During the revolution, Idlib governorate became the center of attention after becoming home to thousands of displaced Syrians from different regions and opponents evicted from their areas under settlement agreements imposed by the régime with Russian auspices.
In May 2014, a settlement agreement stipulated the eviction of civilians and former fighters from the old city of Homs to Idlib. As more settlements were reached throughout Syria, Idlib became a large concentration point for displaced residents and fighters from Damascus and its countryside, Daraa, Homs, Hama, and other regions. It is estimated that over four million Syrians live in northern Syria, according to a study published by the Jusoor Center for Studies last March.
Meanwhile, the régime was launching an information war, in which it presented itself as civilized to the West through holding artistic activities, including concerts and festivals. At the same time, the régime labeled those in northern Syria as extremists and terrorists, attempting to demonize them.
Singer-composer Samir Aktaa chanted songs for the Syrian revolution and subsequent aftermath, some pressing issues, and cross-border humanitarian hardship. He told Enab Baladi that art has the power to break the régime’s stereotyping of Idlib.
Art is a tool that allows people to freely express themselves and their society, Aktaa said. He added, artists’ genuine sentiments can reveal the most sublime human feelings away from insincerity and pretense and by having a deep belief in the righteousness of the cause and the revolution.
According to Aktaa, an artist’s mission is to reflect reality with his/her work and be more attentive to pressing issues than other groups in society, adding that through words and songs, artists can mirror the suffering and injustice directed against people for daring to demand freedom.
During the revolution, many artistic and cultural manifestations emerged in Idlib, seeking to send a message to the world and those far about life in Idlib and the true nature of its people.
Aktaa has presented songs about vital issues, including the case of detainees (the living and the killed ones), internally displaced camps, the revolution’s tenth anniversary, and the killing of Abdul Baset al-Sarout, an icon of the Syrian revolution.
Aktaa told Enab Baladi that Syrians’ battle against the régime’s tyranny and dictatorship is one and indivisible.
“The world will not stand by a revolution that does not have a voice. Freedom and dignity are vital issues to all people of the free world.”
The Syrian régime utilized state television, media outlets, and social media networks to polish its image against the international community, depending on repeating the same official version of being targeted by terrorists and foreign elements carrying out a conspiracy to undermine Syria.
Aziz al-Asmar, a Syrian graffiti artist, living in Idlib, rose to fame after he started painting murals on walls of destroyed houses and buildings by the Syrian régime’s bombing and Russia in Idlib.
Al-Asmar’s murals tackle humanitarian themes beyond the Syrian case. For example, he painted a mural in honor of George Floyd, an African American US citizen who lost his life to racism and police brutality. Al-Asmar also painted murals of football icon Maradona after his death, the Israeli forces’ assault on Palestinians in Jerusalem, the Syrian revolution, and the death of Abdul Baset al-Sarout.
Al-Asmar told Enab Baladi that he chose to paint on destroyed buildings because “they mirror the level of tragedy and brutality that have been practiced against Syrians by the régime and its allies.”
The graffiti artist painted murals on the régime’s bombardment, displacement, arrests, civilians’ daily lives, and the hardships they face, including poverty, unemployment, and rising prices throughout Syria.
He added that a few colors explained a lot without words and sent a message to the world that the Syrian revolution is not merely weapons, killers, and victims, but it is a revolution of culture, art, and humanity.
According to al-Asmar, the cities of Saraqeb and Kafr Nubul in Idlib countryside and Darayya in Damascus countryside were the first to use graffiti and colors in the service of the revolution.
Today, al-Asmar is engaging children in murals painting to help them express their dreams and wishes, considering that their participation enriches and attributes more sincerity and human value to his cultural and artistic project.
“We are still dreaming of a near victory to paint the victory mural on the walls of the presidential palace in Damascus.”
Zafer Saleh Sadaqah, a Syrian poet who lives in Idlib, has written poems and composed lyrics of many songs chanted by Samir Aktaa. Sadaqah and Aktaa have formed a harmonious, artistic duo, where words and sounds combine to produce music.
When asked about the role of intellectuals in bringing to light the bright side of Idlib, which the régime keeps trying to dilute and marginalize, Sadaqah said that a writer, a literary scholar, or artist who does not connect with the pains of his/her people and society is a servant intellectual.
Sadaqah added, the fact that the régime has an organized media and information system compared to the situation in Idlib does not give primacy to it because it falsifies facts, and only words of truth prevail.
During the Syrian revolution, many Syrian artists in various fields supported the régime, which used them as a vehicle to promote its media propaganda in television interviews, musical concerts, and other events. These artists positively talked of the régime and helped it look civilized away from its real image as responsible for bombing, displacing, arresting, and intimidating Syrians.
Sadaqah said that Syrians of the northern region do not need to create an alternative or new society, for they already have an established rich, authentic, and diverse society, particularly after successive displacement waves from various Syrian cities to the north. He added that those who have the right tools must use them to highlight Idlib’s true face.
“The loudness of guns does not guarantee the continuity of their sounds or give them power over words or songs whose impact goes beyond time and space.”
The régime knew it could not regain control of all Syrian territories. It was also aware that groups fighting it in Idlib, mainly religiously oriented groups, can indirectly serve its position and offer a ready-made stereotypical image that would distort the Syrian revolution, political researcher Majed Alloush told Enab Baladi.
Alloush added that the régime sought to turn Idlib into a center for Islamist factions, which at some point in time made mistakes contrary to revolutionary values advocated by Syrians, in reference to HTS, which was listed as a terrorist group after deviating from the revolution’s principles.
He pointed out that the régime benefited from the armed factions’ mistakes in northern Syria as the West started comparing the régime and the factions’ methods of dealing with civilians in their areas of control.
The régime was keen to send a message to the international community that it remains the least worst option for the West and its interests with all of its brutality.
On the régime’s use of media to provide a misleading version of what is going on in Idlib, Alloush said that the problem is not the weakness of media in Idlib or the absence of information materials to be promoted, but the availability of many materials that the régime can benefit from and invest in for its interests.
Alloush added that any talk of a cultural conflict between the régime and the models fighting it during the revolution’s armed phase would be illogical. The conflict with the régime is a moral one, between people lured by dreams of freedom and dignity and a régime that does not understand anything but killing as a weapon during conflicts.'
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