Mustafa Khalifa, also spelled as Moustafa Khalifa
(born in 1948) is a
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
n novelist, political writer, and
topographer
Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps.
Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary scie ...
.
Early life
Khalifa was born in 1948 in
Jarabulus
Jarabulus ( ar, جَرَابُلُس / ALA-LC: ''Jarābulus'', Aleppo dialect: ''Jrāblos''; tr, Cerablus) is a Syrian city administratively belonging to Aleppo Governorate, under the de-facto control of the Syrian Opposition. Jarabulus lies on ...
,
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
.
He spent his childhood in
Aleppo
)), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black".
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where he began to participate in political activities as a teenager. Consequently, he was sent to prison twice.
[ Upon his release, Khalifa studied art and film direction in ]France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, and was arrested at Damascus airport
Damascus International Airport ( ar, مَطَار دِمَشْق الدَّوْلِيّ, Maṭār Dimašq ad-Duwaliyy) is the international airport of Damascus, the capital of Syria. Inaugurated in the mid-1970s, it also was the country's bus ...
when he returned from Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
. From 1982-1994, Khalifa was held without trial at various state security prisons, including the infamous Tadmur Prison.[ The ]National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...
reported that he was imprisoned for suspected involvement in the prohibited Party for Communist Action.[ ]Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...
considered Khalifa to be a prisoner of conscience.[
]
Works
Autobiographical novels
''The Shell: Memoirs of a Hidden Observer''
Khalifa's book ''The Shell: Memoirs of a Hidden Observer'' ( ar, Al-Qawqaʿa: Yawmiyyāt Mutalaṣṣiṣ) was in 2008 his first novel
A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...
to be published. Joseph Sassoon has described the book as one of the "most powerful" Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
memories on prison literature
Prison literature is a literary genre characterized by literature that is written while the author is confined in a location against his will, such as a prison, jail or house arrest.Tony Perrottet. "Serving the Sentence", ''New York Times Book Revi ...
. Khalifa has stated that he considers his prison novel to be "a document and a testimony." Arab publishers were initially wary of printing the autobiographical
An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life.
It is a form of biography.
Definition
The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...
novel, in which the main character, like the author, is imprisoned for thirteen years during Hafez al-Assad
Hafez al-Assad ', , (, 6 October 1930 – 10 June 2000) was a Syrian statesman and military officer who served as President of Syria from taking power in 1971 until his death in 2000. He was also Prime Minister of Syria from 1970 to 1 ...
’s regime. However, the Franco-Syrian editor Farouk Mardam-Bey stepped in, releasing the book with the French publisher Actes Sud
Actes Sud is a French publishing house based in Arles. It was founded in 1978 by author Hubert Nyssen. By 2013, the company, then headed by Nyssen's daughter, Françoise Nyssen, had an annual turnover of 60 million euros and 60 staff members.
...
, having been translated into French by Stéphanie Dujols, entitled ''La Coquille: Prisonnier politique en Syrie''.[ A year later the ]Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
publisher Dar al-Adab in Beirut
Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
published the book in its original Arabic. The book was then translated into English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
by Paul Starkey
Paul Starkey is a British scholar and translator of Arabic literature.
Life and career
Starkey received his doctorate from Oxford University; the subject of his dissertation was the works of the Egyptian writer Tawfiq Hakim. He is emeritus pro ...
and published by Interlink Books.[ It has also been translated into several other languages, including ]Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
and Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
. In 2019 it was published in German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
, too.
Other works
''What if Bashar Assad wins?''
In 2012 Souria Houria published a paper by Khalifa entitled
What if Bashar Assad wins?
' where the author considers a "hypothetical victory" of the Syrian regime. Khalifa considers what the implications would be on a domestic level, as well as on regional and international level, if the Syrian regime won over its people.
''The impossible partition of Syria''
In 2013 the Arab Reform Initiative published Khalifa's research paper entitled
The impossible partition of Syria
'. Gary C. Gambill has described Khalifa's study as "an excellent discussion of demographic barriers to partition". In the study, Khalifa argues that the partition of Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
along sectarian boundaries would lead to disaster because it would fail to restore peace
Peace is a concept of societal friendship and harmony in the absence of hostility and violence. In a social sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such as war) and freedom from fear of violence between individuals or groups. ...
and will also be a danger for the stability of neighboring countries. Khalifa maps the ethnic and sectarian composition of Syrian society, and also discusses Syria's economy, to try to determine when and how fragmentation might occur. He argues that these factors had led to the failure of partition in 1922, which would have given the Alawites control over a smaller state, therefore, the partition of Syria remains an "impossible" prospect.[
]
Awards
*The Ibn Rushd Prize for Freedom of Thought
The Ibn Rushd Prize for Freedom of Thought (german: Ibn-Ruschd-Preis für freies Denken; ) is a prestigious prize awarded in Germany which recognises independent, forward-thinking, individuals or organisations who have contributed to democracy and ...
in 2015
Personal life
Khalifa is married to the activist Sahar al-Bunni who is the sister of the political activists Akram al-Bunni and Anwar al-Bunni.[
]
Exile
Although he was banned from travelling outside Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
, in 2006 Khalifa emigrated to the United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...
, and then he moved to France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
– where he continues to live today.[
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Khalifa, Mustafa
1948 births
Living people
Syrian filmmakers
Syrian novelists
Syrian topographers