Demonstration in Solidarity with the Syrian People and Revolution, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

•  14 May 2013

We, the undersigned, stand in solidarity with the millions of Syrians who have been struggling for dignity and freedom since March 2011. We call on people of the world to pressure the Syrian regime to end its oppression of and war on the Syrian people. We demand that Bashar al-Asad leave immediately without excuses so that Syria can begin a speedy recovery towards a democratic future.

Since March 2011, Asad’s regime has steadily escalated its violence against the Syrian people, launching Scud missiles, using weapons banned by the Geneva Convention such as cluster bombs and incendiary munitions, and using aerial bombardment. The regime has detained and tortured tens of thousands of people and committed untold massacres. It has refused political settlements that do not include Asad in power, and it has polarized the society through strategic acts of violence and by sowing seeds of division. The regime has also, since the early days of the uprising, sought to internationalize the crisis in order to place it within geopolitical battles that would only strengthen the regime. Staying true to the logics of an authoritarian regime, Asad could never accept the legitimate demands of the Syrian people for freedom and dignity. Thus, there is no hope for a free, unified, and independent Syria so long as his regime remains in power.

This is a revolt that was sparked by the children of Deraa and the sit-ins and demonstrations of the youth in the cities, the peasants of the rural areas, and the dispossessed and marginalized of Syria. It is they who rallied non-violently through protests and songs and chants, before the regime’s brutal crackdown. Since then, the regime has pushed for the militarization of the Syrian nonviolent movement. As a result, young men took up arms, first out of self-defense. Lately, this has resulted in attempts by some groups fighting the regime to force a climate of polarization, and negation of the Other politically, socially and culturally. These acts that are in themselves against the revolution for freedom and dignity.

Yet, the revolution for freedom and dignity remains steadfast. It is for this reason that we, the undersigned, appeal to those of you in the global civil society, not to ineffective and manipulative governments, to defend the gains of the Syrian revolutionaries, and to spread our vision: freedom from authoritarianism and support of Syrians’ revolution as an integral part of the struggles for freedom and dignity in the region and around the world.

The fight in Syria is an extension of the fight for freedom regionally and worldwide. It cannot be divorced from the struggles of the Bahrainis, Egyptians, Tunisians, Libyans, Yemenis, and other peoples who have revolted against oppression and authoritarianism as well as against those seeking to usurp or destroy the uprisings and divert them for their own agendas. It is connected to the Palestinians’ struggle for freedom, dignity and equality. The revolution in Syria is a fundamental part of the North African revolutions, yet, it is also an extension of the Zapatista revolt in Mexico, the landless movement in Brazil, the European and North American revolts against neoliberal exploitation, and an echo of Iranian, Russian, and Chinese movements for freedom.

The Syrian revolution has confronted a world upside down, one where states that were allegedly friends of the Arabs such as Russia, China, and Iran have stood in support of the slaughter of people, while states that never supported democracy or independence, especially the US and their Gulf allies, have intervened in support of the revolutionaries. They have done so with clear cynical self interest. In fact, their intervention tried to crush and subvert the uprising, while selling illusions and deceptive lies.

Given that regional and world powers have left the Syrian people alone, we ask you to lend your support to those Syrians still fighting for justice, dignity, and freedom, and who have withstood the deafening sounds of the battle, as well as rejected the illusions sold by the enemies of freedom.

As intellectuals, academics, activists, artists, concerned citizens, and social movements we stand in solidarity with the Syrian people to emphasize the revolutionary dimension of their struggle and to prevent the geopolitical battles and proxy wars taking place in their country. We ask you to lend your support to all Syrians from all backgrounds asking for a peaceful transition of power, one where all Syrians can have a voice and decide their own fate. We also reject all attempts of any group to monopolize power, and to impose its own agenda, or to impose unitary or homogenous identities on the Syrian people. We ask you to support those people and organizations on the ground that still uphold the ideals for a free and democratic Syria.

Campaign of Global Solidarity with the Syrian Revolution 

•  1 May 2013  •  5 notes

itching to write again

•  30 April 2013

(via gravesofgrass)

•  26 April 2013  •  32,603 notes

“سنتان.. كأنهما عشرين عاماً من النضج.. وخمسين سنة من الحزن المقدّم جعلتني أغيّر طريقة تفكيري في كثير من الأمور..”

— ماهر المونس (via glmrpss)

•  13 April 2013  •  3 notes

<3

•  9 April 2013  •  1 note

if you think you’ve felt useless before, I assure you, you haven’t. feeling useless is when you watch, from 10,000 miles away, as your people are slaughtered, cities are destroyed, people displaced and as sadness after sadness have befallen them. when it seems as though everyone is conspiring against them and people who claim to be in solidarity with you don’t even have the decency to not talk to regime apologists.
useless is knowing that no matter how much money is raised it is not enough, that for every orphan you sponsor 15 more will go to bed hungry wishing for their parent to tuck them, safe and sound.
feeling useless is when you watch people talk about refugee camps and realize they’re dangerous in ways that can rival the danger of living under shelling. feeling useless is knowing that no matter how much you talk or write or protest or cry yourself to sleep, people will still reduce the conflict to a government fighting terrorists, no matter how far off the mark that is.
feeling useless is seeing a picture of Ahmad, the 8 year old who watched his parents die, who has nobody to pull his cigarette out of his mouth, and knowing he will never have a childhood.
feeling useless is getting daily push notifications on how many people died each day in your country.
feeling useless is being told you’re too emotional about this and need to step aside and look at it objectively.
feeling useless is going to bed at night not knowing if your family has made it through the day.
feeling useless is being told that your peers, who are working in the way they know best how, are “house Arabs” calling for a “US led destruction” of their county. those that say this conveniently forget about the scuds launched daily, at random.
feeling useless is seeing people not of your nationality who have never had to live under this tyranny protesting in support of the tyrant you are trying to oust.
feeling useless is feeling guilty and knowing that nothing that you do will ever match the price paid.

feeling useless is knowing that you are a spectator with front row seats to the destruction of your country and people that everyone has turned their back on, for the sake of “geopolitical strategy” or “liberation” or “anti-imperialism” and knowing that nothing you do, nothing you say will ever fucking be enough.

•  2 April 2013  •  14 notes

when does the bitterness dissolve into sadness? for months now, i have been holding this anger inside me letting it slowly turn harden and change me. i’ve become ugly to myself and for the first time i believe what they say that thoughts shape reality and they shape who you are and i’m drowning in my ugly thoughts and i don’t want to feel this much bitterness and anger and hatred — i want to cry, cry, cry and i want to love

•  28 March 2013  •  4 notes

i am so tired of people saying that because external actors have malicious reasons to support the syrian revolution the revolution is invalid or that it is not real or that it was sparked by those external factors.

just stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it.

•  18 March 2013  •  2 notes

•  15 March 2013  •  65 notes