The Socialist Alliance stands in full solidarity with the Kurdish-led Rojava Revolution which is now under attack from the Syrian regime, with the backing of the United States and the European Union (EU).
The Kurds liberated North and East Syria from the former Bashar al-Assad dictatorship and then from the terror of the Islamic State (ISIS).
Now, it is fighting off genocidal attacks from the Western-backed Syrian regime of President Ahmed al-Sharaa — a former notorious Al Qaeda commander — and the Turkish armed forces and allied mercenary militias.
This is a battle for the survival of one of the few successful popular revolutions in the 21st century. This revolution sought to make women’s empowerment central to its political practice, as well as having a commitment to multi-ethnic and multi-religious inclusion in its grassroots democracy.
This war rapidly escalated from a campaign of atrocities and ethnic cleansing carried out against Kurds and Yezidi in Aleppo, Syria, earlier this year, even while Al-Sharaa was hosting senior EU and US delegations.
The US and the EU, which have whitewashed al-Sharaa’s international image and supplied his regime with funds for its armed forces, then pressured the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) of the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria/Rojava to withdraw from Aleppo and several other towns, in return for ceasefire agreements.
However, these have been broken over and over again by the al-Sharaa regime and the US, which brokered the agreements.
The world owes a massive moral debt to the Rojava freedom fighters, who have sacrificed tens of thousands of lives in the fight to defeat ISIS, empower women and promote religious and multi-ethnic unity.
Australia must end its silence on this war. It must call on the US and the EU to end their collusion with the Al-Sharaa regime against Rojava, demand an end to its war crimes and support action to bring the perpetrators to account.
The Socialist Alliance calls on the Australian government to send urgently-needed funds to the Heyva Sor a Kurdistanê/Kurdish Red Crescent, which is helping the thousands who are being wounded and displaced by this genocidal war.
We also call on all progressive and democratic people to join the global solidarity campaign to defend Rojava.