By: Kayla Jackson
The wave of Arab unrest than started with the Tunisian revolutions reached Syria on March 15,2011 when civilians of a small town protested against the torture of students who had put up anti-government graffiti. The government quickly responded and demonstrations quickly spread across the country and the world to bring attention to Syria. Recently by November 2012 Syria was into a full-blown civil war. Many people have died and even more have been arrested. In addition, according to the UN approximately 2.5 million Syrians needed aid inside the country.
President Bashar al-Assad, a British-trained doctor who inherited Syria’s harsh dictatorship from his father, Hafez al-Assad, had at first wavered between force and hints of reform. But in April 2011, just days after lifting the country’s decades-old state of emergency, he set off the first of what became a series of withering crackdowns, sending tanks into restive cities as security forces opened fire on demonstrators. As result the United States and other countries looked down upon the President Assad and demanded that the Arab League monitor the country. Tensions have spilled over into bordering nations and fears have increased with evidence that Al Qaeda was behind a rise in suicide bombings in 2012.
It is interesting how the United States always gets involved within other country’s political affairs. Sometimes when our government gets involved it sparks global attention and in this case the attention received can be viewed as ambiguous. The more demonstrations that have occurred in Syria or outside of Syria have lead to more violent acts in response within the country as well as outside. Despite the positive media gained from the demonstrations I don’t think that it is advantageous for the US to be involved in global affairs such as the situation in Syria. We should raise more awareness about the consequences of these demonstrations so that we can help Syria in others forms (i.e. donations, toiletries, etc) until the violent acts calm down. Children are suffering from the decisions of government officials and demonstrators across the world and since they are innocent should they really suffer? My condolences go to the many children who have lost their lives due to the many violent acts. Below is a video/ photo story of the Syria Civil War of 2012:
In class we discussed the evolution of technology and I believe this has contributed to the massive spread of information surround the violence in Syria. Nowadays information spreads so quickly and sometimes the wrong information surrounding global issues are shared as well. Cyber information can really mess up our perceptions of everything and sometimes I don’t know if that is a good thing or bad thing, for the government doesn’t tell us everything, which is always why I am very cautious when approaching massive political wars such as these. What do you think about the violence in Syria or about the above information? Also, how do you feel about America always intervening in global affairs? Do you think technology has altered our perception of what the problems really are and who is at fault?
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