Heritage products have turned into more than luxury goods for Syrians who are now suffering from weak purchasing power (Al Jazeera)
Damascus -
Heritage professions and traditional crafts in Syria were not immune to the repercussions of the war. In light of the difficult economic and security conditions that the country has been witnessing for more than a decade, these professions are suffering from an unprecedented decline linked to production and market conditions, which makes them today threatened with extinction.
In a recent statement to the local newspaper Al-Watan, the head of the Craftsmen’s Union in Latakia Governorate, Jihad Berro, revealed that the production of crafts and handicrafts of various kinds has declined by 50% within the governorate, considering the rise in the costs of production requirements and the increase in income taxes as direct reasons for this decline.
For his part, the head of the Artisanal Association for the Confectionery Industry in Damascus, Bassam Qalaji, said in a statement to the local newspaper Global last month that more than half of the confectionery craftsmen stopped production and switched to working in other professions due to low demand and insufficient profits.
Successive statements reveal the reality of Syrian heritage and traditional crafts, which are groaning under the weight of the economic deterioration that the country is suffering from.
Syrian heritage and traditional crafts are groaning under the weight of the economic deterioration that Syria is suffering from (Al Jazeera)
This situation has prompted thousands of craftsmen to close their workshops and shops and switch to other jobs, or to immigrate and transfer their work outside the country, amid an actual threat of the extinction of many heritage professions and traditional handicrafts that constitute vital sectors of the country’s economic sectors and an integral part of its cultural identity.
What are the main reasons for this decline? How is it reflected in the economic life in the country?
Lack of support and unequal competition
Antoun (42 years old), a Damascene craftsman and former owner of a mosaic-making workshop in the Damascus countryside, says that his struggle for years to keep his workshop open and produce and sell enough to pay the wages of its workers was futile.
He added in an interview with Al Jazeera Net: “I tried hard to maintain the workshop and its workers for as long as possible, but the continued rise in the prices of wood (local and imported) in an unsuitable manner, the long power outage (16-18 hours a day), and the decline in demand for mosaics in the local and foreign markets.” All of these factors forced me to lay off workers, and later to close the workshop after months had passed, during which I only received two orders.”
In addition to these factors, Antoun attributes the reason for the decline in demand for “original” mosaics and other handicrafts and heritage artifacts (copperware, damasks, antiques, textiles) to:
The reality of the market at the present time in light of the absence of tourists.
External demand for the commodity declined as a result of the interruption of trade relations with foreign markets.
Migration of middlemen and traders and thus decreased export.
Unequal competition.
The decline in external demand for the commodity affected Syrian heritage and traditional crafts (Al Jazeera)
With heritage products turning into “more than luxury” goods for Syrians who suffer from weak purchasing power (the average monthly salary is about $20), and the absence of support for craftsmen and awareness of the importance and authenticity of these products from craft unions and government agencies, Syrian craftsmen face major challenges to continue. In their craft.
Although there are no accurate figures available about the number of craftsmen whose working conditions forced them to emigrate outside the country, the head of the Damascus Craftsmen Union, Ali Qarmashti, revealed, in an interview with the local Click News website, last year, that the percentage of Damascus immigrant craftsmen has become very high, especially From the youth segment.
Distracting economic and social policies
In addition to the direct economic factors that led to the decline of traditional crafts during the past few years, represented by the rise in prices of raw materials, poor service conditions, and the decline in buying and selling activity, there were indirect factors that harmed these crafts.
Syrian economist Younis Karim believes that the artisans’ crisis began in 2008 after they were subjected to great pressure due to the change in the general economic trend in the country.
The reality of working in traditional crafts after 2011 has become more complex and difficult (Al Jazeera)
Karim said in an interview with Al Jazeera Net: “Since 2008, the authorities have taken control of the locations of these industries due to the importance of their geographical location, and are working to change their features for the benefit of wealthy investors, or offering them as gifts to countries with which Damascus seeks to establish bilateral relations.”
According to the expert, the reality of working in traditional crafts after 2011 has become more complex and difficult with “the regime’s continued adoption of economic and social policies that restrict the owners of these crafts, deprive them of support, and appropriate their locations, in addition to the cessation of exhibitions and the difficulty of participating in external events due to the political positions of the regime.”
Karim explains that the family and social disintegration that Syrians suffer from as a result of large-scale immigration during the last decade was an additional reason for the decline of these crafts, which “relyed on inheritance between generations of the same family, as a tradition that Syrian craftsmen have followed for a long time.”
From one kilogram to one or two pieces
It seems that some traditional professions and crafts are in the same trench with traditional crafts in their war against extinction, as the owners of many traditional crafts that are no less authentic than those traditional ones, especially confectioners, suffer from the high costs of raw materials involved in production, the high costs of energy carriers, and successive losses on Background: Citizens’ reluctance to buy luxury, high-priced Arabic sweets.
More than half of the confectionery craftsmen stopped production and switched to working in other professions (Al Jazeera)
Suhaib (55 years old), owner of a sweets shop in the Jazmatiya area in Damascus, told Al Jazeera Net: “Days go by without us selling a total of a kilo of various items, and two years ago the stagnation of goods in the shop became a familiar phenomenon for us, were it not for the holiday seasons, and some occasions and weddings.” Which takes place here and there, but we would have been closed a long time ago.”
The Damascene confectioner added in an interview with Al Jazeera Net: "Our profits, and the profits of most confectionery shops in Damascus, have decreased significantly since the beginning of the economic crisis in the country."
Al-Halwani points out that the price of a kilogram of some types of Arabic sweets has recently exceeded 400,000 liras, adding: “This is something that Syrians cannot afford to buy, and therefore we have begun to follow sales methods in which we rely on small quantities, so we sell baklava, baluriyya, mashkal, asiyah, mabrouma, and other items in ounces.” The pill (piece) and the two pills are to maintain the sales movement and not interrupt customers from our store.”
Regarding the reasons why confectioners in Damascus stopped working and many of them emigrated outside the country, the fifty-year-old confectioner says: “The reasons are many, starting with the large annual taxes that are inconsistent with the high operating costs and low profits, in addition to the significant increase in the prices of commercial electricity and fuel needed to operate shops and factories.” “The huge increase in the prices of raw materials, the rise in workers’ wages, and the reluctance of customers to buy these sweets except on special occasions.”
The gradual disappearance of traditional crafts was a painful blow to the Syrian economy (Al Jazeera)
Rising prices
The prices of foodstuffs, nuts, and other components of Arab sweets have risen to varying degrees recently, as the price of a kilo of animal ghee reached 150,000 liras (a dollar equivalent to about 2,511 liras), while the price of a kilo of pistachios rose to 300,000, and the price of a kilo of walnuts to 120,000. .
By the time of the Holy Ramadan, the prices of popular sweets such as Barazek and Maamoul in Damascus markets ranged between 100 and 130 thousand liras per kilo, while the prices of medium and luxury sweets such as “Al-Baluriyah”, “Mushkal”, “Kol Shakur”, “Ash Al-Bulbul”, and “Ash Al-Bulbul” ranged. Baklava costs between 250 and 500 thousand per kilo, which is equivalent to the salary of a Syrian employee in the public sector.
Bassam Qalaji, head of the Crafts Association for the Confectionery Industry, attributed this rise in sweets prices to the government lifting subsidies on petroleum derivatives, which led to a direct increase in costs by 150%, noting that raising the price of electricity by 5 times will lead to an increase in the price of about 650 products.
Qalaji confirmed, in a statement to the local newspaper Al-Watan last month, that the largest number of pastry craftsmen emigrated, and their first destination was Algeria, followed by Germany.
In March of last year, the head of the Craftsmanship Association for the Confectionery Industry revealed that 70% of sweets-making workshops had been closed due to the economic crisis and the weak demand for buying sweets and refreshments.
A painful blow to the economy
This gradual disappearance of traditional crafts constitutes a painful blow to the Syrian economy. Economist Younis Karim says, “Over the decades, these crafts have formed the largest incubator for Syrian labor, and their contribution to the economy before 2011 ranged between 40 to 50%.”
This is what researcher and former Syrian Oil Minister Mtanios Habib goes for, in a research paper entitled “The Private Sector in Syria” (2005), when he points out that the private industrial sector in Syria tended to invest in craft professions for fear of nationalization policies, whether during the era of Syrian-Egyptian unity. (1958-1961), or after the March 8 Revolution (1967), which made investment in crafts an essential feature of the private sector in Syria.
Syrian handicrafts contributed between 40 to 50% to the Syrian economy before 2011 (Al Jazeera)
While Karim emphasizes that the crisis of workers in traditional crafts, whether confectioners or others, goes back to before 2011, and specifically to the period extending between 2007 and 2009, when there was “an attempt by the regime to put pressure on owners of traditional professions and traditional crafts by forcing them to pay taxes and deporting them.” About city centers for the benefit of large investors.
Younis Karim believes that the gradual disappearance of these crafts will have negative effects on the Syrian economy because of their role in “providing job opportunities that exceed those provided by large factories and their distinction in ease of operation and completion, and the ability to spread.”
Source: Al Jazeera