Former @motherjones. Author of “American Prison,” one of the NYT’s 10 best books. Writing a book on Americans in the Syrian war. Email me at [email protected]
Oakland
Joined November 2011
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I wrote about the violence of settlers, and the ways the state of Israel supports them in grabbing land, for The New Yorker. newyorker.com/magazine/2024/…
Shane Bauer retweeted
"كان نظام الأسد يسيطر على جميع دور الأيتام في" سوريا، لكنه كان يدير دار لحن الحياة مباشرةً. قال أحد السكان السابقين: "كانوا يتحدثون عن بشار الأسد والجيش، وهذا كل شيء. لا يوجد هاتف. إنه سجن". تعاملت السيدة الأولى، أسماء الأسد، مع دار الأيتام كمشروعها المفضل. كانت تزورها كثيرًا، وظهرت صورها وهي تبتسم مع أيتام لحن الحياة بين ذراعيها في الصحف السورية. في صيف عام 2013، دعت حوالي اثني عشر طفلاً من دار الأيتام لمساعدتها في إعداد وجبة رمضان للنازحين بسبب الحرب. عندما انتهوا من الطهي، ثم اخبرت العديد من الأيتام أن لديها مفاجأة: دخل الرئيس نفسه الغرفة، محرجًا ونحيفًا. ركض الأطفال إليه وصرخوا فرحًا.
"هل خرجتَ للتو من السجن؟" سأل طفلٌ في السادسة من عمره. كان جديدًا في دار الأيتام، وبالكاد كان الأطفال الآخرون يعرفونه.
ضحك الرئيس وقال: من أخبرك أنني في السجن؟
سألت إحدى الطفلتين الأكبر سنًا الصبي لاحقًا عن سبب قوله ذلك. تذكرت أنه قال: "كنتُ في السجن مع بابا. وقال بابا عندما نخرج، سنسجن بشار".
من تقرير طويل، صادم ومبكي للصحفي الأمريكي شون باور (@shane_bauer) عن أطفال
المعتقلين لصحيفة نيويورك تايمز"
archive.is/saNpT
For my 8-month investigation into the Assad regime's forced disappearance of children, I tracked down kids I found in classified databases created by the secret police. Many had been hidden in orphanages run by an international NGO, some under false names. nytimes.com/2025/08/18/magaz…
Former Evin prisoner here. This attack is psychopathic. Do people think that what keeps prisoners inside their cells is a front gate? The Iranian regime already accuses its opponents of being Israeli agents. I can’t imagine the repercussion the prisoners will face for this.
A Syrian woman started our conversation about her search for her sister’s missing children by telling me she feels terrible for what the people of California are going through. 2025 vibes
A woman complained to the new Damascus governor, Maher Marwan, about the lack of electricity. He said to be patient while they set up an electricity company and get the oil moving in northeast Syria. Most of it is under SDF/US control. The largest oil and gas fields are US bases.
Today I visited Yarmouk camp, which was once the largest Palestinian community outside Palestine. I once lived here, and these streets were full of people. The Assad regime did this. Remember this the next time you hear that the fall of the Assad regime was bad for Palestinians.
Thousands rallied in Damascus today, singing about freedom and unity. No one holding up pictures of any man. Not a word, not a chant about Jolani. Speakers praised the protesters, the fighters, the imprisoned, the exiled, the dead, the men and the women for making this possible.
Tanks are just sitting along the roads around Damascus, military vehicles with their doors open like the soldiers just jumped out and ran, torn pictures of Bashar on the floors of buildings, starting to collect dust.
Since people seem to be wondering, I can report that the bars in Damascus seem to be doing just fine.
Pulled into Damascus today after 15 years away. One of the first things I saw hundreds gathered at Umayyad square, calling for a secular, civil state. The revolution continues. It’s great to be back.
“Extremism and fundamentalism drove many Syrians away from the revolution. It’s like the repression of the regime. We’re not going to let that happen…we’re here today to say that Syria will stay secular.”
At the demonstration today in Damascus, an armed HTS man took the mic. When he spoke against sectarianism and for freedom in Syria, he was met with applause. When he spoke in religious terms, people drowned him out with “Secularism! Secularism!” and “No to Religious Rule!”
One prison after another opened. Families reunited. Cities suddenly freed. People returning home. Suddenly, for millions of people, the future is open.
Syria just showed us that nothing is impossible. Beautiful things can happen.
The Israeli government claimed more land in the West Bank last month than any time since 1993. middleeasteye.net/news/israe…
Biden doing the thing Democrats called fascism when Trump tried it six years ago. nytimes.com/2024/06/03/us/po…
Shane Bauer retweeted
You can't unsee this. This is a group of Jewish Israeli youngsters celebrating the destruction of food aid to Gaza. And not one solider lifting a finger to arrest them, or even to just *stop* them.
