Since March 2011, millions of Syrians have been struggling in a revolution for dignity and freedom. Young and old, woman and men, members of different ethnic groups and religious persuasions have rallied through protests and songs and chants facing the regime’s brutal crackdown, and continue to resist despite the most murderous of conditions.

A rose in the Desert, the title Vogue America’s Joan Juliet Buck chose for an article on Asmaa Al Assad, Syria’s first lady. So embarrassed was the magazine from the shower of criticism it received that it’s no longer in their archives. In a country of shadows, she says, Asma Al Assad runs her household democratically. It was no standalone phenomenon; western press positioned Arab first ladies (Queen Rania of Jordan, and Sheikha Moza of Qatar) as important public figures presented as models of Arab womanhood. Any superficial analysis of both western and local regime media reveal the systematic institutionalization of the First lady- rendering it a site of ideological contestation of public women and their political roles, constructing boundaries of empowerment and containment. Buck quotes Asma Al Assad stressing the importance of the Syrian youth engaging in “active citizenship”, and the role her NGO’s played in building that culture. Civil society was limited to islamicized forms of charity organizations, going to the rural and marginalized areas where Asma takes a photo standing next to hungry children with smiles. This discourse legitimated the brutal dictator and his regime as one that is modernizing, western, and progressive- chique, witty, and English speaking.

In Syria the class struggle is fierce. On May 25th the world watched  in horror; terrible scenes of women and children murdered in cold blood by the dictatorship of Bashar Al Assad.

Between the 3rd and the 6th June, a representation of Brazilians took part in the Conference of Solidarity with the Arab Revolution in Egypt. Dirceu Travesso, representing CSP Conlutas, Clara Saraiva for ANEL (Students’ National Association – Free) and Gloria Ferreira of the PSTU. What follows is the text of a report on situation in Egypt, written by comrades Gloria and Clara.