War in the Middle East: Why the left should support the revolutionary Kurds

A recent statement in Parliament by Defence Secretary, Michael Fallon confirmed that the UK Government are seriously looking at the prospect of extending airstrikes from Iraq into Syria.

This seems to be a reactionary spasm in response to the recent terrorist attack in Tunisia. However the tendency of some on the left to immediately cry “warmonger” or “imperialist” may be premature. We should at least talk about the idea of intervention in a serious manner. When is it right? (Is it ever right?) and when is it wrong?

At the moment all we get is a lazy reference to Tony Blair, and of course Iraq. Fair enough you may think- Iraq is a bloody mess and it is so primarily because of the disastrous invasion in 2003, which toppled Saddam Hussein. As strong an argument as it is, we shouldn’t discount any future intervention solely on the basis that Iraq was a folly.

Consider for a moment our comrades in northern Syria. Revolutionary Kurds have carved out the semblances of a state, or rather a series of democratic, self-governing communities out of reach of the Assad regime. They have free health care, worker controlled co-operatives and are defended by peoples militia, 30% of which are made up by female fighters. The fact is there’s a radical left creating an egalitarian society in the Middle East, which has been largely ignored by the Western left.

There is a very clear parallel between events in Northern Syria today and Northern Spain in 1937. ISIS like Franco’s Falange before them threatens to violently destroy all who do not conform to their narrow conservative conception of society. The Kurdish defenders of the Northern Syrian provinces just like the Republicans in 1937 stand firm against the fascists for the principles of democracy and equality. And just like in Spain where men like George Orwell and poet John Cornford fought, and in Cornford’s case died for the Troskyite faction POUM the same sense of internationalism has inspired foreign fighters from across the world to join the Kurdish resistance against ISIS.

I instinctively oppose the United States reoccurring presence in the Middle East but it is simply the case that US airstrikes in Northern Syria have helped repel ISIS advances on the beleaguered Kurdish city of Kobane.  If we oppose these airstrikes and any future UK airstrikes we are effectively leaving our Kurdish brothers and sisters to fend for themselves.  
There are of course a multitude of arguments against airstrikes in Syria. The last thing the region needs is more white men with guns to sort its problems out. But we owe it to our comrades in Syria and else where to at least take seriously the issue of military assistance.