Oula A. Alrifai
 | A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject. (August 2020) |
Oula Alnashar Alrifai[1] (Arabic: علا الرفاعي; born September 12, 1986) is a Syrian emigrant to the United States and writer for various Washington-based think tanks.
Political activities
[edit]Oula is a co-founder and executive director of SANAD Syria.[2] She was featured with her family in The Washington Post [3] newspaper on an account of their activism and support for rebels in the Syrian civil war. Alrifai is Ammar Abdulhamid's step-daughter. Alrifai, with her parents (Ammar Abdulhamid and Khawla Yusuf) and her brother Mouhanad, sought political asylum in Washington, D.C., in 2005.[4] She is currently a senior fellow[5] at Washington Institute for Near East Policy.[6][7] Alrifai has written for prestigious American magazines including Foreign Affairs, The Washington Post,[8] CNN[9] The National Interest, The Hill, and CTC Sentinel. Her research and policy analysis focus on Syria and the Middle East.[10] Oula became a U.S. citizen in 2016.[11] In 2018, she released her documentary, Tomorrow's Children.[12][13]
Education
[edit]In December 2011 Alrifai received her B.A. from the University of Maryland, College Park in Government and Politics and Middle East studies, where she was awarded the full-tuition Academic Excellence Scholarship until her graduation.[14][15] Alrifai is a member of the National Political Science Honor Society (Pi Sigma Alpha) and a member of the International Honor Society (Phi Theta Kappa). Alrifai holds a Master of Arts in Middle Eastern studies from Harvard University.[16] Her thesis, The Self-Flagellation of a Nation: Assad, Iran, and Regime Survival in Syria, focuses on the development of the Iranian-Syrian relationship in the 1970s and 1980s through the lens of religio-political dynamics. It is now available at Harvard Library.[17]
References
[edit]- ^ "From Syria to the United States, MC Alumna Earns Full Scholarship to Maryland - Inside MC Online". insidemc.montgomerycollege.edu. Retrieved 2016-12-17.
- ^ "Our Team". Sanad. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
- ^ Bahrampour, Tara (2012-01-08). "Syrian Americans anxiously monitor uprising". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2015-11-22.
- ^ Abdulhamid, Ammar (24 July 2012). "The day I met Syria's Mr Big | Ammar Abdulhamid". the Guardian. Retrieved 2015-11-22.
- ^ "Oula A. Alrifai - The Washington Institute for Near East Policy". www.washingtoninstitute.org. Retrieved 2019-10-10.
- ^ Reznick, Alisa (24 November 2014). "Syrian American Dissidents Scramble to Save Their Country". The Seattle Globalist. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
- ^ "Oula Abdulhamid Alrifai - The Washington Institute for Near East Policy". www.washingtoninstitute.org. Retrieved 2015-11-24.
- ^ Alrifai, Oula A. "Opinion | Assad is growing stronger under Trump's nonexistent Syria policy". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2021-04-24.
- ^ Alrifai, Oula A. (March 14, 2020). "How the US can help ease Idlib's catastrophe". CNN.
- ^ "Oula A. Alrifai - The Washington Institute for Near East Policy". www.washingtoninstitute.org. Retrieved 2015-12-26.
- ^ IOM USA (2015-12-16), A Decade After Leaving Syria, Oula Touches Her Home Keys Again, retrieved 2017-01-23
- ^ "Amazon.com: Watch Tomorrow's Children | Prime Video". www.amazon.com. Retrieved 2019-10-10.
- ^ Tomorrow's Children - Trailer - فيلم أولاد بُكرا, retrieved 2021-04-24
- ^ "From Syria to the United States, MC Alumna Earns Full Scholarship to Maryland - Inside MC Online". insidemc.montgomerycollege.edu. Retrieved 2015-11-24.
- ^ "About Oula". We broke the fear in Syria. 14 June 2013. Retrieved 2015-11-24.
- ^ "Oula A. Alrifai". cmes.fas.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2017-10-14.
- ^ "The self-flagellation of a nation : Assad, Iran, and regime survival in Syria by Oula A. Alrifai". hollis.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2019-10-10.