Page 25 - 10th Annual International Charles Town Maroon Conference and Festival Magazine

Charles Town Maroon International Conference Magazine June 2018

Muhammad Najem: citizen media from Syria

Muhammad has since been displaced and forced to
move to Idlib with his family, but he continues his
work and has attracted the attention of some interna-
tional English-language media organisations who
wrote about him and his plight; these include Middle
East Eye,The Guardian, Reuters, SBS, CNN, France
24 and BuzzFeed. He operates through Twitter,
Instagram and Facebook and Qusay has been diligent
in trying to promote his work to foreign journalists and
advocacy groups.

Qusay and I discussed the possibility of collaborating
and writing an article about Muhammad in consul-
tation with the fifteen-year-old. I also suggested a
larger project that would involve views from Syrians
in diaspora. However, after becoming disheartened
from our previous experiences trying to reach out and
introduce the reports and accounts from Ghouta to
mainstream media outlets, I suggested that we take a A child blowing bubbles in the ruins of his destroyed
home after Russian air raids. Duma - East Damascus -
different approach in trying to convey Qusay and 21/01/2017
Muhammad’s encounters with suppression in Syria. Photographer: Rami Saleh • Email: [email protected]

Hi to both of you and I hope you’re safe at the and non-institutionalised witnesses, documenters and
moment. As you know, I’ve tried my best to get analysts of state suppression and oppression in Syria.
news organisations to publish your work. It
has been very hard and disappointing. I want My use of citizen media refers to the emerging field
to write about the issue of publishing within of interdisciplinary scholarship that prioritises lived-
international media networks. Would you like experience and the way individuals and groups reclaim
me to mention our discussions? both public and digital spaces. The notion of citizen
here is not limited to people who enjoy citizen
They agreed. privilege and those who thrive within state institutions
and authorised organisational networks. It prioritises
displaced and stateless peoples; people pursuing safety
Citizen media and Syria and opportunity without access to essential resources;
A more fair, transnational approach to understanding groups marginalised by state systems and agendas; and
the reality of state attacks on Syria’s civilian popu- those experiencing social and institutional exclusion.
lation is important and necessary, one which fore- Indeed, those who aspire to be citizens and for whom
grounds the writing and analysis of grassroots those rights do not exist.
resistance movements and their activities. Interpreted
as citizen media, many individuals and collectives –
both in Syria and in diaspora – operate as unaffiliated

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