Framing Sharaa’s general amnesty decree as “necessary” doesn’t make it constitutional. When leaders bypass constitutional limits in the name of urgency, those limits begin to erode and eventually cease to mean anything. en.majalla.com/node/329860/...
Framing Sharaa’s general amnesty decree as “necessary” doesn’t make it constitutional. When leaders bypass constitutional limits in the name of urgency, those limits begin to erode and eventually cease to mean anything. en.majalla.com/node/329860/...
تبرير العفو العام الرئاسي في سياق الضرورة والشرعية الثورية لا يغيّر من حقيقة أن الرئيس تجاوز صلاحياته ولم يلتزم بنص الإعلان الذي كُتب لتنظيم شؤون المرحلة الانتقالية. كما أن تكرار هذه الانتهاكات الدستورية يهدد بتحويل الدستور إلى مجرد حبر على ورق. www.majalla.com/node/329825/...
تبرير العفو العام الرئاسي في سياق الضرورة والشرعية الثورية لا يغيّر من حقيقة أن الرئيس تجاوز صلاحياته ولم يلتزم بنص الإعلان الذي كُتب لتنظيم شؤون المرحلة الانتقالية. كما أن تكرار هذه الانتهاكات الدستورية يهدد بتحويل الدستور إلى مجرد حبر على ورق. www.majalla.com/node/329825/...
1-3 My latest tries to make sense of the often contrasting pictures of the public space that has emerged during the transition. I argue that in today’s Syria, openness & restriction coexist, creating fluid & parallel realities shaped by a range of factors.
en.majalla.com/node/329734/...
3-3 Understanding the emerging space, therefore, requires moving beyond binary judgments. The question is not whether civic space is open or closed, but rather what factors determine why some civic activities are allowed while others are constrained or rejected.
2-3 The regime's collapse has enabled forms of civic engagement that were previously unimaginable. But what has emerged is a fluid civic space, where new forms of participation are possible, yet selectively permitted based on topic, perception, geography & officials’ discretion.
1-3 My latest tries to make sense of the often contrasting pictures of the public space that has emerged during the transition. I argue that in today’s Syria, openness & restriction coexist, creating fluid & parallel realities shaped by a range of factors.
en.majalla.com/node/329734/...
My latest looks at the makeup ban in Latakia, which, together with other recent measures, points to a troubling pattern of state overreach into personal life, particularly in the regulation of women’s appearance and behaviour. en.majalla.com/node/329551/...
The Latakia makeup ban is a bad omen for Syria
en.majalla.com/node/329551/...
The backlash against the makeup ban is not about cosmetics—it’s about how far the state can go in regulating everyday life, argues @haidhaid22.bsky.social.
My latest looks at the makeup ban in Latakia, which, together with other recent measures, points to a troubling pattern of state overreach into personal life, particularly in the regulation of women’s appearance and behaviour. en.majalla.com/node/329551/...
#Damascus has pursued an improvised form of security stabilisation resembling Disarmament, Demobilisation, & Reintegration (#DDR), while avoiding the label. My policy note examines these efforts, their limits & what must change if stabilisation is to hold. mecouncil.org/publication/...
#Damascus has pursued an improvised form of security stabilisation resembling Disarmament, Demobilisation, & Reintegration (#DDR), while avoiding the label. My policy note examines these efforts, their limits & what must change if stabilisation is to hold. mecouncil.org/publication/...
As responsibility for managing the #ISIS file shifts to the Syrian state, my latest examines how #Damascus is proposing to approach this task, the lingering risks it entails, and the lessons drawn from HTS’s management of the ISIS file in northwest Syria. en.majalla.com/node/329460/...
A chapter of America’s war against ISIS has closed, ending the SDF’s role as the US’s indispensable partner. What follows is not just a loss of leverage, but a reckoning with a political reality in which the SDF no longer plays a role that guarantees its survival en.majalla.com/node/329420/...
أغلقت واشنطن صفحة من حربها على تنظيم "داعش"، وأغلقت معها مرحلة اعتبرت خلالها "قوات سوريا الديمقراطية" شريكا لا بديل عنه www.majalla.com/node/329413/...
🧵1/9 The #makeup_ban & personal freedoms: The #Latakia governorate’s decision to ban makeup for female employees in public institutions is framed as a neutral workplace regulation. However, it raises serious questions about personal freedoms, gender equality & state overreach.
Syrian govt deals with Assad-era cronies raise unsettling questions
Official statements suggest Mohammad Hamsho, one of the Assad regime’s most prominent cronies, is only the first of many whose cases are being negotiated behind closed doors.
@haidhaid22.bsky.social
en.majalla.com/node/329297/...
9/9 Ultimately, this backlash is not just about makeup. It is about who gets to define professionalism, whose freedoms are deemed negotiable, and how far the state can go in policing appearance and regulating personal behavior under the guise of order and public decency.
8/9 Workplace discipline is legitimate. But it must be tied to function, safety, or the public interest. A cosmetic ban fails that test, making it less about professionalism and more about enforcing social norms through coercion, dressed up in bureaucratic language.
7/9 Claims that the ban does not infringe on freedoms protected by law ignore its real impact. When the state dictates how women present themselves at work, under threat of punishment, it is exercising control over personal choice.
6/9 The decision is also explicitly gendered. It applies only to women, reinforcing unequal standards in the workplace. A rule that restricts one group’s appearance while leaving others untouched cannot be described as neutral.
5/9 This contradiction matters. If the goal were balance, guidance or flexible dress codes could have achieved it. Instead, the state chose coercion over trust, and punishment over clarity.
4/9 Officials argue the ban avoids “excessive” use of cosmetics. But the policy itself is absolute. There is no definition of excess, no room for discretion, and no proportionality – only a blanket prohibition enforced by legal accountability.
3/9 This framing is misleading. Makeup has no bearing on job performance in administrative or service roles. Regulating it goes beyond professional standards and enters the realm of personal expression and bodily autonomy.
2/9 In a follow up statement , the governorate acknowledged public anger and pledged to engage positively with criticism. Yet it kept the ban in place, arguing that it aims to regulate professional appearance rather than restrict personal freedoms. www.syria.tv/%D8%A8%D8%B9...
🧵1/9 The #makeup_ban & personal freedoms: The #Latakia governorate’s decision to ban makeup for female employees in public institutions is framed as a neutral workplace regulation. However, it raises serious questions about personal freedoms, gender equality & state overreach.
My latest examines the shadowy deal Damascus struck with Assad crony Hamsho. By shielding such deals from public scrutiny, the authorities risk undermining their core claim to legitimacy: that Syria’s transition marks a real break from Assad-era cronyism.
en.majalla.com/node/329297/...
My latest examines the shadowy deal Damascus struck with Assad crony Hamsho. By shielding such deals from public scrutiny, the authorities risk undermining their core claim to legitimacy: that Syria’s transition marks a real break from Assad-era cronyism.
en.majalla.com/node/329297/...
9/9 As Sweida has already demonstrated, such confrontations rarely produce resolution. More often, they entrench deadlock—leaving everyone worse off, including the side that prevails on the battlefield. END.
