Syria & Iran

Overheard from a Syrian activist during the Egyptian revolts: "If they fail in Egypt, there is no hope for us in Syria". True words and they didn't fail, though what they achieved in Egypt remains fragile and is still in danger of being wiped out by the military council.

What was said about Egypt however, also applies to Syria and maybe to a larger scale. Because of its geo-political position, if Syria fails, there's no hope for the rest of the Middle-East. If people manage to get their basic human and political rights, this is a blow to both Iran and Hezbollah, who lose an important ally in the region. It also shows the people in other regional dictatorships that this type of protest cannot be silenced, even with the level of brutality show by the regime of Assad.

For Syrians especially Iranians have become the cartoonesque bad-guys to be feared and hated. Videos appeared on the internet of (alleged) Iranian forces being captured by demonstrators and questioned about their role in helping Syrian armed forces in squashing dissent. It is important to note that the Iranian post-election protests of 2009 where not shown in Syria. Many Syrians are unaware of Iranians showing their discontent with their government and the large amount of students, lawyers, journalists, politicians and ordinary citizens locked up to this day.

Friends told me of their visits to Paris this week, going to Syrian protests and being afraid to identify themselves as Iranians.

It is instrumental that in this time when our governments find ways of collaborating the Syrians and Iranian people do the same. We don't share a language, but we do share a common dream of democracy, freedom and dignity.

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An insightful article on the struggle in Syria here:

http://www.merip.org/mero/mero081011