Freedom Bus

NOTE: Read the ‘Families For Freedom’ case study for background on the movement’s work.

The Freedom Bus began its journey in October 2017. With the Syrian peace talks stalled, there were few possible moments to generate public pressure and media attention around detention and disappearance. The idea of the Freedom Bus came during a creative brainstorm around a visual concept for the issue of detention. Buses had symbolic connotations in Syria. They were used early on in the crisis to detain protesters and then to forcibly displace people from their homes. We wanted to reverse that narrative and turn buses into something positive used to rally for the freedom of detainees. The idea also partly came from the Syrian actor Yara Sabri who had been sharing a cheerful drawing of a bus every time a detainee was released from detention.

We decided to buy the Families a bus, which they could travel to countries with and use to get their messages across. We teamed up with an incredible production company in the UK named “We Make Stuff Happen” and for a surprisingly small amount of money, they bought a bus, painted it red, and mounted the framed photos of the disappeared that we sent them. We Make Stuff Happen maintain the bus and drive it to the locations we need it in. It’s not an easy task; because we got it cheaply, it’s an old vehicle and has plenty of maintenance issues—but they make it happen!

The bus has travelled wherever there have been advocacy opportunities, from Berlin to meet with the chancellor’s office, to Brussels to attend the “Future of Syria” conference.

The Freedom Bus is a strong visual that helps capture the attention of the press and the public everywhere it goes. Most importantly though, it has become a beloved symbol to many Syrian families in exile who have loved ones to detention. They are able to place their framed photos on the bus, entrusting the Families with their stories, knowing that a struggle is being waged on their behalf.