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Syria

Threat to Assad remains despite claims of victory

Threat to Assad remains despite claims of victory – Financial Times

Bashar al-Assad is acting victorious, marching under the gaze of state television crews into the ruins of the Baba Amr district of Homs, the city bombarded by his forces for nearly a month. In TV footage this week, the Syrian leader is seen surrounded by loyalists described as residents, though most of the inhabitants have fled. He blames his enemies for the devastation and promises to rebuild Baba Amr.

Mr Assad’s tour was another grotesque show of force aimed at humiliating the rebellious people of the district, who faced collective punishment for allowing Free Syrian Army fighters to protect them. It was also a manifestation of a renewed self-confidence following the regime’s seizure of a series of strongholds that had fallen under rebel control and brought the armed opposition dangerously close to the gates of Damascus.

The problem for Mr Assad, however, is that the Annan plan gives no relief from the most dangerous threat he faces. That threat has never been from the armed rebels but from the peaceful demonstrators who continue to stage protests more than a year after the eruption of the revolt. “As soon as a ceasefire takes hold, Bashar falls because the people will be on the streets in millions, even in Damascus,” says Samir Seifan, a Syrian economist who has joined the opposition. “There will be no need for the FSA whose members know that demonstrations are what will bring down the regime.” Mr Assad, insists Mr Seifan, can score military gains but he cannot win the war against the popular uprising.

 

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Empire – Syria on the brink

[youtube http://youtu.be/VlHl2etl74M?]
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Syria : Damage Control

27Mar12

We as activists outside of Syria have been busy since the uprising, campaigning governments, organizing protests, speaking to media, raising awareness, providing support to the revolution on the inside (even if at times it’s been only moral support), activities that run the gamut to keep the revolution alive.

Over a year on – the world knows, protests in countries have dissipated due to local law enforcement’s short temper, media have established contacts on the inside and support – well support is always needed even if it’s just moral.

Now our role, as activists outside of Syria, has changed, like the revolution has changed. As it’s become increasingly more violent and situations spin helplessly out of control on the ground – expat activists have turned into the bullhorn for activists on the inside.  Through a network of confirmations and connections information is readily churned out for external consumption – attempting to always keep Syria at the top of the news cycle. We slowly run the risk of sounding redundant.

So what else can we do?

Now is the time to think big and start small. We have what other revolutions didn’t have. The horrible curse of having time. The regime may be on its last leg, but the revolution is not ending anytime soon. We have this time to think strategy, to think Post-Assad. It is a fact the regime will fall and when it does, in its wake will be left a disaster.

As there were no international forces around during the destruction, there will be no one around to pick up the pieces.

Our roles will have to change to suit, once again, the realities on the ground.

The Assad regime is not one with institutions – it is an institution in itself. It will be gone and what’s left for us to build the institutions. It will be left for us to think strategy and plan on how to rebuild a country with little real infrastructure, no aide to the weary and no one for anyone to turn to but each other and to us.

We will need the help of psychologists and psychiatrists to heal the children. We will need the help of urban planning professionals to help rebuild the infrastructure of cities reduced to rubble. We will need the help of agriculture and irrigation specialists to best advise the farmers of regions whose crops were burned or flooded to obliteration. We will need the help of social activists to educate on democracy on what is a reasonable request from a government and what we must do for ourselves. We will need the help of microloan organisations to assist small and medium business owners to reclaim their lost businesses, get back on their feet and help contribute to an economy which will, by the end of this, will probably be the worst its been in the country’s history.

Now’s the time to start planning – start seeing how we can contribute and work on it. Now’s the time to start small and slow and right because when the cards fall and when this is over, the rush to scramble to piece a country back together will be massive chaotic and doomed to fail if we don’t.

Regardless of what the future Syria government looks like, the needs of the people will be immediate and there is no reasonable expectation from an interim government to provide all the assistance needed.  What we really need is to unite our own efforts, as activists with the most know-how of our country, and start early.

What we really need is damage control.

 

Source

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Amal Hanano :The Real Me and the Hypothetical Syrian Revolution

Nine months ago my daughter, Tal Malouhi, a student in high school, was arrested by one of the branches of the security for reasons we do not know until this moment and I do not know anything about her fate. Sir, I knocked on the doors of all the security agencies and the presidential palace and all the official channels possible in order to be assured about my daughter or know anything about her fate or the cause of her arrest, but to no avail. Finally, I received a promise from one of the security authorities that my daughter would be released before the month of Ramadan starts. But, Ramadan is about to end now and Eid will come soon after, while our family is still suffering for our lovely daughter. Mr. President, I cannot describe to you after this disaster on our family, the amount of suffering caused to all of us. Your daughter Tal is a smart student and she loves her country and its people. She writes what comes to her young mind in honesty and transparency and in line with her age. Sir, We have no one left for us, but to address you as the father of all the Syrians in order to save the life of my daughter as she is at a tender age and does not understand anything in politics. And may you long live for our country.

Letter to Bashar al-Assad from Ahed al-Malouhi, September 2010

In February 2011, Ahed al-Malouhi found out her daughter’s fate. Tal was sentenced to five years in prison by the State Security Court on charges of “disclosing information to a foreign country,” or treason, after being detained since 27 December 2009. Her crime? Blogging poems about Palestine.

Tal was seventeen when she was arrested becoming the youngest known prisoner of conscience in the world. In addition to enduring over two years in Assad’s dungeons, the innocent girl from a conservative family in Homs has been slandered by society and her reputation has been ripped to shreds.

Tal blogged in Arabic, under her own name. Sometimes I wonder, if she had known her fate, would she have chosen a pseudonym?

read on here

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The Canonical “Arab Tyrant’s Manual”

These are the 80-something tweets that formed the original “Arab Tyrant’s Manual”. Although most were posted by me, I cannot claim exclusive credit for them. Many were “retweets”, as I collected and restated other people’s contributions. I include them here as-is, hash-tags included, only editing to correct typos.

For a (rather lengthy) introduction to the Arab Tyrant’s Manual, click here. The full manual  is here

> Help me compile an “Arab Tyrant’s Standard Revolution Response Manual”. What would be on it?”

> So an Arab Tyrant would, in response to revolution: Offer money like pay increases… #ArabTyrantManual

> Say: “This is not X” (where X is the country that had a revolution just before) #ArabTyrantManual

> Uniformed police, followed by plainclothes thugs, followed by the army. #ArabTyrantManual

> Blame Aljazeera, then attack it, then shut it down in the country. #ArabTyrantManual

> Blame it on “foreign agendas.”

> Blame it on a conspiracy. The more ridiculously bigger, the better. Our country is so awsome that everyone is trying to bring us down. #ArabTyrantManual

> Say “We support the youths” (while their own police force is beating the crap out of the youth) #ArabTyrantManual

> Blame it on Islamists. Start small (Muslim Brotherhood) then go all the way to the big boogie man, Alqaeda. #ArabTyrantManual

> Ignore events completely, realize late how serious things really are, and give a midnight speech to the nation. #ArabTyrantManual

> Warn of factionalism, sectarianism, tribalism, and many other scary “isms”. #ArabTyrantManual

> Reshuffle the cabinet. Then reshuffle it again. #ArabTyrantManual

> Get thugs out of jail, give them bludgeon type weapons, and let them loose upon the people. #ArabTyrantManual

> Burn down your own police stations and blame it on the protesters. #ArabTyrantManual

> Act surprised when suddenly, fire breaks out in prisons where political detainees are held. #ArabTyrantManual

> Make a teary, emotional display about how much you love your country and how you spent your life serving it. #ArabTyrantManual

> Insist that everything is fine. #ArabTyrantManual

> When things get bad, shut down mobile networks & social media. When they get really bad, shut down the internet. #ArabTyrantManual

> Claim ignorance. “I didn’t know that there were these problems, and I will punish those responsible for it!” #ArabTyrantManual

> Say that only a tiny percentage of the people are against me. The majority are with me. Cite the latest elections. #ArabTyrantManual

> Say that “Change must take place” and promise great and amazing things if those kids would just stay at home. #ArabTyrantManual

> Addition to #ArabTyrantManual: Promise radical change. Say that this regime that remained static for 40 years can reform in 9 months.

> Say that you were going to retire soon anyway and had no intention of running for the next elections. #ArabTyrantManual

> Say that you are planning to peacefully relinquish power at the next election, scheduled 12 years later. #ArabTyrantManual

> Get yourself a shameless liar and make him Minister of Information & head of state TV. #ArabTyrantManual

> Insist on following the constitution. Ignore them when they say you didn’t care about the constitution before. #ArabTyrantManual

> Complain on behalf of “average citizens” that normal life is being held up due to the protests. #ArabTyrantManual

> Say that you ruled the country out of love and service and you have no desire for power and have no money. #ArabTyrantManual

> Have a military parade. Say it’s for the nation. It’s actually to show them what’ll come at them if they revolt. #ArabTyrantManual

> Order the interior minister to kill them all. Then sack him for his heavy-handedness. #ArabTyrantManual

> Say that the kids were pure of heart, but were tricked by “foreign agendas”. #ArabTyrantManual

> Say that the kids were tricked into protesting through X (KFC, Nescafe, drugs, sex, etc.) #ArabTyrantManual

> Kill a thousand. And then say that you have no idea how they died because you haven’t used force “yet”. #ArabTyrantManual

> Stage demonstrations in support of your rule. But don’t give them flags & banners. Give them 50 bucks & an AK47. #ArabTyrantManual

> Say your country doesn’t need a revolution coz it already had one. Cite the year you came to power. #ArabTyrantManual

> Let your thugs loose on the protesters. Say that these were unfortunate clashes between pro- and anti- demonstrators. #ArabTyrantManual

> Bring in the boogie man of your grandfather’s generation: Colonialism & imperialism. #ArabTyrantManual

> Call your favorite brown-nose celebrity (singer, dancer, soccer player, etc.). Ask to talk on TV in your support. #ArabTyrantManual

> Use religion. Call your state mufti and promise him a pay raise for the proper fatwa. #ArabTyrantManual

> Hold a press conference to suck up to journalists. Then, send thugs after them to punch them and smash their cameras. #ArabTyrantManual

> Say that the protests started as a pure youth movement but were “”hijacked”” by a foreign agenda. #ArabTyrantManual

> Foreign agenda X (where X can be: Islamism, Zionism, Israel, Iran, USA, colonialism, imperialism…) #ArabTyrantManual

> Have a charming interview with a famous journalist. Amanpour would do. #ArabTyrantManual

> Say that your people are not ready for democracy. You have to pave the way to it, by acting like a complete asshole. #ArabTyrantManual

> If foreign nations criticize, blast them for not understanding your culture. “In our culture, I rule. They obey.” #ArabTyrantManual

> Don’t allow funerals. Hold the bodies. Funerals become demonstrations. #ArabTyrantManual

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Syrian Revolution 2012 Official Rap – blakescampbell #FreeSyria blakescampbell

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Spin and counterspin in Syria

[youtube http://youtu.be/7lcLeTlebtw?]

from Al Jazeera

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Omar Offendum | #SYRIA (Prod. by Sami Matar)

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Al Jazeera obtains secret Syria files

[youtube http://youtu.be/3G8xP42BqRM?]
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