We would wait at the side of the main road for the coffins to arrive. Bassim and I were eight. The war with Iran had entered its fourth year.
Arts & Letters
Robin Yassin-Kassab recounts his journey to Iraqi Kurdistan to meet writers who’ve lived through the worst of the country’s recent past.
When I abuse I do not know I am abusing. This first happened when I was at school. I have protruding teeth and because of this, everyone called me parrot, parrot.
Most people do not consider taking their next vacation to Iraq. The residents of the city of Najaf hope to change that.
When it becomes a protest, poetry has a price.
The revolutions of the Arab Spring gave a new lease of life to an enormously popular poem by Palestinian-Israeli poet and activist Tawfiq Zayyad.
When crowds in Tunisia marched against the despotism of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, they chanted a short poem by the Tunisian poet Abu al-Qasim al-Shabi.
The poem became an instant classic despite being instantly banned. It rails against Arab dictatorship and backwardness, and calls for a new generation of Arabs to break their chains and overcome defeat.
A perspective on the Arab revolutions from the West.