Breakdown of Conflict Transmission 121 as in the Libyan case. Three social clubs mentioned by interviewees – the Syrian American Club of Houston, the Syrian American Association of Southern California, and the British Syrian Society of London – did not convert to the revolution. Omar Shishakly, a board member of Houston’s Syrian American Club who had come out on the side of the revolution early on, maintained that the Houston club had to remain neutral. As an organization dedicated to providing scholarships and hosting community gatherings, he argued that it was required to adhere to its nonpolitical bylaws and continue serving the broader community regardless of their political views. However, another activist from Houston attested that the club’s neutrality made it pro-regime by default because they would not allow community members to use the space or the listserv to advertise events, such as fundraisers for humanitarian relief or documentary films on the uprising. This respondent told me with more than a hint of disdain, “I see the club as kind of an extension of Damascus – Little Damascus thinking they can stay neutral and everything will be okay.” Associations in California and London were likewise perceived by outsiders as taking Assad’s side once the conflict began because they were run by loyalists and remained silent on the crisis at home. Nevertheless, as Table 4.2 shows, most Syrian diaspora organizations – including those with long-standing political claims and capacities to deliver much-needed aid – were converted by their leaders to the revolution, granting the anti-regime diaspora an institutionalized means of raising attention and aid for the cause. 4.2.3 The Resurgence of Conflict Transmission in the Syrian Diaspora The escalating conflict in Syria produced an unprecedented surge in anti-regime activism, as I detail further in Chapter 5. However, the revolution was also represented by and divided into a multitude of groups without a unified leadership. Over the course of 2011, numerous revolution-supporting organizations emerged across Syria. These included the Local Coordination Committees, which promoted nonviolent civil resistance and broadcast the Syrians’ plight to the outside world. On July 29, defector Colonel Riad alAsaʻad announced the formation of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and later merged his loyalists with another group called the Free Officers Movement. The Syrian National Council was established in Turkey in August 2011, initially recognized by foreign governments as an umbrella body to coordinate and lead the internal opposition (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace 2013). Yet, many opposition groups operating inside of Syria contested the Syrian National Council’s authority. In addition, while defectors and volunteers formed FSA units to protect their towns and neighborhoods from regime violence, the disjointed character of these armed units made the rebel army “more a wild card than a known entity” in the conflict (ICG 2011c: 6). https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009272148 Published online by Cambridge University Press