A diamond in a very rough place. (via Occupy Kafranbel)
Since 2011, the town of Kafranbel in Syria, a place known as a creative hub, has created political cartoons and English-language messages to help spread awareness of the pro-democracy struggle there. Often, these messages feature themes of compassion for victims of tragedies in the West, with one notable example being their condolences after the Boston Bombing.
Syria sent a message to Boston, and Boston sent a message back. pic.twitter.com/jBAvxyXtzH
— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) April 22, 2013
While it can't be justly compared to an attack like the Boston Bombing, the passing of Robin Williams has emotionally impacted millions of people in the US and abroad. They picked a very appropriate quote from Aladdin (which is set in the fictional city of Agrabah, somewhere in nearby Arabia), subtly reminding us of their lack of freedom. It's much more gentle than some of their other messages, which are pretty overt in their attempt to jolt you out of your apathy.
In this three-way conflict, the citizens of Kafranbel represent the anti-Assad, pro-democracy side that made us want to support the rebels before the presence of militant Islamic fundamentalists like ISIS complicated the whole situation (namely because we feared they would steal any weapons we shipped over—which they ended up stealing from Iraq instead). I'm not really qualified to explain the whole thing, so why don't you check out a real news summary on the subject.
(by Johnny McNulty)