The Monocle Minute

The Assads, Syria’s former ruling family, had the country’s sense of humour in a chokehold for more than half a century. The only safe way to tell a joke about former president Bashar al-Assad was to layer it so deeply in innuendo that few would be entirely sure what it was about. But with the old regime ousted, a stand-up comedy club, Styria, is making up for lost time. At a recent show held in a Damascus cinema, the crowd howled as a comic poked fun at the country’s transitional president, Ahmed al-Sharaa. “He got Aleppo in one day and the presidency in two months,” said the stand-up. “He can have me right now.”

This gag is about more than getting a few laughs. It’s a signal that Syrian society is embracing openness and pluralism, and that, crucially, people can openly criticise or mock those in power. The days of whispering jokes in private, terrified of the mukhabarat (Syria’s intelligence agency) are over. Syrians are standing onstage, out in the open, saying what was once unspeakable – and audiences are roaring with laughter. A young man who had fled to the Netherlands in 2011 and recently returned to Damascus tells me that he has been to three shows already. “I can’t believe that they can say these things,” he says. “Before, entire families would have been imprisoned for jokes like that.”

The club’s co-founder, Sharif Homsi, knows this all too well. He was arrested three times during the civil war and held for questioning after he opened the club in 2022. The renaissance of Syria’s comedy scene is not simply a matter of entertainment. If the new regime wants to return the country to the global community, unburdened by the sanctions that currently stand in the way of growth, being able to laugh at itself is not a bad place to start. After 53 years of enforced silence, Syrians have a lot to make quips about. “We have more jokes about Assad than we have time on the stage,” says Homsi, with a big grin on his face.

Andrei Popoviciu is a journalist who covers human rights, conflict and foreign affairs. For more opinion, analysis and insight, subscribe to Monocle today.

Europe’s satellite companies are having a moment in the sun (writes Julia Lasica). Shares in Paris-based satellite operator Eutelsat jumped by more than 70 per cent yesterday, while Finnish microsatellite manufacturer and operator Iceye was named as one of the continent’s fastest-growing companies for a second consecutive year. The reason for these firms reaching new heights? Donald Trump’s insistence that Europe must take care of its own defence.

The White House’s intractable policy is forcing the continent to diversify its homegrown network of defence and security providers – currently Ukraine’s front line is reliant on Elon Musk’s Starlink for broadband services and live communications. And despite Poland financing more than half of the 42,000 or so terminals that facilitate Starlink’s operation in Ukraine, both Trump and Musk have threatened to withdraw the country’s access. “Europe is at a turning point where securing sovereign space capabilities is no longer a choice but a necessity,” says Iceye’s CEO, Rafał Modrzewski. “We cannot afford to rely solely on external providers for intelligence and communications. Now, we must co-ordinate efforts to build a truly European space shield.”

Almost up to the stroke of midnight on Monday, Canada’s news outlets and even its government seemed uncertain about whether Washington would implement its stringent tariffs on its biggest trading partner (writes Tomos Lewis). Nevertheless, despite Ottawa’s monthslong effort to reduce illegal border crossings and stop illicit fentanyl coming into the US, here we are.

Canada’s retaliatory tariffs, which came into effect at the same time, are in part designed to target US goods from Republican states and sectors important to Donald Trump. Meanwhile, there have been domestic moves to soften internal trade barriers that could add CA$200bn (€131.4bn) to the economy. All over Toronto, Canadian flags are fluttering from trucks and shopfronts. It’s clear that at street level, small businesses echo the sympathies of outgoing prime minister Justin Trudeau – they want to strike back. Whoever is chosen to be the Liberal Party’s new leader this weekend will have a fight on their hands.

Chengdu-based Liu Jiakun is the winner of this year’s Pritzker Architecture Prize (writes Nic Monisse). Since its inception in 1979, the annual award has been a barometer for where the architecture industry’s priorities are heading, so designers across the globe will be poring over his work.

Liu tends to stay out of the limelight, mostly creating public works in his native Sichuan province. His commissions are focused on his community, reflecting their traditions and responding to their needs – a theme that the prize’s jury, chaired by 2016 Pritzker Prize laureate Alejandro Aravena, picked up on. “Architecture should reveal something – it should abstract, distil and make visible the inherent qualities of local people,” says the jury’s citation. Putting people at the heart of architecture is a key ideal of both the industry and its most significant prize.

Lindsay Peoples is the editor in chief of The Cut. Originally an online publication under the umbrella of New York Magazine, it recently debuted its first print edition. Peoples tells Monocle about why helping others up the ladder is an important part of leadership and how fashion stories make, ahem, the cut.

What did you set out to achieve when you first started at ‘The Cut’?
A lot of my early conversations with the team were about how to maximise the influence of the brand and how to think differently. The question that was always on my mind was: how do I make it something that you’re constantly sharing and talking about with your friends? I want there to be a moment in everyone’s day when they’re thinking, “I haven’t read The Cut today.”

What’s your approach to fashion stories?
We’re always looking for what’s hiding in plain sight. We’re focused on how industry updates matter to someone who isn’t directly involved with the industry. We consider people’s everyday decision-making, from how one chooses to dress to the brands that people buy and the designers that they interact with. At New York Magazine, we have earned authority in this space.

You’re also a co-founder of the Black in Fashion Council. Could you tell us about that?
I’m grateful to be in a leadership role but I also want to ensure that I’m being a ladder for other people. I’m using whatever platform or power that I have to help. The Black in Fashion Council started when it felt as though we’d had a lot of conversations around diversity, equity and inclusion but not much was really changing. So we’ve done a lot of brand partnerships to help propel black creatives in the industry.

To hear the full interview, tune in to ‘The Stack’ on Monocle Radio.

In Monocle’s Property Survey special, we meet architects, developers and designers for a masterclass in building better cities and homes. Join us as we explore everything from car-free communities in the US and a creative-arts estate in Australia to a revamped neighbourhood in Bangkok. Plus: we meet the man in charge of the Panama Canal, check in with the global textile trade and take a seat at some of the world’s best late-night restaurants.