Jordanians voice concerns over imports of Israeli gas
AL JAZEERA (30/1/2020) With her clenched fists raised high, Ibtisam stands at the vanguard of hundreds of protesters who have gathered in Amman to rail against a gas deal. “The people of Jordan do not compromise! What a shame, what a shame! An agreement full of shame,” the protesters chant in unison. It’s Ibtisam’s second […]
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For these Syrian artists, humor is essential to coping with oppression and war
WASHINGTON POST (14/1/2019) When they hear shelling outside their apartment in Damascus, close to the front line, Rand and Hala start to laugh. They were just talking about artillery. “Rand called a bomb and it came immediately,” jokes Hala. “Call God,” she tells her friend. “But God won’t come,” she continues, as they keep laughing. […]
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“Ideas cannot be killed with weapons” – remembering Raed Fares
QANTARA DW (22/11/2019) “Black Friday Special Offer“ read a banner held by activists in Kafranbel, a small town in northern Syria. “Bring your enemy and come to fight in Syria for free“. When the Syrian uprising against the authoritarian regime of Bashar al-Assad began in 2011, Kafranbel protesters displayed eye-catching messages on a weekly basis. “ASSad is the source of […]
Read →Yazidis: o genocídio esquecido (2/2)
FUMAÇA (21/11/2019) O que mais assusta na viagem entre Erbil, a capital da região curda do Iraque, e Dohuk, perto da fronteira da Síria, é a forma como o Majed conduz. O rádio do carro toca música popular curda com o volume no máximo e ele tira as mãos do volante para bater palmas e […]
Read →Yazidis: o genocídio esquecido (1/2)
FUMAÇA (7/11/2019) Muito antes do mundo conhecer a palavra genocídio, inventada em 1943 pelo advogado judeu polaco Raphael Lemkin, para descrever as tentativas nazis de exterminar os judeus, os yazidis – uma comunidade religiosa com origens no Médio Oriente – já usavam a palavra firman para se referir às perseguições que sofreram durante séculos. Em agosto de 2014, o autoproclamado […]
Read →Crimes sem honra
EXPRESSO (10/8/2019) Kifaya tinha 16 anos quando a família decidiu que devia morrer. O irmão mais velho amarrou-a à cadeira da cozinha, deu-lhe um copo de água e pediu-lhe para rezar a sua última oração antes de a esfaquear. A jornalista Rana Husseini foi enviada para cobrir o assassinato num dia quente de Verão em […]
Read →‘Our cause is the same’: Teachers unite in demand for respect and a living wage
MIDDLE EAST EYE (28/9/2019) The school bell rings at a quarter past seven in the morning at the al-Rashid primary school in Amman. The day starts as usual with the national anthem and the raising of the Jordanian flag, but things have been a bit different lately. Teachers line up in the schoolyard, but there are […]
Read →Teachers on strike in Jordan demand higher income and ‘dignity’
AL JAZEERA (26/9/2019) Teacher by day, deliveryman by night. In a public secondary school in central Amman, a maths teacher moonlights as a delivery driver outside his schoolroom hours to supplement his income. An Arabic teacher works in a grocery shop. Others drive taxis or give private tuition on the side. Most teachers in the […]
Read →Meet Fado Bicha, Portugal’s queer anti-racist feminist musicians
OPENDEMOCRACY (28.8.2019) 2019 got off to a bad start in Portugal. In January, the leader of a far-right group – who spent 12 years in prison for his role in a racist murder and other hate crimes – was invited to speak on one of Portugal’s most popular TV talk shows. On air, he argued that the country needs a new […]
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