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| Ammar Abdulhamid |
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Ammar Abdulhamid is the Executive Director of the Tharwa Foundation, which partnered with CLIME to establish the Tharwa Institute for Democratic Leadership in 2007.
Ammar was born on May 30, 1966 to a well-known artistic family in Damascus, Syria. He spent an important part of his life studying in the United States, graduating from the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point in 1992 with a B.S. in history, and purging himself of his religious zealotry. He returned to his home-country in September, 1994 and was forced to leave on September 7, 2005 due to his increasing and vocal criticism of the ruling regime and its president.
In 2003, Ammar established DarEmar, a publishing house/NGO dedicated to raising the standards of civic awareness in the Arab World, and launched the Tharwa Project, a program designed to address diversity issues in the region. In 2001, Ammar met and married Khawla Yusuf, a Syrian fashion designer and activist. The couple currently lives in Silver Spring, Maryland with their two children: Mouhanad and Oula. Ammar has served as a non-resident Fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC, and a Fellow at the International Institute for Modern Letters in Las Vegas.
To view Ammar's webblog, click here.
The Tharwa Foundation opened its U.S. office in 2007. The Foundation's mission is to support democratic principles and practices in the Broader Middle East and North Africa region through programs that encourage inter-communal dialogue.
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Ammar Abdulhamid
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Ammar Abdulhamid is the Executive Director of the Tharwa Foundation, which partnered with CLIME to establish the Tharwa Institute for Democratic Leadership in 2007.
Ammar was born on May 30, 1966 to a well-known artistic family in Damascus, Syria. He spent an important part of his life studying in the United States, graduating from the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point in 1992 with a B.S. in history, and purging himself of his religious zealotry. He returned to his home-country in September, 1994 and was forced to leave on September 7, 2005 due to his increasing and vocal criticism of the ruling regime and its president.
In 2003, Ammar established DarEmar, a publishing house/NGO dedicated to raising the standards of civic awareness in the Arab World, and launched the Tharwa Project, a program designed to address diversity issues in the region. In 2001, Ammar met and married Khawla Yusuf, a Syrian fashion designer and activist. The couple currently lives in Silver Spring, Maryland with their two children: Mouhanad and Oula. Ammar has served as a non-resident Fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC, and a Fellow at the International Institute for Modern Letters in Las Vegas.
To view Ammar's webblog, click here.
The Tharwa Foundation opened its U.S. office in 2007. The Foundation's mission is to support democratic principles and practices in the Broader Middle East and North Africa region through programs that encourage inter-communal dialogue.
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| Keep the US 'freedom agenda' alive |
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Daily Star Lebanon,
(01/14/2008)
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True, a freedom agenda will not change people's attitudes overnight. However, if pursued consistently, over time, with bipartisan support in the US - and more constant support in Europe - it will have a chance to make serious headway. There are many "ifs" here, but pro-democracy activists can only live on hope; or, as the late Syrian playwright Saadallah Wannous put it, they are condemned to hope.
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Daily Star Lebanon,
(2008/01/14)
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| The New Revolutionaries |
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BitterLemons.org,
(02/17/2007)
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Blogging is fast becoming a serious threat to traditional authority in the region, be it political or religious.
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BitterLemons.org,
(2007/02/17)
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Blogging is fast becoming a serious threat to traditional authority in the region, be it political or religious.
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| Arab liberals: the last hope for reform |
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The Daily Star, Lebanon,
(07/31/2004)
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An interesting phenomenon has been taking place of late: coverage in the international media of the activities of Arab and Muslim terrorists has given way, for a short while at least, to a consideration of Arab liberal intellectuals and activists and their potential role in the longed-for reform process in the Arab world.
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The Daily Star, Lebanon,
(2004/07/31)
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An interesting phenomenon has been taking place of late: coverage in the international media of the activities of Arab and Muslim terrorists has given way, for a short while at least, to a consideration of Arab liberal intellectuals and activists and their potential role in the longed-for reform process in the Arab world.
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| A Modernizer Challenges Syria's Old Order |
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Nora Boustany,
The Washington Post,
(07/30/2004)
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People like Abdulhamid are taking their revolutionary ideas not only to new coffeehouses in the Syrian capital - hangouts with names like Oxygen and Alal Bal ("On My Mind") - but also to global forums and to the Internet. The fact that the authorities are watching has "crossed my mind," he said nonchalantly. But he said officials are beginning to attend some of the gatherings around town, and Syria's first lady, Asma Assad, expressed an interest in Al Tharwa and asked to meet with its participants.
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Nora Boustany,
The Washington Post,
(2004/07/30)
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| A Liberal in Damascus |
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Lee Smith,
The New York Times,
(02/13/2005)
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Lee Smith's article profiles Ammar Abdulhamid, Syrian novelist, poet and liberal dissident, who is finding reason for optimism about the future of his country and liberalism in Arab world.
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Lee Smith,
The New York Times,
(2005/02/13)
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