Free Michel Kilo Now - Enough Already

Thank you All for your support and solidarity with Michel Kilo and the other intellectuals who were arrested unfairly by a Syrian regime that does not value the dignity and freedom of its citizens. A regime that wants total control and power.

You can find an international petition related to protesting the arrest in Arabic or French on http://www.metransparent.com/.

For English you can directly email the petition administrators at syriasolidarity@noos.fr , may be you could ask fo an English interface.

 The petition strongly condemns and rejects the systematic repression of the syrian regime and demands

* Immediate release and liberation of all prisoners of conscience and opinion in Syria

* Lifting of the emergency state and special military tribunals imposed on the country since 1963

* The return of the Syrian exiled back to their nation

* The establishment of a democratic and constitutional state

Other than signing the petition, we could all do our parts by keeping the arrest story alive and making other freedom loving people aware of it. We do that by emails, or writing articles or talking about in the media. Also we could pressure the Syrian authorities by pressuring the Western authorities to convey the message that this is unacceptable. 

There was some organized protest events in Paris since the arrest, I heard about a Washington Event in June (for more details contact my friend Ammar at http://amarji.blogspot.com/)

There is a lot of solidarity shown by Syrian and Arab writers and journalists who were outraged by the events. A lot of articles have been written about the rotten regime lately, the problem is that most of it is written in Arabic and the western coverage of the story is very limited.

Syria is a victim of the regime and the sad and trajic events in the middle east from the Israeli/Arab conflict to the Iraq war to the rise of islamic fundamentalism and extremism in the region.

The Syrian regime chooses to do any thing in order to keep power: from crushing dissent to brainwashing people to pretending to defend arabic and islamic causes to aligning itself with Iran and creating more chaos in the region (Lebanon, Iraq, Palestine) . It keeps hinting and blackmailing that the only alternative to its power is a catastrophic Syria and Middle east.

We Syrians deserve better and call upon the world to GIVE US A CHANCE to have a Proud country once again.

 Sami Aoun is a Lebanese Canadian Political Sciences Expert on the Middle East, appears frequently on Canadian Media. I have a great respect for his opinon and analysis.

The following is his article which appeared in French in "la Tribune" of Sherbrooke, Canada, on Friday may 27. It is a great analysis of the current Syrian regime situation and the democratic case for Syria. I'll try to summarize the first half and translate the second half for the English speaking audience.  

It explains the current suffering and oppression of the Syrian regime and its fighting its international isolation after Hariri's murder. The legitimacy of the Syrian president is dwindling specially after stopping and now aborting the "Spring of Damascus" which started with his presidency. The young president also has been denied the support of France and the USA that his dad Hafez Al Assad enjoyed during his rule from 1970 to 2000. Loosing Lebanon has being the biggest crisis of this regime so far. 

In response to pressure by the US and France, the young Bashar is figthing externally on several fronts in the region causing problems in Irag, Lebanon, Palestine and even Jordan. He is playing his father's role of being the instigator and the fire fighter in alternance which the Dad played really well in Lebanon during the civil war. Allying itself in refuge with Iran member of the "axis of Evil".

Internally an iron fist has been shown specially after signing the Damascus-Beirut, Beirut-Damascus declaration by Syrian and Lebanese intellectuals who called for a normal relation between the two countries. Bashar Assad brutally counter attacked by arresting national and liberal opposition (Michel kilo included) who call for a lawful and democratic state and lifting of the state of emergency. The Islamic brotherhood is still banned from any political activity, the communist and liberal left is intimidated and the kurdish opposition is curtailed.

The Syrian regime does not hide its will to stay in power, even it blackmails its own people by emphasizing the slogan used previously by Saddam Hussein of "after me, it is chaos".

The escalation of repression in Syria might show a regain of confidence for president Bashar after a difficult if not say a humilating year. The arabic states notably Egypt and Saudi Arabia don't have any interest in the regime fall, they fear chaos and repetition of the iraqi scenario. Another important support came from Israel wihch does not want an islamic or democratic neighboring regime which might be a danger on the Golan front.

Briefly Syria faces today 3 dead-ends. First the regime itself which is incapable of reforming itself and is affraid of self destruction. Time is on Syria's side as Bashar pretends, its enemies influence is declining (US and France presidents). Second the opposition which is finding it very difficult to formulate a coherent and convicing post-Assad image which is peaceful and vengance free against the alawite community which currently holds key power and army positions. The third deadlock is the arabic regional order which does not succeed in imposing the respect of its own people at the Syrian State.

In conclusion, The democratic ambition is present in Syria but the internal and external conditions for its blossoming are still missing. 

La Tribune (Sherbrooke, Qc)
Opinions, vendredi 26 mai 2006, p. 15 Analyse

Syrie: la répression après le"printemps" avorté!

Aoun, Sami
Collaboration spéciale

Le régime syrien souffre et fait souffrir. Le président Bashar al Assad s'est vu privé de l'appui des États-Unis et de la France autrefois accordé à son père Hafez, au pouvoir de 1970 à 2000. Avec la fin de sa mainmise sur le Liban se révèle la crise interne de son régime.

La Syrie est isolée diplomatiquement depuis l'assassinat de l'ancien premier ministre libanais Rafic Hariri, le 14 février 2005. L'adoption de différentes résolutions du Conseil de sécurité de l'ONU (1559 et 1680, adoptée le 14 mai dernier accentue la pression sur le régime de Bashar. La légitimité politique de ce dernier s'amenuise depuis sa volte-face contre "le printemps de Damas", c'est-à-dire les réformes libérales promises lors de son ascension au pouvoir en 2000. Le printemps espéré est maintenant avorté!

En réponse aux pressions des États-Unis et de la France, le jeune président Bashar réplique sur plusieurs fronts. Il jette d'abord de l'huile sur le feu irakien en appuyant notamment les collaborateurs de Saddam Hussein ainsi que différents activistes islamistes. Il se réfugie dans une alliance avec l'Iran, pays de "l'Axe du mal".

En Palestine, le président syrien soulève l'ire du président palestinien Mahmoud Abbas en appuyant ses rivaux. Damas pousse même l'audace à soutenir logistiquement des membres du Hamas pour des entreprises de déstabilisation de la monarchie jordanienne, selon les dires de cette dernière.

Puis, le Liban souffre toujours des tentatives de fragilisation orchestrées par la Syrie. Damas cherche à s'assurer que le Liban soit incapable de se gouverner, prétextant la docilité du pays du cèdre aux diktats américains et français. Le régime de Bashar retourne donc à l'ancienne stratégie de son père, celle de jouer alternativement le rôle du pyromane et du pompier.

Une main de fer

Sur le plan interne, l'oppression du régime syrien s'est accentuée après la signature de la " déclaration Beyrouth-Damas, Damas-Beyrouth " par des centaines d'intellectuels de renom et d'activistes qui réclament la démocratie et le respect mutuel entre les deux peuples frères. Bashar a contre-attaqué brutalement en ordonnant des dizaines d'arrestations d'opposants libéraux et nationalistes qui réclament l'instauration d'un État de droit. Les Frères musulmans sont toujours interdits d'activité politique. La gauche communiste et libérale est intimidée. Et l'opposition kurde est matée.

Le régime syrien ne démord pas dans sa volonté de se préserver. Il fait même du chantage à son peuple en scandant le slogan "après moi le chaos", utilisé autrefois par Saddam Hussein.

L'escalade de la répression en Syrie peut révéler un regain de confiance du président Bashar après une année difficile, voire humiliante. Les États arabes, surtout l'Égypte et l'Arabie saoudite, n'ont pas d'intérêt dans la chute de son régime. Ces États craignent l'effondrement de l'ordre syrien et la répétition du scénario irakien.

Un appui de taille est venu aussi d'Israël. L'ennemi voisin ne veut pas traiter avec un nouveau régime syrien islamiste ou démocratique qui représenterait peut-être un danger sur le flanc du Golan, zone frontalière paisible depuis plus de 30 ans.

Bref, la Syrie est aujourd'hui confrontée à trois impasses. Il y a premièrement celle du régime lui-même. Puisqu'il est incapable de se réformer et qu'il craint son effondrement, il a recours à la répression ouverte. Le temps, comme Bashar le prétend, joue en sa faveur: l'influence des présidents américain et français, George W. Bush et Jacques Chirac, décline sérieusement.

Il y a deuxièmement l'impasse de l'opposition qui éprouve une grande difficulté à formuler une image cohérente et convaincante d'un avenir post-Assad qui ne porte pas les risques d'une guerre civile ou des vengeances contre la minorité alaouite détenant les postes clés du pouvoir

Et finalement la troisième impasse est celle de l'ordre régional arabe qui ne réussit pas à imposer le respect de son propre peuple à l'État syrien.

L'ambition démocratique est présente en Syrie. Mais les conditions internes et externes de son éclosion sont toujours absentes.

Sami Aoun est professeur titulaire de sciences politiques à l'Université de Sherbrooke.Hyperliens pour les articles antérieurs : http://callisto.si.usherb.ca/~aoun/medias.htm

Avec la collaboration de Simon Larouche, candidat à la maîtrise au Département d'histoire et de sciences politiques de l'Université de Sherbrooke.

Here is my angry reply to someone who is trying to defend the Syrian regime and pretend that everything is perfect, and make everyone a traitor in the process, and saying nothing should change until the Israeli threat is gone, ie Rulers are right in whatever they do and we people should accept the "Bible" written by the Assad Family, their generals and their slaves of the Baath party which lost its spirit since it came to power on tanks. 

The whole convesation is happening on Syria Comment forum by Joshua Landis "The saga of France and Syria Relations" by Marwan Kabalan  , I am comment #4 by Fares replying to comment #3 by Ausama, no need to bore yourself with the useless garbage comment#3 but I used reading one line skipping 10 lines method and that was enough to boil me. So here is my reply :

To Aussama,

I feel like I am reading Tishreen here or some other bullshit official Syrian newspaper. I'll try to be short.

1) Syria does not need an army of 500,000 soldiers because it is not capable of winning any conventional war.
2) I agree with you that Isreal is a problem in the region, but that is because we love to emphasize that fact and blame every single failure on Israel. Israel is not innocent but after 60 years we should know how to deal with the situation. Tell your rulers to get us a deal there after failing miserably to do it since 1967.
3) Bashar Assad and his family are bunch of thieves who are brainwashing people like you to keep power. Instead of defending them you can tell them what to do "Actions speak louder than words"
4) If Bulls**t Assad wanted democracy he can start by freeing the people he just arrested 2 weeks ago. I don't see how keeping Michel Kilo in Jail liberates the Golan or even your garden
5) you controlled Lebanon for 30 years (15 years of complete control) and that has achieved nothing in terms of balance with Israel, I don't see how harrassing Lebanese or brainwashing them or robbing them and making Lebanon a Syrian province helps arab goals in anyway.

We heard enough slogans and garbage, smarten up and stop inflating yourself with poisonous ideas. I am more patriotic than your are so don't try to fight the zionist while our liberals are in jail and all the Syrian abroad are waiting for the regime to fall down.

——

Let me know what you think! We can't advance in Syria with peole like that guy in power who writes great English but has a mentality of the middle ages. Reminds me of buthaina Shaaban or the Ambassador of Syria in Washington who I thought was a great guy, but lately his language and articles have been dissapointing (unless he is forced to play the regime game) then God help him.

Update: Sorry that community site was removed for lack of interest

Hello Freedom and Syria Patriots,

We need to put ourselves on the map litterarely to increase awarness globaly to our issues. I just created a new community site (group map) on frappr which allows people to join, put their names and pictures and their map location.

The site is still in the early phases and I need to customize it better, put some links, and create some forums etc…you can also give me somefeedback from there, but it is very modern and offers high tech tools for us. So let’s use it and show our freedom power.

Fares

Very very silly…an opinion article which is an observation about Syrian Obituaries!

ميشيل كيلو: نعوات سورية

Great News I got the French Tranlation of the article "Syrian Obituaries" which is the last article written by Michel Kilo shortly before his sudden and unjust arrest on May 13,2006. The translation is done by a friend who adds his effort for freedom and arabic freespeech. Please check it out, you could use babel.altavista.com to translate it from French to English. 

May 24,2006, I got more english Details about the article from "Syria's regime writes its future in the sand" published in the Lebanese daily star and written by Robert G. Rabil, which also explains the regime psychology in good details past and present. Here are the parts related to the article 

"Shortly before his arrest, Michel Kilo wrote an article for Al-Quds newspaper titled "Syrian Obituaries." He examined obituaries both in the countryside and the cities, discovering that while obituaries from the countryside were marked by a certain "military stamp" showing that almost all of the deceased and their relatives were affiliated with the government, obituaries from the cities were marked by an "urban stamp," reflecting the chasm between the city and the government. He argued that the obituaries were not only about people who had passed away. They revealed a social, political, and cultural national condition exposing the sad and dangerous reality of Syria, brought about by a government that falsely heralded freedom, brotherhood, and equality between urban and rural areas. He concluded, however, that this situation had started to change in recent years as Syrians from across the political, social, ethnic, professional, and religious spectrum had joined groups dedicated to advancing democracy. 

Kilo implicitly underscored how many Syrians had concluded that democracy and respect for political and civil rights were the basis of equality, freedom and patriotism. The recent arrests paradoxically confirmed the trend toward greater democracy in Syria and highlighted the need for the international community to support Syrian reformers. It also showed that the regime has effectively molded the Syrian-Arab character in the sand, and is writing its own obituary."

Here is the summary of the article from IFEX  (may 16):Kilo wrote about a split in Syrian society, and the popular ridiculing of the government's slogans of national unity. Discussing issues challenging national unity is taboo in Syria, which has been ruled by members of the tiny Alawite sect since 1971.  

In addition to signing the petition for better relationships between Syria and Lebanon!!! It called upon Damascus to respect the sovereignty of neighboring Lebanon, over which it still has great influence.

Great Blog article Syria: Round up the Usual Suspects