On Tue 22 Mar 2022, and as part of Celebrating Syria Festival, we had our only online event on Assad’s Prisons: The Narrative of Resistance in Lived Experience and in Literature. The talk was delivered by Jaber Baker, a novelist, researcher, former political prisoner, and human rights activist. In his talk, Jaber Baker introduced us to prison literature in Syria in a rare opportunity to have a closer look at the experience of detention and forced disappearance in this country, itself a huge prison, as represented in literature.

This event is part of the 5th Celebrating Syria: a Festival of Arts and Culture. For the full festival programme, please visit celebratingsyria.org

Building on 4 years of success, culminating in an entirely virtual festival in December 2020, Rethink Rebuild Society persists with its creative mission, showcasing the talent and creativity of Syrian artists in the UK and presenting a truly bright image of Syria and its culture and heritage, an image that has long been neglected amidst the war and the refugee crisis.

The theme of this year’s festival is ‘Distance’, a title that is ‘inspired’ by social distancing measures imposed on us all as a result of the COVID-19, where isolation and distance became the norm and many people stayed away from loved ones. ‘Distance’ also sums up the experiences of many Syrian and non-Syrian people, forcibly displaced, exiled or refugees around the world as a result of injustice.