watch,
destruction over the past five years

Throughout the war, the Syrian Army and the rebels have been destroying some of the buildings and monuments that represent years and years of Syrian and Islamic heritage. Perhaps one of the moments when the international community actually looked, and paid attention to the spectacle of war in Syria was when reports about the destruction of heritage circulated. Archaeologists, “preservationists” and human rights activists have been using satellite imagery to understand the damage to the original monuments, to debate to possibility of restoring the authentic, and to condemn the violent and barbaric acts of those who have no respect for the accomplishments of a shared civilization

But let us not forget that in the months and years preceding the war, the monuments in central Aleppo were not part of a shared heritage. They were transformed, throughout the 2000s, into a tourist destination, funded by international cultural and development agencies to further the neoliberal goals of the government. Let us hope that from their ruins will rise a new culture that is inclusive the entire populations of Aleppo.

“It is from the death of the social that socialism will emerge, as it is from the death of God that religions emerge.” It is from the death of civilization that culture will emerge.
Baudrillard, Silmalcra and Simulation