It’s one of my favorite lines in one of my favorite books, Heart of Darkness, in the English language:

This, too was once one of the dark places of the earth.

This line keeps returning to my mind when reading about the events in Syria.

Residents of the Syrian town of Jisr al-Shughour are said to be fleeing ahead of an expected military assault, after the government said 120 security forces personnel had been killed there.

Residents still in the town have set up checkpoints to monitor any security operations, witnesses say.

The government says it will act “with force” to combat “armed gangs” that it blames for the recent killings.

The feeling, the mood is that Syria, even more than Libya and Yemen (there seems to be some light remaining in these countries), is now one of the darkest places of the earth.

Charles Mudede—who writes about film, books, music, and his life in Rhodesia, Zimbabwe, the USA, and the UK for The Stranger—was born near a steel plant in Kwe Kwe, Zimbabwe. He has no memory...

One reply on “The Darkness at the Heart of the Arab Spring”

  1. I love that line and that book too.

    I don’t know, there are a lot of dark places. But yeah, Syria is right up there with the darkest.

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