The nationalist leader and Damascus MP Fakhri al-Barudi promoting his 'Franc Campaign' in 1934

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The Franc Campaign was brainchild of Fakhri al-Barudi. It basically called on every Syrian citizen to donate one Franc (5 piasters) per month to the project's steering committee, which was headed by Barudi himself. Each month, the money would go to renovating a school, a hospital, a public road, or to the media campaign against the French Mandate. It was a project, in Barudi's own words, "aimed at engaging poor Syrians." Those who had money, he would always say, can always be asked to donate. The main theme was getting those who are penniless to contribute to social welfare, arguing that any Syrian, no matter how poor, can donate 5 piasters per month for the development of Syria.