Social Media Monior: An old speech repeated

A cartoon by Ali Ferzat mocking Assad's likening of the "Arab Spring" to a "soap bubble" - Facebook
A cartoon by Ali Ferzat mocking Assad’s likening of the “Arab Spring” to a “soap bubble”. The word “reform” is written on the paper Assad is holding – Facebook

President Bashar al-Assad made a rare appearance on Sunday, January 6. In the speech he delivered at the Opera House in Damascus, Assad offered his view of ending the conflict in Syria. It includes having foreign countries stop arming the rebels while the regime forces reserve the right to retaliate to the “terrorists”; forming a national unity government that includes opposition factions that are not tied to foreign powers; and, as a last step, achieving national reconciliation following a general amnesty.

Pro-opposition writer Rima Flihan considered that there was nothing new about Assad’s declaration:

"Assad's speech carries a declaration of war that will only end in putting the revolution down. What is worrying is that he might have gotten the green light from the international community to end the revolution… His initiative is similar to what the regime has been declaring since the start of the revolution."
“Assad’s speech carries a declaration of war that will only end in putting the revolution down. What is worrying is that he might have gotten the green light from the international community to end the revolution… His initiative is similar to what the regime has declared since the start of the revolution.”

The opposition National Coalition bloc published a statement on its Facebook page declaring that Assad has failed to offer any political solution. The statement called on the international community to take decisive actions to stop the massacres against the Syrian people.

“Assad’s speech proves that he is unfit to be the president, [a role which] requires an understanding of grave responsibilities,”the statement read. “[He is] a tyrant who has blinded to reality by his narcissism and hunger for power; he has become a threat to both regional and international security.”

The Muslim Brotherhood in Syria also published a similar statement on Facebook refusing Assad’s initiative.

Writer Thaer al-Adib criticized both Assad’s speech and the regime’s opponents’ reaction to it.

“What is dumber than what we heard today about steadfastness is the conclusion that some people reached that victory is near,” he wrote on Facebook.

Where is the SNC spending its money?

Syrian activists have recently made accusations against the Syrian National Council, SNC, of paying exorbitant salaries to central figures who have defected from the regime. The SNC responded by publishing a statement on its Facebook page, containing the names of five defectors who live in Istanbul and whom the statement says each one of them has received the sum of 5,000 euros only once.

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Some of the comments made on this statement expressed anger that such “decent” people have been defamed by exposing their need. Others were outraged that prominent opposition figures are given stipends while there are so many people inside are more deserving of such aid.

One of these critics was activist Eiad Charbaji who published a petition on his Facebook demanding that the SNC publish financial statements certified by auditors.

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Electricity is a precious commodity

Both the regime and the opposition have exchanged accusations of being the cause of the power shortage in Syria. As the military conflict continues to escalate, even the country’s two major cities, Damascus and Aleppo, are subject to frequent power cuts.

On Sunday, several tweets mentioned that power was provided throughout Syria during Assad’s speech, some of which were quite sarcastic:

"The only good thing that Syrians will remember about Assad's speech is that they were able to recharge their phone batteries, especially in the areas that haven't been supplied with electricity for several days."
“The only good thing that Syrians will remember about Assad’s speech is that they were able to recharge their phone batteries, especially in the areas that haven’t been supplied with electricity for several days.”

A comment was published on Al-Mundassa Al-Souriyya blog, holding people partly responsible for this problem because they waste energy.

“Dear fellow Syrian, if we have power – thank God the government is generous enough to supply us with electricity for four hours a day – it doesn’t mean that you should be irresponsible. Have some decency, fellow citizen.”

Syrian refugees in Lebanon cause controversy

The issue of accommodating additional Syrian refugees in Lebanon has recently caused a heated political debate in the country. Last week the Lebanese Energy Minister Gebran Bassil declared for the second time that Lebanon should stop receiving more refugees from Syria because their presence is causing several economic and social problems that Lebanon cannot handle. Bassil’s statements as well as a similar one made by Member of the Parliament and editor-in-chief of the Lebanese daily An-Nahar  Nayla Tueni caused outrage among Lebanese and Arab activists.

A group called Anti-Racism Movement published a statement on its Facebook page asking Bassil to consider Europeans working in Lebanon as a source of competition in the labour market.

“In Lebanon there are [people] who have been unemployed for more than a year and who confirm that the competition they faced for the jobs they wanted did not come from Syrian refugees,” the statement read. “Hasn’t His Excellency notice that there has been an increase in the number of Europeans working in Lebanon? Doesn’t he feel that they, too, are competing with the Lebanese in the job market?”

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Journalist Fidaa Itani who covers Syria and was kidnapped by the armed opposition near Aleppo also issued a similar statement on Facebook, asking people to sign it. In his petition Itani refused “any racist position taken against Syrians, Palestinians or any other religious, racial or sectarian group.”