The Winter 2025 print issue of New Lines went to press just as Syrians were beginning to reckon with their newfound freedom following more than a half-century of despotic rule. Framed by this seismic change, this issue’s essays examine the power vacuums created by absent allies, the downfall of once-mighty figures and the consequences of systemic failures. And as always, our contributors explore diverse stories from around the world: the cultural dynamics of Norway’s Svalbard archipelago, the pervasive culture of objectifying women in India, the ongoing challenges faced by refugees in Turkey and the legacy of a controversial American film that galvanized the anti-abortion movement. Other highlights include essays on reviving endangered scripts, preserving Islamic artifacts and documenting magical beliefs in Tunisia, alongside an uplifting story from Egypt about community-driven efforts to care for stray animals.
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The EU has provided Ankara with at least 200 million euros in funding to set up and operate a vast network of removal centers, a joint investigation has found. Yet as Turkish sentiment turns against refugees, Erdogan's government is using the centers to detain, abuse and forcibly deport them.
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As protests against the ghastly rape and murder of a doctor in Kolkata continue, they are helping to reveal the larger epidemic of rape in India that thrives on a culture that objectifies women’s bodies, laughs at rape jokes and normalizes rape threats on social media.
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It is widely acknowledged that the extinction of a language is a devastating cultural loss for ethnic minorities, but these Nubians raise a different question: What happens when an alphabet disappears? And is it possible — or even desirable — to save a script?
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Heritage from across the Middle East and the Islamic world is being plundered and resold in a market that is booming thanks to armed conflict, lack of enforcement and the ease of online selling. And despite the temptation for those wishing to preserve them, purchasing antiquities only fuels the problem.
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The Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard is an experiment in internationalism, allowing non-Norwegians to live and work without visas and foreign entities to exploit minerals, but events beyond its icy shores mean that its two largest settlements are rapidly changing.
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The death of Hassan Nasrallah may be ushering in an era of chaos for Lebanon as Hezbollah’s spell over the country weakens. A Lebanese Shiite writer grapples with the implications.
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Beliefs in magic and jinn possession persist in Tunisia, despite over 150 years of attempts to weed them out by rationalist reformers, postindependence modernizers and Islamists — with rumors suggesting that even former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his wife practiced sorcery.
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He encouraged me to leave the country. Eleven years later, against his wishes, I am certain of my decision. I needed to be here and witness what unfolded. That his killer, 14 stories beneath the city my father is buried in, would soon stop breathing. And with a country’s heart no longer beating, there is no closure, nor will there be. Wounds that cannot heal. Respite and justice, forgotten, replaced with further violence and more war to come.
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An analysis from the perspective of organizational science shows how the Israeli military’s overreliance on technology, lack of experience and proficiency in real warfare as opposed to occupation, and culture of dehumanization and dismissal of Palestinians led Israel to suffer its worst-ever loss of life in any military assault.
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After visiting Cairo’s animal shelters, Mostafa Abdel Aty decided to spread awareness about the city’s strays to improve their situation. His Meow Tours now take people through the streets to meet and feed their animal inhabitants, bringing people and neighborhoods together.
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In the 1980s, the notion that fetuses and embryos should be considered legal persons was just that: a notion. But in 2024, “fetal personhood” has become a reality for nearly one-third of American women of reproductive age living in some 19 states where abortion is unavailable or severely restricted — in no small part thanks to a film that came out four decades ago.
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In the hours since Syria’s dictator fled the country, ending nearly six decades of tyranny, the jubilant scenes emerging from the country recall the enormous losses that preceded them. For those who survived the Assads’ brutal reign, it is very difficult to conceive of something worse that could come after.
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