Christopher Helali fought in Syria with the International Freedom Battalion. P. S. A lot of acronyms thrown around in this one: PKK: Kurdistan Workers’ Party YPG: People’s Protection Units SDF: Syrian Democratic Forces PYD: Democratic Union Party (Syria) SAA: Syrian Arab Army KDPI: Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran KDP: Kurdistan Democratic Party Consider supporting the show on Patreon
I can’t say that I trust Helali one bit.
This is the first of his stuff I’ve ever listened to, and it seemed decent. He basically denounces Rojava as an appendage of US imperialism and talks about his experiences fighting for them. Is his reputation bad then? He upholds Syria in this.
It’s… actually not that.
It’s the allegations against him (embezzling his IWW group and abusing his former family).
I don’t want to be off-putting, but if the allegations are true, and maybe I shouldn’t jump to conclusions myself, I feel like I shouldn’t really put my trust in that guy.
But maybe I’m wrong. I hope I’m not potentially ruining whatever you can learn from that guy.
No, your concerns are absolutely valid. I wasn’t aware of the other allegations, particularly the abuse.
You do have to lean more towards the crazier side to commit yourself to something like voluntary service in the Syrian conflict. If he can do something like that, it makes sense he could also harm his own family.
Do you have more details on what he’s accused of doing? I’d like to get a better idea of this guy before I decide whether or not to put stock in what he has to say.
It may be that what he says is ultimately true… but him as a person has a few skeletons in his closet.
Anyways, I hate to do this and it’s best to take these allegations objectively, but… here’s something that a CPUSA member (I know, I know) told me when I was last working with them and he gave me some links as well. Here they are:
"He is a deadbeat dad associated with a party that is known to harbour rapists. He embezzled $4k from the IWW and abandoned his child to fight with the YPG & refused to pay child support.
Here is a statement from his ex-wife
https://www.reddit.com/r/Anarchism/comments/b5di3c/abuser_alert_for_former_ypg_heval_new/
Another statement from his ex-wife https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MoZo58Lnm6_qwV8MixDKXLXn1MFhhPgNeHxhZG4iFRU/edit
A statement from the Boston IWW
https://www.facebook.com/IWWBoston/posts/the-boston-general-membership-branch-of-the-iww-passed-the-following-resolution-/2279028628978513/
I’m not aware of any evidence or public testimony that he is directly, personally involved in the harbouring of rapists or sexual assault."
Look, it may not be true, but at the very least, I think I’ll withhold judgment on this guy. Take this all for what you will.
No, I think that’s probably the best take. This guy can be right in this case while also being a massive asshole.
Agreed. Thanks. I’m sure he’s right about the YPG, but there are problems that I have with this guy that just don’t add up or need answering.
It’s a shame if it’s true. It just discredits everything he has to say, which is a shame because his first hand experiences with the YPG are valuable, especially his accounts of the neo-Nazis they casually allowed in their outfit.
I believe that he’s right about that, corroborating with everything else I know about them, so I wouldn’t dismiss it out of hand. But even so: he may have done things in the past that weren’t… good to put it mildly.