Omar Edelbi: Broadcasting Syria’s Uprising

From an undisclosed location in Beirut, LCC spokesperson Omar Edelbi works to ensure news of Syria’s uprising is broadcast live to the rest of the world.

Beirut - In a room in Beirut filled with heavy smoke, Omar Edelbi, a spokesperson for the Syrian Local Coordination Committee (LCC) watches Al Jazeera on a nearby TV screen.

“See? It’s a demonstration in Khaldiyeh broadcasting live! We sent the equipment to broadcast live footage into Syria last week,” he says. “Most of the equipment we are using now is broadcasting live. We passed the stage of shooting and uploading,” Edelbi adds proudly.

In June, Edelbi left his hometown of Homs, arriving in Beirut after two failed attempts by the Syrian government to arrest him. Edelbi is from Khaldiyeh, a rebellious neighborhood in Homs and a stronghold for anti-government protesters. He graduated from Damascus University’s Law School but has never practiced law.

“I never really liked law. I was drawn more into journalism and poetry,” he says. He worked for five years at the Kuwaiti newspaper, al-Awan. Several of his poetry collections were published in Syria. On January 2, after the outbreak of protests in Tunisia, he came back to Syria hoping that the demonstrations would make it to his home country too. “I was previously an activist, but for the past few years before January, I withdrew from activism and politics because I felt that there was no hope for any change in Syria,” he says.

The Local Coordination Committees were started by a dozen or so activists, according to Edelbi. These were mostly human rights activists and journalists who participated in the first two demonstrations in the old quarters of Damascus on March 15 and 16 in front of the Interior Ministry. “This is why the LCC’s media performance has been impressive, because it mostly consists of journalists,” says Edelbi.

According to Edelbi, LCC members work around the clock in shifts. Each shift requires around 10 people, and the team is divided like a news room. They receive information from correspondents on the ground in every Syrian city. “We have editors who re-write or edit the information and also translators who translate into English.” Most of the team is in Syria, Edelbi adds. Only the spokespersons remain outside: Edelbi in Beirut, Rami Nakhle (also known as Malath Aumran) and Mohammad Al-Abdallah in Washington D.C., and Hozan Ibrahim in Europe.

While there are no accurate estimates of the number of LCC members, the group maintains a membership office which provides security clearance for new candidates. They also have financial, political, and media offices. The group mainly communicates through Skype, though other social media, such as Facebook are used. “We have hundreds if not thousands of activists on the ground across Syria,” says Edelbi. “In every city we have dozens of activists, specifically media activists, whose role is to shoot and upload videos, cover news, confirm the information we receive, and to document cases of human rights abuses.”

The LCC has almost monopolized Syria’s coverage due to attempts by the Syrian government to impose a media blackout in the country. Independent journalists have almost no access to Syria. The LCC regularly distributes news to foreign and Arab journalists through their mailing list.

But this media coverage is not as raw as some might assume. “If we receive information that a demonstration is calling for international protection, we don’t publish it because we don’t agree with such slogans politically,” Edelbi says. Edelbi says that these types of slogans are often emotionally driven. “What does ‘we want international protection’ mean? If the demand meant protection by a foreign military flotilla intervening in Syria, then I will censor such news, and I am not sorry about it,” he says. “I don’t think that publicizing such emotional slogans serves the Syrian revolution,” he adds.

We are very careful that this revolution is financed by Syrians. This part is really important for us. We don’t accept any technical help or financial help from any foreign side.

The LCC uses satellite equipment, such as phones and modems, to transmit news out of the country. This type of equipment is not cheap. The money, according to Edelbi, comes from Syrians in the diaspora. “We have more than 10 million Syrians in the diaspora all around the world. Most of them are professionals: doctors, lawyers, businessmen, engineers. They are helping us in a big way. We are very careful that this revolution is financed by Syrians. This part is really important for us. We don’t accept any technical help or financial help from any foreign side,” he says.

Edelbi takes another look at the TV screen showing the demonstration in Homs. “They still are not experts on using the new equipment. There are special settings that allows for a better image quality. We will send a communication engineer next week to fix it.”

al-Akhbar’s One on One interview with Edelbi