The young protesters in Syria will not be put off by President Bashar al-Assad's refusal to listen
Haytham Manna
(a Syrian writer and spokesman for the Arab Commission for Human Rights)
The Guardian, Thursday 31 March 2011
"....The authorities still retain the same old outlook. They offer sweeping promises, with no detail, as if it is still possible to buy time. But the demands of the youth of Deraa have become national demands throughout Syria. Some of the old opposition parties, now in exile, are looking at events as they unfold, led by a generation they do not know. Some of them are trying to position themselves as future leaders, and others are calling for foreign intervention. But these voices find no echo among young people in the country. This youth, who witnessed the results of the invasion of Iraq in the arrival of half a million Iraqi refugees, will not allow the older generation to control the direction of change. Therefore, whatever happens, and no matter how fierce and aggressive the forces of the old regime may become (as is happening in Libya today), the future can only be better than the past. Those who say all will descend into fear, discord, disruption and chaos are simply afraid of their own freedom.
The youth's civil resistance is unfettered by ideology – what they want is simply that democracy be consolidated and that the resources of the country be used for the good of its people – without exception, exclusion, marginalisation or discrimination.
Despite all that has occured in the region, the Syrian authorities are determined to go on regardless. The best answer to their actions is that put forward by the Youth Movement for Democratic Change: "If you do not change, you are going to be changed.""
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