ABOUT US
the DISSIDENT club is a bar in Paris 9th, launched in 2020 by Taha Siddiqui, a Pakistani journalist-in-exile. We organize cultural, social and political events including talks, projections, performances, exhibitions, and workshops, where dissidents of the world meet. To see our upcoming events, click here.
ABOUT THE FOUNDER
Taha Siddiqui who runs the DISSIDENT club, is an award-winning Pakistani journalist living in exile in Paris since February 2018, where he moved in 2018 with his family after surviving a kidnapping and assassination attempt on his life, for his journalistic work. He was being threatened by the Pakistan Army for several years preceding to the attack on January 10, 2018.
In Pakistan, Mr. Siddiqui worked for the New York Times, the Guardian, France24, Arte, the Christian Science Monitor, Al Jazeera and many other international and local media organizations. He received the prestigious Prix Albert Londres (aka the French Pulitzer) in 2014 for a documentary on the issue of polio virus in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Since moving to Paris, besides launching the DISSIDENT club, Siddiqui has authored his autobiographical graphic novel, named after his bar: Dissident Club. He also manages two digital news media platforms called South Asia Press and SAFENewsrooms focusing on under-reported and censored stories from Pakistan. He is also a visiting faculty at SciencesPo, teaching journalism and human rights. He has also been working with various French and international media organizations since going into exile, and has written for the Guardian, the Washington Post, Foreign Policy, Al Jazeera, among many other outlets.
TAHA SIDDIQUI, founder
THE CO-FOUNDER
Sara Farid is an independent Pakistani documentary photographer living in exile in France. Most of her work has been documenting people’s testimonies through radio, TV documentaries and now photography to help raise their voice and highlight their problems.
Ms. Farid has worked on religious and sexual minorities, child labor, internal migration, transgender, malnutrition, education, polio and many others. Her writings and photographs offer intimate glimpses into the lives of ordinary people and provides an opportunity to understand personal struggles and triumphs of various communities. From covering war in Swat Valley to the mean streets of Karachi, she has been in the middle of – often deadly action in Pakistan and has produced captivating work from such risky environments. Her work has appeared in leading publications such as The New York Times, The Gaurdian, Wall Street journal, AFP and Reuters. She continues to do so in France and has had photo and art exhibitions in Paris, and across Europe.
Farid helped set up the Dissident Club in 2020, but parted ways after to focus on her other projects. However, she remains an integral part of the Dissident Club support system.
