Syria compared to The United States

By: Travis Pullis

At the start of every day, the students would gather in the courtyard and recite the anthems. The first being the Syrian national anthem. The second being the anthem to the President and his father. This must happen before any classes take place. If you walk down the street as a child you think nothing but praises of the president and his family. As I was speaking to Sarah, she described how she would look up to them and was more than happy to wave a picture of the president around with a smiling face or to repeat the anthem around town. This would not have been an awful thing for a country to praise their leader, but the leader of Syria and his family were filling the country with blood. However, nobody spoke of the awful things that the president had done due to fear of death.

Imagine living in a country where the children are brainwashed into believing their nation is great, and everyone else either lives in fear of what might happen to them if they speak out or they support the bloodshed and brutal rule of a tyrannical leader. Somewhere where every morning you wake up not knowing if your own brother or sister could turn you into the authorities because of a slip up of your words. Off recording, Sarah described to me the horrific event where her uncle was murdered by family members for speaking ill of the president. These types of things happen every single day in Syria.

For those that still do not understand the tragedy that has overtaken Syria, if you were to travel there now, after taking the taxi that will smuggle you into the country from Lebanon(because there is no way into the Country otherwise), you could not go anywhere other than the capital. Any attempt to go to a city outside of the capital would most likely result in your death. The capital is the only city that is considered “safe” and even there it is not safe for women.

As Sarah says in the interview, it is unwise for a woman to walk out on the street alone, whether it be at night or midday there is still the threat of rape, abuse, and death. While speaking with her, I was surprised to find that girls were welcome to an education and to go to class, even though they were not encouraged to continue there was no threat if they did decide to stay in school. Unfortunately then she told me about the fear that women face anyway. How can a country be developed enough to offer women the right to an education, but not developed enough for it to be safe to walk on their own streets right outside of their homes. This mismatch is what greatly baffled me.

On and off record Sarah spoke very calmly about everything I asked, even the horrific things such as rape and murder. She describes in the interview how she acts, whether in Syria or the United States, in a manner that would be acceptable for a Syrian woman. This in times means holding her tongue and not speaking on certain thoughts. This was out of fear of judgement and reactions that could be taken against her. It is sad to see that a girl, born in Jersey but of Syrian descent, still lives in fear in not just her family’s country and her temporary home, but also in the country she was born in, a country that prides itself on freedom and liberty.  For us to lay judgement upon countries less well off than us because of their brutality or what we consider “savagery” is wrong. Because those countries are not the only ones in need of change. How far are we from being in the same state of mind, where there are groups of people who still live in fear and oppression because of factors that are out of their control. People come to the United States to escape horror. Unfortunately, sometimes they find themselves thrown right back into it.