Syria. Citizen empowerment against brutality

another up around the a little bit of a hi so and you'll hear me well I n DeCanio see well because I'm gonna have to

hang here near the computer because I have a Prezi that out so I don't have the possibility to use these little machine that other speakers use and you know what which is pretty cool to be able to walk into this but I would have to be hiding behind my computer somehow I hope this is OK with you guys let me know if you want me to move on if you can't see me well so the system and the title of my presentation it's that serious citizen empowerment agains brutality here's all my information in case you want to contact me I'm not particularly active on Twitter add like and their score and a if you want to contact me or through my globalvoices cell line profile or through my a regular blog Leonid so what the author my e-mail Leyland selected email . com uncertainties again at the end of my presentation and Lisa mean field feel free to contact me throughout the conference or or as soon as we are not done if you come up with any questions regarding what we what we saw here so I chose this title because we already we have already seen the degree of brutality in the Syrian ne a institutions the Syrian authorities are displaying gains there I against the people and that this is quite unprecedented even even within an area of the world where we have seen a lot of violence from the institutions lot of violence from the power structures but even within this area in the case of Syria is particularly unprecedented the degree they have reached even a repressing say forms of expression however citizen narrative citizen forms of expression keep emerging in very amazing ways considered and the very difficult dramatic context we're living in so 4 years we never heard anything about syria in particular 4 years the Government the Syrian regime allied with a wall of silence to isolate its citizens from 1 another and also to isolate the country from the world so that I can ask a lot so how come we never heard of this you redeem and we never know he was these brought 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 the where things where no matter how much the government tries to reprise citizen narratives citizen forms of expression continue to emerge in unexpected extremely creative ways the silence serious are very aware of so this is a photo of also a citizens off our place in called come from nobody that has proven to be extremely creative even the messages they're sharing with the world in a very rudimentary ways we could say very traditional ways were extremely innovative so every week we have a different message from the city of come from the will which has suffered a lot of government repression is serious so this is some of group of people from preferably this is how white matter and they just brought from nobody occupied the occupied city of come from movement Syria the occupied town of professional that they're under occupation and they're holding a white paper and the whole and they're they're wearing gags to show the world how this eyelids the silence of the world and the silence within Syria has been what makes the isolation of Syria as possible is what makes the government's their actions even more ruthless cake because there's always been these societies wall of silence against serious this is very powerful message telling the world OK how the silence effects serious in an extremely dramatic way this is a video that also goes on the the on the on

silence say the importance of silence

and how it's being instrumentalized by the

government and this is of this is a message air from young activists to the silent majority to the people who still are afraid in Syria to speak again is the government so this is a young Syrian telling another young Syrian we need your voice if we don't have your voice you are a lot we are lost so at the end of this video this young boy says your silence is very most powerful weapon so I want to take a look at I found it with the German subtitles we have the sound OK you that societal and however incident in Canada show higher is a handsome hasn't and a half to become more and more into higher news so that 100 sure which was higher than the fusion center this was set did

you hire nearly 100 ensure 100 that cannot have a on behalf of which were higher than it is on the right and

I hate to injured me we pleasant you usually do you think about

that have 1 that had been there would have been too high which

began the like Benedict 192

visual high dimension about what happened in the union and market you mention level and the

highest all of the products of the light declaration 1

example the step then we should hire given that will get in the end of this month form and show higher levels of the

medication that predicted that policy was to have the predicted at 2 I should be business and because of the data about the environment official higher my fish

usual and a 2nd 2 mysticism under that the more

you have that occur in the in the middle of the room will ensure high

questions receptor kind this about construction

of the I and you have favorite the problem to and some of the different types of love and and go into describe and and I that

the like the EU so it's an example of a very

powerful message in in a very

creative way this is this has gone very viral

through all social media so the redeem has

not state of course said uh passive at these new forms of citizen expression Facebook or Twitter or mutual I a not what's at stake not the enemy for repressive regimes freedom of expression is the enemy for these reduced so any space where citizens find no wrong for expression neural for communication new neural for organizing that's going to be worth regimes are going to be focusing their efforts to try to repress citizen organization and communication within these new channels and 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 protestors this is an icon of this year the Revolution his quality of my thought he was a very well known beforehand the flowers and water to solve years in the in the neighborhood of that idea In that Damascus soul he became somehow a leader of the nonviolent resistance in Syria so that's what the government is more of most afraid of the government is afraid of non violent talk nonviolent resistance because that's what they cannot find they cannot produce any response that is not violated to any form of peaceful expression so they go against these forms of expression of non-violence and peaceful resistance in extremely violent ways so this is the of my thought he was killed and In a way they kidnap him and they returned his body to the to his family a couple days later so there there's tiresome protesters industry the silencing all forms of 16 expression the silencing humor this this a cartoon by Holly says at a very well known cartoonist in from Syria so this is a cartoon that shows but Sharon and said asking Gaddafi for a right to whatever without is going this a few months ago before that I forgot killed so when he published this pick this photo this cartoon a few days later he was up and he was brutally beaten and they broke both of his hands OK so they killed protesters they use a very metaphorical ways to silence all forms of opposition we use a card to unease with people right with people who drop is very common that they break their hands as a of silencing the 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 think they still so this is and the this is a demonstration in how among people singing the song called come on leave best shot we want you out so it's a full song with very catchy with very and it running lyrics like they say things like freedom is knocking on the door and you buy static cannot hear it please go leave us alone OK so this has been sold viral that in every demonstration in every country in solidarity with the Syrian people like I I'm in Spain we have a lot of demonstrations at the Syrian Embassy in Madrid we sing the song and the song was popularized by single Ibrahim's fashion which from harm I have to have a lot of time and I know I was wrong but you know what I learned from a lot of the

people that need them so this is even you a few days after the huge demonstration in Houma they also kidnaped him and they cut his throat and with his vocal cords I'm sorry this is disturbing for some of you but this is the area to date this is what happens to all a single not even a member of the political opposition this is single always thinking in the demonstrations so there it is vocal cords off but if you can see here everybody now a

demonstrations are people other than you find more hands holding mobile phones than people almost so this song has gone so viral that even if they killed even which 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 your knowledge blogs have become a very powerful tool in the land of state-controlled narrative so this is this is a friend of Alice scholars and others that we and she works for the uh center of offset in the media and freedom of expression in Syria so and all of her colleagues have been arrested and now there are going to go through a trial for accusations of the trail of a trading their country and of course there are only the only crime is to write to demand freedom of expression for the country so everyone who demands free speech is a target in Syria at this point said of course they're trying to silence protesters a very brutal ways but at the same time they continue trying to fabricate their own narrative their own state control narrative they've been doing that for decades through their official last date to the state of there States channels like and now and they have done they have done that for decades to create their own reality through their own controlled media but no with all the contents we have flooding 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 an idea of how well fabricated most of the videos and most of the contents babies state-controlled channels art I'm going to show you a couple of mistakes that these channels make and they're making more and more mistakes because there more and more desperate so they do things very fast they

try to our question activists narratives so fast sometimes in such a clumsy way that crazy things like the ones you wanna see

that there was someone a show you happened so what should to pay attention to the size of the hang in there and then

look at this video here by state TV doing is the new and of its annual yet the new at the show I easily a crime committed by what they call terrorists OK so we don't know if it's this we don't know if they actually error committed this crime we don't know exactly what information is because Syria and that state is very and reliable OK but what we know is that we see edgy your hand of a reported a journalist's hand but see the stuff at the crime scene came so we all know what workers generally do 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 to be these organizing stuff on the floor so that looks good for the camera and the presenter who speaks such down the complete shop like the contest they saw that we are fabricating and manipulating the seem to look at how stays quiet and she doesn't know what to say for the rest of the big you when she says when she sees this reporter manipulating the proof the evidence of the so-called crime by terrorists even at Damascus the Subcommittee on online and then I in

the higher FIL how you made an enemy of

something online and then I am I think you OK can't just to see

he stops talking as that shows they say victims of a terrorist attack by armed groups and you can see tool a 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 OK you can go we're done with recording so they're like OK let's go like actors so let's see be attention to these details I'm

not 1 and I and take

when is it is again so they're they're posing for the photograph and then someone tell them OK we're done you can go you don't have to to be posing for this video anymore as of the and that

I can and this is very common with

serious data that now we see how things really are in the country we're getting used to see it but the so in spite of the apparent more and more clumsy attempts by the government to control air to stop and silence activists and to fabricate their own

narrative that state control narrative citizen narrative at this point is unstoppable the I'm going to show

you a couple examples of very creative things I have demonstration with that I

like the sound of the big Boston that people are holding says oppression corruption despotism

demolition this is the serial off the current regime so we're going to see what they do in the middle of the of the of the of the and so on and so on and on and on and on and on and on

I think that I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I think it would be and uh so this

is now this was like last week after all

they've been through see what they're doing and see what they're still doing our industries they're taking to the streets the flooding the streets with this kind of very creative messages that also flooding the Internet specially a lot of people living out of the country by 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 you can I can show this presentation with you guys and but this is a list of the hashtags of the tax the keywords that people are using on Twitter that have become trending topic OK so there and uh wards decided by the Syrian community to bring attention to specific events related to demonstrations in Syria OK so different words that have are they have attracted worldwide attention through activism using the said set channels the social I so we have of

don't trust aside is 1 of them 1 against the referendum so bringing attention maintaining attention to the serious trouble 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 the this is a very good example of that activism that combines all lined with offline and initiatives so this is a photo created by a group called by our community of Syrians mostly abroad but they work a lot with people inside of Syria is called the son of a Saudi out of study all in the Syrian people know their way the Syrian people know where they're going so they take inspiration in any other air peaceful demonstrations and nonviolent

resistance out from other parts of the world here they say feeling so defend yourself like helium so I'm gonna show you the gallery OK this is

the photo gallery they have very creative creative examples so defend yourself like Chileans let's is order 1 yeah like minutes to see if they have

more this is all from the limit they have others where they

say defend yourself like Palestinians dual and there are different that examples of forms of resistance where they take inspiration so there that they take global

inspiration from other mobilisations is other very creative there are 2 pieces that they have that

done so they get defend yourself like Tunisians

did defend yourself like Egyptians did

defend yourself like Celia's did OK so that take inspiration from different air immobilization a worldwide and they're

also very connected to the serious traits

they say they don't want to be these artists who are doing cell on art they want to be connected to the ground they want to breed this evil revolution and produce artistic videos expositors so they have even designed graffiti that then you can see how they share them with serious on the ground and you see these graffiti's created by this group of designers you see this graph it on the wall with the face of the of my thought and other air

Martinez of the Syrian revolution so there is a strong connection between what they're doing with their designing and the actual events in on the streets so that they're not attached to the real thing happening in Syria so it's either really have great that community I really recommend unfortunately it's all in Arabic so did the at designs I think anybody can now can really connect with this kind of designs is it's very visual worker so this is the facebook page a little kid writing on the wall I am not a slave I'm a worker not a slaves so different kinds of resistance against brutality this

is the idea Shermis she was a very young girl who was arrested by the region she was only 21 so they

were mixed things that already exist and create new forms of art for serious to

use OK and then I so it's steering

father is the URL Facebook is cerium people know other ways him people know where they're going and then the serious trouble he says so just so as dramatic and the violence that they are facing so dramatic that they have managed to attract a 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 9 spreading the word about what's being done in participating in getting involved there are many ways to do so this is sort of global solidarity campaign so I seriously keen on mutual so you can I think you can still send videos I'm not sure to the set channel called seriously keen on mutual so you can record yourself saying I am in solidarity with the Syrian people like them like this on tiny and

similarly in the 2nd part of the objective of the Palestinian staring at the ceiling theories in many instances of silence is participation in this crime and declare participation and things

a this is another initiative called them Global March against Syrian dictator I

wanted to give you a good deal of the land I was in you know

what goes on and on and on and on and on and on the

1911 responsible for the maintenance of

information in the mind of man and the and the background is that this of what

this in many of the problems that we have the point about the meaning of the

meaning and 1 In the end of the the month in the in the

a lot of the I'm going on in my

life and I want to know good and I think that

the unit much of this and how I have the honor of between the

2 of them but I think I might

have 1 of the year 1 of the things that they and I think the reason

that the problem of online and and the reason that is that a lot of our

model is and demonstrations and events initiatives will continue to happen so will encourage you to stay tuned some more things that can be done well stay informed this is so I know site for those of you who speak English

it's called I OK so they share and also there and updates straight from Syria OK activities knows association and really trust them I mean they're they're really reliable and they have their good sources on the ground on the ground to stay really focused on know how things are developing and they say I think interesting information so if you wanna spread the word about the activists News Association think it's a pretty good there and

site and worked there during so more things that

can be done well there are a lot of companies and initiatives to send help to Syrian refugees through our different organizations like Human Rights Watch and then and then Amnesty International largely reports on what's happening on the ground and they're also different campaigns contribute economically we then the refugees from the Turkish Lebanese sat borders so you can demonstrate at the Syrian Embassy was still have not managed to isolate the regime international you this hideous the human ambassadors are still European now had countries continue to do their work in spite of the brutal repression against their own citizens so loud but I'm sure there are demonstrations you chose in every country I am unaware they have the demonstrations that soon embassies so pressure your pre political representatives for consistency we've in support of not only serious civil society that everywhere in the in the Arab world and everywhere everywhere in the Middle East and North Africa a lot of these regions have been able to stay for so long because they had support from and diplomatic support economic support political support so it's time to start listening to citizens to citizen demands to citizen needs to citizen and demands for freedom justice and dignity and not air repressive governments that do not represent their societies and the peoples so pressure is a political percentage for consistency diplomatically economically politically and well something we need to keep doing is pressure Russia which is the 1 being a supporter of the of the army 0 written to the state keep spreading the word blog about it read about it like the movie the networks as they get

mad so please get mad about what's happening in a 90 second tree and everywhere

in the area and now before we finish

I would like to ask you for a little favor if this is OK and I'm gonna ask you to are raise your hands for the Syrian people so I would like you to raise your hands like this and maybe you can take with wait a 2nd maybe if you have a camera and want to also take a picture of each other and then shared 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 with said had stopped for Syrian activists grumbling Our wealth which is the part for for Republican and then freeze Syria hands up hands up for Syrian actors hands up for a free serial Artbeats

wealth and free serious I'm going to take your picture now both see when I do this I always have like again has suffered serious and thank you very much so

and all it is it's all flattened by the slope of the public from applies of them elected links with people for Nowitzki all so if questions I think of all the rooms wasn't question about how the regime is

preventing access to Internet we know from China and many other countries but this is a part of it is something they try to do with the standing in 0 and what kind of technological solutions to you have to remember well I we have another conference that coming after this went from

an expert from the from different and things that I mention some of this that there how well they have been blocking sites for years on and off and that unfortunately a lot of the technology these governments used to allow that to surveil it's it's an activity online not only theory and the rest of the area and most of these technologies said made in the the USA so now there seems to be an attempt to from the US administration to control exports of these technologies to wear repressive regimes such as Syria let's see how how that goes it seems like a like a step in the right direction if the battle of ideas 1 of the following um if I were

to get in contact with friends interior would hold with friends in series and I think that's the only I didn't try its units and can I be the kind of risk for the if if lecture to speak with them with the part that's used you think it is ever the connection will be the year of impossible or what's other people's told me it's it's not easy 0 I I I I think that's a it's which will be hard to know something what's what really cares do you think that's a call from Europe or Germany we can put people in risk perhaps yes it can yes it can be nothing is safe

communication-wise at this point in the area serious are relying on Skype alot Skype is not safe you there but I guess it's a little safer than mobile phones and especially when communications come from abroad there more that control the Morse revealed even than communications within the country when I yeah when when people out of the country talk to our families in there and we have very casual conversations on on average things we don't ask about the situation on the ground so yes around and I would not recommend their openly discussing in these kind of issues on the phone with serious this could actually in there 2nd and in danger there but also the here 1 me

Mormon time needs to have available to us here number of antennas buys and was comes the on the it's a letter has a lot to thank you very much from

here think we see later on thank you very much and that I here you use