Our Podcast Needs Your Help
The violent aftermath of the Syrian Revolution is one of the biggest stories of our time. For the last 10 years, people have been getting pushed into vans and thrown into dungeons. There, they face humiliation, torture and often, death. In fact, over 14.000 people died due to torture at the hands of the Syrian regime forces since March 2011.
Stopped reading yet?
Here’s the thing. Too many of us are stuck in the idea that the modern history of Syria is a complicated and static tragedy. If not numbed already, a lot of us are filled with a sense of dread and powerlessness when we learn about the horrible acts of violence and detention by the Assad regime. On top of that, we are all so occupied with the torrent of bad news that’s 2020. No wonder then, that a monumental effort in the fight for justice for Syria has been largely overlooked.
In April 2020, the world’s first criminal trial dealing with atrocity crimes committed by Syrian officials started in the small town of Koblenz, Germany.
We're facing a huge challenge, though.
Koblenz is so far away from Syria. It’s in a whole other continent. The judges speak German, the lawyers speak German, most news outlets covering the trial do so in German. As it stands, the Al-Khatib trial is practically inaccessible to the people who should be having access the most. As a result, many, if not most Syrians, don’t even know the trial is taking place at all! There are simply huge geographical and cultural gaps between Koblenz and Syrians.
Branch 251 is a young independent podcast striving to bridge those gaps by doing 3 things that we think are so important:
1. Update our listeners about the developments around the trial in Koblenz. Our court reporter Hannah El-Hitami has been covering the trial, giving us all the latest from the courtroom.
2. Explain the context of the trial, by profiling the defendants, the witnesses and by diving into certain legal and historical questions (we make those exciting, promise!). Have you ever wondered what testifying about torture in a courtroom does to someone’s mental health? And why is this trial held in Germany at all? These questions and more: we’ll explain it.
3. Amplify the voices of Syrians. Ex-detainees, family members of victims, human rights lawyers: we want to make sure that this story is told by the people whom it belongs to.
With season 2, we’ve got something incredibly exciting in store for you: a whole Arabic language season, parallel to the English series. We’ve taken on board three incredible new colleagues: co-hosts Noor and Asser, and Saleem, our producer in charge of Arabic language content.
So why the crowdfunding?
Because we’re in the middle of producing season 2. And even though listening to Branch 251 is free, producing it isn’t. During season 1 of Branch 251, everyone worked on a voluntary basis. It was a passionate project made possible by spare time on our hands thanks to the lockdown. However, through the course of the production, we realized just how important our mission is and recognized the potential in creating an Arabic language series in parallel. With three new colleagues on board, and a whole new audience to cater to, we have to take it to a more professional and sustainable level. We can’t do this without you.
Your money could make all the difference to us. It would allow us to:
a. Stay ad-free
b. Run a sustained marketing and outreach effort
c. Pay and expand our team
d. Buy necessary recording equipment
e. Pay for hosting services and editing software.
On top of this, 10% of the money raised will go to Molham, an incredible Syrian-led organization striving to secure basic necessities, such as food, shelter, and medication to Syrians in need. Find out more here
So there you have it. The way you spend your money tells something about what you value; what you care about. Who you listen to. So don’t just donate. Share this campaign and send a message out to the world not dissimilar to the one embedded in the trial in Koblenz: “I listen, I care and I act. What about you?”
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/Branch_251
https://twitter.com/fritz_streiff
https://twitter.com/KhattabAsser
https://twitter.com/noor_ham12
https://twitter.com/paulinepeek
Listen to the pod here
Video editing/post production/sound by James Banner - www.jamesbanner.com
Logo design by laurenshebly.nl -- Photo by James Lawler Duggan/AFP/Getty Images.
Stopped reading yet?
Here’s the thing. Too many of us are stuck in the idea that the modern history of Syria is a complicated and static tragedy. If not numbed already, a lot of us are filled with a sense of dread and powerlessness when we learn about the horrible acts of violence and detention by the Assad regime. On top of that, we are all so occupied with the torrent of bad news that’s 2020. No wonder then, that a monumental effort in the fight for justice for Syria has been largely overlooked.
In April 2020, the world’s first criminal trial dealing with atrocity crimes committed by Syrian officials started in the small town of Koblenz, Germany.
We're facing a huge challenge, though.
Koblenz is so far away from Syria. It’s in a whole other continent. The judges speak German, the lawyers speak German, most news outlets covering the trial do so in German. As it stands, the Al-Khatib trial is practically inaccessible to the people who should be having access the most. As a result, many, if not most Syrians, don’t even know the trial is taking place at all! There are simply huge geographical and cultural gaps between Koblenz and Syrians.
Branch 251 is a young independent podcast striving to bridge those gaps by doing 3 things that we think are so important:
1. Update our listeners about the developments around the trial in Koblenz. Our court reporter Hannah El-Hitami has been covering the trial, giving us all the latest from the courtroom.
2. Explain the context of the trial, by profiling the defendants, the witnesses and by diving into certain legal and historical questions (we make those exciting, promise!). Have you ever wondered what testifying about torture in a courtroom does to someone’s mental health? And why is this trial held in Germany at all? These questions and more: we’ll explain it.
3. Amplify the voices of Syrians. Ex-detainees, family members of victims, human rights lawyers: we want to make sure that this story is told by the people whom it belongs to.
With season 2, we’ve got something incredibly exciting in store for you: a whole Arabic language season, parallel to the English series. We’ve taken on board three incredible new colleagues: co-hosts Noor and Asser, and Saleem, our producer in charge of Arabic language content.
So why the crowdfunding?
Because we’re in the middle of producing season 2. And even though listening to Branch 251 is free, producing it isn’t. During season 1 of Branch 251, everyone worked on a voluntary basis. It was a passionate project made possible by spare time on our hands thanks to the lockdown. However, through the course of the production, we realized just how important our mission is and recognized the potential in creating an Arabic language series in parallel. With three new colleagues on board, and a whole new audience to cater to, we have to take it to a more professional and sustainable level. We can’t do this without you.
Your money could make all the difference to us. It would allow us to:
a. Stay ad-free
b. Run a sustained marketing and outreach effort
c. Pay and expand our team
d. Buy necessary recording equipment
e. Pay for hosting services and editing software.
On top of this, 10% of the money raised will go to Molham, an incredible Syrian-led organization striving to secure basic necessities, such as food, shelter, and medication to Syrians in need. Find out more here
So there you have it. The way you spend your money tells something about what you value; what you care about. Who you listen to. So don’t just donate. Share this campaign and send a message out to the world not dissimilar to the one embedded in the trial in Koblenz: “I listen, I care and I act. What about you?”
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/Branch_251
https://twitter.com/fritz_streiff
https://twitter.com/KhattabAsser
https://twitter.com/noor_ham12
https://twitter.com/paulinepeek
Listen to the pod here
Video editing/post production/sound by James Banner - www.jamesbanner.com
Logo design by laurenshebly.nl -- Photo by James Lawler Duggan/AFP/Getty Images.
Fundraising team: Branch 251 Podcast (4)
Branch251 Pod
Organizer
Berlin
Fritz Streiff
Beneficiary
Asser Khattab
Team member
