A History of Syria’s Uprising Through Protest Chants

Throughout Syria’s two-year-old revolution, people have been taking to the streets to voice their anger at the regime of Bashar al Assad.

Many of these protests have been videotaped and uploaded to YouTube and other sites.

So there’s now a online history of the Syrian revolution for everyone to see and hear.

Wael Tamimi, of the BBC’s Arabic Service, has been listening to the protest chants heard in those videos.

He says in the beginning, chants called for help from the international community.

Tamimi tells the story of Syrian protest leader and singer Ibrahim Qashoush, who came up with a chant that reverberated around the country.

This chant inspired composer Malek Jandali to write a symphony, “Freedom—Qashoush Symphony.”