The killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer received much attention in the state press of the Syrian regime, a regime that is widely accused of committing crimes against humanity, as evident, inter alia, in the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, passed by the U.S. Congress in 2019, that sanctions the Syrian regime and anyone aiding it. The Syrian government dailies, and especially Al-Thawra, stated that the George Floyd affair is proof of the hypocrisy of the U.S., which purports to champion democracy and freedom yet employs racism and terror against its own citizens and against other countries. The articles also slammed the Western countries that are members of the UN Security Council (UNSC), saying that they purport to respect human rights yet turn a blind eye to America's war crimes in the world and to its racism against its own citizens.
The following are translated excerpts from several of these articles in Al-Thawra:
Americans protest killing of George Floyd (source: Aljazeera.com, June 3, 2020)
The West, UNSC Refrain From Condemning The U.S. Since They Are Subordinate To It And Complicit In Its Crimes
Al-Thawra editor-in-chief 'Ali Nasrallah wrote an article lambasting the Western countries for what he called their silence over the George Floyd incident. He wrote: "An entire week has passed since the loathsome barbaric and racist act, but the [rest of the] 'civilized' West has not given any appropriate response to the situation, not even in the form of a minimal [assertion of] faith in the democracy that it purports to believe in…
"What is the meaning of all this fear, cowardice and yawning [indifference]? Is it because the West is similar to the U.S. in terms of its racist regime… or because the old Western continent [i.e., Europe] is afraid of the U.S.? Or because [Europe], including all its components, belongs to [the U.S.] in the first place and is one of the tools [America] uses for harming the peoples and governments of countries throughout the world?
"Why is it that the international Security Council – which the U.S. has turned into a wing of its State Department, and which [the U.S.] directs, occupies and exhausts [by] leading the political and diplomatic struggles within it, in violation of the [UN] Charter and of all [the Council's] own decisions – is still shut down and has not uttered a single word to condemn the racism and the actions of the American regime?...
"This world has to change and transform its [ruling] order, its institutions and its organizations. It is time for it to shake off the lie of democracy and freedoms that are tailored to the dimensions of America's reckless and racist behavior, [behavior] which the helpless West, subjugated to the U.S., is complicit in… It's time for the world to raise its voice against those who apply a double standard to all these situations..."[1]
Other Western Countries Are Just As Culpable As Their American Master, If Not More So
Al-Thawra columnist Nasser Mundhir accused the West of hypocrisy for treating the U.S. differently than other countries. He wrote: "How long will the world remain hostage to the policy of double standards that is imposed by the U.S. and embraced by the colonialist Western countries that are dependent on America's will? This question has become more pressing today, in light of America’s acts of racism and oppression against [American] citizens of color and against other nations. The paradox is that the countries that rally around the banner of subjugation to America move heaven and earth [to help] America when it wishes to harm another country on the pretext of [preserving] human rights, but their officials remain silent when they see America's racist crimes [broadcast] on television screens across the world.
"Some member states of the UNSC, such as France and Britain, turn a blind eye to the racist crimes of the U.S. and do not dare to demand an emergency UNSC meeting to condemn them or to discuss the crimes of the Trump administration against citizens of color. [But] these very same countries, as well as the U.S. itself, use the UNSC to fan the flames of the terrorist war against Syria, and [also] use it, as well as many other international councils and institutions, to legitimize the American attacks on numerous countries and peoples. Moreover, these countries have used all their capabilities to defend the terrorists in Syria, and have provided them, and continue to provide them, with every kind of military and logistic assistance – yet they are incapable of uttering a word in defense of the blacks in America or demanding that the U.S. authorities stop their terrorist actions. If they do so, they will be indicting themselves, for they are no less culpable than their American master; [in fact], they may even surpass it in their policy of violence and oppression when their governments face waves of protest [by people] demanding the most basic and legitimate rights. This has happened in many Western capitals."[2]
The Veneer Of Democracy Hiding The Racism Of The U.S. Administration Has Been Removed
Al-Thawra columnist Bashar Muhammad wrote: "…The location of the crime [of George Floyd's killing] and the identity of the criminal are unsurprising, because the history of America and its administrations is replete with racist crimes against its indigenous peoples and against blacks. This is in addition to the war crimes perpetrated by America outside its borders, from Vietnam and Korea to Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, not to mention its systematic and deliberate use of weapons banned by international conventions. The international community does not dare to accuse the ‘world’s policeman’ [i.e., the U.S.] of any [offenses in the domains of] human rights, racism or democracy, for whoever opposes [the U.S.] may, thanks to its power, be subjected to an economic siege or to its means of terrorism. [The U.S.] presents itself as the leader of the free world and as the main champion of liberties, but these empty slogans become meaningless in the face of the cries of the protesters, which caused the leader in the White House to hide in a dark cellar for the first time in U.S. [history]. Thus, the veneer of democracy and the slogans of human rights, used by consecutive American administrations to beautify their domestic and foreign policy, have all been swept away."[3]
