A banner from the Salahuddin Revolutionaries’ Council in Aleppo’s Salahuddin neighborhood. It reads ‘Secularism became the accusation against those who disagree with our ideas’ – 8-11-2013 (Shahba Press Agency’s official Facebook page/Fair use. All rights reserved to the author)].
[This series of opinion articles on the relationship between secularism and authoritarianism is the outcome of a collaboration between SyriaUntold, openDemocracy’s NAWA and the Samir Kassir Foundation].
Throughout the 20th century, the Arab world has always found itself operating either within an Islamist or nationalist framework. Questions about whether there may be a third outlet or source of knowledge which Arab intellectuals have tapped into have risen, but rarely has the answer been positive. In general, all Arab ideologies have usually operated within the two aforementioned spheres.
