اخبار سوريا اليوم – وطن نيوز
سوريا اليوم – اخبار سوريا عاجل
W6nnews.com ==== وطن === تاريخ النشر – 2026-05-02 17:05:00
In the context of the transformations witnessed by cultural institutions in Syria after the years of war, the Arab Writers Union remains one of the most controversial entities regarding its structure, role, and future independence, especially in light of the mounting controversy over restructuring mechanisms, membership criteria, and the limits of the relationship between politics and culture within an institution with a long and heavy history. In this special interview with Enab Baladi, the head of the Arab Writers Union in Syria, Ahmed Jassim Al-Hussein, provides an expanded reading of the reality of the union today, addressing the structural challenges it faces, from administrative, financial and organizational accumulations, to the problems of the institutional legacy left by the previous regime, and what he describes as attempts to move from an individualistic and ideological state to an institution based on collective action and knowledge production. Al-Hussein also explains the Union’s approaches to the issue of “cultural transitional justice,” and the accompanying discussions about dismissal and re-membership, and the limits of differentiating between political opinion on the one hand, and what it considers “incitement or justification for violence” on the other hand. It also addresses questions of independence and financing, and attempts to rebuild a more decentralized and open institutional model, in light of a transitional phase whose features are still taking shape. This dialogue confronts the vision of the current Union leadership with a number of questions related to the future of the oldest cultural institution in the country, and the possibilities of its transformation in the post-war period. When is the Arab Writers Union Conference expected to be held, and what are the real reasons behind its postponement so far? The Arab Writers Union Conference has not been scheduled to be held, so it is said that it has been postponed. Of those who agreed to hold the conference a year ago, half of them are not members of the Arab Writers Union, so they do not have the right to speak on behalf of the union members, this is first. The General Union of Arab Writers gave us a deadline that ends in 2028, and we can contact it to extend it according to the Syrian circumstances. In the conflict and post-conflict stages, conferences may not be the best solutions outside the authority of the central state, and therefore the circumstances were not conducive to holding a conference without three governorates months ago, and to this moment Suwayda Governorate is also still outside the authority of the state. I don’t think there will be a long time, and the conference will eventually take place. Organizations, and we are in some way a civil society organization, the ideal form is to hold elections, but not under the current circumstances. We hope to put an end to the regulatory issues. The conference cannot be held before reviewing the records of the union’s members. There are many soldiers who joined the union in order to obtain benefits or to be said to be writers! There are many of those who will be affected by cultural transitional justice who are still members of the union. It is also necessary, before the conference can be held, that writers who were banned from entering the union must be able to enter. It is necessary to establish national mechanisms for who has the right to elect and nominate and who must be removed, promoted, or suspended from membership! Anyone who wants to remain in the Writers Union must sign the principles of honor document related to standing against hate speech, sectarianism, and bullying. How do you describe the reality of the Arab Writers Union today after the war years? The state of the Union today is completely and fundamentally different from its state six months ago. We worked day and night to achieve pivotal changes: the administrative structure, the internal system, correcting the path of investment, correcting the course of the Union, reconsidering the membership and affiliation mechanisms and identifying the active members of the Union, reconsidering the warehouses that had not been stripped for years, and the system of custody and ownership, in addition to maintaining its headquarters in 3 governorates. They are: Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa, and Idlib, as well as rebuilding Daraa, and we have introduced radical changes as well. Six or seven months ago, the State of the Union was very tired and very dysfunctional. We have disguised unemployment, with seventy workers, while the actual need does not exceed thirty workers. The state of the union was like that of many Syrian institutions left by the former regime. There is a lot of ruin and administrative, financial and psychological corruption, corruption of a number of members, and corruption of a number of employees. The investments were sold at low prices, for years (they are his only source of funding) and need to be re-audited and inspected to find out the circumstances. The union was a place of unity, group and personal loyalties, and a place for producing ideology, and today we are trying to transform it into a place for producing knowledge. It reflected a state of individualism and exclusivity in decision-making, which is one of the forms of tyranny that the previous regime bequeathed to organizations. Now work is being done to transform it into an institution with clear rules, mechanisms and structure. We activated the work of the branches in the governorates and the budget was divided among them. We freed it from a lot of centralization. We opened the door wide for youth participation, training, and the creation of new directorates that meet the requirements of change and the new needs of Syria. What are the most prominent challenges and outstanding issues that hinder the work of the institutional union? Organizational and financial challenges, a legacy of corruption, problems with membership and its concept, as well as the presence of criminals and crime encouragers who are members of the union. There are old obligations on the union, such as the previous leaders’ approval of three hundred manuscripts, and these need to be resolved. We are working to re-evaluate them and resort to electronic publishing. There are also thousands of books in warehouses that are not sold or distributed, neglected and abandoned, including good and bad ones. There are several books that praise Qassem Soleimani, Hafez al-Assad, and Bashar al-Assad, and praise the criminal army. There are obligations related to buildings, and some investors, such as an investor in Latakia who completed 80% of a building project and then went to prison for violations committed against him since the days of the former regime, and we are in the process of searching for the ideal solution with him. There is a contract with Syriatel that needs to be reviewed and negotiations are at an advanced stage. Today, the Central Authority for Oversight and Inspection has begun to assist us, and a number of files will also be transferred to the civil judiciary in preparation for the realization of rights. What are the standards adopted in decisions to dismiss or re-member within the Union? There are two chapters in the history of the Writers Union: dismissal for financial or criminal reasons, or violation of the union’s law and internal regulations. Dismissal as a result of an intelligence directive or personal revenge. I personally was expelled from the Union in 2014 because I wrote an article criticizing the Arab Writers Union and its negative position on the Syrian revolution, and a large number of members were also expelled along with me and in previous stages. The question that concerns followers today: Will we repeat the experience of previous leaders and restore their history? Reality says no… We only dismissed the first batch of 13 people on 10/10/2025, and they were people who committed direct crimes or called for the killing of Syrians and the annihilation of cities. Or they justified the crimes (Buthaina Shaaban, Bashar al-Jaafari, Hassan Hassan, Talib Ibrahim, Rifaat al-Assad, and others…) Today we have a list of about a hundred members, most of whom are officers or national defense officers, or they have not stopped praising the crimes or justifying them. Their files were transferred to the Transitional Justice Committee of the Writers Union, which consists of a number of legal writers and experts. It is important to point out that the Human Rights Bill approved by the United Nations is the main reference in addition to the general law in the Syrian Arab Republic. There are steps before the registration is upgraded, such as apologizing, withdrawing, or retracting the mistake. How is the “cultural transitional justice” file managed within the union? In its previous phase, a large number of criminals, officers, and murderers infiltrated the Writers’ Union, which made it not reflect the true image of writers. Writers were also dismissed for political reasons, and others were prevented from joining, in addition to the presence of members who did not even deserve membership. There are also writers who praised figures involved in killing Syrians, or wrote books glorifying them, such as Qassem Soleimani, Hassan Nasrallah, and the Syrian army. If the writer’s weapon is the word, then these are considered fighters… They did not offer an apology or back down. These are time bombs in society that must be dismantled. They must understand that killing, encouraging and justifying crime, and defending the defunct army are not viewpoints, but crimes and mistakes for which they must bear the consequences. These are issues that need to be addressed within the framework of transitional justice. The committee’s work is not a direct dismissal, but rather going through stages that include summons, dialogue, presenting evidence, and providing an apology or retraction. The goal is not revenge, but rather to reach a union that represents all Syrians. In the criminal concept, a criminal is someone who kills, attempts to kill, or harms. As for the cultural field, the writer who uses the word to call for or justify killing is considered a cultural criminal, because his weapon is the word. Advocating, participating in, or promoting murder is not a political opinion, but a crime. Political differences in opinion are acceptable and do not lead to dismissal. A cultural transitional justice committee was formed from members not affiliated with the Executive Office. It includes human rights activists and experts and represents various Syrian segments, and works according to an internal system derived from similar experiences. We also have the problem of the union leaders during the revolution; The president and the executive office were one of the tools in the face of the union members, and the committees found many references to them related to the union’s resources as well. How do you ensure that “transitional justice” does not turn into a tool for settling scores? The committee enjoys diversity and jurisdiction, and has a clear internal system. Measures are not taken all at once, but go through gradual stages, with different degrees of punishment. The writer also has the right to object, and the door to apology and retraction is open, which makes the process based on dialogue and not exclusion. To what extent does the Union have actual independence in its decisions? The union enjoys complete independence, and no one interferes in its work. But independence does not mean going beyond the law, public values, or the specificity of the stage that Syrian society is going through. The Union finances itself through its buildings and investments, and does not receive support from the state. In the beginning and in the end, the current leadership of the Union in the center and governorates is part of the aspirations of the new Syria and cannot be far from the choices of the Syrians, sons of the revolution, to reach a state of consensus that guarantees construction and reaching the stage of tolerance and forgiveness after accountability, retreat, and apology by those who offended. Is there a clear plan to improve the financing model? A Directorate of Investment and Buildings was established to search for new sources of income and improve contracts. Some contracts were amended and some revenues were raised. The union’s budget is approximately $200,000 annually, and it covers salaries (70 workers), branch needs, activities and bonuses, publishing and publishing bonuses, health insurance for all members, salaries for retirees and their heirs (about 500), and other obligations related to fixed logistics in each organization. The branches have been directed to search for new sources of funding. We are trying to adopt the principle of partnerships with cultural institutions, and the Investment and Buildings Directorate is seeking to develop its work in the next stage. How does the Union balance freedom of expression and holding those who justify violence accountable? Freedom of expression is guaranteed in political, social and cultural discussions, writings, conferences and forums. But calling for murder or justifying or glorifying crimes does not fall within the scope of freedom of expression, but rather is considered a departure from human values. The Union cannot be a place to suppress the writer, and at the same time the Union cannot be a platform for criminals, those who justify crime, or those who encourage it to be committed. What are the features of the new union that you are working to build? The vision, mission, and goals were reformulated in accordance with human rights principles instead of previous ideological references. The shift began from an individualistic state to an institutional state, from the production of ideology to the production of knowledge, from authoritarian centralization to decentralization, and from organizational paralysis to institutional work in the branches. The Federation was restructured by delegating powers, and changing the role of the Executive Office from implementation to planning, monitoring and follow-up. Ten new directorates were created, including service, cultural, and intellectual directorates, such as the Directorate of Gifted Care and Training, where we hold educational and development courses in the field of creativity for youth, and the Directorate of Publishing and Media. A publishing house was launched for the first time in the history of the Union, and a new interactive website was launched. The union no longer focuses only on veteran writers, but is now concerned with young and emerging writers. Networking with the local community was strengthened, cultural and reading clubs were launched, and events were organized in various regions. The e-book was also approved for the first time under specific conditions. No new members were accepted during the last period, pending review of applications, with the approval of a “document of honor” that regulates professional and ethical behavior and prevents hate speech and sectarianism for employees and members. Today, the Union is moving from organizing urgent and scattered activities to well-planned activities until we reach knowledge production that is published in the Union’s periodicals. At the level of publications and publications. What’s new in Al-Ittihad? Last week, we launched the new Cultural Union website (Horouf), which is the first Syrian electronic cultural platform that publishes daily opinion, creativity, study, criticism, news, and other things. In addition to the Union’s magazines (Al-Mawqif and Al-Turath), the Union will, in the coming period, publish through commissioned intellectual and research projects related to the Syrian revolution, memory, and Syrian history through the publishing house that was recently licensed. Who is Ahmed Jassim Al Hussein? A Syrian writer and researcher, born in the city of Al-Mayadeen in Deir ez-Zor in 1969, and assumed the presidency of the Arab Writers Union in Syria in October 2025. He is an expert in asylum, integration, and identity studies, and a researcher in Syrian social affairs. He was active in Syrian civil society organizations in the Netherlands, where he lived before the fall of the Assad regime, and the most prominent organizations managed by the “Harmony Center for Integration, Culture and Translation” and the “Syrian House in the Netherlands” organization. He previously served as Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences at Al-Furat University, and holds a doctorate in criticism and literature from the University of Damascus. Related
