‘We have the guy who was operating the machine to open the graves, and he also is with us here today.’
The Bulldozer Driver:
‘I was tasked by the régime for one year to prepare the graves of innocent people, and I did that, it wasn’t optional, I couldn’t do anything about it, I would have died if I didn’t do it. Every single day we used to bury over 400 people on a daily basis, so over one year, I had to witness, and open the grave with my bulldozer, for over a hundred thousand people, myself with the people that are involved, who are recruited by the régime. And that is proof, unfortunately, it is still happening today.
The régime is still running its detention centres, which are more like torture chambers. And people are being arrested on a daily basis, people are being killed on a daily basis, and here comes our responsibility.
I want you to understand that the régime is not going to stop its brutality, and your involvement is very necessary. Those people that are being killed on a daily basis are humans. Humans that deserve your attention. Humans that look like you. Regardless of where you’re from, they look just like you. They have lives, they have stories, they have families.
And therefore I will stand before you today, telling you that you need to be involved, you need to care, you need to talk to politicians, you need to make actions, you need to have consistency, so that we at some point can reach not only freedom, but justice for the Syrian people and the Syrian victims.’
Omar al-Shogre:
‘It is very sad that we have to discover more of Caesar, more of Gravedigger; but Syria is full of Caesars and Gravediggers. And Omars, and we will suffer for years. And it’s enough to suffer for one hour, under the régime, to start a revolution.
A lot of people ask that question, maybe it is better if you didn’t start anything. No, that’s not true. You life is not more important than that person who has been arrested since 1982, being tortured on a daily basis. Why would he be there? He is innocent. For one person, for one individual, we should start a revolution. Because this is not about the one individual, this is about the life of a human being. If the régime doesn’t have respect for one life of a human being, the régime should never exist.
How much do we sacrifice to get freedom from that régime? Doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter. Because if the régime is able to dehumanise one person, they will dehumanise the rest. If they can kill one person without your opposition, they can kill the rest.
Back to the darkness, the worse it gets, the more likely you are to find hope in there. I know that the régime’s trying to sell a narrative where there is no change, no life. Oh, Russia is with me, China is with me, the US is with nothing, it wants to do nothing. That’s the narrative of the Syrian régime. Don’t spread that. There are enough people that care. We just need to organise our forces, come together, try to find creative ways of helping.
That creative way, I like to say, is by doing something you like doing. I used to say, I hate writing. So I don’t write an article to bring awareness about Syria. Guess why? Because I hate writing, you wouldn’t like my article, it would suck. It could be so bad. But there’s something I love doing, that I can usefully do. I love public speaking, so I can deliver twenty speeches a day, not being tired. I know that the revolution in Syria won’t end today. Even if the régime falls tomorrow, we will still need to work a lot. And I keep still using the things that I love the most, which is public speaking in this case. And I wouldn’t get tired of it. I can be consistent, and I can bring awareness of what’s happening for a very long time.
And I want you to think about the thing that you enjoy doing. What is your power? And what cause do you care about? It could be Syria, for others it could be Afghanistan. It could be you here in your community in London. Think about the thing that you’re most talented in doing. And what’s the cause you care about. And how do you combine that. How can you organise something you love doing? That thing, is what’s going to help you survive, what’s going to help you receive that trust from those that surround you.
For me, it was in that tiny cell, that it all started. I started to learn things that were useful, I started to enjoy teaching people things. And there, I used that on a daily basis to save lives. In your scenario, it could be something else. It could be math, it could be physics. It could be games, it could be art. It could be anything, anything you do in your life, could be useful work. And if you can’t find a way with your thoughts, ask ChatGPT. How can I use my talents to bring awareness about Syria? You would be surprised how many ways you would find, from ChatGPT, Google, any AI or non-AI platforms; there are many ways of doing something.
Most importantly, the worst thing you can do, is not doing anything. The worst thing you can do is think, huh, there’s nothing that can be done. You will be helping the régime killing more people. If you haven’t seen the Caesar photos, you should go by the exhibition.
The régime is killing people on a daily basis. Those people have stories. Those people had love stories like mine. And they ended up, maybe married to the girl they love. The girl I love, when I get out of prison, she called me. I would have loved that call, for a few minutes. Before she started talking about her engagement party. It is the anniversary of our story of love, and now they are just dead. We don’t want that to happen to other people. If you don’t want it for you and your beloved ones, you shouldn’t accept it for other people.
And not accepting it is not just a thought. It’s not just a word you say. An action you take. We want you today, before you leave this room, to think about an action. Come, discuss it with us in person. There’s another panel coming after me, and I’ll be outside, waiting for you. All of you. Come and shake our hands, and ask us a couple of questions. We would like you engaged, involved. Thank-you very much.’
Most importantly, the worst thing you can do, is not doing anything. The worst thing you can do is think, huh, there’s nothing that can be done. You will be helping the régime killing more people. If you haven’t seen the Caesar photos, you should go by the exhibition.
The régime is killing people on a daily basis. Those people have stories. Those people had love stories like mine. And they ended up, maybe married to the girl they love. The girl I love, when I get out of prison, she called me. I would have loved that call, for a few minutes. Before she started talking about her engagement party. It is the anniversary of our story of love, and now they are just dead. We don’t want that to happen to other people. If you don’t want it for you and your beloved ones, you shouldn’t accept it for other people.
And not accepting it is not just a thought. It’s not just a word you say. An action you take. We want you today, before you leave this room, to think about an action. Come, discuss it with us in person. There’s another panel coming after me, and I’ll be outside, waiting for you. All of you. Come and shake our hands, and ask us a couple of questions. We would like you engaged, involved. Thank-you very much.’
Dr. Mohammad al-Hadj Ali:
‘We started this story twelve years ago, exactly with any man like Omar al-Shogre. When we lived our life, and were thinking about our future. And we were thinking of building Syria again, in the next decade, in a better shape.
And this was when we were looking at other countries as well. But in fact, the picture was not that rosy when the Arab Spring started, and then Syrian people dared to go to the streets. Just thinking about a better future for everyone in that country. And that was the biggest crime we did, in a country being dictated over decades.
This is what we did actually, in 2011. Just dreaming was a big problem, in a country that had been dictated over decades by the same family. Our people dared there, to think about just expansion of human rights, improving their rights, and thinking about employment, opportunities, and freedom as well. Just a little word, freedom, written on walls by schoolchildren, the whole story started.
From peaceful demonstrations, that have always been proscribed in Syria, to a full-scale war launched by whom? By the government, on its own civilians, its own people. As Omar said, when he saw the soldiers, this is the army, this is our army. These are the police officers who are meant to be protecting us, working for us, and working for security, of this country, and its own people.
In fact, the story, it’s completely different. These forces, and that army, is to protect a family, and to protect a ruler, and to protect a dictatorship. And it’s never been meant, to protect their own people.
I had to hear, unfortunately, two witnesses, and eyewitnesses. And when I looked at the figures today, I just tried to refresh the figures in my mind again, about those who have been refugees, or forced to be displaced, or those who have been detained, or those who have been lost.
In my beloved country, it’s shocking. Because the estimation is always higher than what’s been documented, or what you can see by Google. We talk about more than 50% of the population of my country, now they are refugees, or internally displaced. More than seven million people internally displaced, inside Syria. More than six million people in the neighbouring countries, and more and more in diaspora.
So these are the figures of refugees. If we look at the figures of those who are detained, we talk about more than half a million people lost their lives there, just because they talk about freedom, and they protested.
But the reality, if one day all the facts come in, from bulldozer drivers, not driver, and gravediggers, we’ll listen to more shocking figures. We believe that the figure is higher and higher, than what has been documented there. So we talk about a high figure of those who have been detained. I want to talk about the 140,000 people being detained. In reality the figure is much more higher.
When we talk about figures over twelve years, the country now, it’s being unfortunately under four regions, with four different authorities. I would like to talk about always one united Syria. And our perspective is for all united Syria, for all our population. So we talk about the half of the population refugees, internally displaced; and we talk about, by some estimations, nearly one million people being killed, and announced dead, and talk about hundreds of thousands of people being detained.’
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‘We started this story twelve years ago, exactly with any man like Omar al-Shogre. When we lived our life, and were thinking about our future. And we were thinking of building Syria again, in the next decade, in a better shape.
And this was when we were looking at other countries as well. But in fact, the picture was not that rosy when the Arab Spring started, and then Syrian people dared to go to the streets. Just thinking about a better future for everyone in that country. And that was the biggest crime we did, in a country being dictated over decades.
This is what we did actually, in 2011. Just dreaming was a big problem, in a country that had been dictated over decades by the same family. Our people dared there, to think about just expansion of human rights, improving their rights, and thinking about employment, opportunities, and freedom as well. Just a little word, freedom, written on walls by schoolchildren, the whole story started.
From peaceful demonstrations, that have always been proscribed in Syria, to a full-scale war launched by whom? By the government, on its own civilians, its own people. As Omar said, when he saw the soldiers, this is the army, this is our army. These are the police officers who are meant to be protecting us, working for us, and working for security, of this country, and its own people.
In fact, the story, it’s completely different. These forces, and that army, is to protect a family, and to protect a ruler, and to protect a dictatorship. And it’s never been meant, to protect their own people.
I had to hear, unfortunately, two witnesses, and eyewitnesses. And when I looked at the figures today, I just tried to refresh the figures in my mind again, about those who have been refugees, or forced to be displaced, or those who have been detained, or those who have been lost.
In my beloved country, it’s shocking. Because the estimation is always higher than what’s been documented, or what you can see by Google. We talk about more than 50% of the population of my country, now they are refugees, or internally displaced. More than seven million people internally displaced, inside Syria. More than six million people in the neighbouring countries, and more and more in diaspora.
So these are the figures of refugees. If we look at the figures of those who are detained, we talk about more than half a million people lost their lives there, just because they talk about freedom, and they protested.
But the reality, if one day all the facts come in, from bulldozer drivers, not driver, and gravediggers, we’ll listen to more shocking figures. We believe that the figure is higher and higher, than what has been documented there. So we talk about a high figure of those who have been detained. I want to talk about the 140,000 people being detained. In reality the figure is much more higher.
When we talk about figures over twelve years, the country now, it’s being unfortunately under four regions, with four different authorities. I would like to talk about always one united Syria. And our perspective is for all united Syria, for all our population. So we talk about the half of the population refugees, internally displaced; and we talk about, by some estimations, nearly one million people being killed, and announced dead, and talk about hundreds of thousands of people being detained.’
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