Damascus and Street Politics

OK, this is the second time that I have tried to get this uploaded. As usual, I forgot to save the initial text, so all the whit that you have come to know and love is gone... for another day anyway...

That said, Damascus is a charged place at the moment. According to various news agencies, over 100,000 Syrians took to the streets today to support the embattled Assad regime. The public outcry is a response to publishing of the Detlev Mehlis report. The investigation alleges that high ranking figures of the Syrian regime were the ringleaders of the February 14 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.

So, what was it like? I don't know. I missed it. I chose my Arabic class at Damascus University over witnessing a "spontaneous" public demonstration in support of the Syrian government. I did hear some chanting outside my classroom window, but it subsided fairly quickly and seemed to be located outside the university gates (I study at the College of Arts campus).

Nonetheless, as I left the campus grounds, there was a ripped piece of white poster board. It was illustrated with a name in Arabic (Mehlis'), an equal sign, and a star of David. The obvious interpretation is that Mehlis is an agent for of Israel. Who knew? I should say that this is a hackneyed argument utilized by Middle East regimes to divert attention from internal problems... But that is a story for another day...

Anyhoo, as I was taking a taxi to the Old City to get some lunch and some work done, I began to wonder about the location of the my roommate and fellowFulbrighter Roland McKay.

This is where he was:

Yep, that's Roland on top of a fire truck in 17 April Square (about a 3 minute walk from our apartment). He had a field day at the demonstration. Yet, I will not steal his thunder. I have included his narrative in this posting...

Do enjoy his story and I will get the photos up very quickly. As an aside, the internet does provide me with an outlet to read about the much saner political world of Texas and Argentina, my two special places...

More to come from the traveling circus...

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Anatomy of a Stage-Managed Rally
By Roland McKay

Syrians gathered today to rally around their government following the release of the UN Mehlis report investigating the February 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and in advance of Monday’s expected UN Security Council meeting. Syria calls the report – which implicated President Asad’s brother-in-law in the killing and accused the Foreign Minister of making false statements – “politicized” and “full of lies.”

A Syrian male acquaintance told me yesterday that people have been saying that Clinton is going to kill all the Syrians. Or was it Bush who was president now? As of yesterday evening, few were aware that a demonstration was scheduled for the next day.

By 9:00 this morning, the traffic and regular police were in full force at two of the main squares in Damascus, Saba’ Bahrat and Shahbandar, albeit with few demonstrators in sight yet. The presence of army officers and regular recruits was heavier than usual, with fire trucks and military trucks rushing around town in advance of the rally.

At approximately 9:30 this morning two text messages were sent to all Syrian mobile phone owners from the two state-owned cellular carriers, calling on all of Syria to support a strike at 11:00 AM on the 24th.

At around 10:00 there was a very modest demonstration at the university that quickly died down. Some university classes were cancelled and government workers got the day off.

High school was a different story. In a mix of Arabic and English, a 10th grader I spoke with said that when he arrived in class this morning, all the students were boarded onto waiting buses, given signs, sent to the rally, and told to take the rest of the day off. Two others confirmed this.

The 17th of April Square was host to the most activity, with a crowd in the thousands or tens of thousands (according to the BBC). The gathering was mostly, but not all, male. The vast majority of people seemed to be of high school age or below, with a significant number of university students. There were few adults. Asad pictures were in abundance as were printed signs in Arabic, French, and English calling the UN report “politicized” and false. No one who held an English-language sign spoke English or could say who had made the sign. Policemen and soldiers lined up at the edges of the crowd, directing the protestors from one street to the next.

I spoke with some of the same university students as the BBC correspondent in town and got the same message. Even without being asked the question, a group of girls swore up and down that no one had told them to be here. When I asked them about this morning’s text message, they rolled their eyes. They sang the same tune as everybody else I spoke with: “We are protesting twenty years of American oppression in the region, including the war in Iraq, the occupation of Palestine, and the interference in Lebanon. We have good relations with Lebanon, our brothers and sisters.” Who killed Hariri? “Israel and the USA, of course.” Few were able to provide details of their anger toward the UN report beyond the rhetoric of today and yesterday’s Ba’ath Party newspaper headlines.

Slogans were shouted by a small cadre of men (no greater than four of five) and repeated by marching crowds: “Down with Bush, Israel, and the CIA” etc. Two circles of men burned poster caricatures of Israeli and US leaders, with the police looking on and grabbing more protestors to participate.

Syrian policemen who only a few days ago had reviewed the content of my digital camera’s memory card and stopped me from taking a picture of a mountain near the embassy quarter were now helping me up a fire ladder for a better angle and gathering protestors for a group photo.

Syrian TV camera crews were perched atop two fire trucks. A man standing next to the cameraman directed the assembled crowd like a conductor, waving his hands for more, and at times less, volume. He was in continuous eye contact with policemen behind the fire truck and a man who eventually yelled “khalas!” – “finished” – at which point the whole crowd instantly became hushed. “We’ve got the shots we need” said the man. Policemen and soldiers then motioned the general crowd to the next street.
By around 1:00 PM things were essentially back to normal on the streets, probably in order to prepare for the nightly post-iftar Ramadan shopping spree.