Al-Jumhuriya - Translated by Murhaf Fares Sammour, you remember when I was about to move to my first apartment in Istanbul; I moved to that apartment four days after your abduction, and lived in it for about twenty-one months. I've been living in another apartment for around two years now. Both are relatively spacious, more…
Letters to Samira (6)
Aljumhuriya – Translated by: Murhaf Fares What have I done during your absence, Sammour? As with everything else, I cannot tell you all the details; I leave them until you come back. The new thing, besides writing as you know and expect, is that I have been able to travel to several European countries. I…
Letters to Samira (5)
Aljumhuriya – Translated by: Murhaf Fares Sammour, I tried in the last letter to give you an idea of the humanitarian situation in Syria, which is sometimes described as the worst humanitarian crisis since Rwanda in 1994, and the worst refugee crisis since World War II. However, there are two things that make the situation…
Letters to Samira (4)
Aljumhuriya – Translated by: Murhaf Fares Sammour, the bloodshed hasn’t stopped for a single day during the three years and eight months of your absence. The conflict today, however, is defined by fragmentation, zones of influence and multiple parallel wars. Sammour, we demanded political pluralism, and we got warfare pluralism. Instead of pluralism in our…
Letters to Samira (3)
Aljumhuriya – Translated by: Murhaf Fares In his third letter to his kidnapped wife Samira, Yassin al-Haj Saleh expresses deep dissatisfaction with unfaithful allegedly revolutionary figures who showed little or no interest in the cause of Douma4 Even it were possible for you to imagine our deteriorating situation, you may still be wondering, Sammour, how…
Letters to Samira (2)
Aljumhuriya – Translated by: Murhaf Fares The second letter in a series of letters written by Yassin al-Haj Saleh to his kidnapped wife, reflecting on what has happened since her absence. Sammour, do you happen to think –like I do– about the fatal consequences that befell us? You became wanted by the regime a few…
Letters to Samira (1)
Aljumhuriya – Translated by: Murhaf Fares Note from the translator: In this letter, Yassin says that he is writing to and for Samira, but he adds that other disappeared friends might want to read it to understand what happened in their absence. I think everyone should read Yassin’s letters to Samira, not only because they…
The Palestinization of Syrians
Aljumhuriya - Translated by: Buthaina Shaheen It might seem heretical to claim that the destiny of Syrians is worse than that of the Palestinians, or even to compare the Assadist state to the Israeli state. Traditional Arab nationalist doctrine does not accept this comparison – it even considers it blasphemous and profane. For Arab nationalists,…
Syria and the Global Crisis of Liberal Democracy
Muftah.org - Translated and edited by Riad Alarian. This article first appeared in the pan-Arab newspaper, Al-Quds Al-Arabi, on May 13, 2017. The recent victory of Emmanuel Macron in the French presidential election, although significant, cannot cloak the fact that there is a crisis afflicting the core of democracy today. While liberal democracy may have…
Syria and the Three Impossibilities
Translated and edited by Riad Alarian - Muftah It seemed virtually impossible for Syria to experience a popular revolution—but it happened. By the same token, the revolution’s demise, and the disintegration of Syria, seemed to be inconceivable. But these events also happened, and are still unfolding before our eyes today. Now, paradoxically, a just…