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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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