The Local Coordination Committees of Syria ( ar, لجان التنسيق المحلية في سوريا: ''LCCSyria'' or ''LCCs'') are a network of local groups that organise and report on protests as part of the Syrian uprising. In June 2011, the network was described by ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' as beginning to "emerge as a pivotal force" in Syria. , the network supported civil disobedience and opposed local armed resistance and international military intervention as methods of opposing the Syrian government.
Creation
The Local Coordination Committees of Syria started in March 2011 from local groups that published reports about protests during the Syrian uprising and developed into a national network involved in journalism about protests and the protests themselves. The groups had developed from informal networks of friends and colleagues involved in dissidence that had existed for many years. Prior to the uprising, Syrian activists had brought in mobile telephones, satellite modems and computers in anticipation of
Arab Spring
The Arab Spring ( ar, الربيع العربي) was a series of anti-government protests, uprisings and armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began in Tunisia in response to corruption and econo ...
protests developing in Syria. In June 2011, ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' described the network as beginning to "emerge as a pivotal force" in Syrian politics, "earning the respect of more recognized, but long divided dissidents."
Structure
The LCCSyria network consists of "overwhelmingly young" demonstrators of multiple religious and class backgrounds. The network is decentralized and works in secret. The first of the committees was created in the Daraya suburb of Damascus. , the most active committee was in Homs. , the network had 35 individual leaders, who tried to communicate daily. , the network had 14 local committees, one each in
Daraa
Daraa ( ar, دَرْعَا, Darʿā, Levantine Arabic: , also Darʿā, Dara’a, Deraa, Dera'a, Dera, Derʿā and Edrei; means "''fortress''", compare Dura-Europos) is a city in southwestern Syria, located about north of the border with Jord ...
Raqqa
Raqqa ( ar, ٱلرَّقَّة, ar-Raqqah, also and ) (Kurdish: Reqa/ ڕەقە) is a city in Syria on the northeast bank of the Euphrates River, about east of Aleppo. It is located east of the Tabqa Dam, Syria's largest dam. The Hellenistic, ...
LCCSyria is financed by donations from individual supporters.Donations website , Local Coordination Committees of Syria. Retrieved on 2012-05-12. This is further facilitated by the "
Adopt a Revolution
Adopt a Revolution is an initiative that allows individuals and civil society groups outside Syria to "adopt" a Syrian activist group of their choice and help it to survive and succeed in the Syrian uprising (2011–present).
Donations are used ...
USA Today
''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgi ...
''. Furthermore, the
Office for Syrian Opposition Support
An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific duti ...
, which itself was founded by the
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...
Friends of Syria Group
The Group of Friends of the Syrian People (sometimes Friends of Syria Group, Friends of the Syrian People Group, Friends of Democratic Syria or simply Friends of Syria) is an international diplomatic collective of countries and bodies convening p ...
, provides "material support" and "training assistance" to the LCCs.
Human rights journalism
Rami Nakhle, who helps LCCSyria from exile in
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...
, said that media activities documenting protests were the network's first main activity. The Syrian human rights lawyer
Razan Zaitouneh
Razan Zaitouneh (or Zeitunah; ar, رزان زيتونة; born 29 April 1977) is a Syrian human rights lawyer and civil society activist. Actively involved in the Syrian uprising, she went into hiding after being accused by the government of ...
human rights in Syria
The situation for human rights in Syria is considered poor by international observers. The network's text and photographic reports of injuries and deaths of protestors have been used by
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' and ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
''. The network publishes reports on its own website and on
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...
.
On 1 February 2012, LCCSyria criticised the international and Arab community as having been "unable to take any decision that contributes to stopping the cycle of violence in Syria". It estimated the number of deaths in the civil war is more than 100,000.
Protest methods
Amnesty International describes the network's methods as peaceful protests.Civil disobedience methods used by the network include nightly protests in Hama and refusal to pay water, electricity and telephone bills in the Duma suburb of Damascus. The network called for a two-day general strike on 5–6 February 2012. They also called with other non-violence groups to the Dignity Strike in Syria "Karamah Strike".
Non-violence
In August 2011, LCCSyria declared that it understands the calls for internal armed opposition to the Syrian government and international military intervention, but opposes both. It said that militarisation would reduce popular support for the opposition, reduce the opposition's moral superiority, and put "the Revolution in an arena where the regime has a distinct advantage". The network said that peaceful demonstrations would make it easier to develop democracy following a revolution, while militarisation would make it "virtually impossible to establish a legitimate foundation for a proud future Syria."
LCC Syria was one of the groups that formed what's called "Freedom Days" as an umbrella for non-violence groups in Syria.
Syrian Revolution Network
The Syrian Revolution Network ( ar, شبكة الثورة السورية), originally called the Syrian Revolution 2011 and the Syrian Days of Rage, is a Syrian opposition activist organization active in the Syrian Civil War. It was originally a ...
*
Syrian Revolution Coordinators Union
The Syrian Revolution Coordinators Union or (SYRCU) ( ar, اتحاد تنسيقيات الثورة السورية) is an organization with members from different protest coordination groups from all around Syria. Its members represent their areas ...
*
Supreme Council of the Syrian Revolution
Supreme Council of the Syrian Revolution (SCSR) ( ar, المجلس الأعلى للثورة السورية) is a Syrian opposition group supporting the overthrow of the Bashar al-Assad government in Syria during the Syrian civil war. It grants lo ...
*
Sudanese resistance committees
The Sudanese resistance committees ( ar, لجان المقاومة) or neighbourhood committees are informal, grassroots neighbourhood networks of Sudanese residents that started organising civil disobedience campaigns against the government of ...