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Syrian Opposition
The Arabs of the Levant and Iraq love talking politics. This is one of the more rewarding things about spending time with them. In Syria, for instance, instead of enduring conversations about cars,...
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Outside/ Inside
Hama (Reuters picture) For days Syrian security forces stayed out of Hama; not even traffic police were seen in the city. During these days, no armed gangs emerged from the shadows to terrorise and...
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Pre-Ramadan Massacres
Ramadan begins tomorrow. Every night throughout the month Muslims will congregate for taraweeh prayers; in Syria, each night’s taraweeh will turn into anti-regime protests. During Ramadan people work...
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Hama Hallucinated
picture by Reuters Here’s an extract from my novel The Road From Damascus, in which the dying Ba’athist Mustafa Traifi hallucinates the Hama massacre of 1982. Back then the regime really was fighting...
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It Will Not Happen Again
This is the second text I wrote for the Making Light exhibition in Exeter (the first is here). Two posters juxtaposed. A man impossibly crammed in a cage. “They struggled for our freedom,” reads the...
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