We publish here an interview with a refugee from Syria about the earthquake and its consequences. We hope that this interview will contribute to give a voice to the oppressed and a closer insight into the situation in Syria to the readers.
– In general, what can you say about the earthquake and the current situation in Syria?:
In the beginning, the situation was very cruel and bad. Many people were under the buildings that collapsed and most of the people that this bad situation hit were poor people.
The government and the state could not do so much for these people, they could not help properly. After 11 years of war, the state is weak. The regime in Syria is weak, especially financially.
The Syrians actually have more than enough difficulties. Something like this was the last thing on their minds. The first hours after the earthquake, the state could not do anything because there was not enough diesel for the big excavators and construction machines, so the people who were not under the buildings had to try to help the other people with their bare hands. But unfortunately they could not do much against big pieces of concrete.
After an earthquake, you are supposed to work very fast. The fast work is important to help the people. It is very important because you can really help very many but the Americans prevented the state from getting diesel and gasoline.
Especially the Americans occupy with the PKK and PYD resource-rich areas in northern Syria, which means that the oil and gas in the rest of Syria is missing.
Especially in Idlib the situation is very bad. There has been no state there for eleven years. Many people built their buildings quickly. Without control, without anything, and they did not follow building rules. That’s why a lot of buildings have collapsed there. But the Syrian state could not do anything there because the Islamists are there now and there is not much construction machinery there either.
In northern Syria, there are areas where a lot of Kurds live. Some of these areas around Afrin have been occupied by militias working with Erdogan. The situation is very bad there as well. The militias there are no more than robbers and criminals. They are also Islamists. Their background is religion but they are trying to implement Erdogan’s plans.
People who live in Afrin told that after the earthquake the militias just left the people under the rubble while they looted the ruins of their houses and stores.
Erdogan also closed the border so no one could go into Turkey. The people there did not get any aid. The Syrian state tried with many organizations to send aid to Idlib and Efrin but the militias said no, they didn’t want.
– You have family in Syria, how can you support them currently:
All you can do is send money to Syria. The people there urgently need money, aid, medicine, clothing, natural gas and oil. This has to be provided by large organizations because individuals can only send small aid. In a disaster like this, individuals can’t do that much. You can help the families to live for one or two months but nothing else. And the situation is bad, thousands have lost their homes.
Before the earthquake, there were ways to send black money to your family because the governments in Europe and many countries prevent you from sending money to Syria through official channels.
At the beginning of the earthquake it was possible to send some money, but the prices have skyrocketed. You have to pay twenty euros per hundred euros, whereas before it was seven per hundred.
In social media, many people have published videos and explained that many people who offer a money transfer to Syria are just robbers.
The other day I saw a video where a woman said that she wanted to send 300 euros to her family and paid 75 euros to these traders, but the traders stole all her money. They did not send any of it to the family and there were many such cases where traders did not send money to Syria.
There are organizations that collect money from refugees but it is not known how much money they get and how much money is spent on refugees in Syria. It is also not known whether the money is for food and medicine or for weapons.
– What do you think about the fact that after the catastrophe the sanctions against Syria were still maintained?:
First, the Americans banned many governments from sending aid or funds to Syria. The first planes came from Algeria and the Emirate. Then aid came from Iraq. They really sent a lot and they ignored the Americans. A lot of aid has come from Russia, Iran, and also from China until now. A few weeks ago there was a plane from Western Europe from Germany. The Americans forbid aid to be sent to where the government is but they had no problem sending aid to where the Islamists are.
Of course it doesn’t matter where people live and they are not to blame for the Islamists being there, but it is strange when NATO governments talk about human rights and democracy but at the same time send aid to the people in that area knowing that the Islamists will keep and sell everything. They will not give them to the people for free. This is what happened in Idlib. There is a public scandal there. The UN sent tents to Idlib and the Islamists said whoever wants to sell his tent they will buy it for fifteen euros. This was after the first earthquake and many people lost their houses only after they sold their tents. The Islamists then offered to sell the tent back to them for a hundred and fifty euros.
Another story. The Americans have forbidden the government to receive natural gas and oil from northern Syria, but at the same time they have sent gas and oil to the Islamists.
Western governments do not want to send aid to the Assad regime because they do not want the regime to be strong. They destabilize Syria because they want that the regime is weak. When the Western NATO governments and the capitalists in general talk about human rights, it is nonsense.
They are fighting against the regime. They want to ruin the regime. That is why they punish the people who live there. The people have no value for them as long as the western governments can achieve their goals. It doesn’t matter if the people there die or suffer. That is not important to them.
NATO governments prevent the babies in Syria from getting milk, they prevent the sick people from getting medicine and at the same time they talk about human rights or freedom and democracy.
– Now the sanctions have been eased somewhat in some countries. What do you think about that?:
They have eased the situation a little bit, but the countries that have been sending aid, medicine and clothing to Syria have been ignored by the Americans. The Americans have eased the sanctions but they have not sent anything until this moment. The European governments have sent about one or two planes, which is very little, while other poor countries have sent a lot.
The easing is mainly for the news in the media. They are for the people in Europe and America. The governments there are in a difficult situation, because they talk about human rights but block other countries during such a situation.
They have now eased the situation a little bit, but in reality nothing has happened. They did that because there was a lot of news about how big the misery is in all areas. Many people around me have noticed this and asked me how they can help. Many regimes have eased the sanctions now but it is just propaganda.
Aid organizations can now more easily send humanitarian goods and services from these countries, but Syria still cannot buy the materials that are urgently needed on its own.
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What do you think the handling of such catastrophes would look like in a socialist society in which the workers have the power?:
The situation would definitely not be as bad as it is now. Of course, the earthquake is a natural disaster. We cannot prevent it. But we can prevent people from dying under the big concrete pieces without help. The state is responsible for helping people and building alternative housing, and it is responsible for making sure that no one has to sleep on the street or on the cemetery. Many are now sleeping in the streets because they have nowhere to go. The Syrian government is giving them food but it is not enough. The government should be responsible for providing housing for those who have lost their homes.
The state is also responsible for ensuring that all buildings are built properly without private companies that only think about profit.
The companies there have built bad buildings and the consequences of this can be seen now.
The state is also responsible that the sick and injured people can be in a proper hospital.
That is not the case now. There are a few state hospitals but not enough.
The state should help people so that they not only have food and a blanket but that they can actually live like human beings.In capitalist society, it is not possible for the state to ensure that people can live with dignity. The human being is only a product.
In a capitalist society we have no value. Our value is determined by our consumption behavior. If we work, we have a value. If we pay our taxes and consume products we have a value. If we stop producing and the capitalists can no longer exploit us, we lose our value.In a socialist society, a human being is not a product. There, our value is determined by how we work together and live together so that no one person has advantages that disadvantage others.
For the socialist society we have to fight. It is as Karl Marx said, we have nothing to lose but our chains.
For the socialist society we oppressed must unite and as Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx said: Proletarians of all countries, unite.
