It was about 14 years ago when an unknown street vendor named Mohamed Bouazizi sparked the Arab Spring through his suicide in protest of being harassed by local police, simply because he wanted to make a living in his hometown of Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia.
Bouazizi’s act of defiance led to a pro-democracy movement called The Arab Spring, during which a number of regimes in the Middle East and North Africa collapsed.
Over the weekend, another major regime changed hands, as Bashar Assad, a man accused of crimes against his own people, resigned and fled the country.
This hit me because I know a couple of people of Syrian descent whose families had to leave the country because of the oppression.
One, who we’ll call Ana, is a dance friend from up the East Coast who I see only occasionally. She’s a groundbreaking medical professional in her field whose family was targeted for reprisals by the Assad regime.
Because of the regime, she couldn’t go back to her ancestral home to celebrate the life of a relative who passed away a decade ago.
Today, Ana has hope.
“These last few days have been an emotional rollercoaster,” she writes. “I can’t even imagine what it has felt to all the families who have had loved ones come back. All the people who have suffered this oppressive evil for decades. Never did I think to see the day.”
The other, who I’ll call Valaida, is a person who I met on a swing dance floor. She was a marketing professional and journalist.
“In Syria, I risked my life demanding freedom, justice, democracy and equality,” she says. “Instead, I was punished and faced threats to my very existence.”
Valaida was arrested by Syrian intelligence agents and held for two months, including two weeks in solitary confinement. Only now has she completed a decade-long fight for asylum here in the United States. And she has not stopped speaking out about the Assad regime.
“When we started a civil movement in the Syrian revolution, I participated in it with all my heart and soul in pursuit of freedom from a dictatorial regime that has been in the hearts and minds of the Syrians,” she writes. “I dreamt of change and prosperity. I dreamt of a country where the people are not slaves to the regime and its men, and they are cowards to the point where they are afraid to talk about it even in their homes. And the Syrians are creative and kind people who deserve a decent life.”
Hopefully, the events of the weekend will lead to a new day for the Syrian people and some closure for Ana and Valaida.
