Why Freedom Failed in Syria

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: Join the Conflicted Community here: ⁠ Find Conflicted on X: ⁠ And Facebook: ⁠ And Instagram: ⁠ And YouTube: ⁠ 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 produced by Thomas Small and edited by Lizzy Andrews. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Why Freedom Failed in Syria is an episode from CONFLICTED by Message Heard.

This episode is 66:39 long.

This episode was published on Apr 2, 2026.

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