Syria After Assad: Euphoria and Fears
Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR)
Giving Voice, Driving Change
THE BIG PICTURE
The ousting of Bashar al-Assad this week has been greeted with euphoria, despite the challenges ahead.
VOICES FROM THE FRONTLINE
“We feel an immense happiness. We have been waiting for this for so many years and now almost don’t believe it,” said Rahada Abdoush, a lawyer in Damascus.
She described years of vigilance to avoid arrest and torture, and how Syrians have been forced to flee for decades.
“Prisons like Sednaya have been opened up and prisoners freed, some of whom have been held for more than 40 years. Even if just for that, this victory has been worth it.”
“Fuck the future. Can I just be happy today?” said Ghias Aljunid, a human rights consultant living in London. “I would describe myself as an extremist secularist, but I’m still happy even though the fighters are from an Islamist faction.”
Still, the possibility of return raises complicated emotions.
Writing in the New York Times, Syrian journalist Zaina Erhaim, who worked for IWPR for eight years inside the country and abroad, explained her reaction to the news: “At my mother’s words, the thick, protective walls I had been living with for years collapsed under the weight of a flood of new ideas, led by one: I can go back.”
Yet Abdullah Hamdan, a journalist in Berlin who uses a pseudonym, said he felt rootless after many years away.
“Can I regrow these roots? Is Syria now the same country I left? The regime has fallen but how has society changed? Can I connect with them or not, and what role do I have there, if any?”
WHY IT MATTERS
Syria’s momentous transition is a reminder that conflict does not disappear even when international attention shifts elsewhere.
Inside the country, independent media and civil society groups have never stopped working for human rights and freedom despite the extreme risks.
“The fear of being kidnapped or arrested is with me constantly,” Muslem Seytisa, an IWPR-trained journalist in north-western Syria, told us last year, describing the perils of moving between “massacres, airstrikes, camps, and extreme poverty”.
Amid the jubilation, Syria faces a perilous future as the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Shams group takes control. Independent journalists and rights defenders will be as crucial as ever.
THE BOTTOM LINE
IWPR has been working in Syria since 2007 to support independent Syrian voices.
From the first days of the 2011 revolution, we platformed Syrian journalists and activists demanding freedom and human rights. Since then, we have continued to relay untold stories, document abuses and support accountability.
One project provided a space for Syrian women to share experiences amid displacement and tragedy; another used state-of-the-art technology to create a virtual museum of Islamic State atrocities.
Huge challenges lie ahead. IWPR remains committed to working with our Syrian partners to build a positive and peaceful future for the Syrian people, at long last.
As journalist Abdullah Hamdan said, “This has given people across the whole region hope. Everything now seems possible.”