After the Fall Podcast

One year ago I was in Qamishlo for Newroz. So much has changed since then. If you don't know that much about Newroz, I explain a bit in this episode of the podcast: https://afterthefallpod.libsyn.com/episode-five-first-newroz-after-the-fall

But anyways, Newroz pîroz be! And much solidarity to those celebrating in Syria and Rojava this year.

#Syria #Rojava #newroz

After the Fall: Dispatches from the Women's Revolution in North-East Syria: Episode Five: First Newroz After the Fall

Our final episode takes us to the Newroz celebrations in Qamislo, where we see Syrian musician Samih Choukeir perform. Once back in Montreal, Virginia talks to Khuzama and Cedric from the media project Fajawat about the importance of Choukeir’s performance and their perspectives on the changing climate in Syria. Newroz 2025 was openly celebrated in Damascus for the first time and the holiday has taken on new significance in the wake of Assad’s fall. However, as of October 2025, the transitional government in Damascus has decided to exclude Newroz from the list of official holidays in Syria. We end the episode with an update from Khuzama and Cedric that was recorded in late September 2025 and includes talk about the massacres that took place in Sweida in July.   Notes: citations On Samih Choukeir: , On Sweida: More information on the situation Khuzama and Cedric talked about from April 2025 when activists from Sweida were arrested on their way to a workshop in Raqqa: –   Links Khuzama and Cedric’s media project, Fajawat: Kongra Star's website:   Music credits: Theme music is from Koma Şehîd Hêva Ya Şehba available online at and interlude and outro music is from Shahriyar Jamshidi . This episode also featured audio recorded by me at the Qamislo Newroz Festival in March 2025 as well as audio of Samih Choukeir’s performance there that was recorded by Ronahi TV and is available online at   A Short List of Further resources on Syria, Kurdistan, Rojava, etc. (things I read or listened to while making this podcast) List of media to check out re: Syria from Fajawat website: Podcasts: (specifically and Syria: The Inconvenient Revolution: ) featuring Shahrzad Arshadi's podcast "The Future is Now" Books: Rojava in Focus: Critical Dialogues. Edited by Cihad Hammy and Thomas Jeffrey Milley, AK Press, 2025. Bringing the Rojava Revolution Home. By Jenni Keasden and Natalia Szarek, Active Distribution, 2023. My Road from Damascus: A Memoir. By Jamal Saeed, ECW Press, 2022. Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War. By Leila Al-Shami and Robin Yassin-Kassab, Pluto Press, 2018.   

Mar 21 at 10:25pmWeb
Show threadAfter the Fall Podcast7h ago

Huge Newroz celebrations in Sheikh Maqsoud but a rough road back to Afrin for some people who were stopped on the road and harassed. https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/syria/21032026

"Hassan said that in the center of Afrin city and on the Aleppo-Afrin road, residents were obstructed. “The Kurdistan flag is being trampled, and people are forced to walk over the flag,” he said, adding that those committing the violations were people who were previously in armed groups from the eastern Deir ez-Zor province."

#Syria #Rojava #Newroz

Kurds abused, Kurdish flag insulted in northern Syria during Newroz: officials

Officials in northeast Syria (Rojava) said Saturday that Kurdish residents returning to the northern city of Afrin were abused during Newroz celebrations, with the Kurdish flag burned and trampled, as local authorities imposed a curfew following the incidents.

rudaw.net