Anti-regime demonstrations reportedly erupted last week among the Alawite inhabitants of the coastal city of Lattakia. Demonstrators were apparently frustrated with Bashar al-Assad’s style of leadership which, from the perspective of many Alawite, is allowing for the erosion of their power and control over the state, raising the specter of potential Sunni domination in the minds of many, with all the acts of vendetta that such a state of affairs is perceived to entail. For this reason, demonstrators reportedly hoisted pictures of Bashar’s uncle, the one and only Rifa’at Al-Assad, the champion of the bloody crackdowns of the early 1980s. Bashar’s brother-in-law and chief of security, the illustrious General, Assef Chawkat, is said to be taken charge of the crackdown. Scores have reportedly been arrested. Continue reading “In the Last Few Days…”
Category: Democracy & Human Rights
Unwanted Attention
Newsweek Jun 10, 2007 8:00 PM EDT
In the two years since he started writing political commentary on his Web site, Syrian blogger Ammar Abdulhamid has called President Bashar Assad a thug, a dictator, Mr. Bean, the village idiot and Fredo Corleone—the bumbling mob-family brother from “The Godfather.” A 41-year-old novelist and the son of Syria’s most-celebrated screen actress, Abdulhamid wants Assad’s regime replaced by an elected government. Like hundreds of other dissidents in the Arab world, he began blogging with bluntness during a brief window of liberalization that opened after the U.S. invasion of Iraq. But geography sets him apart: Abdulhamid writes from his home outside Washington, D.C., having been forced into exile by the Syrian government in 2005. In recent months, he has watched as regimes from Tunisia to Iran jailed bloggers and intimidated others into ditching their keyboards. Now he’s working with another Arab blogger to establish a group to protect the dissenters. “If the regimes are allowed to shut us out of the blogosphere, we have nothing left,” he tells NEWSWEEK. Continue reading “Unwanted Attention”
Updates
Preparations for the Freedom Rally are proceeding as they should. We wouldn’t know, however, how many people will turn out right until the final moment. The rally will take place on Saturday May 26th, 12-2 pm in front of the Syrian Embassy in Washington, D.C., and to be specific, right on 2215 Wyoming Ave., N.W. There will be some media coverage involved as well. Hopefully, it will be worse it, if not, well, at least we have tired to do something. Continue reading “Updates”
How does it work?
How does the regime manage to get so many thousands of people to take part in its sham “popular” demonstrations of support to the President? Well, take the candle light vigil, for instance, in which a reported 50,000 students took part, though actual on the grounds estimate put the number at 20,000 only. All the authorities had to do in this case was to collect the ID of the students from different Syrian university all over the country, the IDs they have to sue in order to gain entrance to the exams hall, and voila. Continue reading “How does it work?”
The Ammar Abdulhamid Archive 