I learned about Ali's photographs from international news outlets. The photographs of this young (born 1999) Syrian photographer became the subject of an international scandal by a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman named Zhao Lijian. The Chinese official used Ali's photos depicting a Syrian boy playing with an artillery shell as "proof" of the misery the United States has brought to Afghan (sic!) children.
The problem is that the photos were taken in northern Syria, not Afghanistan, and the missiles shown in the photos were dropped on Syrian children by the Russian air force fighting in concert with the regime of Bashar al Assad. Russian bombs and Chinese fake news. Sound familiar? An international scandal has erupted exposing media manipulation. A Chinese man, according to global media reports, was promoted for his aggressive rhetoric and vilification in the online space of the West and the United States in general. One can easily find many of the Chinese troll's statements on Twitter and other global sites.
I quickly found Ali Haj on social media. I was interested in his photos, especially those of Aleppo and northern Syria, which I remember positively from my days there as a photographer for Polish archaeological missions working in that part of the world. Aleppo has always captivated me with its multi-ethnicity, the accumulation of several thousand years of cultural continuity, the old city and the citadel towering over the city. The world-famous old bazaar with its amazing light on the
Suq al-Farrayin or Suq al Hiraj has always inspired photographers. It was there that Alfred Eisenstaedt's famous photograph for Life magazine in the 1930s titled. "Covered Bazzar" in Aleppo. Now the old bazaar, a UNESCO heritage site that has survived more than a thousand years of historical turmoil, lies in ruins after Russian airstrikes.
Ali became a photographer relatively recently. In an extensive email he sent me, he wrote thus:
Living in Damascus, I always dreamed of becoming a doctor and helping people. Everything changed when they arrested my father in 2013. I dropped out of college and returned to the city of Idlib, the place my father came from. I started to help my family. A year later in 2014, I started actively photographing. In 2017, my photographs were already published in the international media. I documented the aftermath of the civil war in Syria, mainly the attacks and suffering of the civilian population.
Ali's photographs do not show shots from the front lines or street fighting. There is something much worse in these photographs than explosions, fire and direct combat. You can see there the lasting effects of war. Massacred architecture, which, knowing the conditions of the Middle East, will stand shattered for many more years after the war. A girl with prosthetics who will be an invalid for the rest of her life, traumatized people who will remain mentally maimed decades after the conflict. Now that news outlets and Western societies are focused on the war in Ukraine, it is worth recalling the civil war in Syria, which did not end with the disappearance from the headlines of the world mass-media.
Ali Haj Suleiman published his photographs among others in Middle East Eye, Al Jazeera English, The New York Times, Amnesty International or on the UNICEF website.
When asked about the affair with the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Ali answered yes:
It's annoying when you see government officials manipulating facts. The truth is that it is the regime from Damascus, along with the Russian army, that is firing rockets at Syrian civilians, including children. Despite our sympathies for the people of China, I have to admit that unfortunately the Chinese government is complicit in the carnage suffered by Syrian civilians by vetoing resolutions in the Security Council targeting the criminal Syrian regime and blocking humanitarian aid to civilians.
I am still in contact with Ali through social media and instant messaging. He goes on to document daily life in his native Idlib and other areas of northern Syria with Faith in Justice.
Read more about Ali here:
1 Komentarzy
Waldemar Sliwczynski
When I looked at these photographs I was accompanied by two feelings, both very strong: great compassion for these people, who are not at fault in anything, and they are faced with such dramas, such misfortunes, the worst that can happen to a human being. The second is rage at the perpetrators of these crimes, who, in addition, will never be punished, for what they are doing to Syrian children, Ukrainian children....
What do you feel when you look at such pictures?