Blog#2- Talk of Violence by Syrian Children

According to the New York Times article, “Syrian Children Offer Glimpse of a Future of Reprisals: At refugee camps in Jordan children are chanting how much hatred that they have towards the Alawites and the Shiites and how they are going to kill them with their knives, liked they killed them. All of this while adults are standing in their midst condoning this verbal vicious behavior.

This political violence stems from their fight for democracy.  When the Sunni Muslim children were asked their thoughts on the war that ripped them from their homes, the children just insinuated their deep desires for vengeance. Even children as young as 11 swore to never play with Syrian Alawite children and/or gave a vow of honor to kill them.

This hatred is trickling down to the children creating future generations of continuing acts of youth violence. To express the effects that this violence has had on Syrian youth, The Childrens Rights International Network site has an article titled, “Where the children of Syria Learn to Forget”. This article explains how the violent memories the youth have witnessed has made it difficult for them to focus on their school studies and some are drawing pictures of dead bodies of families laid out for burial , and tanks firing at a family homes with dead bodies outside in pools of blood. The youth witnessed family and friends being killed and people some family and friends are missing after a protest.  

This social change in Syria is having a detrimental effect on Syrian children. The youth are even refusing to share a playground or a classroom with Alawites. This negatively impacts attempts to solving this political issue. This has taken a psychological toll on the children and talk of killing each other is only going to cause more lives to be lost in the future.

These Syrians are experiencing relative deprivation in their yearning for a democratic government. Protestors are being killed trying to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad of Syria. CBS News reported that Syrian soldiers and government thugs are shooting resistancing protesters and that 3500 have been killed since March per the United Nations. 

The roots of the hostility toward the Alawites from Syria’s Sunni Muslim majority, which consist of about 75 percent of the population, run back in history. It is going to be a long road ahead for Syrians to even come to a point of a civilized society, at this time there is no end in sight. 

The youth violence discussed in the article is not only an issue in Syria but youth violence is a serious social problem around the world. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention Fact Sheet revealed that youth violence is the 2nd leading cause of death among 10-24 year olds.

References

Kirkpatrick, D. D. (2012, September 3). Syrian Children Offer Glimpse of a Future of Reprisals. The New York Times, p. A4. Retrieved September 7, 2012, from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/04/world/middleeast/in-syrian-conflict-children-speak-of-revenge-against-alawites.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&pagewanted=all&adxnnlx=1347023025-H5+lde4hS34ZHeg7HCCCiA

Sernau, Scott. Global Problems: The Search for Equity, Peace, and Sustainablity. 2^nd, 3^rd ed. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education Inc., 2012. 15-41. Print.

Syria on the Brink of Civil War [Online video]. Retrieved September 7, 2012, from http://www.metacafe.com/cbs/entertainment/

Walker, Portia. Childrens Rights International Network. The Indepedent , 8 May 2012. Web. 7 Sept. 2012. Path: http://www.crin.org/violence/search/closeup.asp?infoID=28366.

http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/pub-res/yvfactsheet.pdf