Adonis

"In other words, Adunis’s own rhetoric dovetails with the regime’s propaganda as it tries to delegitimize the protests and demonize the protesters. What is even more troubling is that Adunis addresses the Syrian tyrant as “an elected president.” Perhaps he forgot that Bashar inherited the presidency? It is ridiculous to think that Bashar himself has no responsibility for what has taken place, or that he could, even now, become an agent of democratization. Yet, this is apparently what Adunis believes. Silence would have been less insulting to the Syrian people.  Perhaps there was a time when Adunis, the intellectual, represented the promise of radical and revolutionary culture, but that time has long passed. Adunis the poet, especially the early Adunis, will always be at the heart of modern Arabic poetry. His poems will be read with admiration and awe, but perhaps it’s time to forget about Adunis the cultural critic and radical intellectual. The Arab Spring has consigned Adunis, the self-proclaimed revolutionary, to irrelevance. And that is the beauty of revolutions." (thanks Bassam)