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In the hilly countryside west of Damascus, residents are organizing to keep their land.

The threat they face is almost as old as the Syrian state. Since the 1950s, governments in Damascus have expropriated land and uprooted residents: whether to break up large feudal holdings, build state housing and infrastructure, or punish distrusted communities.

Today, the transitional authorities wield Assad-era laws to pursue new rounds of expropriation—or to resume schemes set in motion under the former regime. Such is the case in al-Bejaa. In June, its residents got notice that they would be evicted to make way for Abyat Hills: a Saudi-funded housing project whose units will be priced far beyond the reach of those who have lived and farmed the land for decades.

Facing this old injustice, they have seized on Syria’s newly open public sphere to insist upon their rights. They tell their stories on camera and gather by the hundreds to protest; they appear before officials and demand to know why foreign investors would take precedence over their ownership deeds.

Whatever their outcome, this struggle and others like it are already shaping how Syrians see themselves and their state. What does one owe the other, and what do you do when the bargain is not upheld?

This video is the first in a series on emerging forms of political contestation in Syria’s transition, in collaboration with @synapsnetwork . by @synapsnetwork

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5 days ago

⁨ في الريف الجبلي غرب دمشق، ينظّم الأهالي أنفسهم دفاعاً عن أراضيهم.

التهديد الذي يواجهونه يكاد يكون قديماً بقدم الدولة السورية نفسها. فمنذ خمسينيات القرن الماضي، عمدت الحكومات المتعاقبة في دمشق إلى استملاك الأراضي وإجبار السكان على تركها، سواء لتفكيك الملكيات الإقطاعية الكبيرة، أو لبناء المساكن والمنشآت العامة، أو لمعاقبة مجتمعات لم تكن السلطة تثق بها.

اليوم، تستخدم السلطات الانتقالية قوانين تعود إلى عهد الأسد للشروع في جولات تنفيذ، أو لاستكمال مشاريع بدأها النظام السابق. وهذا ما يحدث في البجّاع. ففي حزيران/يونيو، أُبلغ السكان بأنهم سيُخلون المنطقة لإفساح المجال أمام مشروع "أبيات هيلز"، وهو مشروع سكني لشركة سعودية، ستُطرح وحداته بأسعار تفوق بكثير قدرة من عاشوا على هذه الأرض وزرعوها طوال عقود.

في مواجهة هذا الظلم القديم، استفاد الأهالي من الانفتاح الجديد في المجال العام السوري للمطالبة بحقوقهم. يروون قصصهم أمام الكاميرا، ويتجمعون بالمئات للاحتجاج، ويحضرون أمام أعضاء مجلس الشعب مطالبين بمعرفة السبب الذي يجعل المستثمرين الأجانب يتقدمون على سندات ملكيتهم.

ومهما كانت نتيجة هذه المواجهة، فإنها، وغيرها من الصراعات المشابهة، بدأت بالفعل في تشكيل الطريقة التي يرى بها السوريون أنفسهم ودولتهم. ماذا يدين كل منهما للآخر؟ وماذا يفعل الناس عندما لا تلتزم الدولة بما يُفترض أن تقوم عليه هذه العلاقة�⁩ by @synapsnetwork

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9 days ago

How to rebuild your country with no government plan and little outside support?

Syrians are doing exactly that. They tap diaspora networks and local businesses to rebuild schools, pave roads, and light streets. Organizers are learning on the fly: testing how best to define priorities, raise funds, chase down unfulfilled pledges, and report back to benefactors and community members.

The problem is that the many lessons they learn are invisible to other Syrians who could benefit from them. Synaps has been working to bridge that gap, by sitting with organizers to document best practices. We distilled their experience into a set of tools, including this poster designed for display in community spaces.

This toolkit is a work in progress. We incorporated a round of feedback from organizers we met in our fieldwork, and have now started a pilot round of distributing hardcopies in community spaces. We’ll share lessons as we go, and would love to hear your feedback in the meantime.

كيف تعيد بناء وطنك مع غياب دولة وقلّة دعم خارجي؟

هذا بالضبط ما يفعله السوريون. يلجؤون الى شبكات المغتربين والشركات المحلية لإعادة بناء المدارس وتعبيد الطرقات وإنارة الشوارع. يتعلم المنظمون أثناء سير العمل من خلال اختبار كيفية اختيار الأولويات وجمع التمويل ومتابعة وعود التبرعات والمواصلة على إعلام المتبرعين والمجتمع على المستجدات بشفافية.

ولكن تبقى الكثير من الدروس القيّمة التي يكتسبونها مخفية عن بقية السوريين الذين يمكن أن يستفيدوا منها.
تعمل “سينابس” على تقليص هذه الفجوة من خلال الجلوس مع المنظمين وتوثيق أفضل الممارسات. حوّلنا خبرتهم إلى مجموعة من الأدوات، بما فيها هذا الملصق المصمّم للتعليق والمشاركة في المساحات المجتمعية.

هذا الدليل لا يزال قيد التطوير. لقد أضفنا ملاحظات المنظمين الذين التقيناهم، وبدأنا تجربة توزيع نسخ مطبوعة في المساحات المشتركة. سنشارككم الدروس تدريجيا، ويسعدنا سماع آرائكم وملاحظاتكم خلال مشاركتنا. by @synapsnetwork

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18 days ago

Last night we launched “Syrians in the Shadow of War” in Beirut. In conversation with @justinsalhani , @alexgsimon1 and @lina_ghoutouk discussed how the book came to life: the behind the scenes methodology, the challenges and opportunities researchers faced in and outside of Syria, and what the book tells us about Syria today. With thanks to @beit.aam for their space, to our publishers @auc_press and @ifporient , and to the participants who made the event special.

Stay tuned for our next events in Beirut and Damascus! by @synapsnetwork

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25 days ago

We are presenting our work through a visual portfolio, walking you through our process from identifying the problems we encountered to explaining how we solved them.

Carefully designed profiles like these take more time and resources to produce but the investment pays off. by @synapsnetwork

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a month ago

“Much has changed since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, and much has not,” @alexgsimon1 writes in a new essay in Hidden Cities on the hopes, fears, ambiguities, and contradictions in Syria after Assad — adapted from his new book Syrians in the Shadow of War from @auc_press

The book draws on years of research and fieldwork in Syria by @synapsnetwork, including the social and economic decay that preceded the Assad regime’s collapse.

“The challenges Syria now faces, and the resources it brings to bear in tackling them, are years and decades in the making. A starting point is to reckon with that legacy.”

Read the essay at the link in our bio.

Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images by @synapsnetwork

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a month ago

Beirut friends, join us!

Next Monday at Beit Aam, @lina_ghoutouk and I will sit with @justinsalhani to discuss "Syrians in the Shadow of War"—out now from @auc_press & @ifporient.

RSVPs appreciated: DM me or email alex@synaps.world. by @synapsnetwork

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a month ago

A look at what we do, and what we learn along the way. by @synapsnetwork

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a month ago

Synaps changed a lot, with your help. Happy ten! by @synapsnetwork

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a month ago

A great pleasure of writing with Synaps is the amount of care we put into illustrating our work. The art we choose is a way to deepen the impact of our writing, but also to connect with and credit artists we admire.

As we publish “Syrians in the Shadow of War,” whose cover bears the brilliant work of @tammamazzam, we pulled together some of the other pieces that Syrian artists have generously shared with us over the years.

With deep gratitude to @azza.abo.rebieh , @anasalbraehe , @mohamad_hafez , Khalil Younes, and the late Elias Zayyat by @synapsnetwork

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a month ago

Here it is!

In one form or another, we at Synaps have been working toward this book for a decade—ever since we first conceived our Syria project in 2016. Today it’s out from @auc_press and right at home in our Synaps library.

Drawing on thousands of interviews across Syria and its diaspora, my colleagues and I show how Syria transformed in the seven years before Bashar al-Assad’s fall—and how those transformations shape today's transition. Among the great joys of this new phase is that my Syrian coauthors, long anonymous, can appear in their own names.

If you’re in the US / UK / Europe, you can buy it on Bookshop, Amazon, or IndiePubs. IndiePubs maximizes proceeds for our publisher, who in turn offers a 20% discount. See the link in my bio, and use the code Syria20 at checkout.

If you’re in Lebanon or Syria unsure how to get your hands on a copy, let me know and I’ll help.

With deep thanks to @tammamazzam for gracing the cover with his art, and to the brilliant scholars who have generously endorsed the book. by @synapsnetwork

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2 months ago

by @synapsnetwork

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3 months ago