These contributions are by individuals with firsthand insights into Syria and its emergence in the world as the New Syria.
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Catharsis and Closure: The Role of Collective Grief
Everywhere you look in Syria, people have tears in their eyes. This widespread, visceral crying witnessed across the Syrian population following the liberation from the Assad regime is more than just a reaction to a political shift; it is a profound sociological and psychological phenomenon.
Read more at: Line (Lyn) Khatib, Radio Free Syria… -
About the Kurds by Dr Zaher Sahloul
The decree issued by President Ahmed al-Sharaa is a historic decree, similar in importance to the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited discrimination based on race, color, religion, or national origin. The Proclamation has the potential to end discrimination against the brave and dignified Kurdish people, who represent an essential component of the Syrian fabric.
Read More at: Dr Zaher Sahloul… -
The Peace by Chocolate Story
After the bombing of my father’s Damascus chocolate factory during the Syrian civil war, my family fled to Lebanon as refugees, eventually moving to Antigonish, Canada. Initially I struggled to settle into small-town Canadian life caught between following my dream to become a doctor and preserving my family’s chocolate-making legacy. After successfully establishing our chocolate business with the support of the community, we now sponsor peace-building projects around the world. Our story is all about the importance of peace. Without peace, there is no life.
Read More at: Tariq Hadhad, CEO Peace by Chocolate…
Peace by Chocolate movie trailer… -
The New Syrian Model
It is tempting to read what is emerging in Damascus as a straightforward turn toward religious governance; as if Syria is finally resolving a long tension between secularism and Islam in favor of the latter. But this reading misses the deep entanglement between the secular and the religious in Syria, not over the past 50 years, but for too many centuries. What the new Syrian government is constructing is not the defeat of the secular by the religious. It is, rather, the latest iteration of that entanglement — and perhaps the first authentic one in decades.
Read More at: Line (Lyn) Khatib, Radio Free Syria… -
Seeds Against Bombs: scenes from Syria’s agricultural resilience and revival
Once scattered and safeguarded abroad, Syria’s native seeds are taking root once more, part of an organic revival aimed at restoring the country’s agricultural heritage. “A hundred years ago, our grandparents used to save seeds from their own crops and replant them the next season, generation after generation. This concept has always existed—we’re just reviving it. It’s our way of responding to crisis and heading towards food sovereignty,” seed farmer, Ibrahim al-Youssef, explained.
Read More at: Philippe Pernot, Syria Direct… -
Easter Greetings
In his Easter greetings, Dr Sahloul describes how the Christian and Muslim faiths have been integrated harmoniously for centuries in Syrian life. He explains that in his native city of Homs, “the sound of Muslim call for prayer intertwines with the sound of church bells. Local TV and radio stations air Christian songs. Muslim and Christian youth perform the local folkloric Aradha, chanting mythical songs about Homs, the city of peace and den of lions.”
Read more at: Dr Zaher Sahloul…
