Statement of Syrian Christians in Support of the Revolution

[Saydnaya Church, 27 kilometers north of Damascus. Image from dailystar.com.lb] [Saydnaya Church, 27 kilometers north of Damascus. Image from dailystar.com.lb]

Statement of Syrian Christians in Support of the Revolution

By : Jadaliyya Reports

[The following statement was issued in English, French, and Arabic by a group of Syrian Christians on July 10, 2011.]

Statement of Syrian Christians in Support of the Revolution

I. Christianity being a religion of truth, justice, equality and love, Syrian Christians can not but be with their fellow citizens in their peaceful movement toward freedom, justice, and equality.

II. We, as Syrian nationals and an active part of Syrian society, declare our early participation in this blessed revolution which aims to build a civic nation for all its citizens. We have not stopped protesting since, and have taken the mosques and neighborhoods of Damascus and other cities as a base for our action.

III. We strongly condemn the attempts of some regime benefactors and thugs to create a schism between Syrian Christians and their fellow citizens who are sacrificing their lives for a better Syria. We would also like to draw attention to the dangers of such actions as they lead to the break-up of national unity and social cohesion among citizens.

IV. Syrian Christians have inhabited these lands for thousands of years. They have always lived in harmony with their fellow Syrians, and their existence has never depended on the rule of a certain individual or group.
 

 

V. As Jesus said: «My House shall be called a house of prayer for all nations but you have made it a den of thieves» (Mark (11:17)). We strongly condemn what happened at the Church of the Holy Cross in Kassaa in Damascus on June 23 during a mass called for by the bishops of Damascus (on 6/16/2011). The mass was supposed to be a prayer to God to protect Syria and its peace but instead, it turned into a political and divisive assembly where many former MPs from neighboring countries delivered politically inciting speeches, and where people chanted pro-government slogans inside the church and around it thus defiling the Church’s sacredness and spirituality.

Long Live Syria, free of tyranny and injustice to all its citizens.


Damascus: 10-07-2011

 

Communiqué des Syriens libres de la communauté chrétienne à propos de la révolution syrienne

1/ La religion chrétienne étant la religion de la justice, de l’égalité et de l’amour, les Chrétiens de Syrie ne peuvent qu’être une partie prenante, au côté de leurs frères au sein de la patrie dans leur mouvement pacifique pour la liberté, la justice, l’égalité et la lutte contre l’injustice.

2/ Nous tenons à faire savoir que nous participons depuis le premier jour à ce soulèvement pacifique et béni des enfants de la Syrie, en tant que Syriens qui faisons partie intégrante du tissu social syrien, pour la construction d’un état civil et juste pour tous ses citoyens. Nous n’avons cessé à aucun moment de manifester à partir des mosquées et des quartiers de Damas et des autres villes et villages de notre grande patrie.

3/ Nous exprimons notre rejet catégorique et notre condamnation des tentatives de certains opportunistes et éléments agissant pour le compte du régime qui tentent de dresser la rue chrétienne contre ses frères qui luttent et sacrifient leur vie pour une Syrie meilleure pour tous ses citoyens. Nous mettons en garde contre les tentatives dangereuses de saper l’union nationale et la fraternité qui caractérise les relations entre toutes les catégories du peuple syrien.

4/ Les chrétiens de Syrie sont présents sur cette terre depuis des millénaires et vivent en parfaite harmonie et dans la fraternité avec toutes les communautés qui forment la société syrienne. Leur présence sur cette terre chérie n’a jamais à aucun moment été liée à la présence d’un individu ou d’une communauté particulière au pouvoir.

5/ Le Christ n’a-t-il pas dit « ma maison est une maison de prière pour toutes les nations et vous en avez fait une caverne de voleurs » (Mark (11:17)). Partant de ces paroles, nous condamnons fermement les faits qui se sont produits dans l’Eglise de la croix sacrée,dans le quartier de Qassa’ à Damas en date du 23-6-2011 au cours de la messe à laquelle a appelé le « communiqué des prêtres des communautés chrétiennes de Damas » et qui aurait dû être une « messe pour que Dieu protège la Syrie et éloigne tous ce qui altère sa pureté ». La messe a été transformée en une messe politique, communautaire et démagogique par excellence, au cours de laquelle ont été prononcés des discours politiques d’incitation par des anciens députés de pays voisins. La sacralité et la spiritualité de l’église ont été violées à travers des slogans et des acclamations à l’intérieur de l’église.

Vive la Syrie libérée de l’injustice et de la tyrannie qui affectent tous ses enfants.


Damas, le 10/07/2011

 

  بيان السوريين الاحرار من الطائفة المسيحية حول الثورة السورية

اولاً 
انطلاقا من كون الدين المسيحي دين العدالة و الحق و المساواة و المحبة فان المسيحيين في سوريا لا يمكن الا ان يكونوا صفا واحدا مع اخوانهم في الوطن في حركتهم السلمية نحو الحرية و العدالة و المساواة و محاربة الظلم

ثانياً
 نؤكد على مشاركتنا و منذ اليوم الاول كسوريين أولاً وآخراً وكجزء لا يتجزأ من نسيح المجتمع السوري بهذه الانتفاضة السلمية المباركة التي يخوضها ابناء سوريا من اجل بناء دولة مدنية عادلة تتسع لجميع ابنائها. و لم ننقطع يوماً عن التظاهر انطلاقاً من مساجد و احياء دمشق و غيرها من مدن و قرى وطننا العظيم

ثالثاً 
نعبر عن رفضنا الشديد و استنكارنا لما يقوم به بعض المنتفعين و المحسوبين على النظام من زجٍ للشارع المسيحي في مواجهة اخوانه في الوطن الذين يبذلون الغالي و النفيس و يضحون بارواحهم من اجل سوريا افضل للجميع. و ننبه الى خطورة ما تحمله مثل هذه الممارسات من ضرب للوحدة الوطنية و روح التآخي السائدة بين مختلف اطياف الشعب السوري

رابعاً
 ان المسيحيين في سوريا موجودون على هذه الارض منذ آلاف السنين و لطالما كانوا يعيشون بتناغم كامل و تآخي تام مع جميع اطياف المجتمع السوري و لم يكونوا يوما من الايام بحاجة لحماية معينة من فرد او مجموعة ما، و لم يكن يوما من الايام وجودهم على هذه الارض الحبيبة مرتبطا بوجود فرد او مجموعة معينة في سدة الحكم

خامساً
 انطلاقا من قول السيد المسيح: <<أَلَيْسَ مَكْتُوباً: بَيْتِي بَيْتَ صَلَاةٍ يُدْعَى لِجَمِيعِ الْأُمَمِ؟ وَأَنْتُمْ جَعَلْتُمُوهُ مَغَارَةَ لُصُوصٍ>> (مرقص 11 : 17). فاننا نستنكر و بشدة ما جرى في كنيسة الصليب المقدس في منطقة القصاع، دمشق بتاريخ 23/6/2011 خلال القداس الذي دعي اليه في « بيان أساقفة الطوائف المسيحية في دمشق » (الصادر بتاريخ 16/6/2011)  والذي كان من المفروض ان يكون « قداس الصلاة من أجل أن يحفظ الله سورية ويبعد عنها كل ما يعكر صفوها ». حيث تم تحويل القداس الى قداس سياسي فئوي خطابي بامتياز, و القيت خلاله خطب سياسية تحريضية لنواب سابقين من دول مجاورة و استبيحت قدسية الكنيسة و روحانيتها من خلال ترديد الهتافات و الشعارات داخل الكنيسة و في حرمها

عاشت سوريا حرة ابية خالية من الظلم و الاستبداد لجميع ابنائها
دمشق 10/7/2011

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Past is Present: Settler Colonialism Matters!

On 5-6 March 2011, the Palestine Society at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London will hold its seventh annual conference, "Past is Present: Settler Colonialism in Palestine." This year`s conference aims to understand Zionism as a settler colonial project which has, for more than a century, subjected Palestine and Palestinians to a structural and violent form of destruction, dispossession, land appropriation and erasure in the pursuit of a new Jewish Israeli society. By organizing this conference, we hope to reclaim and revive the settler colonial paradigm and to outline its potential to inform and guide political strategy and mobilization.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is often described as unique and exceptional with little resemblance to other historical or ongoing colonial conflicts. Yet, for Zionism, like other settler colonial projects such as the British colonization of Ireland or European settlement of North America, South Africa or Australia, the imperative is to control the land and its resources -- and to displace the original inhabitants. Indeed, as conference keynote speaker Patrick Wolfe, one of the foremost scholars on settler colonialism and professor at La Trobe University in Victoria, Australia, argues, "the logic of this project, a sustained institutional tendency to eliminate the Indigenous population, informs a range of historical practices that might otherwise appear distinct--invasion is a structure not an event."[i]

Therefore, the classification of the Zionist movement as a settler colonial project, and the Israeli state as its manifestation, is not merely intended as a statement on the historical origins of Israel, nor as a rhetorical or polemical device. Rather, the aim is to highlight Zionism`s structural continuities and the ideology which informs Israeli policies and practices in Palestine and toward Palestinians everywhere. Thus, the Nakba -- whether viewed as a spontaneous, violent episode in war, or the implementation of a preconceived master plan -- should be understood as both the precondition for the creation of Israel and the logical outcome of Zionist settlement in Palestine.

Moreover, it is this same logic that sustains the continuation of the Nakba today. As remarked by Benny Morris, “had he [David Ben Gurion] carried out full expulsion--rather than partial--he would have stabilised the State of Israel for generations.”[ii] Yet, plagued by an “instability”--defined by the very existence of the Palestinian nation--Israel continues its daily state practices in its quest to fulfill Zionism’s logic to maximize the amount of land under its control with the minimum number of Palestinians on it. These practices take a painful array of manifestations: aerial and maritime bombardment, massacre and invasion, house demolitions, land theft, identity card confiscation, racist laws and loyalty tests, the wall, the siege on Gaza, cultural appropriation, and the dependence on willing (or unwilling) native collaboration and security arrangements, all with the continued support and backing of imperial power. 

Despite these enduring practices however, the settler colonial paradigm has largely fallen into disuse. As a paradigm, it once served as a primary ideological and political framework for all Palestinian political factions and trends, and informed the intellectual work of committed academics and revolutionary scholars, both Palestinians and Jews.

The conference thus asks where and why the settler colonial paradigm was lost, both in scholarship on Palestine and in politics; how do current analyses and theoretical trends that have arisen in its place address present and historical realities? While acknowledging the creativity of these new interpretations, we must nonetheless ask: when exactly did Palestinian natives find themselves in a "post-colonial" condition? When did the ongoing struggle over land become a "post-conflict" situation? When did Israel become a "post-Zionist" society? And when did the fortification of Palestinian ghettos and reservations become "state-building"?

In outlining settler colonialism as a central paradigm from which to understand Palestine, this conference re-invigorates it as a tool by which to analyze the present situation. In doing so, it contests solutions which accommodate Zionism, and more significantly, builds settler colonialism as a political analysis that can embolden and inform a strategy of active, mutual, and principled Palestinian alignment with the Arab struggle for self-determination, and indigenous struggles in the US, Latin America, Oceania, and elsewhere.

Such an alignment would expand the tools available to Palestinians and their solidarity movement, and reconnect the struggle to its own history of anti-colonial internationalism. At its core, this internationalism asserts that the Palestinian struggle against Zionist settler colonialism can only be won when it is embedded within, and empowered by, the broader Arab movement for emancipation and the indigenous, anti-racist and anti-colonial movement--from Arizona to Auckland.

SOAS Palestine Society invites everyone to join us at what promises to be a significant intervention in Palestine activism and scholarship.

For over 30 years, SOAS Palestine Society has heightened awareness and understanding of the Palestinian people, their rights, culture, and struggle for self-determination, amongst students, faculty, staff, and the broader public. SOAS Palestine society aims to continuously push the frontiers of discourse in an effort to make provocative arguments and to stimulate debate and organizing for justice in Palestine through relevant conferences, and events ranging from the intellectual and political impact of Edward Said`s life and work (2004), international law and the Palestine question (2005), the economy of Palestine and its occupation (2006), the one state (2007), 60 Years of Nakba, 60 Years of Resistance (2009), and most recently, the Left in Palestine (2010).

For more information on the SOAS Palestine Society 7th annual conference, Past is Present: Settler Colonialism in Palestine: www.soaspalsoc.org

SOAS Palestine Society Organizing Collective is a group of committed students that has undertaken to organize annual academic conferences on Palestine since 2003.

 


[i] Patrick Wolfe, Settler Colonialism and the Transformation of Anthropology: The Politics and Poetics of an Ethnographic Event, Cassell, London, p. 163

[ii] Interview with Benny Morris, Survival of the Fittest, Haaretz, 9. January 2004, http://cosmos.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/php/art.php?aid=5412