Brave Voices

Syrian Dissidents Find Their Voice As Lebanon Provides a Megaphone
BY CLAUDIA ROSETT - Special to the SunMarch 23, 2005

" ... In biting metaphor and with blunt fury, he describes how, under 42 years of Baathist rule, Syria's media has performed as a tin pot press. Reporters and editors have been required to stage Orwellian stunts in which the cruelties and depravities of the Baath Party are described as glorious deeds, in which "their corruption is turned into achievements, and their profligacy into profits." Mr. al-Baba reminds his audience of the days before Baathist tyranny, when Syria had hundreds of lively magazines and newspapers instead of a few orchestrated, official ones. He calls for a press in Syria that would be free to "learn and make mistakes, get it right, fail and succeed" and write the truth instead of trumpeting on cue the party line ... "

" ... Mr. El-Zein notes that these articles became significantly more daring following the overthrow two years ago of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. The neighboring Syrian regime, he says, was "very afraid of a popular upheaval in Syria" and somewhat loosened its grip. Syrian writers seized the chance to express themselves via the Lebanese press, "more and more freely." These days, seeing the democratic spring in Lebanon, "They dare more and more." ... "

" ... In Beirut this week there was a chance to meet with Mr. Sharafeddine, a robust 27-year-old man with a neat goatee and blue suede shoes. He is first and foremost a poet, not a political commentator, he explained, "But it is our destiny, we Syrians, to write on politics, because our situation is intolerable." His hope right now is that inside Syria, "The situation is better than before. They are starting to talk." And he traces the shift back to "when the Americans came to Iraq. This is the beginning of freedom and democracy.""