In a previously-unpublished interview from 2019, the late Lokman Slim—assassinated last week—and his wife Monika Borgmann discuss living in Hezbollah’s Beirut; their film about Syria’s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.

A recent book argues violence is not merely an incidental feature of the Assad regime’s rule in Syria, but rather an inseparable component of its governance strategy, consciously pursued and pervading almost every detail of citizens’ interaction with the state.

[Editor’s note: This article was originally published in Arabic on 22 March, 2018] DOUMA, Eastern Ghouta: “Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” (Matthew 7:14) The military campaign against Eastern Ghouta has imposed its terms locally on civilians, creating a compounded siege pressing them from four sides: The military pressure practiced…