"A follower of the blog that lives in Jordan.
I decided to send you this because you frequently show your love with arab
hatafat on your blog. This was a leftist rally in Jordan a few days ago in
solidarity with George. At the 21 minute mark theres some chants you should find
amusing dedicated to your favorite khaleeji royal family. Also at the 18 minute
20 second mark I thought what happened was very revealing. Before the Syrian
uprising, across the region especially in Egypt/Jordan at
palestinian solidarity demonstrations the chant "ya Arab Allah Allah" would be
completed by "at3lamoo min Hezb***** ." (learn from ***). In this case, the
person leading the chant replaces the second part of the slogan with "wmnheye
Georg Abd*ullah" (and salutations to George) which causes the laughter of his
friends who know how closely associated the chant is with the original version.
In the repeat of the chant the friends of the protest leader reverse the words
back and say its original version. I just found it funny that clearly there were
deliberations amongst these guys (one of whom who I know personally) in advance
of the protest, about if its appropriate to praise the Lebanese group in front of a crowd of Palestinian leftists.
Before, despite the saudi media campaign against the group which had little
effect ouside the khaleej, people across the region would say the chant readily
and the group enjoyed real sha3biya especially in Jordan/Egypt. It just exposed
to me the extent of their screw up in sticking with Bashar for so long
(notwithstanding the large debt they perceived they owe him). In Jordan alot of
the arab nationalist/ leftist circles (who mostly adopt a Haytham Manna style
solution to the Syrian conflict) just assumed that since he publicly praised all
5 previous uprisings he couldn't take such a hypocritical one sided position at
the start of the uprising (when it was still overwhelmingly peaceful and
non-sectarian). He postion badly tarnished his image. The clip just made me
realize that if uttering the groups name has become controversial even amongst
its supporters, it speaks alot to their popularity in the region now. In Egypt,
too, I noticed during the protests for Gaza 2 months back the specific chants
that would invoke the groups name have been altered (feel free to confirm that
with your comrade Hossam). The relationship of the group with whatever emerges
in post Assad Syria will probobly play a big role in determining the Arab masses
attitude toward them in the future
Just start watching at the 18 minute mark.. hope you enjoy
If you decide to post, cite as reader from Jordan"