{"id":1646,"date":"2016-01-29T11:59:19","date_gmt":"2016-01-29T11:59:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.raqqa-sl.com\/en\/?p=1646"},"modified":"2016-01-29T11:59:19","modified_gmt":"2016-01-29T11:59:19","slug":"sake-syria-remember-naji-jerf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.raqqa-sl.com\/en\/?p=1646","title":{"rendered":"For the sake of Syria, remember Naji Jerf"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Comment: Naji Jerf was gunned down by suspected IS militants. His death is a reminder of Syria’s true progressive revolutionary principles, carried out by those he taught, says Omar Abbas.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Syrian activist Naji Jerf\u00a0was\u00a0known by many as el-Khal\u00a0<\/span>–\u00a0<\/span><\/i>or uncle –\u00a0for his\u00a0mentorship and training of\u00a0many young\u00a0people in the revolutionary movement. Jerf was assassinated by suspected Islamic State group gunmen in\u00a0Geziantep, Turkey while bringing lunch back to his family in December.<\/p>\n

There has been a good deal of coverage\u00a0of his death, but the core of his work and his dedication and contributions\u00a0to the Syrian revolution have often been overlooked by English media. Born in 1977 from a Leftist family, Jerf grew up in Salamiyah, a city renowned for its\u00a0<\/span>role<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>in the Syrian revolution. He graduated with a bachelor\u2019s degree in philosophy from Tishreen University and worked as an al-Jazeera documentary producer in Damascus until the beginning of the revolution.<\/p>\n

When protests\u00a0against the regime erupted in Syria, Jerf moved back to his home town and became one of the city\u2019s most prominent activists, drawing on his\u00a0background in order to serve the movement.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Local leader<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jerf was a founding member of both the\u00a0<\/span>Local Coordination Committees<\/a>and the Coordination Committee in Salamiyah, and acted as the main connection between them. Jerf also founded the\u00a0<\/span>Salamiyah City Media Office<\/a>, which documented and archived the protest movement in the city and 18 neighbouring villages, responsible\u00a0for releasing statements about developments in the city. His film,\u00a0<\/span>White Carnations for Salamiyah<\/a><\/em>, focused on the city’s\u00a0revolutionary mobilisation and civil society\u00a0movement during the revolution.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Seeing<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>a need for a print outlet to cover and archive the revolution, Jerf founded\u00a0<\/span>Hentah Magazine<\/a>, focused on issues such as national identity and sectarianism.\u00a0The magazine also produced\u00a0local news and untold stories\u00a0from Salamiyah and elsewhere. During the regime’s\u00a0military campaigns in the neighbouring cities of Hama and Homs in late 2011, many residents fled to Salamiyah, where locals and civil society groups received them and displayed great amounts of solidarity.<\/p>\n

Jerf was an active part of this effort, helping\u00a0fund and\u00a0deliver aid to the internally displaced. Jerf would covertly make his way down to the cities on his motorcycle, helping with media coverage and relief efforts. From the beginning of the revolution, Jerf and other\u00a0 activists wanted by security forces\u00a0would move from house-to-house in different towns to avoid arrest and\u00a0make covert trips into the city to participate in protests or to visit their families.<\/p>\n

After a wave of arrests in the city, Jerf fled to Homs, where he continued to contribute to the cause. In Homs, Jerf would sleep in a different place every night,\u00a0while training activists,\u00a0helping in setting\u00a0up\u00a0local media offices, securing funding and bringing aid into areas in need.<\/p>\n

While\u00a0he was in\u00a0Homs, Jerf’s wife, poet Boshra Kashmar, gave birth to their first daughter, whom they named Emesa, after Homs’ ancient Greek title. Then, Jerf\u00a0 found the regime closing in on him again. So he fled, this time to Damascus.<\/p>\n

On the run<\/strong><\/p>\n

Working out of a covert office in Jaramana, in rural Damascus, Jerf worked on documenting protests in\u00a0the capital and surrounding villages. He worked on connecting local\u00a0<\/span>activists<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>with\u00a0media outlets\u00a0to cover the protests and regime’s repression.<\/p>\n

Jerf did not spend much time in Damascus and soon\u00a0moved to provincial Daraa, where he again went about training activists. However, due to regime threats, he left for Jordan, where he was deported to Turkey by Jordanian intelligence. Stuck in Turkey, Jerf worked from the border town of Gaziantep for\u00a0<\/span>Basma Syria<\/a>, a civil society group working for a “liberatory, progressive transition to a new Syria”.<\/p>\n

Eventually, Jerf became the group’s manager, where he\u00a0managed funding of civil society and media initiatives, as well as training over 700 journalists and media activists in writing, photography, information security and other essential areas that would allow them to report from Syria.<\/p>\n

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Jerf envisioned a free and sovereign Syria, and always worked towards a democratic secular state built on the principles of the revolution.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Jerf’s involvement with Salamiyah continued, representing his city\u00a0in revolutionary\u00a0initiatives and negotiations.\u00a0For instance, he was a\u00a0founding member of Action Group for Salamiyah, a group of\u00a0activists who meet regularly to discuss developments, media coverage, and future planning.\u00a0He also played a vital\u00a0role in negotiations to free\u00a0Adra workers, many of whom\u00a0are from Salamiyah,\u00a0who were kidnapped by rebel group Jaish al-Islam\u00a0in rural Damascus.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Jerf expanded Hentah Magazine, increasing reach and continuing to publish articles about prisoners and martyrs, refugees, Kurds, Palestine, FSA, IS, and broader questions regarding Syria and the revolution. 27 issues were published under him. He also founded\u00a0<\/span>Hentawi Magazine<\/a>, a version geared towards 9-15 year olds.<\/p>\n

Standing against\u00a0extremism<\/strong><\/p>\n

After the emergence of IS, Jerf, like other revolutionary activists, worked to cover developments in areas occupied by the extremist group and expose their crimes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Many of the activists working in the anti-IS activist\u00a0group\u00a0Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>were trained by Jerf at Basma Syria. He worked as an adviser\u00a0to the campaign, developing their coverage and media strategies. Before his death he was working with the group on a production to promote their campaign.<\/p>\n

One of Jerf\u2019s last works was the film “ISIS in Aleppo<\/a>“, which covered the\u00a0extremist group’s role in kidnapping, torturing, and\u00a0assassinating\u00a0many\u00a0activists and civilians in the city. It also showed how Free Syrian Army factions were able to temporarily expel the\u00a0IS\u00a0from Aleppo.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Jerf envisioned a sovereign and\u00a0free\u00a0Syria, and always worked towards a democratic secular state built on the principles of the revolution.<\/p>\n

Jerf was known for his veneration of the martyr, persistently reminding people of fallen comrades through all his work, with the last edition of Hentah Magazine before his death for example being dedicated for Palestinian-Syrian prisoner\u00a0<\/span>Ali Shihabi<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Several Palestinian artists and writers mourned Jerf, calling him the\u00a0<\/span>martyr<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>or\u00a0<\/span>son<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>of both causes for his unwavering dedication to the Palestinian cause,\u00a0matched only by his dedication to the Syrian revolution. Jerf was well-versed with Palestinian culture and enjoyed good relations with the cadres of Palestinian factions in Syria.<\/p>\n

He was known for his work ethic and long working hours, which stemmed from his dedication to the revolution. He\u00a0worked long\u00a0hours and often for little or no pay, especially towards the end of his life. He kept hope in his heart for the future of Syria, rejected despair and\u00a0pursued the vision of the free country\u00a0he had always envisioned.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He always maintained that Syrians could not lose their battle against the regime and IS. During one\u00a0<\/span>interview<\/a>Jerf\u00a0reminded Syrians\u00a0that modernisation\u00a0is a\u00a0historical inevitability.<\/p>\n

It is important to tell the story of Jerf and\u00a0those akin to him, the representatives of a Syrian alternative oft-dismissed and ignored. Jerf’s assassination deeply shook the community, ostensibly due to his mentorship of\u00a0activits and journalists\u00a0but moreover for what he represented: the\u00a0revolutionary contingent of activists, councils, and fighters across Syria and abroad continue\u00a0the struggle\u00a0for their revolution and their\u00a0rights.<\/p>\n

Jerf might be gone but the cause he fought for will be carried on by those he taught and mentored.<\/p>\n

(Special thanks to Omran Hallak, Maher Esber, Nidal Bitari, Aziz Asaad, Hussam Eesa of Raqqa Being Slaughtered Silently, Joseph Mardelli, and\u00a0<\/span>Budour<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Hassan for their input in this piece)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Omar Abbas was a medical student and activist in Damascus and is now residing in California.<\/p>\n

Opinions in this article remain those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of The New Arab, its editorial board or staff.<\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

source : alaraby.co.uk<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Comment: Naji Jerf was gunned down by suspected IS militants. His death is a reminder of Syria’s true progressive revolutionary principles, carried out by those he taught, says Omar Abbas.<\/p>\n

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