Dr Marwa Daoudy comments further on events in Syria

Marwa Daoudy has been interviewed many times in recent months on the 2011 Syrian uprising, and continues to be asked to comment on the subject.

Marwa appeared on Inside Story for Al Jazeera TV on 6 May, discussing the apparent contradiction between President Bashar al-Assads statement that he is serious about reform and the actions of the Syrian army in the city of Deraa. The programme can be watched here.

Leading Swiss newspaper Le Temps published an article, also on 6 May, in which Marwa was asked whether the prospect of democracy in Syria was realistic or illusionary. She said that she rejected the idea that Arab countries are not able to achieve democracy, and added that the Arab Spring has already proven the opposite. She also commented that Syria has already experienced a parliamentary system in the 1940s, with transparent elections and multi-party representation, and that Syrian society is indeed ready for democracy. The full article is available to subscribers here.

Radio Svizzera Italiana (RSI) interviewed Marwa on the impact of the EUs sanctions on the situation in Syria during their evening news on 10 May. Agence France Presse (AFP) also cited Marwa in an article published on May 11. Marwa was quoted as saying: The sanctions are a signal ... to the regime saying this is an opportunity for you to react still and to seize the moment by stopping all repression and initiating national dialogue and peaceful transition. The article can be read here.

Marwa also appeared on the BBC World Service morning news on 12 May, speaking on the mobilisation of students in the city of Aleppo and its possible impact on the overall unrest.

She also appeared on World News for BBC4 (TV) on 3 June and BBC Radio 4 News on 4 June, discussing who was really in control of the Syrian political system. The news clip can be watched here, and the radio interview can be heard here (at approx. 19 mins on the iPlayer clock).

On 7 June she appeared on a debate on the programme Infrarouge for Tlvision Suisse Romande (TSR) that was comparing the international reactions to the situations in Syria and Libya, and asking whether there was a double-standard. The programme can be seen here (and Marwas comments can be found approx. 20 mins in, and then again 38 mins in).

On 22 July Marwa was interviewed for Inside Story on Al Jazeera TV (English) about the rising tide of protest and government use of force across Syria. The programme can be seen here (and Marwas comments begin approx. 7 mins in). She has also written an opinion piece for Al Jazeera online (12 August), entitled Syria: the regimes war of attrition, which can be read here. In it she writes: The Syrian regimes response to five months of popular uprising was described by a recent report of the International Crisis Group as slow motion suicide, resulting from a mix of uninhibited brutality, sectarian manipulation, crude propaganda and grudging concessions.

Marwa was also quoted in Le Temps (13 August) in an article entitled A Hama, les Syriens nont plus peur, which can be read here. In it she says that she believes that Ramadan, which began on 1 August, will be decisive in determining how events unfold in the city of Hama.