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Today marks the 4th anniversary of the Syrian revolution. This day in particular always makes me wonder: if there were a magical button that could stop the revolution from ever happening, would I push it? Would other Syrians push it? Yes, Assad would reign for decades. He would continue to rule Syria with an iron fist. But there would not be millions of refugees, hundreds of thousands of casualties, child soldiers, rape, violence, ISIS... When the cost of freedom in your country is so high, this hypothetical question poses a great dilemma. My name is Ru'a, I'm a 21-year-old girl from Aleppo and I do not have all the answers. However, I do know what the revolution means to me as a Syrian, I have witnessed the hope it brought to people's hearts and the creativity it sparked in their minds. Sadly, these memories are slowly vanishing. For four years, the focus on military and geopolitical aspects have painted a murky picture of the conflict in Syria. Today, people don't know the revolution started with peaceful demonstrations and not guns. To many outside Syria, al-Baghdadi sounds like a familiar name, while Ghiath Matar (a famous peaceful activist tortured to death) does not ring a bell. Even in my own memory, pictures of grisly decapitations are more vivid than the scenes of peaceful protesters in Hama and Deir ez-Zor, chanting for freedom. That is what we are trying to change through a new project called Syrian Voices which we’re starting today. There are scores of videos far away from the news headlines that the world doesn't see because of the language barrier. Videos from the core of the Syrian civil movement that could help safeguard a story of perseverance, where millions of men and women were the protagonist. My mission is to try and subtitle these videos, to amplify these voices and make sure they are heard. It is a journey to a time when Syrians were not too war-weary to laugh and create art, even in the face of a tyrant's bullets. Here is one of these videos - a three minute comedy sketch about a dictator as a football coach. Please watch it and share with your friends: <http://act.thesyriacampaign.org/go/45?t=1&akid=143.62220.YfXn3K> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhSBtJGuZTE Hope you enjoy the films, Ru'a *The Syrian Voices channel is a joint project with SyriaUntold - an independent digital project exploring the storytelling of the Syrian struggle and the diverse forms of resistance. Please subscribe to the Syrian Voices YouTube channel to watch the subtitled films - we aim to release one daily.* You can unsubscribe from this mailing list at any time. <http://act.thesyriacampaign.org/cms/unsubscribe/unsubscribe/?akid=143.62220.YfXn3K> _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
