It seems that some people insist on spreading pessimism everywhere and on making this as public as they can. And one of the several security branches in the “Independent City of Homs” proofed leading this way to the point that no one was exempt from its awkward and stupid decisions that contradict with the path in which Syrian is walking nowadays.

No reasons, as usual, were given about why this lecture was banned. After a comprehensive “study” that encompassed my grandfather and his political affiliations and whether he has any kind of “suspicious” relations with anybody, that security service came to a conclusion that a lecture entitled “discriminatory articles against woman in Syrian laws” has to be banned.

Is this title “suspicious”? Maybe “subversives” are trying to circulate the notion that Syrian Law degrades the status of Syrian woman to the point that she can’t get herself married even if she is 200 year old, while a jerk male from her family can “approve” her marriage.

It is clear now that a lecture about Syrian woman issues, which is one of dozens of activities and lectures that SWO participates in nationwide, including those organized by the Students’ Union, Culture Departments and Centers, and other organizations, and all of them documented in SWO’s website (in which everybody is welcomed to attend, including those representative of security service whose mission is to monitor the event and record it), it is clear that it is possible to organize them everywhere, except Homs, as everybody, without exception, has started to express their restlessness of the security services which is still living “the glories” of the past.    

SWO condemns this behavior and considers it an unacceptable interference that takes the side of violence and discrimination-mongers and conflicts with the daily work in Syria that aims at getting rid of the gloomy past.   

We call for the security service, if they really dare, to clarify the reasons behind banning this lecture. 

We clearly say that banning this lecture or dozens others, would not stop us. We will continue our work using the available tools, including holding meetings and lections all around Syria. We assure everybody that Syria is not governed by this security service or that. Syria is for all Syrians. We have the utmost right to state our opinion about the Syrian woman who suffers a lot due to violence and discrimination and we will practice this right as we do always.

By Bassam Al-Kadi, 23/2/2011, Security service in the “Independent City of Homs” banned a lecture about discriminatory laws in Syria!

Sorce in Arabic