The Damascus Bureau

Real news and stories from Syria

Female Activists at Syrian Centre for Media Speak Out

Posted on | Mai 7, 2012 | No Comments

The Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression, SCM, is a non-governmental organisation that aims to defend the freedom of belief and expression, in cooperation with government institutions and civil society organizations. SCM had continued its work over the past year, and issued several reports about the arrest and harassment to which journalists have been subject during their coverage of the Syrian revolution, before it was closed by security forces on February 16, 2012. A detailed article about the SCM’s work is available here. Read more

Freedom of the Press Shall Survive Mazen Darwish’s Arrest

Posted on | Mai 7, 2012 | No Comments

Mazen Dawrish, along with the other detainees from the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression, SCMFE, has recently completed 60 days in the cells of the Air Force Intelligence, AFI, at Al-Mazzeh military airport outside Damascus. The prisoners include, among others: Hussein Ghureir, a father of two and ex-detainee; Hani al-Zaytani, who still hopes to pursue a PhD; Javan Farso, who supports his family, lost his night job; Bassam al-Ahmad (his mother desperately seeks the slightest news of him); Mansour al-Omary, who was dreaming of moving into his new house, but got arrested before setting up the furniture; Abdel Rahman Hammadeh, arrested on his birthday and who had previously been detained by AFI. Read more

Experts in Death Do Not Cry

Posted on | Mai 3, 2012 | No Comments

By Razan Zeitouneh

I am a documenter of death. I watch videos that show martyrs so as to record their names and the details of their death — dozens a day, and when we periodically update our database, the number reaches hundreds within a few hours. The average length of a single video is one minute. In one hour you could watch as many as 60 bodies, unless the footage depicts mass massacres; then the number would multiply. Read more

Syrian Political Cartoonists Wait for a New Dawn

Posted on | April 27, 2012 | No Comments

Political cartoons in Syria, whether exhibited in newspapers or art galleries owned by the cartoonists themselves, have long been the victim of censorship, which distanced this art from its public. This reality runs against the essence of the art itself: it is enough to know that the word “caricature” is derived from the Latin word carricare or “to attack”, to realise the intractable nature of political cartoon. Syrian cartoonists are waiting for a modern law to regulate media and end censorship on this intransigent art, which has resisted all forms of repression, the peak of which was shutting down Al-Dumari, the newspaper produced by cartoonist Ali Farzat. Read more

Nowruz Under the Revolution

Posted on | April 27, 2012 | No Comments

March 21 was the day Kurds celebrated the start of a new year; it is the “New Day”, or Nowruz, as it is called in Farsi.

Kurds make their preparations for this day, which also marks the start of spring, by buying new clothes, foodstuff, setting up tents in the open air, as well as lighting up their cities with candles on its eve. But the festivities in Syria took a new form this year due to the revolution. The Kurdish National Council, KNC, the umbrella group that gathers together most of the Kurdish parties and revolutionary committees, decided to hold the celebrations in a different manner. It was the KNC’s way of showing solidarity with Syrians throughout the rest of the country by turning Nowruz into a day of protest against the regime. Read more

Will the Syrian revolution opt for a civic or Islamic state?

Posted on | April 26, 2012 | No Comments

As a result of the repeated attempts to dress the Syrian revolution up with the turban of Islamism and hurl it into a sectarian debate, a political confusion has surfaced that weighs heavily on the minds of opposition activists. This debate revolves around the role of Islamic parties, which are represented by the Muslim Brotherhood, the impact they will have on revolutionary action and their future in the post-Assad period. Read more

Diverse Inhabitants of Al-Jazeera Express Hope, Fears for Change

Posted on | April 26, 2012 | No Comments

The Syrian region of Al-Jazeera is noted for its wide ethnic and religious diversity. This area, situated in the north-east of Syria and bordered by Turkey from the north and Iraq from the east, is home to Arabs, Kurds, Circassians, Chechens, Armenians, Chaldo-Assyrians as well as Christians of other denominations. Read more

A Letter to Syrian Poet Adonis

Posted on | April 25, 2012 | No Comments

Adonis has repeatedly written about the Syrian revolution; in the letter he addressed to President Bashar al-Assad, for example, or his column in the daily Al-Hayat, and he has spoken about it in interviews with both television and print media. In all of his statements, Adonis has shown disrespect for the Syrians’ blood and accused the revolution of being “religious and sectarian”. The following is a response to Adonis’s account of the revolution and a clarification about its true nature. Read more

Homs Relief Campaign Obstructed by Security Forces

Posted on | April 20, 2012 | 1 Comment

The campaign was inspired by a simple question a girl asked during a meeting of Syrian activists in Damascus, “What about the families that left their homes in Homs and don’t have any financial or emotional support?”

The meeting brought together young political activists and former detainees, as well as members of opposition parties such as the Movement to Build the Syrian State, MBST, representatives of Kurdish parties and the National Coordination Committee, NCC. Their debate resulted in the idea to start a campaign entitled Homs in Our Hearts. Read more

Towards the end of apartheid

Posted on | März 23, 2012 | 3 Comments

By Maryam Hasan

Last night, I had an unusual dream that, despite being pleasant, became a source of discomfort.

I saw families in the park enjoying themselves, while other children played in the streets. I was sitting with my mother on the balcony, watching people release their energy and emotions amidst the noise from the street that did not bother us at all. A young man plucked a flower and offered it to a girl. She accepted it and smiled back at him. Read more

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