From the November-December 2018 issue of News & Letters

We are devastated to learn of the assassination of Raed Fares along with his comrade Hamoud Juneid in Kafranbel,
Syria, on Nov. 23. It was my privilege to meet Raed twice in the U.S. He knew that he risked his life by returning to Syria, but his commitment to freedom was absolute. He had survived attacks, detentions, and slanders, and his inspiration and creative example will live to tread the dust of all today’s arrogant oppressors. His genius was to make a category of communicating the thought of the revolution to the world. I will not be so presumptuous as to call him my brother—in truth, I place him far above me. Raed was and is a world-historic figure. But our brothers were brothers, and from their difficult lives a great new vision of freedom was born, and we promise you, Raed and Hamoud, that we will remain true to that vision.

—G.E.