Biennale Warszawa - Translated into English by Jerzy P. Listwan At the beginning of April this year I had a chance to visit a Berlin clinic for a general medical checkup. In the waiting room, an assistant wearing a mask covering her mouth and nose handed me a similar mask before guiding me to a…
Letters to Samira (14)
Al Jumhuriya – Translated by Alex Rowell With your abduction and disappearance for more than six years now, I have experienced the worst that any man can experience. It has also been the most unusual of all the many crimes and brutal acts committed in our world. We were not—you and I, specifically—strangers to unusual…
The love of my life disappeared six years ago, but still I cling to hope
Letters to Samira (15)
Assad’s “eternal rule:” the long prelude to genocide
Crisis Mag - Translation from Arabic by Yasser Al Zaiat Sectarianism in Syria and the region is considered a socio-political defect, one that weakens states and societies, and inhibits any rational analysis of social and political conditions. The prevailing thought on this matter, both in our countries and in the West, tends to explain sectarianism…
Terror, genocide, and the “genocratic” turn
Al-Jumhuriya – Translated from Arabic by Alex Rowell The twentieth century was one of colonialism, imperialism, and two wars waged by the European powers on the world stage, christened the World Wars. It was the century that witnessed Nazism, fascism, and genocides. It was also the century of socialism, national liberation movements, and decolonization. Above…
A Revolution’s Course Through a Revolutionary’s Trajectory
Public Seminar - Translated from Arabic into English by Yazan Ashqar The course of the Syrian Revolution was reflected in personal destinies in many ways, making it difficult to speak of a model fate. But the path and fate of Abdul Baset al-Sarout, who was martyred on June 8 at the age of 27, seems…
Assad or Nobody!
Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung - Translation by Sam Langer and Joel Scott. For most people in the West well into the 2000s, Syria was either an unknown, a rogue state, or one of many Arab dictatorships. This changed in 2011 with the outbreak of the Arab Spring. Nevertheless, since then only heavily filtered and biased…
The Dark Path of Minority Politics
The Century Foundation - (Download PDF from the Century Foundation website) Since the inception of the Syrian uprisings, the Syrian regime has had an implicit justification for its violence: the protection of minorities. The regime has never been open about this, yet it is there. The justification reveals the dual structure of the Syrian state…
Letters to Samira (13)
Al Jumhuriya – Translated by Alex Rowell Sammour, I’ve written to you before about unpleasant things; happenings that shouldn’t have happened, and a world whose horizons have become dimmer in the years of your absence. This time, I write to you about what keeps hope alive, even in such a world: friendship; a great deal…