Susan Dirgham
Susan Dirgham is a retired ESL teacher. She taught at the British Council in Damascus from September 2003 to January 2006. She is editor of the magazine Beloved Syria - Considering Syrian Perspectives. She was the national coordinator of Australians for Reconciliation in Syria.In 2023, Susan co-founded Australians for Reconciliation and Truth Towards Syria (Artts), whose main aims were to lobby the government to lift the sanctions on Syria and to establish ties between Australians and Syrians, particularly in the arts.
Recent articles by Susan Dirgham
15 February 2025
Seeking the truth on Syria: Tulsi Gabbard vs the ABC
If Barack Obama decides to attack the Syrian regime, he has ensured — for the very first time in history — that the United States will be on the same side as al-Qa’ida. Robert Fisk, The Independent, 28 August 2013 “I hate that we have leaders who cozy up to Islamist extremists, minimising them to so-called rebels.” Tulsi Gabbard to US Senate Committee Hearing, 30 January 2025
31 January 2025
To the PM: The costs of our gullibility and ignorance re Syria
The letter below was sent to Prime Minister Albanese on 24 January 2025. In it, I refer to the abduction of Professor Rasha Al-Ali from the University of Homs. Reports indicate that Dr Al-Ali’s body has been found and that - either before or after her murder - her fingers were cut off. Her abduction and killing is reminiscent of Margaret Hassan's, who was head of CARE in Baghdad.
23 January 2025
Reasons ABC’s James Carleton should not be celebrating the ‘liberation’ of Syria
When ABC journalist James Carleton discussed the overthrow of the Assad government on a Radio National ‘God Forbid’ program (‘Rebel fighters have overthrown the Assad regime in Syria, what does that mean for its people?’ 13/12/24), he warmly congratulated one of the program’s guests, Alia Malek, who was celebrating the ‘liberation’ of Syria.
5 January 2025
ABC editorial bias for ‘revolution’ in Syria and its implications
If only for Australia’s own security concerns, the strict application of ABC Editorial Policies in regard to Syria is vitally important. For the ABC to display bias for radical Islamist groups cannot bode well for us. It contravenes Australian beliefs and values meant to unite us.
7 October 2024
Julian Assange’s interview with Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah
While the Australian government encourages us to view the late leader of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, as a terrorist, very many Australians who abhor terrorism would have the highest regard for him. Why? This interview may provide some answers.
2 October 2024
How should Australia respond as Israel provokes war?
Israel, the Australian government’s ‘steadfast friend’, has committed an act of terror against the people of Lebanon.
23 August 2024
Majdal Shams: lies, law and war
The picturesque town of Majdal Shams — just a 40-minute drive from Damascus — featured in Israeli director Eran Riklis's award-winning film The Syrian Bride.
27 June 2024
The ‘necessary evils’ of Australia’s allies
At a public meeting in 1971, C.P. Ellis - head of the Ku Klux Klan in Durham, North Carolina - tore up his KKK membership card in what was basically an act of love.
21 March 2024
On Syria, sanctions, terror and war - an open letter to Australian parliamentarians
When we choose not to show empathy for the people of Syria, it leads us to ignore their countrys ancient history and the rich fabric of Syrian society today.
8 February 2024
An opportunity for parliamentarians to work for peace
If wars can be started with lies, peace can be started with truth, Julian Assange: Petition EN5846 to the House of Representatives calls on the Australian government to suspend Australias autonomous sanctions on Syria. A considered, conscientious response to the petition could have major implications for Australias foreign and defence policies.
1 February 2024
Letter from Damascus: The impact of sanctions
A Syrian friend in Damascus was commissioned to translate Bridge of Clay, a tender, beautiful novel by Australian author Markus Zusak. As it is not an easy novel for a Syrian who has never lived in Australia to translate, my friend and I have had quite a few WhatsApp calls to discuss tricky bits in it; for example Ive described backyards with Hills Hoist clothes lines.
21 December 2023
Antidotes against the allure of war: information and empathy
In the document drawn up by a top secret and high-level working group that met in Washington in September 1957, Mr Macmillan and President Eisenhower were left in no doubt about the need to assassinate the top men in Damascus.Documents show White House and No 10 conspired over oil-fuelled invasion plan, The Guardian, 27 Sept 2003
1 December 2023
Syria is not our enemy: why are we at war?
On 21 August 2013 there was an alleged sarin gas attack in Syria, in which hundreds of people, including scores of children, were killed. This is what led the US and its allies to threaten military strikes against Syria.
12 November 2023
What prevents Australia from showing empathy to Syrians?
Australian foreign policy makers seem not to realise that the demographic makeup of Australia means increasing numbers of us are connected to victims of wars instigated by the United States. Australians support for future US wars cannot be relied on from huge sections of the community.
10 August 2023
The suffering of Syrians and US sanctions
For Syrians, hope lies in the fact that given time and effort people outside their country will learn of the deleterious effect of sanctions, will question the justifications given for imposing them, and will see them as breaching human rights.
7 March 2023
The cruel impact of US sanctions on earthquake affected Syria
The unilateral coercive sanctions Australia and its allies impose on Syria make us complicit in a war on the people of Syria, and arguably complicit in policide, if not genocide. To lift the cruel sanctions, we must come to the realisation that Syrians are human, like us.
17 January 2023
David McBride: the Army whistleblower. Read the full interview here
When a soldier dies, the one thing we need to be able to do is to look their widow in the eye and say, Your husband didnt die in vain. If that is bullshit and their husband died for nothing, then that is an outrage.
14 December 2022
It's time to seek the human story of Syria
The mainstream media has presented a picture of Syria that is cartoonish, brutal and ugly. Instead of a bohemian woman artist or a womens choir singing from the Tales of Hoffman (or millions of other potential human stories), a bloody, exclusivist revolution has been exalted by journalists in a way that entrenches patriarchy and ignores the human concerns of Syrians.