The Defenders of the Lie

Only last night I was watching a report on Channel 4 News (British) by Marie Colvin. She was being interviewed by telephone and spoke of the horrid conditions that the people of Homs are having to endure. Today I hear that she has been killed, along with a French journalist and several Syrians during heavy shelling. The killing continues and with every day the depth of horror that I feel increases. I just don't know what else I can do apart from go back and pick up a rifle. Yet what riles me most is the level of sophistry and outright lies that I have to endure day in and day out by people who continue to justify the existence of this beastly regime.

A rare few might be honest enough to admit that they are thugs and support their master's thuggery. The more dishonest ones cry crocodile tears for the dead, voice their deep worry about the future, and then try to ask, to beg, to plead, to encourage, to do anything, just to have one more person give Assad the benefit of the doubt. To give this brutal dictator just a second, an instant more of power and control over the country. One moment he is the defender of secularism, the second he is the brave champion of the Palestinian cause, another moment he is described as the best of a bad lot [the Arab leaders]. Conspiracies, lies, intricately constructed theories, statistics and arguments are deployed to protect this master of shadows and his kingdom of smoke and mirrors. These people, the defenders of the Lie, serve their master for reasons known only to them. It baffles me why anybody would wish to keep such an animal - ironically Assad means lion - in power.

What makes me the saddest is to see people I once respected and thought of as reasonable, become almost hysterical - or at least wilfully ignorant - to what we are seeing. It is as if Syria has become the modern day tower of Babel, and overnight we have all been struck with a curse that makes us unable to understand one another. We gesticulate and babble wildly in different tongues, incredulous about why the other can't see our point of view.

.

"Inside the Torture Chamber of Assad's Inquisition Squads", from the Independent:

Jolan refused to talk, causing the torment to become even more cruel. He was given 50 lashes with a metal cable in the morning and 50 in the evening. He was then subjected to what Nadim Houry of Human Rights Watch describes as the "dulab" method. A tyre is forced over the victim's neck and his legs so he is folded forward. He is then tipped on his back, immobile, and beaten. Another day, Jolan says, he was suspended from the ceiling by a cable. On his 45th day in detention, they finally took the blindfold off. But Jolan was not prepared for the sight that greeted him. "When I opened my eyes, I could see two girls who were taken from the demonstrations. They were religious girls – usually they would wear the veil – but they were totally naked: the only item they were wearing was a blindfold," he says. "From this moment, I started crying."

.

Anti-Imperialist Shabiha. Again...

So anti-imperialists don't mind championing the cause of Khader Adnan who is nearing death now after being on hunger strike for over sixty days, but then they scream murder because some salafists are probably fighting the Syrian regime in Homs (by the way a Christian died fighting for the FSA a few weeks ago). Could somebody tell me what would happen to a salafi prisoner in Assad's dungeons? Or perhaps whether or not anybody would care if a salafi prisoner went on a hunger strike in a Syrian dungeon? Would the anti-imperialists even care about him then? Or is it only the oppression of the side we don't like that counts as oppression?

There is a fine line between trying to maintain objectivity regarding somebody you like and wilful ignorance. Many anti-imperialists have crossed that line, and I feel like throwing myself out of the window when I read some of the comments made. If Assad's secret police archives are ever investigated, I'd really like to do some research on the efforts by the regime to groom intellectuals and writers into its service. I expect we will find some very interesting associations and networks.

.

I've just heard news that Egypt has recalled its ambassador to Damascus. That's quite an interesting development. It could signal the start of another series of measures against Assad's regime. Interestingly, I just heard on al Jazeera  a guest referring to the Gulf involvement with the Arab Spring because it recognised its "historic role". It's a blind man who would doubt that the Gulf, and in particular Saudi Arabia, are relishing the opportunity to topple the Syrian regime and weaken Iran's influence in the region. That doesn't mean that the Syrian revolution should fail. Far from it, it would be a good thing if Syrians were able to use this diplomatic tangle to topple Assad's dictatorship and squeeze a place for themselves that would allow a stronger, suppler, and more democratic country emerging.

This is not something new, Nasser used his non-aligned status to manipulate support from the Americans and the Soviets in a way that suited him. If Syrians can manage to steer their way between Iran and Saudi Arabia, and between the United States and Russia, to their advantage, then something very good can come out of all of this. In the short term this isn't going to help the situation, and there's going to be far more bloodshed.

.

Syria at a standstill?

I have been posting and writing less about the events in Syria, and I think this might do with the fact that - in reality - the situation is at a complete standstill at the moment. There is the odd conference or press statement here and there, some sabre rattling and strong words, but - on the international level - there is simply nothing that anybody can do to help topple the Syrian regime. Now in any other situation I'd probably say things were starting to look bleak for the Syrian people, but after seeing the enormous demonstration in Mazzeh yesterday I just can't help thinking that the regime can and will be toppled only by the efforts of Syrians themselves.

I know it sounds a bit idealistic and naive, but the truth is that Syrians allowed themselves to be terrorised by Assad's regime for so long, and in the past eleven months they have broken down this fear and have performed the previously unthinkable. Let the Free Syrian Army be some bedraggle of deserters and volunteers, and let us acknowledge the fact that they don't have enough weapons. The fact remains that the regime simply cannot continue terrorising people and forcing them to stay in their homes. The whole country is up in arms and Assad is a very worried and scared man.

Some might say that the Muslim Brotherhood insurrection lasted for over three years. I'd say that firstly this is not 1982, and secondly - much to the chagrin of naive "resistance" demagogues - the Muslim Brotherhood are not calling the shots of this revolution. It is still driven by the local committees, and people on the streets. For all the geo-strategic claptrap that I've been seeing from pro-regime Syrians I still keep in contact with, or with pro-Assad supporters, the one fact that they conveniently ignore is the enormous casualty rate which is a direct result of Assad's repression. There is no desire to discuss, debate or understand. They simply wish to start the conversation from a point of their choosing, the foreign conspiracy.

Of course this is a situation that I have long recognised to be impassable. There is only so long and so far you can go in attempting to establish a dialogue with the opposite side, and after that it is just conflict. The same scenario has been played out across Syrian society, and now those who want to support Assad, and those who want to oppose him, will just have to go at it and see who has the will to see this through to the end. It's as simple, and as tragic, as that. Like many Syrians, I simply don't care about a "foreign conspiracy" and a geo-strategic plot to undermine the "resistance". It is nonsense to say that a people should put up with torture and corruption because of the security situation, or until Palestine is "freed". The absurdity of such an argument is incredible. What freedom are we talking about for the Palestinian people if the regime said to be important for this goal rules its own people with an iron fist and from the barrel of a gun?

The Damascus protests in Mazzeh yesterday were breathtaking to watch, and I know those streets like the back of my hand. The fact that a protest of this size managed to slip through the security net means that the minute Assad's control is weakened we can expect to see enormous crowds in Damascus again. That I feel certain of. Only months ago we saw this enormous Syrian flag festooned across that same thoroughfare by "supporters" of the regime. Yesterday was a different story, and the fact that the regime's thugs opened fire on clearly unarmed and peaceful protesters should be enough for all but the most stubborn defenders of dictatorship that Assad's time is up.

.

A strange conclusion to a strange day, within twenty four hours we get a speech by Hassan Nasrallah, a vote at the United Nations General Assembly, and the sad news of the death of an excellent reporter within Syria, reportedly from an asthma attack.

.

ليبيا . هروب السفير السوري من السفارة امام الابطال 9 2 2012

A video claiming to show the Syrian ambassador to Libya escaping from the embassy before Syrian protesters. The Syrian embassy in Tripoli is now under the control of the Syrian opposition, the first in the world.

.

Kafr Nabl Signs

Kafr Nabl, see the map above, has been known for the witty slogans that it holds up in its anti-regime protests. Here is one from yesterday that was quite amusing:

It says, "We are very worried about the current situation...because the current situation is very worrying". Funny...


.