March 15th marks the five-year anniversary of the start of the Syrian Civil War.
The full scale of the devastation is almost incalculable: After five years, more than 220,000 lives have been lost. And according to the UN’s refugee agency, almost half of Syria’s population of 23 million people has been displaced: 6.5 million within the country and 4.8 million outside of it.
As dark as things now seem, the people of Syria are not without a ray of hope now that the world’s attention has turned decisively toward them.
Syria: A Brief History of the Crisis
You may recall that the Syrian Civil war began when pro-Democracy protests began to break out all over the country in the Spring of 2011. Among the demonstrator’s demands was the immediate and unconditional resignation of President Bashar al-Assad, the unpopular dictator whose actions at that point included crackdowns and military sieges in response to Arab Spring protesters.
The United States was quick to signal its support for Assad’s resignation once the government’s clashes with protesters began to look less like isolated incidents and more like the stirrings of all-out war. Later on, after years of being at cross-purposes in the region, it came to light that even Russian President Vladirmir Putin had asked Assad to step aside to put an end to the hostilities.
What’s Changed in the Last Few Years?
As difficult as it may be to believe, the human toll is just one way to measure Syria’s loss. In addition to its lost and displaced citizens, Syria is also suffering terrible cultural losses. For instance, Syria’s commercial center and largest city, Aleppo, is almost a total loss. Home to the famous Umayyad Mosque, which dates back to the 11th Century, Aleppo is now uninhabitable.
The same goes for Homs, Jobar, and Harasta — all reduced to rubble due to the fighting. In six Syrian cities alone, the World Bank estimates that the cost of repair could exceed $4.5 billion — and that was at the end of 2014.
Nevertheless, thanks in part to the unlikely common ground between the US and Russia, a “cessation of hostilities” was recently reached in Syria, although its lasting effects are as-yet unknown. It’s worth noting that such a cessation does not constitute a “formal” ceasefire, but it does signal that the combatants bay be ready to restrain their forces in order to, hopefully sometime soon, approach the bargaining table in good faith.
How Can We Give Peace a Chance?
As we have seen, the Syrian Civil War is very far from a localized problem. The millions of displaced Syrians are overflowing the borders into neighboring countries, overtaxing immigration centers and giving rise to what Amnesty International is calling a “catastrophic moral failure.” Simply put, some of the world’s richest countries are turning their backs on this unprecedented humanitarian disaster, and it’s shaming us all equally.
The problem is particularly pronounced in the United States: The richest country in the history of the world, and the one whose most recognizable national treasure, the Statue of Liberty, bears the following inscription:
“Give me your tired, your poor / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free / The wretched refuse of your teeming shore / Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me / I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
Has the US lived up to its own mandate? Not even close. Thanks in no small part to the hatred and bigotry preached by the con-artist formerly known as Donald Drumpf, Americans are becoming increasingly less supportive of US efforts to take in Syrian refugees. They do so because they choose to live in constant fear of terrorism — that ill-defined, nebulous word that has the civilized world shaking in its boots. They ignore an important point: That in the years following the events of 9/11, the US became home to between 800,000 and 2 million refugees from all across the Middle East. To date, only three of them have been arrested on charges related to terrorism.
As a final embarrassment to the United States’ once-celebrated sense of charity, more than half of the country’s governors have indicated that Syrian refugees are not welcome in their states. To deny these people entry is to not just abdicate a moral obligation, but a legal one as well; governors have no power to fight the resettlement of political refugees. They’re so wrapped up in their fear of the Other that they ignore the many, many immigrants and refugees that have gone on to do amazing things and leave a lasting mark on this country. Investing in support and education at the local level empowers refugees to find their footing and become valued, productive members of American society.
The most important thing we can do here in America to lend our strength and support to the people of Syria is to not let hatred trump our commitment to the troubled peoples of the world. America has always been a land where immigrants and refugees can breathe free and start anew. Too many of us have forgotten this fact and are being led by the nose by one of our two major political parties: The one that’s been shanghaied by the sort of fear-mongers and pathological liars who sleep with handguns under their pillows.
Most of all, the resolution to this crisis depends on our understanding that any humanitarian crisis — most particularly one of this magnitude — touches us all. We are all human beings, with a shared destiny. One Presidential candidate recently said it best: “When you hurt, I hurt.”
And make no mistake: Compassion for the people of Syria is not just an empty platitude — it may have a real, calculable effect on the ongoing negotiations. As suggested by the School for Conflict Analysis & Resolution, the rebel underdogs in Syria fear that if that any effort on their part to approach the bargaining table will result in a solidification of the status quo.
There is currently no better way to stoke their fears than to deny their most vulnerable citizens a helping hand when they need it most.