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Opinion
Syria: the dignity of a country
Ilka Oliva-Corado / Domingo 25 de diciembre de 2016
 

Translated by Marvin Najarro

One of the monumental farces of world media coverage, in recent decades, has been the pervasive invention of a polarized war in Syria. One of so many lies, like that of a dictatorship in Venezuela with Chavez and Maduro, or Cuba with Fidel and Raúl. Like that of the dictator Gadhafi in Libya. Like the one who backed the US invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan. Like the one that hid the genocide in Rwanda.

The same media coverage that still continues to call Salvador Allende a dictator. The same one that disgraces the memory of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. That truculent, unethical, sellout journalism which continues tarnishing the name of the 13 Roses -of Rosa Luxemburg and the militiamen of the Republic. The same one that to date continues to deny the genocide in Guatemala and which supported the dictatorships imposed by the United States in Latin America, devastated by the Condor Plan.

The criminal machine of corporate journalism that promoted the Apartheid in South Africa. The same one that tried to crush Mandela. The same one that turns a blind eye to Guantanamo torture center. The same one that today hides the genocide taking place in Mexico, and the devastation and famine that Haiti is going through. The same one that has never recognized that Vietnam defeated the United States. That deceitful press that continues to encourage massacres, invasions, human rights violations and genocides around the world.

Since five years ago (after Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and Libya) it’s been Syria’s turn. We have been told that it is a civil war, that Bashar al-Assad is a dictator, and that Syria must be liberated. We were told that out of nowhere, out of thin air, an extremist group appeared and then the United States and its allies said they had to go there and kick them out.

And in a jiffy the buddies organized the invasion; there in the lead were the United States, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. And they began the devastation of sovereign Syria that was never a danger to any country. And in these five years we have been told that terrorist groups are growing and moving all over the country, and that more troops, more helicopters and more weapons need to be sent. More bombs.

In the meantime the Syrian girls, teenagers and women are being raped, beaten and killed by those same soldiers the media tells us they came to rescue the country from the clutches of extremists.

In the meantime they destroy cultural monuments, poison the rivers, burn the forests, destroy mountains and pulverize entire cities.

They tell us that Russia and Iran have crushed Aleppo, that they are responsible for the thousands of dead, and are guilty together with the Syrian army that obeys the dictator’s orders. They say that this dictator wants to destroy Syria and that it must be liberated, that that is the job of the United States and its allies.

The saddest thing is that this is the same script they have used for other invasions, looting and genocide around the world. Nothing changes, the same role playing, the same mechanisms, the same words, the same system. And we believe it! We believe it because it makes us feel at ease.

Syria is not living under a dictatorship, Syria is a sovereign country that’s crying out for the United States to take out the terrorist groups that they sent there, and for the military to get out and take with them their bombs, helicopters and guns. That they take along with them the mafia journalists who misinform with manipulated images.

Syria is experiencing a genocide and we are silent, oblivious, inept, apathetic, mediocre and turning a blind eye. And if we raise the voice, is to dishonor those dignified people who have resisted together with Al-Asad, the invasion by the same old people.

At no time will world mainstream media tell us that the Syrian army with the help of Russia and Iran succeeded in taking control of Aleppo and thereby defeating the extremists sent as a pretext to back the invasion of the United States and allies. That is, Syria has defeated the United States, as Vietnam did in the past decades. As Cuba did it. And as Venezuela continues to do it.

Syrian celebrates the triumph of their army, their people, their integrity, their culture, their identity and their sovereign land.

There’s a long way to go, the meddling criminals will not give up. They are furious and surprised, they didn’t expect as much fortitude from a people as the Syrian, and neither expected the support of Russia and Iran. Or that Cuba instead of armies and guns sent medicine. They still don’t know the humanity of Cuba.

We are the witnesses of the cruelty that Syria is living, and also of the dignity with which a people is defending its land, even if we pretend not to see it.

And what about us back at home?