TIMECODE + VIDEO 00:00:00 Colour bars 00:04:09 black screen 00:05:15 Wissam Tarif (WT) from left. Title: Wissam Tarif, director human rights organisation, Insan. 15:22 Man being arrested 21:07 WT 23:19 Man bundled into white van 29:01 WT 30:12 Mass protest 33:16 Mass protest 36:19 Mass protest 39:01 Man on shoulder protest 41:07 Youth rips down Bashar poster 43:16 Man kicks poster Hafez 46:10 Youth hit Bashar poster
| AUDIO Beep Wissam Tarif (WT): “Activists in Syria doing their daily job is like Russian roulette. You are being followed by security forces. they can’t sleep in the same bed twice, Activists who are on the ground risk their lives, their freedom, their family’s safety every single second.
Voice Over (VO): On March 15, 2011 the unthinkable happened: The Syrian people rose up. It was an unprecedented challenge to the Assad family’s 41-year dictatorship. And it was led by young people.
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50:04 Diaa Dugmuch (DD) Title: Diaa al-Dugmuch, Activist 56:19 Ben Ali of Tunisia 58:19 Mubarak 01:00:01 Protestor carried away 02:08 Egyptian riot police 04:01 DD 11:00 Gaddafi 12:11 Saleh 13:24 Banner reading Get Out 16:10 Line of riot police over run 21:20 DD from front 27:05 Protestors on shoulders
35:06 DD from front
47:16 Protestors on shoulders 50:14 DD from front 01:57:06 DD from left 02:00:20 DD from front 06:14 DD hands from left 10:17 DD from front 20:04 Men chanting 22:16 mass protest
| Diaa Dugmuch (DD): It was a fuse that was lit because we had this common ground – the Arabic regimes are all the same. They have the same ruler who considers himself God. The same injustice. The same inheritance of power like in Syria. So those rulers consider themselves owners of the countries. The only thing we needed was this spark to be lit. The spark was in Tunisia and went through the countries to Syria. That spark made the shift that we should go to the streets.
VO: In one of the world’s most tightly controlled police states, Diaa was among the first to raise the call for freedom. DD: I chanted and I was happy, but at the same time I was afraid because the security agents were gathering. And we were only around 100 people. But there were many watching. Were they security? Are they with us against us? But everyone looked like they were watching something beautiful passing by. I felt it coming from my inside like someone holding a guitar or Oud for the first time and has never played them before and suddenly finds himself a musician. It came from the bottom of my heart – so I looked around and I saw that it was coming from the others the same way. VO: Inspired by those early acts of defiance, young people began to organise themselves to lead mass protests against the regime.
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29:13 Omar Maqdad (OM) Title: Omar Maqdad, Activist 33:10 OM from left 38:09 mass protest 42:08 mass protest 45:12 hand with mobile 47:22 OM from left 56:02 OM from front
03:03:23 gunfire on protestors
11:03 carrying wounded protestors 11:12 carrying shot protestor 15:21 man crawls to shelter 19:04 man lying on street 22:00 man runs with dead child 24:14 soldier walking across dead bodies | Omar Maqdad (OM) “So all night we prepared ourselves, encouraged ourselves: ‘Don’t worry, it’s okay, what they can do? They will just arrest us, no problem.
VO: With media banned from reporting in Syria, Omar, like many activists, decided he had to document events, to be the eyes and ears for the world. OM: We have to film them when they arrest us to say that’s for the media. But actually they make it long story short as we say. They kill us. They didn’t arrest us. They let us down. That’s it.
VO: From the first days of the uprising, the regime used brutal violence to try and crush its young opponents.
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Michel (M) Title “Michel”, Activist 37:19 from left 41:03 girls at demo 44:19 Michel at demo
48:18 M from front 52:02 girl demo 55:06 M from left 58:23 M from front
04:04:20 M from left
12:02 M from front
18:12 M from left
| Michel (M): The girls with us tried to protect the boys because we didn’t think they would beat girls.
VO: Michel helped organise street protests in the capital, Damascus.
But the security didn’t have a problem beating girls. So they did. A few of us were arrested because we were trying to protect the girls. I was pulled by my hair for 200 meters by two secret police officers. One pulled me by my hair one by my arm. We got to the car and then they beat me with batons. Six of them were standing around me and the colonel in charge also beat me.
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24:23 Black screen 29:10 32:10 D from front 36:14 men run towards girl screaming 39:10 men run towards screams 41:14 DD from front 45:01 Men scuffling 48:14 DD front 51:16 DD from left 58:00 DD front 05:01:07 DD left 05:02 men scuffling 08:00 DD from left 10:23 DD front
16:02 DD from left front
22:17 DD front 28:03 DD left 33:14 Black | Woman screaming DD: So I heard a girl screaming. She was screaming loudly so I ran towards the screams. I saw she was being beaten. So I stormed in and grabbed the girl and pulled her away. But there were seconds where I looked the guy who was dragging the girl in the eyes. Maybe fractions of a second, I don’t know. But I felt he was totally shocked: What the hell is that guy doing? Is he for real? Of course they started beating me. They tried to get me to the ground but I resisted. But someone hit me on my knee from behind. They stood in a circle and covered my head with my t-shirt. I managed to see a circle of feet around me and they started to kick me. All I could do was this to protect my face. They kept beating me but I didn’t feel any pain. Maybe I had a lot of adrenaline
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34:10 women protestors 38:10 We want freedom for all 40:22 man with olive branch
| VO: While the Arab uprisings provided the spark, the desire to change their country had long been growing in Syria’s young revolutionaries.
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43:03 OM front 48:10 girl demos 51:23 OM front 06:01:13 youth walk in front riot police 04:04 OM front
| OM: I like to write I love to express my feelings on papers. How I feel, how I see my country. And all the time I compare Syria and some European countries. Why, ok we have everything we need to be a modern country but… I see bad things why are these things bad, why can’t we fix it?
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06:01 DD front 11:13 DD from left 13:17 DD front 30:08 DD hands 33:10 DD left
| DD: I thought I was the first so I started a page of Facebook group. But when I searched I found lots of groups already there. I was happy so I started this group and started to talk to other youths. To my surprise I realized they are thinking just like me – they feel the same as I do.
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37:09 M front 45:05 M left 52:12 Black | M: In my opinion I was still thinking that no sensible person would take such a risk. But for me this is it. This is the decision we made: To be or not to be.
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53:16 WT front 07:08:24 men holding mobiles 14:01 men holding mobiles 18:11 man running with mobile 21:24 WT front 27:15 man running with mobile | WT: People being faced by the army by security forces, by weapons, how do they resist? It’s courage, it’s hope and aim for a better tomorrow. And they developed techniques. People now converted their mobiles into cameras they are taking videos, footages uploading it to the internet and they are becoming better.
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29:21 OM from left 36:24 man filming wounded 42:07 OM front
| OM: It was like a war but for us we use our camera and for them they use their guns. We have to film everything for media because we are alone inside. No one to support us no one to film exactly what is happening
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44:19 army vehicles driving by 51:11 soldiers on street
| VO: Aware that the internet was the main source of communication for Syria’s youth activists, the regime laid siege to several major protest cities, cutting electricity in an attempt to take the revolution offline.
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59:11 OM front 08:06:02 OM left 16:14 OM front 25:23 OM left 35:22 OM front | OM: We got a problem with the batteries because our batteries are running out. And no electric to charge you equipments. So for phone calls we create a new way its actually simple way to recharge your phone. We used to, a glass of water with two batteries Duracell or something else they exist everywhere. We used to keep the batteries in the water for one hour or 30 minutes then you put the USB adapters inside the water and start charge. That’s how we charge the mobiles.
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42:05 man on ground gun to head | VO: Though adept at getting around the regime’s attempts to silence them, activists know that if they are caught the consequences are grave.
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49:19 OM front 56:23 soldiers stepping on prisoners 59:23 OM front
| OM: And who’s Omar Maqdad? They ask. I kept silent. He took the gun out and he put it to my head: Don’t move.
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09:01:10 soldiers stepping on prisoners | VO: Omar’s love of writing had got him in trouble with the regime. He was arrested and sent to the infamous desert prison in Palmyra for 22 months.
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11:22 OM from left 16:11 OM front 22:18 OM left 28:11 soldiers kicking prisoner 33:17 OM front 35:02 kicking prisoner 39:09 OM front 41:04 jumping on prisoner
| OM: I don’t know how to explain this for you exactly. But. It’s terrible. It doesn’t just make you afraid. It’s terrible. Because you are alone you don’t have, you can’t defend yourself. Wild people control you. And it’s too easy they can kill you. I would ask myself all the time I have to be strong a little bit. I don’t have to show them that I’m scared. Because if they feel that you are scared they control you.
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09:46:03 WT from right 49:23 WT front 54:03 kid in tyre being slapped 58:23 WT front 10:01:14 police beating on street 08:02 WT from right 13:08 WT front 17:19 WT right 20:06 scared kid in tyre 23:13 CU beaten face 24:22 red marks on back 28:08 WT right 30:10 a guy punched in face 34:19 black screen | WT Torture detention in Syria is systematic. There was a decision made from the first days of the uprising to oppress the movement. Several techniques, several approaches have been used. Pulling nails from fingers, being beaten by a group of security officers or shabiha. Pissing on them, being humiliated. Being silenced and trying to make them feel afraid. Torture… Syrian regime has a long history of torture, 48 years of practice.
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36:10 M front 40:20 protestors taking cover in side street 43:18 Closer protestors taking cover in side street 46:02 M front 49:14 guy with Syrian flag runs out 54:13 M from left 57:11 M front 59:19 topless blood stained protestor 11:08:11 M left | The problem with freedom is that once you start walking towards it you cannot back away and live without it. So I will carry on for sure until we see the Syria we are dreaming of. The feeling I get every time we chant and we are faced with bullets is the feeling that we are starting to gain victory – that we are really doing something That our voices are creating this earthquake.
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12:05 DD front CU
33:23 solider pointing gun 37:09 young protestors running | DD: After being tortured people are more determined than before. Because we have this belief. After all I saw – everytime I see something hideous my beliefs get stronger. That whatever the price is, we need to get rid of this. I mean there’s no way we can continue with this regime. It’s not a regime, it’s a gang.
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39:16 OM front
11:55:24 Black | OM: Our guys there they are working so hard on the ground and I hope soon they will be happy. I am sure about it |