Syria. Citizen empowerment against brutality
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Nachawati, Leila
Over the last months, Syrians have struggled against a 41-year-old wall of fear. Activists have become more creative to ensure attention towards the situation in the country continues and have managed to create their own narrative in the land of state-controlled media. In this presentation we will see different examples of citizen expression in Syria, which keep growing despite attempts by the regime to silence them, and different initiatives in which citizens all over the world can take part in solidarity with the Syrian struggle for freedom.
 Hi. So can you all hear me well? And can you all see me well? Because I'm going to have to hang here near the computer because I have a Prezi that, so I don't have the possibility to use this little machine that other speakers use and, you know, walk, which is pretty cool to be able to walk and do this, but I'm going to have to be hiding behind my computer somehow. I hope this is okay with you guys. Let me know if you want me to move or if you can't see me well. So this is the title of my presentation. It's Syria, citizen empowerment against brutality. Here's all my information in case you want to contact me. I'm particularly active on Twitter at leila underscore NA, if you want to contact me, or through my Global Voices online profile, or through my regular blog, Leila Nashawati, or through my email, leilaNashawati at gmail.com. I'll share this again at the end of my presentation, and please, I mean, feel free to contact me throughout the conference or as soon as we are done if you come up with any questions regarding what we saw here. So I chose this title because we have already seen the degree of brutality, the Syrian institutions, the Syrian authorities are displaying against their people, and this is quite unprecedented, even within an area of the world where we have seen a lot of violence from the institutions, a lot of violence from the power structures. But even within this area, the case of Syria is particularly unprecedented, the degree they have reached in repressing citizen forms of expression. However, citizen narrative, citizen forms of expression keep emerging in very amazing ways, considering the very difficult dramatic context we are living in. So for years, we never heard anything about Syria in particular. For years, the government, the Syrian regime, allied with a wall of silence to isolate its citizens from one another and also to isolate the country from the world, so that I get asked a lot, so how come we never heard of the Syrian regime, and we never knew it was this brutal? Well, because there was a wall of silence around the country, and now this wall is broken, and I don't think there's a way back to the way things were, no matter how much. The government tries to repress citizen narrative, citizen forms of expression continue to emerge in unexpected, extremely creative ways. This silence, Syrians are very aware of. So this is a photo of citizens of a place in Syria called Kafar Nubil that has proved to be extremely creative in the messages they're sharing with the world in very rudimentary ways, we could say, very traditional ways, very extremely innovative. So every week we have a different message from the city of Kafar Nubil, which has suffered a lot of government repression in Syria. So this is a group of people from Kafar Nubil, this is a white banner, and they just wrote Kafar Nubil occupied, the occupied city of Kafar Nubil, Syria, the occupied town of Kafar Nubil. They're under occupation, and they're holding a white paper, and they're wearing gags to show the world how the silence, the silence of the world, and the silence within Syria has been what makes the isolation of Syrians possible, is what makes the government's actions even more ruthless, because there's always been this wall of silence against Syrians. This is a very powerful message telling the world how the silence affects Syrians in an extremely dramatic way. This is a video that also goes on the importance of silence and how it's been instrumentalized by the government, and this is a message from young activists to the silent majority, to the people who still are afraid in Syria to speak against the government. So this is a young Syrian telling another young Syrian, we need your voice. If we don't have your voice, we are lost. So at the end of this video, this young boy says your silence is their most powerful weapon. So I want you to take a look, and I found it with German subtitles. Do we have the sound okay? I'm afraid, I'm afraid of you. I'm afraid, if Hamza and Hajar are the children they're afraid of, you'll be afraid. I'm afraid, I'm afraid, I'm afraid, I'm afraid, I'm afraid, after 100 years of kunivez this young Syrian mother of mine will either be killed or returned to Syria or The criminal system? Let them change. What are we afraid of? Of murder? Of death? Of not fear? What are we afraid of? Of crime? Of their truth? Who are we afraid of? Why do we need to change? What are we afraid of? Of the sectarian? Of the sectarian? Of the sectarian? Of the sectarian? What are we afraid of? Of the sectarian? Of the sectarian? What are we afraid of? Of the sectarian? Of the sectarian? Who are we afraid of? Many of the sectarian youths are laughing at their lives. They don't want to accept you as a better person. We have a chance to change our future. What are we afraid of? Of you and the listeners. What are we afraid of? Of not fear? Do you want your family to live like you? Do you want to keep paying for your life? Do you want to keep going? Do you want to renew your faith and not fear? Do you want to stay the last of the world? What are we afraid of? There is nothing to be afraid of. Are you afraid of the best? You are also afraid of those who don't have families? What are we afraid of? Of the belief? Of the honor you gave me? What are we afraid of? After everything that has happened, are you afraid of? What are we afraid of? After 15 years of being in the desert, there is no fear. What are we afraid of? Are you afraid of death, martyrdom, and the destruction of your country? What are we afraid of? Of the people of the dead. I am not afraid of you, I am not afraid of you. You are afraid of me. I am not afraid of you. Did you like this video? So it's an example of a very powerful message shared in a very creative way. This has gone very viral through social media. So the regime has not stayed, of course, passive at these new forms of citizen expression. Facebook or Twitter or YouTube are not what's at stake, are not the enemy for repressive regimes. Freedom of expression is the enemy for these regimes. So any space where citizens find new room for expression, new room for communication, new room for organizing, that's going to be where regimes are going to be focusing their efforts, trying to repress citizen organization and communication within these new channels. So now we see how the government is trying to silence protesters, activists in every possible way, in every space where forms of expression are organized. So the Syrian regime has been brutally silencing protesters. This is an icon of the Syrian revolution. He's called Giyath Matar. He was very well known for handing flowers and water to soldiers in the neighborhood of Darayya in Damascus. So he became somehow a leader of the nonviolent resistance in Syria. So that's what the government is most afraid of. The government is afraid of nonviolent talk, nonviolent resistance, because that's what they cannot fight. They cannot produce any response that is not violent to any form of peaceful expression. So they go against these forms of expression of nonviolence and peaceful resistance in extremely violent ways. So this is Giyath Matar. He was killed. They kidnapped him and they returned his body to his family a couple days later. So there are silencing protesters in the streets. They're silencing all forms of citizen expression. They're silencing humor. This is a cartoon by Ali Fersat, a very well-known cartoonist from Syria. So this is a cartoon that shows Bashar al-Assad asking Gaddafi for a ride to whatever Gaddafi is going. This is a few months ago before Gaddafi got killed. So when he published this pic, this photo, this cartoon, a few days later he was kidnapped and he was brutally beaten and they broke both of his hands. So they kill protesters. They use very metaphorical ways to silence all forms of opposition with cartoonists, with people who write, with people who draw. It is very common that they break their hands as a metaphor of silencing their forms of production. They also silence music because music is a very powerful element of expression and resistance in the Arab world. If you see a very dramatic situation, people gathering, they still sing, they still dance. So this is a demonstration in Hamma. People singing this song called, come on, leave Bashar. We want you out. So it's a folklore song with very catchy beat, with very ironic lyrics. Like they say things like, freedom is knocking on the door and you Bashar cannot hear it, please go leave us alone. So this has been so viral that in every demonstration, in every country, in solidarity with the Syrian people, like I'm in Spain, we have a lot of demonstrations at the Syrian Embassy in Madrid. We sing this song and this song was popularized by singer Ibrahim Kashouz from Hamma. So this is Ibrahim Kashouz a few days after the huge demonstration in Hamma. They also kidnapped him and they cut his throat and ripped his vocal cords off. I'm sorry if this is disturbing for some of you, but this is Syria today. This is what happens to a singer, not even a member of the political opposition. This is a singer who is singing in the demonstrations. So they ripped his vocal cords off. But if you can see here, everybody now at demonstrations are there. You find more hands holding mobile phones than people almost. So this song has gone so viral that even if they killed Ibrahim Kashouz, may he rest in peace, they cannot stop his voice. They cannot stop the voice of the Syrian people. They keep trying to silence bloggers and journalists. Blogs have become a very powerful tool in the land of state-controlled narrative. So this is a friend of us called Razaan Razawi. She works for the Center of Media and Freedom of Expression in Syria. So her and all of her colleagues have been arrested and they're going to go through trial for accusations of betraying their country. And of course their only crime is to write to demand freedom of expression for their country. So everyone who demands free speech is a target in Syria at this point. So of course they're trying to silence protesters in very brutal ways. But at the same time they continue trying to fabricate their own narrative, their own state-controlled narrative. They've been doing that for decades through their official state TV, state channels like Sanaa and Dunia. They have done that for decades to create their own reality through their own controlled media. But now with all the contents we have floating the Internet, less and less people rely on state-controlled media. And more people have access to different forms of expression of what's happening. So just to give you a hint of how fabricated most of the videos and most of the contents by these state-controlled channels are, I'm going to show you a couple mistakes that these channels make. And they're making more and more mistakes because they're more and more desperate. So they do things very fast, they try to question activists' narratives so fast, sometimes in such a clumsy way that crazy things like the ones you're going to see, the ones I'm going to show you happen. So I want you to pay attention to this video. This video by state TV Dunia, is it Dunia? I don't know if it's Dunia or... yeah, Dunia. They show, allegedly, a crime committed by what they call terrorists. So we don't know if it's activists, we don't know if they actually committed this crime. We don't know exactly what the information is because Syrian state TV is very unreliable. But what we know is that we see a hand of a reporter, a journalist's hand, touching the stuff at the crime scene. So we all know when we work as journalists, you're not supposed to touch anything that's on the ground. And you can see how before the camera gets there, the journalist from the state TV is organizing stuff on the floor so that it looks good for the camera. And the presenter who speaks, shuts down in complete shock, like they caught us. They saw that we are fabricating and manipulating the scene. So look at how she stays quiet and she doesn't know what to say for the rest of the video. When she says, when she sees this reporter manipulating the proof, the evidence of the so-called crime by terrorists in Damascus. She stops talking. That shows they say victims of a terrorist attack by armed groups. And you can see two men comforting each other, maybe after losing a relative or maybe after being wounded themselves, like really caressing each other and hugging. But someone tells them, okay, you can go. We're done with recording. So they're like, okay, let's go. Okay? Like actors. So let's see. Pay attention to this detail. Okay, want to see this again? So they're there posing for the photograph and then someone tells them, okay, we're done. You can go. You don't have to be posing for this video anymore. Okay? Well, this is very common with Syrian state TV, but now we see how things really are in the country. We didn't used to see it before. So in spite of the attempts, more and more clumsy attempts by the government to control, to stop and silence activists and to fabricate their own narrative, their own state control narrative, citizen narrative at this point is unstoppable. I'm going to show you a couple examples of very creative things. This is a demonstration with this big poster that people are holding. It says oppression, corruption, despotism, demolition. This is the Syria of the current regime. So we're going to see what they do in the middle of the demonstration. I don't know why so much people can avoid these things and vulnerable people would be happy with it. The words of our society that is developed and sensible. They are three-series. So this is now, this was like last week. After all they've been through, see what they're doing, see what they're still doing out in the streets, they're taking to the streets, they're flirting the streets with these kind of very creative messages. They're also flirting the Internet, especially a lot of people living out of the country, are using Facebook and Twitter and other tools to stay updated on what's happening in the country. So I don't know, maybe we need to make this bigger. Let's see if I can make it bigger. I guess I can show you this, I can share this presentation with you guys on Twitter, but this is a list of the hashtags, of the tags, the keywords that people are using on Twitter that have become trending topic. So they're words decided by the Syrian community to bring attention to specific events related to demonstrations in Syria. So different words that have attracted worldwide attention through activism using these channels, these social media. So we have... Don't Trust Assad is one of them, one against the referendum. Bringing attention, maintaining attention to the Syrian struggle is vital so that the world does not forget about what's happening in Syria in a context of a lot of things happening worldwide. This is a very good example of activism that combines online with offline initiatives. So this is a photo created by a group called, by a community of Syrians, mostly abroad, but they work a lot with people inside of Syria. It's called, the Syrian people know their way, the Syrian people know where they're going. So they take inspiration in other peaceful demonstrations and nonviolent resistance from other parts of the world. Here they say, Chile, so defend yourself like Chileans do. So I'm going to show you their gallery. Okay, this is their photo gallery. They have very creative examples. So defend yourself like Chileans do. Let's see this other one. Yeah, like Chileans do. Let's see if they have more. This is all from Chile, but they have others where they say, defend yourself like Palestinians do. And different examples of forms of resistance where they take inspiration. So they take global inspiration from other mobilizations. These are other very creative art pieces that they have done. So they defend yourself like Tunisians did. Defend yourself like Egyptians did. Defend yourself like Chileans did. Okay, so they take inspiration from different mobilizations worldwide. And they're also very connected to the Syrian streets. They say they don't want to be these artists who are doing salon art. They want to be connected to the ground. They want to breathe the Syrian revolution and produce artistic videos, images, posters. So they have even designed graffitis that then you can see how they share them with Syrians on the ground. And you see these graffitis created by this group of designers. You see these graffitis on the wall with the face of Riyadh Matar and other martyrs of the Syrian revolution. So there's a strong connection between what they're doing, what they're designing, and the actual events on the streets so that they're not detached to the real thing happening in Syria. So it's a really great community that I really recommend. Unfortunately, it's all in Arabic. But the designs, I think, anybody can really connect with these kind of designs. Because it's very visual work they're doing. So this is the Facebook page, a little kid writing on the wall, I am not a slave, I'm a worker, not a slave. So different kinds of resistance against brutality. This is Yara Shamas. She was a very young girl who was arrested by the regime. She was only 21. So they remix things that already exist and create new forms of art for Syrians to use. Okay. And so it's Syrian Intifada is the URL on Facebook. It's Syrian people know their way, Syrian people know where they're going. And the Syrian struggle is so dramatic. And the violence they are facing is so dramatic that they have managed to attract global solidarity after years, after decades of silence over Syria. So there's a lot of campaigns that you can actually join if you guys are interested in contributing, in spreading the word about what's being done in participating, in getting involved, there are many ways to do so. This is a global solidarity campaign. So it's on Syrian CTEEN on YouTube. So I think you can still send videos, I'm not sure, to this channel called Syrian CTEEN on YouTube. So you can record yourself saying, I am in solidarity with the Syrian people, like Shandith. I am in solidarity with the Syrian people. I reject the brutality and killing that the Syrian authorities are committing against the Syrian people. Because silence is participation in this crime, I declare my participation in Syrian CTEEN on YouTube. This is another initiative called Global March Against Syrian Dictator. This is a very important initiative called Global March Against Syrian Dictator. Let me see. For over a decade, a dictator ruled the land of the iron fist. In 1982, he killed over 40,000 innocent civilians to crush the revolution. He killed more than 50,000 people in the people of fear for decades to come. On March 15, 2011, Syria's society had enough and the revolution ignited. Hundreds of thousands of Syrians from every background took to the streets in peaceful protests. Bashar al-Assad responded viciously and without mercy to the young and the old. In less than a year, he killed over 8,000 civilians, displaced 20,000 neighboring countries, and detained and tortured over 200,000 people. But one year later, Syrians continued to call for freedom and they also called for our help. I'm Canadian and I'll be joining the World Wide March for Syria. I'm Palestinian and I'll be joining the World Wide March for Syria. I'm Romanian and I'll be joining the Global March for Syria. I am Christian and I support the Global March for Syria. I'm from Kurdish and I'm from the Syrian Free Syrian Liberation Army. I'm from France and I'll be joining the Global March for Syria. I'll be joining the Global March for Syria. I'm Marz. I'm from Tunisia and I support the Global March for Syria. We're all Canadian and we'll be joining the Global March for Syria. With every passing moment, Syrians are giving their lives just to be free. Let's make a fresh in history. Join the Global March for Syria. This was on March 15, 16, 17, but a lot more marches and demonstrations and events and initiatives will continue to happen. So I really encourage you to stay tuned. Some more things that can be done. Well, stay informed. This is a new site for those of you who speak English. It's called ANA. They share news and updates straight from Syria, Activist News Association. I really trust them. They're really reliable and they have good sources on the ground to stay really focused on how things are developing. They share, I think, interesting information. If you want to spread the word about the Activist News Association, I think it's a pretty good site and work they're doing. So more things that can be done. Well, there are a lot of campaigns and initiatives to send help to Syrian refugees through different organizations like Human Rights Watch and the Amnesty International are doing reports on what's happening on the ground and there are also different campaigns to actually contribute economically with the refugees on the Turkish-Lebanese borders. So you can demonstrate at your Syrian embassy. We still have not managed to isolate the regime internationally. The Syrian ambassadors are still in European countries, continue to do their work in spite of the brutal repression against their own citizens. So I'm sure there are demonstrations here too in every country. I'm aware they have demonstrations at Syrian embassies. So pressure your political representatives for consistency within support of not only Syrian civil society, but everywhere in the Arab world and everywhere in the Middle East and North Africa, a lot of these regimes have been able to stay for so long because they had support from diplomatic support, economic support, political support. So it's time to start listening to citizens, to citizen demands, to citizen needs, to citizen demands for freedom, justice and dignity, and not to repressive governments that do not represent their societies and their peoples. So pressure your political representatives for consistency, diplomatically, economically, politically, and well something we need to keep doing is pressure Russia, which is the one big supporter of the Syrian regime to this day. Keep spreading the word, blog about it, tweet about it, like the movie The Network says, get mad. So please get mad about what's happening in this country and everywhere in the area. And now, before we finish, I would like to ask you for a little favor, if this is okay. And I'm going to ask you to raise your hands for the Syrian people. So I would like you to raise your hands like this, and maybe you can take, wait a second, maybe if you have a camera and want to also take a picture of each other and then share it on Twitter, because right now I'm afraid I don't have connection, but I'm going to share this. I'm going to share hands up for Syrian activists from Berlin, RP12, which is the tag for Republica, and then Free Syria. Hands up for Syrian activists, hands up for Free Syria, RP12 and Free Syria, so I'm going to take your picture now. See, when I do this, I always have like, again, hands up for Syria. And thank you very much. Thank you. So, a few questions. Hi. So, from Switzerland, a question about how the regime is preventing access to internet. We know from China and many other countries that this is obviously something they try to do. What's the stand in Syria, and what kind of technological solutions do you have to convey in that? Well, we have another conference coming after this one from an expert from the electronic frontier foundation. I think she's going to mention some of this, but they have been blocking sites for years on and off. Unfortunately, a lot of the technology these governments used to surveil citizen activity online, not only in Syria, but in the rest of the area, most of this technology is made in the US. So, now there seems to be an attempt from the US administration to control exports of this technology to repressive regimes such as Syria. And we'll see how that goes. It seems like a step in the right direction. Are there any more questions? Oh, right here. If I would get in contact with friends in Syria. With who? With friends in Syria. Friends. Are you okay? Yes, I'm okay. I didn't try it yet. Can I be kind of risk for them if I try to speak with them about the truth? Or do you think if ever the connection will be possible, what other people told me, it's not easy. I think that it will be hard to know something, what really cares. Do you think that a call from Europe or Germany can put people in risk? Yes, it can. Yes, it can. Nothing is safe communication wise at this point in Syria. Syrians are relying on Skype a lot. Skype is not safe either, but I guess it's a little safer than mobile phones. Especially when communications come from abroad, they're more controlled and more surveilled even than communications within the country. When people out of the country talk to our families in there, we have very casual conversations on average things. We don't ask about the situation on the ground. So yes, I would not recommend openly discussing these kind of issues on the phone with Syrians. This could actually endanger them. Another question? Do I see something in my hand? No, not right now, but Leila will be back later. That's exactly what it's all about. Thank you very much from here. I think we'll see you later on. Thank you very much.
 Hi.  So can you all hear me well?  And can you all see me well?  Because I'm going to have to hang here near the computer because I have a Prezi that,  so I don't have the possibility to use this little machine that other speakers use and,  you know, walk, which is pretty cool to be able to walk and do this, but I'm going to  have to be hiding behind my computer somehow.  I hope this is okay with you guys.  Let me know if you want me to move or if you can't see me well.  So this is the title of my presentation.  It's Syria, citizen empowerment against brutality.  Here's all my information in case you want to contact me.  I'm particularly active on Twitter at leila underscore NA, if you want to contact me,  or through my Global Voices online profile, or through my regular blog, Leila Nashawati,  or through my email, leilaNashawati at gmail.com.  I'll share this again at the end of my presentation, and please, I mean, feel free to contact me  throughout the conference or as soon as we are done if you come up with any questions  regarding what we saw here.  So I chose this title because we have already seen the degree of brutality, the Syrian institutions,  the Syrian authorities are displaying against their people, and this is quite unprecedented,  even within an area of the world where we have seen a lot of violence from the institutions,  a lot of violence from the power structures.  But even within this area, the case of Syria is particularly unprecedented, the degree  they have reached in repressing citizen forms of expression.  However, citizen narrative, citizen forms of expression keep emerging in very amazing  ways, considering the very difficult dramatic context we are living in.  So for years, we never heard anything about Syria in particular.  For years, the government, the Syrian regime, allied with a wall of silence to isolate its  citizens from one another and also to isolate the country from the world, so that I get  asked a lot, so how come we never heard of the Syrian regime, and we never knew it was  this brutal?  Well, because there was a wall of silence around the country, and now this wall is broken,  and I don't think there's a way back to the way things were, no matter how much.  The government tries to repress citizen narrative, citizen forms of expression continue to emerge  in unexpected, extremely creative ways.  This silence, Syrians are very aware of.  So this is a photo of citizens of a place in Syria called Kafar Nubil that has proved  to be extremely creative in the messages they're sharing with the world in very rudimentary  ways, we could say, very traditional ways, very extremely innovative.  So every week we have a different message from the city of Kafar Nubil, which has suffered  a lot of government repression in Syria.  So this is a group of people from Kafar Nubil, this is a white banner, and they just wrote  Kafar Nubil occupied, the occupied city of Kafar Nubil, Syria, the occupied town of Kafar  Nubil.  They're under occupation, and they're holding a white paper, and they're wearing gags to  show the world how the silence, the silence of the world, and the silence within Syria  has been what makes the isolation of Syrians possible, is what makes the government's actions  even more ruthless, because there's always been this wall of silence against Syrians.  This is a very powerful message telling the world how the silence affects Syrians in an  extremely dramatic way.  This is a video that also goes on the importance of silence and how it's been instrumentalized  by the government, and this is a message from young activists to the silent majority, to  the people who still are afraid in Syria to speak against the government.  So this is a young Syrian telling another young Syrian, we need your voice.  If we don't have your voice, we are lost.  So at the end of this video, this young boy says your silence is their most powerful weapon.  So I want you to take a look, and I found it with German subtitles.  Do we have the sound okay?  I'm afraid, I'm afraid of you.  I'm afraid, if Hamza and Hajar are the children they're afraid of, you'll be afraid.  I'm afraid, I'm afraid, I'm afraid, I'm afraid, I'm afraid, after 100 years of  kunivez this young Syrian mother of mine will either be killed or returned to Syria or  The criminal system?  Let them change.  What are we afraid of?  Of murder?  Of death?  Of not fear?  What are we afraid of?  Of crime?  Of their truth?  Who are we afraid of?  Why do we need to change?  What are we afraid of?  Of the sectarian?  Of the sectarian?  Of the sectarian?  Of the sectarian?  What are we afraid of?  Of the sectarian?  Of the sectarian?  What are we afraid of?  Of the sectarian?  Of the sectarian?  Who are we afraid of?  Many of the sectarian youths are laughing at their lives.  They don't want to accept you as a better person.  We have a chance to change our future.  What are we afraid of?  Of you and the listeners.  What are we afraid of?  Of not fear?  Do you want your family to live like you?  Do you want to keep paying for your life?  Do you want to keep going?  Do you want to renew your faith and not fear?  Do you want to stay the last of the world?  What are we afraid of?  There is nothing to be afraid of.  Are you afraid of the best?  You are also afraid of those who don't have families?  What are we afraid of?  Of the belief?  Of the honor you gave me?  What are we afraid of?  After everything that has happened, are you afraid of?  What are we afraid of?  After 15 years of being in the desert, there is no fear.  What are we afraid of?  Are you afraid of death, martyrdom, and the destruction of your country?  What are we afraid of?  Of the people of the dead.  I am not afraid of you, I am not afraid of you.  You are afraid of me.  I am not afraid of you.  Did you like this video?  So it's an example of a very powerful message  shared in a very creative way.  This has gone very viral through social media.  So the regime has not stayed, of course,  passive at these new forms of citizen expression.  Facebook or Twitter or YouTube are not what's at stake,  are not the enemy for repressive regimes.  Freedom of expression is the enemy for these regimes.  So any space where citizens find new room for expression,  new room for communication, new room for organizing,  that's going to be where regimes are going to be focusing their efforts,  trying to repress citizen organization and communication  within these new channels.  So now we see how the government is trying to silence protesters,  activists in every possible way,  in every space where forms of expression are organized.  So the Syrian regime has been brutally silencing protesters.  This is an icon of the Syrian revolution.  He's called Giyath Matar.  He was very well known for handing flowers and water to soldiers  in the neighborhood of Darayya in Damascus.  So he became somehow a leader of the nonviolent resistance in Syria.  So that's what the government is most afraid of.  The government is afraid of nonviolent talk,  nonviolent resistance, because that's what they cannot fight.  They cannot produce any response that is not violent to any form of peaceful expression.  So they go against these forms of expression of nonviolence  and peaceful resistance in extremely violent ways.  So this is Giyath Matar.  He was killed.  They kidnapped him and they returned his body to his family a couple days later.  So there are silencing protesters in the streets.  They're silencing all forms of citizen expression.  They're silencing humor.  This is a cartoon by Ali Fersat, a very well-known cartoonist from Syria.  So this is a cartoon that shows Bashar al-Assad asking Gaddafi for a ride  to whatever Gaddafi is going.  This is a few months ago before Gaddafi got killed.  So when he published this pic, this photo, this cartoon,  a few days later he was kidnapped and he was brutally beaten  and they broke both of his hands.  So they kill protesters.  They use very metaphorical ways to silence all forms of opposition  with cartoonists, with people who write, with people who draw.  It is very common that they break their hands as a metaphor  of silencing their forms of production.  They also silence music because music is a very powerful element  of expression and resistance in the Arab world.  If you see a very dramatic situation, people gathering, they still sing, they still dance.  So this is a demonstration in Hamma.  People singing this song called, come on, leave Bashar.  We want you out.  So it's a folklore song with very catchy beat, with very ironic lyrics.  Like they say things like, freedom is knocking on the door  and you Bashar cannot hear it, please go leave us alone.  So this has been so viral that in every demonstration, in every country,  in solidarity with the Syrian people, like I'm in Spain,  we have a lot of demonstrations at the Syrian Embassy in Madrid.  We sing this song and this song was popularized by singer Ibrahim Kashouz from Hamma.  So this is Ibrahim Kashouz a few days after the huge demonstration in Hamma.  They also kidnapped him and they cut his throat and ripped his vocal cords off.  I'm sorry if this is disturbing for some of you, but this is Syria today.  This is what happens to a singer, not even a member of the political opposition.  This is a singer who is singing in the demonstrations.  So they ripped his vocal cords off.  But if you can see here, everybody now at demonstrations are there.  You find more hands holding mobile phones than people almost.  So this song has gone so viral that even if they killed Ibrahim Kashouz,  may he rest in peace, they cannot stop his voice.  They cannot stop the voice of the Syrian people.  They keep trying to silence bloggers and journalists.  Blogs have become a very powerful tool in the land of state-controlled narrative.  So this is a friend of us called Razaan Razawi.  She works for the Center of Media and Freedom of Expression in Syria.  So her and all of her colleagues have been arrested and they're going to go through trial  for accusations of betraying their country.  And of course their only crime is to write to demand freedom of expression for their country.  So everyone who demands free speech is a target in Syria at this point.  So of course they're trying to silence protesters in very brutal ways.  But at the same time they continue trying to fabricate their own narrative,  their own state-controlled narrative.  They've been doing that for decades through their official state TV, state channels like Sanaa and Dunia.  They have done that for decades to create their own reality through their own controlled media.  But now with all the contents we have floating the Internet, less and less people rely on state-controlled media.  And more people have access to different forms of expression of what's happening.  So just to give you a hint of how fabricated most of the videos and most of the contents by these state-controlled channels are,  I'm going to show you a couple mistakes that these channels make.  And they're making more and more mistakes because they're more and more desperate.  So they do things very fast, they try to question activists' narratives so fast,  sometimes in such a clumsy way that crazy things like the ones you're going to see, the ones I'm going to show you happen.  So I want you to pay attention to this video.  This video by state TV Dunia, is it Dunia?  I don't know if it's Dunia or... yeah, Dunia.  They show, allegedly, a crime committed by what they call terrorists.  So we don't know if it's activists, we don't know if they actually committed this crime.  We don't know exactly what the information is because Syrian state TV is very unreliable.  But what we know is that we see a hand of a reporter, a journalist's hand,  touching the stuff at the crime scene.  So we all know when we work as journalists, you're not supposed to touch anything that's on the ground.  And you can see how before the camera gets there, the journalist from the state TV is organizing stuff on the floor  so that it looks good for the camera.  And the presenter who speaks, shuts down in complete shock, like they caught us.  They saw that we are fabricating and manipulating the scene.  So look at how she stays quiet and she doesn't know what to say for the rest of the video.  When she says, when she sees this reporter manipulating the proof,  the evidence of the so-called crime by terrorists in Damascus.  She stops talking.  That shows they say victims of a terrorist attack by armed groups.  And you can see two men comforting each other, maybe after losing a relative  or maybe after being wounded themselves, like really caressing each other and hugging.  But someone tells them, okay, you can go. We're done with recording.  So they're like, okay, let's go.  Okay? Like actors.  So let's see. Pay attention to this detail.  Okay, want to see this again?  So they're there posing for the photograph and then someone tells them, okay, we're done.  You can go. You don't have to be posing for this video anymore.  Okay?  Well, this is very common with Syrian state TV, but now we see how things really are in the country.  We didn't used to see it before.  So in spite of the attempts, more and more clumsy attempts by the government to control,  to stop and silence activists and to fabricate their own narrative, their own state control narrative,  citizen narrative at this point is unstoppable.  I'm going to show you a couple examples of very creative things.  This is a demonstration with this big poster that people are holding.  It says oppression, corruption, despotism, demolition.  This is the Syria of the current regime.  So we're going to see what they do in the middle of the demonstration.  I don't know why so much people can avoid these things and vulnerable people would be happy with it.  The words of our society that is developed and sensible.  They are three-series.  So this is now, this was like last week.  After all they've been through, see what they're doing,  see what they're still doing out in the streets,  they're taking to the streets, they're flirting the streets  with these kind of very creative messages.  They're also flirting the Internet,  especially a lot of people living out of the country,  are using Facebook and Twitter and other tools  to stay updated on what's happening in the country.  So I don't know, maybe we need to make this bigger.  Let's see if I can make it bigger.  I guess I can show you this,  I can share this presentation with you guys on Twitter,  but this is a list of the hashtags, of the tags, the keywords  that people are using on Twitter that have become trending topic.  So they're words decided by the Syrian community  to bring attention to specific events related to demonstrations in Syria.  So different words that have attracted worldwide attention  through activism using these channels, these social media.  So we have...  Don't Trust Assad is one of them,  one against the referendum.  Bringing attention, maintaining attention to the Syrian struggle is vital  so that the world does not forget about what's happening in Syria  in a context of a lot of things happening worldwide.  This is a very good example of activism that combines online with offline initiatives.  So this is a photo created by a group called, by a community of Syrians,  mostly abroad, but they work a lot with people inside of Syria.  It's called, the Syrian people know their way, the Syrian people know where they're going.  So they take inspiration in other peaceful demonstrations  and nonviolent resistance from other parts of the world.  Here they say, Chile, so defend yourself like Chileans do.  So I'm going to show you their gallery.  Okay, this is their photo gallery.  They have very creative examples.  So defend yourself like Chileans do.  Let's see this other one.  Yeah, like Chileans do.  Let's see if they have more.  This is all from Chile, but they have others where they say,  defend yourself like Palestinians do.  And different examples of forms of resistance where they take inspiration.  So they take global inspiration from other mobilizations.  These are other very creative art pieces that they have done.  So they defend yourself like Tunisians did.  Defend yourself like Egyptians did.  Defend yourself like Chileans did.  Okay, so they take inspiration from different mobilizations worldwide.  And they're also very connected to the Syrian streets.  They say they don't want to be these artists who are doing salon art.  They want to be connected to the ground.  They want to breathe the Syrian revolution and produce artistic videos,  images, posters.  So they have even designed graffitis that then you can see how they share them  with Syrians on the ground.  And you see these graffitis created by this group of designers.  You see these graffitis on the wall with the face of Riyadh Matar  and other martyrs of the Syrian revolution.  So there's a strong connection between what they're doing,  what they're designing, and the actual events on the streets  so that they're not detached to the real thing happening in Syria.  So it's a really great community that I really recommend.  Unfortunately, it's all in Arabic.  But the designs, I think, anybody can really connect with these kind of designs.  Because it's very visual work they're doing.  So this is the Facebook page, a little kid writing on the wall,  I am not a slave, I'm a worker, not a slave.  So different kinds of resistance against brutality.  This is Yara Shamas.  She was a very young girl who was arrested by the regime.  She was only 21.  So they remix things that already exist and create new forms of art  for Syrians to use.  Okay.  And so it's Syrian Intifada is the URL on Facebook.  It's Syrian people know their way, Syrian people know where they're going.  And the Syrian struggle is so dramatic.  And the violence they are facing is so dramatic  that they have managed to attract global solidarity  after years, after decades of silence over Syria.  So there's a lot of campaigns that you can actually join  if you guys are interested in contributing,  in spreading the word about what's being done in participating,  in getting involved, there are many ways to do so.  This is a global solidarity campaign.  So it's on Syrian CTEEN on YouTube.  So I think you can still send videos, I'm not sure,  to this channel called Syrian CTEEN on YouTube.  So you can record yourself saying,  I am in solidarity with the Syrian people, like Shandith.  I am in solidarity with the Syrian people.  I reject the brutality and killing  that the Syrian authorities are committing against the Syrian people.  Because silence is participation in this crime,  I declare my participation in Syrian CTEEN on YouTube.  This is another initiative called Global March Against Syrian Dictator.  This is a very important initiative  called Global March Against Syrian Dictator.  Let me see.  For over a decade, a dictator ruled the land of the iron fist.  In 1982, he killed over 40,000 innocent civilians  to crush the revolution.  He killed more than 50,000 people in the people of fear for decades to come.  On March 15, 2011, Syria's society had enough  and the revolution ignited.  Hundreds of thousands of Syrians from every background  took to the streets in peaceful protests.  Bashar al-Assad responded viciously  and without mercy to the young and the old.  In less than a year, he killed over 8,000 civilians,  displaced 20,000 neighboring countries, and detained and tortured  over 200,000 people.  But one year later, Syrians continued to call for freedom  and they also called for our help.  I'm Canadian and I'll be joining the World Wide March for Syria.  I'm Palestinian and I'll be joining the World Wide March for Syria.  I'm Romanian and I'll be joining the Global March for Syria.  I am Christian and I support the Global March for Syria.  I'm from Kurdish and I'm from the Syrian Free Syrian Liberation Army.  I'm from France and I'll be joining the Global March for Syria.  I'll be joining the Global March for Syria.  I'm Marz. I'm from Tunisia and I support the Global March for Syria.  We're all Canadian and we'll be joining the Global March for Syria.  With every passing moment, Syrians are giving their lives just to be free.  Let's make a fresh in history. Join the Global March for Syria.  This was on March 15, 16, 17, but a lot more marches and demonstrations  and events and initiatives will continue to happen.  So I really encourage you to stay tuned.  Some more things that can be done.  Well, stay informed.  This is a new site for those of you who speak English.  It's called ANA.  They share news and updates straight from Syria, Activist News Association.  I really trust them.  They're really reliable and they have good sources on the ground  to stay really focused on how things are developing.  They share, I think, interesting information.  If you want to spread the word about the Activist News Association,  I think it's a pretty good site and work they're doing.  So more things that can be done.  Well, there are a lot of campaigns and initiatives to send help to Syrian refugees  through different organizations like Human Rights Watch  and the Amnesty International are doing reports on what's happening on the ground  and there are also different campaigns to actually contribute economically  with the refugees on the Turkish-Lebanese borders.  So you can demonstrate at your Syrian embassy.  We still have not managed to isolate the regime internationally.  The Syrian ambassadors are still in European countries,  continue to do their work in spite of the brutal repression against their own citizens.  So I'm sure there are demonstrations here too in every country.  I'm aware they have demonstrations at Syrian embassies.  So pressure your political representatives for consistency  within support of not only Syrian civil society,  but everywhere in the Arab world and everywhere in the Middle East and North Africa,  a lot of these regimes have been able to stay for so long  because they had support from diplomatic support, economic support, political support.  So it's time to start listening to citizens, to citizen demands, to citizen needs,  to citizen demands for freedom, justice and dignity,  and not to repressive governments that do not represent their societies and their peoples.  So pressure your political representatives for consistency, diplomatically, economically, politically,  and well something we need to keep doing is pressure Russia,  which is the one big supporter of the Syrian regime to this day.  Keep spreading the word, blog about it, tweet about it,  like the movie The Network says, get mad.  So please get mad about what's happening in this country and everywhere in the area.  And now, before we finish, I would like to ask you for a little favor, if this is okay.  And I'm going to ask you to raise your hands for the Syrian people.  So I would like you to raise your hands like this,  and maybe you can take, wait a second, maybe if you have a camera  and want to also take a picture of each other and then share it on Twitter,  because right now I'm afraid I don't have connection, but I'm going to share this.  I'm going to share hands up for Syrian activists from Berlin,  RP12, which is the tag for Republica, and then Free Syria.  Hands up for Syrian activists, hands up for Free Syria,  RP12 and Free Syria, so I'm going to take your picture now.  See, when I do this, I always have like, again, hands up for Syria.  And thank you very much.  Thank you.  So, a few questions.  Hi.  So, from Switzerland, a question about how the regime is preventing access to internet.  We know from China and many other countries that this is obviously something they try to do.  What's the stand in Syria, and what kind of technological solutions do you have to convey in that?  Well, we have another conference coming after this one from an expert from the electronic frontier foundation.  I think she's going to mention some of this, but they have been blocking sites for years on and off.  Unfortunately, a lot of the technology these governments used to surveil citizen activity online,  not only in Syria, but in the rest of the area, most of this technology is made in the US.  So, now there seems to be an attempt from the US administration to control exports of this technology  to repressive regimes such as Syria.  And we'll see how that goes. It seems like a step in the right direction.  Are there any more questions?  Oh, right here.  If I would get in contact with friends in Syria.  With who?  With friends in Syria.  Friends.  Are you okay?  Yes, I'm okay.  I didn't try it yet.  Can I be kind of risk for them if I try to speak with them about the truth?  Or do you think if ever the connection will be possible, what other people told me, it's not easy.  I think that it will be hard to know something, what really cares. Do you think that a call from Europe or Germany can put people in risk?  Yes, it can.  Yes, it can.  Nothing is safe communication wise at this point in Syria.  Syrians are relying on Skype a lot.  Skype is not safe either, but I guess it's a little safer than mobile phones.  Especially when communications come from abroad, they're more controlled and more surveilled even than communications within the country.  When people out of the country talk to our families in there, we have very casual conversations on average things.  We don't ask about the situation on the ground.  So yes, I would not recommend openly discussing these kind of issues on the phone with Syrians.  This could actually endanger them.  Another question? Do I see something in my hand? No, not right now, but Leila will be back later.  That's exactly what it's all about. Thank you very much from here. I think we'll see you later on. Thank you very much.
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