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The 2011 Distemper
From: Washington's Long War on Syria
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There are three views on the origins of the 2011 uprising in Syria whose wide circulation is inversely proportional to the degree to which the views have been critically examined. All are highly contestable. The first contestable view is that the demonstrations against the Assad government that erupted in the spring of 2011 were disconnected from the main force of opposition within Syria to the secular Arab nationalist state, namely Sunni political Islam. The second view, which is clearly untenable, is that the protests were non-violent. The third contestable view is that the uprising had broad popular support, that the Assad government was widely reviled, and that Assad himself had lost legitimacy among Syrians.
