Snowden, Manning, The Real FSA: The 'Threat' Of Upright Citizens

If the Greek philosopher Zeno of Elea would live in our actual world he would find a real treasure chest of paradoxies, especially in our modern politics and their relation towards the societies they represent.

The recent case of whistleblower Edward Snowden, a former staff member of the US-American National Security Agency (NSA), is showing the public quite plainly that transparency, responsibility and last but not least conscience forms in combination a menace - surprisingly for those ones officially defending such values in that what we use to call the free world.

While Bradley Manning delivered U.S. Army confidential documents to Wikileaks who exposed the delicate material via the internet to a broader public (the content of those documents contains amongst other the modus operandi during the Afghanistan invasion which wasn't going accord with common war ethics especially the United States were trying to sell as kept up high) Snowden unveiled the NSA practices of digital surveillance. The PRISM program is collecting digital data not only from U.S. citizens using the major internet platforms but also as it looks sensitive data from citizens around the globe, from e-mail-correspondence to log-in passwords. Meanwhile the netizen community is joking about the PRISM program as 'newest and biggest growing social media site'.

We the people ..

Referring to the headline I've chosen both whistleblowers can be seen as upright citizens exposing impure practices to those who it should concern in their own interest: the people. Not only the United States, all modern democracies are built on the vote of the people who are electing their representants in constant intervals. Manning's and Snowden's behavior can be seen as a republican act of civil courage in the context of exposing intransparency: they were providing a secretly kept policy becoming what it originally should be - a res publica, a public issue. But instead being appreciated for their courage by the officials in a kind of way like "thanks for exposing our mistakes and weaknesses, we will work on it from now on" both are facing possible life time imprisonment being accused of high treasure. Xeno of Elea would scratch his head studying these cases ..

From Washington to Damascus

But where are the parallels to those people in Syria being labelled as 'Real FSA'? Just like the U.S. whistleblowers they are so seen also upright citizens. (I strictly use the term in a non-demagogic context being aware of the negative intention especially leftist anarchists putted in by using the term in the 80's of the last century trying to expose a law-and-order character of the addressed ones.) First of all an explanation is required who exactly the protagonists of the Real FSA are: during the uprising against dictator Assad soldiers and commanders of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) began to defect and formed in summer 2011 the 'gesh-issouri-al-hor', the Free Syrian Army. Goal of the defectors was to protect civilians from random attacks of Assad loyal forces (which were at that time besides the SAA particularly the redoubtable shabeeha (ghosts), plain-clothed bullies infamous for their brutality) and to topple the Baath regime. Straight in the beginning of the FSA foundation their officials made very precise clear that they are not following sectarian goals - a reproach which was and is still valid for the ruling elites under the command of Bashar al-Assad.

Those former SAA soldiers and commanders have with Manning and Snowden in common that they turned against the the system they served for simply listening to their conscience. That counts also for all those voluntarily joining the FSA with the purpose to protect the lives of civilians, of their homes, their families. Conscience isn't a calculable corrective. To realize that the political system is irrelevant, be it the constitutional democracy of the United States or the oppressing dictatorship in Syria.

Edward Snowden is cited that his biggest fear is not the eventual prison term he might face. It is that his disclosure could become forgotten by the public, that the majority of the people becomes apathetically. Similar fears the core of the Real FSA likewise has: becoming forgotten, perishing in the flood of pro-revolution battallions fighting for their own goals, mainly radicalized Islamists seeing in Syria an ideal playground for their caliphate experiments. And they are still better equipped. Another paradox Xeno of Elea would shake his head about. The Real FSA and the moderate rebels are denied delivery of adequate weapons for protection measures because those sympathizing with them fear those weapons might land in the wrong hands - salafist jihadis or worse. But the religious radicals are receiving their equipment from other sources while the moderate freedom fighters are still waiting for useful armament.

'loyalty stands above conscience'

Reviewing the history of the Assad tyranny over the last five decades besides the classical oppression tools one speciality to grant the illegal achieved power is appearing very clearly: the coercion of loyalty. The system decided who was on the gainng side and who belonged to the worthless mass. A term like 'conscience' never had a place in that system. Conscience was a luxury only the brave ones were able to afford. Many Syrians decided since March 2011 to regain their conscience and to take their fate into their own hands hoping that those nations keeping such values - apparently - high would support them in their struggle. The higher the disappointment and the embarrassment is in the meantime facing the hesitation of those countries to help. And the regime in Damascus might grin brightly pointing at the double-standards the democracies are exposing in cases such as Manning and Snowden.

Given this complexity and the circumstance that states which are defining themselves as servants of their people de facto are acting in the opposite manner and the more and more growing gaps between nations and their societies Xeno of Elea might not be afraid of getting jobless as philosopher and specialist in paradoxies.

Syria: Les Grandes Grotèsques

While nearly the whole online world is focussig on the unrests erupted in Turkey I will take the chance reflecting a bit about its Southern neighbor getting more and more torn into pieces; where even the reality on the ground seems almost impossible to diagnose what never was easy in the recent two years but became in the meantime completely impossible.

Why? Because all reported ongoings are causing more confusion than elucidation. That plays more in the blood-drenched hands of the disgraceful regime and doesn't really help those fighting to regain freedom and dignity. Déja ecouté? Yes, the restoration of freedom and dignity was one of the central pillars of the revolutionary movement in Syria when it started in March 2011. A fact which the regimers and assadistas would like to erase far too willingly from the global public's memory.

The Syrian information ministry (which doesn't deserve to be entitled that) is announcing a statement that "the Turkish people don't deserve Erdoğan's barbarity"? Doesn't surprise me.

The Syrian foreign ministry (with the unspeakable Moallem at the top) is advising Syrians "not to travel to Turkey because of disturbances"? Doesn't surprise me either.

It's the expected reaction of the doomed dynasty to nebulize the global perception, to legitimize and marginalize its own brutal handwriting how to treat the people. But they will not get away with that.

Even Bashar's Russian doctoral thesis supervisor is able to hide that fact. Maybe his reported proposal Israel should buy the air defense system instead of the Syrian regime is a small signal that he doesn't count any longer on Assad himself, preferring in the meantime a for him adequate replacement (who- or whatever this might be). Still Putin is playing the hardliner card on the international parquet floor of diplomacy. Still.

That what the Western faction is setting in scene since beginning of the year looks like a bad sequel of the former flops 'The Great Hesitation 2011' and 'The Great Hesitation 2012'. Generally favoring the revolutionaries but always finding reasons not to side them effectively ('arms could fall into the wrong hands', 'terrorists might profit', etc etc ..) the coalition of the "Friends Of Syria" is maneuvring as if an international championship in that discipline is shouted out.

All that doesn't help those sticking into deep trouble by getting deplaced, attacked, detained, tortured, murdered.

Those Syrians having lost from a few friends up to their whole families have a given right to be angry.

Angry on the shitty situation they are now in, angry on the regimers who sent out their shabeeha executors to silence the uprisers in their own way and who called now the Hezbollah mercenaries to assist them in their lethal crackdown. Angry on a United Nations body which is unable to condemn proven crimes against humanity caused by the Assad tyranny. Angry on all those commenting the atrocities in Syria with a shrug of the shoulders or even worse: subliming each necessary differentiation with the inglorious label 'Terrorists!'

Cause the funny (tragical? Bitter? Grotesque?) thing is that those who are terrorizing call their victims 'terrorists'.

Whitewashing his rulership is Assad's only survival tactic. He bets on the short-term memory of the global community getting one day amnestied for all he's responsible for. But that doesn't also work: the global consciousness has its memory cache in the meantime in the internet. Bad for him. Daddy Hafez had it better before ruling and oppressing in times negatives had to become developed before getting published, in times articles first had to be printed. (For those being under 20yrs: yes, there was a pre-digital age.)

This is another thing the people - from the average reader to the claimed Mid-East expert - tend to forget: in almost half a century dictatorial delusion the Assad clan brought to perfection it's almost impossible to expect from the Syrians being hard-boiled waterproof democratical humanists. The rising of dubious groups like Jabhat al-Nusra is certainly in the eyes of some a disturbing trend but that doesn't change the fact that the revolution's origin is based in the demand of changing the political system. Some of the first-day activists have kind of resigned considering the increasing violence they witnessed all around them but they are not to blame for the crisis we have now to witness.

And those seemingly standing behind the regime? Are they really all loyalists in the meaning of this expression? Or are they silencing because they fear revenge attacks from their own faction? I can and will not believe that all Alawis are standing like a rock behind the Fuehrer. All they have to do is to break away from the bloodshed causing clan, forcing a moderate wing in-between the Baath party to take over. Easy said, I know, similar problems the National Coalition is actually dealing with.

Shoveling senseless banalities upon given facts - barbaric crimes against innocent civilians, women children - is one of the dirty propaganda strategics the regime uses to justify its survival.

It's up to us that they will not come through with this. The flame of justice will burn eternally. The committed atrocities won't either be forgotten or forgiven.