Support for the Assad dictatorship finishes off the left which has been in theoretical & political dry rot since at least the end of the Vietnam War. The corruption is steeped in a grotesque adherence to Stalinist politics freebasing on factionalism, sectarianism, & cultism & making them indistinguishable from fascism.

What is to be learned from all that? Don’t do gurus. Don’t uncritically follow those who talk with bellowing authority but are glib windbags & don’t know beans from buckshot about the politics of social transformation. Don’t do elitists who treat you like a guppy with nothing to contribute. Don’t let others do your thinking & your study for you. Don’t let anybody push you around intellectually. If it looks like Stalinism, run like hell. If it isn’t democratic, don’t waste a moment of your time because there is no possibility of change coming from hand-raisers. Keep your nose clean & don’t engage in double-dealing. Never let anyone break the rebel in you because it is rebels staying a principled course who help to change the world. If you want to know what a rebel looks like, look to Palestinians, Kashmiris, Rohingya, the indigenous peoples fighting neoliberal economics on every planet, the Filipino human rights activists standing against vigilante death squads, & so many others who will not bend the knee to violence. Those who fight oppression despite seemingly insuperable odds are our teachers. Let the gurus & the windbags go to seed.