Syrian Arab News Agency S A N A
Related Articles
Damascus, SANA – President Bashar al-Assad on Monday received the heads of the delegations participating in the meeting of the General Secretariat of the Arab Writers Union.
Talks during the meeting touched on the issues of Arab culture and thought and their important role and influence on Arab societies and the problems affecting these societies.
President al-Assad said that it’s not possible to understand the crises and wars in some Arab countries without understanding the problem of Arab thought, stressing the need for creating a state of mental protection in Arab societies, which requires a renewed way of thinking and methodical dialogue among Arab intellectuals to set pressing priorities and to remain in touch with people.
President al-Assad said that younger generations drifted towards either extremism or westernization, and this is what makes the role of intellectuals important because true resistance begins in thought by resisting attempts to blot out the identity and sense of belonging, stressing that thought is one of the elements of the Syrians’ steadfastness because the war waged on Syria is an intellectual and media war.
For their part, the delegations’ members said that what has been happening in Arab states in recent years attempted to create a new type of Arab citizen that disavows their identity, asserting that the identity of Arabism cannot be preserved without Syria, which is why the targeting of Syria by foreign sides sought to undermine its intellectual and pan-Arab role, but the Syrians managed to foil these plots.
Hazem Sabbagh
