Damascus Spring
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."