108 Coming Out and Coming Together all forms of communication with their families at home so as not to incriminate them by association, which was emotionally trying. Lastly, activists came out because they perceived that the Assad regime’s increased use of collective and arbitrary violence in Syria meant that going public no longer posed additional risks to their significant others. As L. A. from California explained, such escalations signaled that her family’s fate was no longer in her hands. Even if I didn’t do anything, if they want my family, they will take them for no reason. When my mom tells me you are [putting a] target on us, I say mama, when they want you, they won’t wait for me to protest or not to protest. Sabreen also stated that although her mother initially asked her to remain anonymous, she later told Sabreen, “It doesn’t matter if you speak or not, because they are targeting everybody.” As such, members of the diaspora went public because they came to perceive that the regime was no longer willing or able to sanction them in a targeted fashion. As Y. explained, In the beginning, because everything was so slow in Syria, the regime was able to crack down on everyone who talked. Then it got to a point where they’re not going to keep up. When the conflict escalated militarily, we’re like, okay, their focus is not on Facebook anymore. This rendered formerly high-risk activism abroad as low-risk, enabling activists to transition from guarded to overt advocacy. In summary, Syrian anti-regime mobilization in the United States and Britain emerged as never before over the revolution’s first year. As Qayyum (2011: 4) writes, this coming-out process cultivated a new consciousness in public space, as Syrians came to “link their names to their stories and opinions as an act of defiance . . . [and] to rebuff intimidation tactics facilitated by the Syrian government.” However, transnational repression also obstructed diaspora solidarity and mobilization by perpetuating mistrust and fear, and by imposing costs. As Sarab explained, the decision to “cross that line of fear” was belabored. After I put my first post on Facebook condemning the regime, my finger was trembling and my heart was racing. So it gives you a sense of how repressed and how conditioned we were to be quiet and never express ourselves as long as I’ve been alive. Furthermore, because many of their family members still resided in Syria, some Syrians chose to only use their first names or to remain partially hidden online or in public. As numerous members of the anti-regime diaspora began to come out on behalf of the revolution, Syrians attested that the cause lumped and split the community into pro- and anti-regime camps. The fear of being informed upon by fellow conationals also increased polarization within the diaspora. Respondents reported cutting off communications with those who came out on behalf of the regime and avoiding or boycotting businesses known https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009272148 Published online by Cambridge University Press