Maria’s note: The Freedom Fighter strikes back

“The Freedom Fighter”; that is how 33-year old American Matthew VanDyke calls himself. According to the information on his website, VanDyke is a freedom fighter, writer, blogger, filmmaker, analyst, consultant, and TV/Radio commentator. VanDyke travelled with the U.S military to Iraq in 2011 and later on, he went to Libya to fight with the NATO-supported rebels against Qaddafi. There he was arrested by the regime’s forces and imprisoned in Libya’s “nightmare factory,” the Maktab al-Nasser prison, for almost six months.

Along with the Libyan rebel musician, Masood Bwisir, VanDyke plans to travel to Syria for around four weeks and join the rebels “on the front line” against Bashar el Assad. Moreover, the two fighters are raising funds to finance a documentary film about the Syrian uprising and the Arab Spring.Similar to the system used by the Kony 2012 campaign, VanDyke intends to have raised $19.500 by August 22 to start his adventure.

The documentary would be available on the Internet with English and Arabic subtitles. VanDyke says that their aim is to encourage people around the world to raise their voices in support of freedom and propel “the Arab Spring forward into the next phase”.

For more information about VanDyke and his project, you can visit his website: www.matthewvandyke.com