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Now, This is not Damascus Anymore
![[Damascus at Night. Image from Unknown Archive]](/content_images/3/sm_DamascusNight.jpg "[Damascus at Night. Image from Unknown Archive]")
[This is the first part of a series of vignettes. It was published in Arabic in al-Hayat, July 18, 2011 and was translated by Suneela Mubayi] April 10, 2011 This is Damascus. The phrase that we were used to hearing as children on the radio. All Syrians recognize the tone of this phrase: of course, this is Damascus. After Damascus was transformed from a city to a capital, and Syrians migrated from their small towns, villages and campsites, it became an in-between space, somewhat like the daily chores of a woman who prepares dinner for her husband without thinking of making love to him. But this is no longer Damascus anymore. Even though it is raining gently, ...
Keep Reading »DIA-LOGUE
![[Image from www.ifex.org]](/content_images/3/sm_bashar_al_assad_532.jpg "[Image from www.ifex.org]")
What’s in a word? Different people have divergent interpretations for the seemingly innocuous word “dialogue.” In Damascus, it might mean one thing, in Sanaa another, and in Tripoli yet another. Let us consult the classic, illustrious Baath Party’s Arabic-Arabic Dictionary and see what it might say...
Keep Reading »Statement of Syrian Christians in Support of the Revolution
![[Saydnaya Church, 27 kilometers north of Damascus. Image from dailystar.com.lb]](/content_images/3/sm_SyrianChristiansRevolt.jpg "[Saydnaya Church, 27 kilometers north of Damascus. Image from dailystar.com.lb]")
[The following statement was issued in English, French, and Arabic by a group of Syrian Christians on July 10, 2011.] Statement of Syrian Christians in Support of the Revolution I. Christianity being a religion of truth, justice, equality and love, Syrian Christians can not but be with their fellow citizens in their peaceful movement toward freedom, justice, and equality. II. We, as Syrian nationals and an active part of Syrian society, declare our early participation in this blessed revolution which aims to build a civic nation for all its citizens. We have not stopped protesting since, and have taken the mosques and neighborhoods of Damascus and other cities as a ...
Keep Reading »Senior Attache at Syrian Embassy in Washington D.C. Clarifies Reasons for Resignation
![[Ahmed Salkini, former Senior Attache of Syrian Embassy in Washington D.C.. Image from unknown archive.]](/content_images/3/sm_ahmedsalakiniresignation.jpg "[Ahmed Salkini, former Senior Attache of Syrian Embassy in Washington D.C.. Image from unknown archive.]")
[Below is an email sent and circulated by Ahmed Salkini, former Senior Attache at the Syrian Embassy in Washington D.C., explaining the reasons for his resignation. The email was reproduced on several websites, including all4syria.info] Dear All: The time has come for me to step down from my current position and move on. I have recently accepted an exciting job offer in the private sector and will be moving to Maryland. I will leave you all in the capable hands of my colleague, Ms. Roua Sharbaji, the Embassy’s Press Attaché. You can reach her at rs1@syrembassy.net or at her office, 202-232-6313 ext 129. As many of you have pointed out, I have been conspicuously silent ...
Keep Reading »Politics in a Time of Politicians
![[Hariri and Nasrallah Smiling; Images From Unknown Archives]](/content_images/3/sm_nasrallahandsa`dhariri.jpg "[Hariri and Nasrallah Smiling; Images From Unknown Archives]")
Last week the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) released the names of four men indicted in the assassination of Rafik al-Hariri to the Lebanese Ministry of Justice. For years now, the question of Hariri's assassination, the former Prime Minister of Lebanon, has been one of two topics that have saturated the political field in Lebanon. The other topic of interest has been the question of whether or not Hezbollah should be disarmed. Hariri and Hezbollah, that is all we have been hearing about for years. Every political, social, or economic issue in Lebanon since 2005, and especially since the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war, has been hijacked by political factions that disagree ...
Keep Reading »The Arab Spring and Adunis's Autumn
![[Adunis. Image from Unknown Archive]](/content_images/3/sm_AdunisImage.jpg "[Adunis. Image from Unknown Archive]")
The Syrian poet Adunis (1930-) (Ali Ahmad Sa`id) is and will always be one of the most important Arab poets of the 20th century. His poetry represents a genuinely radical break with what came before. His metaphors are dazzling and his voice is pristine. Although he was not the first, nor only poet to write what came to be known as qasidat al-nathr (the prose poem), his name became synonymous with it and his style was emulated by later generations of Arab poets. He has an immense talent and a restless spirit, coupled with an encyclopedic knowledge of the Arabic tradition, a mastery of its poetics and, from the outset, an openness to modern, especially French, poetry—all ...
Keep Reading »The Syrian Revolution: Interview with Rosa Yaseen Hassan (Part 1)
In late June, a Jadaliyya affiliate sat with Syrian novelist Rosa Yaseen Hassan to talk about the Syrian revolution. The interview was conducted in Arabic by a Jadaliyya affiliate and transcribed/translated into English by Ziad Abu-Rish. This post represents Part 1 of the interview, in which Hassan discusses the nature of the Syrian revolution. Part 2 deals with the nature of the regime's attempts to suppress the revolution. Part 3 discusses culture and culture production in Syria during the Syrian revolution. Rosa Yaseen Hassan is a Syrian writer and activist. She studied architecture and worked as a journalist. She has published a short story collection, Sama' ...
Keep Reading »Through the Looking Glass
![[Artwork of Syrian Flag. Image from Unknown Archive]]](/content_images/3/sm_SyrianFlag.jpg "[Artwork of Syrian Flag. Image from Unknown Archive]]")
[This is the fourth installment of Amal Hanano's diary of her trip back to Aleppo. You can read previous installments here] After four months of waking up early every Friday, with hope and dread to watch the Syrian uprising, being here on a Friday named Irhal, “Leave!” was a highlight of my trip. Since the “Aleppo Volcano” failed to erupt the day before, I did not dare expect a local protest, so I watched, with pride, the largest demonstration to date, over 300,000 peaceful protesters in al-Sa’a Square (now nicknamed Tahrir Square) in Hama. It was an honor just to be in the same time zone as these heroes. Back in the bubble called Aleppo, I got stuck ...
Keep Reading »On Cultural Production and the Syrian Revolution: Part 3 of an Interview with Rosa Yaseen Hassan
In late June, a Jadaliyya affiliate sat with Syrian novelist Rosa Yaseen Hassan to talk about the Syrian revolution. The interview was conducted in Arabic and transcribed/translated into English. This post represents Part 3 of the interview, in which Hassan discusses culture and culture production in Syria during the Syrian revolution. Part 1 and Part 2, each dealing with the nature of the Syrian revolution and regimes attempts to suppress it, respectively, will be published later this week. [Rosa Yaseen Hassan is a Syrian writer and activist. She studied architecture and worked as a journalist. She has published a short story collection, Sama' Mulawwatha Bi-l-daw' (A ...
Keep Reading »Ma Fi Shi: The City of Nothingness
![[A street downtown Aleppo. Image by Amal Hanano]](/content_images/3/sm_Mafeshee.jpg "[A street downtown Aleppo. Image by Amal Hanano]")
[This is the second installment of Amal Hanano's diary of her trip back to Aleppo. You can read the first installment here] While “The people want to topple the regime” has become the anthem of the Arab Spring, “There is nothing” is the unofficial chant of the people of Aleppo. “Ma fi shi” is the must-use, “it” phrase of the season peppered into every conversation about the current events in Syria. Once upon a time in the 80’s, Aleppo was the capital of resistance against the regime, but now it has become the epicenter of nothingness, the place where nothing really happens; and if something does happen (like a “small demonstration” within the university walls that ...
Keep Reading »Culture XV
Jadaliyya's fifteenth culture section features another installment of Amal Hanano's diary of her trip back to Syria. Naira Antoun and Mohanad Yaqubi offer a critical reading of Salt of This Sea. Suneela Mubayi translates Samar Yazbek's recently published account of the Syrian revoltl: "The Corrections" by Amal hanano "Yaffa is Not an Orange: The Limits of Archetypes" by Naira Antoun and Mohanad Yaqubi "Now, This is Not Damascus Anymore" by Samar Yazbek (tr. Suneela ...
Keep Reading »برهان غليون: الشعب السوري هو من يقرر مصير سوريا وليس القوى الاجنبية
يرى المعارض السوري البارز برهان غليون، الذي يشغل منصب مدير مركز دراسات الشرق المعاصر وأستاذ علم الاجتماع السياسي في جامعة السوربون في باريس، في الحوار التالي مع ابتسام عازم أن الثورة السورية كسرت شوكة النظام الحاكم في سوريا وشدد على أن المعارضة السورية لن تشارك في حوار شكلي معه لا يؤدي إلى انتقال سلمي إلى ديمقراطية حقيقية، كما أنها ترفض التدخل العسكري والفتنة الطائفية وإستخدام السلاح بأي شكل كان. » كيف تقرؤون المرحلة التي تعيشها سوريا بعد مرور شهور على انطلاق أكبر حركة احتجاجية ضد النظام ...
Keep Reading »To Die For
[This is the seventh part of Amal Hanano's diary of her trip back to Aleppo. You can read the previous parts here] Like most acquaintances in our wired world, a certain “friend of a friend” had become a “friend.” I had admired her for months from afar, inspired by her bold status updates which openly criticized the regime. She was everything I wanted to be: defiant, outspoken, fearless. I had never met her, but after the Nadi Halab dinner, I felt tainted by association and needed redemption. So ...
Keep Reading »Eat, Drink, But Don't Talk Politics
[This is the sixth part of Amal Hanano's diary of her trip back to Aleppo. You can read the previous parts here] I knew I shouldn’t have gone. They called and said dinner was at Nadi Halab, Club d’Alep, the exclusive club where the akaber, high-class, elite “society” of Christian and secular Muslims hang out to gossip, drink, smoke, dance, model the latest fashion trends, and of course eat. It is a timeless institution, with memberships that pass from father to son. Everything could change in ...
Keep Reading »The Syrian People's Slow Motion Revolution
[Below is the latest from the International Crisis Group (ICG) on Syria] Popular Protests in North Africa and The Middle East (VI): The Syrian People's Slow-Motion Revolution Executive Summary The Syrian uprising has defied conventional expectations and patterns established elsewhere in the region from the outset. It happened, first of all, and to many that in itself was surprising enough. The regime was not alone in believing in a form of Syrian exceptionalism that would shield it from serious ...
Keep Reading »سوريا تشهد ثورة شعبية سلمية لأجل الحرية والكرامة
أكد الكاتب والمفكر السوري جاد الكريم جباعي أن الاحتجاجات التي تشهدها سوريا لم تنحسر لأن إصلاحات النظام مراوغة وغير مقنعة، معتبراً أن السلطة لم تقم بأي إصلاح سياسي جدي حتى الآن.. وهي تعلم جيداً أن الإصلاح السياسي الجدي سينهي النظام الشمولي الذي تنتمي إليه وتدافع عنه، وسيضع حداً لرموز الفساد وأصحاب الامتيازات. وقال جباعي في حوار مع الراية إن الشعب لن يقبل بعد اليوم إلا باستعادة حقوقه المشروعة ومحاسبة من نهبوا ثروات البلاد وأوغلوا في قتل المواطنين ...
Keep Reading »Emergency Laws, the Arab Spring, and the Struggle Against “Human Rights”
The Arab Spring could not be more textured as different governments, political interests, and international relations have uniquely shaped each nation’s uprising. Still, certain patterns have been common to this turning point in the Arab world. These have included burgeoning protests, state-sponsored violence against civilians, and the disconnected speeches of Arab heads of state to their empowered and teeming Arab streets. Emergency laws, or the codification of a legal abyss wherein absolute ...
Keep Reading »Culture XII
All Spring, Jadaliyya presented you with weekly offerings on poetry, fiction, music and art from the Arab world, a bouquet we called "Culture" because we didn't know a better word for the flowers we were finding. Summer is here and the flowers keep on blooming. Another week, and three more pieces to enjoy -- a nosegay for the eyes and soul. If they make you sneeze, take some antihistamines and see an allergist. Eman Morsi speaks with Egyptian cartoonist Ahmad Nady. A candid and urgent ...
Keep Reading »Waiting for a Volcano? Don't Hold Your Breath
[This is the third installment of Amal Hanano's account of her trip back to Aleppo. You can read the first two here and here] In the universe of Revolution 2.0, Facebook is the reigning capital, and The Syrian Revolution 2011 page (with over 218,000 “official” followers) is considered prime real estate. Earlier this week, the page boldly dedicated Thursday, June 30th to the “Aleppo Volcano,” but disappointment and low expectations began to appear days before, as the fiery graphic shrunk slowly, from ...
Keep Reading »What Is [the] Left?
Lebanon has been without a government for months. Finally, a thirty-member cabinet was formed two weeks ago. With a revolutionary uprising in Syria and the brutal response by the Syrian regime intensifying, there is now a Lebanese government whose sole function, it seems, is to weather the storm at the country's northern border, the increasing instability of its border to the south, and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon's indictment that approaches the country with the unstoppable velocity of a train ...
Keep Reading »Infomous
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His poems will be read with admiration and awe, but perhaps it’s time to forget about Adunis the cultural critic and radical intellectual. The Arab Spring has consigned Adunis, the self-proclaimed revolutionary, to irrelevance. And that is the beauty of revolutions.click me | أنقرني email quote to a friend
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