Syrian Americans and the Syrian YouTube Revolution

By ⋅ April 6, 2012 ⋅ Post a comment
Mohja Kahf (Photo: damascenequeen/YouTube)

Mohja Kahf (Photo: damascenequeen/YouTube)

The Syrian uprising has been called the YouTube revolution. With reporters barred from entering the country, Syrians have brandished their cell-phone cameras to capture scenes from one of the deadliest uprisings of the Arab spring.

Among the most avid viewers of these images are Syrian Americans, like Mohja Kahf. For Kahf, the YouTube revolution began at home, but it was a long time coming.

Mohja is a poet and a professor at the University of Arkansas. She fled Syria with her family in 1971, when she was a toddler. Her father was member of the Muslim Brotherhood and after he left, the government of then-president Hafez al-Assad made being a member of the organization punishable by death.

Michael May of latitudenews.com has the story. Read more at latitudenews.com.

Discussion

6 comments for “Syrian Americans and the Syrian YouTube Revolution”

  • Mohja Kahf

    At the Feb 22, 2011 solidarity rally in Damascus (the vid with the young women I watched), there were armed security, not soldiers. Also, in southern Turkey we got to the gate of a refugee camp and started speaking to residents, but the Turkish gendarmes didnt let us in at the last minute because my daughter wrote something in a notebook in English, and the guards screamed, “media! journalists!” and barred us.We visted refugees and Syrians wounded by the regime–but not in camps.

    • http://www.facebook.com/michaelemay Michael May

      The guards are correctly identified as security in the piece. (An earlier transcript may have had this error.)

      There’s many fascinating details that were left out of the piece due to time constraints. For more, I recommend Prof. Kahf’s own first-hand account: http://therumpus.net/2011/12/the-daughters%E2%80%99-road-to-syria/

  • Mohja Kahf

    For the record, in the raw interview, I didn’t say I’m simply “okay” with post-asad Syria not being secular. If it turns out that way, I’ll be in the dissent, struggling with all my might for a secular, democratic state in Syria. I’m okay with taking that risk by striving for the fall of the asaad regime; fear of Islamists rising through democratic means has been used for too long and at too high a cost to strip Syrians of their civil liberties and to stall democratization.

    • http://www.facebook.com/michaelemay Michael May

      Thanks for clarifying that Mohja, the subtlety was lost in my paraphrasing.

  • http://twitter.com/Vintage_Jewels Maureen McDonald

    As the ICC and Syrian Lawmakers eye the atrocities that  were filmed, I know Assad and his regime will not go unpunished. To those that have murdered innocent people they will not be able to run away from their guilt or the courts, I wholly believe it is beneficent to all Syrian to document crimes. 

  • http://twitter.com/NadiaAlawa Osmosis Mom

    I really appreciated this interview which really, truly depicts the sentiments of many Syrian Americans I know (including myself). We have to know what is going on, as painful and as inconvenient as it is. I also personally feel a strong urge to share with people around me what the situation is. Freedom is not cheap is easily said by many, but very few want to actually inconvenience their conscience and really know what is happening to people for the sake of asking for it.