In its Sixth Anniversary: The Revolution Without Aleppo
(Zaman Al Wasl)- Syrians this week are celebrating the sixth anniversary of the start of the revolution for freedom and dignity with the painful loss of Aleppo city.
The city was distinguished by the celebratory carnivals its activists organized to celebrate the revolution. The celebrations extended over three days and included demonstrations, theatrical performances that spoke to the revolutionary reality and special activities for children. The city’s residents were forced to leave the city after a choking siege and thousands of air strikes on the eastern neighborhoods.
Many of the residents of Aleppo who were forced to leave their city went to Idlib province only to have to move once more as they found that the province has become a theatre for projects that unrelated to the Syrian revolution and its goals. Many people from Aleppo went to Turkey to settle there, search for jobs or complete their educations while few people approach Turkey as a transit stage before they cross back into Syria. They are moving to Aleppo’s northern countryside and the areas under the Euphrates Shield protection which is under a form of Turkish mandate.
CELEBRATIONS
Huthifa Dahman, an activist working in the medical profession in Aleppo city, recalled the last celebrations held on the anniversary of the revolution with sadness. Speaking to Zaman al-Wasl, he recounted details he experienced with his friends some of whom died and are buried in Aleppo. Dahman spoke about working non-stop for days to prepare for all the events that they had agreed to stage for the celebration.
“The exhaustion is indescribable, but it had its own special flavor because we were working to prove to the world that the revolution is ongoing and that there are those who are carrying its flag and who will bear the bombing and deprivation for it to continue. That there are people who are loyal to the oath we used to repeat in squares,” said Dahman describing those days. He explained that many of those who contributed to the success of the events held in Aleppo died and their bodies remain in Aleppo which they loved and fought for.
Dahman said, “Unfortunately in this year we will not be able to do anything. When we were in Aleppo, we could come to an understanding with the factions in control of the city. They were all sons of the revolution and its activists who carried arms to defend the cause they believed in. But now I live in Aleppo’s western countryside, and we cannot come to an understanding with the forces in control as most of them do not believe in the revolution and do not acknowledge it at all. They consider what happened to be a war against Islam and Muslims by the Rawafid (Rejectionists term used for Shiites) and the Nusayris (a term used to describe the Alawites).”
He continued explaining, “Many of the fighters share similar thoughts to the Dawaesh (members of Daesh). Perhaps they accept the same devil’s vision, and they do not accept the vision of anyone who raises the revolutionary flag. For this reasons and other reasons we will celebrate the anniversary of the revolution on social media, the same as all migrants, and perhaps worse.”
Wish The Anniversary Would Not Come
“Honestly, I consider myself a civilian in Idlib’s countryside, and I am afraid of tomorrow, and a while ago I said to myself I wish it would be delayed further. I am afraid of facing this day while I am here,” said the activist Hashem Halab. Halab was one of the Syrian revolution activists who was involved in organizing the celebrations in Aleppo over the past three years.
Halab managed a volunteer group during the celebrations. The group was tasked with organizing entertainment activities for children in Aleppo city. He said that the situation in Idlib and its countryside is very different to the revolutionary situation in Aleppo city. “Here there is nothing that expresses the revolution at all.
Even raising the revolutionary flag makes you subject to harassment and perhaps abuse from the faction members and even some residents,” he explained.
Halab said he wants to move to Turkey to live with his family who moved there a long time ago. He expressed his sadness for making this decision recently but justified it by explaining that the revolution in Idlib and its countryside has become an agenda and project for military factions which eat the strong and the weak.
ALEPPO
Salem al-Atrash, the engineer of the Revolutionary Days celebrations that took place in Aleppo over the course of the past five years, said he considered the Revolutionary Days a celebration alongside the Adha and Fitr celebrations.
The revolutionary days celebrations took place between 14-18 March. The celebration was preceded by a series of meetings between rebels to decide on the activities that would they would hold. The activities aimed to confirm the continuation of the revolution and demonstrate people’s commitment to its primary goals namely toppling of the regime.
Al-Atrash, known locally as Abu Madr al-Halabi, explained how the rebels in Aleppo would decorate the streets with revolutionary flags. Others would paint murals and write revolutionary slogans on the walls. They would prepare the spaces for the celebrations. He pointed out that the main activity was demonstrations which moved each day from one neighborhood to the next. A large number of people attended the demonstrations as a challenge to the regime and its destructive war machines. They stood tall and without fear of the regime warplanes.
The celebration included other events from athletics, revolutionary singing, and theatrical performances. Other than these the organizers prepared special activities for children.
According al-Atrash, the celebrations included a hygiene campaign where activists and volunteers would clean the main streets of Aleppo to remove rubble and dirt. He explained that activists and school children would usually participate. The diverse activities and actors involved clearly indicated everyone held the responsibility of maintaining and protecting the revolution.
Al-Atrash said that his year would represent a painful memory for him and others from Aleppo as they have lost liberated areas, the city of Aleppo was lost, and he feels lost, in exile and is trying to collect himself once more.
Abu Madr said, “We left our laughs every morning in the martyrs’ cemetery while we sang revolutionary songs for them. We left the most beautiful days of our lives behind. Days spent between supporting justice, patting the head of an orphan or a poor person and trying to save what could be salvaged. We left our beating hearts in a homeland where we want its destruction to blossom flowers and the scent of its martyrs’ blood to raise as fragrance.”
At least 465,000 people, including 150,000 children, have been killed and over 13 million people have been displaced since March 201, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor.
(Zaman Al Wasl)- Syrians this week are celebrating the sixth anniversary of the start of the revolution for freedom and dignity with the painful loss of Aleppo city.
The city was distinguished by the celebratory carnivals its activists organized to celebrate the revolution. The celebrations extended over three days and included demonstrations, theatrical performances that spoke to the revolutionary reality and special activities for children. The city’s residents were forced to leave the city after a choking siege and thousands of air strikes on the eastern neighborhoods.
Many of the residents of Aleppo who were forced to leave their city went to Idlib province only to have to move once more as they found that the province has become a theatre for projects that unrelated to the Syrian revolution and its goals. Many people from Aleppo went to Turkey to settle there, search for jobs or complete their educations while few people approach Turkey as a transit stage before they cross back into Syria. They are moving to Aleppo’s northern countryside and the areas under the Euphrates Shield protection which is under a form of Turkish mandate.
CELEBRATIONS
Huthifa Dahman, an activist working in the medical profession in Aleppo city, recalled the last celebrations held on the anniversary of the revolution with sadness. Speaking to Zaman al-Wasl, he recounted details he experienced with his friends some of whom died and are buried in Aleppo. Dahman spoke about working non-stop for days to prepare for all the events that they had agreed to stage for the celebration.
“The exhaustion is indescribable, but it had its own special flavor because we were working to prove to the world that the revolution is ongoing and that there are those who are carrying its flag and who will bear the bombing and deprivation for it to continue. That there are people who are loyal to the oath we used to repeat in squares,” said Dahman describing those days. He explained that many of those who contributed to the success of the events held in Aleppo died and their bodies remain in Aleppo which they loved and fought for.
Dahman said, “Unfortunately in this year we will not be able to do anything. When we were in Aleppo, we could come to an understanding with the factions in control of the city. They were all sons of the revolution and its activists who carried arms to defend the cause they believed in. But now I live in Aleppo’s western countryside, and we cannot come to an understanding with the forces in control as most of them do not believe in the revolution and do not acknowledge it at all. They consider what happened to be a war against Islam and Muslims by the Rawafid (Rejectionists term used for Shiites) and the Nusayris (a term used to describe the Alawites).”
He continued explaining, “Many of the fighters share similar thoughts to the Dawaesh (members of Daesh). Perhaps they accept the same devil’s vision, and they do not accept the vision of anyone who raises the revolutionary flag. For this reasons and other reasons we will celebrate the anniversary of the revolution on social media, the same as all migrants, and perhaps worse.”
Wish The Anniversary Would Not Come
“Honestly, I consider myself a civilian in Idlib’s countryside, and I am afraid of tomorrow, and a while ago I said to myself I wish it would be delayed further. I am afraid of facing this day while I am here,” said the activist Hashem Halab. Halab was one of the Syrian revolution activists who was involved in organizing the celebrations in Aleppo over the past three years.
Halab managed a volunteer group during the celebrations. The group was tasked with organizing entertainment activities for children in Aleppo city. He said that the situation in Idlib and its countryside is very different to the revolutionary situation in Aleppo city. “Here there is nothing that expresses the revolution at all.
Even raising the revolutionary flag makes you subject to harassment and perhaps abuse from the faction members and even some residents,” he explained.
Halab said he wants to move to Turkey to live with his family who moved there a long time ago. He expressed his sadness for making this decision recently but justified it by explaining that the revolution in Idlib and its countryside has become an agenda and project for military factions which eat the strong and the weak.
ALEPPO
Salem al-Atrash, the engineer of the Revolutionary Days celebrations that took place in Aleppo over the course of the past five years, said he considered the Revolutionary Days a celebration alongside the Adha and Fitr celebrations.
The revolutionary days celebrations took place between 14-18 March. The celebration was preceded by a series of meetings between rebels to decide on the activities that would they would hold. The activities aimed to confirm the continuation of the revolution and demonstrate people’s commitment to its primary goals namely toppling of the regime.
Al-Atrash, known locally as Abu Madr al-Halabi, explained how the rebels in Aleppo would decorate the streets with revolutionary flags. Others would paint murals and write revolutionary slogans on the walls. They would prepare the spaces for the celebrations. He pointed out that the main activity was demonstrations which moved each day from one neighborhood to the next. A large number of people attended the demonstrations as a challenge to the regime and its destructive war machines. They stood tall and without fear of the regime warplanes.
The celebration included other events from athletics, revolutionary singing, and theatrical performances. Other than these the organizers prepared special activities for children.
According al-Atrash, the celebrations included a hygiene campaign where activists and volunteers would clean the main streets of Aleppo to remove rubble and dirt. He explained that activists and school children would usually participate. The diverse activities and actors involved clearly indicated everyone held the responsibility of maintaining and protecting the revolution.
Al-Atrash said that his year would represent a painful memory for him and others from Aleppo as they have lost liberated areas, the city of Aleppo was lost, and he feels lost, in exile and is trying to collect himself once more.
Abu Madr said, “We left our laughs every morning in the martyrs’ cemetery while we sang revolutionary songs for them. We left the most beautiful days of our lives behind. Days spent between supporting justice, patting the head of an orphan or a poor person and trying to save what could be salvaged. We left our beating hearts in a homeland where we want its destruction to blossom flowers and the scent of its martyrs’ blood to raise as fragrance.”
At least 465,000 people, including 150,000 children, have been killed and over 13 million people have been displaced since March 201, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor.
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