Maajid: Left Is Silent On Russia's Role In Syria

9 October 2016, 14:12 | Updated: 9 October 2016, 22:27

The Left's silence on Russia's role in Syria is deafening, says Maajid Nawaz.

He excoriated the silence from groups such as Stop The War, of which Jeremy Corbyn is a founding member, over Russia’s role in the conflict.

“So we're aware of the sins of commission but are we in danger of committing equally the sins of omission. Or should I say failing to act in the case of Syria. Aleppo is under siege, 300,000 people are exposed to carpet bombing, last week alone, 100 children lost their lives.

“Should Stop The War be doing more to insist that Russia and Syria in fact stop the war? Why is it that we see many protests on our streets both around domestic issues and also by the way, on foreign policy issues and those that relate to the actions of foreign countries and foreign governments. Yet rarely do we see any protests of note against Russia and against Bashar al-Assad of Syria, that great dictator and tyrant.

“Even last summer we had protests against the French burkini ban, we had a march for Europe, we had a smaller but nevertheless a significant protest for support for the refugees but we are yet to see anything of significance in regards to protesting against the war that Russia and Assad are waging against the Syrian people right now in Syria, in their own country.

“So what's going on? Why do we only see anti-war protests against our Western allies? Think here of Israel. Think and imagine for a second if Israel had besieged this very week 300,000 Palestinians in a city in the West Bank.

“Let's say Bethlehem for example, or let's say it was Gaza.

"If Israel had besieged 300,000 people and if it had only last week killed 100 children are you seriously telling me there would be no stop the war protests on our streets?

"Yet we see, when it comes to Russia, absolutely nothing, silence and Corbyn, yes, he bears a level of responsibility for this because he was a founder of Stop the War, he spoke at their 15th anniversary event yesterday and he was heckled for precisely the reasons I believe that I'm attempting to elaborate here now.”