Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Chapter Five: Escalation



July 13th, I did my first wall job, I took a can of black paint and emptied it on the walls of two schools.
July 16th, a mini war happened in my street. Armed security forces attacked us after the demo and we had to secure the streets and fight them with rocks to cover our escape.
July 18th, my neighborhood got attacked viciously, and many building were hit.
July 19th, I couldn’t find a single store opened since there was a strike after many people died on the 18th.


I didn’t write about earlier strikes or attacks because I am not sure about the exact dates in May and June in general. I didn’t take many photos and videos those two months, therefore I am not going to list anything I’m not 100% sure about.
July 27th, another can of black paint was used on the walls of schools by me, and the things I wrote in English are untouched until this day.


Ramadan has arrived, and I lost a friend on its first day. RIP Adnan Abduldayem, In Ramadan, I started, like many others, to go on two or even three demos every day. It was a good month demo wise, but it was a bad month as I lost many friends in it.
We used to start the day with a demo in the very early morning, but I rarely joined this one. The second daily demo used to take place around 4-5 PM, then the major demo after Tarawih prayer. Young men from Inshaat, Hamra, and Ghouta used to gather in my neighborhood every night. We used to secure the streets and stay out till midnight sometimes. It felt great and we felt that the end was near.


I lost 4 friends that month, one of them was delivered a dead body to his family on August 14th, and that night we did a major demo and a sit-down near his house. RIP Jamal Fatwa. This was a night I will never forget. We all gathered in front of his house and stayed there till midnight. There were thousands of us and no security forces at all, and we changed the signs of Granada Highschool to Jamal Fatwa Highschool as it is near his house.
I lost a friend who was working with the Red Cross. He was killed inside an ambulance on his way to help injured people, and I wrote a little poem about him when I heard his news. RIP Hakam Drak Sibai.

“Eleven bullets to that who wants to help
Eleven bullets, just to make sure, that he’s got the message right
You can’t save them, not from us
So you might as well quit the fight
We don’t care if you’re young or old
We don’t care if you’re big or small
We don’t care if you’re black or white, rich or poor
You’re all the same in our eyes
You’re all.. Nothing
And that you shall remain.”


September was a really bad month for me, I lost hope and got super depressed and that’s why I did not document anything. I tweeted what happened in that month when I could and I will leave it at that. The one major thing happened around me was watching a young man get shot right in front of me, he fell down and he was dead. All I remember is the numb feeling I had afterwards. I still don’t know the name of that guy. May he rest in peace.

By the end of September I went to Lebanon for a couple of days after being warned that I might get arrested again, and to try to cheer up a bit, but the day I got to Beirut, I got a call and I was told that my neighborhood got attacked viciously and there were explosions for the first time in my street. My parents were terrified but they didn’t get harmed. That trip was ruined.

I spent the first couple of days of December in Damascus, but got even more depressed when I woke up every day to chants from schools parsing Bashar Assad. Such chants couldn’t be heard in Homs in months.
October 9th, my house gets attacked for no reason and a bullet breaks my window and ends up on my bed when I wasn’t in it. I kept the bullet and I will make a necklace out of it someday. You know, what doesn’t kill you… That’s when we all knew that we’re not safe even inside out home. No place is safe anymore, as long Assad’s regime is still in charge.

Nothing much happened in October afterwards, my neighborhood was getting quieter as the security forces began shooting at people more often.


November came along and my neighborhood was surrounded with security forces barriers from all corners, they were always around and they didn’t let us do not one decent demo. They always show up moments after we start and it always ends up the same way, we run and they chase us with their cars and shoot in the air. I hurt my foot running away from a security car but I was not caught. Then again, a security forces’ car used a sound bomb near me and my ear was all messed up for a week after.
Also in November, the military fighter jets started roaming the skies of Homs almost every day between 1:30 and 5:00 AM. They could be heard clearly from most parts of the city.

November 20th, I joined an afternoon demo in Hamra which was almost entirely men free. It was an all girls demo, I obviously stayed behind the girls, but I sure took and shared some photos of the demo, and chanted with them. It was one of the most beautiful demos I’ve seen. No security forces whatsoever.
I started to get my faith back in November, and I decided I should be more active than ever. More demos, more news covering, and more wall painting.


December 8th, a huge black cloud covered the sky of Homs. I tried to go near it but couldn’t. I had this weird feeling that day, I felt that things were about to get worse. Much worse.

December 13th, news came from Damascus about a fifth friend of mine being murdered by the security forces. He too was a nice guy. Why is it always the nice one who end up dead?

December 23rd, I went in a demo around 2 PM and it ended badly when security forces attacked us and started shooting at us, we hid behind the dumpsters and the walls of a nearby house, then they started chasing us and shooting more, that’s when I headed home around 3 PM, only to find that there was no electricity, water, or internet connection there. We never had such a day in my neighborhood before.

December 24th, it was Friday, we went in a demo and security forces attacked us after only a couple of minutes, we started moving as they were shooting at us and coming our way, then a car showed up, 5 men came out of it and started defending us, they had guns and started shooting in the air to scare the security forces, and that did work, the security forces stopped and didn’t come any closer, we all left and the men got into their car and left the scene and no one got hurt, and that was the first time I personally see members of the Free Syrian Army. God bless them. This day is the day of the first two bombings in Damascus where many were killed, the regime blamed Al Qaida. We all knew it was the regime who did this since we’ve never ever had a problem with Al Qaida before, and because the regime has been calling us “armed gangs” and “terrorists” for months, when we’re all peaceful protestors being killed by the regime itself.

December 27th, what a day, I joined a huge demo near Omar Bin Khattab mosque and went all the way through Ghouta and Kurnich and ended up in Khaldieh. There were tens of thousands. TV said there were 70.000 people, but I think they were over a 100. On our way back we decided to go through Freedom Square (New Clock) and that’s when security forces decided to shoot at us and attack us with tear gas bombs. Many were hurt, and I saw 3 people seriously injured. My cousins and friends were in the demo as well, but I couldn’t find any of them as it was a really huge demo. This demo was the biggest since Ramadan.

The year 2011 is now over, but out fight for freedom sure isn’t. I hoped that we can get our freedom in 2011 like Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Yemen, and when this didn’t happen, I declared 2012 as the year of freedom. We will continue until the end, and I’m very certain we will get what we want.
A new year and a new chapter start now.

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Chapter Four: March 15th The first taste of freedom




February 22nd2011, I went online and found some people talking about starting a revolution in Syria like what happened in four other Arab countries. We got a huge push from what we saw in Libya, and I thought if Libyans stood up to Gaddafi, we too can do it. Let this begin.
In March, I talked to various people via twitter about a date to start a revolution in Syria. Some of them were in Syria, and some were outside, but we all knew that the start will be small and difficult. We knew that we, the first ones, will be completely suicidal by going out in a demo, and we knew we won’t get many people on the first day like they did in Egypt. We used the hash tag #Syria and kept our names secret.
I suggested a certain date but we agreed on March 15th, and we started a campaign on twitter and many joined the newly opened revolution’s Facebook page (I wasn’t a part of the Facebook campaign as I rarely use Facebook). The Egyptian freedom fighters helped a lot on twitter, they gave us tips from their experience. Now, it’s March 12th, and I still have not found anyone in Homs to go out with me. My family members are all outside of Homs, and my friends.. well, let me just say that my friends weren’t that optimistic yet, and I couldn’t blame them.

March 15th, it has started. I left my house around 10 AM, I went online and I was contacting people on twitter (I remember @SyrRevo, @Layal_Mhm, and others) trying to get info about the first demo in Homs. Someone mentioned Khalid Bin Alwalid mosque, so I went there for Duhr prayer, I went out and stood there waiting for someone to join me, no one came, nothing happened. People here had no idea.
I went back to the internet café and asked about Homs, no one in Homs but me was using twitter apparently, and I couldn’t access Facebook using my proxies. I only had one Homsi friend in twitter and I didn’t know what side he’s on, so I had to block him for awhile (Sorry @Abbudy, hope we’re cool bro!) I unblocked him afterwards of course.
I finally got some news about the first demo in Damascus, and I got a small video.
I shared the video with everyone I know, and I kept tweeting and spreading the video with the hash tags like they did in Egypt. Again, many Egyptians helped me and we got some serious flow in twitter. The government didn’t have a clue about twitter at the time. I even contacted some celebrities in twitter asking them to give us a push and a “Good Luck” and some of them did.

March 17th, Dara and Homs joined Damascus. Tens went after the prayer from Khalid Bin Walid mosque and chanted for freedom. It didn’t last long and I couldn’t catch up as I live far away from that mosque.
March 18th, I went to Khalid Bin Walid early so I wouldn’t miss anything, but no demo happened. There were many security forces’ vehicles and members, I took photos and spread them online.
March 19th, the same as March 18th.
March 24th, Khalid Bin Walid Mosque is closed and no prayer will happen there on the 25th. Many people died in Dara last week and Homs was about to go big.

March 25th, I was near Khalid Bin Walid before the prayer, I saw the security forces getting ready, I walked among them, talked to them, and ate falafel with them (From the stand in front of Nice Price). They told me they were brought there to help near Khalid Bin Walid mosque if anything happens. I noticed that they’re all young men with no education or careers, they do what they’re told because they don’t know better.
I was able to bring some people to Omar Bin Khattab mosque to join in a demo, but I decided to visit a couple of mosques by the end of the prayer to try to get people to go out, and it wasn’t a mission impossible since mosques in Homs don’t start the prayer at the exact same time. You can easily pray in Khalid Bin Walid then drive to Droubi mosque before the latter starts the prayer, and then Omar Bin Khattab…
I saw many people ready near Khalid Bin Walid, they didn’t pray in it cause as I said earlier it was closed down, but there is a smaller mosque not far away from it, so after the prayer people paired up and walked toward Khalid Bin Walid mosque and around City Center, they were standing and waiting for something to happen there,  I went into a pharmacy there and bought some meds just so I have a small bag with me in case security forces ask me what am I doing there. I walked to some people and told them to go to the New Clock square and wait there and asked them to spread the word. It was very scary talking to strangers about this, so I didn’t use any words like “Demo, or revolution..” I simply told them stuff like “Try near the New Clock” or “Nothing to see here, maybe near the New Clock”.

I took a taxi to Abdulhamid Droubi mosque and as I approached, many were already on the stairs chanting for the martyrs in Dara” بالروح بالدم نفديك يا شهيد” “We would sacrifice our souls and blood for the martyrs”. I asked the driver “What are they saying?” to see his response. He answered “بالروح بالدم نفديك اسرائيل” which means: “We sacrifice our souls and blood for Israel”, and from his answer I knew he was one of the bad guys, so I asked him to take me to Hamra Street. It was a nice surprise to see people going out on their own in Droubi mosque. Anyway, I arrived Omar Bin Khattab mosque as they finished the prayer, and a big demo went out, I joined in with a huge smile on my face. My mom didn’t believe anything would happen that day, so I rushed before the demo, went home which is on our way, told my mom to listen and look out, then rejoined the demo. We walked our way to Dablan Street, and I decided to go back and shoot a video of the demo. I did so, then I was about to rejoin them when I saw a man walking behind me. He called someone on his cell phone and asked him for backup in Dablan Street. He called him General “سيدي العميد

Two station cars arrived moments after and parked in the middle of the street near Al Asi ice cream shop, the drivers were in security forces uniforms, and the rest were dressed in casual clothes, I went in a near street and started taking a video of them from behind without them seeing me. They had wooden sticks in their hands. After they went towards the demo -which arrived to the New Clock Square-, two women started yelling at one of the drivers, asking him to leave the demo alone. He started shouting back and pushing them, I took that on video and waved at the women to move on. I turned my back only to see a third station car stopping behind me and 7-9 young men with wooden sticks came at me and started beating me without saying a word. I was all alone and couldn’t do anything at all. They broke my nose, and hurt my head. They kicked me and beat me for about 12 minutes then left me lying there after my face was covered in blood. They took my phone and my ID, they asked me if I was Syrian, and why was I taking a video, and I replied with “Do I look Iranian to you? Of course I’m Syrian” then they gave the phone back after they couldn’t unlock the screen, then followed the other ones, I asked the one who has my ID and was still around about it, he then gave it to me and apologized. He said that his friends are stupid and he told me to leave and take care of myself, he was a decent guy really, I admit it. I turned around and started walking away when I saw people watching me from their balcony, I touched my face with my hands so they got all bloody, I looked at them and showed them the blood, and said “Did you witness that? Do you approve of that? What are you gonna do about it?” I walked back home after this beating, took a shower, and went to bed. I woke up with a very sore body and a blue color under my left eye.

I didn’t feel real pain until I woke up, I obviously took some painkillers before I went to bed.
Anyway, after I woke up I noticed that there were bruises all over my back and my right shoulder, my nose was broken as I said earlier, and my head was cut open in two places. I have photos of all that but I wouldn’t post them because they’re not pretty.
Two or three hours after, my friends called me, they asked me if I can meet them, and they came and pick me up, we decided to go to Tartus to see what is happening there, and to sit by the sea and relax, as the sea always makes me feel much better.
We drove around in Homs and many streets were closed down by security forces, I had my sunglasses on to cover the color under my eye and my messed up nose. We went to Tartus and there was a big pro march there, they all had photos of Assad and they were singing and dancing in the streets. I never felt so angry, they’re cheering for those who attacked me and broke my nose not 5 hours ago. At that moment I knew that our revolution will take a much longer time than I expected.
I went to a doctor the next day and he fixed my nose and gave me some pills.
The marks of this beating didn’t disappear from my face until April 27th.

After the beating I took on March 25th (10th day of the revolution), I had to take a break from going out in demos, I even took a break from going online. I deleted my twitter account after I knew that it has been linked to me and being watched.

A massacre happened in Homs on April 17th, the day after we went to bury the martyrs, and the funeral turned into a huge demo that ended up in the biggest square in Homs (New Clock Square). We gathered there around noon and people started coming from all over the city to join. The streets to that square were secured by metal trash cans and other objects, and groups of us started guarding the streets. We learned what to do from the Egyptians in Tahrir Square, and so it began. The first real sit-down in Syria. There were more than 150,000 people in that square, and we brought big banners, lights, and even tents to the square. Security forces did not get involve. The streets to the square were all guarded as I said and everyone who comes in the square gets checked for weapons to keep the square safe.
The crowds felt safe there and the chants from this sit-down could be heard from all around the city. It was a mini Tahrir Square in the middle of Homs, and it felt great. This was the first time I felt freedom, real freedom. I could say whatever I want to say and I wasn’t afraid. Not being afraid was a new feeling for me, and for everyone there. I walked among the crowds and saw the happiness in their eyes. It was an epic sit-down.
That was when I knew that people in Homs would never give up their rights anymore, they will never go back to how they were. Homs is now the “land of the free”.
People started to send water and food for us, drinks and fruits as well, everyone was happy this happened, and I was a bit chocked that we actually pulled it off.

When it got a little dark I started walking around to check for snipers since there were government buildings in that area, but I didn’t find any. I got a call about security forces vehicles coming our way and that they were near the Old Clock square. I went there and saw many security forces armed men just standing there. I knew that they won’t let us spend the night there. Short after that a warning was given to us to empty the square (It was about 9:30 PM as I recall) but of course we didn’t move. We changed the name of that square that day calling it Freedom Square.

Night came and there were about 50,000 left in the square, and most of them knew that the regime won’t let this have a happy ending. The regime couldn’t afford a sit-down in a major city like Homs. The total number of people who went there and joined is a much bigger number as I saw people coming and going all the time, I think hundreds of thousands went there but they didn’t stay long.
The weather was good and that helped us stay there, but warnings kept coming and they were serious.
Around midnight, there were only 7,000 – 10,000 people in the square, and I think there were only 5000 when the security forces attacked.

The attack was around 2 AM, and it was a vicious one. They started shooting directly at us, they didn’t care about anything. Tear gas bombs were everywhere and they started arresting people.
The shooting didn’t stop after we all left, as they were celebrating their “victory”. The regime’s security forces freed that square from us, they won over their own people. It was such a sad and ugly view. They danced with their guns on our blood, they burnt our banners and signs, they chanted for the dictator and against the people. They spread their hateful mottos on the walls and destroyed the shop windows in that area including the banks.
The things they did can still be seen when walking by that square, as some of the mottos are still visible and the banks had to use ugly wooden windows instead of the broken glass ones.

I went home that night and cried. I knew there will be many more deaths and that the regime doesn’t care if we all die. It was a horrible ending for a good day.
I remember that I was so excited about the huge sit-down that day I tweeted a pic from it using the account that I use with my real name since my other account was deactivated earlier.
After that day, some people in Bab Al Dreib made a small replica of the New Clock and used it in their demos, and then people in Khaldieh made a bigger and better replica to symbolize that we will go back to that square soon, and you can still see the latter one in the daily demos in that neighborhood.

April 19th, I was captured from the street and taken to a place where they questioned me for 4 hours, then let me go. I have no idea why this happened but I got through. I didn’t tell my family about this incident yet because it will only make them worry more.
The questions they asked me were silly, they asked if I had a weapon, or if I received money from outside the country. They asked if I got any calls from Lebanon or if I had any relatives in prison. The man who interrogated me was wearing pajamas and no shoes in his office. I did not see anyone being held there, and I am not sure exactly where I was.

In April, many new places joined the revolution, villages and cities that I never heard of were with us, names of people I didn’t know started to appear, and lots of new faces. Good ones and bad ones. The Syrian regime said that what’s happening will be over very soon, and some people actually believed that. Some of the people I knew started to have doubts after they heard that, but they still got faith.

In May, I got my health back completely and started going out in demos again, my neighborhood was still quiet, so I started going to other places whenever I could. Demos in Bab Al Sibaa were my favorite ones, people there were so tough and they were organized. I also went in Inshaat where I saw many of my friends and in Baba Amr where I knew no one.
After people burnt and destroyed many big photos of Bashar and Hafez Assad in Homs in the previous months, there were still a couple that I see every day. I hated that so much, so my friends and I went out and burnt them all. We failed to burn the one near the Cultural center and my friends got his fingers burnt while trying, while I was shooting the video, but he went a couple of days after that and threw a paint balloon on it and that did it. He went alone when he did it but he took a picture of it. They painted the Syrian flag over it the very next day.

In June, my neighborhood was on fire, and demos were happening every day now. I didn’t always stay in my neighborhood because I don’t like sticking to one area. I probably went in demos in most areas of Homs during June, and some of them ended with the protestors and the security forces throwing rocks at each other. There were no shooting in some neighborhoods yet, security forces came in buses with only black sticks. That all changed in no time.

Ramadan is coming soon, and we all agreed that we need to take the demos to a new level.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

2011, What a year!


One year ago today, I thought to myself “This is gonna be one dull year”. Oh how wrong I was.
2011, what a year!
This past year was filled with events, good and bad ones, and most of those events were quite shocking really.

The Arab Spring, the royal wedding, the American military leaving Iraq, the death of Steve Jobs, the assassination of Osama Bin Laden, the death of Kim Jong-il, the recognition of the State of Palestine in Unesco, Occupy Wall street and then Occupy everything else all over the world, the demos in Russia, the economy crisis, the earthquake in Japan, and the list goes on and on..
I personally know for a fact that the major event in 2011 was the Arab Spring, Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, and Syria. Four of those are almost over and one is still going hard. Let’s not forget about Bahrain as well. Still, I wouldn’t call 2011 “The Year of the Arab Spring” nor “The Year of The Protestor”. I have a different name for it. I declare 2011 as “The Year of Bad Men”.
Yes, bad men. They were a major part of 2011 and I will list the most recognized names below:


1-      Ratko Mladić: After many years of searching, they finally found him and started prosecuting him. This bad man is responsible for crimes against humanity in Bosnia.
2-      Laurent Gbagbo: The dictator of the Ivory Coast has too been captured and sent to be prosecuted.
3-      Zine El Abidine Ben Ali: The dictator of Tunisia, his regime fell apart in the Arab Spring and he is currently hiding in Saudi Arabia.
4-      Hosni Mubarak: The dictator of Egypt, his regime fell apart in the Arab Spring as well and he is currently held in prison and is being persecuted in Egypt with his sons.
5-      Muammar Gaddafi: The dictator of Libya, he was killed by the Libyan freedom fighters and his sons were either killed or captured or ran away.
6-      Ali Saleh: The dictator of Yemen, he signed an agreement and left the presidency but in exchange he got an immunity. He almost got killed earlier in an assassination attempt.
7-      Osama Bin Laden: The number one terrorist in the world. He was assassinated by the US seals after hiding in Pakistan for more than 10 years.
8-      Kim Jong-il: The dictator of North Korea, he died and his son took over the presidency after him.


Of course there are many other bad men who died or were killed or captured in 2011, but those eight were the most important ones in my book. I certainly hope I’ll put a similar list in 2012 with names like Bashar Assad, Castro, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Nouri al-Maliki, and Kim Jong-Un. Let’s keep cleansing the world of these parasites and not give a chance to others to come along and ruin the world for us.