citizen journalism

ALEPPO, SYRIA, 8 SEPTEMBER 2015: I have several points that I would like to share with you, they might shed a light or help us understand what's really going on. They might be unrelated, contradicted, or has an argumentative nature. I'll share my own ideas, and those of my Syrian friend who moved to Germany 2-3 years ago.

- The hysteric focus on the immigrants to Europe, is to create a public opinion, to support the European governments and armies to interfere in Syria, under humanitarian grounds. It's like scaring their people: "If we don't go to war, Europe will be invaded by Muslims, Arabs, Africans, and Asians."

Why the focus on Syrian refugees?

- Refugees to Europe (and North America and Australia in lesser numbers and portions) have never stopped since the end of WWII. Sinking boats filled with illegal refugees have never stopped in the last decades, and they used to be either totally ignored or partially shown at the end of the news, just to feel a little pity about that tragedy. The whales who committed suicide at the shores would have more cameras though. So what had changed today to focus on the Syrian refugees?

Not all Syrian refugees are Syrian

- A new Syrian refugee who made it up recently to Germany, told my friend over there, that Syrian refugees with him were about 20% of the total refugees on the boats and trains! The rest were from North Africa, Afghanistan, and even from Balkan states (southeastern Europe), yet the mainstream media focus only on Syrian refugees, or worse, call them all as Syrian refugees!... Although I admit that I'm not following the news, [...] but I remember watching some news by coincidence showing refugees reaching different areas in Europe, and I thought that they look like Afghanis or Asians. Then I guessed that they might be Kurds? I didn't give it more attention, till I received that interested note from my friend over there. So what does it mean? Does it mean that many nations are taking advantage of the Syrian crisis, and immigrating to Europe as Syrians? From another source, I heard that some Lebanese are doing so right now, going to Europe as Syrian refugees. Some Syrians families did the same in the 80's, immigrated to Sweden and pretended that they are Lebanese fleeing their civil war....

The game of exaggerated numbers

- Or, European governments do know where these refugees are coming from, but they are turning a blind eye, to make the numbers of the alleged Syrian refugees 10 times more? The game of exaggerated numbers of dead, wounded, and refugees had been played a lot in the last 5 years. When NATO interfered in Libya, they said that "Qaddhafi's army" had already murdered dozens of thousands of Libyans around Benghazi, and they had to interfere to avoid a massacre of hundreds of thousands. After the toppling of the Libyan state, the real numbers came out, that the casualties were around 200-250, half of them were Libyan policemen and pro-government officials. Lies in numbers today about the real number of Syrian refugees to Europe is very possible. Maybe few years from now, the real numbers will shown, as one tenth or less than what they are shown now on the media.

Is the West coordinating ethnic and religious triage in selecting refugees for a reason?

- There is some two year old gossip, that each European state is taking certain type, sect, or ethnic group of Syrians, to divide them forever. I remember that Cyprus was accepting Syrian Orthodox Christians refugees, while other states were accepting Protestants, Catholics,...etc. Syrian Circassians were asking to take refuge in Russia but Russia offered to support them to stay in their lands. Syrian Armenians were immigrating to Armenia. That wasn't the same for Muslim sects. Iran and Hezbollah for example, are supporting the Shi'a community to stay in their land and to defend it. It was so obvious to me when Da'esh attacked the Assyrians and ancient Christians in northern Iraq, and kicked them out of their homes and towns: France invited them to come right away, as if Da'esh and the French government were working together to cleanse the Levant and the Middle East from its original authentic nations to replace them with all the international trash militias they brought from overseas. Each time a Christian village or town attacked in Syria, France or other European state offer them safe haven outside of Syria. That way of scattering the Syrian people around the globe is a very evil plan.

Rather than help us leave, help us to stay in Syria

- There is an argument about what European states had to do: If they helped the poor Syrian (or other) refugees of seniors, women and children, we say over here that they are cleansing our communities and nation in a systematic pattern. However if Europeans didn't do anything for the Syrians, we will say over here that "No one is helping or giving a hand or offering us a visa as refugees in their states." Part of that type of problematic thinking is because of the dominant idea of "conspiracy theories" over here. Long history of fooling the Arabs made them so suspicious about everything, sometimes not in a healthy way.

I think that supporting people to stay in their lands and to defend themselves instead of simply helping them to leave, might be one of the answers of that ongoing argument.

What do you think?