Editing Antoun Saadeh (section)

==Life and career==
===Early life===
Saadeh was born in 1904 in [[Dhour El Choueir]], in the [[Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate]]. He was the son of a [[Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch|Greek Orthodox Christian]] physician,{{sfn|Peretz|1994|p=384}} Khalil Saadeh<ref name=SSNP/> and Naifa Nassir Khneisser.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ssnp.net/content/view/104/ |title=الحزب السوري القومي الإجتماعي - الموقع الرسمي - ما قبل التأسيس |access-date=29 October 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140416181231/http://ssnp.net/content/view/104/ |archive-date=16 April 2014}}</ref> His father was himself a [[Syrian nationalist]] as well as democracy advocate, and also an intellectual and author, who has been described as "a prolific writer and [[polymath]], whose works span the fields of politics, literature, journalism, novel-writing, and translation".<ref>Adel Beshara, ''The Origins of Syrian Nationhood: Histories, Pioneers and Identity'', [[Taylor & Francis]] (2012), p. 13</ref> Antoun Saadeh completed his elementary education in his birth town and continued his studies at the Lycée des Frères in Cairo and came back to Lebanon at the death of his mother.<ref>antounsaadeh.com/bio</ref> In the later part of 1919, Saadeh immigrated to the United States, where he resided for approximately one year with his uncle in [[Springer, New Mexico]] and worked at a local train station. In February 1921, he moved to Brazil with his father, a prominent Arabic-language journalist. In 1924, Saadeh founded a secret society to unify ''Natural Syria''. This society was dissolved the following year. ''Natural Syria'', according to Saadeh, included the [[Levant]], [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]], [[Emirate of Transjordan|Transjordan]], Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and parts of Southern Turkey. His concept of Syria included all religious, ethnic and linguistic groups in this region.{{sfn|Peretz|1994|p=384}} During his time in Brazil, Saadeh learned German and Russian.<ref name=SSNP>{{cite web |url=http://www.ssnp.org/new/Saadeh/saadeh_en.htm |title=Antun Saadeh |publisher=[[Syrian Social Nationalist Party]] |access-date=22 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120226025303/http://www.ssnp.org/new/Saadeh/saadeh_en.htm |archive-date=26 February 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Ultimately, he became a [[polyglot]] fluent in seven languages: Arabic, English, [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], French, German, Spanish and Russian.<ref>Rabi'a Abifadel, ''Sa'adeh: The Expatriate Critic and Man of Letters'' in Adel Beshara (ed.), ''Antun Sa'adeh: The Man, His Thought: an Anthology'', Ithaca Press (2007), p. 442</ref>

===Activity in Lebanon===
In July 1930, he returned to Lebanon. In 1931, he wrote "A Love Tragedy", which was first published with his "Story of the Holiday of Our Lady of Sidnaya" in Beirut in 1933. Also, in 1931, Saadeh worked at the daily newspaper ''Al-Ayyam''; then, in 1932, he taught German at the [[American University of Beirut]].{{sfn|Peretz|1994|p=384}} In 1933, he continued to publish pamphlets in the Al-Majalia magazine in Beirut.<ref name=SSNP/>

On 16 November 1932, Saadeh secretly founded the [[Syrian Social Nationalist Party]]. Three years later, on 16 November 1935, the party's existence was proclaimed, and Saadeh was arrested and sentenced to six years imprisonment by the French colonial powers. During his confinement, he wrote his first book, "The Rise of Nations". He was released from prison early but was again detained in June 1936, where he wrote another book, "Principles Explained". In November of the same year, he was released from prison, but in March 1937, he was arrested again. During the time he spent in prison, he wrote his third book, "The Rise of the Syrian Nation", but his manuscript was confiscated, and the authorities refused to return it to him.<ref name=SSNP/>

===Activity in exile===
[[File:Al-Zawba, La Tempestad, año 1, n 1.png|upright|thumb|First number of ''Al-Zawba'a'' (''The Storm'') published on 1st August 1940.]]
He was released from prison in late May 1937. In November 1937, Saadeh founded the newspaper ''Al-Nahdhah''. Saadeh led the party until 1938. Then, for the second time, he left the country to establish party branches in the Lebanese communities in South America. Saadeh went to Brazil and founded the newspaper ''New Syria''. Soon afterwards, he was arrested by the French colonial authorities and spent two months in prison. In 1939, at the outbreak of [[World War II]], Saadeh moved to [[Argentina]], where he remained until 1947. In Argentina, Saadeh continued his activities. He founded ''Al-Zawba'a'' (''The Storm'') newspaper and wrote ''The Intellectual Conflict in Syrian Literature'', which was printed in [[Buenos Aires]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.hindawi.org/books/79094150/ | title=الصراع الفكري في الأدب السوري &#124; أنطون سعادة &#124; مؤسسة هنداوي }}</ref> In 1943, Saadeh married [[Juliette Elmir|Juliette al-Mir]] and had three daughters with her. The French colonial court sentenced him ''in absentia'' to twenty years of imprisonment.<ref name=SSNP/>

===Return to Lebanon and execution===
[[File:Antun Sa'ada.jpg|thumb|upright|Saadeh in Lebanon]]
Saadeh returned to Lebanon on 2 March 1947, following the country's independence from France. After his return, he made a revolutionary speech, upon which the authorities issued an arrest warrant in force for seven months and withdrew. In Lebanon, Saadeh founded the newspaper ''Al-Jil Al-Jadid''. On 4 July 1949, the party declared a revolution in Lebanon in retaliation for a series of provocations staged by the government of Lebanon against party members. <!--Citation needed for what looks rather like SSNP propaganda. These acts were supported by foreign powers trying to limit the influence of the party in the anti-sectarian movement and its influence on the Palestinian issue and in the spreading of the idea of a stronger united and independent Syrian Nation. --> The revolt was suppressed and Saadeh travelled to [[Damascus]] to meet with [[Husni al-Za'im]], the President of [[Syria]] at the time, who had previously agreed to support him. However, he was handed over by al-Zai'm to the Lebanese authorities. Saadeh and many of his followers were judged by a Lebanese military court and executed by a firing squad, including Saadeh himself.{{sfn|Johnson|2001|p=150}} The capture, trial and execution happened in less than 48 hours.<ref name=armanazi>{{cite news|last=Armanazi |first=Ghayth |title=The Arab Poet Laureate: An Appreciation of Adonis |url=http://thelondonmagazine.org/issues/oct-nov-2011/the-arab-poet-laureate-an-appreciation-of-adonis/ |access-date=24 October 2012 |newspaper=The London Magazine |date=October–November 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130620184957/http://thelondonmagazine.org/issues/oct-nov-2011/the-arab-poet-laureate-an-appreciation-of-adonis/ |archive-date=20 June 2013 }}</ref> Saadeh's execution took place at the dawn of 8 July 1949.{{Citation needed|date=March 2009}} According to Adel Beshara, it was and still is the shortest and most secretive trial given to a political offender.{{fact|date=March 2023}}

His party continued to be active after his death. Saadeh's party supported the President of Lebanon [[Camille Chamoun]] during the [[1958 Lebanon crisis]]. In 1961, the SSNP attempted a coup d'état against President [[Fuad Shihab]], which failed. During the 1960s, party leaders were arrested, and the party was eventually splintered into separate factions.{{sfn|Johnson|2001|p=150}}

===Syrian Social Nationalist Party===
[[File:SadheeSYRIA-ar.jpg|thumb|As envisioned by Saadeh and the SSNP, "[[Greater Syria in pan-Syrian nationalism|Natural Syria]]" includes modern [[Syria]], [[Lebanon]], [[Israel]], [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]], [[Jordan]], [[Iraq]], [[Kuwait]], [[Cyprus]], the [[Sinai Peninsula]], the [[Ahvaz]] region of [[Iran]], and [[Cilicia]] in southern [[Anatolia]].]]
The SSNP "Zawbaa" (Vortex, Tempest) is a glyph combining the Muslim crescent and the Christian cross, derived from Mesopotamian art. It symbolizes the blood shed by martyrs that makes the wheel of history whirl forward, dissipating the surrounding darkness (representing sectarianism, Ottoman occupation, and the colonial oppression that followed). Within the party, Saadeh gained a cult of personality and at the same time, Saadeh was named the party leader for life. However, according to Haytham,<ref>"Antun Saadeh, the man, his thought, an anthology"</ref> Saadeh stated that European fascism didn't influence him. Haytham claims that Saadeh's Syrian Social Nationalist ideology aimed at opposite ends.

Saadeh rejected [[Pan-Arabism]] (the idea that the speakers of the Arabic language form a single, unified nation) and argued instead for the creation of the state of [[Greater Syria in pan-Syrian nationalism|United Syrian Nation or Natural Syria]], encompassing the [[Fertile Crescent]], making up a Syrian homeland that "extends from the [[Taurus Mountains|Taurus]] range in the northwest and the [[Zagros]] mountains in the northeast to the [[Suez Canal]] and the [[Red Sea]] in the south and includes the [[Sinai Peninsula]] and the [[Gulf of Aqaba]], and from the Syrian Sea in the west (namely the eastern basin of the Mediterranean facing the Levant coastlines), including the island of [[Cyprus]], to the arch of the [[Arabian Desert]] and the [[Persian Gulf]] in the east." (Kader, H. A.)
[[File:The Return of Saadeh.ogv|thumb|thumbtime=3:42|Film in Arabic about Saadeh's return to Lebanon.]]
Saadeh rejected both language and religion as defining characteristics of a nation and argued that nations develop through the common development of people inhabiting a specific geographical region. Thus, he was a strong opponent of [[Arab nationalism]] and [[Pan-Islamism]]. He argued that Syria was historically, culturally, and geographically distinct from the rest of the Arab world, which he divided into four parts. He traced Syrian history as a distinct entity back to the [[Phoenicians]], [[Canaanites]], [[Assyrian people|Assyrians]], [[Babylonians]] etc.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ssnp.org/new/library/saadeh/misc/en/maronites.htm |title=Saadeh<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=2 January 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071021195323/http://www.ssnp.org/new/library/saadeh/misc/en/maronites.htm |archive-date=21 October 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and argued that Syrianism transcended religious distinctions.<ref name=Kader>{{cite web|last=Kader|first=Dr. Haytham A.|title=Syrian Social Nationalist Party – Ideology|url=http://www.ssnp.org/new/ssnp/en/ssnp.htm|access-date=4 May 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120226025315/http://www.ssnp.org/new/ssnp/en/ssnp.htm|archive-date=26 February 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Saadeh himself denied these claims of alleged National Socialist and Fascist ideology of his party. During a 1935 speech, Saadeh said: "I want to use this opportunity to say that the system of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party is neither a Hitlerite nor a Fascist one, but a pure social nationalist one. It is not based on useless imitation, but is instead the result of an authentic invention – which is a virtue of our people".<ref name="Nordbruch2009">{{cite book|author=Götz Nordbruch|title=Nazism in Syria and Lebanon: The Ambivalence of the German Option, 1933–1945|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iAWBkDAv4TkC&pg=PA45|year=2009|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-415-45714-9|page=45}}</ref>