22 March 2011

Syrians moving beyond fear?




DAMASCUS - We wondered after the first reports of the deaths of protesters in Dera’a reached us whether it was the beginning of a revolution or the death knell of the protest movement.

After a few false starts in February and early March, when demonstrators tried to organize in Syria in the way that they have in Egypt, Tunisia and throughout the Arab lands, we had wondered if for some reason Syria was ‘immune’ to change. We noticed how our president, Bashar Asad, had been quick to meet the sort of demands heard elsewhere, cutting taxes, increasing subsidies on essential products, and increasing relief for the poor. We recalled how, unlike so many of the dictators being challenged, Asad had not turned Syria into a colony of the West and we looked to the east, towards Iraq, and to the west, towards Lebanon, and remembered what could happen if sectarian tensions were uncorked. We thought, perhaps, most Syrians were feared the future. And we remembered how repressive this government can be, recalled the killings and imprisonments and exiles of dissidents in the past. Fear, we told ourselves, is holding us back.

Yet we persisted, just a handful, hoping that, perhaps, by acting as though we weren’t afraid, others might also stop fearing.

And then, this past week, the fear began to break. We had small, peaceful demonstrations all over the country, in nearly every city, crowds of hundreds gathered and spoke out and demanded change. Even in small towns … and, almost everywhere, the worst thing that happened was a few arrests and a few bruises.

In Dera’a, that was what would have happened … except that the security forces there over-reacted and used live fire on a small peaceful demonstration. People died, at least five martyrs, maybe more.

And when the funerals happened the next day, the people of Dera’a were angry ... and the security forces used tear gas and force. The protesters lit the Ministry of 'Justice' office on fire there -- as well as those of Syriatel (which is _not_ as odd as you might think, at least as seen from Damascus. Who do people hate here? The secret police and the phone duopoly… ) Perhaps, one hundred were injured, 10 dead as a high report

deraa demonstrators:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eGLzLk0kHY&feature=player_embedded

And the _good_ news from Dera’a is that the regime is at least attempting to measure its response as far as we can tell; they aren’t shooting everyone or bombing. And the Justice Minister himself went down from Damascus and met with the Derawis about their demands. They released juveniles arrested for painting anti-government slogans and maybe we'll get more concessions?
We don’t know. But we do know that the fear has lifted. In the past few days, more and more towns across the country are holding protests, even small towns, ones in the mountains, and all over the south … the government has tried to claim that the protests are inspired by Israel, by al Qaeda, by the Western Powers, by the Islamic Brotherhood, by the Palestinians, by the Saudis … but the people are not believing that.

The cry of “God, Syria, Freedom!” is on everyone’s lips, Christians, Muslims, Druze, Alawis, Arabs, Kurds, everyone … and we are even hearing some people chanting for an end to the dictatorship:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1fR3aYV4dQ&feature=player_embedded

In Dera’a, they’ve pulled down the statue of Hafidh Asad, the current president’s father … maybe the end of the dictatorship has begun …

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