\u201cForever is over and history has begun\u201d\u2014 Yassin Al Haj Saleh<\/span><\/h5>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yasmin Fedda and Daniel Gorman<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

The rule in Syria always used to be that you\u00a0 <\/span>never<\/span><\/i> talk politics in a taxi, as the taxi drivers were all thought to be in the employ of the mukhabarat. Now, everything has changed. Taxi drivers told us of being imprisoned in Sednaya Prison under Hafez Al Assad, of their thoughts of Hayat Tahrir Ash-Sham, of their hopes and concerns for the future of Syria.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And of course, it\u2019s not just in the taxis. In Syria right now it seems like everyone is talking. We visited for three short days in early January, it was our first time going back in over 14 years. The Syria border officer asked why we were there – a Palestinian with a western passport with deep family links to Syria, her Irish husband who in the past had lived in Syria, and a Dutch friend, who had also resided here. The old border computer system was the same, and the old family address came up. Friends we later met told us that when their names were inputted into the system, the border officers could see which security branch they were wanted by. One month previously there would have been an interrogation, torture or death, but now, they just laughed about it with border officials.<\/span><\/p>\n

Driving the familiar road from Jordan to Syria, through Deraa province, with its red brown earth and black basalt rocks piled up, was emotional and unbelievable \u2014 had we really just crossed this border that we haven’t been able to for so long?<\/span><\/p>\n

The road was very quiet. The taxi driver explained how things had been before the fall of the regime. There were many (now abandoned) checkpoints on the roads, and previously at each one they took money, which meant he hardly made a living.\u00a0 He was hopeful about the future but cautious. He is a Sunni, Damascene man. He said he and many others were not accustomed to the more conservative form of Islam that the liberators had brought to Damascus, and he was worried about this, though hopeful that Syrians will find a way. We drove past the remnants of a huge checkpoint on the highway towards Damascus, the small security search rooms scattered around it, empty. It was eerie to see these, to know the nightmare they represented, where people would be picked up, and in many cases detained, or disappeared. A physical manifestation of the state of fear that had been there.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Capital<\/h4>\n

As we neared Damascus center the roads got busier, and our previous memories, 14 years old but still so fresh, clashed with the\u00a0 new realities. Petrol was now sold in bottles on the side of the roads, brought in from Lebanon, as it seemed no petrol stations were open. Money was so inflated; trunks of cars were full of cash, working as currency exchangers. The last time we were in Damascus the rate of exchange was 50 lira to $1. Now it is 11,000 to $1. There was more visible poverty. The new flag (an older flag adopted by the revolution) hung everywhere, painted on walls, and bollards. Previously everywhere, now the only\u00a0 images of the Assad family we saw were destroyed. We came across the Officers Club in downton Damascus, where images of Assad, the father and son, were put on the steps into the building, so whoever walked in had to step on them. This was unimaginable. We still couldn’t believe it even though we saw it. The cumulative effect was an emotional overload, a combination of euphoria and heartbreak, hope and fear. Everywhere we went, everyone we met, said it felt like a dream. And it did feel like a dream, a dream following an unbearable nightmare.<\/span><\/p>\n

Being back in the city was familiar, but so different. The city center had not had much investment or development since 2010 \u2014 it looked the same, but had become more worn. The old alleys of the Old City were thronging with people. Stalls selling sweets abound, rainbow marshmallows, multi-colored hard candies, sour snakes and Turkish delight. Families were out for a walk to celebrate. It felt like Eid. We went to Bekdash \u2014 perhaps one of the best ice cream shops in the world, which makes milk ice cream with pistachios, hand pounded fresh everyday to a musical rhythm. We complimented them for their new t-shirts with the new flag on them, and the ice cream maker told us they had them ready and waiting. Everyone goes for ice cream here, families, couples, young and old, and HTS fighters with their kalashnikovs. Ice cream makes everyone happy and the sign on the wall proudly stated, \u201c6:18 am 8\/12\/2024 Syria gained it\u2019s freedom.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Alongside the buzz of change is the imagery and culture that prior to December 8 would have gotten you arrested or worse. Revolutionary and freedom imagery and paraphernalia is sold everywhere you go in Damascus \u2014 the \u201cnew flag\u201d hangs in the center of the souk and is available for sale at stalls. A wide variety of revolutionary scarves, stickers, mat\u00e9 tea straws, t-shirts, hats, and pins abound. The revolutionary humor that was so present in Syria despite everything endured, with socks for sale with an image of the deposed leader saying \u201cwe have stepped on you Assad\u201d, a mug with the face of Assad along with the slogan \u201c<\/span>Father of underwear<\/span><\/a>\u201d (Abu Kalson) in reference to the revealing photos of Assad that were discovered after he fled. One of the key voices in the revolution was\u00a0 <\/span>Abdul Basset al-Sarout<\/span><\/a>, who died after a battle with the regime in Hama in 2019. His face is now everywhere, on scarves, pins, flags, and even on the Ummayed monument in central Damascus. Revolutionary music blares from the stalls of the Hammadiya souk.<\/span><\/p>\n

The formal arts sector also is engaged \u2014 it\u2019s all happening so fast it is hard to keep track of, but during our brief visit we were invited to visit a new publishing house and a new revolutionary arts atelier in a gallery, along with meeting people moving a multilingual (Kurdish, Armenian, Syriac and Arabic) radio station to Damascus and seeing a print copy of a Communist newspaper in Damascus. All of these initiatives in Syria are for the first time ever. As the esteemed Syrian thinker Yassin Al Haj Saleh said following the overthrow of the regime (in relation to the old phrase \u201cAssad forever\u201d)\u2014 \u201cForever is over, and history has begun.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tend the graves<\/h4>\n