Syrian Uprising...

For countless hours, I have spent keeping up with the news of the Syrian uprising. Back in March I had a university interview, after which I hoped to then spend 6 months lazing around in Syria, hanging out with the family, teaching English, improving my Arabic and enjoying the lovely weather and country that Syria beholds. Who wouldn't enjoy spending their time in numerous Syrian towns and cities? Though the week of my interview was when the Syrian Uprising began - 15th March 2011 (though to be fair there have been protests in Syria prior to the 15th March, but it really took steam from then onwards).

To start off with, protesters didn't demand or call for the removal of Assad or the Ba'ath party. Demands included the end of emergency laws, the release of political detainees and more political freedom. As time passed, we saw countless human rights abuses and very little reforms made. As a result, protesters began demanding that Bashar should leave "Yalla irhal ya Bashar" as well as demanding the fall of the regime "Sha3ab areed iskat al nizam" (translated appropriately to "The Syrian people demand the toppling of the regime"). 

Of course there are still genuine pro-regime supporters out there, mainly because they benefit from the regime being there and could also have a lot to lose if they left. Everyone involved with the regime could potentially face punishment if Assad were to fall. Many still claim that what Syria is facing is a conspiracy aimed to destabilise Syria first and then the whole region. They also claim that many of the protesters are armed and are causing all the violence, that the Syrian army is only protecting the Syrian people from "armed gangs" and Islamic extremists. The Syrian regime isn't the only one promoting these claims - Libyan and Bahrani governments use similar tactics to suppress their own protests and uprisings.

I counter these claims stating that so far, the majority of videos coming out from Syria are showing protesters to be peaceful. Protests in a number of regions since the start of the uprising has seen no violence by protesters which a number of videos give testimony to. Syrians, I know and completely trust, who are protesting on a regular basis in Syria are stating that they are peaceful and that are not armed. Many videos do show live fire used by mukhabarat against protesters in a number of places as well as showing graphic videos of dead Syrians at the hands of the mukhabarat, shabiha and army units. Of course there are times, when protesters do avenge the killings; we have seen videos whereby police officers have been beaten and killed in some instances but so far I've found these to be few and very rare. On the whole it is the Syrian regime causing all the violence, bloodshed, civilian casualities and deaths. Of course protesters involved in crimes, should be put to trial and tried justly, but the numbers involved in this category are a very small minority. I find it understandable that protesters would want to avenge the killings, since there's the saying "an eye for an eye, tooth for tooth", but I would rather the Syrian regime be tried in court and each one punished accordingly and I wouldn't want my fellow countrymen to steep down to the regime's level of atrocities. 

What the Syrian regime is doing is wrong. It cannot suppress protests with violence. It cannot torture its own civilians, whether men, women or children. It cannot kill its own civilians. How can Syrians justify such horrendous acts of violence against its own people? For this reason alone, Bashar and his regime should go. It doesn't matter whether Bashar al Assad has the full power of the country; the whole Ba'ath party should be dissolved. The Ba'ath party was responsible for many crimes throughout their rule, and will continue to be responsible for many more crimes if they continue to rule. Crimes such as the Hama massacre in 1982 where they took at least 10,000 lives (though numbers are more likely to be over 40,000 since many are still missing and not registered as dead), the Tadmor prison massacre, and the Jisr al-Shughour massacre. Since the Assads began rule, they have detained many Syrians for political reasons and have subjected many of them to torture. 

For me, this is the first time I live through and feel the pain of my fellow Syrians. Family members and friends have been through ordeals because of Rifaat and Hafiz al Assad (and now Bashar too); their stories alone send shocks down my spine. Hearing what Syrians currently are experiencing are sending more shivers and shocks down my spine again. 

I hope 50 years from now, we will look back in history and see how much we have moved forward; progress which we would never seen under the current party. We do have numerous obstacles along the way, but let's start by removing the Ba'ath party. We need to punish those responsible for crimes against humanity. We need to rid the country of corruption. Day after day, we will continue to make Syria a better country. Let not the excuse of chaos ruin what we could have, and not let chaos become a reality. We owe it to the martyrs. We it owe it every Syrian who risked their lives. We it owe it every Syrian who was detained and tortured just so we can be free from the Ba'ath party and Assad rule, so we see a better future.