26 January 2012 National Catholic Reporter
Also Huffington Post, and Znetwork.org
The Syrian pro-democracy struggle has been both an enormous tragedy and a powerful inspiration. Unlike Tunisia and Egypt, where the opposition was relatively united and was able to take advantage of divisions within the ruling circles, the elites in Syria have been united against a divided opposition. Decades of human rights abuses, sectarian divisions, suppression of independent civil society institutions, ubiquitous secret police, and an overall culture of fear have made it difficult to build a unified opposition movement.