Seite - 152 - in Mobile Culture Studies - The Journal, Band 2/2016

152 Mobile Culture Studies. The Journal 2 2o16 Lisa Eidenhammer| Encounters with a Syrian a major part of our respective everyday lives. In our continuing encounters, we have found not only contrasts, but also similarities that connected us – for example, our shared love of literature or simply laughing together. Omar already speaks fluent German. I interrupt only occasionally, to clarify a foreign expression or to ask for more information on a specific topic. Frequently, he uses examples from literature and philosophy to illustrate his interpretation of certain proverbs. In order for me to get a better understanding of the current power system in his country, he told me about a Syrian stage director who had studied in France: Mustafa Khalifa. He had called Hafiz al-Assad a “donkey”. For this he had been sentenced to 13 years in prison. In all those years, the hardest part had not been to endure the constant beating, but to have been forced to thank the dictator for his liberation. Omar is saddened by the ongoing war in his country. His dream of a revolution is over. War was never been the intention of anyone who had protested peacefully; the people who had sung and danced for freedom, bare-chested and with flowers in their hands. One of them had presented the soldiers with white flowers and had subsequently been arrested and killed. Omar told me that by cutting people’s throats, the soldiers demonstrate that they want to silence their voices. He explained that it is forbidden to raise your voice. Omar claimed that the government had educated them to be merciless. Recently Omar started to write poetry in German and composed the following poem: Die Diktatur hat immer Angst vor der Liebe… Die Diktatur will nicht, dass wir die Liebe lernen, deshalb habe ich immer über die Liebe gesprochen und von ihr erzählt. (Khir Alanam 2016a). Dictators are always afraid of love… Dictators don’t want us to learn about love, That is why I always have spoken about love and told about it. The risk of being conscripted was the main reason for Omar to flee. Many young men act in the same way because they do not want to be a part of this system. Omar interprets this as a good sign. According to him, they do not want to fight and kill, but to live a peaceful and good life (Khir Alanam 2015ab). Even though Omar’s dream of a peaceful revolution has been disap- pointed, his call for freedom has not been silenced. For Omar, the revolution was an explosion of creativity. Suddenly, he had a host of ideas that he wanted to put to paper. The things that occurred to him were frequently quite contra- dictory, as in his life: Love, Death, Blood, Revolution, Social Wrongs and Freedom. Once, he wrote a text about the revolution and a friend put a melody to the lyrics. They went into the streets to sing their song together in company of other people. Omar wanted to be part of the revolution. It was very dangerous, but he wanted to show that all people are the same (Khir Ala- nam 2015b). He had written poems before the revolution, but the cry for freedom had sparked his sense of self-awareness in a much more intense way.