Yassin al-Haj Saleh: Reflections on Revolution and the Struggle for Democracy in Syria
Special Session V-1, sponsored byCenter for Middle East Studies at the University of Denver and the Middle East Program at Smith College, 2023 Annual Meeting
On Friday, November 3 at 1:30 pm
Special Session Description
Yassin al-Haj Saleh is the most important progressive Syrian intellectual and activist working today. Described as “the intellectual voice of the Syrian revolution,” his writing has included incisive and critical commentary on modern Syrian history, contemporary Syrian politics, the war in Syria and the crisis of state-society in the broader Arab world. The focus of this roundtable will be on the 2011 Syrian revolution against the Assad regime and the lessons learned from this brutal experience. Saleh will look back on the revolution and look forward. He will also engage with Syria experts on the question of the Syrian uprising, what went wrong, what went right, and what the future prospects of reconstituting a new movement for democracy in the coming years might look like.