Dan Cole co-founded a Berlin-based collective called It’s Bigger Than, which is doing its bit to raise awareness about the crisis and to raise money to help those in need. Their method? Putting on a party with some of the finest DJs and electronic producers around.

All the DJs play for free. The club donates the space and the party is being put on by a group of volunteers. Party number 2 raised money for Save the Children and featured the likes of Marcel Fengler, Nick Höppner, Iron Curtis, Deep Child and Barbara Preisinger.

The next It’s Bigger Than party will take place in Berlin on September 1, 2013 and this time the money is going to the Mercy Corps.

Listen to the report by Cinnamon Nippard in Berlin:

Techno for the children

Dan Cole says raising awareness can make a difference – a little bit at a time (Photo. Katrina James)

Berlin is a hotspot for techno (Photo: Michelle O’Brien)

Some come for the DJs, others for the cause (Photo: Michelle O’Brien)

Children are most affected by war, says Dan Cole. The last It’s Bigger Than event supported children in Syria through the Save the Children NGO (Photo: Save the Children)

The next It’s Bigger Than event takes place on September 1, 2013

Listen to the report by Gayatri Parameswaran and Felix Gaedtke report from Qamishlo, Syria:

Syrian Arab promotes Kurdish culture

Sameer Shaiyer has been singing Kurdish songs since he was a child (Photo: Felix Gaedtke)

Listen to the report by Anja Küppers-McKinnon in London:

Young German voice for Syria

Philipp and friends in front of Nr 10 Downing Street

Philipp with British MP David Morris

Here is the Facebook page for Philip’s organization, Together We Can for Syria.

Syrian activist uses mobile phones to campaign for freedom

From reporter Reese Erlich:

Erbil, Kurdish Region, Iraq

I wasn’t sure what to expect when setting up an interview with a grassroots leader of the Syrian opposition. We were both staying in the relative safety of Iraq’s Kurdish Region, far from the long arm of Syria’s Mukhabarat (military intelligence).

But still, Ciwan Rashid didn’t want to meet me at home. We agreed to do the interview on a crowded Erbil street with a shopping mall and restaurants. He gave me his name, but it’s a nom de guerre.

Rashid lives in the predominantly Kurdish region of Syria. Kurds have long faced discrimination at the hands of the Syrian government. Rashid says all Syrians face repression, but “Kurds in Syria faced even more repression than others.”

Rashid, like many other Syrians, watched the Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings with great anticipation. In Syria, demonstrations started in Damascus in March, caught fire in the southern town of Dara and ultimately spread to the northern Kurdish cities as well. Rashid immediately joined the protests.

“I wasn’t afraid,” he told me. I asked why not. After all, people were being arrested, tortured and killed. “There are two choices,” he said. “One is to escape and survive. The second is to die. If I survive, I will have my freedom.”