This is the publication we made for the art exhibition "Culture in Defiance: Continuing Traditions of Satire, Art and the Struggle for Freedom in Syria", at Prince Claus Fund Gallery, Herengracht 603, Amsterdam.
For more info:
http://www.princeclausfund.org/en/activities/culture-in-defiance.html
@princeclausfund
www.mediaoriente.com
@donatelladr
1. P r i n c e C l au s F u n d G a l l e ry
C Continuing u
u lt
re
exhibition
traditions of
Satire,
Curators Malu Halasa, Aram Tahhan, Leen Zyiad, Donatella Della Ratta
Art
in
and the
struggle
p u b l i c at i o n
for
defia
Freedom
nce
in Syria
0 4 j u n e — 2 3 n ov e m b e r 2 0 1 2
2.
3. lauGHter, beauty and Human reSolve
imagine leaving your home on a moment’s notice reaction to the regime and as a tribute to the
with some clothes, a few sketches and a cd fi lled courage of the protestors who have been risking
with a handful of the 20,000 political cartoons their lives.
you had drawn over the past 50 years. in 2011, the
Syrian cartoonist ali ferzat left damascus under 60
amer mattar visits the artists’ collective art and
similar circumstances. after he recuperated from freedom and contributes a piece on freedom
being badly attacked and having his hands broken, Graffi ti Week Syria, alongside the photographer
his family felt his life was in danger and urged him 26
and street art specialist pascal Zoghbi. visual critic 3
to fl ee. ferzat, a 2002 prince claus fund laureate, 10
donatella della ratta examines user-generated
joined the thousands of other Syrians who could creativity in the ‘raised hands’ campaign and artist
no longer remain in their country due to the 16
Khalil younes explains the infl uence of Goya in his
78
violence of the regime. the more than yearlong depictions of the revolution. in a moving essay,
uprising against the dictatorship of bashar al- 22
human rights lawyer razan Zaitouneh counts
assad has left countless people homeless either 9
bodies – literally – while novelist rafi k Schami
as refugees or political exiles. ponders death by facebook.
for those of us who have had the opportunity of in this issue, we also showcase impressive creative
working, researching or spending time in Syria, writing – with literary nonfiction in the poetic
and getting to know the people there, the current 20
memoir of the revolution by Samar yazbek, a chilling
situation remains untenable. the exhibition Culture account of when the shabiha (‘the thugs’) took over
66
Malu Halasa, Editor and co-curator
in Defi ance: Continuing Traditions of Satire, Art latakia by novelist rosa yassin Hassan, and Hama
and the Struggle for Freedom in Syria reveals an 73
under the assads by manhal alsarraj. there are
incredible outburst of creative dissent under 38
insightful pronouncements on imprisonment and
5
extreme duress. Some, like ferzat, started working 59
the simple pleasures of life, alongside the debut in
during the long years of Hafez assad; others like english of the remarkable short story ‘first Safety
13
masasit mati, the group who produces the cyber 56
manoeuvre’ by aram tahhan. like the hundreds of
puppet plays Top Goon: Diaries of a Little Dictator, Syrian artists and writers who produce their work
only last year. the exhibition features a wealth of about the revolution anonymously, both he and
short films, animations, popular songs, graffiti, art, leen Zyiad have been writing, editing and co-
posters, and wise words from inspirational Syrians. curating under pseudonyms.
our eponymous publication is less art catalogue nonviolent resistance and the power of culture
and more in-depth study on cultural rebellion are recurrent themes in this bilingual edition in
39
in Syria. journalist leen Zyiad writes about arabic and english. So, how does one stand down
‘revolution as carnival’ and the cities and villages dictatorship, mass killings, snipers and the deep
in the country that have been singing, dancing depression of exile? to paraphrase the director
and performing for regime change in the bakhtinian jameel from Top Goon, who also always appears
sense. a series of wide-ranging articles about masked in public, everything scary can be dealt
47 52 32
music, theatre, poster making and cell-phone 76 with through laughter, beauty and human resolve.
cinema consider cultural production, both as a
introduction
4. Culture in Defiance Culture Is a Basic Need
Continuing Traditions of Satire, Art and the Struggle for
Freedom in Syria
Publication Exhibition The Prince Claus Fund was set up on 6 September 1996 as a
tribute to Prince Claus’ dedication to culture and development.
Editor Artists The Fund believes that culture is a basic need and the motor
Malu Halasa Ali Ferzat of development.
Ibrahim Qashoush
Deputy Editor Omar Offendum The Prince Claus Fund’s mission is to actively seek cultural
Aram Tahhan S
¸ivan Perwer collaborations founded on equality and trust, with partners of
Samih Shukair excellence, in spaces where resources and opportunities for
Commissioning Editor Strong Heroes of Moscow cultural expression, creative production and research are
Leen Zyiad Wael Alkak limited and cultural heritage is threatened.
Half Apple
Assistant Editor Masasit Mati The Prince Claus Fund supports artists, critical thinkers and
Lawrence Joffe Art and Freedom cultural organisations in spaces where freedom of cultural
Freedom Graffiti Week Syria expression is restricted by conflict, poverty, repression,
Contributors Pascal Zoghbi marginalisation or taboos. Annually, the Fund grants eleven
Ali Ferzat Yasmeen Fanari Prince Claus Awards to individuals and organisations for their
Amer Mattar La Chaise Renversée outstanding achievements in the field of culture and
Bassem Taleb (Dani Abo Louh and development. The Fund also provides first aid to cultural
Donatella Della Ratta Mohamad Omran) heritage damaged by man-made or natural disaster.
Pascal Zoghbi Khaled Abdulwahed
Samar Yazbek Khalil Younes In 15 years, the Fund has supported 1,600 cultural activities,
Rosa Yassin Hassan Alshaab Alsori Aref Tarekh awarded 165 outstanding cultural practitioners and
1. 6 September 2011, on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the Prince Claus Fund
Manhal Alsarraj Rafik Schami organisations, and provided cultural aid in over 90
Razan Zaitouneh Nizar Qabbani emergency situations.
Rafik Schami Yara Bader
Jamal al-Fatwa The Fund has built a diverse global network of excellent
Photographers people, many of them role models in their own societies. This
Fadi Zaidan Curators network of trust and mutual respect is the backbone of the
Al-Sharee3 Group Malu Halasa Fund. Local partners and initiatives guide all the Fund’s work,
Claude Giger Aram Tahhan following the conviction of Prince Claus that people are not
David Stelfox Leen Zyiad being developed, but develop themselves.
Donatella Della Ratta
Translators According to Prince Constantijn, Honourary Chairman of the
77
Ghias Aljundi Fund: “The Prince Claus Fund has sought to support culture
Marina Khatibi and creative expression in people and communities; where
Lila Sharkasi these meet with resistance. We used terms like the amnesty for
Max Weiss culture; culture as a basic need; giving voice to the unheard in
zones of silence. They are all expressions of the central idea
Design that culture is what makes us human. Development without it
www.byboth.com cannot be sustainable and is meaningless.
4 In the end it is all about people; which is exactly why this Fund
was so dear to my father. Colourful, brave and engaged people
who stand up for their ideas; showing how rich the world is;
and also how little we know and what potential goes to waste
in many of the societies across the world due to oppression,
conflict natural disaster and poverty.” 1
The Prince Claus Fund is financially supported by the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Postcode Lottery and
individual donations. Many individuals around the world
contribute their expertise to the Fund.
A special thanks to the Prince Claus Fund and
Christa Meindersma, Fariba Derakshani, Dilara Jaring-Kanik
and Keefe Cordeiro; Scott C. Davis and Cune Press;
Fadi Haddad and the Mosaic Initiative for Syria; Dan Gorman,
Eleanor Kilroy and Reel Syria; Duncan Ballantyne; Don Karl Herengracht 603
and From Here to Fame Publishing; Jenny Haege and 1017 CE Amsterdam
Haus Publishing; Huda Smitshuijzen Abifares and the t +31 (0)20 344 91 60
Khatt Foundation; Amargi (Assembly of Syrian Artists and f +31 (0)20 344 91 66
Creatives for Freedom); Eugenie Dolberg and Olivia Snaije www.princeclausfund.org
Unless stated otherwise, copyright for text and images rests with the individual authors, artists, photographers and translators.
The views and opinions expressed in the publication and exhibition Culture in Defiance: Continuing Traditions of Satire, Art and the Search for
Freedom in Syria are those of individual contributors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Prince Claus Fund.
5. IN Ali
HIS
Ferzat
5
OWN 76
On art , censorship, freedom
and
t h e r evo l u t i o n i n Sy r i a
W ORD S
6. A l i f e r z at
I think I was five when I started drawing cartoons produces an idea, but if that artist is not living
and making up satirical stories about what was within his own community and going through what
taking place in my own house. I didn’t choose to the people there are going through, then how could
be a caricaturist. I was born like this. When I was he understand what’s going on and reflect it? To
twelve years old, I had my first cartoon published be a good artist or painter, you have to express
in Al Ayyam (‘The Days’). The owner had no idea the feelings and experiences of the people. Art is
I was only in the sixth grade! all about living with your own people, and having
a vision about what they need as well. You can’t
My cartoons touch on people’s lives, and people sit in your own room isolated behind your window
trust them. They became like a lantern that people and draw about life. It doesn’t work like that.
look to. My caricatures were devoid of speech and
used symbols, and because of that I could survive The concept of red lines depends on the culture
censorship in my country and publish some of and the level of civil liberties achieved in a country.
them freely. This approach also gave my work an Europe and America are definitely different from
international appeal since it relied on images the Middle East. Freedom of the press should imply
anyone could understand – without the barrier of a responsibility rather than something undertaken
language intervening. So while I was trying to chaotically. It’s not like I do whatever I feel like
avoid censorship at home, I unintentionally gave doing at whatever moment I feel like doing it,
my cartoons wings that made them fly off to the regardless of the consequences. It is a matter of
rest of the world. In this way I managed to get the moral commitment. It’s relative; you always have
voice of the people inside Syria to the international to find the right balance. Some newspapers refrain
community, basically through shared channels of
human interest.
My early cartoons showed actions and behaviour I a m h u m b l e d by
based around a general theme, like hunger. Little
t h e c u lt u r e
75
by little my cartoons became very popular and
people bought the newspapers for the cartoons. and heart
From the early to late 1970s, I published a daily
editorial cartoon in the official newspaper Al Thawra of people who cannot
(‘Revolution’). Sometimes the managing editor
failed to understand the symbolism in the cartoon,
draw or write but
6 and after it was published, he would get a shouting who are sacrificing
phone call from the government. So a new procedure
was put in place. First, the editor in chief had to t h e i r l i ve s f o r
look at the cartoon. If he approved it, he had to
send it to the general manager of the newspaper.
freedom
Whether or not he approved it, or found it too
controversial or difficult to understand, he had to
send it to the minister of information [in charge of
media]. At that time, the minister was a bit of an from nothing and call it ‘freedom’, while other
ass, and he would say ‘yes’ because he didn’t newspapers even censor human interest stories. I
understand it. The next day people saw the cartoon see both as bad. Too much suppression in the name
and immediately comprehended its meaning of commitment is not good, but by the same token
because it was just a matter of common sense. Then too much unethical commitment in the name of
the angry phone calls would start all over again. freedom is not wise either. They are both the same.
One time, the general manager sat for a long time At the beginning of Bashar al-Assad’s presidency,
contemplating one of my cartoons, unable to I used to communicate directly with him beyond
detect exactly why he should censor it. But he felt the control of the mukhabarat, the secret police,
he needed to, simply because he didn’t trust it, and I was happy about that. I tried to get him to
so he looked at me and said, “Just promise, swear meet other artists. I remember when he first
to God, there is nothing bad in this.” In 1980, I had walked into my exhibition at a cultural centre – a
a meeting with a former prime minister who said, tall dude with a large entourage. He asked me how
“Can we give you a salary so that you will stay and he could access what the people were thinking
do nothing. Your cartoons undo all of our work on and I told him to just talk to them. When he asked
the first page.” me what my plans were for the future, I said I was
going to start a satirical newspaper and wanted
For me, drawing is a means to an end and not a to tackle every aspect of the government. He said
purpose by itself. The artist is always the one who I might as well go after the parliament as well.
8. A l i f e r z at
When the Ba’ath Party initially came to power corruption anymore. Admittedly, it was nearly
in 1963, it closed all private and independent suicidal to draw someone who is considered a
newspapers and publications. My newspaper, god-like figure for the regime and the Ba’ath party.
A l D ou ma ri ( ‘ L a m p lig h te r ’ ), wa s t h e f i r s t
independent newspaper in nearly twenty years. As a cartoonist, it is not my position to discuss
One of our themes was corruption. A scandal had politics, but we have been explaining our cause and
erupted with IV serums because they were out of bleeding for over a year. We will be bleeding and
date and yet they were still being used in a hospital explaining our cause for the next ten years. I haven’t
in Damascus. So I drew serum bags filled with fish. seen the British, Dutch or French demonstrating
Ali Ferzat was in conversation with Malu Halasa.
The newspaper was allowed to publish for two against what’s happening in Syria in the way they
years and three months exactly. Then it was demonstrated against the Vietnam War. It is a
banned. During this period, there were two massacre and I am upset by the world’s silence.
attempts to arrest me and 32 cases were filed
against the newspaper in the courts. Pro-Ba’ath When I was living in Damascus, the US ambassador
students demonstrated in front of the offices of and other officials visited me and asked the
A Pen of Damascus Steel: Political Cartoons of an Arab Master by Ali Ferzat was published by Cune Press.
A l D ou ma ri. P e o p l e we re p reve nte d f ro m following question: “We support the revolution, but
advertising in it. By then, I was never able to reach do you know who the people in the streets are?”
Bashar, and when I finally did get through, he told I told them, I don’t know them one by one but I do
me to handle my own problems. Now we’re know their conscience. Every Friday is dedicated
working on publishing a new Al Doumari outside to a theme. The first Friday was ‘No to sectarianism’.
of Syria that will complement the coverage of the Then there was Azadi Friday, which means ‘freedom’
revolution from within. in Kurdish; Great (Good) Friday to acknowledge
the Christians; ‘Free Women of Syria’ Friday and
‘The Syrian Revolution Is for Everyone’ Friday. Now
we are seeing certain sides breaking these pledges
of freedom, and there are conflicting sides within
I h ave n ’ t s e e n t h e
73
the anti-government opposition. Despite all that is
B r i t i sh going on, I have a request: Don’t confuse the politics
with the diplomacy.
D u tc h
After I was assaulted and my hands were broken,
or French someone asked me: could I still find the courage
8 demonstrating to draw? I told them I had been ashamed by the
suffering of 13-year-old Hamza al-Khatib [whose
a g a i n s t w h a t ’s body was badly mutilated, returned to his family
happening in and prompted nationwide protests in Syria]. I am
humbled by the culture and heart of people who
Syria cannot draw or write but who are sacrificing their
lives for freedom. It’s not about being well read,
i n t h e w ay t h ey it’s about how you behave. I don’t want to sound
Translated from Arabic by Leen Zyiad
demonstrated against extremist, but Syria is the birthplace of the world’s
culture – your home before your home. It is where
t h e V i e t n a m Wa r the alphabet was created.
Has the revolution inspired me to draw more? Your
enthusiasm to produce varies, according to how
Breaking the barrier of fear you’re feeling psychologically – what’s going on
Although my cartoons always used symbols to around you – and how well you are physically.
focus on behavioural patterns and rarely portrayed I just started drawing after healing. Now my hands
identifiable persons, three months before the are better and I’ve begun to come back.
revolution began I wanted to help break the barrier
of fear in the hearts of the people. I considered
this to be my duty, as well. So I put on my website,
“We have to break the barrier of fear that is 50
years old,” and I drew first Prime Minister Adel
Safar; then [the wealthy businessman and cousin
of Bashar] Rami Makhlouf; recognisable figures
from the security apparatus and finally the
president. It was a decision that took a lot of guts,
but I felt it was time. No one could take their
i n h i s ow n wo r d s
10. P e e r - c r e at i v i t y a n d
The latest mash-ups, cartoons, slogans, jokes,
songs and web series reveal a new dynamic
between the ruler and the ruled.
T
71 o
10
w
a
r
d Written by Donatella Della Ratta
s
ac t i v e
c i t iz e n sh i p
in Syria
u s e r - g e n e r at e d co n t e n t s
11. as images of violence, civil war and sectarian strife ‘nationalism’, as if all the Syrian people’s demands
become prominent in the media narrative of the would be exactly the same, and would coincide
Syrian uprising, little gems of innovative cultural with those of the regime. in a way, the “i am with
production, artistic resistance and creative the law” campaign switching to a generic “i am
1
disobedience continue sprouting across the virtual with Syria” could have been a direct response to
alleys of the internet. these creative gems – mash- that “i am not indian”, which invited the advertiser
ups, cartoons, slogans, jokes, songs and web series – and the ruler – to reframe the issue in the
– are also the germs of a viral peer-production direction of a shared ‘Syrian’ common ground.
process at work at a grassroots level in the new
Syrian public sphere. from time to time they yet the new, more accommodating campaign,
manage to find their way out of the internet registered another new wave of user-generated
overfl ow and get noticed. responses over the internet, and not only in virtual
spaces. armed with a marker and most probably
beginning weeks after the fi rst demonstration hit at night-time, some citizens took the courage to
the centre of damascus on 15 march 2011, an descend from the virtual alleys of facebook to the
advertising poster, which started as a regime real streets of Syria. they deleted the second half
backed billboard campaign, took the unexpected of the slogan – “my demands are your demands”
shape of a viral peer-produced work that is still – and changed it into “my demands are freedom”.
being shared and re-manipulated by users after
more than a year since its creation. the outdoor in conferences or public talks , these witty
2
billboard campaign, clearly aiming at restoring examples of Syrian user-generated creativity
order in the streets and preventing people from usually elicit two different responses. the fi rst
protesting again, featured a raised hand declaring: praises this genre as the tangible signal that the
“Whether progressive or conservative, i am with ‘fear wall’ has been broken and Syrians are now
the law”; “Whether a girl or boy, i am with the law” able to express their opinions freely, hitting back
and similar slogans, all matched with multi- the regime’s message with multi-sided messages
coloured, raised hands. at some point, with these of their own. the second, while admiring the
3
coloured hands raised everywhere in public creativity behind this user-generated counter- 11
spaces, cities had a sort of orwellian atmosphere campaign, dismisses it as too small and insignificant
– ‘big brother’ was watching citizens and reminding to challenge the regime politically with only the
them to comply with the law. power of humour and satire. this second response
70
not only plays down the significance of user-
Soon after, parodies of these posters started generated creativity in political terms; it also
mushrooming in cyberspace. depicting the very deems it irrelevant to counterbalance industrially
same raised, coloured hands, each virtual poster produced form of arts and culture, like tv fi ction
carried a different slogan. “i am free,” said one (the well-known musalsalat – soap opera industry),
raised hand on a facebook group. “i lost my whose regime-tolerated contents and messages
shoes,” said another, echoing the suggestion of are able to reach out to a wider audience more
shoes being thrown at the dictator, a customary than any viral campaign on the internet.
way of protesting leadership in the arab world. “i
am not indian,” joked another poster, being the in reality, the boom of user-generated content in
ironic answer to a regime that has exclusive control the Syrian uprising does tell us that Syrians are
over the formal meaning of ‘law’ and ‘lawlessness’. reappropriating a creativity, which was long
“i am not indian” was reaffi rming the ‘Syrianness’ monopolised by the regime and elite-driven
of citizens who weren’t going to be fooled by a cultural production. cultural forms of dissent have
government that was treating them as if they were long been engineered or allowed by the regime,
foreigners in their own country. in what miriam cooke calls “commissioned
4
criticism”. the blossoming of this kind of peer-
at some point, the creative directors of the production on the internet reveals that Syrians
c a m p a ig n b e c a m e p ro b a b ly awa re of t h e enjoy a new relationship with creativity that is also
problematic usage of the word ‘law’ in Syria – and a new relationship with power and authority. this
of the ambiguous relationship between ruler and relationship now entails a feedback mechanism,
ruled that it entailed – and released new billboards. which is well illustrated by the ‘raised hands’
this time, the raised hand simply said: “i am with campaign, where the advertiser – and the ruler – is
Syria.” the colours used where those of the Syrian obliged to modify the original message as a result
national fl ag – red, white, black and green – and of the failure to communicate it or because of the
the slogan declared: “my demands are your miscommunication it had originated.
demands.” it was probably safer, from the regime’s
perspective, to try to win citizens’ hearts and on a strictly political level this might lead
m in d s by a p p e a lin g to a g e n e ric fo rm of nowhere, if the ruler is not willing to take into
12. the boom in Wedeen’s analysis, jokes, caricatures, fi lms, tv
serials, all these cultural resistance forms under
o f u s e r- g e n e r a t e d Hafez assad, are successful because of “the viewer
and the artists who have managed to speak to
co n t e n t
This paper is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial license. Please read the conditions before republishing it http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/
each other across the boundaries of censorial
i n t h e Sy r i a n prohibition and restraints”. on the contrary, user-
generated creativity sprouting from the Syrian
uprising does tell uprising is successful because it establishes a
dialogue between citizens, a non-mediated one.
u s t h a t Sy r i a n s a r e user-generated creativity does not need any
reappropriating a approval to go through censorship, and it is not
produced under the regime’s supervision nor
c r e at i v i t y, engineered by any top-down strategy. it simply
6
which was long blossoms at a grassroots level and creates room
for what yves Gonzales-Quijano calls “un dialogue
m o n o p o l i s e d by t h e citoyen” (‘a citizen dialogue’). as critic ahmed
ellabad puts it, when he describes the shock
regime and elite provoked to professional content creators by this
d r i ve n c u l t u r a l grassroots creativity: “revolution was the biggest
outdoor exhibition the world has ever known.
production. citizens competed to express their political ideas
in a way that, to my view, will never be repeated…
Some would create incredible slogans, others
consideration the ruled’s opinions and feedback. would paint their bodies but the most important
but on a social, cultural level, this reveals the kind thing is that all these propositions would fi nd
of culture emerging from the Syrian uprising, people to watch them, to react to them, to discuss
69
which the internet does not determine but helps with those who had created them.”
to frame and allows to emerge. therefore, the
fi rst job done by creative resistance and the new unlike cultural resistance under Hafez assad, user-
emerging user-generated creativity is to put into generated and peer-produced creativities are
bold relief the existence of this previously hidden effective not because they manage to bypass the
or underground Syrian ‘remix culture’ that censors and create a connection between citizens
12 lawrence lessig defines as the “read/write
culture” as opposed to the “read only culture”.
and artists. in the former case the connection
between the two functions through the content
5
of the artwork; it exists because of it, and does
the peer-produced raised hands going viral over not exist outside it. on the contrary, through user-
the internet and sometimes even in the Syrian generated creativity a direct dialogue between
streets do also another important job for Syrian citizens is established where content does not
society. mediate the relationships between them.
in her enlightening analysis of jokes, cartoons, films in this way, the distance between artists and
and everyday life practices of cultural resistance audiences fades away, being replaced by a unique
under Hafez al-assad’s rule, lisa Wedeen explains fi gure, ie the citizen who is able to create, even
how these live sites of political dissent work to through what clay Shirky defines as “the stupidest
undermine public rhetoric and the “disciplinary possible creative act”, namely a facebook page,
effects” of the leader’s cult. She underlines that, an internet meme, a viral cartoon. the ‘raised
while the latter “isolates and atomizes Syrian hands’ campaign shows the fl uency of Syrians in
citizenry by forcing people to evaluate each other offi cial rhetoric and their ability to challenge it
through the prisms of obligatory dissimulation, then and regain control over the world of symbols.
the comedies, cartoons, films and forbidden jokes
work to undo this mechanism of social control”. internet functions as the place where Syrians not
yet, it is precisely the act of recognising what only see their creative works featured; they see
Wedeen calls the “shared circumstances of unbelief” their connections displayed. it is the public venue
that makes the regime’s “politics of as if” stronger where citizens recognise themselves as creators
and its disciplinary effect more effective even and being capable to create. the ‘raised hands’,
through these artistic practices of dissent. in this still blossoming after more than one year of the
perspective, arts and culture – even those expressing uprising, signal the fact that people are not
dissent and defiance – become functional to connected through shared unbelief anymore; but,
perpetrate the regime’s symbolic power. rather, through a shared awareness of their ability
to create and recreate.
toWa r d S ac t i v e c i t i Z e n S H i p i n S y r i a
13. Beeshu, President of Syria
to p g o o n
puppet
m a s te r s
Photography courtesy of Masasit Mati
13
68
14. puppet
The anonymous Syrian artists’ group Masasit Mati
uses finger puppets, in Top Goon: Diaries of a Little
Dictator, because they were easy to smuggle
through checkpoints. Their first thirteen episodes,
broadcast once a week last year, amassed
audiences up to half a million on YouTube, Vimeo
Shabih
and Facebook. Steeped in the culture of Internet
self-reliance, a core group of people did everything,
from scriptwriting and costume design to directing,
filming and editing. The collective, named after
the straw for drinking maté, a popular tea in the
Sy r i a n c o u n t r y s i d e , h a s b e e n l a u d e d by
international critics for their humour and high
production values. Last year, Top Goon won a
human rights film award in Cairo.
from theatre, art and filmmaking. Some of us are
In a rare interview, Top Goon’s masked director journalists. A few of us knew each other from
Jameel talks about puppets, the collective creative before but there are others we didn’t know who
process and regime change. have joined us especially for Top Goon.
There have been some setbacks, what happened? Why did you choose to work with finger puppets?
The girl who usually carries the puppets from one We wanted to find something that was easy to
place to another got arrested. She was picked up hide, that wouldn’t endanger us as we went
for something else. So now we feel we might be through checkpoints. People are being eliminated
compromised because we don’t know what kind because of their political views.
of information she’ll give. The puppets are now
67
hidden with the artist who made them and who We also thought that using a puppet to portray a
has been working on them. Because Top Goon has dictator would change perceptions. It makes it
become quite popular in Syria, it is quite impossible impossible for you to treat this dictator seriously
to carry the puppets in a car, so we’re going to later on. If you were Syrian, you would know that
have to find a safe way of transporting them in the dictators in our country have been treated as
the future… if they are gods. People almost prayed and kneeled
14 to them, especially Bashar al-Assad.
So we wanted to break the barrier of fear and
remove the god-like aura around him. He’s a
Yo u c a n puppet; you can carry him in your hand. You can
actually deal move him yourself. You can break him. You can
actually deal with everything that is scary with
w i t h eve r y t h i n g laughter. I think the puppets have been quite
t h a t i s s c a ry w i t h effective. People here have stopped calling him
Bashar Assad, they call him Beeshu, the character
who is obviously based on the real dictator, in Top
Goon. It’s peaceful, effective protest.
l au gh t e r .
Has there been a Syrian tradition of puppets
that you are drawing from?
There is a tradition of shadow puppetry. Some of
Is it very dangerous to be in possession of us have had experience with puppets before. We
the puppets? trained with a foreign troupe that spent time in
It’s not that it is very dangerous, but there are Damascus. When we were deciding on whether
dangers. We don’t want to exaggerate the situation to use puppets, all of us in Masasit Mati discussed
here. People are still demonstrating. People are it at length. We held workshops for writing and
carrying on other types of protest and they are brainstorming, and then reached a collective
dying for doing that. If the artist who created the decision.
puppets were to be discovered, there would be
the risk of arrest. Did you write the first series of thirteen
episodes all in one go? Or were you writing
Who is Masasit Mati? each episode one at a time?
All of us have different specialisations. We come We try to talk about specific details, but we also
to p
15. masters
try not to have it too localised, so the episode eyes. There is a very interesting video of Abo
won’t die, or be out of date, by the time of Soubhi al-Dura, in his eighties, on the Internet.
broadcast. A lot of our discussion is about Early on in the revolution, he protested by reciting
concepts: peacefulness, no to sectarianism, civil this poem in a public square – “Young men of
disobedience, and the Syrian people are one. What Syria, your revolution is to achieve dignity and
happens is not a set process. We have certain ideas. glory. No efforts are ever lost if they are used
For example, episode 13, ‘The Final Episode’, was towards restoring dignity. You have been so
written first. In the next series we’re definitely generous and giving in this revolution. You have
going to talk more about violence. set an example to mankind of what a revolution
should be like…” He died today.
Why have you chosen to do that?
We are not trying to deal in generalities. We want
to explore ideas that are relevant. Our problem in
the revolution isn’t just to have the regime gone,
our problem is what will come after – we have to The purpose
think about that ahead of time. Unfortunately we
have weapons now. We have the Free Syrian Army.
of our art
They are the soldiers who defected and it’s great is to address
that they didn’t want to kill their own people, and
they are risking their lives for the cause, but the Syria –
Jameel was in conversation with Malu Halasa, Leen Zyiad and Aram Tahhan.
situation is complicated. We are still confused
about it. We really need to discuss it. Our main
all o f t h e c o u n t r y,
goal after the revolution is a state that abides by the Syria
law, for each and every one of its citizens.
t h a t ’s r evo l t i n g ,
At the end of ‘The Final Episode’, the actor who the silent Syria
is manipulating Beeshu appears onstage and
addresses the audience directly, by saying to your and 15
fellow Syrians, “People, this is the easiest part,
believe me. The most important and difficult step
the regime as well.
is to forgive each other and to build a free, civil
66
and democratic Syria…” It was a very moving
statement from what should have been a frivolous
puppet play. How did that scene come about? How does Top Goon help the resistance?
After we wrote the episode, performed and finished Artistic work is very interesting right now and
it, we were silent for five minutes. It wasn’t because impor tant because our revolution is being
we decided that we would have a five-minute silence portrayed as killing, murder and shelling. It is a
for the martyrs. We felt we had put our soul into matter of merging, meeting and discussing ideas,
that episode and there was nothing more we could despite the fear. In this period I have met more
add. It is a recurrent theme – our helplessness in people than I have during my entire lifetime. I’m
the face of the situation. I don’t know what to say, re-discovering new voices and ideas that I never
there is a lot of pressure. I don’t want to say – it is thought were available or possible. Although the
really because of the way we’re living. All of us are regime narrative is that we are a mob taking over
trying to make a small contribution to what’s the streets, we want to show that the Syrian people
happening, which is epic. are culturally aware.
Please elaborate. The other message from the regime is that the
The constant pressure makes our lives and work revolution is sectarian, but in fact it is Bashar
too confusing sometimes. Every day you hear that Assad who has been dividing Syrian communities
someone was arrested, someone died. The stories and classes. To be honest, some of our friends
that we’re hearing are drastic. Sometimes it makes have been arrested; some of them are still working
you feel like this is all too, too much to bear, but courageously. Syria has become an incredible
at the end of the day, all of us in Masasit Mati have workshop for artists.
a very clear purpose. And we have clarity about
it. We know where we are going to end up. There is a notable difference between the image
of the revolution on official state Syrian TV and
Where is that? what’s happening on the ground.
The regime is going to go eventually – if you see The purpose of our art is to address Syria – all of
the amount of bravery people are showing, the the country, the Syria that’s revolting, the silent
amount of risk they are taking, the look in their Syria and the regime as well.
goon
16. Written by Malu Halasa
16
65
pa i n t i n g
t h e r e vo lu t i o n
Hamza Bakkour (40x50 cm)
17. Through his pen and ink drawings Khalil Younes experiencing every day. Recently with my image
hopes to address the main themes of the Syrian of Hamza Bakkour, they cut it out and made
uprising – and in the series The Revolution 2011, to a stencil of it. Now they are spraying it on walls.”
bestow a record that future generations can
appreciate.
For the painter, illustrator and video artist Khalil
Younes, the contrast was almost too much to bear. I don’t want
“We saw hundreds of thousands of professionally people to idolise
taken photographs of the Egyptian revolution,”
h e e x p l a i n s . “ Ye t b e c a u s e i n t e r n a t i o n a l Q a sh o u sh .
photographers were not allowed into Syria, we
are only seeing videos that the people are taking
H e i s a m a r t y r,
and hearing their stories. More than that, video is he was killed brutally,
not accessible as still images and it doesn’t last
as long. It is not something you can print on your but he is only
own printer and put on your wall.” one
He feels there is a need for someone like him to of
take up the cause, and to capture current historic
events. “As artists we should make something that
thousands
not only reflects on the revolution right now, but w h o h ave died
make something that will last two generations
from now. I felt it should be done in the style of during the uprising.
Francisco de Goya. Someone will see this work
and say, ‘This is the Syrian revolution.’”
Younes’ brightly coloured, emotionally searing From the outset of our interview, Younes has been 17
portraits of some of the key figures of the uprising keen to stress how he regards his creations.
have been prolifically reproduced over the Internet “I don’t want my work to be documentation, and
as well as sold at exhibitions for Syrian humanitarian I don’t want my work to exploit the tragedy for
64
relief in the Middle East. They include such people artistic ends.” The artist is also wary of the
as Hamza Bakkour, a child who had his jaw blown understandable tendency to romanticise things,
off during the intense shelling of Homs, and to focus on personal tragedy at the expense of
Qashoush, the popular singer from Hama who was collective suffering. “I don’t want people to idolise
brutally murdered. However, for Younes, there has Qashoush”, he adds. “He is a martyr, he was killed
been a difference in the way that people at home brutally, but he is ultimately just one of thousands
and those outside Syria understand and utilise his of people who have died during the uprising. Some
illustrations. Inside the country, it is a real day- of them were buried without being noticed, some
to-day, physical, not virtual, use of the art. of them were buried alive – they were brutally
killed. So I don’t want the idea that we have
“Because the people in Syria are living this suffered for 50 years and that we have idolised
tragedy,” he observes, “they see my work as an certain figures for 50 years whether they are
artistic reflection on something that they are artists or politicians.”
For Younes, the revolution also has the potential to
have far-reaching social implications. “I feel that it
isn’t just a people standing up to their government,
to the regime, it is a revolution with many aspects:
an artistic revolution and a social one as well.
The Comb (50x40 cm)
Recently there have been ‘shy trials’ of reflection,
on the sexual attitudes of a closed society.
“This subject is very taboo in Syria,” he notes.
“Now, significantly, you can see people trying to
introduce sensitive ideas to the public; and it
seems they are receptive, which itself is a sign of
social change.”
18. I t is n ’ t ju st a p eo p le In his video installation, Syria, also included in the
Culture in Defiance exhibition, Younes pairs the
standing up unthinkable: ordinary sounds of laughter as
someone, sewing skin, manages to attach a button.
to the regime, He says he doesn’t make outright scary movies,
i t i s a r e vo l u t i o n but there is something even more terrifying in the
general fear that pervades a dictatorial society
w i t h m a ny a s p e c t s : like Syria’s – a fear that is menacingly ambiguous.
an He grew up in one of the poor alleys of Damascus.
artistic revolution “In my neighbourhood they had a saying: when
you walk the streets you meet people from the
and a social one, rest of the world. There were migrant workers
as well. from all over Syria, and Turkey too.” Baba Amr,
the devastated district in Homs, reminded him of
the close-knit community he left when he went to
live in the US at eighteen, and eventually trained
Hama 30 as an artist.
Younes’ pen and ink drawing for the thirtieth
anniversary of the 1982 Hama massacre ‘Hama 30’ For Younes, The Revolution 2011 series remains a
depicts a wounded and naked headless torso work in progress. He concludes, “Not being able
enrobed in a mesh of red. It is perhaps the only to do anything to stop the massacres and the
female nude image to come out of the Syrian killing, the only thing I can rely on is what I do
experience. There is a smouldering anger beneath best – to not only express myself but to articulate
the surface of the image and a deep, lasting the emotions of those who really don’t have a
anguish as the artist talks about Hama. voice anymore because they were killed, jailed or
63
have fled the country.”
“As children, we lived our lives knowing about ‘the
events’ – that’s what the regime wanted us to call
the 1982 Hama massacre. We knew it was ‘justified’
because the regime said they were trying to
protect us and destroy the Muslim Brotherhood.
18 Nobody really mentioned it. There was no media
back then, no Facebook, no phones, nothing. So
all we heard were some tales from people who
witnessed it.
“But now, when we see what happens to peaceful
protestors, we suddenly realise this is what took
place in Hama”, he continues. “Those people lost
their brothers, their sisters, their whole lives and
nobody did anything about it. The regime has
been lying to us for 30 years, and those people
have been living with their pain and in fear for
thirty years. When I came to this realisation, it was
a terrible.”
Younes’ series also addresses a history of fear and
violence in other struggles. He revisits ‘Saigon
Execution’, Eddie Adams’ Vietnam War Pulitzer
Prize-winning photograph, for Syria. Another work
‘The Comb’ is equally disturbing. Resembling
handguns of the 19th century, amputation combs
were used during the Civil War. Younes admits
that he has been deeply upset by some of the news
footage from Homs where body parts would be
seemingly tossed away and left side by side with
mundane things, like a comb or a tyre, on the
ground, in the street. His words are chilling.
“Everyday objects lost their meaning for me.”
Hama 30 (40x50 cm)
19. About a Young Man Called Kashoosh (30x40 cm)
kh a l i l yo u n e s
19
62
pa i n t i n g t h e r e vo l u t i o n
20. S a m a r ya Z b e K
a l—
merjeH
Excerpted from A Woman in the Crossfi re: Diaries of the Syrian Revolution (Haus Publishing, 2012) by Samar Yazbek
SQ ua r e
61 When the uprising began in Syria, novelist and Suddenly i start to notice strange figures i haven’t
s o c i a l a c t i v i s t , S a m a r ya z b e k , a t t e n d e d ever seen before materialising in the street.
demonstrations and voiced her opposition to the oversized men with broad and puffed-out chests,
20 regime. denounced by her family and alawite clan, their heads shaved, wearing black short-sleeved
she was soon forced to live on the run and detained shirts that reveal giant muscles covered in tattoos,
on multiple occasions by the authorities. despite seething at everything that moves. Glaring as they
such conditions, yazbek, a veteran of earlier walk, their hands swinging at their sides, fi gures
protests outside the libyan and egyptian embassies that sow terror wherever they go, thickening the
in damascus, managed to keep a meticulous record air all around them: why have i never noticed them
of unfolding events. Her fi rst-person reportage in the city before? Where do they live? and why
and testimonies of opposition figures has now been have they appeared today?
published as A Woman in the Crossfi re: Diaries of
the Syrian Revolution, an invaluable document of i walk back through Souk al-Hamidiyyeh, nearly
what is happening in Syria today. empty except for a few street vendors. the shops
are all closed. nothing but security forces
patrols are deployed near the entrance to the Souk scattered all around while at the end of the market
al-Hamidiyyeh, and near bab touma they stop even more buses sit packed with armed men. i can
some men for questioning, grabbing their ids. i now appreciate the meaning of the phrase ‘tense
can’t wait around long enough to find out whether calm’. i have heard this expression before, thinking
they kept their ids in the end; i must keep moving. it more a figure of speech than an ac tual
i glance at them out of the corner of my eye as i description . these days in damascus i can
pass them, and then turn into a crowded alley. understand ‘tense calm’ by people’s eyes and
Here, almost, is human life. the security presence movements. i walk out of al-Hamidiyyeh towards
is heavy all around the umayyad mosque, and al-merjeh Square despite having resolved not to
hordes of people are holding up flags and portraits go there anymore after what happened one day
of the president. a few weeks ago outside the interior ministry.
the mosque is closed, they won’t let me in, they al-merjeh Square is empty except for security
claim there are people inside praying, but before forces who are lined up in signifi cant numbers,
leaving i sit down outside to smoke a cigarette spread throughout the square. not too far off
and calmly watch the situation. there is a bus fi lled with men and weapons. With
a Wo m a n i n t H e c r o S S f i r e
21. its wretched hotels al-merjeh Square seems more to help carry the boy. We then continued briskly
distinctive when all the people have disappeared walking. Why had i run? the little boy asked me
and its shops are closed. to stay with him; he was going to wait for his father,
saying how scared he was now that his father and
it looks nothing like it did on 16 march, when dozens brother had left him, and that he was going to hit
of prisoners’ families assembled outside the the policeman who struck his brother. When he
ministry. Nearly assembled, they did not actually asked me whether they had been taken to prison
succeed. Standing there in silence, they looked like his mother had been, i was silent, unable to
odd, almost elegant, holding pictures of their loved respond, until i simply told him, “you’re coming
ones who had been imprisoned for their political with me now.”
opinions. i stood with them, beside the husband
and two sons of a female prisoner. Suddenly the actually it wasn’t the police who beat up his father,
earth split open with security forces and shabiha the police just watched while people got punched
[armed pro-government thugs], who started and kicked and insulted and arrested; they just
beating people. the small group started to panic, stood there, silent . then a group came out
and i, staring right at those men, screamed, “anyone chanting slogans and carrying fl ags and pictures
who kills his own people is a traitor!” the people of the president, including some of the very same
didn’t fight back, they took all the blows and the people who had carried out the beatings in the
insults and then started disappearing one after the
other. they were taken away by men who had
emerged just then out of the street, men with huge
rings and infl ated muscles and gaunt eyes and then a group
cracked skin – they created a human wall as they
flung themselves upon the demonstrators and beat
came out
them, throwing them down on the ground and c H a n t i n G S lo G a n S
stamping on them. other men captured people and
hauled them away, made them disappear. i saw and carrying flags
them open up a shop, throw a woman inside and
and pictures of the 21
shut the iron door behind her before heading after
some other woman. p r e S i d e n t,
including some of
60
the group, while trying to stand together, got
broken up. the husband beside me vanished, t h e ve r y s a m e
leaving his small four-year-old son behind. Several
men grabbed the father along with his ten-year- people who
old son. i stood there, like a defiled statue. i pulled
the little one in close to my chest, as if i was in a
had carried out
movie scene. is there really any difference between the beatings in the
reality and fiction? Where is the line that separates
the two? i was shivering. Suddenly i noticed the first place
Translated from Arabic by Max Weiss
little boy gaping at his father and his brother as
they were beaten, watching as the two of them
were stuffed inside a bus. the face of the ten year
old was frozen, as if he had just been administered fi rst place, as well as others who had appeared
an electric shock, and a powerful fi st came fl ying suddenly. they, too, started beating people with
at his head: tHump. His head went limp, and after their flags, and the people who had almost
a second, they kicked him along with his father managed to assemble there dispersed,
inside the bus. i recoiled and turned the little boy’s bewilderment all over their faces. that night the
head away so he wouldn’t be able to see what was news repor ted that infiltrators among the
happening, slung him over my shoulder and ran. demonstrators had picked a fi ght, and that the
minister of interior had received complaints from
just then a friend of mine appeared in a nearby the prisoners’ families. i heard all this on Syrian
square, and three men pounced on her. i grabbed state television, still haunted by the eyes of that
her arm, screaming, “leave her alone!” they threw little boy i had carried away, imagining him instead
me aside, along with the little boy who was by lost beneath feet, wandering the city streets alone
now weeping in my arms, and took her away. i kept in search of his father and his brother.
running, stopping outside a store where the owner
shouted at me, “Get away from here! can’t you
see we’re trying to make a living?” as i ran away,
one of the demonstrators ran up alongside of me
d i a r i e S o f t H e S y r i a n r e vo l u t i o n
22. B o dy
Human rights lawyer
and political activist
Written by Razan Zaitouneh
Razan Zaitouneh
was blogging regularly
about events inside
Syria before the
authorities forced
her into hiding.
58 Co u nt
22
Photography by Fadi Zaidan
Last year Zaitouneh was one of four
Arab recipients of the Sakharov Prize.
23. عـداد
ّ
I have to watch the videos that show the people
who have been killed during the Syrian revolution. خرباء توثيق
My task is to make sure I have the martyr’s name
and the details of his or her death. Daily there are
dozens of videos. In a few hours, everyday, I see
املوت من
hundreds dying. On average each video lasts one
minute. Within an hour, I could be witnessing sixty
أمثالنا ال يبكون
bodies, unless the video is of a mass murder, then
the number multiplies.
،أود لو أنشج بالبكاء كلام استعدت تفاصيل املقطع
Body after body: some are in shrouds, others are
still covered in wounds and blood. Some faces .لكنني ال أفعل، خرباء املوت أيضا ال يبكون
seem to be panicked and shocked: is this you,
Death? Other faces look asleep, with absolute
ال يستجدي دمعهم حتى مقطع األب يف مدينة الرسنت
tranquility appearing on their features … Some وهو يركض كاملجنون، يحمل بني ذراعيه طفله الذي
are beautiful with soft skin … and a ghost of a تحول جزأه السفيل إىل هيكل عظمي بفعل القذيفة
knowing smile – the martyred children and their
eternal tampering with our souls.
خارقة الذكاء، التي تركت ال��رأس بوضع أفضل حاال
ليتمكن األب من متييز ولده واملسح عىل شعره للمرة
The female martyrs are less apparent on the videos. .األخرية
So you need to draw the martyrs’ features in your
imagination. They live in silence on YouTube, and قصة اآلب��اء واألبناء قصة أخ��رى يف مقاطع الشهداء
we are never allowed to observe the rituals of pain
surrounding the moment of their death.
املصورة. عىل األغلب يف حال تواجد العائلة، تحيط
،أجواء النواح والنشيج والوالويل من حناجر احرقها األمل
But the hardest videos are of the martyrs in their األم ترفع الدعاء إىل السامء بأن يذيق القتلة حرقة قلب
death throes. In such cases, you find yourself
الحرمان من فلذة أكبادهم، واألبناء يرفعون الدعاء
obliged to respect their last moments, and not
.للسامء بأن يذيق القتلة لوعة اليتم والفقد 23
casually move on to another video. You have to
hold the hand of the suffering person in front of
you on the computer screen, look deeply in their ،أحد األطفال أدهشني بإرصاره عىل أن والده مل يرحل
فعيناه تحدقان يف عينيه، وما فتأ يخرب املتحلقني حول
57
eyes, even if the pain is pulling out your eyes, and
hear their final whispers. They might say something
in the language of the space lying between life
.الجثامن، بأنه حي، والله عايش، مفتح عيونه
and death. They might be sending an apology to بعض األمهات القليالت يخدعننا أو يحاولن. يودعن
a lover or a word of longing to a mother, or they
might even be singing … You just want to listen,
االبن بال دمعة، بصوت خافت وبكثري من الهدوء. وكأن
but the people surrounding someone suffering الجبل يتحدث من قمته أو الوادي من عمقه، يحتسبنه
have no hope in hearing the message. They are .عند الله شهيدا، ويدارين األمل ال أدري أين أو كيف
screaming to the injured: “Say the shahada, say
the shahada…” If I were dying, I would probably
هؤالء أحبهن بعمق، خرباء توثيق املوت يعرفون جيدا
want to be told that I would live on. Then I could ماذا يعني أن ال يتمكن املرء من البكاء حيث يتوجب
close my eyes with the beautiful hope that I would عليه ذلك. أوليس العويل يف مثل تلك اللحظات حق
soon be back with my beloved ones, or hugged
by someone who could wipe my head gently in
أسايس من حقوق االنسان غري قابل للتنازل، سقط سهوا
my last moments. من املواثيق الدولية؟
As it happens, most of the videos usually end before تفاصيل املوت ال تنتهي، اآلالف منها يف آالف املقاطع
the ultimate moment of death and its serenity, and املصورة. خرباء توثيق املوت من أمثالنا ال يبكون، يكتفون
their final whispers linger in one’s memory.
باملشاهدة بأفواه فاغرة وجبني مقطب، ويف لحظات
In a few videos, martyrs deliberately registered a معينة، يسمعون صوتا يعوي داخلهم. وال يكفون عن
filmed speech before they lef t . Some only التساؤل، إن كانوا، هم من يوثقون املوت عرب شاشات
contained glances and a few words for their dear
ones. Abdul Mohaymen Alyounes is lying on the
،أجهزتهم، أو أولئك من يوثقونه بأصابعهم وعيونهم
grass next to his rifle, playing nervously with sticks سيعودون يوما ما كائنات “طبيعية”، أم أن املوت ضمهم
on the ground, with his fingers. He is asking us to .إىل برزخه حتى النهاية
pray for mercy if he leaves, then he says he misses
his mother. We can almost see the tears in his eyes.
But the heroes of the Free Army do not cry, so he
املـوت
