Opinion The roads from Damascus
For years,Syrians said they were willing to trade freedom for security and stability. Now,that bargain is no longer enough
My foreign friends always tell me when they visit that the comment they hear most often from taxi drivers,shop owners and others is,In Syria,there is security.
True,Syria does seem much more stable than its neighbours. And though I often find it difficult to ascertain the opinions of my countrymen,especially in matters concerning politics and the regime,many do believe that its a fair bargain: limits on personal and political freedoms in exchange for the stability that is so dear to them. And those limits are quite strict: Syria has been ruled by emergency law since 1963,under a strong-fisted security force; opposing (or even just differing) opinions can lead to arrest,imprisonment or,at the very least,travel restrictions.
For example,I have two separate restrictions,from two different branches of the security forces,that forbid me from leaving Syria. One of these was put in place simply for attending a human rights conference in a neighbouring country.
This apparent lack of real discontent over the restrictions on our freedoms meant that when the revolutions across North Africa and the Middle East began in January,the Syrian regime considered itself immune to them. President Bashar al-Assad said that real reform is about how to open up the society and how to start dialogue. For years,he said,his government had been having just that dialogue with its people,and he was unconcerned about calls on Facebook and Twitter for Syrians to revolt.
But then,in early February,Syrian policemen roughed up people who had gathered to light candles for the victims of the uprisings sweeping the region. This was followed by a security crackdown. Protests began to spring up in the central square in Damascus and then moved south to Daraa. Troops opened fire,and several protesters died. Videos of the violence spread.
The Syrian government now seemed to understand that it had to take this surge of unrest seriously. So last week a counselor to Assad affirmed the right to peaceful protest,assuring Syrians that government troops had been ordered not to open fire on demonstrators.
The next day,a Friday,I went out with one of my friends to join a small protest in the Hamidiyah Market in the Old City section of central Damascus. We were,all in all,just a few dozen people chanting slogans for freedom,and yet we were surrounded by hundreds of members of the security forces,who responded with chants in support of President Assad. The security forces then began to beat and arrest protesters. My friend and I slipped away from the market and headed to Marja Square,just outside the Old City,where it turned out even more security forces were waiting for us.
First,they went after those photographing and recording the demonstration with their mobile phones. Then they began to hit the rest of us with batons and sticks. Dozens were arrested.
After that,the security forces were joined by other young men,apparently civilians,who formed themselves into a march for President Assad. This demonstration the guards allowed to be photographed and recorded. And,in the evening,state television reported on the marches all over Damascus in support of Assad.
That same day,the situation worsened elsewhere in Syria,when security forces violently oppressed protests in the cities of Homs and Latakia. Dozens of peaceful protesters were killed in Daraa. When the international community condemned the violence,the Syrian regime began to blame armed groups, from inside and outside the country,for killing the civilians in Daraa as well as members of the security forces. This conspiracy theory,to which the regime continues to cling and of which many Syrians have been convinced,means that there are conflicting reports of the violence in places like Latakia.
Syria has degenerated into chaos and bloodshed so quickly in these past few weeks that I keep thinking: was our stability,our distinguishing characteristic,ever even true? The government tells us that if the regime falls the country could devolve into sectarian chaos. But what did the ruling Baath party the leader of our state and society,according to the Syrian Constitution accomplish over the last 48 years if that is so?
And then came President Assads speech on Wednesday. I was waiting for a different speech,one that spoke of holding those who fired on protesters accountable,that announced the end of the emergency laws,that called for closing the files of political prisoners and amending the constitution to create greater freedoms. But what we saw instead was a show of power. There was a clear declaration that anyone who continued to protest,to request our rights,to petition for the future of our country,was nothing but a troublemaker.
Because of his speech,many of those Syrians who called for reform will now begin calling for regime change. MUSTAFA NOUR
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