By Lefou94
We went to Syria May 2011, because we wanted to buy another house. Not to see what was actually going on, and not even to visit family. This had been my 6th time in Syria. In the past we would have never even felt anything like this was going to happen, maybe get attacked by the U.S. or Israel, but not an actual revolution.
Really big surprise.First let me describe how big my family in Syria is.My dad is 1 of 14 and my mom is 1 of 8. My dad is the youngest of all his siblings. Some of his brothers had kids before my father was born. So on my dads side I have cousins who have grandkids older than me (some who have just started having babies). On my mothers side they are a bit younger, but non of my aunts and uncles had less than 4 children.People talked about politics ALL THE TIME. I had a loooooooooot of people voicing their opinions to my dad who LOVES talking about politics because hes 1. Arab and 2. He was the head of Law and Administration at the Ministry of health in Syria. So he knows quite a bit.What people hated was not Bashar, it was Bush (and now Obama.) What people cared about was not getting rid of their president. It was getting rid of the people murdering innocent Iraqi and Palestinians.I new one cousin and her husband who hate hate hate hate hated Bashar, and it wasn’t a political thing. They hated him cause he wasn’t sunni. So last May when we were in Syria we visited them in Homs because shes a dentist and we wanted to get our teeth done. When we got into the city nothing was weird except the 25+ tanks at the entrance of the city. Not being used, just sitting there. Saw guys soldiers sitting, walking, standing next to them. They weren’t being used on anyone, and they weren’t moving.Even back in May 2011 the way the news described this city was as if no one could get in or get out. Everything was pretty normal, and we stayed the night. My dad had a huge argument with her, and he asked her to clearly explain why she hates Bashar. She explained that because he is helping Palestine and he should just pay attention to us, and that how are Syrians giving all this power to Alawite.The next day in the morning I could hear a group of people protesting; no guns, no tanks, no terrified screaming.^This was in the very middle of the visit.More towards the beginning: First day in Syria, May 12, I had a Slytherin bracelet on, and it was green. My cousins son told me to take it off because alawites wore green bracelets to represent them selves. He told me that if a violent protester saw me wearing it, they might kill me. Of course I never put it on again in Syria.Weeks later I was at his mothers house and all his siblings. wives/husbands, and he were there (they’re in their 40s+) Everyone was arguing back and forth about what was right. “He needs to leave!” “He needs to leave BUT not this way!!” “No hes great!!!” < of course they put in much more feelings and arguments in it. I dont remember what he himself said, but his whole family didn’t even share the same opinion. It was really weird how much religious views affected everyone.We noticed on Fridays streets were as empty as if you went out at 4am. Not all the way.Nothing really big ever happened during protests, numbers were greatly exaggerated.We’d go into a different area in Damascus like Darayya and we’d have to show our IDs. One of my cousins who is a cop, told us how they were told to show their regular IDs and not their cop IDs because some of those guys were impersonating the police or soldiers, and would actually kill cops. There was one of his cop friends who a group of protesters went after his son (20ish years old), killed him with bricks to the head, and he tried to run away with his other son but they shot him.In Salamiya (or however its spelled) we were sitting with another cousin who was telling us how one night at the bottom of their building the men were sitting outside next to a shop drinking tea and smoking hooka, and this lady comes screaming and crying to one man and she was trying to get “help” from him and wasnt being clear about anything, just freaking out. So all the men gather around her to try and help her and ask whats the matter, and she just stops and doesnt know what to do. Then this guy comes from down the streets takes her arm and pulls her away out of the situation.Later they heard stories of women who would do the same thing to a man walking alone at night, and once she got him to a dark quite place, men (protesters who were being paid) would come out and kill the man and blame it on soldiers/Bashar.Not proof, just stories I heard.The only really convincing things were, protesting numbers were exaggerated, and half the people during protests were supporters. Theyd throw rocks and bricks at each other. Cousins would tell me their neighbor would pass by and wouldnt be apart of it and a brick or something would hit their shoulder (this happened too much)Both protesters and supporters were arrested for just hurting each other. At first they thought it was a good idea to arrest them but jails got too full so they let them all go.A lot of things were changed because of the protest.The actual things Syrian people wanted changed, were changed, but it still continued because of outsiders.No one ever mentioned the amount of supporters that actually went out in the streets and believed people who cant be named miraculously got out of a closed off city and told reporters horrible things were happening? Anyone could write a fake story. Any one could take videos from wars in other countries and no American would notice the difference (because it actually happened and everyone laughed in Syria how whoever decided to post a certain video it had a poster they’d seen in Iraq years ago)Its funny cause when I was 6, Bashars dad died while I was in Syria. We were outside when we noticed all the people walking and all sad, and crying. With posters. All the shops were closed for the longest time because of this event. And everyone was out in the streets chanting Bil ro7, bil dem, nafdeek ya Bashar. Everyone wanted him.Things may not have worked the way it does in the U.S. but the U.S. is pretty fucked up. Its not even a democracy. A democracy would be ridiculous (Im assuming you know we’re a republic) Anywaysss it really difficult to write down everything I saw in order, and Im no good at putting everything in a story so Im gonna list the rest.We went from Damascus to Salamiya at around 11:30 at night. 2 hours later we arrived safely with nothing weird going on in between, no one shot at us or anything.A lot of people had religion issues with the president (dumb)Someone was talking about it: If a alawite kid were to walk past a group of kids in Hama they would beat his ass.I have a cop cousin, explained his point of view. Didnt sound like the news to me.Protests in any area I went were left alone and would just fade away.In Salamiya protest eventually stopped happening so kids could take their finals, and study. Other cities did the same but not as soon as Salamiya. (went back to it after)Salamiya pretty much is a safe city now (majority isnt sunni….hmmm weird. my family is sunni though). On our way to Damascus we passed by a village like area, and they had a few solder trucks and solders sitting guarding outside, and the people who lived in the area were all just standing around and chilling with them.One lady passed by and motioned a prayer at them in a positive way.Video I recently saw of Syrias UN representative Bashar Ja’fari was talking about a recent massacre and how its a paradox, if the military wasnt there to protect their people theyd be guilty of leaving innocent people alone to die, and if they do theyd be told they’re killing people. And apparently 26 soldiers died too.I described my big family, not one of them has been hurt, and they’ve all got opinions.Let me describe Syria before problems as an American:Safe safe safe safe safe safe safe safe safe safe safe safe safe safe safesafe safe safe safe safe safe safe safe safe safe safe safe safe safe safesafe safe safe safe. As a female I could go and walk around the neighborhood at midnight with another 13 year old (when I was 13) and no one would bother us. Safest country I knew. No one said anything about how you dressed, if you wore a hijab or not. Not any different than being here except for how safe it was.Men and women are as equal as they are here via laws.You know who likes this idea of getting Bashar out of Syria? Saudi Arabia. Tell me if they have a sniff of democracy Syria had. Tis all about power over the middle east~~~
(via industrialcracks)
