January 2009

I wanted to write a optimistic editorial for the January 2009 of Forward Magazine, which has now entered its third year in print. That became impossible with the Israeli raid that started on Gaza on December 27, 2008.

Bisan al-Bunni

It is really hard to notice that shy sign standing in an abandoned spot in front of an old building in the crowded al-Abassyeen Square of Damascus. More noticeable is a small kiosk full of chocolates, biscuits and other candies, which rests right besides the banner announcing the name of the place: “The Family Meeting Center.”

Apart from being a remarkable FNC journalist in the UAE, Najla al-Awadhi is a member of the UAE Parliament, Deputy CEO of Dubai Media Inc (DMI), and general manager of Dubai One TV. FW: Magazine had the pleasure of speaking to her, and fleshing out the success story of this young Arab woman.

How did you get started, and what was the motivation and support given to you as an Arab woman?

Kinan Afif Bahnassi was born in Damascus, Syria. An alumnus of Northeastern University's College of Engineering, Boston, his collegiate studies had been centered upon a dual concentration in Information Systems and Business Management. The qualitative and quantitative proficiencies that Kinan had gained within these disciplines at Northeastern University had been complemented by a global reach. As a Candidate for a PhD in Management Information Systems Boston, he is focusing on Customer Knowledge Management, which is the impact of knowledge management in the corporate customer relationships. Now the national project director to the Labor Market Database project for the UNDP in Syria, and a lecturer at the University of Kalamoon, he speaks to FW: Magazine about his decision to return to Syria, the project he has been asked to head, and the relationship between himself, his father, and his country.   

Investor appetite was enhanced in the old city of Damascus, as a result of the grand success witnessed in transforming ancient mansions into restaurants, since the mid-1990s. The trend now is to transform these homes into boutique hotels, causing real estate prices in Old Damascus to skyrocket tenfold. Many of them have been abandoned for years; others were being used—until very recently—as storehouses. Restaurants in the old city now exceed 100, while the number of licensed hotels stands at 31, seven of which are already in operation. How did the ‘boutique hotel’ trend start?

Catherine Nelson-Pollard

Renowned Syrian artist, Khaled Takriti was born in Beirut in 1964. He is a graduate of the Architecture and Painting Academy in Damascus, and he worked as an architect in Damascus's General Directorate of Antiquity and Museums. Since childhood, he mastered drawings and oil painting, developing his skills at several schools of art. He moved to New York in 1992, where he stayed for two years, acquiring artistic techniques on temporary art. As he matured artistically, he moved to Paris where he has chosen to live and work as a full-time artist since 2006.  

A theater collective that came into being a decade ago, after its players were kicked out off stage and were forced to perform their plays in basements around Damascus, is now homeless again. As a result of a business squabble, Teatro, a theater company and collective that offers a wide range of acting and movement classes, is no longer operating out of the traditional Arabic house in the Old City where the group has grown over the past two years. May Skaf, Teatro leader, is an actress who has starred in stage and screen productions and comes from a prominent artistic family in Damascus. She is now holding theater classes at friends’ homes and in public parks until she can find a new space. “It’s tiring to start from the beginning again, to find a place with no money,” Skaf said. “It’s not easy, but I’ll do it.”

"The shift from bookstore to publisher and distributor still involves selling culture; it's en mass, but still, it's culture," says Samar Haddad, general manager and owner of Atlas Publishing & Distribution. "It's very difficult to sell these days, but we're trying." Haddad has been around books in one way or another her whole life. Atlas itself was first opened in the 1950s by Haddad's father; it was a regular bookstore, where people would come in off the street and take a look at what was on offer. Before leaving for Canada, Haddad had worked for three years side by side with her father, learning the business and getting a feel for the trends. "He was always around, he introduced me to all his colleagues, gave advice all the time. He was definitely a source of support," she says.  

I asked young Syrians, all born after the Carter years, what the first thing was that came to mind when they heard the name Jimmy Carter. Answers varied but had the same theme: Camp David, ally of Anwar Sadat, and friend of the Palestinians, mainly because of his latest book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. One particular, or trait, that kept ringing in my ears, as I met the former US President during his latest visit to Damascus was: “Justice.”