consistently stoked fears about mass Muslim migration into Europe, Muslim women who cover, and the ostensible Islamisization of Europe, asserts that Assad is the only “solution” to Syria’s civil war.[10] Across the English Channel, Nigel Farage says to a congregation of EU member state leaders:

“I represent a group that is against military action in Syria. We’re against it not because we’re pacifist… we’re against it because we think there’s some pretty poor thinking going on. This idea that somehow the rebels are the good guys and Assad are the bad guys really is oversimplifying a situation where of course we know that al-Qaeda has significant representations amongst those rebel groups… Assad has a chance to prove to all of us whether he is a good man or a bad man…”[11]

Farage then goes on to admonish several EU member states for their role in arming the rebels, “something that struck [him] given… al-Qaeda’s involvement,” again highlighting the presence of the violent Islamist group over the opposition’s more moderate to progressive elements.[12] Across the Atlantic, white supremacist Richard Spencer glows about the Syrian president, saying that “Assad is a British-trained physician, one of the most civilized leaders in the Middle East” to Assad promotes “‘a civilized variant of Islam,’” using anti-Muslim constructions of civilized (Christian) versus uncivilized (Muslim, Eastern) faiths to lend his support to the civilized dictator.[13] More than just outright offensive, however, what these sloppily created dichotomies of civilized and uncivilized, moderate and extreme, good and bad, and the subsequent uplifting of ‘civilized,’ ‘moderate,’ and ‘good’ Muslims do is render Islam, in its most acceptable rendition, something of a passive force, a dead religion. Muslims are permitted, though with some distaste, to be Muslim as long as that Islam does not manifest itself physically, does not influence one’s political beliefs. It is an Islam that the Muslim must claim reluctantly, as something simply inherited; an Islam that is not seriously engaged with or an elevated aspect of one’s identity.

In his deconstruction of America’s tendency to categorize Muslims into the aforementioned binaries, specifically in the post-9/11 era, Mahmoud Mamdani attributes the formation of this ‘good’ Muslim/‘bad’ Muslim dichotomy to orientalist Bernard Lewis, who argued that the West must not entangle itself in the internal wars of Muslims; instead, Lewis suggests, it should wait for the ‘good’ ones to prevail over the ‘bad.’[14] Lewis’s favoring of caution when approaching conflict in the Middle East and his distinguishing of ‘good’ from ‘bad’ Muslims worked its way into the language of Western leaders such as Tony Blair and George W. Bush, argues Mamdani, indicating, to these politicians, that “Islam must be quarantined and the devil exorcized from it by a Muslim civil war,” a war between good and evil factions of the faith.[15] Mamdani also notes that this sort of rhetoric has permeated multiple levels of society, from D.C. think tanks that claim that the roots of terrorism can be traced to a sect of Islam, Wahhabism, to widely distributed publications such as the New York Times, which “now include regular accounts distinguishing good from bad Muslims,” with good Muslims being “modern, secular, and Westernized” and bad ones characterized as “doctrinal, antimodern, and virulent.”[16] Mamdani’s primary issue with distinctions between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ Muslims is that these categories “refer to Muslim political identities, not to cultural or religious ones,” thus politicizing a Muslim’s relationship with her faith.[17] Similar language, of ‘moderate’ versus ‘extreme’ Muslims, plays a comparable role in politicizing expressions of faith. We must ask, what is a ‘moderate Muslim’ – one who believes in his religion, but only moderately, who perhaps observes the annual fast, but will skip a prayer on occasion? Again, as Mamdani states, these adjectives do not describe cultural or religious attributes and identities; rather, they are used to provide insight into a Muslim’s political leanings, with ‘good’ or ‘moderate’ Muslims being those who attempt to disappear any semblance of Islam from their public or political lives, broadly accepting of Western conceptions of secularism, and ‘bad’ or ‘extreme’ Muslims being those whose Islam presents itself in a public or political manner, whether or not that display of Islam manifests itself violently. Ultimately, we can understand binary constructions of Muslim identity to be problematic and reflective of a Western desire to civilize, to increase to ranks of ‘good’ Muslims so that they may suppress the ‘bad.’

This status quo-upholding, secularized Islam, then, is ultimately the “civilized variant” that Spencer speaks of; any other show of Islam becomes threatening and in conflict with the West and Christianity in a harkening back to Crusades-era hostilities. Ultimately, to Spencer “‘the question really is whether [he] support[s] Assad or ISIS.’”[18] In this manner, this polarity, of good Muslims and bad Muslims, is further entrenched, and there is no middle ground, no third way, nothing that exists between (ostensibly) progressive and regressive, the option of brutal regime or terrorist opposition.

Twitter and 4chan trolls are popularizing and disseminating the positions and prejudice of these far right leaders. Syria General, a sub-thread within 4chan’s larger /pol/ - Politically Incorrect imageboard, contains an assortment of memes, ‘facts,’ and links to far right conspiracy sites and YouTube channels, all aimed at obfuscating the line between fact and fiction in Syria, and creating an army of pro-Assad trolls.[19] On Twitter, formerly big names on the far right have become more difficult to find given the company’s suspension of a number of hate and troll accounts. Yet, screenshots of tweets by these fascist figures routinely pop-up on other sites, including 4chan and Facebook. Buzzfeed, which published a piece investigating the motives behind far right support for Assad, came across one of these now-suspended accounts: @IWillRedPillYou, once a popular troll account, tweeted “‘Without Assad Muslims would conquer and likely decimate those remaining Christians,’” demonstrating the far right’s rigid, dichotomous construction of the Syrian population.[20] This user has also tweeted that “‘Bashar al Assad is a hero’” and “‘The protector of Christians in the Middle East.’”[21] Moreover, a quick overview of right-wing Assadist Facebook reveals an even greater lack of concern for the Syrian masses. Meme pages entitled “Aesthetic Al-Assad Memes,” “Uncle Bashars bizarre adventures: Barrel bomb boogaloo,” and “Syrian Memes,” all of which have shared anti-Muslim content, have between them 52, 595 followers at the time of writing.[22]

Ultimately, for political party leaders to independent white nationalists to trolls with Wi-Fi, anti-Muslim prejudice has been a driving force in support for Assad, so much so that they are able to reductively essentialize all of the anti-Assad groups as al-Qaeda or IS-affiliated militants. No concern or attention is placed on the more moderate militias of the Free Syrian Army, on the soldiers and some high-ranking officers who have defected from the Syrian Arab Army, or on the Kurdish militias. While this is not to say that anti-regime armed groups have not committed crimes against innocent civilians as the regime has, or an endorsement of one group’s violence because it happens to be of a lesser degree, but simply to note that a wide array of Syrians came out in March 2011 to protest repression, and some of that diversity, particularly in the remaining nonviolent groups and Syrian organizations in exile, can still be seen today. Ultimately, this is to say that the condemnation of an entire opposition movement based on the ideology of a subset of its participants stems from the right’s anti-Muslim prejudice, in which demonstrated religious affiliation or the use of religious language as justification for protest legitimizes the opposition’s violent suppression by a ‘secular,’ ‘nonsectarian’ regime, regardless of the civilian deaths that result.

The Far Right and Anti-Semitism

Yet Islam is not the only faith the far right despises, and a considerable amount of its support for Assad stems from its anti-Semitism and perception that Assad is standing up to Israel. The far-right’s anti-Zionism can in large part be attributed to its anti-Semitic belief that Jews hold the strings of power in most industries, from banking to news media. The belief manifests rhetorically in the claim that Jews have profited off and become more powerful than white Christians. The same banned Twitter user mentioned above, @IWillRedPillYou, tweeted that Assad has “‘been targeted by Zionist expansion for the better part of a decade.’”[23] Another Twitter user, Lue-Yee Tsang, has said “‘Even those who know very little about Assad see [being pro-Assad] as part of a culture of opposition to both Daesh and the Jewish state of Israel.’”[24] Additionally, after the 2013 chemical attacks on Ghouta, far right accounts were able to generate some buzz among right-wing outlets with the hashtag #CantMossadTheAssad, making reference to Israel’s national intelligence agency and the anti-Semitic trope of Jews both controlling the show in Syria and the Western response.[25] Jews have long been a scapegoat for the far right, and, after chemical attacks like the ones on Ghouta, have been accused of making up any chemical weapons-related claims. In response to the April 2018 U.S.-led strikes on Syria as punishment for Assad’s use of chemical weapons in Douma, far right podcaster Mike Peinovich tweeted “‘(((neocon))) bullshit,’” using three parentheses, a common symbol among the far right as a visual reference to Jewish people.[26] Richard Spencer has similarly attempted to scapegoat Jewish people for the wave of condemnation that met Russia’s 2015 intervention in Syria, stating that “‘there is a Jewish element (who thinks) Russia is fundamentally illegitimate,’” and former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke calls this US-UK-French coalition against Assad the “Zio Goon Squad.”[27]

In fact, Duke, a Holocaust denier, has even stronger ties to the regime in Damascus than one may initially suspect. Back in 2005, he visited Syria and gave a televised speech in its capital, in which he stated to a crowd of Assad-supporters “It is only – in America and around the world – it is only the Zionists who want war rather than peace.”[28] He went on:

“It hurts my heart to tell you that part of my country is occupied by Zionists, just as part of your country – the Golan Heights – is occupied by Zionists. The Zionists occupy much of the American media and now control much of American government.”[29]

Duke’s statements are steeped in anti-Semitism, as he makes clear references to the stereotype  that Jews control both the media and policy. His argument does not consider the Palestinians’ struggle as a justification for his condemnation of Israel, and he instead shows greater contempt for Israeli Jews than concern for the displaced Palestinians. Furthermore, even if the right’s anti-Zionism did stem from an investment in the safety and wellbeing of the Palestinians, then they still should be critical of Assad: despite the regime’s displays of ‘resistance’ – its participation in the various Arab-Israeli wars and its support of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon – it does not genuinely care about Palestinians’ dignity. As Syrian authors Robin Yassin-Kassab and Leila al-Shami note:

“The [Assad] regime policed its own frontier with the occupied Golan Heights so obediently that it remained more peaceful than the borders of states that had signed peace agreements with ‘the Zionist enemy.’ Whenever the enemy chose to strike deep inside Syria – destroying a suspected nuclear reactor in 2007, for instance, or assassinating Muhammad Suleiman, ‘Special Presidential Advisor for Arms Procurement and Strategic Weapons,’ in 2008 – the regime announced its attention to respond ‘at a time and place of its choosing.’ The time never arrived.”[30]

The regime has strategically used the threat of Israel to, until 2011, maintain a state of emergency, which “suspended due process and political life,” and prioritized the development of a strong military over social programs.[31] Ultimately, instead of engaging in more concentrated efforts to liberate the Golan Heights or better the conditions for Palestinian refugees, the regime developed a security apparatus that would be used to crush internal dissent, not counter Israeli encroachments, thus furthering the notion that far-right support for Assad comes not from a nuanced exploration as to how the regime has or has not furthered the Palestinian struggle for self-determination, but rather its longstanding anti-Semitic positions and its fascination with strongmen.

Anti-Globalization Sentiment Among the Far Right

In addition, beyond prejudiced views of Jews and Muslims, another common thread stitching the statements of far right activists together is anti-globalization. In the opinion of the right, globalization has brought with it immigrants and refugees who “steal jobs,” drain state resources, and lower standards of living. And the very real exploitation inflicted onto them by the capitalist and elite classes, in addition to the outflow of once respectable and decent-paying jobs, makes their anger a justified, albeit misdirected one. From these struggles stem an adamant defense of isolationism and a rejection of entangling one’s country, whether militarily or through aid, in global conflicts. This rejection manifested itself clearly in the aftermath of the April 2018 strikes on Assad’s chemical weapons facilities. Nigel Farage came out against the strikes, commenting “‘I think a lot of Trump voters will be waking up this morning and scratching their heads and saying ‘where will it all end?,’’” also adding that “‘Previous interventions in the Middle East have made things worse rather than better.’”[32] Furthermore, Farage said in a speech to the European Parliament about Assad’s use of chemical weapons that:

“I am cynical and skeptical, as are much of the European public, about who has used weapons until we get the full report… We went to war in Iraq being told that Saddam had weapons of…,”

abandoning the rest of the sentence in order to instruct the former prime minister of Belgium to silence himself (he had attempted to interrupt Farage).[33] Yet, Farage is inconsistent on this issue, for if we suppose that his main concerns with military intervention are the casualties and destruction that result, then defending or denying the Assad regime’s role in massacring its own civilians demonstrates the same disregard for civilian suffering that those calling for military intervention often display, thereby revealing a political expediency rather than honesty. Thus, Farage’s main concern is not the suffering of Syrian civilians; his skepticism regarding intervention is rooted in his belief that Britain has previously intervened on the side of the Islamist rebels. Moreover, he has hardly condemned Russian involvement in prolonging the Syrian crisis.

Farage is not alone on the far right is his opposition to the strikes. Paul Joseph Watson, a writer at right-wing conspiracy site Infowars, stated “‘I guess Trump wasn’t ‘Putin’s puppet’ after all, he was just another deep state/Neo-Con puppet. I’m officially OFF the Trump train.’”[34] Far-right author and frequent Fox News guest Ann Coulter tweeted “Trump campaigned on not getting involved in Mideast. Said it always helps our enemies & creates more refugees. Then he saw a picture on TV,” referring to images of the attack and its aftermath.[35] Former Breitbart editor Milo Yiannapolous lamented “‘There comes a day in every child’s life when his Daddy [Trump] bitterly disappoints him’” while fellow Brit Katie Hopkins tweeted “‘Who stole my President #Syriahoax,’” attaching a picture of a Trump tweet reading “‘Many Syrian ‘rebels’ are radical Jihadis. Not our friends & supporting them doesn’t serve our national interest. Stay out of Syria!’”[36] These dramatic reactions to the strikes illuminate the break between the far right and traditional conservatives. While the far right would like to see complete disengagement in Syria, more moderate members of the right, for example, now deceased John McCain, have called on Trump to continue arming the FSA and commit himself to removing Assad from power.[37]

The far right has demonstrated that its policies are not blanket anti-war., It has demonstrated enthusiasm for Russian bombs and Assad’s own use of force against Syrians as proof of their violent militarism. In fact, in a video taken at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, white nationalist Anthime Gionet, popularly known as Baked Alaska, is seen shouting “Support the Syrian Arab Army. Fight against the globalists” and “Assad did nothing wrong and replacing Qaddafi was a fucking mistake.”[38] Another unidentified man repeats “that’s true, that’s true. You’re absolutely right.”[39] Then, drawing attention to his shirt, which reads “Bashar’s Barrel Delivery Co.,” Gionet states “Two chemical bombs would’ve solved this whole ISIS problem.”[40] Ultimately, the far right demonstrates a deep aversion to globalism, both in the sense of accepting refugees and also in committing their states to fighting more wars abroad. However, these figures are not opposed to war on the belief that wars produce greater cycles of violence – they have expressed disinterest in the daily violence visited on Syrians; rather, their anti-war activism stems from a desire to invest state resources in state citizens, not on foreign Others. Thus, they abandon Syrians altogether.

The Far Right and the Masculine Fascination with Violence

Lastly, it would be wrong of me to overlook the fact that some of right-wing support for Assad can simply be attributed to the right’s plain fascination with strongmen, violence, and the Muslim bodies that suffer from that violence. This enchantment with violence is seen in Gionet’s aforementioned statements. It is also seen in the German far right group, Alternative fürDeutschland, and their “‘fact-finding’” trip to Syria, in which members of the party pointed out that they had to purchase their own drinks, in contrast to the “‘so-called refugees from Homs drinking coffee in Berlin at the expense of the German taxpayer.”[41] It is seen in the numerous examples of far-right figures denying the regime’s use of chemical weapons, or worse – justifying the regime’s use of these weapons.[42] Ultimately, it stems from a perception of the Syrian Arab Muslim as Other; it is what makes it easy for these figures to claim “‘it’s a civil war unfortunately’” while offering no solution or means through which Syrians can find refuge or take the regime to court for its crimes.[43] Violence against Muslim and Arab bodies has long been something these groups have been apologists for, promoted, and carried out themselves, and Syria represents no diversion in their thought and practice.

‘Absolute Arabism’s’ Fascist Undertones

Yet, while anti-Muslim prejudice, anti-Semitism, anti-globalism, and a love of violence largely motivates right-wing support for Assad, we must also consider the ideological overlaps between the Syrian state’s brand of pan-Arab nationalism and fascism. Recall that the far right parties I describe favor an expansion of social services to check the rampant inequality that capitalism fosters. Recall also that they simply want that equality to be limited to those whites within the borders of their nation-states rather than immigrant and non-white populations. This constructs an image of a homogenous population, essentialized to one identity, positioned in conflict with some other identity, or combination of identities. For the far right in the West, immigrants, non-whites, Muslims, Jews, the ‘elite,’ and leftists have all come to represent that threat. In Syria, it is “absolute Arabism” – a Baathist understanding of Arab nationalism – that essentializes all Syrians, and much of the ‘Arab world’ to one identity – an Arab one – at the exclusion of the many non-Arab identities that exist within these constructed borders.[44]

Syrian political dissident Yassin al-Haj Saleh notes that this “doctrine” of absolute Arabism renders Syria an “Arab country,” part of a larger “Arab homeland,” language that has permeated a variety of state-controlled institutions and society at large (“The Syrian Arab Army, Syrian Arab TV, the Syrian Arab National Anthem, the Syrian Arab citizenry…”).[45] Back in 1958, Syria officially adopted Arab nationalism as a policy via the unification of Syria and Egypt under the leadership of Gamal Abdel Nasser.[46] Under this United Arab Republic, backlash against non-Arab ethnic minorities, specifically Kurds, rose and continued rising even after its 1961 collapse:

“In October 1962, Syrian authorities issued a so-called special census in Hasakah province, the northeastern Syrian province in which the majority of Kurds have their origins. The authorities then produced statistical reports on the pretext of discovering people who may have crossed illegally from Turkey to Syria. As many as 120,000 Kurds—nearly 20 percent of Syria’s Kurdish population—were denationalized as a result, losing all rights of citizenship, including the right to vote and participate in public life, the right to travel outside the country, the right to private ownership, and the right to employment in the public sector.”[47]

Since 1962, the Syrian government has grouped Syrian Kurds into three demographic categories: Syrian Kurds, foreign Kurds, and ‘concealed’ Kurds.[48] The distinctions here are that Syrian Kurds have been allowed to maintain their Syrian nationality while foreign Kurds were stripped of citizenship and officially registered as foreigners. Concealed Kurds, on the other hand, have not been registered in official records and therefore do not have Syrian nationality; they are essentially stateless. Moreover, there are about 280,000 other undocumented Kurds in Syria, according to Kurdish groups.[49] In addition to dividing them and stripping them of their nationality, the Baathist government that arose in 1963 attempted to further marginalize Kurds:

“Kurds experienced a lack of political representation, poor economic development, and reduced social services. Important elements of Kurdish cultural identity, such as language, music, and publications, were banned. Political parties were forbidden and their members incarcerated. The Syrian government also began to replace the names of Kurdish villages and sites with Arabic ones.”[50]

To this day, the Syrian government continues to view Kurds as pawns in the larger battle for regaining lost Syrian territory, rather than as sentient beings striving toward self-determination and equality. Naturally, as Saleh argues, from this attempted construction of a pure Arab state, within a larger Arab homeland, came a separation of the Arab world and its supposed homogeneity from the rest of the world.[51] In this way, Saleh contends that

“absolute Arabism floats on a sea of doubt about the world. It thrives on an atmosphere of war, of psychological and intellectual conscription, of hostility toward strangers and suspicions regarding infiltrators at home… Such an atmosphere makes it possible for transgressions on the part of the rulers not only to be rendered invisible but also unimaginable: it eliminates all barriers that limit the ruling elite’s fascist domination of the ruled, and institutes the justification for a violated society, one that is continually suspected of betraying the homeland.”[52]

Both Hafez and Bashar al-Assad have strategically constructed the threat of Israel and further Israeli encroachment into Syria in order to create a security apparatus and a state of emergency that places the political liberties of the Syrian people second to building state influence. The right sees how Assad has used the threat of the Zionist Other to consolidate his own power and applaud him, either ignorant of the notion that the Syrian people are not so much endangered by Israel as they are by their own leader or understanding of this principle, yet choosing to disregard it because it does not serve their ideology. Perhaps this is why numerous representatives from European fascist groups, from Greece’s Golden Dawn to Belgium’s Vlaams Belang to the French National Front, have traveled to Syria during the civil war to meet with representatives of the Assad regime. Ultimately, Assad’s view of the events unfolding in Syria can be summed up by this statement he gave to a group of Arab diplomats in Damascus: “‘We lost many of our youth and infrastructure, but we gained a healthier and more homogenous society.’”[53] The far right would love this language, for it caters to their own desire to create homogenous societies in which minorities are either forced to assimilate, deprived of all rights, or shipped back to their ‘home’ states.

The Margins Go Mainstream

And while it is convenient and comforting to claim that this rhetoric is largely confined to obscure online far right publications, blogs, social media pages, and chat rooms, this is not the case. Globally, we have witnessed the rise of far right populism, the center’s movement further right, and the creation of platforms for fringe ideologies to be disseminated as if they were mainstream. Thus, not only have fringe right-wingers made appearances ‘in real life,’ but their rhetoric has also seeped into the language of mainstream right-wing personalities who are afforded the platforms and political legitimacy that those on the far right have largely been denied. Fox & Friends host Steve Doocy has spread Russian propaganda regarding the Syrian Civil Defense, better known as the White Helmets, claiming that the White Helmets stage fake bodies and that the chemical attack in Douma was a false flag operation, stating “you’ve got Russian media saying, ‘We sent investigators in… and they could not find any traces of toxins or gas on any of the bodies,” willfully ignorant of the Russian government’s ongoing alignment with the Syrian regime.[54] Asked by Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, himself a defendant of the Assad regime and routine denier of its use of chemical weapons, about Trump’s April 2018 strikes on regime-owned chemical weapons facilities, Ann Coulter stated “for that region of the world, Assad is one of the better leaders… it will deplete our country if we keep doing these wars,” again ramping up the isolationist, America First rhetoric that has been on the rise since the 2016 U.S. presidential election.[55] And while the right’s bright new star Tomi Lahren, now a Fox News contributor, acknowledged the regime’s use of chemical weapons, she similarly demonstrated a turn to America First rhetoric in response to the attacks:

“This conflict is less about overthrowing a savage dictator and is now more about a struggle among branches of Islam that goes back more than a thousand years. How do we win that… We’ve given the so-called moderate opposition in Syria weapons, funding, and training – not to mention the support of American troops, one of whom was just recently killed there. That’s the spilling of American blood, sweat, and tears. And for what?... When are we going to put Americans first?”[56]

The comments section of that video, which Lahren posted to her Facebook page, is littered with statements denying the regime’s use of chemical weapons, other regime atrocities, and a general lack of care toward Syrian suffering.[57] The anti-war stance is used to foster nationalist pride and ironically justify a total disregard for suffering abroad. Motivation matters: it does little good to Syrians if the anti-war stance is rooted in a lack of concern regarding their fate. We may not be coming at their country with bombs and bullets, but our silence, complicity, and apathy is a violence of its own kind. Not only does it breed the atrocity denials that we have seen coming from both the right and the left, but it also inhibits partnership and solidarity, creating a worldwide attitude of isolationism, ostensibly rooted in the noble principles of opposing war and caring for our people at home.

From Solidarity to Partnership

Ultimately, I cannot and will not make a liberal argument for military intervention in Syria. Liberals have often been too quick to cave to the demands of fascists by allowing them access to platforms due to ‘freedom of speech’ protections, without much thought to the harm that that freedom can then perpetuate. But I cannot wholly side with the left as it exists today either. Prominent and respected leftists such as Patrick Cockburn, Robert Fisk, Jon Queally, Ajamu Baraka, Max Blumenthal, Ben Norton, and many others have all come out in support of the Assad regime, with some arguing that it is either Assad or IS, and others going as far as to suggest the White Helmets are supported by terrorist organizations, making them legitimate military targets.[58] Rather, I still argue for a leftist approach to Syria, but one that is rooted in the principles of partnership across racial, ethnic, and religious lines, a leftism that does not shed the principles of humanitarianism simply because the West has used the language of human rights to achieve its geostrategic aims. Ultimately, we, and the left in particular, must not be so vehemently against American imperialism or globalization, despite the horrors imperialism and globalization have wrought on the world’s most vulnerable communities, that we forget that imperialism is not only perpetuated by Western states and that globalization can also transform the Syrian cause into the Turkish cause into the Brazilian cause into the German cause, uniting people against state oppression.[59] It is a leftism that, as Syrian activist Yassin al-Haj Saleh argues, eschews traditional leftist/Marxist ideas of solidarity and moves instead toward partnership.[60] Left-wing solidarity has often been expressed by Western leftists toward Global South states (ex. Solidarity with Syria, Solidarity with Venezuela, Solidarity with the DPRK) as a solidarity whose object is states rather than people, creating neither peace nor justice.[61] Today, with states and their leaders doing much of the damage, we must divest from state-centric rhetoric and approaches to peace, instead striving to work with ordinary people in rebellion, learning how their religion can be used as a tool for liberation, and how their diverse identities can foster a positive multiculturalism. From there, leftist and humanitarian organizations can work with each other to arrange boycotts, make demands of their governments, send aid, pressure international organizations into action, give platforms to refugees, and, at the very least, convey true information. This is Saleh’s vision of partnership, and the only one that can create the necessary environment for people to understand that we all do share the same cause. Not everyone faces repression at the level that Syrians do, but in every nation, there are people struggling for justice and liberation. Understanding these struggles as global ones, we can then strive toward an internationalism that is not homogenizing, but one that recognizes both the uniqueness of and overlaps between our passed-down histories and popular struggles, that understands each person as having duties toward another, that allows us to organize globally against fascisms, unburdened by Westphalian understandings of statehood, sovereignty, and citizenship.

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——————————————————————————————————————————————————

[1] Claudia Koerner, “Here's What We Know About The Man Accused Of Killing A Woman At A White Supremacist Rally,” BuzzFeed News (BuzzFeed News, August 14, 2017), https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/claudiakoerner/what-we-know-about-james-alex-fields-charlottesville-crash#.qyzJoyD6W)

[2] Ibid.

[3] Yassin Al-Haj Saleh. The Impossible Revolution: Making Sense of the Syrian Tragedy (London: Hurst and Company, 2017).

[4] Gabriella Lazaridis, Giovanna Campani, and Annie Benveniste, The Rise of the Far Right in Europe: Populist Shifts and Othering (London: Palgrave MacMillan, 2016), 8.

[5] Ibid., 4.

[6] Miriam Elba, “Why White Nationalists Love Bashar Al-Assad,” (The Intercept, September 8, 2017), theintercept.com/2017/09/08/syria-why-white-nationalists-love-bashar-al-assad-charlottesville/; Alex MacDonald, “Europe's Far-Right Activists Continue to Throw Their Weight behind Syria's Assad,” Middle East Eye, January 29, 2019, https://www.middleeasteye.net/features/europes-far-right-activists-continue-throw-their-weight-behind-syrias-assad

[7] Patrick Strickland, “Why Do Italian Fascists Adore Syria's Bashar Al-Assad?,” (Al Jazeera, February 14, 2018), www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/01/italian-fascists-adore-syria-bashar-al-assad-180125115153121.html.

[8] Strickland, “Why Do Italian Fascists”; “Who's Killing Civilians in Syria?,” (Who's Killing Civilians in Syria, accessed November 11, 2019), http://whoiskillingciviliansinsyria.org/

[9] Strickland, “Why Do Italian Fascists.”

[10] Rose Troup Buchanan, “The Alt-Right Is In Love With A Brutal, Arab Dictator,” BuzzFeed

 News. (BuzzFeed News, September 22, 2017), www.buzzfeednews.com/article/rosebuchanan/the-alt-right-is-in-love-with-a-brutal-muslim-dictator.; Aurelien Mondon, “Le Pen's Attacks on Islam Are No Longer Veiled,” The Independent (Independent Digital News and Media, September 27, 2012), https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/le-pens-attacks-on-islam-are-no-longer-veiled-8181891.html).

[11] UKIP MEPs, “Nigel Farage Lambasts ‘Extreme Militarists’ during Syria Debate,” (Youtube, September 11, 2013), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urIdnpb5sRc.

[12] Ibid.

[13] Buchanan, “The Alt Right is in Love”; Richard Spencer (@RichardBSpencer), “Assad is a British-trained physician, one of the most civilized leader in the Middle East. Why is Trump fighting his instincts and doing the bidding of the Deep State?,” (Twitter, April 8, 2018, 9:28am), Tweet.

[14] Mahmood Mamdani, Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, the Cold War, and the Roots of Terror (New York: Pantheon Books, 2004), 24.

[15] Ibid.

[16] Ibid.

[17] Ibid., 15.

[18] Buchanan, “The Alt Right is in Love.”

[19] “/Pol/ - Syria General /Sg/ - 2128 Edition - Politically Incorrect,” 4chan, accessed November 11, 2019, http://boards.4chan.org/pol/thread/232820889/syria-general-sg-2128-edition).

[20] Buchanan, “The Alt Right is in Love.”

[21] Ibid.

[22] “Aesthetic Al-Assad Memes.” Facebook. Accessed November 11, 2019. https://www.facebook.com/Aesthetic-Al-Assad-Memes-1506445189666976/; “Syrian Memes.” Facebook. Accessed November 11, 2019. https://www.facebook.com/SyrianMemes/; “Uncle Bashars Bizarre Adventures: Barrel Bomb Boogaloo.” Facebook. Accessed November 11, 2019. https://www.facebook.com/UncleBasharsAdventures/.

[23] Buchanan, “The Alt Right is in Love.”

[24] Ibid.

[25] Ibid.

[26] Jason Wilson, “Why Is the Far Right so against US Intervention in Syria?” The Guardian, (Guardian News and Media, April 13, 2018), www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/apr/13/syria-intervention-conservative-rightwing-opposition-trump.

[27] Wilson, “Why Is the Far Right”; David Duke, “Syria, Russia, North Korea, and Making ‘Make America Great Again’ Great Again,” (David Duke.com, May 4, 2017), https://davidduke.com/syria-russia-north-korea-and-making-make-america-great-again-great-again/.

[28] “David Duke Speech in Damascus, Syria,” dailymotion (dailymotion, 2015), https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x33m4xg).

[29] Ibid.

[30] Robin Yassin-Kassab and Leila Al-Shami, Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War (London: Pluto Press, 2018), 214.

[31] Ibid., 213.

[32] Helena Horton, “Nigel Farage and Other Right-Wing Populists Turn on Donald Trump after Missile Strikes,” The Telegraph, (Telegraph Media Group, April 7, 2017),

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/07/nigel-farage-right-wing-populists-turn-donald-trump-missile/.

[33] UKIP MEPs, “Nigel Farage Lambasts.”

[34] Horton, “Nigel Farage and Other Right-Wing Populists.”

[35] Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter). “Trump campaigned on not getting involved in Mideast. Said it always helps our enemies & creates more refugees. Then he saw a picture on TV,” (Twitter, April 6, 2017, 11:25pm), Tweet.

[36] Horton, “Nigel Farage and Other Right-Wing Populists.”

[37] Eugene Scott, “McCain Rips Trump Administration over Syria Policy,” CNN (Cable News Network, April 5, 2017), www.cnn.com/2017/04/04/politics/john-mccain-syria-trump-cnntv/index.html.

[38] Brandon Wall (@Walldo), “‘Assad did nothing wrong’ - Baked Alaska at UVA tonight.

 ‘Barrel bombs, hell yeah!,’” (Twitter, August 11, 2017, 8:32pm), Tweet.

[39] Ibid.

[40] Ibid.

[41] Josephine Huetlin, “The European Far-Right's Sick Love Affair With Bashar Al-Assad,” The Daily Beast, (The Daily Beast Company, March 28, 2018), www.thedailybeast.com/the-european-far-rights-sick-love-affair-with-bashar-al-assad.

[42] Buchanan, “The Alt Right is in Love.”; Horton, “Nigel Farage and Other Right-Wing Populists.”; Kester Ratcliff, “International Assadists References Directory,” (Medium, August 24, 2018), medium.com/@kesterratcliff/international-assadists-references-directory-8038067fe394.; Wilson, “Why Is the Far Right.”

[43] Strickland, “Why Do Italian Fascists.”

[44] Saleh, The Impossible Revolution, 92.

[45] Ibid., 92-93.

[46] Radwan Ziadeh, "The Kurds in Syria: Fueling Separatist Movements in the Region?," (United

States Institute of Peace, April 2009)

 http://www.scpss.org/libs/spaw/uploads/files/English%20Content/Policy%20Papers/SR%

 20220%20KurdsNSyria.pdf, 2.

[47] Ibid.

[48] Ibid.

[49] Ibid.

[50] Ibid.

[51] Saleh, The Impossible Revolution, 95.

[52] Ibid.

[53] Elba, “Why White Nationalists Love Bashar al-Assad.”

[54] Nick Fernandez, “Fox's Steve Doocy Uncritically Pushes Russian Smear about Syrian First Responders,” (Media Matters for America, April 12, 2018), www.mediamatters.org/blog/2018/04/12/fox-s-steve-doocy-uncritically-pushes-russian-smear-about-syrian-first-responders/219923.

[55] Peter Weber, “Ann Coulter Is Puzzled Why Trump Would Hit Syria's Assad, 'One of the Better Leaders' in the Region,” (The Week, April 13, 2017), theweek.com/speedreads/692021/ann-coulter-puzzled-why-trump-hit-syrias-assad-better-leaders-region.

[56] Tomi Lahren, “How many times are we going to stick our fingers in the fire before we realize democracy-spreading in the Middle East does NOT work!!” (Facebook, April 11, 2018), https://www.facebook.com/TomiLahren/posts/1730464687046711.

[57] Ibid.

[58] Ratcliff, “International Assadists References Directory.”

[59] Yassin al-Haj Saleh, “A Critique of Solidarity,” (Yassin Al-Haj Saleh, July 17, 2018), www.yassinhs.com/2018/07/16/a-critique-of-solidarity/.

[60] Ibid.

[61] Ibid.