From the tweets of the Syrian rebels opposing Bashar al-Assad’s regimen and the amateur-made Youtube videos of convulsing soldiers and poisoned children, to the CNN reporter requesting President Obama to speak directly to the Syrian leader, it’s all out there for the world to see. However, during a series of events to raise awareness and promote critical thinking and engagement regarding the Syrian conflict, Keene State College students were asked to question themselves, “What do we really know about Syria?”
It’s no news that Syria is taking the lead over streaming media. Pictures and sound bites come and go, intense, yet blurry footage overplayed. The crisis has been exposed to the public from different perspectives. However, for award-winning war journalist Roy Gutman, what people know about Syria is rather limited. “We are not informed about what is going on. I don’t even know what the situation is like, and the sources of information we have are not entirely trustworthy,” said Gutman from Istanbul, Turkey, during a Skype conference held in the Lantern Room at KSC September 12, 2013.
AP Photo: A journalist records a Syrian government solider as he aims his weapon, during clashes with Free Syrian Army fighters in Maaloula village, northeast of the capital Damascus, Syria Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2013.
Diverse perspectives on the Syrian conflict reach out to the public through the screen every minute. It seems hard to keep track of what is going on, even for those who follow up constantly. “No matter how many hours you spend watching the news, no matter how much you read online or in the paper, you will not be able to know what is really going on in Syria,” Gutman said.
KSC junior Lauren Powers said, “I never really thought about the fact that we weren’t getting enough information. I would always attribute that just to me not putting in the effort. To see that there is still so much that we don’t know was really interesting, yet concerning”.
The truth behind the news coverage in Syria, Gutman said, is that, “Western reporters are not going to Syria because of the violence and high risk of kidnapping, so what we have is first hand information from the people inside the country.” Gutman himself is currently based outside Syrian borders due to security issues.
Most of the information regarding the conflict in Syria comes from social media. ‘#Syria’ is what people are talking about. As Syrian civilians avoid attacks from both the government and the opposition in a constant struggle to survive, they have become the eyes of world and the only ones capable of getting recorded evidence of the events.
Some links and tweets that now register millions of views come from users related to the rebel forces. The twitter account @RevolutionSyria has more than 100,000 followers and the Facebook group ‘The Syrian Revolution’ has more than 800,000 followers. Both post multimedia and written content on an hourly basis and its managers define themselves as “Syrian activists of rights.”
However, reports by the United Nations indicated recently that the opposition, just like the Syrian government, has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The problem with social media, according to Gutman, is that it has no filters nor can its context can be fact-checked or supported. Therefore, it may not be considered a reliable source.
“It creates a huge problem for the public,” Gutman said. “There is an informational gap and people can’t really know where things are going.” Gutman indicated he believes the U.S. government has “a lot more information on what is happening than what they are telling people.”
Despite the informational gap, Gutman was able to provide the students a closer view of the situation and a handful of first-hand facts on the issue. Roy Gutman has seen the war from inside prior to Syria. In 1993, he covered the war at Bosnia Herzegovina, becoming the first journalist to gather documented evidence of the concentration camps. He won the Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the conflict, one of the most prestigious awards in journalism.
Yet Gutman referred to the situation in Syria as a “very particular case, a story of intense suffering, cruelty and massive destruction.”
Gutman has travelled to Syria more than once. He recalled covering how the Syrian troops bombed bakeries around the nation. “There were at least 100 cases and up 70 civilians were killed on each attack. The means of survival for the people have been destroyed,” Gutman said.
“The Syrian government has broken every rule. Officials are throwing their entire arsenal towards its own people,” Gutman said. The conflict should not be considered a civil war, for the Syrian government is fighting against a very disorganized opposition, according to Gutman.
Since President Barack Obama said in his address that Syria had crossed the ‘red line’ by using chemical weapons during an attack on August 21, the debate over the media has narrowed down to whether the U.S. should take military action in Syria or not, and whether a structured plan to have Syria turn in the weapons could be accomplished.
For Dr. James Waller, professor at KSC and widely-recognized scholar in the field of Holocaust and genocide studies, the debate has taken the wrong direction. Waller said immediate intervention is required, however, military action should be the very last option. “What do we owe each others as citizens when a country is tearing itself apart? We need do something,” he said.
“There is an entire box of tools that can be used to handle the situation before even considering a military intervention,” Waller said.
James Rousmaniere, former editor of the Keene Sentinel and guest speaker at the event, said, “A lot of people support that the U.S. goes into a war without even imagining how that war will end.”
Waller suggested increasing humanitarian assistance and accessibility to improve conditions for civilians in Syria. Also, he said referring Syria to the international criminal court, freezing Assad’s assets, and an arms embargo equality applied to the government and the opposition are options to be considered “before we jump to an intervention that can provoke a conflict that would make things worst.”
KSC student Lauren Powers said she appreciated being involved in a discussion that approached the issue from a different perspective. “It was neat to come here and have something other than only should we take military actions or should we not,” Powers said.
Currently, while updates and news keep changing every minute, from Washington to Moscow and from Genova to Damascus, diplomatic efforts intend to improve the situations. What remains the same is the need for help. “Every organization working in Syria needs aid. They need blankets, they need water, they need shelter and supplies, we can all help providing this,” Dr. Waller said.
For Waller, seeing more than 250 attend the events on campus is a sign that “good stuff is going to come.” “I am absolutely sure that some of the students that were here tonight are going to find a way to make a difference,” Waller concluded.
Indeed, KSC senior Becca Brady stated during the discussion, “As a campus community, as individuals, what can we do to help, to make the situation better for the innocent women and children suffering in Syria?” That, for Dr. Waller, is the right question.
Karina Barriga Albring can be contacted at kbarriga@keene-equinox.com