War and Football

In Syria, in the bombed and besieged towns, every time I see images of children playing Football, I tell myself that it is more than a sport, more than an art, more than a passion. For these children, Football is a form of therapy, a fight against time and fear.

I personally experienced the Lebanese war (1975 - 1990). 

During its first years, my moments of happiness were nestled between two bombings, when I managed to escape with the neighbors to run after a ball. 

In 1982, Beirut was besieged and shelled for 3 months by the Israeli army. It was the World Cup and we were without electricity! In these moments of vital necessity, people's genius is expressed in terms of DIY and adaptation to extreme conditions: car batteries were quickly transformed into generators in order to power small black and white television sets. The feverish anticipation of each game, its actions, its twists and turns and all the excitement that surrounded it, transported us every evening far from the death prowling around our neighborhoods...

Last month, the children of East Aleppo were still playing Football. I imagine that they still do so in the places to which they were deported. The same goes for children in the Ghouta of Damascus and the Waar district of Homs, which have been under siege for three years now. For them, as for me in Beirut long before, it doesn't matter if at the end of the day the water is not hot or insufficient to shower. For hours, they have forgotten the terror, and their sleep at night will be strewn with stars and pretty goals.

Ziad Majed

Amnesty International Chronicle, January 2017

@REUTERS Alaa Al-Faqir / Syrie