The Syrian civil war has emerged as one of the most mediatized conflicts ever. The claims and counterclaims of massacres, conspiracies and mayhem abound in all media sources; Following from afar, the international mainstream media, still talks about Syria using simplistic clichés, the usual statement at the end of an article on Syria almost always refers to the conflict in Syria having started with peaceful demonstrations against the long time rule of the Assad family that turned into a violent conflict after government repression of peaceful demonstrators. However, while over simplification and clichés continue to blur the complex situation and thus indirectly fuel the violence, one should take a closer look at an emerging civil society working inside the country on peace initiatives among Syrians from different political and religious background.

In the midst of this chaos, many Syrian, individually and working in civil society are taking a stance against reductionist narratives by resisting the temptation to dehumanize each other, rejecting peer pressure of adhering blindly to one’s own sect or clan, contesting hate speech, and ultimately refusing to be utilized as fodder for war. The emerging peace initiatives are taking different shapes and forms.  Youth groups are disseminating the values and skills of active citizenship to promote social cohesion, and are working on innovative communication strategies to demonstrate the costs of war and raising awareness on the devastating impact of continued hostilities. In all, civil society groups are taking into their own hands the responsibility of holding society together. They are also brokering local peace deals to re-establish public services and alleviate the hardships imposed by belligerents as a pressure tactic to demoralize opponents. Most importantly, they are preserving a humane space where Syrians still accept each other as equal citizen despite the hate perpetuated around them in real life or virtual space.

In Daraa in the south, where fighting has disrupted normal school, several young activists have opened a learning center to teach the values of peace and coexistence alongside basic alphabetization. They fundraise for their activities as best they can among Syrian expats and bring scarce resources from across the border to do theater and a local youth newspaper, their efforts were so successful that they were able to expand to nearby towns and open two new centers. In Tartous activists have decided to cross the sectarian dividing lines between the local villages and are working with teenagers on shared citizenship ideals. Volunteers travel among the villages doing joint volunteer work and bring trainers from other zones to ensure that Syrian youth are interacting together. In Aleppo, an alliance of civil society organizations have divided the responsibilities of humanitarian relief among themselves sharing whatever resources they were able to raise equally among the different sectors of the city and bridging the dividing line between the eastern and western parts of the city. At critical moments they negotiated with the local authorities representing rebel and loyalist forces to ensure that minimal basic water and electricity services were still flowing in the city’s grid from one end to the other. In Rakka, a youth group is braving the radical Islamist group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). In secret they organize sport training for girls as part of their secular learning agenda. Local notables in a town north of Damascus were able to broker a deal with both regular army and rebels to halt hostilities. Youth groups in the town are working with rebels to counter radicalism by operating a cinema club and showing movies that promote peace. And the list goes on.

Peace activists are using their own resources, to help mitigate the devastating impact of the crisis. They do their work in silence often out of fear of being targeted by the different belligerents. Naturally, this work undermines the hate narratives needed to legitimize violence. However, their work remains very localized and disconnected from the formal peace process. The international community ought to be taking notice and support civil society in Syria to create a greater momentum and develop strategic alliances that can influence the top-down political process being advanced in Geneva. Politicians in the west need to follow the lead of ordinary Syrians risking their lives every day to bring peace to their communities. The regional and global stakeholders should find the moral prerogative to break their political deadlock and the courage to negotiate an end to their proxy wars in the Syria, only then Syrians might have a chance to bridge their own divides and achieve workable solutions for their problems.