Rallies and Vocal Chords

I think I ripped my vocal chords apart today with the excessive screaming that I did. And yes, it was about the uprising in Syria. So let me dive into the subject without much introducing myself and how I'm physically feeling. 

So today was the "Family tree of Syria" event or better officially labeled as a 'carnival' that was being planned by the regime since the Arab league decided to send its envoy to Damascus to find a solution to the uprising in Syria. It was undeniable that a lot of people joined the 'carnival' and I had no problem watching it, just to get a couple of laughs you know. Because If you live in Syria and follow what the regime and those that support it have said in the past and compare it to such events you instantly notice how contradictory these people are. Anyways, I decided to stay home today since the opposition called for a general strike and spend some time watching the news and doing some blogging I thought. Until some family members came around while I was watching TV.. not a good moment, because as soon as they did (they are pro-regime.. actually I don’t know what they are exactly, one day they are here the next there?? ), they start cheering and saying things like "see all these people all Syria supports regime" and "the Zionist conspiracy has been defeated today, Americas plans won't happen after this, We won today, look at all these people!!"  

For me that is fine, I don’t mind people having a different opinion even if to me that opinion or position they take is unethical and immoral but when people don't have the correct picture about what is happening, when they are deluded and receive very little information about what is happening in the rest of the country, I don't blame them. What gets me is when those people start accusing those protesters saying they are traitors and basically worthless people who deserve to die. That is when I lose it. I start screaming like there was no tomorrow.

 

How can anyone accuse these people that are going out knowingly putting their lives at risk so that other Syrians might, just might one day be able to live a better life, one that is better than they would have ever hoped for. How is it that those protesting to defend their honour and families honour from the criminal acts that this regime is imposing on them deserve to die? Those people that have been martyred should all be considered nothing less than heroes, and their heroic acts to liberate this country from this intolerant, unjust and murderous regime should be and will always be remembered. The likes of Ghiath Matar, who during protests used to go up to security army personnel in Daraya and give them water as a gesture of good will and later used to give out flowers, how can this person be worthless? The likes of Hamza Al Khateb, a child with a conscious that went out with members of his town to provide people in a sieged town of Dera'a with food and was arrested and tortured to death, how is he worthless and deserves to die? All those children that have been killed the likes of Hajer Al Khateeb and the other 100+ children are they worthless? Today three more children were killed in Syria, one of them is called Catherine from Homs, I think she was 4 years old or younger. Worthless? 

I can't understand these people. They know that the regime is killing but they refuse to say anything about it or take a position against it. Maybe its because they fear the unknown, these people that support the regime have things to lose, they want to feel safe and the only way to feel safe, the only way they believe will keep them living is if this regime stays. They don't care if members of this regime are stealing the wealth of the Syrian people and spending it on living lavishly, I was told its better that a "Syrian" is stealing the peoples wealth than a foreign state.   

So there are a lot of people that are controlled by fear but is that enough, is fear alone enough to make you defend a regime that is killing other people just so that a couple of people can remain in power? Not really. If you are afraid you wouldn't publicly admit that you don’t support the regime, but when your around people you trust why not admit that you don’t support the regime?  

For this I have two explanations the first one being is that these people are genuinely ignorant of what is going on like I said earlier they don't get the information for them to form the right picture of what is happening. Or, they have become used to following directions that to break out of the shackles and to think freely scares them. If you watched the rally today you can see that even though, and after eight months of protests calling for the end of a regime where one man rules all, both the regime and its supporters are still saying "Bashar is our leader forever" and that it self is stupid and as I said earlier also contradicts what the regime has been talking about like, reform. So, these people have been programmed to think that there is only one person, and one person alone who is able to run this country, one person alone that is able to maintain peace in it and stop it from falling into civil/sectarian wars, and that just happens to be an eye doctor who had a crash course in the military probably becoming the fastest high ranked officer in the world (6 years to become General) who only came back to Syria from the UK because his older brother died and so he was next in line to rule because the second oldest son was seen even by his father, as too moronic and savage to rule. Yes, the perfect person for such a job even for someone who didn’t want to live in this country in the first place. 

There is a good documentary to watch called Tufan Fe Bilad Al Ba'ath (Flood in Baath Country) which shows how the education system in Syria instills these ideas that the ruling party is so great and that our leader is eternal and what not.  

These ideas that have been instilled into the people have completely sealed off and locked down any notion these people might get that there could be an alternative. And thus, you will find people saying "no one better will come if he (basher) goes". But there have been times that I've seen pro-regime supporters escape for a while, when they feel that their conscious can no longer take it and start to speak freely. The next day they come back as if nothing they said a day earlier has ever been said, they apparently have this ability to self suppress any ideas they may get that this regime is doing things that they need to be held accountable for.  

They quickly revert and start saying "No, this regime is fighting terrorists that have come from all borders Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq and are being financed by Bandar Bin Sultan, Hariri, Turkey, Qatar, Aljazeera, Saudi Arabia with billions of dollars and they get the most advanced weapons like laser guns, and they are killing people, because Condaleza Rice said there is a new middle east and regime stood against it, that’s why they made a command center in Hamburg that is leading the protests in the streets, and even Batman is in on this…" ??  

Seriously, this conspiracy thing is going way out of control, people need to understand that there will always be plans by the west to dominate this region one way or another, it has never stopped and probably will never stop. These countries have interests, and they will do what is necessary to reach their aims. The problem is not that these western nations have plans to dominate, the problem is when WE don't have a plan to become strong enough to fight off those plans without having to depend on others to stand by us (Iran) and without having bargaining chips that we can use with the west to ease off pressure and get what we want like Hizbullah, Hamas, PKK, etc.  

I've gone way out of the topic but its all relevant. However this could have been two or three posts even. Nevermind that, this is probably the only time I'm going to have for a while to write this. 

So carrying on with the story I first started with. After ripping apart my vocal chords, I decided to leave the house and go to the office. So off I went, drove past a checkpoint and was going towards the city, only to find out that all entrances to it were sealed off. I ask a police officer how I can get in, he just points towards the other side. So I drive to the other side and to another entrance but it was also sealed off. There, was a man obviously frustrated at not being allowed in, lost it and cursed the police man who was talking to him, the police man shouts at the man with the very famous coastal accent "go away or I'll shoot you right now". The man freezes, looks at the policeman and says "Do it". At that point I still didn’t grasp what was going on, I was watching but also being still angry at the earlier argument I had, and the fact that I didn’t have much fuel in the car and trying to figure out how to get to the office, all this was distracting me. I think if I wasn't distracted I would have gone out and picked a fight with the policeman.  

Anyways It rained in Damascus soon after and I assume that people left the rally early. I met with a couple of friends soon after,one of them works in some government department, tells me how employees were forced to attend the rally. We assumed that atleast 80% of those that attended didn't want to be there really. Nevertheless, we can't deny there are people that still support the regime, and we shouldn't have a problem with those people, after all we all want a Syria where we can support who we want and oppose others without being killed for it.