April 30: Are There Secular Fighters In Syria?
Scott Lucas in conversation with Monocle 24’s Midori House on the Syrian insurgency and media assertions that “there are no secular fighters left in Syria”.
Listen from the 18-minute mark on the Midori House homepage or in a separate pop-out window.
The main points are: 1. The insurgency is a collection of many factions, some of which have “secular” outlooks and members.
2. The escalating myths that the Islamist faction Jabhat al-Nusra is “Al-Qa’eda linked” and is dominating the insurgency.
3. The myth of “radical Islamists” does not help us understand the region beyond Syria amid the “Arab Spring”. The post-uprising Governments in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya do not fit that simplistic label.
