If I was to say the name Anas al-Basha, you would probably not recognise it. I didn’t. But I know his nickname: the Clown of Aleppo. He was the man who entertained and comforted the children of the city, giving them occasional light in lives of darkness. Now he has been killed by the forces of Assad. Another symbol of hope gone.
Anas al-Basha was only 24 himself. He became a clown for the children, as the city in which they live turns into a giant graveyard. What’s left of Aleppo lies in ruins with 250,000 living under siege, 100,000 of whom are children. And what did we do about it, we the affluent, all-powerful free western world? We stood by and watched, that’s what.
Our leaders, hurling petty insults at each other in the playground politics of Westminster, barely talk about the destruction of a once vibrant city. Assad will soon assume control but what will be left will be thousands of dead bodies and homeless people probably wishing they were dead, too? The city is just rubble already. There is not a single functioning hospital, no one is going to school, there is no work for anyone, there isn’t even fresh water or electricity.
We are far from alone in our lethargy, in our grinding inertia. The whole world uttered platitudes whilst people died. We said how awful it was and how awful Assad was and we looked the other way, terrified perhaps of what happened in 2003 with the ill-fated invasion of Iraq. I opposed the Iraq invasion, more on issues of timing and international diplomacy than on the basis of right and wrong, and I supported Ed Miliband when he thwarted David Cameron’s attempts to force Assad to get in line. History will show Cameron in a bad light for taking Britain out of the EU in a disastrous effort of party management, but maybe, just maybe, he was right about Syria. Doing nothing didn’t work.
The lowest of the low, killing a man who basically lived to make children happy. He was collateral damage, not targeted, but it doesn’t matter. Pretty well everyone who is dying in Aleppo comes under collateral damage.
The world has become an even darker place tonight.
