Fw: How Western imperialism destroyed Syrian secularism

How Western imperialism destroyed Syrian secularism

MintPress News reports on how Western imperialism destroyed Syrian secularism.

Politician Antoun Saadeh was a champion of Syrian secularization, advocating the separation of religion and politics to create greater national unity. But his secular society would be demolished by Western powers that sought to divide and conquer the country.

Philosopher and politician Antoun Saadeh died in 1949. Before he perished, he foretold of conflicts and wars that we are seeing today in Syria and the Middle East. He is best known for founding the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP) in 1932, which would result in his arrest three years later.

His 1935 arrest was the first of several but his imprisonments didn't stop him from expanding on the ideology he established with the SSNP. In fact, he wrote three books while in prison. His manuscript for the third book was taken by French authorities and now sits under lock and key in the Louvre.

One of the cornerstones of his ideology was secularization. Antoun advocated the complete separation of religion and politics as a fundamental condition for real national unity. He valued diversity, saying "Every nation is made up of diverse racial groups, and none of them is the product of one race or one specific tribe."

But since his death, his birthplace of Lebanon has become a highly sectarian nation and society. The nation is broken into pieces by religion and sect. The President must be Maronite Catholic, while the Prime Minister must be Sunni Muslim and the Speaker of the Parliament must be Druze.

To learn more about how and why Antoun Saadeh's vision has been completely derailed by foreign powers hoping to create chaos in the Middle East, read and share the full article.

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MintPress News

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MintPress News is an independent watchdog journalism business start up. We focus our coverage on issues relating to the effects of special interest groups, big business and lobbying efforts and how they shape policies at home and abroad, including American foreign policy. Through the lens of social justice and human rights, we report on how these dynamics drive our foreign affairs and impact the world, and examine the effects they have on our democracy and freedoms as defined by the Constitution.