Decentering Damascus

To Change

2008-02-26T15:12:00.002+02:00

This blog will no longer be updated.

Explosion in Damascus Kills One

2008-02-13T07:11:00.002+02:00

My room was shaking the minute I heard that sound. I thought it was Israel, the neighbors thought it was a tank of gas, but only the dead knew what it was.

Update: no "militant" was killed, but a fighter was assassinated.

Syrian Bloggers Campaign to Free Fellow Blogger Tariq Biasi

2008-02-04T23:24:00.000+02:00

It all started when one did: Ahmad published several entries concerning the detention of Tariq, the jailed Syrian blogger, but it is only when his blog was added on the SYPlanet aggregator that I had the chance to be aware of Tariq's situation. I reacted by contacting all the bloggers who reported on Tariq's detention and asked for their help in organizing a campaign to help secure Tariq's release. And here we are; Ahmad purchased and designed the websites, Arwa and Omar contacted human rights organizations and news agencies, Okbah is following up Tariq's news with a lawyer, Omar created a group on Facebook. I also contributed by updating the websites and creating an online petition demanding Tariq's release.

As it stands, we're just five. We are five Syrian bloggers writing from our censored Syria.

You can find our Free Tariq campaign by clicking here for an English version, and here for the Arabic.

Our Statement:

Our mission is supposedly guaranteed in the introduction of Syria's Constitution: “The freedom of the country is only protected by free citizens.”

Article 28 in the constitution dictates that: “Every accused person is innocent until he is convicted by a final court judgment.”

Tariq’s online speech does not constitute a violation of the law. In fact, he actually acted on the basis of freedom, which as stated earlier, is guaranteed by the Constitution via Article 38, which states: “Every citizen has the right to express his opinion freely and openly, orally and written and in all other means of expression. He also has the right to contribute in the control process and in the constructive criticism to ensure the safety of national reconstruction."

Feel free to read the full statement.

Please take a minute and consider signing our petition.

You can also help us spread the word by joining our group on Facebook.

If you wish to post a banner of solidarity on your blog or website, you may choose from a list of banners here. Insert the image URL within the code here and you'll get a badge of the banner you've chosen. Please contact us for any questions, or if you have a banner of your own to contribute.

Why Support Us?

Some of the arguments made unfortunately undermine the effectiveness of the likes of this campaign, assuming that there is one goal, which is simply and strictly to literally "free" the imprisoned blogger or person. This campaign however goes way beyond such claims and aims to protect the very principles of freedom and human rights. To answer and refute some of these arguments, the Free Tariq Coalition has interviewed the Syrian human rights activist and lawyer Razan Zeituna and asked her a couple of questions regarding the validity of such campaigns:

Free Tariq: Are these campaigns important? If so, in what sense?

رزان زيتونة: ‫هذه الحملات مهمة جدا، أهم ما فيها أنها أخرجت قضايا حريات الرأي والتعبير من ثنائية العلاقة ما بين المنظمات الحقوقية والسلطة، لتجعل منها قضية رأي عام، تهم دوائر أوسع من الأفراد والجماعات

‫وهي إلى جانب الاهتمام ب والدفاع عن أفراد بعينهم تعرضوا لانتهاكات في حقوقهم وحرياتهم الأساسية، تنشر الوعي بقضية الحريات والانتهاكات.

‫هذا من جانب، من جانب آخر، مضى زمن طويل في منطقتنا العربية، حيث كانت مختلف الانتهاكات تمارس بحق الأفراد بدون أي اهتمام إعلامي وحقوقي فعلي، هذا الأمر بدأ يتغير الآن، هذه الحملات إلى جانب ما تمارسه من ضغط معنوي على السلطات الحاكمة، تعطي الأفراد المنتهكة حقوقهم جزءا مما يستحقونه، باعتبارهم أفراد لهم أسماء وأحلام ...الخ، أي أنها تؤنسن هذه القضايا ‫وتنقلها من إطار العموميات والمجرد إلى إطار الشخصي.

Razan Zeituna: These campaigns are very important, mostly for unleashing the freedom of speech causes from the dual relationship between the regime and human rights organizations, to make it a public affair that would interest wider circles of people and groups. And while these campaigns lobby for and defend people whose basic rights and freedoms are abused, they also raise awareness on the cause for free speech.

Furthermore, it has been a long time in the Arab region since human rights abuses been taken place without effectual attention from media and human rights agencies. This is changing now; these kinds of campaigns and as they put symbolic pressure on the government, it gives the individuals whose rights are invaded, part of what they deserve, and treat them as people with names and dreams…these kinds of campaigns personify and humanize the abstract causes and transfer them from generalizations frames into personal frames.

Free Tariq: What about Tariq himself, how would this campaign be beneficial to him?

رزان زيتونة: هي حق له قبل أن تكون مفيدة له أم لا، ‫في مثل أنظمتنا، الحكومات لا تكترث كثيرا بالضغوط من هذا النوع، هذا لا يعني أبدا أن لا تمارس مثل هذه الضغوط.

Razan Zeituna: It's his right, before it can be beneficial to him or not. With governments like ours, these kinds of pressures don’t affect the regimes much; this is no reason why we should not practice these pressures in the first place.

And Esra'a Al Shafei, director of the Free Kareem campaign notes that the aim of activism is "to change," and stresses on the movement of change:

Activists generally have a passion towards a set of issues that they feel need to be changed, and they are inspired enough to be part of the movement that changes these things, either partly or entirely (if they are part of a movement that is big and influential enough, but most activism today comes in very small doses.)

In other words, campaigns like this one might qualify as a form of "activism" (though I like to refer to it as "volunteerism"), help serve a major role in communities that suffer from decades of dictatorship like that of Syria. The Free Tariq Coalition can advocate and promote national ownership, and harnessing citizen participation within the process of the country's development that has been exclusively up to the Syrian authorities and to Syrian opposition(s). Campaigning, volunteering, or being active is not only about raising awareness about Tariq's case or about freedom of speech, but also about the necessity for all Syrian people and youth to contribute and to participate instead of comforting to the paralyzed community state the Syrian regime managed to build for decades by force.

Syrian Bloggers Under Threat

Tariq Biasi is not the only and the first Syrian blogger who is currently in prison, long before I have started this blog about a year ago, a Syrian blogger named Tariq Gorani was detained on 19-2-2006 for a year and four months before being charged with a seven years sentence verdict on 17-6-2007 for "endangering Syria's security". His blog's name was Aldomari. "Aldomari" is originally taken from the first and the last independent Syrian newspaper that addressed and investigated the corruption of the Syrian authorities for a few months before it was shut down by the regime. (Aldomari was a revolutionary newspaper and though its price was five times the official newspapers', its editions were always sold out.)

I could not read any post by the blogger Aldomari for the Syrian authorities have hacked his blog and deleted all his posts' archive, all I know is that he blogs in Arabic and his posts were seethingly sarcastic. Aldomari blog was the first Syrian blog to be blocked by the Syrian authorities as reported by the Damascene blog.

Tariq Gorani (1985) was not detained only for his blogging activity, he was mainly detained and imprisoned along with his seven friends for establishing a "Democratic Syrian Youth Activity." Because of their online organized activism, they faced harsh and serious verdicts with seven and five years sentences.

A campaign has been launched to support the young men can be found here.

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‫‬

So basically whoever initiates to express and voice his/her opinions in an organized manner, they are detained and imprisoned for years. Which explains the decreasing amount of Syrian insiders who care about Syrian public affairs.

Tariq Biasi is detained for an online comment criticizing the government, but Tariq Gorani was detained and faced serious charges and is spending seven years in prison not for expressing his views as much as for expressing them within an establishment and an organized body. Hence Syrian insiders prefer to work independently, mostly anonymously and not in groups.

Another example of harassment by the authority towards Syrian bloggers is when the Syrian intelligence kidnapped Syrian bloggeress Rukana Hammour. She is very vocal about the authorities and judicial system's corruption in Syria, and was thus threatened by the intelligence forces to withdraw her nomination to the Syrian parliament.

How You Can Help:

1. Write about Tariq or freedom of online speech on your site or blog.
2. Link to our campaign.
3. Email your friends about us and ask them to sign the petition.
4. Contact NGOs and media agencies in your circles.
5. Email us campaign-related feedbacks and suggestions.

Very Important Rockets

2008-01-23T21:01:00.000+02:00

I don’t appreciate it when Arab bloggers and media agencies report and cover the Gaza blockade merely through the death of children and women – not sure why Palestinian men's lives don’t count. It is as if the problem is not in death itself but in the death of children. So the counter argument by Israelis would be by starting to count Palestinian children who have died due the siege and support their arguments with the lack of resources:

"More Muslim mendacity. If children were indeed starving, why are there no photos of their swollen bellies?"

According to this logic, one can argue that since there are no photos of the Holocaust gas chambers in which the Jews were collectively massacred by the Nazis, then I guess the gas chambers did not exist.

To get back to my point, the argument to oppose the Israel’s apartheid policies against the Gazans and Palestinians, in general, should not be through counting/demonstrating dead children and women or even merely focusing on the inhumane conditions that the Palestinians are going through. The argument should in fact address the apartheid racist logic that produced such inhumane practices. My problem is not by bringing up the victims in the Gaza blockade coverage but rather making it the argument to oppose Israel as a counter argument. Death and shortage of food, medicine and fuel are only the visible practices of an Israeli apartheid state. They are not the problem of this state and hence they shouldn’t be our rhetoric and our defense against Israel.

It seems that we have the right to "speak", so loudly, against Israel when we have a picture of a child dying that without this child, we wouldn’t have a case against Israel's inhumane blockade of Gaza.

The Arab rhetoric should renew its arguments, which are again, bombastic and not strategically analytical in reading their own realities in relation to the enemy or in reading the enemy's strategy that constantly presents itself as a "prior" party in the "Palestinian-Israeli struggle." The thing that would damage the core of the Palestinian cause when readers support us merely as sympathizers with the dead children and not as supporters to Palestinians' right to live secure and equal to Israeli citizens.

Having said this, I have something to say about Israel’s right to 'self-defense' against Qassam rockets.

Before assuming there is an opponent struggle taking place between the Israelis and Palestinians, one should agree then that the two parties, equally, have the basic right to live peacefully and securely, and accordingly have the right to self-defense. But when Israel, supported by the UN, US and Europe, keeps prioritizing Israeli citizens at the expense of Palestinian citizens, one should not adhere to the term "Israel-Palestine struggle" since it suggests an adversary. In "Israel-Palestine struggle" there is one party - Israel - which has the right to exist, and hence the right of self-defense. And for that right, it has the right to control the other party's right to live peacefully: it decides on behalf of the Gazans how they should live: "not easily", and block their access to fuel, food and medicine and arbitrary night-raid their homes and bulldoze them on their heads.

This Israeli right to live and right of self-defense is embedded in every single report, with or against Israel’s complete closure of Gaza Strip:

“We all understand the security problems and the need to respond to that but collective punishment of the people of Gaza is not, we believe, the appropriate way to do that,” said John Holmes.

So while the world wholeheartedly backs the right of Israelis to live securely, the world is merely sympathizing with the Gazans lack of fuel, food and medicine. i.e. lack of life.

With Israel, the rhetoric is about its safety and its right to exist and for that, it has the right to defend this very existence and life. With the Palestinians, the rhetoric comes as the right to eat, have hospitals and be warm in winter. Palestinians don’t have the right to have a life, or to exist, and certainly not the right to defend themselves. Palestinians are not equal to Israelis – they are inferior. They have the right to be fed only. While Israelis are always remembered, the Gazans are only remembered when they are dead.

Again, the world prioritizes Israelis, even when they support the Gazans now.

And the Arabs celebrate this utterly biased stance with the right of Israelis to be secure when their mere opposition to the siege is dealt with on a humanitarian basis while they should be arguing for the right of Palestinians to live equally – just like the Israelis, securely and peacefully not just in regards to their basic needs to survive.

Furthermore, all the reports seem to be convinced that Israel’s siege on Gaza is a "reaction" to Qassam rockets when they recognize Israel's right to "self-defense but demand its attention to Gazans’ humanitarian rights. I find this rhetoric as apologetic to Israel’s terrorist policies against the Palestinians. Linking between Qassam rockets and Israel’s two-year siege on Gaza is dealt with on one level, as if the damages on both sides are similar. Let's take a look at Gaza's damages because of the siege:

68 Patients killed by Israeli Occupation due to Closure!

1562 patients in need of treatment outside Gaza Strip

322 patients are in serious danger and in need of urgent treatment

22 money holistic are suspended from work due to the siege

107 class of basic medicines are depleted from Gaza Strip

97 sorts of medicines on the verge of depletion

136 medical instrument are stopped or our of order

6 months, Gaza with closed crossings and borders

160 thousand workers are out of work

3000 fishermen become out of work due to siege

$370 millions are the costs of stalled construction projects

$14 million are the wastage of strawberry and flowers season

4500 strawberry farmers become out of work

470 cancer patients are likely to die

And on the Israeli side:

Homemade rockets have killed in a most updated report 12 Israelis, including three children, according to Israeli Defence Forces.

Yoram Schweitzer of Tel Aviv's Jaffee Centre for Strategic Studies comments:

"Qassams are very primitive missiles and their main effect on Israelis in the area is psychological torment - a kind of Chinese water torture."

So I wonder how can psychological insecurities be considered parallel to the blows mentioned above which the Palestinians have suffered, and how can two years of blockades be considered a "reaction" to such primitive rockets? Hence, the link that is meant to be apologetic to war crimes committed on civilians to maintain the security and not the lives of Israelis, only takes into consideration their psychological situation.

I find the argument in Betselem report on the closure of the Gaza Strip able to stand on its own in unfolding the truth behind the Israeli siege on Gaza:

"Israeli authorities often exploit security threats in order to advance prohibited political interests under the guise of security."

Indeed, Sderot is inhabited by"Mizrachi" Jews and not by Azhkenazis, and some of the inhabitants feel insecure not only from the Qassam rockets but from the racist Israeli government:

"The worst part of all this isn't the rocket fire - it's the fact that the government just doesn't care," says a Sderot settler.

While I reject the article altogether, I think it sheds light on something that can be useful to unfolding the Israeli government's lies in claiming its "need to protect" its settlers; they're not killing civilians for Sderot settlers but against Gazans' political reality - Hamas. So the siege is strictly practiced for political reasons and not for security reasons.

Why is Israel targeting Hamas now? This is where my amateur reading ends.

An Hour for Gaza

2008-01-23T19:29:00.000+02:00

For those who're in Syria and in Damascus there is going to be a silent strike :

Let’s break the silence in support of our children in Gaza. Dare to say no to the ongoing injustices taking place in the shadow of regional politics, orchestrated Palestinian-Israeli peace talks and the glamorous visit of the western presidents. Peace starts by stopping the killing of innocent children everywhere. Join us to a peaceful gathering to submit a petition to the United Nation.

Time: Friday January 25, 2008 at 12.30 p.m
Place: United Nation Building Mezzah, Western Villas, Ghazawi Street. Damascus, Syria

I am not in favor of strikes and demonstrations in countries like Syria for few reasons:

1- Can the public influence its government when the government is in isolation with the whole world? even though Syria is a "proud Arab country" and all, but didn’t Egypt, Jordan and KSA, despite of their submissive and assimilations to/with the American administration, have used their very ties with the West and Israel to help the Gazans? How can Syria be an Arab and so generous to Palestinians as it claims if it doesn’t have an affect whatsoever?

not to read my comment as in favor with similar submissive relations of Syria with the Americans or the Europeans, what I am saying, is that a complete isolation as that of Syria is as bad as a complete submissiveness as that of Egypt, KSA and Jordan. So no heroes here.

2-so if the government cannot affect the world, how can the public affect the government? Assuming the government actually cares what its public thinks.

3-so why go to the strike then? I think in paralyzed communities like the Syrian one, civil disobedience and strikes are beneficial to the makers of these activities rather than to the receivers. It would encourage them to be part of the Syrian and regional public affairs, and I have learned that the creation of an active society start with simple multiple tries to gradually become greater.

4-But what really can we do to the Gazans? I believe what we can do is raise carefully studied awareness AND donate. And so far I know this link to donate money to Gaza:

TAKAFUL: The Palestinian Refugee Support Network

Living in Gaza

2008-01-18T13:39:00.000+02:00

They know they'll live tonight, when another family dies.
Living in Gaza, is living under occupation.

If Motherhood is Selfless

2008-01-18T11:16:00.000+02:00

How come women need to give birth in order to be mothers?
What about the children without mommies?
Parents like to be their own children "selfless" parents. Not sure how motherhood and fatherhood are selfless.

I think there should be a holiday for adoptive parents whom can have children, but chose to be parents to children without parents. Oh but wait, adoption is prohibited in Syria, so decided our most wise moral Muslim Sheikhs. But hey, that means I need to be thankful that I have another citizenship; I still can adopt a Syrian orphan child because of a non-Syrian citizenship, to give the lone child a real home, give her real education, and perhaps give her other alternatives and chances to becoming a better Syrian. Wonder why we always need foreign papers in order to build our most beloved Syria.

It Could Be You: Release Syrian Blogger Tarek Baiasi

2008-01-08T19:51:00.000+02:00

Tarek was detained on 7-7-2--7 for critiquing security forces in Syria. He has not been taken to court up to this moment

His name is Tarek Baiasi and he's 23 years old. He lives in Banyas with his mother and two sisters. His father was detained during the 80s by the Syrian security agents, who mistook him for a Muslim Brotherhood member, where he spent 20 years behind bars.

Tarek sells and maintains PCs. He is described by his friends as shy and quiet, spending his time surfing the web and blogging at Ektub here.

On 7-7-2007, Tarek was asked by the security branch in Banyas to answer a few questions concerning a comment he left on one of the "sensitive" websites. That was the last his family heard from him.

I had previously mentioned Tarek on my blog when I posted about the kidnapping of the Syrian bloggeress Rukana Hammour by Syrian security agents, but had not heard anything new about him until yesterday when Syrian bloggers reported on the day which marked the completion of his six months of detention. The bloggers appealed to Syrian and international human rights agencies to highlight his case and the cases of others as well.

Syrian blogger Ahmad was the first to write about Tarek's case:

اعتقل طارق بياسي بتاريخ 7-7-2007م.
- سبب اعتقاله تعليق له في منتدى أنا مسلم تعرّض فيه لإيجابيات وسلبيات أجهزة الأمن.
- بعد اعتقاله فُتّش منزله ، و صودرت حواسيبه.
- انتهى التحقيق معه لكونه اعترف بتعليقه مباشرة، لكن لحد الآن لم يُحال للمحكمة ، و لا يُعرف مصيره.
- طارق وحيد لأمه ، من مواليد 84 ، من مدينة بانياس الساحلية.
- اعتقل أبوه لمدة 20 عاماً من أيام الأحداث ، كان عُمْرُ طارقٍ حينها بضعة أشهر فقط

-Tarek Bayasi was detained on 7-7-2007 for a comment he left on one of the forums called "I am a Muslim" in which he presented the advantages and the disadvantages of the Syrian security forces policies.
-His house was searched and his computers were confiscated after his detention.
-Investigators were through with him ever since he confessed posting the comment, but until now he was not taken to court and no one knows his whereabouts.
-Tarek is his mother's only son, born in 1984 in Banyas.
-His father was sentenced for 20 years during the 80s when Tarek was a few months old at the time.

Ahmad posted several posts earlier on Tarek's detention in which we learn that the detained blogger was later on taken to Palestine Camp's security branch in Damascus:

لتصفحه مواقع انترنت ، طارق مازال في معتقلا في فرع فلسطين بدمشق
طارق عمر بياسي ، مواليد 84، يعمل في محله في بيع أجهزة الكمبيوتر و صيانتها الكائن في مدينة بانياس الساحلية.
لم يكن الدكتور عمر منظما في جماعة الإخوان و لا أحسبه مقتنعا بأفكارهم حتى يومنا هذا
عن تهمة طارق فهي تصفحه و مشاركته في مواقع “مشبوهة” و ينظر لها بعين الريبة من قبل الأمن ، و هذه المواقع على الأغلب هي موقع أنا مسلم و موقع آخر شبيه به

For surfing the Internet, Tarek is still being held in the Palestine Camp's security branch in Damascus.
Born in 1984, Tarek Omar Bayasi, sells and maintains PCs where he lives in the coastal town of Banyas.
Dr Omar wasn’t a member of the Muslim Brotherhood and I don’t think he is convinced of their thought even today.
Tarek is being accused of surfing the Internet and ‘suspected’ sites, feared by the security forces. Most probably the site is “I am Muslim” or something similar.

Another Syrian blogger, Jassas, blogs about Tarek's case asking us to write to the Syrian human rights agencies and support Tarek. Marfa' blog owner, too, adds his voice to Jassas' appeal and asks us to shed some light on Tarek's case by contacting human rights agencies.

Arwa wishes that all the bloggers would agree on a certain statement to publish on their blogs:

أتمنى من جميع المدونات أن تتفق على “خطاب نصي” يشارك فيه المدونون كخطوة عملية وجماعية من أجل طارق

I hope all the bloggers would agree on a text in which the bloggers would participate in publishing as a practical and collective step in support of Tarek

And finally, the owner of Msabba' el Karat Syrian blog writes on Tarek's detention wondering why every time a Syrian citizen is detained for merely criticizing his nation's flaws, asserting that it's the people who eventually defend their nation:

هل من المعقول أن يسجن الإنسان كل هذه المدة من أجل كلمة تقال في حق الوطن ؟! عندما أنتقد الوطن والقائمين عليه ، هذا لا يعني أني لا أحبهم و لا أتمنى لهم الخير ، بل أنتقدهم لأني أريد أن يكون وطني مثالا يحتذى به في كل المجالات ، هؤلاء الشباب هم زهرة الأوطان ، هم الذين سيدافعون عن قضايا الأوطان ، و بهمتم العالية تبنى الأوطان ، فلماذا تنزع كرامة الشاب من أجل كلمة تقال ، إن كنا نعرف أن بعض كلمات ستودي بنا إلى السجن ، فسنوقف أقلامنا ، و نغلق أفواهنا ، و نقطع ألسنتنا ، و نجلس عبادا نساكا ننتظر رحمة الله و فرجه القريب

Is it possible to detain someone this long for having his say on his nation's affairs? When I criticize my nation and its leaders, it doesn't mean that I dislike them or wish them harm. I just do it to make my country better in all fields. Those youngsters are the nation's blossoms; they'll defend and protect the country, and with them we build it. So why are we stripping a man of his dignity for a word he said? If we knew that a few words would lead us to jail, we would stop writing, shut our mouths, cut our tongues and sit back as slaves waiting for God's mercy.

At the end of his post, the blogger draws our attention to important statistics:

ملاحظة : هناك 40 ألف قضية في قصر العدل لم تتطرق لها المحكمة بعد ، هذا ما أشارت إليه النائب العام غادة مراد في حديثها للجزيرة ضمن برنامج رائدات

P.S. There are 40,000 pending cases in the Justice Courthouse that the judiciary has not dealt with up to now, as general prosecutor Ghada Murad said on Al-Jazeera.

Up to this moment, one Syrian human rights agency did report on Tarek's detention at the very day of his detention on 7-7-2007. HRW mentioned his name in its report on Syrian officials' continuous arrests of people over online comments:

On June 30, 2007, Military Intelligence in the coastal city of Tartous arrested Tarek Biasi, 22, because he “went online and insulted security services,” according to a person familiar with the case. Biasi remains in incommunicado detention, his whereabouts unknown.

The HRW report says Tarek was detained on June 30, but the Syrian human rights agency and his family and friends confirmed that Tarek was detained on the 7th. of July and not on June 30th. I am noting this issue for documentation purposes.

Tarek does not stand alone in these arrests policy over online comments, the HRW report lists seven names among those who've been detained for expressing their views online. This policy started in 2002 but it has been increasing recently and especially after the “Ministry of Telecommunications and Technology” circular; Sami Ben Gharbia wrote about the repression of internet in Syria and here he uncovers the circular's instructions:

Recently, the new-formed “Ministry of Telecommunications and Technology” issued a new circular asking the owners of the Syrian websites “to exercise accuracy and objectivity (…) and to post the name of the writer of an article and the one who comments on it in a clear and detailed manner.” The Ministry added that “the failure to do so would result in warning the website owner and rendering his website temporarily inaccessible. In case the violation is repeated, the website will become permanently inaccessible.

Here's my response to this circular.

It is not a secret that the Syrian tyrant regime is tight on the Syrian people and tighter on those who try to break through, but as I mentioned earlier in my blog there is no space on the ground for the youth to express their views or to embody their interests except on the cyber world. So what made li Zein al-`Abideen Mej`an, Karim ‘Arbaji (29), Tarek Biasi (22) and many others turn to the Internet? Isn't it the very absent tangible Syria? Among all of the people who live in Syria, the Syrian government is detaining those who actually care about the Syrian public affair, those who care about Syria; those who have opinions and express them online simply because they can’t express themselves elsewhere. So by detaining these people, the Syrian government is making one of its exquisite statements: "don’t even bother to think and have a say, we'll just do it for you".

So there is no tangible Syria, and soon enough there might be no virtual Syria as well, I wonder how can there be Syrians without Syria, or Syria without Syrians who care.

Censorship in Syria is not a joke and it's shouldn’t be viewed as the "norm/typical/predictable policies" of the tyrannical Syrian government. We're not talking about the imprisonment of political activists anymore, not even human rights activists, we're talking about detaining people, just people like you and me, mostly students, whose mere accusation was having opinions, whether I agree with them or not, and mostly I don’t, is never the case, but the fact that someone who still cares and dares to express her/his views in Syria is not the norm, it's a rare case, and the detention of these rare people is very serious.

For those who are interested in helping Tarek and his family please send me and email at arab.spring@gmail.com.

Many thanks to Amira al Hussaini for editing this post.

Little Marginalizer

2008-01-07T11:38:00.000+02:00

I had a huge fight with dad last night, it was the kind of fight that makes you retreat more from your parents, even though the more they grow older the more you feel responsible towards them and scared to lose them. But some people cease to grow up once they become parents.

I got dressed and left home, walked to this mall that's near where I live, I was supposed to wait for a friend to pick me up, I just needed a drink.

Taxi drivers where pressing their cars' horns asking me if I needed a lift, people pass by looking at the lone girl with the high heels boots, but only one approached me:

....خديلك مسّاحة يا خالة, أربعة ب 100, الله يخليكي, منشان الله, أربعة ب 100

I didn’t look at him at first, I was accustomed to ignore beggars and especially children beggars: we should not encourage them to beg by giving them what they expect from us.

But he kept talking, some get tired and leave you alone when you ignore them, some change their begging style and start crying to get what they want, but this little kid did not change his tone, nor his words, nor his facial features, nothing changed at all, he just kept talking raising his little head at me. I looked at him while he was addressing me, I kept looking at him for few seconds, at his wide brown eyes while blinking, he is looking at my eyes and he cannot see me, I was invisible to him, he was invisible to him. I freaked out; I inserted my hand into my purse to give him the money: "I don’t need anything, just take the money." He got the money and walked away quietly, I changed my spot.

My friend came just this minute, I got into the car faceless. Sat back thinking about this kid whose face was tougher than dad's.

Many are poor and many people's lives are abused and many are many sad horrible things, each child beggar has a horrible story, but some remain children while begging, they lie and cry and act but you can still feel their sad childhood. This kid wasn’t a child, his very marginalization dehumanized him and his dehumanization marginalized me, he cannot notice life, he is dead. I was dead that minute. His problem is my problem. I am not being selfless, I am being very selfish.

Many things make children what they are, it's not their innocence, but their curiosity and their attentiveness to details, they observe things we take for granted. That fundamental characteristic was not there in this kid, and that's what made me truly scared.

Too much attention makes you invisible sometimes.

Here I have to say that during my stay in Beirut, I ran into one child beggar, I talked to him and introduced myself as a Syrian, "I am Syrian too! I am Kurdish, and you're invited to visit us anytime", he said.

Why most beggars in Syria are children? And why is it normalized?
I was thinking after that bloggers meetup to have a certain theme each monthly blogger meetup, that every meeting there is a "Syrian Bloggers' Story of the Month" and I am thinking that this month's story would be on children beggars, each blogger would sit down in the café interviewing the child and reflect his/her situation on her/his blog, it's not that we're helping them or reflecting their truths, but I guess it's a good start to try to understand? and perhaps one day we'll try to help other people's children. That's what it means to be part of any country and any nation, what it means to call yourself "Syrian", this very suffix, n, simply means you care enough to make Syria better.

Free Fouad

2008-01-06T08:46:00.000+02:00

Day of Blog Silence for Fouad

Syrian Bloggers Meetup: A Tribute to Occupied Golan Heights

2007-12-30T00:20:00.000+02:00

I woke up at 7: AM, I had a lot of things needed to be done: go to the coiffure, check my email, make 16 copies of JAP program on CDs, get early to Nofara and hang on the sign. I did none of the above except one: I did hang the sign:

So we finally meet, 10 bloggers out of 15 showed up in the meeting and Mwaffaq came from Jordan to join us. We were sitting next to each other, templates are substituted with faces, laughters are there to evaporate virtual impressions, discussions instead of comments. We were the same but we were moving. This was my first meeting with them, those whom i felt for different kinds of feelings, but I did choose to read them.

We got along just fine, I mean it's weird that it went fine, we weren’t shy or anything, we talked non-stop, we laughed (I mean duh, Ihsan was there) and we talked about occupied Golan, present-day society and masculine society among many others topics.

I have to say that I was a bit worried about meeting Ihsan, he and I always disagree and we exchanged some unkind messages and comments, he started it. So I was ready for him; I've put a fake warm smile on my face and went to this Couchsurfing meeting in which both of us were members of. I was amazed how much me and Ihsan think alike (now he'll disagree), I never thought me and him could actually agree on anything, I wish he could be more active.

Omar is adorable, I loved his character, and I am waiting to meet him again and have a long discussion with him, I love his analytical arguments. He was quiet at the meeting, I think he's shy, ladies sure like shy guys, (hello wife, I am just saying…) I wish he could join us back.

I met Ammar when Yazan was here, we were actually all very quiet and we did not talk much at that meeting, except Zena. But at this meeting I got to know him a bit more, he's got some cute sense of humor. I wish he could join us back.

Shady has nothing to do with the impression I took on him, first, he has to change that profile picture, and the one on Facebook too please, cause he looks way much better than that, and he has a sexy voice (I cant believe what this post is turning into), and he is opinionated, we need to talk more about his theory on a masculine society, from how I got it, I didn’t like it very much. I wish he could be more active.

Because of him, I did not have to be the ONLY bloggeress among 10 bloggers, he called the bloggeress Rima and she was kind enough to join us right away. Right now I am in a hating-period towards the three bloggeresses who said they're coming but they didn’t. Ladies, how could you?

I love Rima's blog, It's a rare thing to find a woman who's active and with a cause due to many reasons. She was the one who introduced me to Nesa' Sy (Syrian Women) site, I think she and I share the same interests in regards to women issues in Syria and we will be meeting the girls to discuss some ideas. I wish she could be more active.

Mwaffaq was kind enough to come all the way from Jordan to join us, he shared with us some interesting stories on the Jordanian bloggers, 60 of them meet up monthly? I mean, I am jealous and all, but if 60 Syrians are to meet in a café, we will be eating 7alaweh somewhere else. I wish he could be less active :P

I have seen Zaid's blog link on other blogs, but I haven’t read it, so I cannot say that I have a met blogger, but that I have met Zaid. I wish he could join us back.

I have met the rest of the bloggers before; me and Free Man are working together on the activity against Syrian internet censorship, his blog is a must. Amre and I took lessons on GRE and he's a dear friend, and I have met Yaser before too.

We've discussed in the meeting an idea of an annual contest: "Best Syrian Blogger" that should encourage inactive bloggers to be active.

I have met most of the ones I wanted to meet, I still got a few ahead, and I can't wait.

كل سنة والولاد, كلّ الولاد سالمين

2007-12-24T14:55:00.000+02:00

مو بس ولادنا

تحية إلى عاملي نظافة سوريا: من غيركن كانت البلد ما بتنداس

A Moment of Silence for the Shuhada' of Iraq

2007-12-18T18:28:00.000+02:00

Taken from Eyad Hussami

You are invited to attend A Moment of Silence for the Shuhada' of Iraq. The performance begins at sunrise and concludes at sunset on the winter solstice, December 22, 2007, in Serjilla, a Dead City in Northern Syria. Tickets are free of charge, and reservations are not required.

a moment of silence

We take a moment of silence in homage to the deceased. It is a formal, public ritual that we perform for the dead and for ourselves. Traditionally, a "moment" contains sixty seconds, and "the deceased" refers to one person or to a group of people.

The subjects of this moment of silence are those who have lost their lives in Iraq due to the 2003 American invasion and subsequent civil war. The number of deaths to date ranges from under 100,000 to over 1.2 million.

In the wake of this ongoing indeterminate human loss, a moment of silence, whose very meaning rests on a quantifiable relationship between time and death, feels absurd.

And yet the ritual of silence is necessary.

This piece is a performance of silence whose shape and depth consider the indefinite magnitude of the tragedy. It is a gesture in homage to the shuhada' of Iraq.

shuhada'

Shuhada' is the transliteration of an Arabic word that literally means "witnesses." The word is also used to mean "martyrs," "those killed in battle with infidels," and "those killed in action." In the contemporary Arabic context, the term is used more broadly in reference to those whose lives were taken by acts of war whether or not they were active or passive participants in the event.

The term is often translated into English as "martyrs."

However, this translation is problematic. A martyr dies or is killed because of his or her faith, religion, or belief, and the idea of the "martyr" contains a causality between religion and death. The translation reduces the meaning of shuhada' to a religious context whereas I am interested in its contemporary, secular meaning, especially in reference to the passive participants of war.

Because the English language lacks such specificity, I opted to transliterate the word.

serjilla

Deserted some 1500 years ago, Serjilla is one of roughly 700 desolate Byzantine towns in Northern Syria collectively known as the Dead Cities. The circumstances, causes, and nature of the mass abandonment of this once flourishing region remain unknown.

Find out the directions here, and contact the performer here.

Be there!

Supporting Waseem Salahi Versus Hart Administration

2007-12-15T09:42:00.000+02:00

Update: My blog was mentioned by someone who started a topic on the Signal forum under:

Waseem Salahi Article used for Middle East Propaganda - See

I here will reply to the notes he mentioned about me leaving space to Yaman and Waseem to reply in their own words to his attacks even though I think they're not even challenging.

The fellow posted this line:

"a blogger has used Waseem's story to editorialize against "censorship" in the United States."

Well you can't actually call two-paragraphs introduction as editorializing, can you? I am merely a supporter, so i am not sure how "propagandist" a supporter can be! I mean you haven't even checked my "propagandist" blog: I, and very recently, have posted several posts on censorship in my country Syria; all you have to do is scroll down and check my recent posts: I have reported, posted and was interviewed about censorship in my country and now I am organizing with fellow bloggers and friends an event against internet censorship. So i dont "use" people's articles to blog on censorship, i "blog" on censorship.

As long as freedom of speech is abused, I am going to be blogging about it, regardless where this abuse is located.

And let's say I am "editorializing against censorship in the United States" in my introductory paragraphs, you mean I shouldn’t? for I am from the middle east? Why my ethnic origin is of interest to you? Would my two paragraphs be read differently by you if I am an American? that I wouldnt be a "propagandist"?

I think your problem with me and with the Salahis is that you don’t deal with "texts" as much as you deal with the "authors" of these texts labeling them according to their ethnical background. Hence I don’t think you are capable of reading "any" text whatsoever since they don’t exist to you in the first place.

I do not know what to say to a guy who thinks the mere act of "republishing" a post as a propaganda!? but i guess to a racist like you, "any" thing happens in the middle east and by middle easterns has to be propagandist.

And about this question of yours:

"I ask you Mr Waseem Salahi, "What is the connection between your brother, and this blogger? "

I am afraid your logic is amazingly ridiculous, are you saying, that the mere support of people could be motivated by a "connection"?
Does this mean, that my support of the jailed Egyptian blogger, Kareem Suleiman, is motivated by a "connection" with him? or that my support of the Syrian blogger Rukana Hammour against the Syrian intelligence is motivated by a "connection" with her?

I think you are simply a causeless person whose attacks and support are merely motivated by personal racist triggers.

I couldn’t agree more with what Yaman and Waseem had to say to this guy:

Yaman's comment:

While I appreciate your interest in this, if it can be given that name, I have to say some of the allegations and "concerns" you've raised are absurd. Your accusations that Waseem's article is "Middle East Propaganda" is pathetic and desperate, considering that you only used it in your subject line to get attention and then did not even follow up on the claim. So what if people around the world are reading this story? Don't you see international stories when you watch Fox News? To make things clear, I did not post about this anywhere but my blog, which is published under the CreativeCommons license, so folks are allowed to reproduce my posts wherever they like.

That tidbit aside, yes, I stand by my statement that a request for substantial, content-based changes amounts to censorship. Imagine if the Mayor of Santa Clarita requested to read all stories concerning the city government before they were published, and then requested that small "changes" be made to improve his image. Of course, those in office would try to "change" anything that made them look bad. But what that kind of change actually entails is replacing critical content with neutral or positive content. It is absolutely a form of censorship, especially when the censors are interested parties who, given their reaction to this ordeal, are rather embarrassed by the fact that they got attention beyond Hart campus, and probably never would have tried to do this had they known that those were the consequences of their actions.

As for the potential of causing conflict on campus--now that the article has been distributed around campus, and we can look at it retrospectively, was their a riot? Was there violence? Did Hart High School go down in flames with the distribution of the article? Did Santa Clarita go down in flames when The Signal printed the editorial? No--people are not as stupid as you'd like to think. The claim that someone's idea is too "dangerous" to be discussed freely has always been the refuge of dictators from Syria to Jordan to Libya to Algeria to Saudi Arabia etc who have nothing but power to back themselves up.

Maybe you disagree with Waseem's article or tone, and that's why you're angry that The Signal published it. But if that's the case, you would look a lot more reasonable if you actually responded to the merits of his article, to the substance of his claims, rather than cast all these vague accusations that he's a "Middle East" propagandist or that he "craves and desires the publicity." I suppose the fact that you said absolutely nothing at all about his article reflects poorly on you and it definitely brings the intentions of your post into question--are you friends with one of the Hart administrators?

Waseem's comment:

Well, let's first start off by saying I'm a little creeped out by the amount of time and effort you put in to make a loose connection between my editorial and Middle Eastern propaganda.

Before you ask me any questions, please, in quotations, point out the specific parts of my editorial or my issue of the Smoked Signal that somehow implicates that I am publishing a piece of Middle Eastern propaganda? See, that's where the problem starts. You can't.

Simply because my article was supported in blogs doesn't mean I have any association with them. It's like claiming that The Signal is promoting Middle Eastern propaganda because their publication of my article was republished in Middle Eastern blogs. Pretty ignorant, eh?

If, however, you are implicating that somehow, by the mere fact of me being Middle Eastern that my words are therefore propaganda, then I would appreciate an apology from your blatantly racist and unnecessary remarks. Maybe you should reread my editorial, and then you'll get an idea that you're one of the catalysts that causes the division to occur in society.

Does that make you feel good about yourself, Mr. Petz? Do you get a feeling of accomplishment there?

----------------------------

I have read Waseem's piece and I am really astonished by the high school administration's decision to censor his article. Instead of supporting a student, who raises questions and challenges policies I think reconsidering them, as Yaman said, can only be in favor for the welfare of the campus community and to Santa Clarita Valley's community as well, Salahi was deprived to have his say! I cannot see how an educational institution i.e. a school, that is all about teaching students in classrooms to question and challenge their teachers, to argue with and against a certain topic in their papers, and to come up with problematic counter arguments, is itself censoring a "divisive" argument!

One thing that caught my eye in Waseem's piece is his argument on social, economical and political exclusion. Here in this region, Syria and Lebanon, people "assume" that the US is a cosmopolitan society, a multicultural community, I remember I was arguing against that in Balamand based on how America's media agencies and industries represent themselves; they don’t mention Mexicans unless if they're poor, don’t mention Blacks unless they're "violent", don't mention Asians unless they're mafias, and needless to say, they don’t show Arabs unless they're "terrorists". The American reporter, actress and journalist, is exclusively White, and when she/he isn’t white, she is a hyphenated White as in a White-Black. Americanism becomes "White". Indeed there are multi communities and multi cultures in the United States, but they are segregated and not integrated. I might be wrong, but I find Waseem's piece highlighting one of the reasons why America is a segregated society.

Below I republish Waseem's brother, Yaman Salahi's detailed post on Waseem's case as a support to Waseem Salahi versus Hart High School Administration.

Taken from Yaman Salahi

Censorship and Exclusion at Hart High School: Community divisions in Santa Clarita

My younger brother Waseem Salahi is a Co-Editor-in-Chief of his high school’s newspaper, “The Smoke Signal.” As is standard with almost all high school newspapers, the administration “reviews” the paper before it goes to press every month. This month, the administration called Waseem into the office 1-2 hours before deadline, where he was met by the principal and three vice principals. The administration made it clear to him that the article needed to be “changed,” ostensibly to avoid creating “division” on campus. However, while Waseem was talking to administrators, the journalism adviser told students to replace the article with an advertisement, and the publication was sent to press while Waseem was still arguing with the administration.

The administration denies that this was an act of censorship, and instead claims that it merely wanted “changes” to be made to the article–however, according to my brother, the requests for changes were not merely regarding wording, but had to do with content and substance. Before I discuss the actual article, which expresses criticisms of the administration and the school’s Associated Students Body, I think it’s important to say this clearly: even a request for “changes” amounts to censorship. Even worse, the school administration may have broken the law in trying to enforce those requests.

In California, high school administrators do not have the right of prior restraint (that is, the right to prevent speech before it actually happens) for any student publications, even ones that are officially recognized and funded by the school in question. As far back as 1977, California has protected students’ rights in this respect in Section 49807 of the CA Education Code, which states:

“There shall be no prior restraint of material prepared for official school publications except insofar as it violates this section.”

Violations are enumerated in the following way:

…expression shall be prohibited which is obscene, libelous, or slanderous. Also prohibited shall be material which so incites students as to create a clear and present danger of the commission of unlawful acts on school premises or the violation of lawful school regulations, or the substantial disruption of the orderly operation of the school.

To put it in other words, high school administrators in California only have the right to block or modify student publications if they are either:

(1) obscene
(2) untrue (libelous or slanderous)
or
(3) create a “clear and present danger” on campus

Merely creating controversy does not fall into any of these categories. According to my understanding, the concern that administrators voiced throughout this entire ordeal was that the article in question would be “divisive.” They did not say it would start riots, they did not say it was factually incorrect, and they did not claim it was obscene. They said, in essence, that it was too controversial to print–but it is more likely that it was stopped because it was critical of the high school administration as well as the ASB. Furthermore, according to this advisory by the California Department of Education in 1988, before censoring material prior to publication, school officials

…must notify the student and give specific reasons why the submitted material may not be published. Absent extraordinary circumstances, such notice should be given in sufficient time to allow the student to either modify the material (particularly where the problem is journalistic) or to seek review of the school official’s determination at the school district level.

Two hours before the deadline does not seem like a reasonable amount of time to allow anybody either to significantly modify an article or to challenge the administration’s decision at a higher level.

At this point, I couldn’t be more proud of Waseem, who responded to this brazen act of interference by the administration in the smartest way possible: by contacting bigger press and also self-publishing and distributing the article on campus himself. One Santa Clarita community paper, The Signal, printed a front page story about this issue, as well as the full text of Waseem’s censored editorial in solidarity.

This morning, once the coverage in The Signal was out, Waseem was called into the office for a meeting with the school’s administrators, to which my mother was asked to come. According to my brother, the administrators expressed their disappointment that he had reacted in this way, and that given this reaction, they were “re-considering” whether he was responsible enough to continue in his position as Editor-in-Chief of the school’s paper. They also requested that he not distribute the copies of the article which he had printed himself, which are imaged to the side and which can be downloaded by clicking here. Of course, the administration here is mainly annoyed that it has been embarrassed because–the horror–somebody actually talked about the censorship itself. That’s the funny thing about censorship, it seems: it only works if nobody knows about it. Not only does the administration want to censor the original article, but it wants to censor anything that might be said about that initial act of censorship. Looks like a slippery slope to me.

Nevertheless, Waseem has been met with strong support from students on campus, as well as teachers, counselors, and campus supervisors. Whether the administration will threaten his position as Editor-in-Chief remains to be seen, but removing him either because of the original article, or because of the fact that he distributed it independently, is almost certainly against California state law. High school students in California have the right to distribute any publication or printed material on campus that they desire, even without the school’s endorsement or permission, as long as it does not violate any of the conditions above.

Of course, this story would not have been an issue if it weren’t for the subject-matter of Waseem’s article. He touched on a few things which really should not be news to anyone; all it takes is a stroll around campus to see the segregation on Hart’s campus. Everybody is well aware of it. Waseem’s article made the simple point that the campus community was not as unified or inclusive as the administration and the ASB like to think because:

(1) The high costs of participation in most school activities by default excludes those whose families are either unwilling or unable to pay (Waseem cites the number $2,910 as the estimated cost of participation in all senior activities–to put this number into perspective, the poverty threshold for a family of four in 2006 was found to be $20,444. That is almost 15% of a full year of income for a family living at the poverty line, or the cost of living for 2 months)
(2) That a sense of “belonging” and involvement of different communities on campus could be measured simply by looking at the ASB, which is incredibly unrepresentative of the student body as a whole (Even if there are no rules which lead to this lack of representation, there must be something else which makes certain communities feel that their participation in this institution is unwanted or unappreciated)
(3) That division exists not only racially, but academically as students are split between the “intellectual elite” and “midkids,” and linguistically between English and non-English speaking classrooms

This situation is not unique to Hart High School, but is actually a fairly common phenomenon for any school which serves a community so economically and ethnically diverse. The more serious thing to consider here is not the division on Hart’s campus, which is obvious enough at face value; but, rather, to consider the idea that perhaps the problems on Hart’s campus are emblematic of a wider problem in the Santa Clarita Valley. Things certainly are not dandy and, even if they are quiet at the present, they have not always been, and will not always be. Eventually, these divisions will surface again, and next time they may not be in the form of a high school editorial. Instead of tucking the serious issues away, as Hart’s administration has tried to do, perhaps it is time not only for a campus dialog but a community dialog about the real and perceived disenfranchisement and exclusion of Santa Clarita’s minority and low-income communities.

There are two ways for the administration to save face at this point. One is to pay serious attention to the issues raised in Waseem’s article and to figure out a way of involving students, faculty, and other community members in a community dialogue on how the issues can be addressed. The second is for it to reflect a bit on the way it deals with students and student activities, including student publications. There is clearly something wrong with an administration that tries to ignore a problem rather than confront it. Worse, this is not the only story of censorship I’ve heard regarding the school paper–I remember at least one incident during my freshman year when, after the paper had already been printed, students were forced to tear a specific article out of every printed copy because it was critical of the administration’s use of funds to renovate the school quad. I also received the following message today from one former Editor-in-Chief of the same school paper:

As a former EIC of “The Smoke Signal” I sympathize with Waseem’s plight. The administration has always actively worked to stifle the newspaper. We had several uphill battles against Fuller that always resulted in censorship. I hoped those days would end with Fuller gone but guess not.

There are probably countless other experiences to report. If this is how those who are most involved in the student body feel when they reflect about their experience in interacting with school administrators at Hart, then something is wrong. It is up to students and faculty at Hart, now, to make sure that they pressure the administration to modify its behavior and attitude towards the student body. After all, students, it’s your school. Not the administration’s.

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer and the legal information above should not be taken as legal advice.

Update: It looks like new media is in on the revolution as well. SCVTalk.com has a summary of the ordeal, and this anonymous blogger has written about it as well.

Yaman added a comment beneath his blog post:

I should probably add that I never used my time at Hart to do something cool like this. The brief couple of months that I joined journalism, I think I wrote an article about ketchup. I’m not joking. The closest I ever got was when an administrator called me into the office because some people were offended that a public announcement for an Amnesty International meeting referred to Guantanamo Bay prison as “unconstitutional.”

Interview on Syrian Internet Censorship

2007-12-01T23:04:00.001+02:00

Below is the full text interview conducted with me by Najad Abdullahi, I believe it reflects on Syrian censorship better than his report:

Najad: It's very hard finding official counts on just how many sites are blocked in Syria, but from what I have found out, the most popular means of expressing one's opinion is Blogger and Facebook (to some degree)
What I mean from opinion, can either be on political or social issues.
1. Can you direct me to perhaps a site or statistic that show how many websites are blocked in Syria.

Me: Actually Blogger compared to Maktub isn’t popular at all; there are 30 or 40 Syrian bloggers on Blogger whom are mostly inactive because of the blockage, hence most of the active bloggers on the site are Syrian expats. The popular blog hosting website among the Syrian bloggers and I think among Arab bloggers in general would be Maktub. There are almost 2484 Syrian blogs on Maktub only. Part of Maktub's popularity is that it's in Arabic and second it is unblocked.

It is worth noting that the reason for blocking Blogger is not because it promotes political or social views, it depends really "who" is promoting these thoughts. For example, a human rights activist Rukana Hammour who blogs on Maktub has written detailed posts on how the security forces in Syria detained her and harassed her yet Maktub is not blocked, whereas Blogger is blocked and for a very serious reason; a former member of National Salvation party which is considered a traitor party in Syria used to blog on Blogger.

You can find an updated list on how many websites are blocked in Syria on this online petition against Syrian censorship:

http://abssyria.freewebpage.org/

Najad: Also, from what I've read, there is a new establishment, named the Ministry of Telecommunications and Technology.
I hear the opening of this ministry came as a surprise to many people in the media industry there, is that true??
The Ministry of Information is has been around as a government institution for quite some time,

Me: I am not sure if the new "establishment" of the ministry itself is what caused a huge problem in the media industry but rather the new "policy" it has been practicing even since it's been created. Websites' owners are asked to be spies on their own readers when asking them to write their full names and submitting their emails when commenting. Some websites publish articles written by anonymous readers of their websites and according to the Ministry of Telecommunications and Technology's circular on the 7th of July 2007, this is no longer acceptable; websites owners should demand the articles' authors to write their full names clearly or the sites will be temporally closed for violiting the circular and permanently closed if they continue to violate it. So you can imagine the shock of this policy.

Najad: Also, I have read that the reason many websites are being blocked is that the ministry demands that those who publish their comments, put down their real names.
Now, what do you think of this?
Is this a reasonable request, or do you, as a blogger yourself, see that as dangerous?

Me: I believe that behind every act of censorship and human rights abuse lies a bigger fear and minor trigger to justify that fear. If you checked the blocked sites you would notice that most of these sites are opposition sites, human rights sites and Kurdish sites. The reason of their blockage is their very discontenting content. Minor issues like disfavored comments by readers are only the excuse for censoring these sites altogether.

The ministry's circular is not only unreasonable and reflects a paranoid military mentality but also it is unconstitutional: according to the Syrian constitution the item 32 clearly defends the "the confidentiality of postal correspondence and telecommunications," So that means I have the right to appear anonymously.

This circular cannot affect me, I blog under a pseudonym and I publish comments on blogs using a hidden e-mail and the same pseudonym, I don’t think the circular itself is dangerous as the mentality behind it. The Syrian authorities should stop treating the Syrian people as inferior citizens who don't have the advantage of "choosing" to view a site or to seek information since we are already given the list of "friendly" sites and a "favored" information. What bothers me is that we are not treated as peers with the government, as if we cannot rightly judge what's good and what's bad for us, who is an "enemy" and who is a "friend". It is not only about censoring thoughts and freedom of speech but we people, Syrian people, are considered by our government as inferior minds who cannot build a reasonable judgment if given freedom. We demand to be partners to build this nation together; we cannot defend Syria from enemies if we are considered incompetents to defend the nation.

Najad: This request is virtually impossible to enforce, though, because from what I've noticed, there are hundreds of thousands of people in Syria who use pseudonyms.

Me:The Ministry of Telecommunications and Technology's demand to publish real name on websites is ridiculous. One can still write any name and submit an invalid e-mail and post the comment. I mean technically, this demand reflects how ignorant the censors are; they have no idea how publishing a comment works! So yes you're right, people continue to write anonymously. But, what has changed is that the circular has authorized detaining and arresting online commenters if their comments are disfavored by the government. And indeed, people are now getting arrested and detained when writing their full names online expressing critical views of Syrian governments' internal policy. The late human rights watch report (http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/10/08/syria17024.htm) about human rights condition in Syria reveals that two persons, Karim ‘Arbaji (29) and Tarek Biasi (22) whom were recently arrested in June 2007 by Syrian Military Intelligence, are both being held in incommunicado detention for expressing critical views of the Syrian government. Rukana Hammour too, a Syrian blogger, was threatened by the Syrian Military Intelligence to withdraw her nomination to the Syrian Parliament election last year for her posts constantly reveals the corruption of the Syrian judicial system.

Najad: What I don't understand, is that the government claims that this demands of the identiy of online users, will protect 'against spreading lies about the country and government'.
What has a person's name got to do about lies?
Isn't what the person wrote that would count the most?
And also, what the person wrote, on an online medium should not be the responsibility of the government to monitor, because after all, it is an opinion coming from a PERSON - not a media establishment, or an institution, that has to be careful about comments, and allegations.
Can I get your thoughts on this?

Me: Precisely, that's why I think the intention: protecting the nation "against spreading lies about the country and government" is not sincere, their intention is clear; we want the names of those who speak against us, period, and we want the websites' owners to be our intelligence collectors.

Najad: I want to ask you what you think the difference is between Censorship in Egypt, and censorship in Syria?
Media in Egypt has been a focus for quite some time, do you think more attention should be bought to Syria?

Me: Unfortunately I don’t know much about censorship in Egypt, I know bloggers are constantly arrested for expressing views against religion and against the government, some have been recently released but Kareem Suleiman is still in jail. The Egyptian government, which is supported by the so-called democratic US, claims its support to democracy and freedom of speech yet is using the same censorship policy of the so called "axis of evil" Syria, I don’t see much difference here; the three administrations are tyrannical regimes.

I am not sure too how the media in Egypt is at focus, but we in Syria certainly need a lot of that, actually we need to change our definition of "media" structurally. Syrian formal media agencies do not reflect exactly what's going on in Syria, that's why many Syrians don’t check Syrian formal news agencies but Lebanese channels/newspapers and independent Syrian news websites. I think once our media trust the mind of the Syrian citizens and the right to for her/him to know what's going on in Syria, we would be solving a structural flaw in our understanding of the media itself.

Najad: I've spoken to people in Damascus explaining to me why the blockage were needed. They tell me that they censoring opinions/comments are related to security issues, namely aimed at those that choose to insult the Syrian government, and its foreing/domestic polciies.
Do you think this is a reasonable justification?

Me: Let us first agree on something, there is a difference between "deleting" a comment, and "censoring" it. There are two kinds of comments, spam comments; swearing words, hating words and insulting terms which I think are irrelevant to the article, post or news published hence deleting it is most likely justified, and the second kind of comments is opinion comments that actually reflect the reader response of the text and provide arguments and perspectives. It is irrelevant here if the comment agrees or not with the author of the text, I think as long as it provides a say it is an opinion and censoring it is never justified.

When we use the word "censorship" in our campaign against censorship we mean that our thoughts, opinions and freedom of speech are censored! How can censoring an opinion be justified? This argument is simply insulting our intelligence when accusing us of insulting rather than developing arguments critiquing domestic policies. Criticism is not a crime, criticism is necessary for the national process of progress, criticism is not an attack and certainly not an insult, it rather challenges the other point of view hoping that through a dialogue we get somewhere better. We are nobody's enemy; we share the same goal which is the welfare of Syrian people and Syria. We know that one of us can do without the other.

Many thanks to Yaman Salahi for editing this post.

Plagiarism All Over

2007-12-01T16:40:00.001+02:00

Update: I emailed the author of the article and he told me that Walid Saffour, the director of the Syrian Human Rights Committee, had told him by phone the words were taken from by post, and the author believes it is not plagiarism if Saffour hold "similar" views and it is not his problem. Well Saffour did not even bother to rephrase my words, he copied them exactly, so i wonder how "similar" an "exact copy" could be.

I mean wow I am really honored that the human rights committee had nothing to say but the exact damn words of mine on an interview, and I am really fine with the response of Najad, cause let's be "practical" about it: since when "all rights are reserved" in the Arab World?

After the post I wrote couple weeks ago on Facebook, a lot of desperate so called journalists/reporters and bloggers who have no idea what Facebook in Syria is and have no idea what censorship in Syria is, actually had the nerve to steal my thoughts and my argument even though it isn’t that much really except that it provided background, it opposes the Syrian government, and that it is written in English.

So my post was not just "there" to be a source on the censorship case of Facebook, but also a case to use it politically against the government, a matter I am finding hard to deal with lately: how I can oppose injustice without being used by pathetic people out there who just need a "word from the street" to use against "Syria"? I am really having a trouble dealing with that and frankly that's one reason I haven’t been blogging about censorship lately. I want to be clear for these readers who don’t know my political stand: whereas I "oppose" Syria's internal policy and I "question" the regime's motives to support Hezbolla and Hamas, I SUPPORT Hezbolla and Hamas' right to resist occupation! So don’t count on me so much on backing up your lousy game against the "axis of evil" Syria.

So let's look at some of those journalists:

First we have that Joshua, oh boy he's something, I mean I don’t take him seriously whatever he writes but I cannot really comprehend that fact that he's trying to write, oh no excuse me, to "analyze" Syria's international and domestic affairs when he cannot write a bloody post on Facebook!

After introducing us in couple lines to his topic of discussion on the 22nd. of the current month, this is his first paragraph:

"Facebook has become a virtual civil-society in Syria. Many civic groups sprung up over-night and became popular with thousands. Groups about preserving the old city, getting back the Golan Heights, supporting civil marriage, women's' groups, art associations, and you-name-it."

Does it ring a bell? on the 19th. my approach onto reading censoring Facebook was "merely" about the rising of civil society and activists and I have mentioned these exact group along with the two causes Free Golan and Saving Old Damascus:

FREE ANWAR BUNNI

Freedom for Michel Kilo

Syrian Gays Rights

لا .. لحجب مواقع الانترنت في سوريا

For Civil Marriage in Syria

Of course plagiarizers do not copy rightly cause they're not the owners of the "idea" but simply its imitators: he mixed up groups for causes and he wrongly reported that these groups are popular with thousands.

He continues with his two-paragraphs' report:

"They are only limited by the imaginations of hundreds of thousands of Syrians who have been kept from forming such groups in non-virtual life."

Wait, doesn’t this look like this:

"Those who cannot be activists in a "real" Syria can be one in a virtual Syria."

Or maybe this is all a coincident.

Our next guy is actually a guy who has interviewed me but his unprofessionality caused to put my words under another person:

"There are no independent institutions in Syria – whether social, cultural or political," says Saffour.
"Syrians are now trying to represent themselves - and they were doing that through Facebook. Those who cannot be activists in the 'real' Syria, can be one in a virtual Syria."

This was actually taken from my post:

"There are no cultural institutions in Syria, no private independent NGOs, no civic institutions, who represent the populations except the government? Syrian Facebookers are trying now to represent themselves. Those who cannot be activists in a "real" Syria can be one in a virtual Syria."

I don’t understand this, these very people who supposed to represent the "voiceless" people who are already misrepresented by their local media and trying to reach out a "professional" and an independent media are either plagiarizers or lazy journalists? I love Al Jazeera and it will take a lot more that a lazy journalist to make me dislike her, but this is not how I like her to be.

Damn it, it was just a post!

Syrians Against Censored Syria

2007-11-19T14:22:00.000+02:00

Facebook is blocked in Syria, would I sound naïve if I said I didn’t see it coming? Why should I? How are the Syrians facebooking? Launching opposition campaigns? What's Facebook in Syria anyway? Active civil society? Syrian groups calling to overthrow the Syria regime? What's so dangerous about Syrian facebookers that they shouldn't be using it anymore? Or perhaps because the site is American so it should be blocked? Or maybe the Syrian officials have no idea what's Facebook except that it's an American and it's getting popular in Syria? All the above?

My theory? I think the Syrian officials don’t have a thorough idea how Syrians are facebooking, I think they did not block Facebook–the-site, but the unfamiliar reaction to this site, the unknown consequences of this reaction that might be very much, uncontrolled!

Even though I am not a big fan of this website but I along with some users learned how to use it to promote my projects. More than once I tried permanently to deactivate my account, but I always come back and always for a new different reason.

Ok so Ammar Abd El Hamid used to blog on Blogger, but he's not anymore god damn it! Youtube has opposition videos downloaded, opposition sites are opposition "no good" sites, Israel is the "enemy", but what's really the deal with Facebook? And how come Myspace, Hi5, Hi-Syria, and I don’t know what, aren’t blocked in Syria? Why just Facebook?

United Nations estimated the population in Syria year 2003 at 17,800,000. How many of those do we have on Facebook? It says that there are only 28,079 facebookers that affiliated to the "Syria" regional network. Of course there are many Syrian Facebookers who don’t affiliate with the Syrian regional network simply because they don’t live in Syria. So generally speaking those who affiliate to the Syrian network live in Syria at the moment. So out of millions we have only 28,079 Syrian Facebookers.

Compared to Syria, Lebanon which was estimated in 2003 by the United Nations at 3,653,000 has 150,966 facebooker users affiliated to its regional network.

Looks like Facebook isn’t popular in Syria as Hi5 or Hi-Syria , yet it is the first and only social website that was blocked in Syria. Again, why?

Let's take a look at the popular groups in Syria at its second day of the blockage:

أغلظ 100 شخصية في سوريا

الإعلان السوري .....إلى متى هذا الإنحطاط ؟؟؟

لمسة عشق على ارض دمشق

بحبك يا شام

أصابيع رجلين البنات عشقها الشباب _ Fingers feet

Anti-Shawi ~...Die Shawi Die!!!...~

Syrian Single Girls

لا لسجن سلطان الطرب

The Great Facebook Race – Syria

احلى النكت الحمصية

Very…dangerous I'd say! None of these groups are political or even close to demanding political or social change in Syria. So it must be not the majority's interests that concerns the Syrian officials but rather the minority's interests and activism in the site:

FREE ANWAR BUNNI

Freedom for Michel Kilo

Syrian Gays Rights

لا .. لحجب مواقع الانترنت في سوريا

For Civil Marriage in Syria

Facebook's events and groups are not just what's processing the Syrian people's awareness, but also its causes. For the past 40 years the Syrian officials are the only ones who can speak of Golan Heights, I once wanted to write my seminar and I asked for a map of Golan Heights but they told me I cannot for "security reasons". Ayman Haykal, a Syrian citizen and the father of the Syrian bloggers made an attempt to transfer the strictly formal representation of Golan Heights to people when he created the cause Free Golan. It's the people who make causes happen, not officials, and certainly not elected ones. Yaser Arafat died, but he wasn’t the cause, Palestine, Palestinians are, the Palestinian cause will always live as long as there are living Palestinians.

Another cause on Facebook is Saving Old Damascus, that is from Syrian Regime itself.

It is worth to note that a couple days ago Syrian Facebookers have launched a campaign to save a girl from a potential "honour" crime. Dania Sharif wrote the petition and addressed it to Syrian authorities to act and stop honour crimes in Syria. Not sure if this was the reason or not, but it could be.

These groups are not popular, not because their cases are not supported but their unpopularity stems from fear. Nevertheless, these political and unorthodox groups are not the reason of the blockage of the site, I think.

Who lives in Syria knows that it's the country of "nothing's going on" except to hang out in old Damascus' cafes, but recently there has been a cultural awakening; people are starting to organize their interests in concerts, galleries, conferences, plays, screenings…etc. and Facebook is facilitating the process which is very hard to do in an inactive militarily controlled society. There are no cultural institutions in Syria, no private independent NGOs, no civic institutions, who represent the populations except the government? Syrian Facebookers are trying now to represent themselves. Those who cannot be activists in a "real" Syria can be one in a virtual Syria. Facebook is becoming a tool to bring together these very individuals to promote their socially, religiously and politically prohibited thoughts. We are not talking about blocking of a social networking tool, we are talking about blocking an awareness networking tool, a chance to express, to finally speak and do something about it.

It's high time to demand our right to seek ALL and ANY information regardless of its source, we have the mind to decide for ourselves what we should/should not read or believe.

We have the right to organize ourselves and activate our numb citizenship. We want to be socially and politically active. We want to campaign for human rights, we want to be civilians instead of abstract "Syrians," instead of mere Muslims and Christians.

We want to engage in building our nation.

We don’t want to be permitted to act; we want to be voluntarily and spontaneously acting.

We want to be doers and actors.

We want Syria uncensored!

Sabbah: Desperate to Censorship Facebook!

2007-11-14T20:49:00.000+02:00

Taken From Sabbah

“You know you are doing well when Zionists and their alike are desperately trying to silence you.”

This is exactly what is happening to me on Facebook for two consecutive days now.

As you know, beside Sabbah’s Blog, I also run the aggregator, Palestine Blogs - The Gazette.

Yesterday I received an email from Facebook Team complaining about Palestine Blogs application which I created there few days ago. Following is a copy of Facebook email to me, which is self explanatory:

From: Facebook [developers -help+mmymw2yr@facebookmail.com]
Date: Nov 13, 2007 12:19 PM
Subject: User TOS report against Palestine Blogs - The Gazette
To: haitham.sabbah@gmail.com

Hi,

A Facebook user reported that your application Palestine Blogs - The Gazette violates our Terms of Use. The user reporting it selected Attacks individual or group as the violation. This person also said:

“blatantly Anti-Semitic. Attacks Jews and Israelis as Nazis, war criminals, legitimate suicide bombing targets, etc.”

Please investigate this issue.

Thanks,
The Facebook Team

I replied back to Facebook Team explaining to them that the above is not true and gave them a brief description of the aggregator - Palestine Blogs, but the email bounced back because the sender email (Facebook’s) is configured to bounce emails sent to it. I looked around Facebook site to find a way to contact the ‘Team‘ but could not find a way to do that, so I gave up… At least I tried!

The story did not end there. Today I got a second email from Facebook again, and it was another complain, but this time regarding my blog application (Sabbah’s). The email below is self explanatory:

From: Facebook [developers -help+mmymw2yr@facebookmail.com]
Date: Nov 14, 2007 7:37 PM
Subject: User TOS report against Sabbah’s
To: haitham.sabbah@gmail.com

Hi,

A Facebook user reported that your application Sabbah’s violates our Terms of Use. The user reporting it selected Attacks individual or group as the violation. This person also said:

“Following my recent encounters with Sabbah on his blog, it is pure propaganda blog that silences everybody who disagree with the writer (I was silenced after posting very polite comments questioning a few posts). It is basically a one-man hosted hate group and i don’t think it has a place on platform such as Facebook. Thank you!”

Please investigate this issue.

Thanks,
The Facebook Team

Pathetic! They did not leave anything for chance and grouped all the sins in this world together. A “one-man hosted hate group, anti-Semitic, anti-Jews, anti-Israelis as Nazis, citing war criminals and legitimate suicide bombing targets.”

It looks like a systematic-desperate force trying to influence/scare Facebook to censorship what is published there. Of course this is not new around the web (check Steve’s post about the resent attempt to silence Google), and I’m sure it will never stop as long as we have Zionists spitting poison every way they go.

Anyway, if I disappear from Facebook, you know why!

To Syrian authorities: Stop a Potential Crime

2007-11-14T10:11:00.000+02:00

Created by Dania Shraif on Nov 13, 2007

Category: Justice

Region: Syria

Target: The Syrian government including Mr. president, Prime minister, the minister of justice.

Web site: Syrian Women

Description:

(R. M) Qab, 19, is too close to being killed by her brother, as he has publicly pledged to do in the name of “honor.” (R. M) is one of the two women whose stories we ran previously.

There’s been some developments in these cases over the past week. One of the young women finally married the man she loved and wanted to be with, and she was released from custody to go with him to an undisclosed location.

But the second woman is still detained, and now that her family has dropped the (fraudulent) theft charges they had brought against her, she is due to be released by law.

The problem is that even though her brother has publicly announced he will kill her to “reclaim the family’s honor,” the court plans to release her directly to her family. In other words, release her directly to the slaughter!

The acting judge, is in a difficult dilemma. On the one hand there’s the family with all its laden traditions alongside people in the local community pressuring him to release (R. M) to the family for them to carry out the slaughter that the brother is promising (the father does not condone it.) And on the other hand his own morality and sense of ethics as a judge disallow him to put in danger the life of a citizen. He knows very well that any guarantees her family give for her safety will be nothing beyond ink on paper. He knows well that she will be slaughtered. He has been indecisive on the matter.

Petition:
This petition will be sent to the Syrian government including Mr. president, Prime Minster, the minister of justice and all parts of the releasing decision to try to push them to take their responsibility in order to protect her life by sending her to a safe unknown place where she will be able to consume building her future and upcoming life instead of sending her to her slaughter family where she will be killed immediately.

We also call upon all individuals and organizations who work with human rights and the rights of women and a better future for humanity to get involved to protect (R. M).

Silence in this case is nothing less than condoning the slaughter of (R. M).

Sign the petition

The To Syrian authorities: Stop a Potential Crime petition to The Syrian government including Mr. president, Prime minister, the minister of justice was written by Dania Shraif and is hosted free of charge at GoPetition.

Text Message

2007-11-06T17:01:00.000+02:00

Just like in the movies, I woke up today expecting too much from people, expecting lots of kisses from mom and dad, but mama and baba didn't give a damn. They went to work as soon as they were done with their coffee. So I retreated to my laptop seeking love from my virtual friends whom gave me lots of it.

I dressed up, and went to see another Iranian film which happens to be deadly boring for it was Okayed by the Iranian government. Inside the cold hall, and while I was hoping for something to strike me in the movie, I received a text message from dad:

Hi razan be early tonight will celebrate ur birthday out happy birthday

I smiled, though it meant that there will be no hangover tomorrow morning, but I am glad my parents did give a damn after all, they usually celebrate indoors.

I was looking at my pictures when I was young, apparently I did not like cameras.

in the US

Latakya

in Damascus celebrating my 23 birhday, a hell of shyness.

but not always

KSA

damn it, i'm 27.

Blogger is Blocked in Syria

2007-11-01T23:19:00.000+02:00

One of the dear Syrian bloggers is currently visiting Syria, he is sharing his response of his visit by posting via his cell phone on his blog. Even though I don’t' share his reading on many issues like his reading of the economic changes or his reading of Syrian racism towards the Iraqi refugees as motivated by "ignorance", that's totally an interesting read, but he reported a piece of information that has been causing me pain ever since I got back to Syria and it troubles me to ignore the problem altogether when reporting Blogger is unblocked! Sorry dear Sasa, Blogger is very blocked.

Ayman, Amre, Abu Fares, Yaser, Sami and I have blogged about the blocking of Blogger in Syria, or else we would have been imagining ourselves going through these proxies in order to access our blogs and Syria Planet blogs for couple months for myself and years for the rest.

There are many servers in Syria, the official server, the governmental, which blocks not only Blogger, but also Youtube, Google Translator, Unblocker, Spam the Blog, Israeli sites and opposition sites.

I am not sure what server Sasa is using, he could be using one of the private servers whose policy isn't similar to that of the government's. Private servers no longer available for public because the lines were already limited and all sold out.

So who is "Syria" in "Blogger Blocked in Syria"? Is it the official server or the private server? The governor or the merchant? The one who can jail you if caught accessing opposition sites, or the one who doesn’t give damn whether it is a pornographic or an opposition site?

When we say that blogger is blocked in Syria we mean the Syrian officials consciously blocks sites that are critical of the Syrian government's internal policies. We mean that seeking and republishing the information is blocked in Syria. We mean that people get arrested if they play the "go around" game when accessing these sites and publish certain comments.

A friendly note to our dear blogger Sasa since this is the second time he wrongly reports on the unblocking of Blogspot in Syria, we wish Blogger was unblocked, but the truth is, it's not even close.

If anything is unblocked in Syria, it's the bloggers' will to blog.

Syria: End Repression of Human Rights Activists!

2007-11-01T11:24:00.000+03:00

I have known Mustafa for sometime now, it was a strange meeting, yet our interests in human rights, woman rights and minorities' rights made us good friends. Mustafa is the kind whom you listen to when he speaks, though he has some firm facial features, but that cannot hide the humane, the kind and the shy man behind, especially when he smiles.
I remember the first time we met, he, his lovely girlfriend and friends, sang for hours in a Damascene night at the roof of their house. We sang Ziad and Sami' Shqir's songs, we sang for the dream of liberty, for the dream to be allowed to act, to be Syrians.
Though Mustafa is young, he is one of the striking Syrians I've met in my life. He is always busy attending conferences, researching for human rights, and writing reports on human rights magazines. He's the citizen.
For a citizen, for the citizens that are forgotten in their lonely and dark cells, for Damascus Spring's prisoners of conscience, for every Syrian who chose to live the hard way, I raise my voice and ask Syria, Syrians and you, to support these citizens' right to breath: End Repression of human rights activists!

I publish below Mustafa's own words of his case---please republish.

Dear Sir \ Madam,

Although the Syrian constitution protects the rights to freedom of movement, association and expression, the government has used emergency powers and restrictive legislation to stifle the activists’ exercise of their most basic rights. Government authorities also rely on the continuing state of emergency to adopt arbitrary measures to silence their critics and to prohibit them from operating as a legally recognized group. The government has relied on these laws to override constitutional guarantees and to establish itself as the sole arbiter of with whom and how Syrians can express, associate, and travel. Syrian authorities routinely use travel bans as punishment for activists and dissidents. The use of such bans expanded dramatically in 2006 and 2007 to include a lot of youth.

I was traveling from Damascus to Amman, Jordan, on July 30, 2007, to attend the course: Leadership towards the Elimination of All Forms of Violence against Women organized by the United Nations University and the International Leadership Institute. Syrian security forces at the border prevented me from leaving the country. They did not explain the reason for the travel ban but indicated that the Political Security Agency (Aleppo branch) had issued the order and that I had to report to them. Such restrictions constitute a violation of my right to freedom of movement and an undue interference with my rights to freedom of expression and association. For a few months before, Security services exercised pressures on me and my family.

I registered a case in front of the Administration court, which looks in government-related cases. I do not expect a positive result because of the continuing state of emergency.

Under international law, everyone is free to leave his or her country. The International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights bars states from restricting someone’s right to leave the country, except when the given restrictions are prescribed by law and are “necessary to protect national security, public order, public health or morals or the rights and freedoms of others,” and are consistent with the other rights recognized in that treaty. Syrian security agents have issued travel bans in Syria without any explanation and without any judicial basis.

Syria has obligations under several international treaties to uphold these rights, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). Syria ratified the ICCPR on March 23, 1976, and the ICESCR on January 3, 1976.

The UN secretary-general’s special representative on human rights defenders, Hina Jilani, expressed concern in her March 2006 report about the lack of freedom of assembly and freedom of movement for defenders in Syria, in particular with respect to their participation in seminars and workshops abroad on human rights issues. (see http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/4session/docs/A-HRC-4-37.doc)

(To know more about the End Repression of Human Rights Groups in Syria, read HRW report on this link: http://hrw.org/reports/2007/syria1007/ )

I have "No Room to Breath", so I need your support by taking an action.

Best regards,

Mustafa Haid

Executive Board Member

Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies

Syria

The Clothesline Project: "No more dirty laundry!"

2007-10-31T16:23:00.001+03:00

click on image for more information

Event: The Clothesline Project "No more dirty laundry!"

ExhibitHost: http://www.kafa.org.lb/ & http://www.lsfm.net/

When: Monday, November 5 at 1:00pm

Where: West Hall, AUB

A Letter to Mr. Saniora from a Lebanese Citizen

2007-10-27T20:52:00.000+03:00

Tamara Keblaoui's first visit to Nahr el Bared camp today has triggered her to write a letter to the Lebanese Prime Minister Mr. Sanyora. Tamara is a fourth year student at AUB, she studies business administration and she is a co-volunteers coordinator of Nahr el Bared Relief Campaign.

Dear Mr. Siniora,

I write to you as a Lebanese citizen with pressing concerns. Today, on the 27^th of October 2007 I, along with a group of ten AUB students, made the journey north to Nahr el Bared. We went there with the purpose of carrying out a clean-up campaign for the homes of returning refugees. What we found in these homes made our heads spin.

The houses we worked in were located in the so-called new camp. They were mostly villas with three or more bedrooms. Evidently, they were spaces that not so long ago housed large families. We found on the floors tiny Reebok shoes and dolls and toys. We found gardens and we found orange trees. But the little reebok shoes were torn and weathered, the dolls had disembodied heads and limbs, the gardens were not green and the orange trees did not bear oranges. We found mountains of rubble where there should have been refrigerators. We found harrowingly blank spaces, Mr. Siniora, where there should have been stoves, tables, beds and sofas. We found that the walls of the children rooms were covered with anti-Palestinian slurs and imprecations so vile that I cannot reproduce them on paper. When we were at the gates of the camp, we were told that cameras would not be allowed into the camp and we were searched scrupulously for them. I did not understand why this was at first, but now I do, because now I am feeling disillusioned and angry and I know that had the rest of the world seen the images that my peers and I saw today, the rest of the world would feel disillusioned and angry, too.

Mr. Siniora, I would like to know why it is that mass looting and mass vandalism has been allowed to take place under the nose of an army that the country has for the last four months uniformly rallied behind. I would like to know this because I was one of the millions who stood in Martyr’s square on the 14^th of March 2005 calling for a sovereign, democratic Lebanon. I was one of the millions who demanded democracy, and democracy as I know it means that all those that are under the rule of government be treated equally and fairly. What my peers and I have witnessed today defeats that very notion. The Palestinians of Nahr el Bared--that we who claim to be democratic have the responsibility to protect--have been stripped of their wealth and, more importantly, their dignity for something that they were never responsible for. And you, Mr. Siniora, were the first to say this. What happened to the Palestinian-Lebanese brotherhood that you championed in your letter to the Palestinian community on the first week of the Nahr El Bared impasse? What happened to democracy? I did not see any of it today and I am deeply disheartened. I am disheartened because I truly believed we would become a democracy on the 14^th of March, 2005 when a nation was supposed to have been born. But mostly I am disheartened because the beyond palpable oppression of the Palestinian community has been done in my name, as a Lebanese citizen.

Mr. Siniora, this is not an attack on the government or on the army. To me, the war in Nahr el Bared is a nebulous haze; its onset, its protracted ending and everything in between raises many questions in my head and I will not broach the topic. What I know is what I saw today and it has disturbed me beyond belief. Thus, I ask you to look into the current treatment of refugees and end the oppression. I ask that you bring to us the democracy that you have promised.

Sincerely,Tamara Keblaoui

Syrian Blogger Rukana Hammour Kidnapped!

2007-10-26T20:13:00.000+03:00

Update 1: Sami has just informed us that Rukana Hammour has been released after three hours of her kidnapping and that she was interrogated by the Syrian Security Services over a comment left on her blog. We are happy to learn she is safe and sound at home among her family.

Update 2: read Rukana's detailed post (AR) on her kidnapping and investigation here.

Yesterday I received a mail from a human rights NGO in Syria saying that Rukana Hammour has been kidnapped on the 25th. of October by six Syrian security agents at her home and again, in front of her three children.

For those who are not familiar with her case, she is the daughter of Mohammad Hammour, the deputy of Saudi Air Lines, and whose fortune disappearance appears to be suspicious. Rukana was threatened by her brothers and high ranking Syrian officials and officers to be sexually assaulted and raped if she doesn't give up her share of her father's fortune and be silent about its suspicious evaporation.

Rukana sent several letters to King Abdalla's office to expose the robbery and thievery of her father's money. As a reaction, the thieves, and for the second time, kidnapped her, threatened her demanding her withdrawal from the parliament election, and constantly putting her life in danger.

Up to this moment we do not know the whereabouts of Rukana.

Syrian bloggers, I ask you all to support this woman, these citizens, if it's not for her children then let it be for "Syria"!

Spread the word!

For more information please read the mail i received on Global Voices here.
For more informations on her case please click here.

Unmanly Man, Unwomanly Woman

2007-10-24T00:28:00.000+03:00

Dad came home an hour ago, he sat down at the sofa, looked at mom and told her that it wasn’t a women who has got undressed and videoed by the Syrian policemen yesterday at the police station, it was a man with women organs.

There was silence in the living room. Mom said: "still, he is a humane being, he was mistreated". Dad told us that the reason why the police men undressed the man is because he was hunting men on the street for business. I asked dad, would the policemen undress a woman hunting for business and take pictures of her naked? No, they won't, for then it would be a question of "honour" not ethics. If it was a question of ethics, this man would not have got undressed, but because he has no "honour" to guard, let's take off his clothes and take photos of him to laugh at.

Is it the confusion about his sex, or our limited understanding to human rights, that triggers them to dehumanize the man?

Isn’t this also discrimination? Against those whom we cannot define?

You know what's sad, I ended up fighting with dad and mom, for to them, it’s not racism, and it's just unethical. We agree it was unethical and inhumane, but why did this happen to him? and would it happen to a manly man and a womanly woman? What they pictured was his organs, and what they laughed about is that he is both/neither a man or a woman, so it is his very case that caused this very inhumane treatment, Hence it is discrimination, it is racism. This was not just an unethical act, this was a racist act. It reflects a way of thinking on people we cannot project our labels on them, they are not part of our system hence we exclude them from our rules and reject their humane rights.

It is not enough to sympathize with victims, if we want to be just with the man, let's regain his rights when admitting the very reason why we dehumanized him in the first place. When we do, we hope he forgives our gay thinking one day.

I think it is a case of sexism as well..

The a-Rab Second Issue is out!

2007-10-21T15:33:00.000+03:00

I am very pleased to see that The a-Rab magazine is gradually growing and providing its readers with some invigorating arguments on concerns seem to be conventionally approached if not neglected.

As a reader, I wish them luck and further success.

You can see the mag online here, or you can download a PDF here.

Here are some of the articles I personally liked:

Yaman Salahi's article "Beyond Resistance":

"Pride is a response to shame. If the dominant order suggests shame for being Black, or Mexican, or Arab, or Native American, then we reject it by saying no, I’ll be proud…Nothing is permanent. The system that is does not need to be. Working within a system breathes life into it. Working outside of it breathes life into us…If we want leaders with power and position, we want pride. Then, we are not resisting, but reflecting…I want to destroy power. I am not looking for a messiah. I am looking for action because actors make power. Those who lead only do so because others believe they do--but we are all actors…So we return to the a-Rab. In the first issue we put an emphasis on the importance of narrative in formulating our selves, in controlling our identity, and controlling our place in society…But what is narrative? Is it the end or the means?"

And from our dear blogger Ibn Bint Jbeil's article "Steadfast":

"Today, as it was 4 years ago when I painted these four paintings, as it was a half a century ago when the world massacred each other and Palestine was usurped, as it was millennia ago when empires swept over the globe to enslave the minds of the masses in ignorance and war, today the common innocent people still stand STEADFAST, as the world rushes past them, screeching like a duststorm at the heels of a devastating horde. The air feels historic, but in a dreadful, brutal way. They stand in their spaces, attempting to withstand the gusts of power, violence and intimidation; they clutch at the memories of theirselves and their origins, protecting them from the tormenting currents that coil around them; each of them admonished, enduring the terror of the storm."

And from Nora Barrows-Friedman's article "The Ghosts of Fara'a":

"This wall was where children were forced into metal boxes and repeatedly tortured. 3-walled metal cabinets, about 2 feet by 2 feet and six feet tall, were lined up against this wall. children were put inside. they scratched their names into the plaster. they scratched their village or city names into the plaster. israelis would enforce sleep deprivation for these kids in the boxes, kicking in the door when the child tried to sleep. or throwing rocks on the top to startle a child. in the blistering heat and the chilly winter…How do people come back from this? what cellular transformation occurs that allow these former prisoners, these adults now walking around, living their lives as normally as possible in an audaciously abnormal situation, a life beseiged from day one under this occupation and ethnic cleansing project, memories crisp and clear like it was yesterday of being beaten and tortured and humiliated and broken?"

Spread the word!

Syria: Stop Internet Censorship, Release Syrian Detainees Now!

2007-10-14T21:18:00.000+03:00

Having moaning for a month about the laziness of Ramadan and the inactiveness of Damascus, it took me another report of human rights' abuse in Syria to wake me up. Last night I saw Ben Gharbia's updated post on the Advocacy Global Voices' site and this time it was about my country.

Two cyber activists were detained for posting online comments that were disfavored by our Syrian government. The report also talked about a case in which the government detained a third Syrian citizen for posting comments opposing KSA. the Syrian Military Intelligence detained him for "breaking ties" with an ally.

I quote the HRW report: ( even though I hold reservations on the motives behind such report, but with a subject matter like the Syrian regime-I find it OK to use the site).

"Syrian security services frequently require internet cafe owners to spy on customers that access “sensitive” sites. On December 13, 2006, Political Security arrested `Ahed al-Hindi, 23, and one of his relatives, in an internet cafe in Damascus, because al-Hindi was sending comments and information to opposition websites outside

Syria

. The owner of the internet cafe had filmed al-Hindi posting the comments. Al-Hindi and his relative were released on January 15, 2007."

"In the first documented application of the directive, the Ministry of Communications and Technology restricted access to www.damaspost.com, a popular Syrian news website, for 24 hours after a commentator identified as “Jamal” criticized the head of the Journalists’ Union and the al-Ba`ath newspaper for nepotism".

"Under international law, the rights to privacy and free expression entail a corollary right to communicate anonymously. Allowing persons to speak anonymously, without fear of reprisal or stigma, encourages the sort of expression that is critical to protection of rights and a democratic society – from political pamphleteering, to anonymous tips for journalists, to “blowing the whistle” on corruption by officials or companies. While the right to anonymity is not absolute, the restrictions imposed by the Syrian decree eliminate it altogether in the name of repressing purportedly “criminal” expression".

"The last six years have seen an explosion of internet use in Syria, with close to 1 million of the country’s 18 million people now online, compared to just 30,000 in 2000. The Arab Advisors Group, an Amman-based business-consulting firm, projects that the number of Syrian internet users will exceed 1.7 million by 2009".

All these were naively shocking incidents on my part, but what made me even more furious is to find the one parliament nominee whom I loved and wished her luck in her campaign arrested last year! I have came across her blog during the Parliament elections this year, I checked her program and I liked her, I wanted to elect her but they told me I had to elect other people too, which I wont do. but i did not know that she was arrested till yesterday! After nominating herself for the parliament, the Syrian intelligence repeatedly threated her to withdraw her nomination.

It was really outrageous to find an admired person behind bars for doing the right thing. she courageously attacked the biased corrupted legal, banking and administrative systems in Syria. And she was arrested, in her pajamas, in front of her three children, a gun pointed on her head, by the Syrian intelligence.

I have been living in Syria over a month now ever since I left Lebanon, and no one has mentioned these incidents. Unlike in Lebanon, Syrians know nothing about what's happening in Syria, if it wasn’t for her blog, or international human rights, or opposition sites, no one would ever know about these violations of human rights. If I mentioned this in front of some friends they will probably not believe me for these things are abnormal to the Syrian consciousness and psyche. The Syrian government is not just detaining these amazing Syrian citizens in prison, but also detaining the "discussion" about them-the right to know, to think, and to wonder!

While some Syrians are busy "building Syria" by attacking Iraqi presence in Syria, Jews, feminism and attacks against sexist Syria and racist Syria, the Syrian government is busy attacking Syrian citizens who are attacking corrupted, dictator, unjust regime/Syrians.

Syrian regime is only punishing those who pointed out the wrong wanting to fix it, some Syrians are attacking other Syrians for noticing the wrong willing to fixing it. in both cases, there is an unwillingness for some not to admit the wrong about Syria. To them, there is nothing wrong about Syria or in the Syrians. If anything is wrong in Syria, it is these very wrong-highlighters. To them Syria is "pure", and it will remain pure by jailing/ attacking those who speak "ill" about "their" Syria.

Still, life worths nothing without a fight.

I Syrian citizen, call the Syrian regime to release all the freedom of speech detainees and prisoners immediately, to stop censoring cyber activists' blogs and comments posters. Syrian citizens have the right to express their simplest right of freedom of speech whether anonymously or not.

Among those detained in the past for posting information online are:

* `Abd al-Rahman al-Shaghuri: On February 23, 2003, Syrian secret police agents arrested `Abd al-Rahman al-Shaghuri for emailing articles copied from the Akhbar al-Sharq (Levant News) website, http://www.thisissyria.net. The government said it considered the site’s content “detrimental to the reputation and security of the nation,” and “full of ideas and views opposed to the system of government in Syria.” His captors beat and tortured al-Shaghuri and held him incommunicado at the Palestine Branch of Military Intelligence in Damascus before moving him to the Sednaya military prison on the outskirts of the city. On June 20, 2004, the Security Court found him guilty, under the Press Law, of “publishing lies” and disseminating articles “that harmed the image and security of Syria.” The court sentenced him to three years in prison and then reduced the sentence to two-and-a-half years. He was released on August 31, 2005.

* Yahya al-Ous and the Qutaish Brothers: In September 2002 two construction workers were reportedly killed while digging a tunnel in Damascus. Over the course of the following few weeks, Haytham Qutaish, his brother Muhannad, and Yahya al-Ous were arrested for sending emails to a Gulf-based newspaper about the incident. They had previously sent articles criticizing the Syrian government’s economic, political, and human rights policies and government corruption. Syrian Military Intelligence held them in Sednaya prison for nearly two years before the Supreme State Security Court found the three guilty, on July 25, 2004, of “receiving secret information on behalf of a foreign state which threatens the security of Syria” and using the internet to publish “false news outside of Syria” under the terms of the Press Law. The court found the Qutaish brothers guilty of “encouraging the transfer of secret information.” The court further found Haytham Qutaish guilty of “writing that threatens the security of Syria and her relations with foreign states.” The court sentenced Haytham Qutaish and his brother Muhannad to four and three years in prison, respectively. They were released on November 4, 2005. Al-Ous spent two years in prison before being released.

* Mas`ud Hamid: On June 25, 2003, police violently dispersed a demonstration of Syrian-Kurdish children in front of the Damascus office of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Mas`ud Hamid, a Kurdish-Syrian journalism student, posted photographs of the event on several websites, including the German-based Kurdish website http://www.amude.com. One month later, on July 24, 2003, Public Security officers arrested Hamid as he was taking an exam. Witnesses told Reporters sans frontières that the manner of his arrest, in which he was handcuffed in front of a room full of students, seemed intended to intimidate the future journalists. The authorities held him in solitary confinement in `Adra prison for one year before allowing him monthly visits from his lawyer and family. Interrogators reportedly tortured him on several occasions and beat him with a studded whip on the soles of his feet. On October 10, 2004, the Supreme State Security Court sentenced Hamid to three years in prison after finding him guilty of “membership of a secret organization” and having “attempted to annex part of Syrian territory to another country” – charges frequently leveled against detained Syrian Kurds. Hamid was released from `Adra prison on July 24, 2006.

* Habib Salih: On May 29, 2005, Military Intelligence officers arrested Habib Salih in Tartus, approximately 100 miles (130 kilometers) north of Damascus, for posting on two websites a series of open letters addressed to the delegates attending the June 2005 Ba`ath Party Conference in which he detailed his prison experiences. In the months since his release, he had also written critical articles for the Lebanese newspaper an-Nahar and the banned website http://www.elaph.com. He was sentenced to three years on August 15, 2006 by the Tartus Criminal Court for “spreading false news that weaken the spirit of the nation.” He was released on September 12, 2007.

A Childish Day

2007-10-11T16:38:00.000+03:00

The first couple weeks I've spent in Damascus have been energetic, I met people discussing with them possibilities to organize few activities in Damascus. I was full of hope and aspiration but sooner I started to lose both, a wave of depression was slipping into my day. The death of Yazan's parents- inspiring Syrian citizens, the inactive Damascus, the laziness of Ramadan, and in my humble opinion the stupidity of people I meet, all contributed into making me a home-staying volunteer.

In the past month I was scattering my CV, sending it via emails to whatever that comes to mind till I received an interesting call from a leading private school in Syria. I went to the interview couple days ago and they asked me to come today to see other teachers as they run the class. So I did.

Dad gave me a lift this morning, I went to meet the head of the first Kinder Garten in the school, very handsome lady, very authorial yet gentle. She was kind enough to take me to the classes and invited me later to chat about what I've observed.

I always knew I am childish, I just didn’t know I was a child! I loved sitting at those mini chairs, looking at the draws all over the walls. My heart went faster when the teacher was about to distribute the colors to draw a circle around the word "bed". One of the teachers asked if I want to join the children to draw a sun, I had to grip myself together and sound as a teacher: "ahh..hehe...not really."

But I can resist anything but temptation, the children were four years old, they all looked at me wondering, is this our new teacher? "Hi Miss Razan!" Lazily everyone shouted as I was introduced to the class. I couldn’t but smile to the small faces that kept looking at me, some of them want to go to the bathroom just to see me closer. Some of them left the teacher completely and started to make funny faces to make me laugh, now that girl is my favorite. Her name is Sima.

It went bad when the students are now competing with one another, who will Miss Razan smile to the most? It is all about the smile in their world. One of the children went to the bathroom and kept the door a bit open to show me that he is still smiling while peeing.

They were repeating what the teacher would tell them just for one thing they mostly wanted. They wanted a smiley face sticker on their foreheads. They would say anything, do anything, as long as they get that yellow smiley face.

Tomorrow is the Eid, "eid of what?" One asked, "Eids are made for boring grownups" I said. "I am sure you have Eid every single day". He knew I was joking, he laughed at me and showed me his spider-man bag. Another student came to me asking me what I am writing on my notebook, "I am taking notes about you, what's your name?" "My name is Bryan, mam". The boy said.

Yes, this school has non Syrian students, but they all have the same faces; smiley faces, they've created my day, and put a day-lasting smile on my face. I think I would want to spend my upcoming year among children, Syrian grownups are too boring to me.

Before going home, the students were given presents by the school; a bunny mask. Some of them held it and put in on their faces, some of the students hit others with it, another called it: "baby أرنب " (Rabbit), and as I was smiling and turning my head to look at other students, a student stood up, waving the mask right and left shouting:

"This is my new Syrian flag!".

Alive Inside

2007-10-05T01:23:00.000+03:00

Bloggers who knew Yazan virtually or in person can only express the unforgettable impression he leaves on them.

Yazan's blog was the first blog I read among Syrian bloggers, and he and I didn’t have a very good start. But that did not stop me from reading his blog and eagerly following his witty comment on other bloggers' posts.

Yazan is one of the smartest people I met in my life, he has just a clear mind, and he can easily pinpoint the flaws in anyone's argument. I can surely say that his intellect made me change my mind too many times.

Its not just his intelligence that I admire , but also his humanity and his un-nationalistic love to Syria. To me, he's one of the inspiring Syrian citizens.

Though Yazan is the only child of his parents, he is never alone among us all sisters and brothers. We have been reading him, get excited for him, support him, and rarely disagreeing with him for years, almost a year now for myself. He is the friend, and his loss is our loss indeed.

In this black moment, I can only repost Yazan's lightening posts of his father's words whose memory along with Om Yazan's will always be alive inside:

-My father's last advice before I left home was,

"Never trust a man that does not dance, or a woman that does not laugh."

"نحن سلالة لا تدخل الأوطان إلا من منافيها"-

May they rest in peace.

Nation State Building and Patriotism

2007-09-28T17:07:00.000+03:00

I have met many Lebanese, Syrians ,Palestinians and Muslims, whose nationalism and religiousness is merely about "defending" their countries and their religion. I love Syria hence I attack "any" criticism against it. The best Lebanese citizens I've met in Lebanon where the ones who were atypically un-Lebanese*. They did not take sides but rather question sides' approaches to Lebanese citizenship. Same with Syrian citizens, and with Muslims, in fact, I tend to believe that I have met one Muslim in my life, Baha' El Kayyali.

Being in a sexist society, I have brought up believing that in order for Razan the female to be human, she needs to shake some masculine given thoughts in her society. It is only normal to be attacked as an un-Syrian by Syrians when saying that sexual harassment is a serious issue in Syria, ass-grabbers are everywhere in Syria. A student came to visit Syria for two weeks have shared her story about ass grabbers. Another tourist, Daniel, is telling a story on a similar incident occurs regularly in Syria. I think those who have no pre-conceptions about what Syria is or what it should be, are the only ones who can really see what Syria is now.

In other words, the commonly discussed reasons why Syria is not progressing is that first, because of the historical occupation of Turkey and France, second, because of recent international and American pressure, and third because of the Syrian government. I think a fourth reason, if not the most affective reason, is the Syrian people themselves and their understanding of what Syria is, and what a citizenship is.

All reasons are intermingled of course, but I think if the Syrian system got a bit loose, Syrian people will be happy with economical and political changes, but not with social ones that have to do with women rights, Palestinians and Iraqi refugees' situations, homosexual lives among many other things.

Syrian females cannot openly speak about sexual harassment because it's not that simple to oppose a certain daily habit in any country. Sexual harassment in Syrian is becoming an "unquestioned" given, it is interesting to talk about it, but no strong support is given to the girls who wish to end the phenomenon. She's either to be considered a "slut" or "un-Syrian", among many defensive Syrians' patriotic labels.

When a girl say "I love you" to a man, he is in front of her and she is saying these words to him. Yet it is the "him inside her head" whom she loves, not necessarily the man standing in front of her.

With a country and our belongings to it, the process becomes rather complex. Each Syrian loves her Syria, and each fights or not, to maintain the Syria she sees or wants to see growing. I think most of our belonging to Syria is either fictionist if not imagined. For some, Syria lies in Syrian food, for others it lies in old cafes in Old Damascus. Some belongings to Syria lie in the longing for her. I think some belongings are "touristy" when it comes to Syria's traditional atmosphere.

Syrian becomes its "ornamentation".

I believe racism, sexism, sectarianism, human rights' abuse, are unconsciously celebrated in the Syrian daily life. Just like the Syrians are now the prime reason for everything wrong happens in Lebanon, the Iraqi refugees are the prime reason of everything wrong happens in Syria, if one caught AIDS, it's an Iraqi girl, if one cannot find a job, it's the Iraqis' fault, if a family are sleeping in the streets, it’s the Iraqis fault. Syrians now, and away from the regime's tyranny, are constructing the "Syrianism" within this binary opposition "Syrians/Iraqis", as a continuous process that started with the "Syrians/Lebanon". Syrians are formulating a belonging to Syrian in opposition to the "new comers" of Syria.

I am not here trying to unfold the current Syrianism in order to come up with another, I don’t like fixed entities, I like chaos, I trust chaotic identities. My Arabism is like no other Arabist, neither is my Syrianism. To be a Syrian is not a question to be answered or to look for, it shouldn't be there or obvious, it should be a repeatedly questioned question.

I think when we stop saying:

"انته واحد يهودي"

"هدول المثليين المقرفين"

"هاي البنت الشرموطة"

"هدول العراقيه والفلسطينيه النور"

"هدول النور ياللي من الريف"

"انا مسلم سني"

"نحنا المسيحية غير"

"انتي طالق" شفويا

We can then talk about building a nation state Syria, right now, there might be a shadow of one.

*I realize that by saying un-Lebanese then I am implying that there is a fixed "Lebanese character" in the first place, I think that sociopolitical history in a given country can produce somewhat similar consciousness within people.

حكي نسوان

2007-09-23T01:02:00.000+03:00

رزان says:
i think to me, this social space , home, is now my room in damascus, and was the camps in Lebanon, i can create one everywhere. Home is where i can see myself becoming.
Syria to me does not exist anymore. it will when i feel i am making it. see it grow in front of me.
i feel i am invisible in syria. I am Syria, after all.

رزان says:
its funny that i felt Syrian in Lebanon, actually i think i fantasized my Syrianism in my room in Damascus and embodied it in Achrafyeh.

رزان says:
here i am not even a female

رزان says:
i am "sharaf" honor

رزان says:
and it's not my "sharaf", its theirs'.

عربيّات

2007-09-21T10:59:00.000+03:00

ستنتقل كل كتاباتي باللغة العربية إلى مدونتي العربية عربيّات

جملة في مسلسل ترفيهي

2007-09-21T08:55:00.000+03:00

البارحة كان آخر يوم أضيع وقتي بمشاهدة معظم المسلسلات السوريّة, وشدّدت على متابعة مسلسل "سقف العالم" لأنزور كون الأخير لا يكفّ عن إثارة دهشتي. فمن شاهدت مشهد المحكمة بين الجن والأنس والحيوان فهمت ما أعني, لم يقم أحد من قبل, بتاريخ البشرية جمعاء, بصنع مشهد كهذا, أو مسلسل كهذا. رغم أن بعض مشاهد المسلسل قد تكون مملّة للبعض, لكنه ككتاب, لن تعلمي ما تبغي الكاتبة حتى تنهي قراءة صفحاتها

البارحة وبينما كنت أشاهد مسلسل "باب الحارة", جنّ جنوني ولم أعد أريد متابعة المسلسل, ليس موقفاُ "شخصيّاً" البتّة, بل لعدم قدرتي على مغادرة الواقع السوري, حتى في مسلسل.

لا احد يقول لي أن المسلسلات السورية تعكس الواقع السوري, هذه ترهة من ترهاتنا

المسلسلات السورية مميزة لأسباب أخرى لها علاقة بنوعية تمثيل ممثلينا, بالإخراج الغير مصري, بالفانتازيا والكوميديا والدراما كذلك, لا لكونها تشبهنا, بل لكونها جذابة وتحاكي شيئا من واقعنا, لا تعكس فيه مواضيع ومشاكل تبقى عن المواطن السوري, والذكر السوري, غير ملموسة

ما حصل البارحة وباختصار هو أننا سمعنا "شيخنا" في باب الحارة يقول لأبو عباس الذي كان قد طلّق أم عباس لتوّه التالي

يا أبو عباس, لم الطلاق؟ فبمكانك أن تنهرهها, أن تضربها, لماذا تطلقها؟ لا تقلها ما حييت يا أبو عباس

ما الذي يقصده الشيخ القدوة بالضبط؟
لم هو غيّور على الزواج؟
لم لا يحبّذ الطلاق؟

الطلاق غير مستحبّ بالإسلام لكن الضرب لا مشكله؟؟
أي عقل هذا وأي تربية تلك وأي شيخ هذا؟؟ أنتكلم عن شيخ هنا فحسب؟؟

لا, نحن نتكلم عن شعوب تؤمن بضرب المرأة إن علا صوتها, إن جادلت رجلها, والدها أو أخوها, الضرب وسيلة من وسائل الحوار مع المرأة, تضربها فتفهم المرة المقبلة أن لا ترتكب الحماقة ذاتها, كدابّة

الشيخ يرى ان يحترم أبو عباس شرع الله وسنته في البعد عن المكروه, وهو الطلاق, إذن الشيخ لا يكترث للزواج بحد ذاته بل بما كرّه عنه الإسلام
الشيخ عندما كره الطلاق وحلل الضرب فضّل الإسلام على ام عباس, اي انه فضل القيمة على الإنسان

من المضحك أن نجد مسلسل نجدة أنزور يخاطب هذه القراءة عينها في الإسلام, نجدة انزور يخاطبنا نحن, الأولاد والبنات والأهل, هو يذكّرنا بما فعل الإسلام إذ أتى إلينا. أيّة ثورة كانت, وأي جهل أصبح بسببنا نحن المسلمون.

إن الأديان والفلسفات الدينية قد أتت بالأصل لتفضيل قيمة الإنسان على أي شيء آخر

نحن لسنا مسلمون, سأردد ما جعل أبو عباس يطلق أم عباس عندما قالت له: "فشرت"

فشرت يا شيخنا, نحن لسنا مسلمون, لا من قريب ولا من بعيد
نحن نسينا الإنسان في الإسلام

لن تصبح سورية, لن يصبح العرب ولا اسلامهم, حتى أصبح أنا الأنثى الإنسان

علّ وعسى

2007-09-17T11:11:00.000+03:00

تتزكّر

"I" Comes First, in "I Love You"

2007-09-17T10:35:00.000+03:00

"I"

Made

"You"

happen.

Twelve Months in Damascus

2007-09-17T10:20:00.000+03:00

It took me a while to organize my habits and my life in Damascus. I continued to wear the "activist" template, I continued to be attached to the internet, going out meeting new people, till it hit me; I have only 12 months to stay in Syria, I have to make the best of it, and it has to do with my career.

It's 6:00 AM now, I woke up to begin applying my reading schedule. I am to write 100 pages for the next 12 months, and then I am heading to the US for my PhD. This year I am spending in Syria is going to decide which school I am going to go to in the US, good or bad; am I going to write a good dissertation? Good argument?

I am starting to feel worried, anxious, on a different level, on a selfish level. And I am starting to feel myself growing up. My life is starting to get serious.

I am preparing myself to take the GRE test next month, I am also going to start taking Hebrew courses for my PhD next month-I have decided that my specialty is going to be on Arab Jews' literature- and I am looking for a part time job.

I am professionally, happening.

One thing that worried/worries me about coming back to Syria is my parents. People tell me that yeah! It has been a while since you've been living on your own, it sucks when you're with family again. That implies that "not living three years alone" makes everything alright.

It has nothing to do with the three years I lived away from parents, or away from anybody's rules. It is not like things were fine, then I earned my autonomy that it is hard now to let go. Things weren't', aren't, won't be fine in any masculine family/society/system. The problem is not "me having three years of freedom", the problem is rather "not having freedom" in the first place.

So it's not "freedom" that makes things abnormal and hard for me, but rather "the lack of it" and it has always been this way.

In fact, these three years of "freedom" made me deal with the "lack of freedom" situation better; now when I hear a stupid thing, I say OK and go to my room, close the door behind me and all is gone. It can all disappear now, with closing the door, it didn’t before. Lebanon had made me step one step, the first step, to being a grown up woman.

Yesterday I thought of a slogan to launch a campaign against sexist men and patriarchal society:

من حقّي أن أخطئ

Which I might consider launch the thing if something bad happen.

Couple days ago I got back home after spending four hours in the national museum. Dad interrogated me about where and with whom I was..and I just looked at him..

Dad, in two months I am going to turn 27, I have lived in Lebanon alone for three years, don’t you wanna ask me about my experience there? What it made out of me?

Don’t you wanna get to know me dad?

Did you know, dad- and this is me talking to myself- that I wrote the first prose lines and I got the second poetry prize in Balamand University?

Did you know dad, that I have learned how to take photos and people ask me to use them?

Did you know dad, that I have made a lecture in front of 50/60 people?

You want to know the guy who was with me? that's it? no further questions? About me, perhaps?

"we're old friends dad, he's visiting Damascus. He works in Dubai".

Couple weeks ago, I learned that Itar Shame' are performing in Tiatro theatre, I went there, I saw them live, moving, I heard the voice that once came out of my recorder, I listened to the music, I looked at their faces, I am watching an awesome Syrian band singing live in front of me. Because of this real present moment, I never knew how proud I was for I am Syrian. I was proud of them.

They started at 9:00, my curfew ends at 10:30, which means I have to leave at 10.

I had to enjoy one hour of Syrian patriotic feeling.

Yeah, I miss Damascus, I miss "my" experiences with Damascus, My Damascus, I don't miss them, their stupidity, superficiality, simplicity, sexism, complexes, sickness, and I will never forgive them, they keep on making me retreating to closing the door. I don't want to close the door no more.

I can happen here as well, I want to happen here, I want here to happen, and I want to be part of its happening. It's silly for me, the Syrian, to happen not in Syria, which reminds me of Yazan father's words.

It is because of them, and because if "their" government, that I am not happen"ing". It won't be for too long though, I'm not that patient.

It occurred to me long time ago and I am recalling it again: that sexism, dictator Arab regimes and White West, have something in common: they have the power to marginalize others. We, the others wont happen, till we fight back.

One of the things I really like about dad, is that he appreciates education. "go and do whatever you want with your career, tistifli".

I am going to fight back, on all levels, when the time comes.

In Damascus, everything sounds familiar though I have changed, but my heart is still beating, I miss him, always, it hurts.

In Lebanon, my Syrianism is attacked, I blogged about it, now I feel my sexuality is attacked, I am going to be blogging about it.

Comments will be disabled from this blog. I am going to write addressing myself and honesty, rather than writing for a certain audience-in the back of my head.

I have chosen this blog title to decenter the "Damascus" among the Damascenes, among Syrians, I am interested in focusing about the invisible Syrians, the invisible Damascus, Iraqi refugees, Palestinian refugees, human rights' abuse, women abuse..etc.

This blog is going to be both personal, reporting and uncovering life conditions on some of the uncovered issues. Iraqi refugees, sexism and Syrians living around Damascus city, are my main concern at the moment. We'll see.

Twelve months in Syria, with him in my heart, I, the student, is starting to happen.

Blogger, Youtube, Inblogs, Google Translator and Unblocker are BLOCKED in Syria

2007-09-10T08:06:00.000+03:00

It has been couple days and I cannot use inblogs to access Blogger, I tried Unblocker but in vain. I have found another unblocker site which worked but I cannot use it to post comment. I tried google translator but for some reason it isn't opening. I did not know that Youtube is blocked in

Syria

till few days ago.

Very nice home coming.

Any advices on how to post comments in Syria?

(to IBJ, as a reply to your comment on the previous post, Amal asked me to delete the post, i can send you the link of the song to your email, send me an email to arab.spring@gmail.com and i'll send you the song :-)

أولمرت راضٍ عن العمليّة في سورية

2007-09-10T06:58:00.000+03:00

أولمرت راض عن العملية في سورية ويعتبرها من نوع العمليات التي لا يمكن الكشف عن تفاصيلها للجمهور..

عرب48

09/09/2007 13:00

لم يفصح رئيس الوزراء الإسرائيلي، إيهود أولمرت، عن أي تفاصيل حول انتهاك المقاتلات الإسرائيلية للأجواء السورية، أو عما حققته، إلا أنه عبر عن رضاه من العملية بإصراره على الدخول إلى جلسة الحكومة برفقة رئيس "الشاباك" يوفال ديسكين، وإشادته بالأجهزة الأمنية الإسرائيلية، وتوجيه الثناء لها.

والتأمت الحكومة الإسرائيلية اليوم وسط تعتيم مقصود على عملية اختراق الطائرات الحربية الإسرائيلية للأجواء السورية فجر الخميس الماضي. واكتفى أولمرت بالإشادة بالجيش وأجهزة الأمن، وقال في الكلمة الافتتاحية لجلسة الحكومة: "بطبيعة الحال، هذه من نوع العمليات التي لا يمكن دائما الكشف عن أوراقها أمام الجمهور". ومنع الصحافيون من الاقتراب من الوزراء من أجل تجنيبهم سيل الأسئلة حول انتهاك الأجواء السورية. كما وتم التشديد على الوزراء وحثهم على الامتناع عن الإدلاء بتصريحات بخصوص العملية الإسرائيلية.

وقال أولمرت مشيدا بالجيش والأجهزة الأمنية: " أقدر رجال الجيش وقادته الذين ينفذون عمليات شجاعة لا تتوقف للحظة واحدة. هذه العملية، بطبيعة الحال، من نوع العمليات التي لا يمكن دائما الكشف عن أوراقها أمام الجمهور. ثمة عمليات كثيرة تنفذها إسرائيل ضد التنظيمات الإرهابية، وسيتواصل تنفيذ تلك العمليات دون تردد، كل من يرسل إرهابيين سيتعرض للإصابة في أي مكان".

ولم يذكر أولمرت سوريا في الجلسة ولم يشر إلى عملية اختطاف أحد قادة القوة التنفيذية في قطاع غزة. ودخل أولمرت إلى جلسة الحكومة برفقة رئيس الشاباك يوفال ديسكين بعد أن استدعاه من قاعة الجلسات كي يدخل برفقته، للتعبير عن التقدير لدوره في العمليتين الأخيرتين، في سوريا وفي قطاع غزة. وأطلع ديسكين الوزراء على التطورات الأخيرة.

وحث أولمرت الوزراء على عدم الإدلاء بتصريحات حول التحليق في الأجواء السورية ومنع حراس الأمن الصحافيين من الاقتراب من الوزراء الذين شاركوا في الجلسة.

وكان الوزير غالب مجادلة من حزب العمل الصهيوني الوحيد الذي تطرق إلى انتهاك المقاتلات الإسرائيلية للأجواء السورية وقال إن الطائرات الإسرائيلية تحلق باستمرار في الأجواء السورية

في ما يلي أفضل ما قرأت عن الاعتداء الاسرائيلي للأجواء السوريّة

الطائرات الإسرائيلية فوق سوريا: هجوم لا استطلاع

الخلاصة الأكيدة لما سمحت الرقابة العسكرية في إسرائيل بنشره، وما برز من مداولات الحكومة هناك أمس، وما سبق لوكالة «سانا» السورية للأنباء أن أعلنت عنه، أن الطائرات الإسرائيلية نفذت عملية فوق الأراضي السورية لم تكن مجرد خرق للأجواء. وحتى الكلام الاسرائيلي عن جدية لجوء سوريا الى رد والتدارس في نوعيته، يشير الى أن إسرائيل تعرف أنها قامت بعمل ما يستدعي رداً (التفاصيل)

وإذا كان الصمت الإسرائيلي استمر «لأسباب أمنية»، كما ذكر معلقون كثر في إسرائيل أمس، فإن الاعلان الرسمي لوكالة «سانا» أن طائرات معادية «عبرت الحدود الشمالية قادمةً من جهة البحر المتوسط باتجاه المنطقة الشمالية الشرقية» و«تم التصدي لها من وسائط الدفاع الجوي، التي أجبرتها على المغادرة بعدما ألقت بعض ذخائرها» جاء ليدل على تطور خطير في ما خص الجبهة الاسرائيلية ـــــ السورية. ويتعلق النقاش الدائر حالياً، تحت عنوان التكهنات، بأمور ثلاثة:

أولاً: أن تكون إسرائيل وجهت ضربة عسكرية الى هدف عسكري أو أمني ذي طابع استراتيجي في سوريا، وأن الصمت الاسرائيلي يستهدف عدم تحمّل المسؤولية علناً من جهة، كما يستهدف إحراج سوريا لدفعها الى الحديث عن الهدف.

ثانياً: أن يكون ما حصل إشارة إضافية الى أن إسرائيل تريد توجيه ضربة الى خط سير تقول إنه قائم من دون توقف من سوريا الى لبنان ويستهدف نقل كميات كبيرة من السلاح المتطور الى حزب الله.

ثالثاً: أن تكون إسرائيل قد تورّطت في قرار أميركي يخص الحرب على إيران، وأنها تقوم باستطلاع جدي لخط السير الذي يوصل الى الاراضي الايرانية.

إلا أن اللافت في الأمر، أن سوريا، التي كانت تلجأ عادة الى التقدم من مجلس الامن الدولي بشكوى، لم تفعل ذلك، بل سارعت الى التأكيد أنها تدرس «سلسلة من الردود» على هذا العدوان، فيما لم تبادر الدول الخارجية، ولا سيما الولايات المتحدة، الى إعلان أي موقف من شأنه عكس المناخ الإجمالي، بين من يرغب في تصعيد يقود الى حرب وبين من يريد هدوءاً كالذي تحدث قادة العدو عنه كثيراً في الأيام الأخيرة.

وكان لافتاً ما كشفت عنه «هآرتس» عن أن إيهود أولمرت بدأ جلسة الحكومة امس بالقول «أقدر رجال الجيش وقادته الذين ينفذون عمليات شجاعة وغير تقليدية لا تتوقف للحظة واحدة». وبرر الصمت المطبق بالقول «هذه العملية، بطبيعة الحال، من نوع العمليات التي لا يمكن دائماً الكشف عن أوراقها أمام الجمهور. ثمة عمليات كثيرة تنفذها إسرائيل ضد التنظيمات الإرهابية، وسيتواصل تنفيذ تلك العمليات دون تردد، كل من يرسل إرهابيين سيتعرض للإصابة في أي مكان». ولم ينسَ أولمرت التشديد على الوزراء وحثهم على الامتناع عن الإدلاء بتصريحات بخصوص العملية الإسرائيلية.

نشرت صحيفة «حريات» التركية صوراً لخزاني وقود وجدا على الحدود السورية ـــــ التركية قالت إن طائرات إسرائيلية من طراز «إف ــــ15» ألقتهما. ونسبت الصحيفة إلى «خبراء» القول إن الطائرات الحربية الإسرائيلية تخلصت من خزانات وقود إضافية لتهرب بسرعة أكبر بعدما استهدفتها الدفاعات السورية. وطلب المسؤولون الأتراك «توضيحاً» من إسرائيل «عما إذا كان لهذين الصهريجين علاقة بالطائرات الحربية الاسرائيلية التي حلّقت في الأجواء».

ومن المقرر أن يصل وزير الخارجية السوري وليد المعلم إلى أنقرة اليوم لإجراء محادثات كانت مقررة سلفاً. وقال دبلوماسيون أتراك إن تركيا ستثير معه مسألة الطائرات الحربية الإسرائيلية.

من جهتها، نسبت قناة «العربية» الى مصدر إسرائيلي لم تسمّه ترجيحه أنّ «المقاتلات الإسرائيلية كانت تستهدف صواريخ أرض ـــــ جوّ التي نشرتها روسيا على طول الساحل السوري أخيراً».

أما روسيا فقد علّقت، على لسان أحد مندوبيها لدى الأمم المتحدة، نقلت تصريحاته صحيفة «نيويورك صن»، بأنّ «الوضع العسكري بين سوريا وإسرائيل متوتر والأجواء مضطربة بينهما».

وتخوّفت مصادر سورية من إمكان «شنّ إسرائيل حرباً لاستعادة هيبتها التي كسرتها حرب تموز الأخيرة وهزيمتها أمام حزب الله».

First Issue of The a-Rab Magazine

2007-09-09T10:13:00.000+03:00

Click here to view content.

Source

Israeli Jets Violate Syrian Airspace

2007-09-06T15:03:00.000+03:00

BBC Syria 'fires on Israel warplanes'

Syria says its air defences have opened fire on Israeli war planes which had entered Syrian airspace.

The action took place "without causing human or material loss", according to the official Syrian news agency, SANA.

The agency says Israeli jets entered Syrian airspace from the Mediterranean Sea heading northeast at dawn on Thursday, but were forced to leave.

Syria and Israel remain technically at war following the seizure by Israel of the Golan Heights in 1967.

الطيران الاسرائيلي يخرق الأجواء السوريّة

2007-09-06T15:00:00.000+03:00

سانا

وسائط دفاعنا الجوى تتصدى لطيران معاد اسرائيلى تسلل الى اجواء سورية وتجبره على المغادرة دون ان يلحق اى اضرار بشرية او مادية
الخميس, 06 أيلول , 2007 - 02:45

دمشق/ سانا..
صرح ناطق عسكرى بما يلى :

بعد منتصف ليل 6/9/2007 قام الطيران المعادى الاسرائيلى بالتسلل الى اجواء القطر العربى السورى عبر الحدود الشمالية قادما من جهة البحر المتوسط باتجاه المنطقة الشمالية الشرقية خارقا جدار الصوت وقد تم التصدى له من قبل وسائط الدفاع الجوى التى اجبرته على المغادرة بعد ان القى بعض ذخائره دون ان يتمكن من الحاق اى اضرار بشرية او مادية.

ان الجمهورية العربية السورية تحذر حكومة العدو الاسرائيلى من هذا العمل العدوانى السافر وتحتفظ لنفسها بحق الرد الذى تراه مناسبا

To Those Who Say Nationalism/Arabism Sucks

2007-09-06T00:41:00.000+03:00

Take That

وداع لن يُكتب لك

2007-09-05T00:31:00.001+03:00

أهلا فيك أخوي في المخيّمات

2007-09-03T17:07:00.000+03:00

كتيبة خمسة هي فرقة راب فلسطينية من مخيّم برج البراجنة في بيروت. تستطيعي أن تقرأي هذا المقال المنشور عنهم في جريدة الأخبار اللبنانية

هذه بضع أغاني لهم أفضّلها شخصيّا

سلّم عالكرمه, سلّم عالتينه

2007-09-02T15:12:00.000+03:00

سلام

2007-09-02T01:11:00.000+03:00

for the first time-ok second- through my blogging life, i could not write a single word about you.

بحب عرّفكن على يساري

2007-08-31T17:49:00.000+03:00

أعرف باسم شيت بالصورة من موقع الماي سبيس, تبادلنا بضع رسائل كي أحضر اجتماعاتهم في التجمع اليساري من أجل التغيير, لكنني لم أكن متحمّسة, وكم كنت مخطئة.

خلال الندوة القصيرة التي قدمتها عن العمال السوريين قام باسم بمداخله وقد أثار إعجابي بمنطقه الجدلي. اعتقد انه الوحيد الذي قد قام بمداخله حول ندوتي وقد أثار إعجابي, لا بل جعلني أفكر بما أظن. كان قد أضاف بعدا آخر للرؤية حول العنصرية, السورية منها واللبنانية, تجاه العمال السوريين, وقد كنت حقا عطشه لمعرفة المزيد.

تتبعت مقالاته, ووجدت له صفحة بأكملها لمقالات كتبها وقد نالت إعجابي جميعها, أعتقد أن عروبتي يساريّه :)

أرجو أن تنال هذه المقالات إعجابكنّ.

Anti-Crise Festival مهرجان بلا تأزيم

2007-08-29T20:16:00.000+03:00

click to see the program
Amal will be there singing, join them!

فيروز أبو جورج

2007-08-25T09:24:00.000+03:00

كانت الساعة الخامسة وأربعين دقيقة صباحاً
كانت دمشق تستيقظ بكسل
جالسة على حفة شرفة بيتنا
أنتظر أبو جورج ليقلّني الى بيروت

من زمن لم أرى صباحاً ورديّاً كهذا

سمعت هاتفي الخليوي ينادي فلسطين
هرعت الى الداخل
اخرجت حقائبي ونزلت

"صباح الخير أبو جورج..كيفك اليوم؟
"هلا

جلست بجانب أبو جورج وألقيت التحيّة على سيدتين جالستان في الخلف

داس أبو جورج على محرك البنزين وانطلق

بدأ صباحه
أشعل الراديو
ظلّت اصبع أبو جورج ضاغطة على محرك الابرة
ظلّت يده عالقه
باحثه
وجدها

"على جسر اللوزيّة

غنّت فيروز

مضت دقيقتين
سمعنا صوت رجل يريد أن يسرد لنا آخر الأخبار
تحرّكت يد أبو جورج على الفور
ظلّت اصبعه ثابته
مصممّه على العثور عليها
وجدها

"موعود بعيونك أنا

اشعل سيجاره

مضت دقيقتين آخرين
فتيات يغنّين مسحوق ما
تمتم أبو جورج وعادت اصبعه تبحث

"حبّيتك بالصيف

اهتزّ صوت فيروز
اختفى نهائيّا
ليحل محلّه صوت خشّة خالدة

رمى أبو جورج لفافته
رمى بثقل يده على زر الراديو
فتح النافذه

نظر اليّ
"الى الاشرفيه كذلك؟

Stop Internet Censorship

2007-08-23T06:07:00.000+03:00

Add this badge to your blog.

As a Syrian blogger, I call the Arab governments to stop banning sites, arresting bloggers for expressing their thoughts, and convicting sites' owners for published anonymous comments. Freedom of speech is a right for all.

Please spread the word.

Taken from Yazan

Freedom of Speech, Massacred and dragged through the streets of the Middle East

What is happening in the Arab World is scary.

Reading this, made me go into real melancholy.

And the fact that there was absolutely no publicity about it makes it even more painful. Why do we have to be so selective in what we chose to fight for. Why was Kareem on almost every single blog, all through his trial, and sentence. While I struggled to find any mention of Mohamed Rashed al-Shohhi's case. And was it not for Amira slipping me a link to this small roundup from Sami Ben Gharbia on GlobalVoices I would not have even heard about it.

While Egyptian blogger Kareem was on trial because of things he chose to write, Mohamed is sentenced to 1 year in prison and $13,600 fine for an anonymous comment on an online forum he happened to run. [You think there might be a connection with the decision to ban comments on Syrian sites earlier this month?! Hmmm...].

Mohamed is in prison, and he literally did not do ANYTHING.

It is not a blow at freedom of speech. No, this a serious well-planned decision that can only be described as mental-terrorism. This is not aimed to keep him from practicing his right to express himself (Again, the guy did not do anything), rather this is a warning to anyone who might even think of raising a voice. Whether against totalitarianism, corruption or repression... all of them are a common characteristic of our Arab World.

Again, in a very similar case, Kuwaiti blogger Bashar Al-Sayegh was arrested [He was released today] yesterday for an anonymous comment left on his forum.

If you read this, please help spread the word. Let's not be selective in what we chose to rally for.

The latest chunck of news coming from our Middle East does not look good.

Blogspot is still banned in Syria, contrary to earlier reports about the ban being lifted.

By decision from the Ministry of Communication, anonymous comments of Syrian sites are now illegal.

Wordpress is banned in Turkey.

UAE imprisons a webmaster and suspends the website over anonymous comments on his forum.

Kuwait detains a blogger over anonymous comments on his forum.

And, Egypt, Tunisia... Where to start exactly?!

Few Misconceptions about me

2007-08-21T11:41:00.000+03:00

I am not revolutionary, I am just expressive.

I am not a swinger, I just keep on searching.

I am no strong woman, I just get angry.

I am not an activist, I am just not neutral.

I don't keep on falling in love, I just write passionately, about everything.

I am not an open person, I just think "private" is common.

You can never know the blogger behind the blog.

What Journalism Cannot See

2007-08-20T05:02:00.000+03:00

I took this clip in Baddawi camp. We can see the youth of Nahr el Bared who organized themselves in the schools they are inhabiting at the moment, they called themselves: "Raji3oon" (We Will Return) – to Nahr el Bared.

The guy who is singing is a rapper from Nahr el Bared, and the other guy is a member of Al Kamanjati. He is a French guy.

I was keen to reflect the living soul in those who were displaced by the Lebanese Army, because Journals, articles, and research, do not reflect, deliberately, the good spirit of the wounded. Drama sells, that's how they see Palestine; dramatic!
That's how they are teaching us to defend our rights, promoting tears.

Well Palestine is a deep wound, but this wound will only be remembered through a smile, a song, and hope.

These people are an inspiration to my life, cause they managed to overcome the nostalgia, the anger, the i-am-not-sure-if-I-understand feeling, the loss of their families. The loss of home, Or an "idea" of home.

Hence they sing, they laugh, they still want to live, through this weird yet familiar feeling of pain.

You've shot them twice, once at their demolished camp, second at the host refugee camp.

Once with a rifle, second with a camera.

Look at them wholly.
It's all in them.
Don't sell their private tears.
And oversee the proud laughter.
Sing with them, their Palestinian song.

Live Beirut

2007-08-19T09:38:00.000+03:00

I don't know if this post would sound weird, but I was thinking yesterday that I am not having time for my own yet to say a proper goodbye to Lebanon…I still have a lot of work to do for the victims of Nahr el Bared, and help in the Syrian workers movie some are doing. I thought that telling people about the places I love in Lebanon might help in sustaining a living image of Lebanon instead of the wars, and its complex politics common image, a living image is not the night life everyone selfishly talks about; to live, is not to enjoy, but to listen. Hence I decided to talk about the places I love in Lebanon.

In Beirut, you would notice that it's divided, like any capitalist city, into high class places; Jymmaizah, some places in Monot street (Monot street is considered mostly visited by a lower class than Jymmaizah), and what is known as a leftist and activist area. I am not talking about a single place, but rather about a street or neighborhood.

If you are in Jymmayzeh, you'll find most of its places are pubs and some are clubs, which they are the same to me but with different designs. There is an old restaurant in which you can eat Arab food with more or less cheap price called Le Chef. There is also my favorite place ever in Lebanon, Al Azzaz café..it's expensive, but there is this guy who has an amazing voice and sings classic Arab music, the atmosphere is similar to the Syrian atmosphere, but people there dance, go Debkeh, and the owner of the place is one fun capitalist! Make sure you reserve your tables early on Saturdays and Fridays, 9:00 PM is a good time to go. They have the most delicious Arak, it is from the mountain and it's just outstanding-I LOVE Arak!

If you're going to Hamra, there are some westernized places, typically westernized that is, like De Prague , and there are simpler places with atmosphere, like Barometre and Ta2 Marbuta. You want to see the living Barometr? Go on Friday, you'll see the living Lebanon there. And go on Thursdays to Ta2 Marbuta, there's always a band singing. You can play Tawleh in Ta2 Marbuta..or see some playing. And there you'll see the activists in Lebanon, the ones who helped in the late July war, people who work in NGOs, leftists, and the like.

There is a place in Ashrafyeh called Leil Nhar, it opens 24/7 and it’s a new cool place. Oh and I forgot to mention an important thing, in Ta2 Marbuta, De Prague and in Lel Nhar, the internet is free of charge, make sure they give you the password and there you go on blogging ;-)

If you don’t want to eat in a restaurant and want to buy a cheap meal, you can go to Bliss street, there is this series of Bliss restaurants, sandwiches and Shawerma. On the same street, there is a famous place that sells ice cream, it's like Damer in Damascus. You can also ask about Barbar, cheap and delicious meals as well. They sell Mashawi sandwiches.

Ohh, on Fridays as well, there is poetry debate in a place called Jadal, it's an expensive place too, but it’s a cool atmosphere. You can see Lebanese poets over there, debating, and sometimes get narcissistic, it's pretty cool.

And finally, you must visit Dahya and Palestinian camps, they are all in the same area and you can take a long walk through them. If anyone is interested, drop me an email and I'll be happy to give you contacts' numbers and they'll show you around, and you'll be lucky if you got the chance to attend a discussion between Palestinian youth and revolutionary Palestinians who used to make operations in Occupied Palestine and the South. You'd be even luckier to get to live the Palestinian night; revolutionary music, they all sing together, smoke, smile and enjoy the dark night of no-electricity-in-Shatilla/Burj el Barajneh camps.

Keep in mind, the camps and Dahya are not galleries, they are places to be "lived" not "watched", you need to be a good listener, an observer. Many things you won't understand about living in the camp, it has its wonderful aspects, but also its pain. Try to get the music of Kateebeh Khamseh from the guys in Burj el Barajneh, they have two cool songs.

I am a classic woman, I don’t like to try many places, I stick to the places I feel comfortable at.

I think that's what I have to say about Beirut. Ohh, and if you're looking for a cheap place to stay, there is this hostel called "Lubnan el Akhdar", Green Lebanon, each bed costs 7$ or something. It's an old building, cool place.

Do not treat Beirut as a shopping Mall, nor as a whore, Beirut is an understandable city, you love it one moment and hate it in the other, but you get addicted to this very feeling about her, at the fighting soul in her.

Beirut is how you live her, inside.

I DID It

2007-08-18T13:31:00.000+03:00

On the 17^th. of August, Golaniya has managed to overcome one of the most psychological complexes in herself. She started bad, then went on fluently with her presentation.

On the 17^th. of August, Golaniya has made the most controversial presentation among the presenters; she was not overly supported, but rather thought provoking.

On the 17^th. of August, Golaniya has achieved another major success in her life, she trusts herself now, her readings, she trusts her mind.

On 17^th. of August, Golaniya won't be needing your pills anymore.

Many thanks to the bloggers and friends who encouraged me and to those who came to the presentation. Damn..i'm really something ;-)

Jurists Association Forms Committee to Defend Syrian Labors in Lebanon

2007-08-16T20:11:00.000+03:00

Sunday, August 12, 2007 - 06:20 PM

DAMASCUS, (SANA) – Syrian Jurists' Association in Damascus announced Sunday the formation of a committee to defend the Syrian workers' rights in Lebanon.

"In principle, we announce the formation of the Committee based on the nature of dealings between the two countries and movements between the two peoples without obstacles in light of the principles of the Declaration on human Rights approved by International and Arab labor organizations", A statement for the Association said.

It condemned violations against Syrian workers in Lebanon, calling on their families living in Lebanon to report on any breaches in this regard in order to defend and protect them.

Thawra-Mazen

Source

On Facebook

2007-08-16T10:37:00.000+03:00

My problem with facebook is not the privacy cliché everyone in Lebanon seems to mention when facebook is put on table. Aside from the fact that some conspiracy theory has made this site driven my 31 million people around the world, my case against it is rather different.

I am not sure about other countries, but in Lebanon it really has proven to me my theory on the "social" bond among the Lebanese activists, leftists; fake.

Ta2 Marbuta is not just a café, it is a must- to–visit place among "activists". People go to Baddawi, Shatila, and then get back to Ta2 Marbuta to chill. The idea of "chilling' must be among these very activists. It is like, I am activist because I am in the right place. I am an activist because I am among activists.

What's more sick to me really, is that while people are sitting next to each other, they log on to facebook and depend on this site to know more about the person who is sitting next to them, who live two blocks away from them.

Facebook has presented a new social school: you connect with people better, when you have facebook.

I think it is not just the privacy thing that is creepy, or the fact that some one out there wants to know your political view in a certain country, but how your social standards are being substituted with virtual advertising standards.

Of course, I am not saying that the "physical" is real and the "virtual" is not, this is a wrong concept. It is rather the "tools" you approach the virtual and the physical, make it real or not.

One of the things that makes me anti –social is that I prefer a walk with a person, sit on their home doorway, better than go to a pub or a café, where there is loud music, and lots of people. You always connect better when you listen on all levels.

So this facebook is really starting to annoy me that I am starting to believe in all this shit, I am starting to view someone's page to "know him better" where I can always call him instead.

I don't want to know him/her, it's better than to "think" I do.

Furthermore, I am finding myself questioning the concept of "activism". What is activism and how can one be an affective activist? Through facebook?

I am questioning activism on blogger, so facebook is hopeless case really. I think it is silly to find Azmi Bishara on facebook, he is not BTW, and he'll never be ;-)

But some famous comrades are there, and some famous bloggers as well. hmmmm, activists?

On another note, I am leaving Lebanon in two weeks, and I thought that I cannot close the account cause then I would lose contact with the people there. But I think before facebook, people actually miss each other, and they go nuts when they receive an email or a phone call. Now having them on facebook, it might lessen this privilege of "not checking on them every now and then". I think I am going to close the account.

I don't want to "know" nobody.

I don't want to "check" on nobody.

This way.

يوميّات سياسية

2007-08-14T03:58:00.000+03:00

يقيم التجمع اليساري من أجل التغيير ندوة حول مواضيع عدة راهنة في الشأن اللبناني. كان من المفترض ان تتكلم احدى صحفيات السفير عن العنصرية اللبنانية ضدّ العماّل السوريين, لكن بسبب عدم تأكيد مشاركتها يبدو أنني سأحل مكانها. قد علمت متأخرة عن مشاركتي, بالاضافة الى رهبتي من التكلم أمام الجموع, ترددت في المشاركة في البدء, أعتقد أنني حين سأصعد الى المنصة, سأرتبك, لكن لابأس

هنا برنامج الندوات

الدعوة عامة

Sexy Arabist Bloggeress

2007-08-14T01:33:00.000+03:00

She thought you're so beautiful.

She loved your Damascene dialect.

She loved the way you manage things.

You used to look back to check on her while walking

You used to follow her up stairs fleeing your friends

You always sat next to her, playing with her toes.

She thought you're so beautiful.

You told her she's a fighter.

She's sexy when angry.

She's the only activist, bloggeress you met so far.

She thought you had beautiful eyes

Damascene

Hommy eyes

She always waits for your call

She would run through the crowd

Outside

Not to miss a word you say

A breath you take

You thought she's pretty

Interesting

Zarifeh

She's the exotic one might want to explore

To land at her bed

Listen to her anger

Capture her soul

She thought she heard you smile

"I love you ya 7elou"

She heard you take a deep breath

"I can't make any promises"

She found home in your language

She would have fought for herself

To lose a battle

Is to win another

She thought you're so beautiful

She told herself

I can take it

He'll leave me

I am fine with it

I just want him next to me now

I want to listen to him laughing

never stop talking

Eating

Snoring

I just want to be alive now

She called him

She told him

She can't see him anymore

She's not the Arabist he thought she is

Nor the bloggeress

Nor the fighter

She's just a girl

Who's falling for you

For the home in you

You are so beautiful

On her way to Damascus

She met a Damascene guy.

Who is afraid of the Arabic language?

2007-08-13T15:30:00.000+03:00

Taken from Yaman

Enough people to drive Debbie Almontaser, aspiring principal of a new Arabic-themed public school in New York, out of her job. Almontaser was loosely “connected” (read: she shared office space) to a group that produced a benign t-shirt with the words “Intifada NYC” on them.

To certain anti-Arab organizations and individuals, “intifada” is something to fear. It is violent, it is terrorizing, and it is, apparently, unacceptable even to mention the word. In recent times the word has been connected to the Palestinian uprisings of the late 1980s and early 2000s, which have taken many different forms: cultural, artistic, literary, musical, political, military, violent, non-violent.

What these people do not understand, however, is that intifada, even while politically charged, is not necessarily a violent concept, nor does it come exclusively out of the ongoing Palestinian struggle against Israeli apartheid. In 1977, for example, Egypt saw what was termed the “bread intifada” in response to measures taken by then President Anwar Sadat to drastically increase the price of basic commodities. It was over a decade later that the term was commonly held to refer to the Palestinian uprising of the late 1980s.

While to those looking on from a distance “intifada” might only refer to the images seen on television, to those on the ground, its meaning has roots in an inspirational attitude and positive outlook that seeks to overturn an oppressive situation. It is the very essence of giving “power to the people,” of allowing the people to act when their interests are threatened. From that perspective, only those who fear change and justice are afraid of intifada, the concept. Fear of this concept, however, means fear of the American revolution, fear of the anti-slavery movement, fear of the civil rights movement, fear of the Vietnam era anti-war movement–in short, fear of everything that has ever helped change America for the better.

Intifada, as a concept, is one that has deep roots in oppressed sectors of American society. It is only when we call it by its Arabic name that we encounter these hysterical xenophobic attitudes. We should not pretend, anyway, that this current controversy is simply about the word “intifada.” In doing so we would be ignoring the fact that the Arabic language itself has become something worth fearing in the United States. Just last year, an Iraqi man was kicked off of a JetBlue flight (remember the name, boycott it) for wearing a t-shirt with the words “We will not be silent” in Arabic. It should not be difficult to see, then, that this is an affront to Arabs and the Arabic language as a whole, rather than the word “intifada” exclusively.

It is here that we step in to protect intifada, the concept, as well as “intifada,” the word. If intifada is something that can inspire youth in this country to organize within their communities in order to force the political system to work for them (for us), then intifada is something that we encourage in every corner of the United States. Furthermore, we will not call it dissent, we will not call it protest, and we will not call it activism–even though it encompasses all of these things. To resist the efforts by the right-wing and the popular media to demonize Arabs, Muslims, and other immigrants, we will call it by no other name: intifada it is, and in every community in this country, it will be.

The best way to achieve our political goals of pushing people to action, as well as our cultural goals of fighting fear of the Arabic language, is to increase both our political and cultural visibility. We have designed the t-shirt below with those goals in mind.

On the front, it reads:

“shake off the system that oppresses you!
(intifada in Arabic)
intifada u.s.a
act now for your community”

On the back, it reads:
“in*ti*fa*da (n)
an arabic word for ’shaking off,’ politically it refers to popular movements that seek to rectify an unjust situation, whether it be for affordable bread or equal political rights. the civil rights movement might have been called an intifada, if it happened on the other side of the world. is that so bad?”

These t-shirts have been designed with our overall project in mind and as such, proceeds will go towards funding our new publication, the a-Rab. To order this t-shirt, please follow this link to the same posting on the a-Rab’s website and follow the instructions at the bottom of the post (there are also larger versions there). If you agree with us, please share this post and this t-shirt with your friends. If you have suggestions for other ways of selling these t-shirts, please feel free to contact us at admin@a-rab.net.

Syrian Music: Itar Shama'

2007-08-11T14:32:00.000+03:00

You can upload the album here.

Statement on the Armenian Crisis in Lebanon

2007-08-10T09:39:00.000+03:00

الأرمن اللبنانيون مثلكم:

من أجل لبنان غير عنصري

نحن الموقّّعين أدناه نستنكر الخطاب العنصري الذي صدر عن أكثر من مصدر في فريق 14 شباط ضد الأرمن في لبنان. وللتذكير، فإنّ ذلك الفريق هو الذي سبق أن صدع رؤوسنا بشعارات الحرية والديمقراطية بعد أن كال العبارات العنصرية ضدّ "بائعي الكعك" (السوريين)، وغضّ الطرف عن ضرب العمّال السوريين (بناة "إعمارنا الجديد" شاءوا أم أبوا) وعن إحراق خيمهم، وأطلق التصنيفات الطائفية والطبقية عن "النوعية" الفريدة و"الكمية" النافلة.

إنّ الكلام الأخير الذي صدر عن الأستاذ أمين الجميّل (الرئيس الأعلى لحزب ذي باع طويل في العنصرية والطائفية) كان صريحا، وكان مهينا بحقّ كلّ الأرمن اللبنانين، لا بحقّ الطاشناق (الحليف التاريخي لحزب الكتائب) وحده. واللعبة الطائفية والعنصرية، أيّا كان مستخدمها، قد ترتدّ على ممارسها بالسوء، ويجب من ثمّ أن يكون الخطاب السياسي بعيدا عنها في جميع الأحوال، حفاظا على ما تبقّى من "الديمقراطية التوافقية" الهشّة والكاذبة في لبنان.

أما أدعياء "الاعتدال" و"الوساطة" أمثال الأستاذ نسيب لحود، فإنّ دعوتهم المواطنين الأرمن إلى "الحياد" إزاء استحقاقات انتخابية وطنية تنمّ عن عقلية تمييزية هي الأخرى لأنها تستبطن اعتبارهم غير لبنانيين، أو مواطنين من الدرجة الثانية في" أفضل" الأحوال.

وأما كلام الأستاذ غبريال المرّ عن الأرمن فهو كلام يحاكم عليه القانون في غير دولة في أوروبا، التي ما انفكّ أقطاب 14 شباط مسحورين بديمقراطيتها. وكلمة "طارئين" البشعة التي صدرت عنه (وعن الجميّل) هي الكلمة عينها التي استخدمها النازيون ضدّ اليهود قبل "الهولوكوست" ( المحرقة) وأثناءها.

إنّ ما حصل مؤخّرا ليس حدثا عابرا يمكن طمسه باعتذار يقدّمه إلى الأرمن زعيم طائفي وعنصري وطبقي معروف بحربائيته وانتهازيته، وإنما هو فصل من سيرورة طائفية وعنصرية تخترق المجتمع اللبناني من أقصاه إلى أقصاه، وتطاول السوري والفلسطيني والكردي والمصري والسوداني والسيريلانكي والاثيوبي والأريتري والفيليبيني والروسي... وكلّ من لا يستظلّ بظلال "حضارتنا" المتفوّقة. وعليه، فإنّ المنشود أولا هو إدانة شاملة للخطابات والأفعال العنصرية في لبنان. و المطلوب، ثانيا وعلى المستوى الأعمق والأشدّ أثرا، تثقيف لبناني مدرسي عامّ بوضع الأرمن وبجرائم الإبادة التي تعرّضوا لها، وبأوضاع الجاليات والإثنيات والشعوب المقهورة، وبخاصة تلك التي ألجأتها ظروف الاضطهاد والفقر والاحتلال إلى بلدنا.

الموقّعون:

د. سماح إدريس

د. أسعد أبو خليل

د. كيرستن شايد

جولانية

Syrian Music: Anas and Friends

2007-08-10T06:06:00.000+03:00

Happy birthday Yazan ;-)
This is the link to this folder, i think you can upload the music.
soon i'll upload Itar Sham3.

ليش بتحلق دقنك؟

2007-08-09T22:44:00.000+03:00

خليك هيك

بتوجع

مغادرة باب الهوى

2007-08-09T10:46:00.000+03:00

So here I am, in the bus that will take me to Turkey, taking a major step towards my autonomy from myself, my routin, and the common Syrian/family pattern. I knew I am going to be a "tourist" someday, but I never thought it would be that soon. I know that the campaign life has affected my character in a way that made me less a hesitant person, more adventurous and daring.

The Turkish visa costs for 15 days 1500 S.P. (30 $). And the trip to Adana costs 800 S.P. if you wish to go by plane it will cost you 19 000 S. P.

I went by a bus company named HAS which is part of HERSHO's office in Harasta.

I have been nagging about my trip to Turkey for so long frightened at the thought that I am going to spend 30 hours in a bus, I took Azmi Bishara's novel "Love in the Land of Shades", and I took Delueze book "Kafka and Minor Literature" which made me quiet better during the trip.

Since I am a girl and alone, I had the privilege to sit in the front seats of the bus, my seat's number was 1. A little girl sat next to me and she was crying, apparently her father sat next to a man on our right. I asked her if everything is alright, she nodded.

She and I became friends when her little pinky back bag fell down and I picked it up and hanged it to the chair. She smiled at me and told me the story of her life:

- I don't want to leave Syria, we are going to Romania now, and stay there for a whole year! I hate Romania, I don't even know why I have the Romania passport, I should have a Syrian passport, I am Syrian!

- Why are you Romanian?

- My mother is Romanian and my father works there. We always spend the summer at Syria, at Teta's (grandma). But these three months don't last for too long, unlike ugly Romania's everlasting years.

- So you want to be in Syria for your grandma?

- Yes! She loves me very much, she loves me more than my brothers, I hate the Romanian grandma; she loves my brothers more than me!

It was fun at first to hear children's stories, but the story of grandma lasted for 30 hours and I am not sure if I like grandma anymore.

Arriving at the Syrian Turkish borders, we Syrians are to pay 500 S. P for leaving the Syrian lands. (which I am ok with if it goes to good cause-schools, medication, reviving the suburbs for instance).

Then we arrived at the Turkish borders, they made us get out of the bus, open our luggage, and each should stand next to her/his luggage holding the passport.

I think the Turkish officer made me a favor when he overlooked the two bottles of Arak he found in my bag, while he took two boxes of Rabi' tea from another passenger. I felt sorry for the guy, but even in Turkey, girls have secret passports ;-)

Now I am officially in Turkey, we went to Antakya, I met some wonderful people there, they spoke Arabic, and the owner of the rest kept calling me "mama" in a parenting way. They were very caring and protective since I was a lady and alone, I felt as if I was in Syria. I mean, they ARE Syrian! Plus they were pretty conservative; one of the waiters told me to go inside were women sit (if I want he asked). I thanked him insisting to sit next to men outside where it is not as hot as inside. Inside and as I am heading to a bathroom (you pay money for entering a bathroom in Turkey) a lady told me not to speak to strangers especially if I am alone. These incidents kept happening to me by both men and women: "are you here alone? With friends you said? You father is ok with that?" I mean, that was really weird for a country that tries to assimilate to a European state rather than its own context. I honestly liked the fact that it is conservative, but I hate the way people think they have the right to intervene my privacy; it is similar in Syria and other societies where masculine mentality dominates ;-)

The bus arrived in Istanbul at 6 AM, and I had a fight with the company car driver who supposed to put me in a place near the hostel Andre booked us in. when the driver left me alone, I went to ask a police officer, but he doesn't speak English nor Arabic. It took me a while to get the number of the Turkish operator, I called it to ask about the hostel's address, but the operator didn't speak English either. Then I called poor Andre whom was asleep. I wrote down the address. At that stage I was pretty much scared and panicked as a little girl who lost her mommy.

I found the hostel and took a long hot shower- I am still having daily showers after these 60 hours via bus.

At first, I was literally amazed by Istanbul, I mean after the 30 hours trip, no sleep, no good meal, I took a shower and took my camera and started to take pictures. Andre booked us in Sultan Ahmed area. A very very touristy area 7akeem.

Then I started to dislike it, and I kept nagging at Andre: "this is a very westernized city, where are the Turks? All I can see is tourists! Lots of them, I hate tourists!!". I mean, I never knew that I even nag, I have no idea how Andre and Jeff could put up with my constant nagging.

So we spent the first two days wandering "civilization", monuments and stones that is. As my pictures show, I am the kind of tourist who finds human beings exotic and interesting, in fact, I find locals fascinating, as opposed to boring tourists. Andre and Jeff made friends with some of the tourists in the hostels, I always find my way up to the roof instead. It is not a conscious decision really, I just have different definition to the word "interesting". Plus, I know I am anti-social.

We went to many places, which were normally full of tourists, so I was literally chasing Turks: "Marhaba, I am from Syria, can I take a picture of you please?". You always guarantee a picture if you're Syrian ;-)

One of the interesting places we went was Princes Islands, which I found pretty much secular compared to the conservative Istanbul, Antakya and Adana. I asked who are the minorities who live in the Island assuming it is not the majority, an old lady sat next to me in a café there told me that the Christians and the Jews live here with Muslims. In fact, I saw two men wearing the sixth star on their neck, the reason I thought this is a minority area.

Apart form the place and its people, what I really liked about Istanbul, is not Istanbul. But the type of discussion Andre, Jeff and I had during these four or five days. In my stay in Lebanon there was no really a discussion but kind of info-feedback, or a historical political repetitive discussions. In Syria, me and my best friends who are now in Paris and in Dubai used to have these kind of critical discussions towards daily details, Andre and Jeff reminded me of my>>>self!

I've learned a lot about myself during this trip, that even though I don't like touristy places and areas, my eagerness to meet locals makes me a typical tourist.

I learned that I really don't like to socialize.

I learned that I nag a lot.

I learned that I hate monuments.

I learned that essential part of me in Lebanon is missing. And fairly, part of me in Syria doesn't show when I go there.

I learned that i need to be careful of what i take for granted.

I learned that home can be in a person.

الحب

2007-08-08T10:58:00.000+03:00

اصغاء
فحسب

التدوين

2007-08-08T10:56:00.001+03:00

هو محاولة بائسة للاختفاء

In Order to Overcome the "Us/Them" Division

2007-08-08T09:51:00.000+03:00

You need to recognize it first.