Analogies Abound
"In between the mandatory sticking of pictures of the president on our school books, political ideology education classes, singing his praises during the morning salute to the flag, and being force-marched chanting for the regime on national holidays, the cult of personality was everywhere."
Aleppo-based activist
The above description of child indoctrination could just as readily have been described by a North Korean relating his or her experiences growing up in that closed society of dictator-worship and paranoia about the outside world that threatens to invade the country and remove its liberties. Irrespective of the fact that in a tyrannical state there are no liberties, they are all in the sole possession of the tyrant and his clique.
"It doesn't matter what [nominal] rank you are in any institution. It's all about the people you know. [The authorities] could arrest judges, MPs, policemen, ministers, anyone they pleased, without a warrant and without notifying anyone. If they died from torture under detention, so be it. Their bodies were sent home and their families were warned to shut up."
Aleppo-based activist
This could very well be a descriptive of the Islamic Republic of Iran where the Ayatollahs demand strict obedience of the public to their decrees, and where individuals are susceptible to arrest, torture and death if they run afoul of the authorities. It could just as likely be out of Afghanistan where corruption is rife and life is cheap, like much of the Arab and Muslim world.
"Many began using their real names, and [so] they have all been to jail at least once. Some are still in jail serving sentences for trumped up charges such as 'weakening the national spirit' and 'attacking the prestige of the state'. Others are jailed for spying or collaborating with foreign states, such as Tal el-Malouhi (18-yr-old woman jailed for five years on 'spying' charges after posting blog comments)."And this described situation of state violations of human rights and impoverishment of freedoms through state exploitation of charging individuals who come to their notice as challenging the right of the government to do as it will, without interference or objection from mere citizens, might have come out of Egypt, Saudi Arabia or Pakistan.
Aleppo-based activist
"I'll even appear to be a staunch pro-regime supporter on occasion. It is all part of playing along with the [old] charade ... whereby people praise [the regime] on the outside, but secretly curse it under their breaths."
Aleppo-based activist
And this fairly well describes the situation of Turkish Kurds living under the rule of Islamist Turkey, agitating for a homeland of their own, as the world's largest ethnic group without their own geography, in a condition of servitude to a nation, a language, a heritage not their own and against which they rage and which, in turn, brutalizes them.
Labels: Egypt, Iran, Islamism, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, Tyranny
posted by Pieface @ Saturday, April 13, 2013
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