Regards, Roy

We cannot talk, we cannot walk close to a mukhabarat post, we cannot mention their bloody name, we lived in fear from the 70s till his death. The only taboo was Assad, his brother and his hired gangs, including the despicable, most hated Khaddam. No, I do not believe we are sectarian, we are all oppressed. Sunni, Shiite, Alawits Ismaiilis, Kurds, Palestinians, Armenians…..

“Public discussion of sect and sectarianism was taboo.” Pardon me, Qunfuz! I’d never heard anyone having a serious discussion, or an intellectual discussion, before the advent of satellite TV, we were forced to see his face 24/7, in schools, government buildings, offices, shops….you name it, you return home, turn on the TV, here he is again and again and again, forever….with his smirk and weird hair line, I always thought of him as a snail, something creepy…he died, It was a relief and utter fear, the unknown.

During the day, all family members will be out on the streets looking for bread, as early as 5:30 in the morning. No political magazines were allowed into the country.. we were cut off the world. Can you imagine the majority, for 40 years, were cut off the world. Those who cannot venture outside the realm of the tyrant. Knew nothing, saw nothing, had time for nothing. Intellectually we were isolated..

Your article is timely, the problem is those stirring the pot.Brewing, Stewing, For a very long time now.

You are right, we have to be vigilant, reassuring. SNC and individuals. We have to work collectively to burst this false, imaginary crescent! The new wave is to replace all the minorities that were ruling majorities with a different equation. Sunni vs. Shiites. This will effect the gulf region more than anywhere, it will weaken them.

The Gulf is playing with fire. They are no less evil, than Saddam, Qaddafi, Assad, Saleh all the 22 lpuppets, including the PA.

Also, it seems to me that sectarianism mainly arises whenever there is conflict and war. It is so easy for a human being to adopt sectarianism in times of crisis, maybe its just a human weakness, or maybe it just flares up whenever human beings are under immense pressure due to hardships. We just have a tendency to blame our problems and direct our hatred onto another person. e.g. in Europe anti-Islam has been on the rise, in my opinion, mostly due to hardships and fueled by media.

It is the responsibility of the people in Syria to raise such awareness, Im not sure the people regard the SNC as a role model yet, so I doubt they will pay attention to the SNC