"The
Current Situation of the Region and the World"
And
"The
Urgent Tasks Before Us in the Present Circumstances"
One
of the characteristics of imperialism globally is its extensive
promotion of religious fundamentalism and its support for achieving
political power. This is because the foreign policy of imperialism,
especially American imperialism, does not aim to combat
fundamentalism and terrorism but instead fosters their growth
globally.
To
analyze the current situation, it is helpful to look back and
understand the nature of Pan-Islamist and theocratic forces and how
they gained power in countries like Afghanistan (August 2021) and,
more recently, the collapse of Bashar al-Assad's government in Syria
(December 2024). This also includes the increasing rise and
strengthening of fundamentalism in countries such as Iran, Kuwait,
Qatar, Israel, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Turkey, Oman,
Bahrain, Yemen, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt (Middle
Eastern countries), India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the
Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka (South Asian countries), as well as
Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Mongolia, Kashmir, Xinjiang (formerly East Turkestan) in western
China, and southern Siberia in Russia (Central Asian countries).
These developments illustrate the intensification of imperialist and
reactionary conflicts and alignments in the current conditions.
Let
us start with the French Revolution:
The
French Revolution
(1789–1799) is considered one of the most significant events in
world history. It succeeded in suppressing the churches, abolishing
Catholic monarchy, nationalizing church properties, and exiling
approximately 30,000 priests. In October 1793, the Christian calendar
was replaced with the revolutionary calendar, and festivals
celebrating freedom, reason, and enlightenment replaced the
Inquisition. Revolutionary government laws became strictly mandatory
in April 1794. Anti-church laws were passed by the legislative
assembly and its successor, the National Convention, as well as by
departmental councils across the country.
The
Concordat of France,
signed in 1801 between Napoleon Bonaparte and Pope Pius VII, was an
agreement designed to resolve conflicts between the French government
and the Catholic Church following the French Revolution. This
agreement lasted for over a century until it was abolished by the
Third French Republic in favor of secular policies through the
establishment of laïcité
(secularism) on December 11, 1905.
The
French Revolution and the Dynamics of Imperialism
The
French Revolution was a historic event that silenced the churches but
has not been replicated since 1905. After that point, during the era
of imperialism, the monopoly bourgeoisie never sought to overthrow
feudalism. Instead, efforts were made to reconcile the bourgeoisie
and feudalism. This was because imperialism relied on feudalism as
the backbone of its control in dominated nations, including colonial,
semi-colonial, feudal, and semi-feudal countries. Imperialism saw the
growth of religious fundamentalism as a tool to further its
interests.
This
reality was highlighted during the Cultural
Revolution in China,
where Mao Zedong explicitly stated that the bourgeoisie was no longer
capable of revolution and that the responsibility for such
revolutionary actions had shifted to the proletariat.
Recent
developments in the Middle East, Central Asia, and South Asia reflect
this assertion, with religious fundamentalism on the rise in these
regions. Imperialist protégés, supported by unconditional aid, came
to power in Afghanistan in August 2021 and in Syria in December 2024,
with assistance from Zionism, Turkey's reactionary government, and
unreserved support from American imperialism.
The
Syrian Civil War,
which erupted in 2011 following the Arab Spring, ultimately led to
the collapse of Bashar al-Assad's government. However, Assad's regime
was not toppled by revolutionary forces or the masses, but by Islamic
fundamentalists, led by Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, a former member of
al-Qaeda in Iraq and a close associate of Zarqawi. Al-Jolani played a
significant role in the early years of the Syrian conflict, founding
Jabhat al-Nusra
as an al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria. However, by 2016, he rebranded it
as Hay'at Tahrir
al-Sham and formally
severed ties with al-Qaeda. From 2016 onward, the inter-imperialist
contradictions between
Russia and the United States heightened regional tensions and
exacerbated the internal conflicts in Syria following the Arab
Spring. Russia, owing to its military presence at the Hmeimim Air
Base (Arabic: قاعدة
حميميم الجوية)
in southeast Latakia, sided with Assad. Meanwhile, the U.S., in
collaboration with Israel and Turkey, supported Abu Muhammad
al-Jolani and the "Syrian Taliban," who ultimately rose to
power with imperialist, Zionist, and regional reactionary backing.
Similar to the Afghan Taliban (long-standing puppets of imperialism),
this power grab in Syria reflects an imperialist game, revealing
covert agreements between Western imperialists and Russian
imperialism. Bashar al-Assad, in his final days, was fully aware of
his inability to alter the situation and thus adopted a passive
stance. It is now evident that Western
imperialists and Russian imperialism have reached agreements
regarding Ukraine and Syria,
engaging in a transactional exchange. What the Western imperialists
offered to Russia in Ukraine and what was left for it in Syria
remains to be seen over time.
