Welcome

My name is Fadi and almost 24 years ago I was born in Iraq to Syrian parents living in exile with their family members. 19! Would be the exact number of family members in exile at that time. Ages ranging from 50's to newborn. Why were we in exile? Simple! Both Grandfathers of the family defied Hafiz Al-Assad in the 70's, thus passing down a life sentence of exile to all the generations to come. Some families pass down a ring, a car, a painting, our family passed down all that and the looming vision of Syria, never to be entered by either side of the family. You can say that 24 years ago my Syrian revolution started. Not in 2011 but in 1989. 

The idea of a revolution was always a dinner table conversation at our household, we never believed it could happen, but we talked about it. Talks of torture, exile, prison, secret police and immigration were a norm growing up. I probably knew more about the "Mokhabarat" (Syrian Secret Police) than any other kid at the time. You could have asked me about methods of torture in Syrian and Iraqi prisons and I could have easily listed a few before the age of 16. The Ba'ath party was a word we encountered multiple times a day, and Assad and Saddam brought shivers when mentioned. I was a Syrian, my family were Syrians yet we had no home country, the kids had no Syrian passports. However our Arabic was Syrian in dialect, our food was Syrian in taste and our identity was 110% Syrian. Recently I questioned this mentality. Facebook asked me to include my "hometown" information in a box on my page. What a simple task to many! Yet what a daunting task to me! "Home" "Home?" That word haunted me a few weeks ago. My home was clearly Canada (I have been a Canadian citizen for almost ten years) EASY! I need to make clear that ever since we moved to Canada ( which I will discuss in later posts) we considered ourselves Canadian! I love Canada! Canada is my country, I love everything about Canada! So I went on a search to see hometowns of my Facebook friends. Some lived in other provinces, some even though Canadian were born elsewhere and that was their home town (like me). Naturalized Citizens always had their hometown as their original country. You see here's my dilemma. Current city is easy. Home town is not where I was born (Baghdad) because I lived there for two years only! It's not Amman, Jordan because I'm not Jordanian and we weren't even considered immigrants in Jordan. So where is my home town! I had a brilliant idea: Syria! Yes, Syria is my home town. Now I went to punch that in and they didn't have that option, I had to choose a city. My dad is from Lattakia, and my Mom from Amouda, which city do I choose? Well my frustration boiled over and I chose none! I left it blank! Yes this is a rather long introduction, but now you know who I am, I am a Canadian of Syrian heritage, born in Baghdad, lived in Jordan and now a citizen of the best country, Canada! This blog will be focused on the Syrian revolution. Syrian's right for freedom. And some weekly posts about my past, and why I am qualified to talk about Syria and its political structure. 

Good Night, and as the Arabs say may you wake up in peace. Tosbehoona ala Khair