BY AMIR KHOUZAM AND TARA HEIDGER At the Rukban informal IDP camp on the Jordan-Syria border, desperation can be measured by the price of bread. This past month that price has doubled. The small markets and bakeries sustaining the 50,000…
Day: October 11, 2019
Fleeing from Fahaheel
BY S’HA SIDDIQI On August 2, 1990, a thunderous boom rattled the streets of Fahaheel, Kuwait. It was early morning and 26-year-old Asma Ahsan had just returned to bed after nursing her infant son back to sleep. Her eyes fluttered…
Hebron Head On
BY AMIR KHOUZAM “Passports,” barked the soldier. He seemed small, smaller than the gun he held in front of him like a shield, with the muzzle pointing at the floor so he could move down the aisle of the bus.…
Neelab Yousafzai: A Journey of 6780 Miles
BY JUANA WAI SUM LEE Neelab Yousafzai, a Master’s student in Human Rights Studies at Columbia University, was raised during a particularly violent period of Afghan history. “I witnessed abductions, I saw people getting hung in front of my eyes,…
Syria’s Civil War Forces its Bravest and Brightest to Flee
BY SHRUTI MARIAN In 2011, in a square outside the Grand Mosque in Douma, WS saw a man die in front of her for the first time. The man was a protester and was shot by government security forces. His…
The Crossing
BY S’HA SIDDIQI Ajaz Khan ran, his little sister cradled in his arms as he raced through the high grass in the smoke-clogged night. His heart pounded as he barreled towards the tree line, the sound of gunshots thundering in…
The Voice of Military Humor in a Post-9/11 World
BY DOMINICK TAO Like many of the 3-million U.S. military veterans of the Global War on Terrorism, Paul Szoldra left the Marine Corps with no clue what he wanted to do. It was 2010. Szoldra was 26. The war had…
We Should Have Left Before it was Too Late
BY DOMINICK TAO Even decades after the Cambodian Civil war and the genocidal rule of the Khmer Rouge, Tek Hout Tao could never escape the guilt of following a friend’s decision to stay instead of run. The war crept toward…
How To Make Trolls and Intimidate People
BY SHRUTI MANIAN Part 1: The Gatekeepers Campus security and police officers swarmed the University of Hyderabad campus as students staged a protest calling for the University Vice Chancellor’s arrest. University officials barred activists and journalists from entering the public…
Legacy
BY S’HA SIDDIQI My grandparents’ story isn’t particularly novel. It is the shared experience of millions of Pakistanis and Indians who have yet to come to terms with the full extent of injury – both physical and emotional – that…