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.

Aram Abu-Saleh

12 April 2019

The Syrian revolution in the occupied Golan

Who exactly are the people of the occupied Golan Heights? Local writer Aram Abu-Saleh charts their history, including the profound transformations brought about by the Syrian revolution in 2011.

Samar Abdallah

28 February 2019

How the shadows became faces

A Syrian Christian recalls early prejudices received about her Muslim compatriots, and how friendships with veiled women later broke these down.

Mona Rafea

22 February 2019

In Homs, “re-embracing the homeland”

Military service, chants for Bashar, and pretending not to recognize friends in the street: A Homs resident describes life after the regime's recapture of opposition territory.

Bisan al-Saeed

19 December 2018

Working with NGOs in Damascus: The escape from helplessness

A young Damascus resident questions the value of the cultural initiatives sponsored by international NGOs in the regime-held capital.

Wa'el Abd al-Hamid

7 December 2018

Gardenia Road, Homs

A displaced resident of Homs’ al-Wa’r district describes her journey on foot from the regime-held city center into the besieged neighborhood during a 2016 ceasefire.

Karam Mansour

8 November 2018

Inside the Assad regime’s juvenile prisons

Al-Jumhuriya gains access to Qudsaya juvenile prison, where food shortages, drugs, and physical and psychological abuse are rampant, leaving many detainees worse off when they come out than when they went in.

Rafya Salamah

24 October 2018

The looting years

The thriving trade in possessions and even infrastructure looted by the Syrian regime isn't just a symptom of economic crisis and a wider moral breakdown following the war; it points to the ever-worsening criminality that awaits the country's future under Assad.

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.

Mohammed 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.

Rafya Salamah

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.