Zakera

While the situation in Syria and the region continues to deteriorate and grow increasingly complex, content regarding the conflict is continuously lost, removed, and dispersed. Zakera, or “memory” in Arabic, is a platform that aims to sustain the Syrian memory, to collect, archive, and maintain what has been created and what will be created in regards to Syria. Zakera concentrates on active memory preservation, promoting an engaging exchange of ideas and points of view regarding the situation in Syria as a whole. Zakera provides a centralized platform online that permanently preserves all types and categories of materials through collection and digitalization and is accessible to all sides of the Syrian conflict and beyond. As a public platform, Zakera is a secure outlet for uploading both digital and non-digital works without the threat of removal or loss, and, as an accessible database, Zakera is an open library, displaying content for those interested in viewing and browsing materials uploaded directly by activists, organizations, and alternate actors involved in the Syrian conflict. For specialized users, such as international legal and human rights organizations, Zakera makes accessible a private database of raw footage and content for the purpose of authentic documentation and record-keeping. Through Zakera, Syria's on-going historical and political productions will be revived and preserved. Zakera will aid Syrians, local and international organizations, and alternate actors in fully analyzing the situation, identifying obstacles, and offering unique solutions to Syria's unique conflicts. We believe Zakera is a building block that is vital for Syria's future development and is key to its transitional justice, its foundation of human rights, and its nation-building, as it will contribute to transparency, to a concentrated self-analysis, to the acknowledgement faults, to the recognition of solutions, and to varied endeavors for potential reconciliation.