The World: Young Arab-Americans and the ‘Arab Spring’

By Assia Boundaoui

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Arab-Americans have, understandably, been avid followers of news about the uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa. Many first generation Arab-Americans fled to the US to escape political repression in their home countries.

Now, they see the Arab world changing dramatically. Two dictators have been toppled. Others seem to be teetering.

The so-called Arab Spring is causing Arab-Americans to reconsider their hyphenated identities.

At a recent roundtable in Chicago, second generation Arab-American activists, students and artists discussed the conflicts of identity that revolutions half-way across the world, are forcing them to confront.

Many second generation Arab-Americans have grown up on stories of the home-land their parents fled. They sought political asylum from repression and corruption in countries they loved, but felt they could no longer live in. Waves of Arabs escaping political oppression immigrated to the United States from the Middle East and North Africa in the 1970s and 80s.

Now, nearly three decades later, these young Arab-Americans are being confronted with a fundamentally existential question: “If we’re here because our parents fled repressive, undemocratic regimes … and those regimes no longer exist, well then – shouldn’t we go back?”

“It’s still bizarre, it’s still like a dream to even discuss, ‘can we possibly live there?’” asked Abdullah Fadhli, an artist who was born and raised in the US whose parents fled Libya in 1980 to escape Muammar Gaddafi’s regime.
“My father didn’t come here willingly. He was an exile from the get-go. Libyans wanted to live in Libya, these people came here unwillingly, they love their country. My father hasn’t seen his family in over 30 years, I’m sure he’s going to go back.”

Ahlam Said, a Yemeni-American political organizer and activist, said as much as she might want to go back if things in Yemen change; her dual identity actually complicates things.

“Going back to Yemen, when you told people you were American-Yemeni, they’d sort of like smirk at you and go ‘emm, okay, yeah,’ Said said.

“I wasn’t raised in Yemen, I was born in Yemen, and I came here at the age of two, and now all of a sudden I’m beginning to enter into a world where I want to be closer to my Yemeni identity, I want to understand what’s going on, I want to be involved. But you know, I know there’s going to be a struggle if I go back, because now my identity is going to be challenged.”

’Arab-enough?’

This question of being “Arab-enough” quickly transforms into a conversation about identity. In a room of nine Arab-Americans, every one has handles their hyphenated status differently.

Yaser Tabbara, a Syrian-American, was born in Chicago and grew-up in Damascus before returning to the US as a teenager. He said that politically, Syrian and American identities are perceived to be in conflict.

But they’re not.

“After all Syria has been classified as one of the Axis of Evil by America for a long time,” Tabbara said. “But I truly don’t feel a schism between the two identities. As an American, I’m very comfortable supporting the pro-democracy movement in Syria and in the Arab World, after-all that is a fundamentally American value.”

Iraqi-American Laith Saud said he’s not especially torn about his hyphenated status. In fact, he no longer considers himself an “Arab-American.”

“I’m beginning to look at this in a totally different way. I’m beginning to consider myself an American Arab. I was born in Baghdad but I grew up here, for me to be as Iraqi as an Iraqi, is absurd. I’m an American. But I happen to be an Arab one,” Saud said.

Ahmed Rehab, an Egyptian-American activist who flew to Cairo last month to participate in the Egyptian revolution, wants to get rid of the hyphenation all together. He said he is fully American and fully Arab, and that hyphenating those two identities is unnecessary.

“I can be an American, I can be an Egyptian, I can be an Arab,” he said. I have the capacity of being all three, they’re not hyphenated. One does not qualify the other. When I go vote as an American I don’t chisel hieroglyphics on my ballot card. And when I’m in Egypt, chanting in Tahrir Square with everybody else, I’m not saying, “Yeah Freedom.” I’m chanting in Arabic, the same slogans. I fully relate to these people there and they relate to me.”

A sticky situation

Yemeni-American Ahlam Said said that beyond just a categorization, her hyphenated identity has complicated the question of who she represents when she wants to speak her mind. She calls it a sticky situation.

“Am I speaking on behalf of America, or am I speaking on behalf of Yemen?” Said said. “And what are Yemenis going to be thinking about this, are Americans going to basically challenge my allegiance to America? I myself, after I send out a tweet, I’m like ‘oh crap what are people going to think?’ Because I’m not there, and I don’t know what’s really going on. At the end of the day it’s my passion to see people living dignified lives, you know that’s what I want, that’s what I can identify with.”

Khalil Marrar, a Palestinian-American professor and writer, said his hyphenated identity is associated with a feeling of guilt.

“I feel guilty, as a person of Palestinian descent, who lives in America and enjoys the relative freedom we enjoy here,” Marrar said. “I feel really guilty about my Palestinian brothers and sisters living under occupation. I feel really guilty about my Egyptian brothers and sisters that live(d) under the Mubarak regime.”

Whatever their feelings on being “hyphenated-Americans,” all of these men and women agree that they want to play a role in the wave of change taking place in the Arab world, whether or not that means actually moving there. But in a generational twist of poetic justice, some will make the leap and return to the countries their parents were forced to abandon, decades ago.

Original post: The World: Young Arab-Americans and the ‘Arab Spring’

Syria update: Yaser Tabbara, City-By-City Update

MIDEAST REPORTS | MONDAY, MAY 2, 2011 AT 03:34PM

Below is Part II of the Mideast Reports interview with Yaser Tabbara last Friday. The first part can be found here.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rK-9Pe2VCgM&w=480&h=390]

Mr. Tabbara grew up in Damascus and is now a lawyer at Zarzour, Khalil, & Tabbara LLC. In law school he was research assistant to Professor M. Cherif Bassiouni, International Law Scholar and Noble Peace Prize Nominee. Mr. Tabbara is a prominent member in the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). To follow his latest activities including media appearances and publications, visit his blog.

City-by-City Update:
Here are notes that I took while talking with an opposition organizer yeseterday (not direct quotes):

Dara’a- the siege in Dara’a is being escalated. Roughly 300 more troops, including tanks and armed personnel carriers, moved from Damascus on Saturday. A mosque that was a symbol of the resistance was taken afterextensive shelling.

Dair Alzour- security forces started to showed signs of besieging the city. Water and power is starting to be cut, and communication is getting hard.

Latakia- it may seem quite here, but that is probably because communication network is weaker. The city has essentially turned into a military zone, and has been divided into about the three “cantons.” There is a bit of a standoff going between the army and the opposition.

Original post: SYRIA UPDATE: YASER TABBARA, CITY-BY-CITY UPDATE

Worldview: Violence in Syria intensifies

by Worldview Apr. 26, 2011

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The Syrian government has intensified its crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations. Today, witnesses in the city of Dara'a say they’ve heard gunfire. Human rights activists estimate that up to 25 people were killed in Dara’a on Monday after a military attack on protesters.

Yaser Tabbara is a Chicago lawyer who writes the blog Damascene Thoughts. He joins us to discuss the escalating violence in Syria.

Original post: Violence in Syria intensifies

Yaser Tabbara on Chicago Public Radio Discussing Sectarianism and Latest Developments in Syria

The Syrian government has intensified its crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations. Today, witnesses in the city of Dara'a say they’ve heard gunfire. Human rights activists estimate that up to 25 people were killed in Dara’a on Monday after a military attack on protesters.

Yaser Tabbara is a Chicago lawyer who writes the blog Damascene Thoughts. He joins us to discuss the escalating violence in Syria.

>> Listen to the program here

Syrian Chicagoans Protesting for Syria - Saturday 4/23/11

The Chicago Tribune Covers Syrian-American Protest

With each news update, the dramatic series of events in the Middle East fueled a demonstration in downtown Chicago today that attracted about 300 demonstrators, many of them cheering on what they see as a democratic revolution sweeping across the Arab world.

First came the news that government soldiers in Syrian security forces had killed 11 more people Saturday after firing their weapons into crowds of mourners who were attending the funerals of the more than 100 protesters killed the day before.

Waving signs in Grant Park, the Chicago protesters began chanting “Bashar the butcher,” in protest of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s reaction to the bloody uprising that began there last month.

“That people are in a funeral, and their own government shoots them –- (this regime) has no respect for anything, they have no morals to stop them,” said Abdul Akhras, 64, of Burr Ridge, who moved from Syria in the 1980s and is now among the nearly 4,000 Syrians currently in Illinois.

“I’m really afraid that they’re going to crush everybody, no matter what the cost,” Akhras said. “If they have to kill a million people, they will kill a million people if that’s what it takes to stay in power.”

As the peaceful crowd’s energy increased, also voicing frustration at the violence against rebels in Libya, word filtered through that Ali Abdullah Saleh, the president of Yemen, agreed to step down Saturday in response to ongoing protests in that country.

That triggered cries of joy that echoed through the park as curious passersby looked on.

Yaser Tabbara, a Syrian-American human rights lawyer, called on Syrians in the United States to join what he described as a “neo-pan Arabism” spreading across the world in the wake of the Middle East uprisings that include the overthrow of authoritarian regimes in Egypt and Tunisia.

“One of the most amazing things about the pro-democracy movement that’s swept the Arab world entirely is that it has been non-ideological, non-Islamist, leaderless,” Tabbara said. “People are springing to action just in reaction to what’s happening in that part of the world. Enough is enough and the time is up for these decades-old fossilized dictators.”

Many in the crowd remained optimistic that new leadership and democracy would prevail in the region, despite the news that killings in Syria continued Saturday.

“These (dictators) try to be very brutal, and later on people will really wake up. It’s a natural cycle, no question. Otherwise there would be no justice,” said Abdul Tabara, 72, a Syrian living in Chicago. “We have these examples now –- Tunisia, Egypt –- so why not us?”

mecraig@tribune.com

Source: Chicago Tribune

Protest in Chicago to support Syria, and Libya April 23, 2011

Original post: Protest in Chicago to support Syria, and Libya April 23, 2011

Tabbara in Al Jazeera: Syria: Dissolving illusions of reform

As sporadic protests were sparked in the city of Daraa in Syria last month, many experts and commentators in the region were quick to dismiss a Syrian uprising. After all, Syria's young "reformer" president, Bashar Al-Assad, enjoyed a healthy measure of popularity and an even healthier measure of control.


Yet events on the ground have proven the contrary. In the city of Homs, a reported ten-thousand protesters (some say more) took to the streets and occupied Clock-Tower Square in the centre of town. Reminiscent of the images from Cairo's Tahrir Square, Syrian protesters pitched tents and declared their intention to stay and demonstrate, with some chanting, "a sit in, a sit-in, until the government falls!"


The unparallelled events that took place in Homs in the past few days have demonstrated the serious threat to the Assad regime. More importantly, the large numbers of Syrians who came out to demonstrate in the country's third-largest city have broken a threshold that many doubted could ever be amassed in Syria.


Today, Syrians from Damascus to Aleppo have seen evidence that the demonstrations have indeed reached a critical mass. Tens, if not hundreds, of YouTube videos confirm the overwhelmingly peaceful nature of the protesters in Homs. They also document the terrible moment when the regime's forces opened live fire on defenceless protesters.


Assad's infamous March 30 speech - or speech No. 1, as sarcastically dubbed by activists on Twitter - tested the loyalty of free-thinking Syrians to Assad.


Many who believed that the young president might in fact turn out to be a potential reformer, watched flabbergasted as the president warned the nation that anyone on the streets expressing any kind of dissent - albeit peaceful and moderate - is a traitor, a foreign agent or an Islamist with a puritan agenda to destroy Syria.


With this speech, Bashar metaphorically shot himself in the foot, and consequently lost much of his base. More demonstrators took to the streets in defiance.


Speech No. 2, more unrest


Assad then gives speech No. 2 a few days ago. In a subtle attempt to emphasise his supposed position of power, and his self-perceived popularity, he avoids addressing the Syrian people directly and instead lectures his newly appointed cabinet on national TV.


He ironically directs the cabinet to be more responsive to the demands of Syrian citizens, and asks the cabinet to set a concrete time line for ending 50-year-old emergency laws in the country. Once again, missing the mark by about two weeks, Assad attempts to make "concessions," that are too little too late. This speech, once again, fails to placate the quickly escalating demands of the rapidly maturing revolution.


On Tuesday, the government announced that the emergency law in the country was finally revoked. With the same breath, the interior minister threatened that though the emergency law - which had previously outlawed demonstrations - was no longer in effect, demonstrators who still insisted on protesting would be severely punished.


In a demonstration of the brutality of the regime, just hours before the emergency law was lifted, the peaceful sit-in of thousands of protesters in Homs was violently crushed, with at least two demonstrators killed by security forces.


The regime's insidious mix of carrot-and-stick tactics with violent repression methods has made it resoundingly clear that the regime has little faith in the intelligence and self-determination of the Syrian people.



The government seems to think that hollow concessions, followed by violent threats, will either serve to convince the people of Syria that the regime is in fact reasonable and has its interest at heart, while simultaneously scaring off more determined Syrians with the threat of violent reprisals.


Needless to say, the Syrian people have seen through this schizophrenic modus operandi of the regime, and have come to the conclusion that the notion of real reform being enacted by a government that has shot down - in cold blood - peaceful citizens of the state, is now impossible. The popular credibility which 'Bashar the reformer' once amassed, is quickly dissolving.


The pro-democracy movement is snowballing in numbers and in demands. What was inconceivable a mere month ago is now looking inevitable: Syrians are starting to fathom the possibility of an alternative to Bashar and his regime. The now famous slogan, "the people demand the downfall of the regime," which has been chanted in Homs, will now undoubtedly be echoed across the country.


The people of Syria are coming to the harsh realisation that reform cannot be handed down from an authoritarian regime. That change can only come if the people demand it, by taking to the streets in the spirit of the Tunisians and Egyptians that came before them.


M. Yaser Tabbara is a Syrian American civil rights lawyer and activist. He is currently the president of Project Mobilize, a Chicago based political action organisation.

The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.

Source: Al Jazeera

Bashar's Missed Opportunity

The eyes of the entire world were on Assad to see him learn from the teachable mistakes of those who fell before him and wisely opt to safeguard his power - not by defiance and brutality - but by putting his nation on the track of freedom and modernity while preserving its principled stances on foreign policy in the region.

He did the opposite.

Bashar's much anticipated speech followed two simple themes: First, any dissent is a criminal form of conspiring against his person, Syria and the "resistance." Consequently, anyone who expresses any disagreement is an agent of the West and the American-Israeli imperialist project in the Middle East.

In Syria, the pervasive culture of resistance has coopeted any discourse on the revolution. It has made simple, non-ideological demands for the rights of the Syrian people to be free mutually exclusive with taking a stand against imperialism.

Bashar's second theme was stoking the fear of sectarianism, effectively saying that if I'm not in brutal control civil war will ensue.

Much like the neo-conservative agenda of rallying Americans to justify the Iraq war, Bashar appealed to the fear of instability and the threat of conspiracy against Syria.

The reaction by his pseudo-parliament reinforced his very delusion, or perhaps cynicism. After all, he himself has revealed repeatedly to western media how little faith he has in his own people and their ability and "readiness" for democracy. How can they when he has made sure to reinforce a culture of fear and gullibility in his people? Fear of the unknown, of state security, of potential sectarianism, of instability, of fear itself. Or embarrassing gullibility that has constructed a personality-cult country that worships the oppressor.

Instead, Bashar should have appealed to the sense of hope and unity of Syria. The hope in a generation that can make out of Syria a power to be reckoned with, through political reforms that enforce civil society and true development. To end a personality cult and start reforming the culture in the direction of institutions and civil society. He should have appealed to the sense of unity in Syrians which predated him and his father and was the reason for a successful revolution against the French in the forties when all Syrian factions fought shoulder to shoulder to liberate Syria. He should have affirmed that principled resistance and freedom for Syrians can and should co-exist simultaneously.

Assad missed a golden opportunity to save what's left of his credibility with free thinking Syrians. He in effect expanded the opposition populist base and made it more mainstream by alienating those without an agenda. He polarized and divided Syrians more than ever before.

What started on March 15th had lit a spark of a revolution in Syria that is much bigger than what took place since. It's a revolution of the oppressed against fear and gullibility. It's a revolution of the state of mind of many Syrians.

WBEZ - Reflections on Developments in Syria: Yaser Tabbara on Chicago Public Radio

Anti-government protesters continue to demonstrate across Syria today. So far at least 61 people have been killed. Yaser Tabbara, a Syrian-American lawyer and activist joins us to discuss the ongoing violence there. Also, we'll spend the week taking a look at how the Japanese nuclear crisis may or may not affect the nuclear energy industry in both developed and developing countries. We kick off the series with a look at global trends. Allison Macfarlane, chair of the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, tells us which countries are busy building new nuclear power plants and which ones are moving to shut them down.

>> Listen to the program here

Syria's Revolution has Arrived - March 25

March 25th will be a date to remember in the history of Syria. Tomorrow morning Syrians will wake up knowing that they have yet taken another step towards the impossible.

Thousands in Marjeh, Downtown Damascus:


Sit-in at Douma - Damascus:


Daraa: Statue of Hafiz Al-Assad Destroyed


Bashar’s Poster in Daraa gets torn as protesters shout Freedom Freedom


Hafiz Al-Assad’s Poster in Homs gets torn


Douma – Damascus:


Deir Ezzor: small protest in support of Daraa. “No more Fear”


Dariyyah: protest in support of Daraa. “Syrian People Will Not Be Humiliated.”


Idlib: Small but vociferous and straightforward. “Arabs and Kurds United Against The President Of The Country.”


Zabadani: “Syrian People Will Not Be Humiliated”


Zabadani: “We’re Coming Daraa”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAyLUZ4ol6Q

Mazzeh – Damascus: “They Took Everything And Left Us Nothing.”


Mouaddamiyyah – Damascus: “Where Are You Syrians,” “We Sacrifice Our Soul and Blood For You, Daraa” and “Silmiyyeh, Silmiyyeh, Peacefully, Peacefully, We Want Freedom.” One protester explains to crowd: “this means we don’t have weapons.” Three were shot dead later by security.


Marjeh - Downtown Damascus:

Project M featured in CNN: For Muslim politicians, running for office is the American way

By Assia Boundaoui, Special to CNN

March 24, 2011

Chicago (CNN) -- Rola Othman sits at her dining room table littered with papers, poring over school board minutes.

She's anxiously preparing to speak at the Reavis High School District 220 board meeting in Chicago's southwest suburbs, where 11 teachers are about to be laid off.

And she has had enough.

Othman, a mother of two, is pursuing a doctorate in education. She says that when her son's school cut Advanced Placement classes and slashed the budget for academic programming, it was time to act.

"I see my kid's school going in the opposite direction, it's kind of scary. You can only make calls for so long," she said. "You need to effect change by being in the place to make decisions."

For Othman, that means running for the school board in her hometown of Burbank, Illinois. If elected, she would become the only Muslim American school board member in Illinois.

Stepping up for elective office

Othman is one of seven Muslim Americans running in Chicago-area municipal elections April 5. Five of the seven candidates are women, and all are the first Muslims to run for a seat in their respective races.

Across the country, dozens of Muslims have actively engaged in the American political process, running for -- and winning -- elected offices. From a mayor in New Jersey; to state representatives in North Carolina, New Hampshire, Iowa, Maryland and Missouri; to congressmen in Minnesota and Indiana, American politicians from the Muslim faith are increasingly in political positions.

Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minnesota, was elected in 2006 and is one of two Muslim Americans in Congress. (The other is Indiana's Andre Carson, a Democrat elected in 2008.) Ellison broke down in tears this month during hearings investigating the possible radicalization of Muslims in America, sponsored by Republican Rep. Peter King of New York.

"We've seen the consequences of anti-Muslim hate," Ellison explained as he wept at the hearings. "The best defense against extreme ideologies is social inclusion and civic engagement."

...

Link to full article here

Massacre in Daraa

The following videos were taken earlier today. They expose the massacre of defenseless civilians in the city of Daraa, Syria, by the security forces (Warning, very graphic). The footage is of helpless men trying to dodge bullets while attempting to attend to the scattered bodies of their brethren who have been just shot and are still bleeding. Thus far, the estimates are 60-150 civilians killed in the city over the past 48 hours.







This video is of plain-clothed security elements apprehending people randomly off the street. These images are the manifest terror that Syrians have been subjected to for decades.



Personal Reflections:

These images are shockingly unfamiliar to my generation of Syrians, as we were too young to remember the Hama massacre. Yet, these images hit home in ways that moved me to the core. This real footage of a war-like situation that was soundtrack-ed by Syrian accented cries of fear and helplessness invoked a terrifying familiarity. I could not help but imagine my family and those that I grew up with being subjected to such horror.

This cannot stand.

This will not stand.

Silent Syrians, what will it take to move you to speak up?

Yaser Tabbara on Chicago Public Radio Discussing the Protests in Syria

From Worldview's webpage:

When small protests began in Damascus, Syria in February, many observers believed Syria was unlikely to see the kind of revolutions that Egypt or Tunisia experienced. But now the movement appears to have picked up steam. Demonstrators demand greater freedom, an end to corruption, free elections and the repeal of emergency law, in place since 1963. Last week, security forces opened fire on a peaceful rally in the city of Deraa. At least five were killed. That spurred further protests in the region. We’ll get an update from Yaser Tabarra, a Syrian American lawyer and activist. Yaser had a recent opinion piece published on the Al Jazeera English website

>> Listen to the program here

Yaser Tabbara in Aljazeera: Syria's coming revolution?

The revolution that was sparked in Tunisia has given birth to a new pan Arab-movement, a "neo-Arabism", which privileges freedom and democratic participation of the people over ideology, sectarianism and the interest of dictators.

As we witness a rebirth of a revolutionary neo-Arabism that has infected millions from Morocco to Bahrain, we cannot ignore the birth-place of the original pan Arab movement of the past century – Syria.

Much has been written about Syria and why it cannot be next in line of the modern day Grand Arab Revolution. Very few have asked the question: "Why not?"

On March 15, the Syrian Day of Rage, as its Facebook group put it, hundreds were reported to have taken to the streets of Damascus, the capital.

On March 17th, "The Friday of Dignity", the momentum picked up. Hundreds of Syrians protested in Homs, Aleppo, Dara'a and the coastal city of Banias. In Dara'a, a southwestern city on the Jordanian border, protests have turned deadly and the regime has sealed off the city in a hurried attempt to quell the spreading unrest.

Challenging the regime

Compared to footage of thousands, and sometimes millions, of protesters on the streets of Tunis, Cairo, Manama, Sana'a and Tripoli, the numbers in Syria might seem low. It should be noted, however, that what has taken place in Syria over the past few days is simply unprecedented. The only mass public expressions that Damascus has seen in the past few decades have been demonstrations co-opted by pro-regime supporters.

For anyone, let alone thousands of Syrians to call out in the open for freedom and dignity is simply unheard of: It is understood by every Syrian to mean a challenge to a once set-in-stone status quo.

A forty year old red line has been crossed and there is no turning back.

Some have made the argument that Syria is immune to unrest because the country has a popular president, who is generally considered to be in-tune with the sentiments of the Arab street on foreign policy and who is a young idealist that has introduced a "reform" agenda. Some others claim that Syria will side-step revolution because the social and economic conditions in the country are more tolerable than those of Tunisia or Egypt.

While these explanations may have some merit, they assume a false frame. Tunisians, Egyptians, and now Libyans, have demonstrated to the Arab world, and Syrians in particular, that people cannot be placated with hand-me-downs per the discretion, or the timeline, of the regime. It is about proactively taking what is rightfully theirs – from holding their government accountable to having a real choice in who governs them in the first place.

Freedom, dignity and democracy cannot be trickled down from dictators, they are the inheritance of the people.

Culture of dissent

The revolutionary rumbles that can be heard in Syria today, indicate that revolution is not only possible, but is inevitable because Syrians have learned from neighboring uprisings that freedom is attained through exercising one's inalienable human right to self-determination and self-dignity.

Like their Arab counterparts, Syrian youth have similar grievances: unemployment, lack of government accountability and rampant corruption that forecast a bleak future. Like other Arab revolutionaries, they are neither dominated by an Islamist ideology nor a foreign agenda. They are Syrians who comprise the rich diversity of Syria – whether Christian or Muslim, Druz or Alawi, Kurd or Assyrian. The recent protests in the country have shown that these young protesters are united in purpose, and peaceful in their means.

Syrians have embarked on an irreversible path of collective political self-awareness. The slogans of March 15th, "God, Freedom and Syria, period!" cannot be unuttered. They have challenged a culture of complacency, fear and silence.

No one will be able to tell with any degree of certainty what will happen in the next few days or weeks in Syria. Will the momentum continue to snowball and bring more Syrians to the streets? Will the regime make an example of Dara'a and show the populace the price one pays for dissent? Or will a critical mass of Syrians decide the time is now for Syria to join its free brethren in Egypt, and Tunisia?

One thing, however, is for certain: If Syria does not see a full-blown uprising soon, a culture of dissent has nonetheless commenced. The fear barrier has been broken irreversibly.

People are finally realising that they are entitled to what is fundamentally theirs, and like their Tunisian and Egyptian sisters and brothers, they will know what do with it. They will organise and come together and they will learn to build a revolution and a more prosperous Syria.

M. Yaser Tabbara is a Syrian American civil rights lawyer and activist. He is currently the president of Project Mobilize, a Chicago based political action organisation.

The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.

Original AlJazeera link: Syria's coming revolution?

MindfulofDreams.com: Yaser Tabbara Eviscerates Rep Peter King’s Star Witness, Zuhdi Jasser

Chicago attorney Yaser Tabbara who sits on the board of CAIR-Chicago debates AIFD chairman Zuhdi Jasser who was the star witness for Representative Peter King's hearings on Muslim radicalization. In a one-one-one with Zuhdi on the Roy Green show on Chorus radio, Yaser debunks the myths set up by Peter King and Zuhdi Jasser that the American Muslim community is itself radicalized or partial to radicalization, and sets clear the reality of the American Muslim community which has gone "above and beyond" in standing up against radicalization and expressing its latent Americanness.

>> Listen to the debate here <<

Original Link at Ahmed Rehab's Blog

Debate on Syria Misses the Larger Picture

Ever since the March 15 demonstrations erupted in several cities in Syria there has been a number of allegations questioning the the merits of these protests with a particular focus on speculating over who is behind them. To dwell on such allegations is to miss the point and beg for context.

Since January, the Arab World has been swept by a pro democracy movement that is hard to miss. Starting with Tunisia, followed by Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen and Libya. Less significant numbers turned out in Morocco, Iraq, Jordan and Palestine. Obviously, each one of these countries has its unique set of geo-political and demographic facts and circumstances but all of their populations share a common theme. They are Arabs who are demanding change in one form or another. Syria is no exception.

Despite their seemingly unique reality, Syrians are not immune to this wave of massive, popular discontent. In Syria today, corruption and nepotism are the standard rather than the exception, and political freedoms are non-existent. As such, the idea of Syrians demanding their rights out in the open should not be considered antagonistic by any stretch, no matter which Syrian is calling for it.

Those who propagate the equation of protesters to traitors are doing the future of Syria a disservice because dissent is needed and healthy and cultivates democracy, transparency and government accountability. In fact, this sort of disingenuous rhetoric, which attacks anyone who expresses discontent with their government as either a non-patriotic foreign agent or an agenda-driven Islamist, was invoked by Bin Ali, Mubarak, Qaddafi and Saleh but quickly debunked by the reality of the revolution.

The question of who and what was behind the initial spark of protests in Syria is now moot. Syrians will ride the wave of the democracy movement and a few thousand here and there will snow-ball into millions if grievances are not seriously and immediately addressed.

Re-launching Damascene Thoughts

Friends, in the wake of the historic events in the Middle East and developments here in the US, I am re-launching my blog Damascene Thoughts where I intend to share my thoughts, musings and analyses on the current events.

In particular I will be focusing on the revolutions in the Arab World as they have been a great source of my inspiration. I am interested in exploring not just the unfolding events, but the larger context in which they are played out, as well as their global ramifications.

Any feedback on the new design is greatly appreciated.

Yaser Tabbara joins Chicago Muslims in Responding to King Hearing

CHICAGO, New York - Congressman Peter King says he doesn't want to "demonize anyone" when the House Homeland Security Committee looks into the radicalization of American Muslims.

The Republican says Thursday's hearing is meant to look at how American Muslims are being convinced by extremists to turn against the United States.

Critics of King say he's lumping all Muslims together with terrorists.

"Everyone is telling me to go ahead with it," King said. "My district, I think, it is a good barometer. Nobody in my district didn't know somebody who was killed on September 11. It is still very personal."

Muslim Americans in Chicago call Thursday's hearings embarrassing; Embarrassing to Muslims and Embarrassing to Americans as a whole.

Members of CAIR, the Council on American Islamic Relations, say the Muslim community has been unfairly targeted and efforts to root out radicalism in America have failed.

The result is America is no better off today than it was yesterday when it comes to representing the intentions and the population of the Muslim people in the United States.

Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison, the first Muslim-American in Congress, testified today and said the hearings could backfire.

"Ascribing evil acts of a few individuals to an entire community is wrong. Its is ineffective and it risks making our country less safe." said Ellison.

Word of the hearings led to pro and against rallies in New York.

Some Muslim-Americans and civil rights groups call the hearings a witch hunt against Islam.

"The proposed hearing virtually casts doubt on an entire community by virtue of its faith," said Naeem Baig, from Islamic Circle of North America.

"Representative King's two allegations that American-Muslims do not cooperate with law enforcement and that 80-85 percent or their leadership are extremists are demonstratively false," said Nihad Awad, from the Council on American Islamic Relations.

Despite the protests, King said the controversial hearings must and will go forward.

"To back down would be a craven surrender to political correctness and an abdication of what I believe to be the main responsibility of this committee-- to protect America from a terrorist attack." said King.

Copyright © 2011, WGN-TV, Chicago

American Muslim Movements: The Civil Rights Model

by Worldview May. 07, 2010

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Yaser Tabbara and Ahmed Rehab are co-founders of the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

CAIR says its mission is to “enhance understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.”

We'll find out what Islamic Reform means to Yaser and Ahmed, and how CAIR draws on lessons learned from the Civil Rights Movement.

Original post: American Muslim Movements: The Civil Rights Model