This episode of Evolve marks Part Five of the Rebuilding Syria collection. It examines the role of Syria’s interim president, Ahmad Al Sharaa, in recent sectarian massacres targeting Alawite, Druze, and Christian communities. The episode details documented attacks in Lattakia, Tartus, Damascus, and Sweida—including the killing of civilians, sexual violence, religious persecution, and the destruction of homes, hospitals, and houses of worship.
The episode challenges claims that Al Sharaa represents a pragmatic turn from jihadist violence. It cites his 2014 statements endorsing a Sunni Islamist theocracy. Evidence of regime-directed or sanctioned violence - or at best, a total disregard for the lives of Syria’s diverse communities - is highlighted and condemned. This includes Al Sharaa's response to the massacres on Syria’s coast, in Sweida province, and at Saint Elias Orthodox Church in Damascus. The manipulation of state media to dehumanize and persecute those deemed infidels, and the constant disconnect between Al Sharaa's moderate statements and the actions of his fighters, are all explored.
The podcast argues that Al Sharaa’s regime represents a continuation of Syria’s cycle of extremist governance—this time under the banner of Sunni supremacist ideology. It explores how religious and ethnic communities are being driven out, kidnapped, and killed, how gender-based violence is being utilized as a weapon of war, how Sunni Muslim diversity of thought is being suppressed, and how the international response has largely failed to reckon with the regime’s actions.
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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