JERUSALEM (CNN) — Logging onto Facebook as a resident in the Golan Heights, should you enter Syria or Israel as your home country? … “We deal with the listings for disputed territories on a case-by-case basis, and with Golan Heights we decided a dual listing made sense in this instance.”
Reaction from Syria is likely to be muted according to Syrian scholar, Ammar Abdulhamid. He told CNN that Facebook and other social networking sites have already been banned in Syria. “The Syrian government has really taken a strong stance on Internet activism and social networking sites,” he said. Continue reading “Facebook gets caught in Golan Heights dispute”
Category: Activism & Advocacy
Syria’s Democracy Activist on Moving Toward Peaceful Revolutions
By Anna Skibinsky, Epoch Times Staff
WASHINGTON—Ammar Abdulhamid’s views on modernizing Syria sound more like revolutionary solutions for most of the Arab world. Not surprisingly then, the activist, democracy spokesperson, and scholar hasn’t been allowed in his home country of Syria since 2005. Continue reading “Syria’s Democracy Activist on Moving Toward Peaceful Revolutions”
First Step, Series Conclusion: A call for democratic change in Syria!
The following is the summary provided at the end of the 6th Episode of First Step, a reportage program produced by the Tharwa Foundation in 2009 to promote the cause of peaceful democratic change in Syria. I conceived the show after reviewing the YouTube videos prepared by our in-country activists showing the daily realities that people in Syria have to content with. the videos justified my faith in the possibility and necessity of the revolution, and that helped ut this summary together. The real heroes, of course, are the activists who risked their freedom and their lives to provide the videos. Continue reading “First Step, Series Conclusion: A call for democratic change in Syria!”
Their Audacity to Hope
Brave individuals who challenge the status quo in authoritarian societies—and expect our support
Mention in the Wall Street Journal
Mr. Muravchik might have said more about why Western states should support liberals, in all their vulnerability. Take the Syrian dissident Ammar Abdulhamid. Audacious and articulate, Mr. Abdulhamid abandoned a life of privilege in Syria (he is the son of a famous actress) and chose exile in the U.S. so that he could give full force to his criticism of the Assad regime. Yet like many of those described by Mr. Muravchik, he has committed himself to a liberal ideal, and sacrificed a great deal, in return for very little so far. When Western governments revert to so-called reasons of state — where “realism” and supposed self-interest often triumphs — Middle Eastern liberals become a vanguard easily discarded.
The Ammar Abdulhamid Archive 