Support Avaaz to Support the Syrian People

Avaaz is a global citizen activist community established in 2007 and with a growing global membership.  They have started several campaigns of petitions and direct assistance to the Syrian people providing support for citizen journalists to get information out of Syrian and organization the smuggling of medical supplies into Homs and other cities and towns in need.

• Petition to the Arab League to stop the killing of innocent civilian by the Assad regime
• Smuggle hope into Syria: This is perhaps Avaaz most direct and most effective assistance to the Syrian revolution. It is an effort to support Syrian citizen journalists and provide medical supplies to  clandestine field hospitals and clinics in Syria
• Arrest Syria's torturers:  A petition to the United Nation Security Council and the Arab League to refer to the international criminal court members of regime accused of committing crimes against humanity.

Please consider supporting Avaaz' Syria campaigns either by signing these important petitions or providing financial support.  

Freedom for Syrian Human Rights Activists

Razan Ghazzawi, the courageous and outspoken blogger and activist appeals for the release of members of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of expression. They were recently detained by the Syrian mukhabarat for unspecified reasons.

In addition to committing what clearly amounts to war crimes by any definition against their own civilian population, the Syrian regime arrested thousands of citizens.  This appeal should extend to all Syrian citizens, known and unknown, who have been arrested for nothing more than the expressing freely their opinions of the their own government, be it as bloggers, journalists,citizen activists or as peaceful demonstrators.

Please, Enough Videos of Dead and Dying Syrians!

At the start of the Syrian uprising, the stream of  grainy and gruesome YouTube videos was unavoidable.  They were the world's only glimpse inside Syria and the only visual testament of the brutality of the regime. As an expatriate, I felt a sense of guilt for being out of harm's way as my compatriots were being wounded and killed.  Watching the videos was, in a sense, penance for my good fortune. It also heightened the sense of urgency and the seriousness of the unfolding calamity in Syria. But the videos also had a corrosive effect on the psyche,

It is not that I'm squeamish. I have seen my share of death and destruction first hand as a medical student in Beirut in 1982. Feeling anger at brutality of the regime's response to peaceful protests is normal and healthy, but this anger, constantly fed, can turn into destructive rage.  After a while I stopped watching. It didn't feel right, it felt voyeuristic; with every new video there was an expectation of ever more graphic images to maintain your level of outrage and indignation.   All I needed to know is that a family of six was killed by an artillery round fired by the army that is supposed to protect them, I didn't need to see the mangled bodies. I don't blame the civilians who took those videos.  In the absence of independent professional journalists, amateur videos uploaded on the internet were the only way  to tell their very personal story, the only way to communicate the urgency of their dire situation to the outside world.

I worry, however, that the constant stream of these videos will sharpen the divide among Syrians and, as it feeds the rage among of the aggrieved, it increases the risk of equally vicious retaliatory violence.  This revolution, in the end, is not about death and destruction, it is about a new beginning.  Preparing for this unavoidable new beginning is as crucial as winning the day to day confrontation with the regime.  As the revolution turns more violent, the positive, peaceful, unifying message of the non-violent approach that launched the Syrian revolution should not be drowned out.  I don't want to remember Giyath Matar as a lifeless tortured corpse; I want to remember his radiant, magnanimous smile and his courageous, non-violent activism.  In the same way I want to remember Ibrahim Othman's herculean efforts to treat the wounded, Tal al-Mallouhi's poetry and Mazhar Tayyara's citizen-journalism and his dedication to the unity of all Syrians.

We need to remember them and hundreds of others not for their death but for the remarkable things they achieved in their short lives. Theirs are inspirational stories for a new beginning, a new definition for citizenship for the not so far away post-Assad Syria.

Syria: Where is the Outrage? Where is the Outcry?

Where is the outrage? Where are the cries for justice as the people of Homs, men, women and children, are pounded indiscriminately by a merciless tyrant son of a vile and vicious tyrant?  As the world leaders wring their hands pretending to care, Assad and his “armed gang” couldn’t care less and thumb their nose at the rest of world.  For the West, Syria does not have enough oil to matter.  They care enough to let Syria unravel to break Iran’s influence but don’t care enough to help achieve an outcome that benefits the Syrian people.  China and Russia, on the other hand, claim to be protecting Syria’s sovereignty but what they really want is to send a message to their own restive populations. Their people, however, know better.

That world leaders play their predictable games is no surprise.  What really gets my blood boiling, however, is the mealy mouthed response to the Syrian uprising from a clique of leftwing Arab intellectuals and academics, many living in the West.  They were all for the Tunisian uprising and the Egyptian uprising because it fit into their anti-imperialist, anti-colonialist world view and left-wing narrative.  There was never any question in other Arab spring uprisings about unbalanced reporting, and never a suggestion that news relayed by activists in those countries represented anything but the truth.  All that changed when it came to Syria, the self-proclaimed bastion of anti-imperialism, anti-colonialism, steadfastness, pan-Arabism and resistance against Israeli and American hegemony.  Suddenly, there are two sides to the story of the popular uprising. Activists in Syria, they claim, are part of a media conspiracy of disinformation and regularly exaggerated the numbers of the wounded and dead.  You see, the local activist lied; it was not really 200 hundred civilians who died who in Homs the other day, it was “only” 150!  Imagine that! Not only do activists lie according to them, but any media outlet that reports activist information and videos becomes complicit in this media conspiracy and is labeled pro-American or pro-Saudi.  They seem to gloss over the fact if information is hard to get in Syrian, it is because the regime has has rarely allowed independent journalists to cover the uprising.

Oh how I hate ideologues with a passion; left-wing or right-wing, they are all the same.  They so easily morph into demagogues. They speak in clichés and labels that disconnect them from reality and reasoned thought.  When you mention the Syrian uprising to a member of the aforementioned clique, the response you get is a torrent of disconnected clichés: imperialism… colonialism… conspiracy… Western hegemony…   Zionist… racist … genocidal entity…etc.  Yes,  well I know all of that, you say, but that’s not what I am talking about. I am talking about the more than 7000 Syrians killed by a Syrian genocidal maniac.  How about you get off you high horse of meaningless cliches and do something about the people whose loss you pretend to be grieving? How about supporting a divestment campaign? How about organizing a Tartous flotilla or two to get medical supplies to Homs? The worst part of this clique’s waffling attitude towards the Syrian dictatorship is that Assad and his supporters use their writings as fodder to bolster their contorted narrative of a worldwide conspiracy against the Syrian regime.

Fortunately, the people on the ground in the Middle East are not looking through the distorted prisms of fixed ideologies and have shown support for the Syrian people.  Unlike the clique in their ivory towers, the people get it. Here are Palestinians in Haifa, Lebanese citizens from south Lebanon,  Jordanians, and of course Yemenis. Here are Palestinians who clearly don't buy Assad's expedient claim to the mantel of "resistance" and exclaim "not in our name and not in Palestine's name will you commit these crimes, you murderers".  

This support will not prevent the continued carnage in Homs, but is nevertheless important for the morale of the Syrian people in their fight for freedom and dignity. 

Bashar in the Steps of Hafez

If there is any more doubt that the 2012 Assad regime is any different than the Assad regime circa 1982, the carnage in Homs today should erase all such doubts. Reports speak of up to  200 dead and 400 wounded in a single day. The timing of this escalation, a day after the 30th anniversary of the Hama massacre, makes you wonder about the mindset of those in power in Damascus: Are they insane or are they just evil beyond belief? When you listen to Al Jaafari at the UN, you get the sense that these people have so completely absorbed their delusional narrative that all they can do is respond with self-righteous indignation to anyone who opposes their world view.  When it comes to pure fanaticism, Al Qaeda, the regime's favorite boogeyman, has nothing on them. This self-righteousness begets the demagoguery that justifies any form of violence against their perceived enemies.  In its blind rage, the regime will not only destroy all that is in its path, it will invariably self-destruct.  The opposition is right, there is no room for a political solution with the regime in power, there never was.

And yet, Syria and the Syrian people cannot afford to sit and wait patiently for the regime's eventual implosion.  I was and still am a believer in the non-violent approach that formed the basis of the Syrian revolution.  However, the success of a non-violent approach is predicated on undermining the regime by getting the vast majority of the population on your side.  This is happening too slowly as a sizable portion of the population  remains silent either out of fear or self interest.  Then there are the true believers who have taken to heart the regime narrative and will continue, like lemmings,walking with them until they fall off the cliff.

With the regime's heels dug in, regime change will be costly to the Syrian people. I see little chance that the regime will respond favorably to any initiative either by the Arab League or the UN, unless they are strong-armed into it by the Russians. Even if that happens the regime will do its best to drag, delay and render the process completely useless all the while continuing its crackdown.  A slowly growing insurgency is not a good solution either. With piecemeal defections, the fragmented Free Syrian Army defectors will  achieve small victories but will ultimately be outgunned by an Army that has no qualms about sparing civilians when returning fire; that's Bashar's "iron fist" policy.  The increasing violence and retaliation will drag on ultimately creating an environment conducive to civil war.  The only chance of a quicker fall of the regime would be a revolt from within the ranks. I hope, for the sake of sparing as many lives as possible, that any person or group capable of pulling this off is offered the proper incentives to execute such a coup.

Sign: "Kill us but spare the people of Hama and Homs"

Syrian Regime Loosing its Grip on Power

Despite the regime's continued bluster in the face of Arab league and UN diplomatic maneuvering, the events on the ground suggests that its authority is rapidly unraveling. Josh Landis, in a piece with a notable change of tone about the regime, says that it is doomed but it will hang on for another year or two.   It is hard to see how it can last that long.  For several months only parts of Homs were no-go areas for the regime.  Over the last two weeks, several areas across the country have managed keep the security forces at bay with the help of the FSA. Notable areas include the town of Zabadani as well as  Douma and Saqba, minutes from the center of Damascus, the once impregnable seat of Assad's power. This will embolden opposition demonstrators and hasten the flow of deserters from the armed forces. It is also likely to rattle some Bashar's reluctant supporters and many fence-sitters enough to get them to switch sides. The real question is what the regime's insiders will do now that it has become crystal clear that unless forced, Bashar will not alter his "iron fist" policy to accommodate any political transition plan whether it came form AL or the UN. One exception might be Russia as they may have enough leverage with the regime to have them change course. Although given Russia's interest in a continued toehold in the Mediterranean, it may push Bashar aside but will not advocate for  . Several possible end game scenarios have been discussed. One of the options, predicts a palace coup that would replace Bashar and launch a transition process. Most of the others are too depressing to contemplate.

Given the violence and trauma of the last eleven months and given that any predicted transition will very likely involve a period of chaos, I fear the specter of retributive violence and its effect on the fabric of Syrian society.  In preparation for this eventuality, activists and opposition leaders should systematically quash any and all sectarian incitement and emphasize that a representative democratic state is meant to benefit all Syrians, even those who had supported the present regime. The revolution would be considered a failure if it succeeded in toppling the regime and then failed to capture the hearts of all Syrians.

Is Bashar Following in Ghaddafi's Footsteps?

Bashar's fourth speech since the uprisings was long on hot air and short on substance, not unlike his first three. In fact there is nothing, absolutely nothing new in the speech that should inspire hope that some modicum of reality or pragmatism has seeped into his thick skull. On the contrary as the crisis deepens and his regime unravels, Bashar's tone has be become more desperately defiant. The speech was rambling, full of hubris, faulty logic, paranoid delusions, outright lies and false bravado. Some the explanatory details he gave were laughable were the consequences of such a disturbed thought process not so tragic for the people of Syria. We now learn, for example, that there are 60, not 62 or 73, but exactly 60 media outlets worldwide who have conspired to tarnish the image of Syrian regime by falsifying and fabrication news about Syria.

The president  paints every last opponent of the his regime with the same terrorist, traitor, agent of foreign powers brush. It follows that they have to be crushed with an iron fist. In effect, he says, there is no opposition to talk to. As in his ABC interview, which was incidentally, according to him, also edited to make him look bad, he shows no remorse, no guilt and no admission of wrongdoing.  All the while his security forces and shabeeha thugs continue to kill, maim, imprison and torture unarmed civilians.  As Bashar mocks the AL in his speech, his henchmen are playing a shell game with Observers rendering the whole exercise a farce. Some honorable individual observers have had enough and walked out.

How can anyone then, against such a putrid background, take any of Bashar's talk of reform seriously? How can anyone  still think that there is any sliver of hope that a negotiated settlement is possible? Bashar has had 11 months to respond to this challenge of his authority and the only response has been an unrelenting and increasingly brutal crackdown. Compromise is not possible when the side with the overwhelming force, the side that can instantaneously stop the killing if it chooses to,  refuses to do so.

The regime's path is not only destructive for Syria, it is eventually self-destructive.  The only way I can foresee a somewhat orderly transition is for a palace revolt that would bring in more pragmatic elements capable of steering the country away form the abyss.  This unfortunately, is a long shot and I am increasingly worried that Bashar's path will take Syria down the same path as Libya: civil war, with or without foreign military intervention.

Is this the freedom that you want?

Off a back alley, on the floor of a small room,

you lie  in a pool of crimson blood, dying

the doctor, with nothing but a bandage 

is unable to heal your gaping wounds

Your family pleads with strangers in orange vests

from far off Egypt, Sudan and Mauritania

because your privileged compatriots in the  City

show no empathy for your ilk

You are but a hoax to them, a conspiracy,

a figment of fevered, primitive minds,

who demand the right to freedom and dignity

and place their fate in the hands of  the divine

Your protestations are disturbing to them,

you expose their fake modernity for what it is,

the basest form of human existence,

privilege as reward for absolute subservience

They are the modern slaves whose master,

a deified leader with no redeeming qualities,

demands absolute obedience and yet,

unlike your God, shows no mercy or compassion

And so when one of the privileged

stands by your expiring body and chides:

"Is this the freedom that you want?"

you answer: "Yes, God save your rotten soul....."