Syria’s salvation is through reform

Special to The Daily Star

Despite the current mood of optimism prevailing in Syria due to the success of President Bashar Assad’s recent visit to Moscow, the country continues to face a very serious situation because of its poor relations with the United States and the international community. The Bush administration still denounces Damascus for what it says is Syrian meddling in Iraq; and the international community as a whole continues to deride Syria’s overt and well-documented interference in Lebanese affairs.

Continue reading “Syria’s salvation is through reform” →

Another day in Damascus!

Khawla is preparing to go to Beirut. It’s been 20 days since our return to the Senile Country. A cold security reception at the airport set the tone of this homecoming, more or less, and culminated in a travel ban. Still, seeing the kids at the airport was absolutely rejuvenating.

The travel ban is not total, that is, I can still travel if I want, provided that I get a security clearance before I leave and report back upon my return. Continue reading “Another day in Damascus!” →

Syrian media reform: a glass half full or half empty?

Special to The Daily Star

The Syrian media have not shown any serious signs of change since the Baath Party assumed power in a 1963 coup. Indeed, Syria’s media sector is one of the most tightly controlled in the Arab world. Most publications are state-owned, and rarely express nonconformist opinions. The coming to power of young President Bashar Assad in 2000 raised hopes that the regime would loosen the reigns significantly. But after a brief period of decompression in 2001 known as the “Damascus spring,” Assad enacted a publications law that consolidated government control; he allowed the licensing of just one “independent” political magazine, owned by the son of the minister of defense; and he cracked down hard on dissent. Continue reading “Syrian media reform: a glass half full or half empty?” →

In Syria, Building a Civil Society Book by Book

The Chronicle of Higher Education
BYLINE: KATHERINE ZOEPF

Damascus, Syria

Leave it to others to devise grand programs for bringing democracy to the Middle East: Ammar Abdulhamid wants to lay the intellectual foundations of citizenship one book at a time.

Two years ago, with a small group of Syrian writers and academics here, Mr. Abdulhamid, a 38-year-old American-educated historian and novelist, founded DarEmar, a nonprofit publishing house dedicated to making canonical works of Western philosophy, social science, and literature available in Arabic. His goal, he says, is to print books that will foster “debate on a broad range of issues pertaining to civil society and democratization.” Continue reading “In Syria, Building a Civil Society Book by Book” →