Photograph: Derek SpeirsMARY FITZGERALD, Foreign Affairs Correspondent of the Irish Times, did an excellent profile on this courageous woman, who is on trial in a military court for her part in the anti-regime protest. It is worth reading in full: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2012/0609/1224317568749.html
IN HER OWN WORDS: THE POSTINGS OF RAZAN GHAZZAWI:
“Do you understand, that I was scared to protest, but now I am no longer scared? Do you understand that I was scared of detention and now we don’t even think about it? ‘Fuck it all. My people are being killed,’ is what everyone is saying.”
“There is a common feeling that is generally discussed in Syria, well, at least in Damascus where I live. It has to do with the question: ‘What can I do more for the revolution?’”
“I can write about those amazing revolutionaries who left their families and children and [are] living solely for this revolution . . . some were detained and tortured, you stand listening to them speak about their experience with detention, and you know that what you witnessed from detention is nothing compared to theirs, those unknown activists, the unprivileged, who don’t have Facebook nor Twitter, but they are the very ones who inspire you and make you truly believe that there is hope.”
“People who do not live in a country that is living a revolution may not know that time is revolutionaries’ biggest enemy . . .
“I have a 10-to-5 job, after that I go to do some other work till 9, sometimes till 11.
“I get home to check my email and
Facebook to discover new massacres, new statements, and further escalations on many levels.”
“Yesterday, regime army bombed the neighborhood of Karm El- Zeitoun in the city of Homs and destroyed several buildings, two whole streets were evacuated, and 27 civilians killed, many were injured . . . [the] regime’s violence keeps surprising us. Last night when I saw this picture I froze for a moment before I ‘shared’ it on my [Facebook] wall. I didn’t cry, I didn’t have room for more anger, I just felt helpless, I felt time was, is, not on my side . . . After last night’s massacre, Syrians now feel more outraged and will cry for the right to self-defense, even if they didn’t agree with the term the day before.
“That’s precisely how regime violence is pushing the country to more violence, that’s precisely how time moves very rapidly, and leaves you back in history.”
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 
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