Again, in other plastic boxes

an abstract illustration of a woman sitting in a chair wearing a hijab Artwork by Haisam Al Saiegh — Artwork by Haisam Al Saiegh

“How would it feel if we try to put you inside a plastic box with a transparent lid, and let you watch the world from there as much as the world is watching you?”

“This box we are trying to break out of unharmed by the sharp edges, and without having to justify ourselves each time in breaking out. But once we do, we find ourselves again in other plastic boxes, new categorisations and different kinds of exclusions…”

“It is simply that I wish to live my life without having to move between boxes from the minds of others. I know it is hard to really see people for who they really are, not how they look. I might even be putting people in my own boxes.” Aljumhuriya *

Unfortunately, I was inside a big bubble

– After a while, I left the country. I met people who became my friends. Friends who belonged to the Syrian LGBTQIA+ community. In our discussions, the tales we have told, the memories we have exchanged, helped alleviate the burden of living abroad most nights. I discovered that café, that place in downtown, was also the place where they met to talk about their pains, dreams and experiences. Strangely back then, I never knew about the presence of a whole community of different ages and genders and sexual identities. It was there and will remain there. Unfortunately, I was inside a big bubble, a transparent one, but still, it blocked feelings and knowledge from me.

A few weeks ago, Al-Assad was on TV as he participated in the expanded periodical meeting at the Ministry of Religious Endowments at the Othman Mosque. He brought up wrong facts and he criminalised personal freedoms. Then I knew that the way I was brought up in that place was only serving the purpose of anchoring the power of people in power to keep their authority and their dictatorship going. They were poisoning our thinking one generation after another. They imprisoned us in bubbles that held us far apart, strangers from each other within the same community.

Syria Untold *

an illustration of a black chair Artwork by Haisam Al Saiegh

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Introduction XwhY

Metamorphosis of the body and sexuality

How the tale starts…

Again in other plastic boxes

A religious undertaking or a patriarchal tendency

Inflicting harm based on difference

Female detainees face a social stigma

A harassment-infested region

Between two camps… and solitude

Tarps fly away with the first gust of wind

Reality and hopes between laws and social traditions

Empowerment vs “slow change”

Syrian women’s path towards political participation…

Women's sports in the face of conservative social norms

Campaigns surveys and shared reports

Audience interaction…breaking the silence.

Sexual diversity star instead of the binary slash

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Since they were united in the embrace, they became two no more

A pair they had become

But we cannot say if a woman or a man they were

They appear sexless

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I was 13 years old when I learned how to cook pasta at school. Meanwhile, my boy friends were playing football in the schoolyard. Visit page

How would it feel if we try to put you inside a plastic box with a transparent lid, and let you watch the world from there as much as the world is watching you? Visit page

Al-Hisba / Muhrim / the Branch / abominations / morals / do-gooders / right and wrong / veil and chastity / morality police … “Do we have Islamic feminism? Visit page

Women and the confrontation of violence… between the injustice of society and lacking protection alternatives. Visit page

Mending what has been broken, Female detainees face social stigma after their release from the Syrian prisons. Visit page

when these relations are imposed, in a space that feeds on fears that grow in the heart and mind. Visit page

After this long life, how can you want to preserve the right to life for yourself? You are already destroyed, even God cannot untangle your internal destruction. Visit page

In these forgotten camps, our concern was to secure many of the missing simple and basic things, the most important is how to get water, showers and hygiene. Visit page

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The most challenging aspect we faced while preparing the content was using appropriate language, but it wasn’t the only one. Visit page