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Statement Of 99
The Statement of 99 was a statement made by 99 Syrian intellectuals on 27 September 2000, during the Damascus Spring that followed Hafez al-Assad's death in June of the same year. The intellectuals called for the state of emergency to be ended, for political prisoners to be pardoned, for deportees and exiles to be allowed to return, for legal protection for free speech and freedom of assembly, and to "free public life from the laws, constraints and various forms of surveillance imposed on it". Prominent signers included Abdulrazak Eid, Anwar al-Bunni, Mamdouh Adwan, Haidar Haidar, Ali al-Jundi, Ali Kanaan, and Michel Kilo. After his death, it became known that Syrian renowned documentary filmmaker Omar Amiralay wrote the first draft of the statement, and developed it in collaboration with fellow filmmaker Usama Muhammad and writer/politician Mouaffaq Nyrabia. See also * Politics of Ba'athist Syria * Statement of 1000 * Damascus Declaration * Arab Spring * Syrian revoluti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Damascus Spring
The Damascus Spring (, ) was a period of intense political and social debate in Ba'athist Syria which started after the death of President Hafez al-Assad in June 2000 and continued to some degree until autumn 2001, when most of the activities associated with it were suppressed by the government of his son Bashar al-Assad. It started with the Statement of 99 and the establishing of the Committees of Civil Society, then the Statement of 1000 was issued carrying the signature of 1000 Syrian intellectuals in 2001. Background Officially a republic, Ba'athist Syria had been governed by the Ba'ath Party since 1963, and by the Assadists since 1970, until they were overthrown in 2024. A state of emergency was in place from 1963 until 2011. Under Hafez al-Assad, president of Syria from 1971 until his death in 2000, political activity had been strictly controlled, and from 1980 onwards effective opposition activity became almost impossible. Five principal security agencies served pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Omar Amiralay
Omar Amiralay (; 20 October 1944 – 5 February 2011) was a Syrian documentary film director and civil society activist. He is noted for the political criticism in his films, and played a prominent role in the events of the Damascus Spring of 2000. Life and work Amiralay was born in Damascus on 20 October 1944. He studied in Paris at Théâtre de la Ville between 1966–7 and later at Institut des hautes études cinématographiques (IDHEC), before returning to Syria in 1970. He thus had a different artistic formation from the majority of Syrian film-makers, who studied in the Soviet Union or in Eastern Europe. His films include a trilogy of documentaries concerning the Tabqa Dam on the Euphrates. The first, '' Film Essay on the Euphrates Dam'' (1970), is a tribute to Syria's greatest development project, but the second and third take a more critical approach. '' Everyday Life in a Syrian Village'' (1974) shows the dam's ambiguous impact on the lives of ordinary people in a ne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al-Hayat
''Al-Hayat'' ( ''Life'') was an Arabic newspaper based in Beirut from its founding 28 January 1946 to 1976 and in London after its refounding in 1988. It was a pan-Arab newspaper owned by Saudi Prince Khalid bin Sultan, that had a circulation estimated over 200,000. It was the newspaper of record for the Arab diaspora and the preferred venue for liberal intellectuals who wished to express themselves to a large public. Founded in 1946, the paper closed in March 2020 after years of financial problems. Though rather pro-West and pro-Saudi with respect to articles concerning the Arabian Peninsula, it was quite open to various opinions concerning other regional questions. ''Al-Hayat'' printed in London, New York, Frankfurt, Dubai, Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, Beirut and Cairo. The newspaper had offices in London, Paris, Washington, New York, Moscow, Riyadh, Jeddah, Beirut, Cairo, Baghdad, Dubai, Amman, and Damascus, among others. The newspaper was "regarded as by far and away the best ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Syrian Opposition To Bashar Al-Assad
Syrians () are the majority inhabitants of Syria, indigenous to the Levant, most of whom have Arabic, especially its Levantine and Mesopotamian dialects, as a mother tongue. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend of both indigenous elements and the foreign cultures that have come to rule the land and its people over the course of thousands of years. By the seventh century, most of the inhabitants of the Levant spoke Aramaic. In the centuries after the Muslim conquest of the Levant in 634, Arabic gradually became the dominant language, but a minority of Syrians (particularly the Assyrians and Syriac-Arameans retained Aramaic (Syriac), which is still spoken in its Eastern and Western dialects. The national name "Syrian" was originally an Indo-European corruption of Assyrian and applied to Assyria in northern Mesopotamia, however by antiquity it was used to denote the inhabitants of the Levant. Following the Muslim conquest of the Levant, Arab id ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Syrian Revolution
The Syrian revolution, also known as the Syrian Revolution of Dignity, was a series of mass protests and civilian uprisings throughout Syria – with a subsequent violent reaction by the Ba'athist regime – lasting from 15 March 2011 to 8 December 2024 as part of the greater Arab Spring in the Arab world. The revolution, which demanded the end of the decades-long Assad family rule, began as minor demonstrations during January 2011 and transformed into large nation-wide protests in March. The uprising was marked by mass protests against the Ba'athist dictatorship of president Bashar al-Assad meeting police and military violence, massive arrests and a brutal crackdown, resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths and tens of thousands wounded. 13 years after the start of the revolution, the Assad regime fell in 2024 after a series of rebel offensives. Despite al-Assad's attempts to crush the protests with crackdowns, censorship and concessions, the mass protests had become a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arab Spring
The Arab Spring () was a series of Nonviolent resistance, anti-government protests, Rebellion, uprisings, and Insurgency, armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began Tunisian revolution, in Tunisia in response to corruption and economic stagnation. From Tunisia, the protests initially spread to five other countries: Libya, Egypt, Yemen, Syria and Bahrain. Rulers were deposed (Zine El Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia, Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, and Hosni Mubarak of Egypt all in 2011, and Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen in 2012) and major uprisings and social violence occurred, including riots, civil wars, or insurgencies. Sustained street demonstrations took place in Morocco, Iraq, Algeria, Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman and Sudan. Minor protests took place in Djibouti, Mauritania, Palestine, Saudi Arabia and the Western Sahara. A major slogan of the demonstrators in the Arab world is ''Ash-shab yurid isqat an-nizam, ash-shaʻb yurīd isqāṭ an- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Damascus Declaration
The Damascus Declaration () was a statement of unity by Syrian opposition figures issued in October 2005. It criticized the Assad regime as "authoritarian, totalitarian and cliquish," and called for "peaceful, gradual," reform "founded on accord, and based on dialogue and recognition of the other."Wright, Robin, ''Dreams and shadows, the Future of the Middle East'', Penguin Press, 2008, p.232-4 The five-page document was signed by more than 250 major opposition figures as well as parties "both secular and religious, Arab and Kurdish." It was considered important that the statement included the Muslim Brotherhood group of Syria, in addition to secular groups.The statement called for a "fair solution for the Kurdish issue in Syria in a way insures the equality of Kurds with all other Syrian citizens". Syrian journalist and activist Michel Kilo launched the declaration, after the Syrian writer and thinker Abdulrazak Eid had written its first draft. Riad Seif, another democracy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Statement Of 1000
The Statement of 1000 was a statement by 1000 Syrian intellectuals in January 2001, during the Damascus Spring, following the earlier Statement of 99 made in September 2000. The Statement of 1000 was more detailed than the earlier statement, criticising the effective one-party rule of the Ba'ath Party and calling for multiparty democracy, with an independent judiciary and without discrimination against women. References See also * Politics of Ba'athist Syria * Damascus Declaration * Arab Spring * Syrian revolution *Syrian opposition to Bashar al-Assad Syrians () are the majority inhabitants of Syria, indigenous to the Levant, most of whom have Arabic, especially its Levantine and Mesopotamian dialects, as a mother tongue. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend ... External links * Alan George, Syria: Neither Bread Nor Freedom (London: Zed Books, 2003). Political activism 2001 documents {{Poli-term-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Politics Of Ba'athist Syria
During the final decade of Ba'ath party rule, the politics of Syria took place in the framework of a presidential republic with nominal multi-party representation in People's Council under the Ba'athist-dominated National Progressive Front. In practice, Ba'athist Syria remained a one-party state where independent parties were outlawed, with a powerful secret police that cracked down on dissidents. From the 1963 seizure of power by its neo-Ba'athist Military Committee to the fall of the Assad regime, the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party operated a totalitarian police state in Syria. After a period of intra-party strife, Hafez al-Assad gained control of the party following the 1970 coup d'état and his family dominated the country's politics. Until the early stages of the Syrian uprising, the president had broad and unchecked decree authority under a long-standing state of emergency. The end of this emergency was a key demand of the uprising. Superficial reforms in 2011 made ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mouaffaq Nyrabia
Mouaffaq Nyrabia (; born 28 November 1949) is a Syrian dissident, politician, political writer and mechanical engineer, best known for his pivotal role in the creation of Damascus Declaration, a prominent Syrian Opposition structure until the Syrian Revolution erupted in March 2011. Since he left Syria, in early 2013, he has been an active member of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, a member of its executive board, representing the secular political current ''Muwatanah'' (Arabic for "Citizenship"). Nyrabia worked on founding a democratic bloc inside the Syrian Coalition and joined the similar attempts led by dissident writer and politician Michael Kilo. In June 2014, the democratic bloc, which became a major force inside the coalition, voted Nyrabia to be its candidate to preside over the coalition, after Ahmad Jarba, who is a member of the same bloc. However, in March 2016, Nyrabia was elected as First Vice President of the coalition. Bio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Usama Muhammad
Ossama Mohammed (; born 21 March 1954) is a Syrian film director and screenwriter. His film, ''The Box of Life'', was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. He is currently living in exile in Paris, where he collaborated on ''Silvered Water, Syria Self-Portrait''. Filmography * ''Khutwa Khutwa (Step by Step)'' (1978) * ''Stars in Broad Daylight'' (1988) * ''Al-Lail (film), Al-Lail'' (Screenwriter) (1992) * ''The Box of Life'' (2002) * ''Silvered Water, Syria Self-Portrait'' (2014) References External links * 1954 births Living people Syrian film directors Syrian screenwriters People from Latakia Syrian exiles {{Syria-bio-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michel Kilo
Michel Kilo (; 1940 – 19 April 2021) was a Syrian Christian writer and human rights activist, who has been called "one of Syria's leading opposition thinkers.". Career Kilo was born to a Christian family in the Syrian Mediterranean coastal city and province of Latakia in 1940. His family were members of the Syrian Communist Party He studied journalism in Egypt and Germany. He has translated many political and economics books from German to English. As a columnist he wrote opinion pieces for two Arabic papers, the Lebanese daily '' Annahar'' and the London-based '' Al-Quds Al-Arabi''. In 2011 he wrote several articles about the Syrian uprising for the ''As-Safir'' Lebanese daily newspaper. Troubles with the government Kilo was first arrested by the government in the early 1980s, following this arrest he moved to France but came back to Syria in 1991. Following the Damascus Spring movement, Kilo was a central figure in the Damascus Declaration of 2005 and called for "peace ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
