History and Social Media
The attacks, mutilations, imprisonment, torture, mass killing, barrel bombing continue in Syria. The regime of Bashar al-Assad has a fairly free hand, because of support given by Russia, and by Iran. Both supply the regime with funding and weapons, particularly Russia. The Kremlin is loyal to those who are loyal to it. Through Syria it has a deep sea port in the Middle East, and a client for its war munitions.Bashar al-Assad has not yet become dispensable to Moscow. And certainly Iran is extremely anxious to ensure that the Syrian regime manages to survive the current state of regrettable conflict.
Iran, despite its own problems, now adeptly stick-handled into dimming memory by Russian President Vladimir Putin, has magnanimously loaned its Republican Guard al-Quds elite troops to the Syrian regime, and ordered its proxy militia Hezbollah to sacrifice their own stability in Lebanon to aiding President Assad in destroying the absurd aspirations of Sunni Syrian citizens.
And if any international news sources might be interested in having their war correspondents or independent stringers report on the war zones they're out of luck.
But not entirely, if they will settle for getting the news hot off the presses as presented by the media loyal to the Baathist Syrian government; news such as this:
The Syrian army launched a wide campaign in the Syrian town of Yabroud in Qalamoun as it controlled the village of Jarajeer which borders the Lebanese town of Arsal. The Syrian Army is preparing also to recapture the area of Rima farms, inflicting heavy losses upon the militants. The Syrian army continued Thursday its campaign in Qalamoun after it controlled the areas of Rima Farms and Jarajir which borders the Lebanese town of Arsal: Syrian Army The Syrian army also foiled an armed terrorist group’s infiltration attempt from the Lebanese territories into Talkalakh in Homs. A source told SANA that dozens of terrorists attempted to infiltrate from Lebanon through Azer site into Talkalakh, pointing out that an army unit in cooperation with border guard personnel confronted them and killed many of the terrorists. The source added that the army unit destroyed machine guns and ammunition the terrorists attempted to transfer into the Syrian territories in a bid to support other terrorists who are exposing fetal blows in al-Zara town by the army. Moreover, an army unit killed a big number of terrorists in the towns of al-Tah and Arnaba between Hama and Idleb countryside, a military source said. The source added that some of the killed terrorists are from Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Iraq and lebanon . And recent news stated that the SAA and Hizbollah have made great progress there,adding that no death toll for the Hizbollah And An unofficial news from isreal stated that:”Military analyst, ...
Any other news, first-hand reports, videos, are reported from inside the front lines, so to speak, by rebels, by amateur Syrian Sunni news hounds anxious to get out to the outside world the anguishing news of how they are surviving the constant regime bombardments on civilian enclaves. A regime that has tried everything; helicopter gunships, artillery and sharpshooters, chemical weapons, barrel bombs, summary arrests, torture and murder of men, women and children to stamp out the troublesome "terrorists" that have caused it to unleash Armageddon on Syrian citizens.
During the Arab Spring when Egyptians brought down the government of their long-time military-backed benevolent dictator Hosni Mubarak, social media was given great acclaim for its usefulness in aiding the disparate, and mostly young Egyptians who gathered to protest when they began their drive against tyranny, calling for social moderation, freedoms, employment, and hope for the future.
Social media, in fact, has been employed in Syria by those behind the lines being bombed incessantly to get their version of the 'news' out; all that is seen as not fit to print by the Syrian media.
British blogger, Syrian armaments specialist, Elliot Higgins [@Brown_Moses] tweeted "I've been looking into the August 21st Sarin attack and thanks to @Facebook, nearly every Facebook page reporting on the attack is gone / This means that key information about the initial reports of the attack and photographs are gone". Facebook and Twitter, those famously useful social media sites enabling the underdog to post news, have standards after all; anything smacking of atrocities forbidden for show.
"I come across deleted pages all the time in my research, sometimes it seems like 75%+ are gone", stated Mr. Higgins. And YouTube can be included; he has compiled a missing pages list relating to the August 21 gas attacks. If no documentation can be found that they occurred, will history record the event? Deletions are reflective of "policies not suited to the current climate", according to Matthew Ingram on the Gigaom.com site.
Ottawa-based cyber-security consultants SecDev Group has "compiled a list of dozens of pages belonging to opposition citizen-journalism outfits or non-aligned NGOs that have reportedly been shuttered since last fall for posting what Facebook deemed to be graphic imagery or calls to violence". The problem inherent in this situation is that because no normal news media are able to report directly from the Syrian war zones, social media is deleting historical records.
Some of the data appearing on the social media sites certainly do represent material that could be harmful to children's impressionable eyes should they happen to come across them. Horrifying, grotesque in their presentation. In direct reflection of the realities of the Syrian Civil War; realities that become more macabre and bloodthirsty as time goes forward.
The posted materials are not meant for entertainment, but to achieve a record of the atrocities that have been and are being perpetrated on the majority Sunni population of Syria. That there are dreadful acts being perpetrated by those working against the regime is a stated fact, most generally committed by the foreign jihadis that have streamed into the theatre eager to have their share of blood-letting opportunities.
Like it or not the various social media platforms have become virtual depositories of the historical record in places where conventional news media are unable to enter and record history in the making. At the very least this is a matter of huge importance both to the present situation and its consequences and to the future which will be bereft of vital knowledge if the situation continues.
A method whereby such material can be vetted, recognized for what it represents and curated appropriately, placing it in categories not readily approachable by those whose youth might be harmed by viewing it, but set aside for posterity, is obviously called for.
Labels: Atrocities, Communications, Human Rights, News Media, Social Media, Syria
posted by Pieface @ Monday, February 17, 2014
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