Al-Jumhuriya Fellowship for Young Writers

At the beginning of 2016, Al Jumhuriya Collective, in collaboration with Asfari Foundation, launched a program titled ‘Al Jumhuriya Fellowship for Young Writers’. The objective of the program is to work with a group of young Syrian men and women -both inside Syria and in neighbouring countries- who, due to the circumstances imposed by war, were not given a chance to specialize in fields of journalism and social sciences, and who have ambitions to develop their writing skills and to strengthen their knowledge in social journalism and the modern history of Syria, as well as critical thinking.

Towards the end of the first phase of the program, which revolves around read, the group began working on three writing axis: observations, testimonies and stories from the revolution; in-depth investigations and social observations of the Syrian society; and analytical and critical essays about topics previously covered and attempting to deconstruct them.

This piece is the second addition to the series of works produced by our fellows to be published on a weekly basis. The first series of articles will cover the first axis: observations, testimonies and stories from the revolution.

Falak al-Faraj

10 October 2018

Inside ISIS’ prison for women and children

A former inmate at ISIS’ Tabqa prison recounts the physical and psychological horrors visited upon the women, children, and even babies trapped therein.

Muhammad Nabhan

3 October 2018

Espero Café: Our space that fell apart

The story of a Tartous café frequented by the city’s disillusioned youth offers a ground-level look at the hopes that drove the revolution and the fractures that tore the country apart.

Muhammad al-Khatib

5 July 2018

Why we joined ISIS

Three former ISIS fighters now undergoing “anti-extremism” courses at a center north of Aleppo tell our reporter the Assad regime’s brutality and slick video propaganda were among the top reasons they joined the world’s most reviled jihadist organization.

Wa'el Abd al-Hamid

20 June 2018

My name is Sun

A military defector recounts his remarkable journey from the Assad regime’s army to a rebel brigade in Homs—via Palmyra prison—to exile in Idlib and, finally, menial labor in Turkey, where he still searches for the dignified life he hoped the revolution would bring him.

Rafia Salameh

2 June 2018

Syria’s “inside” and “outside”: How they became “them”

The divide between Syrians inside the country and those outside has never been sharper. For the country’s sake, the two groups must make their relationship mutually advantageous, rather than antagonistic.

Leen Farah

25 May 2018

“May there be relief”: On food in Adra Women’s Prison

A former inmate at Syria’s Adra Women’s Prison recounts the struggles, deprivations, and occasional pleasures of food in the notorious jail.

Khalifa al-Khuder

4 October 2017

Being an east Syrian laborer in Lebanon

Khalifa al-Khuder reports on the aspirations, sufferings, and occasional joys of the largely voiceless Syrian worker community in Lebanon.

Zaina Ibrahim

28 September 2017

East Aleppo’s people, from headlines to oblivion

They were the world’s top story less than a year ago. Today Aleppo’s displaced are already forgotten.

Jana Salim

19 September 2017

The limits of social media: lessons learned from Syria

While social media was invaluable in the early days of Syria’s revolution, hopes that it alone could topple the regime proved ill-founded.

Abdulhamid Yousef

29 August 2017

The Interdependent Consciences of Syria

Abdulhamid Yousef writes about Syrian consciences which once connected and ignited a revolution in the country, and about one of the current crises that threaten their connectedness.

Sham Al-Ali

22 August 2017

On Rising Apostasy Among Syrian Youths

In contrast to extremism and the rise of Islamist politics to prominence within the anti-regime sphere, various levels of abandonment of religious commitment are in constant increase.

Ali Bahloul

15 August 2017

One Regime, Multiple Revolutions

Syrians have been drowning in a sea of authoritarian symbols brought forth by the Assad state. After this symbolic regime began to be undermined, they found themselves in the midst of new set of authoritarian symbols.