I’ve compiled a list of rebuttal’s Max Blumenthal’s repulsive article in AlterNet entitled “Inside the Shadowy PR Firm That’s Lobbying for Regime Change in Syria“. Will probably be adding a few. For the record, none of these people were asked to be put here. I simply gathered the Tweets and Facebook Posts available online. It is part of a series of critiques on the topic of the Left’s multilayered failures on Syria.
The first was written by Kesh Malek’s Marcell Shehwaro, from Aleppo, Syria.
Where are the Syrians in Max’s Article?
I read Max’s article which aims to open our eyes to the dangerous hidden reality behind The Syria Campaign. I read it over and over and all I felt was a combination of patronisation and humiliation in detail after detail… Beginning with the focus on who took the photo of Omran and who published it and neglecting the fact that what happened to Omran did actually happen and the boy really was bombed. But of course this detail is marginal… just as marginal as all other Syrian men and women in that piece of writing. All of us are marginal details.
More important now is how to help the killer escape by spreading doubts around all the human rights violations they committed.
My organization is one of the 73 organizations that signed on to suspending cooperation with the UN. The decision was taken and planned as per the following steps. Months and days of dysfunctional coordination with the UN as a result of the political ties of the UN’s offices in Damascus. Let alone the grave failure, that the UN admits to, of dealing with the sieges. The Syrian anger towards this topic was portrayed through many responses, actions, banners and campaigns such as United Nothing. All those are purely Syrians but it seems not important enough for Mr. Blumenthal to mention.
We internally shared the statement, which was drafted by Syrian humanitarian organizations, for endorsement. We even objected to the mild language of the statement which some described as nice and friendly. After the internal agreement of the drafting organizations, which apparently it’s not convincing to the writer that the Syrian organizations have a decision-making mechanism, we shared the statement publicly for wider endorsement.
Of course Mr. Max is able to judge and knows better than all of us that we as Syrians have been influenced to shape our opinions! We have been “spurred” to sign!
We are mislead, absent, easily manipulated. This is how Syrian organisations are portrayed in the article.
On the no-fly zone and regime change. Here comes a more irritating speech. Early 2012, I wrote a “silly’ blog under the title “10 reasons why I am against no-fly zone”
I wrote all possible and expected reasons in relation to sovereignty, imperialism and so on. I was “naive” back then to think there were global civilian protection mechanisms that will prevent us from tending to such solution ie; no-fly zone. I used to think that airstrikes will never be part of the regime response aga. inst people. I had the luxury to do so as by then we were not bombarded at from the sky yet.
Until today I regret that feeling of luxury
Yes Max, The Syria Campaign say we need a no-fly zone and it is because it echoes what Syrians call for day and night.
Yes we want the shelling to stop. We want the aerial bombardment to stop. Which is until this moment just a small detail in your article.
Yes the Russian and Assad airstrikes target Syrians, their hospitals and schools.
But this article is not about that small detail that takes the lives of hundreds every day
This one is about how dare an “advocacy” project for syrians to convey syrian messages to the world!!
Yes Max we do want a no-fly zone because two of our education staff were injured last week. Maybe because the manager of our education office in Aleppo has to face a decision whether to close schools and deprive children of their right to education or open schools and risk their safety and lives.
Because once we had to discuss a real decision, and not imagined, on what is the “normal” ij number of airstrikes where we would continue to operate civil and humanitarian activities and when do we cross the “Ok” number
Because hospitals are underground. Because schools are now underground.
They brought us bunker buster bombs you know. I looked this word up in your article. It doesn’t sound that important
Bunker buster bomb that destroys schools and hospitals and even shelters.
But what I found in your article that foreigners want a No Fly Zone. How dare they!!!
Dear Max, if you had listened to Syrians. If you just had assumed that we exist and do have opinions, maybe you would have figured out how we reached this point.
How do we live every day based on Whatsapp ringtone bringing the news of the location of each attack and who are the casualties.
Syrians there live on military air forces planes rhythm, wondering are we going to be bombed during the day only? Shall we work at night? Instead. No shall we do early mornings.
The Russians and the regime which you are discomforted with our will to topple are now working full time job. Day and night. We die. The simple logic is that we want to live. They attack us using air force. We want airstrikes to stop. Don’t you think this is logical?
It is not because we are emotional people. All people across the world, I believe, don’t want to be attacked by air force. This is something common, no?
While discussing toppling the Regime it seems that you are missing some points dear Max. Let me make things clear for you. In 2011 we revolted against one of the toughest dictatorships. We called for freedom and for democracy. We as syrians, for sure if you managed to believe me, want democracy, we want the end of arrests, incommunicado arbitrary detention and shooting at peaceful demonstrations. We want the end of chemical attacks and Bunker buster bombs. We dream of change. Changing this regime, the same regime you referred to revolting against as a coup over a democratically elected government and not as a people’s will to restore its rights. Wait maybe you know better than us about our affairs.
Yes sir, The Syria Campaign as an advocacy group in support of us Syrians does say a lot of what we say over and over which no one listens to. Maybe this is considered political to you but I can see you are trying to take things to a level that is very dangerous for us Syrians. Not only as Syrians but you are undermining the activist movements across the world by painting democracy as a political issue. Hence justice, equality, freedom, and impunity become political issues that civil society activist should not get invloved in. This makes dictators happy while we work like doves of peace.
Yes Mr. Max, we syrians suffer daily from patronization over our advocacy as when we say Bashar Al Assad is killing us, our “supporters” rephrase to “ Syrians are being killed, Syrians were attacked, Syrians are starved”. The perpetrators are passive in that discourse.
Another example that comes to mind. We say:
“We want the shelling to stop so we can move on with our struggle for democracy”. Becomes “Syrians want the war to end so they can go back to peace.”
Our askes are trimmed or toned so we don’t disrupt anyone with such an ugly form of patronization. This what has forced us to see the need to define advocacy. Is it teaching Syrians what they should want while they face death everyday? Or conveying Syrian messages and voices to the world?
I will not even bother to comment on the White Helmets accusation. They have enough of the hallelujah of Syrian women every time they reach an airstrike site rushing to save people. In addition to cheers from children that they have saved and those are even more honoring than Nobel peace prizes even if I really hope they get it. We are just happy and proud as the White Helmets are from us.
Ah wait who are we? We are invisible in your article at the end. So no worries.
Lina Alsaafin from the West Bank, Palestine:
https://twitter.com/LinahAlsaafin/status/783004756818223105
https://twitter.com/LinahAlsaafin/status/783005775404859394
https://twitter.com/LinahAlsaafin/status/783006039910277121
https://twitter.com/LinahAlsaafin/status/783006563581693952
https://twitter.com/LinahAlsaafin/status/783007528221347841
https://twitter.com/LinahAlsaafin/status/783007909781307392
https://twitter.com/LinahAlsaafin/status/783008390767337476
https://twitter.com/LinahAlsaafin/status/783008904162766848
https://twitter.com/LinahAlsaafin/status/783009312717373440
https://twitter.com/LinahAlsaafin/status/783009681530814464
https://twitter.com/LinahAlsaafin/status/783010367597383681
https://twitter.com/LinahAlsaafin/status/783011049003974657
https://twitter.com/LinahAlsaafin/status/783011424692006914
https://twitter.com/LinahAlsaafin/status/783012192820072449
https://twitter.com/LinahAlsaafin/status/783367123183800320
https://twitter.com/LinahAlsaafin/status/783371739812270084
Budour Hassan from Nazareth, Palestine
https://twitter.com/Budour48/status/783278997144801280
https://twitter.com/Budour48/status/783278997144801280
https://twitter.com/Budour48/status/783280120807194624
https://twitter.com/Budour48/status/783284633106538501
https://twitter.com/Budour48/status/782995619464044544
https://twitter.com/Budour48/status/782998126584033280
https://twitter.com/Budour48/status/783009477272432648
Mariam Barghouti from Ramallah, Palestine
Max Blumenthal has reached serious lows in his latest piece. Rather than address a universal phenomenon on how international aid abuses areas of need and conflict for instance, he has chosen to vilify and demonize human rights organizations that try in any way possible to preserve life in a region constantly bombarded by Russian and Regime bombs.
What Max has done, is build a career off of the Palestinian cause and in return he neglects our Syrian brothers and sisters in the most sinister manner he managed to muster. I am exhausted and sick of having our voices (those of us from the region and in the region) be condensed into soundbites and short quotes so journalists like Blumenthal can build a name for themselves only to betray our Arab brothers and sisters.
His piece is exemplary of what lack of nuance and stripping of agency looks like. It is not courageous investigative journalism reporting, rather a cop out article that whitewashes the crimes of oppressors. I’m too appalled to even link the article here.
What on earth have we done?
Jehad Saleem from Gaza, Palestine:
Shame on all those Western activists who built their fame on Palestinian pain and now advocate for Assad and justify the mass-murder of hundreds of thousands of Syrians
Remember: the worst Syrian regime Military Intelligence Branch is also known as the “Palestine Branch.” For decades, Arab criminal dictators and demagogues took the word Palestine and tirelessly used it to wash the blood of those they tortured and murdered in their narrow and dark torture chambers. For decades, under pro-Palestine slogans, millions of people were hijacked by narrow-sighted socio-paths who suppressed democracy, workers movements and unions, made a joke out of our countries, expelled and executed thinkers and intellectuals, and built more jails than parks and hospitals, and invested in strengthening their power at the expense of the people who were subject to their rule. There is no reason, no reason at all, that can justify why these regimes surpassed all boundaries of excessive use of power and coercion. What does being anti-imperialist have to do with suppressing millions of people, stealing their resources, and force them to live in the hell of a worst-than-Orwellian scenario of fear and misery? No my friends. We do deserve better, our people deserve better than Saddam, Ghaddafi, and Assad, and if you think this is the maximum we deserve, then you are a racist piece of shit who still hasn’t cured his or her supremacist world-view.
Talal Alyan from Gaza, Palestine:
https://twitter.com/talalalyan/status/783716418151976960
https://twitter.com/talalalyan/status/783717965120274433
https://twitter.com/talalalyan/status/783401479189200896
https://twitter.com/talalalyan/status/783401533320884224
https://twitter.com/talalalyan/status/783401654800490496
https://twitter.com/talalalyan/status/783401758768922624
https://twitter.com/talalalyan/status/782977302439264256
https://twitter.com/talalalyan/status/782978008164491264
Leila Al Shami from Syria/UK:
attacking the @SyriaCivilDef – the only hope for those trapped under the rubble – is the lowest of the low
— Leila Al-Shami (@LeilaShami) October 3, 2016
this is the work that the brave volunteers of the White Helmets do every day https://t.co/JXFcB0FppQ
— Leila Al-Shami (@LeilaShami) October 3, 2016
Kareem Chehayeb from Beirut, Lebanon
https://twitter.com/chehayebk/status/782982637770121216
https://twitter.com/chehayebk/status/782984103910117376
https://twitter.com/chehayebk/status/782984897296232448
James Sadri of the Syria Campaign (the object of Max’s obsession)
I've been off Twitter, but feel I need to hop on again to respond to this piece by @MaxBlumenthal https://t.co/mMgIODxhdr
— James Sadri (@halfiranian) October 3, 2016
Our 'shadowy' org spent 5 hours responding to Max's questions over email and more than an hour on the phone.
— James Sadri (@halfiranian) October 3, 2016
But he still couldn't get the basic journalism right.
— James Sadri (@halfiranian) October 3, 2016
He makes a bonkers and unfounded claim that we "spurred" 73 Syrian organisations to suspend cooperation with the UN. Where's that from?
— James Sadri (@halfiranian) October 3, 2016
Syrians who were brave enough to rise up against a 40-year dictatorship don't have their own views?
— James Sadri (@halfiranian) October 3, 2016
But Syrians are invisible to @MaxBlumenthal. No surprise the only aid worker he interviews in Syria is … a Westerner.
— James Sadri (@halfiranian) October 3, 2016
He also gets his basic facts wrong. We don't have a "$800,000 budget this year" (would be nice).
— James Sadri (@halfiranian) October 3, 2016
The figures we sent were last year…and it was clear that half that money went to White Helmets donations or our 2016 budget.
— James Sadri (@halfiranian) October 3, 2016
So we ran the org last year on about $380k. Not peanuts, but in terms of NGOs, certainly not a big budget.
— James Sadri (@halfiranian) October 3, 2016
(This is screenshot from email sent to Max) pic.twitter.com/zxBGkoxxBO
— James Sadri (@halfiranian) October 3, 2016
But while we can continue to punch holes in the poor journalism what is most disappointing is the approach.
— James Sadri (@halfiranian) October 3, 2016
Not only does @maxblumenthal deny the validity of Syrian views in wanting protection from the horrific aerial war being waged against them.
— James Sadri (@halfiranian) October 3, 2016
He also denies power of Syrians in voicing these demands by exaggerating The Syria Campaign's role. A double insult. A double silencing.
— James Sadri (@halfiranian) October 3, 2016
Imagine if Max had spent his energy trying to find out what it would take to stand in solidarity with Syrians, what might that look like?
— James Sadri (@halfiranian) October 3, 2016
My guess is we'll never know.
— James Sadri (@halfiranian) October 3, 2016
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