Forum on Invisible Violence in the Context of the Syrian Conflict

 

As part of ongoing efforts to understand and analyze forms of invisible violence in the Syrian context, several Syrian organizations organized the “Forum on Invisible Violence in the Context of the Syrian Conflict,” held in Berlin on 22–23 January 2025. During the forum, four case studies were presented as a serious attempt to explore the various manifestations of structural and symbolic violence that often receive insufficient attention in conventional analyses of the Syrian conflict.

 

These studies stem from a deep understanding of invisible violence as referring to symbolic and structural forms of violence exercised through exclusion and deprivation within social, political, and economic systems, without manifesting as direct physical harm. In the Syrian context, this type of violence represents one manifestation of the absence of social justice amid a conflict that has lasted 14 years and has been accompanied by declining international attention to the Syrian issue.

 

These studies are the result of collaborative efforts among nine organizations working on Syrian issues. Since 2022, they have engaged in a participatory and exploratory process focused on social justice in Syria and the Global South. Through their joint work, these organizations aim to develop a shared space for thinking about how to confront the absence of justice, to advance cross-sectoral approaches in the Syrian context, and to strengthen connections between the Syrian narrative and broader narratives of injustice in the Arab region, its diaspora, and the Global South.

 

The participating organizations adopt an operational definition of social justice based on “equal rights and entitlements for all that ensure fair political, social, economic, and cultural capacities, opportunities, and outcomes, agreed upon through inclusive public dialogue.” This definition implicitly encompasses both procedural and distributive justice, aiming to avoid socially produced inequalities between and within population groups, and to correct such inequalities—or both.

 

The four studies offer an intersectional reading of specific cases across cultural, social, political, economic, and environmental fields, with the aim of analyzing the causes of invisible violence, its interaction with societal culture, and its potential impacts on individuals and communities.

 

• The first study, “An Intersectional Reading of Poverty During the Syrian Conflict as Invisible Violence,” by researcher Wajdi Wahbi, examines poverty as a form of structural violence that goes beyond economic deprivation to include exclusionary policies and societal normalization. 

• The second study, “How Invisible Violence in Turkish Media Against Syrian Refugees Turned into Visible and Deadly Violence!” by journalist Sultan Al-Jalabi, analyzes the role of Turkish media in portraying Syrians as a vulnerable and violable group and how this contributes to escalating direct violence. 

• The third study, “Appropriation and Manipulation of Cultural Heritage: Old Damascus as a Model,” by researcher Rama Najmeh, highlights the role of symbolic violence in transforming Old Damascus into an elite tourist space detached from its original inhabitants. 

• The fourth study, “Syrian Artists Between Disappearance, Invisibility, and Reappearance: Actors as a Case Study,” by researcher and writer Jumana Al-Yasiri, examines how cinema addresses the Syrian narrative and marginalizes Syrian artists from authentically representing their own cause.

 

The participating organizations believe that the neglect of Syria in recent years has been part of a broader narrative aimed at normalizing its harsh and violent reality globally. Rejecting this normalization is seen as the first step toward confronting it and reshaping both the organizations’ approaches and their work. From this perspective, these studies seek to stimulate dialogue on how to resist invisible violence and to connect structural imbalances in Syrian social justice with broader global narratives, including migration, racism, and the dehumanization of certain populations.

 

This forum and its studies are part of the participating organizations’ efforts to create decentralized and solidaristic mechanisms in their work on social justice, starting from the Syrian context. They aim to explore and build solidarities across intersecting fields of work, strengthening cross-sector collaboration and preventing institutional isolation within narrow domains.

 

During the period from 2022 to 2024, Ettijahat – Independent Culture played a facilitating role in coordinating this group’s work, with key contributions from researcher Rana Yazaji, and support from the “Landscapes of Hope” initiative managed by Action for Hope, with additional resources from IRIS.