Why Freedom Failed in Syria

Why Freedom Failed in Syria

From CONFLICTED by Message Heard

April 2, 2026 · 1h 7m

About this episode

Thomas speaks with journalist Anand Gopal about the Syrian revolution and its complexities as detailed in Gopal's book 'Days of Love and Rage'.

In this Conflicted Conversation, Thomas speaks to journalist and author Anand Gopal about his wonderful new book Days of Love and Rage, a profoundly moving and intellectually stimulating history of the Syrian revolution told from the perspective of the northern town of Manbij. Anand and Thomas discuss: Anand's first-hand witnessing of 9/11 How Anand embedded with the Taliban Revolution as a crisis of faith and collapse of social reality Manbij as a microcosm of the tensions of Syrian modernity The failure of Manbij's democratic experiment and the limits of liberalism How ISIS exploited both material grievances and liberal norms Baathism: egalitarian ethos vs authoritarian reality Find Gopal on X: https://x.com/Anand_Gopal Join the Conflicted Community here: ⁠https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm⁠ Find Conflicted on X: ⁠https://x.com/MHconflicted⁠ And Facebook: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted⁠ And Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/conflictedpod⁠ And YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sdlF1mY5t4⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit ⁠megaphone.fm/adchoices⁠ Conflicted is a Message Heard production. Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren. This episode was…

People in this episode

Host: Thomas Small

Guest: Anand Gopal

Topics covered

  • Syrian revolution
  • Manbij
  • democracy
  • liberalism
  • ISIS
  • Baathism
  • Taliban
  • 9/11

Keywords

  • freedom
  • crisis of faith
  • social reality
  • material grievances
  • egalitarian ethos
  • authoritarian reality

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Days of Love and Rage

Books & works: this Conflicted Conversation, Days of Love and Rage, Conflicted is

Places: Syria, Manbij

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