Canadians for Syria - The dinner

Why am I here? What can we do?

Why am I here at this dinner and why am I going to march with you tomorrow at the parade?

I am not Syrian. I am not even Arabic. So why am I here? What do I hope to accomplish by being here?

In summary

I have spent most of my professional life communicating information. I am dedicated to trying to find out how things work and discovering and writing down that information.

I feel that much of what is happening and should and should not be happening depends on information. People equipped with cell phones and video cameras have power. The first thing an oppressing regime targets is the power to communicate information.

So, by being here and giving you my perspective, I feel that I am giving you information that could help. I feel that, for various reasons (below), my view of things is different from most people. Looking at things from different viewpoints helps see a bigger picture.

The bowl in the middle of the table

Please treat my contribution as if I were writing it on a piece of paper and putting it into a silver bowl in the middle of a collective table. Imagine everyone writing their contribution and ideas down and also putting them into the bowl. You, the Syrians, can then take the notes in that bowl and use them as you wish.

Where am I coming from?

Here are my reasons for being here:

• Although not Middle Eastern, I am from Eastern Europe. My family has experienced firsthand many of the events now happening in Syria. Some of my family have even been blown up in demonstrations, although a long time ago.
• I have travelled often and have connections to the Middle East and North Africa. Many of my friends, including my life partner, are from that part of the world.
• I am 64, which implies some 4 decades of life experience.
• I’m not entirely uninformed. I don’t just read local newspapers, but I regularly read and listen to media from many sources (Al Jazeera, BBC, Russian media, Chinese, even media that by certain groups may be considered fringe but that report more directly on events from the Caucasus and trouble spots of the world.
• I speak or understand and can read a number of languages; therefore, I can balance what I learn from a wide range of sources. I can read between the lines.
• When I hear of things going on, like in Serbia in the 1990s, in Africa, in Tibet, in St Petersburg, I feel like I am right there experiencing the effects of hatred, fear, and discrimination. I feel the threat – all the way from there to here in my safe world in Canada. I feel so lucky that I live in a place where I can stand up and say all this – without fear.
• However, I feel that this freedom even here in Canada is threatened by events such as those happening now in Syria.
• So I am here to protect the freedoms that I have.

And now I’m going to totally undermine myself in front of most of you by saying the following. As a gay person, who has spent most of his younger life experiencing discrimination, I am actually quite well qualified at recognizing and dealing with lack of equality and a desire to be accepted and to live my life to its potential. If you want a canary in a coal mine, I’m the bird.

Incidentally, the existence of the Human Rights Monument, which tomorrow will serve as a rallying point for the march owes part of that effort to members of the gay people in Ottawa. This monument is, and continues to be, a symbol and a rallying point for all people. In Canada we can do this.

Identifying the gaps

Most frequently, as I read and learn from the media and from people, I find that there are gaps in what I am hearing. Things I want to hear and see that people are doing, are missing – things I feel are key to helping solve the problem. Gap analysis is a business approach to solving problems as well – because identifying what the gaps (missing elements) are is frequently a good place to start solving a problem.

So what are the gaps in what is being reported to us from Syria? What don’t I hear?

• I don’t hear people in power officially saying that the Syrian embassy in Ottawa is only representing 10% of the Syrian people. I don’t hear out loud that that embassy is not representing the wishes and desire for equality of 90% of the Syrian people. If you’re suspected of belonging to that 90%, don’t expect fair treatment.
• Although the percentages may be less unequal, I don’t hear people in power saying the same about the Iranian embassy in Ottawa.
• I do not hear the United Nations, and aid agencies, saying the same thing about the representatives of Syria and Iran at the UN. Somehow many high-level and influential public organizations that have precious good intentions and means are constrained to beg for and receive the crumbs of support from such regimes in the hope that, by doing so, such organizations can somehow help the unfortunate majority of humanity those representatives do not represent. How logical is that?
  
  An example was the Red Cross in Homs. The Syrian delegation to the UN insisted that they had given the Red Cross permission to enter Baba Amr to help out. On the ground, the Syrian regime was preventing the Red Cross from going into Baba Amr to help. What was the Red Cross being forced to do? This effort, however minimal in terms of what is actually required, costs money and resources, and is therefore constrained by time and money. In desperation to do something, the RC was forced to give away what little they brought to anyone in the area.
• The international community has been made aware – simply by accident – of one single shipment of arms to Syria (from Russia) around 10 Jan 2012. Incidentally, virtually on the same day, Mr Assad made his speech that he would crush his opponents with an iron fist. On an ongoing basis, Russian military ships have been docking at Tartus. I don’t hear about what those ships are loading/unloading. The Iranian navy has recently sailed and docked at Tartus. Again, I don’t hear what those ships are loading/unloading.
• I don’t hear whether any of the immense resources offered by Iran and Russia in terms of equipment, intelligence, monitoring ability – including special operative agents – are entering Syria and helping out the 10% regime. I don’t hear why these countries are so interested in “helping out”. I don’t hear the Western media and politicians, at the highest level, addressing these issues in ways that actually catch the public attention and imagination.
• I don’t hear about the possibility that the Syrian regime can bring and distribute their colleagues from Syria into and about Canada. Same for Iran – and for Russia – and for all embassies – relatively without any oversight from the Canadian people. Who are we to know the qualifications and intent of that “clerk” or “cleaning person” or relative? Diplomatic immunity? All embassies have the ear and access to quite serious resources in terms of money and whatever from their home countries. Here in Canada, there’s no problem about embassy staff getting together between countries. I don’t hear just how wide an information gathering network the 10% Syria and the 60% Iran have in Canada. I know from experience that a few $100 here and there can do a lot – a few $100,000 can do a lot more.
  
  I would be very surprised if the Syrian, Iranian, and Russian embassies and people are not only right now aware of this dinner and perhaps even my contribution – but have representatives attending the dinner gathering information for purposes we can only imagine.
• I don’t hear anyone talking in terms and tone that would be understood by a majority of the world people. For example, in the UN, and in most democratic environments, a person gets up and makes a speech, the next person gets up and does the same. But I don’t hear anyone getting up, pointing at the world’s 6B people, and talking to us in a language that we can be emotionally interested in and understand. Even for a person like myself, who is interested, it takes a fair amount of effort to research and stay aware of what is happening. What can I, one person, do vs what can 6B people do? Where is the power?
• I don’t hear people pointing out the irony that it is the very democracy that ensures our human rights that is preventing us from acting decisively to protect them. The irony that it takes death to motivate us to protect life.

And what could we do?

The following suggestions need to be taken in the context and spirit in which they are given. I do not have ultimate answers to anything. However, here is what I think.

The best people to organize things are the Syrian people, themselves, who speak the language and know the situation from their own experience. The more of the rest of us that are on board, the more we can do. We need to lobby key people in high-level government institutions to learn to talk to the world more directly. I’m getting the sense that the world is apathetically accepting that human rights, along with 10s of 1000s of people, those that could have made a difference, will die in Syria over the next year. Good, creative people who would otherwise be there for us and our freedoms. We cannot let our democratic sense of fairness blind us to the fact that Russia, Iran, and Syria are playing with a different set of rules. We need to point that out. They cannot continue to empower the 10% Syrian regime without us balancing the equation. We need to empower the 90%.

We cannot be satisfied with the high-level world organizations, meeting once every couple of months to “try to solve problems”. If there’s a problem, then you work to midnight and continue after midnight.

The most effective strategies so far have come from individuals and organizations acting unilaterally. Consensus has helped some 27 people in Syria. Unilateral action has put people and much-needed supplies and tools (cell phones) on-site at great risk but with much greater impact.

Help build an information network (towers around the outer borders of Syria, satellite communication, people organized to communicate) that targets and supports the 90%. Target and jam the military communications media.

The Syrian constitutions of 1973 and 2012 both expressed honorable human rights goals. The problem is, is that 10% of the Syrian people are in violation of their own constitution. Therefore simply stating such goals in a document is not enough. More is needed to legally ensure that such goals are adhered to – another constitution-level parallel procedural/consequence document? Organize the highest-level opposition (and majority) government to edit the 2012 constitution and put it out as an alternate referendum to all, including, this time, the other 90%. True, people won’t be able to ballot and vote, but they will vote in their minds, which is where it counts.

Develop a social mechanism that verifies loyalty – brings people together who share a common sense of human equality.

Put qualified agents directly in Syria to help the 90% organize and protect themselves.

10% Syria, 60% Iran, and even Russia, are political bullies. You don’t stop bullies by turning the other cheek.

Prepare and empower everyone in Syria to help themselves. How? By linking each family in Syria up with one or two families outside of Syria. In Canada we have “sister cities”; in Syria, create “sister families”. Encourage people to do this asap because, as we tinker, Assad acts. Once the soldiers are at your front door, it’s too late. But if each family has some external contact, we at least have information exchange and direct involvement.

And yes, we can bomb tanks and planes without “killing tons of civilians”.

So that is why I’m here.

My heart goes out to any and all people who stand there with all their creative energy and humanity, and are somehow prevented from living their lives because hatred, prejudice, and fear stand in their way. Hatred, prejudice, and fear being carried and applied by people with resources.

May God and Allah bless you all and help you succeed