Tuesday, February 05, 2008

In Support of Tariq

Tariq Biasi is a blogger who had the misfortune of leaving a comment on a public website that the authorities deemed too critical of the government. He lost his freedom as a consequence. He is not the first and unfortunately will not be the last to lose his freedom for peacefully expressing their opinion.

  • Here is Ayman Haykal's post on the topic (in Arabic)
  • And here is Golaniya's extensive post on Tariq and other prisoners in English.

The Syrian regime's chokehold on its citizens' right to express themselves is unrelenting. Whether our expressions of outrage on the web really matter is highly debatable. The government knows that organized internal opposition, if present, is impotent. In addition, Syrian opposition outside is missing in action. They could care less about Western condemnations of their human rights records because they know that Western powers seem to care about the average Syrian only when it is politically expedient. The regime knows what buttons to push to get the pressure off their backs; it is a game that the Baathist regime has perfected over a span of two generations.

I despair...Real political reform in nowhere on the horizon.

3 comments:

The Syrian Brit said...

Abu Kareem,
I share your pessimism and despair..
I said it once.. If I see light at the end of the tunnel, it is probably an oncoming train!..

Anonymous said...

Lah Ya Abu Kareem, what happened to my empty half glass!!!!!!!!!!

Between us, the Syrian regime is so perfect for the region, they exist for the same reasons Israel exist to make sure the region in never in Peace and never reaches its potential. You can add to the list Nasralla, Aoun and Mishaal.

I have only one advice for the opposition inside Syria: to SHUT UP because they are in danger and the 80s are back.

I can't believe how dumb the syrians are in their emotions...they are so easily brainwashed to believe that their foreing policies and their regime are their to make them proud!

Rabi Tawil (AKA Abu Kareem) said...

You are right, ya Fares, you caught me on a bad day. But I prefer to think about it as my glass now being a quarter full rather than three quarters empty :). Do we have any choice but to retain some optimism? change will come, perhaps not to our liking or at a pace that we like, but it will come.