Burhan Ghalioun
| Burhan Ghalioun برهان غليون |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| President of the Syrian National Council | |
|
In office 29 August 2011 – 10 June 2012 |
|
| Deputy | Haitham al-Maleh |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Abdulbaset Sieda |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
11 February 1945 Homs, Syria |
| Alma mater | Damascus University |
| Religion | Sunni Islam |
Burhan Ghalioun (Arabic: برهان غليون) (born 11 February 1945 in Homs, Syria), is a French Syrian professor of sociology at the Université de Paris III Sorbonne University in Paris, and the first chairman of the Syrian opposition Transitional National Council (SNC). He was named chairman on 29 August 2011. His chairmanship was criticized for his perceived closeness to the Muslim Brotherhood, his early reluctance to arm opposition forces, and what opponents called the autocratic nature of his leadership. On 17 May 2012, feeling he had become an increasingly divisive figure for the council, Ghalioun resigned.
Born in Homs in 1945, Ghalioun is a Sunni Muslim. He studied sociology and philosophy at the University of Damascus. In 1969, he moved to Paris, where he received a PhD in social science from the University of Paris VIII and another in humanities from Sorbonne University. In the late 1970s, he made a name as an opponent of President Hafez Assad by publishing a pamphlet titled "A Manifesto for Democracy". Drawing on the tradition of the European Enlightenment, the pamphlet made the case that Arab states had become the enemies of their societies, and that democratic reform was needed to take back state power.
Though the pamphlet gave Ghalioun a reputation as a leading opposition figure, he avoided party politics throughout the 1980s. However, he remained a public critic of the Assad government and a supporter of the Palestinian cause. In 1983, he was one of the founders of the Arab Organization for Human Rights, and he also led the Syrian Cultural and Social Forum, an organization of anti-Assad Syrian expatriates.
According to Al Jazeera, in 2000 During the rule of current Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, Syria saw what some considered a period of greater "political openness" termed by some the "Damascus Spring". Ghalioun, from his home in Paris, began to visit Syria more frequently for the next 12 months, and became more active in Syrian politics. In 2011, he discussed a lecture with Jadaliyya: "The Ba'th authority was shocked that over 700 people attended my lecture, news of which spread by word of mouth with no advertisement or organization. They lost their minds; how could all these people come with no organization? Because when they host a lecture, maybe three people show up who are not Ba'thist, and they are there because of personal interests. This scared them, it made them feel there was a strong, deep wave that may become stronger, more developed, possibly to the point of no return. They decided this was a dangerous tidal wave, and they must oppress the Damascus Spring at any price. And that's what happened: arresting participants, closing the forums, tracking the intellectuals."
...
Wikipedia