25 April 2011

Thanks, but no thanks, Mr. Obama




DAMASCUS – April 25, 2011 – As I write this, I’m given to understand that the Obama administration is considering increasing sanctions against Syria as punishment for President Bashar Assad's government's violent crackdown on protesters. The executive order will empower President Obama to freeze the assets of senior Syrian officials and bar them from engaging in any business dealings with the United States, the Wall Street Journal claims. While it is meant, it’s claimed, to encourage the US’s European allies to take similar measures (the Syrian government has few assets in the US and we already are under less rigorous sanctions), it’s clearly meant as a symbolic action to show US displeasure with the Syrian government’s recent actions.
Over the past few months, there’s been a growing cycle of protest and repression; this past weekend, at least 150 protesters were killed by government forces. Over night, tanks have rolled out onto the streets of Dera’a along with at least three thousand soldiers. All over the country, activists are being rounded up and taken off to prison. The Syrian government does not stint in using torture.
Some people in the US and elsewhere are calling for the US (and other powers) to take a more ‘active’ role in defending the protesters, even going so far as calling for a no-fly zone or even military intervention. There are rumors and reports already of American efforts in that direction. Wikileaks last week released documents detailing how the US State Department has been funding an opposition television station, Barada-TV, as well as funding some exile groups. The Syrian government, meanwhile, claims – with some grain of truth among the exaggerations – that groups in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, and Lebanon are actively supplying weapons and infiltrators. Arms shipments originating in American-occupied Iraq have been interdicted at the border.


It is a perilous time. For a decade, we have wondered whether President Bashar Asad’s oft-repeated ‘reforms’ would materialize. Might he be the ‘Gorbachev’ who would dismantle the one-party state and, when democracy comes, stand aside? Or would he have to be forced to leave?
Even a few days ago, it looked like this regime might yet choose to follow the ‘Gorbachev’ path followed by other nations (like Chile, Mexico, and Spain) and lead Syria out of dictatorship and into a bright and democratic future. That chance has now left.
Now, the choice is only whether this hated regime ends by revolution and leaves or if we descend into civil war. I pray that it is the first and that the revolution is soon, swift and without too much blood. In a land such as ours, civil war serves no one except the enemies of all Syrians.
As a Syrian-American dual national living in Damascus, I am deeply concerned over all of this. Now, before I give my reaction, let me state my bonafides: I have been involved in pro-democracy protests and activities here since February, I have personally witnessed government forces killing demonstrators, I have been tear-gassed, I have been batoned, I have been detained – and only a few hours ago, the Mukhabarat (secret police) visited me at home and, for the moment, they were persuaded not to arrest me. So, I am no friend of the regime!
I am though a believer in our struggle for democracy and, like many others of us inside Syria, I do not want foreign ‘help’ when it comes to bringing democracy to our beloved Syria. We do not seek and do not want the sort of ‘help’ that is offered from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, the USA, or France: we are not blind and we can see how that ‘help’ is only offered when it is seen as serving those interests. Why else would some of the same countries send troops to repress pro-democracy movements in Bahrain also send them to Libya? They are trying to steal the Arab revolution and subvert it into the old channels of colonial dominance.


That is not what we want. We want a Syria free of foreign control; just as our forerunners resisted the French, we will resist such attempts. We did not want Russians or Persians here any more than we wanted the French; that is a charge we lay at the feet of this corrupt regime. We do not want an American or a Saudi occupation either; we hold this corrupt regime guilty for allowing a part of our homeland to remain under enemy occupation and for abandoning the patriots who fell defending it. We will not be collaborators; that is the badge of dishonor this regime has earned and one that we scorn them for.
If, Mr. Obama, your fine words about democracy and freedom are to prove true, you will not offer us the poisoned cup of assistance; you will not send bombs to rain on our cities, nor kill our misguided brothers. You will let us find our own path to freedom and you will restrain your clients in Riyadh, Beirut and Tel Aviv from doing us harm. You will stand aside and let us choose for the first time in decades the kind of government that we, the Syrian people, want. Thanks for the sentiment, but no thanks for any ‘assistance’!

13 comments:

edward said...

never thought I'd see the day an openly gay activist openly talking about a revolution in Syria. Has our society come that far? I hope so, so much for salafist conspiracy theories eh!

Ayham Dahi said...

no foreign intervention or sanctions that only empower the regime and only harms the majority of the population and the most vulnerable and damages the civic infrastructure of the country. If you want to help in any way stop selling tear gases and torturing equipments. Thanks Amina for you article.

Marilyn said...

أعلاً يا أمينة العزيزة ، أقرأُ مقالاتكِ في باريس . أنتِ شجاعة جدٌاً .

محبٌتي
مارلين

Amina A. said...

Thanks all! Yes, we have progressed!

Palomba said...

Hi Amina,

Could you please send me an email address so I can ask you smth in private?

Here's my email address: maleevela@gmail.com

Thanks,

Y

damascene said...

Well said, and thank you so much for your insights and your courage.

DG1957 said...

Excellent article - well said. Be safe.

Tony said...

Thanx a lot Amina,
It really helped me to understand some important things about this situation (i am french btw ;) ).

Take care !

Simon said...

Bonsoir,
Les immigrés français d'origines syrienne vous félicitent de votre courage et suivent attentivement l’avancement de votre victoire. Bravo.

mmchamber44 said...

Good argument, but entirely unnecessary, one would think. There is absolutely no consideration being given to a "military option" in Washington, nor will there be. The US has even fewer interests in Syria than it does in Libya; there is no regional or international pressure to intervene; the Security Council would surely refuse its authorization; and the Pentagon and other corners of the US government especially the State Dept would strongly resist being asked to take ownership of another war. Each of these considerations distinguishes Syria from Libya, as does the level of state violence.

Shelli Bee said...

You're very brave, stay safe and we support the Syrian struggle for democracy, but pray for all your safety.
As someone currently in Syria, what are your thoughts about why larger cities haven't had bigger uprisings (like Aleppo, Hama)?

CL said...

Are the Muslim countries really ready for democracy?? So far in Eygpt it has turned into a military state. According to a recent poll the majority of the people there want to dissolve the peace aggreement with Israel, on what basis? I don't think any Muslim country can truely be a democracy when religion is so deeply imbedded in the majority of the people.I hope and pray that there will emerge one brave middle eastern muslim country that will function as a democracy but I don't think it will happen in my life time nor my childrens much to my sadness.

ُTHALAMUS said...

Wish it was that simple !
anyway , be blessed .

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