A Syrian's Struggle To Get By
Syria is in the news constantly, yet it's rare that we hear from Syrians inside the country who face daily struggles to get by.
As the war grinds on and with winter approaching, we reached out to photographer and filmmaker Saeed al-Batal, a pseudonym he uses for his safety.
Al-Batal painted a grim picture of his life in Douma, a suburb to the north of Damascus that has been under siege.
Here are the highlights of his interview with NPR Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep:
Please describe your situation.
The city used to have 750,000 [residents], now there is about 250,000 in the city, and most people are in a bad situation. All of us eat one meal a day. There is not enough of anything. We are in big need for everything.
How does food get into the suburbs of Damascus?
Under the siege, you can make deals with the army that surrounds us. The deals are under the table deals and they go with high prices. The price of one kilogram [2.2 pounds] of rice in Douma is about $10. Ten dollars in this area is too much because no one can make more than $1 a day — if he is lucky.
One man from Douma described his life as if he was doing shift work. He would hold a weapon on the front line and rotate in and out. Do you do that?
No, I don't hold weapons. I only hold camera. It's a kind of weapon. I do go to frontline. I stand beside the fellow rebel who is carrying a weapon and film what he is doing.
In Syria before the revolution, holding a camera or having a camera was a big crime. Before the revolution there were no pictures from Syria. After the revolution, there are a massive number of pictures and movies from inside Syria and that is one of the good sides of the revolution. I can go to the free areas and film whatever I want and capture whatever I think is good and enjoy this little bit of freedom.
A scene in Harasta, just west of Douma, on Oct. 14.
What are people saying about U.S. policy toward Syria?
It's either stupid or [people] don't care. They say that the [Syrian] regime killed more than 200,000 people and no one in the world did anything. When ISIS killed 3,000 people, all the world gathered and said we should fight it. When the Syrian regime strikes with chemical weapons and kills 1,500 in one day and none of the world did anything to stop that.
So people, they have no hope in the universe. They see themselves as so alone and depend on nothing but themselves. Under the very heavy need in every sort of life comes a new creativity we did not know about before.
For example, did you know that you can create gasoline and other fuel from plastic and you can also create energy from fossils of the animals. You have to create things that are not here. In the area, no electricity. No water support. No hospitals. You have to fill all these empty holes in the system.
Now we are extracting fuel out of plastic. We use it to make generators work. Then we charge batteries. That is how I can talk to you.
Do the people who remain include children and do they have anything like a normal life?
I don't remember what normal life is. I don't have a clear vision of that. There is civilian life in here. Of course there are women and children, a high number of them. We have like 20,000 (rebel) soldiers, all the rest civilian. We do create small schools in basements to try to educate as much as you can. But under this harsh situation where you don't eat enough, education is last of your concerns.
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Transcript
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
ISIS is just one of many parties in Syria's civil war. And we hear next from an area controlled by a different rebel group.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
We placed a Skype call to a suburb of Damascus and reached a man who lives there. He described Syria's civil war as it looks where he lives.
INSKEEP: The man is a photographer. For security, he goes by a pseudonym, Saeed Albatal. He's in a zone that has been besieged by the government.
SAEED ALBATAL: I live in the city called Douma. It's five kilometers north of Damascus. It's actually the biggest city in al-Ghouta. And now the East of Ghouta is under siege - complete block siege - and this siege made life so difficult.
INSKEEP: I've been to Douma. I went through very quickly because it was being shelled. Artillery shells were landing at the time. But I have a memory of a strip of auto dealerships. One of them was on fire. There were destroyed houses visible behind that. You're in one of those neighborhoods perhaps that I glimpsed from the highway then?
ALBATAL: Yeah. I'm exactly in that city. The city used to have, like, 750,000 people. Now there's about 250,000 people in the city. All of us, like, eat one meal a day, and there's not enough of anything. We are in big need for everything actually.
INSKEEP: How does food get into the suburb of Damascus where you are, Douma?
ALBATAL: Under the siege, you can make deals with the army that's around East al-Ghouta. It's under-table deals that goes with high prices. The price of one kilogram of rice here in Douma goes like about $10. And $10 in this area is too much 'cause no one can make more than $1 a day if he is lucky.
INSKEEP: I spoke with a man once who described his life in Douma as being part-time holding a weapon, being in a front line, and then part-time going away. It was like shift work. He would rotate in and rotate out. Do you do that?
ALBATAL: No, I don't hold weapons. I only carry camera. And that's a kind of weapon, or at least that's what I think. So I do go to the front line, and I do stand beside the fellow rebel who is carrying a weapon. But I go there to film what he's doing.
In Syria - I don't know if you understand - but in Syria before the revolution, holding a camera or having a camera is a big crime. I think before the revolution, there's no pictures from Syria or so little pictures from Syria. After the revolution, there's massive numbers of pictures and movies from inside Syria. And that is one of the good sides of the revolution. Now I can go to all the free areas and film whatever I want and capture whatever I think is good. That's enjoying a little part of freedom.
INSKEEP: I want to remind people that United States policy towards Syria has been complicated. The U.S. has demanded that President Bashar al-Assad must step down, but has not struck the Syrian regime. The U.S. has used airstrikes and other means against ISIS in the northern part of the country. What do people around you say about U.S. policy?
ALBATAL: Do you want the truth?
INSKEEP: I want the truth.
ALBATAL: OK. It's either stupid or don't care.
INSKEEP: People think the United States is stupid or that the United States doesn't care?
ALBATAL: Yeah, and they say that because the regime killed more than 200,000 people, and none of the world did anything. And when ISIS killed about 3,000 people, all the world, like, gathered.
INSKEEP: Do the people who remain include children? And do they have anything like a normal life? Do they, for example, go to school?
ALBATAL: I don't remember what normal life is. Now - not a clear vision of that - I don't have a clear vision of that. But there is civilian life in here. Of course, there is women and there is children. So we do create small schools that goes in the basements and try to educate children as much as they can. But under this harsh situation where you don't have safety or you don't eat enough, your education will be the last of your concern.
INSKEEP: Saeed, thank you very much for taking the time.
ALBATAL: Thank you.
INSKEEP: That's Syrian photographer and filmmaker Saeed Albatal. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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