Opinion Daraa’s days of rage

Syria is also considered to be one of the more oppressive regimes in the Middle East. Through its draconian Emergency Law,stifling since 1963,the government is free to make arbitrary arrests. Once detained,suspects have been charged without trials and/ or access to lawyers.

Despite this,Bashar thought he was safe. Only last month did he proudly say,“Syria is immune.” He’s had to backtrack and make promises of reforms through his spokesperson Bouthaina Shaaban. As the number of dead rises,he has pledged to raise the wages of workers,institute health reforms,lift restrictions on the media and political parties and institute a mechanism for combating corruption. The protesters,though,remain dissatisfied.

For Bashar,in the last call for democracy in 2000,known as the Damascus Spring,had promised reforms — but nothing much happened. There were superficial changes: small gatherings for political purposes were allowed and literature on democratic change was permitted,but the ruling clan was immune from harm. Yet,a year later Syria backtracked. In 2005,there were further draconian measures. Now,again,the people want more.

Syrians,however,know of no other leader than the Assad family and its branches. Modern Syria was forged,much like Egypt,through a coup. The greying career soldier Hafez stifled opposition to bring together the different factions in Syrian society. It was his death in 2000 that brought Bashar,a London-educated ophthalmologist,to power. He began to exert further control by making his brother-in-law Assef Shawqat the head of military intelligence. It was through such postings that he successfully centralised power.

Add to this how the ruling party is dominated by a small political and economic elite drawn from the Alawis,who make up only 12 per cent of Syria’s population — and the rage in Daraa doesn’t let up.

Through Facebook and Twitter,Syrians are organising themselves,but on the ground Syria has no genuine form of opposition. This has been banned under law. The country also suffers from its unfortunate brand of sectarianism; for it has been traditionally difficult to reconcile the Sunnis,Shias,Alawis,Druze and Kurds.

These divisions have allowed for groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah to emerge and openly call for change. Prominent among the activists is Ammar Abdulhamid,who has asked Bashar to reconfigure the ruling Baath Party this summer.

Interestingly,the Western-educated Bashar has changed track. To silence the criticism from the West,he has befriended them. Syria is also working on its relations with Lebanon. Even so,calls for an end to the violence have been sounded by the usual suspects — the UN and the US. The Syrian government plods along,shooting and silencing as it plays its game of appeasement with the West. The late Hafez never travelled to the US; it was his son who opened the gates in 2005,and Robert Ford was appointed as the first US ambassador. But Syria’s real loyalties lie not with the “imperialist West”,but with Iran and its ayatollahs. Bashar’s comments speak for themselves: for him the revolution did not start with Tunisia,as he said just last week,but with the Iranian Revolution and the arrival of Khomeini.