they are muslims with completely
different habits different political
culture
with which we has nothing to do with our
polish culture
from
my
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bismillah
salaam alaikum greetings and peace
welcome to the dean eddie your host you
guys have been requesting for quite some
time to talk about to create awareness
on what's going on in syria we've talked
about many of the impressions that are
going on all over the world in different
places but what about syria you don't
hear much about it on the news you hear
about ukraine you hear about all the
other things that are going on but why
not syria why not when the muslims are
being oppressed the world is
silent no prayers for the muslims so we
are here to talk with our next guest who
is the president of an organizations
that are doing some wonderful work dr
safar how are you i'm good how are you
so how you been it's been quite a while
since we've seen my time has just uh
flown by so quickly i know and
alhamdulillah i'm doing very well and
busy very busy but alhamdulillah you
know i i i love uh
community service i love
serving my community and i've been busy
with that ever since you know me yes
yeah you're also an attorney yes i am
yes
you're the per you're the president of
an organization that's dedicated to
creating awareness on what's going on in
syria please tell us about this
organization sure the organization is
the
the syrian forum usa uh and it's a it's
a organization that is dedicated to
uplifting and and kind of repairing
really
the life of syrians that have been
shattered by by the war that now has
been going on for about 11 years going
on to 12. yeah
okay we hear what's going on in
ukraine
and it's sad any time oppression is
happening anywhere in the world
but
a lot of people are asleep to what's
happening on sir you don't hear much
right right is it kind of like is
everything over is it back to normal it
is really not back to normal but
so basically there's a de facto division
now of syria the you know the northern
part uh like a strip of about maybe 50
kilometers from the turkish border and
it's not consolidated yet but but it it
is
it is almost it's being consolidated and
there's a lot of complications and a lot
of international kind of haggling and
back and forth between the different
actors and and and governments and and
countries that have control or have some
influence uh but eventually what people
see is a north korea and south korea
kind of thing for the foreseeable future
the north being mostly you know under
the
if you will um
i don't want to say the protectorate of
turkey but almost like that yeah and
then and and then and everybody who fled
the regime will be in that in that strip
if you will and then south of that it
will be uh it will be controlled by the
government as
as it has been yeah so what's the
situation of the
muslims there you know just
in general like day-to-day life can you
paint a picture of what's day-to-day
life in syria right so so really it's a
it's a it's a very difficult and
and
incredible dichotomy in that in that you
are either under the government control
and you are
you are safe from bombardment
but you are living the most oppressive
life there is you literally have no
control over anything you walk out of
your door you don't know if you're gonna
be stopped by a secret police you don't
know whether somebody is gonna risk you
and and decide that you know you are
somehow threat to the government and
they throw you into somewhere where they
torture you i mean you hear the the
stories and you you see the pictures of
of i mean the government is merciless
and it seems like the international
community have decided that they they
are not going to hold them accountable
and and they got that message louder and
clearer so they continue to oppress so
they have they have a complete iron iron
fist on on on the area under their
control and if you are a younger man or
woman
you know you you avoid going out you
avoid you know you try to stick to
places where you can avoid the
government's you know reach and eyes um
on the other hand if you are outside of
government control then then you can be
bombed anymore any minute so whether by
the government troops whether by the
russians or whether by the iranians and
so
and and so you are not safe um uh and
that's really that the life you know in
syria in general you choose either
oppression or you choose basically being
being unsafe and bombed any time
how would you compare now with the whole
world awakening
and coming to the aid of the ukrainian
people
compared to when things are happening in
places like gaza and places true like
myanmar and other places were in syria
now and it seems like there's a double
standard of course
we are wondering why ukrainians are
welcome in all countries while we syrian
refugees are still intense and remain
under the snow
under death and no one is looking at us
but hungary is now allowing ukrainians
through their closed borders
i don't know why there is this
discrimination we are also humans we
also fled and are here suffering for 10
years it's a day and night absolutely
and then it's very clear it's very clear
and i would say i mean in part maybe
it's for practical reasons ukraine being
being you know
you know
in europe and being too close uh
you know if ukraine fells then
you know the western world in general
feels vulnerable uh and so you know so
there's that practical element but most
definitely there's a another element of
the fact that those people in ukraine
are not brown and black people and
they're not you know you saw the
reporters when they were reporting on it
they were saying they look like us
blonde hair blew up sure yeah yeah they
don't they don't hide their prejudices
no not at all
also as a as an attorney i mean do you
see now because you know the laws i
don't know in this particular area of
expertise
maybe you're familiar with but
it's kind of ironic that you saw people
even from the uk and the united states
and other parts of the world
going over there you know volunteering
you know to help trump and
if somebody was to do the same right
they'd be locked up for life fighting
for democracy
because
democracy is precious i'm going to
ukraine i've been setting my mind of
where i'm going and i know it's it's a
just cause 16 000 foreigners have joined
in the fight on the ground in ukraine on
monday the country temporarily lifted
visa requirements for foreigners making
it easier for them to come in and get
after it they're here to fight i have to
fight i will fight ukraine's president
called on foreigners to join a newly
formed international defense legion to
bolster the country's army he hailed
them all as heroes
and thousands of people from around the
world have been answering that call
some are joining ukraine's armed forces
others are trying to get to the battle
on their own sure absolutely again it's
it's the double standard thrown through
absolutely so you've seen those things
also right sure sure and you say it's a
matter of designation and because you
know i mean
you know the law is whatever the law
makers makes it you know so if they
draft the law in a certain way that
would criminalize an act it becomes
criminal and and you know and and and
beyond that even when it comes to the
application of the law you know
sometimes the government can turn the
other eye to something uh for a short
term or long term or forever or it can
be like a hawk right on it that the
first infraction they jump on it and
they you know think of it as you know
you drive down a highway and you know
sometimes you drive 80 and they let you
get away with it and sometimes you are
like you know
56 57 and they flag you down and they
have multiple reasons sometimes
discriminatory reasons sometimes it's
you know it's the same way it really is
the same way okay tell us the situation
with uh just some of the basic
necessities for life electricity food
water yeah what's going on with that i
mean
again if you are under government
control you probably are getting
electricity three four hours a day
that's about it and if you are outside
it depends where you are some areas that
have now gotten some
infrastructure from turkey
they live in relative you know
as far as utilities as far as water for
running water all that they live in in
relatively decent
situation but there are many places
where they don't have the the the
infrastructure have been destroyed
utterly and they so they don't have
running waters they don't have
electricity they live on you know
generators and then you know they go you
get gas from from miles away and they
walk that distance and that kind of
stuff
yeah and and so as far as food also the
same thing i mean a lot of them
on the northern part they still live on
on on
you know eight they still live on on you
know
the handouts from the international
community from charities including
muslim charities
and and they don't have means of being
able to secure
their own needs are the charity
organizations who try to help
their brothers and sisters down there
are they given a hard time are they able
to get in there and help
i would say for the most part they can i
would say yes um there was a time where
where the border was completely open and
and then and that you know the
the the charities can go back and forth
freely
it has been tightened but still
it's relatively easier uh
to bring aid in
from from the turkey side yeah
so what could the the world at large
people who don't know much about this
part of the world why is it important to
get informed on what's going on there in
syria sure um
i mean on a humanitarian level it really
is it is one of the
i would say the worst strategy is a
tragedy in in the 21st century bar none
i really do uh about
so the population of syria pre-war was
23 million so there's about
about 5 million that are displaced
around the world in turkey about 3
million
and then the other 2 million between
egypt and lebanon and then the european
countries
you know throw out
so that's about 5 million
and then you have about uh another
five million that are displaced within
syria in that northern strip that i
talked about so you have about 10 out of
23 million that are that are displaced
so the country got shattered and
and the repercussions of that
i would say
are felt worldwide i i would dare to say
that
russia's uh aggression in ukraine was as
a result of the green light it got in
syria because they felt that they have
leverage and they can they can make a
move on something more strategic to them
which is to to to kind of hurt europe
and and and and be able to to grab land
from countries that they feel
traditionally or or you know
historically have somehow either
belonged to them or should fall under
their influence and so so even the
ukraine
situation i believe is as a result of
the international community being laxed
on syria
but in addition to that honestly on a
philosophical level i'll tell you that
to me
you know the
the moral failure of of the western
civilization
uh in syria to me
is something that will probably uh you
know
how to put it it
will bring in my mind the downfall of
boston civilization if there's not a
correction to that to that failure
because you have i mean the videos i
mean
only three months ago the videos
literally in some neighborhoods in
damascus they were they were literally
digging the ground making a hole
bringing out of the neighborhood
everybody they think is again the
government marching them into the hall
and shooting them in the head right at
the hole and then pushing them in wow
absolutely and and there was videos of
about a couple of those but they said
there's hundreds of them i mean the
amount of you know the torture i mean
you know that we had
the caesar law that was passed as a
result of what as a result of
55 000 pictures of 11 000 people who
died under torture and they had the
exact system that hitler had
where everybody who who was killed under
torture they had them filmed they threw
them on the floor naked they had them
filled in five six different positions
and then reports were written about
about them and those reports were being
submitted to the president himself
and of course the intelligence you know
agencies under him so you have that kind
of that kind of atrocities that should
have required uh to set aside anything
else any politics any just on moral
grounds and the fact that that didn't
happen to me is is something that that
in my mind if not corrected
is is is capable of bringing down the
western civilization
that's really deep you know when you
think about it you going back to again
what's going on you know you see a lot
of pray for ukraine or others and that's
not to diminish the suffering of people
there but have you seen anything pray
for the muslims in syria not really no
really maybe one yeah one go trending i
i've not seen i have not seen that it's
just mind-boggling yeah yeah
so what's your tell us uh again what
your organization does
so syrian forum usa is an organization
dedicated our motto is rebuilding syrian
lives because as i told you those lives
were shattered in every respect and so
we basically work on on
supporting
uh the the the putting together back
together the lives of syrians whether in
turkey or northern syria or even in some
pockets within the government's control
if we if we can and if we are able to
and and basically we focus on really
like our methodology and is that we we
say you know
from the old adage you know give a man a
fish you feed him for a day give him
teach him how to fish you you feed him
for a lifetime so our we have focused
for example on securing jobs for syrians
who are in turkey we have built
relationships with the with the
industrial complex if you will with some
government agencies where we train
syrians we put them into jobs we monitor
them in those jobs make sure that
they're earning money because honestly
like personally when when
when i would go to syria the northern
part and then and then in turkey one of
the most difficult you know
scenes is to see a little syrian child
coming up to the cars when they stop at
the traffic light to clean the window so
they can get you know
some some money and then
almost always when you look to the side
you will find that his mom is sitting
under the tree waiting for him to to
collect those little money and bring it
to her because her husband you know got
killed either in prison or is away or or
whatever those kinds so those moms for
example we take them we buy them sewing
machines we train them on on on
that some of them they they learn how to
to cut uh
stones the beads you know they make
beads and stuff
some of them
they became entrepreneurs one lady that
stands out for me is that now she
employs about 25 ladies um and she
started out by getting her own machine
and and working so our our motto and our
our philosophy is that you know do
whatever we can to make them stand on
their feet so we we do small business
loans you know we we've bought seeds for
for farmers if the area is safe enough
to where they can they can plant um
we have bought some people for example
you know either either some sheep or
even a a small calf and they they you
know they raise them then they use their
milk and all that and they sell them so
so we do whatever we can to try to
to
bring somebody to stand on their feet
and we monitor them we have them we
provide them even with psychological
support
and social counseling
until we kind of feel that they are able
to now now move on their own we move to
the next you know the next group the
next batch so so that's our model
beautiful and the name of the
organization again is syrian forum usa
god almighty rewards you thank you thank
you thank you i mean except for us
trying to make a difference by creating
awareness
and we'll see you next time here
inshallah
alhamdulillah we are in contract to
purchase this 35 000 square foot
facility to make it the dean center and
in it there will be a masjid inshallah
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build a masjid for allah allah will
build for them a house in jannah get the
tremendous rewards and donate right now
to help purchase this property may god
almighty allah reward all of you
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