Throughout the revolution, the Syrian regime has tried to win over minorities by attempting to gain their trust and push them into believing that their own future depends on its survival. The Kurds were the main target of these flirtations. At the start of the revolution, they were granted Syrian citizenship after having been deprived of this right for nearly […]

By Razan Zaitouneh Like most other activists who were caught unprepared by the accelerating militarisation of the revolution, Fares has always confused me: on the one hand, he enthusiastically supports the Free Syrian Army, FSA, but on the other, he has favoured revolutionary pacifism for many months on end.

. “Damn your soul Bashar,” chanted Mustapha, 12, while dozens of students from his school in the province of Daraa repeated the phrase and his mother looked on encouragingly. Mustapha owns a picture of Hamza al-Khatib, a child who was arrested and killed by security forces; the boy remembers dozens of other students who were tortured in the cellars of […]

Since the first day of the revolution, demonstrators’ chants have called for pacifism as a means to topple the regime, despite attempts by the head of the state and those around him to militarise the uprising. A substantial section of people are aware that carrying arms will push the entire country into the throes of a civil war, which will […]

By Razan Zeitouneh The difference between what is before a barricade and what lies after it summarises the contrast between life in Syria before the outbreak of the revolution, and life following it. Before you reach the barricade, the distance you are crossing is loaded with fear and estrangement: the alley where you spent your childhood does not recall you; […]

Ten months after the start of the Syrian revolution, it has become clear that the events have taken a critical turn, putting the pacifism of the revolution at risk. Many point the finger at the regime, accusing it of aggravating the situation by resorting to repression to end the crisis. Since day one, the authorities have used violence to deal […]