Highlights

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People who entered knew they wouldn’t leave the same. The saying they used in Arabic was: “If you enter here, you are dead; when you leave, you are reborn.”

✏️ This is basically the same thing Kottke was citing from The Wire’s Avon Barksdale: “This ain’t no thing, man, you know what I mean? You come in here, man, and get your mind right — get in here and you do two days: that’s the day you come in this motherfucker and the day you get out this motherfucker.” 🔗 View Highlight

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As harsh and inhumane as these conditions were, we knew resisting was essential; survival itself became a form of resistance.

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People from the neighborhood recognized us as prisoners and invited us into their homes. They gave us clothes, fed us, and offered phones to contact our families. Some even helped us arrange transportation back to the Kurdish-controlled areas. It was surreal.

✏️ People help people. When you remove everything else, even when the appearance of things is that these are “prisoners”, people help people. 👓 hope community 🔗 View Highlight