The Environment Is a Feminist Issue End of al-Assad's 54-year rule: Syrian feminist views on the transitional phase On December 8, 2024, Syria entered a new political era after 54 years of the al-Assad family rule. The liberation battle that started from the North ended with power placed in the hands of Hay’at Tahrir al Sham (HTS), a former al-Qaeda-linked militant group. While the end of the al-Assad era sparked widespread optimism, early formal statements from the new rulers raised concerns, particularly regarding women’s rights. The Climate Is Changing, Will I Face a Natural Disaster? Artist Haya Halaw and her family immigrated years ago from Syria to Jordan, where she stayed until she had to immigrate again to Germany. These forced migrations were accompanied by climate and environmental changes. Today, Halaw sits at her workdesk in Hamburg and reflects on these changes and their gender-related impact. By Haya Halaw Iraq’s Environmental Struggle against Foreign Rapacity and Local Greed Ahwaris in Iraq have been through a series of tragedies over the decades. “We have lived a long history of displacement, oppression and racism. We have always opposed authoritarian governments and any form of authoritarianism. My family was active in opposition to Saddam Hussain. My uncle was killed resisting him in Hor Al-Huwaiza,” explains Ahwari activist and environmental and human rights defender Mustafa Hashim who is part of the “Ahwari Voice-The Ahwari Human Rights network”, one of several self-organized groups in the Marsh lands, the Ahwar (singular Hor), that spread through Southern Iraq and Iran. “But the current Iraqi government refuses to recognize this and give us our rights as a family of a martyr. I have two aunts that were killed due to mine explosions in Hor al-Huwaiza from the remnants of the Iran-Iraq war. Many others here have sustained severe injuries in the aftermath of the war. It is great suffering and sorrow that does not end.”1 By Ansar Jasim
End of al-Assad's 54-year rule: Syrian feminist views on the transitional phase On December 8, 2024, Syria entered a new political era after 54 years of the al-Assad family rule. The liberation battle that started from the North ended with power placed in the hands of Hay’at Tahrir al Sham (HTS), a former al-Qaeda-linked militant group. While the end of the al-Assad era sparked widespread optimism, early formal statements from the new rulers raised concerns, particularly regarding women’s rights.
The Climate Is Changing, Will I Face a Natural Disaster? Artist Haya Halaw and her family immigrated years ago from Syria to Jordan, where she stayed until she had to immigrate again to Germany. These forced migrations were accompanied by climate and environmental changes. Today, Halaw sits at her workdesk in Hamburg and reflects on these changes and their gender-related impact. By Haya Halaw
Iraq’s Environmental Struggle against Foreign Rapacity and Local Greed Ahwaris in Iraq have been through a series of tragedies over the decades. “We have lived a long history of displacement, oppression and racism. We have always opposed authoritarian governments and any form of authoritarianism. My family was active in opposition to Saddam Hussain. My uncle was killed resisting him in Hor Al-Huwaiza,” explains Ahwari activist and environmental and human rights defender Mustafa Hashim who is part of the “Ahwari Voice-The Ahwari Human Rights network”, one of several self-organized groups in the Marsh lands, the Ahwar (singular Hor), that spread through Southern Iraq and Iran. “But the current Iraqi government refuses to recognize this and give us our rights as a family of a martyr. I have two aunts that were killed due to mine explosions in Hor al-Huwaiza from the remnants of the Iran-Iraq war. Many others here have sustained severe injuries in the aftermath of the war. It is great suffering and sorrow that does not end.”1 By Ansar Jasim
