Interviews with Ammar Abdulhamid

On February 17th, we had an incident happened in Syria that sort of encapsulates why the Syrian people are rebelling. On that day, a minor traffic accident– a person who is the son of a shop owner in a traditional district in Syria, one of the bazaars called Midhat Pasha– he was driving his car. And apparently he parked in the wrong zone. Or he honked his horn.

So one of the security people, one of the traffic cops, in fact, in the area sort of yelled at him and sort of slapped him. And the person came out of his car and become talking to the security officer and tell him, “Why did you do that? I mean, I´m, you know.” And they exchange some words. And then the security officer began beating him with a baton. And the next thing you know, there was a crowd of 100 and 200 and 1,500 people gathered around the security officer and demanding that he apologizes and the security people ended up dragging the person to the local station. The crowd followed them and they began shouting outside the police station, “The Syrian people will not be humiliated.”

This was the first time something like that was ever said in Syria. But that word, “The Syrian people will not be humiliated,” was really the key to it all. The incident was contained. The Minister of Interior came. He managed to convince the young person to come out and he apologized to him in front of the entire crowd.

And sort of, the incident was contained. But it was a spark. It showed you and it showed the Syrian people that they can actually scare the regime, that they can actually, despite their own fears of the security people, that the security people can be equally terrified when they go– when they see a huge crowd gather. And at the same time, the cries, the spontaneous cries with, “The Syrian people will not be humiliated,” this is what this revolution is all about.

So the next day, 50,000 people came to the street. And the next day, 200,000 people. And, you know, they, the government, central government ended up sending the army units and whatever, and that´s really what started out the entire revolution in Syria. The next thing you know, it wasn´t only one province on one city. It was all over the country.

Ammar Abdulhamid is a Syrian human rights activist who in 2003 founded the Tharwa Foundation, a grassroots organization that enlists local activists and citizen journalists to document conditions in Syria. In response to his activities, the Syrian government subjected Abdulhamid to repeat interrogation and threats. In September 2005, he and his family were forced into exile in the United States. From his home in Maryland, Abdulhamid remains one of the leading bloggers and commentators on events in Syria through the Syrian Revolution Digest.

Follow Ammar Ahbdulhamid on Twitter @Tharwacolamus and on his blog, Syrian Revolution Digest.