Revolt in Syria is not a book about war, says Steven Starr, "It's about how people reacted to the revolution."
When the Syrian uprising began in March 2011, many locals became emboldened, taking to the streets in anti-regime protests. Others used the revolution as an excuse to break the rules.
"When they felt that they were no longer under the thumb of the authorities, who had better things to do such as suppressing the revolution, people reacted in the wrong way," Starr recalled. "After the revolution started, people would simply drive through red lights, ignoring the traffic police. There was a very little sense of social responsibility. People were breaking the law left, right and center."
Starr who had mixed with Syrian from all the religious sects in his four years in the country, says that while class and religious differences became more pronounced with the conflict, the Syrian regime went to great length to promote sectarianism.
"Syria, the country, is much older than the Assad regime itself -- people lived together from different religions with no problem at all," he said. "But an awful lot of Syrian Christians I know fell for the line that it was the regime who was keeping them safe, which alienates them from the revolution."
The chaos, he says, provided a kind of contrast to the ubiquity of the state propaganda machine, which buzzed monotonously and omnipresently.
"People turn on their radios and it's always this message that the regime is strong, that it's winning, that the Syrian people are with the army, and that the 'terrorists' have been defeated in different parts of country," he said. "Then you go to work, and in your car you switch on the radio again, you get the same message. Then you drive to work and along the highway there are pictures of Bashar Assad, saying Syria is strong. You turn on the TV, you pick up a newspaper, it's the same thing. Regime strong, terrorists killed, weapons and guns captured."
According to Starr, the propaganda had done its part in comforting the comfortable. The upper class in Damascus, said Starr, would say that the regime was winning, and that it was only going to be a few more weeks until the government put down the rebels in Aleppo or in Homs.
"Twenty months after the revolution and people are still saying that," Starr said. He says he is very surprised that the revolution has gone one as long as it has.
"Every time someone asks me how long the fighting will continue, I say another couple of months, another couple of months, but it's been going for over a year and a half," he said. "Obviously, the regime will fall. You can only kill so many thousands of people before your own system falls apart."
Shortly before Starr left Syria in February, a visit to one of Damascus's eastern neighborhoods showed how far the situation had deteriorated. The Syrian government had managed to wrest the district away from rebel control days before Starr arrived.
"There were a lot of dead locals and a lot of bewildered civilians staring up at their homes – missing roofs and missing walls and they had no idea what was happening," he recalled. "We were taken to a school yard where we were shown bodies who had been killed, or visibly tortured before being murdered."
Starr was registered as a journalist with the ministry of information, which meant that while his stay was legitimate, he was constantly on the radar of regime authorities.
"They knew you who I was. I would get phone calls and visits from the secret police, who would visit my house, and kind of ask silly questions, like what's your mother's job, what's your father's job," he said. "I thought they were there to plant bugging devices. But I don't even think they were that sophisticated."
"They just wanted to let me know that they were watching me and that they could easily find me," headed
The visit to that eastern suburb heightened what Starr termed "a growing paranoia," as he worried about what would happen should the authorities get wind of what he had witnessed.
"The last few weeks was kind of a case where I was holding my breath as I turned the key in the ignition of my car," he said. "When you find yourself doing that, and when you start hearing footsteps outside the door of your apartment, and stop everything you're doing to see if someone is there -- from there on you kind of think it's enough."
Now, with plans to get more journalism training in Canada and in New York, he says he is moving on. But with the connection to Syria built over years, he says he sees the situation there with growing alarm.
"If the regime had fallen 12 months ago, I think there would have been a very positive future for Syria as a united country, and a home to Christians and Alawites and Sunni and Shia and Kurds and all people from different ethnic and religious backgrounds. But an awful lot of people died in the last 12 months. An awful lot of people have been tortured. "
"The longer the regime stays in power, the more difficult it will be to piece the country back together. The regime is going to take the country down with it—or even the region."
-- Janelle Dumalaon, Berlin
When the Syrian uprising began in March 2011, many locals became emboldened, taking to the streets in anti-regime protests. Others used the revolution as an excuse to break the rules.
"When they felt that they were no longer under the thumb of the authorities, who had better things to do such as suppressing the revolution, people reacted in the wrong way," Starr recalled. "After the revolution started, people would simply drive through red lights, ignoring the traffic police. There was a very little sense of social responsibility. People were breaking the law left, right and center."
Starr who had mixed with Syrian from all the religious sects in his four years in the country, says that while class and religious differences became more pronounced with the conflict, the Syrian regime went to great length to promote sectarianism.
"Syria, the country, is much older than the Assad regime itself -- people lived together from different religions with no problem at all," he said. "But an awful lot of Syrian Christians I know fell for the line that it was the regime who was keeping them safe, which alienates them from the revolution."
The chaos, he says, provided a kind of contrast to the ubiquity of the state propaganda machine, which buzzed monotonously and omnipresently.
"People turn on their radios and it's always this message that the regime is strong, that it's winning, that the Syrian people are with the army, and that the 'terrorists' have been defeated in different parts of country," he said. "Then you go to work, and in your car you switch on the radio again, you get the same message. Then you drive to work and along the highway there are pictures of Bashar Assad, saying Syria is strong. You turn on the TV, you pick up a newspaper, it's the same thing. Regime strong, terrorists killed, weapons and guns captured."
According to Starr, the propaganda had done its part in comforting the comfortable. The upper class in Damascus, said Starr, would say that the regime was winning, and that it was only going to be a few more weeks until the government put down the rebels in Aleppo or in Homs.
"Twenty months after the revolution and people are still saying that," Starr said. He says he is very surprised that the revolution has gone one as long as it has.
"Every time someone asks me how long the fighting will continue, I say another couple of months, another couple of months, but it's been going for over a year and a half," he said. "Obviously, the regime will fall. You can only kill so many thousands of people before your own system falls apart."
Shortly before Starr left Syria in February, a visit to one of Damascus's eastern neighborhoods showed how far the situation had deteriorated. The Syrian government had managed to wrest the district away from rebel control days before Starr arrived.
"There were a lot of dead locals and a lot of bewildered civilians staring up at their homes – missing roofs and missing walls and they had no idea what was happening," he recalled. "We were taken to a school yard where we were shown bodies who had been killed, or visibly tortured before being murdered."
Starr was registered as a journalist with the ministry of information, which meant that while his stay was legitimate, he was constantly on the radar of regime authorities.
"They knew you who I was. I would get phone calls and visits from the secret police, who would visit my house, and kind of ask silly questions, like what's your mother's job, what's your father's job," he said. "I thought they were there to plant bugging devices. But I don't even think they were that sophisticated."
"They just wanted to let me know that they were watching me and that they could easily find me," headed
The visit to that eastern suburb heightened what Starr termed "a growing paranoia," as he worried about what would happen should the authorities get wind of what he had witnessed.
"The last few weeks was kind of a case where I was holding my breath as I turned the key in the ignition of my car," he said. "When you find yourself doing that, and when you start hearing footsteps outside the door of your apartment, and stop everything you're doing to see if someone is there -- from there on you kind of think it's enough."
Now, with plans to get more journalism training in Canada and in New York, he says he is moving on. But with the connection to Syria built over years, he says he sees the situation there with growing alarm.
"If the regime had fallen 12 months ago, I think there would have been a very positive future for Syria as a united country, and a home to Christians and Alawites and Sunni and Shia and Kurds and all people from different ethnic and religious backgrounds. But an awful lot of people died in the last 12 months. An awful lot of people have been tortured. "
"The longer the regime stays in power, the more difficult it will be to piece the country back together. The regime is going to take the country down with it—or even the region."
-- Janelle Dumalaon, Berlin
