The current one24:51Meet the Syrian women who demand a role in the future of the country
When Alma Salem crossed the border from Lebanon to Syria, she asked the driver to run over.
She fled the country 13 years ago when the authoritarian government of Bashar al-Assad spoke against the protests of protests with military violence and brought the country into the civil war. The Breakdown of Assad’s regime In December, it made it possible for her to return home from Montreal for the first time since the beginning of the war.
She got out of the car, knelt and kissed the earth and breathed in his familiar smell.
“I thought I would only return to Syria who were buried, they know, but I am alive and I could hold it in my hand,” said Salem, Executive of the political movement of Syrian women The current one‘S Host Matt Galloway.
“I felt that I had the country. I felt … that all of Syria belongs to me.”
For Syrians like Salem, the end of the war brought joy and renewed dreams of what the future could look like. The current one spoke with Salem and two other Syrian activists about their visions for the future of the country and the obstacles that stay there when achieving.
Alma Salem
According to Salem, Salem has been the solemn feeling in Syria since his return like an “endless party”. It is often loud, filled with the sounds of drums and voices, she said. People can speak freely for the first time without fear that their views could bring them into trouble Assad’s secret police.
“I think we have taken over the public space again,” said Salem.
According to Salem, the time for Syrians abroad is now to return home. Some six million Syrian refugees have implemented worldwide and the transitional government since 2011 demanded the approximately 1.5 million in Lebanon to return At the beginning of this month.
Those who return could take part in building the new Syria from scratch – something for which all citizens fought so hard and share the victory, says Salem.
“It is a country that is now ours and we earn the opportunity,” said Salem.
According to Salem, it is important that women have a role in the political structure of Syria when its population builds up a new one according to the Assad Society. But it is also something she is worried about.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the rebel group that the government fell and was the DE Facto leadership of the country In December they have a bad record of the rights of women, including reports of Blocking the access of women to education And The women must be accompanied by a male guardian in public in the past.
Aisha al-Dibs, the new head of the Syria’s office for women’s matters, said Al Jazera that their government was obliged to involve women in social, political and cultural institutions – but Solved outcry When she said that women should “not go beyond the priorities of their nature given by God and should remember the pedagogical role in a family.
According to Salem, these words triggered a wave of anger among Syrian feminists. Nevertheless, it remains optimistic that those with them with them Power listens to women in their country.
Salem organizes A conference This month, in which around 300 politicians, political representatives, journalists and members of civil society groups took part who shared the ideas of women who are involved in Syrian politics.
“It was a good sign for us that they recognized our … statements and demands of the political participation of women,” said Salem.
Noura Aljizawi
Noura Aljizawi, a Syrian human rights activist who played a key role in the uprising of 2011, also fled from Syria to Canada during the war. She has not yet left Toronto at home, but she will soon be planning a trip there.
It will be the first time that her daughter sees the country and Aljizawi’s father meets – a dream that her family thought would never come true.
Before Power changed hands in December, Aljizawi lost the hope that she would ever return home or see her family personally.
“But now everything is possible. And the dream is just true now,” she said Galloway.
She says the first step towards the reconstruction of Syria must be an accountability.
Warning: This video contains a description of the torture. Omar Alshhrre, a former Syrian political prisoner who escaped hunger and torture in Bashar al-Assad’s prison system, says the joy he felt to watch the regime is all the pain, all the suffering, all fear, all, all The disappointment, all worth everything, everything is betrayed. ‘
Amnesty International estimates that Tens of thousands According to political protests, civilians disappeared in 2011. Many were thrown into prison to be tortured, starved or executed. Up to 13,000 people were executed In the notorious Saydnaya prison between 2011 and 2016, according to Amnesty International.
Prison full of prisoners were freed with the old regime. But Aljizawi says that many people are still missing – including some of their own family. People earn answers where their missing relatives are located, she says.
“The truth has to be said and the victims have to be heard,” said Aljizawi.
“The alternative of justice is revenge. And we don’t want … victims who are looking for revenge on days.”
Nevertheless, Aljizawi says that the most difficult job is done – the uprooting of the authoritarian regime. “After that there is nothing impossible.”
Azza behavior
Azza Kondakji was persecuted by the Assad regime for their activist work. But she never left the country and instead decided to stay and help other Syrians through the civil war.
She also wanted to be there to experience the moment her country was freed – what she always believed would come. “It was hope that kept me in the country,” she said Galloway.
At this moment in the rearview mirror in the rear view mirror, Kondakji says that clean-up work and reconstruction efforts will be a big task-so much of the country’s infrastructure and essential services have been decimated by years of fighting.
A 2022 Analysis of the World Bank Estimated the total damage across the country at $ 8.7 to $ 11.4 billion ($ 12,48-16.35 billion). According to Kondakji, the reconstruction of Syria will demand that other countries provide economic support and raise their sanctions from the Assad era.
Kondakji hopes that the next generation of Syrians will carry the flashlight in building a peaceful future with some support.
An estimated 2.4 million children If they are no longer at school in Syria – either because their families have been sold, they can no longer afford to be in the classroom, or their classrooms have been destroyed in the fights, according to Kondakji. Many also suffer from the emotional weight of the witness of war and need psychosocial support.
Kondakji introduces himself to a future in which Syrian children can grow up in schools, promote creativity, in contrast to fear, and where dreaming of becoming a scientist or artist or world guide can become a reality.
“Syria’s next generation has the potential to define what it means to be a Syrian – not through pain, but through pride and hope,” said Kondakji.
“They embody the dream of a nation that can stand up again how a phoenix is born.”
