“How did you go bankrupt?”
“Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.”
Novelist Earnest Hemingway put these words in the mouth of one of his characters in his 1926 breakthrough novel, The Sun Also Rises, and it seems they are as true to dictators as they are to a fictional gambler and drunk.
Last weekend, President Bashar al Assad of Syria, the cruel and brutal head of a corrupt dynasty that had ruled Syria for over half a century, fled with his family to Moscow — just two weeks after a rebel group started upon an offensive from north to south.
In retrospect, it became clear that the regime had been creaking gradually for some time, before it collapsed suddenly, leaving Iran and Russia, his two external supporters, bereft and the people of Syria free — or at least free from the regime. The freedom to decide their future is yet to be tested or understood.
Hind Kabawat, a former member of the High Negotiations Committee at the Syrian peace talks in Geneva and a prominent leader of Syrian civil society, is one of the best-placed people to reflect on the past and especially the future of Syria. A native of Damascus who attended school with Bashar al Assad but has been standing in staunch opposition to him ever since she passionately believes in multi-faith collaboration as well as the importance of women.
While applauding the fall of Assad, Professor Kabawat knows the future is yet to be decided — but that equality of different peoples of all faiths, genders, and political tribes must be at its centre.
This episode was recorded on 12 December 2024
Mentions and further resources
- IIIM – International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism
- Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS)
- Timeline of Arab Spring in Syria
Follow our guest
- Hind Kabawat X/Twitter & LinkedIn
- Her webpage at George Mason University
- Tastakel, the non-profit women-led organisation founded by a group of diverse Syrian women who began work towards building a democratic society on the basis of respect, justice & the rule of law.
You can also follow us
- Instagram @women_leaders_podcast
- Our partner European Leadership Network social media Twitter, LinkedIn & Facebook
- Our partner European Leadership Network website
- Ilana Bet-El
Credits
- Production**:** Florence Ferrando
- Music: Let Good Times Roll, RA from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/ra/let-good-times-roll License code: ZXIIIJUU2ISPZIJT
The European Leadership Network itself as an institution holds no formal policy positions. The opinions articulated above represent the views of the authors rather than the European Leadership Network or its members. The ELN aims to encourage debates that will help develop Europe’s capacity to address the pressing foreign, defence, and security policy challenges of our time, to further its charitable purposes.
Image credit: Florence Ferrando
