Syrian youths begin graffiti campaign against regime
A YouTube video has been posted of a Syrian youth writing anti-regime graffiti on a school building in the city of Homs.
To the soundtrack of a popular patriotic song , the video showed still images of a masked young man using a spray canister to write “go away Bashar”, “down with the regime”, “Down with Bashar Al-Assad”, “we want freedom”, and echoing the slogan of the Egyptian uprising at Tahrir Square, “the people want the downfall of the regime.”
Although, the authenticity of the video cannot be verified, it does link in with what I have been hearing about activists’ desire to resort to a graffiti campaign to escalate the war against the regime following 17th February’s unexpected demonstration in Damascus.
The spontaneous demonstration in the heart of the capital’s business district came just two weeks after the failure of the 5 February “day of rage” called for by a popular Facebook page.
My reading of this development is that a graffiti campaign at this time may very well have the desired psychological effect of emboldening people to get used to openly challenging the authority of the regime after decades of extremely oppressive rule.
It’s a smart move by the activists. I expect more videos such as this one in the future, especially if towns and localities across Syria compete to create the most daring and eye-catching anti-regime graffiti.
Syria in Transition 
This is vandalism, and vandalism is a crime anywhere in the world. Should we be encouraging these types of people? Freedom to commit crime is not a freedom afforded by the even the freest countries in the world. Here’s hoping that these miscreants will be caught and dealt with accordingly by the law.
Vandalism is a crime?! What do you expect them to do? They cant exactly vote for anyone else, they cant voice their concerns or discontent with the current regime publicly , they cant complain to any authority about the many issues they face because that would be deemed as treason (search for the blogger Tal Al Maloohi who has been sentenced to 5 years by a secret military court). Graffiti is a harmless alternative to portray the disgruntlement by the growing majority of young unemployed and increasingly despondent population.
So what options do the Syrians have to exercise the freedom they deserve and how can they fight for that freedom?
Violent struggles will have the regime label it as Islamic terrorism.
Official means for change are blocked and have been for the past 46 years. Syria today is very similar to Syria 46 years ago.
Graffiti is a non violent struggle, it doesn’t have any victims or human loss of life (unless the person doing the graffiti is caught by the Mukhabarat or the secret police).
I endorse this form of protest.
When the Egyptian protestors were writing graffiti all over Tahrir Square, was that vandalism as well?