Translation of a written slogan : to Jabhat al Nusra and its fellow similar groups : we tell them whoever kill his own people is a traitor !
Bustan Qasr, Aleppo, 5.10.2012

The salafist group, “al jabhat al nusra lil ahl al Sham” (the support front for the people of Syria) has probably struck again in Hama, Monday, November 5, 2012, killing more than 50 people. The Salafist group is not at its first attack killing many civilians and / or members of the security services or of the State’s administration. This group is still marginal, like other Salafist groups, but their importance has grown steadily thanks to the financial assistance provided by the Gulf countries, while soldiers of the Free Syrian Army lack resources and funding. This support has to be put in the framework of Gulf countries’ willingness to derail the popular revolution and to transform it into a sectarian war.

After a brief presentation of Jabhat Nusra, we will explain why we oppose suicide bombings by the latter or / and others, and why it does not help for the victory of the revolution.

 Jabhat Nusra : origins and developments

The group al Jabhat al Nusra wants the end of the Assad regime, but does not subscribes to the dynamics of the Syrian popular movement struggling for dignity, freedom and equality. The Islamist group wants instead to implement by force an Islamic state following a Salafi program, thus denying the slogans and the spirit of the revolution.

The group Jabhat al Nusra appeared on the Syrian scene at the end of January 2012 in a video calling for Jihad against the regime and by speaking and adopting an openly sectarian vocabulary. The group identifies itself as the defender of the Sunni community against the Alawite enemy and its Shia agents.

Many supporters of Al Qaeda immediately welcomed the speech of Jabhat al Nusra and future actions of the group. This latter also has the distinction of being composed of many foreign Islamists, driven by a sectarian ideology in opposition to the unifying message “the Syrian people are one” of the popular revolution.

In the selection of targets such as government buildings in crowded urban areas or tactical use of suicide bombings, the group has more in common with the group of Al Qaeda in Iraq that armed groups of the Syrian opposition.

It is true that Jabhat Nusra participated in the offensive in the city of Aleppo this summer along with other opposition armed forces to liberate the city from the regime’s army, but unfortunately without success up today, despite the liberation of some neighborhoods.

This does not remove the reactionary and sectarian character of this group in total opposition to the origins and reasons for the uprising. The group wants to hijack the popular revolution and transform into a sectarian war, and of course we refuse and oppose this completely.

 Suicide bombings

Firstly, we point out that we are in favor of the popular armed resistance in coordination with the popular movement to put an end to this regime. Armed resistance is firstly a right for each people to defend themselves against oppression and armed resistance came as a necessary response to the violence and the repression of the regime against the Syrian people in their struggle for freedom and dignity.

This reality is nevertheless different from suicide bombings affecting many civilians and government departments. Firstly, as expressed by many Syrians of the popular movement we follow this slogan : who kills his own people is a traitor.

Second, and most importantly, what attitude to have towards these actions and do they help the revolution ? We do not deny that it is the violence of the regime that may result, in many cases, in these terrible acts and it is the regime that is primarily responsible for this situation.

However, we can only follow the words of the Russian revolutionary Trotsky, a major player in the Russian revolution and founder of the Red Army, which considered the tactic of individual terrorism as ineffective for the tasks of the struggle for the liberation of the proletariat and the oppressed people. He claimed nevertheless to understand the inevitability of such convulsive acts of despair and vengeance [1].

The magnitude of the crimes of fascism, Trotsky said, is that monstrous that this will of revenge, even if it is justified, can not be quenched by the assassination of isolated fascist bureaucrats. It is the same in the case of Syria, the suicide bombings against government offices and security services will not stop our will for vengeance against this barbaric regime or even allow us to overthrow it.

Trotsky said that “it is not actually an isolated avenger who can liberate the oppressed, but only a great revolutionary movement of the masses, which does not let anything remain of the system of class exploitation, national oppression and racial persecution“. Indeed, only a mass movement can give allow the conditions of a new Syria, a free Syria, which is democratic and where social equality is the rule.

 Conclusion

The Syrian people has already overwhelmingly condemned these kinds of actions, even some groups of the FSA and / or related to it.

The role of the popular movement, both the peaceful and armed features of it, is indeed the key in the struggle against the regime. It is the struggle of the millions of the oppressed Syrians which will allow the overthrow of the regime, and not the actions and the reactionary and sectarian ideology of sectarian groups such as Jabhat el Nusra and others. These latter divide the popular movement and weaken our struggle. Coordination of the two popular resistances, armed and peaceful, is fundamental to the road to victory.

We end with the words of the revolutionary Trotsky that sounds very current for us, Syrians, struggling for freedom and dignity, “only the overthrow of all forms of slavery, the complete destruction of fascism, only the exercise of the ruthless justice of the people against contemporary bandits and gangsters can bring real satisfaction to the indignation of the people“ [2].

Yes only the overthrow of the Assad regime and its terrible regime can satisfy our indignation !

Syria Freedom Forever