Anti-Gaddafi vigil is latest demo to hit the Syrian capital
Over the years Damascus has seen its fair share of pro-regime demonstrations and rallies of the kind that Kim Jong-il will find familiar. But not since 1980 has it witnessed unsanctioned demonstrations, let alone three in a space of one month! This is exactly what has happened.
It began on 30 January when a group of 100, led by youth leader and known oppositionist Suheir Al-Attasi, held a candlelight vigil in Bab Tuma in Damascus in support of the Tahrir Square protesters. The vigil was broken up by force by plain-clothed security men. When attempting to file a complaint at a nearby police station, Ms. Al-Attasi was physically and verbally abused by a senior security official.
Then on 17 February came the 4,000-strong spontaneous demonstration in the Harika district of Damascus. That was sparked by a policemen assaulting a local man. Read more about what happened here.
Then today on 22 February another vigil was held – this time outside the Libyan embassy in support of the popular uprising in that country. The protesters shouted anti-Gaddafi slogans and sang the Syrian national anthem, emphasising the peaceful nature of their protest. See video above.
What was encouraging was the turnout, which exceeded 200. An improvement on last time. Less encouraging was the response of the security men who broke up the vigil. Young women as well as men were verbally and physically attacked by leather-jacketed thugs. Protesters responded by shouting “those who attack their own people are traitors!” Several of the protesters were arrested.
Not an unsurprising response by the authorities who felt it safe to use force against the 200 or so attending the vigil. They were less keen to use force against the Harika demonstration which numbered 4,000 participants. Size then does matter.
Whether large or small, and despite being banned under the Emergency Law, protests in Damascus are becoming more common. A positive development in the “republic of fear.”
Saif Al-Gaddafi’s address reflects moral bankruptcy of Arab regimes
Like millions across the Arab world, I watched Saif Al-Gaddafi’s TV address. I wasn’t surprised at what I heard.
At its heart, the message that he delivered contains the same arguments that have been deployed by various Arab regimes, the Syrian regime especially, to justify its existence. The message can be summarized into three main arguments:
1- We are the guarantors of the unity of the country. If we go the country will fall apart.
2- We are the guarantors against Islamic extremism. If we go the Islamists will take over.
3- We are the only ones qualified to run the country. If we go, public services will collapse and the economy will suffer.
The use of these arguments reflects an absolute moral bankruptcy at the heart of the “monarchical republics.” In order to justify their existence, they refer not to what they have actually achieved, because they have achieved very little, but by what may happen if they are removed. It’s a cheap way of playing to people’s worst fear.
This same argument is being deployed aggressively, and with slightly greater skill, by Bashar Al-Assad and his propagandists at home and abroad to stave off a popular revolt and/or international isolation.
The only problem is that in both Tunisia and Egypt where regimes where brought down, there hasn’t been the predicted lawlessness or national disintegration. People can see that there is life after these regimes.
The victory of the Libyan people against their oppressor of 42 years will be a final nail in the coffin to these “lowest common denominator” arguments. It won’t off course stop people using them, but they are becoming extremely tenuous and increasingly ineffective.
Syrian youths begin graffiti campaign against regime
A YouTube video has been posted of a Syrian youth writing anti-regime graffiti on a school building in the city of Homs.
To the soundtrack of a popular patriotic song , the video showed still images of a masked young man using a spray canister to write “go away Bashar”, “down with the regime”, “Down with Bashar Al-Assad”, “we want freedom”, and echoing the slogan of the Egyptian uprising at Tahrir Square, “the people want the downfall of the regime.”
Although, the authenticity of the video cannot be verified, it does link in with what I have been hearing about activists’ desire to resort to a graffiti campaign to escalate the war against the regime following 17th February’s unexpected demonstration in Damascus.
The spontaneous demonstration in the heart of the capital’s business district came just two weeks after the failure of the 5 February “day of rage” called for by a popular Facebook page.
My reading of this development is that a graffiti campaign at this time may very well have the desired psychological effect of emboldening people to get used to openly challenging the authority of the regime after decades of extremely oppressive rule.
It’s a smart move by the activists. I expect more videos such as this one in the future, especially if towns and localities across Syria compete to create the most daring and eye-catching anti-regime graffiti.
Donkey insult sparked 17 Feb Damascus demo
London-based Pan-Arab daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi published this piece on Friday 18th Feb explaining the background to the remarkable demonstration that took place in the heart of Damascus’ Harika business district the previous day.
According to eyewitnesses interviewed by the paper’s reporter Yusif Sarhan, the story began on Thursday 17 February when a policeman, trying to stop a young man entering the busy Hamidiya market in his car, shouted “move, you donkey!”
The young man was understandably offended. He got out of his car and returned the insult to the policeman, who in turn, set about beating him with a truncheon. Two more policemen joined in the beating until the man’s screams caused citizens to rally to his defence.
The police managed to withdraw, pulling the victim to the entrance of a nearby building where they carried on beating him. By this stage however, the crowd has swelled to an estimated 4,000 and they furiously began demanding the man’s release.
In order to quell the tide of anger, the local police chief turned up at the scene and tried to disperse the crowd but to no avail. To stop the influx of people into the area, all entrances to the Harika district had been cut off by security forces.
In an attempt to change the nature of the demonstration, a number of undercover mukhabarat agents infiltrated the crowd and chanted “with our spirits and our blood, we sacrifice ourselves for you O’ Bashar.” The crowd however did not respond. Instead, they shouted “thieves! thieves!” and “Syrians will never be humiliated.”
The situation escalated dangerously which prompted Minister of the Interior Major General Sa’id Samur and six brigadier generals and the prosecutor general to show up. The minister met with the victim and promised the crowd that the perpetrators will be punished. The victim then urged the crowd to disperse, which they duly did. The whole incident lasted about four hours.
The paper’s reporter later met with the residents and businessmen of the local area. According to the paper:
It was clear that a state of anger still hangs over the place. One young man said: “The situation is no longer bearable. Had they used violence and humiliation against us [to disperse the crowd] who knows what would have happened.” Another added: “They want to continue treating us like oxen or sheep, but for how long?” A third man said: “This is not just the behavior of a traffic policeman. It is the conduct of an entire regime that views the citizen as a slave who does not have the right to raise his voice in defense of his dignity.”
Guardian’s Ian Black on Syria: Beware of eyecatching reforms
After reading the first tweets about the unblocking of social networking sites for Internet users in Syria, I knew that there must be a catch somewhere. Bashar Al-Assad hasn’t exactly shown us his generous side yet.
It didn’t take long for me to realise what was going on. At exactly the same time as news emerged of the debarring, I received dozens of emails from Barada TV viewers who were all saying that they could no longer search for “proxy” in their search engines or use “https” to enter websites such as Facebook. They also said that any url address with the word “proxy” would return an error page.
It became apparent that a mukhabarat trap was being sprung. What they wanted was for young Syrians to access social networking sites without the use of proxy severs, hence be easier to track and identify. Proxies being much harder to use, Internet users would simply be more guarded when accessing Facebook or YouTube. The result will be the worst form of censorship: self-censorship.
I then became infuriated with the way that some were trying to spin the story in favour of the regime which had blocked these websites in the first place. Let’s not forget that we are talking about only three websites out of a hundred or so which are still blocked. As a concession, its a very small one, long overdue and grossly insufficient.
So I emailed Ian Black, Middle East Editor at the Guardian, and told him of what I thought. The result was this little tidbit that appeared the next day in his weekly column on the Middle East:
Censorship by proxyEgypt’s uprising is inspiring hope for change across the Arab world, but there are clearly dangers of exaggerated expectations – and of misinterpreting limited if eyecatching reforms. Take the case of Syria, where authorities this week reportedly eased restrictions on social networking websites such as Facebook and YouTube. Official confirmation is not possible because the government does not comment on its internet restrictions, but web users have reported (anonymously) that the sites were accessible for the first time in years without having to use proxy servers.Past regime behaviour certainly merits a healthy dose of scepticism and the catch behind this “concession” is that it may mean less freedom. Syrian users have now been blocked from entering the word “proxy” in any search engine and any page with the word “proxy” in the URL address will not open. Syrians, in short, have lost internet anonymity. “Under the guise of lifting restrictions on the internet, the authorities have in fact tightened their control,” warns Malik al-Abdeh of London-based Barada TV. “No sane internet user will enter the now unblocked Facebook and visit a page that contains criticisms of the regime, or, worse still, a page that organises demonstrations as the Egyptians and Tunisians have done. The irony is that Syrian internet users are actually better off under the old system. Unblocking Facebook while cracking down on proxies and https, and maintaining the same censorship apparatus run by the secret police, is totally meaningless.” Not much sign, then, of a revival of the short-lived Damascus spring of Bashar al-Assad’s early days.
Personal website of Malik Al-Abdeh 