Hassan Akkad is a survivor of Assad’s torture prisons. The vast majority of Syrian refugees have fled the Assad regime’s violence.
Stop The War has repeatedly shut out Syrian voices. It is time for public figures linked to Stop The War, such as Michael Rosen who has shown great concern for refugee rights, to now distance themselves from this bullying behaviour.
The Assad regime’s chemical attack on the town of Khan Sheikhoun drew condemnation from across the world, but no major action from the Stop the War Coalition, which opposes any action including sanctions against the criminal Assad regime.
Stop the War says that it is against all UK and US military intervention in Syria. But when the US bombed Syrian civilians in the al Jina mosque in Aleppo province in March, where were the protests from Stop The War? When the Coalition bombed displaced people sheltering in al Badiya school, west of Raqqa, where were the protests from Stop The War? Now that Assad’s airfield is hit, they take to the streets. Their actions suggest that they have greater care for preserving Assad’s killing machine than for protecting civilians.
They say ‘Don’t Bomb Syria.’ It seems they really mean ‘Don’t bomb Assad.’
It is time for all honourable anti war campaigners to separate from Stop The War.
See also: Rethink Rebuild Society condemns ambivalence of ‘Stop the War’ to Assad’s war.
Below: Hassan Akkad talks of his experience of Stop The War.
I made this clip to clarify what happened with me yesterday when I tried to voice my opinion at @STWuk protest in #London pic.twitter.com/QQd8CxDwR0
— Hassan Akkad (@hassan_akkad) April 8, 2017