Se réapproprier la politique : rencontre avec une figure de la révolution syrienne, Yassin Al-Haj Saleh

Contretemps Né en 1961 à Raqqa, l’écrivain et dissident syrien Yassin Al-Haj Saleh a passé une part considérable de son existence dans les geôles du régime Assad. À nouveau poursuivi par le régime pour son activité révolutionnaire, il s’est exilé en Turquie peu avant que son épouse Samira Khalil, elle-même militante communiste et révolutionnaire infatigable,…

Muftah: An Interview with Yassin al Haj Saleh

Muftah - Andy Heintz Yassin al Haj Saleh is one of the most prominent Syrian dissident intellectuals. He was arrested at the age of nineteen for his membership in the Syrian Communist Party and remained in prison for more than sixteen years. When the Syrian revolution began in 2011, Yassin, then working in Damascus, went…

Islamists and the Douma Four

Al Jumhuriya - Translated by Alex Rowell On the 18th and 19th of July this year, I attended a workshop in Istanbul on dialogue between Islamists and secularists, organized by the Islamist-leaning Jusoor (“Bridges”) center, along with more than twenty other mostly male participants. This was the second of three workshops organized by the center;…

Letters to Samira (8): Four years, four words

Amnesty.org I listen to your favorite song: Oh dawn when you rise, in the voice of Nahawand, and I think of you. Wake all people / my beloved before all! I cannot stop myself from wondering as those who believe in fate do: Why did all this happen to us? Could it not have happened?…

A Wary Return to Raqqa

Project Syndicate In mid-October, the Syrian Democratic Forces, a US-backed, predominantly Kurdish militia with ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Turkey, “liberated” my hometown, Raqqa, from Islamic State (ISIS) fighters. Arabs, a majority of the region’s population, had little to do with ISIS’s ouster. In a city where locals have long been relegated…

Revolution, counterrevolution, and imperialism in Syria

The International Socialist Review - Interviewed by Ashley Smith Yassin al-Haj Saleh is one of the pivotal figures in the Syrian Revolution. He has a long history of activism in the country. Arrested by the Syrian regime in 1980 for the crime of political activism and membership of the Syrian Communist Party (Political Bureau) while…

The re-enchantment of the world

Al Jumhuriya, 25 October 2017. Translated by Yaaser Azzayyaat The securitization of politics In August 2012, a Syrian intelligence scheme was uncovered in Beirut. The chief conspirator was the former Lebanese minister Michel Samaha, and the plot sought to carry out terror attacks on Lebanese civilians and public figures which would later be attributed to…

Lettres à Samira (7)

Un œil sur la Syrie Blog – Traduit de l’arabe par Souad Labbize Sammour, tu te souviens que j’étais sur le point d’emménager dans mon premier logement à Istanbul. J’y ai emménagé quatre jours après ton enlèvement. J’y suis resté environ 21 mois. Depuis près de 2 ans, j’habite dans un autre logement. Les deux…

Lettres à Samira (6)

Un œil sur la Syrie Blog – Traduit de l’arabe par Souad Labbize Sammour qu’est-ce que j’ai fait durant ton absence ? Comme pour tout le reste, je ne peux tout te raconter mais le ferai à ton retour. En dehors du travail d’écriture, comme tu le sais et t’en doutes, j’ai pu voyager vers quelques…