The League of Nationalist Action ( ar, عصبة العمل القومي ''‘Usbat Al-'Amal Al-Qawmi''; french: Ligue d'action nationaliste), was a

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

Arab nationalist Arab nationalism ( ar, القومية العربية, al-Qawmīya al-ʿArabīya) is a nationalist ideology that asserts the Arabs are a nation and promotes the unity of Arab people, celebrating the glories of Arab civilization, the language an ...

anti-colonial Decolonization or decolonisation is the undoing of colonialism, the latter being the process whereby imperial nations establish and dominate foreign territories, often overseas. Some scholars of decolonization focus especially on independence m ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

, created in 1932–1933 by a lawyer of

Homs Homs ( , , , ; ar, حِمْص / ALA-LC: ; Levantine Arabic: / ''Ḥomṣ'' ), known in pre-Islamic Syria as Emesa ( ; grc, Ἔμεσα, Émesa), is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is Metres above sea level ...

, Abderrazak Al-Dandashli.

History

Its founders were opposed to the National Bloc party, the dominant party in Syria at the time. The nationalist and conservative party was considered too compromised with the

French Mandate The Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon (french: Mandat pour la Syrie et le Liban; ar, الانتداب الفرنسي على سوريا ولبنان, al-intidāb al-fransi 'ala suriya wa-lubnān) (1923−1946) was a League of Nations mandate foun ...

authorities. The Nationalist Action League is also opposed to

sectarianism Sectarianism is a political or cultural conflict between two groups which are often related to the form of government which they live under. Prejudice, discrimination, or hatred can arise in these conflicts, depending on the political status quo ...

(ta'ifi'yah),

tribalism Tribalism is the state of being organized by, or advocating for, tribes or tribal lifestyles. Human evolution has primarily occurred in small hunter-gatherer groups, as opposed to in larger and more recently settled agricultural societies or civ ...

(asha'iriyyah), differences in families ('a'iliyah) and "latitude". By its social composition, the League is the expression of "a middle class of merchants, teachers and civil servants". During the relevant time period between 1930 and 1958 the countries of Syria and Lebanon were undergoing some political changes. The League was one of several radical nationalist organizations that coalesced in these years. Their criticism focused mainly on the colonial system, including but not limited to the French rule in Syria and Lebanon.The Making of the Arab Intellectual
/ref> In terms of ideological affiliation, the Nationalist Action League is the heir of the Arab anti-Ottoman secret societies (Fatat al-, al-Qahtaniya, al-Ahd) and the pan-Arab nationalist party

Istiqlal Istiqlal ( ar, اِسْتِقْلال, istiqlāl) means ''independence'' and may refer to: Political parties *Azərbaycan Milli İstiqlal Partiyası or Azerbaijan National Independence Party, political party in Azerbaijan *Harakat Al-Istiqlal or In ...

, active throughout the

Fertile Crescent The Fertile Crescent ( ar, الهلال الخصيب) is a crescent-shaped region in the Middle East, spanning modern-day Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine and Jordan, together with the northern region of Kuwait, southeastern region of ...

. According to

Albert Hourani Albert Habib Hourani ( ar, ألبرت حبيب حوراني ''Albart Ḥabīb Ḥūrānī''; 31 March 1915 – 17 January 1993) was a Lebanese British historian, specialising in the history of the Middle East and Middle Eastern studies. Back ...

, the League never became an important organization because one of its principles was the non-cooperation with the existing regimes and leaders. In 1938, his former secretary general "offer its cooperation to the French authorities." The opposite trend to the Secretary General then causes the bursting of the Ligue. The following year, after the death of its first president, Abderrazak al-Dandashli, the League broke up, but one of its most active militants,

Zaki al-Arsuzi Zaki al-Arsuzi ( ar, زكي الأرسوزي, Zakī al-Arsūzī; June 18992 July 1968) was a Syrian philosopher, philologist, sociologist, historian, and Arab nationalist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of Ba'athism and i ...

, set up the Club of Arabism (Nadi al 'Uruba) and became one of the founders of the

Ba'ath Party The Arab Socialist Baʿath Party ( ar, حزب البعث العربي الاشتراكي ' ) was a political party founded in Syria by Mishel ʿAflaq, Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn al-Bītār, and associates of Zaki al-ʾArsūzī. The party espoused B ...

. For Claude Palazzoli, the Nationalist Action League "shows, at the national

bourgeoisie The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. They ...

, the beginning of a phenomenon of cracking and the first effort of the middle classes to distance themselves in respect of an upper middle class which they come off quite thereafter ".

Alexandretta

The League had become a mass party, which was to mobilize the Syrians beyond the traditional elites. However, the party does not go beyond the small group, except in the city of Alexandretta, where party activists roamed the literary and sports clubs, schools and cafes. It was the site of spread of Arab nationalism and militant recruitment.

References

{{Authority control Arab nationalism in Syria Arab nationalist political parties Defunct political parties in Syria Nationalist parties in Syria Syrian nationalism