We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled: Voices from Syria

by Wendy Pearlman

So from day one, the regime was saying that groups of radicals were coming. It was like, “Imagine what will happen to you if one of those terrorists get into power.” Alawites felt that they had no choice but to be 100 percent behind the leadership. And Bouthaina Shaaban, the regime spokesperson, got on TV and said, “Those radicals, they want to make strife between the Shia and blah blah blah.” Are you kidding me? Our children are in prison and we have a shitty government and you’re talking about Shia and Sunnis? I didn’t even know the difference between Shiite and Sunni until this whole thing started, because nobody cared. Don’t get me wrong—Shia and Sunnis have been fighting forever. But nobody was mentioning any of that in Syria at the time. In 2011, the needs, the goals, and the demands had nothing to do with that. The goals were political reform, participation, real representation, and some actual active citizenship in the country.