Posted on 10/06/2011 12:41:07 PM PDT by mojito
Many Damascenes these days prefer to watch the government-run TV stations. Elsewhere, the news is bad. The local channels, with local announcers, speaking in proper Syrian Arabic, are often sweet. Often the broadcasters on these stations are beautiful young women. They smile a lot. Their channels say that in some outlying districts, vandals and religious fanatics have moved in, and have had to be removed by the army. But now all is back to normal.
One cannot trade one’s Syrian pounds for dollars in Damascus anymore. One cannot travel to the outlying districts on Thursday nights without a local ID. But otherwise, life, for most people in most places, continues as normal. There have been no nationwide general strikes, no camp-ins, as in Yemen, and no major splits in the army, as in Libya. The buses run. The internet works, if slowly. The merchants who sell you pistachios still utter lovely phrases of piety and brotherhood, as they’ve always done, and if you tell people that you love Syria, and especially love the Syrian people, they will sometimes cry in front of you on the street.
Meanwhile the most blood curdling videos, filmed in Syria, run day and night on Al Jazeera. The army has clearly attacked parts of Homs and Latakia with tanks. Every now and then, even in Central Damascus, one hears shouting in the streets. The demonstrators chant, “He who won’t participate, he has no decency!” or “The people and the army are one!” The noise rises like a whirlwind from an alley, rattles the windows for a moment, and then dissipates into a neighboring block. Within minutes the streets are as they were before: hot and tense and quiet.
(Excerpt) Read more at tnr.com ...
unfortunately the link is dead..
bfl
As if his replacement will be any better.
Syrians as well as Egyptians and Yemeni have abided tyrants for decades.This is not so much about “democracy” as it is about the price of food and being unemployed. It is only now that they are jobless and hungry in this world recession that they are in the streets screaming for “democracy”. They were jobless and hungry before the revolution and they will be jobless and hungry after it.If the next government, be it democracy or dictatorship, does not give them a job and a meal, they will be in the streets again. That is their idea of democracy.
It worked for me.
The article makes the point that Assad is now little more than a figurehead, and his replacement, most likely his brother, will be much worse.
The best possible outcome for the entire planet would be for Damascus to become “a ruinous heap”
Or for Syria to become the next province of Israel.
If you say it gets better, I’ll keep reading!
So far, too much time spent on fluffy descriptive prose. Git to the point!
I have a core of burning white hot hate in my heart for all things Assad. Just sayin'.
Interesting piece. Thanks for bringing it to our attention. Too bad it doesn’t get as much commentary as a post about some celebrity bad mouthing Sarah Palin or Republicans gets.
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