A voice in the wilderness
Syrian Poet Adonis Calls for Separation of State and Religion: 'Religious Ideology Negates Democracy'
http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/5277.htm
"Interviewer: "Why are we Arabs always left out of the progress of history? If anything, we give rise to totalitarian regimes. Why are we absent from any process of civilization, with the exception of a few individuals – thinkers and scientists, expatriates living abroad? What is the reason behind this?"
Adonis: "I do not think that anyone would dispute that we Arabs have not succeeded in establishing a state in the globally acknowledged legal and human sense – a civil state and a civil society – in the past 15 centuries. No political or social scientist has ever sought the reason why a nation like the Arabs, who had built a great civilization, has not succeeded in giving rise to a civil society or a civil state. This is a question…" ..........."
You can follow the link at the story to the full interview with subtitles.
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