Oday Tayem: Hijo de Dos Intifadas

Budour Hassan
Traducido por Mariana Morena

El 29 de agosto de 2013, las fuerzas de seguridad sirias arrestaron al activista palestino-sirio Oday Tayem después de asaltar su casa en Jaramana, un suburbio al sudeste de Damasco controlado por el régimen.

En los cinco meses siguientes a su detención en calidad de incomunicado, han fallado los intentos de sus familiares y amigos para conocer la rama de seguridad específica donde se encuentra recluido.Nacido el 12 de mayo 1993 al sur de la capital siria en el campo de refugiados de al-Yarmouk, Oday es el mayor de tres hermanos. Su padre es un refugiado de la aldea limpiada étnicamente de al- Shajar, cerca de Tiberías, y la familia de su madre fue desplazada desde Kafr Kanna, un pueblo cerca de Nazaret, en la Nakba de 1948.

Cuando estalló la Segunda Intifada en Palestina, un grupo de palestinos y sirios establecieron una carpa de protesta en la plaza Arnous en el centro de Damasco para expresar solidaridad con sus hermanos en la Palestina ocupada.

Oday solo tenía siete años en ese momento, pero participó regularmente en las manifestaciones contra la ocupación israelí, memorizando las canciones revolucionarias palestinas, y asistió a las sentadas junto con su madre, que estaba entre los organizadores.

Once años más tarde, Siria tendría su propia Intifada, una Intifada contra un ocupante crecido en su seno. Y Oday, que estaba estudiando ciencias políticas en el Líbano cuando comenzó el levantamiento de Siria por libertad y dignidad, sabía exactamente de qué lado estaba. El joven refugiado, siempre sonriente, que había exigido la libertad para Palestina a la edad de siete años, once años después exigía la libertad tanto para Palestina como para Siria, subrayando que ambas demandas iban de la mano.

Muchos revolucionarios palestinos ahora retirados, junto con la mayor parte de los intelectuales de izquierda, apoyarían sin vergüenza al régimen sirio o demonizarían a la revolución siria, ocultando sus posiciones tras el manto de la neutralidad y la objetividad. En agudo contraste, Oday, al igual que toda una generación de jóvenes en los campamentos palestinos de Siria, renunciaron a la seguridad del silencio, hablaron la verdad al poder y recuperaron la Causa Palestina explotada y apropiada durante tanto tiempo por el régimen sirio y sus apologistas.

Oday decidió dejar sus estudios en Líbano para regresar a Siria poco después del estallido de la revolución. Combinando la disidencia civil y pacífica con diligentes tareas de ayuda, trató de asistir a los civiles y a los desplazados que quedaron atrapados bajo el estado de sitio del régimen en lugares como Yarmuk, trayéndoles alimentos y suministros médicos.

En la actual coyuntura, donde muchos siguen predicando neutralidad e insisten en un discurso exclusivamente humanitario sobre el drama de Yarmuk, es esencial para nosotros aprender más acerca de Oday y de los cientos de palestinos refugiados en Siria que han sido arrestados, asesinados o torturados hasta la muerte en las cárceles del régimen sirio por intentar romper el cerco de Yarmouk. Mientras que para el discurso de neutralidad puede ser conveniente sugerir que “ambas partes” son igualmente culpables de la catástrofe humanitaria en Yarmouk, este argumento apolítico, por el contrario, condona los castigos colectivos y la inanición sistemática, de-contextualiz a el sufrimiento de los civiles sitiados, y pasa por alto el hecho de que miles de sirios, incluyendo a muchos palestinos, han pagado con sus vidas el intento de romper el cerco del campo y de otras zonas sitiadas.

Podríamos preguntarnos: ¿cómo se puede expresar una forma genuina de solidaridad con el pueblo de Yarmouk sin sostener inequívocamente la responsabilidad del régimen que impone el asedio de Yarmouk? ¿Cómo se puede exigir “Salven a Yarmouk” mientras se permanece en silencio frente a los que fueron arrestados, apuntados y torturados por el régimen precisamente porque trataban de salvar a Yarmouk con acciones que no toman la forma de súplicas? ¿Cómo puede ser tan selectiva nuestra indignación moral como para mostrar solidaridad con Yarmouk sin pronunciar una palabra sobre otras áreas sitiadasa en
Siria?

Tomó varias muertes por inanición para que los llamados activistas “pro- palestinos” lanzaran tímidas campañas de solidaridad con Yarmouk, pero incluso cuando finalmente se hicieron, abrazaron un discurso similar al que es propagado constantemente por los sionistas liberales y los organismos humanitarios. Este discurso condena el asedio sin condenar explícitamente al ejército que lo sostiene y utiliza la presencia de fuerzas armadas de la oposición dentro del campamento para justificar el asfixiante asedio por parte del régimen.

Recordar a Yarmouk les tomó a los llamados activistas “pro-palestinos”, más de seis meses de asedio completo por el régimen. Pero, ¿qué haría falta para que lanzaran campañas para pedir la liberación de los presos palestinos dentro de las cárceles sirias, o esto violaría el principio de neutralidad sagrado que ostensiblemente sostienen? En un informe publicado recientemente, el Centro de Estudios Democrático-Rep ublicanos ha documentado la muerte bajo la tortura de 119 palestinos detenidos en cárceles del régimen en Siria desde el inicio de la revolución. 46 más que los palestinos que murieron bajo tortura en las cárceles israelíes de la Ocupación desde 1967. Sin embargo, el horroroso destino de los palestinos presos en las cárceles del régimen sirio no ha garantizado la indignación justificada -mucho menos una campaña activa- por parte de aquellos que alegan defender a Palestina.

Las lágrimas que derrama la madre de Oday al escuchar una de las canciones favoritas de su hijo no son diferentes de las lágrimas derramadas por las madres palestinas por sus hijos encarcelados por Israel. La fortaleza con que la madre de Oday recibió la noticia de la detención de su hijo no es diferente de la fortaleza de las madres cuyos hijos están encarcelados en Israel. Lo que es diferente, sin embargo, es que la madre de Oday no puede contratar un abogado para él, y ni siquiera sabe dónde está encarcelado porque en la Siria de Assad, preguntar por un preso se ha convertido en una cuestión de vida o muerte.

El caso de los palestinos detenidos en Siria debe ser una prioridad para cualquier persona que apoye la Causa Palestina. Oday Tayem, el palestino-sirio cuya identidad fue muy influenciada y moldeada tanto por la Intifada Palestina como por la Intifada Siria, es uno entre miles de palestinos y sirios encarcelados por el régimen sirio. Dejemos que aquellos que se atrevan, discutan con ellos y sólo con ellos, que la lucha por la libertad de los presos palestinos en Israel está separada de la lucha de los presos palestinos en Siria.

Dejemos que aquellos que se atrevan les nieguen a ellos y sólo a ellos, que el sitio de Yarmouk es impuesto por un régimen que ha castigado intencionalment e a activistas pacíficos y a socorristas en Yarmouk, a veces con la muerte. dejemos que aquellos que se atrevan les sugieran a ellos y solo a ellos, que los prisioneros palestinos en Siria se convertirán en meras figuras, figuras cuya libertad importa ahora solo para ser negociada.

Oday Tayem, Son of the Two Intifadas

On 29 August 2013, Syrian security forces arrested Palestinian-Syrian activist Oday Tayem after raiding his house in Jaramana, a regime-controlled suburb southeast of Damascus. In the five months following his incommunicado detention, attempts by Oday’s family members and friends to know the specific security branch where he is being held have failed.

Born on 12 May 1993 south of the Syrian capital in al-Yarmouk Refugee Camp, Oday is the eldest of three brothers. His father is a refugee from the ethnically-cleansed village of al-Shajara, near Tiberias, and his mother’s family was displaced from Kafr Kanna, a town near Nazareth, in the 1948 nakba.

When the Second Palestinian Intifada broke out, a group of Palestinians and Syrians set up a protest tent in Arnous Square in central Damascus to express solidarity with their brethren in occupied Palestine. Oday was as young as seven at the time, but he regularly participated in the demonstrations against the Israeli occupation, memorised Palestinian revolutionary songs, and attended the sit-ins along with his mother who was among the organisers.

Eleven years later, Syria was to have its own intifada, an intifada against a home-grown occupier. And Oday, who was studying political science in Lebanon at the moment when Syria’s uprising for freedom and dignity began, would know exactly which side he was on. The ever-smiling young refugee who demanded freedom for Palestine at the age of seven would, eleven years later, demand freedom for both Palestine and Syria, stressing that both demands go hand-in-hand.

Many now-retired Palestinian revolutionaries, together with the bulk of left-wing intellectuals, would either unashamedly support the Syrian regime or demonise the Syrian revolution, shrouding their positions with the cloak of neutrality and objectivity. In sharp contrast, Oday, like an entire generation of the youth of Syria’s Palestinian camps, relinquished the safety of silence, spoke truth to power, and reclaimed the Palestinian cause exploited and appropriated for so long by the Syrian regime and its apologists.

Oday was to leave his studies in Lebanon and return to Syria shortly after the uprising’s outbreak. Combining peaceful and civil dissent and organising together with diligent relief work, he sought to help civilians and those displaced, who became trapped under the regime’s state of siege in places such as Yarmouk by bringing in food and medical supplies.

In the current situation, where too many continue preaching neutrality and insist on an exclusively humanitarian discourse regarding Yarmouk’s plight, it is essential for us to learn more about Oday and the hundreds of Palestinian refugees in Syria who have been arrested, killed, or tortured to death in Syrian regime jails for attempting to break the siege on Yarmouk. While for the neutrality discourse it may be convenient to suggest that “both sides” are equally culpable for the humanitarian catastrophe in Yarmouk, this apolitical argument is anything but: on the contrary, it condones collective punishment and systematic starvation, de-contextualises the suffering of besieged civilians, and overlooks the fact that thousands in Syria, including many Palestinians, have paid with their lives to break the siege on the Camp and other besieged areas.

We might ask ourselves: how one can express a genuine form of solidarity with the people of Yarmouk without unequivocally holding the regime that imposes the siege on Yarmouk responsible? How can one demand to “save Yarmouk” while remaining silent about those who were arrested, sniped, and tortured by the regime, precisely because they tried to save Yarmouk with actions that do not take the form of begging? How can our moral outrage be so selective as to show solidarity with Yarmouk without uttering a word about other besieged areas in Syria?

It took several deaths by starvation for the so-called “pro-Palestinian” activists to launch timid solidarity campaigns with Yarmouk, but even when they finally did, they embraced a similar discourse to the one consistently propagated by liberal Zionists and humanitarian agencies. This discourse condemns the siege without explicitly condemning the army maintaining it and uses the presence of armed opposition forces inside the camp to justify a suffocating siege by the regime.

It took the so-called pro-Palestinian activists more than six months of complete regime siege to remember Yarmouk. But what would it take for them to launch campaigns demanding the release of Palestinian prisoners inside Syrian jails — or would that violate the sacred neutrality principle they ostensibly uphold?

In a recently-published report, The Democratic Republic Studies Centre documented the death of 119 Palestinian detainees under torture in Syrian regime jails since the start of the Syrian uprising. The number is 46, more than those Palestinians killed under torture in Israeli occupation jails since 1967. Nevertheless, the harrowing fate of Palestinian prisoners in regime jails has warranted no outrage —let alone active campaigning— by those who allege to champion Palestine. The tears that Oday’s mother sheds while listening to one of her son’s favourite songs are no different from the tears shed by Palestinian mothers over their children jailed by Israel. The steadfastness with which Oday’s mother received the news of Oday’s arrest is no different from the steadfastness of mothers whose sons are jailed in Israel. What is different, however, is that Oday’s mother cannot hire a lawyer for him, and does not even know where he is jailed, because, in Assad’s Syria, asking about a prisoner has become one of life’s gambles.

The case of Palestinian prisoners in Syria must be a priority for anyone who supports the Palestinian cause. Oday Tayem, the Palestinian-Syrian whose identity was greatly influenced and shaped by the Palestinian as well as the Syrian intifadas, is one among thousands of Palestinians and Syrians caged behind Syrian regime bars. Let those who dare argue with them and only with them that the freedom struggle of Palestinian prisoners in Israel is separate from the struggle of Palestinian prisoners in Syria. Let those who dare deny to them and only to them that the siege on Yarmouk is imposed by a regime that has purposefully punished peaceful activists and relief workers in Yarmouk, at times by death. Let those who dare throw at them and only at them suggestions that Palestinian prisoners in Syria are to become mere figures; figures whose freedoms are now to be up for mere negotiation.

La morte sotto tortura in Siria: gli orrori ignorati dai pacifisti

Budour Hassan
traduzione di Enrico Bartolomei
Inglese, Arabo

Uno degli aspetti probabilmente più crudeli della guerra del regime siriano contro la popolazione siriana è il successo che ha avuto nel normalizzare la morte e nell’assuefare il mondo ai suoi atroci massacri. Ciò che manca dal bilancio a sei cifre delle vittime sono i volti carbonizzati e le innumerevoli storie dei martiri e delle sofferenze inflitte ai cari che si lasciano alle spalle. Per dirla con un attivista siriano: « Una cosa che non potrò mai perdonare a Bashar al-Assad è l’averci negatola possibilità di soffrire per i nostri amici morti da martiri». In effetti, nel momento in cui l’omicidio di massa si trasforma in un evento spaventosamente frequente che si protrae da due anni e mezzo, il lutto per i caduti è diventato un lusso che la maggior parte dei siriani non può permettersi.

Disumanizzare i siriani

La disumanizzazione dei siriani è stata dolorosamente illustrata nel dibattito che seguì l’attacco con armi chimiche del 21 agosto nella campagna di Damasco. Le vittime sono state trattate come semplici note a piè di pagina dalla comunità internazionale, i media mainstream e il campo contro la guerra. Per i governi occidentali che disegnano una « linea rossa » per l’uso di armi chimiche – e per gli interessi di Israele – il sangue rosso dei bambini siriani massacrati con le armi convenzionali dal regime e dalle sue milizie non è abbastanza scandaloso.Tutto il dibattito, come afferma lo scrittore siriano ed ex prigioniero politico Yassin al-Haj Saleh, è sulle armi chimiche e non sul criminale che le ha usate, sulle persone che hanno ucciso, o sul numero di persone ancora maggiore uccise con armi da fuoco.
Nei media mainstream, il popolo siriano viene privato della sua voce e della sua rappresentanza, e la rivoluzione siriana è descritta invece come una « guerra civile » tra due mali: un dittatore laico contro islamisti carnivori e barbuti.Non si è visto o sentito da nessuna parte l’ostinazione stupefacente e la solidarietà comune che ha mantenuto viva la rivoluzione nonostante tutte le avversità; la lotta coraggiosa contro l’ oppressivo « Stato islamico di Iraq e Siria » che controlla gran parte delle zone « liberate » nel nord della Siria; e le continue iniziative popolari e le proteste contro il regime così come contro gli estremisti islamici.
Nel frattempo, per la maggior parte delle coalizioni contro la guerra : « la guerra è la pace e l’ignoranza è forza ». Sventolano fatti banali e false dicotomie per sostenere che tutti i ribelli sono terroristi e che Assad in questo momento non solo sta effettivamente lottando contro imperialismo, ma anche contro il terrorismo. Che Assad abbia condotto negli ultimi 30 mesi una guerra settaria e a tutto campo contro i civili siriani poco importa. Che il suo regime abbia sistematicamente arrestato gli attivisti pacifici e laici, mentre rilasciava i terroristi appartenenti ad al-Qaeda importa meno. E che migliaia di imprigionati siriani, compresi lavoratori, bambini, manifestanti disarmati e organizzatori di comunità sono stati torturati a morte dalle forze del regime fin dall’inizio della rivolta non importa niente.

Ucciso sotto tortura

Ne consegue pertanto che questi attivisti« contro la guerra » ignoreranno una delle ultime vittime della tortura del regime: Khaled Bakrawi, un organizzatore di comunità siropalestinese di 27 anni, membro fondatore della Jafra Foundation for Relief and Youth Development. Khaled è stato arrestato dalle forze di sicurezza del regime nel gennaio 2013 per il ruolo di primo piano che avuto nell’organizzazione e nella realizzazione di attività umanitarie e di aiuto nel campo profughi di Yarmouk .L’ 11 settembre, il comitato di coordinamento di Yarmouk e la Jafra Foundation hanno comunicato che Khaled era stato ucciso sotto tortura in uno dei diversi rami ignobili dell’intelligence a Damasco.

Khaled è nato e cresciuto nel campo profughi di Yarmouk, nella periferia a sud di Damasco . La sua famiglia è stata sradicata dal villaggio palestinese di Loubieh durante la pulizia etnica portata avanti dalle forze di occupazione israeliane nel corso della Nakba del 1948 (la catastrofe palestinese) .
Il 5 giugno 2011, Khaled ha partecipato alla « marcia del ritorno » verso alture delGolan occupate, assistendo in prima persona al modo in cui il Fronte Popolare di Liberazione della Palestina-Comando Generale di Ahmad Jibril [da nonconfondere con il Fronte Popolare di Liberazione della Palestina di Ahmad Sa’adat!,ndt], una milizia palestinese appoggiata dal regime, ha sfruttato il patriottismo e l’entusiasmo della gioventù di Yarmouk istigandola a marciare verso la Palestina occupata nel tentativo di rafforzare la popolarità di Assad e di distogliere l’attenzione dalla repressione continua della rivoluzione al tempo prevalentemente pacifica . Prevedendo una reazione brutale dell’esercito di occupazione israeliano, Khaled ha cercato di dissuadere i giovani disarmati dall’entrare nella zona del cessate il fuoco occupata da Israele, ma senza alcun risultato.Non gli è rimasto che stare a guardare le truppe del regime siriano sorseggiare del tè e osservare con noncuranza i soldati di occupazione israeliani che scaricavano sui manifestanti palestinesi e siriani una pioggia di proiettili. In quella protesta si contarono decine di morti e di feriti. Khaled fu colpito nella coscia da due proiettili.

L’ingiuria di essere trattati come oggetti

Uno degli amici di Khaled, che lo ha visitato in ospedale dopo il suo ferimento,racconta di averlo visto scoppiare in lacrime quando ha ricevuto dei fiori con un foglio che diceva: « Ci hai fatto inorgoglire, tu sei un eroe ». Per Khaled,il sentimento che considera l’infortunio di una persona come fonte di orgoglio nazionale rappresentava un’ulteriore testimonianza della trasformazione offensiva dei siriani in oggetti. E ‘ proprio questo che illustra il motivo principale dello scoppio della sollevazione: vale a dire riconquistare la dignità individuale e collettiva che, per oltre quattro decenni, è stata calpestata da un regime che considerai siriani solamente come strumenti e come oggetti a buon mercato.

Ucciso dal proiettile sbagliato

Molti di coloro che considerarono Khaled Bakrawi come un eroe dopo il suo ferimento permano dell’occupazione israeliana non hanno pronunciato nemmeno una parola di cordoglio dopo la sua morte sotto tortura nelle carceri del regime. Né l’Organizzazione per la Liberazione della Palestina, né alcun altra fazione politica palestinese ha condannato l’uccisione di uno degli attivisti più in vista, simpatici, e laboriosi di Yarmouk. Né hanno protestato contro l’uccisione sotto tortura di altri tre prigionieri palestinesi negli ultimi cinque giorni.Sembra che per loro un palestinese è degno del titolo di « martire » solo se viene ucciso dall’occupazione sionista . Avere la sfortuna di essere ucciso dal regime di Assad « anti- imperialista » e «pro-resistenza » rende accettabile l’ uccisione, e l’ucciso non meritevole di commiserazione.
Neanche il Fronte Popolare per la Liberazione della Palestina (FPLP) è riuscito a rendere omaggio al profugo e martire palestinese Anas Amara, un ragazzo di 23 anni,studente di legge, residente a Yarmouk, e attivista del FPLP fin dall’età di nove anni. Anas, un comunista rivoluzionario che ha preso le distanze dalla sinistra borghese riformista e ha partecipato alla rivoluzione siriana fin dal suo inizio, è stato ucciso dal regime in un agguato vicino al campo assediato di Yarmouk nel mese di aprile di quest’anno . E ‘ stato ucciso , per così dire, dal « proiettile sbagliato », poiché la sua uccisione non suscita l’indignazione di coloro che pretendono di difendere la causa palestinese .

Silenzio assordante

Il silenzio assordante proveniente dalla leadership palestinese, così come dallaUnited Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) sulla grave condizione dei profughi palestinesi in Siria non sorprende affatto. Yarmouk, il più grande campo profughi palestinese della Siria , è rimasto sotto l’assedio soffocante dell’Esercito Arabo Siriano dal luglio 2013. I 70.000 civili intrappolati a Yarmouk sono stati privati dell’ accesso all’elettricità e al cibo. Per sopravvivere , alcuni sono arrivati a cibarsi dei cani. Nonostante i numerosi appelli dei residenti Yarmouk e degli attivisti siriani per rompere l’assedio al campo, ormai sull’orlo di una catastrofe umanitaria, la leadership palestinese e l’UNRWA non hanno risposto a una di queste suppliche .
Ugualmente ignorati sono gli appelli dei gruppi palestinesi in Siria per la liberazione dei detenuti palestinesi nelle carceri del regime siriano. Anch’essi, come le loro sorelle e fratelli siriani, stanno affrontando un pericolo imminente per la loro vita. Ma come se le punizioni collettive, gli arresti arbitrari, l’assedio severo e i costanti bombardamenti del regime non fossero abbastanza, i palestinesi e i siriani devono combattere su un altro fronte: il 12 settembre gli estremisti islamici hanno rapito Wassim Meqdad, attivista, musicista, e uno dei due soli medici che curavano i feriti nel campo di Yarmouk.

Crimini di guerra

Qualsiasi coalizione o organizzazione che sostiene di lottare per la pace e i diritti umani, ma non condanna chiaramente i crimini di guerra e i crimini control’umanità perpetrati dal regime siriano, non può considerarsi un movimento genuinamente a favore della pace . La parola « pace » , dopo tutto , è stata svuotata del suo vero significato grazie a tutti i guerrafondai che sostengono di promuovere proprio la pace. E mentre questo potrebbe essere un termine da recuperare poiché opporsi alla guerra è una posizione etica e nobile, farlo senza opporsi esplicitamente al regime siriano e all’intervento iraniano – russo , e senza schierarsi al fianco della rivoluzione del popolo siriano per la libertà e la dignità, sarebbe una posizione al tempo stesso moralmente e politicamente fallimentare.
E’cinicamente ironico che i gruppi contro la guerra tacciano sulla tortura mortale di oltre 2.000 prigionieri politici siriani mentre protestano insieme ai sostenitori del regime siriano e gli islamofobi di destra contro un potenziale attacco degli Stati Uniti in Siria. Dato che questi gruppi pacifisti( giustamente ) biasimano a gran voce i governi occidentali per la loro ipocrisia, dovrebbero fermarsi un secondo a riflettere sulla propria ipocrisia nell’aver abbandonato la rivoluzione siriana fin dal primo giorno, molto tempo prima che fosse militarizzata. Inoltre, si raccomanda vivamente che leggano «Note sul nazionalismo » di George Orwell, poiché molti di questi attivisti contro la guerra a parole si adattano alla categoria nazionalista e pacifista che Orwell ha così criticato :

« C’è una minoranza di intellettuali pacifisti il cui reale, benchè non dichiarato, motivo sembra essere l’odio della democrazia occidentale e l’ammirazione per il totalitarismo. La propaganda pacifista di solito si limita a dire che una parte è cattiva come l’altra, ma se si guarda più attentamente agli scritti dei giovani intellettuali pacifisti,si scopre che essi non esprimono in alcun modo disapprovazione imparziale, ma sono diretti quasi interamente contro la Gran Bretagna e gli Stati Uniti. Inoltre, di regola, essi non condannano la violenza in quanto tale, ma solo la violenza usata in difesa dei paesi occidentali» .

Nel caso siriano , questi pacifisti cercano di nascondere la propria posizione con ovvietà sulla pace e la neutralità , e se da una parte concentrano le loro energie nell’opposizione a una potenziale guerra degli Stati Uniti in Siria, dall’altro condonano la guerra reale lanciata dal regime siriano. Anche se gli auto-proclamati« antimperialisti » pacifisti sostengono di essere contro l’intervento in principio, di fatto si oppongono solo all’intervento occidentale in Siria mentre non dicono nulla sull’intervento molto più flagrante e aggressivo dell’Iran e della Russia. Mentre è comprensibile che la priorità venga assegnata all’opposizione nei confronti degli abusi del proprio governo, questo non giustifica che si sostenga un regime genocida, si sottovaluti i suoi crimini, e si volti le spalle alla lotta eroica del popolo siriano. Perché sono le lotte contro il totalitarismo, come è ben noto ad ogni persona « di sinistra » degna di questo nome, che esistono come fronti nascenti nella lotta più generale per un’umanità globale che vive e muore calpestata sotto il loro giogo e i loro oltraggi.

رعب يتجاهله السلاميون: الموت تحت التعذيب في سوريا

بدور حسن
نُشر في موقع المنشور, النسخة الإنكليزية من المقال, نسخة إيطالية (شكراً لإنريكو بارتولومي)

قد يكون أقسى ملامح حرب النظام السوري على السّوريّين نجاحه في تطبيع الموت وإضعاف حساسية العالم تجاه مجازره المروّعة. غائبة عنّا وعن الأعداد الهائلة للقتلى تلك الوجوه المتفحّمة والقصص المطويّة للشهداء، ولما حلّ بالأحبّة الذين رحل عنهم الشهداء. وكما تقول أحدى الناشطات: «الشيء الذي لن أسامح عليه بشار الأسد أنه حرمنا من حقّنا بالحزن على أصدقائنا الشهداء». وبالفعل، فمع تحول القتل الجماعي إلى رعب يتكرر كل مرة، على مدار سنتين ونصف، أصبح البكاء على الشهداء ترفًا حُرم منه معظم السوريين.

نزع إنسانية السوريين

نعرف كم نُزع من إنسانية السوريين بمراقبة الجدل الذي هاج بعد الهجوم الكيماوي يوم 21 آب في غوطة دمشق. لم يكن الضحايا أكثر من هوامش على نصوص المجتمع الدولي والإعلام المسيطر ومعسكر «لا للحرب».

بالنسبة للحكومات الغربية، التي رسمت بالكيماوي –وبمصالح إسرائيل– «خطاً أحمر»، دماء أطفال سوريا الذين قتلهم النظام وشبيحته بمختلف الأسلحة التقليدية ليس مشهداً خطيراً بما يكفي. «كل الحكي عالساطور، مو عالمجرم الحامل الساطور، ولا عالناس اللي قتلهم المجرم بالساطور، ولا عالعدد الأكبر اللي قتلهم بالمسدس والمدفع…»، كما يقول الكاتب والسجين السياسي السابق ياسين الحاج صالح.

وحسب ما يقوله الإعلام ليس لدى السوريين أصوات أو ذوات، وما الثّورة في واقع الأمر إلّا «حرب أهلية» تجري بين الأشرار: دكتاتور علماني × ملتحين إسلاميين من أكلة لحوم البشر. غائب عن السمع والبصر ذلك الصمود المذهل والتضامن الأهليّ الذي أبقى على الثورة حيّةً رغم كل العوارض والقوارض؛ غائبٌ أيضاً ذاك الكفاح الجسور ضد «دولة العراق والشام» القمعية والمسيطرة على أجزاء واسعة من الشمال السوري «المحرر»؛ كذلك لا يرى الإعلام المبادراتِ الشعبية والاحتجاجات المستمرة ضد كل من النظام والمتطرفين الإسلاميين.

أما بالنسبة لمعظم الائتلافات المناهضة للحرب، «الحرب هي السلام، الجهل هو القوة». فهم يسوقون لك من باب الحقائق بضعة ثنائيات مبتذلة وزائفة، ليقنعوك أن كل الثوار إرهابيون، وأن الأسد اليوم –بزعمهم– هو الوحيد في وجه الإمبريالية، بل وأيضاً في وجه الإرهاب. كون الأسد ما زال يشنّ حربًا طائفية شاملة على المدنيين السوريين عادي؛ أنّ نظامه ظل بشكل ممنهج يعتقل الناشطين السلميين والمدنيين، بينما يطلق سراح إرهابييه المرتبطين بالقاعدة، لا يهم كثيراً؛ أن آلاف المعتلقين السوريين لقوا حتفهم تحت تعذيب قوات النظام منذ بداية الثورة، وبينهم عمّال وأطفال ومتظاهرون عزّل وناشطون، لا يعنيهم البتّة.

تعذيب حتى الموت

من الطبيعي بعد ذلك أن تتجاهل حملات «لا للحرب» أحد آخر ضحايا جلادي النظام: خالد بكراوي (27 سنة)، الناشط الاجتماعي الفلسطيني‒السوري والعضو المؤسس في مؤسسة جفرا للإغاثة والتنمية الشبابية. المخابرات السورية ألقت القبض على خالد في 19 كانون الثاني 2013، بسبب دوره القيادي في تنظيم العمل الإغاثي والإنساني في مخيم اليرموك. في 11 أيلول، أعلنت تنسيقية المخيم ومؤسسة جفرا أن خالد استشهد تحت التعذيب في أحد الفروع الأمنية في العاصمة، وللمفارقة فإن اسمه هذا الفرع القاتل هو «فرع فلسطين».

ولد خالد ونشأ في مخيم اليرموك، ضاحية اللاجئين الفلسطينيين جنوب دمشق. نزحت عائلته من قرية لوبية الفلسطينية، المطهّرة عرقياً على يد الاحتلال الإسرائيلي خلال نكبة 1948.

في 5 حزيران 2011، شارك خالد في «مسيرة العودة» نحو الجولان المحتلّ، ليشهد ميليشيات أحمد جبريل التي يدعمها النظام (الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين ‒ القيادة العامة) تستغل وطنية وحماسة شباب اليرموك لتحرّضهم على المسير نحو فلسطين المحتلة، في محاولة لتزويد الأسد بالشرعية وصرف الأنظار عن القمع الذي يمارسه ضد ثورة سلمية عارمة آنذاك. حاول خالد يومها تجنّب ردة فعل شرسة من جيش الاحتلال، وراح يثني الشباب العزّل عن تجاوز خط وقف إطلاق النار، حيث تسيطر «إسرائيل»، لكن بلا جدوى. وقد شاهد بأم عينيه قوات النظام السوري تحتسي الشاي وتنظر بلامبالاة لجنود الاحتلال وهم يُمطرون المتظاهرين السوريين والفلسطينيين بالرصاص. قُتل وجُرح العشرات في ذلك اليوم، وأُصيب خالد برصاصتين في فخذه.

تسليع مهين

أحدى الصديقات التي زارت خالد في المستشفى بعد إصابته تروي كيف أجهش أمامها بالبكاء بعد تلقّيه باقة ورود كُتب عليها «رفعت راسنا يا بطل». بالنسبة لخالد، المشاعر التي تتعامل مع الجريح كمصدر من مصادر الفخر القومي شاهد آخر على التسليع المهين الذي يتعرض له السوريون. وهذا بالضبط ما يوضّح السبب الرّئيس لاندلاع الانتفاضة: ببساطة، استعادة الكرامة الفردية والجماعية التي ما انفكّ النظام يدوسها لأربعين سنة، لم يكن طوالها يعامل السوريين إلا كسلع وأدوات رخيصة.

قُتل بالرصاصة الخطأ

الذين اعتبروا خالد بكراوي بطلاً بعد إصابته بالرصاص الإسرائيلي، لم ينبس معظمهم ببنت شفة، ولو مواساةً، بعد تعذيبه حتى الموت في زنانين النظام. لا منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية ولا أي فصيل سياسي فلسطيني استنكر قتل ناشط كان من أبرز وأكثر ناشطي اليرموك اجتهاداً وجدارةً بالعرفان. لم يحتجوا حتى على قتل ثلاثة معتقلين فلسطينيين آخرين تحت التعذيب خلال خمسة أيام. يبدو أن الفلسطيني الذي يستحق لقب «شهيد» عندهم هو المقتول حصراً على يد الصهاينة. قد يصيبك النحس ويذبحك نظام الأسد، «الممانع» و«المقاوم»، وهذا يجعل القتل مقبولاً والقتيل غير مستحقّ للتعاطف.

لقد سبق أن تخاذلت «الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين» عن أن تقول كلمة تقدير واحدة للشهيد الفلسطيني إبن مخيّم اليرموك أنس عمارة (23 سنة)، اللاجيء وطالب الحقوق والناشط في الجبهة الشعبية منذ عمر التاسعة. أنس، الشيوعي الثائر الذي تخلى عن اليسار الإصلاحي البرجوازي وانخرط في الثورة السورية منذ انطلاقها، استشهد في كمين للنظام قرب مخيم اليرموك المحاصر، في نيسان 2013. لقد قُتل، لنقل بـ«الرصاصة الخطأ»، ما لم يُثر أي غضب في صفوف من يدّعون ويدعون لنصرة القضية الفلسطينية.

صمت مطبق

الصمت المطبق للقيادة الفلسطينية ووكالة الغوث (الأونروا) عن معاناة اللاجئين الفلسطينيين في سوريا ليس مفاجئاً. فمخيم اليرموك، أكبر مخيمات الفلسطينيين في سوريا، لم يزل تحت حصار خانق فَرَضَه «الجيش العربي السوري» منذ تموز 2013، مع سبعين ألفاً بداخله محتجزين وممنوعين من الغذاء والكهرباء، وقد وصل الجوع ببعضهم إلى أكل الكلاب. ورغم كثرة الاستغاثات التي أطلقها القاطنون والناشطون لفك الحصار عن المخيم، المنكوب على شفير كارثة، ما زال الجميع ينتظر استجابة القيادة الفلسطينية والأونروا لتلك الدعوات.

مهمَلة كذلك النداءات التي أطلقتها مجموعات فلسطينية في سوريا لإطلاق سراح المعتقلين الفلسطينيين في سجون النظام السوري، فهؤلاء أيضاً يواجهون مخاطر توشك أن تذهب بحياتهم، تماماً كإخوتهم من سوريين وسوريات.

ثم لكأنّ العقوبات الجماعية، والاعتقالات التعسفية، والحصار المحكم، وقصف النظام، كله لا يكفي! ليجد الفلسطينيون والسوريون أنفسهم يكافحون على جبهة أخرى: ففي 12 أيلول خطف إسلاميون متطرفون ينتمون للرابطة الإسلامية في مخيم اليرموك الدكتور وسيم مقداد، الناشط والموسيقي وأحد طبيبَين لم يتبقّ غيرهما لعلاج الجرحى في المخيم المحاصر.

جرائم حرب

إن أي ائتلاف أو منظمة تزعم النضال من أجل السلام وحقوق الإنسان ثم لا تستنكر بوضوح جرائم الحرب والجرائم ضد الإنسانية التي يرتكبها النظام السوري، ليست حركة سلام حقيقية. أصلاً كلمة «سلام» فُرّغت من معناها الحقيقي بفضل تجار الحروب الذين يدّعون تعزيز السلام بحروبهم. لكنها ما زالت مصطلحاً يمكن العمل لاسترداده، ويبقى من النُبل والأخلاق أن نعارض الحروب، ولكن ذلك، من غير معارضة النظام السوري ومن غير معارضة التدخل المزدوج لروسيا وإيران ومن غير الانحياز إلى ثورة الشعب السوري المنادية بالحرية والكرامة، سيكون موقفاً مفلساً على صعيدَي الأخلاق والسياسة.

مفارقة ساخرة أن جماعة لا للحرب صمتت عن أكثر من 2000 معتقل سوري قتل تحت التعذيب المميت، حين تظاهرت جنباً إلى جنب مع مؤيدي النظام السوري واليمينيّين المعروفين برُهاب الإسلام، رفضاً لضربة أميركية محتملة على سوريا. إن هذه الجماعات السلامية تهاجم نفاق الحكومات الغربية (عن حق)، لكن حبّذا لو تتمهّل لحظة وتفكر في نفاقها هي، هي التي تجاهلت الثورة السورية منذ يومها الأول، قبل أن تتعسكر المقاومة بزمن طويل. كما يوصى هؤلاء السلاميّون بقراءة جورج أوريل وملاحظاته حول الفكر القومي، فعدد من هؤلاء المعادين الكلاميين للحرب يشبهون القوميين السلاميين الذين نقدهم أورويل:

«ثمة أقلية بين المثقفين السلميين الذين يبدو لي دافعهم الحقيقي غير المصرّح به كراهية الديمقراطية الغربية وانجذابهم لنمط الحكم الشمولي. البروباغندا السلامية اعتادت أن تدافع عن نفسها بالقول إن طرفي الحرب متساويا السوء. لكن بتحليل عميق لكتابات سلاميين شباب تلاحظ أنهم لا يعبرون إطلاقاً عن استنكار بريء ومتجرّد، بل ترى كل انتقاداتهم موجهة ضد بريطانيا والولايات المتحدة، وتراهم لا يُدينون العنف كعنف، بل فقط ذاك الصادر عن الدول الغربية».

في الحالة السورية، سعى هؤلاء السلاميون للتستر على موقفهم ببداهات السلام والحياد، ثم بتركيز طاقتهم على معارضة حرب أميركية محتملة على سوريا، مع صفح تامّ عن حرب جارية فعلاً ويشنّها النظام السوري من جهة أخرى. حتى حين يؤكد السلاميون مدّعو «التصدي للإمبريالية» أنهم ضد التدخل بالمطلق، هم يعارضون فقط التدخل الغربي في سوريا، ولا يكادون يقولون شيئاً عن تدخل روسيا وإيران، الأفظع والأشدّ عدواناً بما لا يقاس. مفهوم أن يعارضوا انتهاكات حكوماتهم أولاً، لكن ذلك لا يبرّر دعم نظام يمارس الإبادة الجماعية أو التقليل من جرائمه أو الاستهانة بنضال السوريين البطولي ضده. غنيّ عن القول والتذكير، بالنسبة لأي «يساري» جدير باسمه، أن الثورة نضال ضد الشمولية، وأن هذه النضالات وحدها ما يمكن أن يثمر جبهات أوسع في المعركة من أجل إنسانية عالمية، بدلاً من العيش والموت تحت أحذية الذل.

Death under torture in Syria: the horrors ignored by pacifists

Budour Hassan
Publised in TheRepublicGS.net. Arabic, Italian (thanks to Enrico Barolomei)

Perhaps one of the cruellest aspects of the Syrian regime’s war on the Syrian population is its success in normalising death and desensitising the world to its harrowing massacres. Missing from the six-digit death toll are the charred faces and untold stories of the martyrs, and of the suffering inflicted upon the loved ones they leave behind. As one Syrian activist put it: «One thing I will never forgive Bashar al-Assad for is denying us the chance to grieve over our martyred friends». Indeed, with mass-murder turning into a horrifyingly frequent occurrence two-and-a-half years on, mourning the fallen has become a luxury most Syrians are deprived of.

Dehumanising Syrians

The dehumanisation of Syrians was painfully illustrated by the debate that ensued after the chemical weapons attack on 21 August in the Damascus countryside. The victims were treated as mere footnotes by the international community, the mainstream media, and the anti-war camp. For western governments who draw a «red line» with chemical weapons-use – and Israel’s interests – the red blood of Syrian children slaughtered with conventional weapons by the regime and its militias is not sufficiently outrageous. The whole discourse, as Syrian writer and former political prisoner Yassin al-Haj Saleh puts it, is about chemical weapons, not about the criminal who used chemical weapons, the people murdered by them, or the greater number of people murdered with guns.

For mainstream media, the Syrian people are stripped of their voices and agency and the Syrian revolution is instead a «civil war» between two evils: a secular dictator versus flesh-eating, bearded Islamists. Nowhere to be seen or heard is the astounding defiance and communal solidarity that has kept the revolution alive despite all odds; the brave struggle against the oppressive «Islamic State in Iraq and Syria» that controls large parts of the «liberated» areas in Northern Syria; and the ongoing grassroots initiatives and protests against both the regime as well as the Islamist extremists.

Meanwhile, for most anti-war coalitions: «war is peace and ignorance is strength». They parade as facts hackneyed and false dichotomies to argue that all the rebels are terrorists and Assad is now not only ostensibly fighting imperialism, but terrorism as well. That Assad has been waging a sectarian, all-out war on Syrian civilians for the past thirty months matters little. That his regime has systematically arrested peaceful and secular activists while releasing Al Qaeda-affiliated terrorists matters less. And that thousands of imprisoned Syrian, including workers, children, unarmed demonstrators, and community organisers, have been tortured to death by regime forces since the start of the uprising matters none at all.

Killed under torture

So it follows that these «anti-war» campaigners will ignore one of the regime’s latest torture victims: Khaled Bakrawi, a 27-year-old Palestinian-Syrian community organiser and founding member of the Jafra Foundation for Relief and Youth Development. Khaled was arrested by regime security forces in January 2013 for his leading role in organising and carrying out humanitarian and aid work in Yarmouk Refugee Camp. On 11 September, the Yarmouk coordination committee and Jafra Foundation reported that Khaled was killed under torture in one of the several infamous intelligence branches in Damascus.

Khaled was born and raised in Yarmouk refugee camp in the Southern outskirts of Damascus. His family was displaced from the ethnically-cleansed Palestinian village of Loubieh by Israeli occupation forces during the 1948 Nakba (Palestinian catastrophe).

On 5 June, 2011, Khaled took part in the «return march» to the occupied Golan Heights, witnessing Ahmad Jibril’s PFLP-GC, a regime-backed Palestinian militia, exploit the patriotism and enthusiasm of Yarmouk’s youth by instigating them to march to occupied Palestine in an attempt to bolster Assad’s popularity and divert attention from the ongoing crackdown of the then overwhelmingly peaceful revolution. Anticipating a brutal reaction by the Israeli occupation army, Khaled tried to dissuade the unarmed youth from entering the Israeli-occupied ceasefire zone, but to no avail. He was left witnessing Syrian regime troops sip tea and look on nonchalantly as Israeli occupation soldiers showered Palestinian and Syrian protesters with bullets. In that protest, dozens were killed or injured. Khaled was shot with two bullets in the thigh.

Insulting objectification

One of Khaled’s friends, who visited him in hospital after his injury, recounts seeing him break into tears when he received flowers with a card that read: «You did us proud; you are a hero». For Khaled, the sentiment regarding a person’s injury as source of nationalist pride, was one more testament to the insulting objectification of Syrians. It is precisely this that illustrates the main reason for the uprising’s eruption: namely, regaining the individual and collective dignity that, for over four decades, was trampled on by a regime that can only consider Syrians as cheap items and tools.

Killed by the wrong bullet

Many who regarded Khaled Bakrawi as a hero following his injury by the Israeli occupation uttered not one word of condolence after his death under torture in the regime’s dungeons. Neither the Palestinian Liberation Organisation nor any other Palestinian political faction has condemned the killing of one of Yarmouk’s most prominent, likeable, and hard-working activists. Neither have they protested the killing of three other Palestinian prisoners under torture within five days. It seems that for them, a Palestinian is only worthy of the title «martyr» if s/he is killed by the Zionist occupation. Having the misfortune of being slain by the «anti-imperialist and «pro-resistance» Assad regime renders the killing acceptable, and the killed undeserving of sympathy.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, as well, failed to issue any tribute to martyred Palestinian refugee Anas Amara, a 23-year-old law student, Yarmouk resident, and PFLP activist since the age of nine. Anas, a revolutionary communist who distanced himself from the reformist bourgeois left and participated in the Syrian revolution from its very inception, was killed in a regime ambush near the besieged Yarmouk camp in April this year. He was killed, we can put it, by the «wrong bullet,» for his killing warranted no outrage from those who claim to champion the Palestinian cause.

Deafening silence

The deafening silence coming from the Palestinian leadership as well as the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) about the plight of Palestinian refugees in Syria is not at all surprising. Yarmouk, Syria’s largest Palestinian refugee camp, has been under suffocating siege by the Syrian Arab Army since July 2013. The 70,000 civilians trapped in Yarmouk have been denied access to electricity and food; to stay alive, some have resorted to eating dogs. Despite the numerous appeals by Yarmouk residents and Syrian activists to break the siege on the Camp, now on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe, the Palestinian leadership and UNRWA have yet to answer to any of these pleas.

Also disregarded are the appeals by Palestinian groups in Syria to release Palestinian detainees in Syrian regime jails. They, like their Syrian sisters and brothers, also face imminent danger to their lives. But as if collective punishment, arbitrary arrests, strict siege and constant shelling by the regime were not enough, Palestinians and Syrians have to fight on another front: Islamist extremists kidnapped Wassim Meqdad, activist, musician, and one of only two doctors treating the wounded in Yarmouk Camp, on 12 September.

War crimes

Any coalition or organisation that claims to strive for peace and human rights but does not clearly condemn war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Syrian regime is not a genuinely pro-peace movement. The word «peace», after all, has been deemed void of its true meaning thanks to all the warmongers who claim to promote precisely peace. And while this might be a term we can work to reclaim for opposing war is an ethical and noble position, doing so without explicitly opposing the Syrian regime and Iranian-Russian intervention, and without siding with the Syrian people’s revolution for freedom and dignity, is a position that is at once morally and politically bankrupt.

It is cynically ironic for anti-war groups to remain silent about the deadly torture of over 2,000 Syrian political prisoners as they protest together with Syrian regime supporters and right-wing Islamophobes against a potential US strike on Syria. As these pacifist groups (rightly) blast Western governments for their hypocrisy, they should take a second to think about their own hypocrisy in abandoning the Syrian revolution since day one, long before it was militarised. Also, it is highly recommended they read George Orwell’s «Notes on Nationalism», for many of these vocal anti-war activists fit into the nationalist, pacifist category Orwell so critiqued:

«There is a minority of intellectual pacifist whose real thought unadmitted motive appears to be hatred of western democracy and admiration of totalitarianism. Pacifist propaganda usually boils down to saying that one side is as bad as the other, but if one looks closely at the writings of younger intellectual pacifists, one finds that they do not by any means express impartial disapproval but are directed almost entirely against Britain and the United States. Moreover they do not, as a rule, condemn violence as such, but only violence used in defence of western countries».

In the Syrian case, such pacifists endeavour to veil their position with truisms about peace and neutrality, yet focus their energies on opposing a potential US war on Syria on the one hand, while condoning the actual war launched by the Syrian regime on the other. Even though the self-proclaimed «anti-imperialist» pacifists maintain that they are anti-intervention on principle, they only object to Western intervention in Syria while saying nothing about Iran and Russia’s far more flagrant and aggressive intervention. While it is understandable that opposing their own government’s abuses should be priority, this does not justify supporting a genocidal regime, downplaying its crimes, and turning their backs to the heroic struggle of the Syrian people. For it is such struggles against totalitarianism, as any «leftist» worthy of the name would not need be reminded, that exist as nascent fronts in the larger fight for a global humanity living and dying under the boot and the indignity of them all.