Ali Ferzat visit. 

On 17th November 2016 Ali Ferzat visited our school, MCast Institute of Creative Arts, Mosta, Malta. I lightly researched Mr Ferzat in an earlier blog. Although I read that he made many sacrifices for his country, as I heard him speak I could feel his pain for the country he loved so much, Syria, for which all he wishes is peace. He spoke about some other country, protesting for issues that aren't as important as the Syrians fight for liberty. His wish was for Syria to be free. He could not handle the pain of seeing the slavery that Syria is going through. His mission is to make politicians lives miserable, just as they are doing to Syrians.

Why Farzat choose Art to fight with?

Art is a very powerful thing in the world. Farzat explained that he doesn't carry guns or any other machinery that kills, he only carries a pencil to draw that maybe will send his message to politicians. The duty of his art is to change from dictatorship to democracy, Farzat explained.

Demonstrators in Syria protested holding his drawings. This shows that his drawings carry power along with the aspirations of the people. He chose art to fight because he didn't want to be like the politicians, fight to kill, he wants to use art as a weapon to give his message. An artist must practice what he teaches otherwise he has no credibility.

He explained that in Syria there are two different issues going on, the real non political revolution, in another word, the general revolution which people are fighting for freedom. On the other hand there is the international fight in Syria, outsiders  try to create war inside Syria to benefit from it. Right now people are misleading by saying that there is a civil war going on in Syria. He questions how can it be civil war when there are so many different religions and sects?

I felt that the main reason he came to our school, wasn't just to talk about his drawings, but to express the misery that Syria is going through and maybe as a whole world we could all fight together and make a difference. In fact he ended the talk by saying "Syria will forever remain for the Syrians."(Ali farzat. 17th november,2016)  

Ali Farzat 17th november 2016.

Reference:

James Sengendo and Janet Nambi, 1997. The psychological effect of orphanhood: a study of orphans in Rakai district *. [pdf] Health Transition Review. Available at: <http://ceped.org/cdrom/orphelins_sida_2006/pdf/sengend1.pdf> [Accessed 26 November 2016].