Cartoon – The People Demand Freedom!.
يبرود || ألاف من الآحرار في تشيع شهداء المجزرة 18/7/2012 جـ2
CLICK ON IMAGE
TalksDate: July 17, 2012 7:00 PM
As killings continue and Syria’s future remains in the balance, we will be joined by Syrian novelist and journalist Samar Yazbek who will be in conversation with translator, writer and consultant Dr Peter Clark reflecting on her experience of the uprising and her hopes for her country.
In early 2011 Yazbek witnessed and participated in the first months of the Syrian uprising. Her vocal opposition to the regime published in print and online quickly attracted attention, and she was denounced by her family as vicious rumours spread about her disloyalty to the homeland and the Alawite community from which she comes.
Forced to live on the run, Yazbek was detained numerous times by the authorities but continued to document her personal reflections and the testimonies of figures in the Opposition.
Samar Yazbek is author of A Woman in the Crossfire: Diaries of the Syrian Revolution. She has published several novels and collections of short stories, the most recent of which is In Her Mirrors. An excerpt of her novel Cinnamon was published in the anthology Beirut 39.
Razan Ghazzawi @RedRazan
New blogpost: Blogging Live From Midan Neighborhood in Damascus http://razanghazzawi.org/2012/07/18/blo … #Syria #Midan
I arrived Midan with a friend at 12:30 PM today 18-7-2012, there was a shooting very close to us but we managed to arrive safely. I cannot share my location with you in Midan, nor can I say who’s with me here. We are safe so far.
Clashes started early in the morning and it’s still on, we sometimes hear explosions every now and then, the residents of area here are telling us there are BMB tanks shelling the center of the area.
There are several checkpoints in the area, but the area we’re in right now is relatively safe thus far, there are four people martyred today in Midan alone; 3 from Free Syrian Army and the fourth is a civilian- an old man we couldn’t find his ID with him, we’re in the process of getting his name.
Update: 3:02 PM: clashes now in Haa’la area in Midan.
Update: 3:15 PM: according to leaked information coming from a soldier in the regime sympathetic with the revolution, the regime is planning to fire (sorry I am not familiar with the right to use here) toxic gases against the residents in Midan neighborhood that resulted in shortness of breath and heartburn in the respiratory tract. Medical masks are distributed among the residents and activists here.
The activists here are in high spirit, it’s hectic over here but we smoke and drink tea (I am drinking tea now) and we joke all the time.
We celebrated the death of Daoud Rajha, of course.
[youtube http://youtu.be/mjMRgT5o-Ig?]
Max Blumenthal’s latest takes us on a shocking and at times bizarre tour of right-wing Pastor John Hagee’s annual Washington-Israel Summit, blowing the cover off the Christian Zionist movement in the process. Starring Joe Lieberman, Tom DeLay, Pastor John Hagee, Ambassador Dore Gold and a host of rapture-ready evangelicals praying for Armaggedon.
#Damascus #Syria
From : Coalition of Free Damascenes For Peaceful Change
The oldest populated city in the world under fire… Summary of field events in the capital Damascus on Tuesday 17/07/2012
==============================
A military campaign on the districts of the capital Damascus continues for the third day in a row. Today the campaign has been focused on Al Qaboun since night time, where regime forces began cordoning off the area from all directions. Then, extremely heavy mortar and tank shelling started, alongside the participation of helicopter shelling.
Security forces and the army remain deployed, accompanied by tanks and armoured vehicles, in Al Midan district, where clashes take place from time to time.
For the first time, clashes took place in Al Mazra’ah area in the centre of Damascus, in the vicinity of the headquarters of the Ba’ath party, in addition to clashes in Barzeh, Al Tadamon, Al Zahirah, Mukhayam Yarmouk [Yarmouk camp], Al Qadam, Al Asali, Naher Eishe and other areas.
Regime forces brought in large reinforcements of soldiers, armoured vehicles and tanks inside the capital, with a spreed of checkpoints and blocking off roads leading to security centres in most areas of the capital. Reinforcements were also brought to entrances of the capital that link it to the suburbs.
==============================
Some of the clips from the capital today
==============================
Al Qaboon:
-Very important – military reinforcements enter Damascus 17/07/2012
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63EvsrMNQHY&feature=g-all-u
-Military helicopters shell Al Qaboon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQLPXvkThAM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Am3DB5a3qx8
-Impact of the indiscriminate mortar shelling:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMZ5xhgKQ-Q&feature=youtu.be
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gf4HDHOfbm0&feature=youtu.be
Martyr from Egypt who died by a sniper shot from Assad’s security:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cV0AXhmJTsM
Injury of one of the residents:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IS5rCEjapbo
Sounds of helicopter shelling:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aveyO67LmK8&feature=youtu.be
Smoke billowing as a result of the shelling on one of the houses by helicopters:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQi4OgQwsw8&feature=plcp
Fire lit in the houses as a result of the shelling:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkUgv7q9Hw0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKL2V8Ogkpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYRl9duHNJo
Martyr Abdulhadi Abdulhay, killed by a bullet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OH6K5vQ6t0&feature=youtu.be
Letter from the Free Syra Army to Assad’s battalion:
http://youtu.be/PRf513pIwXQ
==============================
Al Midan:
Artillery pounding the district and heavy smoke billowing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MW8w4V0xU4g
Another clip of the crimes that the district is experiencing done by the Republican Guard:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8VaZi_LwWo
Hundreds of shabeeha [regime forces] enter the district from the Palestine branch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOYCXMOwa-o&feature=youtu.be
Tanks in the centre of the capital:
http://youtu.be/jE6X7okwsMY
Shabeeha [regime forces] fire bullets:
http://youtu.be/wac685Uf29Q
Armoured vehicles:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKSwqyquPJ0&feature=youtu.be
Bullets of hatred from Assad’s forces:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NECjgZ3BjE&feature=plcp
Clouds of smoke fill the sky of the capital with sounds of shooting:
http://youtu.be/pAQ06BywaWI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxXjIQ361ZM&feature=youtu.be
The shelling that the district is experiencing by Assad’s gangs since today morning:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNB8a3u_lxA
Smoke from the very strong explosion that was heard in the late afternoon today:
http://youtu.be/YTeZOSSEvqE
==============================
Al-Tadamon:
–Important: Regime fire onto the Othman Bin Affan Mosque in the neighborhood
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBdrP1IgNQs&feature=youtu.be
==============================
Jobar:
–Fire opened from war planes onto Al-Qaboun as the calls to prayer are made
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYe0csiKgB8&feature=youtu.be
–Regime planes over the skies of Jobar and its surrounding areas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-cdX5TyZ5g
http://youtu.be/7vmSJXO2FLw
==============================
Kaber Atkah:
–Songs for the revolution are heard from the minarets of the mosques
http://youtu.be/iCfEn6C5qJo
–Shops on strike
http://youtu.be/MZy7oBM8uvQ
==============================
Al-Asali:
–Regime shelling onto the neighborhood with mortar shells has left 4 women injured and a member of the Free Syrian Army too. A child was killed due to a shrapnel to the head.
http://youtu.be/PybXCyDBTj0
–Sounds of clashes in the neighborhood
http://youtu.be/1qxkuZ0hBqs
http://youtu.be/g64q7N0CjtY
http://youtu.be/Zyp5y2Vw_co
http://youtu.be/6Jzn5xv74GA
==============================
Baghdad Road:
–The graffiti man battalion today went round and sprayed the roads as well as covering photos of Assad. In support of Almidan.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5hsLqEMHR0&feature=plcp
==============================
Naher Eishe:
–Spread of armoured tanks and vehicles as the regime forces besiege the neighborhood
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joda3RKhgq0&feature=youtu.be
==============================
Al Qadam:
–A protest in support of Midan and Asali neighborhoods
http://youtu.be/4K9Le7eACfw
==============================
–A strike in Medhat Basha Souq in support of Midan and Qaboun
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-GCGbsH44I&feature=youtu.be
==============================
–Cutting the road to Kafarsouseh Square in Midan neighborhood
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-1Augyd_G4&feature=plcp
Mocking him to death
The protesters go to war with wit
Jul 7th 2012 | DAMASCUS | from the print edition
NOBODY knows why the small town of Kafr Nabl, in north-western Syria, has become a hub of cheeky banners twitting President Bashar Assad and his regime. Still outgunned but not outwitted, protesters have been using comedy sketches, songs, art and slogans to spice up their rebellion.
When the UN’s observers who were supposed to be overseeing Kofi Annan’s peace plan were plainly far too thin on the ground, a banner went up with the words “Special offer! Collect 12,000 martyrs, get 30 observers free!” Another showed the observers taking photographs as the army rampaged, with Mr Assad, an eye doctor by training, slicing up a body.
In this section
A year ago when Mr Assad famously declared that “germs” were causing trouble in Syria, echoing Colonel Muammar Qaddafi’s description, before his fall, of his opponents as “rats”, Syria’s protesters chanted, “Syrian germs salute Libyan rats!” In opposition-controlled areas taxi drivers and housewives sing songs telling Mr Assad to leave and mocking his brutal brother Maher as a donkey.
Mr Assad’s elongated neck and lisp have been a particular target of taunts. In “Top Goon: Diaries of a Little Dictator”, a puppet show series posted on YouTube, he trips over his words as he appears on a game show called “Who wants to kill a million?” Referring to the pet name the president’s wife, Asma, gives her husband, as revealed in a leaked e-mail, protesters recently used stencils to paint ducks and profiles of Mr Assad’s face side by side onto roads. “Duck, stop quacking! The Free Syrian Army is going to catch you”, runs another jingle.
Rude slogans also ridicule Mr Assad’s proclaimed valour against Israel, which has occupied Syria’s Golan Heights since 1967. “Bashar, you coward, take your dogs to the Golan!” Another jeer scoffs at a much-displayed official billboard of Mr Assad and his father, who reigned for 29 years before him, that declares they will rule “until eternity”. “No to eternity! No to eternity!” riposte the protesters.“Syria will live! Assad will die!”
The Bookseller reports — and Haus Publishing confirms — that after some paperwork wrangling, Syrian novelist (and TV host, and journalist) Samar Yazbek managed to make it into the UK over the weekend, and will appear at the Frontline Club this evening.
Yazbek is in the UK to discuss her book, A Woman in the Crossfire, and missed two events: one at the Mosaic Rooms, and another at the Ways with Words Festival, as she was held in Paris and not allowed to travel to the UK.
Publisher Barbara Schwepcke told The Bookseller that the process has been “a bureaucratic nightmare.”
If you want to attend, you can book a spot at the Frontline Club online.
Related:
