Syria: When Playgrounds Turn into Graveyards

A Human life is not a matter of debate or compromises. In my country Syria, time is blood.

Courtesy: mideastreports.wordpress.com

(VICTORIA BC) - Salem-News.com has carried many reports about Syria and the ongoing conflict that has led to so much violence. Several writers suggest that the effort is a way to place western forces on the doorstep of Iran in order to carry out an armed conflict there on behalf of Israeli interests. This article by a writer who is only using the name 'Hummingbird' explores the other side of the issue, from the perspective of a Syrian revolutionary.
- Tim King

“Down with the regime and the opposition! Down with the Arabic and Islamic countries, down with United Nations! Down with the world, down with everything!” — a hopeless sign, just like this, lifts in the sky in one of Syrian’s endless protests.

Syrians know that they are alone; disappointed and bewildered, they feel traumatized and abandoned. Regional and international stands has failed them for an entire year.

“He stepped on my neck. I am a human, not an animal!” — a Syrian citizen, Mohammed Ahmed Abdul Wahhab shouts at the media exactly what the Assad regime security forces did to him when they raided his little town.

As a syrian, when I saw this man — my fellow citizen — I was reminded of a long forgotten sentence written by George Orwell in the novel, 1984: “If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face forever”. I tell you. The boot-stamped Human Face is in Syria.

The 15th of March 2012 marks the 1st anniversary of the Revolution in Syria. It was a long, long year. Love ones slaughtered, tortured, and arrested; many continue to go missing. Others are simply fleeing when they can/if they can.

As Syrians look back they see their homes burned and bombarded; they see their possessions stolen and robbed, they see their jobs, lost. Streets turned into dumpsters, schools turned into detention centers. Syrians dehumanized. Deliberately deprived of modern-world electricity access and reduced to less than the caveman for food and water.

At this time Syrian security forces and army deployed in all cities are allowed to let their primitive desires out, and they have.

Soldiers who have defected from the Syrian army told Human Rights Watch that their commanders instructed them to use “all means necessary” to stop protestors. http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,HRW,,SYR,,4f0aedd52,0.html

During an entire year, the world has done nothing but utter meaningless words. There have been some who’ve uttered words of sorrow while others have spoken words of despair but no one’s tried to act seriously against the death sprawling in every household. Let alone try in any way to stop the very weapon shipments from Russia and Iran reaching the regime. http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/02/15/state_dept_russia_and_iran_still_arming_bashar_al_assad

Syrians now know by heart the slew of empty words, the bundle of false hopes, having heard them endlessly everyday for 366 days until now on the eve of Syria’s ‘Arab Spring’ anniversary. March 15, 2012. Words like: “denounce, condemn, criticize, reject, refuse, convict, angry, sadness, annoy, crimes, massacres, shameful, disgusting, dreadful, etc…” But, all these, have been unable able to stop the mortars from shelling Baba Amr neighborhood in Homs. See link: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2012/03/syria-baba-amr-satellite-homs.html

These empty words have not stopped Syrian children from being brutally tortured and killed on the ground. UNICEF has announced that at least 384 children have been killed in Syria and at least 380 have been detained, some of whom are younger than 14 years old.

Human Rights Watch issued a report entitled: Syria: Stop Torture of Children, saying that it has documented the torture, in prisons, of at least 12 children. HRW has gathered testimonies from the children of Syrian refugees when regime security forces raided their schools and arrested their friends during classes. http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/02/03/syria-stop-torture-children

In one year, hundred of thousands of Syrians have fled their homes to neighboring countries, darting through bullets and land mines. The Syrian regime has wickedly planted these land mines along its borders with Lebanon (which is seen to be the nearest safe-land for the most disturbed areas in Syria), explicitly, to prevent refugees from going out and reaching the media.

The less refugees get out, the fewer testimonies there will be. http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/

Since media (that is — honest media) is the Syrian regime’s weak point. The Assad regime does not care how many people are killed or in which hideous manner; it does not even care if the world knows!

The Syrian regime is only concerned about, how the media will make the world, act, against, it. That is why journalists have not been allowed to enter Syria for an entire year, all-the-while Syrian state TV and ajouning medias repeating the same lies over and over again until someone believes. Journalists who get into the country illegally will be killed or they will be arrested and all photos and videos they have will be destroyed.

Of course any surviving Western citizen reporters stuck in Homs cannot trust the regime as they might be killed at any time or be blamed for “terrorist groups” as the regime like to call them. https://www.cpj.org/2012/02/in-syria-fourth-journalist-killed-in-past-week.php

Humanity must accept the enormous responsibility of protecting these children. One action that must be taken is to send a letter to the Russian and Chinese embassies in your country urging the Russian government to stop sending weapons to the Syrian regime and urging Chinese government to stop its diplomatic support. The USA, Canada, the EU countries and along with neighboring Arab countries must act more seriously if it is true that they are not supporting the Assad regime under the table. The view of Assad’s legitimacy must be dropped; embassies must be closed and aid must be sent to Syrians.

Protection must be given to the civilians with or without United Nations consensus. A Human life is not a matter of debate or compromises. In my country Syria, time is blood.

A version of this article originally appeared on World Pulse, an action media network powered by women from 185 countries.

http://flyhummingbird.wordpress.com/2012/03/10/syria-when-playgrounds-turn-into-graveyards-2/