Ana Maria Luca

Pierre Piccinin is a Belgian high-school teacher with a passion for history and political science.  He has travelled around the Arab world to observe the changes being brought about by the Arab Spring. His latest trip in Syria, however, left a deep mark on him. A supporter of the idea that the Syrian regime headed by President Bashar al-Assad was able to implement reforms without violence, he found out for himself exactly how brutal it really is.

In May 2012, after travelling across Syria with the help of his friends from Damascus, Piccinin was arrested and beaten in the town of Tal Kalakh. He was released after a week.  NOW Lebanon talked to Piccinin about how what he witnessed in May changed his perception of the Syrian uprising.

Why did you decide to go to Syria through Lebanon and not Turkey?

Pierre Piccinin: It was my third time in Syria. I was there in July 2011, a few months after the [Arab] Spring had started, to see for myself what was happening. I stayed for 15 days. I had a car and I could travel everywhere with no problem.  I returned in December 2011 and January 2012, invited by the government itself.
 
The third time, in May 2012, I applied for the visa at the Syrian Embassy in Paris, but I applied too late. A friend who works for a humanitarian organization in Lebanon told me that I could get the visa at the border.
 
I told myself that it was also interesting to stay for two or three days in Lebanon to see the Syrian refugees in the North and the clashes in Tripoli between Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen. I spent a day with the gunmen who were shooting at Jabal Mohsen, and I also went to Wadi Khaled to speak to the refugees. Then I went to the Bekaa and crossed into Syria through Masnaa.

What was your plan in Syria?
Piccinin: I wanted to establish a map of the rebellion. I wanted to go to different places where I had information on where the rebel strongholds were, to try to meet the rebels, to be able to figure out their ability to overcome the government.

You were able to go to Homs, Rastan, Edleb and Hama. But you were arrested in Tal Kalakh, close to the Lebanese border. Why did that happen?

Piccinin: I spent a night with the rebels in Homs and I stayed two days with Fadwa Suleiman, [a Syrian actress of Alawite descent who also became known for leading a Sunni-majority protest]. They did not ask me to leave. I had no problem. I joined a group of Russian and Chinese journalists after leaving Homs. I continued with them the program of the government.  Two days later I went to Hama on my own, again with no problem.  At Tal Kalakh the local secret services stopped me. They thought I was working for the French secret services – this is what they interrogated me about. I think it was a mistake and a very stupid thing to do from their part. They actually facilitated my meeting many political prisoners and they allowed me to see tortured prisoners. All the information I got there changed my perspective on the uprising.  I think it was stupid of them. I think there is a formidable disorganization in the Syrian secret services. I know there are at least seven secret services that don’t work together.

How did your perception of what is happening in Syria change after your experience in the detention centers?

Piccinin: I didn’t really change my mind over what is going on in Syria. There is great disinformation all over the country. The Syrian Observatory of Human Rights, the source of information for the Western press, doesn’t always give the right information. We need to identify the fake information. What made me change my mind were the elections. I think the elections this May made a lot of Syrians change their minds about the regime. When I was in Syria in December, I saw a demonstration in favor of Assad. I talked to them. I had a camera, I had interviews, and I published the interviews on my blog. These people really thought that the government was trying to implement reforms and that there was no violence. At the time the rebels were terrorists who didn’t want to cooperate on reforms with the government, some people thought.
 
What changed?

Piccinin: Now, after the elections this May, the Syrians who were supporting the government saw that the opposition was labeled as “terrorist” and couldn’t participate in the elections. Only the traditional opposition that has been working with the regime for a long time was allowed to participate. Therefore, there was no change, and the participation was very low, around 58 percent. The people were completely disillusioned, and many of my contacts in the Alawite and Christian communities don’t support the regime anymore. They hope that the regime falls for a new government to be formed. They prefer a national unity government with new solutions, and many think that the Free Syrian Army is a new chance for the country.

Why is the Free Syrian Army all of sudden being perceived differently by some Syrians?

Piccinin: I think this is the second element that changed in Syria: the FSA itself.  In December, when I was there, the FSA was scary, it was disorganized, undisciplined, there were groups acting wherever they wanted, almost everywhere.  Now the FSA is much more organized, has a clear structure, a hierarchy, officers who don’t let the groups do what they want. There is cooperation with the Syrian National Council; this is evolution.  It's not just that the elections in May have awoken the Syrians – they woke me up too. I could see that the government was not doing reforms in reality but was trying to keep its authority by force – but I also saw an organized FSA, I met with officers in Damascus, which is very new. There are groups of fighters who are waiting for the right moment to act.  I was told by officials that the insurrection was possible inside Damascus, that a battle for the capital was possible, but with foreign help.

Pierre Piccinin blogs at http://www.pierrepiccinin.eu/.
 
The interview was edited for length.