Nidal Binni is best known for marketing Made in America products with his trademark line “Int taf xi jfisser” (loosely translated as ‘you know what it means’).
But beneath his jovial personality and smiling eyes lies a deep insight into Middle Eastern affairs. Mr Binni, 47, works as a journalist for several Arab networks, and having left his homeland Syria 25 years ago he is following the revolutions around the Arab world with bated breath.
To quote his own phrase, he really knows what all of this means, and he had long been expecting the uprisings even if they caught the rest of the world by surprise.
“The time for dictatorships is over. This is the century of democracy,” he says, convinced that revolutions will continue to spread and that most of the world’s remaining dictators will eventually be ousted.
His homeland has been run by a largely secular dictatorship for more than 40 years, first under President Hafez al-Assad and, after his death in 2000, by his son Bashar al-Assad.
Unlike other dictators, they have not run their country into the ground, according to Mr Binni. In fact, most Syrians are reasonably well-off and well-educated, and the country has hardworking opposition parties as well as a semblance of democratic institutions.
“But the people are not free,” he says. In fact, the country has been under Emergency Law since 1963, allowing the worst of human rights violations to be perpetuated by the regime, which is free to arrest anyone for no reason.
“We have a parliament, but the ruling Baath party must have a two-thirds majority. The idea that this is some form of democracy is a hilarious joke, even to very young people.”
Mr Binni says the regime controls Parliament, the courts, banks and all other aspects of the country’s affairs, with an iron first.
Politicians from opposing parties are often bribed to remain quiet or else they end up “disappearing”. Many are arrested and thrown in jail for decades without access to a fair trial.
Rather than being economically-motivated, the uprising in Syria is an ideological one and its fundamental premise is that the people want to live in a free democracy.
“No person should have to flee his country because he is a writer, a journalist, an artist or a politician.”
Although Syrians have remai-ned relatively quiet for decades, he does not believe the protests were sparked simply by the revolutions in other countries.
So many people are rising up against their leaders today, Mr Binni said, because the internet had given them the most vital tool which doubled as their main aspiration: freedom. Even if the media are not present to cover a protest, anyone with a camera or a mobile can document what is going on and broadcast it to the world.
The internet had also stripped the veils of regimes and weakened their ability to control what information reached people, he said.
Tens of protesters have been killed since protests erupted around the country on March 18. The government has already pledged reform, raised wages and said it would work towards bringing an end to the Emergency Law.
But, as Mr Binni explained, this has only led to more protests because the regime has lost credibility and people are still hungry for democratic change.
Protesters are now calling for swifter and more concrete action, as well as for those who killed protesters to be brought to justice.
Although they have not yet focused their energy on calling for the president to step down, this message is implied, and Mr Binni said it was also inevitable.
“The Syrian people are being strategic and taking things one step at a time. They are pacifists and do not want bloodshed.”
But eventually they would demand that the president goes, hopefully through a snap election.
He compares the current revolutions to the fall of communism in eastern Europe, where communist leaders fell one-by-one with surprising fragility.
“Their foundations are weak because they are not built on the people’s support,” he says, adding that the seats of all leaders in the Arab world trembled the minute Tunisian President Ben Ali left his country.
Mr Binni said the international community should show support for all pro-democracy protesters because every country stood to benefit from freedom.
However, he appreciates the cautious approach being taken by world leaders, like US President Barack Obama, because each situation is unique and sensitive.
He also approves of the sober way the Maltese government has dealt with the Libyan crisis. However, he says he would welcome a show of support towards the Syrian protesters.
“Malta’s size is small, but its people are big,” he says, describing the country as a powerful voice in the international community that has always been on the right side of history.