Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War

When Syria’s uprising against the Assad regime turned into an armed conflict, the tone and narrative significantly changed: what was once a popular uprising now turned into an all-out civil war. International scholars, journalists, and pundits all focused on the Assad regime, foreign governments, and the fighters on the ground. But what about Syria’s citizen media collectives and activists that were once at the forefront of it all? They didn’t just vanish into thin air, which is exactly what Burning Country focuses on.

Burning Country doesn’t dive head-on into the Syrian uprising. Yassin-Kassab and Al-Shami provide a thorough exposition to Syria, going as far back to 1966 coup d’état, paving the way for Hafez al-Assad’s rise to power, and later his son, current president Bashar al-Assad. An important point in this section is that Burning Country includes valuable information about uprisings and movements against the government that took place back then, providing a brief history of modern Syria in a unique context.

The remainder of Burning Country focuses on the popular uprising against the Assad regime, and provides in depth information of what was happening in various neighborhoods across Syria. The authors use testimonies from local activists frequently (and brilliantly) to portray events and experiences in an even clearer context. Many of these activists are often revisited throughout Burning Country, evoking their emotions since 2011 from hope and excitement to anguish and misery. In many cases, this is coverage on Syria at its most human level.

While Burning Country explicitly discusses the militarization of the uprising, the rise of Islamist armed groups (notably Jabhat Al-Nusra and ISIS), and the series of failed negotiations that haven taken place, Yassin-Kassab and Al-Shami bring everything back to the activists on the ground. In my opinion, this colors many ‘grey areas’ of what has been going on, including how popular collectives had to shift their focus to relief effort, as well as the how the Assad regime’s brutal crackdowns played a major role in what is happening in Syria today.

The authors’ tone certainly matches that of the activists they interviewed; as the reader progresses, there is a strong feeling of hopelessness towards what seemed like such a promising pluralist uprising. However, there are glimmers of hope in this narrative about Syria, and the testimonies from these local activists certainly play a role, contradicting to the way mainstream media across the spectrum has been reporting over the years. Rather providing an overhead view of events in Syria, Burning Country portrays Syria from the streets.

Kareem Chehayeb is a Lebanese journalist and musician. He co-founded Beirut Syndrome, a grassroots media platform. Follow Kareem on Twitter and visit Beirut syndrome’s Facebook page.