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Q&A: Journalist Anand Gopal Tells the Story of a Democratic Experiment in Syria

How a city overthrew Assad, and then tried to build a democracy from scratch

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Luke Johnson
Mar 07, 2026
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File:Forces démocratiques syriennes Manbij 2016.jpg
Democratic forces in Manbij, Syria in May 2016, after U.S.-backed Kurdish-majority forces liberated the city from ISIS. (Public Domain/Voice of America)

Anand Gopal is a writer for The New Yorker cove…

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