This episode was recorded on June 18th, 2025. It is important to note that the content presented was written before the June 22nd terrorist attack on Saint Elias Orthodox Church in Damascus and July’s ongoing massacres of Druze communities in Sweida. As a result, Jamil Khoury’s analysis of the situation continues to evolve and will be addressed in the next episode. That said, this episode provides a solid window into Khoury’s thinking about Al Sharaa and lays the foundation for later inquiry.
For the first time in decades, Syrians are speaking freely. In coffee shops, classrooms, and village squares, voices once silenced by tyranny are rising—bold, unscripted, and full of possibility. The fall of Assad has cracked open the door to something Syrians haven’t tasted in generations: hope.
But who’s standing in that doorway?
The New Guy in Charge, the fourth installment in the Rebuilding Syria collection, takes us into the heart of that question. Interim President Ahmed Al Sharaa—once Abu Mohammed Al Jolani, jihadist commander and globally-designated terrorist—now wears a tailored suit and speaks the language of democracy, economic growth, and pluralism. A man with a deeply violent past is suddenly being cast as the architect of Syria’s rebirth.
Can a country so deeply wounded afford to believe in such a dramatic transformation? Or is Al Sharaa simply a wolf in reformer’s clothing?
This episode wrestles with the beautiful and dangerous thing that is hope—how it lives in the bones of a battered people, how it conjures mosaics where extremists see only monoliths, and how the intrinsic need for hope can be exploited by those who talk a good game. And, perhaps most importantly, it explores Ahmed Al Sharaa’s past and why we should not take him only by his current, cosmopolitan appearance.
Listen in as the dream of a freer Syria collides with the shadows surrounding its new leader. An uncertain future hangs in the balance.
his episode invites listeners to see not just the shards—but the artistry—in a country often viewed only through the lens of conflict.
Polycultural Institute is the Think-and-Create Tank of Chicago’s Silk Road Cultural Center. We generate art and ideas that promote polyculturalism and connect people, cultures, and communities.
Polyculturalism is the theory that cultures continuously evolve and transform through dynamic interchange. It assumes that cultures are fluid and flexible, not static and fixed, and that as cultures interact, they redefine themselves.
Silk Road Cultural Center is a Chicago-based interdisciplinary arts organization rooted in the modern communities of the historic Silk Roads, including our diaspora communities. We embrace the arts as a catalyst for connecting people, places, histories, and futures.
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