For Syrian dissident thinker Yassin al-Haj Saleh (YHS) (born 1961), modernity is at once 'a common, universal, and necessary good, and a specifically liberal, Western system of meaning that has been violent in its opposition to Arab self-determination. We might add that it is a common good because of what James Ferguson calls 'the expectations of modernity'. We take this as a stark reminder that one ought to expect more from modernity than a free-market…
A response to Jeremy SaltJeremy Salt's essay on Syria published in this edition of 'Arena Magazine' is a misguided contribution to the debate on recent events in that country. Salt's central contention is that the Syrian revolution is not a genuine popular uprising, but instead something more sinister. His essay constructs a rather elaborate theory, the essence of which can be expressed as follows: that the people of Syria who have chosen the path of…
In the Arab world there are times when politics appears to be in suspended animation for decades on end, and then there are periods when developments tumble over each other in rapid succession. The last few weeks have been one of those periods of accelerated change, as Tunisians were able to rid themselves of their president of twenty-three years following a series of mass demonstrations sparked by the self-immolation of twenty-six-year-old Mohammad Bouazizi. The ouster…
