List of Ba'athist movements

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The Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party (Arabic: حزب البعث العربي الاشتراكي Hizb Al-Ba'ath Al-'Arabi Al-Ishtiraki‎) was a political party mixing Arab nationalist and Arab socialist interests, opposed to Western imperialism, and calling for the renaissance or resurrection and unification of the Arab world into a single state. Ba'ath is also spelled Ba'th or Baath and means "rebirth," "resurrection," "restoration," or "renaissance" (reddyah). Its motto — "Unity, Liberty, Socialism" (wahda, hurriya, ishtirakiya) — refers to Arab unity, and freedom from non-Arab control and interference. Its ideology of Arab socialism is notably different in origins and practice from classical Marxism and is similar in outlook to 'third-worldism'.

The party was founded in 1946 by the Syrian intellectuals Michel Aflaq and Salah al-Din al-Bitar. It has established branches in different Arab countries, although it has only ever held power in Syria and Iraq. In Syria it has had a monopoly on political power since the party's 1963 coup. Ba'athists also seized power in Iraq in 1963, but were deposed some months later. They returned to power in a 1968 coup and remained the sole party of government until the 2003 Iraq invasion. Since the invasion the party has been banned in Iraq.

In 1966 a coup d'état by the military against the historical leadership of Aflaq and Bitar led the Syrian and Iraqi parties to split into rival organizations — the Qotri (or regionalist) Syria-based party and the Qawmi (or nationalist) Iraq-based party. Both retained the Ba'ath name and parallel structures within the Arab world, but hostilities between them grew to the point that the Syrian Ba'ath regime became the only Arab government to support Iran (a non-Arabic nation) against Iraq during the First Persian Gulf War.

Contents

Major groups

Party Founded Dissolved Founder(s) Notes
Arab Ba'ath Party 1940 1947 Zaki al-Arsuzi The party was merged into the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party in 1947.
Arab Ba'ath Movement 1940 1947 Michel Aflaq The Arab Ba'ath Movement is the direct predecessor to the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. It merged with the Arab Socialist Party in 1947 to establish the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party.
Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party 1947 1966 Michel Aflaq and Salah al-Din al-Bitar Was established by a merger between the ba'athists and the arab socialists in 1947. The party broke into two in 1966, between a Syrian branch and a Iraqi branch.

Regional branches

Baghdad-based Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party
Region Founded Leader
Algeria Arab Socialist Ba'ath[1] Ahmed Choutri[1]
Bahrain Nationalist Democratic Assembly[2] Rasul al-Jishi
Iraq Arab Socialist Ba'ath[3] 1951[4] Izzat Ibrahim ad-Douri
Jordan Arab Socialist Ba'ath[5] 1948[6]/1951[5] Founded by a group of teachers.[5]
Kuwait Arab Socialist Ba'ath 1955[6]
Lebanon Socialist Arab Lebanon Vanguard[7] Abdul Majid Mohamed Tayeb Rafi[7]
Libya Arab Socialist Ba'ath[8] 1954[6]
Mauritania National Vanguard[9] 1991[10] Mohamed Ould Eyye[11]
Palestine Arab Liberation Front 1969 Mahmoud Ismael
Sudan Arab Socialist Ba'ath – Country[12] Kamal Bolad
Tunisia Ba'ath Movement 1988 Omar Othman Belhadj
Syria Arab Socialist Ba'ath 1947
Yemen National Arab Socialist Ba'ath 1955–1956[6] Qassam Salam Said
Damascus-based Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party
Region Founded Leader
Bahrain Arab Socialist Ba'ath[13]
Iraq Arab Socialist Ba'ath[13] 1966 Mahmud al-Shaykh Radhi[14]
Jordan Arab Socialist Ba'ath[13]
Lebanon Arab Socialist Ba'ath[13] 1949[6] Assem Qanso[15]
Palestine As-Sa'iqa[16] 1966[17] Farhan Abu Al-Hayja
Sudan Arab Socialist Ba'ath – Organisation[12] 1980s[12] at-Tijani Mustafa Yassin[18]
Syria Arab Socialist Ba'ath[3] 1947[19] Bashar al-Assad
Yemen Arab Socialist Ba'ath[13] 1951 Mahmoud Abdul-Hamid

Splinter-groups

Party Founded Dissolved Founder(s) Notes
Socialist Lebanon 1965 1970 Ahmed Beydoun The party was merged into the Communist Action Organization in Lebanon in 1970.
Revolutionary Ba'ath Party 1960  ? Abdullah Rimawi
Arab Revolutionary Workers Party 1966 – Yasin al-Hafiz Still active, as of 2011
Sudanese Ba'ath Party 2002 – Mohamed Ali Jadin Was established by a split inside the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Country of Sudan, the pro-Iraqi ba'ath branch.

References

  1. ^ a b Farid, Sonia (9 August 2008). "Algerian Baath Party resumes underground activities". ALFnews. http://www.alfnews.com/arabic-news/71469.html. Retrieved 25 November 2011. 
  2. ^ "Nationalist Democratic Rally Society [جمعية التجمع القومي الديمقراطي]" (in Arabic). Alwasat. 9 August 2008. http://www.alwasatnews.com/index.php?plugin=elections&act=read&id=51. Retrieved 25 November 2011. 
  3. ^ a b Ali, Tariq (2004). Bush in Babylon: The Recolonisation of Iraq. Verso. pp. 106–107. ISBN 978-1844675122. 
  4. ^ Polk, William Roe (2006). Understanding Iraq: A Whistlestop Tour from Ancient Babylon to Occupied Baghdad. I.B. Tauris. p. 109. ISBN 978- 1845111230. 
  5. ^ a b c Anderson, Betty Singy (2005). Nationalist Voices in Jordan: The Street and the State. University of Texas Press. p. 136. ISBN 978-0292706251. 
  6. ^ a b c d e Seale, Patrick (1990). Asad of Syria: The Struggle for the Middle East. University of California Press. p. 98. ISBN 978-0520069765. 
  7. ^ a b "Political Programme of the Socialist Arab Lebanon Vanguard Party" (in Arabic). Lebanon Knowledge Development Gateway. http://lkdg.org/ar/node/1146. Retrieved 25 November 2011. 
  8. ^ Leslie Simmons, Geoffrey (1993). Libya: The Struggle for Survival. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 166. ISBN 978-031208997X. 
  9. ^ Seddon, David; Seddon-Daines, Daniel (2005). A Political and Economic Dictionary of Africa. Taylor & Francis. p. 52. ISBN 978- 1857432134. 
  10. ^ Lane, Jan-Erik; Redissi, Hamadi; Ṣaydāwī, Riyāḍ (2009). Religion and Politics: Islam and Muslim Civilization. Ashgate Publishing. p. 217. ISBN 978-0754674185. 
  11. ^ Europa Publications (2003). Africa South of the Sahara 2004. Routledge. p. 715. ISBN 978-1857431839. 
  12. ^ a b c Lain, Donald Ray (1989). "Dictionary of the African Left: Parties, Movements and Groups". Dartmouth. pp. 58 –60. ISBN 978-1855210142. 
  13. ^ a b c d e Tucker, Spencer; Mary Roberts, Priscilla (2008). The encyclopedia of the Arab–Israeli conflict: a political, social, and military history: A–F. 1. ABC-CLIO. p. 185. ISBN 978-1851098410. 
  14. ^ "Who's Who in the Iraqi Opposition". US Labor Against the War. 9 September 2004. http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org/article.php?id=6488. Retrieved 25 November 2011. 
  15. ^ The Soviet Union and the Middle East. 8. Indiana University. 1983. p. 20. 
  16. ^ Talhami, Ghada Hashem (1989). CJ international. 5–6. Center for Research in Law and Justice. p. 49. 
  17. ^ Federal Research Division (2004). Syria: A Country Study. Kessinger Publishing. p. 283. ISBN 978-1419150227. 
  18. ^ "Comrade Dr. Kamal Karrar, member of the National Command of the Sudanese Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party [الرفيق الدكتور كمال كرار عضو القيادة القطرية السودانية.لحزب البعث العربي الاشتراكي]" (in Arabic). Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. http://www.baath-party.org/guest_detail.asp?id=69. Retrieved 25 November 2011. 
  19. ^ George, Alan (2003). Syria: Neither Bread nor Freedom. Zed Books. pp. 66–67. ISBN 978-1842772139.