Pro-regime demonstrators in Syria
Angry Arab, Mar 16 2012
When Western governments and media decide that a group or a regime is bad or “terrorist” they then make an effort to deny that such a regime or group can be liked by anyone. They do that regularly with Mugabe in Zimbabwe, and they did that with the PLO. People forget that. People forget that into the 1980s when I came to the US, there were articles in the NYT denying that the Palestinian people supported the PLO. They are doing the same with the Syrian regime, although the analogy stops here, because support for the PLO among Palestinians was universal and uniform, while support for the Syrian regime is more limited, obviously. Western media just don’t want to admit that the regime had any bases of social support. Yet, the pictures and video images yesterday from Syria on more than one TV channel, but not on Saudi and Qatari media or in Western media, were clear: hundreds of thousands of Syrians turned out in Damascus, Aleppo, and Suwayda’ etc. Whether one likes it or not, those massive demonstrations are bigger than any of the YouTube demonstrations that we see against the regime. One Syrian opposition website (Al-Haqiqah) had it right: that people are less pro-regime and more anti-opposition, although there are some who are pro-regime. There are Syrians in the US, young and old, who do support the regime, just as there are many who oppose the regime. Why is that difficult to admit? I hate the guts of the Saudi regime, but I can’t deny that there are many in Saudi Arabia who support the government of the House of Saud. It is a fact, damn it. Yet, whenever that many Syrians turn out in support for the regime, Western and Saudi media struggle to give silly explanations. They are on the same page now, and I find that hilarious and amusing. They say that they were forced to show up: shu, they were forced? If they can force people to demonstrate, why don’t they force them to show up in Dir’ah or in Homs? Why do they not do that in rural areas? Is that not a sign that the regime is strong in certain big urban centers? The NYT has a trick on those occasions: they always find one person who is `Alawite to send a silly sectarian message. I read this morning in the NYT:

In the crowd, a 25-year-old man, the son of an army officer, explained why he had come: “To show to the world that President Assad is our leader forever.”

I was surprised. I thought it is weird that they interview a supporter of the regime who is not `Alawite. Yet, later in the article he was identified as `Alawite. Typical. It is not that they are demonstrating: if you bother to see Syrian regime TV you see them enthusiastic and you see many women who are veiled. `Alawite and Druze women don’t veil. Many talk on camera and they in no way seem forced. And those demonstrations happen regularly and frequently, so the point about Teachers’ Day is just too dumb, but good enough a point to be made for the NYT. Incidentally, there are pro-regime demonstrations that are held outside of Syria. There was one in Belgium and one in Spain this week. Also, opposition folks in Michigan told me that there was a pro-regime demonstration in Michigan. Were they forced by the regime too?