These days everybody is talking a possible US strike on Syria. Politicians, media and public opinion are divided between the “yes-or-no to intervention” parties.
Yet, by doing so, we are framing Syria in the wrong way. We tend to treat Syria as a matter of foreign intervention, as a geopolitical game between super-powers. This way we forget that, more than two years ago, peaceful demonstrations started in Syria as a civil society movement led by Syrians, asking for reforms, freedom and dignity. Today, the civic movement that took to Syrians to the streets in 2011 remains viable, yet highly neglected by the geopolitical conversations and the focus on militarization that tend to ignore the grassroots movement on the ground.
Syria Untold is a project which Syrian journalists, activists and designers from inside and outside the country have been incubating for more than one year.
Our aim has been to frame information on Syria within its historical, political and social context, and to focus on Syrian civil society and the way it has been coping with the increasing violence and militarization of the conflict by producing actions of creative resistance, civil disobedience and self-management.
Given the present situation, it is more key than ever to take a close look at this civil society component which has been neglected by politicians and the media, therefore by the international public opinion shaped by the latter.
Syria Untold aims to provides an overlook of the current development in the Syrian civic movement and a comprehensive overview of its evolution, offering a comprehensive archive of material and an overview of the creators and groups working in the field. We aim to make non-violent, civil society building more visible and to frame it within a very complex picture.
Syria Untold brings you independent voices, stories from the ground, personal accounts of daily resistance. We focus on everything about Syrian civil society whose crucial importance has been lost in the polarization created by the “yes” or “no” debates, and we highlight the importance of grassroots projects and civil disobedience against all forms of extremism and violence.
Our site combines content aggregation from social media and information collected and shared by grassroots activists with original content produced by our team on the ground in Syria, both in English and in Arabic.
We do hope that you will find our project useful; yet, as it is a work-in-progress we would be happy to get your feedback and suggestions about how it could be improved along the way. We want to welcome journalists, human rights organizations and any groups and individuals interested in Syria to use our contents and materials. Everything we publish is licensed under a Creative Commons license that allows for its use and re-distribution as long as the authors and sources are properly quoted.
Please help us share Syria Untold`s stories with the world; help us bring Syrian civil society back at the centre of the international debate on Syria.
With our best wishes
The Syria Untold team
Our website: http://syriauntold.com/en
Twitter: @SyriaUntold
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/syria.untold
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