A petition in support of the Syrian people’s struggle against dictatorship and genocide has been launched by the Global Campaign of Solidarity with the Syrian Revolution, which also has a Facebook page here.

The petition has been signed by a large number of leftist luminaries, including Norman Finkelstein, Gilbert Achcar and Tariq Ali; academics of the stature of Frederic Jameson; Syrian intellectuals such as Yassin al-Haj Saleh; novelists such as Khaled Khalifa; and grassroots activists such as Razan Ghazzawi.

In its preamble, the petition reminds the world – especially, we would add, the deluded faux “left” and armchair “anti-imperialist” pretenders who have shunned the people of Syria – of the peaceful origins of the Syrian revolution:

This is a revolt that was sparked by the children of Deraa and the sit-ins and demonstrations of the youth in the cities, the peasants of the rural areas, and the dispossessed and marginalized of Syria. It is they who rallied non-violently through protests and songs and chants, before the regime’s brutal crackdown.

Since then, the regime has pushed for the militarization of the Syrian nonviolent movement. As a result, young men took up arms, first out of self-defence…

The petition also stresses that the Syrian revolution is part of the global struggle for freedom, democracy and human dignity:

The fight in Syria is an extension of the fight for freedom regionally and worldwide.  It cannot be divorced from the struggles of the Bahrainis, Egyptians, Tunisians, Libyans, Yemenis, and other peoples who have revolted against oppression and authoritarianism as well as against those seeking to usurp or destroy the uprisings and divert them for their own agendas. It is connected to the Palestinians’ struggle for freedom, dignity and equality.

The revolution in Syria is a fundamental part of the North African revolutions, yet, it is also an extension of the Zapatista revolt in Mexico, the landless movement in Brazil, the European and North American revolts against neoliberal exploitation, and an echo of Iranian, Russian, and Chinese movements for freedom.

As Henry Lowi, a veteran of the Palestine solidarity movement says, “Now, the Syrian revolution has a chance of obtaining some international solidarity that has been withheld until now, to the eternal shame of the withholders.”

Please add your name to the petition by emailing syriasolidarity2013@gmail.com and follow this up by taking part in the Global Day of Solidarity with the Syrian Revolution on 31 May.