Interviews with Ammar Abdulhamid

I think the reason you have this revolution– many people say it´s spontaneous. It is in some way, in terms of the timing. No one expected it to happen in this day and age in this particular moment in history.

But the reason it took place is because we´ve been for years actually planting seeds of change- and planting seeds of encouraging people to trust themselves, to think of themselves as leaders, and to take the initiative and to take control of their destiny and realize that they are the messiahs, you know, realize if they want a savior, they have to be the saviors.

They have to embody that message. They should not wait for people to lead them, they should lead the way. And our role then will become clear as opposition and dissidents, whether we are outside the country or inside the country, which is to support them.

Sometimes this is what leadership is about. You support the people and you support the leaders. You don´t try to impose your will on them. You advise, you educate, but in the final analysis it´s the people who have to take charge of their destiny. If you really believe in democracy, this is how it works.

And I believe that you know, finally these seeds that have been planted in the ´90s and the 21st century, in the first decade of it, you know, finally are now blossoming. So there is an element of spontaneity to the revolution, but there is also an element of forethought and planning over a period and cultivation over a period of years, in fact I would say two decades.

It´s far beyond one network, one group of people. There are activists emerging every day– doing their own networks. But the good thing is that we sort of highlighted the role of YouTube and social media in our previous activities. We had, between 2000 and 2009, encouraged people to send us a lot of YouTube messages about the living conditions in South Syria.

And to document the realities of different communities in South Syria. So when we see now all of these rebellious communities, especially in Damascus, which was our focus, you know, we know all of these communities. We have seen them. We knew they are going to rebel because we saw with our own eyes the living conditions. We heard their complaints. And we knew that it´s only a matter of time before these people begin to move.

And we encouraged them to move. You know, tacitly when these, you know, things were happening, we also encouraged them why not do this? Why not protest? Why not go to your local mayor in a demonstration? Why do that? So we planted ideas already. And then we did a program, a TV program that was aired in 2009 to 2011. Six episodes only that were repeated on and on and on and on, talking about living conditions.

Not politics, not freedom of political prisoners, not opening, basically, or lifting the state of emergency. But living conditions. Things that people know. The poverty. What is the government doing? Child labor. The Kurdish issue. The sectarianism in the country. The growth of squatter settlements all over the place and camps inside Syria. People living in tents even though they´re in their own country, they are forced to live in tent camps and whatever because of the draught and the government is not doing anything.

And at the end of that period, I simply did a seven minute summary, basically. My message was very clear. Is that we don´t look at the opposition for leadership. You are the leaders. You want to be free? It´s your job to free yourself. When you´re in the streets, when you´re in the streets demonstrating for your rights, fighting for your rights, our job will be to support you and to get your voice to all corners of the world.

Well, two years later on, there is a revolution. I´m not saying people listened to my message and they went revolting. I´m saying a lot of people have been sending messages like this. And eventually, these seeds that have been planted, you know, grew. Blossomed. Someone must´ve listened to this. Other people listen to other people. But then, that´s accumulation effect. This there´s an intersection of efforts.

And this is it. I mean, more than this, we cannot do. More than this, we cannot claim. It´s up to the revolutionaries inside Syria at one point to form that overall, overarching alternative to the Assad regime. And it´s our role to keep supporting them until they get to that point. Mine is to educate. This is where I find myself mostly.

Ammar Abdulhamid is a Syrian human rights activist who in 2003 founded the Tharwa Foundation, a grassroots organization that enlists local activists and citizen journalists to document conditions in Syria. In response to his activities, the Syrian government subjected Abdulhamid to repeat interrogation and threats. In September 2005, he and his family were forced into exile in the United States. From his home in Maryland, Abdulhamid remains one of the leading bloggers and commentators on events in Syria through the Syrian Revolution Digest.

Follow Ammar Ahbdulhamid on Twitter @Tharwacolamus and on his blog, Syrian Revolution Digest.