By Pieter Van de Rijn
Class of 2040
DAMASCUS – Amid the bitter conflict in Syria, Bashar al-Assad announced his resignation as president of the Syrian government in a press conference early this morning. In an emotional address at the Presidential Palace, Assad told reporters of his plans to step down immediately and hold peace talks with opposition leaders. Assad told reporters he made his decision after seeing photos of the University College Eindhoven Student Human Rights Club (SHRC) Instagram page. “After seeing these photos, I realized that I was just a part of the ‘system,’ and deeply moved by these students’ bold and provocative response to the [Syrian] crisis,” a tearful Assad recounted. He then displayed a “pic” of the SHRC chair Jan de Klein from the groups’ Instagram account, in the now famous collection “Support Syria Selfies.”
Scholars in media and political studies from around the world have since hailed the SHRC’s masterful display of social demonstration. David Feinstein, Norman Rockwell Professor of Arts at Columbia has lauded “Support Syria Selfies” “As one of the most effective forms of protest of the 21th century, truly an inspiration to us all.”
Mr. De Klein, 21, however is not surprised by Assad’s’ actions. “I knew from the beginning, if we were going to ‘get’ to Assad, we needed to bring out the big guns,” he told the Tabula Rasa.“History has shown that social change only comes from effective social networking,” he said as he tweeted a photo of himself in a “Stop Listening Mr. Obama” sweatshirt to the White House Twitter account, “our most pressing issue is which world leader to pick.”
Pieter van de Rijn, class of 2040, is a Foresight major from Lanx Satura.
