Syria...

Suddenly after my lunch, I am no longer hungry for Christ-crackers. Instead, I'd like to start the afternoon with a more serious note - and bring attention to Syria. It's not that we don't read terrible, horrible, unimaginable things about this region everyday - I read/hear about it all the time and go on relatively unphased. Maybe it's that there's so many terrible stories that it's become normalized.

After all, things are looking grand (and safe) from where I'm sitting. My attention was first drawn to the absolute horrific acts towards protesters in late December (I know, I'm a little bit late to the party). Before this time I was very aware of the travesties... but I didn't feel connected. It's a bit embarrassing to write and see my words on the screen, however maybe I'm not the only one??

Late December, in Egypt a woman now commonly referred to as the "blue bra girl" was dragged, stomped on, and had her shirt basically torn off her body exposing her bright blue bra. There are videos of this girl being literally dragged skin to the pavement and being thrown around/kicked by guards or whatever you want to call them. Maybe it's because whenever you see protesters they are dressed in black and usually men. It's not that it makes it any better, but it's a lot more faceless. When you see this woman getting stripped/beaten it becomes so much more apparent - umm... this is a human being. This is someone's daughter/sister/mother etc. Thousands of women in Egypt took out into the street in response to the video. At this moment my eyes were (finally) opened.

Back to Syria... In Homs (the 3rd largest Syrian city, which is very religiously diverse (Mostly Arabic speaking Sunni Muslims, and Alawite and Christian minorities)), a kidnapping trade has become quite prominent. For those who haven't been following the previous 10 months of protests in Syria - President Bashar al-Assad has been cracking down on protesters, and cracking down hard. President al-Assad has gone so far to appear on Barbara Walters and deny that he has anything to do with it, and only a 'crazy' person would kill their own people. Hmm... a lot of portraits come to mind.

The kidnapping trade has emerged in a seemingly lawless city. People go missing daily, and are targeted by their religion. Captors kidnap and beat the victims - the Alawis kidnap the Sunnis and vice-versa (the President belongs to the Alawis minority). One man that was kidnapped for 5 days said that "There is no one to complain to. There is no law. You either sit and wait for God's mercy, or you kidnap too."

The country's poorest are being choked off by the sanctions etc. and therefore result to kidnapping in exchange for money or for other prisoners. There is less of a violent intention as kidnapping has become a currency (many victims are returned alive), but this makes it no better. A 30-year old woman was kidnapped off of a public bus. She was screaming saying "Why kidnap me? Kidnap Bashar, I don't have anything to do with this!". No one said anything as she was dragged off the bus by a group of men.

Women hostages are of greater value than men. With male victims it is a man-for-a-man trade. The brother of the 30-year-old woman who was kidnapped joked "We've created a first in Islamic history; inheritance laws in the Koran say a man is worth two women. In Homs, a girl is worth five guys."

The brutality of human currency is incomprehensible to me. In some ways I don't want to understand, but it's reality - and now that women are being seen as valuable prospects scares the living bejesus out of me (I guess I should eat a few of those crackers)...

I wonder if they are discussing any of this in Davos... hmm...