I publish the interview I got from two Syrian activists whose names i can't write for security reasons. It has been published officially by Equilibri.net.
Equilibri interviewed two of the most important activists who in the last days contributed to animate the organization of the protests in Syria and gave a big contribution in collecting information about the people who have been killed, wounded or arrested by the repression of Bashar al-Assad’s regime. (for more information about this topic we suggest to visit this website: http://www.damascusbureau.org/?p=1864)
Since in the last days they have been threatened by the security apparatus that tried to trace their identities several times, to preserve their safety they asked us to not compare in this interview using their names or their most famous nicknames. They gave us two fake nicknames to be used for this interview: Golanyya and Latakian.
Since in the last days they have been threatened by the security apparatus that tried to trace their identities several times, to preserve their safety they asked us to not compare in this interview using their names or their most famous nicknames. They gave us two fake nicknames to be used for this interview: Golanyya and Latakian.
Equilibri: Before starting I ask you give us some information about yourself and your activities, everything we can publish without compromising your identity.
Golanyya: I am a blogger, tweep and a facebooker. Been blogging for five years, active on twitter for a year or so, and active on facebook during Gaza war and Arab revolutions. I am 30 years old, graduated from Damascus University, English literature. I cannot share my twitter or facebook because I want to remain anonymous.
Latakian: I am mostly a facebooker and active more on the social activism fronts, and have been active on facebook during the Arab revolutions, especially with the latest developments of what has been happening in Syria, my home country. I am an English literature graduate, 25 years old.
EQ: After the Egyptian turmoil, Bashar al-Assad said that Syria is a stable country. Facts are demonstrating that he was wrong. In your opinion what has Syria in common with Egypt, Tunisia, Libia or Yemen ? And what distinguishes Syria from these countries?
Golanyya: Syria, like the rest of the Arab countries, is a police state, and like any corrupt regime, the political elite changes laws and the constitution for its own interest. Also in Syria people are frustrated with how this political elite, including relatives of Assad like Rami Makhlouf, is practically stealing the people's money. So tyranny, corruption on all levels, police state, censorship etc. What distinguishes Syria from the rest is its foreign policy. Syria opposes Zionism and Imperialism, hence its position is critical, we know that a lot of powers want to see the regime fall, but they think the Syrian people will be ok with a puppet to Zionism and Imperialism, that won't happen. It's the Syrian people who fought French colonialism to gain independence, and will do so the same with foriegn intervention. Rest assured.
EQ: In the other countries involved in the protests of the last months we saw the biggest demonstrations starting in the big cities, mainly in the capitals (Cairo, Tunis, Amman, Sana …) Why in Syria have the protests started in Daraa, a small city in the very south? And not in Damascus, Aleppo or Hama?
Golanyya: Because it shows you how revolutions cannot be copy-pasted. Each country has its unique histerocity. With Deraa, the people revolt because 15 children were detained and tortured for anti-regime graffiti. Security forces provoked the people with its usual violation of human rights, and hence we saw the people demonstrate daily demanding dignity and freedom.
EQ: In the south there is a big minority of Druzes. Has this any kind of influence with the fact that the biggest protests started from this region?
Golanyya: No, it hasn't. People did not revolt according to their sect, but because of the constant violation of their rights and dignity.
EQ: Can you explain briefly what is happening in the rest of the country? Especially in cities like Damascus, Aleppo, Lathakia or Hama? Which are until now the repression measures used by the regime?
Golanyya: So far Daraa is revolting everyday, Omari Mosque has become a hospital, because security forces are kidnapping the injured from the national hospital. They're still protesting till this very minute.As for the rest of the country, people have protested on Friday after Friday prayers, because there is no other way we can organize a demonstration in a police state, a regime that is imposing state of emergency since 48 years. People were shot by live fire, 104 martyrs have been reported killed thus far. 386 thus far are arrested. (These are the data updated by Golanyya until the 31st of March)
EQ: We know websites or facebook pages of groups like “New-Syria” or “15th of March Syrian Revolution” but there is much confusion about the movements involved in the protests. Can you give us a description of them? Do you think there are links between this movements and other Arab youth movements like the Egyptian “6th April Movement”?
Golanyya: They're just facebook pages, they're not movements. The movement is Deraa and demonstrations on Friday, tomorrow is a big day. But pages on facebook did not start a movement in Syria. (she is referring to Friday 1st of April)
EQ: What are your opinions about the other more traditional opposition organizations like “Reform Party of Syria”, Rabal al-Assad’s organization, the clandestine Kurds’ parties or the banned Syrian Muslim Brotherhood? Many of them are publishing comments or articles about what is happening in these days but what is their real involvement? Do you have any contacts with them?
Golanyya: We despise Muslim Brotherhood for its alliance with Imperialism. We despise Ribal Al Assad because he is the son of a murderer. These people are the enemy of the Syrian people and they do not have any credibility whatsoever. As for Kurdish parties, they do not have credibility for the Kurdish people in Syria. The Kurds and non Kurds are protesting together in opposition of tyranny in Syria against their political elite.
EQ: Hezbollah has been considered for a long time a possible symbol of the Arab auto-determination. Nevertheless, while it expressed satisfaction about the Revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt its leaders are not commenting what is happening in Syria, exactly like they behaved about the protests in Iran. How do you comment this silence?
Golanyya: It's shameful. I am very disappointed at Hezbolla, Hezbolla is fighting Zionism and supporting Palesinians' rights. The Syrian people want freedom and their rights, I hope Hezbolla reconsiders his position and support the Syrian people's fight for liberty. it's democracy that's going to free Palestine, not tyranny.
EQ: Israel watched with growing concern the riots against Mubarak. How do you think they will react to the protests exploded against Assad ? Are you concerned about possible infiltrations or indirect exploitation?
Golanyya: Of course they think that Assad alone opposes Zionism, but they're very wrong, Tunisian and Egyptian revolution taught us that Arab people are against Zionism, and so is Syrian people. The Battle with Zionist occupation and apartheid will never stop when Syria becomes a free state.
EQ: It seems like a repeating theatre script, in Tunisia, Egypt, and now in Syria and other countries. First the protests start followed by the repression of the regimes. After some days the regime promises some changes. Than new and bigger protests start. It seems like the regimes are not able to learn the lesson. What do you think about it? Do they act like this because this is the only way they have or it is about their political inability?
Latakian: I would definitely not say it is because of their “political inability,” but would surely go for “it is the only way,” in the sense that dictatorships do work and function the same in many ways, and their differences, if any, disappear at times of unrest. They do live in their own world, where the people in power are given full autonomy and nothing can stop them from corruption, through which the people remain controlled and the government remains in power. The Syrian regime has terrorized people for nearly five decades now because of its state of emergency law, which gives unlimited power to security forces in Syria. Now having lived through this for decades now, this internal terror has constantly been there, and fear was probably one of the few factors that kept the country quiet, which made the regime rest assured that nothing would happen (and indeed, the president himself, in interviews with Western newspapers, kept reassuring that his country his fine and no prospect of unrest in Syria possible because of the government’s stance on Zionism and Imperialism). This does demonstrate the fact that the regime does not only totally believe that it succeeded in controlling the people through terror, but that also their people are somehow isolated from the rest of the Arab world, which is obviously not the case. The presidential speech was in fact an utter disappointment, especially after the few promises that Buthaina Shaaban announced were going to be fully considered and eventually very soon fulfilled. His speech was completely empty, had no essence to it, and was more than a shock to the people. I would assumedly say that after the horrifying, suppressive procedures the Syrian regime employed against the demonstrators and after the big number of killings and injuries and arrests, al-Assad did rest indeed assured that everything was again under control, and whatever promises Buthaina Shaaban announced were now under further scrutiny and might or might not be carried out. So yes, I would say that al-Assad did regain some confidence in the regime’s ability to obliterate any anti-regime attempts, which was why he re-thought the (anyways) empty promises of reform and gave himself more time to sit down and watch what would happen next before he hurries into making changes and reforms. And as expected, the revolution went on all over the country and is going on until this moment.
EQ: In the beginning of the protests the international Media didn’t give it much space. Especially al-Jazeera seems to have a very different approach to Syria compared to the approach it had with the Egyptian turmoil. Do you think this is somehow determined by the good relations between Assad and Qatar’s king or there are other reasons?
Golanyya: Al Jazeera was hesitant to cover Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Libya and Yemen, the same with Syria. I don't think they have changed with Syria in particular.
EQ: For sure all the international media are dedicating much space to the war in Libya. What is your position about the western intervention? What should be the limits and the objectives of this intervention? If Syria falls in the same grave situation would you prefer a foreign intervention to a civil war?
Latakian: This is a hard question to answer because neither result is desired at all. Foreign intervention is definitely not a possibility and not a procedure that will ever be accepted by the Syrian people, because although Syrians now are revolting against the corrupt regime, they still stand their ground when it comes to issues like opposing Zionism and Imperialism, and this opposition, although “upheld” by the regime, is not particularly regime-produced, I would say. The Syrian people share a political awareness of such issues as Zionism and Imperialism, and that is shown clearly in their revolution against the regime, although the regime still plays on this chord of anesthetizing the people because IT represents people’s opposition to Zionism, and not the other way round. Also, the possibility of a civil war is to be discarded totally because the Syrian people do understand the tricks that the regime plays and would definitely not succumb to a “government-incited” civil war.
EQ: The last question is about the difficult issue of Syria’s internal religious divisions. Many observers said that many Syrians prefer to avoid to join the revolution because they fear the possibility that the situation would develop like in Irak after Saddam’s fall or Lebanon in the civil war. Do you think there is the possibility that the country falls in a inter-religious war in case Assad’s alawai regime falls?
Latakian: The possibility of having NO inter-religious war is much bigger than having one. However, one cannot simply dismiss the possibility of the presence of people or certain groups who might take advantage of the situation and try to play it sectarian. However, the latest events have actually shown a present awareness of the need for unity against the regime despite the religious “differences.” In Latakia, for example, this attempt at instigating sectarian war was at its best, as Latakia is the city with a large population of Alawi’s. Eye-witnesses in Latakia have spoken of those purported “gangs,” who were threatening people of both sects, Sunnis and Alawis, thus, creating the myth that the whole issue is exclusively sectarian. Thus, the government tried first to create the illusion that it is a sectarian war starting, which is why they “had to contain in all ways possible.” This way, they validated their suppressive actions towards the protesters who, with no doubt, could not exclusively belong to one sect. The myth that “if the Alawite regime falls, the Alawites will be in danger of being in a religious war with other sects” has long been ingrained in the minds of the Alawites in order for the government to gain validation from the people for its suppressive measures. However, the people in Latakia, despite governmental attempts, have shown solidarity and awareness against such a scheme, which is why no sectarian war was taking, is taking, or will take place. This is a fight for freedom that people, despite fear of the extreme, bloody governmental oppression, are upholding and showing more commitment to day after day.
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