The student movement in Syria becomes more important in the resistance to the brutal dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad. Especially in the last few weeks and months the students have become a very important part of the unarmed protests. Simultaneously students can use the ideas of protests, that they have developed at university and spread them into their native towns and villages, where a lot of them are taking part in the local committees. Currently Students began to coordinate themselves across the country and created the Union of Free Syrian Students (UFSS). The Union appeals students to boycott the exams at the end of the semester to show solidarity with their fellow students, some of which have been detained or killed. The boycott wants to demonstrate that after 12.000 dead people there cannot be any more pretending of normality. In their civil resistance against the dictatorship of Assad they need our support!
The students movement in Syria
A very important part of the protests have been and is going to be the civil resistance. Even if the reporting about Syria puts their focus on pictures of massacres and armed fights, the more effective way of the resistance are strikes, unarmed demonstrations which are taking place every Friday in over 600 different locations. The activism of students keep the resistance going. This unarmed revolt causes a significant amount of damage to the firmness of the Assad regime. The difference to the armed fights is that the demonstrations are taking place all over the country and everybody can join them, without the need of being armed.
Especially during the last few weeks students have brought these demonstrations to a different level. : With their activism at the biggest five public and another fifteen private universities, they have been able to transport their message into the metropolises of Syria, which have been bastions of the regime before. But even on campus the regime takes violent action against all oppositional activities. This is the reason students start to attune their protest countrywide. Until now students’ union has always been a part of the Baath party and in this function also a cornerstone of Assads’ regime. Students currently want to build an independent balance with the desire to establish freedom, human rights and democracy.
The Union of Free Syrian Students (UFSS)
At numerous institutes and faculties students have already formed councils and committees which attune themselves at the level of their university and yet again all over Syria. To this purpose students have build the umbrella organisation Union of Free Syrian Students (UFSS). The delegates of all universities are members of this organisation, trying to coordination campaigns and to invent, develop and spread new ideas. Additional support is given from students who had to leave Syria due to political persecution.
The reason why the UFSS became so important in the unarmed protests is the fact that this union only wants to use civil aid to support the resistance against the regime. Instead of armed force students try to reach their goal by campaigns of civil disobedience, unarmed demonstrations and creative ways of protest. After the collapse of Assads’ dictatorship students want to build up a civil and democratic nation which is not dominated by any religious groups. All campaigns organized by the UFSS have to strictly follow these principles.
Boycott the exams! – Support the collegiate resistance
Activists of the UFSS want to encourage everyone to boycott the exams that are taking Place all over Syria at the end of summer. The goal of this campaign is to show that there is no more normality in this country – not even at universities. Under the pressure of a regime that threaten and control unarmed demonstrations with violence, students could no longer put up with the situation and in March 2011, when the resistance against the dictatorship began, numerous students have been detained, tortured or even killed. Others had to go into hiding or were not able to attend lectures because of their political activism since they had to fear prosecution should they be caught. Therefore this campaign has become a statement of solidarity with all affected students.
The preparations for the boycott are already running but if the campaign wants to be successful students in Syria need our solidarity and support as well. They want to achieve as much public attention abroad as possible. But for their ongoing struggle and braveness to continue with their campaigns those students need our financial support. ” Adopt a Revolution” supports this campaign of the Syrian students. Join us!