I SIRIANI NON HANNO FAME

Intervista a Ziad Majed, a cura di Bettina Foa e Barbara Bertoncin

UNA CITTÀ n. 222 / 2015 maggio

Le speranze, sorte alla morte di Assad padre, per quel giovane che aveva studiato all’estero, svanite nel giro di pochi mesi con la repressione della “primavera di Damasco”; il rapporto opaco con gli jihadisti, fin dai tempi della guerra in Iraq e una nuova generazione che in Siria, come

in Tunisia ed Egitto, non ne può più di un regime corrotto e liberticida; la totale assurdità dell’idea che Assad possa essere la soluzione, quando invece è il problema. Intervista a Ziad Majed.

Ziad Majed, ricercatore e politologo libanese, insegna studi mediorientali all’American University di Parigi. Ha partecipato alla fondazione della Sinistra democratica nel suo paese e alle mobilitazioni nel marzo 2005 che chiedevano il ritiro delle truppe siriane dal territorio libanese. Vive in Francia. Ha scritto Syrie, la révolution orpheline, Sindbad/Actes Sud, 2014.

“The Assads’ Syria” Nevermore: Ziad Majed Speaks of Revolution

An Interview on "The Orphan Revolution"

"When I finished the book in Arabic at the end of November 2013, Razan Zaitouneh, who through her work embodies the revolution values, along with Samira Al-Khalil (a former political prisoner and an activist from day one in the revolution) Wael Hamada (activist and husband of Mrs. Zaitouneh) and Nazem Hamady (a lawyer, activist and poet), had not yet been kidnapped. In my opinion their kidnapping is one of the most brutal and ugly acts, both for what it meant and for its location (in Douma in the heart of the “liberated” East Ghouta), as well as for the responsibility for the kidnapping by a large, militant Islamic group that controls the region. Therefore, I amended the dedication in the French version, which was issued in Paris, to read: To Razan Zaitouneh, Samira Al-Khalil and Faïek al-Meer. The latter played a very important role in the revolution, having previously spent 12 years in the Assad prisons, and was arrested on October 7, 2013".

Fathers of ISIS

The organization abbreviated as ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) is not a newfound expression of the crises afflicting Arab societies at a moment of profound transformations, initiated by 2011 revolutions.

To the contrary, ISIS is the offspring of more than one father, and the product of more than one longstanding and widespread sickness. The organization’s explosive growth today is in fact the result of previously existing, worsening conflicts that were caused by the different fathers.

FSA attacking ISIS - L'ASL lance une offensive contre l'EIIL

The Free Syrian Army, the revolutionary independent brigades and some forces from the Islamic Front have jointly launched few hours ago a military campaign in the districts of Aleppo and Idlib against the ISIS (Al-Qaeda) militia. Many villages and checkpoints have thus far been liberated. This important development occurs after a large popular mobilization and tens of demonstrations took place today in different Syrian provinces (in the north and the South) against the Assad regime and the so-called "jihadist" groups (ISIS).
The Syrian revolution is proving in January 2014 that it is still alive in spite of all massacres, difficulties, challenges and (international) silence...

Les combattants de l'ASL, des brigades "indépendantes" et certaines forces du front islamique mènent depuis plusieurs heures de grandes opérations militaires contre les milices de l'EIIL (dans les deux régions d'Idlib et d'Alep). Plusieurs villages et barrages ont été libérés.
Ces opérations ont lieu suite à une large mobilisation populaire aujourd'hui avec des dizaines de manifestations dans le nord et le sud du pays contre le régime Assad et l'EIIL. Tout cela montre encore une fois que la révolution syrienne - bien qu'orpheline - continue...