Every Place is Khalidiya
Jennifer Mackenzie at Killing the Buddha depicts her experience as an undercover journalist in Syria. Writing about her trip to the grave of Dr. Ali Shariati, a revolutionary, in Damascus, Mackenzie examines the complicated roots of the war, as well as the public sentiment and affiliations of the Syrian people. A Syrian friend of Mackenzie’s says, “Freedom and democracy, they are beautiful ideas. But we don’t understand much about democracy. People here understand dignity. What moves them most is blood.”