The Damascus Bureau

Real news and stories from Syria

Syria’s Silent Majority

Posted on | November 28, 2011 | No Comments

Millions of Syrians are observing the popular mobilisation from a distance, whether in favour of or against the current regime. These people are reluctant to participate in the daily demonstrations calling for the fall of the ruling Baath party for fear of either getting shot or arrested by security forces. Read more

“In a non-violent struggle, our ammunition is the people”

Posted on | November 25, 2011 | 1 Comment

Razan Zeitouneh talks with peace activist Ossama Nassar from Darayaa about the chances of the Syrian revolution to remain peaceful

The trained eye cannot miss a recent change in the general mood in Syria under the pressure of the regime’s crackdown on the opposition and the lack, to date, of any change in the balance of power that could favour the revolution. Many have started to question the use of peaceful struggle; this form of protest has been carried out through all demonstrations, and hence failed to challenge, either on the ground or in the media, the views which consider militarisation coupled with foreign intervention, the only way to achieve the aims of the revolution.

The activists of the city of Darayya in the countryside of Damascus, which has become known as the symbol of pacifist struggle in Syria, are the most qualified to talk about this issue. Field activist Ussama Nassar was first arrested in 2003, with the rest of what was known as the Darayya Youth Group. He was arrested for the second time in 2007, and then arrested again with his pregnant wife during a sit-in near the ministry of interior on March 16, 2011, to be released two weeks after. The fourth time he was taken in by Air Force intelligence on May 1 and was released after two months. After his release he went into hiding like most of the other field activists.

The following is a Q&A with Ossama Nassar: Read more

Syrian labour market in turmoil

Posted on | November 24, 2011 | No Comments

“Syria is fine” and “it’s over” are two oft-repeated assertions among Syrian officials, collaborators and supporters of the regime, referring to the supposed end of the Syrian crisis. Facts on the ground, however, indicate that Syrians have many more difficult days ahead of them, whether the crisis ends now or continues until the regime is toppled. Read more

“It’s simply an announcement of certain death.”

Posted on | November 4, 2011 | No Comments

By Razan Zeitouneh

It is not easy to talk to an activist from Homs about his city; as you are talking, you find yourself alternating between laughter and tears without even realising it.

What could one possibly ask about a city that has lost more than 1,200 martyrs since the start of the revolution? Despite these losses, Syrians still avidly await the daily demonstration in Homs, broadcast live by some satellite channels.

These demonstrations have come to resemble freedom carnivals that are often held a few metres away from where the firing and shelling takes place daily.

According to Majd Amer, an activist since the beginning of the revolution, demonstrators gather in a relatively safe space, sheltered by houses and narrow alleys. The demonstrators then block the entries to their gathering spot using rubbish bins, among other things, and place look-outs who whistle to warn them against security raids.

But raids and tank shelling are not the only source of horror in this city, now known as the capital of the Syrian revolution. The sound of sniper shots is even more terrifying than that of automatic rifle shots or even shelling.  If you ask Majd to describe that sound, he would say, “It’s simply an announcement of certain death.” Read more

Diary of a new generation

Posted on | November 2, 2011 | No Comments

The Syrian revolution has quickly become a common, nationalist cause carried forwards by the elderly, the young, women and children, all driven by love for their country.

I will focus on a group of young men and women who have devoted themselves to making the whole world hear the voice of their revolution. They represent a new generation whose only aim is to see the Syrian people free.

Every day, Youssef, Juan, George, Hanin, Alia, Muhammad, and Shadi – these are pseudonyms that the group members use for security reasons – sit for hours on end in front of their computers in order to reveal to the entire world the injustice perpetrated against their people. While some of them have been friends for a long time, enthusiasm for the revolution was the real reason that brought them together.

The regime has long boasted of its secular, anti-sectarian values, and used this “virtue” in order to try and legitimize itself and its crackdown on the opposition. These young people, however, have shown brotherly love for each other, and a common belief in their country’s future, despite their religious and ethnic differences. Read more

My friend, Obeida Arna’out

Posted on | Oktober 27, 2011 | No Comments

I can never forget that day in autumn when I met Obeida.

The bus I was taking from my university in Damascus to Aleppo made a stop in the city of Abilfida’, and among the passengers who got on was a lively and handsome young man who came and sat down next to me. Read more

Memoirs of the Revolution: Yasmine

Posted on | Oktober 24, 2011 | No Comments

By Razan Zeitouneh

Yasmine lives outside Syria but works in the media office of the Local Coordination Committees. Because she was the heart and soul of the office, as described by her friends, shortly after the start of the uprisings, Yasmine started communicating with the youth of the revolution and the families of the detainees and the martyrs, as well as with various Arabic and western print, audio, and video media outlets. Read more

Anna Politkovskaja Award 2011 for Razan Zeitouneh

Posted on | Oktober 6, 2011 | 3 Comments

Today the human rights organisation RAW (Reach All Women in War) has awarded the Syrian human rights activist Razan Zeitouneh with the Anna Politikovskaja Award 2011, set up to recognise women defending human rights in zones of war and conflict, often at great personal risk.

RAW chose Razan Zeitouneh as “a brave woman young woman who has courageously spoken out about the atrocities currently facing the people of her country. Her determination to speak the truth has forced her into hiding as well as the detention and torture of her family members. Read more

Stripping the president of his legitimacy

Posted on | Oktober 4, 2011 | No Comments

Once intimidating, images of President Bashar al-Assad are now trampled on and burned.

One of the young men pointed at the green rubbish bin, smiled, and said, “This is the traitor Bashar’s house,” referring to President Bashar al-Assad.  He placed Assad’s picture on the bin to further slander a personality that most Syrians never dare speak ill of or publicly criticise, for fear of punishment.

This large town near the city of Idlib in northern Syria now seems liberated from Assad’s rule, after a large number of demonstrators tore down all of Bashar’s pictures previously plastered on the walls of the government buildings and the Baath party headquarters. Read more

Memoirs of the Revolution: Saraqeb

Posted on | September 23, 2011 | No Comments

By Razan Zeitouneh

I met Manhal Barish only few times before the revolution, in the Justice Palace in Damascus, where his father had been detained for more than a year.

After each meeting, we gathered in an old coffee shop behind the Justice Palace, where we sat around worn tables – lawyers, activists and friends – drinking bitter tea, and exchanging news about developments in Syria and the revolutions in neighbouring countries.

My last meeting with him was early on the morning of March 16, the day of a sit-in in front of the interior ministry, where he showed his friends pictures of dozens of Syrian prisoners of conscience – pictures that would be torn up seconds after the start of the sit-in. Read more

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