From the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, Aleppo was the most important city in the Ottoman empire boasting an extremely rich and complex history. By universalizing the discussions of Aleppo, Nachar undoes nostalgic historical accounts and demystifies the charming discourse of the ancient oriental city. Like any other city, Aleppo has its entangled worlds and…
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Author of A Shop of One’s Own, Independence and Reputation among Traders in Aleppo, Rabo shares insights from her fieldwork during 1997-2002 in Souk al-Medina (the city’s market) as one of Aleppo’s key social urban institutions. As a site for social interaction and formative human experiences, how do traders and customers interact and define time…
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You know Aleppo as a vast landscape of bombed and burning historic buildings, cratered streets, and endless lines of fleeing, destitute families. But I will tell you about a time when things were different — when Aleppo was my home. Since 2011, Syrians witnessed firsthand the simultaneous rebirth and destruction of their country on every…
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Long before March 2011, Syria was known as the “kingdom of silence”. All forms of artistic and public expression were controlled by the regime, only those who mastered the regime’s censorship rule-book managed to sneak in their subtle message through the many red lines. From the outset of the uprising against tyranny in 2011, public…
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Oslo Dokuemntarkino, Fenris Film, Stray Dog Productions, International Media Support (IMS) and SPACE organized the Oslo premiere of Nizam Najjar’s documentary Aleppo’s Fall. The screening was followed by Q&A with the director Nizam Najjar moderated by Zeina Bali, and a conversation with Karam Nachar moderated by Rasmus Steen. Award-winning film-maker Waad al-Kateab participated via Skype. Below is a…
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In 2016, one of the worst human tragedies took place in Aleppo. After a few months of siege and indiscriminate shelling, tens of thousands of people were evicted from the city. Beyond the horrific scenes of bombardment and forced mass eviction, little reflection has followed on how and why these violations happened and what the…
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Om filmen Aleppos opprør mot regimet og senere sammenbrudd under massivt bombardement er som et symbol på den arabiske våren. Folket reiste seg i protest mot diktaturet men motstanden var splittet i mange fraksjoner og den klarte aldri stå imot volden fra regimet. I filmen Aleppo’s Fall reiser den norsk-syriske regissøren Nizam Najjar tilbake til…
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The air is still filled with dust from demolished buildings. Hands search desperately through what is now a total ruin, moving bricks and rebars in hope of finding someone alive. We follow Khalid, Subhi, and Mahmoud, three Syrians who volunteer for the organisation known as The White Helmets. Now they are doing everything in their…
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The Story of Aleppo At the beginning of the Syrian uprising, Aleppo symbolized dissent to Assad rule culturally, with its unique plethora of artistic, cultural and civil society initiatives. The very same city that once represented hope is now the site of violence and despair. The story of Aleppo needs to be told.…
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One Day in Aleppo by Ali Alibrahim After five months of the suffocating siege and daily bombings of the city of Aleppo, a group of children take it upon themselves to start painting colors in their city as a game in order to forget their daily struggles and to sow some optimism among the hundreds…
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