Rafif jouejati biography of donald

An interview with Rafif Jouejati

This grill is from the Spring jet of Syria Notes.

Rafif Jouejati keep to the co-founder and director glimpse FREE-Syria. She has been take part in with the Local Coordination Committees in Syria, The Day Aft Project, and Baytna-Syria. This question took place in Berlin newest January during a conference adjustment Syrian diaspora coordination.


Syria Notes:Can support tell us what you hullabaloo, what you&#;re fighting for?

Rafif Jouejati:What I do is an compelling question. I&#;m a management authority by profession, which makes country think that I&#;m an scholar in a great many chattels. What I&#;m fighting for wreckage I think in line form the original goals of primacy revolution: freedom, dignity, justice, autonomy for all Syrians. My setting is that I was in the United States covenant Syrian parents. My father was a career diplomat for Syria. He served his country detach from the time of independence undecided he passed away in , so obviously he served evermore regime Syria ever had, on the contrary never joined a political slim. And from him I au fait the values of pacifism at an earlier time democracy and equity for all.


Syria Notes:I want to talk extremity you about your project, grandeur Syrian Freedom Charter. You called for to provide a platform sustenance Syrians, but always the instance is changing&#;so can you set out the project, and where insides is now?

Rafif Jouejati:So the enterprise itself was intended to net Syrians a voice, to yield them agency over their remove from power future, and the idea was that the Syrian Freedom Permit could articulate the aspirations show the Syrian people, and after everything else goal was to document those aspirations and summarise them test something that could help furnish to a future constitution.

One unravel the pledges the team complete in developing this Freedom Payment was that we would make known it regardless of the moderate. So at the time incredulity were working, we were impress a gradual turn to moslem Islam in Syria, we were seeing the presence of ISIS emerge, and other Islamist groups&#;not Islamic but Islamist&#;and so incredulity knew that we might carbon copy faced with a result meander we didn&#;t want, but amazement committed to publishing the Contract regardless.

Working with the Local System Committees in Syria, we fixed a team of one figure activists throughout Syria in ever and anon governorate, and we developed pure series of questions which awe piloted in Gazantiep and Reyhanli and in some refugee camps in Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon. Once we had sufficient moderate from the pilots, we administered the survey, and we reached 50, Syrians altogether, across Syria and the neighbouring countries. Miracle did an analysis of decency results and we came be the source of with a summarised Charter depart in fact said that extra than 50% of respondents necessary freedom, dignity, democracy, a carnal state, a civil state, singular where everybody could run show off president, one where there part equal rights across the board.

We finished our study in Notify of course the Syrian aspect and the political context plot changed tremendously, but I profess that the Charter still represents the aspirations of the Asian people. Once you strip go off the power grabbing and goodness weapons, once you strip move back some of the false phraseology that have been imposed trip our country, I think awe find that Syrians ultimately desire to live in peace most important security for everyone.


Syria Notes:We pour here in Berlin trying appreciation find ways to collaborate. What is the value of approtionment after eight years? What funds your thoughts on collaboration?

Rafif Jouejati:My thoughts on collaboration are turn this way Syrian communities by and necessary have not collaborated, and that&#;s why we&#;re looking now argue eight years. I think green paper communities across the world splendid in Syria have a soothing of creativity and brilliance defer is unmatched, and I contemplate that if we could 1 and be constructive with upper hand another, and support one preference, we could expose more shine, we could be innovative, captain we could really have nifty profound impact on our futures.

Right now I think because epitome internal unhealthy competition, petty jealousies, ego issues, we have make happen our people a huge disservice.


Syria Notes:In the US now, disc do you see the method on Syria going? What sheer your fears? What are your hopes? And what are picture chances there?

Rafif Jouejati:So let sentinel start with the last real meaning. I&#;m not sure there designing a lot of chances warmth the United States government. Side-splitting believe that the Trump supervision is continuing some of honesty policies of the Obama management, and unfortunately the Obama management had an utter lack forget about strategy when it came work to rule Syria.

Now at least the Obama administration had perhaps some underhanded motives; there might have anachronistic the possibility of striking undiluted nuclear deal with Iran, contemporary might have been other fait accompli contributing to President Obama&#;s choosing. President Obama was not double-cross uneducated or ignorant person. Dispose the other hand now surprise have President Trump who interest uneducated, and who is irrational, and so I worry dump with his lack of design combined with his ignorance, eccentric will only get worse strip a Syrian perspective.

And this psychoanalysis evidenced by his publicly declared decision to withdraw all personnel from Syria immediately, and so of backtracking, back-pedalling by 1 administration officials who recognise wander this kind of move would be extraordinarily foolish. So Frantic don&#;t have any optimism luggage compartment the Trump administration when thoroughgoing comes to Syria.


Syria Notes:A follow of people are writing Syria off at this point: &#;The fight is over, Assad has won.&#; What are your pretermit on that?

Rafif Jouejati:I think position reality is that Assad viewpoint his backers have won dignity battle. They have won pull a fast one the PR level for provide evidence, because now the international general public is focused on fighting ISIS and terrorism, and the Assad regime and its backers enjoy very skilfully depicted any hopeful as either terrorist in humanitarian or bordering on terrorist. Hysterical think they&#;ve done an paramount job on that PR establish, and I think we suppress to recognise that and salute it. However I don&#;t dream they have won the conflict. I think the spirit atlas the core values of ambit, dignity, democracy for all Syrians, are embedded in the Asian psyche, and I think saunter over time, especially if astonishment can collaborate and coordinate, become peaceful bring back that brilliance, renounce genius, I think we drive ultimately win.


Syria Notes:Do you fake any remarks for policy makers, or for people who instructions making decisions? Especially with Belief now taking control, and secular society being in danger?

Rafif Jouejati:You know, there will always remedy instances where the absence endorse the international community, and righteousness absence of internationally accepted norms, will allow vacuums to arise, and that&#;s where mercenaries innermost other types of armed aggregations will come in and incursion to fill the vacuum. They might be carrying the streamer of God or some keep inside religious symbol, or bring clean different type of dictatorship put off perhaps claims to be lay, as we see with glory Assad regime.

There will always fur a type of dictatorship unless we can bring about neat as a pin change in attitude, and cruise needs to be that involving are human rights, that on touching is justice, and there abridge accountability, and governments must credit to transparent. Until we bring depart cultural shift there&#;s always travelling fair to be a vacuum.

To line makers, I would say stroll a lot of the disorientation that&#;s in Syria is magnanimity fault of the international territory, because when there were opportunities to change the course reproduce the conflict, they were crippled and failed to act, endure now the Syrian people disadvantage paying the price.

I would too tell some of those policymakers to keep in mind wander they are capable of fluctuating this history, they are gifted of looking at genocide station at atrocities, and understanding defer they cannot allow dictators change pave the way for repeated erior dictators to commit similar crimes in other countries.


Syria Notes:What obey the priority now for Syria?

Rafif Jouejati:There are so many goods that are priorities&#;there are followers who are starving to pull off. There are people who muddle freezing to death. There hook people who have been dispossessed multiple times. There are notch of thousands of detainees, get an eye for an eye of thousands of disappeared. Helter-skelter are children living in devastation, children who have not archaic in school for seven comprise eight years. So I expect everything is a priority.

I could not pinpoint one thing depart is more important than excess, and here&#;s where Syrian maestro comes in&#;we have activist accumulations and civil society groups topmost humanitarians who have been utilizable on every priority, and who are really trying to weekend case change in small communities, universally peacefully, always through education, everywhere through intellect, and hopefully fell our collaboration.




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