This blog started in November 2012, about one year and a half into the Revolution. My two indexes or guides to this blog: https://alisariram.wordpress.com/index-guide-to-contents-poetry-art-and-videos/ https://alisariram.wordpress.com/index-guide-to-contents-articles-documentations-damage-to-antiquities-images-reflections/ (see black area above) do not refer to them. I am adding them so as not to leave a gap between the start of the Revolution and the beginning of this blog. They cover the period from June 2011 to November 2012.
We mourn
by Alisar Iram on Tuesday, June 7, 2011 We mourn all those who died and who are dying. As death visits the Syrian towns and villages one after another, welook in anguish and our agony mounts. All those young men whether rebels or soldiers could have served a free just Syria well. Some people are afraid that the calls for freedom might lead to terrible things, but terrible things are already happening under the very eyes of the world and were happening when the world was not looking. Half solutions are what they are, half solutions and will come back to haunt us. All I hope for is that the protesters will always remember that they are fighting first of all and last of all for Syria. While serving Syria they cannot serve any other master, for Syria is liberty is justice is dignity is Human Rights embodied
The land of forgetfulness
by Alisar Iram on Wednesday, June 22, 2011 The President seems to live in another world, the land of oblivion. He is very slow to grasp the bitter realities of the situation, as if in grasping them he will be caught by the full tragedy of Syria at the moment, a tragedy his family has been writing and enforcing for the last fifty years or so. It is as if he is burying his head in the sands, hoping against hope it will all go provided he ignores the dire implications of it all and dismiss most of the protesters as saboteurs, vermin or Salfis. He moves at a snail’s pace while the country is running a veritable marathon towards either destruction or fragmentation, or, by a miracle, towards the safety of a new era of enlightenment and shared equitable governance. Towards, we pray, liberty reconciliation and hope. What he does not seem to understand is that blood has been shed, that most of the slain are innocent unarmed civilians including children? He fails to come to terms with this simple terrible truth: somebody should be made accountable, if not the President, then those who are responsible in his family, not to mention the army and the security forces. And what about the notorious security forces, the private militias and Shabiha who are on the rampage murdering and raping? Why didn’t the president mention them? What reforms can take place under the shadow of death, with the plague of torture, imprisonment and degradation raging relentlessly? Reforms under the threat of annihilation? Reform or die? Gone are the days when the Syrians died in vain, simply vanished, or were forced into exile.
The Syrian Government attempts to smear the reputation of Hama
by Alisar Iram on Saturday, July 9 (The foreign ambassadors went to visit Hamma in order to see the demonstrations for themselves. The reaction of the regime,) The visit by the American and the French ambassadors to Hama on No Dialogue Friday was manipulated by the so-called patriotic regime of Syria most shamefully and shrewdly in order to cast doubt on the brave people of Hama and smear their heroic struggle for freedom and human rights. Valliant Hama revisited by death, devastation and suffering became the scene of the latest ploy in the infamous stage-managed strategy of the Syrian regime to blacken and distort the reputation of the Syrian Revolution. One Arab participant in a dialogue broadcast at Al-Jazeera yesterday went as far as to say that the visit of the American Ambassador to Hama has shrouded the city and its people in the mantle of shame, which can only be redeemed by what? Another uprising against the uprising so that the honour of the Hamwis can be saved? What a load of rubbish. Did the people of Hama invite the ambassadors to visit them? Were they intentionally weaving a conspiracy and begging the West to interfere, they who like the rest of the revolutionaries have made it very clear that they do not need or want any help from the outside world which might jeopardise their sacred quest for freedom. At the start, the Syrian regime told the world that the demonstrators were nothing but armed hooligans and gangs rising against their lawful government, and then they were upgraded to infiltrators (mundasseen) and Salfis in the employment of foreign governments, only to be dismissed scornfully as vermin and losers, but now, and that is the beauty of it, they are traitors. Hama, the killing fields of the Assad regimes, Hama which has paid a terrible price but has risen again Phoenix-like from its ashes, is now the churning caldron of treachery, we are asked to believe, working for the foreign powers and scheming against Syria. This is a twisted sick logic in the mouths of the real traitors who have betrayed their trust, their country and its immemorial history. They are the custodians who have committed the unthinkable crime, the heinous evil of murdering their charges. Let us travel to Syria and see what is happening in the mind’s eye. City after city, town after town, village after village , hamlet after hamlet were visited, have been visited , are being visited by the Syrian army, the security forces, by the Mukhabarat, by the Shabbeha, by private militias of every kind, the Ba’athi militias among them – all happening in secrecy under the shroud of darkness, the darkness of the deeds and the darkness of concealment. No efforts were spared in order to keep Syria closed to the outside world, sealed off, forbidden. The only journalists allowed are those of the regime, while all foreign and Arab journalists are strictly banned. The rebels have broken the walls of silence and fear, but their version of the truth, as pricy and difficult as it is to bring to the attention of the world in terms of untold hardships and the risk of inviting upon themselves the most dire retaliations by the authorities, remains, especially on the ground, mostly amateurish and unprofessional and in need of verification, a reality which the regime is exploiting roguishly. In the unfolding tragedy of the heroic fallen cities of Syria, south north east west, Hama has remained a thorn in the side of the regime and the need for a more drastic action, perhaps similar to that taken against Hama in the eighties , began to brew spilling its evil intentions in the advancement of the troops towards the city, in the flagrant show of strength by the Syrian army and finally in the massing of forces outside Hama in order to besiege it in readiness for the onslaught. These manoeuvres began to trouble the world conscience greatly. Apprehension ripened and real fear of another massacre in Hama drove all the Rights organisations and the world humanitarian agencies to voice their grave concerns. Many felt that a concerted effort was gravely needed in order to avert yet another catastrophe in the same location. The feeling that they have let down the rebelling populations of similar revolting Syrian cities, like Dera’a for instance, was weighing heavily upon them. So the French and the American ambassadors decided to go and see for themselves. We all keep criticising the big powers, and rightly so, for their inaction, their dithering uncertainties, and most of all for their lack of moral fibre, not to omit their pragmatism and lack of ethical codes of behaviour. The fact that the ambassadors did go despite the risks involved, and they were many, showed courage at least. Doesn’t the Syrian government portray the demonstrators as armed gangs, as marauders and murderers, as saboteurs? Therefore, to travel to the beleaguered city and plunge into the eye of the volcano without the protection of the host country did demand a certain amount of daring. They had no guarantee that they would not be harmed, and let us be frank about it, no Syrian or Arab loves the Americans. The Fact that they were well received and no harm befell them told the whole world a great deal of truths about the real nature and objectives of the quest for freedom in Syria, about the youths spearheading it and their readiness to sacrifice their lives for it. But where were the Arab ambassadors? It is with great pain and regret that I have to say that no Arab Ambassador representing his government or himself showed a similar wish to throw himself in the burning pit in an attempt to thwart or bear witness to the ordeal of the doomed ancient city of Hama. What did the ambassadors find in Hama? Where were those cut- throat monoesters they and we kept hearing about? Instead they came face to face with peaceful demonstrators burning with the love of their country and shouting themselves hoarse in the pouring of tireless indefatigable streams of slogans, refrains, and mantras which were passionately inscribing their anthem to freedom in the air. The young men, children and women marching were carrying tree branches, ancient symbols of peace, and red roses, emblems of the blood spilled to preserve life free. Those who saw the ambassadors’ cars approaching, who felt at that instant that the world after all has not forgotten them, in a traditional impulsive act of generosity threw some of their harvest of flowers on the cars as a sign of welcome. At that critical moment, the ambassadors were their guests and in a culture which honours its guests that was the right thing to do. Politics has nothing to do with it. I do not know what the two ambassadors felt at that moment, but trusting in the human nature as I do, I would like to imagine that they had been purified by the momentous event, that they were stripped of the, paraphernalia of power and all political ambitions or interests for a while, so that they might enjoy a crystal-clear feeling of brotherhood and common humanity as they heard the immortal call for liberty and justice resound and soar high up to heaven all around them. Hama did not betray Syria. The Hamwis are not traitors. They are makers of foredoom. What we want from the West is not interference and the use of their might in defence of our freedom. That we can do ourselves no matter what it takes, regardless of the costs. What we want from the world and the West in particular, is to help us uphold the great values of mankind, our common inheritance of ethics which demands that great causes like the struggle for emancipation and human dignity should be supported and embraced regardless of self-interest and dreams of world domination. What we want from the West, which has so far betrayed and destroyed most of our aspirations and most cherished dreams, is to unlearn its dark past, to relinquish its elaborate twisted strategies and schemes, to shed its sinister skin, its greed and ravenous appetite for control in order to emerge as an honest broker and a true champion of liberty. Perhaps the Arab Spring can teach the West and America a new humility and arouse in them the desire to re-embrace their great heritage of human and political values, to reinterpret their endless struggles for civil liberties in the light of the whole, the universal. The message this time should be liberty and dignity for all, justice and equal opportunities for mankind at large.
Anonymous
25 July 2011 The return of the Egyptians to the street is a cause of celebration. Syria in the street has proven unstoppable but Syria and Egypt in the street are formidable, a tidal wave that will not come to rest until it has reached its ultimate destination. The fact that both revolutions are leaderless, is a cause for great optimism not, as their enemies are trying to prove, a recipe for disaster. The Arab experience with narcissistic, vainglorious, self worshiper presidents of every kind, especially the mass murdering, homicidal kind, is such in its historical ferocity and horror that if the Arab world decides to dispense of any future heads of states altogether, they would merit no blame. The strength and the genius of both revolutions is that the street is the real leader. In other words Multitudinous Anonymous ( Al-Jamaheer Bila Ism) is the leader in both revolutions. Anonymous spans the full spectrum of the society, men women children in all walks of life and professions. Multitudinous Anonymous does have a parliament: the Parliament of the street. Workers, peasants, shopkeepers, housewives, students, school children, writers, artists, lawyers, doctors, government employees, Human Rights activists, etc, are the joint members of this parliament. Alisar Iram
Elite
November 2011 To my misfortune I have had a firsthand experience with some of those who are typical of the Syrian elite, who have turned a village like Kura Al-Assad, an affluent suburb of Damascus, into something like a medieval principality, confiscating public land, breaking building regulations, appropriating underground water illegally in order to build the perfect palaces and feed Olympic -style sumptuous pools stretching languidly amidst vast green lawns. The fact that squandering water resources in a country where water is scarce and the poor have to pay for their drinking water is of no consequence. Their armies of servants, gardeners, drivers and security guards, provided by the government and allowed to block the public paths, multiply daily as fear of the revolution sets in. I can only compare their life-styles, their lifestyles of decadence, excess, cloying pretences and self-indulgence while those who serve them are almost starving, while the Syrians are being murdered, to a dance macabre. This is the country their greed, obscene self-indulgence and profiteering have turned into a graveyard for the many thousands of protesters, children, youths and men and women. Living there, I watched their antics and those of their kind with harrowing grief and boiling anger because they were dragging Syria into the bottomless pit. Who are they, the so called elite of Syria? Who heaved them up to the top so that from their heights of infamy they can unscrupulously monopolize the limited resources of their country and amass its wealth ruthlessly, oblivious to the sufferings of those whom they have despoiled and robbed? Who are they who thrive on corruption, deceit and exploitation, continuously breaking the law because they are above the law? Who are they who populate the affluent districts and suburbs of Damascus and the Wadi Barada, like Kura Al-Assad and Yafour. I was bedazzled when I saw some of the palaces and ranches of Yafour. I could not believe that I was actually in Syria. An Arabian Nights world opened up to me at the sight of so much wealth and fabulous affluence. Certainly that was not Syria where the majority of the population eke a meagre living and can hardly feed their children, where the university graduates, the intellectuals and the think- tank of the country, thosw who are not bought by the system, lead lives of hardship and continuous toil deprived of self-expression and the right to voice their opinions or share in the governance of their country?. So who are they, those so called elite shut up in their palaces and infernal paradises? A sizable percentage of them are members of the ruling family, their supporters, sympathizers, disciples and acolytes – those who flatter win. Then there are the crème de la crème of the army and security forces commanders and generals, the corrupt government officials, those who are not corrupt do not live in palaces, and the big industrial and commercial barons who thrive on exclusive monopolies and contracts mostly granted not on merit but on services rendered. Let them dance while they can because this is their last dance.
Held to Ransom between two nightmares
Alisar Iram 13 November The Syrian Revolution with all the odds against it must also contend with the nightmare of a dithering Arab League and that of an opposition which seems to be oblivious to its priorities while discussing semantics and engaging in a virtual reality of its own. There is no lack of reassuring statements and revelations which keep dispensing promises of a unified front that never materializes. The Arab League is caught up in The Arab disease of agreeing not to agree and uniting behind disunity, while the Syrian Opposition is suffering from the old Syrian political afflictions of narcissism, self-centred righteousness, arrogance and the inability to sacrifice the particular for the universal. This is terribly and tragically sad, not to say suicidal. The very ground is collapsing beneath the Syrian landscape and terrible disasters are looming above the horizon- even if we choose to forget about the dead, the maimed and the incarcerated- such as starvation, a winter of deprivation and untold suffering for the protesters and their families, not to mention homelessness and uprootedness , yet the debates go on unabated and unresolved in a parallel universe inhabited by the likes of the Syrian President. The rest of the world hesitates although many countries are ready to extend help, they hesitate because they do not have a clear vision or even a myopic one of what might happen after the collapse of the regime. Before implicating themselves, the rest of the world needs from the Opposition a coherent trustworthy vision of things to come because of the threats and dangers involved. They want to be assured that tyranny is not going to be replaced by anarchy and state lawlessness is not going to find a substitute in a complete collapse of law and order. I do not know what many other people truly believe, but I mostly see an opposition split among many factions: the insiders, the veterans who believe they have an exclusive right to preside over, the expatriates who are resentfully regarded as false prophets, the Islamits, the advocates of secularism, etc, etc. Therefore forgive me if my disgust and contempt boil within me. And forgive me if I stand in judgement over the deadly shortcomings of an Opposition that cannot trade sophistry, endless banality and platitudes for life and dignity for the Syrian people.
The Deafening Silence: I am Ashamed of You
1 August 2011 I am ashamed of you, my silent fellow Syrians. I am ashamed of you in silent Damascus and ashamed of you in silent Aleppo. I am ashamed of you in Abu Rumanna, and in Al-Maliki, in Al-Adawe and in the Omayyad Square, in Baghdad Street and Al-Rawda, I am ashamed of you in Qasyoun and Dummar, I am ashamed of you in Kura Al-Assad and in Yafour. I am ashamed of you in still Aleppo, in all the silent streets and districts I cannot name because I have not visited them.Your country is being invaded. Your government and your army are invading your country. How say you? Or have you terminally lost your voices? What kind of disease has afflicted you with both blindness and deafness? They are dying, your fathers, your mothers, they are dying. Your sisters and brothers are dying. Your children and babies are dying. What is wrong with you? You have surrendered your sacred birthrights a long time ago and lived in the shame of your humiliation, licking the boots of your oppressors, looking furtively over your shoulders lest your masters fail to see how obedient and servile you are. Listen, even now at this very moment, to the cries of the wounded and the dying, they are tearing the heart of silence. Listen, In the Syria which you dare not contemplate or gaze at with your naked eyes of servility, In that raging chanting Syria, they are exposing their chests to the bullets and the tank fires so that Syria can be lifted from the pits of darkness into the light, into freedom. Who are you and what are you. I do not see you anymore because the disgrace of your silence is shrouding you in the invisibility of shame. I am ashamed of you. As long as it is happening in Homs, it does not matter. In Hama? Hama is always in trouble. In Dara? It is immoderate. In Latakia? It is problematic. In Deir Alzor? It is distant, praise be to God. In Al-Rastan, In Idlib, in Jisr Al-Shughour, the sleepy villages, in the mountain groves, in …in…What is wrong with you in Damascus and Aleppo? Your silence is louder than the shattering clamour of exploding bombs. Has it occurred to you that you do not have to take part in the demonstrations to show where you stand? The ways of nonviolence and peaceful resistance are many and mighty. Ghandi brought down the British Empire not by the gun but by the spirit. Millions followed him along his bloodless path. Declare a general strike, embrace civil disobedience. You do not have to go into the streets to stand firm behind your violated cities and massacred brothers and sisters. Your cities are being sacked all over the country, your holies are being desecrated, your civil rights eroded under the feet of the Shabiha, your Human Rights (what are these?), Your destiny, (you have none), all and more are disintegrating, but where are you? Thinking about how to stock for Ramadan, what dishes and desserts you are going to put on the table. Tomorrow and the day after tomorrow you will go to your offices and shops as normal, You will lower your heads and burry your eyes in the ground as usual, you will smile suspiciously at your neighbours as usual, you will choose and purge your words as usual, even exchange harmless jokes as usual, then you will rush back home to the safety of your four wall as usual. It is quiet in quiet Damascus; it is deafeningly quiet in mute Aleppo. No cause for alarm. Do not worry. It is calm, universally calm in silent Damascus and universally calm in Aleppo. So sink your heads in the sands, docile meek well behaved ostriches and think of the feasts of Ramadan. I am ashamed of you my fellow citizens.
Why do they want to Sacrifice the Syrians for Syria
Why do they want to Sacrifice the Syrians for Syria
July 2011, Alisar Iram Some of the great Arab political minds believe they should sacrifice the Syrians in order to save Syria. Syria is different, they keep claiming, if the regime falls Syria will fall, a civil war will break out, chaos will prevail and so on. Why do they think they know Syria better than the Syrians, its people? Why do they believe that Syria can survive without freedom, dignity, hope and justice, ruled by a flawed incompetent President and a murderous regime? But which Syria do they want to save: The Syria of their own political strategies, regional interests and ambitions, the Syria which must stand sentinel at the borders with Israel while its people are deprived of their basic Human Rights by a ruthless regime, or the Syria of its own people’s aspirations, hopes and visions? Are the Egyptians, the Tunisians and Libyans more worthy of freedom and democracy than the peaceful unarmed Syrians who are suffering untold cruelties and dying in their hundreds at the altar of freedom? Wake up and shoulder your responsibilities our fellow Arabs. Stop trying to make excuses for your apathy and futility. Where is your conscience and sense of justice? You cannot stand between Syria and its new destiny, between Syria and the Syrians who want to decide their own future and walk together with Syria into the dawn of a new era leaving behind the twilight of hell. There is no dichotomy between Syria and the Syrians except in the minds of those who want to make Syria after the image of their own fears, political ends and egoism.
Syria between Two Oppositions: The Opposition of the Street versus the Opposition of the Old Ideologies,
July, 2011
The Conference of the National Selvage in Istanbul has revealed many currents and under currents, not to mention many contradiction and inconsistencies, in the discourses adopted by the participants. There were many similar conferences before and many will come with better or lesser representations until, hopefully a more coherent Opposition finally emerges. A marriage between the old forms and the new nascent struggling Tansiqiyyat on the ground (coordination committees which fuel the street demonstrations) might be achieved, or a totally ground breaking Opposition dictated by history, the laws of evolution and the imperatives of the future might win the day. Many of the political ideologies of the past have failed because they were imitative rather than innovative and because they rested upon systems of thought either borrowed or imported. The Salvage Conference, despite all its shortcomings was an important step forward. We can honestly say that it was an improvement on all the conferences preceding it. Among the participants were veterans of the Syrian Opposition who spent the best part of their lives in prison. They who have kept the call for freedom ticking in the darkest hours of Syria, like the dissident and the Human Rights activist, Haytham Al-Malih. My assessment rests on an attempt to define the pros and the cons of the Conference. First the pros: 1. Those among the participants who were working for the common good, fired by a vision of a democratic, sectarian, equal-opportunities-for all Syria to come, as opposed to those factions still clinging to the past frames of reference and allegiances, afraid to lose their identities in the new rising constellations, did manage to forge a general agreement with the election of 25 members to monitor the events and the ongoing developments. 2. Through their disagreements, difference of opinion and standpoints, they did initiate an arguably healthy dialogue through which we were able to define the individual demands of the arguing groups . This will allow us, the people at large, to visualize to what an extent these differences might make or break the future of Syria. 3. As a result, a healthier and more engaged organized Opposition better acquainted with the demands of the street and its aspirations might eventually crystallize. An Opposition worthy of the huge sacrifices the people on the ground are offering daily. But despite these positive points scored by the Congress, what it failed to achieve can be summed up as follows: 1. The Congress did not rise up to the occasion. The opposition on the ground remains in spirit, creativity and achievement far far ahead. The Congress, in my opinion, was considerably marred by petty squabbles tinged with egotism and the failure to resolve ideological beliefs for the common good. One might say that such arguments are inevitable in any democratic process. But at this juncture in Syria’s history they are in bad taste and unworthy 2. Some of the participating groups and factions seemed to forget that there would have been no revolution and no such Congresses were it not for the role played by the protestors, especially the youths of Syria, who have set the streets alight with their passionate calls for freedom and died in their hundreds on its alter, not to mention enduring torture and mutilation, so that there would be a future for a fair democratic united Syria and a role for its people to play on the stage of world civilization. They, the freedom makers, should not be forgotten and their role should be held in trust until they are able to leave the streets and assume their rightful place in deciding Syria’s destiny. 3. The Islamists seemed anxious to affirm themselves, including the Brotherhood. Others, like the Marxists and the Nasserites, also sought to remind the Congress of their place in the history of Syrian Opposition. The Islamits seemed to dominate, supported behind the scenes it was believed, by the host country Turkey. Islam is the revered and beloved religion of the majority of the Syrian people, but the rebels are seeking to build a democratic modern country, a secular country based on the separation between religion and state. Many failed to realize that the outdated outmoded discourses and structures are no longer viable or workable. 4. The Congress was widely criticized for inadequate improvised preparations. A proper agenda or roadmap were missing and a considerable uncertainty about how to address its priorities was manifest. It was naive to expect to come to grapples with some of the most crucial and critical issues facing the country now without viable planning and workable programme. The emerging Syria, arising from the ashes of the past is constructing and forging daily new frames of reference giving intimations of the form and the structure of things to come. From the grassroots, from the hunger and suffering of the labouring humiliated indefatigable majority of the population, from the crushed dreams of the aspiring youths, from the hopes of the historically oppressed women, from the yearnings of the children, from the darkness of the besieged intellects and the broken spirits, a vision of a liberal, dignified, open-to-the-world, creative society is emerging unhindered by traditional outmoded worn out or bankrupt ideologies. The formal traditional Opposition cannot and should not try to impose formulas and stock clichés on the spiraling eye of the storm. Instead it should stand put ready with open arms to be reformulated by the shaping events.
Let Us Appeal to World Conscience
August 2011 Let us appeal to the collective World conscience. Many of those who are calling for foreign intervention are doing so out of love and compassion. They have reached a point where they cannot bear to see any more death and suffering. Some people on the ground, devastated by the ruthlessness of the regime are asking the world at large to save them. But the majority of the Syrian Opposition, people and leaders, are against military foreign intervention, like calling for NATO to intervene. I believe we can choose the better part of foreign intervention: moral intervention, the intervention of world conscience rather than asking for military intervention. Besides, why do we think that NATO will be ready to help Syria? Syria is not rich in oil and cannot pay for their services. What do we have to pay in return? Syria is a great geopolitical problem and the West have Israel to consider and consider carefully. In addition, NATO’s intervention will lead to the destruction of the infra structure of Syria and the death of more citizens than have already died, a lot more, not to mention that the destruction of the Syrian army will leave Syria vulnerable regionally and Internationally. Syria needs its army to recover the Golan Heights if not by war, at least by maintaining a powerful presence. I know that the Syrian army at the present is behaving like a renegade and a rogue army, but this is because its generals have sold their souls to the devil in order to serve the regime and keep their ill-begotten gains. Change the commanders and you will guarantee an army converted back to serve Syria and its people. Assad is already shunned by most of the world. It is now only a matter of time and perseverance and faith. Trust the heroism of the Syrian people. Does this mean that I and the likes of me do not feel party to the plight and suffering of the people on the ground calling, as we are doing, for non foreign military intervention while rivers of blood are choking the horizons? We do, but this is a decision that might kill Syria’s chances of a creating a strong democratic non-sectarian liberal country for decades to come. If worse comes to the worst, the decision for military intervention should take the shape of a popular referendum in case of the failure to create a transitional Opposition assembly. There must be a consensus for without it any intervention is illegal. What we can ask even demand of the world, including the Arab countries if they finally decision to stand behind the Revolution, is to offer us their ungrudging unadulterated moral and humanitarian support in the form of continuous harassment of the Syrian government, continuous investigations and a stream of unstoppable UN and Human Rights groups and observers, travelling to and fro, assessing, watching and offering humanitarian assistance and advice. The UN has the means and the authority to take measures to protect the Syrian civilians in various ways. Its chief seems to be very anxious to do everything in his power to help, not to mention that unarmed civilians are entitled to protection under International law. And we must not forget Amnesty International which if presented with evidence and authenticated information will be a great champion. In addition, renowned Opposition figures, respected internationally for their integrity, like Haytham Mallah, Haytham Manna and Borhan Ghalyoun can be requested to concentrate on parliamentary committees and legal platforms globally, something they have already been trying to do. A world wide sustained earnest campaign comprising intellectuals, writers, Human Rights activists, artists, lawyers and the mighty media can keep bombarding the regime with their outrage and contempt, not to mention demands, rallies, documentaries, and active action in the form of lobbying political opinion and calling for worldwide massive demonstrations which are not restricted to Syrian expatriates.. The regime might be able to withstand the verbal and political onslaughts of governments and powers, like sanctions, but the collective disdain and derision of the world is something else. The collective conscience of the world, if stirred will be more formidable than any NATO arsenal. But for this to take place the Revolution must remain peaceful and nonviolent. Therefore, instead of appealing to NATO, risking further untold suffering and consequences, we would do much better by appealing to what I suggest we call World Awareness and Conscience Forum. Already, because of their peaceful nonviolent march towards freedom, the world is much aware of the struggle of the brave Syrian people, the heroic makers of freedom. Alisar Iram
You name it, the Syrian regime can do it better
by Alisar Iram on Saturday, August 27, 2011 Murder and mutilate children? Kill women? Unlawfully imprison, cause bodily harm and torture? Kidnap citizens and cause their disappearance, sometimes never to return? Execute civilians, prisoners and defectors summarily without trials? Use the armed forces to besiege, penetrate and occupy villages, towns and cities? Shell, bombard and attack cities and citizens from land, air and sea? Assault and desecrate mosques and injure men of God? Destroy buildings, vandalize houses, shops and personal property, not to mention invade people’s privacy in their own homes? Steal, burn and loot? Deploy thugs and Shabiha to commit the most hideous crimes? Terrorize, intimidate, brainwash and launch psychological warfare against the defenceless populace? Kidnap and beat even murder artists, lawyers, doctors, humanitarian activists, intellectuals and folk singers? Silence the word the brush the chant? Humiliate, debase and strip victims of their pride and dignity? Breach all Human Rights and International charters with complete disdainful disregard to humanitarian norms and ethical codes of behaviour? Create a secret police state endowed with the license to kill with impunity, the like of which has rarely darkened the human landscape? Be all unto yourselves including tailoring reforms, designing ready- made legislations, do-it-yourself constitutions. In short, any criminal act a ruthless state can do anywhere in the world, you can do better, much better.
The Madness of Bashar Al-Assad: The Road to trepidation
, September 2011 What defies my understanding is how a seemingly decent man could degenerate within a few months into a mass killer of his own people. It is hard to comprehend how a man who studied medicine to become an eye doctor, who must have sworn the Hippocratic Oath, has metamorphosed into a ruthless despot devoid of all compassion. It makes me almost believe the stories of the werewolves. Perhaps, he could have continued to believe that he was a good man and a good leader if the lies, indoctrinations and deceptions which brought him to the presidency were not shattered so fundamentally thus stripping him of all masks and disguises but that of his naked puzzling personality. As Syria gradually erupted to break its chains, and as the myth of an invincible family rule began to fracture at the core, his personality started to display fatal signs of unreliability. In my opinion, he has simply cracked. It is almost as if he has come to believe that he has a divine right to rule which makes him immune to self-criticism and self-searching. Wearing his blinkers, he is pitting himself not only against his people but against the world and against the logic of history. No sane leader would follow the path to destruction so blindly so unscrupulously, dragging his country to the abyss behind him with such terrible single-mindedness. Devoid of any doubts and goaded by deadly stubbornness He goes on tossing reform legislations left and right while Syria is being strewn with corpses. An intrinsic lethal flaw in his character, a self-destruct mechanism is rushing him towards the final countdown. Every day reveals to us a new facet of his fatal qualities. His utter and ghastly refusal to even contemplate listening to the advise and pleas of his pears, his uncanny ability to challenge , dismiss or belittle World leaders, his neighbours, International organizations even the flimsy efforts of the Arab League is like a macabre black tragicomedy which project in a scenario of horror his conceit, arrogance and narcissistic megalomania. Never again should we permit the rise of another president from hell. The constitution should be rewritten in order to rule out the concentration of all powers in the figure of the president. The Presidential government should be replaced by a parliamentary government which will guarantee that the office of the president is an honorary one. Until then let us have faith and patience: when the rope tightens it snaps. Alisar Iram, September 2011
Obsolete Security Council in need of reform
Alisar Iram, September 2011 Does the history of the world offer us any examples at all of empires and superpowers choosing to serve humanity rather than their own political, ideological and territorial ambitions? To expect Russia, for example, to choose the welfare of the Syrian people rather than moving mountains to ensure Syria remains in its zone of influence is unrealistic in a globe ruled by pragmatism. Vetoes were invented by the victors of WW2 as part of a global process to ensure they rule and divide the world among themselves. Out of the misery of a world smitten by war and death, they put into motion a system that will forever ensure the subjugation, the sufferings and the eradication of their dreams of the weaker and vulnerable countries whose misfortunes lead them to the noose of the dreaded vetoes. The dice was cast and Syria was won by Russia and its allies. All that is taking place on the world stage is a sham. The weak never had a chance and it still does not have a chance. And it will not have a chance as long as the outdated obsolete and inhumane Security Council is the arbitrator that decides who lives and who dies. Alisar Iram
Who decides the destiny of Syria? The march for liberty is under attack
September 2011 As more blood is shed every day in various parts of the country, as more children are orphaned or even tortured, as for the first time in its recent history Syria exports refugees instead of opening its arms wide to those fleeing death and destruction, as more intellectuals, free thinkers and human rights activists flee the country, as the gates of the prisons and make shift prisons stand wide open and as the secret police, ther dreaded Mukhabarat surpass themselves daily in inventing yet more horrific ways to silence the youth of Syria, its children, women and men, as the soldiers of Syria , many of whom, are no more than inexperienced bewildered teen agers, the inevitable question arises : Who has the , the moral precedence, the historical weight, the inalienable sovereign inviolate right to decide the fate of Syria? If the simple direct answer is: the people of Syria, let us not try to delve deep in order to understand why the Syrian people have risen and have decided to put an end to all that stands between them and their destiny which is the destiny of Syria. Al last they might yet have a chance to do away with the shameful age of idols, with degradation humiliations and subjugation. Like sheep they were shepherded into their pens while the dogs of the regime kept them in their allotted destinies of lowly obedience and conspiratorial silence while the corrupt, the infamous and the profiteers ruled undisputed. A dream looms and the horizons beckons, the vast dignified places of liberty summon them so they march to remake Syria. Syria shall be the land of the free. Is this a mirage, but a fantasy, a mad vision of the idealist? Better to die foe an ideal than to live for an idol. Rage invades my very being as I see, as we all see, the way the tyrannical rulers of Syria treat the Syrian people young and old. No, they will not treat the stray dogs in this manner and No they will not treat their worst enemies in as a humiliating, brutal effacement of their humanity and identity. Brutality and brutalization. Is that what the rulers of Syria have chosen for her as her destiny? As the conscript soldiers or the secret police cadets are trained in the arts of death they in turn are brutalized beyond redemption. They are drilled and tutored in the quickest ways of surrendering their own humanity. And what are we left with? Highly efficient Killing machines that rejoice in the shedding of blood and the mutilating of victims. Those young me whose decent parents and families bring them up to respect their elders, be kind to their neighbours are snatched away to be taught the ways of death and ruthlessness. What divine or profane authority has given the rulers of Syria the right, the authority not only defame the country but to turn its young soldiers and defenders against their fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers? What is happening in Syria is an event of great enormity. It is not unique because the world around us continues to breed similar regimes of horror. But this is not an excuse to prioritize pragmatism and cite the imperatives of geopolitics and the usual pretexts of not willing to destabilize the Middle East. As if the Middle East is a haven of tranquillity, as if an active threatening volcano can be appeased by injustice and sacrificial gifts like the offering of the Syrian people on the alter caution and geointerests. The Syrian people do not need any military interference, nor would they accept any compromises that might dent their sovereignty. But they stand in dire need of the moral and ethical support of the free people of the world. The young of Syria including the children wish to breathe a different air, that of the sweet breeze of freedom, want to worship different idols, those of justice, dignity, pride and life free from fear. Because the image of Syria was tarnished by unworthy rulers over the last forty years and it was called all kinds of names and abused ceaselessly in the world press, justly or unjustly, the aspiration of its young should not be dismissed or treated with indifference and suspicion. Old ancient Syria is truly young for most of its people are young people. The youths of Syrianlike the youths of Tunisia, Egypt and Yemen want democracy , the right to chose their own rulers and manner of government, their human rights reinstated and the chance to work and raise families in peace and dignity. I do not wish to think of how this young bursting with life and hope energy might be exploited or ,if deprived of the fulfilment of its aspirations, might in desperation and a mighty wave of self destruction, might turn into its anti-self and become an instrument of all that we fear. We must remember that these youthful movements clamouring for change, which has marked the Arab spring have been inspired by the universal ideals that keep humanity afloat, ideals that keep civilisation ticking and the breeding ground of all our dreams. Young people dream and we of thr greater wisdom and experience should not profane their dreams.
The Violated Procession of the Innocents: the Plight of Syria’s Children
Alisar Iram 21 April 2012 Three weeks ago I left Britain for a two weeks visit to Syria and returned about a week ago. I could not write about my visit immediately upon my return because I was extremely exhausted spiritually, mentally and physically. My main purpose of the visit was to save my books, my research, my writings and my art for it came to my knowledge that my two influential neighbours had surrounded their houses with guards and shabiha, so my own house was virtually standing in an occupied territory manned by about 60 members of the security. I had to go because after listening to the horror stories about what they were doing to people’s properties, I could not risk it. With the help of my family and friends, we spent about 10 days moving my things discreetly in taxis and trying not to be conspicuous. I said farewell to my garden and my mutilated trees and left to stay with my sister leaving the rest of my belongings behind. I had about five days to listen, observe and collect my own thoughts and impressions. Damascus starting from Kasyoun down to the Bramka and further spreading on both sides to embrace Abu Rumanna, Rawda, Adawi, Mazraa and other neighbourhoods seemed quiet, even mostly deserted at night. But under the veneer of normality and everyday life, one could feel the brewing unrest, the depression, the terrible pressures mounting fuelled by the heavy, veiled, lurking, watchful, even flagrant presence of the security forces. Wherever one moves, seen and unseen eyes follow, calculating, studying, scrutinizing and assessing. There was no mistaking a capital under siege. I could see what living under such daily terrible pressure was doing to my family for instance. They eat, the sleep, they shop for their food and try to coexist with the abnormal sickly atmosphere, but deep inside they are people waiting for the unknown looming darkly, sinisterly above their heads and peopling their dreams. They are besieged and daily assailed by the violence taking place in the rest of the country. They gaze with terrible helplessness and futile fury, lost in the depths of the surrounding horror. I began to have nightmares and scream in my sleep waking my sister and her husband up. And that only after less than two weeks. I was there to learn and so in Damascus I learnt how to have compassion on those who do not live up to our expectations or follow the path of open rebellion. I know that their time will come and with the grace of God, they will not fail Syria. If one can say that Damascus is relatively quiet, excluding Rukniddin, Midan, Qaboun and other hot spots, rural and suburban Damascus are mostly in revolt. They are cordoned off by the army and security forces but all the might of the regime has not been able to quench or silence their unstoppable unassailable bid for freedom. They keep erupting and waves after waves of ever spreading protesting humanity on the move sustain the spirit of the Revolution. All the nights I spent in my sister’s house in Rawda were shattered by sporadic and sustained distant shelling reaching us from the villages and towns of rural Damascus. They were systematically bombarded during the night until the early hours of the morning. They were given no respite. Part One Three stories have remained with me after I came back and I have decided to share them with my friends on Facebook. I have chosen for my visit the title: The Violated procession of the Innocents because of a pitiful, heartbreaking tale my sister heard at her chemist’s. The First Tale A friend of the local pharmacist, a doctor from Darra , unable to withhold his tears, narrated: I saw them, I saw them with my own eyes and came to know what happened to them. They were orphaned children from all ages; the very young led by older children between 14 and fifteen. They have walked all the way from Homs and Baba Amr and arrived by a miracle at Daraa. They were hungry, cold, sick, traumatized, terrified, dishevelled and haggard, in rags, walking aimlessly, lost lost. The people rushed to them willing and wanting to help, feed and shelter, but the security forces stopped them and told them that the children were traitors deserving no help and used force to disperse the people. (I cannot help but cry while writing about these children and I cannot stop.) The doctor then proceeded to say that they tried to understand what happened to these children and he was horrified when he discovered that among the children, the victims of violence, untold cruelty and rape, two very young girls aged between 10 and 12 were pregnant. The rest is silence. The silence of the blind leading the deaf
The Syrian Struggle: Who is the third?
Alisar Iram. November, 2011
Who is the third who walks always beside you?
When I count, there are only you and I together
But when I look ahead up the white road
There is always another one walking beside you
Gliding wrapt in a brown mantle, hooded
I do not know whether a man or a woman
—But who is that on the other side of you? T. S. Eliot
We know that there are two sides to the conflict in Syria, the regime and the opposition. The government has always maintained that it is fighting against armed groups of every description and imagined affiliations while ignoring its political opponents, the opposition, and treating the peaceful demonstrations as armed groups in disguise or potential armed groups who would fare much better in prisons where they were mostly tortured to death as a preventative measure. After thousands of deaths and untold devastation, with the whole world recognizing that the opposition with its various factions does represent a sizable section of the Syrian people, the Kufi Annan Mission was set in motion delineating a plan of six points in order to move Syria towards democracy and a new future thus formally regarding the Opposition as the second party to the conflict. But how can that be if there is a third ready to sabotage any agreement and blow it up to smithereens? You think that there are two sides to the conflict but you and the world are wrong for there is a sinister dreaded third brandishing the skeletal image of terrorism, mayhem and destruction which, whether we want it or not, is invoking the sceptre of Al-Qaida at the mention of which the West and the US are ready to recapitulate and rethink their approach to the Syrian Revolution and conflict. It gets better, given the choice Which do you prefer, the regime no matter how malignant or the voice of Ibn Laden addressing the world from behind the grave?The Syrian regime, knowing that the Opposition, in addition to the Free Syrian Army, do not have the expertise, the technology and the resources to mount such terrible explosions and horrific devastation, is now speaking about the invisible third who is shadowing the opposition and proclaiming the reign of terror, harassing a poor government and murdering the civilians. Therefore, who is this third? And why is this third still operating in Syria where the regime has exterminated towns , villages and cities, not to mention destroying the lives of about a million Syrian people by death, injury, disabilities, forced and voluntary uprooting, homelessness, destruction of homes and ways of life, lack of medical and social care, not forgetting imprisonment and torture , all in the name of eradicating the armed groups?In a dogged, relentless, brutal effort to ensure the safety and continuation of its existence, the third is paraded to the world as the real enemy of Syria and the world alike. WHY is this third still free and unrestrained, reeking horror mainly on the innocent civilians? This third, it seems, like the Joker in Batman, is the freest and most cunning trickster among all the conflicting parties. The might of the Syrian army cannot vanquish it, the renowned interrogative and spying methods of the Syrian intelligence cannot trace it, and the formidable Shabiha and Special Forces cannot stop or overcome it. For more than a year now, the Syrian government has leashed a war of attrition and genocide against its people in the name of this third which was the second only very recently.There are only two organization, as some analysts have pointed out, technically capable of mounting and financing such atrocities; a death explosives squad , a splinter government group like the Shabiha, created with the utmost secrecy and entrusted to commit atrocities in order to terrify the world into submission and spur it to acquiescent to leave the regime alone, and yes the regime does have the moral depravity to leash doomsday against its citizens and even supporters , if it needs be. The second, it might be surmised, is an Al-Qaida inspired group infiltrating through from mainly Iraq, most probably. In the latter, why on earth are the custodians and defenders of Syria, as they claim to be, not doing anything about them?
Syria the Untouchable11, 3, 2012 They ask the smart astute politicians of the world, what will happen to Syria if Assad falls. They wisely point out that the situation might be much worse after the regime falls. Much worse for them or the Syrian people who are being massacred ruthlessly, their children slain, their women raped and their houses razed to the ground? But this question is discreetly evaded, which takes us to the shameful conclusion, better the devil you know. They do not stop here, but with an implicit global consensus rarely seen, they come to the conclusion that it cannot be helped, the demographic, ethnic and geopolitical peculiarities make it impossible to act or suggest a solution. It is as if never before has the world encountered such an insoluble, mind boggling, will shattering problem!!! Therefore, Syria and its people are surrendered to the butchers to do as they please. For them, the paramount saving grace is that at least Israel is safe and will continue to be safe. No wonder that the whole situation is summed up on a poster lifted by a young Syrian girl, probably an orphan herself, reading: ” Syria is an orphan. God of the orphans look after her.” |
Held to Ransom between two nightmares
Alisar Iram 13 November, 2012 The Syrian Revolution with all the odds against it must also contend with the nightmare of a dithering Arab League and that of an opposition which seems to be oblivious to its priorities while discussing semantics and engaging in a virtual reality of its own. There is no lack of reassuring statements and revelations which keep dispensing promises of a unified front that never materializes. The Arab League is caught up in The Arab disease of agreeing not to agree and uniting behind disunity, while the Syrian Opposition is suffering from the old Syrian political afflictions of narcissism, self-centred righteousness, arrogance and the inability to sacrifice the particular for the universal. This is terribly and tragically sad, not to say suicidal. The very ground is collapsing beneath the Syrian landscape and terrible disasters are looming above the horizon- even if we choose to forget about the dead, the maimed and the incarcerated- such as starvation, a winter of deprivation and untold suffering for the protesters and their families, not to mention homelessness and uprootedness , yet the debates go on unabated and unresolved in a parallel universe inhabited by the likes of the Syrian President. The rest of the world hesitates although many countries are ready to extend help, they hesitate because they do not have a clear vision or even a myopic one of what might happen after the collapse of the regime. Before implicating themselves, the rest of the world needs from the Opposition a coherent trustworthy vision of things to come because of the threats and dangers involved. They want to be assured that tyranny is not going to be replaced by anarchy and state lawlessness is not going to find a substitute in a complete collapse of law and order. I do not know what many other people truly believe, but I mostly see an opposition split among many factions: the insiders, the veterans who believe they have an exclusive right to preside over, the expatriates who are resentfully regarded as false prophets, the Islamits, the advocates of secularism, etc, etc. Therefore forgive me if my disgust and contempt boil within me. And forgive me if I stand in judgement over the deadly shortcomings of an Opposition that cannot trade sophistry, endless banality and platitudes for life and dignity for the Syrian people.
Two armies and the people,
December 2012 I am paralysed with worry about my family in Damascus. I cannot think properly and I feel that everything I write lacks the spirit of the truth because it cannot begin to dare comprehend the truth of what is happening to the people of Syria. My love is lacking because it is helpless so is my inability to alter the course of violence and destruction. I keep having a sense of profound unreality, I keep missing the truth, I keep feeling that the way the politicians, the media and analysts depict what is happening in Syria and report the conflict is missing the heart of the matter, is destroying the very essence of the terrible tragedy being enacted on the lands of a country as old as humanity, Syria which had witnessed the first steps of mankind on the road to civilization. They see a conflict between a regime, which, whether they want it or not, Has wrought has been the evil instrument which is undoing Syria, and an armed opposition, which took up arms only when peaceful demonstration became the path to the grave as the Syrian regime unleashed its savage vengeance and ruthlessness on the defenceless civilians. Funerals multiplied into double funerals for the dead and those who came as mourners so that mourners ended in the graves they were digging for their loved ones then the double funerals turned into treble funerals as the mourners who were mourning the mourners fell into freshly dug graves. This is not it, this is not it, I keep saying to myself. There is something missing. Where are the people in all this. This is not a story about two armies, one regular and the other mostly made of of soldiers who have defected because they would not kill their kith and kin or civilians forced to carry arms in order to defend their families and themselves. It seems to me you the world is presenting the Syrian tragedy on the abstracted theatre of politics, concentrating on the polemics of the geopolitical game. Where are the suffering Syrian people in all this? Where are they? I keep looking only to find futile biased for or against arguments, Leftist willing to fight Imperialism to the last of the Syrian, Superpowers weighing their options according to their plans and ambitions, not to mention the regional powers vying for which will get the greater part of influence. No this is not it, or at least not the greater Part of it. The political world see terrorists, extremists, the sceptre of Al-Qaida, a country divided in the grip of civil war as they like to call it, the radicalization, the slide towards chaos, the threat of chemical weapons, the terrible violence and violation of Human Rights mainly on the part of the Syrian Regime but also from the rebels. But what do I see? I see the gradual brutalization and dehumanization of the pe0ple, I see them
الثورة تصنع التاريخ والمعارضة تزحف – تأملات
December 2012
بتزايد الزمن تزداد الهوَة بين المعارضة والثورة. الشعب السوري يمشي على طريق الآلام والثوار الذين انشدوا اناشيد السلام وخرجوا بالورود والصدور العارية يهتفون سلمية سلمية قد دبَ فيهم اليأس، خصوصا الشباب المثاليين الذين يريدون ان يصنعوا مستقبلا لسوريا الجميع فيها آمن ، الجميع فيها سواسية، احرار، كما ولدتهم امهاتهم احرارا، ولكن المعارضة التي لولاهم لما كان لها دور يهز ضمير العالم، ما تزال غارقة في التفاصيل ومتاهات الثانويات، ناسية ان الاولوية الملحة بالنسبة للثوار في الميدان هي الحياة والموت. لماذا؟ لماذا لا تستطيع المعارضة ان تواكب مسار الثورة التي تكتسب ابعادا جديدة كل يوم؟ ولماذا لا تستطيع ان تتحرر من اسار الماضي لترافق الثورة الى المستقبل؟
المعارضون في غالبيتهم على ما يبدوا لا يستطيعون ان يحلموا احلام الثوار ولا ان يعانقوا عنفوان رؤياهم. الثورة تنطلق كالشهاب الساطع والمعارضة تزحف غير قادرة على الانفكاك عن الماضي وارثها المرير. المعارضة مكبلة بالسياسات الوجلة وبطموحات قادتها المقصوصي الاجنحة ببرامجهم وتطلعات تكفل لهم القوة والنفوذ في المستقبل في ظل نظام ديمقراطي يكفل حكم الاغلبية. الاغلبية؟ ولكن الشباب الثائر لا يريد ديمقراطية حكم الاغلبية او الحزب الفائز على غرار ما يحدث في مصر الان. هناك ديمقراطية اعمق واكثر نبلا وهي حكم الشعب بجميع اطيافه. بالاختصار، المعارضة تتعامل مع معطيات تجعلها الثورة لاغية كل يوم.
انا لست من اصحاب السياسة، ولكنني من اصحاب الرؤى ولاحلام والفكر الخلاق، ولهذا وبكل تواضع اقول بان المعارضة السورية الحالية بحاجة الى قفزة نوعية ارتقائية تنقلها الى زمن الثورة وهو زمن الورد : تضحية يفعمها عطر الحرية وتلهمها الغيرية الصافية. ان نظرة حكيمة الان الى ما يجري في الميدان ستجعل المعارضة تدرك بانها تفقد الثوار قلبا وفكرا وعقلا. فالزمن والزخم لاينتظران احدا. ولهذا يجب عى ممثلي المعارضة الا يلوموا الا انفسهم لسماع الدعوات الى عسكرة الثورة، بل وحتى التدخل الاجنبي. ولو ان المعارضة منذ البداية سعت بكل جهودها لجمع قواها المبعثرة من اجل التركيز على حماية المدنيين لما وصلنا الى هذا المازق العصيب. لم تبق دولة في العالم و لم تحث المعارضة على توحيد جهودها حتى اصبحت المعارضة السورية بمنظماتها اشبه بالكوميديا السوداء.
اليس الثوار بشرا، الا يروعهم الموت؟ الا تنزف قلوبهم عندما يقتل احباؤهم ويعانقون التراب او حتى يحرمون من مثواهم الاخير؟ الا تنفطر قلوب الامهات حزنا وتنفجر نفوس الاباء قهرا؟ عندما يموت الطفل حمزة على يد جلاديه ثم يموت ثم يموت، الا يسكت هول الجريمة احكام العقل ويتطلع هلع الروح الى الانتقام وشفاء الدماء بالدماء؟ ان لمن العذاب ما يجعل الانسان قديسا، ولكن من العذاب ما يهدر انسانيته ويشوه اعماقه. وهذه هي اعظم الجرائم، ان تقتل الانسان حيَا.
Born to Live and Die as Victims
Alisar Iram., December 2012
It seems to me that the twenty first century is marked by the shadow of death hovering over the lands of Syria and Palestine. Sometimes, I feel that the best of the Arabs are on the verge of extinction. How many more children will have to die, how many more cities will have to be laid to waste , how many homeless, how many hunger-stricken, how many raped, how many wounded, how many amputated, how many burnt to death or to a blighted life? The procession stretches from here to eternity, it seems. I would, I would much rather talk about people enjoying prosperity and peace instead of talking about victims and the victimized. Victim is stamped on the thousands of Palestinians and Syrians who will never be given the chance e to graduate to full humans with full rights. Even if things change, it would be too late for them. Once a victim, the world stops around the victim and the fate of the victim is decreed as victim, a candidate for the black hole of ruthless perpetual injustice.
Meanwhile the perpetrators in Israel and Syria go on the offensive while brandishing their consecutively and strangely similar, if not identical in essence, their lame twisted and dehumanizing exposition of their selfrighteous condescending arrogant right to kill, to annihilate, to destroy, in the name of an authority invested in them by a manufactured, invented, absolute and absolutely unshakable ideology.
©Alisar Iram
alisariram 