Syrian Jasmine of Truth
It is a symbol adopted by Syrian activists as remembrance of the chemical massacres committed by the Syrian regime against the Syrian people since 2011 which have so far killed 1,510 people and injured 11,080, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights.
The flower is a symbol of the struggle and efforts of Syrians seeking justice for victims of extermination through the use of chemical weapons, perpetrated at the hands of the Syrian regime on more than 220 instances. The campaign also seeks to express solidarity with the victims and survivors of chemical weapons attacks, and their families.
The symbol consists of a yellow jasmine flower with three petals, and in the middle are three tubercles in the form of coherent nuclei, in reference to the atoms of chemical substances.
Jasmine was chosen because it is associated with the city of Damascus, and the yellow color is that of poisonous gases.
The yellow flower was first used as a visual identity for the campaign Don’t Suffocate Truth launched by a group of Syrian activists in 2020, marking the seventh anniversary of the chemical massacre committed by the Syrian regime in Eastern Ghouta on August 21, 2013. Later on, this flower became a symbol for remembrance for the chemical massacres, and of solidarity with the victims.
During the activities of commemoration for the chemical massacres and solidarity with the victims, Syrian activists associate the yellow flower with the scale of justice, and suggest the preponderance of the flower’s side of the scale at the expense of the chemical symbol associated with the perpetrators and their allies.
Every year, in different regions of the world, Syrian women distribute white buttons bearing a printed yellow flower logo, in an effort to introduce to the world the symbol and its connotations.
In their struggle against the use of chemical weapons, Syrian women seek to achieve several goals, including:
Making the yellow flower a symbol of the chemical massacres.
Raising the world’s awareness and knowledge of all the details of the chemical massacres committed by the Syrian regime.
Mobilizing the energies and efforts of Syrians and those in solidarity, to pressure towards identifying the perpetrators and holding them accountable in order to achieve justice for the victims and survivors of chemical massacres.
Confronting the propaganda led by the Syrian regime and its ally Russia, which aims to deny the occurrence of chemical massacres, obfuscate their details, and seek to exonerate the regime, collecting evidence and testimonies of survivors so that justice triumphs and the truth is not stifled.
Reaching international recognition of the chemical massacres perpetrated in Syria and criminalizing their denial.
Documenting testimonies, preserving the truth, and ensuring actual protection for witnesses and their families.
Syrian Jasmine of Truth
