Democracy and Human Rights in
Democracy
and Human Rights in
A
Collective Work with 18 Syrian Researchers
Supervised
by: Violette Daguerre
Translated
from arabic by: Zayna Larbi
All
Right Reserved #
1st
English ed. 2002
1st
Arabic ed. 2001
Published
by:
Arab
Commission for Human Rights
5 Rue Gambetta - 92240 Malakoff - France
Phone: (33-1) 40921588 Fax: (33-1) 46541913
Email: cdfdh@compuserve.com
http://home7.swipnet.se/~w-79939 &
www.come.to/achr
Eurabe publishers
36b Rue Cotentin, 75015 Paris, France
email:
eurabe@hotmail.com
Supervised by
Violette DAGUERRE
Translated
by: Zayna LARBI
Democracy
and Human Rights
in
A Collective Work with 18
Syrian Researchers
ARAB COMMISSION FOR HUMAN
RIGHTS
In cooperation with
THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION
EURABE PUBLISHERS
The Participating Writers
Abdel Razaq Eid
Amer Mahmood
Aslan Abd Al Kareem
Fayez Sarah
Haytham Al Maleh
Haytham Manna
Hussein Al Oudat
Jad Al Kareem Al Jeba'i
Kareem Abu
Halawa
Mohammed Al
Oudat
Mohammed Issam
Dimashki
Mohammed Najati
Tayarah
Omar Deeb Abdel
Hameed
Salamah Keilah
Sameer Al Adeli
Tameem &
Majed
Violette
Daguerre
ISBN: 2-914595-03-4
EAN: 9782914595032
Index
Introduction
Chapter 1:
The Opinion and the Sword:
The Mechanisms of
Possessing the State and Reinforcing the Authority
Chapter 2:
The Social Foundation of
the Political Conversion
Chapter 3:
The Totalitarian System
Chapter 4:
An Entrance to Read
Plurality
Chapter 5:
The Political Parties
Chapter 6:
The Social Diversions and
the Role of Civil Organizations
Chapter 7:
The Syrian Movement of
Human Rights
Chapter 8:
The Judicial System
Chapter 9:
The Social and
Psychological Effects on the DΕtente
And the Deprivation of
Civil Rights
Chapter 10:
The Policy of Communication
(Information - Culture - Education)
Chapter 11:
The Syrian Economy: the
Reality and the Prospects
Chapter 12:
The Environmental Problems
Chapter 13:
Chapter 14:
The Matter of Minorities
Chapter 15:
The Position of the Youth
Chapter 16:
The External Policy of
- Between the Constants and Variables
- The 1st comment:
- The 2nd comment: Barcelona Declaration and
the
Euro-Mediterranean Psrtnership
Chapter 17:
The Characteristics of An Epoch
Appendixes (from 1 to 11)
Introduction
Violette Daguerre(*)
A Brief Sight:
This part of the world
shares the old civilization and urbanism of Bilad Al Rafidain and
In 1958, after the positive
referendum for the Syrian-Egyptian Union, the political Parties were dissolved
in
At the end of 1965, the
historical Nationalistic Leadership tried to take over the power from the
military, but the "Military Committee", which was after the coup
d`etat of 1963, made a new coup d`etat in
The idea of the individual
leader replaced the leading Party with the start of Assad's movement. Through a
number of decrees, the principle authorities were centralized in the hands of
the president. Also, the constitution was arranged according to the
presidential ideology and the arbitrary methods, which restricted the
articulations of ruling and the three authorities into the person of the
president. So, loyalty to the "Leader", who based his leadership upon
affording privileges and personal benefits to his followers, became the rule
for governing. At the same time, the sovereignty of law and the principle of
control became absent, and the organizations of the civil society were
dispensed. In fact, these things play the role of a counter authority, which
protects the nation from the arbitrariness of the ruling powers. Since that
date, the deep-rooted movement of associations had no margin of independence
from the Regional Leadership of Ba'ath and the different branches of security
determined its leaderships, policies and its biggest and smallest activities.
This way of domination
briefed the political society into Ba'ath Party and the Party into its
leadership that supported General Assad. Also, the society became militarized
and the bodies of security enlarged like a spreading cancer, which were
restrained within the Party's spirit and fanaticism. The centralization of
authorities within a limited group led to the union of wealth and power among
few individuals and suffocating the free independent initiatives in the society
whether political, social, cultural or economical.
President Hafez Assad let
free the bodies of securities, which had troops of secret agents, professional
and amateurs of reports' writers, to repress the citizens, as they want, to the
extent that he could not control them anymore. For example, before the big
massacres that where mentioned in the first annex, the agreement between the
representatives of Assad and the deputy of Muslim Brotherhood guide, Ameen
Yakan, during the first three months of 1980, was to halt violence.
Practically, to solve the conflict peacefully, the government started to
release some political prisoners. Nevertheless, Riffat Assad, the president's brother
and the leader of Saraya Al Difaa, executed the official Husni A'abo, who was
to be released. Riffat contradicted the instructions of the president because
he wanted to prove the strong role of the private units and security. This was
one reason for the committed massacres that terminated with the tragedy of
By the name of preserving
security and settlement, big numbers of the oppositions were led into military
field courts according to the issued legislative decree in 1980. The decree
enabled these courts the jurisdictions to include the prosecution of civil
individuals by military officers, who were not legal judges and received orders
from their commands. According to the verdicts of these courts, a large number
of civil opponents were executed, others were sentenced for long years of
imprisonment that exceeded one or two decades, in addition to the abduction of
big numbers of prisoners, whose fate is not discovered yet. Some information,
from inside the prisons, confirmed that about 10 thousand prisoners died under
torture, executions and in the massacres, which were committed in the prison of
A big part of prisoners had
been released, whose number reached in the eighties 18 thousand prisoners.
Around 1.200 prisoners remained till today. Many of them died just after they
were released. The rest could not retain their civil rights and go back to
their jobs in the public sector. Moreover, they suffered a lot of psychological
effects and body deformations because of the applied barbarian methods of
torture. In addition, they lacked the associations that could take care of
them, treat and rehabilitate them. Even in the private sector, it was very
difficult for them to find jobs because all their official documents refer to
their past as former prisoners. Apart from some exceptions, most of them lost
the chance of working, regaining their social rank and insuring the future of
their families. Furthermore, the released prisoners are prohibited from
traveling abroad to earn their living because they can not obtain a passport.
To get passports, they need official documents, which prove that they were not
convicted.
On the other hand, more
than half of the society lives below the poverty line, about 60% of the
citizens. Also, there is a high percentage of unemployment, which might form
one fourth of the manpower or 18% according to the unified economical report of
1998. The central office of statistics indicated that the percentage of
unemployment is 9.5%. Due to lack of transparency, real statistics and sure
information the numbers vary. In addition, the average of development is very
low; while it is considered "zero" according to the Minister of
Planing, it is estimated "negative" by the studies of the Chamber of
Commerce. Also, production has deteriorated and its quality retreated,
especially, when the value of work abases and becomes almost a sort of corvee,
without receiving the deserved payment. Although
Some reasons of the
corruption are due to the relinquishment of the public sector, the absence of
control and the impossibility of continuous upper supervision. This is in case
there are true intentions to control corruption because it threatens the
foundations of the regime itself. In addition, the transparency is absent from
the projects of investment, external commercial deals and the fund of
assistance, which the rumors said that minor individuals, who lived upon
stealing the state, monopolized it. See annex No. 2, the memorandum that was
submitted by MP Riad Saif in August 2000 to the head of Parliament. It was
about the deal of Mobile Phones, in which the government lost 400 billion Syrian
pounds (8 billion US dollars), and the contractors gained an illegal net profit
of about 200 to 300 billion Syrian pounds.
All the obvious rights of
people were employed in the bourse of corruption. Obtaining a normal telephone
set, importing a car from abroad, opening a clinic, managing a passport or any
other simple right became available through bribery and favoritism. Whereas the
phenomenon of corruption personified the bad use of authority and lack of legal
and moral controls, this phenomenon abused and spread devastation on all
levels. Some of its abuses were clarified in the basements of prisons, which
openly violated the fundamental human rights. See annex No. 3 about corruption,
which expressed the securities' mal treatment to the victims of the arbitrary
detention. Unfortunately, the launch to controll corruption does not obtain
more than a few million Syrian pounds to deal with such an aggravated position.
At the same time, the amount of stolen and smuggled money during the era of
Hafez Assad exceeded 60 billion US dollars; other estimations indicated 85
Billion US dollars.
This period of modern
Syrian history reduced the limits of national political participation and
created a cultural desertification, which loss was restricted because of other
Arab and international atmospheres that prevented the complete assassination of
the human capacities. However, the group and sectarian consciousness developed
on the expense of the national belonging. The political parties were dissolved,
either in prisons or acted as the horns of the authority within the increasing
atmosphere of fear from the future and the others.
The financial pauperization
and moral humiliation were accompanied by a diligent attempt for immigration
and the loss of important cadres and minds, mainly, the young generation.
Unfortunately, the reasons were not only political, but economical as well. Job
opportunities in the public sector were confiscated according to the
consideration of Party's favoritism, loyalty and mediation.
The Aspects of Work at the
Beginning of an Era:
Since its start, the Arab
Commission for Human Rights suggested the project of issuing a yearly report
about the positions of human rights in the Arab world provided that it
respected the comprehensive, impartial nature of all the rights. The report
also should form a turning point from all the usual partial reports that dealt
with specific subjects or according to the prevailing rights of western
countries. Due to the necessity to have an infra informational background, it
was suggested to proceed a legal research which enables the defenders of human
rights to have the primary material about the position in the Arab countries.
The project of research
concentrated on the necessity of dealing with the six fundamental rights, the
political, civil, social, economical, cultural and environmental. The research
approached the points of continuity, severance and the new forms of creations
in the Syrian society. The first date of the researching delegation to
The later developments left
prints on the primary vision of the project and its progress. In fact, the role
of the intellectuals escalated the movements of the democratic protest, the
demands for political reformation and the spread of forums and lectures.
Therefore, it was necessary to give the priority of research and work for those
who live under the new transitory conditions. Besides, those were more
qualified to define the position than the other neutral watchers. Consequently,
the distribution of work changed and the researching committee abroad, which
was an essential part of forming the research, became a consulting and
supplementary part.
The yearning for change,
which was long waited, and the transitional position due to the death of the
president were accompanied with the development of the intellectual's movement
and the democratic opposition, which started to submit their demands and
visions for the coming period. The speech of the constitutional oath of
President Bashar Assad on 17.7.2000, which was issued in the exceptional
session of the People's Council, encouraged the movements and gave optimism to
many people. The president confessed the existence of a crisis that could not
be faced with a magical stick but by reformation, modifications and the
assistance of the others, as well as, the political opposition, which he called
"the other opinion".
Some people that we met
were cautious, others preferred to wait and give the president a chance (where
nothing changed other than him) to interpret his political speech in practice.
The third group that we met was more pessimistic or realistic. Thus, they did
not consider their dreams as objective facts and did not bet on the conditional
aspects, which might be of short extent and subjected to contingent events.
They believed that the president did not come through the nation's will but was
imposed from above. He resumed the presidency according to the wish of his
father and his own desire too, (or at least his agreement), besides, the
accordance of the sides, which obtain the real scales of powers inside the
regime. Thus, the constitution was adjusted to suit the age of the new
president and the Syrian regime was, ironically, called "the inherited
republican system". Probably, the new president had some visions for
reformation but he did not submit any project of reformation or a program for
changing. In addition, his personality and short experience in governing that
he practiced during the late years of his father's rule, which had a state of
stagnancy and a severance of the external financial flows, plus, the inability
of any side to make important initiatives, would not allow him to change the
scales of powers to the benefit of reformation. This is in case we suppose that
his intentions to make real changes are serious. Another fundamental matter is
that the leading personalities of the authority, who were known in
According to the lawyer
Hassan Abd Al Azeem, whom we met as a representative of the Democratic National
Assembly (the assembly of the opponent Parties), the development that occurred
after half a year of the new age clarified a new direction inside the system.
"The new trend was led by the president toward political and economical
openness and releasing a margin for the freedom of expression, through the
forums that spread in the Syrian cities but under the control of security. This
tendency was faced by trials from inside the regime and Ba'ath Party to cancel
this margin and impede any real change even if it was gradual. The opposing
direction is expressed in the official and Arab newspapers. It tries to show
the new leadership that the regime would be endangered because of the political
and cultural activities of the intellectuals and the national powers from
outside the ruling government. However, the obstacles do not come from the
intellectuals who are outside the rule but from inside the regime. The former
politicians have fears from any real reformation that might lead into national
control and open the files of corruption, which would approach them. Thus, the
positions seem to be ready for all the probabilities. The matters are still
ranging in the same place where the new cadres of no clear vision penetrate
within the old which still insist on their attitude and want to prevent the
existence of other powers and impede any expressions".
It is clear that the regime
is still restrained, as in the past, to the obsession of security. Until now,
the regime did not allow any spontaneous national demonstration to express its
obsessions, for example, to express the Syrian national solidarity with the
Intifada. The forces contra troubles encircled a demonstration that the
opposing Parties had called for, from its beginning. Another demonstration by
the Palestinian refugees was repressed as well. The only permitted
demonstrations were the ones organized, programmed and supervised by the regime
and were employed for its propaganda. At the same time, some sides of the
authority started individual dialogues with some intellectuals to inquire about
their intentions and to remind them of the red lines, which should not be
exceeded. In fact, these sides did not attempt to open dialogue with the
Parties of the democratic assembly that represented the real powers. It seemed
that the regime was occupied with organizing the interior system and preparing
for the elections of Ba'ath Party. Thus, the regime left a little margin for
the opponents, who "did not commit a mistake yet" according the
influential Asef Shawkat.
In brief, through this
transitional period, some groups, from inside the regime, are pushing forward
in the direction of change and reformation but the economical position is very
critical and uneasy to be moved. Other groups are preserving the legitimacy of
their continuity but without the frame of the bodies of security and the use of
power. In addition, a third group is, violently, resisting any aspect that
might change the current position and reserving all its efforts to reproduce
the same system.
On the other hand, some
external sides, mainly Europeans, showed interests to assist in loosening the
position. Also, the democratic opposition attempted to practice pressure, which
would lead for releasing or exceeding the position. The opposition warned from
the attempts of abuse and containment, so, the ruling powers would find
justifications to repress its movements. It tried to widen its movement from
the level of the political elite's circles into the social and national sectors
like, the unions of professionals. These unions, which role is enlarging, might
form a power that presses the system to strengthen the directions of changes
because it can not bet on what the system might voluntarily afford to the
nation.
Soon, the pessimistic
expectations proved to be right. A few months later, after President Bashar Assad
resumed the presidency and some relative releases occurred, which were
objectively expected, the attitude of the ruling authority retreated. On
February 2001, the signs of retractions and retreats appeared. The bodies of
security, the ruling Ba'ath and its supporting Parties of the front all
launched a fierce campaign against the "ignorant stupid nation that does
not deserve freedom" and the "intellectuals who deal with the foreign
Embassies". This launch had reflexes or support that appeared in the declarations
of the President, which contradicted the former announcements in his speech of
oath.
During that time, we made
contacts to listen to the views of the opposition, the official and
non-official Parties and institutions, as well as, the official sides but
things proceeded unlike the hopes. The launched
campaign of the authority that was afraid of the citizens wakening and renewed
the ways of terrifying people and exploiting them, as it used for decades, was
reflected negatively on some groups. The retreat of the authority to old
methods was the turning point to the beginning, where the changes did not have
accumulations yet. This retreat affected some individuals of the opposition and
researchers, who through different justifications drew back from participating
in this work. Due to these retreating steps, some gaps occurred, therefore, we
tried to rectify some during the short time that we had. We hope to be able to
fulfill all the gaps in other proper time.
The recoil was accompanied
by the designation of
The Syrian events that
related to the democratic matter were issued in the Arabic press, besides, the representative of Arab Commission for Human
Rights submitted that to the Committee on Human Rights in
I think that the death of
the President, Hafez Assad, created the case of the absence of decision on many
levels. Consequently, the case created a sort of stumbles, carelessness,
excessive cautiousness and fear, which certainly became a new element in the
camp of the ruler after being a center in the sphere of the convicted people.
It seems that there is a real crisis in the futuristic vision about the
relationship between the ruling military gathering and all whom they were not
used to deal with, such as, NGOs, Journalists and independent intellectuals,
regionally and internationally. This might be because of the transfer from the
usual praise into interrogation, also, the existence of the critical speech or
the attempts to evaluate and analyze the Syrian experience from outside the
regime. The positive side in our work was that the Syrian authority, which some
of its sides, at least, knew about our project and works inside the country,
did not take procedures to prevent our entry to
The Changes during Last
Year:
As a supervisor of this
project, I was right to insist on reflecting the image of the country according
to how the citizens live and perceive it. Courageous and qualified
intellectuals and activists in the general field bet and proved through their
uncounted sacrifices about an optimistic and promising future of their country.
In spite of the frightening atmosphere and the charge with treachery, they
agreed to accomplish the mission of disassembling the structure of the
totalitarian authority that marked the late decades. Actually, the directions
of reformation were accused of attempts to destroy the political system and
tended for
For sure, some adherent
sides to the regime still encircle the image of the dead president with a
divine aura. This aura seems to be increasing after the president's death.
There is an example from the official journals like, Al Ba'ath, which issued in
the annual remembrance of President Hafez Assad's death, on 12.6.2001, the
following: "Till when the phenomenon of Hafez Assad would wait a serious
scientific research? Till when our Syrian Arab education, especially the
Ba'athi, will remain incapable and deficient to make researches about this
distinguished and unique phenomenon? (...) I encourage and urge the researchers
of political science, political sociology, political psychology and social
science to treat this rich subject. (...) This remembrance today requires
directing our researchers and scientific institutions to start a big
encyclopedic work in order to fulfill researching the phenomenon of the eternal
leader. This phenomenon must be placed within the scientific recognition after
it, always, headed the top in the field of honest national spontaneity. This is
necessary for the sake of science and the future of the generations... and the
generations of the future".
According to political
psychology it is believed that such inflexible attitudes, especially to those
who are in official responsibility, are dangerous. These attitudes conceal the
necessity of studying the past and its symbol, examining and criticizing it in
order to make benefit for founding a future based upon the past's rubbles
instead of glorifying and hiding from responsibility toward the current
position. Contrary to the beliefs of some groups, whether from the regime or
the opposition, analyzing the past and evaluating the black era of modern
Syrian history would enable the Syrian nations a chance for reconciliation with
themselves and not the opposite. Such a tendency would free them from the
hidden inherited fear that had existed in the forgotten memory and accumulated
in the individual and collective unconsciousness. With such a courageous step,
the nation would have bases for a new start to build a State of law and
reformation, opened to the world to go along with the current civilization, which
The observer inquires about
the regime's excessive fear from the freedom of expression, especially, when he
concludes that the group, which started the political moves, is a very few
percentage of the society and small percentage of the intellectuals. In fact,
only a minority emerged through the absence of effective social and political
powers' role because they were exposed to repression and disassembling during
the last three decades. The members of the Committee on Human Rights which is
subordinated to the United Nations, were surprised
when the head of the Syrian delegation mentioned, proudly, that there were 600
NGOs in
In spite of the
geographical separation and the remoteness of direct influence, the critical
position affected the opponents abroad, who belonged and reacted to the Syrian
environment. The opponents suffer the same symptoms of splits and
self-destruction or they are directed toward the nearest and similar circles
that are subjugated to the mechanism of comparisons and competence. Especially,
those who exist in
Today, after the new
president resumed the presidency for more than a year, nothing seems to have
changed. There are some improvements in some matters and manifestations, but no
fundamental changes happened. After a period of fidgetiness and hopes for
divergence, which started to appear during the late years of Hafez Assad's rule
and doubled after his death, the dynamism of modifications is still inadequate
for a practical changing of the past and imposing a fundamental intrinsic
modification. I believe that the formation of repression still exists even
though it differed, superficially, for objective reasons that sometimes envelop
some of its expressions. To have a basic change or at least serious and
effective, there should be a diversion which approaches the depth of
consciousness and conduct of those who decide the policy of the country. This
seems to be impossible now and needs a long time to be achieved because the
correct formation of the society is based upon the right development of the
human being through a dialectical relation between the cause and the result.
At the same time, the
correction might not occur before changing the personality of the ruler who
marked the country with his own stamp for decades. Also, this is related to the
development of the objective conditions on the local and international levels
and the influences of the external relations, so that it would be impossible to
return back to the critical stages, which the country passed through. The Syrian regime, which at the end of the seventies felt the
fidgetiness of people and the joining of national sectors to the opposition,
and perceived the depth of the social movement, tried for a while to make a
subjective-revision. Then, the regime soon retreated and depended on its
own capacities and the usual methods to exceed the crises. Thus, it used the
primitive mechanisms for self-defense and what followed of ruining the country
instead of finding a civilized and rational exit to all sides of conflict,
which returns the right for the owners and satisfies all the groups.
A year after the new
ruling, we found that the majority of whom we met suffer from the state of
immobilization and were pessimistic about the possibility of changing the
position toward practical political, administrative and economical reformation.
They appreciated that the authority clarified its attitude toward modification,
which helped to uncover, quickly, the illusions of changes. If removing the
pictures of the dead president from the public places and restraining them
inside the official institutions represents the changes, then, these pictures
started to appear again. It seems as if there is a symbolic war through which
the conflict is expressed between the heralds for modifications and the leading
groups, who defend their benefits and are afraid of the people's movements and
demands.
In this transitional stage,
after the death of the former president, there has been an emptiness, which
could not be fulfilled with the absence of a definite political program, clear
directions of the system and dynamism to take decisions and accomplish
procedures. The emptiness elevated the percentage of expectations and bets on
the future and urged the social moves to push for making modifications.
Reconstructing the relation between the regime and the state is demanded on the
basis of new plans strengthened by a solid will. Also, there is a need for a
leadership that can implement such a project and impose respect for legal and
moral laws and organizing disciplines for a proper modification and
reformation. This should be accompanied by giving the chance for the powers of
the civil society to regain their role through participation in decisions and
in the operations of development. The change will not occur alone if the sides
that monopolize the scales of powers attempt to keep everything unchanged and
the citizens remain absent from the struggle for modification.
If some sides of the regime
are convinced about the necessity of reformation and openness to emerge from
the dilemma of the Syrian position, in return, many other sides have so much
confusion and unclear vision. Besides, there is no concordance about the way of
achieving reformation and the necessity to join the political and the
economical reformation. However, such attempts of openness are so weak in
comparison to the strong influence that still resists modifications.
It is not difficult to count
the recent developments that took place during the first year of the new age
because they were limited and shy. They are divided into two aspects, the
first, are economical accomplishments that are submitted as the achievements of
the new president toward change and reformations. The second are political
accomplishments in which the authority has no positive or effective role. On
the contrary, the authority still considers that the citizens' reacquire of
their own rights is a favor, which the authority gives as much as it wants and
whenever it wants. Furthermore, the authority still considers the demands for
democracy, freedoms, human rights and modern life that goes along with the new
international developments and stands against bureaucracy, corruption and
exceptional laws, and reconsiders political plurality, free election and
alternation of authority, a novelty caused by external antagonist fronts.
- First, The
Economical Reformation:
Primarily, we would like to
refer to the submitted lectures and discussions during the annual Syrian
Economical Conference, which was held in
In an interview with the
periodical "The Political Observer" of 15-21 July 2001, the Syrian
Minister of Foreign Affaires, Farouk Al Chara, confirmed that "the
developments, openness, modernization and reformation represent the program of
the government of President Bashar Assad. The President had started to
accomplish this program before the death of his father. (...) It is still early
to judge the accomplished achievements because there are many difficulties and
the work needs more time". Mr. Chara went further when he considered that
"the political and economical openness is an integral operation, which
needs to adjust the related laws and systems... Sticking to reformation and
openness emerges from interest and conviction that each stage has demands and
would reflect advantages to the Syrians". On the other hand, the Minister
of Planning, Issam Al Za'eem, announced that the banking system in
On 16.7.2001, Al Mustakbal
magazine published the research of the economist Sameer Sa'ifan about "The
Syrian Economy during Last Year between the Necessities of Change and the
Factors of Obstruction". Mr. Sa'ifan started his research by discussing
the presidential speech of oath, which reflected "perceiving the nature of
the stage, the weak points of the Syrian economy and the requirements for
developing it". Also, he confirmed the necessity of a general strategy for
development, which its loss had led to "experimental, extemporary and
reactional decisions". The President pointed out that reformation would be
achieved through "modernizing the laws, removing the bureaucratic
obstacles for the internal and external investments, mobilizing both general
and private fund and activating the public sector in the external markets".
To consolidate the economical reformation, Mr. Sa'ifan affirmed the urgent need
for administrative reformation in the public and private sectors, and the
necessity to "fight against the negligent, delinquent, harmful and
corrupted individuals". Besides, he drew attention to "the
significance of the judicial system and the importance to include qualified
honest cadres". To complete the plan of change, the President believed
that there should be a "transparent economy, transparent media,
transparent mind and a transparent personality that deals, honestly and
transparently, with itself and the reality". (...) "Our present
reality does not suit the new century which is the century of organizations and
technologies".
Mr. Sa'ifan observed the
obstacles of the Syrian economy that was affected by the former Soviet sample,
which led into the collapse of the Socialist camp because it contradicted the
directions of the current international economy of the capitalistic market.
Thus, the concentrated centralization and the commanding administrative
interference with directing the economy impeded its productive capacity. Also,
dealing with the international economy of different types and foundations
became confusing and perplexing, in addition to the different challenges that
face the Syrian economy. The challenges "are represented by the weakness
of averages of investments and growth, the transfer of the capitals outside the
country. Also, there is a rise in the averages of unemployment and constancy of
the individuals incomes, beside an increasing variety in wealth distribution
and the deterioration of the middle class, as well as, the
abase of many groups below the poverty line. (...) Besides, the economy
has a weak technological base, limited productive capacity and traditional
light industry of little value. (...) Moreover, the administration is weak on
the upper and lower levels, and in the different sectors. Its legal frame is
inapt; its organization and association frame is retarded and strange from the
present reality. Furthermore, the education for graduation does not fit to the
demands of the market of work, besides, spending a lot for education without
benefiting from it, thousands of graduates have
overabundance specializations or improper rehabilitation. Other than that,
there is weakness in exploiting tourism, plus, many capacities and
qualifications are improperly used, unfitting financial and tax policies and
different disorders in all balances".
The Syrian economy is
facing other future challenges, which are "represented by drought,
decrease of water and the probabilities of oil production's retreat with the
increase of local consumption, and its effects on the principal source of the
government's hard currencies. (...) The most prominent matters that the administration
of the president suffers from are the absence of a plan, the long-term
policies, the foundations and measures, the overcoming of the temporary
considerations and the pressures of the incidental problems upon the policies.
Also, it suffers from the big influence of the personal benefits, bureaucracy
and parasites on the economical decisions and lack of centers that form
policies for specialization and specialized scientific studies, plus,
limitation in knowing the reality".
The researcher defined the
obstacles that face the transition into a new economical way as follows:
- The difficulties of
defining new trusted alternatives because the equations of economical
strategies have no guaranteed results. Actually, the certified scientific
information of the Syrian economy's reality is much less than the demanded
standard because of weak statistics, insufficient studies and lack of
transparency.
- The difficulty of
applying the adopted choices because of limited resources.
- The resistance of the old
measures against any new aspect because people get used and subjugated to the
familiar and the already-known methods.
- There are difficulties
caused by the traditional cadres that control different levels of the
governmental administrations. Some groups resist, fiercely, because they fear
loosing their ruling positions and the capacity of exploitation to achieve big
fortunes on the expense of the public benefit. Thus, most of them resist any
changes of the well-known methods and systems because they fear their inability
to accord with the new intended systems of the economical market. In fact,
changing the cadres is necessary in any operation of modification.
- The fifth difficulty is
related to the conflict with
How the changes occurred in
the first year?
The Recent
Developments
Mr. Sa'ifan said that the
new government started with a high dynamism, where the program of accelerating
reformations had been initiated in March 1999. The government was given more
jurisdictions, so, it moved efficiently and brought hopes of a new
administrative atmosphere. Also, many executive procedures were taken and
provided more flexibility to the lower administrations. On the economical
level, for example, the average of salaries and wages increased to 25%, the
strategy of export was recognized and the Syrian exportations became exempted
from tax income. Also, customs and commercial agreements were signed with five
Arab countries, and similar projects with 8 other countries. The tariff of
customs was applied again and the customs duties for industries' supplements
were decreased. Import of tourist cars became permitted, the law of banking and
secrecy of accounts was issued. Also, the loans from
In addition, other laws
were issued for rental of real estates and organizing universities, plus,
establishing four Colleges of Information Systems and an Institute to
rehabilitate the leading cadres, a Ministry of Administrative Development and a
Ministry of Technology. Also, many projects were set up, such as, the draft law
of the Central bank, fund and credit, the law of the financial market, the law
of reforming the public sector and a commercial law. Besides, there was a law
of emergency program to control unemployment, which was a courageous idea and
step in comparison to the previous policies, and a draft law for private
universities. Furthermore, there were discussions about tax, fund and financial
reformation, as well as, adjusting the legislations of economical sanctions and
courts, and the policy of the external trade and its procedures.
On the other hand, the
discussions of the Syrian-European partnership were activated, some of the
binding matters were solved and some aids were liberated like, the program of
media. On the level of making the economical decision, there was a
transformation by releasing the important decisions from the narrow rooms of
the official institutes to be discussed by specialized committees of wider
visions. Therefore, the committee No. 18 was founded, which submitted a report
about the Syrian economy and the prospects of its development, plus, the
Committee No. 35 from which two subsidiary specialized committees were
established. While the first specialized committee implemented the draft law
for reforming the public sector, the second one set up the principles of a
draft law for reforming the private sector. Two Other committees were founded
to study the draft law of the central bank, fund and credit, and the draft law
for the financial market.
The Ministry of Planning
assisted again by arousing the attention toward the matter of plan and planning
on the short, medium and long run. According to the demand of the Prime
Ministry, all the ministries evaluated their actual reality and founded short,
medium and long-term plans. Specialized ministerial meetings were held to
discuss the plans of the ministries to implement a new fifth plan, and to
continue the work for establishing further future plans. Also, there were wide
studies about the administrations and the changes of many commandments.
All these steps, whether
recognized or still under discussions founded for essential changes that would
accumulate and lead to modify the nature of the current administrative and
economical systems in
The Obstacles:
The researcher said:
"Following what was implemented or delayed of the decided procedures,
which had seemed ready to be recognized, make us notice the big distance
between the goal that aimed to legislate the step and the mode in which these
steps were accomplished by the executive institution. This clarifies the big
influence of the impeding and rejecting powers".
According to the
researcher, Mr. Sa'ifan, the government that seemed dynamic and flexible
terminated to restrain itself within routine, bureaucracy and hesitation, and
it promised much more than it did. So, the committee No. 18 was terminated
instead of developing its work to become a permanent consulting institution.
The committee No. 35, which was authorized to establish the foundations for
reforming the public and private sectors, was canceled. Instead, the tendency
now is to establish a small committee, which consists of some employees. In
spite of limitedness, the increase of salaries had in return an increase of
prices, which almost compensated for the Ministry of Finance the difference of
the salaries' augmentation. As for applying the law of canceling the pension's limits,
there were attempts to modify its signification. Also, the reapplication of
Brussels Tariff, which had been canceled, was partially accomplished. Imposing
instructions to collect tax from imported tourist cars were done in a very
perplexing and hesitating way. The committee of tax reforming disappeared with
its report without any practical results. Until now, the executive instructions
for the law of banking are not issued yet, which negatively affects the
credibility of investment. The Ministry of Economy has not done any efficient
efforts to develop the sector of banking. The session of the People's Council
has terminated without issuing the law of the Central Bank of
Many months passed, until
now the law of emergency program for controlling unemployment has not been
recognized yet. Also, no specialized working groups started yet to study the
economical benefits of each economical sector in relation to the
Syrian-European partnership for defining the ways of avoiding disadvantages and
making benefit of the preferences. The atmosphere of investment is still
unattractive and the discussions are much more than the actions to improve it.
Since more than a decade, the discussions are still on for establishing
industrial regions. The Syrian cotton is still sent raw without encouraging the
private sector to spin it. Fruits and vegetables are still putrid and spoiled
without finding easy procedures to export them. In spite of the danger of water
shortage, the most urgent program for developing the irrigation systems is
still waiting for practical steps. On the other hand, the fear of control,
investigation and economical courts is still confusing the governmental administrations.
The Ministry of Administrative Development is still occupied by preparing its
reports and studies without any real effect. The different institutions'
interference in the governmental administrations is still practiced in a perplexing way, which are already perplexed. In spite of
some improvements, the traditions of suppression, hiding information and lack
of transparency are still functioning strongly.
Mr. Sa'ifan believes that
there are four decisive signs to be changed: the averages of investment and
development, bureaucracy, corruption and the satisfaction of the public.
"It seems that these signs are still untouched yet because investments are
still retreating and developments are still weak. Also, the governmental
bureaucracy is still the same, although there had been optimism through the
period from March 2000 to the spring of 2001, but the bureaucratic atmospheres
returned back. The matter of changing the ministries confounded the functions
of the ministries and the Ministers. Even though the central
organization's activities and the judiciary economical penalties, which are
ineffective and not pointed directly to the real goals, are still on.
Besides, the day to day corruption is almost the same".
According to the writer,
"people were optimistic about the future and are still so. In spite of
optimism, the level of incomes in comparison to the prices and the costs of
living do not satisfy the public. Actually, each family, who depends on the
salary, only, is living below the line of poverty range. These families form a
big part of the Syrian nation. Until now, there is no declared plan to treat
the problem of salaries and wages. The citizens have the right to be in a hurry
to recognize improvements because they have been suffering for years, but the
new policies cannot give results so soon and need more time. Therefore, it is a
very important matter to duplicate between the steps that provide benefits for
the citizens, even limited ones, and the procedures that establish for a strong
development in the future".
- Second, The Political Reformation:
During last year, one of
the most important late developments on the political level was releasing a
part of the political dΕtentes. Then, the
intellectuals had some activities, including issuing statements, establishing
associations from which some were for human rights. Also, many forums were
opened in private homes in
Some of these recent
developments cannot be considered final because during the whole past year, the
position was by fits and starts between sides of unequaled scales of powers.
So, the associations and forums are still unlicensed and some were closed by
the regime, shortly after starting their activities, such as, the forum of MP
Riad Saif or the lawyer Khaleel Ma'took. They both announced
in a statement about their attempts to reopen their forums at the beginning of
September. On 19.2.2001, the authorities imposed five provisions for
organizing a forum in a private home, as follows:
1 - Asking the Mayor for an
official permission, 15 days ahead.
2 - Obtaining a personal
permission for the lecturer.
3 - Submitting a list
including the names of whom would attend the lecture.
4 - Submitting a summary
about the subject of the lecture.
5 - Defining the time and
place of the lecture.
Still, Mr. Habeeb Saleh
said, "I submitted all the demanded information for the Mayor of Tartous,
Aram Saleeba, two weeks before the lecture. The response came on 14.3.2001 by
two persons from the political security and another four
policemen officers who came to my home at night and asked me to submit a
written promise that I would never practice or participate in any forum's
activity in the future".
Not so many other forums
were disregarded and continued their activities but their turn came after the
siege increased. For example, the Leftist Forum of Dialogue, which
issued a statement on 10.8.2001 to condemn the different pressures of the
political security to stop the forums' activity. The statement called
for "terminating these pressures and organizing the activities of the
forums according to law in order to assist in a peaceful and quiet democratic
change with the participation of all the sides". The forum of Jamal Atasi,
which is still open, could not obtain a license from the Ministry of Social
Affairs and Labor by the excuse of not having a definite specialization.
According to the official newspapers, President Assad declared that the forums
are excluded from the organizing procedures. However, after repressing,
violently, the movement of Muslim Brotherhood for more than twenty years, the
authority gave, lately, a license for one forum. The head of this forum
explained that it is "following a renewed Islamic trend, which opposes the
movement of Muslim Brotherhood and looks forwards to spread moderate Islamic
thoughts through social and cultural lectures".
What happened to the
demands of the opposition like, the end of the state of emergency, the
elimination of martial laws and exceptional courts, the release of the
political dΕtentes, the return of the abducted,
the release of fundamental freedoms, the issue of Parties' law, associations
and press?
The positions are still the
same and the martial laws continue since 38 years. The authorities still face
the nation with excuses for the continuity of these laws in order to protect
themselves. The institutions of the state, especially the judicial, are
inoperative and emptied of their meanings and practical actions by the
domination of the executive authority. The abducted persons are still in their
forcible or voluntarily exiles and prohibited from returning to their country.
They have been separated for decades from their families, who are treated like
hostages. Whenever the authorities want to make pressures on the sons for certain
reasons, their families become exposed to repressions and inquiries, beside
extortions, sometimes.
The intellectual elite that
issued the statements of '99', '1200' or participated in the forums or moved in
any direction against repression were counterfeited by different responses,
such as, dismissing them from work, suspending their promotions, accusing them
of madness or evading payment of taxes. Also, they were accused of defaming the
name of
These foreign directions
that work according to "an anticipated prepared program to exhaust the
Syrian regime and push it by programmed internal-external pressures to retreat
and accept the American demanded reconciliation with the Israeli
provisions". (Al Muharer Al Arabi, 9.8.2001). Also, the magazine wrote
about the launch against the independent MP Mohamed Ma'moun Al Homsi, who
submitted his demands to the People's Council. His demands included terminating
the state of emergency and martial laws, forming a Parliamentarian committee
for human rights, restricting the bodies of security and releasing the
political authority. (See annex No. 8). Due to his hunger strike protest for
one week in his office, he was arbitrarily detained on 9.8.2001 and lost his MP
immunity, partially. Although he has diabetes and asthma, he was prevented of
any visits or health treatment in a hospital.
Some of the accusations
against MP Homsi were: defaming the constitution, antagonizing the regime,
contacting foreign enemies and others. Also, the organizations of human rights
that supported him were defamed, and he was forced to disavowal from them. His
lawyers submitted an appeal over the public right and referred to lack of
permission for provisional detention, the irregular subpoena that contradicted
the constitution and violated his MP immunity, which meant the invalidity of
all the procedures against the arrested. Also, they said that the case is
political and not criminal, therefore, MP Homsi must
be released immediately. The Judge refused the appeal without discussion or
justifications. This proves that judiciary has no real role in this case, as in
the other cases, and confirms that the political and security commandments take
the decision.
Mr. Homsi is not the only
one of the People's Council who was exposed to pressures to keep silent from
what he knew and saw. The independent MP Riad Saif had the same pressures after
his known activity in the movements of forums and human rights. Thus, he was
detained too.
As for prisons, the only
prison, which was closed last year, is the prison of Mazzah. The other prisons
are still open, as usual, and include according to our estimations about 1.200
political prisoners. A big part of the prisoners have no verdicts because many
of them refused to be judged by fictitious tribunals, others are still waiting
to pass the period of their false verdicts. The prisoners are exposed to
barbarian torture. No one stopped the violence, which does not belong to this
century and caused uncounted physical and psychological deformations,
especially, the isolated prisoners from the world in the
According to who knew the
prison of
On 13.8.2001, the Arab
Commission for Human Rights sent a letter to the Commissioner of Human Rights
and the team of works for arbitrary detention. The letter requested "a
quick intervention to close the prison of
Annex No. 11 includes the
response of the Arab Commission on the Syrian official report, which gave an
idea about the illegal arbitrary repression and the citizens who were
arbitrarily detained in the new age. Some of these newly detained were seven
young men, who destroyed a statue of Hafez Assad in Kudsaia, on 28.6.2000, just
after the death of Assad, and were arrested on the same night. Although two of
them were under the age of maturity, they were, violently, tortured and
prohibited from receiving visits for seven months, then, they were transferred
to the State Security Court and accused of antagonizing the revolution. Also,
they were exposed to many defaming accusations like, homosexuality and other
charges, which were elicited under torture by force. Until today, they are
still in the prison of Adra waiting for the verdict of the exceptional court.
Another example is about a
prisoner of Iraqi origin, who was not charged with any accusation. Even though,
he was not exposed to torture like the other prisoners, he suffered a lot in
the branch of
The well-known political
struggler, Riad Al Turk, secretary-general of the Syrian Communist
Party-political office, submitted a lecture in the forum of Jamal Atasi on
5.8.2001. He found that there were "three matters, which developed during
the new age but remained small and dull:
1 - The relative retreat of
fear. The fear that was connected to the social and political life in our
country made the citizen unable to express his opinion and say other than his
thoughts. The citizen was afraid to show interest in the general affairs and
imagined any strange person a secret agent who might lead him to the darkness
of the used basements. Although the retreat of fear occurred among the
intellectual and political elite, and did not reach to the common social
groups, but this is an important step and much better than what we witnessed
during long hard years.
2 - The methods, activities
and rough interference of the bodies of security in the daily life of citizens
have changed, especially, after the absence of detentions, which we suffered
from so much before. It is noticed that the main function of security at
present is investigating through observing, questioning and calling. Probably,
the intensified investigations are used instead of detention in order to
practice some of the security's repressional functions and creating
psychological pressures upon the individuals and society, or to be ready for
attack in case the former positions would return as they dream.
3 - The authority confirmed
that the political reformation must wait for reforming the important economical
matters first, because they affect the life of the citizens. However, the
citizens did not find any important improvements and doubted the seriousness of
any change. We can feel the intentions for making economical reformations
through the issued or studied decrees. Despite of our view, the decrees refer
to the direction of restoration. At the same time, they are a small step
forward because, practically, nothing has been achieved yet. While they seemed
extemporary sometimes, the bodies of the regime were very stubborn resistants
to any change, directly, or through bureaucracy, administrative retardation and
poor qualified officials who used to dominate and obtain advantages on the
expense of the public benefit".
According to the lecturer,
these simple steps are accompanied with big problems. "In brief, the
position in our country is a comprehensive stagnant crisis, retarded with
closed prospects in the political, social and economical fields. No
social-political powers appeared that could fulfill through actions and
activities the needs of the country. Until now, the capitalist groups, who have
benefit in developing the economy, did not submit their programs nor organize
their powers, except some limited individual attempts. Also, in spite of the
"convention of honor" that was submitted by the Muslim Brotherhood from
abroad, which represented a promising and new step, the Islamic powers did not
review their presentations and practices or started serious assistance.
Besides, the democratic opposition did not mobilize its powers enough to
initiate a program and activity that fulfills the aims of the public and
transforms the worries about the reality and future into a creative modifying
role.
The current political case
could be described as "the balance of weakness", in which a part of
it depends on the exchanged fear, instead of the expression "the balance
of power". Now, all the existing powers are weak, whether within the
regime or the opposition. This case requires an extra effort to incline from
the stable rigid attitudes and find an exit. The question is whether last year
is the first year of an age, which attempts to be new and different, or is it
just a year following the former thirty years and its number is 31...?"
If the achievements, in
spite of their importance, are not enough, they also suffer from "three
dangerous weak points", as Yaseen Al Haj Saleh expressed in his lecture in
the Left Forum for Dialogue, dated 7.7.2001. "First, the attainments were
not organized, slow and disorderly directed. For example, so much time and
efforts were wasted in useless discussions that contradicted the legitimacy of
the civil society's concept, whether the priority was to build the state first
or not, or to start with the political reformation instead of the economical
one or the contrary. Thus, even before the authority started its contra attacks
last February, the achievements were much weaker to support strong new
tendencies. Second, The accomplishments remained
marginal and did not transform into social fixed backgrounds. For example,
releasing the political dΕtentes did not mean
the release of policy. Third, 75% of the public remained away from the new
movements. The rest, 25%, were considered the probable mass for activities;
thus, the actual effective cadres might not exceed 1%".
According to the lecturer,
Mr. Saleh, the above mentioned facts refer to the weakness of the Syrian
democratic movement or its laborious birth, mainly, because until now there was
no strong morale commandments emerged in
Mr. Saleh did not only
analyze the disease, but also called the democratic intellectuals and the
opponents who wanted modifications to work on the following:
1 - Insisting on transition
to openness, rejecting secrecy and criticizing it.
2 - Organizing initiatives
for mutual work, such as, statements, petitions, forums, newspapers and others.
3 - Submitting a detailed
economical and social program that exceeds the intrusive democratic speech for
consumption.
Also, he considers that
inviting more people for the national reconciliation is very important.
Eventually,
According to this doctor,
who spent a long time in prison like the other two mentioned persons, "the
quite and peaceful diversion that, gradually, turns the totalitarian state into
a democratic state, preserves the national unity and terminates the restraints
from the social movements is demanded. To have a state of right and law, the
esteem of the state must be reconsidered through its reconciliation with the
society and the sovereignty of law. Also, there must be a transition from the
state of invasion, domination, tribalism and corruption to the state of
contract between free citizens, who are ungoverned by deficiency and eternal
custody. Would the citizens witness a real reformation to the structure of the
state that paves the way for the future?".
Due to our presentation of
the recent emerging developments about the discussions and the stumbles that
occurred during the first year of the new age in
At the beginning, the
lecturer suggests to "look for truth and justice, including apologies to
those, who were exposed and their parents to terrorism, imprisonment, homicide
and dislodgement. Also, to release all the political prisoners and terminate
pursuing them, to permit all the expelled and abducted individuals to return
home to their families and jobs, and to uncover the
numbers of lost people and compensate their families. Besides,
to cancel the state of emergency, martial laws and exceptional courts, plus, to
terminate the deprivation of civil rights and travel. Then,
to return back the movable and immovable properties, the confiscated and the
stolen, and compensate the original owners for the damages and losses.
The bodies of security must assume back their legal and national functions and
terminate dominating the public, eliminate the corrupted and criminal cadres,
issuing clear laws to end torture and all material and morale means of duress,
as well as, imposing strict punishments for violating that. Finally, freedoms
of opinion and expression must be released to develop naturally.
Secondly, Mr. Turk urges to
look for the foundation of dialogue, its elements, participants and all the
interested individuals in the general affairs like, oppositions, supporters and
intellectuals. So, to start practicing dialogue without containing, exploiting,
flattering or others, but to resume modern, open and courageous practices
without using concealed or secret weapons, authoritative maneuvers or the
opponents.
Thirdly, he encourages
adopting the principle of national reconciliation between the authority and
people, as well as, the regime and the oppositions. This needs trust, which can
be achieved by practical steps that consolidate the tendencies for
reconciliation, beside the retreat of antagonism, fear and vengeance
intentions.
Fourthly, there should be
an exchangeable recognition between all the sides. All the powers must advance
to act and have the will to change the position. Al Ba'ath Party must attempt
to reform itself, as well as, the Parties of the front, the democratic national
assembling, the Islamic movements and others to become organized as long as
society needs that.
Fifthly, he demands forming
a program of democratic national change in which its structure, organization
and timing accord with the objective modern needs and the national benefit.
Also, to enter a transitional stage in which the freedoms develop, the
differences regulate in the national frame, the parties and civil associations
flourish, legally and liberally, besides, the free press returns back, the law
prevails and the citizenship prospers. (...) in order to reach a democratic
national system based on a modern constitution, which guarantees that despotism
would never impede the future of the country".
The publication of this
book is stopped, for a second time, for new adjustments, which are connected
this time to Mr. Riad Al Turk. Unfortunately, the remainder of our optimism, which
was shrinking gradually during the last months, is lost now after we were
informed that the secretary-general of the communist Party, Mr. Turk, has been
abducted on
On 5.9.2001, the Syrian
newspapers issued a declaration from a judicial source, which announced the
arrestment of Riad Al Turk and referred him to the judiciary. Some newspapers
condemned him for "attacking the authority and attempting to impede the
path of freedom and democracy". Al Ba'ath newspaper wrote: "Whenever
the authority applies the sovereignty of law by the name of a fair judicial
system to secure the citizens, the rioters transform into patients who need all
the doctors of the world to treat them... They wrongly thought that tolerance
meant disengagement and transparency meant transgressing the country and its
security... We do not find it strange that by the name of liberty, they have
the right to contact the Israeli enemy or accord with its racist project".
However, the democratic national assembly had declared in a statement the
following: "this detention is not a personal and a unique event but a
letter directed to the assembly and all those who care for releasing the
country from the comprehensive national crisis. Also, it is directed to the
public opinion, so that it won't exceed, what was named by the authorities, the
red lines".
Five days later, after the
detention of the lawyer Riad Al Turk, Mr. Riad Saif, MP, the organizer of the
National Dialogue's forum and the member of human rights' committee, was
detained on 6.9.2001. This detention happened in the following day after
reopening the forum and holding a meeting. Soon, the representative of Jamal
Atasi's forum for democratic dialogue declared that "we have warned last
April about the danger of oppressing the forums and announced that we are a
non-separated part of the political, social and cultural movements. We said
that a rose does not create spring, but we would not stop the activity of our
forum and we will resist in our place until all the activists return to their
places. When Mr. Riad Saif announced about resuming the activities of his forum
for national dialogue on
Three days later, on
9.9.2001, six other persons were detained: Dr. Aref Daleela and Dr. Waleed Al
Bunni, members in the committees for the revival of civil society. Also, Dr.
Kamal Al Labwani, a member of the forum for national dialogue, besides, Mr.
Habeeb Saleh, Mr. Hassan Sa'doon and Mr. Hussein Heda. We received information
about a list of thirty Syrian intellectuals under arrest, which the Regional
Leadership, branches of security and the Presidential Palace had discussed it
before.
At the same time, the
Syrian newspapers continued their propaganda against "who did not know the
tradition of dialogue well", as they were called by Al Ba'ath newspaper.
The reports complained from the delay of applying the legal procedures against
"who violated the law and abused the tendency to consolidate
freedoms". This delay is due to the "rooted tolerance of our culture
and general consciousness". The newspaper added that "the public
opinion, inside and outside
On 12.9.2001, there was a
new launch of detention that, unfortunately, started again a month and a half
earlier. The lawyer Habeeb Isa, a founder member of the Association for Human
Rights in
After all these detentions,
which do not seem to stop soon, can we talk about divergences, modifications
and reformations any more? Security dominated policy, clearly,
hence it reflected the existence of big problems within the executive authority
that were interpreted through such unexpected inflexibility and escalation. Do
we see, now, new signs of repeating the violent bloody experiences, which are
still bleeding and the Syrian society still pays high costs for them until
today?
Finally, any person who
follows the Syrian positions can conclude from the mentioned above the
tremendous obstacles against diversion. Also, a person can perceive the gaps
that face the collective research in such conditions. We wanted this work to
pave the way for further prospects that continue our work. I would like to
thank so much all those who helped for the accomplishment of this work, without
mentioning their names. They all endured the results of their assistance
through the conditions of oppression on the levels of researching, field
research, supplying information, documenting, translating, secretarial works
and other. Without doubts, positive criticism enriches this work and
consolidates its aim, which is a small brick in constructing the democratic
project and the state of law in
* * *
CH
1
The
Opinion... and the Sword
The
Mechanisms of Possessing the State
And
Reinforcing the Authority
Jad Al Kareem Al Jeba'i(*)
Many expressions are used
to describe the type of authority's system in countries like
Researching about a certain
specific case, such as the Syrian case, requires checking the above mentioned
terms and other terms according to the actual events and phenomena. Still,
using any of these terms clarifies the writers' attitude toward the meant
regime, also, implies an ideological element, which is imposed by the sense of
the term and its functional criterion. Obviously, the complete
"objectivity" is so difficult or rather impossible to be obtained, as
well as, the complete 'neutrality', because in all the human sciences and
criterions there is a personal subjective element, which could not be ignored.
Due to state's
incorporation in its controlling regime, we are inclined to use the concept of
"dominating state" or "suzerain state". This means that the
state transforms from a political form of social existence, which represents
the social completeness, into an absolute subjugating regime, which makes the
governmental organizations and the society structures just an expansion of it.
Thus, the limits of the state and the limits of the authority become identical,
also, both lose their political characteristics. A suzerain state is declined
to a lower grade than a political state, it is a tool of compel and theft;
accordingly, its people become sort of a subject and a material for theft and
compel, but with all false grandness and magnificence. On the other hand, the
use of the term 'suzerain rule' is tempting because, in Arabic language, it is
linguistically, similar to the Sultanic rule of old Arabic history(1).
Khaldoon Hasan Al Nakeeb
believed that the historical origin of the dominating state was the
bureaucratic state, which was born at the beginning of last century, during the
Romantic period that succeeded the Renaissance period. It had two trends, the
political trend in
The three elements:
radicalism, publicist and nationalistic spirit grew in the modern bureaucratic
state and produced the Liberal state and the suzerain state, which depended on
the grade of the dominating elements' growth, according to its pyramidal
arrangement and bureaucratic system. Probably, the separation
of the authorities, people's observance of the rule, sovereignty of law,
equality of citizens and the emergence of the authority from people were
the main factors which delimited the development of subjugating elements in
liberal countries.
We can say that the
historical origin of the dominating state was the state of the organizations'
age, which meant the
The modern bureaucratic
state of the west is the newborn government of the civil modern society and
modern thoughts. Still, there are mutual elements among all types of dominating
states, mainly:
1) The monopolization of
all power, authority and wealth, besides, the penetration into civil society in
order to organize its structure and absorb its power.
2) Bureaucratizing the
economy, through extending the public sector, and making it as a private
proprietorship for those who direct it, or executing a new sort of feudalism.
3) The establishment of
ruling system legitimacy upon power, overcoming and duress, by means of
organized terrorism and generalized repression.
This suzerain state depends
on three basics:
- One) The
dominating elite, civil or military, or one ruling Party.
- Two)
Bureaucratic pyramid that relies on the principle of personal devotion.
- Three) Paralleled
structures, such as, tribal, sectarian, ethnic and professional solidarity.
The suzerain state in the
third world has, in general, a distinguished middle class culture, or a
consumption culture. Actually, these classes live in the margin of the social
production operation, they have a distinguished environment of society masses'
environments and a distinguished culture of masses' cultures(3), which are supplied intensively by all
means of directed media that praises the ideology of the ruling group. Also,
this state has a distinguished economy, which is the capitalism of the
depending state(4).
In
The Environment of the
Suzerain Authority:
Nakeeb defined the suzerain
rule as a despotic rule, which is built on the mastery of the bureaucratic
state upon the society by extending its capacities to organize the underneath
structures. So, it penetrates the civil society, completely, and makes it an
expansion of its authority. Thus, the regime would be able to execute the
effective monopolization of power and authority resources in the society.
Usually, the resources of power and authority are restricted in the economical
power, crowds' multitude power and the organizational power.
This definition, in spite
of its importance, ignored the historical span of the social, economical,
political and cultural factors which produced such a type of ruling in the Arab
world, in general, and
First, let us say that, in
general, bureaucracy is an important element in the state, especially, in the
modern state. The dominating despotic element, which is
implicit in each organizing order, progresses forward with the growth of
bureaucracy's capacity to organize the social structure and absorb its power.
Generally, this accords with the modern centralized bureaucratic state. The
"historical retardation" provides for the despotic element a suitable
environment to grow. This environment is the climate of the social political
patriarchal system, the knowledgeable type or system and the relating virtual
system. This, of course, facilitates the reproduction of the classical ruling
type of Sultans characteristics, which rely on dependency, loyalty, gifts and
privileges in a new modern and contemporary way.
One more important external
element is added to both previous elements, which is related to the
capitalistic expansion after the 1st World War. The expansion was clarified in
our countries by the imperialistic phenomenon, which unified the world
paradoxically, deepened the polarization between the center and the sides, and
generalized it on the world level. The operation of unification was and
continues to be paradoxical and depends on margined integration, or containing
and eliminating at the same time. Therefore, the authorities of dependent
countries became a part of the global capitalistic system. They have the
function of "brokers" between their countries and the capitalistic
market. Besides, having the function of the weaker partners
in stealing the wealth and the power of their nations' labor.
Although imperialism generalized
thoughts, ideologies and created organizations for the bureaucratic state in
the entire world, it prevented the establishment of democratic independent
constitutional nationalistic states in depending countries. It also, did not
permit the accomplishment of an independent national progress in these
countries; moreover, it weakened the democratic nationalistic states of
developed countries for the benefit of the great powerful countries and the
monopolizing multinational firms. Accordingly, the dominating state is a
retarded capitalistic state, or a retarded capitalized and dependent country.
In other words, as Yaseen Hafez said, the dominating state is a retarded
incorporated government with the global system, which would reform it and
restrict its structure and function. Thus, the secession of the dominating
state from the society, which is supposed to have produced it, is the result of
incorporation and neglect, or containment and elimination. On one hand, being a
dependent capitalist and having the brokerage, "comprador", function,
the dominating authority is incorporated within the global capitalistic system,
on the other hand, due to its nationalism or nationalist, it is eliminated from
the system. Actually, it also applies this paradoxical mechanism through its
relation with its society. In its country, the dominating state incorporates
the social powers including their economical, multiplicity and organizational
characteristics, and deports the powers of social and political characteristics.
The dominating regime
unties the social groups and re-organizes them in a way that enables it to
penetrate through society, paralyzes its effectiveness and controls its
capacities. Therefore, the authority becomes a transcendental structure outside
the society. The increase of the governmental interference in the society and
economy for achieving social care, increases its authoritative power and its
possibilities of accomplishing the effective monopolization of power and
authority resources in the society(5). This
general rule does not define, only, distinctions of grades between the
dominating state and the modern bureaucratic state, which pay attention to
social services and citizens' welfare, in fact, the interference policy of the
dominating state does not look for citizens' welfare, nor protect their rights
or security. Accurately, the dominating government is the disease of modern
bureaucracy and nationalistic tendency at the same time.
In spite of the mutual
characteristics and features, the modern bureaucratic sample of state, even
with its Fascist or Nazi forms, could not be projected on the sample of the
totalitarian government, like the
1) Power, or imperialistic
powers do not attach the penetrated system to its political system, completely,
but it never allows it to escape from its suffocative control.
2) The penetrated system,
therefore, remains continuously, facing the imperialistic powers. This
unbalanced confrontation exhausts its resources and increases its rotten
interior conditions.
3) In this penetrated
system, the local political, provincial, national and international matters
become all mixed together. Thus, the political system could not be understood
without returning to the suzerain imperialistic powers.
4) This penetrated system
is often, a political game played by local social, provincial and international
powers in exchangeable and changeable alliances. So, political and social
powers might often be local extensions of provincial and international powers.
This position is, mainly, related to the range of imperialistic deep
penetration.
Accordingly, in this
position many matters emerge like religious, sectarian, nationalistic, ethnic,
cultural and linguistic. These matters arise in political forms, which imply
pressuring powers that demand to share in political representations. Some of
these powers look for independent rule or independent direction, or secession.
This is called politicizing the minorities' matter.
These symptoms that attack
the penetrated political systems are the special forms of dependency, which its
chief elements are lack of freedom, independence and sovereignty. It is a
dependency, which results from the power relationships that the global system
and the type of international relations are build upon. The penetrated
political system can not be self-initiative to solve its interior problems.
Besides, the ruling groups have restricted freedom to take strategic decisions,
independently, from the suzerain external powers. Still, the decisive factor is
always related to the interior positions, the ability of the social powers for
penetration and the grade of the historical retardation effects.
The writer believes that
the suzerain authority in
Actually, the dominating
state emerged in the climate of the retreating project of the national rising. In the climate of a shameful debacle against
1) The elimination of the
nationalistic project, the embryo of the state, besides, the retrogression
before the state period, such as, tribal rule, troop rule and sectarian rule.
2) Also, the elimination or
splitting of the retarded socialism to the benefit of the miraculous retarded
capitalism, which combined the consumption expenditure and the subservient
begging at petroleum tents. Thus, a new class emerged from the
3) Since the debacle of
June 1967, the ancestral domain of the traditional ideology started to expand,
notably. Also, the sectarian political conflicts, whether concealed or
exploding, which a number of Arab countries suffer from, became sectarian
ideologies that supported the ancestral traditional ideologies. It loosened and
cut the national ties among people, besides, presented the matter of minorities
as an urgent and bursting matter(7).
The Arabic government in
all its forms, such as, parliamentary, revolutionary, autocratic and military,
which were enveloped during the imperialistic invasion with a semi-modern
cover, remained of a traditional structure in its essence. The distinguished feature of such a country of these structures not, only, make
it above the society, but also, provides an incorporation between the authority
and those who practice it. This government, which has Arabic political
traditions of theocratic type, still thrusts into the ideology of the
motionless mass of the nation. Consequently, the pasteurizing feeling toward
the government is the prevailing one among the most backward parts of the
nation. On the other hand, the parts of the nation, which are less backward did not reach the extent to be stubborn fighters,
thus, their rejection became expressed through withdrawal and introversion, in
case of acceptance, they supported but did not participate. So, such a state
opens the chances for any minority to practice a permanent domination. In
retarded societies, the conflicts over authority are considered
"politics", in which the most powerful minority of people overcomes
the rest. Thus, by canceling the people's political life, the operations of
modernizing politics becomes deactivated and impedes democratizing. This means
that the individual's transformation into a member in the state becomes obstructed(8).
The Debacle of June 1967
was neither just a military defeat in front of
- The separation of the
rule from the people.
- The separation of the
state from society.
- The stagnancy of society.
- The coagulation of
society's internal history.
- The domination of the
traditional ideology, which supported dependency.
- The compliance, the
deficiency, withdrawal and fear.
- The fears from nature,
government, truth, freedom.
- The fear from
self-confrontation and reality encountering, and fear from the future.
One prominent feature of Mamaleek/
Ottoman age was that 'Freedom' did not exist and could not grow except outside
the state and in opposition to it. Therefore, we Arabs did not share the rest
of the nations' festivity of freedom, except in burying it. The dominating rule
started and grew in the climate of the debacle, which was transformed by the
advanced speech into a magnificent victory. The "advanced" systems
lied to its nations, then believed its lie and obliged the nation to believe
the lie. Except Jamal Abed Al Nasser, who confessed his defeat, announced his
responsibility and resigned from the presidency. Later, due to the pressure of
the crowds' movement, he withdrew his resignation.
The historical retardation,
especially the nationalistic splitting, combined with the political and
ideological retardation, plus, the imperialistic penetration with the incoming
bureaucracy from the modern liberal government. Also, the arriving
totalitarianism from socialism, which was supported by the revolutionary coup
d`etat ideology and deepened capitalistic expansion. Besides, the international
polarizing between north and south on one side, and capitalism, free world and
socialism, led by the Soviets, on the other. All these factors combined to
produce a suitable environment for the growth of the dominating authority.
Possessing the State and
Assorting the Structures of the Society - The 8th of March Revolution in 1963:
On
The Military order No. 2
was the announcement of the State of
After a couple of days, the
Council was expanded and joined a number of civilians, like Michel Aflak, Salah
Aldeen Al Bittar and Mansure Al Attrash, beside three leaders of the Nasseri
groups. The new civil members had no effective role in the Council. According
to Patrick Seal, who interpreted what M. Attrash said, "the soldiers let
us talk, but we discovered later that they, formerly agreed, within themselves,
about the procedures of their decisions"(10). Patrick Seal added, "the first days
of the revolution were spent for bargaining about the ranks and how to be
divided between the different military groups. These matters were discussed in
long meetings, which often needed whole nights"(11).
Unlike the former military
coups d`etat that occurred in Syria in which the military interfered to
terminate the political conflicts between the competing powers, the 8th of
March revolution delivered the country to the military. Accordingly, the army
turned from an essential power for the rule, into the essential power of the
rule. Therefore, as much as the military started to be politicized and became a
dogmatic army, politics started to militarize as well. According to some former
Ba'athi cadres, the civil Party wing was weak with a small number, which at the
time of the revolution did not exceed 400 members or much less. Antoin Makdesi
referred that the number of civil members was much less than the mentioned one.
He wrote in his second letter to the President of Syria on
In addition to announcing
the State of
After clearing up the Army
of the "Damascusi Officers", who did the coup d`etat on the 28th of
September in 1962, the Nasseri Officers had to be cleared up, too, then the
non-adherent Ba'athi Officers. That was because some Nasseri officers, led by
Jasem Alwan, tried to make another coup d`etat on
Patrick Seal pointed that
"within four violent months loaded with bloody events, starting from March
1963, Assad and his friends in the military committee destroyed all the
organized resistance against their rule, which they practiced behind the
screen. Almost, from the first moment, they had to govern by the "force of
power" and not with "agreement", probably, because they were a
military group that split from a semi-dead Party and without a public base. The
experience of these early days affected their attitudes during all the
succeeding years. Even after the Party grew and became big and strong, they
could not get rid of cautiousness and repression habits"(13).
The widest elimination
attack, which included adherent Ba'athi to the Nationalist Leadership, was
after the 23rd of February movement in 1966. About 400 officers and employees
were expelled, beside the imprisonment of Ameen Al Hafez, Mohammed Omran and
their adherent leaders at the Central prison of Mazzeh. As well as, the
detention of thirty old Ba'athi members, like Salah Al Bitar, Mansure Al
Attrash and Shebli Al Aisami, plus, Lebanese, Saudi and Jordanian members of
the Nationalist Leadership, who were kept in the Guest House at Baghdad St., a
well known street in Damascus. Michel Aflak left
The first effective
monopolization of power was, first, the monopolization of the military and
security powers, then the power of the governmental organizations. During the
operation of constructing the dogmatic army, then, the
operation of Ba'athisizing the state were increasingly deepening, the
masses were noticeably careless. Due to the Party's growth and the increase of
its members, it was easy to understand the people's carelessness and rejection.
Also, the public organizations, which included big masses, were negatively
supporting instead of positively participating, or stayed with complete
carelessness toward what was going on in the country including what related to
their own living conditions, civil rights and fundamental freedoms. The first
Regional Conference, which was held after the revolution of September in 1963,
was an important turning point at the procession of Al Ba'ath Arab Socialist
Party. In fact, Akram Al Horani and his supporters left the Party, beside the
Nasseri' split. The Regional Conference was a preparation for the 6th
Nationalist Conference in October 1963. The Regional Conference had a Leftist
mark; it confirmed the principle of "The Party is the leader of the State
and society". It legalized the army's interference with politics and
considered that the political dogmatism of the army was as important as the
military training. At that conference, it was decided to mobilize the masses by
public organizations of workers, farmers and free professions, such as doctors,
engineers, lawyers and others, beside the youth, students and women's
organizations. The Party controlled all these organizations and they became the
devices of building the national democracy, which opened the way for the
socialist diversion.
The leftist trend became a
general tendency after the 23rd of February movement, led by Salah Jedeed, who
became the first man in the State. Still, he did not have any official rank
other than regional assistant secretary of the Party, then, Assad appointed him
as Minister of Defense. Both leaders paid all their attention, first, toward
the Party and the government, which became the State of
Patrick Seal said that the
system came out after three years of conflict over the authority, which
succeeded the 8th of March movement. Then, the expulsion of Nasseris, the
suppression of the Right and religious opposition in Hama 1964 and the removal
of Ba'athi old generation, made the atmosphere clear for the military committee
to govern. Until that time, the military committee was the central institution
through which the officers imposed their will. In 1966, after Omran left, the
committee weakened and lost its effectiveness because officers monopolized the
government institution, besides, there was no more need for secret conferences(14).
The conflict over authority
occurred on two fronts, one front was inside the Party, the
other one was facing the competitors and the opposition from outside the Party.
In both fronts, the military was the fundamental decisive power. After each
confrontation there remained some less dangerous or unimportant groups, during
the passage of time they all converted to the negative opposition at the civil
and military sectors.
What made the officers,
cadres of the Party and high-rank employees have an honest loyalty to that
leader or the other? Was it partial dogmatic bigotry, or class bigotry, or
sectarian bigotry, or directional bigotry? Or, were there other reasons more objective, especially that the competitive leaders were,
often, from the same Party and the same class or sector and trend?
The reason of loyalty might
be due to the privileges that the leader would give to his followers or the
benefits that the leader would allow them to get, in addition to the temptation
of authority and prestige. Patrick Seal said that "after the debacle of
June 1967, Assad understood, thus, solidity replaced his delights, since that
time he decided to develop his personal base within the armed forces. As the
tribal chiefs do, Assad polarized his loyalty through rendering services,
offering gifts and improving the conditions of his friends". Thus gradually, the authority diverted into a source of wealth,
power and prestige, according to the need of the followers and supporters.
Morally, the privileged
cadres might have deserved what they gained because of their services to the
country, which its frontiers shrank to be equal to the restrictions of the
Party and authority. In the absence of law, the absence of the interrogation
principle, the deformed organizations and the immobilized powers, the
privileges, gifts and theft became the base of the authority. We can add that
all bigotry met at one point, the private benefit, which gradually, replaced
the general benefit. Therefore, the political denotations depended on personal
benefits, so that the principles and foundations of the Sultanic government
were repeated. According to Mohammed Abed Al Jaberi, these principles were,
already, settled in the political unconsciousness as, "Tribe, Faith and
Gaining". Flee from authority, or Sultanic government,
or the dominating authority was repeated. Fleeing might be an escape form the
authority or running to it. Those who escaped to it wanted either to avoid its
harm or to gain its benefits; they became the masses of the ruler, his aura and
his devotees. Still, they were not safe of tyranny, repression and terrorism, they were always, obliged to prove their loyalty
through "bootlicking" and hypocrisy, or by denunciating friends,
relatives, work companions and neighbors.
On the other hand, fleeing
from the authority was clarified by joining the Party or the paralleled
organizations, such as, Ba'ath Vanguards, Union of Youth's Revolution, Union of Women. Also, Sportive Union, Farmers Union, Workers
General Union, Writers Union, the Union of Journalists and other professional
unions, which were, completely, dominated by the Party and the security
agencies. The society was subjugated to a revolutionary diversion from the
pastoral position into the mass position. The main feature of the mass's position
was the negative support and the conditional response, like Pavlov's dog
response, which responded to the clear and symbolic orders of the authority.
The suzerain state depends
on three bases that enable it to produce its society of masses, which are
terrorism, ideology and the directed propaganda. These bases are consolidated
by three principles:
- The first is the
effective monopolization, which means monopolizing authority, wealth and power,
besides, monopolizing the truth and nationality.
- The second is the
principle of overcoming and duress.
- The third principle is
the personification of authority and worshiping power, which means that the
person and his rank become incorporated. Also, the moral and material power of
the rank is transferred to the person who becomes the ideal grandeur of power
and influence. In this case, orders replace laws, privileges replace rights,
and loyalties and devotions replace qualifications and merits.
In order to clarify the
vision of the suzerain state and its comprehensive span, each one of these
bases and principles needs a special study. In fact, they all combine to
produce what is so called settlement and continuity, which
have no other meaning than preserving the actual conditions and obliging
the people to believe all the falsifications.
Due to former
monopolization, the society and the nation become useless and exceed the needs.
Actually, it is not possible to have a ruler without ruled people, or an
authority without a nation, or a State without a society. This tragic paradox
or the Black Tragedy (The authority's dispense and need for the nation)
explains the authority's neglect and contempt of the people. The authority
considers the nation incapable and believes to maintain it as a subject for its
will and complete capacity. The authority, which is able to interpret the
progress of illusion, can cancel plurality, variety and opposition,
also, oblige the reality to yield to whatever ideology disciplined by the
"General".
A Society without Classes:
The Agrarian Reform dropped
the big proprietors and divided the confiscated lands among farmers. This led
to the increase of small and middle proprietors. The decisions of the
"Socialist" Nationalization dropped the rising national Bourgeois.
Thus, the government, gradually, converted into a big proprietor, a unique
industrialist, a wholesaler and retailer and a manager of the rising working
class, which widened due to developing the capitalism of the dependent state.
The Middle-class became distributed vertically according to its loyalty or
opposition to the authority. Therefore, it was divided between a ruling group
and masses, in which the ruling group split into masters and dependents.
Masters were the Bourgeois of the upper authority, civil and military, the dependents
and the followers of the dependents and who depended on the dependents, until
the bottom of the pyramid, were the masses.
Nationalization was an
elimination of the working class and cancellation of its political and social
role rather than a socialist act.
This destroyed any class'
solidarity among workers and farmers, or among poor rural people and the poor
city people to face the joint liability of proprietors and managers. The
government presented itself as a representative of these classes and decided
their dissolution before they were culturally and politically identified. The
procession of neglecting them quickened according to the growth of the
dominating authority and the transfer of social power from the society
organizations into the governmental organizations, which converted by time into
security institutions.
At the same time, there was
a growing Aristocratic class of workers, farmers and medium Bourgeois, all
protected and supervised by security agencies. The main features of such
Aristocracy were corruption and virtual loose, but the national socialist
ideology was its cover and justification. Day after day, the gap between the
new Aristocracy and its supporting masses widened much more than the gap
between the worker and his Bourgeois manager. Therefore, the working class and
the drudged masses turned into a troop of slaves. The cancellations of Party,
rural and workers aristocracy, which was a new class with mutual benefits,
encountered the cancellation of classes or social groups. The serial
elimination of these classes made their members slaves for the authority,
because the slavery system would never create a free class. Thus, workers,
rural and poor city people became slaves of the slaves. This is the main
phenomenon of political, cultural and social negligence. The dominating
authority does not accept the existence of united and unified privileged groups
or classes, it only, accepts privileged individuals.
Consequently, the opponents could not depend on organized and unified classes
or groups of mutual benefits. Actually, by shattering and dividing, the
dominating authority creates a crowed of isolated and competitive individuals,
which their benefits relay on denouncing each other and withdrawing from the
general affairs. Force or reality accuses each one, so, a person has to face
the accusation by dropping it on others, also by adulating the ruler to
convince him of his innocence and prove his loyalty. Thus, the individual
becomes besieged from inside and outside and driven into a series of useless
practices, which increase his self-despise and isolation. These futility
practices, in fact, are blind instinctive responses toward an existing possible
danger and violence. The violence of the dominating authority is not only
directed to the opposition but could be, irrationally, practiced with everyone.
In such a system, each individual is possibly considered an opposition and an
objective enemy. Terrorism always presumes more illusions, more secret agencies
and more detectives.
This explains the cancer
progress of security institutions. These institutions have the complete freedom
to interfere directly with citizens' detailed life, on all levels of
administration and activities. If these institutions did not enrich enough
through stealing from the government, they enrich by stealing and blackmailing
their victims, beside sharing the activities, which
they were supposed to control, like gambling, prostitution, smuggling and drug
trade. This made the security institution a sort of state within a State, which
was established by terrorism, blackmailing, corruption and corrupting.
These institutions
transformed the society into the society of exchanged fear and doubts, plus,
subjugating the society's concepts into their measures and virtual scales.
Their essential functions might be and still are to control the plurality of
the society and the infinite varieties and differences among human creatures in
order to make them similar copies which resemble a mono totalitarian creature.
This is impossible unless all citizens are diminished into one fixed and empty
identity, which is constituted of instinctive reactions, plus, declining their
freedom for the sake of preserving their kind.
The political terrorism and
the political detention with all the accompanying body torture and
psychological oppression, severely, affected the ruining of the human
relationships. Besides, penetrating the society and destroying all its forms of
resistance transformed it into a kind of big Holocaust. Hanna Arndt said: "the
first fundamental step for complete control is to kill in the person his legal
self, then, to kill his virtual self, after that, ruining the individual is
accomplished"(15).
Converting classes or
social groups into masses and canceling any solidarity or unification between
groups are two obligatory provisions for full despotism(16). The transfer from pastorals into masses
is a transfer from uncovered pauperization and misery into disguised
pauperization and poverty, also, from a frank slavery into a flowering one.
According to Aristotle, a slave is the one whose spirit weakened; wits declined
and annexed his self to others. Besides, a slave is the body, the ox and the
tool of his Master. According to the writer of this report, he believes that
the "dependent" is a body without spirit or mind nor conscience. In
fact, everything in the state or society exists in the individual, by force or
reality, so, what does this mean if the individual is a body without spirit or
mind nor conscience?
Actually, the society of
masses and a dominating authority, or totalitarian, is a society and authority
without spirit, or mind, nor conscience! The extinguished spirit, resigned
mind, dead conscience and the deprivation of meaning are the most prominent
productions of the dominating authority, at the same time, the most important
provisions for its settlement and continuity. The dominating state is a
meaningless authority because all its speeches and acts are meaningless. The
'meaning' is constituted of speech and action. Thus, a dominating authority can
not produce the provisions of its settlement and continuity unless it slays the
human spirit, blocks the voice of mind and executes the conscience and
assassinates the meaning.
The prevailing corruption,
which some people might consider it an incidental extraordinary phenomenon, and
a disease, which could be treated without changing the structure and function
of the government, is the direct tangible result of the authority' settlement
and continuity. The changes of the state' structure and function do not mean
overthrowing the actual regime but retaining the state, as well as, canceling
its partition feature, being the state of the leading Party, and gradually,
transforming it into a political state, which expresses the social wholeness.
This means transforming it into a State of rights and law without
discriminations or exceptions among citizens, and reviewing the production of
its functional social types. The writer of this report believes that the
existing authority and Al Ba'ath Party could assist effectively in the grand
historic conversion by transforming the authority into a political authority,
and the leading Party into a political Party in a modern contemporary meaning
of politics(17).
The democratic freedoms are
based on the equality of law between all the citizens; besides, the social
justice becomes the actual practice of equality. Thus, these freedoms would not
have a meaning and function unless the citizens, according to their social
environment, belong to groups who represent them and form within themselves a
social and political pyramid. Therefore, citizens would belong, voluntarily and
rationally, to free organizations and groups, which are produced by society
that express its effectiveness and activities. These political organizations,
associations and groups, beside other civil organizations could not be really
free unless all their members are free. Freedom, here, is under the provision
of law and responsibility. Thus, the collapse of the social classes' system,
which means the evacuation of the only political and social base of the modern
state' structure, was one of the most tragic events in the history of nations.
This event occurred in a primitive, barbarian and tyrannical way. The conflicts
of the social classes do not always terminate by the victory of one class and
the deterioration of the other; actually, they may terminate by the collapse of
all the conflicting groups. The conflicts in our country as in many other
countries terminated with the collapsing of all the conflicting groups(18). This collapse
corresponded to the rise of Fascism in
The Indications of Reformation:
After all what we said, is
it possible to reform? Yes, it is possible and it is a duty. The radical
corruption needs a radical reformation. As the writer believes,
Naturally, reformation is
gradual, slow and sometimes painful. Reformations differ, the authority
reformation with its own known devices and machinery would lead into the
reproduction of the system with some improvement here and there. This will
reproduce the same crisis, which will have no exit other than a radical
reformation. The radical reformation occurs when the
efforts of the authority and the nation combine, as well as, the positive
participation of all the groups and powers of the society. This reformation
would lead the country to exceed the present toward renaissance and progress.
There is no third choice because all this corruption and ruin could not be
canceled without a historical action on the same level of its danger and
challenges.
The writer claims that the
feelings of necessity for reformation were growing slowly within some spheres
of the authority, which deafened during a long time and did not hear the voice
of the nation, especially, the voice of the intellectuals and the employees of
the public field. These spheres felt the stiffness of the governmental
articulations and the prevailing corruption in all the levels of the public
administration, which became its distinguished characteristics. Also, they felt
the rusty ideological project of the authority, "the nationalist socialist
ideology", the aggravation of the economical crisis, the bankruptcy of the
public economical sector, except the oil sector, which is considered a
prohibited secrecy. Before the death of the former president, Hafez Assad,
there were rumors about opening the files of corruption. Many names of
prominent corrupted personalities were mentioned, which included high-rank
employees in all the commanding sectors. Therefore, the former Prime Minister,
Mahmod Al Zu'bi was accused of corruption and was abstained from work. There
were conversations about a project of reformation held by Dr. Bashar Assad,
which one of its headlines was to control corruption.
In this climate, cultural
gathering nucleuses of political spans started to be formed. They spread in all
the cities and Syrian regions, especially, in
The Seminar of the
Economical Tuesday, organized by the Syrian Economical Association had an important
role. It uncovered the factors and features of the economical crisis, its
morals, political and social effects in the society, plus, the aggravated
resulting effects of the administrative corruption. However, a number of
intellectuals and interested cadres gathered in
After the death of Assad,
his son Bashar became the president. He announced in his speech of oath the
"Presidential Program" of developing and modernizing. This refreshed
some prospects of improving the political position, especially, after releasing
600 hundred detained politicians, which formerly, the authority denied their
existence. Therefore, the circles of Forums widened and became overt, new
forums were established in Damascus, such as, the Forum of National Dialogue by
Riad Saif, who used his own house at one of the southern districts in Damascus.
Also, Jamal Atasi's Forum of Dialogue and Democracy, which was established at
the house of the intellectual and political leader Jamal Atasi. The writer of
this report had the honor to be the Spokesman of this later forum and
inaugurated it by a lecture titled "Present Matters for Discussions".
He also had the honor to assist the foundation of the Cultural Forum of Human
Rights and become a member of its administrative institution. Besides, he
inaugurated the cultural activity of the later forum at the residence of the
Lawyer Khaleel Ma'took in one of the southern districts in
Plenty of Syrian intellectuals
and educated people lectured at these forums, which included a wide range of
political, cultural and social cadres. At these forums, the language and
culture of the dialogues flourished, besides, forming many collective demands,
which were expressed by statements, documents and writings. Therefore, one
important statement was signed by 99 Syrian intellectuals and had the following
demands:
- Terminating the State of
- Canceling the Martial
Laws and exceptional tribunals.
- Releasing the political dΕtentes and permitting the deported persons to return
home.
- Liberating fundamental
freedoms.
- Issuing the law of
Parties and associations.
- Issuing the press law, which organizes Journalism.
- Viewing other matters, which related to fundamental freedoms, human rights and the
sovereignty of law.
Within these activities,
the predicament of civil society emerged to oppose the totalitarian authority,
the mass society, plus, the cancellation of political life, pauperizing the
nation and neglecting it. This predicament with all its intellectual, social
and political inclusions was clarified in the "Fundamental Document"
that was issued by the foundational institution of the committees for the
revival of civil society. 1.200 intellectuals and activists in the public field
signed the document. They were writers, journalists, artists, lawyers,
engineers, doctors, graduates and teachers of both genders. This document was
called "Statement of the Thousand". It was succeeded by a second
document, titled "Toward a National Social Age in
The social movement, which
was initiated by the intellectuals and supported by the opposing democratic
national Parties, especially, the Parties that were included within the frame
of democratic national assembling, assisted to exceed the screen of fear,
rejected violence with all its political and social forms and features. Also,
it achieved a sort of contact with the intellectuals and the political
movements. As well as, it assisted the appearance of a new age, which adopts
the principles of individual freedom and citizenship, plus, the equality of
law.
The statement of the
general national concordance that was established by the foundational
institution of the committees for the revival of civil society had less
propaganda but deeper and wider effect. This effect was clarified among all
Syrians, who were interested in the general affairs, inside and outside the
country. Even the prohibited Party of Muslim Brotherhood announced its support
to the Statement of the Thousand and issued the Convention of Honor, which
seemed to accord completely with it. The convention of Muslim Brotherhood
included the rejection of violence and an invitation for a comprehensive
national dialogue, in which it admits the political and intellectual plurality,
the democratic principles and peaceful alternation of authority. Moreover, the
convention recognizes religion as a civil identity instead of a political
doctrine.
During the former months,
new political and cultural features were formed. Thus, there became a deepened
tendency toward an open and frank comprehensive national democratic dialogue.
Also, there was a tendency for a national reconciliation that would lead to
exceed the past and exit from the state of negative protest and disguise
strikes into the state of positive participation. Furthermore, to pave a safe
way to transfer into the State of rights, law and democracy system, plus,
replacing the cultural base in which the suzerain state grew by a democratic
base. The Syrian nation tried, and still tries to help the authority to get rid
of its chronic crisis by producing a mutual political and intellectual sphere
with it due to the speech of oath. According to some predicaments of that
speech, some flatterers consider that it was an ideal complete presidential
program, which was impeccable. Of course, this is not true. Unfortunately, the
authority still refuses and prohibits the nation's help.
As a response to the
demands for a national dialogue, the authority decided to close the forums,
accused the intellectuals and charged them with treason. Moreover, the
authority went to extremes in monopolizing the truth, nationality and the
continuous corruption, which file was not yet opened, if it will ever be opened.
The Nationalist Leadership of Ba'ath and most of its members, who were referred
to as symbols of corruption and, as was said, who were supposed to be
interrogated in the regional conference that was held after the death of Assad,
attacked the nation. Besides, other supporting Parties of the national front
and all the bodies of security shared the attack. They all led launches of
slander and attacks against the idiotic and ignorant people, who did not
deserve liberty. Also, the launch attacked the intellectuals who dealt with
foreign embassies and evil external powers. Moreover, they started to mobilize
the Party and public organizations against the civil society; also, they
aroused the anger of the president against the intellectuals. Thus, the president
declared in an interview to the '
All the former responses
are headed by the title 'the primacy of administrative and economical reformation',
without the need for a political reformation. In spite of the prevailing
corruption among the advanced national front, according to the president, the
political positions seemed to be fine. Therefore, every discussion about the
political reformation became a calumniation against the modern history of
"Humans, individuals
and groups, are recognized by their future. The past is always present in the
future as a span of its range. The opposite can not be true, because the future
is always surprising. We Arabs have to live this matter because the Arab man,
always, considers his golden age had passed and he has to go back to it.
However, the daily experience shows us clearly that the past, in whatever power
of presence it affects the present or the future, it had already passed and
terminated, and will never be back."
I believe that the sheik of
Syrian intellectuals, who is madly in love with his country and people, tried
to draw the attention of the young president to the past, which passed and has
no more interpreted value. Furthermore, the persons of that past were neither
always right, nor always wrong. It seems that Makdesi regained the Arabic poet
saying "I was not honored by my people but I gave them honor and I was
proud of myself not of my grandfathers". As if he wanted to say "you
are the president, not the son of the president, thus, it is your duty to
preserve the republic and defend it. However, the heritage of your father is
grand and proud in your view, it is not your duty to preserve it and defend it,
because life is passing as the current water of a river, where a person can not
swim in the same water twice".
According to the
researcher, it seems that the authority, today, is hesitating between the
absolute need of reformation and the fear from the expected and the delusional
results. This fear is due to different visions and private benefits, which were
produced by the operation of possessing the State. Therefore, there are
meaningless discussions about the primacy of administrative and economical
reformation instead of the political reformation. As if the social fields of
life are separated and unconnected, and the serious reformations in any of
these fields do not need a paralleled reformation in the other fields or does
not relate to it. For the first time, the authority confessed about the
economical stagnancy and administrative corruption, mainly, in judiciary,
education and information. This confession brought the authority out of the
complete yielding position, the complete believe and the state of avoiding
reality into the admission of some truths. It seems unable and does not want to
confess the political crisis, which became a relating type to all other crises.
Actually, reformation can not start before confessing the political crisis and
criticizing the past. There should be deep criticism for the foundations, which
established the policy since the 8th of March in 1963. If we take this matter
out of the pessimism and optimism circle, which means from the subjective
circle into the objective circle of possibilities and probabilities, we can say
that reforming the present situations of the country became an urgent and
actual necessity. Furthermore, the authority, which still holds the reins of
initiative and decisive power for reformation, has two equal choices. First, to close the doors which it opened and await the future.
Second, to go ahead in the compulsory dangerous critical way if it does not
accept a national reconciliation, which enables the civil
society's powers of actual participation in the political life. In fact,
it seems that the Syrians have a wide range of time to wait.
__________
Footnotes:
1) We do not agree with the
distinction of Khaldoon Hasan Al Nakeeb between the dominating state and the
2) Khaldoon Hasan Al
Nakeeb, "The Dominating Authority in the Arab World", a comparative
structural study, The Center for Studies of the Arabic Union,
3) Review Al Nakheeb,
previous source, also, Hanna Arndt " the
Foundations of Totalitarianism", Edgar Moran "Introductions to leave
out the Twentieth Century" and "the Spirit of Time" in two
parts. Besides, a group of Arab researchers of "The
State and the Society in the Arab World".
4) Al
Nakheeb, previous source, p. 32 and the following.
5) Previous source, p. 36 -
37.
6) Yaseen Al Hafez,
"The Debacle and the Debacle Ideology", 2nd edition, Dar Al Hassad,
7) Previous source, p. 173
- 174.
8) Previous source, p. 212
- 213.
9) Patrick Seal,
"Assad, the Conflict Over the Middle East", the translation of the
General Organization of Studies, Publishing and Distribution, there is neither
date nor place of publishing, p. 132.
10) Previous source, p.
133.
11) Previous source, p.
133.
12) A letter sent by the
well-known Syrian intellectual Antoin Maqdesi to the President of the
13) Patrick Seal, previous
source, p. 142.
14) Previous source, p.
174.
15) Hanna Arndt, previous
source, translated by Antoin Abu Zaid, Dar Al Saki, 1st edition, Beirut 1993,
p. 221 and the following.
16) Previous source, p. 17.
17) We use the concepts of
the political state, the political authority and the political Party as a
substitute for the State of the one Party or, the leader Party, and the
revolutionary authority. Thus, it is Patriarchal and disguises its military
reality and security nature, also, instead of the ideological Party and in
contradiction with it. Or let us say that we use the concept of policy instead
of ideology and in contradiction with it.
18) Here, we distinguish
the class conflict, being the logic of history, as Karl Marx said, from the
conflict of the "modern tribes" over wealth and authority, which
happened in our country and other backward countries. This conflict continued
and no one gained unless in a personal and illegal way.
CH
2
The
Social Foundation Of
The
Political Conversion
Salamah Keilah(*)
-
1 -
To approach the present
structure of the Syrian political authority we need to research its
social-economical foundation. According to a well-known opinion of Lenin,
"politics" is the intensive expression of economy(1). Studying the conversions, which were
caused by the military regime in some Arab countries and probably, in other
countries of the third world, might clarify the depth of this essential idea.
The military movement
seemed to be an expression of the rural fidgetiness and its crisis(2). Also, expressing its tendency to change
the power scales in order to rearrange the relation between the rural areas and
city(3), on one
side, the farmers and landowners, on the other side. Therefore, this movement
appeared different from all other conversions, which occurred during the 19th
and 20th centuries, because it was a rural movement of an excellent degree. In
spite of the movement's 'dream' to execute a comprehensive rise, which was
based on developing the industry and establishing the foundations for an
industrial modern society, it basically, aimed to reform the rural position.
According to what Dr.
Hisham Sharabi believed, the rising Bourgeoisie had the role of executing the
conversions. Also, it founded for the emerging modern capitalism type, which
imposed the "subordinate" capitalism as, the only form of marginal
capitalism, in the sphere of a World Economy Market(4).
Thus, the rural structure
of this society continued and became more profound, also, overlapped with the
interests of the capital in the centers. As a result, the industrial
development became restrained(5); and
the contradiction of the rural areas governed the total contradictions of the
society, in which the centralization of the real-estate ownership strengthened,
plus, the oppression and pauperization of peasants deepened. Furthermore, the
government became, essentially, the authority of big proprietors, who
interpenetrated with the subordinate capitalism, trade capitalism, banks and
speculations.
The substitute for the
"natural development", which means "capitalization" through
the formation of an industrial capitalism and its domination, was the
"Revolutions" that were led by the Marxist Parties. These
revolutions, which were exceptionally led by the rural regions, opened the
horizon for industrialization and modernization by claiming the accomplishment
of socialism. Consequently, new bases were adopted for reforming the society,
in which the groups of rural origins had an important role in reforming and
shaping it. Although, the rural areas were driven to city groups and to modern
thoughts, still, they affected urbanization in a certain way.
The military role came in
the space between the restrain of capitalism development and the actual
deficiency of Marxist Parties' role to execute the development mechanism.
Therefore, rural contradictions governed the whole conversion. In other words,
it seemed that poor peasants were the class who defined the path of
development, its characteristics and form, moreover, they were transformed into
a dominating class at the middle of the 20th Century(6).
To study the systems of the
National Arabic movement, we have to note, first, its military type, second,
its rural type, which were the essences of its
comprehensive composition and despotic authority. Through this recognition, the
interests of these classes, which governed, and the consciousness and level of
ideology of those, who were under their governing, would clarify the base of
this form of authority. Dr. Hisham Sharabi called this authority as a
patriarchal society, which was vaccinated with modernization(7) and governed, by a renewed patriarchal
authority(8). The same could be noticed in the revolutions of
This means, to approach the
position of
-
2 -
After many short-term coups
d`etat, the army overcame the authority on the 8th of March in 1963 by the move
of low rank officers. Even though, Al Ba'ath Party became the ruler after
eliminating the Nasseris in July 1963, the authority seemed to be in command of
the army. The army made the coup d`etat on the 8th of March in 1963 and brought
Al Ba'ath to rule. Then, the Party was reformed after self-dissolution in 1958
for the sake of the union with
(The coup d'etat of
February 1966) was the period of conflict between the Party and the army. In
other words, the conflict between the military commission and the Party
commission, which terminated by getting rid of the Party's
control, gradually, and transforming it, since 1970, into a facade. The
period from 1966 to 1970, which, also, might be since the Nasseri's elimination
in 1963, was the period of conflict between the power centers inside the army.
This conflict was resolved on the 16th of November in 1970.
Dr. Ghassan Salamah
referred that according to the French Colonial Plan, the formed Army was based
on an organized force, which consisted of minorities with all their variations.
Therefore, although some officers were chosen from the families of big land
proprietors, the government of independence inherited an army, which was mainly
composed of minorities. Still, the successive coups d`etat
caused the retreat of many minorities' role. Thus, Kurds role became
marginal, the role of Sunni officers of urban origin became weak, then, Druze officers' role retreated, as well as, those of
Hawrani origins (on the provincial level). The role of the Christian officers
was restricted to technical matters, away from politics(9).
Although the different
studies gave much attention toward the Sectarian span(10), we would discuss the matter from another
scope, because it is more profound and expresses the reality more precisely, in
which the sectarian span seems an entrance or another expression of a different
level to this scope. Consequently, the conflicts and the elimination become a
natural result of the real contradictions, also, an expression of the conflict
among various paradoxical social groups. Considering that there is no power or
authority without a class foundation, plus, the power of the military or the
Party is an expression of a class or a sector.
Accordingly, the transfer
of the domain center from the Party to the army seemed an expression of the
transfer from the domain of city groups, which were the basis of the Party
commission and its active cadres, to the domain of the rural groups(11). The later groups practiced elimination
within till reaching a specified centralization domain that governed the
country during the last 30 years. In fact, if the military had the main role in
taking over the authority, they imposed, at the end, the benefits of a limited
specific social group. Fua'ad Shahada Al Khuri's notice was very punctual, he
referred that the interference of the military with politics and overcoming the
authority happened in Arab countries which were marked by the
agricultural-rural system, such as, Syria, Egypt, Algeria, Sudan and Iraq(12).
This happened in countries which societies were characterized by the
agricultural-rural organizations emerging from the feudal system(13). Thus, Dr. Kahldoon Hasan Al Nakheeb noted
that most officers did not come from principal urbanized centers but from small
towns and villages. Also, most of them belong to poor and humiliated rural
middle-class and marginal urbanized class(14).
No doubt, Hanna Batato was,
probably, the first who approached the social foundation of the groups, which
ruled through the military. He considered that the executed revolutions of
Egypt, Syria and Iraq, were done by the alliance of different groups which have
similar rural roots and resembling rural trends(15), besides, he assured the deep pervade of
peasants in the Syrian Army(16). Thus, they were of simple rustic origins that pursued their
own conducts according to their structural position, natural tendencies and
instinctual inclinations(17). Of
course, studying the percentage of soldiers and officers of rural origins in
the total number of military force clears its rural mark, also, clarifies the
composition of systems, which was established by it.
Here, we would like to
clarify that the difference between the 8th of March coup d`etat in 1963 and
the former coups d`etat is specific, because this one was transformed into a
formula in order to change the total society and the economical composition.
Probably, the coup d`etat of Husni Al Za'eem was of the same sort, too.
However, if the start of this transformation occurred with the union between
When the French colony
depended on some minorities to establish the military force, which served its
benefits, the choice corresponded with the position of rural groups. In fact,
the military was a small force, practically; it was established after the
independence in 1946. Therefore, we should study the reasons for entering the
military service apart from the French Colony's attempts to make use of some
soldiers from the minorities for executing their policies.
The matter was related to
the agricultural-rural composition, so, the army provided for them 'a device
for social rising'(18),
whether the authority was for civilians or soldiers. Thus, the career in
military service or government with all the health and family benefits became
an aim that the commoners longed for, especially that they were in such a hard
position, committed and mortgaged for landlords and capitalists(19). Therefore, this career was considered the
best of all, because the military forces were the first institution that
followed the policy of insurance, such as health insurance, family
compensations, social security, retirement rules, upgrading and promotions,
apart from providing food, clothing and housing. The military career became the
ideal rank for social flourishing(20). This
meant that poor rural conditions would urge the peasants to join the army in
order to have a reasonable life. We cannot ignore that the dash for military
service increased after the independence and after the defeat of
-
3 -
Studying the nature of
authority imposes researching about the social foundation of the groups, who
came into power. As we referred, the poor rural groups dominated and became the
authority, so, we should study the rural position. It seemed that all the
contradictions, which governed the rural position, were the basis for all the
later economical policies that had one specific aim, which was to redistribute
wealth in the society. This aim was formed whether to adjust the relation
between city and rural regions, consequently, to overstep the 'historical
injustice' that the rural population suffered, or to establish a new
proprietor's class of rural origins by taking the advantage of the rural
domain.
We can notice that the
rural mark was prevailing and the cities were marginal. Still, the cities were
dominating the rural regions, absorbing their overflows and controlling their positions(21), because cities
were the center of settlement for landowners 'Feudalism" and the center of
authority, which was their government(22). The agricultural-rural style was the
stamp of society, because they formed the majority of the population(23), on
the other hand, cities seemed as settlements for strangers, who lived on the
expense of poor rural people(24).
Actually, there had been a
rural composition, so, we should research the rural contradictions because they
were the bases for the conversions that happened later on. There was a lot of
information about land property distribution and the sharp split between
classes. Before 1958, the property ownership suffered an excessive centralization(25), while
2.5% of the population owned 45% of 'artificial' irrigated land and 30% of
rain-irrigated one, 82% of rural inhabitants had no lands at all. Some peasants
had a piece of land, which its area was, less than 10 Hectares, but 70% of them
did not have any agricultural property(26). Abu Ali Yaseen pointed out that
feudalistic families, which represented 1.4% of the population, had 68.2% land.
Besides, while the rural families, which presented 31.5% of the total
population, had 22.7% land, the proprietorship of big landlords, whose
percentage was 0.3% of the population, owned 9.1% land. The remaining
percentage 66.8% of the population was of indigent families(27). Thus, the rural income was imbalanced,
because big landowners (15%) had 60% of the total agricultural income, medium
landlords (10%) had 10% of the total agricultural income and little landowners
with indigent people (75% of the total rural population) had only 30% of the
total agricultural income(28).
Dr. Abdullah Hanna referred
to the income of farmers, mainly, the poor ones, which was terribly low to the
extent that maintaining good health for peasants to work actively in land and
production was not affordable(29). The position of the farmers was related
into two matters, first, related to the peasants who
worked in the lands of feudatories and suffered the feudalism tyranny, the
second was related to the small proprietorships, which were often insufficient
to sustain the farmers.
Abu Ali said that the small
proprietorships, mainly spread in the towns of Hawran,
Those peasants were
striving to change this reality and dreaming of equality, besides, union,
industrialization and progress, which became associated through some Parties'
actions or natural sense. Though, the developments cleared that the most pauper
regions dominated at the end. Therefore, all other military masses, whether
civil, from
The littoral mountains were
the most retarded and miserable regions, actually, these regions were much
backward than others in Syria(31). The
majorities were from the level land at the west, south and north of
We notice a twofold of
poverty and backwardness, also, between class and sectarian humiliation. Soon
after was the entrance for the savageness of class humiliation, which was the
essential aim. This position was establishing the base for two matters, the
first was economical, which related to the ambition of resolving the pauperism
crisis and class humiliation, the second was political, which related to the
methods of controlling that clarified after becoming the dominating power.
Poverty, retardation and the nature of the social composition in general,
established the mechanism of controlling with a special taste. Therefore, it
was a matter of 'compensation' for the chronicle poverty and disastrous
humiliation, which was executed through subjugated mechanisms in a savage form.
This meant that the authority formation had to serve the class diversion.
According to the Statistic
Guide, Hanna Batato noticed that the major part of middle class, which was the
principal constitute of the government and public sector was from a rural
origin, relatively new(36). Dr. Ghassan Salamah noticed as well that the governing elite
was of rural origin(37). This happened through many operations of transitions, which
started with the law of the Agrarian Reformation, then, diverged into various
sides. By the time the agricultural reformatiom's law liberated the peasants
from the captivity of the feudal system, the diversion of economical politics
resulted the emergence of new chances for work, which were not available
before.
-
4 -
However, three important
changes occurred, the first was related to the 'Nationalization of Industry'
and the industrial policies. This was an entrance to contain a reserved crowd
for work. As industrialization became a central aim in the new formation, it
gave the opportunity to contain the flowing peasants to the city. The second
change was related to free education. So, the scope of education was opened for
rural students, consequently, obtaining a suitable job. No doubt that this
matter was a rural dream of excellence, because it founded for the class an
uprising stage, which the rural regions needed. The third change was related to
the enlargement of governmental institutions, especially army(38), regardless of the political reason that
related to the conflict with
The relation of city-rural
that existed before
Since the Law No.161 of
1958 till 30.12.1969, the government confiscated about 1.5 million hectares of land(41), most of it were
distributed among farmers(42). So, the percentage of little proprietorships increased to
about 76% of the agricultural area. The properties from 2 to 25 hectares
represented about 93% of the total agrarian area, which made it form the wider
base in the rural region(43).
A comparison between what
was prevailed during the forties/fifties and the year 1970 clarifies the
difference. In fact, while small properties, which were 30% of the total
property jumped into 87% in 1970, the big proprietorships retreated from 49% of
total property into about 1% only(44).
On the other hand, at the
beginning of 1967, all the big and medium industrial organizations were
transferred to the government's control(45). Also, the government took over the banks and the external
trade. Therefore, the government commissioned the industrial and banking
capital, plus, the trade capital to a certain extent. The private
proprietorship of rural areas were communized and turned to be the 'governing
law'. This turn was accompanied by the rural officers' domination of authority.
As well as, the enlargement of employed groups' mass of rural origins in the
governmental institutions, especially, army and intelligence service. This made
the proprietorship of the government, which was called "public
sector", yield to the mechanism of re-capitalism that the rural aim was
behind, through "robbing the government".
Thus, the Nationalization
seemed as if to re-form the proprietary class. However, the governing
consciousness was "Socialist", or believed to be socialist. This
consciousness considered that "Socialism" meant the establishment of
agrarian reform, also, the transfer of land ownership into peasants. This, of
course, was the rural socialism, which contained in its essence the
"possession", instead of denying it. The "disguised"
consciousness and disguising as well, imposed the
establishment of a "gatekeeper" authority, not only, to suppress the
former proprietors, but also, to repress the injured protestors. Accordingly,
since the union between
Therefore, the dreams of
'equality' were dominating at the beginning. Then, the dominating group converted
from the rural "idealism", who was responsible for equality (the
period from 1966 to 1970), to the rural 'realism', who became the proprietor.
Consequently, the government became a device for thievery, to steal public
sector organizations, commissions, disregarding laws, smuggling and others. At
this stage, equality turned out to become inequality, the peasants' ambitions
succeeded to become capitalists. Through these situations, the living
conditions of the rural areas declined, as well as, the rest of the citizens,
in general. Besides, public sectors, especially, the industrial sector,
deteriorated badly, and entered a "clinical death",
however, a new class was formed.
-
5 -
Finally, the "rural
dream", the "general" and the "disguised" dream of
private ownership, converted through "dominating the authority" into
a "real dream", the dream of the groups who became the 'authority'
themselves. The dream to own capital was through stealing the government, which
needed a specific form of authority. Thus, the authority was established on
intensive centralization and the repression of citizens, in general.
__________
Footnotes:
1) Lenin said in his book
"Lenin".
2) This idea is clear in
the studies of different writers, such as: Hanna Batato, Khaldoon Hassan Al
Nakeeb, Gassan Salamah, Fu'ad Izak Khuri, Gorki Mirski...etc.
3) Dr.
Ghassan Salamah "The Society and the Government in the Eastern Arab
World", The Center of Arabic Union Studies,
4) Dr.
Hisham Sharabi, "The Patriarchal Structure, A Research in the Present
Arabic Society", Dar Al Talee'ah,
5) This problematic was
meant for
b) Salamah Keilah, Any Progress Cancels the Subordination
in the Arabic World, Al Wahda Magazine, Al Rabat, No. 45,
6) Dr. Hisham Sharabi,
previous source, p. 21. Although he did not specify the rural areas, he talked
about a middle class, which called Little Bourgeois, and referred more than
once to its civic not rural mark.
7) The previous source, p.
19.
8) Dr. Hisham Sharabi
specifies the characteristics as follows: The domination of the father in the
family is the same in society. Father's well is absolute, expressed through the
silence of all. It is based on repressing and obedience.
The most efficient and developed element in a modern
patriarchal state is its interior security institution, which is called
Intelligence service. He refers to the duality of the government, which exceeds
the Military-Bureaucracy system into a secret agency system
that dominate the daily life and form the final controlling device in
civil and political life. Previous source, p. 22.
9) Dr. Ghassan Salamah, the
previous source, p. 162.
10) Dr. Nicolas Van Dam
" The Conflict Over Authority in
11) Dr. Ghassan Salamah,
previous source, p. 164.
12) Fua'ad Izak Al Khuri,
"The Military and Authority in the Arabic Country", Dar Al Sakhi,
13) The previous source, p.
58.
14) Dr. Khaldoon Hassan Al
Nakheeb " The Dominating Government in the
Present Eastern Arabic World, A Comparative Constructional Study", The
Center of Arabic Union Studies,
15) Hanna Batato 'The
Egyptian, Syrian and Iraqi Revolutions', Al Nahej magazine 2001, No. 61, New
edition 25, p. 97.
16) Hanna Batato 'Notices
about the Social Roots of the Governing Military Group in Syria and The Reasons
of Their Domination', Middle East Journal of August 1980, published in Arabic
in addendum for the pamphlet "The Political Role of Minorities in The
Middle East", Editor Dr. Maclorine, p. 10.
17) Previous source, p. 17.
18) Fua'ad Izak Al Khuri,
previous source, p. 26, p. 95.
19) Previous source, p. 26.
20) Previous source, p. 30.
21) Dr. Nicola Van Dam,
previous source, p. 26.
22) Fua'ad Izak Al Khuri,
previous source, p. 70.
23) Dr. Abdullah Hanna
refer that rural population present 65% of the total population, "The
Agricultural Matter and the Rural Movements in Syria and Lebanon
1920-1945", the second part, Dar Al Farabi, Beirut, 1st edition, p. 61.
24) Van Dam, previous
source, p. 26
25) Dr. Khaldoon Hassan Al
Nakheeb, previous source, p. 95, p. 100.
26) Dr. Ghassan Salamah,
previous source, p. 185, the first information belongs
to Sameer Makhdusi.
27) Abu Ali Yaseen "The
Story of Land and the Syrian Peasant", p. 33.
28) Previous source, p. 39.
29) Dr. Abdullah Hanna,
previous source, p. 48.
30) Abu Ali Yaseen,
previous source, p. 33.
31) Van Dam, previous
source, p. 28.
32) Hanna Batato, previous
source, p. 4.
33) Van Dam, previous
source, p. 35, He refers that the sectarian span of the rural non-urban dual
split attracts the attention. While the conservative religious minorities
centralize in the poor rural regions, Sunnis dominate the rich regions and
cities. This is a general notice because other groups than minorities inhabit a
part of the rural areas, besides, Cities are divided
into levels of social composition.
34) Hanna
Batato, previous source, p. 5, 6, also "The Syrian, Egyptian and Iraqi
Revolutions", p. 98.
35) Previous sources.
36) Hanna Batato " The Syrian Egyptian and Iraqi revolutions", p.
102.
37) Dr. Ghassan Salamah,
previous source, p. 191.
38) Fua'ad Izac Al Khuri,
previous source, p. 83.
39) Previous source, p.
101, he refers to the Budget of the Army, which is 70% of total budget. F.P.
Victorofe say that the budget ranges from 55% to 60%,
"The Economy of Modern Syria, its problems and prospects", Dar Al
Ba'ath for Press, Printing, Publishing and Distribution, p. 88.
40) Muneer Al Hamesh " The Development of Modern Syrian Economy", Dar
Al Jaleel,
41) Dr. Mohamed Kafa
"The Conversions of Agricultural Economy in
42) A. Vilonic, previous
source, p. 38 - 39.
43) Dr. Mohamed Kafa,
previous source, p. 60.
44) A. Vilonic, previous
source, for comparison look p. 44, 46.
45) F.P. Victorofe,
previous source, p. 67.
CH
3
The
Totalitarian System
Aslan Abd Al Kareem(*)
"Without a law, no
country exists. Thus, the nations, who are subjugated to tyranny, have no other
country than the one which contempt the other nations".
Saint Just
Entrance:
First of all, it is
necessary to confirm the following points:
A - It was possible to
accept some political terms, such as tyrannical or Security government,
especially, the dominating government, to describe the Syrian regime, but the
degree of this regime's penetration through the social structure and attaching
society to it enables us to call it, relatively, Totalitarian(1). This term
expresses the reality more clearly and precisely, especially, when we see the
catastrophic results of this social penetration.
B - This research is,
mainly, about the Syrian political system until
C - This research does not
regard the intentions, whether good or bad, especially, in relation to the
Syrian System and its beginnings. In spite of my assumption about the good
intention of the other and not the contrary, still, politics is not a science
of intentions. Therefore, I care for the essential importance of the objective
acts' results instead of the speeches that the system repeats about itself. As
much as intentions help us to understand the phenomena, the objective results
are the remaining part. As it is said in a famous aphorism, "Even though
good intentions pave the way for hell" or "Even that reality is
stubborn", an English proverb.
After these preliminary
notices, we start our subject to see the reality of the dominating system from
the constitutional, political and practical side.
1 - The Government
According to Constitution, Law and Theoretical Mind:
The Article No. 8 of the
Syrian Constitution, issued in 1973, indicates "Al Ba'ath Arab Socialist
Party is the leading Party of the government and society. It leads an Advanced
National Front, which unifies the energies of the nation's masses to serve the
goals of the Arab nation". This Article dedicates the Syrian Totalitarianism
through monopolizing Ba'ath Party, authority and the society. Ba'ath was
supposed to compose the social-political base for the system, but the fact is,
Ba'ath lost its role during the last three decades and transformed into an
ideological and organizational cover for the present authority, plus, turned
into a device for the authority and annexed to it. Actually, if Ba'ath
monopolizes the constitutional authority, thus, the Secretary-General is the
responsible one. This rank is reserved for the Presidency of the Republic,
which has comprehensive and absolute jurisdictions. Consequently, in spite of
all the claims, the presidency appropriates the authority!
According to the political
preferable expressions of the Party's literacy, official and unofficial media, the
secretary-general, the President, is the mono leader of the Party and the
nation's procession. The matter does not stop at the titles, but expands to
acts. Since 1963, the presidency of the republic or the Revolutionary Command
Council issued many decrees that were above the constitution and law, or rather
against both. The emerging authority of year 1970 kept the decrees of the past
authority and made benefit of them to consolidate its existence and
comprehensive dominance. Therefore, the executive power in
The center of Presidency
withdrew all the real jurisdictions on all the levels, especially, the
monopolized political level, and left the trivialities for the legislative
power. In reality, the People's Council did not even practice these
constitutional trivialities. The Council was never known to have, really,
discussed any essential political matter, especially, an external one. The
Council functions were to clap and certify for the Presidency authority, plus,
to fulfill its needs, which are above the constitution, by supplying a
legislative cover that, in reality, is deficient in covering anything.
The Council of Ministers,
which is a part of the executive power, had no better chance than the People's
Council. In spite of its constitutional status, the Council of Ministers'
position was restricted, not only on the political level, but also, on all the
other levels. Therefore, in all the political or economical or social affairs,
the last decision was for the presidency center. The weakness and frailty of
the People's Council prevented it from discussing, seriously, any exceptional
decree that was issued before the constitution of 1973, to find out whether to
accord with it or not, or cancel it or not. Almost, all the above-mentioned
decrees remained the same, which are in urgent need to be canceled.
The same is applied for the
legislated decrees that were issued after the constitution of 1973. The
People's Council continued its enthusiastic certification for these decrees
without any mentioned justifications. Usually, the council would formally
discuss the matters with a lot of gratitude for the gifts and donations of the
leader. In comparison with other constitutions, the Syrian Constitution is made
to the measure of the leading Party and its secretary-general, which form a
radical case of the presidential system. Radicalism is not only due to the
presidential mark or the monopolized constitutional political authority by the
name of the leading Party or the absolute jurisdictions, but also, through the
monopolized candidature and canceled election, which is replaced by referendum.
Article No. 1- 84 of the
Syrian Constitution indicates: "According to the suggestion of Ba'ath
Regional Leadership, the candidacy for presidency is issued by the People's
Council and presented for the citizens' plebiscite". It is quite clear
that the non-Ba'athi citizens have no right for candidature. Obviously, the
Regional Leadership would not only choose a Ba'athi cadre for candidacy, but
because, for three continuous decades, it chose the same person until he died.
Furthermore, according to the mentioned article, the People's Council cannot
decide the candidacy but passes the suggestion of the Regional Leadership. On
the other hand, people's rights for election and choosing the candidate are
disregarded and transferred into a plebiscite because there is no more than one
candidate to choose. Other than that, the applied "Plebiscite" and
its results became a well-known political joke.
As for the judicial power,
we cannot talk about its independence at all. The
The normal judiciary system
judges the cases, which are not transferred to the mentioned exceptional courts
and are not related to the State Security court. These cases are called
"normal". Whether civil or penal cases, the system,
which is supposed to be independent, suffers the lack of independence and
uprightness. Therefore, as a result of the authority's temperamental
interference, the comprehensive corruption, the prevailed bribery, which most
directories and institutions suffer from, the judiciary system
could never be independent. Unfortunately, even the judiciary system, which is
supposed to protect uprightness and justice, has been invaded by the plague of
corruption. Certainly, when the decay reaches judiciary, then justice is
finished.
The collapse of the
judicial system does not stop here, but expands to the imposed laws and
decrees. Actually, the judges are restricted to apply the exceptional laws,
from the decree No. 6 till the law No. 49. These decrees and laws do not regard
any constitutional or legal measures. Through these exceptional laws, hundreds
and thousands of cases were judged without the minimum legal and judicial
rules. There are other ways to issue arbitrary judgments, away from the
exceptional decrees and laws, by using the law of sanctions that was issued in
1949. Thus, false accusations and created charges are fabricated to accord with
the law of sanctions and condemn the accused people. In the case of matters
that have no description or criminal meaning, the exceptional Judges use the
Article No. 304 and Article No. 306 from the general law of sanctions.
Article No. 306 indicates
the following:
1 - "Each established
Association with the intention of changing the entity of the economical or
social or the political position of the society by any mentioned mean of the
Article No. 304, would have dissolution. The cadres who belong to it would be
sentenced to temporary hard labor".
2 - "The establishers
and directors are sentenced to, at least, 7 years".
3 - "The eased plea,
which is applied for the conspirators according to the Article No. 262,
includes the accused of the above mentioned felony".
Article No. 304 indicates
that "Terrorist acts mean all the acts that intend to provoke a case of
terror by using devices, like explosives, military weapons(3), inflammable
substances and poisoning or burning or epidemic or microbial productions, which
might cause any general danger".
In all cases, whether the
opponent is an individual or a Party, whatever way he uses, even if he is away
from changing the entity of the society, the court would always accuse the
opponent as a terrorist. Even if the acts of the opponent never exceed the
peaceful dialogue, the court would judge him according to Articles 304 &
306. Therefore, the contradiction between both texts of the articles and the
reality of the accused wounds the heart, the mind and the conscience. So, we do
not exaggerate when we say that the exceptional judiciary has ready-made
formulas, in which it reshapes the accusations and the accused according to the
demanded size. Are we not, in fact, in front of a contemporary
"Procrustean bed", if not worse?
The
The miserable position of
the upper constitutional court on the constitutional and reality levels worsens
the judicial power status. In the constitution, the Articles from No. 139 to
No. 148 treated the upper court's formation, quorum, function, jurisdictions
and others. A quick look at these Articles clears the upper court's contracted
jurisdictions and its little number of members. Also, the Article No. 146
conceals the upper court's right to discuss the laws, which are imposed by the
President of the Republic for plebiscite. When we know that the president of
the republic is the president of the upper judiciary power, who appoints the
members of the upper court, we understand how the circle of power is completely
closed. Actually, we never knew that this upper court had ever acted on the
level of constitutional principles, laws, decisions, legislated decrees or
others. Nobody ever heard the name of the upper court's former head, Nasrah
Mullah Haidar, until he participated in the negotiations of
Finally, when we remember
that due to the state of emergency and eternal martial laws, all this happened,
we understand the tragic situation, which the Syrian nation, judiciary and
courts suffered and still suffer from. Thus, the exception creates exceptions
that swallow the rights, freedoms and consolidate tyranny without any
limitations.
2 - The Authority in the
Field of Political Practice:
In this field, the
practices of repression and monopolization and the results are perfectly
personified. This is an expanding field; therefore, I will refer to the most
prominent features briefly. To apply the comprehensive domination and complete
monopolized decision, the Syrian regime depended on two methods:
The First: to attach to it
some political powers of the national left direction, called: the advanced
national front. This front had a big name; its treaty indicated that it owned
the decision in peace and war affairs and fatal matters. In reality, the front
was not more than a decoration for external and internal consumption. The
treaty of the front disappeared, in fact, by the two mentioned constitutional
articles No. 8 and No. 84. As we all witnessed during a long
time, the front had no practical role at all, besides, the organizational
quorum of the front had 50% Ba'ath Party + the President. Thus, even if
the front practiced all its jurisdictions and even both mentioned articles did
not exist, as long as voting was tended to the benefit of Ba'ath, the front
became an annex to the authority's Party. Therefore, Ba'ath was always capable
of practicing leadership and decision. Probably, due to all this, especially,
the article No. 8, the Arab Socialist Union withdrew from the front and
protested against the issued constitution. Of course, a small split of the
The treaty banned all the
Parties of the front, except Ba'ath, from working among military forces and
students. Thus, we should not be so clever to discover that the first active
powers of the society are the military and the students. The main aim of this
banning was to drain the rest of the parties from the real elements of power,
especially, that the percentage of youth in the Syrian society, from 1 to 18
years old, is more than 50% of the total population. Also, the military
institution had a central role in the history of
The logical and practical
results of the front's treaty and the practice that continued during three
decades were more than enough to confirm the authority's success to achieve its
goals fantastically. Moreover, the parties transformed into different organized
groups and opportunist families. This, of course, in addition to the successive
splitting, narrowed the parties' social and organizational bases and general
activities until their status became so inferior. The conditions became worse
when these parties could not find what to say about the essential general
politics other than repeating, like a parrot, the speeches of the authority.
Thus, the parties of the front adopted the speeches of the president as their
political schedule and practical guide. At the same time, they reserved for
themselves a margin of shy partial criticism that related to internal policies,
exactly in the field of economy, administration and services. Besides, the
parties reserved a shallow approach toward the policies that related to general
freedoms, citizens' rights, mastery of nation and law, plus others.
Actually, the Arab
Socialist Party and the Communist Party, before and after splitting criticized
the position more than the other Parties. In the beginning of the eighties,
Bakdash, the leader of the communist Party in the front, said: "If we
worked from the inside, we would have been from the opponents". Still, in
spite of the "inside" comprehensive collapse on the social,
economical and political levels, the position remained without any changes.
According to the confession of the communists, the incomes of the proletariat
declined to a quarter. Also, the corruption prevailed, the repression was
generalized, especially during the 80ies, but the parties could not do
anything, so, the position in
The parties stayed still
observing the deterioration of their influences with a stupid, dull and
yielding attitude. So, the regime did not imagine such a success, where all the
previous political influences of these powers were tamed, subdued and almost
eliminated. Thus, the regime had no more things to do other than sticking to
its weak positions in the Front and the regime, besides,
some of its cadres did not feel ashamed to play the role of the flatterer poet
and the political clown of the Sultan. To be fair, we should mention that some
individuals or small groups were fidgeting and looking for self-salvation from
these positions, mainly, the communists.
The Second: using the iron
fist, the tyrannical repression and different types of terrorism to eliminate
the political opposing powers, starting from those powers, who applied
violence, and ending with those, who had a peaceful activity and they still are
against the terrorist violence. Whether radical, right, left, or medium, there
were no big differences between the fates of these powers. Therefore, the
oppositions that refused to yield to the front of the regime were eliminated,
politically, and most often, organizationally and bodily.
Due to imprisonment and
death, retreat and willy-nilly exile, the serial of horror prevailed in
The principle of
responsibility and personal punitive was disregarded completely. There were
shameful savage practices, inside and outsides prisons, that could not be
accepted, neither by individuals nor by societies. It is not necessary to
mention in this report all the horrible details of oppressions, which became
locally and internationally known. Starting from the methods of terrorism and
torture to the positions of the prisons that relate to food, medication, sun,
air, martial laws, duration of detention, deprivation of civil rights,
unlimited arbitrary detentions, with or without any tribunal, so, all depended
on the whims of the regime. The regime relayed on the principle of
interrogating the others' testimony and not the personal attitude of the
accused.
It is preferable that the
reader would follow the international and local reports, if they were found.
Also, to read the report of the defending commissions of human rights and
democratic freedoms that was permitted inside
Furthermore, the aggravated
intensified security institutions' interference with the public life became
unbearable. The unbelievable interference caused a social suffocation and
tragic closed circles without any exit. A latest newspaper of the authority indicated
this subject: "A Festival for Children Canceled by A Security Decision, in
24.2.2001". While 300 hundred children were happily watching the
exhibition of a Lebanese Circus group in the city of
Let this subject be
presented for the officials to find an answer and a treatment(4).
The group and the director
were Lebanese, then how about if they were Syrian? Only God and the Security
know! The reader can percept that if, nowadays, the
security's interference reaches this extent, then how was it in the past? Also,
if the mentioned local report of the human rights' position is about nowadays,
then how was it before?
In addition to the two
mentioned methods, the intensive nightmare presence of the security bodies
managed the success of the regime to destroy and eliminate the political
powers, whether allying or opposing, violent or peaceful, left or right or
medium. Today, these powers are in a very weak position and have no actual
political power at all.
The previous horrible
position, beside the enlarging economical and social pressure led hundreds of
thousands of citizens to join the authority's Party. This usually happens to
people in each totalitarian system, either because of fear or opportunism or
mounting to reach a rank or fortune and social prestige, sometimes to satisfy
sick whims or illegal aims. So, it is not strange that Ba'ath, the authority's
Party, includes about One Million and a quarter of members. If we, roughly,
consider the population of
The real monopolization of
the authority and power, the generalized and comprehensive repression, giving
full rein to the bodies of security, eliminating the political powers and the
cessation of politics in the society, all formed the main features of the
Syrian system. The decoration of the "advanced front" did not change
anything. We have seen similar "fronts" in the socialist countries,
which did not have any actual role. The whole position caused intensified
terror among the citizens from politics, authority and security, also, caused
the loss of the spirit of responsibility, the death of the citizen and the
search for the private individual salvation.
3 - The Authority on the
Social Level:
As we mentioned before,
here, the essence of totalitarianism is found and all what distinguishes it
from other systems of despotism and individual or partial domination.
Penetrating the society and its civil organizations from inside, and swallowing
it, turns it into a compulsory expansion of the authority. In addition, the
Syrian regime settled the other totalitarian experiences. As this regime was
hallucinating about its existence and continuity, which formed the main scheme
of its internal and external policy, thus, it controlled the individual since
his childhood till his grave. That occurred not only through the directed
media, cultivation and universities, or intensive generalized repression, but
also through the compulsory affiliation to the government.
The compulsory affiliation
almost starts from the age of ten, the Vanguards of Ba'ath, and never stops
until death. So, this continues through the
Furthermore, due to the
violent political crisis between the authority and the armed Muslim Vanguards,
from 1979 to 1982, the regime established dangerous organizational phenomena,
such as, parachutists, Ba'ath and labors' phalanx and others. The entry to
these organizations guaranteed financial and prestigious gaining, not only to
make benefit of employment, housing, cars and others but also to obtain
university studies. So, the affiliation to one of these organizations was a passport to pass for the scientific faculties at the
universities, especially, which require high grades.
Schools and cultivation
were decayed, as well as the universities. Ba'athizing the education, taking up
the scientific chairs at the universities by belonging to certain
organizations, disregarding the personal qualifications, affected the educational
uprightness.
The catastrophic results of
controlling the society and canceling its independence are gradually appearing
now. Even on the level of speech, the aggravated results during the last years
obliged the authority to start looking for solutions.
In
In fact, the authority that
talks by the name of the nation, labors and socialism works from ages for its
own private account. The interests of the emerging groups of such an authority,
or who formed the authority's sphere, are mainly directed toward gaining fast
wealth. These groups transformed into corrupted schools of planned and
organized corruption. Also, the society and the national economy transformed
into a special farm with a milk cow, whether in the public, mutual or private
sectors. The exploitation was practiced by many legal or above legal forms,
starting from the exorbitant brokerage and terminating by protecting the
Mafia's of smugglers or joining them. As well as, exploiting financial
benefits, participating the private sector, snatching
shares, tributes, stealing, bribing, plus, monopolizing the public contracts,
using the public services as if the country is a private property, beside
uncountable ways of plundering the nation's fortune. The authority transformed
into real Mafioso groups, stacked circles from the bottom to the top and
vice-versa. The nearest circles to the center of political, economical and
social decision's fabrication in the authority, Party, military and security
institutions, are the more powerful and dominating. There was a comprehensive
structural penetration through all the cultural, economical and social
organizations. Besides, the grade of familial and tribal relation, especially,
the ruling elite, became a greatly effective way to strengthen the Mafia's
control, vertically and horizontally.
This Octopus of multiple
hands and forms, of harmonious activities or competing ones represents the
parasite leech that sucks up the blood, sweat and efforts of the real creators
of the nation's fortune. These individual and organized Mafias were not hidden
but worked openly with no shame. Every day the exalted palaces are built and
the luxurious cars fill the streets and roads of the country, whether for
personal or public use. In many cases, more tragic accidents happen because of
these cars, which are driven by the officials or their children, with fast
speed and disregarding any traffic law. With complete astonishment, people
watched, helplessly, this show-off phenomenon of wealth and power, which in
most cases of aggravation, people imitated those upper groups forming a farce
frame of the origin.
Moreover, we can refer to
the smuggled money of unimaginable quantities, whether smuggled by the Syrian
whales of Bureaucracy or the private sector. Although many Foreign or Arab
newspapers issued and still mention numbers of billion dollars, unfortunately,
we do not have exact certified numbers. Many Syrian personalities had a
smuggled fortune of billions of dollars, like Refa'at Assad, the brother of the
former president, whose stolen fortune by force and on the expense of people
reached once 7 billion US dollars.
Intentionally or not, this
demagogy completely ignores the difference between the settling corruption,
which runs like the blood in the veins of the Syrian bureaucracy, and the
mentioned Mafia. Unlike the existing corruption in any other place according to
the political or social or economical system or other marginal extents, the
corruption in our country became a fundamental prevailed phenomenon that
organizes the conduct and values of the authority and the society. The equality
between the major and the secondary is a very old method that was used to
justify the wrong, the evil and the crime in any personified form. It is a
misleading method to delude the dialogue and loosen the solid base of the
opposition. A well-known proverb in Arabic says: "Everything for the Arabs
is one kind of soap", which means the actual cancellation between the real
and the superficial recognition. In our country, the corruption is not just a
settling fundamental phenomenon, but has widths and depths to the extent that
there is not one field, institution or organization, which does not suffer from
that. Our corruption is different from any other partial corruption that might
occur in such a field or such an extent or such a time.
In addition to corruption,
the misleading demagogy ignores the difference between closed and open
societies. There are democratic societies that admit the other opinion and the
contradicting benefits. These societies have the mechanism of discovering the
individual or the groups' corruption, unmask and settle the account with the
corrupted, legally and politically, whether they are individuals, a Party, an
organization or a firm.
The democratic societies
create the climate and the suitable provisions for narrowing the sphere of
corruption by the cultivation mechanism and other social mechanisms, like the
groups of protecting the customers, the uprightness of judiciary system and
authority, legal mechanisms that investigate the fortunes and governmental or
non-governmental incomes. The admitted contradictions of economical, social and
political benefits in the open societies beside the huge open information play
a great role to uncover the scandals, defame and calls
for facing them. This is what I call the morals that result from the objective
pressures of the contradicting benefits and the fear of their negative effects.
The contrary happens in the
closed societies, especially the totalitarian ones, where the corruption is
protected and hidden for a long time. The reasons for this long-term corruption
start from secrecy and lack of information, and end with the settled fear and
other diseases of totalitarian repression, like denying the other and canceling
the independence of the civil society and its organizations. In this case, not
many fingers, which clearly and openly point-out the corruption, could be found
because it is possible to cut them off. According to the continuity of its benefits,
only the authority has the jurisdictions to follow corruption, renew itself,
organize its entity and maintain its ragged cover. This means that the
authority has the right to unmask the corrupted powers and the abusers of the
mind, soul and power of the nation. It is the authority that can open the file
of corruption and determine its extent and when to close it, so that the
structure would not collapse all together.
A quick look at the
practices of the Syrian authority, during the past three decades, can confirm
all what we mentioned. The file of corruption was opened several times,
starting from the years 1976-1977 up to present, but each time it was closed
before termination. In other words, the file was closed before approaching the
main heads of corruption and the real Mafia, or who were called Big Fish or
Whales. There was an exception at the beginning of the year 2000, the last time
that the file of corruption was opened, thus, the Prime Minister and some
others were approached, then the file was quickly closed. The Syrian nation
still hopes and it is its right to hope that this file would be opened again.
Until now, the authority did not present any justifications other than the need
and necessity for the centers of powers, the new position of the authority and
the "old guards".
The demagogic authority
calls the defects, the gaps of the successful revolution that have the ability
for self-clearance. I believe that the actual remainder of the
"revolution" had become rusty, as most intellectuals say, a long time
ago, after
As for the social level,
the authority still talks about the social justice, and while discussing the
economical reformation it regards the social problem. It is impossible to
imagine social justice in a generalized totalitarian repression, which denies
the masses' participation in making decisions, deprives the nation of its
rights and freedoms, cancels the parties and overcomes the media, education and
culture. If we consider that the existence and continuity of the authority are
the main measures for sketching the policies, then talking about the social
justice is not more than an empty demagogy, which breaks once it approaches the
Syrian actual reality. The reports and the comparison between
The neutral reports confirm
that the middle-class or the small bourgeois, which was the womb of the regime,
suffers from corruption on all the levels, the economical, the social, the
political and the moral one. Also, the reports and interposition of the various
forums clarified that three fourth of the national wealth is monopolized by a
little group from the top of the authority. The rest of the nation, mostly,
lives in continuous search for earning the minimum of survival. The position of
It was necessary to
concentrate on the social justice because this slogan or its alternative
"the social democracy" had always been repeated to face the political
democracy. Hiding behind the social justice was an essential introduction to
cancel the political democracy. During the entire 20th century, we have heard
enough varieties of this speech. Today, we witness the speech's deterioration
and the decline of its experiments. Thus, the crucial factors are in the
history and the Syrian reality, which related to each other and accorded at the
end. One communist newspaper of the Syrian front's Party issued after the
collapse of the socialist experiences the following: "what lessons do we
need from this descent?" "Facing the political democracy by the
social democracy without perceiving that an isolated one could not be
guaranteed without the other means, as a result, sacrificing both of them"(6).
To tell the truth, the
result is identical with what happened in
Another social problem was, the authority's politicizing of all the masses'
organizations, transferring them away from the real nature of their goals and
considering the struggle to achieve these goals a crime. Due to the authority's
point of view, the real role of these organizations was to consolidate its
policy, defend it and propagate for its justifications about the actual retreat
of living and human rights. The famous clause of Lenin "Labor Associations
should struggle against their own authority", had
gone. If the problem of politicizing the organizations and associations is
accepted, abandoning their economical and social role is unaccepted because, in
this case, we would have annexed organizations and authority's associations.
This rejected position happened in
The citizenship and human
rights are worse in
As for the associations and
organizations, the right of collective negotiation about the salaries is
deprived, but it is available in the private sector. One of the real human
social problems is related to the thousands of people, who were deprived of
their civil and political rights according to the incriminations of the
Totalitarianism, in
During the Shishekli time,
any restricted interference with the affairs of an association or a sports club
or a cultural forum was firmly condemned. Now, the interference became memories
from the past because every gathering organization is a part of the authority
structure.
A wounded citizen in a
strike against the authority was a shame for the authority and a declaration of
war. Today, the strike against the authority became a memory from the past as
well, as long as no one has the courage to think about it. Tens and more people
died by torture in the basements of security or later in the prisons without
any reactions. The worst matter in the totalitarian repression is the
disparagement of the human life and soul, and disrespect for the sacred right
of the human creature in living. The "scarcity of life" term does not
exist in the totalitarian dictionary. For example, the Massacre of Palmyra
prison in 27.06.1980 by Ref'at Assad, if there was a bit of respect for law,
human rights and the sacred right of living, could that ever happen?
We would refer to one law
of the state security directory, which is hidden and prohibited. The Law of the
Legislative decree No. 549, dated 25.05.1969, which included in the Article No.
74 the following:
"It is prohibited to
pursue any employee of the State Security Department, whether deputized,
seconded or directly contracted, due to crimes which result from the job, or during resuming it, before he is remitted to the
disciplinary council of the department and issuing a pursuing order from the
director". This was our constitution, and we know what really happened,
thus, we expect that this constitution would be placed in the museum of
history, so that the coming generations would know what sort of grandfathers
they had.
Not only striking became a
memory from past, but also everything that had a relation with political rights
and freedoms. Why not? As long as totalitarianism includes everything, there is
no meaning to talk about free elections, voting, sovereignty of the nation, power of the law or the peaceful alternation of authority.
During three decades, all these expressions were not necessary, plus, three
generations had no idea about them.
Also, we need to refer to
the social position of the governing elite and the main officials in the
military and security institutions. In spite of differences, both political
totalitarian systems of
If we regard this
testimony, then we should consider this subject and look for the responsible
one about the mechanism of exceeding the democratic scheme. One phenomenon of
the totalitarian system features is the inheritance of government, like in
The mentioned phenomenon
transformed the nation into an audience who watched a play in a theater. The
masses became like a stupid witness of his own future,
who cannot decide nor has the right to do anything about it. Furthermore, this
phenomenon spread into the front, so, it became normal to find the children or
wives succeed in leading the commissions of their fathers or husbands, the same
spread into the ministry ranks. This phenomenon clarifies that there are no
qualified cadres other than the responsible commissions and their relatives.
Anyhow, the lack of qualified people is the responsibility of the previous
commissions.
On a mutual level, between
judiciary, associations and politics, a statement signed by 70 lawyers included
demands, which showed clearly the bad position of the judicial system and the
association of the lawyers. The demands concerned the termination of the state
of emergency, the release of general freedoms and issuing a law for the parties
that organizes the political life in
4 - On the Economical
Level:
All the economical experts,
inside or outside, have unanimity that the Syrian economy has a structural
crisis. A lot had been said about the real reasons of the crisis, its features
and the destructive results, but we are mainly concerned with what relates to
totalitarianism and its resulting factors. In fact, the public sector was the
fundamental base for the rise and growth of bureaucratic bourgeois through many
ways of legal and illegal theft, which are known for everybody. The ruling
bureaucratic authority used these methods to create political loyalties by a
series of services and gifts, which included free housing, free telephone,
personal car and others. The services equal an income of at least 30 thousand
Syrian Pounds per person. This is a simple example of the present positions,
which most suffering people watch and witness around.
During the past three
decades, the Syrian bureaucracy made endless efforts to redistribute the
incomes in a way that contradicted every law or legitimacy or tradition or
logic. In spite of all the reformation steps in the country, the authority
continued the redistribution of incomes in its queer way. We would refer to one
present example about the Mobile Phone Company or companies, which monopolize
the whole cash inflow. Actually, this immoral conduct led us to this dark
horizon, or the closed one.
The public sector includes
real contradictions of ideological or political or social attitudes, such as,
the attitude that guarantees the continuity of this sector. The same is applied
for the government, Party and associations' bureaucracy and the word
"Bureaucracy" in general with limited differences that relate to the
grade of bureaucracy and other reasons of ideological or social or political
reference. The public sector was and still represents the social and economical
capital of bureaucracy, plus, the real creator of its privileges, fortunes and dominating
presence.
On the other hand, the left
in general, especially the dogmatic left, supports the existence of this
sector. Without a necessary review for its existence and function, the left
believes in the necessity of reforming the public sector on all levels,
especially, the technological and the administrative levels. In general, the
bourgeois groups call for liberating the public sector because of its bad
position, high costs and permanent loss. The fact is that the bourgeois are not
interested in exceeding these defaults of the public sector but to get rid of
it and have control over the economy of the country. Usually, classes and
groups look for their own benefits rather than the benefit of the country.
Other political and social groups call for complete review of the public
sector's concept and the role in any economical planning or in achieving the
social and economical development. Thus, the public sector should neither be
canceled nor just reformed but should have a role within the whole historical
development because the governmental sector has to exist. Actually, the
elements and consistencies of the public sector have to be, completely, studied
with its interior structure too.
The national left groups
that have an open criticizing attitude instead of the classical dogmatic
well-known attitude that adheres to the government however it is, support this comprehensive criticizing review. Probably,
the left bourgeois groups, as well, stand to this side. In all cases, the
social matter and the social function, in addition to the economical function
of the public sector remain essential and deep in all its discussions, which
will affect its containment, function and future. Whether declared or not, the
necessity for a dialectical relation between the social and the economical role
of the public sector should be improvised. Thus, this sector would be able to
function, effectively, for the comprehensive development and exceed the dark
horizon, plus, launch into real commencement away from superficial, restricted
ideology and egoist-narrowed benefits.
I would like to refer here
that I do not know where the laborers of this sector stand? Who are the actual
producers of fortunes, whose strive and fatigue is stolen? Theoretically and
historically, the laborers are supposed to stand to the side of the government
sector and strengthen it. This supposition might not, necessarily, accord with
reality or differ to what we have seen before the collapse of other
totalitarian systems from the attitude of proletarian bureaucracy and the
well-known dogmatic left.
5 - The Information and
Cultural Level:
The first procedure of the
totalitarian dominating systems is monopolizing the other opinion and marketing
the monist one. Obviously, this system would eliminate the newspapers,
magazines and other media means of political and cultural tendency. This is
what the Syrian government accomplished perfectly. Months ago, there were no
independent political newspapers in
In spite and because of
this severe block that continued for more than a quarter of a century,
satellites increased and the citizens were thrown open to the world. Still, the
Internet remained limited, supervised and controlled by the security
institutions, which closed every hole that they did not feel comfortable with,
whether political, social or historical. In spite of all the promises to
increase the Internet lines and to decline the control, a continuous old-new
war goes on between the authority and the users of the Internet. This reminds
us of Stalin's attitude at the beginning of the 20ies in
We are in front of dual
fear, first, a tragic fear that caries the country because of the authority and
its practices, especially, the security institutions, which control and
interfere with everything, and secondly, the fear of the authority from the
masses. What hopes could be expected from the destroying terror of a
frightened, decayed and let out nation, and an authority that suffers day and
night from the hallucinations of security?
Days ago,
"It might be necessary
to repeat that the spring of Damascus is still in its beginnings. The attempt
to achieve unanimity agreement and national unity does not belong to the
society of a "parrot" and mono side official speech, but to the world
of political and economical plurality and multiple cultural visions'(9). Thanks to Salamah for this confession
that the intended spring is the spring of plurality. Agreement and national
union are endeavors to be accomplished. Thus, the claims of the authority are
only justifications. Imposing orders from above by force and fear is completely
different from executing them, normally, by the base with deep
self-satisfaction. Accordingly, it is not surprising that the Syrian citizen
neglects the information of the authority, entirely, and looks for other
sources to obtain the news, information and analysis, especially, that which
relate to the interior position of
The methods of information
means, which consolidated the memory loss and brainwash, were numerous.
Wherever you go in
In addition, the intensive
presence included all ceremonies, processions, scientific weeks and culture,
inauguration of constructions and festivals. Without any exception, all the
occasions were presented in the official media under the care of the president.
Thus, his presence and, later on his family, was
obvious and accepted without discussion. The official title of the president
was mentioned with the addition of "the struggler", which is
reasonable and accepted, but once protocol is exceeded, the span is open for
literal and radical rebuking composition that could not be imagined or accepted.
Furthermore, some flatterers would complain from the language deficiency to
describe the president's glory. Besides, the history and biography of the
president was rewritten and his present was reflected on his past, thus, each
step of his life was prior and logical that led into another spontaneous step.
Since his birth, he was described as unique and distinguished person in all the
measures. These images were presented by visions that could only create of him
the first leader of his Party and the struggling movement of
The same ways were applied
to deal with his eldest son and his tomb, later on. The ways
reached to unbelievable and non-logical extents when the grave of the son was
transformed into a permanent pilgrimage to be visited by the official and
unofficial delegations from inside and outside the country to present their
obligations of respect and glorifying, or rather sanctifying. Anyhow, it
is necessary to say that these aspects retreated, noticeably, in the new age of
presidency.
In all cases, the Syrian
official media did not reach the imaginary and legendary extents that
The Syrian media, greatly,
lacked the human spirit, the spirit of criticism and citizenship, or the
objective spirit and the minimum limit of credibility. The most dangerous thing
is the reduction of history, country, nation and authority in one person. All
the other institutional, social and individual presence loose the meaning of
their existence and value, and if they were found. They obtain their presence
from the worshiped person, they live to serve him and feel proud to be his
folks and execute his will that could not be rejected or discussed. The
dangerous thing is that everything in life became a gift from the authority,
which is personified with excellence, and a favor that should not be fed up of
repeating praises and thanks day and night. Simply, this means that the
reality, the rights of the citizens and the power of the masses are forgotten.
There were no rights to be obtained but not less or more than graces that are
given from above. In brief, the nation was transformed into a folk and a
subject of the personified authority's will. Retaining the
self-individuality and collectivity, and the training for citizenship need more
freedom, wisdom, courage and time. According to the close connection of
culture with politics and media, what culture could be imagined in such
totalitarian systems, whether related to the cultural institutions or being an
expression of consciousness, values, morals and art?
This is a testimony from
the writer and the poet Shauki Bagdadi. He talked about the negatives of the
Arab Union of Writers that was transferred, gradually, from a cultural
organization into a political organization annexed to the authority in most of
its directions and ideas. All its possibilities of multiple ideas and attitudes
are hidden and melted in one opinion and one attitude. Then Bagdadi proceeded
about the killing of creativeness except in rare cases(10).
Again, the problem is the
authority's politicization of social, cultural and professional organizations.
Consequently, we have the problem of dependency and the destruction of
creativity. Once the position of culture is deteriorated, what can we expect
other than the domination of demagogical and ideological speech and the mono
official political speech? Freedom is the essence of creativity, so, creativity
is assassinated by repression. Kawakebi said about despotism the following:
"Despotism spoils one of the important two parts of religion, first the
morals, second the worships. Thus, despotism would not approach the second
because it suites its system"(11). Also,
he said "The despotic has no fear of religious sciences, which relate to
what is repeated and specified with what connects the person and his God,
because they do not eliminate stupidity or exclude haze". Besides,
"The autocrats are scared of other sciences of life, such as, the
theoretical wisdom, the philosophy of mind, the rights of the nations, the
sociological dispositions, the civil policy and others".
Starting from history and
reality, there are sorts of creativeness that exist and flourish in the
totalitarian system. During the last three decades, some of this creativity
flourished in
Even if understandable,
this escape to the past is unacceptable. One side of the historical novel's
creativity is the result of totalitarianism, and in the other sides, the result
of the tragic historical position, which the social, nationalistic and national
matters passe through. The position that transfers to the past to fortify for
facing the present is distressful recoil, which the societies still suffer
from. Probably, the intensive national mind structure of the Arabic
intellectual, especially the Syrian, has a role for this historical fall back,
because the use of history's weapon presents an element, which is more than
just adaptation to totalitarianism. This element accomplishes some individual
and collective self-satisfaction as a psychological reaction, but not a mindful
reaction to the defeated present. Still, because of that too, the absence of
the real narratives, or non-flourishing, which recount our real present, is a
real scandal for the writers and a clear accusation to the totalitarian system,
too. Although some stories talk about the sorrows, grieves and problems of the
current position, yet, they do not represent the prevailing position or are not
the prominent scenes in the narration.
The instinctive increase of
plastic arts is not only a result of avocations, but a part of it is a way of
self-expression to relieve from the nightmare of repression and the decline of
allowed margins. Today, while
Almost the same could be
noticed in Cinema, Theater, TV and Radio. The movies of nowhere, no-time and
historical fantasias fill the actual present. Accordingly, while the Syrian
drama is flourishing, the realistic films are opposed and rejected. Sometimes,
the works remain inside the drawers for years unseen by the masses. From time
to time, these works might be presented in the international festivals of
cinemas or in private theaters for very limited audience before they are spoiled
or hidden.
The intellectual and
cultural works do not have to indicate anything meaningful or useful because
they can only relate to history or other fields or complete theories. Thus,
anyone can talk about freedom as a form of living in other people's world,
also, about despotism but outside the Syrian frontiers and never inside. Still,
the censorship must be sure that the writer is restricted to theoretical range
without reference to the tangible and absolute position of the political
repression and without demanding anything related to it. The official speech
considers the actual totalitarian system is a democratic nationwide system in
which the unique real liberty is prevailed. Consequently, the system and its
representatives consider themselves unrelated to despotism because they are
democratic and free according to their own way, which is the best
and only true way, plus, being a pioneering way. It is not the problem of the
regime that the others comprehend and analyze the position differently, but, beware
of declaring, and watch out for the personal, private and what relates to the
system.
The political caricature,
for example, is an excellent satirical criticizing art. Still, it is so
difficult to find one caricature about the policies of the Syrian system in the
Syrian newspapers. The political field of
The attitude of the
political totalitarian system from the cultural aspects is similar to the
attitude of despotism from religion, as Kawakebi mentioned. As long as it does
not approach the fields that the system considers prohibited or sacred, the
culture can come closer to other fields with the demanded attention and care. But,
what would the culture do if sooner or later it would face a clash with the
totalitarian nightmare? Culture is a criticizing, open, deep and artistic
mental creativity that aims for reshaping life in a democratic human and
logical vision, which establishes the bases of the most honorable human values,
like right, welfare, beauty, love and others. If culture is so, then it has to
have a safe distance from any political system. Thus, what is the position of
culture if the political system is totalitarian?
In brief, we can say that
under the conditions of totalitarianism creativity might find an escape in
certain fields, but its scheme would be narrow, fragile and full of danger.
Other than that, there are related fields to the political mind, the philosophy
of ruling and the catastrophic results in the society, plus, the matters of
freedoms, duties and the dominating practices. Indulging in any aspect of the
mentioned matters is a great risk.
Finally, we have to mention
that this research treats the past period in the actual present time.
Therefore, many of the above mentioned prohibitions and fears have been
exceeded to the extent that it became allowed to release partial freedom of
speech, which is restricted by many red lines and authority's sacredness.
__________
Footnotes:
1) I mean the
"Totalitarian" system, which means the "whole" system. I
preferred the first because it is easier to be spelled and more used.
2) In regard to the
execution or non-execution of judgments, the executive power decides this, but
the presidency has the last decision, including the canceling of sentences.
3) The law No. 36 added the
term of "military weapons" on
4) "Nidal Al
Sha'ab" newspaper, the mouthpiece of the Syrian communist Party's central
commission, No. 602, 31.3.2001, p. 13.
5) This does not mean that
the totalitarian current regime is a normal continuity to the established
authority of
6) "Nidal Al
Sha'ab" newspaper, previous source, p. 5.
7) From the lecture of Dr.
Azmi Besharah "The Reality and Mind of the Civil Society, A Middle-Eastern Reading". This lecture is the last
chapter of his book about the civil society in general, edition of the
publication of a citizen in
8) "Nidal Al
Sha'ab" newspaper, previous source, p. 11.
9) Al Thawra newspaper,
10) Al Muharer Al Arabi
newspaper, No. 285, from the 10th till
11) Abed Al Rahman AL
Kawakebi, "The Disposition of Despotism", Dar Al Sharq Al Arabi, 4th
edition, p. 102.
CH
4
An
Entrance to Read "Plurality"
Abdel Razaq Eid(*)
Introduction:
"Plurality" as a
philosophical concept considers all that exist are combined of many-isolated
equivalent constitutes, which cannot belong into one single source. On the
contrary, the concept of 'Monism' indicates that the base behind all existence
is one source. The opinions about plurality were the base of the Monad theory
for Leibinz. Monad refers to the unified fundamental structure of existence,
which was once the essence of the world, and once, the only source of being.
According to Leibinz, the Monad is a simple closed unchangeable essence.
Therefore, plurality is
used in the field of sociology, as a base for denying the single limited
principal for the society. Plurality tends to present for the world a vision
that exceeds monism, which might be a materialistic or idealistic vision. While
the materialistic monism indicates that the materials are the essence of the
world, the idealistic monism considers the soul or the idea as the fundamental
essence. According to the classical Marxist definitions, the philosophy of
G.W.F Hegel has the most idealistic trend toward monism; consequently,
dialectical materialism starts from the reality which points out that world's
nature is materialistic and all its phenomena are various forms of moving
material. This materialism of Marxist philosophy extends to the social
phenomena as well(1).
Considering the former
theories, plurality in the Arab Islamic knowledgeable unconsciousness becomes
within two frames, the frame of the one and only vision of God, where any
plurality is polytheism and paganism, and the frame of leftist ideology
(nationalism and Marxism). Nationalism regards the nation as one unified
essence and absolute soul above place and time, as a closed spiritual
unchangeable Monad, hence being immortal and absolute, it is clarified in
"immortal mission" for one Arab nation of one fundamental identity
and language with specific knowledge and merciful faith(2).
After Marxism became
"Soviet", Stalin turned it into a collection of
"commandments" in his book " The
Fundamentals of Lenin", which is one of the most famous spread books. This
book seems to be the main source, or the only one, for the communists who came
after the establishment of the commune and the beginning of attracting the
international communist parties into the soviet monism center. Marxism, thus,
could not produce more than a mono trend of knowledge level to replace the
religious monotheism or to argue with it and in most cases,
Marxism had a magical metempsychosis effect. Therefore, the human history
becomes a personification of its definite existence that moves according to one
universal law, the "class conflict", which would definitely lead, in
every place and time, to a united human society where plurality and variety are
canceled. According to Stalinic reading of Marxism, plurality and variety
(national, ethic and religious) should be nationalized to the benefit of a
human universal model (Robot). Accordingly, human history would be subjugated
to this mono aim to obligate the human history to become an organized
transition within five forms. So, the multiplicity of paths, the
dissimilarities of specifications, the methods of development and the transfer
from one combination to another, is a heresy that harms the unity of the human
development!
This general introduction
requires investigating the nucleus, which rejects the principal of ideological,
cultural and political plurality in the Syrian society, as well as, finding its
representation in some historical periods, which could be described as liberal
and some other marginal achievements that mixed with ideological-political
trends (Islamic - Nationalist - Marxist).
Rejecting Nucleus -
episteme:
In general, the French
Encyclopedia defines Plurality as a multiplicity of ideologies and directions
in different political, social, economical and religious fields.
Philosophically, plurality is being defined against monism, whereas the truth
is formed independently and unable to be abbreviated into a single principle(3).
Robert Dictionary adds that
plurality comes from variable combinations of beings, specified and unbound to
absolute truth. Plurality is the political system that depends on many means of
organizational multiplicity. The Larousse considers the concept of plurality as
a political, social, economical and others, which admits the multiplicity and
the variety of opinions and directions. On the philosophical level, plurality
is a doctrine, which only adopts compound single structures inside the world(4).
The philosophical Soviet
Encyclopedia criticizes plurality because it is against the materialistic mono
source of existence according to the previous concepts and later definitions,
which confirm the social, political and economical plurality. Besides, plurality
starts from rejecting the absolute truth and requires the admittance of
relativity, moreover, the recognition of the single being as a rational sane
and the owner of his life, body and mind. The ownership of life, body and mind
will produce the liberty of thinking and expression that enriches the
self-initiated creativity. The free human would develop the concept of
"objection &contradiction" that establishes the social and
cultural plurality, whereas, variety is the essence of dialectic. Dialectic is
the origin of nature, progress and creativity(5).
Without doubts, all these
concepts would lead to a free liberal system. Also, "objection &
contradictions" as an equal concept of plurality would be the result of
long liberal history which formed Stewart Mill's book "In the Freedom",
which had an international and Arabic reputation as the writings of Ahmed Lutfi
Al Saeid, Taha Hussein and Mohammed Hasanain Haykal indicated(6).
The first Arabic liberal
approach to the concept of plurality in the pattern of freedom and an
epistemological knowledgeable vision was by Taha Hussein through his comparison
between East and West. He recognized between two minds, the western
philosophical mind and the eastern religious mind. While he was establishing
for the two intellectual systems, he wanted to enter the world of sociology and
politics to grasp the distinctions between both eastern and western world. Taha
said in his precursor, episteme, book "Leaders of
Thoughts" in 1925: "Greek cities witnessed Royalty, Republic,
Aristocracy, radical and moderate Democracy, which influence is still very
strong in
Why this plurality system
of governing and the liberty of individuals and groups in
"Because, the Greek
life, which at the beginning yield to poetry then, obeyed the mind had the most fruitful life that the human being ever
knew in the
That is how Taha Hussein
presents to us two knowledgeable systems, which are formed in two patterns:
mind and poetry, plurality and monism.
Mind = philosophy = liberty
= variable and changeable political systems
(Royalty-
Republic- Aristocracy- Democracy) meaning Plurality.
Poetry = priesthood =
prophet-hood = religion = unchangeable absolute
Royalty = despotism,
meaning Monism.
The approach of Taha
Hussein might be one of the first significations in the Arabic text about the
epistemological mind, which is a system of thinking
and a device of knowledge. Thus, due to the epistemological concept, mind is
not the thinking nor knowledge but the mechanism that organizes thoughts and knowledge(9).
According to this
epistemological understanding of the structure of mind, society and authority,
the rejecting nucleus of plurality whether eastern, Arabic or Islamic is the
mythical magical monist vision of the world and history.
Liberalism/ Plurality:
Before the union with
We will go back to the
National Mass, being the unification of various national
willpower to defeat the French Colony. The National Mass included the
People's Party without its head Abed Al Rahman Al Shahbandar, who represented
the nationalist liberal secular tendency and was the most prominent radical
representative. Other people might say that the formation of the National Mass
was, indirectly, pointed against Al Shahbandar, who was obliged to live in
exile in
On 19th of October 1927,
the National Mass was founded and marked the beginning of a new era of peaceful
struggle and the end of armed fight. The supporters of the peaceful struggle
held a conference in Beirut called "the National Conference of
Beirut", which founded the National Mass that led a peaceful struggle from
1928 to 1945(11).
Actually, the National Mass
formed the historical base for the Syrian liberality. With the foundation of the
Mass, the main weight of the national movement was transferred from suburbs to
cities. The national movement was composed of armed fighting groups, rural
leaderships, civil parties and political leaderships, which were formed by the
elite of cities' rich people, the growing industrial and commercial bourgeois,
middle class and educated people. In this climate, the political history
founded the start of the civil society's organizations, the recognition of
Plurality and the peaceful alternation of authority before the military coups
d`etat. Later on, after the dissolution of the National Mass it was divided
into two big Parties that peacefully competed for the authority: the People's
Party and National Party. That happened in year 1947 after the shocking death
of Sa'adallah AL Jaberi on
In this context, the civil
political practice, the recognition of plurality and the alternation of
authority did not lead after the explosion of the National Mass into attacks,
arrestments and eliminations. That period was unlike what
The political conflict and
the turn into governmental or parliamentary legitimacy falsify the conclusions
of some Orientalists like, Jack Burke who says that the severe recognition
(personal ideological splits) replaces the original voluntary national will.
Seal talks about plurality, which ruled the wide political gatherings that were
known in the Arab world. He expressed that the national impulse in any Arab
region was inclined to establish a broad heterogeneous gathering, such as,
National Mass in
Max Faber found that the
administrative revolution (bureaucracy), which applied the principle of labor's
social division as a practice of rationalism, was not less than the industrial revolution that replaced the old tools of production by the
vapor machines. Therefore, the administrative revolution should be considered a
fundamental transition for the powers of production, where the three ideal
models of the triple authority, as Faber suggested were found: the
legal-rational authority, the classical authority and the aureole authority(15).
Liberalism that founded the
political-rational authority in the political life of
After the elections of 1947,
Shukri Al Kuatli, who desired to renew his election, wanted to take the chance
of Sa'adallah Al Jabri's death, the Prime minister who opposed the desire of
the president, to present the draft law for reforming Article No.68 of the
constitution. The adjustment of the constitution caused the collapse of the
Syrian parliamentary system after 14 months. This condition remained until
Khaled Al Azem came from
This means that the Syrian
political liberality, National Mass, People's Party and National Party, through
establishing a new modern administrative system, based on legal-rational
authority, permitted a person, who did not belong to counterpoises of political
and parliamentary masses, to form a ministry more than once. Besides, he was
appointed the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Supply. Unlike the
dominating principle of loyalty nowadays, the Syrian political liberality gave
chances according to the principal of qualification. Thus, there is no justice
to consider the splits and conflicts through the period of independence as a
type of severe distinctions that replaced the original nationality as Jack
Burke thought. In fact, the liberal ruling system depended on these anti
national distinctions instead of a legal-rational, civil and modern system in
its legal and administrative structure. If the conflicts of the liberal system
leaned on personal, ideological and local factors, it would not have permitted
the first military coups d`etat, nor their later revolutionary coups d`etat,
or, the military rural domination, last of all. Moreover, It
would not have accepted a system that rejected the natural history of society,
which grew through civil and legal organizations that based on national
concordances, plurality of political parties and ballot boxes, which were
distorted into a Muppet show to watch the parliaments' moving dummies inside.
Liberalism/ The Miserable Mind:
The best theoretical model
of the Syrian liberal mind is Abd Al Rahman Al Shahbandar. He combined between
the practical and theoretical practice through his political roles since the
first government during King Faisal's era when he was the Minister of Foreign
Affairs. This interpenetration explains the executive function of his writings.
Al Shahbandar wrote "The Grand Social Affairs in the Arab World",
which was published as essays in Al Moktataf magazine during the thirties, then
printed in a book in 1936.
The book had an executive
function because it included an educative work program, which was meant for
performance. The writer tried to form a vision of a governing system that
accorded with the needs of the Syrian and Arabic society. The book was not only
directed to the Syrian readers, but to all Arabs. It was printed in
Mental misery could be
inspired through Al Shahbander's speech, which merges between plurality and
monism, parliamentary and Kamali experience, admiration of Democracy and the
attraction to the national socialist models (Fascism & Nazism). Without
doubt, the text was written before Nazism and Fascism uncovered the
catastrophes, which led the world into it. Through the rising of Nazism and
fascism, they intersected with the Turkish Kamali renaissance that was
considered as a life after death.
The Kamali rise differed
from Fascism and Nazism because "it did not only overcome the government
and nation that were headed by Caliph, who pounded to inherited cults, but
also, it achieved a magnificent victory at war. It won a war against a foreign
country supported with alliances, mainly,
Al Shahbandar admired the
Kamali's renovated fight in all the religious, social and legislative fields,
as well as, the abandonment of most conservative systems, which were related to
personal affairs, like marriage, divorce and inheritance. Thus, all the former
aspects were replaced by the latest modern systems that progressed in the west
with a little adjustment.
Moreover, Al Shahbandar
considered the Kamali's experiment as a model and a proof against those
"who claimed that the revolution has no advantages". He wondered that
"if the nationalists yield to Caliph Mohammed the 6th and his government,
and accepted the terrible humiliating 'Sever convention', then where would be
the Turks today? What would the corrupted
Certainly, it is possible
to sacrifice plurality for the benefit of oneness and democracy for the sake of
dictatorship by the name of fast achievement. Meaning, to
sacrifice the constitutional legitimacy by the name of the revolutionary
legitimacy. That is how the Arabic system became. It seems that
Shahbandar's questions were to establish the Syrian and Arabic political
systems. Moreover, he assisted to sketch the political-intellectual spectacle
of
In the next step, while Al
Shahbandar praised the Kamali's revolutionary experience he entitled his
scheduled intentions directly in "The Best Forms of Governing in the Arab
World". He explained clearly that "people should insist on the
correct parliamentary form that based on free election". This form suited
the countries of "restricted independence by mandatory or protection and
other ways of foreign interference with their own affairs". On the other
hand, if the Arab country is completely independent, then, the best way was to
be governed by a "fair Autocrat" who would save the country from
anarchism, especially, in the countries that were not familiar with the
constitutional affairs as in our regions. Although
Al Shahbandar was an
intellectual and a worker. He used the mind with the support of experience and
reality. Actually, the Algerian experience proved the correctness of the
parliamentary experience because people could impose their representatives on
the colonialist. When the government refused the representatives, the people
re-elected them again. In
Through experience, Al
Shahbandar presented a comparison between two conditions in Arab history, which
were before and after the constitution of 1908. People had their worst times
during the nightmare rule of Sultan Abed Al Hameed. They thought that after
declaring the constitution, obtaining free election and liberty of speech, they
would become satisfied and alive. In fact, reality showed that the free election
allowed the commoners to fill the parliamentary council and transform the
dangerous political affairs of the state into an investigation about women's
veil, size, style and thickness of the material. Therefore, it was a great
disaster to have the ignorant crowd and the commoners rule the elite(18).
What to do if plurality
would lead to the quantitative multiplicity on the expense of the qualified
elite?
Abd Al Aziz Ben Sauod chose
the oneness of quality. Soon, Sauod's Bedouinism shocked the democratic nationalist
educated liberal individuals. Sauod was neither a Mussolini nor a Kamal
Ataturk. If that wise king was brought up according to modern cultivation and
the influence of renaissance he would not have lost the chance of Arab leaders
gathering around him and using his privileged independence as the center to
spread the Arab propaganda for the whole world. Unfortunately, all the Arabic
efforts to make him rise had failed(19).
Then, what would be the
choice if plurality leads to the domination of the ignorant multiplicity and
monism, which presented one model of ignorant retarded Bedouin dictatorship?
This question would be
asked again, but with a more theoretical and refined level, to Yaseen Al Hafez.
He looked for the historical reconciliation among the heritage of the liberal
enlightenment, without its economical period, the Nasseri trend, as a model of
nationalist revolution and Socialism, as a prospect for the future.
Marxism/ The
Enlightenment:
At the same period, Saleem
Khayatah wrote from a different nationalist attitude. He had a leftist
democratic nationalist attitude that belonged to the Syrian-Lebanese communist
movement before establishing the subsidiary Commune in 1936.
At that time, the leftist
magazine, Al Talee'ah, which was initiated by the communist Party, was
establishing for a continuous relation among the renaissance mind, Arab
enlightenment and the Social Arab movement, which did not yet produce the distinctions
between communism and Al Ba'ath Party. It was the same period when the pioneers
of socialist thoughts were producing socialist beliefs, illuminations and
revivals full of national and nationalist spirits. That was before the
communist party joined the communes and the policy of alliances, which led the
communist party, later, to ally with the French colony by the excuse of
defeating Nazism and Fascism. Actually, Saleem's writings were the result of
starting the subsidiary relation with the Soviet policy and a response for the
policy of alliances, which were suggested by the Soviet external diplomatic
school.
During the thirties, the
movement of Arab enlightenment raised and ended with the termination of the
Second World War. Al Talee'ah magazine attempted to reach the main enlightened
intellectual Arab individuals, with hope to become deepened in the history of
the national education. That hope was not allowed by the classes of communism
nor Ba'ath nationalists or Islamic religious fanatics.
Saleem's Marxists attitude,
which was nationally enlightened before the communes of communism confiscated
it, hoped to make Marxism an expansion of renaissance. Also, he wanted Marxism
to be methodical, rather than signs and rituals, as what occurred, later on,
when the Arab socialist movement transferred from composing into translating
from Dar Al Takadom. The final resignation of the local Marxist mentality
abandoned creativity for the sake of the big communist comrade, Stalin.
Actually, Saleem was not
directly involved with political actions like, Al Shahbandar. Saleem avoided
the involvement through the matters and systematical problems of the communist
Party as Nicola Shawi, his student and the secretary-general of the Lebanese
communist Party said in his autobiography. Nicola praised his teacher, Saleem,
due to his role for gathering the communist Party, even though, not much
interested with the organizational affairs. Therefore, instead of replacing the
non-Arabic element by Arabic one, Saleem had an intellectual response about
Arabizing the communist Party. He wanted to reproduce a Marxist method,
environment, sphere and way of thinking on a higher level, which exceeded the
present mentality. Thus, the French colony, which perceived his genius mind,
attacked Saleem and his friends lost him because of their fear or envies. So,
for more than 25 years he was not found anywhere(20).
As Taha Hussein did, Saleem
compared between the Eastern and Western mind according to the current
epistemic definition. He said: "The mind is the combination of points of
view, beliefs of thoughts, desires of soul and the methods of achievements and
production in all the different fields of life according to the inspirations of
the combination"(21).
Saleem investigated about
the first moment when the two religions, the Hebraic (Monotheism) and Greek
(Polytheism) split from their origin, the Old Egyptian religion. Accordingly,
the history of both minds was represented by the conflict between monotheism
and plurality, where each time one overcame the other. The turn over of the
Egyptian religion in the east toward monotheism and the immigration of
plurality to
We do not want to agree or
disagree with Saleem's views, whom Sameer Ameen
considered the result of the European Centrality's tendency that sketched a
straight line to connect with
With the concept of
"plurality", the Greek founded a big crowd of Gods, which distributed
authorities among themselves and differentiated each one by his function,
characteristics and symbolism. As a result, there became an integration of life
with its creators. Thus, life became a self-creator, for example: love, lover
and God of love became one. That is how the Greek, due to their plurality,
grasped a truth which the modern scientific mind could not reach more than they
did. It is the idea which indicates that all what concern existence are
included inside the existence and not outside it, besides, the dynamic power of
existence is included within it and comes from it. Therefore, the Greek
religion was a religion of life, reality and nature. There were no inclines to
organizations of class function consisting of clergymen and rulers nor
reconciliation toward supernatural powers. At this point, we reach the theory
of class struggle, which administrates the philosophy of history logic that was
achieved by Marx. Saleem did not present for us the opinions of Marx, but only
explained and interpreted them as the directors of the Stalinic sanctum, who
transferred Marxism and Leninism into an icon.
Saleem's aim in dealing
with "plurality" was not to practice his hobby of thinking but to
reach its causes and results. Mainly, the mind of plurality "gave the
world the inspiration of the Republican system on the political level,
Pythagoras paved the way for Einstein, Euclid and Archimedes paved the way for
Newton and Galileo on the scientific level. On the philosophical level,
Nietzsche was the natural son of Diogenes and Socrates was before Kant and
Tolstoy".
Saleem's Marxist plurality
free mind enabled him to liberate from the later calls for the partiality of philosophy,
or accusing F. Neitzsche and Kant as undeveloped thinkers, according to the
briefs of the soviet philosophical books. Following the broad mentality toward
all human culture on the personal level and national level, Saleem found that
the Arabic mind was still in need for the enlightenment of Kant and Tolestoy
through analyzing socialism which could not be reached by a mind of middle aged
background. Later, Yaseen Al Hafez developed the ideas of Abdullah Al Arwi.
Accordingly, we can perceive the recent modern minds of Saleem Khayatah and
Yaseen Al Hafez.
Actually, Saleem uncovered
most scandals of Nazism and Fascism in his book "Hamiat in the West",
which was written in Arabic language during the thirties. Through his
historical dialectical vision he discovered the essence of Fascism which Al
Shahbandar could not inspire with his liberal nationalist mind. Saleem
considered Fascism "a phenomenon of return to monotheism like, the Fascist
dictatorship, which was based on the concept of one totalitarian absolute
ruling due to the influence of the mono eastern mind in the western countries
nowadays"(23). He concluded his interesting research about monism of the
Arabic mind that it was similar to Hebraic mind, which whenever tended to Greek
plurality, the mind became creative in the fields of philosophy, poetry and
narration (ex. Thousand Nights and a Night) and in science, which distinguished
the east and surpassed the west at that time. Art (sculptures, theatrical
actions, Philharmonic music) was blocked by monism spirit. Finally, after a
long conflict with plurality, the Arabic mind inclined to monotheism and
remains there since more than one thousand years.
Conclusion - from Plurality
to Monotheism:
If we borrow what Saleem
said about the history of human mind, being a conflict between plurality and
monotheism, to apply it for the Syrian modern history, we can say that the
political Syrian mind started comprehending plurality after the declaration of
the constitution in 1908. This means, after 10 centuries of monism. Actually,
That liberal period of
Syrian history, from 1908 to 1958, had its legitimacy based on legal-rational
tendencies, which produced a government of executive and legislative
organizations that renewed its administrative structure. According to Max
Faber, that period was a revolution, which established new schools, political
party's multiplicity, associations, newspapers, a
peaceful alternation of authority and all what insured the legal scheme of the
state and gave a new concept for nationality by considering the individual as a
legal being.
Through this liberal
atmosphere, revolutionary trends were formed and even had the chances to turn
over the constitutional legislation guided by good intentions, urged by world
revolutionary atmospheres and the idea of surpassing stages. This rush made the
nationalist mind worry about the necessity of creating (a nationalist Hero) as
a representative of the capable elite to lead the nation with the vision of a
"Fair Autocrat".
This sort of liberalism,
which began the experience of establishing the core of civil society, social
and political plurality (cultural, intellectual and partiality) started under
the colonial domination that restrained the national and nationalist prospects.
That is why the revolutionary legitimacy relied, at the beginning, on the real
national will through Nasseri charisma, then turned
into the comprehensive charisma of Abd Al Nasser's successors, who repeated his
procession in a tragic way. It seemed that those who came later fulfilled
Hegel's triple theory of same repeated history and repeated their predecessors'
conduct in a caricatured form.
Going back to monism and
gradual greed for authority through developing despotism, liberality became a
nostalgic wound. Due to all national and nationalist defeats and rulers'
meanness, which transferred the countries into farms, the Nasseri moment was
recalled because it represented a necessary symbolic capital for the
nationalist dignity, virtue and decency.
Many factors affected
people's longing for the past because of the constitutional manipulation of
authority and legislation, as well as, the retreat and fade of society by the
dominant state. Also, the government released all the legitimate forms and
descended into an authority of piracy and group of thieves, besides, it
transformed the parties' plurality into multiplicity of copies. Moreover, the
praising ruling Party reincarnated through caricatured plurality in the form of
a Progressive National Front. All these occurrences made the yearning for the
past the only prospect of people as long as the future seemed to be gloomy.
This yearning is not only the hope of Islamic minds (revelation moment), but
also the nationalist, liberal and Marxist minds. However, the utmost paradox is
the attempt to produce double yearning for Plurality, to retain liberty, and
for monism, to regain the national dignity and decency.
Therefore, the future of
the Syrian society becomes related to dual recalling (nostalgia) for the
national decency of Jamal Abed Al Nasser and the liberal decency of Khaled Al
Azem.
__________
Sources:
1) Philosophical
Encyclopedia: M.Rosental, B. Yoreen. Translated by Sameer Karam,
revised by Sadek Jalal Al Azem, George Tarabeeshi. Al
Talee'ah publishing house in
2) This metaphysical speech
was presented in the works of the pioneers of nationalist mind, such as: Zaki
Al Arsuzi, Michael Aflak and Kustanteen Zuraik's foundational book "The
Features of Nationalist Consciousness" in 1942. Although secularism was
derived from the system of nationalist consciousness, it was a strange concept
to the pioneers' ideologies. Secularism was the functional element that
recognized the nationalist consciousness that faced the society of Middle Ages before nationalism. The nationalistic mind
remained of mono spiritual essence until it was disassembled and reproduced by
Yaseen Al Hafez in the sixties. See our book "Yaseen Al Hafez, Criticism
of Modern Retardation".
Without doubt, there was an antecedent experience to
release the nationalist mind from its metaphysical romance by Ra'eef Khuri, who
submitted a critical book that disapproved the romantic tendency of K. Zuraik.
The experience of Khuri seemed to be pioneering but isolated from the context
of poetry, literary and cultural production. Actually, Yaseen Al Hafez
reproduced a complete composition of democratic, secular, rational
nationalistic mind. See our book "An Entrance to the Mind of Ra'eef
Khuri" in which there was a complete part to discuss the pioneering
rational dialogue between Khuri and Zuraik since the beginning of the 40ies.
3) CD: Encyclopedia,
Hachette, 99.
4) Review 'Pluralism' in
Robert dictionary and Larousse.
5) Review Abdullah Al Arwi
"The Concept of Liberty",
6) Previous source, p. 42.
7) "The Leaders of
Thoughts" by Taha Hussein, 8th volume, Lebanese Book publishing house,
8) Previous source, p. 193.
9) Review our book
"Taha Hussein, The Mind and Religion", a research about the problem
of method, civilized developmental center,
10) " The Conflict Over Syria", Patrick Seal, translated by Sameer Abdo
and Mahmood Falaha, Tlass for Studies and Publishing, p. 16.
11) Dr. Abdullah Hanna
"Abed Al Rahman Al Shahbandar (1879-1940), a scientist of enlightenment, a
liberation and national man", Al Ahali, Damascus 1989, p. 129, 133.
12) "Conflict Over Syria", previous source, p. 47.
13) Previous source, p. 48.
14) "Political Arab
World" by Jack Burke, 11th volume, French Information Department,
15) "Elements for a
Political Sociology" by Jean Pierre Monet and Jean Pierre Kote, translated
by Antoine Homsi, Ministry of Culture, Damascus 1994, p. 312 to 318.
16) "The Social
Affairs in the Arabic World" by Abd Al Rahman Shahbandar 1936, 2nd
edition, 1993, presentation of Mohammed Kamel AL Khateeb, Ministry of Culture,
Damascus, 1993, p. 86.
17) Previous source, p. 89,
90.
18) Previous source, p. 92,
95.
19) Previous source, p, 94.
20) Review our study in Al
Nahj magazine No.
21) "Saleem
Khayatah", Al Duhoor magazine, Beirut, January 1934 No.1, 3rd volume of
complete works, 1st part, "The Articles" a presentation by Mohammed
Kamel Al Khateeb, Damascus 1989, p. 89.
22) Previous source, p. 90.
23) Previous source, p. 94.
CH
5
The
Political Parties
Mohammed Najati Tayarah(*)
Since the middle of 19th
Century, during the administrative reformations and the cultural interaction
with the West in the retarded Ottoman society of multiple cultures, the elite
of Arabic Shami started expressing the tendencies of a national rise. At the
beginning, this rise was clarified through an active revival of cultural
circles and associations. Then, it developed into a political activity, public
or classified, according to the marginal dΕtente
or the return of despotism, especially, during the Hamidi and Turkinizing ages.
During the late Ottoman age(1), the limited
distributed circulars in 1880 of Secret Beirut association declared the first
written statement about the political independent program of Arabic nation in
Grand Syria. This was followed by the activity of "Ottoman Shoura"
association in
The Age of Arab - Faisali
Government:
During the short age of
this government (
- The Independence Party,
which was established in
- The Party of the Syrian
Union was established in
The Age of the French
Colony:
After the occupation of
Inside, about two years
after
The Syrian Communist Party
was established by Joseph Yazbek, Fua'ad Al Shamali and some educated
individuals, plus, the laborers of Tobacco in 1924 in Kharnaiel -
After lifting Martial Laws
in 1925, the political life started again. The Party of Independence started
its activity, as well as, more than 25 small Parties that appeared during 1928
and 1934, but all vanished, later(6). The
most prominent Parties were The Reformation, National Union, The Nation Royal,
and The Free Constitutional. While most of these Parties were to the right of
the National Mass, Al Shahbandar supporters of the General National Union with
those who converted to The United National Front, plus, the public
institutions, stood to the left. The most important new Parties were the
following:
1) The People's Party:
established in 1925 as a result of unifying the delegations of
2) The National Mass: After
the fade of the Grand Syrian Revolution (1925 - 1926) the discordance
aggravated between the Syrian Nationalists, who were secularists of Hashimi
tendencies and Islamic of Saudi tendencies, especially, during the
Syrian-Palestinian Conference(8). Then,
Hashem Atasi called for a General National Conference in
3) The League of
Nationalist Work: It was born at the conference that was held in
4) The Syrian Social
Nationalist Party: Antoine Sa'ada established it, secretly, among his students
at the
5) Muslim Brotherhood: This
mission was transferred from
The Period after
After the Syrian
Independence and the evacuation of the French in 1946, the country witnessed a
fertile period of constitutional political life that was tensioned, from time
to time. Actually, four prominent military coups d`etat occurred from 1949 to
1951. The fifth coup d`etat was in 1954, which occurred by the concordance of
the political and military powers. The concordance was due to the convention of
- First - The Directions of
Nationalism:
A) AL Ba'ath Arab Social
Party:
It was formed as a result
of Michel Aflak and Salah Al Bittar, Arabic Revival Movement's incorporation
with Zaki Al Arsuzi, Al Ba'ath Party. The Foundation Conference was held in
After participating in the
parliamentary game, the Party's role enlarged. However, Ba'ath Party used to
ally with the military coups d`etat and oppose it later. These contradicting
attitudes reflected Aflak's paradoxical ideology. In fact, while his ideology
recognized the Party as a nationalistic comprehensive revolt, at the same time,
it was declaring about respecting the essential freedoms of the individuals and
confirming the liberal democratic struggle(19).
Due to the problems of
leaderships and unity of organizations, the Party faced its interior crisis
during the Second Nationalist Conference. This reflected the start of a
tensioned relation between the Regional and Nationalist trends in the Party(20). On the political level, Al Ba'ath, effectively, supported the
After Iraqi Ba'ath and its
Allies dropped the system of Abed Al Kareem Kasem on