Every Friday: New Slogans of the People’s Revolution

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Republished from Democratic Revolution, Syrian Style
18 October 2013

The democratic people’s revolution in Syria has accomplished something of world-historic importance: it has united both the imperialists and the anti-imperialists against it. Eastern imperialism led by Russia arms Bashar al-Assad to the teeth, Western imperialism led by the U.S. continues its heavy arms blockade on Assad’s opposition, and so-called anti-imperialists led by As’ad Abu Khalil, George Galloway, Rand Paul, Cynthia McKinney, Stop the War Coalition, and ANSWER Coalition relentlessly slander the uprising every step of the way in every conceivable way.

The near-total international isolation of the revolution — expressed by the fact that only Islamists have displayed any type of internationalism — is the inevitable result of imperialists and anti-imperialists the world over joining forces to ensure the revolution’s defeat, the former for reasons of state, the latter for reasons of ideology and pseudo-realpolitik. This imperialist-anti-imperialist alliance is why every major and minor channel, every corporate and anti-corporate newspaper, every large and small website, every worthy and worthless blogger, and every dominant and oppositional political force on the planet speaks with one voice, endlessly repeating a narrative on Syria that is so at odds with the truth: that extremists are the only/main actors in the Syrian opposition; that brutality, torture, sectarianism, and atrocities are the only/main activities of the opposition; that Saudia Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, and Israel are the only/main sponsors or beneficiaries of opposition activism; that U.S. president Barack Obama wants regime change in Damascus.

The imperialists and their anti-imperialists “opponents” agree on something fundamental: Syria is not a people’s revolution. It is not a popular uprising. It is not “the forcible entrance of the masses into the realm of rulership over their own destiny” (Trotsky).

But on this point, the facts are against the imperialists and the anti-imperialists, and overwhelmingly so.

“Truth is on the side of the oppressed today, it’s against the oppressor. You don’t need anything else.” (حاجّ مالك الشباز; El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz; Malcolm X).

One fact that exposes the falseness of the imperialist-anti-imperialist alliance narrative is how the revolution’s supporters choose the names of their weekly mass protests. These protests have taken place in cities and villages across Syria after Friday prayers on every Friday without exception since the revolution began on March 15, 2011; they are the pulse of the struggle, the voice of the formerly voiceless, a chronicle of each twist and turn their struggle for freedom has taken. According to Wael Tamimi, a Syrian journalist with the BBC’s Arabic Service:

“In the earlier days or month[s] of the uprising, the name was chosen by the admins of the Syrian Revolution page on Facebook, so the people did not used to vote on the name of the Friday. But actually, they complained to the admin. They told him, ‘We want a democratic Syria, so you have to give us a chance to vote for the name of the Friday.’ And actually, the admins of these pages responded positively.”

Anywhere between 14,000 and 30,000 people vote democratically for their preferred slogans. As Uri Friedman remarks, “What’s perhaps most amazing is that the winning Friday name really seems to wend its way from social media to the street.”

Sept. 13, 2013: “Friday of the Murderer Is
Under the International Community’s Protection”
in Hama (above) and Aleppo (below)

Yes, democracy, self-rule, and self-organization by the rebellious masses is a most amazing thing. In fact, it is the decisive thing. Hate him or love him, V.I. Lenin was absolutely right about that:

“[P]articular attention should be paid to Marx’s extremely profound remark that the destruction of the bureaucratic-military state machine is ‘the precondition for every real people’s revolution’. This idea of a ‘people’s revolution’ seems strange coming from Marx, so that the Russian Plekhanovites and Mensheviks, those followers of Struve who wish to be regarded as Marxists, might possibly declare such an expression to be a ‘slip of the pen’ on Marx’s part. They have reduced Marxism to such a state of wretchedly liberal distortion that nothing exists for them beyond the antithesis between bourgeois revolution and proletarian revolution, and even this antithesis they interpret in an utterly lifeless way.
“If we take the revolutions of the 20^th century as examples we shall, of course, have to admit that the Portuguese and the Turkish revolutions are both bourgeois revolutions. Neither of them, however, is a ‘people’s’ revolution, since in neither does the mass of the people, their vast majority, come out actively, independently, with their own economic and political demands to any noticeable degree. By contrast, although the Russian bourgeois revolution of 1905-07 displayed no such ‘brilliant’ successes as at times fell to the Portuguese and Turkish revolutions, it was undoubtedly a ‘real people’s’ revolution, since the mass of the people, their majority, the very lowest social groups, crushed by oppression and exploitation, rose independently and stamped on the entire course of the revolution the imprint of their own demands, their attempt to build in their own way a new society in place of the old society that was being destroyed.”

In the spirit of this last sentence, out of respect for the over 100,000 who have paid the ultimate price for resisting Assad’s iron heel, here are the names of all the Friday protests in English. This list will be updated every 2-4 weeks until the sun rises over a free Syria, so bookmark, share, ‘like’, and Tweet it until that glorious day.

Protest No.	Slogan (“Friday of…”)	Date (d/m/yy)
135	Our Arms to the Front Lines, Not the Liberated Areas	11/10/13
134	Thank You Turkey	4/10/13
133	Prisoners as Pure as the Jasmine [referring to women held in regime prisons]	27/9/13
132	Only Syrians Will Free Syria	20/9/13
131	The Murderer Is Under the International Community’s Protection	13/9/13
130	Not Only with Chemical Weapons Does Assad Kill Our Children	6/9/13
129	Friday of Victory Is Only From Allah	30/8/13
128	The Terrorist Bashar Kills Civilians with Chemical Weapons While the World Watches	23/8/13
127	Supporting the Coast Rebels	16/8/13
126	The Champions of the Coast Are Coming	9/8/13
125	If Allah Gives You Victory Then No One Can Defeat You	2/8/13
124	The Sword of Allah	26/7/13
123	Ramadan: Month of Victory	19/7/13
122	Until We Change Ourselves	12/7/13
121	Be Aware and Wake Up, Oh Brigades	5/7/13
120	On Fire Revolution and Debilitating Opposition	28/6/13
119	Friday of Victory In Deeds, Not Words	21/6/13
118	Safavid [Persian] Project: a Threat to the Nation	14/6/13
117	Ghouta and Qusayr … A Will That Won’t Break	7/6/13
116	The Ideals of the Revolution Are Our Red Lines	31/5/13
115	Charlatan Resistance — Jerusalem Is Not in Homs [a message directed at Hezbollah]	24/5/13
114	The Independence of the Syrian Decision	17/5/13
113	Banyas: Ethnic Cleansing and International Complicity	10/5/13
112	Syrians Are Being Killed with Your “Red Lines”	3/5/13
111	Protection of the Majority	26/4/13
110	Iran and Hezbollah, You Will be Defeated Along With Assad	19/4/13
109	Syria is Stronger Than Those Who Would Divide It	12/4/13
108	Refugees With Honor and Dignity	5/4/13
107	Giving Glad Tidings to Those Who are Patient	29/3/13
106	Your Chemical Weapons Will Not HaltOur Progress Towards Freedom	22/3/13
105	Two Years of Struggle and Our Revolution’s Victory is Near	15/3/13
104	There will be No Sectarian State in Syria	8/3/13
103	One Nation. One Flag. One Fight.	22/2/13
102	Proud Al-Raqqa on the Road to Freedom	22/2/13
101	Allah is Sufficient as a Supporter	15/2/13
100	Remain United	8/2/13
99	The International Community Are Partners in the Massacre	1/2/13
98	Our Leader Forever Prophet Mohammad	25/1/13
97	Revolution Aleppo University: Engineering Martyrdom	18/1/13
96	Refugee Camps of Death	11/1/13
95	Homs Calls on the Free to Stop the Siege	4/1/13
94	Bread and Blood	28/12/12
93	Victory is Written on the Gates of Aleppo	21/12/12
92	There Is No Terrorism in Syria Except that of Assad	14/12/12
91	No to Peacekeeping Forces in Syria	7/12/12
90	Damascus’s Suburbs’ Victory Sign Shall Be Over the Presidential Palace	30/11/12
89	The Time of Victory is Near	23/11/12
88	In Support of the National Coalition	16/11/12
87	It’s Time to March to Damascus	9/11/12
86	Daraya Brothers in Grapes and Blood, Towards International Justice	2/11/12
85	Allah is Greater, Revolution Till Victory	26/10/12
84	America, Your Suspicious Silence is Killing Us	19/10/12
83	The Free Alawites Produce Victory	12/10/12
82	We Want Weapons, not Statements	5/10/12
81	Unifying the Free Syrian Army	28/9/12
80	Those Who the Prophet Loves Are Being Massacred in Syria	21/9/12
79	Idlib Bringing Down Planes and Symbolizing Victory	14/9/12
78	Homs Under Siege Is Calling You	7/9/12
77	Loyalty to Tripoli and the Free Lebanese	31/8/12
76	Daraa Don’t Be Sad, Allah Is with Us	24/8/12
75	Victory With United Free Army	17/8/12
74	Arm Us With Anti-Aircraft Weapons	10/8/12
73	Deir Ezzor Victory Coming from the East	3/8/12
72	Uprising of the Two Capitals	27/7/12
71	Ramadan Victory in Damascus	20/7/12
70	Step Down Annan, Servant of Assad and Iran	13/7/12
69	The Peoples’ Freedom War	6/7/12
68	We Are Sure Allah will Grant Us Victory	29/6/12
67	Governments Let Us Down, Where Are the People?	22/6/12
66	Total Readiness for Full Revolution	15/6/12
65	Rebels and Merchants Hand in Hand Until Victory	8/6/12
64	Houla Children … Victory Flares	1/6/12
63	Damascus, Our Date is Near	25/5/12
62	The Heroes of Aleppo University	18/5/12
61	Victory from Allah and Near Breakthrough	11/5/12
60	Our Salvation Is in Our Sincerity	4/5/12
59	God’s Order Has Come, So Don’t Hurry It	27/4/12
58	We Will Be Victorious and Al-Assad Will Be Defeated	20/4/12
57	Revolution for All Syrians	13/4/12
56	Who Has Prepared a Soldier has fought	6/4/12
55	The Arabs and Muslims have Let Us Down	30/3/12
54	Coming to Damascus	23/3/12
53	Immediate Military Intervention	16/3/12
52	Loyalty to the Kurdish Revolution	9/3/12
51	Providing Weapons for the Free Army	2/3/12
50	We Will Revolt for You Baba Amr	24/2/12
49	The People’s Resistance	17/2/12
48	Russia is Killing Our Children	10/2/12
47	Sorry Hama, Forgive Us	3/2/12
46	The Right of Self-Defense	27/1/12
45	Detainees of the Revolution	20/1/12
44	Support of the Free Syrian Army	13/1/12
43	If You Are with God, He Will Grant You Victory	6/1/12
42	Marching Towards Freedom Squares	30/12/11
41	the Protocol of Death	23/12/11
40	the Arab League is Killing Us	16/12/11
39	the Strike of Dignity	9/12/11
38	the Buffer Zone is Our Demand	2/12/11
37	the Free Army Protects Me	25/11/11
36	Expulsion of Ambassadors	18/11/11
35	Freezing Syrian Regime’s Membership [in the Arab League]	11/11/11
34	God is Greater than All Tyrants	4/11/11
33	The No-Fly Zone	28/10/11
32	The Martyr of Arab Grace Period	21/10/11
31	The Free Army	14/10/11
30	The National Council Represents Me	7/10/11
29	Victory to Syria and Yemen	30/9/11
28	The Unity of the Opposition	23/9/11
27	Continuing Until Victory	16/9/11
26	International Protection	9/9/11
25	Death Rather than Humiliation	2/9/11
24	Patience and Persistence	26/8/11
23	Signs of Victory	19/8/11
22	We Will Not Kneel Except to Allah	12/8/11
21	God Is with Us	5/8/11
20	Your Silence Is Killing Us	29/7/11
19	the Descendants of Khalid (ibn Alwalid)	22/7/11
18	Prisoners of Freedom	15/7/11
17	No to Dialogue	8/7/11
16	Leave [Bashar]	1/7/11
15	The Fall of Legitimacy	24/6/11
14	The Honorable	17/6/11
13	The Tribes	10/6/11
12	The Children of Freedom	3/6/11
11	Homeland Protectors [meaning Assad’s army]	27/5/11
10	Azadi [Freedom]	20/5/11
9	Friday for Women	13/5/11
8	Challenge	6/5/11
7	Rage	29/4/11
6	Greatness	22/4/11
5	Insistence	15/4/11
4	Withstand	8/4/11
3	Martyrs	1/4/11
2	Glory	25/3/11
1	Dignity	18/3/11

Sources: “Have Islamists Hijacked Syria’s Democratic Revolution?“, Syrian Revolution Martyr Database, Yalla Souriya.
To see video footage of each Friday protest compiled from sources throughout Syria, click here.

Click here for a list of my other blogs on Syria