My depression isn’t just a flickering appearance in certain times but rather a constant companion. A dance partner in a wild and never ending tango. I am not sure why I describe my depression as a male dancer, it might be that in days like these he reminds me of the suffocating male presence that…
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Syrian melancholy in Lebanon’s revolution
Published in Aljumhuriya.net on the 06.12.2019 together with Joey Ayoub https://aljumhuriya.net/en/content/syrian-melancholy-lebanons-revolution Syrians in Lebanon have greeted the country’s uprising with a complex blend of joy, envy, melancholy, and fear, write Dara Foi’Elle and Joey Ayoub. On 22 October, five days into the ongoing Lebanese uprising, an artist based in Syria’s Idlib drew a mural of the late Palestinian-Syrian-Lebanese…
Merry Christmas and a Happy ‘F*ck The Patriarchy’ to you
The holidays are supposed to be the season of joy, family and reflection of the experience and growth a person has had and achieved in the past year. Traditions, gatherings and of course the vast amount of delicious foods make it a season many look forward to. Be it Christmas cookies, decorations and gifts under…
“Grab them by the tanks” – A Syriac-Assyrian woman’s view on strongmen
It has been a turbulent two years after Donald Trump became the 45th president of the United States of America. In the past decades the world has seen the emergence of world leaders with worrisome traits such as sympathy towards autocracy, phobic right-wing beliefs, and are brazenly misogynistic. This troubling trend didn’t start with Donald…
As Winter Storms Hit Syrian Refugee Camps in Lebanon, Local NGOs Bear the Burden
Most recent article published in The Globe Post – 23. January 2019 Since the Syrian uprising and following war eight years ago, over one million Syrians have fled to neighboring Lebanon. They live in makeshift camps with poor infrastructure and tents housing. Earlier this month, storm Norma hit over 547 of those settlements, endangering over 22,000 refugees. A…
MeatBall and Chain – Traditional Patriarchal Recipe
A short introduction to the role of some women in a Middle Eastern minorities’ reality.
Mother Russia
I’m typing these thoughts ferociously while sitting in a taxi on my way back to Beirut after spending a weekend in Syria, taking care of some charity work, which I’m supporting. It’s a rainy day and the highway between Latakia and the Areeda border is mostly empty besides the occasional truck by a local farmer…
Women’s participation in the Local Administration Councils’ of the Syrian opposition areas
Published in the Asia Dialogue University of Nottingham, 21.09.2018 After seven years of violence, the Syrian conflict, a Non-International Armed Conflict (NIAC) according to the ICRC, is moving towards its final chapter in Idlib. However, regardless of its inevitable end, the grassroot Syrian opposition on the ground (and with it the umbrella of the Syrian National…