I was reminded on Twitter yesterday of Syria’s ‘Singer of The Revolution’ Ibrahim Kashoush – a compelling  symbol of the 2011 peaceful Revolution which demanded an end to the Assad dictatorship and its replacement by democracy. Kashoush’s inspirational voice leading the chorus of the song that became synonymous with his name – Bashar, Leave From Here’ – can be seen in this video recorded at a mass demonstration against regime violence on the main square in Hama in late June, 2011.  That very inspiring performance – a seminal moment in early months of the Revolution – is believed to have cost him his life as immediately afterwards he was murdered by Assad’s Shabiha with his vocal chords out.

Assad’s propaganda machine including well paid PR companies in the West and his army of social media trolls have sought to bury the peaceful mass uprising for democracy dismissing those courageous Syrians who took to the streets as terrorists as he brutally sought to put down the Revolution. Indeed, many Syria specialists expressed amazement at the time that so many turned out to demand democracy because of the very brutal nature of the dictatorship – they thought the people would be too afraid!

Hama where the ‘Singer of the Revolution’ became famous was the location of a chilling massacre by Assad’s father when he put down an uprising there in 1982 which cost anything up to 40,000 lives. There remains much speculation about how many were killed in Hama in ’82 but one thing is certain, an enduring hunger for freedom and democracy is palpable, and was very evident on the main square that fateful night in late June 2011 when Ibrahim Kashoush sang his heart out.

Bashar, depart from here
You lost all your legitimacy
Depart depart, Bashar
Bashar, you are not one of us
Take Mahir (Basher’s brother) and depart from here
Depart depart, Bashar
Bashar, you are lying
You had bad speech
Freedom is very near
Depart depart, Bashar

Since the murder of singer Ibrahim Kashoush more than half a million Syrians have been killed mostly by Assad and his allies Russia, Iran and Hezbollah, as he showed he was and is prepared to literally wade through the blood of his fellow citizens to stay in power. Meanwhile, half the population of the country have been forced to flee their homes creating the biggest humanitarian crisis of the 21st Century.

Ronan L Tynan

Ronan L Tynan is currently producing a film documentary about the Syrian Revolution with Anne Daly. He is co-founder of the award winning Esperanza Productions.

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@RonanLTynan