- Challenge of whether to tell the story of Darayya, a Syrian suburb locked down by Assad
- If their story is told, can get the information wrong— Assad is not the only one spreading misinformation; are the rebels really jihadists?
- If it’s not, risk losing their story to history, letting the oppression roll on.
- Found an abandoned house full of books (many people fled the city), and soon collected thousands more
- Turn old underground area into the city’s first public library
- Before war, books were heavily censored to only contain praise of the Assads, who claimed to be representatives of God; pages and pages left white, erasing history → library is a whole new world of no censorship
- Most people haven’t been interested in books or literature
- Tentative first selections at the library, but one popular volume = The Alchemist; speaks simply of self-discovery
- People asking for books about democracy, ex. Arabic book on rise and fall of Arab empires
- From her home in Instanbul, Minoui interviews dozens of library patrons, talking about the new books they’ve discovered
- The library and books = hope in the dark times of war
- Why is the regime focused so much on Darayya?
- Known for sweet wine/grapes and fertile soil, “the city of many houses”
- “Not like other cities”
- Across Syria, talk of the regime only happened underground, until 1990s, a group of Darayyan activists emerged, inspired by writings of Muslim non-violence → their resistance group famous
- Discrete disobedience to regime long before Arab Springs
- One of the original leaders now mentoring the group leading the library
- Victim of massacres before the war; chemical weapons attack during, more atrocities following that
Reading is a diversion, it keeps us alive. It reminds us that we’re human… [it is] a survival instinct.
- In Darayya, reading = act of transgression (the blatant lack of censorship)
- Does Darraya harbor any Islamic jihaadists, even a small fraction?
- At beginning of war, probably — young people easily influenced… but uniquely able to drive out such factions and not be controlled by the caliphate (unlike other cities like Raqqa)
- Result of their strict adherence to governing rules, military decisions by robust and extensive city council, not Free Syrian Army
- Attacks on Paris — in part due to support of French support for some groups in Syria?
- Library attacked → purposeful, like targeting of hospitals and doctors? Hard to tell
- Darayya undergoing constant bombings from the regime, more and more people flee…
- Regime claims no civilians left in the city
- Most of city life moves underground: library, schools, hospitals
- Library also used as community gathering space, professors giving lessons, concerts
- Self-published “magazine” of sorts with functional how-tos, history tidbits, some short poetry and stories, news/media— no politics or propaganda, but more humorous and satirical… crosswords, Zodiacs
- Assad trained as ophthalmologist, so ironic that he is so unable to see the full picture of the war, the existence of a moderate resistance
- Vs rebels in Darayya, able to have critical conversations evaluating the war: what could have been done differently? Was it worth it? Culture of debates
- How would the soldiers in the military to a conversation like this? Would they be able to see the nuances, or does free access to books really allow for more free thinking?
- Kafka: “A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us.”
- Pause in the bombings (2016?) → life begins to emerge at last
- Schools opening for the first time
- Babies born underground (600 or so) see daylight for the first time
- Graffiti artists at work with poems, murals → hope
- Despite lull in bombings, multiple years of siege siege → starvation, no food, running out of necessities in Darayya (cut off from everywhere)
- Call for aid, lifting of aid in letter by 47 women
- Breaking of anonymity = huge risk, bc can be blacklisted by regime
- “Behind the courage of men, the suffering of women…” — so many hardships of war rarely discussed
- May 2016: series of disasters for Darayya
- UN/Red Crescent envoy comes, but is not allowed to bring food except baby formula… then only vaccines… then the Darrayans are shot as they await
- Barrel bombing begins again → sleep deprivation in addition to starvation
- Some sense of comfort from reading about other who went through similar experiences: blockade of Sarajevo, for example → connected with survivors
- Darayya sent letter to French president pleading for aid— the pacifist city at risk of complete massacre, after resisting both the regime and extremists
- Assad continuing to escalate— use of napalm (banned by international law), bombing hospitals
- International support nonexistent for fear of aiding the extremists, sometimes even opening up communications with Damascus again
- Darayya backed into a corner → forced to negotiate with the regime directly for the first time, to try to save civilian lives
- After 4 years of blockade, rebels in Darayya finally left: 7500 people evacuated by bus to neighboring town, then ~2700 fighters taken to a rebel stronghold
- Library pillaged by soldiers, sold cheap on streets of Damascus— response of rebels: ideas cannot be destroyed
- The Darayyans were still successful, despite the city falling— used words vs violence, established language of peace for the next generations
- Siege paradoxically protected them vs extremists, because no outside invaders, community had to work everything out by dialogue
- 2017: some progress toward establishing “deescalation zones,” but Darayya’s third path of civility, moderation not a part of this— controlled by military, still many extreme factions
- Most founders of the library now in Turkey (where many Syrian refugees went)