Interviews

Haifa, my very sad city

Arash Azizi 29 June 2022

Maha Haj doesn’t remember the exact moment she thought of the idea that later led to Mediterranean Fever, her second feature-length film which

The struggle for life: An interview with Yassin al-Haj Saleh

Christophe Ayad 16 March 2021

Syrian writer and former political prisoner Yassin al-Haj Saleh talks revolution, Europe’s Syrian diaspora, and being “tragically hopeful” with Le Monde’s Christophe Ayad on the occasion of ten years since the Syrian uprising.

“I don’t like talking about fear”

Anton Mukhamedov 11 February 2021

In a previously-unpublished interview from 2019, the late Lokman Slim—assassinated last week—and his wife Monika Borgmann discuss living in Hezbollah’s Beirut; their film about Syria’s notorious Tadmor prison; the nature of political violence; and the question of fear.

“This is finally happening”: Syria’s torturers on trial

Al-Jumhuriya Collective 14 December 2020

In the small German city of Koblenz, at the intersection of the Rhine and Moselle rivers, half way between Frankfurt and Bonn, a

CSOs and victims’ associations: Partnership and rivalry

Oula Ramadan 15 October 2020

The rise of victims’ associations in 2016 was connected with civil society organizations (CSOs) in one way or another. Such organizations sometimes provided

Fighting for graves we can visit

Yassin Swehat 2 July 2020

[Editor’s note: This interview was translated from Arabic in partnership with The Syria Campaign.] Syrians have been reeling from the so-called “Caesar photos”—images of

Surviving monstrosities: An interview with Yassin al-Haj Saleh

Marina Naprushkina 25 June 2020

Syrian writer and former prisoner of conscience Yassin al-Haj Saleh speaks to Belarusian activist Marina Naprushkina about the global rise of authoritarians, the “plague” of Putinism, and why the time is ripe for new political movements.

The return to Martyrs Square: An interview with Michael Young

Alex Rowell 12 November 2019

Al-Jumhuriya talks to veteran Lebanese journalist Michael Young about the parallels and distinctions between today’s mass protests in Lebanon and the 2005 “Cedar Revolution.”

Still Recording: An interview with Syrian director Ghiath Ayoub

Anton Mukhamedov 30 April 2019

Co-director of prize-winning film Still Recording tells Al-Jumhuriya about filming under chemical attacks in Eastern Ghouta, and the untold stories of life in revolutionary Syria.

Between universalism and narrow culturalism: An interview with Tunisian historian Sophie Bessis

Nayla Mansour 1 November 2018

[Editor’s note: This article is part of Al-Jumhuriya’s new “Gender, Sexuality, and Power” series. It was originally published in Arabic on 8 November,