Arabic → English transcript

People have started emigrating outside this country because of these thieves.

By God, I wish I could travel.

I no longer want to live in this country.

To hell with the jasmine, they call it“ Jasmine of Damascus,”

to hell with this jasmine.

Brother, take the jasmine and take this whole country, we do not want it anymore.

Come see how we are,

we’re begging from mosques, people!

There is no power and no strength except with God, the Most High, the Great.

What am I supposed to do? Kill myself? Should I die? Sell my house to feed them?

I mean, if my income is 500 thousand,

and the electricity collector comes and tells me one million lira,

And I have a small room, so what am I supposed to do? I mean, come on,

one million lira?

My usage, I put my whole place on it, canceled everything,

LED and all, and the electricity is still one million lira? Then the collector comes

and tells me you have a one- month notice to remove the meter.

Where am I supposed to get the million? Five million for a single room,

I did not ask for that, I will not pay.

Let them come and remove the meter,

I will pay to install solar power, that is better for me. We are not eating,

our salary is 800 lira, and we have to live on that.

And we have to pay five million?

One room, I do not have a water heater, I do not have kids,

it is just me and my wife.

We still have not paid the new one because we still have not saved it up,

we still have not collected it,

one million lira minus twenty thousand. I am renting, brother,

so I cannot wrong the landlord and have them cut off his meter,

he will throw me out on the street, so I am forced to pay the bill.

- Is that a reasonable amount for the service you are getting?- Of course not.

It is insane, because I am working now just to pay the electricity bill and

the house rent. There are no shops, Is there a crowd or what?

There is no line system or anything. I mean one and a half million,

almost two million.

- Will you pay? I am not going to pay a single installment,

the entire pension is seven hundred thousand,

Where am I supposed to get it from?

How am I supposed to feed my kids? How do I feed my wife?

I have rent to pay, from where?

If that minister cannot even get that amount for us, brother,

then they should bring someone else, bring us someone else.

Two million one hundred and seven thousand,

How much was the previous bill I paid? Eleven thousand nine hundred sixty,

from eleven thousand to two million?

I do not have the money to pay it now,

two million and this one, from where? Am I carrying a bundle of money?

Right now I do not know

What is going to happen to me?

I do not have the money now to pay it.

I want to go inside and ask about it, to see it, there is a mistake,

I do not know what the story is.

Before, it came out as one million three hundred.

I talked to my friend, he told me it became two million and something.

I told him, man, I do not know, I mean, how am I going to pay it?

How am I going to get that money together?

I do not know. Then today, yesterday my wife was talking to me, at

night when I was coming back from work, she told me,“ We are sitting in the dark.”

I asked her,“ Why?” She said,“ The electricity did not come.”

I came and looked, and they had taken out the meter.

They did not warn me or anything, this is not acceptable.

I mean, the most important thing is that they should have fear of God,

they need to keep that in mind.

So now, would they themselves accept that their kids sit in the dark?

This is not acceptable. But what can I say?

God is sufficient for me and He is the best disposer of affairs, that is all.

We, I mean, need electricity, water,

and telecom bills all to be calculated based

on the average individual income.

So today, if we study the current average individual income in our country,

it is now about 100 dollars.

So you are supposed to have 10 percent or 15 percent maximum as the total of your

electricity, water, and phone bills.

So here we are facing a real economic catastrophe.

I mean, where am I supposed to get this 2,600,000 from? My monthly salary is

One million four hundred.

Where am I supposed to get that to eat and live? And I have a disabled daughter.

Where am I supposed to get her medicine?

Where am I supposed to get it for her? And where is she?

If His Excellency the President is not listening, fine, show it to him.

People have started emigrating

out of this country because of these thieving people.

It is not possible that he does not listen to the people,

President Ahmad Al- Shar'a must listen, we are addressing him.

I came to object, I swear,

half the time I was traveling, I was, just one month here,

and the second month traveling,

I got two million and five thousand, why? I was away, people, I was not consuming,

the house was closed, I swear. Two million? And five thousand, okay,

and the one before it, seven hundred thousand is acceptable,

so if the other seven hundred comes out, it is still okay, not in the millions, no,

that is impossible. No way, no— no way, I swear, not at all.

My house is here in Al- Azbakiyah, its bill comes out to six, seven thousand,

and I ended up with four hundred thousand lira just for recharging the bills.

I am not lying, I am a mosque servant.

By God, Shadi, honestly, who to?

Is there anyone we can go complain to so they understand us?

Who are we supposed to talk to for this?

Is there any official who understands,

so we can go talk to him about this?

Suddenly it comes out three hundred fifty thousand, we came back here to pay it,

we paid three hundred fifty thousand.

We came back and it turned into a little over two million,

so where did the two million and something go? Again the same story happened,

they come to take the reading, what do they tell you? “ Itemizing it.” Where is the

itemization? You need someone who is an economics expert,

who knows how to manage things, thank you.

Honestly, we are asking His Excellency the President,

we are asking the Minister of Electricity that we need a solution.

Honestly, there is really no way left, the situation is very bad, people are dying,

they do not even have enough to eat,

I swear to God, I really do not know what someone is supposed to say.

May God ease things, I owe one million eight hundred. I am not able to pay. I mean,

right now I am like— can’t you see I came straight from work to ask about this?

Because I am not able to pay, my salary does not cover it, that is the first thing.

Second, I have a son with special needs, he cannot see.

So what are they even charging for?

I do not have a gas heater, I do not have a stove, I do not have a television,

I do not have anything, just a fridge and curtains on an inverter.

On what basis are they using this bill? Tell me. My bills are random,

I just collected them and brought them now,

I normally do not collect them either.

Look at it, all my bills are the same, so where am I supposed to get this for them?

Where do I get it for them?

How am I supposed to get it for them?

Maybe by God, my bill never goes over ten thousand,

it does not reach seven hundred thousand. My husband is sick at home,

he has not gone out in four years except to the doctor.

Look, this is a number, I brought you a photo of the meter, it was time,

suffering, and running around.

I mean, they are stopping us like this and dragging people around.

Syrians are out on the streets, begging.

He goes out, they look down on him for begging, it is shameful.

It is shameful what they are doing to us.

They are taking our money, is that not a sin? Is that acceptable before God?

People are dying out here, we just want to live. How are people supposed to live?

Look at me, at my age, my whole salary is 830,000.

Are these prices not a crime? A million, a million three hundred for me to pay?

My salary is 830,000. We only get electricity 4 or 5 hours. And for that amount,

what if it came 24 hours? Now we are telling them, then help us travel abroad,

even the old folks now want to leave.

I swear I wish I could leave, I no longer want to live in this country.

Forget the jasmine, they talk about“ Damascus jasmine,” Forget this jasmine.

Brother, take the jasmine and take the whole country,

we do not want it anymore, get us out.

People are leaving, what, are they crazy?

The government is supposed to pay attention to the economy,

because the citizens are below zero. Truly below zero.

So they have got a hold on me with electricity, with bread, with rations,

with fuel, They have got a hold on me with everything.

So how are you going to let me live?

How am I supposed to say“ God bless him, God bless you,

you’re the best people who’ve ever run the country”? How am I, I mean, how can I,

I mean…?— Look, the question is, why is our voice not being heard?

Sir, why is our voice not being heard? What are we supposed to do?

Okay, question, what are we supposed to do? What do we do? Just a question.

We’re asking a question.

How am I supposed to say thank you to the new government?

How can I say that to them? If my economy is at zero, I, as a citizen,

I have nothing, okay?

Where am I supposed to get money from? My bill is 1,200,000,

my entire salary is 100 dollars, Only 100 dollars,

now my bill came out at 1,200,000. What am I supposed to do? What do I do?

I have four daughters, what do I do?

At this age, what job am I supposed to do?

Question, why are they not hearing our voice?

I do not know. All this talk is pointless because we are not seeing any result.

If we saw a result, it would be half the disaster. One of two solutions,

one of two solutions, either it is not reaching them, or they are not listening.