NM's blog

“ Sectarianism as a political tool fundamentally serves to consolidate power and divide society . It can function to divert attention from socio-economic and political issues by scapegoating a particular group — defined through sectarian or ethnic identity — as the source of the country’s problems and as a security threat, thereby legitimizing discriminatory or repressive policies against it. Moreover, sectarianism acts as a mechanism of social control by shaping class relations and reinforcing forms of dependence between popular classes and elite leaderships. As a result, popular classes may lose forms of independent political agency and instead become politically mobilized primarily through sectarian identities. “In this context, the new authorities appear in several respects to reproduce patterns associated with the former Assad regime, notably through the continued use of sectarian policies and practices as instruments of governance, control, and social division.”

“The focus on ethnic or religious identity has surely undermined any prospect of a class-based politics developing . Civil society — once vibrant in the early days of the uprising — has been stifled by state violence, while political parties and trade unions have been dissolved in the name of national transition.” “ While the HTS leadership maintains strict control over many Sunni militias in Idlib, it must now negotiate with non-Sunni communities, such as the Druze and Kurds…” Here the writer is inaccurate. The Kurds are not a non-Sunni community; most if the Kurds are Sunni. According to some estimates,  Kurdish forces lost an estimated 11,000 fighters in the battle against ISIS (a Sunni too), with over 22,000 wounded. 

“Justified under the pretext of combating the "remnants of the Assad regime," the massacres were primarily driven by sectarian hatred and a sense of "revenge," falsely equating the entire Alawite community with the former regime. This occurred despite the fact that the vast majority of Alawites did not support the attacks carried out by regime remnants against the security forces. Moreover, many of the civilians who were assassinated had actually opposed Assad’s rule and had celebrated its fall in December 2024. “We have to be clear that these sectarian tensions and hatred are not due to ancient religious divisions or as something essential to the people of the region.  Sectarianism and sectarian tensions  are a product of modernity and have political roots. In this case, they are the result of the former Assad regime’s sectarian policies and practices, which were used as a tool to divide Syrians, as well as the actions of the new ruling authorities, including HTS a...