Gaine
AgelessThrival™
Magazine

Article from Issue #54 (February 7, 2023)

Fascism Will Destroy Itself, Part 2: Myanmar, Afghanistan and Syria

by Mark Hall

Subscribe to Gaine AgelessThrival™ Magazine

Email Name

The collapse of democracy has been seen worldwide. Some countries have fared worse than others. Today I will outline three of the worst cases in the world: Myanmar, Afghanistan and Syria.

Myanmar

Myanmar (formerly Burma) had been under control of an illegimate military junta for decades until 2015, in which the first truly democratic election was held (previously elections severely restricted who was eligible to run). The National League of Democracy (NLD), with Aung San Suu Kyi as its leader, won an overwhelming majority.

It seemed as though this was a long-awaited victory for democracy, but under the surface there were still many problems. While the NLD was the ruling party, the military still retained much of its power. With a guaranteed 25% of the seats in the houses of parliament, the military could block any reforms that they do not agree with. The years after 2015 were a tense standoff between the NLD and the military.

In the election of 2020, the NLD won again, by an even wider margin. The military, sensing that their grip on power was weakening, decided to make their move. In February of 2021 the military removed the government by force in a coup d'état. Aung San Suu Kyi was placed under arrest along with many government leaders. In a few days, decades of progress towards democracy were wiped out.

The people of Myanmar were rightly infuriated and came out to the streets in massive protests that went on for months. The reaction of the military was predictable, exactly what you'd expect from a regime who rules by force. In the two years since the coup, more than 2,800 people have been killed, and more than 13,000 arrested.

Unfortunately, the protests have for the most part subsided, and international interest has all bit disappeared with the Ukraine War dominating the news for the past year. However, one deadline is approaching. The military has kept itself in power by calling a "state of emergency" which was initially supposed to last one year, but has been extended. They are unable to extend it further and will be calling an election this year, likely by August.

The election itself will be a farce, since the members of the NLD are all either imprisoned, dead, or in hiding. However, the coming of the election will bring the spotlight back to Myanmar, which may re-ignite the protests and bring more action from the rest of the world in the form of sanctions.

Afghanistan

After the first phase of the war in Afghanistan, the Taliban was removed from power, and a democratic government was put in place. The government was plagued with issues of corruption, and had many flaws but it was still at least a step in the right direction. The people of Afghanistan (especially women) began to enjoy freedoms that they couldn't have under the control of Taliban.

Unfortunately, it wouldn't last. In 2021 the US withdrew from Afghanistan, and without their military support the Taliban very quickly regained control of the country and seized power once again.

Just like in Myanmar, years of democratic progress were suddenly reversed in a few days. After gaining power, representatives of the Taliban publicly expressed that they would take a softer approach to their rule. This was rightly treated with a large dose of skepticism by the international community. This is the Taliban that we're talking about here. Before long, the they began to slowly implement more and more restrictions to human rights (particularly women's rights). As of December 2022, women are not allowed to attend high school or university. As a woman, the furthest you can go in the education system is grade 6.

It is inevitable that if they are left in power, they will bring back every facet of their fundamentalist Islamic law, and will continue to violate human rights and subjugate women.

The future of Afghanistan seems pretty bleak now, but I think that as the world as a whole moves away from authoritarian rule, Afghanistan will come along with it.

Syria

Syria is an absolute worst-case scenario. The civil war has been immensely destructive, causing the worst refugee crisis in the 21st century (so far).

The war started in 2011, after protests against president Bashar al-Assad were violently put down. Ever since then, it has been a constant bloody war which has cost countless innocent lives. As of the beginning of 2023, fighting has quieted somewhat and Assad remains in control of the majority of the country.

The complexities of the war are far too detailed to summarize in a single article. There are many different sides to the war. To classify it as the regime vs anti-regime forces would be an over-simplification. For example, the notorious terrorist group ISIS is fighting against Assad's regime, but their goals do not align with any of the other anti-regime forces, most of whom are also actively fighting ISIS.

But the complicated nature of the war only distracts from one central truth about it. While it may be difficult to identify the "good guys" it is undeniably obvious that Bashar al-Assad's regime is by far the worst of all of them. In terms of numbers, Assad and his allies are estimated to be responsible for 91% of the deaths throughout the conflict. His crimes against humanity include deliberately targeting hospitals and using chemical weapons on civilians. There may not be a clear "good guy" in the conflict but Assad is definitely the "bad guy".

The hope that I see for an end to the civil war is that Assad will be running out of allies soon. Many of Assad's air strikes against his own people are carried out by Russia, and another one of his major military allies is Iran. His other major ally is Hezbollah, which receives a lot of support and funding from Iran.

Russia is on the verge of collapse due to its disastrous war in Ukraine. Iran's regime is on the verge of collapse due to the popular uprising against them. Hezbollah is about to lose a lot of its support and funding from Iran when their regime collapses. The current stalemate in Syria will likely tip in favor of the opposition as Assad's allies disappear from the scene. In that way, I see Iran and Russia as the first dominoes to fall in a worldwide collapse of fascism. The only question is how long it will take.