Warmongers responsible for refugee crisis: Activist

Press TV has conducted an interview with Eric Draitser, the founder of stopimperialism.com in New York, to discuss the remarks made by the European Union’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, who said the main root cause of the refugee crisis in Europe is the conflicts in Syria and Libya.

What follows is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Well, interesting comments by Mogherini. Tell me, was there some self-reflection going on? What do you think this is about and what does it mean overall? Is it going to change the policy of what the Europeans, what the EU is basically doing or have done in Syria and of course also in Libya?

Draitser: Well, I think that the comments would be laughable if they were not so tragic and painful for the people who have lost their lives, the families who have been destroyed and the counties that have been already devastated by the wars that the US and NATO have waged both on Libya and as well as on Syria. And I think that what we actually are looking at is pretty much the expected consequences of the collapse of these countries, the destruction of these countries.

In Libya for instance, when Mogherini makes a comment that the European Union supports the establishment of a new government, of a coalition government, this is utter nonsense because what they are playing on is essentially the ignorance of the Western audience who have no concept of what is actually happening in Libya to the extent that they [don’t] even know that there is essentially not one unified country anymore, that there is a quasi-government in Tobruk and a quasi government in Tripoli, they have no concept of the fact that there is ongoing fighting between al-Qaeda-linked groups in Tripoli, between the Islamic State, General Haftar and his forces in the east, the so-called government based in Tobruk and then other outside forces, outside elements that are involved as well as the Green Resistance, the southern insurgency, a number of other factions rooted in tribal divisions, ethnic divisions, clan rivalries.

This is a chaotic situation in Libya – one that was precipitated by the war that removed the Gaddafi government and destroyed the country.

So, when they say that they are concerned about migrants coming from Libya, what they are actually saying is they are admitting their own responsibility for creating it but not having the courage to be able to say that openly because to do so would discredit their entire so-called humanitarian intervention project. The same is true with Syria.

Press TV: Let me just jump into that actually, with Syria what you just said about the EU’s involvement. We look at the situation in Syria and interestingly enough looking at the Western media and reactions especially after the toddler washed up ashore in Turkey and all of the sudden the outrage now in the West about the refugee crisis and the Syrian war.

But still the main reactions, what is showing is that all of this is the fault of the government of Bashar al-Assad and even some Republicans there are saying that because Obama has been soft on the Syrian government, that is why babies are washing up ashore.

So, getting back to what you said and that Westerners are not well-versed on what is going on, so what can be done? What needs to be done in order for them to have the information that they need to put pressure on their governments to change this status quo?

Draitser: Well, there are a couple of questions embedded in that.

I think, first and foremost, we have to realize that the images of the Syrian child washing ashore are really being capitalized on by the media, by the propaganda machine in order to justify an escalation against Syria. There is no recognition of responsibility rather it is the opposite. It is capitalizing on this tragedy, on the horrific images which are obviously emotionally devastating with a visceral reaction that makes one feel like you want to do something but what is it that we can actually do?

The only answer to that question is to end the war on Syria, that is to say to stop the funding, stop the weapons, stop the importation of militants across the Turkish border, across the Lebanese border. All of these things are what the Syrian military has been moving towards achieving in Zabadani, cutting off the Lebanese corridor, trying to cut off as to what extent they can… elements on the Turkish border as well but again we see the United States – whether it is the Obama administration or Republicans – merely have differences of opinion as to how to continue to wage the war on Syria.

There is not one credible voice within the establishment actually saying ‘End the war on Syria,’ so the responsibility then falls on alternative media, on peace activists and organizers of all stripes to say that the so-called migrant crisis, the tragedy of the child, all of these things we lay them at the feet of the warmongers in Washington, in Brussels, in London, in Tel Aviv, in Riyadh, in Ankara and all of these places that have fomented this war from the very beginning. That is the message that has to come across and that is how it must be organized.  

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