Breakdown of Conflict Transmission 125 to the collapse of trust in the opposition by Syrians and outside powers alike (I take up the issue of outside powers in Chapter 7). In addition to religious and generational divides, Kurdish separatists who had mobilized against the Syrian regime from Britain before the Arab Spring also quit the protest movement early on because they felt disrespected and marginalized by the Arab-dominated opposition. Dr. Jawad Mella, founder of the pro-secessionist Western Kurdistan Association, remarked that he had initially encouraged his colleagues to participate in anti-Assad protests with the Syrians in London. However, Syrian Arabs at the protests “did not allow them to raise the Kurdish flag.” For this reason, I then told them: you don’t go and I don’t go if the exiled Syrian people will be just like the Syrian government! They are as bad as the regime when they will come to the power, or be worse. So since the revolution, I didn’t participate in any demonstrations, when before that we had many demonstrations in all locations. We are against the regime, and we are against this opposition as well. These strains were further exacerbated by the fact that many Arab Syrians raised the Turkish flag at pro-revolution protests because of the Turkish government’s support of the revolution. This was an insult to many Kurdish Syrians, since Turkey has long repressed Kurds and their separatist aspirations. On the other side, Ahmed attested that the Kurds made “trouble” at the revolution protests in London. He felt that they attempted to dominate the Syrian nationalist cause with their ethnic and separatist grievances. Ahmed recalled, We used to have a lot of problems with the Kurds at the first protests. They would attend and they would bring the Kurdish flag, so it would look like a Kurdish protest. And then Syrian Arabs would protest, and then sometimes fights happen. Especially once when some people wore Turkish flags. The Kurds didn’t like that. As a result, many Kurds like Dr. Mella broke away from the Syrian opposition, choosing to withhold their support of the revolution altogether, or forming new organizations dedicated to pursuing distinctly Kurdish claims, such as youth activist Tha’er’s decision to form a group called the Syria Future Current Party. While some respondents perceived the proliferation of pro-revolution groups as a healthy expression of Syrians’ newfound freedom to use voice, others argued that the fragmentation of the opposition, both at home and abroad, was counterproductive. Hussam of SAC stated, “The unhealthy part was when people insist on remaining part of a one-man organization because they don’t want to dilute their power or authority.” This led to an atmosphere of competition and slander within the opposition community that shocked many activists. As Razan from Britain said while shaking her head, “I felt like we’re protesting for freedom, campaigning for freedom. And despite that, we’ve got this disease within us – this competition. I couldn’t understand it.” Her brother Hassan echoed in a separate interview, “Why have twenty groups? It’s better to https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009272148 Published online by Cambridge University Press