An in-depth look at Syria in turmoil

In March 2011, Syria is pretty and sad. Pretty after its upraise for freedom, and sad for the martyrs whose blood curses the injustice of the authorities. Syria is also worried because the future looks too blurry.

Like the other revolutions in Tunis, Egypt, Libya and Yemen, the Syrian revolution started in a way that surprised even the Syrians themselves, especially after many figures of the Syrian opposition abroad had called for demonstrations inside Syria before without any significant response.

Everyone thought there wouldn’t be anything big any time soon in the country.

However, it seems we haven’t done justice to the activists abroad, for after all they were the ones who spread those calls. But at the same time the course of events showed that any real movement needed to begin in the streets of Syria and be taken forward by the Syrians inside Syria.

As a result, the revolution brought closer the Syrians abroad and inside the country after a period of tension when those who were still in the country felt that their compatriots were demanding of them more than they could give, while they were enjoying the safety of their exiles.

The truth is that those calls and talks by Syrians around the world gave a media push to the movements. They helped Syrian make the headlines and this, undeniably, encouraged Syrians inside to hit the streets after hitting icons on the Internet.

Everybody was bubbling with joy and hope for Tunis and Egypt, wishing for the wind of revolutions to travel to many Arab countries. Fury was also mounting not only because the regimes totally ignored what was going on around Syria, but also because it still insisted on using the same methods of repression, violence and arrests, as if the Syrians would never achieve what other Arabs did in neighbouring countries.

It all started with some individuals taking small first steps, like spraying slogans on the walls and distributing leaflets calling for the fall of the dictator. From the first moment security was on stand-by, and tens of people were arrested. The regime’s panic reached a point where you had to show your ID before buying coloured spray!

The Rebells of Deraa

On March 15, big demonstrations took place in Deraa. Something Syria has never seen the like of. Two weeks earlier, more than 15 school children in Deraa had been arrested because, inspired by the coverage of other revolutions, they had written slogans against the regime on walls: “The people want the fall of the regime”.

Thousands hit the streets in Deraa chanting for their release and peacefully demanded the uplift of the emergency laws. The authorities’ reaction was familiar: brutal repression and firing live bullets. Three people died.

Blood opens the door to rage. More demonstrations followed in Deraa. Neighboring villages joined too. More fell dead, tens of martyrs. Youtube and Facebook broadcasted videos of the killings, and the TV satellite channels followed. The Syrians were shocked by the magnitude of violence. They thought, aloud or in secret: The revolution has started from Houran – far from Damascus in the province down south.

What’s interesting is that Deraa is a tribal area, where a family is rarely unarmed. In spite of that, the people marvelously insisted on the peacefulness of their marches, even when faced with the regime’s violence. Many denied that the people of Deraa were the ones to burn the Baath headquarters. But even if that were true, this doesn’t affect their peaceful movement for no human beings were targeted with the fire. And all through the long dark days that Deraa lived after that, not a single policeman died.

The Media

It hasn’t been easy to gather information about what has been happening in Deraa. Journalists were forbidden from entering the city, the communication was disconnected and the city under siege. The people of Deraa had to face two challenges alone: the regime’s violence and the dissemination of information.

All we could do, as young bloggers, was to wait for streams, which our friends in Deraa passed on to us through many channels and deviations, and we in turn spread the news as much as we could on the internet in hope of stopping the bloodshed.

Fortunately, the “Mashreq” TV station, which was kicked out of Syria some months ago, was back to covering the events after a short pause due to the threats that the employees received from the authorities, according to the owner Ghassan Abboud. “Mashreq” was able to create a national opposition station. It broadcast videos taken by the protestors’ cell phones and interviewed eyewitnesses as well as political activists. It became the number one channel in Syria until the government blocked it and the broadcast got restricted to Arabsat and the Internet.

“BBC Arabic” also contributed to unveiling the truth, and for that it earned the Syrians’ respect and appreciation.

As for the rest of the Arab media, and despite being hesitant at the beginning, they were later forced, by the actuality of the movements and the international concern about Syria, to go ahead and report what’s going on.

“Al-Jazeera” was on the top of the list of broadcasters who almost ignored the Syrian revolution at the beginning, especially during the first 10 days. That was quite flagrant because the same TV station was a main player in Tunisia and Egypt. “Al-Jazeera” chose to cast a shadow over the details and suffice with brief alerts. Some suspected that the explanation of this behavior might be found in the strong Syrian-Qatari relations. So the protestors of Deraa chanted “Jazeera where are you?”

Intellectuals & The National Opposition

During the first few days of the revolution, there was a significant silence among the intellectuals and opposition figures in Syria. Many protestors were disappointed and amazed too.

Little by little the silence was broken by manifestos and some media interviews. But the mobilization of the Syrian elite remained limited to the extent that the events seemed to out speed the opposition and the intellectuals who were once key figures in Syrian activism.

The opposition hasn’t called for any activity in the street since the beginning of all of this. Some of them even tried to stand up to the young activists who organized protests, with the justification that “the time is not right”, as the Socialist Union Party did in Douma’s demonstration last Friday! Many significant voices were absent, although they were awaited respectfully by the Syrians. And those who made a statement insisted on focusing on “reform” rather than “change”, which created resentment in many circles especially with the freshly spilled blood in Deraa and other cities.

Some believe that the authorities have succeeded, during the past few years, in breaking the Syrian opposition and civil society. Arrestments and harassment have caused the current opposition’s shaky stands.

Nevertheless one has to acknowledge that the Syrian revolution did not start from Deraa on March 15, but its introduction has been accumulating since the “Damascus Spring” in June 2000 up to today´s repressions right before the most recent events.

Even the opposition outside Syria, organizations and parties, did not really play a big role in upraise. Yet, one should admit that it was the individual activism of young and older opposition abroad that supported the revolution in the media by disseminating news. There was also the upgrade of electronic activism, like designing the demonstrations’ map and launching pages on several websites to update the revolution news by the hour.

To be continued