Heretical Democracy!

I was recently asked, both as “an activist and a thinker,” how I would choose to define certain basic terms such as democracy and civil society. Well, below is my attempt at defining democracy, comments and corrections are appreciated:

Democracy is a system of governance that is meant to facilitate continuous interplay and negotiations, both direct and indirect, between various interest groups, regardless of how they are defined, be it on the basis of ethnicity, religion, tribe, gender, profession, sexual orientation and/or age, within the framework of a specific entity, state and/or a region, with the aim of achieving: 1) a greater respect for the basic human rights and freedoms of all, 2) a periodic, peaceful and transparent transfer of power, 3) rule of law, and 4) public accountability. Continue reading “Heretical Democracy!” →

Euphoria Turns to Panic!

For all the blows that the Mehlis investigation has supposedly received and for all those commentators so willing to declare that the French and Americans have backed off for now, leaving the door open for a potential deal with the regime, the popular mood in Syria has grown grim once again.

The stories propagated by the “recantant witness” seem like distant memories now. Their chief protagonist seems to have already sunk back into oblivion. The euphoria he inspired seems to have dissipated all too quickly, somehow. But then, it was never really a genuine expression of anything other than despair. Continue reading “Euphoria Turns to Panic!” →

A Necessary Euphoric Phase!

After so many weeks of depression, it is only natural now that the news regarding the impeding cooperation with the UN probe will be greeted with much euphoria at this stage. People need it. Yes, and despite developments such as the about-face made by one of Mehlis’s chief witnesses, there is nothing to suggest yet that the crisis is over. Even if Assef and Maher are not among the people to be interviewed at this stage, what does this really signify? The fat lady cannot sing until Mehlis has submitted his final report on December 15. Continue reading →

Time for the Big Names!

In this particular time when the Syrian regime looks like it is having a field day of activities and demonstrations coming out in its support, one of the worst things that could happen to it and which could come as a slap in the face that could help so many people snap out of their fear-induced coma, is for a group of well-known Syrian artists, including actors, singers and painters to come out and say: enough is enough. We won’t stand idle while our country is being led to an abyss. We won’t let our leaders put their particularistic interests above the national interests.

Continue reading “Time for the Big Names!” →