Snow-White Helmets
Article translated from the original by Malek Daghestani
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A woman wearing the uniform of the Syrian Civil Defence "White Helmets" makes her way among the hundreds of civilian men who are eagerly watching and following a response, to rescue and extract neighbourhoods from under the rubble of the devastation left by the February 6th earthquake in north-western Syria. She receives the body of a child from her fellow rescuer. She embraces him in her arms and turns back to the ambulance, to start treating him.
The picture seemed unfamiliar after many years of attempts to exclude women from public work. Attempts were made by many of the de facto forces that took turns in the region. But in our case here, we did not notice that any of the men present denounced the presence of this volunteer woman, in the midst of this crowd of men. No one ever wondered, what is that woman doing here? The strangest thing is that there were signs of admiration on their features, and perhaps pride in their courage and strength, to be in this place during moments of danger.
This was not the only image of the "White Helmets" volunteers during the past days, as the female volunteers appeared repeatedly in more than one place, which suggests that the "White Helmets" have restored and consolidated a safe space for the role and work of women. It was not insignificant to see one of the volunteers at the forefront of the scene, standing next to Raed Al-Saleh, Director of Civil Defence, as he recited his statement during the press conference he held in the town of Sarmada, north-western Syria on February 10, after more than a hundred hours. on the occurrence of the disaster.
The presence of women at the rescue sites and at the press conference seemed like a new confirmation that the "White Helmets" organization kept a realistic distance between it and the de facto authorities, and did not succumb to the pressure of the general atmosphere that those parties tried to impose on women. The truth is that the organization, for those who know it from the inside well, and I am one of those who claim that, kept a distance even from the supporting parties, and maintained its independence, as it was not subject to anyone's conditions, except for the code of conduct that it approved and adhered to since the beginning of its establishment in 2013.
The blog emphasizes the requirement that its volunteers not be affiliated with any political party, and when it discovered otherwise, it would take the necessary administrative action. In addition to the Code's observance of all international laws that do not allow bias in response and rescue operations, on any racial, national or religious basis, it affirms that rescue missions are not exploited to support a specific political position, and that it not act as a tool for any political party, or in favour of any agenda. Not aligned with the mission of saving civilians. As a result, the organization was subjected to long campaigns of distortion, not only by the Assad regime and Russia, who went as far as accusing the organization of terrorism and of being affiliated with al-Qaeda, but also by the Syrian military and political parties when the organization did not harmonize with the directions of those forces.
During the press conference in Sarmada, Raed Al-Saleh appeared to be a "statesman" in the least possible description. "I offer my apologies and regrets to everyone whose family and loved ones we could not reach alive, in all parts of Syria. The pain squeezes our hearts just to think about that..." The man said, not excluding in his statement the affected areas under the Assad regime. "We were fighting impotence and fighting time to reach them alive... but we swear to you that we worked and did our best...". Al-Saleh recited his statement in a voice that suggested that every branch of the earth was crowding in his throat. He phrased his speech responsibly and without any lightness, so the statement appeared to be issued by a truly appreciative party. This was not only because of his distinguished personality, but also because he represented and belonged to an organization that lived up to the ambitions and hopes of the Syrians.
The statement did not claim any false heroism, but more than that, it thanked the Syrians and the local communities for supporting the work of the "White Helmets" with money and equipment, and even the fuel they cut off from their families, so that the mechanisms could continue their rescue operations. Many news reports dealt with the initiative to provide vehicles and vehicles free of charge to contribute to rescue operations. Most importantly, the continuation of the work of volunteers in those sensitive circumstances, with a significant lack of funding throughout the north-western region of Syria in recent years, was dependent on individual and personal donations from Syrians and individuals from all over the world during the disaster.
With a little reflection on the matter, the observer feels that the catastrophe of the earthquake has revealed another catastrophe that was present during all the previous years. The respect and embrace that the "White Helmets" gained in the past few days from the Syrians, and from the countries of the world that made promises of urgent financial support, was because they did what was dictated by conscience, and not what was dictated by the supporter. The bitter question here is, what if the political and military entities also maintained that distance with the supporters, in order to obtain their decision and remain independent and implement what the Syrian conscience dictates to them, and not the controlling countries as is the case. Had it done so, not only would we not be in a better place and situation today, but we would have seen many examples of independent national political or military institutions that inspire pride and command the respect and even love of Syrians.
It is also remarkable that what happened during the past few days erased and undermined all the media efforts that the enemies of the Syrians worked on. Here I mean the Assad regime and Russia in particular. Funded campaigns led by Russia through the global media and through writers who pay them, to say that the “White Helmets” are a terrorist organization, and that they carried out, in cooperation with external parties, the chemical attacks in Syria. The Assad regime did the same thing, but with less professionalism and more vulgarity. He reached the point where he used the drama to say that the pictures of the efforts of the Civil Defence, as they pulled out the victims of its bombing with its partners, are just cases of representation and deception. All this effort of the regime and Russia was lost in just one week, with the white picture that the organization showed during the blackness and darkness of the catastrophic earthquake scene.
As much as the earthquake catastrophe came as an additional catastrophe for the Syrians, in part it showed a transient state of sympathy for the front lines. More than that, in terms of the White Helmets, it was a final and decisive test to show the nature of the organization. "The groaning of the victims and those trapped under the rubble will remain in our ears as long as we live. The victims used to recite their wills to us, and send feelings of loss to their families while they were under the rubble before their death. These messages will remain a trust in our necks." Those touching words were the conclusion of the Civil Defence statement, so that the organization would announce, days later, the official mourning in all parts of Syria, which neither the Assad regime nor any of the crippled opposition structures did, with a decision to fly flags at half-mast in all its centres and points for a week, in addition to declaring a day The sixth of February of each year is a national day of mourning to commemorate the earthquake victims.
Those snow-white helmets deserved this dazzling celebration, in a rare moment of Syrian consensus. Pictures of volunteers are widely circulated on social media and websites. Not the first of which is a picture of volunteer Hassan al-Talfah contributing to the rescue, with his prosthetic foot, after he lost his leg in a cluster bomb explosion while carrying out an operation to remove unexploded ordnance years ago, nor the last of which is a picture of a group of volunteers standing in front of the grave of their fellow volunteer Fatima al-Hassan, who died with her family under demolition in the town of Jenderes, and they apologize to her for being late because of their preoccupation with rescuing the victims of the disaster. Pictures trying to repair the rift over which we have been living for many years.
As for me, today I have a favourite picture of me personally, which I would like to share with you. A picture from exactly ten years ago. First volunteers, coming from all over Syria to the Turkish city of Adana, to attend a training course on the principles of professional rescue. Among them was a girl and a guy who got married a few days ago. According to their funny expression, they considered the session a vacation from the bombing and destruction, to be like a honeymoon. At the end of each day, they finished their training, covered in dust from head to toe. Nevertheless, they were smiling at the camera to commemorate the strangest honeymoon a newlyweds could have.