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Dear John,
This past December, after over 50 years of ruling Syria with socialism and brutality, the Assad regime fell.
Bashar al-Assad and his late father, Hafez al-Assad, were extraordinarily violent dictators and their combined reign was notorious for human rights violations, economic mismanagement, and civil war.
Rebel forces made their way into Damascus and took control of the country, forcing Assad to flee to his Russian ally.
An interim government is now in place, and one of its top goals is to deliver much-needed reforms to the Syrian people, particularly free enterprise for economic growth.
But the situation is fragile.
While there’s strong support for classical liberal reforms, there’s also a lot of work to do to help undo the damage and to help the people to see the logic and the benefits of freeing markets and liberating enterprise.
Atlas Network assessed this situation as an emergency in which quick action could mean the difference between a free and prosperous Syria or more decades of tyranny, warfare, and corruption.
I worked with colleagues to set in motion Atlas Network’s Rapid Response Fund to send a team to Syria to work with Syrians for a freer country, including events at the Chamber of Commerce and the Chamber of Industry and many meetings with thought-leaders, policy makers, and entrepreneurs.
Our team included Arab free-market economists and lawyers, as well as myself and my colleague Adam Weinberg, Atlas Network's Director of Marketing and Communications.
This email is the first of a new series in which Adam and I will share with you exactly what we discovered on the ground in Damascus and what we did to advocate for liberty.
This will be a rare chance to see inside Atlas Network and learn more about the work we do to advance free enterprise, particularly in some of the most challenging places on Earth.
Keep an eye out for our next email (it’ll be from Adam) about the first part of our journey, including what it’s like trying to fly into a war-torn city with a closed airport…
You won’t want to miss it.
Until next time!
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