The recent protests in the U.S. have triggered a wave of media coverage and punditry. Some of the commentary has satirised how Western media would cover the events if they occurred in another country. This got me thinking: Why bother to satirise? Why not actually bring in a Syrian perspective on the protests in the U.S.? After all, Western media have featured countless opinion pieces and quotations from outsiders regarding the situation in Syria. Why not turn the tables and feature some real commentary on the U.S. protests on my site?
To obtain a very interesting perspective on the U.S. protests, I interviewed a fighter of the ISIS Hunters, a Russian-backed formation that has fought on the side of the Syrian government during the war in that country. Note that this person is not the same person as the ISIS Hunters' veteran I interviewed in April 2020.
The interview is slightly edited for clarity. Any parenthetical insertions in square brackets are my own.
Q: In your opinion what are the causes of the protests? And will the protests lead to political change in America?
A: The main reason is the presence of a dolt in the place of the presidency like Trump, and the racism deeply rooted in the streets of the American cities. With all certainty they will lead to big change as well, and I do not rule out the killing of the dolt, for the killing of George Floyd on television screens in this manner will not pass in peace. And the protests are lighting up in most of the states, and there is continual increase, and the dolt Trump describes the protesters as terrorists. And as you know, America in general is a country in which ethnic gangs are greatly spread, and it is not very difficult to obtain or acquire weapons in their different forms. And they are present originally in the American streets. For this reason and that, they will not pass in peace, except after difficult labour pains. And if you want to bring about change, you must have weapons and a cause for which you fight, and the most important thing: people who believe in your cause. And this is all available and deeply rooted and George Floyd is the straw that broke the camel's back.
Q: So do you expect there will be a civil war in the country? And as for us as Iraqis and Syrians, must we support the protests?
A: Civil war: I do not want to call it as such. It will be a war for justice and equality against oppression and racism. We must support them at least like the free people in the world, even with a word of truth. And as you know: different societal components in most of the states of the world have reciprocated with each other on the case of the killing of Floyd. Among them those who have taken up the expenses of the funeral, and among them those who have pledged to meet the living costs for his family. And the thing more important than that by far: among them many who have been killed in protests expressing their solidarity with George Floyd. And most of them are of the brothers of black skin. These people are by their nature not silent over injustice.
Q: If the protesters bring down the Trump regime, will that be in the interest of the Syrian homeland?
A: My friend, the protesters are in the millions, against a racist capitalist regime headed by a narcissistic madman who thinks himself the inheritor of the Earth. Without doubt capitalism will fall, because the American street is congested and headed for the explosion since the events that followed the events of the Twin Towers in September [9/11], and the wars and numbers of killed and wounded, poverty, expensiveness and people out of work. Everything will be multiplied this time
Q: Yes, and this [the bringing down of the Trump regime] benefits the interests of the Syrian people?
A: With all certainty if the capitalist regime and Trump fall, it will have a great impact on the whole region, benefiting the peoples of the region, and even the sister Venezuela, because the wholesale American withdrawal from the region will follow after the fall of the capitalist regime and Trump, and it will come after the lighting of the spark of war in the region, and terrible losses by which the forces of global imperialism will be afflicted. By the permission of God, this is what will be. And the coming days will inform us.