Letter to Mass Peace Action and Peace Action NY State
“Remembering Syria’s Children,” New York City vigil sign
Dear Massachusetts Peace Action and Peace Action New York State,
We the undersigned are Syrians and non-Syrians who support the Syrian people and their right to life, freedom and self-determination. We oppose all forms of violence against the Syrian people, including refugee and Muslim bans, military attacks on civilians, the dissemination of false narratives about their just aspirations for freedom, and attacks on their heroes, martyrs and rescue workers.
Syria has suffered under two generations of dictatorship, passed down from father to son; attacks on freedom of speech and assembly; imprisonment and torture for political beliefs; and a crisis of displaced populations who are unwanted and abused where they seek refuge. This is the reality of Syrians today, under fifty years of the dictatorship of one family that is holding the country hostage, first under Hafez Assad and currently under Bashar Al Assad. The current war in Syria has resulted in 13 million refugees and displaced persons, half a million deaths (probably much more but they stopped counting), and tens of thousands of political prisoners, thousands of whom have been tortured and killed in Assad’s dungeons. The overwhelming majority of these outrages are the work of the regime.