The Impossible Revolution

Description

Yassin al-Haj Saleh is a leftist dissident who spent sixteen years as a political prisoner and now lives in exile. He describes with precision and fervour the events that led to Syria's 2011 uprising, the metamorphosis of the popular revolution into a regional war, and the 'three monsters' Saleh sees 'treading on Syria's corpse': the Assad regime and its allies, ISIS and other jihadists, and Russia and the US. Where conventional wisdom has it that Assad's army is now battling religious fanatics for control of the country, Saleh argues that the emancipatory, democratic mass movement that ignited the revolution still exists, though it is beset on all sides. 'The Impossible Revolution' is a powerful, compelling critique of Syria's catastrophic war, which has profoundly reshaped the lives of millions of Syrians. Acknowledgements Foreword by Robin Yassin-Kassab Introduction 1. Revolution of the Common People 2. The Shabiha and their State 3. The Danger of a ‘State of Nature’ 4. Arms and the Revolution 5. The Roots of Syrian Fascism 6. The Rise of Militant Nihilism 7. ‘Assad or No One’ 8. An Image, Two Flags, and a Banner 9. The Destiny of the Syrian Revolution 10. The Neo-Sultanic State Notes