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Ba'athism, also known as Saddamism or Assadism (depending if it's Iraq or Syria respectively), is an Authoritarian unity, Arab Nationalist, culturally variable, and an anti-zionist ideology. In the political compass, he is close to the Authoritarian center, towards the left. He believes in a unified Arab state led by a secular government under a vanguard party with a state capitalist economy. He is very anti-pornography, hates Wahhabists and theocracies, and despises (western) imperialism.

History

Creation

The origins of Ba'athism began with Zaki al-Arsuzi and Michel Aflaq. While Aflaq, Bitar and Arsuzi were never members of the same organization, they are considered the founders of Baathism. Arsuzi formed the Arab Baath Party in 1940 and his views influenced Aflaq, who alongside junior partner Salah al-Din al-Bitar founded the Arab Ihya Movement in 1940 that later renamed itself the Arab Baath Movement in 1943. Though Aflaq was influenced by him, Arsuzi did not cooperate with Aflaq's movement. Arsuzi suspected that the existence of the Arab Ihya Movement, which occasionally titled itself "Arab Baath", was part of an imperialist plot to prevent his influence over the Arabs by creating a movement of the same name. When Arsuzi left the League of Nationalist Action (LNA) party in 1939 after its leader died and the party had fallen into disarray, he founded the short-lived Arab National Party in 1939 and dissolved it later that year. On 29 November 1940, Arsuzi founded the Arab Baath.

1940s

A significant conflict and turning point in the development of Baathism occurred when Arsuzi's and Aflaq's movements sparred after the 1941 coup d'etat by Rashid Ali al-Gaylani and the Anglo-Iraqi War. Aflaq's movement supported al-Gaylani's government and the Iraqi government's war against the British and organized volunteers to go to Iraq and fight for the Iraqi government. However, Arsuzi opposed al-Gaylani's government, considering the coup to be poorly planned and a failure. At this point, Arsuzi's party lost members and support that transferred to Aflaq's movement. Subsequently, Arsuzi's direct influence in Arab politics collapsed after Vichy French authorities expelled him from Syria. The Arab Baath Movement's next major political action was its support of Lebanon's war of independence from France in 1943. The Arab Baath Movement did not solidify for years until it held its first party congress in 1947 when it merged with the Arab Socialist Party led by Akram al-Hawrani to establish the Arab Socialist Baath Party.

Iraq

Rise of Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein at the age of 20 joined the revolutionary pan-Arab Ba'ath Party in Iraq, after dropping out of law school. In 1958, a year after Saddam had joined the Ba'ath party, army officers led by General Abd al-Karim Qasim overthrew Faisal II of Iraq in the 14 July Revolution. The Ba'ath Party was originally represented in Qasim's cabinet. The party turned against him for his refusal to join Gamal Abdel Nasser's United Arab Republic (UAR). Qasim created an alliance with the Iraqi Communist Party, which was opposed to any notion of pan-Arabism.

After participating in a failed assassination plot to kill Qasim, Saddam moved to Egypt. On 8 February 1963, while Saddam still was in Egypt, army officers with ties to the Ba'ath Party under the leadership of Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr overthrew Qasim, marking the start of the Ramadan Revolution; A 9-month reign of terror to purge Iraq of communists, with the financial and tactical support of CIA.

The Ba'athist regime came to a temporary end later that year in the November 1963 Iraqi coup d'état by the non-Ba’athist faction in the Iraqi government. Saddam was arrested in October 1964 and served approximately two years in prison before escaping in 1966. The same year Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr appointed him Deputy Secretary of the Regional Command. In September 1966, Saddam proved to be an extraordinary challenge to Syrian domination of the Ba'ath Party, resulting in the Party's formalized split into two separate factions.

In July 1968, Saddam participated in a bloodless coup led by Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr in the 17 July Revolution that saw the Ba’athists regain control of Iraq. Saddam proceeded to carry out purges of Nasserists, communists, and others that didn’t adhere to Ba'athist ideals.

The Ba’athist regime inherited an Iraq long plagued by divisions and tensions along social, ethnic, religious, and economic fault lines: Sunni versus Shi'ite, Arab versus Kurd, tribal chief versus urban merchant, nomad versus peasant. The desire for stability led Saddam to pursue both massive repression of dissent and the improvement of living standards through extensive welfare programs and large-scale infrastructure projects.

In 1972, Saddam oversaw the seizure of international oil interests, which, at the time, dominated the country's oil sector. A year later, world oil prices rose dramatically as a result of the 1973 energy crisis, and skyrocketing revenues enabled Saddam to further gain support from the masses through economic improvement. While Saddam was a staunch anti-communist himself, he maintained and deepened Iraq’s already close ties to the Soviet Union . This greatly infuriated the US which feared loss of control of the Middle East and began to covertly finance Kurdish rebels led by Mustafa Barzani with the help of Pahlavi Iran during the Second Iraqi–Kurdish War to overthrow Saddam’s regime. The Kurds were defeated in 1975 at the hands of the Iraqi government, leading to the forcible relocation of hundreds of thousands of Kurdish civilians.

In 1976, Saddam rose to the position of general in the Iraqi armed forces and in 1979 became the President of Iraq. Only 6 days after his accession to the presidency, Saddam initiated another large-scale purge, mass arrests, and public executions of hundreds of Ba’ath party officials he perceived to be a threat to his rule. The trials and executions were televised for everyone in the country to prevent anyone else from getting any ideas to challenge Saddam’s monopoly of power.

Iran-Iraq War

Following the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, which overthrew Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, Iran-Iraq relations dropped to a new low as the new Iranian regime’s Shia Theocracy stood in contrast to Saddam’s Sunni dominated Ba’athist dictatorship that suppressed Shia clerics. There were frequent clashes along the Iran–Iraq border throughout 1980, with Iraq publicly complaining of at least 544 incidents and Iran citing at least 797 violations of its border and airspace.

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini openly called on Iraqis to overthrow the Ba'ath government with the intent of spreading the Islamic Revolution throughout the Middle East. Iran supported a government in exile for Iraq, the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, and recruited POWs, Shias, Kurds, and other dissidents that had been oppressed under Saddam’s regime.

Iraq launched a full-scale invasion of Iran on 22 September 1980. The Iran-Iraq War quickly became a subject of foreign interest groups and the world’s leading nations who sought to ensure that neither Iran nor Iraq would get the upper hand in the war. Iraq's three main suppliers of weaponry during the war were the Soviet Union, China and France in addition to the US , UK , Portugal, West Germany, Saudi Arabia , the Gulf States and many other countries. Many of the aftermentioned countries supplied Iran with weapons at the same time.

Saddam would spend much effort near the end of the war in 1988 with clearing out Kurdish resistance. The Ba’athist regime initiated the Anfal campaign a genocide of Iraqi Kurds using chemical weapons that would result in between 50,000 and 100,000 deaths. The Iran–Iraq War was the deadliest conventional war ever fought between regular armies of developing countries with a total of over a million casualties on both sides. The war also led to the massive destruction of critical infrastructure and severe economic loss for both sides with Saddam’s regime losing almost all legitimacy and support from the Iraqi people it had gained during the past decade of economic prosperity.

1990s

As the Iran-Iraq War had come to end in 1988, Saddam’s Iraq founds itself ridden with debt, much of it was owed to Kuwait which refused to forgive the debt at Saddam’s request. Kuwait of exceeding its OPEC quotas for oil production which kept oil revenues down for Iraq. In early 1990, Iraq accused Kuwait of stealing Iraqi petroleum through cross-border slant drilling.

Unable to come to an agreement that would suit both parties, Saddam began to prepare Iraq for an invasion of its southern neighbor. The invasion started on 2 August 1990, marking the start of the 2nd Gulf War and within two days, most of the Kuwaiti military either being overrun or forced to flee to neighboring countries. Immediately following the invasion, Iraq set up a puppet government known as the "Republic of Kuwait" to rule over Kuwait, eventually annexing it outright, when Saddam Hussein announced a few days later that it was the 19th province of Iraq which he partly justified by irredentist reasons. Iraqi forces proceeded to crack down mercilessly on Kuwaiti resistance to the occupation through the arrest and executions of thousands of suspects.

The Iraqi invasion and occupation of Kuwait were unanimously condemned by all major world powers. On 3 August 1990, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 660 condemning the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and demanding that Iraq unconditionally withdraw all forces deployed in Kuwait.

To manufacture public consent for war with Iraq the US government under President George H.W. Bush used the public testimony of a 15-year-old teenage girl, Nayirah (A secret member of Kuwait’s ruling al Sabah family) who testified in front the US Congress that after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, she had witnessed Iraqi soldiers take babies out of incubators in a Kuwaiti hospital, take the incubators, and leave the babies to die.

At the start of the following year US along with a coalition of many other countries including but not limited to UK , France Egypt , Saudi Arabia , and Syria etc. launched a massive military assault on Iraq and Iraqi forces stationed in Kuwait. As the Coalition quickly gained the upper hand the Iraqi military set fire to 700 oil wells as part of a scorched earth policy while retreating from Kuwait in 1991. On 25 February, Kuwait was officially liberated from Iraq.

The Clinton Administration (1993-2001) that took office after Bush II Administration became committed to a policy of regime change to remove Saddam from power through the use of UN-enforced sanctions, and covert support for Shia and Kurdish dissident groups and during 7 years after the liberation of Kuwait, President Bill Clinton signed the Iraqi Liberation Act of 1998.

Iraq War

WIP

Syria

Salah Jadid

WIP

Hafez al-Assad

Hafez al-Assad (1930-2000) was a Syrian statesman and military officer who served as President of Syria from 1971 until his death in 2000. Hafez participated in the 1963 Syrian coup d'état which brought the Syrian regional branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party to power. After serving as defense minister for a few years he initiated another coup that ousted the de facto leader Salah Jadid and appointed himself as leader of Syria. Hafez imposed change on the Ba'ath government when he took power, by imposing capitalism and limited liberalization of the economy thus moving the Syrian Ba'ath Party away from its socialist roots.

As President, Hafez organized state services along sectarian lines the Sunnis became the heads of political institutions, while the Alawites took control of the military, intelligence, and security apparatuses. Even though Hafez sided with the Soviet Union in the cold war against Israel, he prosecuted and repressed leftists such as supporters of Salah Jadid, at home. Hafez's policies indirectly led to the establishment of a "new elite" as state officials used their positions for personal gain resulting in spikes of corruption.

From the 1970s to the early 1980s the Alawite Dynasty found its power and grip over Syria challenged by a series of revolts and armed insurgencies of Sunni Islamists, mainly members of the Muslim Brotherhood which aimed to overthrow the secular Ba'athist dictatorship. The Islamist uprising reached its climax in the 1982 Hama uprising and massacre, which resulted in tens of thousands casualties and was used by Hafez to eliminate dissent turning Syria into a totalitarian dictatorship

Bashar al-Assad

Following the death of Hafez al-Assad in 2000 and the succession of his son, Bashar to the presidency, political repression diminished significantly in what was known as Damascus Spring. Bashar attempted to improve relations with the west through market liberal reforms such as the privatization of education, healthcare, the banking sector, and the media. However, corruption only increased, and the Syrian opposition began to organize foreign powers came to decide that Assad had to go.

Syrian Civil War

Due to a combination of Bashar's domestic policies and the agenda of foreign powers like the US, Turkey, and The Gulf States, opposition to the Assad dictatorship began to mount leading to a full-on civil war when the Syrian opposition splintered along the lines of Islamic Democrats, Sunni fundementalists, National Liberals and sometimes, even Jihadists. As time passed, within the northern region of the nation, many of the Kurdish minority, having felt neglected and ignored by the Syrian government, unified under the ideology and Democratic Confederalism and later also got involved in the war under the administration of the "autonomous region" of Rojava. The Islamic State got involved in 2013 but lost most of its territory by 2017. The Free Syrian Army also came into existence as a loose collection of militant factions within the Islamic Democrats without any singular unifying ideology, however, were all unified by the desire to overthrow the Syrian Ba'athists and Assad. Eventually, over time, the large-support of the opposition eventually began to die out within the population, which has led to a large amount of rebel-owned territory being lost, with many rebel factions that are currently still active in the civil war either being allied or ideologically aligned with hard-core Islamist fundementalists, Jihadists, Pro-Turkish Insurgents, or having integrated themselves within the administration of Rojava and the SDF, with those who did the ladder tended to follow more liberal-leaning ideologies, with many factions following ideologies such as moderate Syrian Patriotism, secularism, Democracy, anti-racism, or even aligning with the ideology of Democratic Confederalism, with certain rebel factions including but not limited to:

to name a few most well-known SDF-FSA groups. Assyrian SDF allied groups such as the Syriac Union Party hold their own ideology of Dawronoye which takes great influence from Democratic Confederalism, while promoting nationalism and autonomy for indigenous Assyrians, as well as being affiliated with certain moderate opposition groups such as the National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change.

During the history of Assad and his rule, he has been criticized during his leadership for being ruthless in his efforts to hold onto power and suppress opposition. For example, he has been widely regarded for being responsible for numerous war crimes during the civil conflict, such as with the Ghouta chemical attacks in 2013, where bombs and sarin gas were used indiscriminately in civilian populations, as well as the Khan Shaykhun chemical attack in 2017 where similar methods of bombing, airstrikes, and sarin gas were used leading to numerous civilian casualties.

For more information on war crimes done by the Syrian Opposition, see Islamic Democracy...

Beliefs

The Arab nation is a united Arab state that would transform the Arab world politically, economically, intellectually and morally. Liberty is freedom and would be ensured by a Baath party which was not elected by the populace because the party had the common good at heart. Ba'athism likes socialism because they think it would be necessary for the Arabs to achieve an Arab state. Islam would be admired by all but not imposed on the state and society.

Personality and Behavior

Ba'athism's personality has two variants that represent two branches of this ideology.

His Syrian branch is very anti-pornography. Whenever someone goes to watch porn he pops out of nowhere and says stuff like "YOU HAVE BEEN ASSADED!!!". Anyone who says that he must go disappears, usually followed by the Syrian variant laughing.

His Iraqi branch is very sadistic, mutilating balls that disagree with him and sending their pieces in boxes. Hates non-Arabs, especially Jews and Kurds. If neocon shows up to take him out, he hides under bricks and rubble.

How to Draw

Ba'athism's design is based on the flag of the Arab Socialist Baʽath Party.

Flag of Ba'athism
  1. Draw a ball
  2. Fill the ball with white
  3. Draw the Ba‘ath Flag:
    1. Add a black colored horizontal stripe on top
    2. Add a green horizontal stripe at the bottom, making the ball an equal Black-White-Green tricolor
    3. Over the tricolor, add a large red triangle extending from both left corners and facing rightward with it's sharp edge, ending around a third of the flag
  4. Add two eyes
  5. Draw a black beret on the ball, with a small version of the Ba‘athist Iraq Coat of Arms
  6. (Optional) Give the ball a bolt-action rifle, or an AK variant (AK-74, AK-47, et cetera)

You are finished!

Color Name HEX RGB
Red #CE1126 206, 17, 38
Black #0D0D0D 13, 13, 13
White #FFFFFF 255, 255, 255
Green #007A3D 0, 122, 61
Beret Black #1C1C1C 28, 28, 28
Gold #E8CA4F 232, 202, 79


Relationships

Friends

  • Stratocracy - Literally me!
  • Socialism - I'm a socialist but not the marxist kind. The whole idea of a stateless moneyless society is just insane. I'm fine with a one-party dictatorship with nationalized oil and minerals.
  • Dengism - Fellow Auth-Leftist who supports a state-dominated economy. Has been one of my main arms suppliers since the 1980s. Why did you arm Khomeini too during the Iran-Iraq War?
  • Juche - Juche gang! Hereditary dictatorship is based! Why did you too support Khomeini over me?!
  • National Bolshevism - This is the way. Let's destroy capitalist globalists and Zionists together.
  • Chavismo - My best friend in the west! Stay strong Maduro.
  • Castroism - My second best friend in the west!
  • Putinism - Friendly pal. Both my Syrian and Iraqi sides strongly support you. I have to say, thank you very much for saving Assad from Jihadis and Neocon terrorists.
  • Titoism - I stood by your grave at your funeral longer than the others for a reason. Rest in Peace, Tito!
  • Climate Skepticism - Yes, I had to burn Kuwaiti oil and destroy the marshes, but such is the cost of uniting the Arab World.
  • Totalitarianism - Applies to Saddam's dictatorship and to a certain extent Hafez's regime during the 1980s following the Hama Uprising but Bashar has been forced to soften up.
  • National Capitalism - Hafez found good use of Austrian Nazi-fugitive Alois Brunner who help him with torture and interrogation techniques, and the Wagner Group came to Bashar's rescue when he needed it during the Syrian Civil War.
  • Gaddafism - Operated a lot like me. RIP legend. Why did you persecute Ba'athists during the cultural revolution in Libya?
  • Paleoconservatism, Libertarian Conservatism, and Alt-Right - Based anti-interventionist right. Ron Paul, Steve Bannon, and David Duke, among others of your followers, constantly defend me from accusations made by neocucks, and also stand up against the globalist elite.
  • Gaullism - Jaques Chirac was a good friend to both Saddam and Assad.

Frenemies

  • Arab Socialism - My father. I have more radical and extreme views however he taught me a lot and we agree on many stuff. But why did you imperialize Syria? That's not what true pan-Arabists do.
  • Authoritarian Capitalism - My Iraqi side was aided by Anraat and my Syrian side has been warming up to free-market capitalism since the 1990s. Bashar reluctantly embraced the free market in the early 2000s to appease the west. Privatized education and healthcare and legalized private banks, but the civil war made him revert it. I prefer State Capitalism anyway.
  • Authoritarian Democracy - One party is enough but my Syrian side has been forced to accept some form of controlled opposition in recent times to give an impression of democracy.
  • Kleptocracy - Literally me! You were one of the main causes of the Syrian civil war.
  • Neoconservatism - I hate you and you constantly try to undermine me and pit my Iraqi and Syrian sides against each other. However, we have a long history of cooperation such as when you gave the Iraqi Baath Party a kill list for communists in the wake of the Ramadan Revolution or when you gave Saddam weapons to counter Iran. Assad also participated in the CIA torture and rendition program in the early 2000s. Still, none of this is enough to stop you from invading our countries and sponsoring terrorists that support your globalist agenda.
  • Anti-Japaneseism - Fellow Anti-Weeb, although I don't have anything wrong with Japanese people, but I do with your ideology.
  • Christian Theocracy and Islamic Theocracy - Church and mosque united through state control love and faith, right? Still prefer secularism.
  • Marxism-Leninism - Hey, uh, I'm not too keen on the whole Communism stuff, but as an ally, you rock! You also gave me plenty of support. Together we will fight Western imperialists and Jihadists! However, my Iraqi variant banned the communist party and prosecuted its members in Iraq, I hope you won’t mind it.
  • Khomeinism - My Iraqi side wants to kill you, but my Syrian side loves you. At least we both hate Neoconservatism. But c'mon man, tone it down with your revolutionary exportation, hence why Saddam hated you. Maybe at some rate in the future, we could become stronger allies since you've saved Assad from the so-called "rebels". But why Islamism when we're supposed to be secular?
  • Fascism - A useful ally, but we have radically different goals. At least we both hate Israel.
  • Strasserism - Same as above, but is socialist like me.
  • Social Libertarianism - At least you oppose military intervention against me as well. Edward Snowden and Julian Assange are based as they exposed US war crimes in Iraq and Syria. Just quit being a Lolbertarian.
  • Progressivism - Why do your western followers hate me and support Rojava? I am secular, anti-Islamist, republican, and had women's rights enshrined in my constitutions.
    • - Because you are an ethnocentric war criminal.
  • Democratic Confederalism - I support you against Daesh and Turkey BUT YOU ARE A PART OF ME, NO INDEPENDENCE FOR YOU! Help me win this war and I'll think about giving you autonomy.
  • Islamic Capitalism - Greedy Zionist-bootlicking imperialist puppet who is also the reason the Middle East is in conflict! However, MBS and MBZ are kinda based as they opposed western intervention in the Syrian Civil War and encouraged Putin to come to Bashar's rescue from the jihadists. But I will later have you taken over under my system, I did not forget about pan-Arabism after all.
  • Trumpism - I had my hopes for you as you used to condemn military interventions but then you proceeded to bomb me! Thanks for cutting off support to the rebels, though.
  • Eco-Socialism - Sometimes bitched about my state capitalism (as if I care), and does not like Saddam's bad ecological record (also don't care), but Corbyn hated the Iraq war.
  • Democratic Socialism and Social Democracy - I jailed Riad al-Turk for 20 years but had to release him during the Damascus spring to give an impression of democracy. However, your western variants agree that both the Iraq war and NATO intervention in Syria are mistakes.

Enemies

Gallery

Portraits

  • Old portrait

    Old portrait

Comics and Artwork

  • "Assad stayed, if only the others could too" by u/fruitrollupgod, Source

    "Assad stayed, if only the others could too" by u/fruitrollupgod, Source

  • 9x9 Compass

    9x9 Compass


Further Information

Literature

Wikipedia

Internet Communities

Notes

References

  1. ↑ comes from this meme song
  2. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faith_Campaign
  3. ↑ https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/77090-women-make-up-one-half-of-society-our-society-will
  4. ↑ Not by ideological means, but by action.
  5. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7CYzXfqYPc
  6. ↑ https://twitter.com/RonPaul/status/976536009054793729?t=ThY7nqqvQ7b4SQ_MLCCjhA&s=19
  7. ↑ https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2017/03/21/antonio-razzi-e-il-suo-selfie-vergognoso-con-bashar-al-assad/3465125/
  8. ↑ Syria’s Assad in UAE for second post-quake Gulf visit
  9. ↑ Syria’s Assad receives warm welcome at Arab summit after years of isolation

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