Life in Homs

[Bab Dreeb area in Homs, Syria on 5 April 2012. Image by Bo Yaser via Wikipedia Commons] [Bab Dreeb area in Homs, Syria on 5 April 2012. Image by Bo Yaser via Wikipedia Commons]

Life in Homs

By : Jadaliyya Reports

[The following account of a day in the life of someone living in Homs was first published on the blog Thoughts and Feelings of a Syrian Freedom Fighter.]

Life in Homs

In here you’ll read exactly what I’ve experienced on Thursday, June 14th, 2012.

I woke up at 5 AM after three hours of “sleep,” checked if there’s nearby shooting or shelling, got dressed, and then went out to the bakery. I found eleven people in front of me, and an hour later there were more than one hundred behind me. At 7:16, it was finally my turn. I bought $1 worth of bread (we’re not allowed to buy more) and went home.

At 8 AM, I was done with the bread. I prepared it and put it in the freezer to keep it fresh. I then had breakfast.

8:30 AM: I watched the news, got depressed, and went back to bed since I don’t have a business to go to, because it’s been closed for over a year now like most other businesses in Homs. But that’s a story for another time. In bed I tried to check my email and twitter but I found out that 3G and GPRS aren’t working. I don’t have ADSL at home so I have no internet connection now. No big deal, I’m used to it. But unlike the previous six days we have fresh water since the morning.

12:30 PM: I got up and went out to buy vegetables, which can’t be found easily. As I was walking, I heard noise, and then a security forces’ vehicle passed by, followed by a tank, and then a pickup truck with a huge machine gun (Shilka). I then went to a street where there’s more than one store and found most of them closed.

I went inside an open store and started collecting the things I need, only to be interrupted by the same vehicles once again passing right by me. That’s when I quickly turned my smartphone’s camera on and filmed the tank passing by without them noticing.

Seconds later, the Shilka started shooting only five meters away from me. I was inside the store, so I lied down on the floor next to the salesman. The glass shattered and the goods started falling from the shelves on us because the entire place was shaking badly.

Fire paused for a couple of seconds and that allowed us to crawl to another section of the store that has a wall to hide behind and a sink. The Shilka started shooting again and this time three bullets hit the store’s front. We ducked behind the wall waiting for what’s coming next.

At that moment, surprisingly, I wasn’t afraid. I actually felt like it’s the end of me and was somewhat relieved. As a Homsi, I made peace with death a long time ago.

The Shilka kept on shooting for a few more seconds, so I decided to film that too in case I made it out alive. But that’s when my phone started ringing. My mom called me and she was scared since she could hear the horrible shooting sounds as my house wasn’t far away. I told her I was on my way and that I’m okay. She called again seconds later as the Shilka was shooting and she heard the sounds from the call and was very worried. I had to yell at her saying, “Leave me alone now!” Then I hung up.

The salesman called his family and told them not to come down since his house wasn’t far away either.

Shooting stopped and we heard the vehicles moving, so we sneaked outside and saw that they were gone. I paid the salesman and he handed me some of what’s left of my money when we heard the vehicles coming back towards us again. We ran to the back of the store once more but this time the salesman was fast enough to close the main door half way down. I doubt that the door will actually matter since it’s thin and the Shilka bullets are huge.

Shooting started seconds later and it kept going for a few minutes. Then they left again.

We went out and saw a couple of Security forces officers, we waved at them and asked if we can go, and they said yes. The salesman told me he was leaving the neighborhood and not coming back, and wanted to give me the money he owed me when the vehicles came back once more and we instantly decided to run before they arrive. So I ran towards a nearby street without my money, and went home.

On the street where the Shilka was, I saw hundreds of empty shells, and they were really big, more than 10 centimeters each. I really wanted to pick one up as I was walking right next to them but the officers were watching me and the vehicles were heading my way so I didn’t.

Red Crescent volunteers were moving aids to a store, and most of them ran away when the shooting started, but one was left behind, and a Shilka bullet hit the street and a shred of it injured his foot. I didn’t see this myself as I was inside another store, but his brother is a friend of mine and told me what happened.

As I was walking home, many families were packing their stuff in their cars and fleeing the neighborhood. Many left the area in the past week, and only a few are still living here. Some of them asked me if they can use the street I came from and I said no and told them to be careful.

I arrived home at 1:30 PM, and found both of my parents standing on the balcony waiting for me, and that drove me insane more than what I just came from. Our balcony has been shot so many times before, and I have a collection of bullets from it. It’s filled with holes and even my AC was shot a while back.

I went up and we had a really bad fight, and I did most of the yelling if not all.

My mother told me that when she heard the shooting and I told her to leave me alone, she was so scared she couldn’t think straight anymore. She found herself going out the balcony hoping to see me without thinking about her personal safety. My dad followed her and they both stayed out there until I came back.

I was very harsh with them because all I could think about is their safety. I told them that what they did was very wrong and stupid, and they agreed. We yelled for about 30 minutes, which is a common thing these days since we’re all so stressed and sad from the situation we live in.

As we were arguing and fighting, we heard the tank shooting. That’s when we all stopped shouting and smiled at each other.

I said something I never thought I’d say. I said “One of those tank shells might hit our house and kill us all, let’s not go while we’re fighting and shouting at each other”.

We calmed down, said some nice things, and I went in to write this before I forget any details, and to show them the video I took.

The tank kept firing for a while then we saw it leaving the area with another security forces’ vehicle (A blue jeep like vehicle) around 2 PM.

A bunch of walking security forces members came and started shooting randomly for a few minutes then left without hurting anyone, then at 2:30 PM all that’s left is the sniper gunshots we hear every few seconds.

For the record: I here swear that I saw no Free Syrian Army members or any armed civilians anywhere near my area in months, and when the shooting happened there was no firing back and no attacks. There were no UN observers, and no reporters to cover what happened. There wasn’t even a demo or any kind of protest. There was only a tank, a Shilka, a security forces’ vehicle, some officers and many armed security forces members wearing uniforms shooting at houses and streets filled with us, unarmed, peaceful civilians, and most of them were like me, shopping.

I wonder what kind of story the regime’s media would tell if I was killed there. They’ll probably blame the “armed gangs” like they’ve been doing for months. Or maybe they’ll say I was a terrorist and was about to blow myself up somewhere and they stopped me from executing my evil plan. They might replace the sack of potatoes I had with some explosives before they take a picture of me, or place a hand gun in my shorts and a couple of dollars.

2:40 PM, I am typing this and we lost electricity. Good thing I’m on my laptop. I’ll save this file and go rest. It’s a very hot day here today, and I hope electricity will come back soon to turn the AC back on.

Electricity came back then was gone again, twice. We had to turn the AC off so it won’t get affected.

3:15 PM, a tank rushed into the main Ghouta street and started shooting at 3:17 PM.

10 tank shells were fired in 6 minutes, and counting.

4:00 PM, I counted 18 tank shells including the 10 I just mentioned, and once again only sniper gunfire can be heard, many of them.

Streets are empty and stores are closed.

I made myself a grilled cheese sandwich. Yeah, no diet when one might get killed any minute.

Sounds of explosions in Qusoor and Khaldieh never stopped since early morning. Actually they didn’t really stop since early June. Black smoke clouds are seen very clearly from my window. I don’t take pictures anymore as I have hundreds already.

I saw a tank leaving my neighborhood at 4:45, then sounds of tank shelling came from where that tank left.

One of my neighbors who left a week ago came by to check his house, I talked to him and he made me realize something. Explosions and tank shelling break glass windows because of the air pressure, and it’s not easy to get a glass window replaced these days so I opened all the glass windows we have a little so they move open in case of high pressure instead of getting shattered.

6:12 PM, a big explosion happened not very far away and caused our windows to open slightly. That means my theory was proven correct. I learned so many things in the past 16 months. Not pretty things, but things that I need to survive.

6:15 PM, I looked outside my window and saw many armed security forces walking around my street, talking, laughing, and from time to time shooting in the air.

After dinner, and exactly at 8:50 PM, I decided to bake some brownies (After facing death, you gotta have brownies), but as I was mixing the ingredients, we lost electricity for the fourth time today, but it only lasted 20 minutes or so, and a while later my brownies were good to go.

Security forces left my street and it was a calm night in my neighborhood for a change, except for the sniper bullets of course.

12:30 AM, After watching 3 episodes of The Simpsons while eating brownies, I checked my internet connection and it was still not working, so I set the alarm to 5 AM and went to bed, hoping that tomorrow won’t be as horrific as today.

12:52 AM, my sleeping plan got ruined when a security forces vehicle showed up in my calm empty street and started shooting randomly, and that awoke the sniper up and he started shooting every few seconds as well.

1 AM, I decided to ignore the sounds and try to get some sleep because my new day starts in less than 4 hours in the line for bread.

 

1:30 AM, my sleep gets interrupted again with a phone call from Inshaat, they asked if there’s anything happening near my house because they’re hearing some very awful sounds coming from my area, we told them that the sounds are coming from Qusoor and Khaldieh.

1:50 AM, the explosions sounds became much louder and more frequent. Security forces are now back in my area but they’re just standing there without shooting.

2:30 AM, the sounds of missiles being launched from nearby towards Khaldieh have become so much louder and my house is shaking with every explosion. The sniper is active as well.

That’s when I disabled the 5 O’clock alarm because I doubt I’ll get any sleep at all tonight.

2:52 AM, I saw a light in the sky like lightning then a huge explosion happened, followed by heavy gunfire for a couple of minutes.

3:20 AM, Security forces leave my street, while the attack on Khaldieh and other areas continues.

4:15 AM, a different security forces vehicle shows up and stays for a while in my neighborhood.

That’s when sleep finally got to me and when I woke up the vehicle was gone but the shelling on other neighborhood didn’t stop till Friday afternoon.

This is the day that I lived today. It wasn’t all bad, but it was bad enough. Not every day is similar to this one, some days are better and some are much worse. I hope you got a glimpse of the kind of life we live here in Homs, and I hope you appreciate the little things in your life because you don’t know when they might go away.


Notes

  • Shilka is a weapon made to defend areas against air force attacks, but it is used against people. The bullet can go through a wall or a metal door.
  • The timing of the events is very accurate, give or take up to two minutes maximum.
  • I have personally experienced all the events and I am responsible for the accuracy.
  • I decided not to write about a thing or two because they might affect my safety because they show the exact location of my house.
  • The few hours of disturbed sleep is really all the sleep we can get, and this has been going on since early February 2012.

 

  • ALSO BY THIS AUTHOR

    • Emergency Teach-In — Israel’s Profound Existential Crisis: No Morals or Laws Left to Violate!

      Emergency Teach-In — Israel’s Profound Existential Crisis: No Morals or Laws Left to Violate!

      The entire globe stands behind Israel as it faces its most intractable existential crisis since it started its slow-motion Genocide in 1948. People of conscience the world over are in tears as Israel has completely run out of morals and laws to violate during its current faster-paced Genocide in Gaza. Israelis, state and society, feel helpless, like sitting ducks, as they search and scramble for an inkling of hope that they might find one more human value to desecrate, but, alas, their efforts remain futile. They have covered their grounds impeccably and now have to face the music. This is an emergency call for immediate global solidarity with Israel’s quest far a lot more annihilation. Please lend a helping limb.

    • Long Form Podcast Episode 7: Think Tanks and Manufactuing Consent with Mandy Turner (4 June)

      Long Form Podcast Episode 7: Think Tanks and Manufactuing Consent with Mandy Turner (4 June)

      In this episode, Mandy Turner discusses the vital role think tanks play in the policy process, and in manufacturing consent for government policy. Turner recently published a landmark study of leading Western think tanks and their positions on Israel and Palestine, tracing pronounced pro-Israel bias, where the the key role is primarily the work of senior staff within these institutions, the so-called “gatekeepers.”

    • Long Form Podcast: Our Next Three Episodes

      Long Form Podcast: Our Next Three Episodes
      Long Form Podcast(Episodes 7, 8, & 9) Upcoming Guests:Mandy TurnerHala RharritHatem Bazian Hosts:Mouin RabbaniBassam Haddad   Watch Here:Youtube.com/JadaliyyaX.com/Jadaliyya There can be

Past is Present: Settler Colonialism Matters!

On 5-6 March 2011, the Palestine Society at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London will hold its seventh annual conference, "Past is Present: Settler Colonialism in Palestine." This year`s conference aims to understand Zionism as a settler colonial project which has, for more than a century, subjected Palestine and Palestinians to a structural and violent form of destruction, dispossession, land appropriation and erasure in the pursuit of a new Jewish Israeli society. By organizing this conference, we hope to reclaim and revive the settler colonial paradigm and to outline its potential to inform and guide political strategy and mobilization.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is often described as unique and exceptional with little resemblance to other historical or ongoing colonial conflicts. Yet, for Zionism, like other settler colonial projects such as the British colonization of Ireland or European settlement of North America, South Africa or Australia, the imperative is to control the land and its resources -- and to displace the original inhabitants. Indeed, as conference keynote speaker Patrick Wolfe, one of the foremost scholars on settler colonialism and professor at La Trobe University in Victoria, Australia, argues, "the logic of this project, a sustained institutional tendency to eliminate the Indigenous population, informs a range of historical practices that might otherwise appear distinct--invasion is a structure not an event."[i]

Therefore, the classification of the Zionist movement as a settler colonial project, and the Israeli state as its manifestation, is not merely intended as a statement on the historical origins of Israel, nor as a rhetorical or polemical device. Rather, the aim is to highlight Zionism`s structural continuities and the ideology which informs Israeli policies and practices in Palestine and toward Palestinians everywhere. Thus, the Nakba -- whether viewed as a spontaneous, violent episode in war, or the implementation of a preconceived master plan -- should be understood as both the precondition for the creation of Israel and the logical outcome of Zionist settlement in Palestine.

Moreover, it is this same logic that sustains the continuation of the Nakba today. As remarked by Benny Morris, “had he [David Ben Gurion] carried out full expulsion--rather than partial--he would have stabilised the State of Israel for generations.”[ii] Yet, plagued by an “instability”--defined by the very existence of the Palestinian nation--Israel continues its daily state practices in its quest to fulfill Zionism’s logic to maximize the amount of land under its control with the minimum number of Palestinians on it. These practices take a painful array of manifestations: aerial and maritime bombardment, massacre and invasion, house demolitions, land theft, identity card confiscation, racist laws and loyalty tests, the wall, the siege on Gaza, cultural appropriation, and the dependence on willing (or unwilling) native collaboration and security arrangements, all with the continued support and backing of imperial power. 

Despite these enduring practices however, the settler colonial paradigm has largely fallen into disuse. As a paradigm, it once served as a primary ideological and political framework for all Palestinian political factions and trends, and informed the intellectual work of committed academics and revolutionary scholars, both Palestinians and Jews.

The conference thus asks where and why the settler colonial paradigm was lost, both in scholarship on Palestine and in politics; how do current analyses and theoretical trends that have arisen in its place address present and historical realities? While acknowledging the creativity of these new interpretations, we must nonetheless ask: when exactly did Palestinian natives find themselves in a "post-colonial" condition? When did the ongoing struggle over land become a "post-conflict" situation? When did Israel become a "post-Zionist" society? And when did the fortification of Palestinian ghettos and reservations become "state-building"?

In outlining settler colonialism as a central paradigm from which to understand Palestine, this conference re-invigorates it as a tool by which to analyze the present situation. In doing so, it contests solutions which accommodate Zionism, and more significantly, builds settler colonialism as a political analysis that can embolden and inform a strategy of active, mutual, and principled Palestinian alignment with the Arab struggle for self-determination, and indigenous struggles in the US, Latin America, Oceania, and elsewhere.

Such an alignment would expand the tools available to Palestinians and their solidarity movement, and reconnect the struggle to its own history of anti-colonial internationalism. At its core, this internationalism asserts that the Palestinian struggle against Zionist settler colonialism can only be won when it is embedded within, and empowered by, the broader Arab movement for emancipation and the indigenous, anti-racist and anti-colonial movement--from Arizona to Auckland.

SOAS Palestine Society invites everyone to join us at what promises to be a significant intervention in Palestine activism and scholarship.

For over 30 years, SOAS Palestine Society has heightened awareness and understanding of the Palestinian people, their rights, culture, and struggle for self-determination, amongst students, faculty, staff, and the broader public. SOAS Palestine society aims to continuously push the frontiers of discourse in an effort to make provocative arguments and to stimulate debate and organizing for justice in Palestine through relevant conferences, and events ranging from the intellectual and political impact of Edward Said`s life and work (2004), international law and the Palestine question (2005), the economy of Palestine and its occupation (2006), the one state (2007), 60 Years of Nakba, 60 Years of Resistance (2009), and most recently, the Left in Palestine (2010).

For more information on the SOAS Palestine Society 7th annual conference, Past is Present: Settler Colonialism in Palestine: www.soaspalsoc.org

SOAS Palestine Society Organizing Collective is a group of committed students that has undertaken to organize annual academic conferences on Palestine since 2003.

 


[i] Patrick Wolfe, Settler Colonialism and the Transformation of Anthropology: The Politics and Poetics of an Ethnographic Event, Cassell, London, p. 163

[ii] Interview with Benny Morris, Survival of the Fittest, Haaretz, 9. January 2004, http://cosmos.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/php/art.php?aid=5412