Why won't we talk about Syria?
It is no secret that the civil war in Syria is a global matter. It's not theirs, it is ours too. So why won't we talk about it?
The country under leadership of Bashar Al-Assad has been in ruins for years and yet, no common agreement or solution has been found. Important cities such as Palmira and Aleppo are completely destroyed. As a consequence, the international community meets often and has already tried a lot. But have they tried hard enough?
We got so used to seeing the refugee crisis on the television and bombing scenes that we pretty much ignore Syria's disastrous situation. "We got used to seing people dying, buildings being bombarded and are now tired of the refugee talk."
Syria's civil war started as simple protests in favour of democracy in 2011. Some, wanted to end family Assad's dynasty, son of Hafez Al Assad who started governing in 1970. An Alawi himself, Assad took control of Syria because of the armed forces behind him and ended up transforming the Arab Nationalist party ( Ba'th Party) into his power instrument.
Even though his regime brought transformations such as education, electricity and piped water to the entire country, his government faced diverse corruption scandals, repression and a patrounage system to maintain Assad in power.
Assad's regime has been supported by Russia not only because of their cold war past. Other factors that influence this political partnership is the Christian-Orthodox religion's influence and now, more than ever, they have one common enemy: ISIS, ISIL, IS or Daesh.
Syria's scenario of political instability and fragility is old and known. One of the biggest victims of the European colonialism system in the 20th century, Syria is tired of being Europe’s or Assad’s. Syria wants to be Syrian’s for once and they need our help.
The civil war in Syria needs our support and our solidarity. Only this weekend, 200 air strikes were registered and killed 100 people in Aleppo. In the same city, hospitals, schools and humanitarian convoys have been bombarded and destroyed by Assad and Russia after the failure of the cease fire declaration with US. The scenario is chaotic and one of the remaining hospitals has registered its record number of amputations in order to make people live and because of the lack of instruments and needed materials. An informant claimed there are only 20 doctors left in Aleppo. 20.
It’s time for us to realise that the Syrian Civil war is our concern too. The number of refugees in Europe, Turkey, Brazil and other countries is rising. Instead of complaining about these people and ignoring the fact that a country is in ruins, we need to demand actions from our governments. What can be done to help people that are on the run and who have lost their rights to live in peace? International Coalition? Humanitarian Aid? More assistance? We must act: the refugee crisis affects all of us. Let us not believe it doesn’t. Let us talk about Syria.