Mi patria son cielos azules.                                  

My homeland is made of blue skies.

Mi patria es de árboles y viento.                          

My homeland is made of trees and wind.

Mi patria es un sol que refulge.                            

 My homeland is a sun shining.

Mi patria es un dolor que siento                           

My homeland is a pain that I feel

cuando estoy de ella tan lejos.                              

when I’m so far away from  her.

Mi patria es una cara de mujer                            

My homeland is a woman’s face

rodeada de rostros risueños:                                 

surrounded by smiley faces:

es una madre que por sus hijos muere.                 

is a mother that for her sons would die.

Mi patria es un aroma a especias:                       

My homeland is the scent of spices:

canela, jengibre, café y caramelo.                       

cinnamon, ginger, coffee and caramel.

Mi patria es la perla perfecta.                               

My homeland is the perfect pearl.

Mi patria viaja a lomos de un camello,               

My homeland rides on a camel,

rítmico y ondulante movimiento                         

 rithmic and undulating movement

que te mece y adormece. Vuela,                         

that craddles and makes sleep. Fly,

entre las inconstantes dunas del desierto             

amongst the fickle desert dunes

con las caravanas de la Ruta de la Seda.              

With Silk road’s caravans.

Mi patria es eterna, mi patria es inmutable,      

My homeland is eternal, my homeland is immutable,

mi patria es mi amor, mi alma.                          

My homeland is my love, my soul.

Mi patria es volátil, mi patria es un instante:     

My homeland is volatile, my homeland is an instant:

Donde mi amor esté, esa es mi patria.              

Wherever my love is, that’s my homeland.

ETHNIC CLEANSING OF CHRISTIANS IN SYRIA / LIMPIEZA ÉTNICA DE CRISTIANOS IN SYRIA

What follows is not my article, is a statement from SYRIAN CHRISTIANS FOR DEMOCRACY, but I subscribe every word. Most important thing in Syrian Revolution is unity of different religious gropus against a common enemy more interested in keeping the power at any price that in the wellfare of Syrian people.

Here it is.

Washington 03/22/2012,

Syrian Christians for Democracy is dedicated to reporting on the violence perpetrated by the Assad regime against its people, be they Christian or Muslim. We strive to represent the interests of the Christian community within Syria vis-à-vis the rest of the Syrian population and the international community.

While SCD supports the international press’ efforts to report on and tell the story of the revolution in Syria, it emphasizes the importance of verifying the truthfulness and accuracy of all stories prior to their publication.

In regards to the story published in “Agenzia Fides” on 03/21/2012 about the Christians of Homs who were forced to flee their homes, firsthand accounts have clarified that the perpetrators were members of the Syrian army who overtook the Christian neighborhood near Al-Hamidiye street and commandeered a number of Christian-resident buildings for strategic control over the city. The Christians were indeed forced to flee their homes, but rumors of the violence against them by terrorist groups or otherwise members of the opposition are both unverified and noxious.
 

To further investigate these claims, SCD contacted the “Al-Farooq” brigade of the Free Syrian Army, currently stationed in the outskirts of the city of Homs. The brigade’s spokesperson, Lieutenant Abdel Ruzzak Tlas, was decisive as he indicated on the city map exactly how his men retreated from the “Al-Hamidiye” district weeks before the alleged attacks on the Christians happened. According to Lieutenant Tlas, the “Al-Farooq” brigade left that area when it could no longer defend the remaining civilians from the incoming military onslaught. “The neighborhood has been since a playground for Assad’s troops”, Lieutenant Tlas added. He ended by promising the Christians of Homs that their homes and properties will be returned to their possession once his brigade liberates the city from Assad’s men.

As pertains to the attacks on the Christians in Aleppo, it is with great grievance and regret that SCD looks on the bombing of the Center of Catechesis at the Church of St. Bonaventure. SCD would like to reiterate its support for the Christians of Aleppo and its most profound admiration for their endeavors. SCD also cautions strongly against unfounded rumors and propaganda intended to incriminate the opposition and excuse the Assad regime from any responsibility. There is no evidence or motivation at the time being linking the revolution activists to the horrific crime, and unfounded accusations only serve to divide the opposition and weaken its cause.

The source of this misinformation campaign can be traced back almost exclusively to the controversial figure of Mother Agnes Mary of the Cross, head of the Catholic Media Center in Damascus. Mother Agnes maintains close ties to the Assad and Makhlouf families who use the Catholic Media Center to organize press events and trips to Syria for a handpicked group of European journalists from the “Reseau Voltaire” media group. Several independant media sources in Syria have accused Mother Agnes of feeding her guest reporters distorted facts and fake testimonies for the sole purpose of tarnishing the opposition's image. Her credibility is further put in question by her statements at a press conference organized in November 2011, published on the website of the French newspaper “Le Monde.” Mother Agnes confessed that her information came from Syrian intelligence officers who escorted her and her foreign guest reporters during their travels inside Syria.

Mother Agnes and those helping her are harming the Syrian people by disseminating negative pro-Assad propaganda and tearing at Syria’s social and religious fabrics.  The strength of the revolution has been in the unity of Syria’s religious groups within it, striving towards a common cause. The presence of Jesuit friars in Homs to provide humanitarian assistance to the remaining population in the city is incredibly heroic and brave, and is a true testimony to the unity of the popular movement against the Assad regime and the positive role the Christian clergy is playing. The Jesuits’ efforts in Homs must be met with every type of support possible from the international community.

The Christians in Syria, as well as the rest of the population, are in need of undivided support, backing, and funding. They do not need divisive rumors and the propagation of inaccurate information. SCD is happy to verify the any reports on events or actions pertaining to the Christian opposition in Syria.

 

 

 

Lo que sigue no es un artículo mío (excepto la traducción al español), sino una declaración de SIRIOS CRISTIANOS POR LA DEMOCRACIA, aunque yo suscribo cada palabra. Lo más importante de la revolución siria es la unidad de los diferentes grupos religiosos contra un enemigo común, más interesado en conservar el poder a cualquier precio que en el bienestar de su pueblo.

 

Aquí está.

 

LIMPIEZA ÉTNICA DE CRISTIANOS EN SIRIA: HECHOS Y PROPAGANDA

Washington, 22 de marzo de 2012

Sirios Cristianos por la Democracia (SCD) es una organización dedicada a informar de la violencia perpetrada por  el régimen de Assad contra su pueblo, sean cristianos o musulmanes. Luchamos por representar los intereses de la comunidad cristiana dentro de Siria en relación con el resto de la población Siria y la comunidad internacional.

Mientras el SCD apoya los esfuerzos de la prensa internacional para informar y contar la historia de la revolución en Siria, al mismo tiempo hace hincapié en la necesidad de verificar la verdad y exactitud de todas las historias a priori, antes de su publicación.

En relación con la historia publicada en  la “Agencia Fides” el 21 de marzo de 2012, http://www.fides.org/aree/news/newsdet.php?idnews=31228&lan=eng , sobre los cristianos de Homs que fueron forzados a salir de sus hogares, informes de primera mano han aclarado que los que lo perpetraron fueron soldados del ejército sirio que ocupó el barrio cristiano cerca de la calle Al Hamidiye y se apropiaron por la fuerza de varios edificios de residentes cristianos, para tener un control estratégico sobre la ciudad. Por supuesto, los cristianos fueron forzados a dejar sus hogares, y los informes sobre violencia ejercida contra ellos por “grupos terroristas” o por  miembros de la oposición no están verificados y son tendenciosos.

Para investigar más a fondo estas quejas,  SCD se puso en contacto con la Brigada “Al Farook” del Ejército Libre Sirio, que se encuentra situada en los alrededores de la ciudad de Homs. El portavoz de la brigada, el teniente Abdel Razzak Tlass, fue decisivo al indicar en el mapa de la ciudad exactamente cómo se retiraron sus hombres del distrito de Al Hamidiye semanas antes de que ocurrieran los presuntos ataques contra los cristianos. De acuerdo con el teniente Tlass, la brigada se retiró de la zona cuando ya no podía defender a los civiles que quedaban del inminente asalto militar. “El vecindario ha sido desde entonces terreno de juego de las tropas de Assad”, añadió el teniente Tlass. Terminó con la promesa a los cristianos de Homs de que recuperarán sus hogares y propiedades una vez que su brigada libere la ciudad de los hombres de Assad.

En lo concerniente a los ataques contra los cristianos de Alepo, el SCD contempla agraviado y pesaroso el atentado con bomba contra el centro de Catequesis en la iglesia de San Buenaventura. El SCD  quiere reiterar su apoyo a los cristianos de Alepo y su más profunda admiración por sus  esfuerzos. El SCD también advierte fuertemente contra los rumores infundados y la propaganda que intenta incriminar a la oposición y excusar al régimen de cualquier responsabilidad. NO hay ninguna evidencia o motivación hasta este momento que relacione a los activistas de la revolución con este horrible crimen, y las acusaciones infundadas sólo sirven para dividir a la oposición y debilitar su causa.

El origen de esta campaña de desinformación se puede rastrear hasta casi exclusivamente la controvertida figura de la Madre Agnes Mary de la Cruz, directora del Centro de Medios Católicos de Damasco. La madre Agnes mantiene lazos cercanos con la familia Assad y la familia Makhlouf, quienes usan el Centro de Medios Católicos para organizar conferencias de prensa y viajes a Siria para un selecto grupo de periodistas europeos que trabajan para el grupo periodístico de la  Red Voltaire. Varias fuentes periodísticas independientes de Siria han acusado a la Madre Agnes de proporcionar a sus periodistas invitados hechos distorsionados y falsos testimonios con el único propósito de empañar la imagen de la oposición. Su credibilidad se ha puesto posteriormente en duda por sus afirmaciones en una conferencia de prensa organizada en noviembre de 2011, publicada en la página web del periódico francés “Le Monde”. La Madre Agnes confesó que sus fuentes de información venían de oficiales de la inteligencia siria que la escoltaban a ella y sus reporteros extranjeros durante sus viajes a lo largo de Siria.

La Madre Agnes y aquellos que la apoyan están perjudicando al pueblo sirio al diseminar una negativa propaganda pro-Assad,  y  rasgando el entramado social y religioso de Siria. La fuerza de la revolución residía en la unidad de los grupos religiosos dentro de ella, esforzándose hacia una causa común. La presencia de frailes jesuitas en Homs para proporcionar asistencia humanitaria a la población que allí permanece es de un increíble heroísmo y bravura, y es un verdadero testimonio de la unidad del movimiento popular contra el régimen de Assad, y del rol positivo que están jugando los clérigos cristianos. Los esfuerzos de los jesuitas en Homs tienen que contar con todo tipo de apoyo posible por parte de la comunidad internacional.

Los cristianos en Siria, así como el resto de la población, necesitan de un apoyo sin fisuras, que les respalde y provea de recursos. No necesitan rumores que incitan a la división, ni propagar informaciones sin verificar. El SCD con gusto se encargará de verificar cualquier informe sobre hechos o acciones relacionados con la oposición cristiana en Siria.

Syrian heroes / Héroes de Siria

One of the best things that violence brings usually  is the heroic response of some common people. Nowadays, Syria is living dark days of unsuspected cruelty, but at the same time are emerging the stories of some people that never wished to be heroes, but they became a model for all of us because of their bravery.

Every day in Syria, and specially in some regions and cities, is a frantic fight against death. One could imagine that it would put down people’s instincts like those of the beasts. On the contrary, the best human qualities, like solidarity, courage, brotherhood, piety… are twinkling like stars in a dark firmament.

To give some samples, we can talk about the history of  a young man who risked his life to bring food to some families in Bab Amr, one of the most punished neighbourhoods in the city of Homs. There were snipers in many roofs, shooting against everything that moved. In the last house that he visited, an old lady told him that night was coming, and invited him to pass and stay with them. With a smile, he refused telling that still he had other families to visit to bring them food. When the old lady closed the door, she heard many shots, so she couldn’t open the door again. At dawn, when they could open the door at last, they found him cold laying in his own blood: he never could go to another house to deliver them food. His mother, terribly sad, at the same time is so proud of the noble behaviour of her son.

Or we can talk also about a woman, Alia Mustafa al Tabbaa that is not currently in Syria, but in Spain, and was so shaken for the death of Gyath Mattar, another of those common people with heroic behaviour, that she decided to perform a hunger strike. She spend a whole month, 31 days, without  eating, only surviving with water and sugar, in the street in front of the Syrian embassy in Spain, even sleeping there, in a van that some friend put at her disposal. After a month, when her health was seriously deteriorated, and the medical team that visited her regularly decided that she should go to the hospital, she decided to quit, after attracting a lot of attention about the suffering in Syria, not only by the media, quite reticent in the beginning to talk about the subject, but also collecting signatures of common people that saw her day after day in the same place.

Another kind of heroism, the activists risking their lives to let the world know about Syria.  Syria Pioneer was his nickname, Rami Al Sayed the real name. In the morning, I was looking at his live stream video from Baba Amr, and remember admiring his courage for being in the middle of the shelling. In the afternoon I knew that he was dead: he died while helping some people to cross a very dangerous area, trying to lead them to a safer place.

I can’t end without mentioning doctors risking their lives to attend in the best way possible the enormous number of wounded people. The way they try to help them without medical supplies, without sleeping properly, suffering from the same lack of food, water, electricity, feeling the cold in their bones, but still doing their best to save some lives, can’t have another adjective but “heroic”. Some of these doctors were assassinated by the regime killers. They even didn’t doubt to shoot at Red Cross or Hilal al Ahmar ambulances.

These are only a few samples.  There is really a change of attitude in these people. We are used to our routinary lives, working to live more or less comfortably, caring more for money than other things like family. They had to forget daily routine to construct a new reality, infinitely much better, purer, showing us the joy of human generosity.


Una de las mejores cosas que conlleva la violencia usualmente es la respuesta heroica de alguna gente corriente.

SYRIAN COMMANDO EXPOSED / SYRIAN COMMANDO AL DESCUBIERTO

Here is the link of the article by Syrian Commando (a very active Bashar's electronic thug, one of the alias that he uses, but not the only).

http://syriancommando.wordpress.com/2011/10/18/where-organ-traffickers-and-criminal-doctors-become-heroes-enter-the-washington-post/?tw_p=twt

This person (hope is a man and not a woman like me), makes a lot of horrible accusations against "activists", like they belong to a net of organ traffickers. He analyzes only the title, beginning with "exposing" activists.

Activists, for him, are terrorists living abroad, exiles. Well, I have strong suspicions that he himself is not currently in Syria, for instance. And through his words, always full of violence, aggresivity and insults, if there is a terrorist, would be him. Besides, there is a HUGE amount of Syrians living abroad, many of them with universitary degrees, who had to get out from Syria as it was impossible for them to have a decent life with the journals that they were paid. An example: a friend of mine is an architect, recently finished studies. Best he could get was a job of almost 12 hours/day for 10.000 syrian pound. This is about 150 euro per month. How could he and his wife live with this amount?. No way, and he found a job outside Syria, so he left this summer.

In another article, Syrian Commando considers Syrians abroad as exiles that have no rights over Syria, whatever they do, wouldn't be considered Syrians. Only Syrians in Syria are truly Syrians... So when you leave Syria to avoid hunger, you loose your citizen rights... Very fair, Syrian Commando, very fair.

Then, we should look at the word "activists". ¿This is good or bad? ¿Who is an activist? Well, if someone dedicates great part of his/her time, efforts, money, and put heart on what's he/she doing for Syria, then I am an activist. Not a terrorist, I am afraid. I am against all kind of violence, I ever was, specially against violence made by the powerful people against defenceless children, women and men.
I never participated in any zionist-imperialist conspiration against Syria. I love Syria too much for that. I love Syria as much as I hate the people that are effectively destructing the country and killing their citizens. And as I saw in these hard moments, there are MANY people more like me in the whole world, even inside Syria. Those are real activists.

¿Spreading rumours? No, there are not rumours at all. Many prestigious human rights organizations have a solid case against Syrian government and its brutality. Anybody with eyes can see the videos in YouTube, too many and too horrible to be nothing but the truth. There are innumerable testimonies well preserved for the future, any international court would admit them as solid and well documented. But of course, you, Syrian Commando, can deny it. OK, you can insult, and lie, and do whatever you want... the TRUTH is there.

Syrian regime, Syrian Government... as you like, it won't be for long...

Now, we deal with an atrocious accusation. So now the doctors risking their lives (and loosing it in some cases) to help and heal the wounded, are really part of a ghoulish plan to steal organs and trafficking with them. And what's more, they are foreign doctors, no Syrians would be involved in such a thing. Will give you only a few names, but there were more: Dr. Ali Ghassab al Mahamid died in Deraa when security forces killed him and driver of Red Hilal Ambulance, when going to a mosque where they had some injured people, as they were unable to take them to hospitals, under security forces vigillance. Look at his face: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRNpwn-QWd0 . Look also at Dr. Ibrahim Othman, killed when he tried to escape to Turkey, after being exposed in his net for treating the wounded in Damascus. In the video you can see his Syrian ID, if you have any doubt: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2L1kx8jv2n0 . And, of course, can't let out Dr. Sakher Hallak, the first martyr of Aleppo, killed while in detention by the Syrian secret police, and savagely tortured and mutilated, a case well documented for all human rights organizations: http://www.shrc.org/data/aspx/d10/4510.aspx . These are the doctors that were risking their lives. No foreign dark-intentioned evilish doctors.

By the way, I miss in your article any reference to women and children... They are also diying in Syria, nobody can deny it. And some cases are so blatantly due to Syrian Government intervention, like the houses that fell down after being shelled by tanks, killing the families inside, last example in Karm Zeytoun: http://www.shrc.org/data/aspx/d10/4510.aspx . There are some terrifying videos, CAN'T put the links here, look for yourselves, it's too much for me. Of course, Syrian Commando would find an explanation: fake videos, those children are only pretending to be dead with a lot of make up, or maybe even they are not children, maybe dolls in some studio in Qatar... or maybe in the end they were, after all, terrorist's sons, so better kill them now before they grow up to become terrorists also.

Atrocity after atrocity, explained as he wants, making fit the facts with his conspiration theories, and if it doesn't fit, simply leave it aside. This is a sample of Syrian Commando's articles. Don't recommend you to read the others, or you're going to puke with horror.