Latest posts by Marcell Shehwaro
What Christ Is Born Among Us Today?

"Yes, we are Christians, but we don’t want a Christ that doesn’t look like us...."
I Am Lucky to Have a Syrian Passport

"Do I appear fidgety? Maybe it is because I don’t understand how someone would ever answer “Yes” to the question: 'Are you a member of a secret banned organization?'"
Syria: What Forgiveness Doesn't Mean

'I wish the soul of the revolution was enough for me to be able to pardon them all, if only in the “court in my head”.
A Syrian Asks Herself: Am I Capable of Killing?

"With every story I remembered," writes Syrian activist Marcell Shehwaro, "the certainty that I was a person who neither kills nor wants to kill was gradually shrinking."
The Syrian Conflict Won't Steal My Christmas

In a country in the throes of war, celebrating Christmas can be an act of both profound naïvete and staunch resistance.
What's Personal When You're Syrian?

"How to disentangle the personal from the public in your animosity towards those who want to kill you just because you attempted to assert your personal and public rights?"
Kidnapped, But Sameera Is Ever-Present in the Memories of Syrians

Yasin Al Hajj Saleh is a teacher of hope. If he was able to smile in the face of hope, what is your excuse?
A Year Away From Syria

What happens to a Syrian activist and her ideals when she takes refuge outside her war-torn country?
My Birthday

On the day of her birthday, Syrian activist Marcell Shehwaro looks back at the trauma and heartbreak of life in Syria through the prism of birthdays past and present.
In War-Torn Aleppo, There's No Place Like Home

Displaced, like many Syrians, as a result of the ongoing conflict, Marcell Shehwaro reflects on her ongoing search for home.
The Funeral That Brought Syria's Revolutionaries to a Church with Red Roses

Christians, Muslims, family members and revolutionary comrades gather at church in Aleppo, Syria for Marcell Shehwaro's mother's funeral. How to make it a space that preserves the dignity of all?
How ISIS Came to Leave Its Black Stain on Syria

If Syria bears responsibility for the rise of ISIS, the country has also borne the initial brunt of the group's aggressions, writes Marcell Shehwaro.
If I Were A Dictator, I Would Consider You My Enemy

Marcell Shehwaro adds her voice to #Douma4, the campaign to free leading Syrian human rights activists and opposition figures kidnapped in Douma by Islamist militants.
In Syria We Have All Become Killers

What do you feel when the security checkpoint where your mother was killed is destroyed in a bombing?
From Liberated Aleppo

The citizens of Aleppo, Syria—those eagerly awaiting the liberation as well as those against it—await the details on further areas of their divided city liberated from the Syrian regime.
Syria: Love in the Time of Tyranny

"Wherever I look in Syria, I come across crazy stories of love, brave as a rose stubbornly growing, despite the weeds and thorns trying to suffocate it," writes Marcell Shehwaro.
Syria: Life As It Was Before the Invention of the Light Bulb

With the power supply in whole swaths of the country cut off by government authorities, Syrians get used to treating electricity as both a luxury and metaphor for their struggle.
Syria: My Mother, Alive

Syrian blogger/activist Marcell Shehwaro remembers her martyred mother, "who believed in love, beauty, family and the right of Syrian mothers to live a life free from fear and anxiety."
In A Syrian Neighbourhood, Rocket Fire Becomes The New Normal

When her Aleppo neighbourhood is the target of rocket fire, Syrian activist Marcell Shehwaro's is both surprised, and not surprised, at how quickly life returns to "normal".
Three Years of the Syrian Revolution: “Our Dream Remains Alive”

Activist and blogger Marcell Shehwaro on preparations in her home city of Aleppo, and other parts of the country, to commemorate the third anniversary of the Syrian revolution.