Fadwa Suleiman: Syrian revolutionary, in hipster kufiya

Check out this report from Al-Jazeera English on Syrian actress, star of TV, theater and cinema, Fedwa Suleiman, who has taken the side of the pro-democracy movement. She has been leading demonstrations in the city of Homs, the epicenter of the revolt. Of particular note is the fact that she is an Alawite, the heterodox Shi'ite sect, a minority in Syria, which forms the base of support for the Asad-led Ba'athi regime. Video clips of Suleiman, chanting on the microphone in Homs, typically show her wearing a purple kufiya. Purple kufiyas: no longer to be maligned as the insignia of the hipster or the empty-headed fauxhemian.



Here is a link to the full speech she delivered on November 11, together with an English translation. The Al-Jazeera report provides an excerpt. And here's a link to a BBC report on Suleiman's (or Sulayman) participation in the Homs demonstrations in early November. And a screen save, showing her with a black-and-white kufiya worn as a headscarf.

And here is a post from Razan Ghazzawi [see below], commenting approvingly of Fadwa Suleiman's speech of November 11, and noting how very dangerous it is for such a prominent Alawite to take a public anti-regime position.

Finally, here's another shot of Suleiman, leading chants in Homs, in the Khaldiya quarter, on December 9. Wearing a purple kufiya.



Screen grab from the above video:

Added December 14: I should note that Razan Ghazzawi, a Syrian-American, who blogged in support of Fadwa Suleiman last month and who I cite above, was arrested earlier this month and faces a 15-year prison sentence. Read about it here.