Elisa Pinna — Head of Syrian TV [Diana Jabbour] calls for resumption of diplomatic relations with Italy, presents "real Syrian women, secular and free"

Whatever else one wants to say, women are free in non-sectarian secular Islamic states like Saddam's Iraq and Assad's Syria, unlike sectarian Islamic states like Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other Western allies.

Inquiring liberal minds would like to know why the West lead the the US as the "bastion of freedom" is trying to end the freedom of these women? This is craziness.

Jabbour for ten years directed Syria's film and television system and does not hesitate to admit that the government in Damascus has unfortunately been losing the "media war:"

"There was a total boycott of Syrian media. Suffice it to say that the Syrian television channel has been removed from the European and Arab satellite platforms. " In the meantime," she adds, "the Western media have spread propaganda -- that is driven and also subsidized by some fundamentalist countries in the region -- about what was happening in Syria" and "voices from outside of the choir are rare."

"It is not credible," she observes, "that Assad is the enemy of the whole world, while the West relies on extremist regimes, Wahhabis, where people get decapitated, just like in the Caliphate."

"It is a paradox" - she said - "that these regimes are invited to debate democracy in Syria."

"I ask Western journalists to come to our country, to look with their own eyes, and then to write what they want. It's not fair that they base their information on sites that are not even in Syria and that spread false propaganda," she says. .

Inside Syria, the national television reaches the areas controlled by jihadis, but people are forbidden see it, on pain of death. "Ten days ago in Raqqa, a woman was stoned to death because they accused her of connecting to the Internet," says Diana Jabbour. 

"The militiamen of Isis," she comments, "are not not actually fighting against a certain type of regime, but against a culture and that is why, in addition to destroying archaeological sites and our memory, they often attack television crews." "This is what we try to counter-act in continuing in our production." The war has cut their activity in half, and "from the 60 TV shows of 2010, we have moved now to thirty." "But the important thing is to continue to film, to make culture."

One of the most popular series is called "Haraer", an Islamic term widely used by ISIS to define the role of women in society. "Here, in this series, we represent the real Syrian women, those who fought for national independence against the Turks and the French, the women who founded schools and newspapers. Women secular and free."…

What she wants for the future.

"And first the jihadists' supply of money and weapons from the outside has to stop. As for Assad, I do not know what he has in mind to do, whether to run again or not. But as a Syrian, I don't not want anyone else to decide this for me. There must be an international effort to get to free elections, where the Syrians themselves could elect their representatives. "

Fort Russ

Head of Syrian TV [Diana Jabbour] calls for resumption of diplomatic relations with Italy, presents "real Syrian women, secular and free"

Elisa Pinna
In ANSA-med November 23, 2016
Translated from Italian by Tom Winter, November 26, 2015