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 &
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Eurabe publishers
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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 DÅtente
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 DaguerreŽŽ(*)
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 dÅtentes. 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 dÅtentes, 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 dÅtentes 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'iŽŽ(*)
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 historyŽ(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' culturesŽ(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 stateŽ(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 societyŽ(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 matterŽ(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 obstructedŽ(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"Ž(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"Ž(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"Ž(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 conferencesŽ(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"Ž(15).
Converting classes or
social groups into masses and canceling any solidarity or unification between
groups are two obligatory provisions for full despotismŽ(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 politicsŽ(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 groupsŽ(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 dÅtentes 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 KeilahŽŽ(*)
-
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 economyŽ(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 crisisŽ(2). Also, expressing its tendency to change
the power scales in order to rearrange the relation between the rural areas and
cityŽ(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 MarketŽ(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 restrainedŽ(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 CenturyŽ(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 modernizationŽ(7) and governed, by a renewed patriarchal
authorityŽ(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 politicsŽ(9).
Although the different
studies gave much attention toward the Sectarian spanŽ(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 groupsŽ(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 IraqŽ(12).
This happened in countries which societies were characterized by the
agricultural-rural organizations emerging from the feudal systemŽ(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 classŽ(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 trendsŽ(15), besides, he assured the deep pervade of
peasants in the Syrian ArmyŽ(16). Thus, they were of simple rustic origins that pursued their
own conducts according to their structural position, natural tendencies and
instinctual inclinationsŽ(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'Ž(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 capitalistsŽ(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 flourishingŽ(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 positionsŽ(21), because cities
were the center of settlement for landowners 'Feudalism" and the center of
authority, which was their governmentŽ(22). The agricultural-rural style was the
stamp of society, because they formed the majority of the populationŽ(23), on
the other hand, cities seemed as settlements for strangers, who lived on the
expense of poor rural peopleŽ(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 centralizationŽ(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 propertyŽ(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 familiesŽ(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 incomeŽ(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 affordableŽ(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 SyriaŽ(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 newŽ(36). Dr. Ghassan Salamah noticed as well that the governing elite
was of rural originŽ(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 armyŽ(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 landŽ(41), most of it were
distributed among farmersŽ(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 regionŽ(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% onlyŽ(44).
On the other hand, at the
beginning of 1967, all the big and medium industrial organizations were
transferred to the government's controlŽ(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 KareemŽŽ(*)
"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, TotalitarianŽ(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 weaponsŽ(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 treatmentŽ(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"Ž(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'Ž(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 casesŽ(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"Ž(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 EidŽŽ(*)
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 wellŽ(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 faithŽ(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 principleŽ(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 worldŽ(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 creativityŽ(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 indicatedŽ(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 knowledgeŽ(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 1945Ž(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 authorityŽ(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 eliteŽ(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 failedŽ(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 anywhereŽ(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"Ž(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"Ž(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 TayarahŽŽ(*)
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 dÅtente
or the return of despotism, especially, during the Hamidi and Turkinizing ages.
During the late Ottoman ageŽ(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, laterŽ(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 ConferenceŽ(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 struggleŽ(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 PartyŽ(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
Ba'ath authority tried to
advance to the front. Therefore, as a response to the collapse of the
convention on April 17th, Ba'ath authority drifted to the leftist ideology and
replaced the triple
The right wing's response
to the results of the Sixth Conference did not delay. Thus, on
After expelling the Left,
the alliance of Nationalist leadership and military organization dominated the
authority and Party. So, Ba'ath entered its second stage, which witnessed an
ideological and political conflict between both Allies. This conflict continued
until the Movement of
After
The heavy Debacle of June
upon the Arabic nation, the crisis of Black September in
In spite of Assad's
attempts for medial organizing between the Liberal-Plurality pattern and the
Partial Mono pattern, actually, his government was of a "Personal
type" because he preserved the concentration of great power in the center.
At the end, Assad was the owner of the decisionŽ(28).
Through the succeeding
events, such as, Tashreen War, Lebanese Civil War, the conflict with Muslims
Brotherhood, the First and the Second War of the Gulf, Assad was able to
consolidate his system and invest the strategic tendency for Grand Syria, thus,
On the Party level, the
policy of increasing Ba'athi members and the setting up of a dogmatic
generation enlarged the number of the Party's members, so, by the year 2001, it
reached 1.250.000 million members. In spite of its legitimate relation as a
leader of the government and society, Al Ba'ath could not absorb the political
field of the society, on the contrary, the conflicts
of this field were reflected inside the Party. This was clarified in various
forms like, directionality, regionalism, sectarianism, powers' centers,
leaderships (Captains' organizations, Riff'at Assad's problem).
The interior life circle of
the Party was not renewed; the Regional Conferences stopped for 15 years, since
1985. Of course, this position stabilized the continuity of the Regional
leadership for the same period and Al Zu'obi government for 13 years. In fact,
Al Ba'ath was transformed into a Party of marginal authority instead of a
society's PartyŽ(29).
Accordingly, an aggravated economical stagnancy and general corruption prevailed,
which one of its most important headlines was Al Zu'obi suicide. Upon the
enlarged intelligence agencies' authority of a symbolic leader, who was a model
of absolute titles, the society became more marginal and turning away from
history.
At the
beginning of the 21st Century, after the death of
B) The Socialist Unionist
Movement:
This movement began as a
trend inside the second line of Ba'athi leaderships. The members gathered due
to their resentment of Ba'ath's secessionist attitudes. After Secession, these
feelings were clarified by forming the socialist unionist vanguard. Then, at an
establishing conference in the beginning of 1962, it was named as the Movement
of the Arab Socialists. 50 members attended the conference; most of them were
from
Due to the members'
previous organizational experience, the movement grew quickly. It called for an
immediate
After the 8th of March in
1963, the Arab Socialist Movement participated in the ministry and the Syrian
delegation for the 17th of April's discussions; besides, it was a principle
power in all the Nasseri powers' moves and pressures. Its relationship with
Ba'ath remained on and off, between the dialogue of returning back to Ba'ath
and accusing Ba'ath of conspiracy and turning against it. In 1964, the movement
participated in establishing the Syrian Socialist Union, then, withdrew and
held its Third Conference in 1965. The Conference adopted a convention and an
internal system presented by Fayez Ismaeel, the new secretary-general. The
withdrawal from the Syrian Socialist Union was the reason for its first loss of
an important part of its members and popularity. More losses followed because
of its co-operation with the authority of the 23rd of February, and later on,
with the Correction Movement. However, the movement justified its cooperation
for the sake of positive struggle. Thus, the movement had many splitting cases,
which were, finally, presented by its participation in the front of the regime
and its authority. One split was formed in 1975, called the Democratic
Socialist Union Party, and led by Ahmad Al Asa'ad, that
participated in the regime as well. Since its return to co-operate
with Ba'ath, no essential ideological or political differences could be noticed
in between, neither with the dissident Nasseri Movements nor with the
paralleled movements, or those participants in the Front of the regime.
C) Arab
Revolutionary Labors Party
The Party was formed as a
result of Ba'ath Eighth Left Nationalist conference in 1965, which defined its
choices and confirmed its classes' types, Radicalism and Unionism. Due to
analyzing the roots of the Arabic Revolution's crisis, the Party found that the
deficiency of small Bourgeois leadership was the reason.Ž(32)
Since the announcement of
its establishment with its special vision of Lenin-Marxism, which adopted the
studies of Yaseen Al Hafez and Ilias Morkus, the Party faced the governing
policies of
After the Debacle of June
1967, which was a complete test of the nation's structureŽ(33), Arabic
Revolutionary Labors Party stood against the Left tendency and its derivatives
in their Public and Fedayee Liberation War, which, practically, was to liberate
the organized army and evacuate the rest of nation's energies. Especially, when
When the Correction
Movement occurred, the Labors Party had a positive attitude toward it. The
Party welcomed the suggestions of the temporary Regional leadership about the
establishment of a National Progressive Front and participated in its
preparatory discussions. But, soon withdrew after noticing the insistence of
attaching it into Ba'ath, which caused the split of its participating powers
and shattering, later onŽ(35).
Under the pressure of the
Debacle (June 1967) and the collapse of Nasseri, the Third National Council of
the Party, held in summer 1973, formed a new turn by approaching the
retardation matters and ideology. Also, by paying attention to the historical
moves of the democratic revolution, plus, developing the partial consciousness
and study.
When Tashreen War surprised
all, regardless of its limitations, the Party welcomed its results. Besides,
recognizing the small events of Arab citizens' conduct during the war, the
Party found the first signs of a new civil society and demanded the start from itŽ(36). The fourth
report of the Syrian Regional Council in 1976, concentrated on considering
modernization, rationalization and the formation of Arabic intelligence'
consciousness a compulsory entrance for adjusting the scale of power to Arabs'
benefit. In addition, the Party asked for deepening the political criticism
into the structure of the society. These revisions were completed by the
suggestions of the fourth conference of Nationalist Council about a conscious
criticism of the Debacle, which line would be clarified, later, through the
Party's activity in
In 1978, one of the most
prominent leaders, Yaseen Al Hafez, died. Thus, in spite of the continuous
printing of the Party's newspaper for sometime, its nationalist institutes
stopped to hold conferences until 1993. At the Syrian crisis of 1979, the Party
suggested Democracy and Secularism which would enable
When the Party held the
first Nationalist Conference in April 1993, it started to expand the dialogues
and enlightenment about the new international diversions after the collapse of
the Socialist countries. In the second conference of August 1994, the Party
adopted "the Marxism guidance being a universal, modern, political and
intelligent system, but with an open mind and a criticizing spirit"Ž(38).
Now, at the elevations of
the 21st Century, the Party forms a small Marxist group, which has more modern
intelligence than a political Party's popularity; this might be its equation!
Studying the Ba'athi
splits, we can refer to projects of Parties' establishment that did not last
long, such as, Al Ba'ath Democratic Socialist Arabic Party, which related to the
heritage of the 23rd February's movement, Al Ba'ath Socialist Arab Party
(Nationalist leadership), which related to Ba'ath Nationalist Party of Iraq.
The relations with
D) The Movement of the Arab
Nationalists:
This movement grew in
The voluntarily commitment
to the Nasseri leadership beside considering the United Arab Republic as the
nucleus of a comprehensive Arab Union, strong and able to destroy Israel,
placed this movement together with the movement of Nasseri masses. Therefore,
the movement spread, widely and strongly, in all the Arab countries. The
conflict of the nationalist movement against Secession was the essence of
transforming it from a limited brotherhood assembling into an organization of
masses; so, the number of its members reached, in
The tensioned relation with
Ba'ath Party led to the negative political competition. This was reflected in
their fragile alliance after the 8th of March 1963, till the alliance turned
into a bloody conflict because of Nasseri Officers' dismissal and the 18th of
July movement. Thus, responding to Nasseri leadership, which called for the
establishment of one Arabic movement, the movement declared the dissolution of
all its organizations in
Affected by the debacle of
June 1967 and its consequences, plus, the Nasseri popularity and its
diversions, the movement turned to be a radical organization for
middle-classes.
Here, due to the Syrian
attitude toward the opposing front, the split of the movement started. Two
leaders of the movement, Hani Al Hindi and Jihad Dahi, signed the agreement
with the opposing front. Therefore, the leftist group of the movement
considered this participation a "wrong small Bourgeois step and called for
withdrawal from the front to establish instead a class alliance to save the
country"Ž(41).
While the movement was
exposed to pursuing and shattering attacks as the other Syrian oppositions, the
Left of the Nationalist Arab movements declared its complete liquidation. That
occurred at the meeting of the executive committee that held by the leftist
branches in January 1969. Thus, the movement faded and all its wings
transferred into the expansions of the Fedayee MovementŽ(42).
E) Socialist Arab
This
The co-operation between
the
The first trend, headed by
Dr. Jamal Atasi, secretary-general, became a Party since the conference of
1968. Through his organizational tendencies, revisions and analysis, Atasi
expressed his affectedness by Marxism. Besides, Atasi distinguished between his
commitment to nationalist Nasseri prospects and his criticism of Nasseri
system. In 1968, the Party participated in the opposing front. Then, due to the
absence of
However, the Party of Arab
Socialist Union was effected by the events in
Then came
the establishment of Nasseri Masses' Organization and the Arab Vanguard
Supporters' Movement, which both retreated after the fast dynamic flourish
among the educated and young Nasseri masses during the seventies and eighties.
Later, some of both cadres returned back to work with the Union Party, which,
since the sixth conference it transformed into a Party that adopts correction
instead of clashing. This position continued until the end of seventies. When
the national crisis broke out, accompanied by violent events, the Party adopted
the wide concept of democracy instead of the narrow public democracyŽ(46), and attempted to form the
"Democratic National Assembling" in 1980. Atasi became the
secretary-general of the Assembling and had an effective role to shape the
Party in a manner of frontier work instead of the one Arab movement, which was
dear to the hearts of Nasseris. The condition of the crisis and the
intensifying congestion did not allow the democratic national programs any
effective role. Although the program was adopted by all the Assembling at that
time, the whole Party, including the Communist Party - political office, was
exposed to the worst attacks.
Therefore, the Party's
efforts were stressed toward developing its democratic consciousness and
strengthening its organizing system to preserve its power, which declined and
shrank over the time. Consequently, the Party turned to be a 'waiting Party'
depending on its Nasseri memory and the prominent role of its leader Jamal
Atasi. In the last conference at the beginning of year 2000, the Party decided
to become overt and added to its name the word "Democracy", to be
distinguished and to express the Party's essential tendency. In March 2000,
Atasi died, thus, the conference, which was insisting to re-elect him again,
transformed the commemoration of his death into a national rise of feelings'
occasion. This national chance assisted the Party's open policy and the overt
democratic dialogue, which the Party still insisted to follow, especially after
the changes that happened in
- Second - The Communist
Directions
A) The Syrian Communist
Party:
After
At the Parliament of 1954,
Khaled Bakdash became the Party's elected representative after being its
secretary-general since 1937. Due to Bakdash's control of the political line
and the halt of the Party's interior circle since the second conference in
1949, the Party had to face the essential national matters. Actually, the most
dangerous matter was its approval for the division of
After 1963, the Syrian
communist Party supported the decision of Nationalization, which it had
rejected during the era of Abed Al Nasser. Then, the Party suffered from the
independence of the Lebanese communist Party away. The Syrian Communist Party
waited years of tension with Ba'ath until the authority of the 23rd of February
came and allowed it a symbolic cooperation in the ministry. The interior life
of the Party did not start its circle until 1969 in the third conference, where
Bakdash faced a criticizing radical trend. Bakdash insisted on the correctness
of the Party's attitudes and refused criticism, except what concerned the
organizational mattersŽ(48).
The opposition, led by Riad
Al Turk, member of the political office, imposed the project of a political
program in June 1970. The project included a criticism for the Party's history
and a future vision of an Arab Communist Party with views toward the
nationalist and Palestinian matters and Fedayee activity. The project tended
for an independent path from the Soviets and applied democracy to the interior
scheme of the Party. This project was the start of the conflict inside the
Party, which aggravated through the quarrel about cooperating with the
Correction Movement, plus, Bakdash's antagonizing the authority and the Soviets
against the trend of the project. Finally, the conflict exploded by the
splitting Mass' Statement in April 1973. In spite of all concordance efforts,
the agitated conflict led to the formation of two Parties:
1) Syrian Communist Party:
its secretary-general Khaled
Bakdash had preserved his cooperation with the Correction Movement. Up till
now, the Party is still represented in the Ministry and the Front beside other
governmental organizations. On the other hand, Its
organizational structure became more weak and isolated, especially, after
centralizing among minorities and familial sphere. The Party suffered various splits, one of the splits was the Mass, which worked for a
while under the name of Communist Party - base organizations, led by Murad
Joseph. The most important split occurred in 1986, which transformed into a
third communist Party led by Yusef Faisal that participated as the principal
Party in all the organizations of the Syrian authority. Having open political
and ideological justifications, this third split was distinguished better than
Bakdash's classy language and stubborn ideology. Thus, Faisal was able to unite
some splitting masses in the sixth conference of 1987 and give some hopes for
developing an open communist line, which was not confirmed on the practical
level.
2) Syrian Communist Party
(the political office):
The trend, which formed
most of the Party's basis and its political office, held a fourth conference in
1973 and elected Riad Al Turk as a secretary-general. When the group of Abed Al
Samad and Ne'mah Bakri withdrew, the Party lost its representatives in the
Ministry and the Front, but kept a minimum participation in the branches of the
Front. This Party avoided the tensioned relation with Ba'ath until 1976. Then,
its objection for the Syrian military entrance to
B) The League
of the Communist Action
This league emerged from
the conference of 1976, which accredited the unification of groups of new
Marxist circles that appeared in both universities of
Fateh Jamoos, Haytham Manna
(till 1978) and Aslan Abed Al Kareem, active dynamic members, had a great role
in this diversion and established the league's theoretical guidance that was
called the "strategic line". The strategic line adopted the Arabic
nationalist concepts and declared the emblem of toppling the systemŽ(50). Consequently, the league was exposed to
successive pursuing attacks during 1977-1978. Besides, its altered attitude
toward authority after the conflict with Muslim Brotherhood, the opposition and
both communist Parties, affected the limited structure of the league and broke it
downŽ(51). This
was associated with the league's change of speech to become of more Soviet
tendency, especially, after converting into a Communist labor Party in the
conference of 1981. Later on, it achieved some ascending, again, by becoming
active with Arafat's oppositions. During that period, due to the absence of the
persuaded leftist opposition, the authority's attitude toward the league became
tolerant. But, the authority attacked it again after the league participated in
the Kurds strike in 1986, then severely, shattered it
later. Since that date the league had no more noticed role, still, some
available signs and analysis try to renew this role, latelyŽ(52).
During the seventies,
within the communist direction, other circles and organizations grew and had
some glow, such as, Syrian Communist Union, Arabic Communist Organization and
others. In spite of the differences between these movements, they were all
extinguished or eliminated and never continued?
- Third - Islamic
Directions:
A) Muslim Brotherhood:
At the beginning of
Independence, the Syrian Brotherhoods were distinguished from the Egyptian ones
because they did not ask for practicing Sharia, but demanded a proper rule to
eliminate the disadvantages of ImperialismŽ(53).
Thus, the movement of
Muslim Brotherhood participated in the competition for election and won four
Deputies in 1949 through establishing the Socialist Islamic Front. By the
virtue of Mustafa Al Seba'i, who was titled "The Red sheik", the
movement of Muslim Brotherhood inclined into a Social Islamic Democratic Party
that co-operated with national powers against the project of Grand Syria and
Two trends disputed during
the history of Muslim Brotherhood's. The first trend was peaceful and
reforming, led by persons like, Mustafa Al Seba'i
followed by Isam Attar, the second was violent and defiant, led by Marwan
Hadeed and Adnan Uklah.
In spite of Muslim
Brotherhood's classical ideology to face the project of modern government, its
civil structures included a wide section of educated groups. This expressed, of
course, another contradiction in the Arabic modernization and its problems.
B) The Party of Islamic
liberation:
At the beginning of
fifties, Taki Al Deen Nabhani and his companions established the Party of
Islamic Liberation in
Thus, the Party's growth in
Although the Party was not
licensed, it took advantage of the democratic atmospheres during the fifties.
The age of
- Fourth - Local and
Regional Directions:
A) The Syrian Nationalist
Party:
After the independence of
After the change of
authority in
B) Arab Socialists:
The movement started from
the heritage of the Socialist Arab Party, which had incorporated with Al Ba'ath
at the beginning of the fifties, then separated because of its support to
Secession and the severe objection to Abed Al Nasser.
Its historical leader Akram
Hawrani led the movement, again. After his quarrels with the successive Ba'athi
authorities, this movement, which depended on a strong Hamawi base and
selective Socialist thoughts, shattered. Thus, three splitting groups were
composed under the same name. The previous Major General Abed Al Ghani Ayash,
who became from the opposition and participated in the Democratic National
Assembly, led the first group. Abed Al Ghani Kanoot, who supported the
Correction Movement and participated in the Progressive Front, led the second
group. The third group was led by Abed Al Aziz Othman and succeeded after his
death by his son Ghasan.
C) Kurds' Movements and
Parties:
There are more than twenty
Parties and active movements among Syrian Kurds, especially, in Jazeera region.
All these Parties are not licensed. Some of the Parties are an expansion of
Kurds Parties from outside
__________
Footnotes:
1) Mohammed Najati Tayarah,
"Associations period, Parties and Arabic Nationalist Movements", 1st
part, assortment of Faisal Daraj and Mohammed Jamal Parout, The Arabic Center
for Strategic Studies, Damascus 2000, p. 16.
2) Khairiah Kassem,
"The Arabic Authority in
3) Abu
Ali Yaseen, "The League of Nationalist Labor, Parties and Nationalist
Arabic Movements", p. 52.
4) Ilias
Murkos, "The History of Communist Parties in the Arab World", 1st
edition, Dar Al Talee'ah,
5) Khaled Bakdash, an
introduction for "The Road for
6) Mohammed Harb Ferzat,
"The Parties' Life in
7) Abdullah Hanna,
"The Labors Movement in
8) Abu Ali Yaseen, previous
source, p. 54.
9) Previous source, p. 57.
10) Abdullah Hanna,
previous source, p. 212.
11) Mohammed Harb Ferzat,
previous source, p. 138.
12) Abu Ali Yaseen,
previous source, p. 62.
13)
Thokan Karkute, "The Development of the National Movement in
14) Mohammed Harb Ferzat,
previous source, p. 146.
15) The previous source, p.
146.
16) Mohammed Jamal Barout,
"The Group of Muslim Brotherhood after the Ordeal. Syria, Parties, Groups
and Islamic Movements", 2nd edition, part 1, edited by Faisal Daraj and
Jamal Barout, Arabic Center for Strategic Studies, Damascus 2000, p. 255.
17) Abu Ali Yaseen,
"Al Ba'ath Arab Socialist Party, Parties and Arab Nationalist
Movements", previous source, p. 222.
18) Mohammed jamal Barout,
"Al Ba'ath Nationalist Party", previous source, p. 361.
19) Patrick Seal,
"Assad, The Conflict over
20)
Mustafa Dandashli, "A Contribution for Criticizing the Political Movements
in the Arab World", 1st edition, 1st part, Dar Al Talee'ah,
21) Dandashli, Previous
source, p. 315. Also, Hani Al Fakiki "The Dens of the
Debacle, My Experience in the Iraqi Ba'ath Party", 1st edition, Riad Al
Raies,
22) Dandashli, previous
source, p. 330.
23) Tayarah, previous
source, p. 510.
24) Yaseen Al Hafez wrote
the first draft of the Report, Fawaz Trabulsi mentioned that a committee headed
by Michel Aflak joined Jubran Majdalani and Yaseen Hafez to change the
Introduction, but Aflak avoided the committee's meetings and wrote the
replacing Introduction alone. Look Trabulsi "The Picture of the Boy in
Red", Dar Al Raies,
25) Tayarah, "From the
Leftist Ba'ath to the Arabic Revolutionary Labors Party, the Parties and the
Arab Nationalist Movements", Previous source, p. 518.
26) Patrick Seal, previous
source, p. 287.
27) Barout, previous
source, p. 430.
28) Patrick Seal, previous
source, p. 287.
29) Abed Al Razak Eid,
"Al Ba'ath, A Marginal Authority's Party, Can Ba'ath Transform into a
Party of Society?" Al Nahar, 28.09.2000.
30) Shams Aldeen Kaylani,
"The Socialist Unionists, from the Movement into the Party, The Parties
and the Arab Nationalist Movements", previous source, p. 213.
31) Previous source, p.
215.
32) Look: "A Group Of Thinkers, The Reasons of the Arabic Revolution's
Crisis", Arabic Studies, 2nd year, No. 12,
33) Yaseen Al Hafez,
"The Debacle and the ideological Debacle", 1st edition, Dar Al
Talee'ah,
34) Tayarah, previous
source, p. 541.
35) Mohammed Jamal Barout,
"The Political Syrian Age", Al Haiat 31.08.1988.
36) "The Arabic
Revolution", the central Newspaper of the Arab Revolutionary Labors Party,
Middle of December 1994.
37) The previous source,
beginning of October 1979.
38) The Schedule Document,
the second conference of Arab Revolutionary Labors, August 1994.
39) Barout, "The
Movement of the Arab Nationalists, the Parties and the Arab Nationalist
Movements", part 2, previous source, p. 9.
40) Previous source, p. 13
and p. 21.
41) Previous Source, p. 48
42) Previous source, p. 58.
43) Shams Aldeen Kaylani,
"The Socialist Union as a Sample for
44) Previous source, p.
146.
45) Previous source, p.
151.
46) Previous source, p.
152.
47) Murkos, previous
source, p. 123.
48) Barout, "The
Syrian Communist Movement and the Questions about the Fate", Al Haiat
05.11.1988.
49) Previous source.
50) Barout, "The
League of Communist Action and its Winding Path, From Shining into
Dissolution", Al Haiat 19.11.1998.
51) Previous source.
52) Fateh Jamoos,
"Which Political Movement? Which Party We Want? How do We Start?" no
publishing house, or printing place, 06.01.2001.
53) Barout, "The Group
of Muslim Brotherhood after the Debacle", previous source, p. 257.
54) Previous source, p. 91.
55) Husam Jazmati,
"The Liberation Party, the Parties, Groups and Islamic Movements",
previous source, p. 90.
56) Previous source, p. 91.
57) Mohammed Harb Ferzat,
previous source, p. 229.
58) Previous source, p.
263.
CH
6
The
Social Diversions
And
the Role of Civil Organizations
Kareem Abu HalawaŽŽ(*)
Many conferences, lectures
and researches are held about the present and future of the Arabic society.
This refers to the transfer of social mind from describing and personifying the
reality into trying to know it and suggesting solutions and entrances, which
lead for the scientific and rational deal with the reality's phenomena.
The mind's hesitation about
the phenomenon of civil organizations means an inclusive reference that the
role and status of civil organizations did not reach yet to the aimed level
that the movements of development and civilization look for in our societies.
The attention toward civil
organizations is included within an Arabic intellectual speech, which is
growing continuously. In this speech, the concepts of civil society, plurality,
dialogue and social practices are all combined together to form new
characteristics. These characteristics confirm the increasing tendency of the
present Arabic speech to adopt the democratic principles and to upgrade the
value of participation in the public affairs, besides, not to be limited to the
elite.
The diversion reference of
knowledge is not less important than the social one. During a long period,
researches and social studies were concentrated upon the government, its
institutions and their role in the society. Now, a new emerging direction
called for paying attention to the social activists, whether individuals or
civil associations or groups of benefits, and asked about their role in the
development and their capacities to assist the social project.
This study aims at defining
the structure of the Arabic civil organizations and their role in the society.
This will be studied through a scheduled choice that asks about the features of
this vital social sector and its legal status. Besides,
discussing the suitable methods to activate the work of these organizations and
to introduce their practiced activities for the projects of development.
The analysis would not be
completed without a careful attention to the difficulties and obstacles that
encounter the work of the civil organizations and restrict their capacities and
embed their active assistance to face the problems of development. Thus, the
organizations should be encouraged to associate and enlarge their role of
social participation as an indispensable necessity for the success and
continuity of development.
What are the civil
organizations? Where are their locations in the social structure, whether in
their relations to the government and its institutions or to the civil society?
What roles and functions can they do? Till what extent they are able to act
these roles?
Since more than a decade,
the attention to organizations is, gradually, widening on two levels. First, on the level of studying the local social structures and
organizing them, after most sociological studies were directed toward the
concentrated sample of the government's role. Second,
on the level of the enlarged role of these civil organizations, which the
international associations and organizations started to care for. This
attention was activated in order to enable the Third sector or the
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to assist in the public programs as a
part of reducing the governmental bureaucracy' strategy and to rise the role of
the private sector. The activation and assistance are considered references of
the increase of participation and transparency in the operation of development.
With the appearance of the
dependency school, the developing mind witnessed fundamental diversions that
could be concentrated as follows:
1) There was a diversion
from the written theories of development into the theory of dependency, which
concentrated on interpreting the backwardness and analyzing the non-equivalent
international economical relations.
2) The diversion from the
concept of national income as a standard of development into the problems of
unemployment, the bad distribution of income and the fulfillment of the
essential needs.
3) The transfer from
confirming the defined economical problems into the attention toward the
international problems and restrictions, such as, energy, consuming recourses,
hunger, pollution and population.
4) The transfer from
treating the developing countries as a group of identical benefits into
treating them as a group of dissimilar conditions and benefits. Besides, the
concept of the international benefit's accordance disappeared and was
substituted by the concept of benefits' conflict, especially, between the
advanced countries and the developing ones.
All the theoretical efforts
combined to construct what was called the 'independent development' with
concentration on the problems and crises that such development had to face it,
as follows:
- The identity crisis: it
arouses the problem of limited and narrowed allegiances instead of national
loyalty. Moreover, it enlarges at the beginning of the contradictions between
the classical education and the modern one.
- The legitimacy crisis: it
refers to the matter of accordance upon the legitimacy of ruling. This means,
the transfer from the inherited traditional foundations of legitimacy into
other new modern ones.
- The crisis of
penetrations: it is about the government and its development policies' ability
to reach all the sides of the society, which means the capacity to absorb the
whole social structure.
- The crisis of
distribution: it relates to the resulting problems of the national income's
distribution; also, the justness or unfairness of income's distribution.
- The crisis of
participation: it means the extent of ability to let the biggest possible
number of individuals and social groups assist in the political operation and
administrate the country affairs. In other words, this attitude relates to
democracy.
- The crisis of
integration: it means to overcome the regional, ethnic and religious
differences to reach into higher social resources, which all accord about the
loyalty to the country.
The dependency school was
increasingly criticized and various difficulties faced the policies that
related to untying the obligations and breaking the dependency. Also, a whole
political and economical diversion followed the end of the cold war and the
dissociation of the Socialist system. Besides, these diversions accompanied the
new globalization and its scientific, political and economical manifestations.
Due to all the mentioned above, there had to be a criticizing revision for the
concept of development. Therefore, the concept of the sustainable human
development, which was concentrated in the reports of the human development at
the beginning of the 90ies, formed a compounded concept that regarded the
previous experiences of developments, theoretically and practically.
This does not mean that the
concept of the sustainable human development is final, complete and includes
solutions for the complicated problems of development. Today, the societies
witness several forms of "bad development", like unmerciful
development, futureless development, deaf development, rootless development and
the development without opportunities for work. The crisis of Southeast Asian
countries, in the middle of 1997, lost 30 to 50% of their currencies' value.
The crisis expanded to include
The human development
report of the year 1996 studies the nature and degree of relation between the
economical growth and human development. In an unanticipated initiative, the
concept of human development was exactly defined as "enlarging the
people's choices by providing job opportunities, income, health, education and
political rights that concentrate through the concept of participation".
That was through the suggestion of the human development index. This indicates
connecting the economical development to an essential aim, which is improving
the quality of people's life and guaranteeing a rightful distribution of
income, plus, preserving the environment. The report affirms the controversial
link between the economical growth and the human development, so that the
growth becomes a device and the development becomes an aim. Accordingly, the
report confirms the importance of the governments, the institutions of the
private sector and the civil organizations' participation in the matters of
directing the growth and development's operations.
The changes in the civil work
sector in many Arab countries refer to a couple of economical and social
changes and diversions, with a less degree of political changes. Part of these
changes clarified their influence by the international directions, which raised
the value of the Third sector. In fact, the NGOs have an important role in
dealing with the problems of population, environment and the pauperized groups
of people, in addition to the matters of human rights, women and others. What
are the factors and reasons, which assisted the change of the civil sector's
status, in the Arab countries? What is the new role size of this sector?
The careful analyzes of
implicit economical and social factors for this diversion clarifies that there
are two groups of factors. The first is related to the policies of development,
which in spite of failure and success, plus, gaps and deficiencies, most Arab
countries followed. The second is related to the changes of the social
structures and population construction, which is connected to the new demands
and needs that, resulted from the recent developments.
Most Arab countries
followed monetary and financial policies to face the inflation and the budgets'
deficiencies through liberating the market, tending toward privatization and
the constructive economical reformations. These policies led to the decrease of
the public spending on general services in the sectors of heath, education and
social care. This decrease urged the civil sectors to cover and fulfill a side
of the populations' demands. In fact, the civil sector has a natural and
necessary role because it complements the role of the government. Also, the
role of the private sector is enlarging.
The social and economical
policies, which caused the retreat of the governments' role to spend on general
services and social care, paralleled the continuous population's increase in
the Arabic countries. In 1990, the population of the Arab countries was 270
Million inhabitants. The average of population's growth reached (2,6), which is one of the highest averages in the world. It
means that there are new population's needs and demands, which the governments
are unable to fulfil, especially, when these needs relate to youthful
societies, where the average of ages less than 15 years old, represent 40% of
the total population. In addition, some Arab countries witnessed exceptional
conditions, like wars, beside environmental and natural catastrophes, as in
Due to the second crisis of
the Gulf and the increase of the debts and loans in most Arabic countries, in
general, it is noticeable that, the development in these countries slowed down
during the period from 1991 to 1997Ž(1).
The Arab countries depended
on the central planned economical policy. Other countries had political
policies that depended on the economy of the market and the economical
plurality. The comparison between both policies shows that, in spite of
supplying the lower economical structure, like industrial and agricultural
projects, roads and services, the central policy did not succeed to invest the economical
structure. Therefore, it reached the crisis of a closed prospect and actual
slow growth because of bureaucracy, routine, and corruption, besides,
restricting the initiatives and restraining the investments. This requires the
economical reformations, reconstructing the societies, privatization and
activating the private initiativesŽ(2).
As for the second group,
most of its countries suffered the aggravated problem of bad distribution of
wealth and incomes because of the privatization's procedures, financial
reformations, the pressures of both International Bank and Monetary Fund. This
led into an aggravated phenomenon of unemployment and the increase of poverty
percentage. Therefore, this requires a revision of the negative social effects
of the actual developing policies and finding the difficult balance between the
policies of the economical liberation and the society development needs beside
the social justice. Of course, the differences between the Arab countries in
both groups should be noticed.
It is clear that paying
attention to the civil organizations, being one of the civil society's
components in the developing countries, is not separated from two central
matters, which these societies face, the Development matter and Democracy.
The failure and stumble of
the South World societies' development experiences, or the first generation of
development, are not hidden anymore. They looked for the accumulation of
capital without the accumulation of the human experiences and releasing their
capacities. Also, they neglected two essential spans of development, which are
the continuity and regarding humans as the purpose of this development and its
device at the same time. The second feature of the developing countries
experiences' failure is presented in their deficiencies or the undesired rise
of the nation participation. Thus, most participation remained superficial and
ineffective.
The Features of the Civil
Sector in the Arabic World:
This study tries to define
the essential features of the Arabic civil organizations that started in the
19th Century. In fact, the civil work started very early in our social history,
which was practiced through (Waqf) Endowment, Zakat and other forms of human
donations that constituted mutual values among the civilizations, cultures and
religions in many different parts of the world.
The forms of Arabic civil
organizations vary and differ according to number, date of activity and types.
The available information refers to the existence of 70.000 thousand Arabic
civil organizations. Thus, there are a huge number of nation initiatives that
could be classified according to their activities into four types:
- First: Charitable
associations include the total of civil activities that work in the field of
traditional charity, which depend on the form of donor and donated. While the
percentage of the charitable organizations is 34% of the total civil
organizations in
- Second: The organizations
of services and social care are civil organizations that activate in many
social fields and offer health services, economical and social services for
children, women, aged people, family and others.
- Third: Development
organizations are a new type of civil work organizations, which gradually
started to develop in the Arabic societies. The purpose of this type of
organizations is to achieve development within a limited local society.
- Fourth: Defensive
organizations are organizations of opinion and effect, advocacy, such as, human
rights, women's rights and disabled rights. Recently appeared
in
- Fifth: Various cultural
organizations, like literary associations, unions of writers and artists,
associations of poetry, novel and story and others, in addition to
rehabilitation organizations, training, obliterating illiteracy and others.
Although the previous civil
organizations differ and vary in types and activities, they share three mutual
elements. First, they do not aim at gaining money; second, they are NGOs;
third, they offer civil initiatives and nation volunteering to fulfill the
needs or the social demands and participate in the operation of development.
Specifying my concepts and
an attempt to define them:
The concept of NGOs refers
to a couple of voluntarily social initiatives that activate in different
fields, like social services, charitable donations, health, education and
cultural services. Besides the attention to the affairs of environment and
development, professional training, women rehabilitation, local social
development, plus, defending human rights, children
rights and others.
The civil organizations are
localized between the government and its institutions, on one side, and the
private sector, which aims at gaining, on the other side. The civil work
organizations and the civil society institutions participate in many mutual
roles and functions. The definition of "civil society" means
"the group of associations and social organizations that work, relatively,
independent from the government to achieve different political, economical and
social purposes. They include political Parties, associations, unions, cultural
clubs, chambers of commerce and industry, craftsmanship and professional
organizations". The essential and sufficient condition to establish these
connections between the individuals leans on the concept of
"citizenship", which is a substitute for the traditional
belongingness before establishing cities.
On the conceptual level,
there is a difference between the domestic society and the civil society in the
Arabic society case, which can not be recognized, in the English term, because
it unifies both. Actually, the domestic society is established according to the
connections and primordial organizations that the individual belongs to at the
time of birth. Thus, there are anticipated considerations without giving this
early belonging any margin of freedom to chose. On the
other hand, Sa'ad Al Deen Ibraheem defines the civil society as 'the total
voluntarily social organizations, non-inherited and non-governmental, which
care for the individual and enlarge his capacities for effective participation
in the public life'Ž(3). This
was confirmed by the German sociologist Tunnis who according to Hegel
distinguished between, first, the term of 'Burgarlleische Gesslschaft', civil
society, which referred to the forms of modern voluntarily social joint that
built upon free belonging and benefit. The second term was 'Burgarleische
Gemainschaft', domestic society, which depended on the forms of inherited
social jointsŽ(4). In the
Arabic culture, we use similar and many terms to refer to the civil
organizations. Thus, when we say 'Third sector', we mean to distinguish it from
the governmental sector and from the private sector that aims at making profit.
When we say 'non-governmental organization', we mean the domestic organization
that forms with the private organizations, which aim at winnings, what is
called the 'civil society', in general.
Probably, the decisive
distinction between the domestic organizations and the rest of civil society
organizations is the following five features:
1 - Volunteering.
2 -
3 - No attempt of making
profit.
4 - No attempt of members'
personal service.
5 - Participation in the
general affairs.
These organizations are
established according to mutual general attention or aim at working in a
specified field. They want to achieve collective benefits or assist the
individuals, pauper and needy families. Furthermore, they aim at defending
matters, like human rights, women, childhood and others.
In comparison, the
organizations of the civil society are qualified and successful more than the
governmental organizations for different reasons like:
1st) Unlike
the governmental organization, the civil organization has a capacity to attract
volunteers, gifts and donations; thus, it reduces the costs of work.
2nd) The
organizations of the civil society can obtain better information about the
needs of the local societies and better methods to fulfill them. In addition,
these organizations can define the social groups that deserve to be helped. On
the contrary, unlike the civil organizations, the huge faraway bureaucratic
institutions from the actual reality prevent them from figuring out the recent
social changes.
The success of the three
sectors, the governmental, civil and private, is related to their capacities of
accordance, complementary and dialogue in between to surpass any difficulty
that faces the procession of the society development. In case of paradoxes or
conflicts, which are natural, the ways of directing the conflict and solving it
legally are the guaranteed actual ways for not developing into a negative or
destroying conflict, or to hide it until a possible chance appears. In other
words, the nature of conflict between the three sectors must be defined and
treated, fundamentally, to reach its deep reasons instead of reconciling it
temporarily and incidentally. This will guarantee the continuity of development
and avoid the fruitless historical conflicts, such as, tribal, sectarian and
ethnic conflicts.
The Civil Associations in
Associations and
organizations have a long history in
After the
The last stage of the civil
associations' development was the supervising stage. Thus, the Ministry of
Social Affairs and Labor supervised the different activities and works of the
organizations, gave them directions and supported them
financially. In 1974, the activities of the civil organizations were restricted
within a general frame that included 13 items.
The organizations in
1) 240 charitable
associations that include beneficiary help and beneficiary education
associations.
2) 127 cultural
associations that include artistic, literary and scientific associations.
3) 203 leagues, clubs and
social unions. They include orphanage, nurseries for employed mothers, aged
people, disabled, retarded, blind, deaf and dumb, rural clubs and child care
organizations.
4) 26 health associations.
5) 29 co-operative
associations, which are supervised by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor.
Due to their role of
rehabilitation, training and services for children and women, probably, the
social care associations are the most civil associations that assist the human
development. Although the number of these associations does not exceed 18% of
the total number of the civil associations in
This positive assistance
clarifies one phase of the civil work in
In spite of the important
assistance of the civil associations in
- To modernize the
organizing laws of these associations according to the recent social and
economical changes. Besides, guaranteeing the wide independence of directing,
organizing and sketching their own strategy.
- To provide the associations
with human qualifications. Besides, enabling them to achieve
their goals, clearly and transparently, especially, their budgets, financing
and distributing their services, to personify the associations' effective
participation.
- To get rid of obstacles
and problems, which face the work of civil associations, mainly:
- One) Some
people try to make personal benefits.
- Two) The
spread of paralyzed and favoritism phenomena because of depending on personal
and relatives' acquaintances, which lead to employ unqualified cadres.
- Three) The
secrecy that prevents from discussing any matter within the association.
However, these obstacles
contradict the minimum provisions of successful civil organizations or
institutions. Usually, the provisions of the associations are built upon clear
purposes; rules of work according to studied plans and organizing the
participants' activities away from bureaucratic routine and complicated
procedures.
Therefore, the civil
organizations might become a real partner in the operation of development and
economical reformation that started in
The Unlicensed Associations
and Forums' Phenomenon:
Although, most of the civil
associations in
The new phenomenon that
witnesses big cultural and social activities in
Disregarding the results of
the intellectual, political and social activities that raised convulsion
writings and responses, the careful analyses clarify a group of references,
like:
- First, the necessity to
widen the margin of movement and democratic expression for the increasing
number of people, who perceive their importance of participation in discussing
the matters and subjects that relate to the Syrian affair.
- Second, according to the
new leadership of President Bashar Assad, the vision of economical reformations
and fighting corruption, besides, the improvement of public functions became
important matters. Therefore, the people of pro-reformation and renovation
started to express their view openly through newspapers, local and Arabic
magazines.
The main important demands
are related to the renewal of laws, the termination of the Martial laws, the
review of the judicial and educational systems, besides, the successive
economical decrees that relate to private banks, universities and
administration, in order to reform the public sector and encourage the
investment. The economical reformation became a mutual denominator between the
government and the rest of social powers. Thus, the conflict is not about the
economical reformation but about the possibilities of achieving an economical
reformation away from political reformation or before it. The references point
out that there are preparations and studies for a new group of laws that
concern the widening of political participation. Therefore, a new law for the
Parties and printings, which will guarantee the right of issuing private
newspapers, will achieve better development.
Disregarding pessimism and
optimism, it is clear that today,
Conclusion:
Today, it became clear for
all those who are interested in the civil sector in
Assisting the treatment of
pauperization, unemployment and illiteracy problems demand, today, upgrading
the civil works, to assist effectively in development and participate in
treating these problems. This could be achieved through providing new chances
for work or to enable the people of low incomes to increase their productivity
and other types of help. The most important thing is to transfer from the role
of treating the negative results, because of bad income's distribution, to the
role of participating in sketching and executing the protective policies, which
review the mechanism and methods of distributing incomes inside the society.
To achieve the economical
or social or cultural development role, civil associations need to modernize
their organizing laws, whether in their connections to the government or to the
benefited groups. This demands new systems and laws, according to their new
roles that relate to organizing their directory councils, defining their
supervising directions and their sources of finance.
Throughout these steps, the
civil organizations in
__________
Footnotes:
1) Mahmood Abd Al Fadeel,
'Privatization, the Demands of Development, Distribution and Social Justice in
the Arab World', a commentary on the lecture of Yaseen Sa'eed No'man, 4th
Annual Conference of Arab Center for Strategic Studies, Damascus 2000, p. 7.
2) Nabeel
Sukkar, 'The Economical Reformation in
3) Sa'ad Al Deen Ibraheem
(supervisor), 'The Role of the Professional Organizations and Intellectual
Forums to Consolidate the Culture of the Civil Society', discussion circles,
Iben Khaldoon Center for the Studies of Development, Cairo, 1998, p. 16.
4) Bablo, Norberto, 'Gramci
and the Concept of Civil Society, in Joining Civil Society and the State',
5)
General Resources:
- 'The
Civil Work in
- 'The
Civil Associations, the Social and Economical Crisis of Development in
-
Mohammed Hussein Bakher, 'The Measurement of Poverty in ESCWA countries',
- Amani
Khandeel, 'The Civil Society in the Arab World', a study for the Arabic civil
associations, Sivicose,
- Kareem Abu Halawa, 'The Problematic Concept of Civil Society, the Arise - the
Development - the Manifestations', Dar Al Ahali,
- 'The
Civil Society and its Role in Developing Democracy', a group of writers, the
- 'The Civil Society in the
United Arab Emirates', Abd Al Halek Abdullah and others, the Association of
Sociologists, Sharja, 1995.
- The report of the Human
development in 1997, the publications of the United Nations,
Foreign sources:
- RICHARD T. INGRAM: TWN
BASIC RESPONSIBILITIES OF NON PROFIT BOARDS, NCNB GOVERNANCE SERIES -1-
- SELDGMAN, ADAM: THE IDEA
OF CIVIL SOCIETY, FREE PRESS,
CH
7
The
Syrian Movement
of Human Rights
Haytham MannaŽŽ(*)
A Historical View:
Since the beginning of the
twentieth century there were different individual attempts from Lebanese and
Syrian writers and intellectuals to define and praise human rights. In 1901 and
1908, they translated the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, issued
by the French Revolution. They, also, translated the American Declaration after
the constitution of
After these preliminary
accumulations, the political and cultural speech started to approach the idea
of human rights and freedoms. Many studies criticized the Hameedi despotism,
and despotism in general, such as, "the Disposition of Despotism" by
the lawyer Abd Al Rahman Al Kawakebi, who was born in
During the twenties and
thirties, lawyers, national intellectuals and some communist writers defended
the human rights, as well as, many journalists from Grand Syria and in exile.
At the end of the twenties and the beginning of thirties, two associations of
Doctors and Lawyers were born. The year 1933 witnessed the establishment of
Arab Women's Union in Damascus, then on the 15th of May 1937, the league for
Resisting Fascism, as well as, the publication of "Human Rights: From
Where and to Where?"Ž(1), a book by the Arabic intellectual Ra'eef Khuri (Zaidoon
Publishing-Damascus). With the rise of the active resistance against Fascism
and Nazism, and demanding independence from
The debacle of
The Associations for
Defending Human Rights:
-
1 -
In 1962, after the
secession between
Since establishing the
league for defending human rights, the discussions were about its program and
its connection with the human rights according to the International Declaration
and the human rights' relation with the rights of nations according to the
leftist intellectuals. The importance of this subject retreated after the two
issued conventions in 1966, which admitted the self-determination and many
collective social rights. All the members of the league accorded that the
Zionist existence was aggressive and opposed the grand principles and human
laws.
The league paid attention
to the legitimacy of declaring the state of emergency, but the general
nationalist span and the absence of democracy in most political parties
affected the league to accept the actual position. Thus, the league defended
the victims of arbitrary detention and the independence of judicial and legal
systems in a political environment that disregarded the league. The communist
Party was disordered by the crisis of its split into two. The Arab Nationalist
Movement was inclining to the Lenin concept of politics and ruling. The
Movement of Muslim Brotherhood adopted the way of Saied Kutob, which rejected
the principle of plurality. The National Party and People's Party had a
finishing stroke. However, after eliminating Nasseri officers in the summer of
1963, Al Ba'ath Party was appointed as the leading Party of the revolution and
country.
Through the aggravated
absence of freedoms, the increase of repression and the nationalization of
civil and political activities by the executive authority, the democratic
speech re-existed. The first strokes were directed toward the judicial system,
which role became marginal through increasing the exceptional courts and the
domination of exceptional and martial laws and decrees over the constitutional
laws. Since 1970, the period of General Assad was distinguished by personifying
the authority, concentrating all the powers under his control, sketching the
governmental organizations according to his image, releasing, freely, the
security bodies and private military units to interfere in politics, economy
and sociology. In addition to his fierceness against the rights of the civil
associations, Assad brought in to the constitution the ideological nature of
each social or associational system. The Syrian Constitution approved the right
of forming masses organizations in the Article No. 48. This Article included
that "the sectors of masses have the right to establish associational,
social or professional organizations, co-operative associations for production
or services in which the laws define their field, relations and limits of
activities". Article No. 49 linked between the activities of these
organizations and the purposes and directions of the leading Party as follows:
"the organizations of masses have to participate effectively in all the
different sectors and councils, which are restricted by laws, to achieve the
following:
1 - Building the socialist
Arab society and protecting its system.
2 - Planning and leading
the socialist economy.
3 - Developing the
provisions of work, protection, health, education and all other matters that
relate to the individuals' life.
4 - Accomplishing the
scientific and technological progress and developing the means of productions.
5 -
Implying the public supervision on the institutions of the government".
To give an idea about the
Ba'athi application for these directions, we will present the organizational
law for the profession of engineering as an example. The 1st section, 1st
chapter, 3rd Article includes: "the association of engineers is a social
professional organization, which believes in the aims of the Arab Nation toward
union, freedom and socialism. The organization is committed to work inside the
Due to this social and
political pressure, the social reaction was of dual expressions:
- A violent movement led by
the combating vanguards of Muslim Brotherhood movement.
- A civil movement led by
the professional associations and supported by the national democratic
tendencies in the country, which demanded the termination of the state of
emergency, the release of dÅtentes, the
political plurality, the separation of authorities and the constitutional
reformation.
The Syrian league of human
rights decided to engage in the fight for political reformation. In addition to
Lawyers, Engineers and Doctors' associations, the league demanded to organize a
one-day strike on
During that period, many
gatherings, outside
-
2 -
In December 1989, the
Committees for the Defense of Democratic Freedoms and Human Rights (CDF) were
declared, secretly, in
We should contemplate the
conditions of establishing CDF inside the country and its relation to the
previous speech. While the speech was trying to give a respectable impression
about the constitutional position, it held a political charge, which was not
less than the opinions of the secularist opposing parties. Actually, two years
after the big launch of detentions in 1987, CDF was born. The detentions were,
mainly, intended for the Communist Labor Party, also included a big part of the
Communist Party - political office and big number of Ba'athi opposition, plus,
a less number of Nasseri oppositions. At the same period, there were about five
thousand detained Palestinians and thousands of detained from the movement of
Muslim Brotherhood. If we take into consideration all the former detentions we
can imagine the strong strokes that hit the Syrian political society.
Accordingly, the society was in bad need for civil expressions, which would
remind of the individuals' rights and the primacies of progress in any society,
like the right of expression, organization and the independent social
communication away from the schemes of the authority.
The political activities
and the programs of change were paralyzed by these detentions; thus, the
position demanded preserving what remained. In spite of the storms that shook
the world and changed its political map, the bodies of security were able to
paralyze the Syrian political elite, moreover, concealed its preliminary right
to discuss the surrounding events. In these conditions, which accompanied
Assad's attempt to untie his international political isolation through his
attitude toward the Gulf War, it was important to open the file of political
repression, directly, as a starting point for political reformation. Thus,
since 1990 till 1995, I concentrated my writings and struggles on analyzing the
main characteristics of the political oppression. The political oppression was
clarified in arbitrary detention, torture and compulsory or involuntary
disappearance, as well as, in canceling the legitimate existence of any
independent expression or opposing the authority, regardless of the extent of
its independence and its method of struggle. Also, the political repression was
clarified in studying the social, political and cultural chronicle results of
the state of emergency, besides, paralyzing the Judicial System. This tendency
attracted the most important elite of human rights in
Our tendency succeeded to
open the principal files of political oppression in
There were external factors
too. One of the factors was the crisis with the International Federation of
Human Rights after the conference of
The tendency of those who
withdrew from the commissions was to link between the political reformations
and the human rights as a penalty paid by the activists of human rights in all
the dominating countries. Actually, there could not be equality between the
repressor and the repressed or the heralds for liberty and autocrats; besides,
there could not be neutrality in the matters of freedoms. The Syrian society
has to pave the way of Democracy through education and struggle; therefore, the
essential and fundamental dialogue should be with the society.
During that period,
-
3 -
On
Preliminary Conclusions:
The experience of
There is another important
matter, which is related to the activity limits outside the country. Obviously,
secret work or the work in exile are coercive methods and not normal. If the
defenders of human rights have an aim, it is to cancel these two forms of work,
which resemble the patient's breathing from an Oxygen bottle due to the
deficiency of his respiratory system, which cannot inhale normally and
naturally. In fact, this is an expression of an ill case that the society
suffers from, if the society is not its cause.
Fortunately, the space
channels and electronic means of communications canceled the distances and
limits between people. Thus, the person who lives outside the country is able
to obtain information more comprehensive and quicker than those who are inside.
The direct contact with society and the attentive cadres for human rights
enable the organization abroad to become a device of pressure, a power for
suggestion and an initiative and cultural storage for serving the restrained
people inside. Therefore, it helps those who are subjugated to repression,
hunger and daily running to earn the simplest primacies of living and survival.
So, if there is any advantage of the outside experience, it is the capacity to
have always, a step into the front in comparison to those who are inside. On
the other hand, its existence becomes unjustifiable if its role is diminuend or
its initiatives are restricted and turned to be limited and conservative like
the actual position inside the country. There has not been any single
experience in the world in which the refugees praised the political system that
ostracized them and faced them by two choices, either immigration or prison,
especially, if the system continues in the same manner that we present.
Since the death of
- For the first time, since
the Massacre of Hama, fear and worry become a common denominator between the
ruler and the ruled.
- All people are convinced
that the president is incapable and the political legitimacy is absent from the
top of the authority, according to the concepts of Max Weber and Ibn Khaldoun.
Consequently, the institutions, which were fed by Assad the father, snap the
inheritance of his legacy. This reminds us of Shatheli ben Jedeed's example in
- The courage to present
the fundamental problems and to be organized in various social mediums beside
searching for symbols and names that were not polluted during the era of
domination to reestablish the nucleus of civil resistance.
- Reformation and peaceful
changes form an essential part of the social speech. This gives us the
actuality and power to defend the tendency of the political reformation, the
theoretical and legal participation to visualize the substitute for
constitution and the necessary institutions for the democratic transfer. Of
course that will happen away from a conference of Ba'ath Party, the speech of
appointment and others.
All these factors make us
confirm the role of human rights' activists to assist the peaceful withdrawal
from the authority of the ruling military minority into the state of law. Thus,
we need a state of law that respects the legal international commitments of
__________
Notes:
1) We published important
paragraphs of this book in my book "the Childhood of a Thing, the First
Labors of Human Rights in the Arab World", Al Jamal publishing, 1999.
Other documents from overseas were published in a study 'Freedom in the
Overseas Creativity', Dar Al Ahali, 2001.
2) See the lecture of the
engineer Saleem Khair Bek, the Professional Associations in
3) The cadres of the league
spent five to six years in prison, some of the associates remained 12 years
without any tribunal or any accusation.
4) In spite of my first
role of leadership in the CDF from 1990 to 1998, where in 1998 I demanded to
freeze my position, I did not, personally, know these details because of the
organization's secrecy inside the commissions. Since the first day of
establishing a branch abroad, I approved openness and was the first one to
declare my membership and opinion. I believe that the personal political
experience of the establishers and the absence of the well-known names were the
reason for not giving openness the importance that it deserved.
5) I expressed this
tendency in many written interpositions and lectures. One of which is my
interposition in the
6) I presented my
interposition in the symposium, which was organized by the commissions, Amnesty
international organization and the International Federation for Human Rights in
1993. In this interposition I concentrated on the necessity for the plurality
of organizations in the field of human rights. Also, I confirmed that the
plurality of political Parties could accomplish one guarantee of dynamism in
society. See the third part of the mentioned meeting's publications, in French
language.
In fact, since we received the letters from the prisons, I
do not have any more illusions about the future and the capacities of the
Committee for the Defense of Democratic Freedoms and Human Rights. Still, I
pressed all my efforts to preserve their existence. In spite of the occurring
raptures that followed the launch of detention, I wanted the organization to
hold together and remain comprehensive as much as possible to include the
Syrian geographical, social and political map, away from the twisted circles
and personal problems. This tendency delayed the formation of some initiatives,
because it has a trustful and respectful relationship among the different spheres
of human rights, including the approach to the movement of Muslim Brotherhood
and the Democratic National Assembly. Frequently, I asked my self and the
others this question: Is the Tunisian experience the best in the world? Or, is
the monist organization responsible for all the occurring catastrophes, in
which the society paid the price first, then the league? Isn't the Plurality of
the Moroccan experience a healthy phenomenon?
CH
8
The
Judicial System
Haytham Al MalehŽŽ(*)
Preface:
The Judicial Authority
represents the last fortress to protect the nation and guarantee the rights and
security of the individuals and groups in their relationships and in facing the
political authority. As much as the judicial authority is strong, stable and independent,
people's freedoms, properties, souls and honors are more protected and honored.
If we pass in front of the
Justice, in fact, is the
basis of the rule and its supporter. Justice is the people's path to happiness
and security. In the Holy Koran, justice is demanded. In Surah Al Nahl No. 90
"Allah commands justice, the doing of good",
and Surah Al Ma'idah No. 8 "Be just: that is next to piety". In Surah
Al Anam No. 152 "Whenever ye speak, speak justly, even if a near relative
is concerned". In Sura Al Shura No. 15 "But say: I believe in the
Book which Allah has sent down; and I am commanded to judge justly between
you".
Sura Al Hujurat No. 9
"Be fair for Allah loves those who are fair and just". In Sura Al
Nisa' No. 58 "And when ye judge between man and man, that ye judge with
justice".
Mohammed, the profit, urged
for justice and warned from tyranny by a severe suffering. He said "One
hour of justice is better than worshiping for 60 years".
Ibn Taimyya, known as Sheik
al-Islam, said in a remarkable achievement: "People did not contradict the
idea that (the consequences of tyranny are bad and the results of justice are
honorable). Thus, it has been said that even if the state is atheist but just,
God would support it, and even if the state has faith
but tyrannical, God would not support it".
Christianity, too, called
for justice. One of Saint Pules' letters, which was directed to
The Old Legislations called
for justice. Hammurabi said: "The two Gods, Al and Pal, called me to do
what reflects the good for humankind, make the right spread in these countries,
destroy the evil and the corrupted persons and prevent the tyrant from hurting
the weak". Distributing justice is the particularity of God. Glorious God
said in the Koran: "The command rests with none but Allah: He declares the
Truth, and He is the best of judges", Surah Al Anam No. 57. Also said,
"Allah commands, there is none to put back his command, and he is swift in
calling to account" AL Ra'ad No. 41. Also, justice is the particularity of
profits. God said: "O David! We did indeed make thee a vicegerent on
earth: so judge thou between men in truth and justice", Surah Sad No. 38,
Ayah. No. 26Ž(*).
Judges regained this divine
particularity to distribute justice among people. So, judges became the
articulating tongues of justice, who utter the right, talk by the sovereignty
of law. They judge to have their verdicts executed without leaving the space
for anyone to argue after their judgements because they present the truth and
prudence. Judges preserve the oppressed, protect the weak and help people to
live without tyranny or superiority or arbitrariness.
Can judges achieve all
that? If the judiciary system is not an independent authority, and just an
organization or one department of the state's
institutions, can judges spread tranquility among people and in their souls,
properties, freedoms and honor? Or if the judges were as the rest of the
governmental employees without an actual immunity that prevents them to be
subjugated to any external influence, which impedes them from working according
to right and justice, could they be fair? In fact, there should be an immunity
that helps judges do their work away from fear of arbitrariness, oppression or
whims, in order to achieve justice and apply the sovereignty of law!!
Actually, if the judicial
system is not admitted as an independent authority, which is equal to other
authorities of the state, then, it will not be able to achieve justice. Also,
if there is no admission for the judge's immunity that enables him to remain
solid in front of all temptations, then he may be driven through. Even if he
might arouse the anger of the ruling authority, as long as his judgment accords
with his conscience, the judge must take his decision, independently.
The judge owns the most
precious things of humankind, which are his freedom, life, property and honor,
thus, his work is different from any other employee. Consequently, two issues
should be admitted, first, the independence of the judiciary authority,
secondly, the independence of the judges in their work. If the judiciary is not
admitted to be of an independent entity, so, what is the use of the judges'
independence? Then, if unspecified persons, by any motive, were pushed into the
judicial system, what is the use of the system's independence? What is the
usefulness of this independence as long as we attack the neutrality of
judiciary and force it among the political mazes to become a part of the
ruler's will?
We clarified, quickly, the
rank of the judicial system and its necessity for an intact and straight life.
What about the judicial system in
1 - The Judges' Immunity in
the Syrian Legislation:
We will not go back to
further decades but we will talk about the judges' immunity from the year 1961.
The Legislative Decree No. 98 was issued in 15.11.1961, which since that date
it had many adjustments. The immunity was meant for protecting the judges from
segregation and transfer.
"Segregation"
means the dismissal from service, "transfer" means the transfer into
another country or job. (Art. 92)
All judges, jurists and
attorneys have the segregation immunity (Art. 1/92) except the judges, who did
not, yet, pass three years of appointment (Art. 1/93). All judges have transfer
immunity (Art. 92) except the following:
- Judges in the office of
the attorney general, who are transferred by an issued
decree according to the suggestion of the Minister of Justice.
- New judges who did not
pass three years of appointment in the judiciary.
- Judges who demanded their
transfer in writing.
- Judges who passed three
years in their appointment but necessities require their transfer.
- Judges who are transferred
according to promotion from one grade to a higher one.
- Judges who are convicted
by the Supreme Council of Judiciary with a more intense penalty than cutting
off the salary.
- New assistants of judges,
judges of Sharia and inquiry (Art. 2/93).
It is not allowed to
transfer a judge or delegate him into a job of a lower grade (Art. 84), or
transfer him into another cadre in the state unless he demands and the Supreme
Council agrees (Art. 1/85). Also, it is not allowed to have in the same court
jurist judges or attorneys' judges with relatives from the fourth grade or
less. If the relationship, affinity, occurred between two judges in the same
court, then one of them has to demand his transfer, or the relative-in-law
would be transferred (Art. 88). This means that even if the relative-in-law has
immunity, he will loose it in this case. This legislation did not allow the
lawsuit penalty against the judges who commit crimes during their work or out
of work unless submitted by the attorney general of the Republic according to
the permission of a judiciary committee, composed of the
Accordingly, we would like
to refer to the judges of the State Council that study the administrative
cases. The law No. 55 of year 1959 indicated that the members of the state
council, whose grades are counselors' assistants and higher, could not be
segregated. The deputies, who did not, continuously, pass three years in their
jobs or in similar ones that have immunity, could be segregated. Still, if it
were clarified that anyone of the mentioned judges lost trust and
consideration, which are required in the judicial job, he would be remitted to
retirement by a Decree of the President after the agreement of the mentioned
committee in Article No. 64. The punitive and complain committee is composed of
judges from the mentioned council, headed by the head of the council. The
Article No. 66 of Law No. 55 indicated the methods of forming the committee.
Due to this legislation,
the transfer immunity is withdrawn from the judges when they are promoted from
one grade to another, but not in the same city. The immunity of transfer is
omitted from judges, who did not pass three years in their jobs, according to
the necessity. Also, the jurist judges could be transferred into the attorney
general office or the contrary by an issued decision from the Minister of
Justice after the agreement of the Supreme Council (Art. 83) with no need for
the judge's agreement. The segregation immunity of a judge does not mean the
inability to dismiss him at all. The dismissal could be accomplished by an
issued decision of the Supreme Judiciary Council. The Supreme Council is
considered a punitive council for judges, in case they commit deeds that defame
and disgrace their conduct. Thus, the supreme council takes the decision of
segregation according to the opinion of the majority of members after proving
the judge's moral defects. This means that the legislation entrusted a complete
judicature institute, which is the Supreme Judiciary Council, to determine the
judges' matters of appointing, promoting, transferring, segregating and
chastening. Composing the council of seven judges plus the head of the Supreme
Court, confirms the immunity of the judges and their independence.
Many legislation were added as
follow:
- Decision No. 124, dated
15.06.1923.
- Decision No. 238, dated
02.06.1928.
- Legislative Decree No. 15
dated 19.10.1946.
- Legislative Decree No.
80, dated 30.06.1947.
- Legislative Decree No.
19, dated 10.07.1952.
- Legislative Decree No.
133, dated 08.10.1953.
During the
It is noticed that there
was much submitted legislation. The multiplicity of legislations in the
judicial authority created an unsettled atmosphere for judges to work. Besides,
withdrawing immunity is much more reflected on the judged individuals than the
judges themselves.
2 - The Judiciary Power in
the Syrian Constitutions and the other legislative Clauses:
During the period of
independence, the judiciary authority passed through many conditions as follow:
A - The Syrian Constitution
of 1953:
The constitution gave great
importance to the judicial system and was concerned about its independence;
therefore, Article No. 113 indicated the following:
1) The Supreme Court is
composed of seven members, one of them is nominated
the head of the court.
2) The member of this court
has to be:
a -
Obtaining the provisions of election to the office of attorney general.
b - A graduate with the
academic degree "License of Law" from the
c - Aged 40 years old and
above.
d - Had practiced law,
judgment and university teaching, or one of these jobs for at least 10 years.
Article No. 118 indicated:
1) The Supreme Judiciary
Council is composed of seven members:
a - The head of the Supreme
Court is the head of the council.
b - Two members from the
Supreme Court, which are chosen by the court.
c - Four higher ranked
judges from the court of preference.
2) This council supervises
the affairs of the jurist judges, which are related to their work.
Article No. 119 indicated
the following:
"According to the
provisions of law, the head of the supreme council and the Minister of Justice
have the right to submit suggestions for appointing, promoting, transferring,
disciplining and segregating the judges. The supreme judicial council takes
decisions on these suggestions by the absolute majority of the members and
informs its decision to the Ministry of Justice to be executed, according to
law, with an issued decree or decision".
B - In 1962, the
legislative decree No. 120, dated 11.09.1962, indicated in the 3rd Article the
following:
"The text of Article
No. 65 is canceled and replaced by what follows: the supreme council is
composed of:
- The Court of Cassation's
head becomes the head of the council.
- The three deputies of the
head of the Cassation's Courts.
- The secretary-general of
the Ministry of Justice.
- The oldest councilor of
the Cassation's Court.
In the absence of the head
of Cassation's Court or one of his deputies or the head of Appeal's Court, the
judge who follows in seniority at his court replaces him. If the
secretary-general is absent, the more senior judge of the central directory
replaces him".
C - The
Syrian Constitution of year 1973:
The authorities of the
state are detailed in the second section of the Syrian Constitution. The first
chapter explains the legislative authority, the second
chapter explains the executive authority and indicates that the President of
the Republic is the head of the executive authority. From the Article No. 83 till
the Article No. 114, the constitution explains the methods of candidature and
election of the President.
Studying these articles
clarifies that the President of the Republic dominates and controls all the
authorities, completely, in a way that nothing could be resolved without his
will. Thus, the President represents a center that is more powerful than the
centers of some kings and princes. This center is absolute without a successor
for the president's opinion or judgment. That is why the constitution became
prepared to give absolute power for the executive authority, which is headed by
the President of the Republic. We are not going to approach the jurisdictions
of the president, but we expose them in order to explain the positions of the
judicatory authority and pass through all the sides that control the judicial
system.
The Syrian Constitution of
1973, the third chapter, which is titled "The Judiciary Authority"
indicated the following:
- Article No. 132:
"The President of the Republic heads the Supreme Council and the law
clarifies the method of formation, specialization and the rules of its
work".
- Article No. 133:
1 - The judges are
independent and no power affects their judgments other than law.
2 - The judges' honor,
conscience and impartiality guarantee the people's rights and freedoms.
- Article No. 134:
"Judgments are issued by the name of the Arab Nation in
- Article No. 135:
"The law organizes the judicial system with all its classes, types, grades
and clarifies the rules of specialization in the various courts".
- Article No. 136:
"The law clarifies the provisions of appointing, promoting, transferring,
chastening and segregating the judges".
- Article No. 137:
"The Attorney General is one judicial organization, headed by the Minister
of Justice. The law organizes its function and specialization".
- Article No. 138:
"The State Council practices the administrative judiciary. The law defines
the provisions of appointing, promoting, chastening and dismissing its
judges".
Although this chapter is
titled for the judiciary authority, but it does not mention that this authority
is independent. Article No. 132 clarifies that the President is the head of the
executive power and the head of the Supreme Judiciary Council. While the
Article No. 133 clarifies that the judges are independent without any effects
other than law, this text becomes meaningless when judicature is forced among
the political rules. Thus, the judge becomes an adherent to Ba'ath Party and a
follower to a despotic ruling authority, or rather becomes a part of the
current regime!
Introductions that Led to
Results:
What happened in
A - The
If the judicial authority
is not completely independent from the legislative authority, the judiciary
independence from the legislative one has no meaning. The right for judging
should not be concealed from people by any legislation or under any
circumstances. Also, the judiciary judgments should not be canceled or banned.
Besides, the immunity of segregation or transfer should not be approached by
any claim. Actually, the executive authority can spread its power whenever it
wants by using legal covers. This is what happens in
If we study the texts of
the present judicial law we find that the immunity is nominal and illusionary.
The immunity of transfer was omitted from the jurist judges at promoting them,
as well as, the judges who passed three years or more in their assignments in
case it is necessary to transfer them. Even for promotion, the former
legislation did not allow the transfer without a written agreement by the judge
himself. This was issued in the Article No. 79 of the legislative decree No. 80
in 1947 and the Article No. 96 of the legislated decree in 1946. The present
legislation permitted the transfer of jurist judges into the office of the
attorney general (Art. 83) without the agreement of the judge himself. Thus,
the immunity of the judge becomes weak and exposed to be stolen.
B - The
Usually, the executive
authority interferes with the assignment of judges, protects their ranks and
promotions and subjugates them to a special system, which is connected to civil
and chastening responsibilities. Also, the executive authority suspends the
accomplishment of judicial verdicts or the decisions of the Supreme Judiciary
Council. Thus, the judicial authority is not completely independent.
If we go back to the
contexts of the law we find that the Article No. 65 of the Judicial Law, which
was issued by the adjusted Decree No. 98 in 1961, indicated the following:
The Supreme Judiciary
Council is composed of:
- The President,
represented by the Minister of Justice -The Head
- The head of
- The two most senior
deputies of Cassation court's head -Members
- The assistant of the
Minister of Justice -A member
- The Attorney General -A
member
- The Chairman of Judicial
Supervision Directory -A member
If the Minister's assistant
or the Chairman are absent, the director of the
legislative directory replaces them. If any of the other members is absent,
then the most senior counselor in the Cassation court completes the quorum.
Accordingly, the Minister
of Justice became the head of the judicial authority and the majority of the
council followed him. So, this authority was not independent any more, but
became one department of the states' institutions, which was directed by the
Minister of Justice.
Nowadays, we find Ministers
without enough judicial experience heading the Supreme Council that includes
judges, who spent their whole life serving judicature. So, how can we interpret
this? After all the mentioned facts, can we say that the Judicial Authority is
an independent Power? Of course Not!
C - The Exceptional
Judicatures:
How was the judicial system
divested of its independent authority? And how its neutrality was invaded?
The establishment of
exceptional judicatures is a queer method of the totalitarian systems, which do
not accept the specialization of the normal judiciary in specific crimes or
conflicts. Removing authority from the normal judiciary for a certain crime or
a conflict uncover the partiality of treatment. If the matters were to be
resolved by law, there would not have been a need for establishing exceptional
tribunals or special committees even if these established tribunals were not
provided with exceptional authorities that exceed the general law and violated
its guarantees. According to the research of Mr. Nasri Mulla Haidar in the
magazine of lawyers, forming such tribunals and committees violates the
principle of judicial neutrality.
In
1 - Military Courts, which
were described by the constitutional experts as a queer method that does not
accord with the normal judiciary of independent authority. Also, it does not
accord with the democratic method. Many decrees, some of which were Arabic,
prohibited the establishment of such exceptional tribunals.
2 - Some of the exceptional
tribunals are the military courts, which do not comply with rules or sanctions.
The judges in these courts should not be, necessarily, graduated lawyers or
related to the field of law. Originally, these courts are specialized for
judging the soldiers in certain cases. Nevertheless, a legislative decree
imposed widening the jurisdictions of these courts to judge the civil people.
3 - Also, another court is
the
4 - The laws established
other special committees like, the committees for controlling the salaries of
agricultural work and labors' dismissal, plus others.
5 - The
All these courts and
committees stole the specialization of judiciary and restricted its work within
a limited range, besides, violated its neutrality and dignity.
Conclusion:
After
The mentioned decree
included one judge named Ahmed Rashed. He was deputized for heading the
military court, which judged the participants of
In 1966, the writer of this
report was deputized for work in the Libyan Judiciary. The authority issued a
legislative decree that indicated the omission of the judicial immunity, thus,
24 judges were dismissed from work and I was one of them. Also, Mr. Abd Al
Kader Al Aswad, the head of the Cassation court was dismissed. He was one of
the biggest judicial personalities in
Judges are the commanders
of right, who are necessary for the command of power, because the power without
right means tyranny and theft of rights. The command of power for the sake of
right rectifies the false and saves the humans from loss among the law of the
jungle. The human governments have two criterion powers of control, the power
of law and the power of arms. Judges who are above fear and blame or
influences, should direct the power of law, otherwise, the power of arms would
predominate and lead to the domination of the military systems above the civil systemsŽ(2).
In addition, most
institutions of the state reject executing the judicial verdicts. Actually,
those who refuse to execute any judicial verdict would have a legal penalty.
Nevertheless, a wrong perverted jurisprudence prevented querying the Minister,
who refuses to execute the judicial verdicts, except by the President of the
Republic. The directory of prompt that follows the Ministry of Justice issued
this jurisprudence.
Accordingly, we can notice
how the judiciary authority collapsed, completely, in
It is useful to review some
establishments in the
This will clarify that the
executive authority and the following Party's organizations had penetrated into
the depth of the judicial system and its entity, plus, stole its liberty and
independence. If we enter the
1 - A room for the Party's
group.
2 - A room for the pledge
of allegiance.
3 - The economical court is
located in the last floor. It is closed and its sessions are secretly held. The
lawyers are prohibited to see its files. It is similar to an institution of
security, which has no relation with law.
4 - The pictures cover the
walls of the courts in a way that spoils the judiciary's dignity and transform
the court into an exhibition for portraits. This view does not accord with the
general sense of a Palace that heads for justice.
Finally, I present all the
mentioned points for the whole society. Probably, there would be a listening
ear that would regain the honor and neutrality for the judicial authority and
guarantee immunity for the judges to protect them from the fear of
"Sultan" and the worry about their future and their families.
Accordingly, we can guarantee an important fortress to protect the whole
society from the tyranny of arbitrariness and oppression, thus, people become
tranquil about their future.
Footnotes:
(*) "The Holy
Qur'an", 4th edition, Amana Corporation,
1) The mentioned decree at
the end of the research.
Documents:
The legislative decree No.
40
The President of the State
According to the verdicts
of law No. 2 issued by the temporary Regional Leadership of Ba'ath dated 25.02.1966,
and the Council of Ministers' decision No. 334, on 29.05.1966, the following
was decided:
Article No. 1: Contrary to
all valid verdicts, especially, the Article No. 92 of the judicial law No. 98,
dated 15.11.1961 and its adjustments, the Council of Ministers is allowed, for
24 hours and for its estimated reasons, to decide the following:
1 - To dismiss the judges
from employment.
2 - To transfer the judges
from their cadres to any other cadre.
This decision does not
require justification or include reasons for dismissal or transfer.
The judge is dismissed or
transferred by a decree, which is unable to be reviewed. Moreover, it is not
allowed for the state council or the general institute of the cassation court
or any judicial source or any other administrative source to review, object,
contest or appeal against the imposed decree. The rights of the dismissed judge
are settled according to the law of retirement.
Article No. 2: This
legislative decree is to be declared and considered valid right after issuing.
The President of the
Republic
Dr. Noor Al Deen Al Atasi
CH
9
The
Social And Psychological Effects
On
the DÅtente
And
the Deprivation of Civil Rights
Mohammed Issam DimashkiŽŽ(*)
Introduction:
Prison, is the most widely
spread and applied mean of discipline. It is classified under the mechanism of
control and restrain, which is used by the governments and regimes to produce
and reproduce the social and political control. Therefore, prison is the
distinguished machinery through which the concentrated work is accomplished to
achieve the mentioned goal. This implementation is used to fulfill the social, political
and security application and reach the final goal, which is
the continuity of the ruler and the subjugation of the ruled.
Human, historical,
political, moral and democratic developments discussed the role of prison as a
social function. Also, they questioned if the prison is a form of punishment,
could it succeed to restrain the prisoner from violating the law again? Does
prison and its elements, such as, the jailer, prisoner's relationships, the
system of the prison and the moral-social views of the prison, allow the
rehabilitation of the prisoners? Furthermore, would prison achieve the second
social function, which is restraining the individuals of society from violating
the law? Most responses were negative. Often, prison produces criminals, who
make benefit of other prisoners' experiences, and become more dangerous.
Moreover, the relationship between the prisoner and the jailer causes a lot of
deformations for both sides. It also, opens a wide span of corruption. Still,
in spite of the anticipated knowledge about the results of wrong deeds, the
individuals of society continue their violations to law. This means that the
elements of the social and economical position overcome the expected role of
prison.
The study of the social
function of prison is an important matter, which is not approached yet,
especially in
The function of the
Political Prison:
The political prison aims
at the reproduction of political control to the class, group, Party, government
and others. It also, aims at restraining or eliminating the opposition. It is
clear that this function is related to the non-democratic political systems. In
a democratic country, the existence of a political prisoner, who might often be
arrested because of an act of violence, is related to the function of
state-society. Actually, it is related to democratic institutions, state of law
and independent judiciary, but not to the service of a certain authority or a
regime. Thus, law and judiciary are independent from the direct politics and
from the temporary benefits of the governments. Even the governments' political
interference seems to be a part of social reproduction, which is understood and
accepted by the political and social institutions.
The non-democratic system
has different titles, such as, national, socialist, communist, nationalistic,
Islamic, and others. In these systems, prison, in addition to the other worse
historical mechanisms, like eliminations, executions, genocides and others, are
the direct means to reproduce the political control of a ruling authority that
considers itself the representative of the historical, revolutionary or
religious legitimacy. This authority permits the application of all implements
to consolidate its control. All the forms of regimes relay on one mutual
well-known Machiavellian principle, which has two divisions, first, "the
end justifies the means", secondly, the exclusion of morals away from
politics.
W. Reich says in his speech
to "The Small Man of the Street", "You believe that an end
justifies the means, even these villainous means. You are wrong, the end paves
for itself a way to reach it. Thus, each step you make today is a part of your
life for the future. There are no clean ends, which could be reached by
villainous means. The wickedness or inhumanity of the way makes you villainous
or inhuman and make the goal impossible to reach"Ž(1).
As for the systems, which
do not consider its important source is the human, the individual, it is so
easy to accept the genocide of millions of those, who confuse or destroy the
achievement of a communist future. Also, they accept the imprisonment and
execution of millions, or thousands of those, who object the nationalistic
unification, social reformation, progress, socialism or antagonize imperialism!
The intellectual
nationalist, Nadeem Al Bittar, said: "If the leadership of the new state,
the
The bad and dangerous side
is that some rulers, intellectuals or politicians do not only monopolize these
beliefs, but also these beliefs expand to include wide sectors of masses.
Actually, the masses are the most hurt of such practiced system because of
"the repressional conscience", as Hadi Al Alawi described that. In
fact, the social diversion is still superficial and could not make fundamental
diversions for people's behaviors and consciousness. Usually, the changes are
related to the forms, which clarify the repressional conscienceŽ(3).
We should not only face the
oppression of the rulers, but the oppression of the groups and individuals, who
are against the desecration of human rights, because they suffer from that as
well. Still, they are ready to practice opression, and they do it, even through
their opposition. However, the essential problem is related to the authorities,
because they own the controlling system and have the capacities and implements
of influence and actions. Therefore, instead of "directing the mutual affairs
logically"Ž(4), as
Kawakebi defined the politics, the authority practices despotism and "the
dispose of mutual affairs according to its whims"Ž(5).
Again, does prison
accomplish the continuity and the reproduction of the political control? The
answer would be on two levels, the first is an imminent and direct one. On this
level we have to confess that the authority, often, achieves its goals, except
in some exceptional historical periods in which the repression is rebounded
toward the rulers, then, the oppositions stop and deter the nation. However,
the society becomes tamed, subservient, contemptible and tractable. This will
enable the ruler to continue his governing without the need for comprehensive
powerful restrains, which he applied at some periods.
"Tigers at the Tenth
Day" is a short story written by Tamer Zakria. The writer expresses the
growth of subjection in a wonderful way. "At the beginning, the jailed
tiger was not asked for more than confessing its hunger, and the food would be
afforded. Then, the tiger was ordered to become motionless, later, to imitate
cats' meow, donkey's braying and clapping for the trainer. At last, the trainer
considered the tiger a flatterer, thus, he punished
the tiger by feeding it grass instead of meat. By the tenth day, the trainer
and his students disappeared, the tiger and the cage, too. The tiger became a
citizen and the cage a city!"Ž(6) The magnificent speech was "Citizens,
we have, previously, clarified in many occasions, our attitude toward the
fateful matters. However the antagonistic powers conspired, this strict
attitude will never change, and by faith, we will gain victory"Ž(7).
The second level is a
further and historical one. In fact, no one guarantees that the comprehensive
and the deep repression procedures consolidate neither the continuity of the
system forever nor the non-collapsing of the historical changes, whether it
happens peacefully and quietly or violently. Here, we have, in particular, the
former experiences of the socialist countries. Without doubts, this historical
experience urged and will urge the rulers not to ignore this reality.
The tangible level of our
research, here, relates to the imminent and direct level. Therefore, we will
try to observe the effects of detention and prison phenomena, which often
continue for a long time, as well as, all the accompanying severe violations of
human rights that influenced all the sides of living in
The Effects of the
Detention Phenomenon:
It was narrated that one
Arab president said once, the following:
"In his country, he
had people who looked for high ranks and he could afford the right positions
for them. Also, he had people who desired wealth, which he could afford. On the
other hand, he had people who did not want neither ranks nor money, thus, they
had to go to prison". This vision relies on the principle of
"eternity", punishment and reward. The punishment is for the
opponents and the reward is for the followers. Even though, we should not
forget that the mentioned narration includes valuable appraisal of the
opposition who do not desire either money or prestige. This evaluation
contradicts the speech of the regime, which accuses the oppositions for running
after authority, or serving their own external or
internal benefits. In fact, the oppositions are people of programs, whether
wrong or right programs, which should have the chance to interact with the
actual events and thoughts. The program's interactions must reach to people, to
enable self-correction and to have the real chance of effectiveness.
Without gaining money or
rank, most of the individuals of the nation prefer to live in peace, if they
can have peace, and rely on the aphorism "Kiss the hand you cannot break
and wish it to be broken". Thus, when the opposition emerges, the nation,
or part of it might sympathize with it, but they remain cautious and negative
as long as the authority is the stronger side.
Of course, this principle
has exceptions. In
For a certain period, it
seemed that the regime perceived the depth of the social movement. Therefore,
before settling completely, the political leaderships of the regime had limited
attempts of self-revision. Also, they listened to the opinions of the intellectuals,
writers and scholars, and thought about developing the ruling Progressive
National Front. Soon, the regime introverted and was convinced to exceed the
crisis of the country by depending on the Party's heritage and the
commandment's experience. Thus, the regime decided the dissolution of the
opposing associations of the professionals, such as, lawyers, engineers and
doctors. Also, it detained some of the associations' leadersŽ(8) and re-established all the unions in a way
that guarantees support to the regime. On the military and security level, the
regime defeated the armed disobedience in
The regime exceeded its
crisis, but founded a deeper crisis in the society, which made people full of
fear. Accordingly, the families of the killed, missed and jailed citizens had
to withdraw and endure their wounds, also, most common
people withdrew and took care of their living conditions. The intellectuals
retreated to their private creations and the oppositions dislodged in the near
and far countries. The rest, who remained, suffered very difficult conditions
of living and remained without any considerable efficiency in the political
field. Thus, our country became the country of fear.
The last annual report of
Committees for Humans Rights, which was issued for the first time inside
This number of prisoners
deserves to be viewed, especially that the prisoners were subjugated to
exceptional tribunals and oppressive verdicts, thus, most of them spent long
periods in jail. The late improvements of detentions and arrests do not give us
an excuse to ignore studying this phenomenon and approach its negative effects
on society and the individuals. We, clearly, warn the new generations of the
danger of this phenomenon and we help to understand it and attempt to decrease
its tragic influences.
Prison of Mazzah was the
most important political prison and, probably, the only one in
The delight for closing the
Mazzah Military prison, lately, has a symbolic value, especially, for the
prisoners. When this prison was closed, it included a little number of
political prisoners, less than five prisoners. In fact, the real delight
happens after the closure of
The political prisoners are
treated much worse than the other prisoners. This paradox is clarified in all
means of imprisonment, such as, place, treatment, food, visits, and financial
assistance from domestic associations, besides, permitting the prisoners to
continue their university studies and other facilities. This contradicts the
legal codes, which require regarding the social and political conditions that
caused the political offence and to deal with the political prisoner according
to this view.
The mentioned paradox means
doubling the negative effects of the imprisonment's phenomenon, in general.
This phenomenon expanded and exceeded the individual cases, which affect the
prisoner's family, relatives and friends. Actually, it reached the extent of
causing a real social disturbance that could be recognized in various regions
and among wide range of the masses' mediums. In fact, this matter needs
specialized field studies by researchers and psychologists. Until now, the
researches have the following obstacles:
1) The ruling authorities
prohibit any approach to these files because they consider this subject has one
aim, which is to libel and scandalize them. Moreover, the authorities do not
care for the social effects of detention.
2) The lack of secured
environment, which allow the injured persons to present their information and
experiences of prison. The former condition of terrorism that they suffered at
prison is still alive in their images; thus, they often prefer to keep silent
or to falsify flowery information. Former prisoners suppose that they might be
interrogated or pursued again, in a time that they are tired of their bitter
experience and desire to settle and rest. Also, most of them believe that
giving any information, which unmasks the authority
might obstruct the release of the remaining prisoners.
3) Lack of education and
consciousness among masses about the importance of the human rights. When
knowledge is found, it is usually restricted among the political and
intellectual elite, who started to pay attention to the importance of this
matter, especially, the leftist elite.
4) Lack of public
organizations, which are dedicated to defend the Human rights. The members of
the unique above-mentioned organization were detained and scattered. Although
this committee returned back to work, by the connivance of the authority, it
runs activities without a legal frame and it issues statements on its own
responsibility.
In the spring of 2001, the
authority closed various forums, which were concerned with reformation and democracy.
The Forum of Khalil Ma'took for Human Rights was closed at the beginning of its
activity. The forum's aim was to spread the education and consciousness of
human rights. This forum included lawyers and intellectual activists of
different political and ideological directions.
The work of the opposing
political organizations still has obstacles because of restrictions and lack of
press and informational freedoms. Due to the endured forced absence from
society over a long time, the relations of these organizations with masses
weakened or became disconnected, especially, with the new generation. Besides,
the work of the organizations still needs to be developed and deepened. So,
this work requires an environment of democratic freedoms in order to grow.
5) The applied
political-intellectual speech about the local, cultural and national
particularity accuses the activities of human rights and who deal with that of
prejudice and serving the imperialistic policies. This speech is still
prevailing, officially, and is adopted by the Parties of the Progressive
National Front, which assisted by its silence and deliberate mislead to
disguise the real position of the human rights in
This expresses the case of
big parts of the Syrian intellectuals who consider democracy one of their
political primacies. The particularity of our country is not less than the
other countries of the third world. Still, there is a tangible progress of
human rights in other Arab countries like,
In spite of the
above-mentioned obstacles, I will try to approach the effects of the prison's
experience within three axes. The first relates to the prisoners, the second
relates to the society and the third is related to the jailer (the institutions
of detention and the prison).
The Positions of the
Prisoners in
The estimated number of prisons in
There are differences
between the positions of prisons according to the place and variations that
relate to the specific period of imprisonment. The permanent position is that
there is no law, which organizes the conditions of the prisoners and defines
the ways of their treatment. The jurisdictions of the prisons' directors and
the directions of the security branches differ from time to time and from one
prison to another, depending on this director or that head of a branch or
others. Besides, the treatment of political prisoners differs from one group to
another. This confirms what we pointed out before about the political reference
in dealing with the prisoners and the political and security benefits of the
regime and its institutions, which are far from relating to a legal or human
reference. Any law, however oppressive, has restrictions on the jailers'
behaviors, but this type of jailer cannot accept these restrictions.
Generally, the worst
treatments were noticed with the religious groups, then, with those who were
Pro-Iraqi Ba'ath. There was no recognition between, who used arms and who did
not, or who belonged to an organization or did not, or who had a real relation
with the organization or was near from one of the organizers. Religiousness was
considered a strategic reserve for armed work, thus, prisoners were treated
according to what they might be. Therefore, the known juridical principle,
which relates to the innocence of the accused until the accusation is
confirmed, was completely blown up. This principle is confirmed in the
International Declaration of Human Rights, Article No. 11.
One bitter paradox is that
at
The discrimination between
the political powers might seem logical if the law is considered the origin of
recognition. Indeed, those who commit crimes and violence must be treated legally,
even if they have death sentences. However, this punishment is still a subject
for discussions.
Another paradox is that
corruption has a positive role because it improves the position of the
prisoners and renders them services during some times and in certain
conditions. Visits, which were prohibited, were achieved by big amounts of
money and valuable gifts for the director of the prison first or to his
relatives, or to an officer at one of the branches. The families were ready to
pay big amounts of money just to be sure that their sons were still alive! From
time to time, there were scandals here and there about the collusion of
inquisitors and security cadres to render services for the prisoners in return
for money. In many cases, the families were the victims of extortion, which was
practiced by some authority cadres, who contacted the parents and claimed
having information about their detained sons.
In our attempt to study the
positions of the prisoners, we choose three sources. The first is an old source
in order to confirm two points, firstly, that the attention for the positions
of prisons is not just a modern novelty because its relation to the human side
assures reviewing in previous historical periods. Secondly, it is connected to
what is called "local particularity". This means that those who are
convinced with the local particularity are, eventually, ignoring the elevation
of the human thoughts. The second source is new and international, which
expresses the human and civilized rise. Flowingly, the third is related to the
subject of prisoners and to human rights in general.
The First Source: It was mentioned in the
book of Hadi Al Alawi "Chapters from the Political Islamic History"Ž(10) as follows:
"Abu Saif, Judge of
Judges during the rule of Haroon Al Rasheed, presented a plan for reforming
prisons, which deteriorated so badly. Actually, the government did not provide
any sustenance for the prisoners and left them to be sustained by their
families. In the case of poor prisoners, they let them go begging, chained and
guarded by jailers. The directory did not bury the dead prisoner; it left that
job for his companions at the same dormitory. Besides, the dead prisoner was
buried without any religious rituals, such as, wash, shroud and prayers. Abu Yusef
condemned these positions and said to Al Rasheed: "Adam's son cannot be
stripped of guilt", therefore, committing violations is not his nature,
but because of two reasons: "either ignorance or destiny". So, the
punishment should not be exaggerated, to become a sort of vengeance".
Plan of reformation:
It was as follows:
1) To appoint a fair
employee to register the names of wretched prisoners.
2) To allot monthly amounts
to be paid for the registered prisoners, each had 10 Dirhams per month.
3) To afford clothes for
the prisoners.
4) Wealthy prisoners had to
sustain themselves.
5) To review the cases of
the prisoners. Thus, each prisoner who deserved punishment would be punished
and who was innocent should be released.
6) To prohibit beating the
prisoners.
7) To use common methods of
inquiry and to prohibit the confession by force of torture. Any confession
under torture can not be regarded".
The Second Source: Haytham Manna mentioned
it in "A Short Universal Encyclopedia of Human Rights"Ž(11).
In our age, the rights of
prisoners were issued in a convention adopted by the first conference of the
United Nations in 1955. It was about the protection from crimes and the
treatment of prisoners. Then, it was adopted by the Social and Economical
Council in May 1977.
The formation of these
rights start from considering the prisoner, firstly and lastly, a human being,
and the prison cannot deprive him of this value. In fact,
"imprisonment" is a punishment; thus, the prisoner should not be
exposed to other additional punishments. The rights approve for the prisoners
the minimum ideal rules, which should not be contested. These rules are
connected with the prisoner's right to live, his safety, his health, his human
dignity, and to have a fair application of law. Besides, the prisoner should
not be exposed to torture, maltreatment or humiliation, as well as,
discrimination of any type, whether nationalist ethnic, sectarian, racial or
religious. Also, the prisoner has the freedom of faith and religion and the
right for family life respect, plus, the right for self-development".
Third Source: Is the International
Declaration of Human Rights, from which we chose the following paragraphs:
A Comparative Study:
1) The origin of
punishment:
In the
old text, "not to exaggerate the punishment and turn it into a
vengeance". In the new text, "the existence of a person in prison is a
punishment, thus, he should not be exposed to other punishments".
In
2) The Legal Position:
In the old text, it means,
"reviewing the prisoners cases", in the new text, it means "the
fair application of law".
There exist in
We will not approach a
specified legal study of this field, but we can say, in general, that there is
no legal practice for detentions, responsible inquiry, punishment or release.
This position opposes some items of the Syrian Constitution and contradicts the
International Treaties, which
3) Inquisition:
In the old text, it means
"the use of common methods without torture and if the detained confessed
by force, then his confession wont be regarded". In the new text, the
detained "should not be exposed to torture"Ž(15).
In
Finally, we can say that
the Judge Abu Yusef approached an important side that concerned the prisoners'
inquiry. Even though, a confession would be applied against the prisoner and,
accordingly, would be punished, most often, the prisoners confess in order to
escape from torture. Of course, it is not regarded that this confession was by
force or under the psychological or material pressure. If someone would deny
his confession, which was extorted by the force of security bodies, he will be
exposed to a new torture ordered by the civil court until he repeats his
confession.
The
4) The Treatment of
Prisoners:
In the old text, it is
mentioned that "it is prohibited to beat prisoners". In the new text,
"it is prohibited to maltreat or humiliate the prisoner, or to place him
in a dark cell. Also, it is prohibited to combine the solitary isolation with any
other kind of punitive punishments"Ž(17).
In
Those who had passed by
There are unbelievable
stories about the methods of torture and insult, which the jailers applied,
especially, in
Lately, a Syrian lawyer
published an important study, where he approached what he called as the
"secret law", which is prohibited of publication. This law prevents
the Syrian judicatory to review the crimes of homicide and torture, which are
committed by the bodies of security agenciesŽ(19). Certainly, this law violates the constitutional and legal
rules, which protect the citizen from the authority's attacks, and the known
lists of human rights and the International Treaties that
5) Health:
In the old text, there is
no direct deal with this subject. In the new text, "Athens Part",
"the doctors commit themselves to provide the best care for prisoners'
health, for whatever reasons, without any anticipated discrimination. As for
respecting the morals of profession, the prisoners have the right to receive the
best possible health care"Ž(20).
In general, health care is
very bad in all the Syrian prisons and branches, even at the best military
prisons, like Saidnaia prison. Often, by the virtue of some imprisoned doctors,
the health of the prisoners improves, as well as, when they can afford the
price of medicines and all the costs of dental treatments. Besides, the
prisoner could check with specialized doctors in the hospital and have
surgeries.
At
6) The living conditions:
In the old text, it is
required to "allot amounts of money for those who have no sources of
living" and "to provide clothes". In the new text, it is
required to have "cleanness of clothing, enough nutritious meals and
proper drinking water"Ž(21).
In
Clothing conditions were so
much miserable and were, rarely, provided for prisoners. In
7) Family:
The old text did not deal
with this subject. The new text recognizes the "right to respect the family
life".
The directories of prisons
do not care at all about this side. On the contrary, the security institutions
always try to sow dissension between the prisoner and his family and falsify
accusations about him to defame his reputation among his family, besides
bearing him the responsibility of being in prison. The directories of the
prisons do the same falsifications when families, who try to visit their sons,
are called.
8) Freedom of belief:
The old text did not deal
with this subject. The new text approved the right for "freedom of belief
and religion".
In our country, the
prisoner is not allowed to practice his religious rituals, if he does, he
practices that secretly. The atheist prisoner cannot reveal his general ideas
or his political attitudes, if he does, then he will be exposed to more
punishments. During Ramadan, meals are served in the evening and early morning,
which means that the government admits the right of fasting. Still, the
believers, who want to fast and pray, receive punishments in
9) Sectarianism:
The old text did not deal
with this subject. The new text cleared the prohibition of "discrimination
or alignment of any national or ethnic or sectarian or gender or religious
sort".
In
The question is: How a
non-Alawi prisoner could be convinced that there are no
existence of authority's sectarianism when he finds all the directors of
Is not there a meaning for
having most of the discipline assistants and sergeants from Alawi sect? Such directors, helped Saraya Al Difaa to execute the Massacre of
Palmyra. The victims of this Massacre were estimated from 600 hundred to 1000
thousand murdered persons. Actually, the Alawi inquisitor and the Alawi cadre,
who gives the orders for torture and practices that, is unable to ignore the
sectarian charge loaded by the regime, being the protector of his existence
from the danger of Muslim Brotherhood. Considering the cadre's cultivation and
education, the charged load must affect his feelings and unconsciousness. There
are two points to be mentioned:
First, Sunni cadres who
work in prisons are, usually, directed to execute orders. Sunnis feel that they
have to prove their loyalties toward the authority. Thus, they exaggerate the
application of orders, so that they won't be accused of sympathizing with their
own Sunni prisoners.
Second, Alawi security and
military cadres do not exaggerate like Sunni's do against the opposing
secularist prisoners, because they include many Alawis and other sects of
minorities.
To include all about the
subject of prisoners, we need to mention the following:
The Detention and
imprisonment of Juveniles:
Usually, juveniles who
violate the law are transferred to special Reformatories, which apply special
legal considerations for their age. In
exceptional court, which
was accused by the prisoners that it made the ages of some juveniles older in
order to send them to the Gallows.
The Female Prisoners:
At prison, the corrupted
oriental man of the regime finds an open chance to practice all the
contradictory conducts of a sex-hungry man or, whose sexual life with his wife
is not sufficient enough or who has a spoiled sexual cultivation. In detention,
the privacy of homes and women are never respectedŽ(22). If this happened, then it is due to an
individual conduct and moral, which does not accord with the fast missions of
attacking and sudden arrests.
Women were, often, detained
as hostages or relatives of the detained or fleeting men, without considering
their pregnancy or parturition. When
During the inquiry, in
addition to the general methods of torture, a woman is subjugated to sexual
torture. Women were stripped of their clothes, tortured and threatened with
rape, and they were really raped sometimes, according to the narration of some
female prisoners. Also, women were hanged and cauterized on their legs and
thighs. Cigarettes were extinguished on the sensitive spots of woman's body, as
well as, electrical shocks. Relatives, like fathers, brothers and husbands,
were obliged to watch the torture of their relative women in order to make
pressure upon them.
Lack of accuracy or the
exaggeration of some prisoners requires cautiousness until the results of
investigations, which are carried by neutral sides, appear. However, it does
not seem that the authorities would accept this investigation in order to
restrict the real size of violations and protect the responsible cadres. To define
the level of responsibilities, the received directions and orders, the
individuals' level and role of responsibility in all the violations is actually
a very critical matter to be investigated.
The Prisoners of Other Arab
Nationalities:
Due to political disagreement
with the leadership of PLO, the detention of great numbers of Palestinians
exceeded the particularity of the Palestinian matter. As these detentions were
launched by the name of the
The same matter happened
with the Lebanese, whom most of them were released at the end of last year. The
discordance is still unfinished with the families of the rest-unreleased dÅtentes. Although the Syrian regime recognized the
sovereignty of the
In our study, we can notice
that the Syrian Constitution as a resource was ignored. During the last thirty
years, the constitution did not obtain one text that would assist to appeal for
the positions of the prisoners. In fact, the applied exceptional laws and
practices do not regard accordance with the constitution, which suffers many
contradictions and needs additions and adjustments, mainly, to consider the
international treaties that relate to human rights as more powerful resources
than the local laws.
The Social and
Psychological effects of the prison on the prisoner:
After reviewing the
positions of the prisoners, we transfer to the effects of the prison. We will
study the result of social, psychological and sexual suffering of those who are
still living inside or outside the prison. At prison, I read a study, which I
do not know its source, about an experiment that was applied on a couple of
rats. The rats were put in a smaller space than the usual needed one for their
movements. The behaviors of the rats were watched for sometime. As a result,
due to the narrow space, the rats became nervous with clear agitation.
Moreover, the rats practiced queer sex. Actually, the complexity of the nervous
and cerebral systems of the human produces more suffering than the rats'
suffer. Prison is that "Ghoul, which swallowed the kids", as Haseebah
Abd Al Rahman said in her novel "The Cocoon". She wrote: "Mom,
what changes happened to the kids, after they spend time inside the Ghoul...and
after their bloods were sucked..??!"Ž(23).
Months ago, I heard the
following story: "A woman was asking her neighbor, how is your son who
came out of prison? I hope he is not mixed up because my relative, who spent a
long time in prison, is in difficult condition and unhealthy to live normally".
The experiences, which a
prisoner passes through, affect him mentally and psychologically; thus, they
are clearly reflected in his conducts and behaviors. We heard about prisoners
who committed suicide after leaving the prison. Let us say that those people
have an anticipated ability for suicide, but prison is the main factor that
develops a person into such a critical case, which originally, might not be
definite in the development of a personality. Disregarding the special cases,
we will draw some examples from reality, because we believe that proceeding and
researching in such a subject and an environment for freedom will give us
results that deserve to be contemplated and studied thoroughly.
HalaŽ(24) Has
fear of red color and fear of rape after she was attacked by an attempt of
rape. Once, she tried suicide. She has fear of execution. A psychological shock
deprived her of ability to talk.
Abu ZakariaŽ(25) He has a Ph.D. in Geology, scientifically
brilliant, one of the prisoners had torn out his eye, but he still believes
that his eye will recover. He was in
SŽ(26) A
rural person who suffers schizophrenia. He believes that all people deal with
him badly, sometimes, he becomes very aggressive. The medicine stopped the deterioration
of his state in the prison. Now, he has been released, but I do not know
anything about his position after he left the prison.
I saw and heard of cases,
which had lost the complete personal and psychological balance, to the extent
that the directory of the prison was obliged to isolate them. Some of the badly
disturbed personalities were killed after torturing them in
If we want to indulge in
the social and psychological effects, which do not destroy the personality and
are able to be reformed or, at least, are able to accord with the society
again, then the suffering cases will include very big numbers. Actually, most
of those who left prison need a social and psychological rehabilitation.
Unfortunately, the authority does not help in this field,
on the contrary, by depriving the coming out prisoners of their civil rights,
legally or actually without a sentence, the authority tightens and declines
their chances in life, work and travel. Furthermore, the authority does not
give the chance for international organizations to follow the positions of
those prisoners and help them.
In spite of the natural
selection during many years, which let alive only those of strong bodies and
mentalities, prisoners often need a special health and psychological care. In
fact, the list of social and psychological distortions includes sickness
delusion, depression, introversion, and the incorporation with the dominant,
besides, the successive nightmares, aggressiveness, egoism, reveries and
others.
The separation from
children and their growth in the absence of one parent, sometimes both, create
bitter suffering for the parents and the children. One hero, a prisoner, of
"The Cocoon" says about her daughter: "I did not need to see my
daughter's sad face, her tearful blaming eyes, words were read behind words,
why she fled away from me and left me alone?... I talked to her a lot, was she
convinced or not? I do not know. She did not answer or display a single move,
or a word, she punished me with her carelessness and left"Ž(27).
The absence from the family
is so bitter. Hibah Dabbag says in her autobiography: "the anguish of
departing my family was my first agony.. my image and body were separated from them by the power of a
mighty. This temporary time and the undesired parting were followed by a
compulsory vanquishing absence, which threw me into the depth of darkness and
the dungeon of prison. Therefore, many were torn out because of their miserable
life and were transferred into the mercy of the gracious most merciful God.. the rest were scattered along
the wide world and estrangement.. The image turbid.. life darkened.. Roses of hope wilted before sprouting.. And I am at the gloominess of prisons, a hostage, because
of my brother, who is a political activist"Ž(28).
Concerning the sexual
sufferings of the prisoners, In Albert Camus' novel "The Stranger",
after a couple of days of arrest, the hero feels hard pressure for sexual need
and asks the jailer about that. The jailer tells him that he himself, as well as,
all the others feel the same. The discussion of this prohibited subject is
still critical; due to fear from society, it is not easy to deal with it
clearly and directly. In fact, however the mechanism of its affects is
complicated, the presence of sexual feeling is very strong and its influences
on the personality cannot be ignored. "When the sexual energy fails to
find a way to discharge, whether directly or escalatory, it find its outlet
through depression, worry and neurosis illness"Ž(29).
The sufferings of the
political and judicial prisoners cannot be ignoredŽ(30). Although it is prevailed that the
political dÅtentes endure the problem's
intensity because of their, relatively, higher consciousness and education, but
the problem is not only the intensity of suffering, it relates to its forms of
influences and the results.
We would like to clarify
that the prison urges the prisoner to practice conduct, which does not
necessarily express his anticipated preparedness. In
The Repercussions of Prison
upon the Family & Society:
Prisoners are not the only
ones who pay the price. Again, this regime, like all the other totalitarian
systems, violates the rule that relates to the solitary punishment. The
detention of any member of the family exposes the whole family to suspicions.
Usually, the authorities defend this attitude because the traditional society
increases the chances of family influences. This logic is, relatively true, but
cannot be generalized. Whatever the authenticity of this logic is, it does not
justify ignoring the rule of solitary punishment. This sort of treatment urged
many families of the dÅtentes to immigrate,
legally or illegally, before their names would be inquired within the lists of
those who are prohibited of travelŽ(31).
Actually, nobody knows when any of the security agencies would decide to arrest
a relative of the dÅtentes or the pursued ones.
However, from time to time, the relatives of the dÅtente
are called, threatened and asked to give information about their son and his
friends and companions, even the children's innocence are exploited to get
information.
The most harmful suffer of
the dÅtentes' families is when they are taken
as hostages. Wives, fathers, mothers, brothers and relatives of the demanded
persons were hostages for long periods. This phenomenon started to decline
after the year 1991. In some cases, the hostages might be a whole family. At
prison, I met the father, the brother and the brother in law of one fugitive;
they told me that the mother was arrested too.
During the inquiry, the
arrested has to fill detailed data, which does not only include the names of
father, mother, brothers and sisters, but maternal and paternal uncles, aunts
with their husbands and wives too, also, friends and companions. The existence
of such a form explains the relatives or the companions' shock when they are
surprised by a prohibition of travel, employment, promotions or military
enlistment. The collective punishment was one of the important forms to
subjugate and tame the Syrian society, even those who belonged to the
authority's Party and institutions did not escape from this sort of punishment.
The collective punishments and the other arbitrary forms succeeded to change
the structure of the Syrian society fundamentally, which was formerly known by
its wide attention to political work and public affairs.
In addition to the former
mentioned suffering, the families of the arrested prisoners are exposed to
direct and indirect blackmail by the security's bodies and agents. Thus, when
these families are allowed to visit their sons at prison, they bear high costs
to supply them with money, clothing, food, mattresses, blankets and bed-sheets,
which are, restrictedly, afforded by the directories of the prisons. Social
joint liabilities vouch for affording the needs of the poor prisoners and are
cut off from their families.
The most harmed ones of the
families' members are the wives of the prisoners. While the law gives the wife
the right to divorce her absent husband, who remains away from her for more
than two years, the wife, often, wont prefer this
choice because of different reasons, such as:
1st- Having mutual
confidence with her husband of his fair case. Still, the continuous position of
long-term imprisonment affects the family so much. The duration of 10 to 15
years of imprisonment is a common position in
2nd- The wife might not
choose divorce because of having children, which burden her with a heavy
financial and psychological load.
The traditional structure
of the society, like relatives, often assists in protecting a woman and helping
her. Due to the illegal arrestments and imprisonment in
Old aged parents are
victims too. Missing their young sons who were arrested in a sudden and
terrifying way caused most of them severe illness or sudden shocks, and as a
result, early deaths.
Children, for sure, are the
ideal victims of the illegal detention. In addition to the financial needs due
to the absence of their father, the children grow in an extorted atmosphere of
cultivation as they depend on their mother's existence alone. This position
urges abnormal relationships between the mother and her children, which is
clarified through children's denial of their father. Actually, in spite of the
mother's efforts to remind the children of their father, they might not welcome
their father's return. After imprisonment, a child might treat his father,
harshly, because he is not used to his presence at home. A child might consider
the former position of his father is the reason for his disappointments among
his friends, like when he is questioned about his father's work and his gifts
and other privileges. Thus, the children grow with deepened feelings of lack of
financial and morale care, which the other children do not lack. Therefore, the
father, the prisoner-victim, becomes "unfair" as well.
Lately, many people
complain about the increasing phenomenon of individuality and the retreat of
the joint liabilities, which usually were a characteristic value of the
traditional society, who used to consider the lack of the joint help in the
western societies as a negative point. Also, the non-political religious
manifestation and the religious pretension increased, because it provides a
human with comfort and tranquility beside the good reputation. All this was
accompanied by the phenomena of corruption, social depravity, moral
putrefaction and others.
Even though the religious
phenomenon is the result of a cultural, social and economical environment, it
also relates to repression and prison. The regime alludes to the individuals
that they could do anything they want but away from politics. This made the
society withdraw from the political and cultural organizations and pay
attention to earn living through the difficult economical conditions.
Unfortunately, the individuals try to earn their living by all means,
disregarding the moral and legal considerations. Except the case of the political
oppositions, all illegal violations could be solved by bribery or mediately, in
the utmost cases, by spending a couple of months at prison.
The paradox is that those
who commit big economical violations pity the political prisoners because of
their much-complicated position. There is one known joke, which is narrated
about the political prisoners. It says that once, a prisoner was brought to a
prison's dormitory of one security branch. He asked all the prisoners about
their accusations and discovered that each one of them belonged to such a Party
or an organization. Thus, he hurried to hit the door of the dormitory and
called the jailer saying: "Please, I am a homosexual, do not put me with
those politicians!"
When I left the prison, I
noticed that my relatives avoided mentioning my imprisonment. They told their
children that I was travelling away. When I contacted by telephone an old
friend from the prison, who has a conservative inclination, to review our
memories together because I do not need to hide anything from him, he started
to change the subject, mentioning that we were together in
Another friend of mine,
during university times, asked about me, thus, he was told that I was in
We can understand why the
authorities conceal the subject of prison and prisoners, but why common people
attempt this deliberate concealment too?
1st- Due to the suffering,
which had been lived through or heard of, the factor of fear has been
strengthened in the collective conscience of people. This explains the retreat
of most people from demanding democracy and freedoms, which are led by
intellectuals in general. After the death of the president, those intellectuals
perceived that a small margin of democracy is opened, but soon this margin was
tightened again.
2nd- There is a difficulty
in separating between the prison as a place for criminals like killers, thieves
and others, and the political prison, especially, for young generations. Due to
the democratic education and human rights rules, children learn that a prisoner
is a criminal who is pursued by fair justice, the policemen. In fact, the
children are, only, taught the anthem of the leading Party, its slogans and the
glorification of the eternal leader. So, when my relatives and others introduce
me to their children, how can they explain my attitude?Ž(32).
3rd- The
psychological desire to forget the bitter subject and fold it into the
unconsciousness. This facilitates the success of the regime to isolate the opposition
from other people because of the severe repression and its tragic social and
psychological results; and because of the compulsory years of absence from
various opposing directions.
In spite of all what I have
mentioned about the negative effects of the prison upon society, I cannot
forget the wonderful and natural human sympathy, which I received from various
social circles. They were of different contradicting religions, sects and
ideological belongings, but all of them supported the political prisoners'
matter because they were the victims of injustice, who said a lawful word to
the tyrannical ruler. This word is the starting point, which all those who are
interested in democracy and justice have to start from, in order to form the
human rights' education. Human rights and democracy might be connected to each
person, differently, according to his believes and Ideologies. But the rights
could be generalized to become an independent necessary education and are
required for developing our society into an upgraded human, democratic and
political one.
There is another important
political starting point that could be noticed through the left or the right
political speech, which includes the matter of the democratic freedoms and
human rights as one of the primacies.
Finally, there is another
starting point, which might turn to be the most important one, and it means an
actual conversion of reality. It is about the authority's commencement of
acceptance to deal with the international organizations of human rights. Besides, issuing orders for declining the arbitrary detention,
lessening the torture, releasing most of the prisoners and liberating the
activities of the Human rights' association in
The Security Bodies of
Detention and Imprisonment:
Abu Haian Al Tawhidi said:
"Who transcends above the lesser, is a diminutive to his superior".
The series of the superior
and the diminutive that ends by the prisoners is full of social and
psychological deformations according to its grades, ranks, benefits and
jurisdictions which allow its relation with the arrested and prisoners.
The participation in
torturing, watching or assisting in the collective massacre has side effects,
which could not be covered or prevented by any cultural or political charge,
because it touches the essence of the relation between a human to a human. One
of the most prominent examples that are dealt among prisoners is about one
jailer of
The control of information
within the country does not allow to proceed and investigate
the expected effects upon the bodies of repression. It has been said that one
of the military policemen cadres, in
"A cadre, who seemed
to be a soldier at the military service, came next to me to check my identity
card, after seeing my name, he looked at me and his eyes became full of tears.
Agitated and crying, he said: "you are from my town, God help us", I
asked him: "why? Is there anything?", he
said: "God give us patience, what we can do? God help you". As if I
was tumbling down a dark well, I asked him: "Why? Did they come for me?", he said, turning his face away: "Yes". He
left and gave my identity card to the head of the soldiers, who was calling: " Waheeba Al Dabag"Ž(33).
Any slackening to execute
the punishment might cause a harder punishment; simply, a jailer might turn
into a prisoner. In addition to the contradiction that a jailer goes through
between what he had been charged of and the reality that he discovers, beside
his own social and moral values, the jailer endures another economical paradox.
Actually, the salary, compensations, promotions and privileges of the bodies of
security are much less than the military police cadres' earnings. The wages do
not often fulfill the living needs, especially in the capital, where the
numbers of security's bodies are intensified. Therefore, in spite of the danger
to be discovered, the jailer considers it easy to steal the prisoners or render
them services in return for money.
From time to time, we hear
about a scandal in a prison or a security branch, this could be repeated and
duplicated to the extent that it influences the security's directions and
disturbs the discipline. This is natural because the legal-organizational
positions of detention, imprisonment and the treatment of prisoners are absent.
In addition, these bodies are not subjugated to open supervision and the press
is prohibited to deal with such a subject. In fact, the official press could
deal with the subject of directors, ministers, and probably alludes to the
Prime Minister, but can not deal with one single "body of security",
leaving aside the officers and the heads of the branches. Thus, the sacredness
of these securities created a phenomenon that even the local press wrote about
without perceiving its deep meaning. From time to time, we hear about a crime
here or a theft there, in which the criminal or the thief claims that he is a
security cadre in order to execute his crime. Actually, the grade of fear from
the bodies of security does not permit the people to even ask about the
identity card of this person. This, of course, affects the reputation of the
security's bodies, which is, originally, not a proper one.
The daily torture, the
complete liberty for the inquisitor and the death of the dÅtente are considered normal positions. One of the bitter
paradoxes was that an investigator was punished by solitary imprisonment for 48
hours because he "killed a man under torture", probably, because the
bodies of security wanted to have more information before the man was killed.
It is, also, a normal position to order the jailer to kill a prisoner, like
what used to happen in
The worse possible effects
on the jailer or the inquisitor happen when they deal with female prisoners.
Here, there is a wide chance for extorting the human personality, which feels
its deficiency, diminution and immaturity in front of women. Due to our
society's structure, this deficiency is not a rare position in
B - The Deprivation of
Civil Rights:
The deprivation of civil
rights was not, sufficiently, approached by the human rights' demands and the
required constitutional adjustments. Now, the reports and statements of the
international and local organizations started to pay attention to the necessity
of rehabilitation for those who are deprived of their civil rights. Thus, I
will treat this subject according to what I have passed through and what I
heard from many other official sources like,
I believe that not only the
dispossession of civil rights, which were issued by the State Security Court at
the beginning of 1992, should be given a consideration, but also, the
dispossession on the actual daily level.
The actual application of deprivation happen with those who were
exposed to exceptional military courts, exceptional courts, or those who were
arrested and released from prison without any tribunal, so that they become
enlisted in the files of the security institutions. Thus, whenever they need to
deal with official institutions, look for employment, decide to travel or need
any other procedures, their past will always be present. Regardless of a
verdict existence or not, the official institutions need the agreement of the
security institutions.
Those who were exposed to
an exceptional court, in spite of its harshness, do not care for its verdict
because of its illegality, which could be canceled by the Minister of Defense.
On the other hand, the verdicts of the
The rules of
As long as a former
prisoner is unable to get the certificate of "Non-convicted", most of
his official transactions could not be achieved, even at working in the private
sector. Thus, the participation in any tender or a contract needs this
certificate.
Therefore, the authorities
expand the effects of punishment till after the prisoner leaves the prison. The
stamped identity card of the prisoner, which includes the phrase
"dispossession of civil rights", will affect him everywhere. Thus, a
released prisoner is obliged to submit explanations and clarifications to
whomever he deals with. Consequently, while having a condition of increased
unemployment and declined chances of work for the graduates and the
scientifically qualified cadres, the former prisoners become exposed to an
increased social and economical siege. Then, what can those, former prisoners,
who are originally incapable of practicing private jobs, do?
In spite of the private
sector's cautiousness to employ those who have political or opposition
belongings, to avoid security or economical blackmail or pressures, this sector
contained a part of those former prisoners, who desire to work and whose
physical capacities enable them to work. Also, the traditional family type
contained another part of released prisoners. Still, many of these former
prisoners are living dependents on their families, who are, originally, poor.
One factor of the former
prisoners' suffering is that due to the long years at prison, they become older
and cannot do any type of work. In addition, many of them have deformations and
physical deficiencies or weak health. As a result of disengagement from life
developments at prison, even those who might have had a professional experience
they might have lost it. Furthermore, the age or health of the former prisoner
might not enable him for a professional rehabilitation. This position requires
the participation of the government to provide a source to earn living or to
compensate those former prisoners like, in
Finally, if the dispossession
of voting and election is useless and unimportant at this period, it has a
moral value, which should not be neglected. In fact, it makes the citizen
perceive his citizenship rights, which means his liberty to vote or not, to
elect or not. Actually, the people who have this right, theoretically, are,
practically, unable to practice it.
We look forward to see when
this right will have an actual value and, besides, we allow ourselves to be
optimistic about the existence of a real democratic development, which will
include our country. While waiting, I join my voice to the voice of the lawyer,
Mr. Hasan Ameen Refa'ah. He says: "The International family members, who
are included in the General Institution of the United Nations and the Regional,
National, Governmental and Civil Independent Organizations have to form and
define the compulsory power of the Human Rights' Declaration. Also, the
organizations must provide the protection and the necessary power to execute
the Declaration and oblige the governments, the independent institutions and
the individuals, according to their responsibilities, to include its principles
in all the international treaties, legislation and national constitutions.
Besides, they must apply definite chastisements' procedures for whoever
disobeys these principles"Ž(34).
"For the first time, I
look at people and they do not see me chained. Do they have pity for me? Or,
are they gloating over my grief? I am walking; I am not inside a car. No need
to peep through the blindfolds, the windows of the bus or from behind the bars
of the food truckŽ(35).. From
one moment to another, I could hear the tone of that cadre or sergeant and see
the image of his facial features.. I wish I would
never see any of them... An incidental idea pleases me that they ride cars... I
walk from one street to another and from one pavement to another
watching peoples' faces and searching about an intimacy that I had been
familiar with, or I believe that I had accustomed to.
One friend said to me:
"People do not deny you due to lack of fidelity, but because of their
fatigue, our country is all fatigued."Ž(36).
__________
Footnotes:
1) W. Reich, "Listen
small man, A Speech about Freedom to the Street Man", translated by
Ausamah Hamed, published by Dar Iben Rushd, p. 74.
2) Dr. Salem Hameesh,
meetings "With Them Wherever They Are", Al Farabi publishing house,
2nd edition, 1988, p. 104.
3) Hadi Al Alawi,
"Chapters from the Political Islamic History", p. 348.
4) Abd Al Rahman Al
Kawakebi, "The Dispositions of Despotism", The Arabic East publishing
house,
5) Previous source.
6) Zakaria Tamer,
"Tigers at the Tenth Day".
7) Previous source.
8) Many lawyers died under
torture like, Mohammed Abed Al Aziz Ka'kah, Zakaria Abd Al Jabbar, Ahmed Abdu
and Sa'eed Nino.
9) The Committees for the
Defense of Democratic Freedoms and Human Rights are resuming their work. The
members were detained in 1992 and were exposed to different sentences by the
10) Hadi Al Alawi, previuos
source, p. 128 - 129.
11) Hytham
Manna, "A Short Universal Encyclopedia of Human Rights", Dar Al Ahali
for publication and distribution, Damascus 2000, p. 205 - 206.
12) For example, Dr.
Engineer Karameh spent 11 eleven years in a solitary cell, who was detained
after the dissolution of the associations of professions. Also, Riad Al Turk
spent 18 years in a solitary cell, who was detained in March 1980. Both spent
these periods in the branch of military inquisition in
13) One of the most
prominent cases is Mr. Naseeb Raia, who was convicted by the
14) The International
Convention that related to civil and political rights, which
15) Article No. 5: "It
is prohibited to expose any man to torture, punishment, hard treatment, cruelty
or humiliation.
16) Syrian Law of
Sanctions, Article 391: "Anyone who hurts someone, hardly, in an
unaccepted way by law in order to get a confession of a crime or related
information will be sentenced from three months to three years of prison. If
the violence causes illness or injuries, the minimal sanctions are one year of
prison".
17) Hytham Manna, previous
source, p. 206.
18) Published in October
1987 about the torture in the Syrian prisons.
19) The Law of the
Legislative decree No. 549, dated 25.05.1969, includes in the Article No. 74
the following:
"It is prohibited to pursue, judicially, any employee
from the State Security Department, whether deputed, imparted or directly
contracted, because of crimes that result from the job or during it, before he
is remitted to the discipline council of the department and issuing a pursuing
order from the director".
20) Haythm Manna, Previous
source, p. 206.
21) Previous source, p.
206.
22) The Article No. 18 of
the International Declaration of Human Rights guarantees this right. Article
No. 12 of the same Declaration includes: "It is prohibited to expose any
man to arbitrary interference in his private life, family affairs, his
residence, correspondence or reputation. Every person has the right to law
protection from any interference".
23) Haseebah Abed Al
Rahman, "The Cocoon", unpublished novel. The writer is a political
prisoner from the Communist Labor Party, she spent 4 four years in women's
prison. After she was released, she participated for a period of time with the
activities of the human rights and democratic freedoms' commissions in
24) Hibah Dabbag,
"Just Five Moments", reported from an autobiography of a Syrian
female prisoner, who was taken as a hostage in return for her fleeing brother
that was accused of belonging to Muslim Brotherhood. She was detained for 9
nine years, 1980 - 1989. Published by the Syrian Committee
for Human Rights, p. 28 - 29.
25) I witnessed.
26) I witnessed.
27) "The Cocoon",
previous source, p. 223.
28) Hibah Dabbag, previous
source, p. 2.
29) Faisal Abbas, "the
Personality in Psychology", reported from the book: "Pavlov and
Freud", p. 59.
30) When I was in the cell,
one of the jailers saw a prisoner masturbating, thus, the jailer obliged him to
have an intercourse by the gutter.
31) The last annual report
of the Committees for the Defense of Human Rights in
32) One of the important
points that the annual report mentioned was demanding the education of human
rights to be enlisted in the curriculums of schools.
33) Hibah Dabbag, previous
source.
34) From a lecture prepared
by Lawyer Hassan Ameen Rifa'ah, presented at the Human Rights Forum in
35) The prisoners call it
so because of its similarity to their position,.
36) From the autobiography
of one prisoner, who was released, lately.
CH
10
The
Syrian Policy of Communication
(Information
- Culture - Education)
Hussein Al OudatŽŽ(*)
The Right for Communication
and the Freedom of Expression:
In this age, it became
obvious that each individual has the right to communicate and converse with
other people to obtain information.
Also, each individual has
the right to exchange opinions, acquire education and participate to develop it
through creativity and exhibiting his experience by using the cultural and
information systems. McBride committee, formed by UNESCO, confirmed the right
of communication for each individual in the world. The committee acknowledged
"each individual's right to discuss, participate, meet, establish
associations, acquire information and report them, plus the right of
information, education and choice".
In
reality, practicing these rights demands obtaining the means of communication
(mass media, education and cultivation) to use them for expressing opinions and
benefiting them for discussions and dialogues. Unfortunately, such rights
are not seriously recognized in
This announcement replaced
the press law, which since 1963 became frozen and almost canceled. In spite of
the newspapers' references and the official declarations about the outlet of a
new press law, no practical steps were taken until nowŽ(*).
Accordingly, the Syrian
citizen and the civil societies have no right to establish any newspaper or
magazine, or any readable, audio or visual information media. Consequently, the
citizen has no base to practice his right to communicate or express his opinion
except through the official means of information like, the government's
newspapers and information media or the semi official newspapers of the masses'
associations and unions. In fact, all these means do not permit any opposing
opinion because they are all related to one scheme that expresses the one
attitude of the state, officially, which is practically, the government's
attitude.
The Syrian constitution
guaranteed the right to freedom of opinion and expression. Article No. 38 of
the constitution included that "each citizen has the right to express his
opinion, freely and openly, in writing, speech and all means of
expressions". Also, the citizen has to "participate in supervising,
criticizing and developing his country, in which the government guarantees the
freedom of press, publication and distribution according to law".
Therefore, the constitution guarantees the right, but its practical
applications do not regard or respect this legal text. Practically,
individuals, parties and political trends were deprived of this right. The
state monopolized this right for the co-political system and its supporters,
precisely, the co-government and its supporters.
In this way, the successive
governments dominated the information media and education, restricted them to
their policies and applied them for their service. Moreover, the governments
used these means to become their own voice that explains their achievements,
praises their activities and masks their errors. Also, the governments
cancelled supervision upon the administration of the state, besides canceling
the other opinion and the minimum freedom of expression. Furthermore, official
institutions and bureaucracy dominated the information media, which rarely paid
attention to peoples' needs and interests, and always ignored the role of civil
society organizations. Thus, creativity retreated and fear dominated the
journalists and writers, especially those who were employed at the official
information media and the prohibitions increased. One of the paradoxes is that
the constitution of the ruling Ba'ath Party, approved in 1947, recognized that
"the freedom of speech, meetings, belief and art is sacred, and no
authority could abase it".
The Syrian citizen was
deprived from discussing the matters of his life, defining the features of his
future, practicing the effective free dialogue, assisting to adopt the best
choices, carrying the responsibility of his present and future, and choosing
the way of his living. As a result, the consciousness deteriorated, education
became shallow and the individuals were transformed into receivers without
initiatives or creativity, and yield to actual conditions.
The position of the
policies of communication (Information, culture, education):
The Arabic Committee for
Studying the Matters of Information and Communication defined in its report,
page 66, the policies of communication as the "Group of principles, rules,
directions, conscious practices and prevailed conducts that the system of
communication is based upon". These policies aim for "fulfilling the
actual communicational needs of people through the ideal use of the available
capacities and human and natural resources in the society, like art,
communication and information". (P. 43)
The policy of communication
concerns the whole society and not a certain class only. It is supposed to care
for the interests of all social groups and political trends, as well as, the
cultural, ethnic and religious groups that exist in the country, and deals with
the various concepts, values and goals of these groups. The most important
provisions of this policy are its comprehensiveness and diversity, which
necessarily requires the participation of all these groups. However, the policy
of communication should not be produced by one group or rendered to serve one
group.
The paradox is that the
Syrian government, which owns all information media and most of communication
means, has no written policy of communication. If any existed, then it might be
directions, routine work traditions, ministerial or administrative statements,
or oral orders, and all are reactions to the emerging events and relay on
individual initiatives of prominent politicians, informational cadres of
authority or the supervisors of mass media. Most of these polices are for the sake
of ordering and prohibiting, no real policy exists, if any existed, it would be
oral and temporary. Thus, the cultural and information speech was transformed
into a speech from a sender to a receiver, without any dialectical relation in
between. The speech remained partial and concentrated on two matters, first,
the publicity for the government and its achievements, second, the enlargement
of entertaining programs, which were cost-less and superficial.
Accordingly, the Syrian
policy of communication was neglected or, almost, ignored the matters of
development with their comprehensive concept like, the economical, social,
cultural, educational and others. Due to the lack of various groups'
participation, the policy, in fact, had no balance. The practices of the
informational cadres were characterized by fear, lack of initiatives and lack
of serious researches that fulfil the society needs.
The
obstacles to achieve the democracy of communication "oblige us to
re-concentrate on the different freedoms of information, expression, thoughts
and belief" because, as Mac-pride committee said (p. 14), "the
imposed restrictions on these freedoms stiffen the development and progress
toward a democratic communication systems". It is obvious that any
non-Democratic system has harmful effects on communication, because there is a
logical connection between the democracy of communication and the whole
democracy of society. Thus, once we decide to study the actual position of
communication we should always remember this connection to the Syrian policy.
The actual position emerges from the prevailing ideology that is connected to
the production of social-economical context.
The Actual Position of
Means of Communication in
1) There is no
informational or cultural industry in
2) There are three daily
newspapers, which are all published in
3) Specialized periodicals
or half-periodical are published by masses' associations and organizations.
4) The government owns the
Radio stations and TV local channels including the space channels.
5) At the beginning of year
2001, after President Bashar Assad resumed his responsibilities, the government
permitted the publishing of one private weekly newspaper called: Al Dawmari.
6) At the beginning of year
2001, the government permitted the participating Parties of the Progressive
National Front to issue their newspapers, distribute and sell them openly.
7) The import of Movies is
still restricted to the government through the Institution of Film. Private
movie theaters could not import films directly, except what comes through the
Institution of Film. Private film production is permitted after inspection, as
we will mention later.
8) Theaters' exhibitions
and productions are divided between the public and private sectors after
inspecting the theatrical texts.
9) The Institution of
Distributing Publications, owned by the government, is the only distributor of
local and imported newspapers and periodicals.
10) Private sector is
permitted to own printing houses, but prohibited to publish any article,
regardless of its size or subject, without censorship by an anticipated written
agreement.
11) Private sector is
prohibited from establishing centers for studies and researches.
12) Internet subscription
was permitted in year 2000 and 2001, as well as, mobile phones.
13) On thousand Syrian
citizens read, daily, less than 10 newspapers and five books, and the own 300
radio sets and 250 TV sets. The Syrian individual consumes about 3 kilograms of
paper for writing per year. Although the estimated numbers are not precise,
they still refer to the cultural and educational miserable condition in
Censorship &
Supervision:
Anticipated and successive
supervision, sometimes, are practiced on any information or cultural activity,
whether readable, written, or audible. Also, school books, lectures, meetings
and all what is related to contact and communication are controlled according
to the following mechanism:
1) Daily newspapers are
subjugated to self-supervision, which means the journalist's self-control, and
to the supervision of Press Institution. As all the newspapers are related to
government, thus, their editors and supervisors do the function of controlling.
The other permitted
non-Syrian newspapers and magazines are inspected by the department of
supervision in the Ministry of Information, which has the right to permit or
reject them. These newspapers were distributed in the evening time instead of
early morning because they needed time to be inspected. This method was changed
after the middle of the year 2000, and newspapers became distributed a little
bit earlier.
2) Weekly newspapers and
periodicals that related to the Parties of the Progressive front are
self-inspected by specialist supervisors of the Parties. The newspapers of
masses' organizations and associations are all self-inspected by their own
directories.
3) Movies and TV serials:
- A specified directory in
the Ministry of Culture controls the imported movies.
- A specialized directory
in the General Institution of Radio and TV controls imported TV series.
- Local films and serials'
productions pass twice to censorship, first, to control texts, second, to
control the terminated production before presentation. The proposed TV serials
are censored by the General Institution of Radio and TV, and Films by the
Ministry of Culture.
- The Ministry of Culture
controls the theatrical performances twice, once to inspect the texts and the
other is before its performance.
4) Books:
Many institutions inspect
the prepared manuscripts before publication as follow:
A - The issued books for
inside
The manuscript is presented
to the Ministry of Information- department of supervision to obtain its
approval; then, this department transfers the manuscript to one of the
following directions:
1) If the manuscript is
related to creativity, like Poetry, Stories, Novels, Literary studies and
others, it will be sent to the Union of Writers, which formed supervising
committees, called "the readers", as a preliminary step toward
permission or prohibition.
2) If the manuscript is
related to a political, religious or philosophical subjects or intellectual in
general, then it will be sent to the Regional Leadership - the office of
preparation to decide whether to agree or forbid it.
3) If the manuscript is of
a military scheme, then it will be sent to the Department of Morale Directing
at the Ministry of Defense.
4) Sacred books and some
religious books are sent to the Ministry of Religious Endowments.
5) The department of
supervision in the Ministry of Information controls the other subjects.
6) Schoolbooks are all
unified in
In all the former cases,
after approval, the manuscript is returned to its owner for publication. After
printing the manuscript, the owner has to return it again to the department of
supervision in the Ministry of Information to obtain another approval for
distribution. These procedures to obtain the approvals for a manuscript might
take months.
All the practiced measures
of supervision are relative. The measures are not written nor
detailed, and vary from each other. Thus, the relativity of approval or
rejection differs from one institution to another, and sometimes, differs from
one supervisor to another within the same department. In fact, the Syrian
supervision yield to various measures, values and general expressions, such as,
preserving the general morals, the nations' values, the national security or
the benefit of masses and others. All the measures are undefined and general,
therefore, they are able to differ and contradict according to the specific
understanding of the supervisor. Due to these variations of control, it happens
that a manuscript might be accepted after it was rejected months before with a
different title. This is justified because of different supervisors'
measurements.
B - Imported book are often
supervised only by the department of supervision in the Ministry of Information
with some exceptions, which are related to political and religious books that demand
the permission of the Regional Leadership to enter the country.
The Policies of Education:
Article No. 37 of the
Syrian constitution indicates that "education is a guaranteed right by the
government. Primary school is compulsory and all stages are free of
charges". According to this constitutional text, law No. 35 of year 1981
indicated that "all the parents of Syrian children, male and female,
between the ages of 6 - 12 years are obliged to send their children to primary
schools". Moreover, in case the parents would not let their children
attend schools, the law specified fines and penalties.
The policy of education
committed to constitution and this law, and gave the right of free education,
including university and high education studies, to all citizens regardless of
their gender, religion and region. Also, this policy made important efforts to
apply the compulsory education for children and penalize the parents who deny
that.
As the percentage of
private schools does not reach 2%, the government handles the whole educational
system like, schools, equipment, teachers and others, and submits the books
with net costs. Practically, private schools contain the students who are
unaccepted at the elementary and secondary public schools, beside wealthy students
at the primary schools. In all cases, schoolbooks are the same, with rare
exceptions, and all schools are, completely, supervised by the Ministry of
Education.
The way and methods of
teaching depend upon instructing and, rarely, implicate dialogue and
conversing. Thus, the methods are briefed as a sender (teacher or professor)
and a recipient (pupil or student). Analysis, induction and deduction, which
enable reaching the logical right thinking, are rarely applied. The student is
only required to memorize without thinking. Therefore, the student is evaluated
and examined through the contents of the schoolbooks. Even though, a student
has correct opinions, he is prohibited to present anything that is not included
in the schoolbooks. The universities and colleges, as well, do not require the
student to inspect resources other than the schoolbooks program, if he
researches in other resources and uses their topics, he will not be credited.
On the other hand, many
obstacles prevent the application of new methods of education and the dynamism
of collective work in the educational activities, whether inside classrooms or
outside them, including universities. In all cases, discussions are not
upgraded to the level of analyzing matters and presenting suppositions to solve
them. Actually, the information of the schoolbooks are
confirmed without enabling any chance for the student to discover or suggest
resolutions.
We conclude that the new
progress and development in the world (communication, information system and technology)
did not affect to change the methods of teaching and its democracy. Also, the
economical openness was not accompanied by a democratic one or by the plurality
of opinions or the respect of dialogue and other opinion. Moreover, teaching
methods did not change to train students for new costumes and transfer them
from the receiving scheme to the initiative, discussion, induction and
deduction schemes. So, the values of science, mind, freedom and democracy
remained faced by the morals of legends, fables and supernatural thoughts.
Furthermore, the co-operation between teacher and student to discuss matters
was lost. Thus, the position of teacher's instructing and a students' yielding
remained.
Accordingly, the
knowledgeable mind of the generations vanished and creativity declined,
instead, the measurable mind prevailed and the whole society transformed into
recipients of philosophy, politics, discoveries, creations and industrial
applications.
The Forums and
Organizations of the Civil Society:
As we said before, it is
obvious that each person has the right for contact, communication, dialogue,
expression of opinion, obtaining information and spreading it, besides,
learning about others' experiences and presenting his personal experience.
These rights that are included in the Syrian constitution and International
Treaties, which were considered as essential human needs, can be achieved
through the establishment of cultural and educational organizations, social and
cultural associations and political and non-political Parties of multiple aims.
So, it is necessary to establish organizations of civil society,
support them and give them the chance to accomplish their functions away from
the domination and interference of the government.
The present regime in
After President Bashar
Assad resumed his responsibilities, he expressed clearly his new policy in the
speech of the constitutional oath. He said: "Before it is our right,
democracy is our duty toward the others. Democratic thoughts are the foundation
and the democratic practices are the construction. For sure, all of us know
that whenever the foundation is weak, the construction becomes threatened to
fall down with the first shake". The speech of the president, the
diversions and the releases of hundreds of political prisoners and the contact
with political groups from outside the Progressive Front encouraged the
intellectuals to express their opinions. Thus, the intellectuals held meetings
for dialogue in their homes and issued statements, which included their
troubles and demands. They demanded the freedom of expression, freedom of
opinion, the respect of political and cultural plurality, the termination of
Martial Laws, the adjustment of the constitution to guarantee the possibility
of alternating authority.
Hundreds of intellectuals
from all directions participated in the forums' activities and used their
residences to hold meetings of dialogues and discussions. These forums
multiplied like fungus and spread in most Syrian cities, quickly.
Depriving the intellectuals
of their right to express themselves and converse about the matters of their
country for forty years made them suggest in their forums everything, the
possible and the impossible, the essential and the secondary, as if releasing
the suppression became their aim. Thus, in many cases, they lost the clear
vision and methodology, especially that they were from different groups and
directions. Consequently, the forums turned into useless talks, in which
protesting and rejecting became their main goal.
On the other hand, many
powers of the regime were scared, especially that they used to give orders,
instruct and act alone during decades. They never believed in the freedoms of
opinion and expression, nor plurality, and could not accept the principle of
dialogue, so, how can these powers accept the opinions which discuss the
legitimacy of their continuity? Therefore, these powers made all the efforts to
enlarge the danger of forums on the regime and its continuity, and accused the
intellectuals of contacting foreign powers. Accordingly, the authority
prohibited the activities of the forums, except some of them. Thus, in spite of
having all the basics for success, the forums' experiment failed. In fact, these
forums could have established a dialogue with the political system. If they
defined their actual goals and regarded dialogue as their primary demand to
discuss with the system the conditions of Syrian society and its prospect, and
if they looked for common divisors between the various political and cultural
trends and the regime, they would have succeeded. Also, if the political system
had the real intention for divergence, by applying the political and cultural
plurality and accepting the other, the experiment might had
a different conclusion.
Concerning the political
system, it seems that the closing and prohibition of forums is not the end.
Many private and public references and intentions are confirming the
president's desire to establish a form of contact and communication with the
political and cultural trends in
The Syrian society is in
bad need for freedom of expression, opinion, dialogue, communication, establishment
of cultural and information platforms. Also, information media and education
are needed to be open for all the citizens and should be withdrawn from the
government's control. The supervision on conscience and mind should be
canceled. Besides, all types of civil society's organizations should
participate in implementing the policies of information, culture, education and
the democracy of communication. The benefits of all the groups of society
should be regarded. Also, the information media should have its right of
supervision and criticism.
Syrian citizens are working
and expecting all these rights and freedoms to be obtained because there is no
other choice for
__________
Note:
(*) In 18.08.2001, the
Council of Ministers issued the draft of a new press law, which included
adjustments and renewal for some Articles in the law that were
still effective since 1949. The Parliament must discuss and vote for the draft
law before the President of the Republic issues it. According to Al Thawra newspaper,
this draft law is related to organize the work of libraries, printing and
publishing houses. (The editor).
CH
11
The
Syrian Economy:
The
Reality and The Prospects
Amer MahmoodŽŽ(*)
The Syrian economy has a
distinguished balanced sector's structure, as well as an important economical,
human and natural resources along with a significant geographical location
which represents a tying knot among three continents: Asia, Europe and Africa.
The individual annual
income classifies
At the end of year 1999,
the population of
No significant changes
occurred to the gender percentage, which was still
about 104 men for each 100 women. Although, the percentage of people who were
younger than 15 years old had lowered from 44.8% in 1994 to 40.5% in 1999, yet,
this percentage is still considered a high one in comparison to other
countries. Therefore, it could be said that
In spite of the annual
decrease of the population growth from 3.3% during 1981 - 1994 to 2.7% during
1994 - 1999, the average of growth remains high in comparison to other
countries' growth. However
Taking a look at the
available agricultural possibilities in
Despite its deterioration
in the last few years due to drought, the animal wealth still represents an
important resource for
In addition to the
reasonable agricultural capacity,
Tourism capacity is as
important as other available wealth resources in
However, these important
natural resources were not properly invested,
therefore, Syrian economy became weak and unappealing to the available
capacities.
The estimations of ESCWA
(Social- Economical Commission of West Asia) refer to the average growth of
total local production in 1999 being the weakest in the surrounding area, the
Syrian growth average resgestering an increase of less than 1%Ž(5).
This reality of Syrian
economy urges the following question: what caused the weakness of economical
function despite the availability of all these important resources? To answer
this question let's to take quick review of the development of the syrian economy in the last 40 years.
* * *
The Syrian economy
witnessed various drops and rises due to diverse interior and exterior factors
throughout the second half of the twentieth century.
In the period between 1966
and 1970, Syrian economy did not function satisfactorily. The annual
agricultural growth average did not increase more than 1% in fixed pricesŽ(6).
- Many factors were behind
this deterioration including the inappropriate climate, The delay of
distribution of lands, regulated by the reformed agrarian law,the
slow growth of Agricultural Co-operatives the decrease of agricultural loans
percentage, the reduction of importation of agricultural vehicles, fertilizers
and disinfectants and the decline of investment in the agricultural sector.
The Industrial sector was
not in better shape. Due to the rise of production' costs and the decrease of
products quality, the financial surplus of public industrial organizations
dropped, leading in a decrease in the average of total industrial production,
which ranged between 49% to 67%, during the second half of 60iesŽ(7).
In spite of oil exportation
increase, general exports suffered a continuous recession because of the
agricultural products reduction and the perpetual impotency of payment scale
since 1968. The progressive increase of general expenditure, which was mainly
financed by banking institutions, caused the increase of currency mass that
grew during 1966 to 1970 with an annual average of 13%Ž(8).
To treat this recession,
the Syrian government took various procedures toward economical openness. In
1971, some measures were processed to activate importation, such as, allowing
the private sectors to import certain goods provided they can afford foreign
credit facilities for at least 365 days and to pay in foreign currency from
their own external accounts.
In a step to encourage the
Syrians to retain back to their smuggled capitals, the government allowed them
to import some raw materials and spare parts including some previously
prohibited western goods with the conditions of financing importation from
their own external accounts.
Beside the official Money
Market, a new Parallel Market was established in 1971. The Commercial Bank of
The General Organization of
Free Zone was established to urge export industries and captivate Arab capitals
and investments. Specific areas were reserved in Latakiah,
In spite of all the
previous important measures, the results were not as expected due to several
reasons, mainly the reluctancy of the private sector to assist with the
economical growth because these measures were not taken through a comprehensive
long-term strategy.
The Syrian economy
developed noticeably in the seventies. A high average of growth was achieved
with an annual average of 10%. Ž(10) As the private sector withdrew from
effective participation in economical growth, the government had to be
completely responsible for raising up the national economy. Therefore, the
public investment growth increased from 3.9 billion Syrian pounds in the second
fifth plan (1966-1970) to 12.7 billion Syrian pounds in the third fifth plan
(1971-1975), then to 50.5 billion Syrian pound in fourth fifth plan (1976-1980)Ž(11).
The Investment program of
the third and fourth plan, principally, aimed to have a quick industrial
growth, an increase of irrigated lands and a development of the structures.
Official statistics point
out that the total local production increased in fixed prices of 1985 from
27967 million Syrian pounds in 1970 to 72078 million Syrian pounds in 1980Ž(12).
Moreover, the running
energy power enlarged from 333 megawatt in 1970 to 1073 megawatt in 1980. On
the other hand, highways length increased from 11687 kilometer in 1970 to 19819
kilometer in 1980. The new railway net widened from 1140 kilometer in 1970 to
2017 kilometer in 1980. As for drinking water in cities centers, its production
increased from 135627 thousand cubic meters in 1970 to 301432 thousand cubic
meters in 1980.
The number of primary
schools increased from 5261 schools in 1970 to 7689 schools in 1980. Elementary
and secondary schools increased from 813 schools in 1970 to 1330 schools in 1980Ž(13).
The achieved growth during
the 70ies was, principally due to the high performance of the construction and
service sectors. Other productive sectors, industrial and agricultural, were
inefficient during the second half of the 70ies because of different factors.
The main causes of slow
growth in the agricultural sector were: the delay of projects achievement to
increase the irrigated areas of the reformed agrarian law, the decrease of
intensified crops, the weak services of agricultural orientation as well as the
extreme interference of government with the vital affairs of agricultural
sector, like specifying the type of crops and restricting the purchase of tools
and supplements by the government only.
On the other hand, the weak
efficiency of the industrial sector was due to the delay of achieving most
projects, which was caused by:
One - The
deficiencies of economical and technical studies.
Two - The
loose commitments of foreign countries to achieve projects because of various
gaps in contracts provisions.
Three -
The weak supervision and persuasion of project achievement.
The former effects did not
only delay project achievements and operation, but also caused technical
problems of installations and execution for other industires which made it
impossible to continue with its full productive power. This of course, assisted
to the decline of industrial growth average.
In fact, the phenomenon of
delay in the development project dominated most industrial sectors during the
third fifth plan (1971-1975) and fourth fifth plan (1976-1980). The main reason
for this phenomenon is the extravagant ambitions of both plans. The investments
programs of both plans did not agree with the consumption capacities of Syrian
economy investments.
Although the financial
execution of the second plan (1966-1970) did not exceed 77%Ž(14), the third plan (1971-1975) investments
were raised three times compared to the second one. The fourth plan (1976-1980)
raise of investments exceeded about four times the third one. The discordance
among the ambitious investments programs and the limited capacity of
investments of Syrian economy caused a severe deficiency in various industrial
sectors which were supposed to supply the needs of growth projects of both
latter plans.
Severe deficiencies covered
different fields, which extended from manpower to raw materials. It affected
negatively, the facilities of transport and cargo, port capacities to unload
and store goods, infra structure installations such as roads, railway,
telecommunications, water and electricity nets. Having
huge and plenty of growth projects in both third and fourth plans, the
specialized technical institutes of the government could not maintain an
efficient role to review all the economical studies and the designed plans nor
could it pursuit and supervise these projects.
In the absence of a balance
between the investment programs of third and fourth plans and the consumption
capacities of investments in Syrian economy, deficiencies did not only delay
the achievements of growth projects for more than two years but it also caused
a noticeable higher cost of projects. Actually, many useful projects turned to
be diffusive and a heavy load on the national economy later on.
The discordance between the
size of investment programs of third and fourth plans and the consumption
capacity was connected with another imbalance between fast and forward projects
outcome, and between the productive and the cervical projects. In fact, the
adherence to develop the basic structure and to increase the irrigated areas
for the growth of agricultural sector required specifying enormous projects of
investment to afford land reclamation projects, roads, railways and electricity
at the expense of other useful projects, which increased crops and improved
industrial production.Evidently, reclaiming lands and planting it takes many
years to start production. On the other hand,the
projects of the infrastructure do not produce goods for sale and consumption to
absorb the purchasing power, which retain the expenses of these projects.
The delay of achieving the
industrial and agricultural productive projects and the concentration on long
term productive projects at the expense of short-term projects increased the
gap between offer and demand of goods in the local market. Importation did not
help to close the gap because of severe lack of foreign currency, accordingly,
smuggling increased with higher prices and black market enlarged.
The crisis of intensive
supply assisted the Syrian bourgeois commerce to achieve manipulated profits at
the expense of people restricted incomes. The increase of salaries and wages
during the seventies did not accord with the actual high prices, thus the real
income of most citizens decreased noticebly During the
eighties, the default of Syrian economy expanded due to the ambitious
unbalanced plans of growth. Whenever the lack of equilibrium in the internal
and external balance increased, the crisis grew bigger.
The gap between cash flow
and financial flow widened. One study refers to the years from 1980 till 1990
that the capital mass increased up to 5.5 times, where as the total local
growth production did not reach 24% in the same period of fixed pricesŽ(15).
The deficiencies of the
financial flow were due to the weakeness of the goods sectors. In fact, the
inappropriate climate conditions and the continuous drought during the eighties
led to the decline of the agricultural production, especially seed production
that dropped noticeably in 1984. The industrial productivity also decreased
during the 80ies. Actually, the insufficient local raw materials, the
unavailable imported primary materials and spare parts due to the lack of
foreign currency inflow led to lower the benefits of installed productive
energies noticeablyŽ(16).
Besides, the repeated electric cuts, the unskilled workers, the unqualified
administration and leadership, all affected the mal function of the industrial
sector. The gap between cash inflow and finance outflow caused prices to rise
up to an annual average about 19,58% from 1980 to 1990Ž(17).
The gap between cash inflow
and finance outflow was associated with the gap increase between available
resources and their use. The hidden inflation, which lost 90% of local currency
purchase power during the eightiesŽ(18), did
not help the growth of local resources. Moreover, the foreign sources of
governmental aids and loans decreased. However, aids from Arabic countries,
which were reserved for
Due to the increase of
importation more than the capacity of exportation, the gap between imports and
exports widened. This situation caused a high deficiency in the commercial
scale, which decreased from 7915 million Syrian pounds in 1980 to 9947 million
SP in 1988Ž(19). The extravagant value of the Syrian pound affected negatively
the competitive capacity of the Syrian exportation, especially, the available
crops for export. Accordingly, foreign currency resources decreased, whereas,
more pressure on payment occurred.
Considering all the
previous defaults, it was not strange to register a negative national income
growth during the eighties. The annual growth average of the national income
reached 15.7% in current prices at the same time that the annual average of
prices grew up to 19.58%. Thus, the national income of the year 1980 fixed
prices declined to the average of 3,88% per yearŽ(20). Official statistics refer to the net
production (after excluding productions costs) in fixed prices of 1995 that it
had declined from 378.2 billion Syrian pounds in 1980 to 358.2 billion Syrian
pounds in 1990Ž(21).
To treat the critical
position of economy, the Syrian government followed a gradual policy for
restoration. Therefore, since the middle of the eighties certain procedures
were taken to activate the Syrian economy. Many laws and decisions were formed
to encourage the private investments in agriculture, industry and tourism:
1 - Allowing the
establishment of assisting firms in the agricultural sector (bestial and
botanical) with a public share of 25% of the invested capital.
2 - Enabling private
sectors to produce some goods which production was monopolised by the
government.
3 - Giving licenses to buy
and sell foreign currencies in the current prices and allowing the private
sector to obtain 75% of export income in foreign currency at private accounts
to finance their importation of permitted goods, which are purchased directly
from the exporters.
Although the private
sectors assistance improved the total industry production from 22% in 1985 to
27% in 1990, yet, this partial treatment was insufficient to reform the whole
position. Therefore, the continuous crisis urged the Syrian government to
search for additional measures.
These were the conditions
of Syrian economy during the eighties. In spite of several years of revival
under the effect of expanding oil excavation and proper climate for better
plantation, crisis phenomenon continued dominating the general atmosphere of
economy. At the end of the eighties it became clear that facing the crisis
could not be delayed anymore.
The Syrian government
established various laws and decisions at the beginning of the nineties to
activate the economy and urge the private sectors to increase their
participation in the national growth. The new laws diminished the restrictions
on commerce, principally by:
- Allowing the market power
a greater role to decide prices.
- Increasing the prices of
some goods.
- Decreasing support for
some previous supported goods.
- Lessening the inspection
over import and export trades.
- Permitting private sector
to import materials, which were previously imported by public sector only.
- Actual decreasing of the
Syrian pound value to cancel the differences of its value with foreign
currency.
- Encouraging Arabic and
foreign private investments.
- Allowing the private
sector to invest in various industries, which were only permitted for public
sector.
- Graduals canceling of the
restrictions that were imposed on the industry.
- Facilitating licenses for
the establishment of certain industrial projects.
- Improving electrical
power conditions.
- Minimizing inspection on
foreign currency.
- Permitting citizens to
open accounts in foreign currency which could be transferred.
- Diminishing
administrative restrictions and replacing it by promotions.
- Adjusting the tax of
incomes to a lesser value.
One of the first economical
procedures was the law No.10 of 1991. The aim of this law was to encourage
investment through different facilities and grants, mainly, allowing the
importation of all needs of the projects, free of tax and exempted of all
charges. The private firms which the government assisted 25% with their capital
were exempted of tax on income for 7 years, the
independent firms were exempted from tax on income for five years from the
start of investment. The same percentage of tax exemption was applied for the firms properties (land and building constructions).
Moreover, the investors were allowed to open accounts in foreign currency at
the Commercial Bank of
Thus, the investors became
able to transfer their net shares of the projects in foreign currencies for
abroad after passing five years of investment. The Article 15 permitted an
extra exemption of two more years for the projects which productions of goods
and services exceeded 50% of the total production during the exempted period.
Other than article 15, law NO. 10 did not achieve the full necessary
combination between promotions and other economical schemes, such as,
nationalizing the new techniques, developing the less growing regions and the
percentage of the expected added values.
In addition to the
essential gaps of law No.10, the bad accomplishment of this law reflected
harmful results on the national economy. Wrongful interpretation of law No.10,
which included tourist cars, led to the permission of importing vehicles
exempted of taxes and customs. This permission wasted a large profit to enter
the Syrian treasury aside the flowing out of huge foreign currency capital
through the black market. Thus, instead of investing private capitals inside
On the other hand, the weak
restraint to law No. 10 provisions, which concerned the selection of the
projects, released licenses for industrial projects without selecting the
priority of production, like (chewing gum, shampoo, chips, gas water, playing
cards...ext.). The lack of reviewing and the rushed economical studies caused
the installation of similar industrial projects, which offered higher
production than the capacity of local market consumption. Moreover, the
technical specifications of goods did not meet the International market standard, therefore, masses of produced stock urged
investors to consider closing their factories. If we add to all the previous
troubles the complicated administrative procedures to get the necessary
agreements for a license of investment, we understand the reasons for law No.10
failure to reach its expectations. Thus, the private sector investments
declined with an average of 10% in 1994 -1996 and the average of 30% during
1997-1998.Ž(23)
Without doubt, the Syrian
economy flourished after the economical procedures of Syrian government at the
end of the eighties. This could be seen through the higher percentage of the
total local production, which reached about 8.2% during 1991-1994 of 1985 fixed
pricesŽ(24). The
total capital of the private sector increased from 6751 million Syrian pounds
in 1985 to 11002 million Syrian pounds in 1995 according to fixed prices of
1985Ž(25).
The industrial production of the private sectors increased from 39813 million
Syrian pounds in 1990 to 79769 million Syrian pounds in 1994Ž(26). This flourish did not last long , due to the raise of economical problems, such as the
industrial firms who suffered from accelerating their products because of
export decline. Official statistics show that the total export decreased from
47282 million Syrian pounds in 1990 to 44562 million Syrian pounds in 1995Ž(27). The percentage
of the private sectors export of the Syrian total exportation, except oil,
decreased from 68.5% in 1990 to 48.4% in 1995Ž(28).
The enlarged stock problem,
occurred in the public sectors production.The stock of the General Organization
of Textile exceeded 8 milliard Syrian poundsŽ(29). The decrease of importation associated with the diminished
cash flow in the local market due to the unbalanced distribution of incomes, as
well as the decline of purchase power because of the prices rise rate more than
the augment rate of incomes, plus the decline of the governmental support. The
Ministry of Social Affairs and Work prepared a study that was presented at the
Specialists meeting in
Unfortunately, instead of
activating the economy through broadening the interior market and adjusting
wages, annulling obstacles which complicate import, reviewing tax rythm,
reforming public sector, re-qualifying banks and increasing finance of general
growth, the Syrian government schemed a shrank policy. The government was
stressed with hallucination of declining the general budget deficiency
percentage and preserving the settle of the Syrian pound value. If the Syrian
government managed to decline the deficiency to less than 1% in 1997, according
to the Ministry of Finance' statisticsŽ(31), it also succeeded to dominate and block the economical growth.
The average of total local production growth in 1996 declined to (1/3) one
third from the previous past two years average of growth and to 5% negative
growth in 1997 than the year 1996Ž(32).
It is clear again that at
the end of the nineties, the economical procedures did not activate economy or
restore it to reach the aimed expectations. Therefore, Syrian Economy needed
more efficient steps.
In a new attempt to treat
the economical crisis, the Syrian government formed various legislations during
the year 2000. Accordingly, law No.10 of the year 1991 was adjusted, as well as
the Legislative decree No. 24 of 1986, which concerned the deal with foreign
currency, the law of the economical sanction and the specialization of the
national securities courts. The government permitted the importation of tourist
cars and allowed the establishment of private banks in the free zones. These
facilities responded to the demands of most Syrian businessmen but the new
adjustments were totally disappointing. In fact, the adjusted articles of the
legislative decree No.24 did not terminate the fears of businessmen. Besides,
the added adjustments to the economical lawof sanctions did not taccle
fundamental matters. The decision of tourist cars import permission was not
clear enough, thus it was so much limited and complicated to operate.
Even though legislative
decree No.7 included important additions which were unmentioned in law No.10 of
year 1991, beside additional promotions to encourage investment, the permission
for foreigners and the possibility to obtain unlimited properties may lead to a
dangerous and unsafe future. Four Lebanese banks obtained licenses to open
branches at the Syrian Free Zone, but the probability of their extension seemed
weak because the number of investors at the free zone was limited to 350
investors.
The head of Regional
Economy Office declared, lately that the Regional Commission of Al Ba'ath Arab
Socialist Party agreed to establish a Money Market and private banks which are
formed of private assistance or joint companies. However, the Commission of
Constitutional and Legislative Affairs and the Commission of Financial Laws in
the Public Council did not suggest nor study such an agreement. The
establishment of private banks and Money market lead to dangerous possibilities
because of Syrian banks retarded conditions that are unable to compete with
private banking. In spite of the governmental statements and declarations over
many years to rehabilitate the Commercial Syrian Bank, no noticeable
improvement occurred till now. If we add the real conditions of the Syrian
Central Bank, which stopped inspecting other banks and the lack of qualified
specialists, we understand the danger of establishing private banks.
It is obvious that
establishing private banks without the Syrian Central Bank efficient
supervision would deteriorate the settlement of Syrian economy. Usually, banks
support inflow to national economy veins, which represents one important aspect
of its nerve system content, and reflects a negative or
positive functions towards the total economy. However, the establishment
of new private banks would have been useful, but after renovating, maintaining
and supporting the public Syrian Banks.
As for the establishment of
a Money Market, the objective conditions and necessary demands to achieve it
are not available yet. Most companies in
The main objective
conditions for a successful money market are unavailable, such as the
administrative and organizational factors, the specialist technical cadres, the
scientific and technological structure, and the legal foundation.
As much as the
establishment of private banks and money market was partial and ahead of time,
the treatment of industrial reformation of public sectors was awkward and
lumbering without serious determination. Again, there was lots of talk about
the industrial retoration of public sectors and less work to maintain it. A
rescue idea might rise, from time to time, but soon would uncover its
deficiency to restore the public sector. We have to confess that 'restoration'
is a very complicated matter considering all the social, political and
economical effects. For example, the dismissing of extra employees would lead
into a severe social crisis since the economical positions were not ready and
not expanded enough to absorb the extra-dismissed employees.
In fact, there are hidden
crises around benefits, which contradict the restoration of the economical
public sector. Those who make profits from the economical public sector are
against restoration. They defend the present conditions which gaps and
weaknesses enable them to have more benefits. On the other hand, different
opinions demand the transfer of public sector's firms into private ones to
decline the load from the national economy. These opinions reflect the desire
of certain sectors, which were able to enlarge their capital by legal and
illegal ways. These opinions respond positively to the European theories and
ignore that the economical over flow of the industrial public sector is
completely transferred to the Ministry of Finance in which the investment
stopped since 80ies till 1994. Actually, the unsatisfactory function of some
investments was due to various factors, which were analyzed by economists who
believe that the present private sector condition can not handle the
responsibility of growth, thus, the public sector has an important strategic
role among the economical multiplicity.
Although the troubles
treatments of the industril public sector have been known for a long time, the
hesitations to take serious procedures toward restoration overcome the
situation. The danger of this attitude is clarified through the agreement of
the European Mediterranean Association, which will form fateful challenges for
the public and the private sectors of Syrian industry.
Five years went by since
the negotiations with the European side started on. Till now, there are no
complete prepared programs to rehabilitate and improve the competitive capacity
of the Syrian industry yet. Naturally, preparing such a program needs a
profound and detailed study of the existing industries, an analysis of the
exact problems and the chances of resistance to face the international
competition, as well as, to undestand the international market's position
mainly, Arabs and Europeans, to decide the available chances and needs. The
program should include bold decisions toward important matters, which are
related to the suitable industrial specialization according to the
international development of economy, beside the required support and within a
limited period of time. It is clear that time is needed to achieve such a
program, but the available remaining time is enough.
Even though, the certainty
of Arabic countries economical accordance and integration would assure the
Syrian attitude in the European- Mediterranean Association's agreement, the
fulfillment of the Grand Free Zone of Arab Trade's agreement and its time
schedule is impeded. In fact, the schedule is obstructed through the extending
bureaucracy, the executive authorities delay and the numerous exceptions, which
were presented to the Social-Economical Arab Council under the pressure of some
industrialists. Most industries, which started under a broad and complete
protection policy of government, are unable to continue through the open
economical environment. Except a little number of industrialists who understood
the danger of the free competition's challenge and started improving the
specifications of their products, most others still insist to have a continuous
protection in order to imply their manipulating prices on the expense of
consumers.
Thus, after 15 years after
the debut of restoration, the Syrian economy could not resolve the crisis,
which prevented the use of the available human, natural and economical resources,
properly. The Syrian economy is unprepared to face the challenges of the 21st
Century. The most important first challenge is to correct the imbalance of
national economy structure through filling the gaps between:
- Recourses and uses.
- Cash inflow and goods
flow
- Export and import.
- Production and marketing.
- Wages and prices.
Without doubt, facing the
challenges requires reviewing the tax, currency, and the financial and
economical policies. The review could not be choosy, partial and superficial but
based on a total future vision. Such achievements need implying a national
program in which all the efforts and social power associate to fulfill the
expectations with the effective role of the government to direct it.
The second challenge is the
rehabilitation of the private and public industrial sectors to reassure their
competitive capacity to face the danger of globalization. It is necessary to
determine whether to join the International Trade Organization, or not. Dealing
with the danger of the external trade's globalization requires an Arabic
economical collaboration on the national level and the dual level as the
Syrian-Lebanese accordance for the Grand Free Zone of Arabic Trade's Agreement.
To face the challenge successfully, there should be a rehabilitation
for the industrial sector within a strategy of the industrial growth, which
reviews the fields of specialization, sets priorities, marks policies and
techniques to enable the Syrian industry of obtaining competitive qualities.
Facing rehabilitation of
the industrial sector challenge leads to another challenge, which is
maintaining, setting and subjecting the modern technology. Obviously, there is
no future for economy without an advanced technological base, or dynamism,
which permits a continuous technology progress. Dealing with this challenge
requires the preparation of national strategy of science and technology and to
activate co-operation between scientific research centers and industrial
organizations.
Administrative reformation
presents another serious challenge, which faces the Syrian economy. There was
an ill phenomenon that excreted from the imbalance type of growth and the
awkward practices. Thus, the wrong practices such as, the neglect of work, the
escape from responsibilities, routine domination, the overcoming of personal
interest instead of public well-being, the spread of corruption and the decline
of function level, all these made the industrial restoration impossible without
an administrative reformation.
As the unbalanced growth
led to the rise of sick phenomenon in the general administration, it also
assisted the environmental pollution through the establishment of factories
without considering the ecological elements. Actually, the fast expansion of
industry without preserving the environmental demands came out with an
ecological problem that was revealed through pollution, which resulted from the
chemical materials, the dangerous poisoning wastes and the industrial
accidents. As a matter of fact, the pollution affected desertification,
sea-world's deterioration, ground water and drinking water's contamination, air
pollution, health's professional danger, and noise. In addition to the
industrial sources of pollution there were other sources which, clarified,
through the poisoning gas of cars inside and outside cities, plus, the human
waste. In spite of the insufficient procedures to preserve environment, it is a
matter of urgency to activate a serious work of achievement.
The guided use of the
available water resources and the necessity to find out other resources for the
future need is another serious and important challenge. In fact, the water
problem is a severe and urgent one. It would be impossible to resolve this
problem if it is not treated right now through the National Water Strategy to
develop a new water resource and guided uses.
When we talk about the
negative reflections of the unbalanced growth since the middle of seventies, we
need to review the incomes distribution. The unbalance of the industrial growth
structure enabled few Syrians to make enormous capitals through different ways,
such as, manipulation, speculation, brokerage or exploitation of the public job
for personal interest. Actually, the inflation beside the unbalance between
prices' increase and wages augment caused the diminishing of the real income.
Consequently, most of the middle class people joined the low class people,
whose living conditions deteriorated rapidly. Dealing with this challenge is
not only a human necessity, but it is a base, which closely relates between the
fair distribution of income on one side and the process of growth and the
social settle on the other side.
The failure of the
reforming steps to liberate the Syrian economy from crisis was excepted. However, the economical procedures, which were
taken over different periods, did not correct completely the deformation of the
Syrian economy's structure, but reproduced an imbalance and defects. Mainly, because these procedures did not have a clear vision of the
Syrian economy prospects for the future. On the other hand, these
procedures did not come out of a general program of growth to develop the
Syrian economy within a certain time in which all goals, priorities, methods
and techniques were clearly defined.
The economical procedures
were, often, taken after the economical problems intensified, therefore, the
treatment occurred fast and, improperly, studied with accordance to the danger
of troubles and results. Therefore, the treatment reflected a reaction more
than an actual action; this, of course, created other problems, which
complicated the situations more and more.
Having no comprehensive
program for restoration, the economical procedures, therefore, were selective
and partial with contradictions, sometimes, and were rushing or delayed, most
of the times, with no attention to the priorities of the economical
inter-penetration. Actually, the treatments came superficial, took care of
crisis' appearance rather than the essential causes, gave attention to the less
urgent matters on the expense of the fundamental ones, had weak influence and
ineffective, plus, lacked harmony within. In the absence of a clear vision of
the desired future of the Syrian economy and the lack of a comprehensive
program of economical restoration, the executive institutions had extended the
freedom to take partial procedures calmly which served the benefits of limited
persons under the password of "Restoration".
The lack of a future vision
and a comprehensive program of restoration combine with the weak function of
the High Economical Leadership in the government. The economical leadership was
incapable of activating the executive economical institutions with concordance,
besides, its hesitation to take decisions that concern all the important
economical matters. Obviously, the high economical leadership's failure to
practice its role effectively gave the opportunity for the individuals'
personal conduct. Of course, the individuals' behavior impedes the government
complete teamwork and does not assist to the co-operative coordination among
the economical parts.
It is important to refer
that the differences of points of views between the Ministry of Finance and the
Ministry of Economy and external trade that concern the join of
The economical restoration
process is a very complicated one with multiple sides and it needs a long time
to be achieved. To reach a successful result, the process should start from a
future vision of the Syrian economy and a comprehensive program, which covers
all the economical sides. Meaning that, if the economical
procedures of the Syrian government during the80ies were not fulfilled through
banking, currency, financial and administrative reforming program, as well as,
public sector's reformation, then, the possibility of developing a complete
economical restoration to activate the Syrian economy is very scarce.
The restoration process
will have negative effects in the near future upon citizens who will have to
endure more efforts and pressure. Therefore, citizens' participation in the
comprehensive program's decisions, attaining support and understanding would
guarantee the success of the reformation process. Moreover, extending the
citizens' participation through the civil society organizations and the
non-governmental domestic societies associations would help activating the
public inspection to achieve the reforming program and save it from decay.
In brief, the economical
restoration process, as a national mission, requires for success an extended
public base participation and support according to mutual understanding of
goals and prospects, as well as, a social alliance among all parts on the base
of a social-economical comprehensive program.
__________
Foot notes:
1) Central Office of
Statistics, "Describing Syria with Information", second edition 2000.
2) Same source.
3) Report of FAO &
World Food program to restore nutrition and crops in
4) Dr. Adnan Mustafa,
Energy in
5) ESCWA, a report of
1998-1999
6) Government Institution
of Planning, local note, 1972
7) Same source.
8) Same source.
9) Same source.
10) United Nation
Organization for Industrial Growth, "Policies & Strategies of Public
Sector",
11) Same source.
12) Central Office of
Statistics, statistic groups.
13) Same source.
14) Government Institution
of Planning, previous source.
15) Dr. Nabeel Marzouk,
"Dominating Techniques of Investing & Investment of Human
Wealth", A lecture presented at General Union of Workers Association in
Syria about the production and conditions of work during the period
18-19\12\1995.
16) United Nation Organization
for Industrial Growth, previous source.
17) Dr. Nabeel Marzouk,
previous source.
18) Dr. Husain Al Kadi, " Financing Public Sector in
19) Central Office of
Statistics, statistic group of 1996.
20) Dr. Nabeel Marzouk,
previous source.
21) Dr. Aref Dalilah,
"Budget Deficiency and Treating Methods", A lecture presented at
Tuesday economical meeting No. 12, year 1999.
22) Ali Jamalo,
"Grateful Land and Bitter Harvest", Safeer Newspaper
23) Dr. Khaled Abd Al Noor,
"Private Sector from Protection to Competition", A
lecture presented at Tuesday economical meeting No. 13 of year 2000.
24) United Nation
Organization for Industrial Growth, previous source.
25) Central Office of
Statistics, statistic group of 1996.
26) Abd Alkader Al Naial,
"Private Sector between Government Interference and Market
Techniques", A study about the condition Of Syria, The Arabic Future
magazin No. 222, September 1997.
27) Central Office of
Statistics, statistic groups.
28) Abd Alkader Al Nial,
previous source.
29) Riad Saif, " Export between Dream & Reality", A lecture
presented at Tuesday economic meeting No.12, year 1999.
30) Abd Alkader Al Nial, previous
source.
31) Dr. Mahmood Jelailati,
"Syrian Tax System and Ways of Reforming it", A lecture presented at
Tuesday economical meeting No.13, year 2000.
32) Dr. Khaled Abd Al Noor,
"Rehabilitation of Syrian Industrial Sector: Reality Prospects", A
lecture presented at Tuesday economical meeting, No. 12, year 1999.
CH
12
The
Environmental Problems
Mohammed Al OudatŽŽ(*)
Introduction:
This progress became
threatened with the environmental hasards. In fact, the lack of water, the
deterioration of agricultural lands, the shortage of public utilities (drainage
and sewerage system), plus, air and water pollution, all these problems threaten
the capacities of the economical progress and the population's growth. Also,
impose high economical and human costs because of illness and early death.
Although
The Syrian form of growth,
which implied the local sufficiency of food production and fast fabrication,
imposed an increasing pressure on natural resources. Actually, since the 60ies,
various agricultural investments of intensive production and industrial
projects were processed, such as, cement, steel, chemical fertilizers, food
industry, power stations, oil refineries and others. This strategy of growth,
which was directed to fulfill the needs of the population's growth and its fast
increase, did not take into account the importance of preserving the natural
resources and its proper use. Therefore, the inappropriate agricultural
methods, the populations settlement in limited areas
and the unsuitable administration of water usage caused the loss of water
resources and the excessive consumption of grasslands. On the other hand, the
productive grasslands were transformed into planted lands of non-continuous
productive crops. Meanwhile, the excessive use of chemical fertilizers
contaminated the superficial water' resources. Besides, the littoral regions
went under an increasing pressure, which, negatively, affected the quality of
water, and consequently, tourism.
In the urban regions,
pollution threatens health, nowadays, because the technological precautions,
which decrease the industrial pollution, were scarcely considered. Besides, it
was allowed to disregard the International environmental standards and
provisions by leaving still the old industries of high pollution working on.
Furthermore, the use of old engines' vehicles with its incomplete combustion of
fuel increased the air pollution in the urban regions.
The Environmental Pressures
in
- The condition of water
resources is very critical. The superficial and groundwater resources are
almost consumed. Thus, some regions suffer a severe shortage of drinking water
in the arid years and some others lack the safe drainage water because, only, a
limited percentage of water is treated. In addition, most of sewerage is thrown
away in rivers and seawater, which affected the quality of river's water and
seawater.
- Around 40% of cities'
inhabitants inhale polluted air due to the high contamination of industries,
old cars with improper engines for fuel use, leaded fuel (except Damascus) and
oil, which contains a high percentage of sulfur.
- The deterioration of
natural resources, such as, the soil erosion, the retreat of natural forests,
the loss of biodiversity and the salinity of agricultural lands, form an
extended problem.
- Contamination and the
unorganized growth threaten the unique heritage of old civilizations in various
sites that assist the national economy income through the proceeds of tourism.
The actual condition is
reflected in high economical costs, especially, that some of these pressures
are unable to be corrected and may affect the growth in the future through the
decline of soil productivity and the human's health deterioration. The
estimations of the Natural Strategy of Environment in year 2000 clarified that the
yearly costs, which result from the environmental collapse in Syria, ranged
from 29 to 32 milliards (SP) Syrian pounds in 1997 (690 to 890 millions US
dollars). These amounts would increase to ranged from 46 to 54 milliards (SP)
in the year 2005 (1.2 to 1.7 milliard
Air quality:
Abu Al Bakaa Abdullah Al
Badri, a scientist of the 9th century of Hegira, mentions in his book
"Nazhat Al Anam Fi Mahasen Al Sham" that some of Al Sham' charms (the
old city of Damascus) are 'the Hawakeer' which look like gardens at the bottom
of kasion mountain. Being higher than yazeed river's
level, thus, the wheels were used for irrigating these gardens. Basil and roses
were planted on purpose, so that the passing breath will carry its aromatic
scent into the inhabitants of the city below.
What remained of Al Sham's
beauties now? What happened to its air which carried the scent of
The restricted measures,
which were made in some principal cities, refer to the improper standard of
air, mainly, because of the transport's pollution as in
Frame 1: The environmental
problems in
The Measures showed that
the number of days in which the average of the daily primary pollutants (sulfur
and nitrogen oxides) in Damascus city increased than the permitted limits,
according to the World Health Organization's (WHO) by 25% in 1989, furthermore,
this average augmented to 50% in 1995. The same measures were processed in
Frame 2: The expected costs
of the environmental collapse in
In addition to the primary
pollutants in most Syrian cities that result from the fossil fuel combustion,
whether in industry or transport vehicles, there is, also, the smog phenomenon.
The smog results from the reaction of the primary pollutants, especially,
nitrogen oxides and oxygen with hydrocarbonates and sulfur dioxide under the
effect of ultra violet rays. This smog beclouds the sky of cities, mainly,
during the morning rush hours. On the other hand, the reaction of the primary
pollutants produces a combination of secondary dangerous pollutants,
especially, Ozone, and peroxyacetyle nitrate (PAN) which are called
photochemical oxidants. Actually, these combinations have severe bad effects on
health, such as, throat and brain infections, eye irritation, Asthma, lung
infections, cough and others.
Accordingly, the National
Strategy of Environment estimated the costs of air pollution in 1997 ranged
between 1.2 and 3 milliards SP. Moreover, If no proper procedures are taken,
the costs are expected to reach from 3 to 10 milliards SP in 2005 (Frame 2).
The worst air pollution is
found in certain cities of
The influence of pollution
on the historical heritage:
Air pollution does not,
only, affect health, but the archeological heritage as well. The Syrian
heritage of old civilizations has an international importance. Four main sites
were included within the list of the international heritage (
The National Strategy of
Environment's report of year 2000 points out the dangerous decline of these
ancient sites due to the unawareness of their values and the abuse of its
investment. Also, the changes of the surrounding lands' use beside the improper
methods of the regular and the irregular building constructions around affect
these sites badly.
In addition, the air
pollution, harmfully, affects these ancient sites. Actually, Sulfur oxides
interact with nitrogen oxides and oxygen under the influence of water vapor and
ultra violet rays and transform these oxides into sulfur acid and nitrogen acid
which remain as fine mist in the air that are carried by the wind from one
place to another. These acids interact with calcium carbonate, which is the
essential component of the historical monuments' stones, transforming it into
gypsum. The gypsum solidity is technically weak and frail, thus, it breaks and
crumbles easily. Therefore, air pollution causes the loss of invaluable ancient
monuments. Beside air pollution, dust is another harmful factor, which erodes
and ruins these inherited monuments. Also, the charcoal smoke
which blackens the archeological monuments. In fact, a big part of these
historical monuments are located in crowded areas and heavy traffic, such as
Bab Tuma, Bab Sharki in
Although the number of cars
in
The Ministry of Transport's
statistics in 1994 indicated that more than 60% of cars are 12 years old and
26% of cars are more than 24 years old. As it is known, an old car produces
pollutants from 10 to 20 times more than a new fabricated one. However, the
quality of the fuel has an important role of increasing the air pollution. For
example, the used diesel oil in
There are other factors
that assist the high level of pollution like, narrow streets, especially, in
the old districts, which are difficult to be cleaned and ventilated. In
addition, the decline of the green areas, the deterioration of the surrounding
regions of cities, the change of land's use due to the expanding constructions
and desertification, all these factors increase the environmental hazards.
Particulates:
The particulates are
considered the most common air pollutants, mainly, in arid and semi - arid,
industrial and crowded traffic areas. These particulates are consisted of a
mixture of solid particles and fluid drops of various consistencies, sources
and sizes.
The bad influence of the
particulates depends on their sizes. Thus, the particulates with a diameter
less than 2.5-micron cause a severe dangerous health effects because it
penetrates the respiration system and reaches lung's alveolus. The particulates
are, usually, the result of fossil fuel combustion, such as, soot and other
particles of secondary sources, which result from chemical reactions of nitrate
and sulfurs. These particulates are coated with poisoned mineral elements such
as Lead, Cadmium and others. The particulates lead to many dangerous diseases
of the respiratory system like Asthma, cough and bronchitis, consequently,
pulmonary emphysema and cardiology failure.
The International World
Health Organization's studies clarify that each casual increase of the less
than 10 micron particulates concentration, which equals 50 microgram/m3, raise
the deaths' percentage of heart and lung diseases from 2 to 8%. The recent
studies confirm that the particulates contamination is one of the greatest
problems in most developing countries, besides, it is
responsible for 7 to 10% of children's deaths of pulmonary disease, in the less
polluted cities, and 21% in the polluted ones with particulates.
What is the real situation
in
The new measures refer to
the high contamination of particulates, whether total or fine sizes, in most
Syrian cities (look frame 3). The average of the total particulates
concentration is between 213 to 430 microgram/m3 in
This condition is not,
only, found in big cities but, also, in smaller and medium cities as well, such
as,
The high
concentration of particulates which its diameter is less than 10 Micron and
those of a diameter which is less than 3-micron are the worst pollutants
because the human's respiratory immune system cannot resist it. Actually, these pollutants
penetrate the respiratory system and reach into the depth of the lungs because
their concentrations are 2 to 4 times higher than the permitted limit, which is 70 microgram/m3. On the other hand, the particulates with
a diameter that is less than 2.5-micron, which affect the health very badly,
have an extremely, high concentration which exceed the suggested limits many
more times.
The most important reasons
for these high concentrations are due to soil erosion, the decline of the plant
cover in the surrounding areas of cities, besides, the transport's old
vehicles, the different industries inside or around cities, roads'
constructions and traffic.
Cement industry is another
important factor, which assist the increase of particulates concentration
(frame 4). The studies of the last few years indicated that these
concentrations of dust cement factory area or the surrounding areas are much
more higher than the permitted average and it affects health and other
ecosystem's components badly, especially, soil and plants. The measures of 1999
in the surrounding areas of Tartus' Cement Factory cleared that the quantity of
dust sediments on olive trees was about 5 to 17 times higher than in the other
far areas from the factory. This high contamination, of course, ruined plenty
of the surrounding olive trees, which became unproductive. The half diameter of
the affected area by the Cement factory reaches about 5 kilometer.
The harmful influence did
not, only, affect olive trees but all the other crops as well. Furthermore, it
affected tourism and created many health problems. Already, the inhabitants of
the surrounding villages, who live near the Cement factory, are complaining of
pathological symptoms, especially, Asthma, beside pulmonary and other diseases.
Frame No.3: The
concentration of particulates
in some Syrian cities
(microgram/mŽ3)
Frame No.4: The
concentration of particulates which
result from the Cement industry.
(Microgram/mŽ3)
Solid waste:
The information of 1995
pointed that the solid waste in the Syrian cities reached about 6000 ton/day, which
mean 0.4 kg/person/day. In the year 2000, the solid waste of the whole regions
of
The major part of the
collected solid wastes from the Syrian cities, towns and villages (its national
strategy for environment's capacity is 5000 ton/day) is left in open waste
dumps which are located, in most cases, not much far from the residential
areas. Consequently, a lots of problems came out,
mainly:
1) Many tramps delve into
solid waste to collect some elements, such as, organic ingredients that could
be edible for poultry and animals' feeding, bread remainders, metallic and
plastic objects. The searching starts in the trashcans before deporting the
waste into the open dumps. Naturally, the tramps are exposed to many health
problems, besides, more difficulties arise for
collecting and deporting the garbage. Although tramping is legally prohibited,
delving into the garbage became a common view in many cities. Actually, more
than 10 thousand tramps exist in
2) Solid waste contaminated
the superficial and groundwater as a results of fermentation of the organic
components.
3) The open dumps form a
suitable climate for the growth of pathogenic microorganisms, flies,
mosquitoes, reptilian insects and rodents, also, roaming animals like dogs and
cats, beside the stinking smell. Fires in the open dumps present a real problem
and, sometimes, it is difficult to control it. More often, most of the dumps
burst into flames and produce smoke, which contaminates the surrounding
environment. In addition to the offensive smell, the flying dust and the
scattering trash, such as, paper and plastic bags, which
spread into a broad area around the open dumps, cause an environmental
contamination and undesirable views.
Worst of all, the medical
disposals are still collected together with the solid waste in all Syrian
cities, except Damascus, which started new efforts to collect medical disposals
separately, excluding, some private hospitals that do not adhere to this rule. The
quantities of the medical disposals in Syria reach about 3600 ton per year,
added to that, the clinic's disposals and the specialized medical centers which
include dangerous medical disposals, such as, tissues, human limbs, removed
bodily parts, contaminated pads, sharp tools, syringes, chemical elements and
others. It is, obviously, clear that the solid waste are very dangerous,
especially, if some trashcans include medical
disposals which might the tramps delve into it searching for glass and plastic
objects. The resulting mess of the scattered trash contaminates soil and air, moreover, it causes the propagation of mosquitoes,
flies, various insects and rodents which transmit the contamination into wider
areas.
Frame No. 5: The quantity
of the resulting
solid waste in
Lead:
The Lead became, at
present, one of the most important heavy elements, which contaminates the
external environment and the work-field atmosphere. The transport vehicles,
which use leaded fuel, are the main sources of contaminated air by lead and
responsible for more than 90% of lead's pollution. In addition, the metal
industries, especially, batteries' fabrication, assist to the increase of
environmental pollution.
The Lead causes sever
health problems. It combines with the enzymes and decreases the haem
biosynthesis and causes the brain, kidney and sexual organs poisoning, besides,
the hypertension and the cardiac disorder. Furthermore, it decreases the
children's intelligence and affects their behaviors toward more aggressiveness,
beside the lack of concentration and the less attention for their schoolwork.
The concentrations of lead
in some areas of
Frame No.6 The Lead concentration in some regions
of
Noise:
Years before, the Syrian
cities were calm and quiet except from the voices of passing peddlers, sounds
of some manual crafts and few crossing cars. These conditions changed
completely. Now a day, many urban regions, even small villages have high levels
of loud noises that exceed the permitted limits.
The level of external
noises at the streets of
The big differences between
noises' levels from one moment to another are very dangerous. These differences
reach some times 28-30 Decibel because of the sudden bruit as a result of cars'
horns, motorcycles, buses, Trucks and other vehicles of transportation. The
measures pointed out that the levels of noise remain high until late hours at
night.
It is known that the high
levels of noise have bad health effects, such as, the exhaustion of the hearing
sense, the retardation and incapability of the auditory sense, the contraction
of the blood veins, the hypertension and the insomnia. These influences lower
people's function, especially whose works demand more attention and accuracy.
Children, students and sick people are sensitive to high levels of loud noise.
Therefore, a standard measure of noise's levels was imposed for schools and
hospitals, in which does not exceed the average of 45 Decibel.
Nature in the Cities:
The constructions of cities
were and still associated with the complete destruction of nature and its
characteristics of plants, animals and others. This means that a city's
construction is a desertification act due to the absence of normal environment
in it.
Plants continued to form an
important role in the old cities and suburbs, which enabled chances for the
residents of cities to relieve and relax from the pressure of the urban life.
Besides, plants provide a cover, which insure the shadow and help to absorb
dust, also, lower the gaseous contamination and loud noise. Therefore, the
institutions of Municipalities in the world paid a special attention to
beautify cities and expand the planting of trees and flowers in the streets and
roads, also, expanding the establishments of public parks, gardens and
increasing the green areas inside cities. The enlargement of green cover is
considered a complementary part of the architectural designs of cities. (Frame
7)
The environment of cities,
at present, suffers from the decline of green areas, gardens and public parks.
In
Now a day, the 'Ghootah' (a
famous fertile oasis in
Frame No. 7 The green lands, gardens and public
parks in cities
Housing and Urbanism:
The location of industry in
the cities followed by the active commercial, social and scientific fields,
which created chances for work, caused the increase of immigration from
villages into cities with high levels.
Due to the immigrating
numbers of people and the natural growth of population in cities, urban regions,
especially towns, started to expand with disorder outside the organized regions
swallowing valuable plantations and entire villages.
Therefore, many
infringement districts, besides being, heavily, crowded, they were established
with primitive services, which caused many diseases due to the unhealthy
environment (Frame 8). These hazardous settlements have three mutual
distinctions, which are:
1 - The poor structural
foundations and services or missing it at all, including drinking water,
drainage system and proper methods of solid waste disposal.
2 - People live in crowded
places, which lack the provisions of firmness and space, moreover, the
non-existence of gardens, parks or green areas. The improper conditions of
crowded residents caused a social defect, as well as, social and health
problems.
3 - Most of these
settlements are build in unsuitable areas for residing, such as, slopes and
bottom of mountains which are exposed to soil collapses, or nearby industrial
contamination and others. The residents, therefore, suffer several troubles,
like, particulates contamination, floods due to the superficial water flowage
and various diseases.
The Ministry of Housing and
Services declared that due to the lack of serious procedures since the
beginning of these hazardous settlements' installations, many issues arise,
mainly:
a) The inability to apply
and execute planning designs for these regions.
b) The continuous surmounts
of laws and regulations.
c) The stealing of water
from the neighborhood nets which caused a shortage of water.
d) The increase of
groundwater' contamination due to the lack of sewage system.
e) The decline of electric
power because of the illegal draws from the surrounding areas.
f) Deforming the
architectural look of a city.
Frame No. 8 The assemblage
of disordered
Settlements in
Moreover, the Ministry of
Education explains that the pedagogical situation in these disordered
settlements is improper because most of the schools are leased residences,
which lack the provisions and the characteristics of regular schools. To
understand the deteriorated pedagogical conditions of these settlements, it is
better to present what the Directory of Education in
The pedagogical position in
Tabaleh and Dwailah:
The area of Tabaleh and
Dwailah extend from the west of
The leased schools, which
are residential houses, are narrow buildings and lack the essential provisions
of regular schools, such as, light and ventilation. In addition, its courtyards
are very narrow and not enough for the students to be aligned, the classrooms
are tight, stuffed with students and benches, which assist the fast spread of
diseases among the students. Besides, bathrooms are next to the classes. In
addition, there are no gardens or recreation areas, therefore, activities and
sport are canceled completely.
In this area, there are no
Elementary, Secondary, Technical or training schools. Thus, hundreds of
students are obliged to go into other far regions risking the danger of
accidents. Beside the fatigue of reaching schools, the students are exposed to
hard cold as well.
Land Resources:
The total area of
A) The arable lands form
5981 million Hectares.
B) The non-arable lands
form 3370 million Hectares.
C) Meadow and pastures form
8270 million Hectares.
D) Forests and woodlands
form 537 thousand Hectares.
The reports of the National
Strategy of Environment in the year 2000 point out that more than 50% of the
arable lands (3.2 million/Hectare) suffer from the negative influences of
erosion, salinity and desertification. In fact, In spite of the legislations,
which were established to protect the arable lands, many areas are non-arable
anymore due to the urban expansion (disordered settlements), industry or
domestic and industrial waste. As a result, the production of some crops
declined, besides, pastures and animal wealth. Furthermore, forests lost their
environmental and entertainment resources. The National Strategy of Environment
estimated the resulting loss about 14500 millions SP in 1997 and 17700 millions
SP in 2005, in the case that no appropriate procedures would be taken to
protect the land resources.
The main important matters
of land resources are the following:
1) The degredation of the
natural pastures:
The Syrian semi-desert,
which includes land that its yearly average of rain is less than 200mm, form
about 55% of the total area of Syria (10.2 millions hectare). Its population is
about 1.5 million inhabitants in which 250 thousands of them are farmers, 750
thousands are half Bedouins and 500 thousands are wandering nomads.
The Syrian semi-desert was
known over the years as one of the best and richest semi-deserts due to its
natural grassland. It was a resource of biodiversities, thus, many
civilizations, which had an important political, cultural and civilized role in
the history, were established and flourished in it. Nevertheless, Its influences affected the history of east
These cultural examples,
which refer to the ability of the old gathering settlements to continue living
over a long period of time, mean that the inhabitants, logically, dealt with
the surrounding environment and limited resources to prevent its degredation
and consumption. As a matter of fact, all possible capabilities were used to
administrate the available resources of pastures, land and water, like
collecting, deporting and storing water in reservoirs or special drilled wells
in the rocks to protect water from evaporation and leakage. In addition, there
were legislations that organize such matters, like water distribution,
pasturage and logging. Accordingly, these former civilizations were able to
preserve the plant cover of the land and secure the soil from degredation,
beside prevailing oasis planted with Palm, olive trees and grapevines.
This flourishing view of
the semi desert started to change since the middle of the Twentieth Century
because of the following:
- Overgrazing: The increase
demand for animal production led to the increase of the number sheep, which
increased from 206 million sheep in 1950 to 15.6 million sheep in 1998. This
increase caused the phenomenon of the overgrazing, which destroyed plenty of
the pasture's plants, especially, the palatable ones.
- The ploughing: The
planted areas increased on the expense of the natural pastures, especially, in
the regions that the average of rain is, less than 200-250 mm/year. The planted
non-irrigated areas increased in the
- Transport vehicles: Big
trucks are still used to carry sheep from one place to another
seeking grassland, as well as, tankers that transport water. These
vehicles degrade the plant cover and the soil because most of the desert
regions are flat with wide and slightly deep valleys, which tempt the drivers
not to comply with one specific road. Therefore, the big trucks broadened the
width of roads into hundreds of meters, consequently,
they formed an environment for desertefication. In fact, each 10-km drive with
a big truck in the desert causes the deterioration of the plant cover and soil
of about one Hectare. The studies point out that due to the transport vehicles
between
- The logging: Many bush
trees disappeared from the desert because of logging, which increased the
deterioration of the plant cover, soil erosion and water cliffs. Moreover,
Bedouins, in most cases, cut the plants with the high nutritious value, which
caused the decline the productivity of pastures. Woodcutting destroyed the
Pistacia forests, which area in the mountain' regions of the semi-desert
declined from 300 thousands hectares to some hundreds only. The same happened to
the fig trees, which are, rarely, found in some valleys of the mountains'
regions and the tamarisk which is found on saline soil. Almost, 400 millions
bush trees are, yearly, cut from the
All the previous practices
are reflected in the degredation of the plant cover, the gradual soil erosion,
especially, slopes and the vanish of the organic
elements from superficial layers of soil, which have an important role of
improving the structure of soil and increasing its ability for the rain
penetration.
The degredation of the
plant cover and soil caused the increase of the heavy floods, especially, in
the mountains of the desert. It is noticed that in spite of the few quantities
of rain, it is, always, accompanied with heavy floods, to the extent that the
roads become obstructed. Moreover, the rain of the Mediterranean climate is
strong and intensified in certain days and months of the year, which facilitate
the soil erosion, mainly, in the lands, which lost its plant cover.
The map of World Food
Organization, of year 1980, shows that the escarpment of soil in the Syrian
desert under the effects of the overgazing, ploughing, logging and others are
estimated from 10 to 50 tons/hec/year. This equals the scarp of soil layer from
0.1 to 0.5 cm/year. These numbers are astonishing and require necessary and
strict procedures to stop this consume of the environmental resources.
2)
It is difficult to consider
the present plant cover as the one, which equilibrate with the surrounding
atmosphere. In fact, the present coat is a retreat of the natural green
coverage affected by the unwise humans' investment, through cutting, burning,
planting and others.
Embeger mentions that huge
areas of east Mediterranean countries are covered, at present, by wild plants,
which are unsuitable for the actual climate and much less proper than its
capabilities. On the other hand, Walter clarifies that the high regions of east
A map of
According to various
studies, the forest area covered 20 - 30% of the total area of
World Resources pointed out
that the decline of forests due to the natural fires, the undisciplined logging
and pasteurizing reached 3.2% from the year 1980 to the year 1990 and 5% from
the year 1990 to the year 1995.
The former and present
deterioration of forests causes the change of local environment toward more
dryness of microclimate levels, in addition, the degredation and erosion of
soil. The forests' deterioration is considered responsible for the
environmental collapse in the same regions that the forests were removed from,
besides, the inclination toward dryness and the emergence of flowing floods.
This deterioration appears clearly in the littoral and interior regions.
The superficial flow of
rain, especially, on the slopes, and the floods' emerge are accompanied by a
noticeable decrease of supplying the ground water and the fountains'
exuberance. As a result, the lack of supply affected, negatively, the water
storage and, of course, its association with the disturbance of social and
economical life of inhabitants.
3) The soil salinity:
The improper investment and
administration of irrigated lands caused and still causes the salinity of some
lands. The salinity appears, especially, in the soil that has a bad ability to
drain water or due to the irrigation with salty water. The statistics point out
that 532 thousand hectares (40% of irrigated lands)
are affected by salinity. Moreover, 60 thousand hectares of fertile land in Al
Furat and Al Khaboor basins are out of investment because of its salinity.
Furthermore, 100 thousand hectares are partially saline and its productivity of
crops declined into less than half. While the productivity of 90 thousand
hectares declined by 25%, another 100 thousand hectares
Declined
by 15%.
Therefore,
4) The biodiversity:
The biodiversity means the
following:
- The diversity of the
natural ecosystems, such as, forests, meadows, swamps and others of land and
water ecosystems.
- The diversity of Plant
and Animals which form the ecosystems.
- Races, Ecotypes and
Varieties, which are related to species of a plant or animal, in addition to
the old landraces of agricultural crops.
The biodiversity, which is
associated with genetic diversity, composes a huge valuable wealth. In addition
to its role of ecosystem's settle and balance it offers for agriculture,
industry and medicine the nutritive elements, drugs, new medicine and the
primary elements for industry. The biodiversity, races, varieties and its genes
are considered necessary for protecting and improving the agricultural
production, the forests and the fishing grounds to face the unsuitable changes
that might occur to the environment.
The present situation of
'biodiversity in
a) The forests of Pistacia
atlantica at the desert's mountains and Abdul Aziz mountain.
The studies point out that it, formerly, covered an areas
of 300 thousand hectares, now a day, its area became less than hundreds of
hectares.
b) The forests of Juniperus
excelsa in Al Kalamoon's mountains of
c) The forests of Abies
cilicica and the Cedrus libani forests, which are of the most beautiful forests
in the world, unfortunately, in the late years, it turned to be reserve
ecological areas.
d) The forests of Pinus
brutia and Quercus calliprions in the coastal mountains.
e) The historical
information indicate that Oak, Acer microphyllum, Ulmus minor, Rhmnus
palaestina, Prinus microcarpus, Almond, Azarole and others formed expanded
forests in the mountains of eastern Lebanon series, also, were obtained at the
mountains of Al Kalamoon. At present, they are all forgotten.
So much little is known
about the types of plants and the rare species of animals which are threatened
to disappear, or, about the species which, completely, vanished because of the
microclimate's collapse. The information refers to a number of wild animals
that lived in the east of the
Although there are no exact
statistics about the extinct or threatened birds, it is certain that a big
number of birds had, severely, declined. Recently, no more partridges, or
bustards nor other birds' coveys are seen. As a matter of fact, fowls were
available with big numbers since a period not so far from now.
5) The natural reserves
The right administration of
the biodiversity is more than an aesthetic desire, but it is a life necessity
and a moral commitment toward our environment and other existing beings who
share this life with us, as well as, a moral commitment toward the present and
succeeding generations. The best place to preserve the biodiversity on earth is
the vital ecotypes in which the existing beings live, especially, the natural
reserves and national parks.
The natural reserves are
big areas that include natural ecosystems, which are preserved from ruining
and, at its limits, any human activity, which might cause its deterioration, is
stopped. The reserves should occupy large and variant areas, which represent
all the natural regions of the country. Inside the reserves, all the
ecosystem's components are provided with full protection, especially, the
animals and plants that are threatened with extinction.
The Reserves differ
according to their ecosystems and purposes. Some regions might be, completely,
protected, or only some components of the ecosystems, like protecting species
of the threatened animals from extinction, or protecting a certain plant for
its aesthetic or historical value, also, protecting some topographical forms
and others. As the reserve regions provide the mechanism of preserving the
biodiversity, most countries established reserve regions (frame 9). Thus, the
number of reserves increased in the world from 1478 reserves in year 1980 to
9793 reserves in year 1994. However, the reserved areas in the world increased
from 164 million hectares in 1970 to 652 million hectares in 1990.
Nevertheless, the reserves covered in year 1994 the area of 7.1% of the ground.
In
Frame No. 9: The number of
reserves areas in some
Arab
countries. (World Union to Preserve Nature 1997)
6) The water resources:
The estimated quantity of
superficial and groundwater in
Some influences of water's
decline are noticed through the diminishing of groundwater's level, the
increase of salinity and the hard suffer of some regions, mainly, at Barada's
baisn and Al A'awaj river, of severe shortage of drinking water, especially, in
the last years. The excessive consumption of groundwater increased because of
the illegal and disordered drillings of wells, without taking into
consideration the balance of the consummated water with the possibility of
renewing it by the falling rains. Therefore, the groundwater's level declined
and in some cases dried completely, as what happened in Al Salamiah during the
50ies of this century. Moreover, the excessive consumption of groundwater
continues, at present, in Damascu's baisn, Al Jazeera and
However, the World sources
of 1999 pointed out that in 1996 the safe drinking water covered about 92% of
the urban regions and 78% of the rural regions.
7) Drainage System:
Drainage systems are fully
applied in all main cities of
Seawater and rivers of the
coast are considered the main places to get rid of sewage, except
The sources of the Ministry
of Irrigation indicated that the water of Al Assi River became of bad standard,
especially, after flowing out of
The National Strategy of
Environment of year 2000 clarified that the lack of sewage's treatment, the
water contamination, the shortage of drainage systems and the decrease of vital
provisions in lakes and rivers cause bad damages. These damages are estimated
of 5000 million SP in 1997 and about 8800 million SP in year 2005, in addition
to more than 8000 million SP, which are the costs of water resources and the
decline of ground water storage. The National Strategy of Environment, also,
revealed that the lack of sewage's treatment in most regions of the country
caused the contamination of the superficial water and bad influences on health.
Actually, the number of ill cases, which were transmitted by water, reached
hundreds of thousands that were reported in 1996. In addition, there is the
problem of contaminating some agricultural crops, which are irrigated by sewage
water.
Conclusion:
In most cases, the
economical progress did not associate with preparing policies and organizations
to plan a complete treatment of the environmental collapse and the methods of
protecting it. This lack of interest encouraged the improper investment and
preservation of the environmental resources, besides, exposing the prospects of
the social and economical growth for danger. As a matter of fact, the practical
experiences in the entire world clears that the neglect of taking serious acts
now, will, only, lead into the increase of costs and complicate the procedures
of treatments which might be taken later on. Obviously, the problems which
affect the human health or that which result an economical loss should have the
priority of treatment.
Every strategy, in fact,
which is directed to reinforce the sustainable development, should depend on
three main issues, which are as follows:
1 - Fortifying the
environmental organizations and public participation:
The administration of
environmental affairs is rather a new field in
2 - Improving the
administration of the natural resources:
The issues of the
environmental degredation, such as, air pollution, water decline,
desertefication of pastures, the salinity of arable lands and others imply an
essential restrain for the economical growth in the future. Also, energy, in
spite of its availability now, will be tight in case the present excessive consumption
continues. Thus, the tendency of growth should be redirected away from the
excessive investment of the natural resources base, by meliorating the
administration system, increasing the qualifications and reducing the
dissipation.
3 -Terminating the arising
problems of pollution:
The urban and industrial
contamination, also, the lack of sufficient and safe drainage systems represent
an increasing threat for the public health. The strategy of the environment has
to treat the effects of contamination on all levels, like:
- Improving the water
standard.
- Meliorating the drainage
and sewerage systems.
- Rectifying the industrial
functions of high level contamination.
- Decreasing the pollution
of transport.
- Clearing fuel from lead
and the fuel of high sulfur.
- Using emanating
regulators for transport vehicles,
- Hurrying to apply natural
gas for transport's vehicles and others.
CH
13
of Human Rights in Golan
Fayez SarahŽŽ(*)
Introduction:
Thirty-four years ago, on
As a result of this
aggression,
Many researches, studies
and books discussed the policies and practices of
Since
In fact,
Golan is located at the
southwestern corner of
The aggression of 1967 was
destructive and evacuating, where most of the inhabitants were expelled from
their lands. Only 6000 thousand Syrians (4.5 percent) remained in five
villages: Majdal Shams, Masadeh, Ain Khanieh, Baka'ata and Al Gajar, most of
them are Syrian Arab Druze. Among the expulsion operations,
The Israeli aggression had
violations on two levels, the first related to the
expelled inhabitants of Golan, the second related to the inhabitants of Golan
who remained under occupation.
1 - The transgressions
against the expelled inhabitants of Golan:
The Israeli violation
started by expelling the inhabitants, then, confiscating their properties and
lands, and ruining their social and economical life types. Those expelled
inhabitants were forced to start a new ambiguous life with weak capacities or
with lack of any capacity to live through non-human conditions. Their first and
second generations were born in the same hard conditions. Until today, we can
witness their sufferings in their gatherings in Hajar Aswad, south of
The assistance, which the
expelled inhabitants received to renew their living away from their own lands
and properties, was very limited to substitute their psychological, social and
economical losses. The Syrian government afforded them with simple and cheap
supplements, little food and limited amounts of money. Very few inhabitants
were able to overcome the destructive effects of their expulsion and
immigration.
The expelled people have
hope that their suffering would terminate by going back to their own lands and
receiving compensations. This is a mutual responsibility of
2 - The transgressions
against the Syrian inhabitants who remained under the occupation:
The inhabitants who
remained in the occupied part of Golan were exposed to other forms of
transgressions that related to the Israeli attempt to Jewishize
the inhabitants and the land. This was declared in the decision of Israeli
Knesset in 1981 that indicated the application of Israeli sovereignty and law
in Golan and its inhabitants. This decision was a continuation of the Israeli
policies and practices of occupation that ignored the international decisions
and violated the fundamental human rights.
The Israeli violations
included all fields, the political, social, economical and cultural, which add
more suffering to the daily life of the inhabitants in Golan and their future
too. These violations created new actual conditions, which were mainly the
following:
- First - political
violations:
The authority of the
occupation tended to change the legal and political position of Golan from an
occupied land, according to the international law, into an Israeli land,
according to the decision of Knesset. Besides, imposing the Israeli nationality
on the Syrian inhabitants of Golan, which is another violation of law, the
international legitimacy and human rights. In addition, the Israeli authority
prohibited the inhabitants to establish any organization or charity association
by the vindication of fear from transforming that into political organizations.
At the same time, since the decision of 1981 to include the land, the Israeli
government opened a wide range for the Zionist parties and organizations'
activities in the villages of Golan. Also, the Arab Sports' Leagues were
obliged to be affiliated with the Israeli Labor Association to prevent the Arab
inhabitants of any independent and national activities.
Furthermore, the authority
of occupation accused the resistance of the Syrian inhabitants in Golan and
considered them espying to the benefit of
The long period of
imprisonment with all its accompanying health and social effects is not the
only imposed penalty against the inhabitants who practice national activities
in Golan. There are other penalties like, temporary detention, house arrest and
dismissal from work. These punishments happened and still happen to the
teachers of Golan, who were accused of practicing antagonistic activities
against the occupation.
Moreover, contrary to the
desire of the inhabitants, the Israeli military authorities appointed local and
sectarian councils by military orders, which were issued by the military
governor of the region. Thus, the Syrian inhabitants are obliged to yield to
Israeli courts and are judged according to Israeli law in Tiberias and Nasera.
- Second - economical
violations:
The Israeli authority
tended to destroy the life of the inhabitants by dominating their lands and
resources. Accordingly, the occupation took possession of three-fourth the
total occupied area in Golan, more than 350 thousand Dunems (each Dunem equals
1000 square meters). In the town of
Also, the Israeli authorities
prohibited the Syrian inhabitants to reach wide areas of their lands in the
north of Al Sheik Mountain, plus, taking over the
The violation of the
proprietorship of lands and investment is accompanied by controlling the
groundwater too. The Israeli authorities control the groundwater of Ya'furi and
Al Mushairefah regions, the
According to the
estimations of Syrian sources,
Some occupied villages were
deprived of drinking water, thus, in March 1987, the Syrian government
established a project to provide Baka'ta village with water.
Furthermore, the Israeli
occupation tried to confiscate the right of the Golan farmers to export their
agrarian production. The authorities imposed political provisions to bargain
with the farmer about the Israeli identity and nationality in return for
exporting the production. Also, they obliged the farmers to deal with Israeli
merchants or the occupation agents who have licenses for export. In all cases,
the Israeli authorities imposed that the production of Golan was to be described
as the production of
On the other hand,
These policies led into
economical devastation, which affected many farmers in the occupied Syrian
villages. Thus, they were obliged to travel outside their villages to work in
the occupied lands of 1948 and in the Jewish settlements through non-human
conditions of work.
- Third - social
violations:
Also, as the other
violations, the social ones were imposed by force and by denying the natural
rights of the Arab inhabitants to practice their traditions and heritage. Arab
families are prevented from contacts with their families and relatives in other
villages, plus, their families in
Against their desires, the
Syrian laborers and employees of Golan were obliged to affiliate with the
Israeli Labor Association. The inhabitants were also obliged to participate in
the Health box, which is attached to the labor association. Actually, the
health conditions are very bad in Golan; there are lack of doctors, lack of
emergency and health centers, lack of laboratories and pharmacies, lack of
gynecologists and obstetrical clinics. The Israeli authorities refused giving
licenses for graduated Syrian doctors and pharmacists to work in their own
villages, also, prohibited the patients to go to
In addition, the occupation
authority prohibits the inhabitants to build houses outside the villages, besides,
it is obligatory to obtain an anticipated permission to build inside their own
villages. The population of Golan occupied area increased,
however, the present housing is not enough for their actual needs. All this is
accompanied by imposed taxes, which exceeds three dollars per each square meter
of the built area, with a yearly augmentation.
- Fourth - cultural and
educational violations:
These violations included
history, present and future. Many historical sites in Golan were desecrated and
stolen. The students were prohibited of Arabic education and were obliged to
study the Israeli curriculums instead of the Syrian books. Many teachers were
expelled because the Israeli authorities claimed that they have antagonistic
activities against the occupation. In spite of rejection, the Druze heritage
was imposed for studying at schools, which the inhabitants believe it untrue
because they have Arabic-Islamic heritage instead. The Israeli government
employed a number of Israeli teachers in Arabic schools.
The children of Golan have
less rights of education. The five mentioned villages suffer from lack of
schools. Besides, the occupation authorities prevented the students for long
years from attending Syrian universities and institutes. Nowadays, a limited number
of students are allowed to continue their studies at the Syrian universities,
but they are exposed to a lot of annoyance and inquiries at the frontiers of
Golan. The Israeli universities take about 15% of Golan students only, most of them are in
Finally, since the
occupation of Golan in 1967, the expelled or the remaining inhabitants are both
exposed to real and serious violations. These violations uncovered the Israeli
disregard of international laws and treaties, especially, the Declaration of
Human Rights and
__________
Sources:
This research depended on the following sources:
1) 'Golan: testimonies of
emigrants about the days of war and the present', prepared by Saker Abu Fakher,
Magazine of Palestinian Studies, No. 42, spring of 2000.
2) 'The racist Zionism and
its practices in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights', Fayez Sarah, Al Wahda
Magazine, No. 40, January 1988, p. 163 - 171.
3) The annual report of
year 2000 about the positions of Syrian Arabs in the occupied Arab territories,
Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor,
4) The Israeli general
Guide, a group of writers, edited by Sabri Jrais and Ahmed Khlifah, The
Organization of Palestinian Studies, Beirut, 1st edition, 1997, p. 370 - 398.
5) Dialogues carried out by
Madhat Saleh Al Saleh, a struggler from Golan and a previous prisoner in
CH
14
The
Matter
of Minorities
Jad Al Kareem Al Jeba'iŽŽ(*)
Preface:
The matter of minoritiesŽ(*) and
their rights is one of the most sensitive and dangerous issues. To approach
this matter we need more deliberation, precision and systematical discipline.
Today, the barbarian imperialistic economical globalization and the dictatorship
of the market violates the rights of four-fifth humans and throws them to the
margins of life by the name of democracy, human rights and minorities' rights.
Thus, the researcher faces two dangers, first, the danger of missing or
neglecting the rights of minorities, or anxiety by the excuse of resisting the
demands of globalization and facing its challenges and the danger of adopting
the new liberalism by the justification of defending human rights in general,
and the minorities' rights in particular. This is because the current and
accelerated globalization has two contradicting mechanisms as follows:
-First, the mechanisms of
joining the local and national economies to the international economy, which is
dominated by multi-national companies, the set free financial capital and the
devouring economies, mainly, the American economy. These mechanisms make
benefit of the revolution of information and advertisement, also, the
revolution of transport, communication and information systems, where all are
subjugated to big monopolization.
-Second, the mechanisms of
disassembling and frittering the social, political and cultural national and
nationalist structures, mainly, the national state, which is at the margins of
the global system. These mechanisms are applied through reviving and
flourishing the identities, which existed before nationalism and society, and
making their preliminary connections and relations the substitutes for
relations.
The matter of minorities,
or sectarians, religious, linguistic, ethnic, and nationalistic groups are
matters, which were expressed in total and treated as a whole. Many terms and
idioms, imposed by the majority, were used to refer to this matter, which all
have an ideological signification, and were never accepted by the minor groups.
While we use the word 'minority', we can not deny how this word includes inner
feelings of superiority and excellence. Also, even when its developments are
dangerous and worrisome, the word alludes to ease the matter and degrade its
importance. Each time the concept of minority or minorities is used, a whole
history of complicated relations between the majority and the minority is
regained. The former history is full of darkness and illusions. However, the
subjective side of the idiom accords with the mathematical relativity and
quantity, thus, it is useful in this research.
between citizens, which are the
bases for the modern national state. The modern state equals the national or
nation state, which resolved the matter of minorities by a democratic
secularist solution.
Some present researchers
and sociologists classify societies according to religious, ethnical,
nationalistic, racial, linguistic and cultural variations into three types.
First, we have the mosaic societies, which are unable to integrate. Second,
other societies are of pure race, religion or nationalism. The third type is in
between those two types. The societies of the third type are diversified and
able to integrate at the same time. Except
The classical and
neo-classical national mind ignored the matter of minorities and it still lays
the responsibility of crisis and confusions on the external factors. It ignores
the reality that the minorities' existence is much older than colonialism and
imperialism. Also, it ignores that the factors of the minorities' internal
explosion were the reason for calling the external interference and enabling it
to exploit them. The national mind's neglect for this matter refers to its
withdrawal from reality and the domination of the ideological element over the
rational and actual elements of its structure. The roots of minorities' matter
are old in our history and go far beyond the Islamic conquers.
The vision of Islam was
established upon three important bases: monotheism, plurality and universality.
Islam preserved monotheist religions and ethnics, and protected their
followers. After the battle of Safeen, the Islamic split produced various
Islamic sects, which differences deepened and affected the matter of faith.
Thus, many nations entered Islam, some of them became Arabs, and others
preserved their own identities, ethics or cultural linguistics. As all old
empires, the Islamic Arab Empire included various nations, creeds, sects and
religions, which, partially or completely, entered through the political social
structure and the Islamic Arab culture. The mechanisms of bursting in the
Islamic Arab state, which once had a nationalistic base and once
a sectarian one or both bases in most cases, confirm the depth of this
matter's structure. The Ottomans domination of Islamic Caliphates established a
system of creeds that consisted of military centralization and administrative
decentralization. The system started the operation of politicizing the matter
of minorities, which deepened forward with the penetration of capitalism. Also,
the matter was deeply rooted with the emerging "system of privileges"
and the system of "protecting minorities", as well as, the
colonialism and its policy of "Divide and Rule!".
Actually, the separable structures were the only ones that could be separated.
"The colony that
obtained some values of the western society, which it belonged to, had a
paradoxical conduct. Accordingly, while the colony strengthened the feelings of
estrangement for non-Islamic minorities, it applied some practices of the
achievements of the bourgeois democratic nationalistic revolution. The colonial
constitutions that imposed human rights for the first time in the Arab
societies, which were disparaged by the colonial domination, promoted these
minorities into the grade of citizenship. Moreover, the colonial system tried
to integrate the minorities, nationalistically, (like, the annex to the draft
treaty of 1936 between
Consequently, even after
the political independence, the Arab societies remained halfway bound. It was
difficult to regain the old position of non-Muslims under the custody of Islam;
also, there was deficiency to accomplish a democratic nationalistic revolution
that afforded a democratic, modern and fundamental solution for the matter of
minorities. The dissociation from the past and our deficiency to continue for a
conscious determined future transformed the traditional sectarian position,
which existed for many centuries before colonialism, into a sectarian crisis
that personified and summed up the general crisis of Arab society"Ž(1).
While the matter of
minorities remained bringing up deliberations and tense explosions, the Arab
societies relapsed to the pre-colonial stage that Yseen Al Hafez called the
Shakhboot stage or the petroleum Bedouins stage. Thus, the past resurfaced the
present.
As in most countries of the
world, there are pluralities, variations, differences and contradictions in the
Arab world too. There are nationalistic, linguistic and cultural groups, also,
Islamic sects and Sufi ways, Christian, Jewish and Yazeedi sects. In fact,
there is no plurality and variety without unity, and no differences and
contradictions without similarity. This is exactly what the orientalistic
vision ignores and wants us to ignore as well; thus, it establishes blockades
instead of bridges. Without unity and resemblance, we cannot reach to the
concept of the human and human rights, unless we use the western selective way
in general, mainly, the American way. All humans have unlimited differences,
but all are similar in humanity. Actually, there are variations in the
differences too. For example, who said that the Kurds in
The diversities are
persistent among all human beings. Diversity supposes equality, morally and
logically. If there were no differences, there would not be a need for
equality. The dissimilarity presumes the equality because it assumes the human
similarity and the mutual needs between the individuals, because each
individual submits a necessary function for the others. This is the base for
the political equality in front of law. Law is established for the equality
between the absolute works of human beings. The relation between diversity and
equality is the same between entity and existence. Anyhow, equality does not
mean canceling the differences because cancellation would lead to haziness,
mixture and nonexistence. The matter of human rights is concentrated on this
issue; besides, the rights of minorities are branches of the Human rights'
tree.
All human beliefs have no
absolute value, but they obtain their value from the person who carries them
and identifies himself with them. The human personality is able to carry
unlimited beliefs and identifications, which each has differences and limits.
Since the human being stopped to be a kind of a hunter among the other existing
beings, he became the master and owner of his world; so, he has to be the
master and owner of himself. The former diversity, which still clarifies the
differences of subjective identifications and objective specifications, imposed
slavery and put liberty opposite to it, also, it put the dialectical tyranny,
repression and oppression of rights. With this dialectic, the human being
produced his entity in the history and the world, and gradually regained the
objectivity of both within his own self until he reached what he became now, on
the leading line to infinity.
If dissimilarity was an
objective reality, the crucial factor of the minorities' matter is the
subjective element. This means, that the individuals of a specific group
percept their differences and distinctions, and the other near groups percept
these differentiations and distinctions as well. This leads to the feeling of
belonging to a specified group to face the other groups, which some call the
need for belonging. In the case of a nationalistic minority, this subjective
feeling is consolidated by an objective element, which is language because it is
the base of culture. Language was and remains an essential provision for human
gathering. According to this belonging, the preliminary elements of identity,
which are established upon perceiving the differences and contradictions, are
formed. This preliminary identity is not a final fact, to become so, there has
to be a confirmation and consolidation made by the other different one. The
other has a decisive role in the operation of the minorities' collaborations
and strengthening their internal cohesion.
We can say that the
majority is the one who makes the minority, either by giving it privileges or
by depriving it from rights. At the end, giving and depriving have the same
effect. Giving privileges to a specific group redoubles its isolation from the
other groups and consolidates its feeling of distinction and differentiation.
Therefore, the privileges create religious, denominational and nationalistic
fanaticism for the group and against them as well. Here, increasing is equal to
decreasing because each one who gains more than his right is oppressing the
rights of the others or, unintentionally, assisting in that. Then, he
establishes the sieges and castles, which protect him and preserve his
benefits. Actually, the siege that protects a person today might imprison him
tomorrow.
The social restrains emerge
when the groups enclose within their own specific interests and regard the
others' interests as obstacles to be eliminated. The private interests are
always blind; they are a necessity and, also, it is necessary to be well
perceived and merged for the general benefit. According to these private
interests, there are established ideologies that present restrictions,
closeness and blindness. Still, the social relationships, always, include
complicated and compounded mechanisms for integration and unification or
excluding and elimination. The matter of minorities is not connected with
closed, isolated entities and permanent fundamental identities, or with
statistic fixed positions. This matter is connected with the type of prevailed
political, cultural, economical and social relations in such a society and its
relation to the level of social consciousness.
It is obvious that each
religious, denominational and nationalistic group would care for developing to
perceive the distinction and differentiation among its members as a device for
preserving its collective existence, cultural heritage and benefits. All the
groups would do the same and for the same reasons. This conduct is the main
factor that develops the minority's perceiving by practicing differentiation
and distinctions in behavior and treatment. Thus, the minorities would develop
increasing feelings of persecution. Often, these feelings remain implied, among
the minorities and explode at the first sign. Minorities are, often, charged
with historical rancor because of a certain group, which controlled their
social rank, share of wealth and authority according to the principle of
dominance and subjugation.
This could be clarified in
two cases, first, when the size of one minority is big and concentrated in one
region, besides having an intensive feeling of distinction, which is
accompanied by a feeling of superiority or injustice. Second,
when the enthusiasm of the nationalistic elite for a monotheist nationalistic
project does not regard the rights and benefits of minorities.
Consequently, this minority would feel danger against its benefits, social
existence and cultural heritage. We should confess that any mono project might
arouse the fears of the minorities, especially, the nationalistic minorities.
Thus, it is important to repeat the establishment of the unified project
according to democratic, secular, rational and human bases, plus, the principle
of the human being, history and the concept of progress.
1 - The Definition of
"Minority":
Due to the point of
interest, the included context and the required function, the definitions of
minority differ. We will present some definitions and criticize until we reach
a definition that suits our specified case in
- The International
Encyclopædia of Social Sciences defined
"minority" as follows: Minority is a group of individuals who are
distinguished from the rest of society by race, nationalism, religion or
language. They suffer a relative decrease of power; consequently, they yield to
some types of servitude, oppression and discrimination.
- The American Encyclopedia
defined the minorities as groups who have a less social position inside the
society than the dominating groups. Also, the minorities have less power and
influence, and practice fewer rights in comparison to the dominating groups in
the society. Most often, the minorities' individuals are deprived from enjoying
the privileges of the first grade citizens. We wonder whether this definition
corresponds with the social position in the
- The draft of the European
Treaty for protecting minorities indicates that the term "minority"
means a group of individuals whose number is less than the rest of the
country's inhabitants. The minorities' members are distinguished racially,
linguistically or religiously from the rest of the members of society, besides, they care for the continuity of their culture,
traditions, religion or language.
- The United Nations'
Sub-Commission on Human Rights defined the minorities as settling groups in the
society. They have special traditions and specific ethnic, religious or
linguistic particularities that, clearly, differ from the ones that existed
among the rest of inhabitants in a society, and they like to continue
preserving them.
- The Declaration of the
United Nations about the rights of the individuals, who belong to nationalistic
or racial, religious and linguistic minorities, exceeded the definition and
assured in its nine articles the importance of preserving the rights of
minorities and equalizing them with the majority. The German delegation
presented for the preparatory commission of this declaration the following
definition: "Minority is a group of citizens of the state that form a
minor number which does not have the attribute for dominance or supremacy in
the state. They are distinguished from the rest of society members by race,
language or religion, and have tendency for solidarity. Also, they have an
implied care for continuity and aim for achieving equality in reality and law
with the majority.
- The last definition seems
to be the nearest to the logic of human rights because it does not contradict
the principle of the national sovereignty, the sovereignty of the national or
nationalist state. The definition brings out the truth of minority, which is a
group of the country's citizens. Thus, all other characteristics are included
in the circle of this objective truth. The rights of minorities should not
contradict the sovereignty of the state. We think that this is the central
issue. The rest of specifications that are included in the definitions
intersect with the other definitions, such as, the less number, the inclination
for solidarity, the desire for continuity and the aim for equality. Exceptionally,
the definition of the American Encyclopedia brings out the inability of the
minority to have the privileges of citizens of the first grade.
The rest of definitions
depend on the predicament of distinction, which contradicts its logical context
that supposes the unity of society and the national integration, as well as,
resemblance. This is because all the definitions are issued by a set up vision
that isolates the phenomenon, on one side, from its historical course and, on
the other side, from its exchanged relations with the other social phenomena.
This vision is a static one, which deals with minorities as stable identities,
quiddities and substances of knowledge. Therefore, it treats the social
relationships as relations of one direction, which are ostracizing and
separating relations. In reality, there is no going out without entering in, no
ostracizing without attracting and no separation without connection. The defect
of this static vision is that it views the society according to one part or
some parts of it instead of viewing this part or the rest of the parts as the
significance of the whole society. In these definitions, the part defines the
whole, but the fact is that the whole defines all its parts. Therefore, non-of
these definitions are valid to be a base for studying the matter of minorities
in
In all cases, the context
of differentiation or destination is not absolute. The minority might differ,
nationalistically, and accord, religiously or culturally. As well, it might
differ, religiously, and accord, nationalistically, linguistically and
culturally. The decisive truth in this matter is the identity of the state,
which defines at the end the possibility of social and national integration, or
notŽ(2). Unlike the
national state or nationalistic state, which can not be really national without
being both democratic and secular, the religious state and the despotic state,
for example, do not release any chance for integration.
To approach this matter in
Accordingly, the definition
could be the following: Minorities are nationalistic, linguistic, cultural,
religious or sectarian groups that regulate in forms and structures. They
establish relationships with the majority according to the level of society
development and grade of its social and nationalistic integration. The internal
relations in between are defined according to the prevailed political,
cultural, economical and social types of relations in each stage of
development. The relations are, always, of paralleled rejection and attraction,
which decisively are defined by the grade of political and social settlement.
The definitive element of a minority's existence is its subjective
consciousness of its difference and distinction, also, the desire for
continuity, the perseverance of identity and the yearning for equality. We can
say that the minority remains so according to what it demands of private rights
to consolidate its self-seclusion and rejection of integration. Thus, the
matter of number is not definitive in this field.
Due to this definition, we
can say that human rights are a limit that restrict the rights of minorities,
also, the unity of society and the established state upon the principle of the
individual's freedom and human rights delimit the rights of the minorities.
Thus, the minorities' rights delimit as well the majority's rights. In other
words, the rights of minorities are the duties of the majority. While the
modern national or nationalist state, which is mainly secular and democratic,
seems to its citizens, inside it, as a state of right and law, it seems to
other citizens, outside it, a nationalistic state. Describing
The society, which is able
to grow and develop, is the free society. No society could be free unless all
its members are free. Freedom is always connected with law and responsibility.
Thus, the matter of minorities in
2 - Politicizing the Matter
of Minorities:
Most western and Arab
researchers believe that the attention toward the phenomenon of minorities
increased at the beginning of the 19th century. The treaties of
Politicizing the matter of
minorities in the Arab world, in general, and in
After the 1st World War,
the Agreement of Saykes-Picot subjugated the Arab countries to direct colony,
where the defeated
The politicization of this
matter reached its peak after separating Lebanon from Syria and establishing
the Lebanese State upon the principle of anxious sectarian balance, then,
establishing the racist state of Israel on a part of the Palestinian land.
Since then, the matter of minorities became one of the important axes in the
strategy of this expanding settling entity and the strategies of the great
powers. What arouses the attention is the increase of concentration on the
rights of minorities after the collapse of
It is worth mentioning that
the religious apostasy and the attempts to revive the exclusive identities,
which the world is witnessing now, especially, the marginal and retarded parts,
assisted to consolidate the operation of politicization. This operation became
one axis of the American policy in the former
The International
Declaration of Human Rights is the Basis for Minorities Rights:
The International
Declaration was based on "the recognition of human dignity that is innate
in all the human beings and their equal and fixed rights". This
recognition is the basis for freedom, justice and peace in the world. All human
beings look for the emergence of a world in which the individual has the
freedom of expression and faith, and is released from fear and poverty. Nothing
but law can guarantee the human rights and freedom. Otherwise, people at the
end are obliged to rebel against despotism and tyranny.
The general fundamental
principles of the Declaration are the bases for minorities' rights. Calling for
the rights without these bases might lead to other undesired directions,
according to certain interests. Day after day, experiences prove that the
owners of benefits are not much interested in minorities and are not trusted to
defend them either. In this field, we have doubts about the motives and
purposes in which the Treaty of the United Nations in 1992 was formed. The
Treaty concerned the rights of individuals who belong to nationalistic, racial,
religious or linguistic groups. It was formed after the
Everyone knows that the
United Nations cannot protect minorities without the American forces, who are
the worst enemy to human rights. The fear is that the most important motives
and purposes are to disassemble the nationalistic states and fragment
societies, as what happened in the former
The first Article of the
Declaration indicated the first basis: "All people are born free and equal
in dignity and rights. People have to treat each other with a brotherhood
spirit".
This existential principle
is the same moral and rational principle. Actually, people live in societies
that were, historically, formed according to another basis, which is the man's
estrangement from his own work, his own world and himself. The private
proprietorship was and remains the main factor of this estrangement and the
most prominent feature of it. Varied proprietorship produced variations of
power, which consequently reproduced variations in rights. Thus, "each has
right according to his power".
Therefore, there is a
striking difference between the existential, mental and moral foundation and
the practical application. If the indications of the first Article of the
Declaration was moral and logicalŽ(8), then, the practical application and the
foundations, which our political and social life were built upon till today are
not so even in the most developing countries that care for human rights. In
fact, a principle has a moral power being the standard for the practice and the
judge for it. Accordingly, a principle should be admitted and recognized,
preliminary and finally. In addition, the following principles of the
Declaration should be recognized:
1 - Every human, wherever
he exists, has the right to be recognized according to his legal character.
2 - All people are equal to
law and have the right to enjoy an equal protection without any distinction.
Also, all people have the right for equal protection against any discrimination
that disregards this Declaration and any provokes for such discrimination.
3 - No one should be
exposed to arbitrary interference in his private life, his family, his
residence, his correspondences or harming his reputation and honor. Each person
has the right to the protection of law from such interferences or launches
against him.
4 - Every individual has
the freedom to move and choose the location of his residence within the
frontiers of his state. Besides, each individual has the right to leave any
country, including his own country, and to return back to it.
5 - Each individual has the
right to resort to another country or try rescuing to escape from insult if he
is not convicted with non-political crimes or activities that contradict the
United Nations' principles.
6 - Each individual has the
right to have a nationality and it is prohibited to deprive a person,
arbitrarily, from his nationality or deny his right to change it.
7 - Each person has the
right to freedom of religion, conscience and thoughts. The right includes the
freedom of changing his religion or faith and the freedom of expressing that by
education and practices, plus, celebrating rituals, whether secretly or with
groups.
8 - Cultivation should aim
for developing the personality, completely, and consolidating the respect for
humans and fundamental freedoms, besides, developing the understanding,
forgiveness and friendship between all nations and religious or racial groups.
9 - Each person has the
right to freedom of opinion and expression. This right includes adopting
opinions without interference, obtaining news and ideas, receiving and
broadcasting by any mean without restricting to geographical boundaries.
10 - Each person has the
right to freedom of affiliation to associations and peaceful groups. It is prohibited
to oblige any one to join an association.
11 - Each individual has
the right to share in directing the general affairs of his country, directly or
through representatives, who are selected freely. Also, each person has the
same right as the other person to assume the general employment in the state.
The will of the nation is the source of the government's authority, which is
expressed by upright regular elections based on secret voting and equality
between all people, or according to any similar procedure that guarantees the
freedom of voting.
Actually, the achievement
of these principles supposes modern social relations and, necessarily, a
democratic and secular state. Or, let us say the achievement of these
principles supposes a modern civil society and a democratic state. This
supposition leads us to the deep reasons that impeded and still impede the
minorities' utilization of their legitimate rights. These reasons are, deeply,
rooted in the structures of retarded desecrated classical society and the
structure of the despotic state. The produced Oriental despotism, which emerged
from the depth of history and was established upon adherence and servitude,
destroys the legal character of the human, then, destroys his moral character.
Let alone pauperizing and impoverishing, which means transforming the humans
into beings full of bitterness, feelings of deficiency, emptiness and
uselessness. Through these mechanisms, despotism ruins the field of public life
that provides the chances of integration for religious, sectarian,
nationalistic, linguistic, cultural and social groups in a social unity, which
upgrades the individuals from subjects into citizens. Also, the social unity
allows the production of national identity that rearranges the preliminary links
and social relationships according to the axis of national belonging. In
addition to public life, despotism ruins the field of personal and private
life; so, it destroys the individual's personality, freedom and independence.
It is useless to research about the obstacles against human rights, in general,
and minorities' rights, in particular, away from the relations of production
and social relations, also, away from the state and its relation with society,
which is supposed to have produced it.
The Decree No. 208, dated
13.3.1973, of the Syrian constitution recognized most principles of the
International Declaration, especially, in the Articles No. 25, 33, 35 and 38.
These principles remained written without execution. Due to the state of
emergency and martial laws, which never stopped since
Article No. 25 of the
Syrian constitution indicated the following:
1. Freedom is a sacred
right. The government guarantees liberty for its citizens and sustains their
dignity and security.
2. The sovereignty of law
is a fundamental principle in the society and state.
3. All citizens are equal
to law in rights and duties.
4. The government
guarantees the principle of equal opportunities among all citizens.
5. Each citizen has the
right to assist in the cultural, social, economical and political life, and law
organizes this assistance.
6. Citizens practice their
rights and enjoy their freedoms according to law.
Article No. 33 indicated
the following:
1. It is prohibited to
deport the citizen away from his country.
2. Each citizen has the
right to move inside his state unless prevented by a judicial judgement or
executed for health reasons and general safety.
3. Political refugees
cannot to be surrendered because of their political principles or their defense
for freedom.
Article No. 35 indicated
the following:
1. The freedom of faith is
sustained and the government respects all religions.
2. The government
guarantees the freedom to hold all religious rituals but without prejudice to
the general system.
Article No. 38 indicated
the following:
"Each citizen has the
right to express his opinion, freely and openly, in speech, writing and all
means of other expressions. Also, the citizen has to assist in supervision and
useful criticism that ensure the safety of the national and nationalistic
structure and consolidates the socialist system. Besides, the government
guarantees the freedom of press and publication according to law".
If these principles of the
Syrian constitution were in operation, they would form a solid base for solving
the matter of minorities in
The Nationalistic Attribute
of the State:
The state was called the
1. The Syrian Arab Republic
is a socialist, nationalist and democratic state of sovereignty. It is not
allowed to abandon any part of the state's land. The state is a member in the
Union of Arab Republics.
2. The Syrian Arab region
is a part of the Arab World.
3. The nation of the Syrian
Arab region is a part of the Arab nations that works and struggles for
achieving its comprehensive unity.
The Constitution specified
the religion of the president and the main source of legislation as follows:
1. The religion of the
president is Islam.
2. The Islamic doctrine is
the principal source for legislation.
The Article No. 4 specified
the official language of the state, which is the Arabic language.
Among the attributes of the
state there was "Arabism", which might provoke the sensitivity of
some Syrian non-Arab citizens, especially, when the constitution decides that
the Syrian nation is a part of the Arab nations that works and struggles for
achieving its comprehensive unity. In fact, an objective calm examination of
the Arabism feature clarifies this confusion. While the state, any state, seems
for its citizens, from inside, as a state of right and law, it appears for its
non-citizens, from outside, as a nationalistic one. This nationalistic feature
is the prevailed characteristic of modern state in general, which is obtained
from the majority of the citizens, who are in the Syrian case Arabs. No
nationalistic state seems nationalistic for its citizens inside, except for the
racist states, such as, the former
According to the
confirmation of the mentioned articles in the constitution all policies and
discriminated procedures against non-Arab citizens are unconstitutional.
However, it is not logical to indicate that the nation of the Syrian region is
part of the Arab nations. The actual and logical indication is that the Arabs
of the Syrian region are part of the Arab nations. Accordingly, the
constitution admits the existence of nationalistic and non-Arab groups in
It is worth mentioning that
the classical nationalistic mind does not admit the existence of such a
problem. Also, the nationalistic Arabic ideology with its unhistorical
classical logic, as the other ideologies, does not acknowledge the actual
truths and mental truths. This is because both actual and mental truths work
for splitting the ideology and uncovering its solid nucleus, then, threatening
the fixed identity, the unhistorical one, which is enclosed to its
pauperization and emptiness. As a matter of fact, "the complex of
identity" was produced by the reactions against the external violations
and the submissive defeats. The basis of the majority's attitude toward
minorities is concealed in this complex or this "subjective
consciousness", which defines the attitude of those who embrace ideology
toward the world, society, state and human being.
The Matter of Minorities in
Formerly, we mentioned that
the Syrian society is one of the most Arab societies that includes
variations and it is the most settled society as well. If centralization and
political and social settlement are two essential standards, the structure of
inhabitants in
Arab Christians form 8.9%
of the total population and they are divided as follows: 4% Greek Orthodox,
1.3% Greek Catholic, 1.3% Syrian Orthodox, 0.05% Syrian Catholic, 0.04%
Maronite, 0.04% Protestant, 0,07% Chaldean, Latin and
Nestorians. If we add Armenians, who are Christians and their percentage is 4%,
the percentage of Christians becomes about 12.9% of the total population. There
is a minority of Yazidis, plus, a very little number of Jews, whose whole
percentage does not reach 0.05% of the total population.
On the nationalistic level,
Arabs form around 89% of the total population, followed by Kurds 7%, all
Armenians, Circassians and others form 4%. According to these percentages the
Syrian society provides the factors of settlement and national unity. It is
very difficult to disturb this settlement or abuse this unity. The national
unity is not a settled and final fact, but an open battle that should,
continuously, be gained. Today, one of the provisions to gain it is to unify
the law. This means subjugating the various and different personal status laws
to one civil law, which rules are applied upon all citizens, beside
permitting civil marriage without any restrictions except the restraint of the
civil law. It is illogical to have in a society, which looks for national and
social integration, various personal status laws. The unification of legal
recourse is a necessary condition for unifying the society. Law is the
foundation of the society's unity and the actual state, being general and
mutual between all the citizens and all the social groups. A couple of laws and
decrees could not resolve the matter. Acquiring the modern achievements and
applying it could resolve the matter, also, by
generating a Copernican revolution on the social level that changes the
society's point of view toward itself, nature and the world. Copernicus did not
change the world but changed the point of view toward it, thus, every thing in
the human mind changed.
Let us take a risk and say
that the matter of human rights, in general, and the minorities' rights, in
particular, is a matter of modernizing the social consciousness, rationalizing,
secularizing and democratizing it. We do not have illusions about the
subjectivity of this operation but we bet on objective elements, which exist in
our reality by fact and by force, and according to the changes of the world
that we are a part of it. The achieved progress in any part of the world is a
general human attainment for the human beings. The basis of the bet is that the
prevailed Arabic ideology has all its relation been cut from reality and became
retarded from the practices of its society. Here hides the problem of the
historical Arabic retardation of nations that are thrown to the margin of the
age. Moreover, these nations might be thrown out of history by the barbarian
capitalistic globalization.
Except few Syrian citizens,
who belong, subjectively and objectively, to the Kurds nationalism, no other
religious, sectarian, nationalistic or linguistic and cultural minority suffers
a mentioned persecution. Even the discriminating procedures and the
nationalistic persecution that the Syrian Kurds suffer from are not more than
illegal and unconstitutional practices and procedures, which were experienced
by some local authorities, mainly, the security, in their different regions of inhabitance.
Besides, there are central procedures like, the "Arabic belt", and
depriving about 160.000 citizens from the Syrian nationality according to the
statistics of 1962. This matter is still unresolved and needs a radical
solution according to the constitution. Of course, this does not mean that
there are no problems of minorities in
The Syrian Kurds reside in
different and separated regions, in
It is not logical to ignore
the Kurds' right to sympathies with their groups and look for establishing a
State of
One of the important
standards to adjust the relation between the majority and minorities is the
external marriage, which means the marriage between the Arab man and a non-Arab
woman, and the contrary, also, the marriage between a Muslim man and a
non-Muslim woman, and the contrary. Within this standard, the relation between
Kurds and Arabs is the nearest to social integration. There are no restrictions
for external marriages except the marriage between a Muslim man and a
non-Muslim woman and the contrary. The termination of these restrictions is
subjected to secularize the personal status law. An example is the relation
between the majority of Muslim Sunni and the Islamic and non-Islamic
minorities. Thus, the marriage between a Muslim Sunni man and a non-Sunni woman
obliges the woman to change her religion or sect, as well as the marriage
between a Muslim Sunni woman and a non-Muslim man requires the change of the
husband's religion or sect to Islam.
As for the civil rights and
fundamental freedoms, except the position of Kurds, since 1963, the minorities
and the majority suffer the same under the actual political positions. Due to
the restrictions that were imposed by the illusions of the Arab nationalist
ideology, the cultural rights for non-Arabs are still restricted in general. In
fact, the resolution of this matter is subjected to the modernization of
nationalist ideology, as well as, rationalizing, secularizing and democratizing
it. We wish that the signs of reformation that started in
__________
Footnotes:
1) Review Yaseen Al Hafez,
"The Nationalistic and Democratic Matter", Dar Al Hasad,
2) The concept of national
integration or the social and nationalistic integration opposes the concepts of
melting, dissolution and absorption. The concept of national integration is
established upon the secular democratic principle, which is the principle of
citizenship and equality to law.
3) Review Sa'ad Al Deen
Ibraheem, "Creeds, Sects and Races, the Sorrows of Minorities in the Arab
World",
4) In 942 A.H./ 1535
AD, Sultan Saleem Al Kanooni signed a Treaty with the King of France, Francois
1st, which was considered the basis for the idea of privileges that the western
countries enjoyed. Those privileges violated the sovereignty of the state,
mainly, the legislative and judicial fields.
5) Review Ahmed Al Sawi,
"The historical Minorities in the Arab World", the Center of Arab
Civilization, the nationalistic series, No. 1, Cairo, 1989, p. 30 and after.
6) The previous source, p.
36.
7) Sa'ad Al Deen Ibraheem,
previous source.
8) The first Article in the
International Declaration of Human Rights indicates the following:
"Each human has the right to make benefit of all the
rights and freedoms (that are mentioned in the International Declaration)
without any distinctions, like the discrimination because of color, gender,
language, religion or political opinion, or any other opinion. Also, there
should be no discrimination because of social and national origin, wealth or
birth, or any other position without differentiation between men and women.
Other than that, there will not be any preference to political, legal or
international position of the country or the region of the individual, whether
this country or region is independent, under guardianship or has no
self-governing and its sovereignty is subdued to any restrictions".
CH
15
The
Positions of the Youth
Tameem and MajedŽŽ(*)
This subject deals with the
worries, problems and challenges that face a whole neglected youthful
generation. As we belong to this generation, therefore, we are the best who can
talk about it.
The Intellectual and
Political Belongings of the Youth:
The International
Declaration of Human Rights indicates in the Articles No. 18, 19 and 20 that
each person has the right of freethinking, conscience, religion, and the
freedom of expressing through education, practices and rituals. Also a person has
the right to freedom of opinion and expression, adopting ideas without any
interference or obligation to join an organization. The treaty of Child Rights,
less than 18 years old, which was certified by
The talk about any
political or intellectual belonging of the youth starts from the primary
school. First, the children are subscribed to the Vanguards of Ba'ath, then in
the preparatory school, to the Youth of Revolution Union. Both organizations
are substitutes for Ba'ath Party. In the Secondary school, the youth meet a new
and bigger form of organization that requires more responsibility and
commitment for the future. At this early stage, the youngsters do not have
enough education and consciousness to be qualified to choose a political,
organizational or intellectual trend.
The paradox starts when the
school administration distributes, suddenly, the application forms of Ba'ath
Party to the students. Each student has to fill an application to become a
"supporter member" in Ba'ath, without any anticipated preparation or
discussion, except those who were diligently participating
the activities of YRU. The surprise would not enable the youth to take the
right decision; they even might become enthusiastic to join the Party. Many
conditions affect the decision, which might follow temptations and privileges
or due to awareness of the rejection results. Usually, only those students who
had anticipated directions, away from school, reject the subscription.
According to the convention
of the Progressive National Front, no Party, other than Ba'ath, is allowed to
have any activity among schools. This means that the choices for the students
are canceled.
In the schools, the Party's
meetings are rather usual classes, which are included in the teaching schedule.
Most of the superintendents of the circles are schoolteachers, thus, the
meeting becomes a sort of theoretical class, especially that
the activity of the Party is, mostly, reading some literacy of Ba'ath and its
decisions without any real understanding. Other activities, usually do not
relate to the known concept of Ba'ath and, sometimes, turn to become for
entertainment.
The superintendents and the
students do not commit to an effective organizational practice; in addition,
the higher commissions of the Party do not follow them up. This indicates that
the real purpose of early belonging to the Party is not for preparing the
students, intellectually, to become effective members, but for other purposes.
Even though the other Parties are paralyzed with complete dependency to (on)
Ba'ath, one of the purposes is to limit their bases, which can not practice any
activity until after the school stage. The second purpose is to cultivate the
students' commitment to the decisions of the Party and Ba'athi slogans that
represent the directions of the regime.
After the secondary school,
the student transfers to the university, which previously was the most
important center of political work, to find himself in
an empty atmosphere of any, supposedly, political activity. The Syrian
universities are the region of absolute power of Ba'ath and its substitute
organization the National Union of Syrian Students. There is a special branch
of Ba'ath in the university, which sections are distributed on all the
institutions. The subscription to the National Union of Students is obligatory
for all students; in addition, the union dominates all the activities of the
students, such as, student conferences, administrative institutions and others.
At the university, the
student who has enough conscious to choose his political and organizational
belonging can not practice his perception because he, already, has subscription
to Ba'ath. Those who did not join Ba'ath at school for any reason, like
studying outside
Therefore, the only form of
an organizational activity at the university is the Ba'athi meetings that have
no real rules of a Party. At the meetings, the members receive the final
decisions of the authority, not to discuss or vote, but just to have an idea.
Although criticism and self-criticizing are the principles of Ba'ath, they
remain theories to be told. The main attention becomes concentrated on the members
of Ba'ath, hence those who do not, regularly, attend
meetings are exposed to warnings, threatening of dismissal, security inquiries,
prohibition of travel and deprivation of passports, and other pressures. In
general, when the threatened is politically neutral the threatening of
dismissal would not be performed.
The Union of Students is
responsible for all the administrative problems of the students through its
yearly elected administrations. Theoretically, the union has many
jurisdictions, but practically, very limited, which often can not resolve the
essential problems of the students.
In fact, there is no real
organized activity of Ba'ath in the university. The other Parties of the front
have neither influence nor credibility because they have complete
constitutional dependency to Ba'ath. Except the unofficial propaganda for the
Syrian Communist Party, no other Party practices any informational activity or
publicity for its ideology.
Often, the little
affiliated numbers of students to the Parties of the front continue their
functions by inheritance. The Syrian Communist Party is an example of the
tradition of inheritance within its two splits, which have a, relatively, good
masses' publicity in comparison with other Progressive Parties of the Front, except
Ba'ath Party.
The Palestinians of 1948
and 1967, who live in
Recently, some uncommon
organizational activities of Parties started to appear, like, the raised flag
of Hezb Allah, which spread in the streets of
Other than that, there are
no political organizations outside the Parties of the front because there is no
place for any Party or organization or opposition's gathering. The past events,
such as, the annihilation of Muslim Brotherhood movement with all the
accompanied arbitrary repression that victimized both innocent and accused
individuals, the elimination of labor Party and communist Party of Riad Al Turk
affected the people psychologically. During that period, the Syrian security
institutions developed an oppression system to deal with the Syrian public,
which suppressed any organizational attempt during the following two decades.
The state of horror prevailed among people, because of the security arbitrary
reactions, which were not only practiced against any organizational attempt
outside the margin of the regime, but also against any expressed opinion away
from praising the regime. The most restraining procedures in this field are the
big numbers of political dÅtentes, whose fate
is unknown until now.
There are some civil
associations that have various activities away from politics, like the
Syrian-Palestinian Red Crescent, which includes a number of youth who assist in
different charitable activities. Although the activities have no political
connections, the volunteers face many obstacles, mostly, from the bureaucratic
system, which is not familiar with the NGOs activity. The decree of 1964
appoints the President of the Republic as the honorary president of the Syrian
Red Crescent, therefore, the theoretical independence
of such an international organization does not exist.
The rest of civil
organizations are concerned with the minorities like Cherkessian Association
and Armenian Association. These minorities are racial or nationalist. The
Syrian Communist Party of Khaled Bakdash presents the Kurds minority. There are
Christian organizations for Youth that follow Churches, like the Christian boy
scout and the religious hymn orchestras, which activities are social and far
from politics. Also, some Muslim youth join limited gatherings that deal with
religious preaching and recitation of the Koran in the Mosques. Most of these civil organization represent an escape from Ba'ath to
substitute their incapacity to join the political work.
The presence of youth was
not noticeable in the social and political forums that spread after the death
of Assad, which were later closed by the security decisions. In most cases, the
forums were restricted to intellectuals and well known political and social personalities.
The forums had long theoretical discussions, complicated long interposition and
non-practical conducts, without paying attention for the young people, who were
not interested with that.
Away from the organized
belongings, the mentalities of the Syrian youth are first directed toward the
left, Marx & Lenin school. Due to the scientific
delegations and scholarships, since the middle of sixties till nineties, many
students and their children were influenced by communism. The offered soviet
books in Arabic language with cheap prices assisted the spread of these ideas.
The books dealt with the soviet ideology, as well as, the soviet literature,
which explained the achievements of the soviet nation from the revolution of
October in 1917, 2nd World War, until building the country and transform it
into an International Pole. Also, there were books about the Cuban liberation
movement, which attracted many supporters who sympathized with its experience
against imperialism. In addition, some utopian youth were affected by the
socialist theories without a deep and clear vision. Other than beliefs with
socialist theories, most of them derived ideas from socialist Ba'athi vision
and reformed theirs away from it.
The other trend that
attracts many youth is the nationalist trend and its divisions because there is no definite clear features for one nationalistic vision.
At the beginning, most youth adopt the utopias of Ba'ath about the correlation
among Arab countries and the necessity for interpreting this link into a real
nationalistic existence. This vision is affected by many factors, mainly, the
theories of Ba'ath, nationalist or socialist, which are instructed to students
at early stages in schools. The second factor is due to the theories of Ba'ath,
which exclude the racial nationalist ideas and depend on more acceptable
ideologies like, the unity of language, geography and history.
In addition, there is the
supporters of Nasseri experiment, who believe in Jamal Abed Al Nasser trend,
being the most national and upright leader in the modern history of Arab
nation. Although
The third nationalist trend
believes that grand natural
The religious trend, the
right, has two kinds. The most prevailed form is the non-politicized religious
direction, either because of non-desire to politicize the religion or the
inability to do so due to the repression attacks that
continued against this movement over twenty years. While some religious groups
seem to be enlightened and opened to society, other groups seem to be closed
and rejecting.
The second direction of
politicized religion, is adherent to the
The Academic Attainment:
The Rights of the Child
Treaty recognizes the child's right for education and invites all the member
countries to facilitate the chances of education for all the children,
including secondary and higher education according to equality of
opportunities.
In
At the university, the
students are admitted according to their grade average, which due to the
results of the total exams changes every year. The average of grades accords
with the capacities of the universities and the number of students for each
faculty. Thus, the students compete, hardly, to gain the faculties that demand
higher grades. Although all schools are public, the competition is affected by
the kind of schools (private, public, famous, big and small) and the cadres of
teachers, who are much more better in
Before the university, the
school education is recognized for the following teaching schedule:
- Since the primary school,
the socialist nationalist education, called "social education", is
taught for students.
- During the preparatory
and secondary schools, the students are taught most theories of Ba'ath Party.
- Islamic and Christian
religious courses are taught but the related grades of the final exams are
excluded from the secondary certificate total average.
- At the fifth grade of
primary school, English and French languages start to be taught. Students are
divided to start studying English or French, randomly, without regarding their
desire.
- All primary stages in
1 - Entering the
University:
Due to many factors,
principally the economical and social ones, the students choose their studies.
Therefore, most students would desire medicine or engineering because such
specialization provides good income and social prestige. The contrary occurs at
the other faculties of literature that the students' profession is limited to
teaching, which income is low with humble social position. For social reasons,
most females prefer to enroll in dentist's studies or pharmacy or interior
designing.
The previous factors caused
big differences of demanded averages for faculties, like medicine, which is
highly demanded, requires grades average of 93% at least. Other Scientific
demanded faculties follow Medicine, gradually: Dentists, Pharmacy, Computer
science, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Architecture, Mechanical
Engineering and so on. As for the faculties of Arts and Literature, the average
of grades starts from Journalism, law, Literature to other different
Institutes. Having extremely hard exams, many students prefer to finish their
high school in other Arab countries to obtain the certificate with higher
grades in order to enroll at the faculties of the Syrian universities. These
difficulties of affiliation to university create many problems for the
students, mainly, joining faculties according to their families' demands, also,
the social view for faculties of lower averages.
2 - The Universities'
Studies:
There are four universities
in
All the studies at the
Syrian universities are in Arabic language. All the teaching schedules and
books are either translated or written by the board of professors in Arabic.
Teaching all the materials in Arabic is considered an essential achievement of
the Syrian universities that has its negative and positive sides. The positive
point is to facilitate studies for the students who usually do not master other
languages. On the other hand, one of the negative points is the weak renewal of
materials to accord with the scientific development. In addition, the Arabic
resources are limited to the university books. Of course, students are
exhausted to conform between the various information and different languages.
Also, the students who have ambitions for higher studies need to restart
learning English lately.
The Syrian universities
suffer from the paradox of students' big numbers and the limited capacities to
include them. The reason of this impasse is because of the law
that afford education for all people for free without considering the
augmentation of students' numbers and the necessity to enlarge the capacities,
like buildings, tools and cadres of teachers. The number of students who study
medicine in the first year, for example, is ten times more than the number in
the
Even thought the new law
that permits the establishment of private universities might be limited to the
rich students, who can afford the high costs of studies, it might assist a
partial solution for the increasing numbers of students. Probably, This mentioned law might enable the government to cancel or
restrict the decision of having the capacity for all students of the country.
3 - University Exams:
The students talk a lot
about the unfair exams of the university in many faculties. First, the teachers
have a problem with correcting all the papers, properly and fairly, because of
the huge number of students. Second, complete articles and questions of the
exams are sold for some students, openly, without any suitable measures to stop
that. Actually, it is almost impossible for a professor to check 4000 exam
papers, each of four pages, uprightly and justly, especially, that his salary
is not enough for ten days of the month, plus, no one will settle an account
with him, unless in rare and exceptional cases.
A part of this phenomenon
was resolved by using the computer for checking some exams without the
interference of the teachers. Still, some teachers choose hard and cripple
questions, so that the students' average of passing the exams will never exceed
15%. Thus, the students try other bad options to pass the exams like, cheating.
Besides, the students suffer from the teachers' conducts and bad treatment.
Some teachers try to dominate and command the students according to their own
personal, psychological, social and political considerations.
4 - After Graduation:
The Syrian universities
afford higher academic studies for the students in some faculties to obtain
Diploma, MA degree and Ph.D. Degree. Only a limited number of students are
accepted to continue their higher studies according to their averages of
graduation, which differ from one specialization to another.
The Ph.D. degree is
restricted to some literary specialization, the
scientific graduate studies require traveling abroad. The students have to
either travel on their own expenses or the government's expense in return for
teaching at the university for definite years. We would like to refer that most
scholarships were not applied for the students who deserved that. Usually, many
factors interfere with the choice of candidates, such as, political belonging,
personal relationships and mediately. Some students could gain scholarships
through the cultural attachÅ of foreign embassies. Other than travelling and graduate
studies, the practical life of the male student starts with the compulsory
military service.
Social Relationships:
We will deal with the
social relationships of the youth in the big cities, in which other than family
relations, the youth have either casual or permanent relations. We will
concentrate on the relationships of youth at the university.
Essentially, the university
relationships are related to studies, which might develop to friendships or
love relations or others. Within this atmosphere, the social and economical
considerations recognize the various groups.
Unlike other people's
gatherings, the mix of gender at the university is obvious and clear in all the
social and studying activities. Even though many students come from
conservative families, the innocent relationships between males and females are
accepted, probably because it is difficult to control or prohibit such
relations at the universities. At the same time, the patriarchal family appears
with its strictness form, where the pyramidal succession of the father's
authority on the top, followed by the male sons or the mother, according to the
grade of stringency, thus, the daughters remain at the base. Although the
western vision of family is transferred to the Syrian society through the
media, the traditional system remains widely spread. In most cases, the family
becomes the region of absolute father's rule without any discussion or
competition. This sort of conduct and relations is reflected in the power
relations, so, the females are subjugated to the control of males.
With the domination of the
father, the children become controlled by the fear from the patriarchal
repression. Thus, they are obliged to use curled methods, like lying, to
achieve their personal desires without breaking the father's restrains. The
grade of control varies from more into less strict families.
A group of postulates
results from the patriarchal family in the Syrian society, such as, the
difficulty of independence from the family, not only the females but the males
too, unless they go to study abroad. The family control expands from choosing
the studies of their children to their marriages. Still, the children repeat
the same system of repression with their new children.
The accepted patriarchal
system of absolute men control allows the males to interfere with females'
affairs, relations and control them. Therefore, the females, mothers and
daughters, become the most oppressed members in the family and society.
In spite of this sort of prevailed relationships, there are a narrow
margin of exceptions among the intellectuals, who try to reflect a more
developed and democratic vision, but without getting rid completely of the
patriarchal conduct. Also, a part of rich families, whose
conditions permitted them to see other types of western relations, like to
allow more freedoms of relations inside and outside the family. This
conduct is not necessarily of complete belief but a sort of prestigious
civilized appearance, which is imposed by most social groups of this class. In
addition, the ethnic and sectarian influences affect the patriarchal family
control. As it is noticed, the relationships between males and females are less
restricted among the same minority. This attitude is subjugated to preserve the
particularity of the minorities.
The more distinctive
relations are among the two genders in the conservative Islamic society. In
spite of superficial appearances, the Islamic society is very complicated and
contradicted because of the unbalance between its strict conservative nature
and the imitations of the western freedoms.
We can say that the
separation between both genders in the preparatory and secondary school
represents the form of their relationships. Thus, the teenagers are faced with
social and official prohibitions toward the relationships with the opposite
gender, which create an urged desire to communicate, but it would be so
difficult to achieve. Accordingly, there would result an emotional and sexual suppression
that urges the teenager to establish any sort of emotional relation, without
regarding the suitability of the partner, to fulfill the emotional and sexual
needs. These relations are mostly superficial and once fulfilling the urging
needs they terminate, especially, when the family rejects such relations and
continuously follow the teenagers and prevent them of establishing a rational
relation.
The transfer into the
university creates a coup of concepts between the narrow restricted atmosphere
of the school and the wide-open scope of gender mixture at the university.
Here, girls and boys face a new position that they have to adopt with and then
to care for the available choices. Usually, the choices are more serious and
clarified in the late years of studies at the university,
especially that the available chances might end after graduation.
Actually, most marriages are still, traditionally, arranged in the Syrian
society. The girl remains waiting for an unknown man to engage her in case he
fulfills the social and economical demands.
The sexual relations range
from complete rejection, according to the cultural and traditional
considerations, which is the prevailed case, to complete sexual abuse, which is
less than the western societies, with a continuos tendency to preserve the
female's virginity or claiming that. Due to the social prohibition of sex
before marriage, this sort of relation is always secretly practiced. Thus, the
sexual relation becomes a heavy load for both partners because of fear to be
discovered, the loss of virginity and the illegitimate pregnancy. To unload the
sexual suppression, the government ignores the penalties in certain places,
like deserted roads or Kasion mountain, where a big
number of cars stop by the roads sides. Thus, the picnic to
Paid sex is allowed and
there are special places to practice it. Still, these places are not very much
accepted because of financial costs, fears of diseases, lack of satisfaction,
besides, the places are suspicious and socially rejected.
Another matter, which has
different references, is the Veil 'Hijab'. In
The main problem is that
the parents often impose hijab on their daughters by force,
which in many cases lead to a negative reaction, a moral abuse. Thus,
the reaction would penalize the parents who believe that Hijab has a moral
disciplined function in a superficial way of protection. The girl, who wears
Hijab against her freewill, exploits the moral and religious social view to
practice her wishes. Accordingly, a woman practices the duality between the
superficial and actual operation.
Work and the Youth
Resources of Income:
Entire classes are kept
away from politics and effective social activity because of the search for
income's resources. The poor living conditions of most people directed their
attentions toward working and earning money. As it is known, the average of
income does not fulfill the essential needs for a family of three persons.
Therefore, at an early age, the sons start to assist in supplying the family's
income on the expense of their studies and, sometimes, they stop their academic
attainment.
Children employment became
one of the aggravated problems. Among the prevailed general unemployment
conditions, children are obliged to engage in works that do not suite their age
and expose them to physical and psychological dangers. In some cases, children
are led to illegal works, like contraband and other disgraceful works.
Also, students might be
obliged to work during the entire period of preparatory and secondary schools,
which increase the number of less educated people. If they reach the
university, they will feel the striking difference between their studies and
the types of their work. Nowadays, it is not odd that while we find a student
of law works as a night watch or an electrician, the student of electronic
engineering works as a laborer or an accountant in a shop, or the student of
literature works in a firm. The student wins credit of experience according to
his studies by chance.
Sometimes, work commitment
might extend till after graduation, thus, the university degree becomes a
marginal unrelated attainment. If the graduated student looks for work, according
to his specialization, he has either to work in the government or in the
private sector.
Although the government
employs the graduated students of some faculties, like engineering, the
employment occurs on the expense of the real income in comparison with the
demanded production. For example, the number of employed graduates might be
five times more than the needed number for such a directory, in which they
receive five times more incomes than the supposed payment for the fixed work.
This problematic is clarified when the same directory receives more graduates
than its need for the fixed limit of work, so, the increase of number does not
increase the productivity but decline the quantity of the fixed work by
distributing it among larger number. This happens elsewhere in the public
sector, which is why many youth feel useless at work and unfairly paid.
While the salaries and
wages of public sector are low for daily 6 hours of work, the private sector
pays a little more for 8 hours of work. The nature of the private sector's
equation of supply and demand leads to lower wages with the increase of demands
for work. Sometimes, the private sector's wages might be less than the public
salaries, in addition, less guarantees against arbitrary expelling, oppression
and bad treatment. As an example, the salary of a new graduate doctor, who has
no experience, is 5000 Syrian Pounds that equal 100 American $ in a private
hospital. Even though this salary is not sufficient for a medium living, the lack of chances oblige the youth to accept such wages
without discussion.
In spite of violating the
works' rules, the solution for the youth is to work in both sectors to earn a
reasonable income. Still, the joint income is not enough for saving or to
support a family.
The Cultural Position:
It is difficult to specify
the cultural position of the youth in an exact and comprehensive way. So, we
will mention the impressions we had from meeting youth of different
environments. We can confirm that the cultural position of the youth clarifies
that we are passing through the worst period of our country's history. Probably
this is because of the lack of democracy that allows the free knowledge,
discussion and the freedom of opinion and expression. In
addition, the bad economical condition that does not leave time for knowledge
but occupying with earning living.
If we try to compare
between the position today and thirty years ago, we will find unimaginable big
differences. Today, in spite of all the official slogans, education became limited
to certain groups of people. This means that a little group uses the education
as a profession and isolate from other people. Therefore, the gap between the
educated and uneducated people widens because of the superior conduct of the
educated group and their views for the inferior groups, who are considered
ignorant. This position includes the really educated and those who claim
education to take advantage of social prestige.
In fact, the public would
view the educated persons either as superior, far away non-understandable or as
utilizing and benefiting of the prestigious status to obtain respect that they
do not deserve. Some view the religious studies, as the highest of sciences and
the other studies are worthless and absurd, especially that the vision of the
educated person is rather connected with liberal conducts. Thus, the gap
between the educated group and the other groups is widened in a conservative
society like ours.
The former position is
accompanied with less interest of reading, as the important books are rare to
find beside the high costs. Also, theaters and cinemas are not so much
interesting because the actual life is less expressed and instead there are
technical methods that are difficult to be understood. On the other hand,
western and American movies of action, violence and sex attract the youth to
discharge their suppression.
According to the total
position we conclude that the only solution for the youth is to escape from the
tight conditions by traveling abroad to work or study within better conditions,
higher incomes and keeping human dignity. Thus, the shameful circle that the
Syrian society suffers for developing is completed. The youth, who represent
the essential elements of development, escape from their country instead of assisting
it to develop and modernize. In spite of estrangement's bitterness and the
yearning for parents, the country looses its youth because once they leave it
would be difficult for them to come back as long as the conditions in their
country are not tempting for living.
CH
16
The
External Policy of
Between
the Constants and Variables
Omar Deeb Abdel HameedŽŽ(*)
Many opinions determine
that the external policy of
The Regional Effects:
Reviewing some important
international and regional political developments that affected the external
policy of
The other regional event
that affected the external Syrian policy was the Civil War of Lebanon in 1975
and the entry of the Syrian Military Forces to
The International Effects:
The most
two important international developments that affected the current Syrian
external relations happened successively, first, the collapse of the
The Soviet support was not
only concerned with the military side but, also, exceeded that to the political
side. In 1981,
The 2nd Gulf War of 1991
was an international occurrence, which greatly affected the Syrian external
policy. Accordingly, for the first time,
The Interior Effects:
Naturally, not only the
regional and international developments affected the external policy of
There were three interior
subjects that affected the external policy of
Due to the necessity for
developing the social and political structures,
At the beginning of the
Syrian diversion toward an open policy in the nineties,
The Prominent Features of
External Policy:
Through the direct
supervision of President Hafez Assad, the stability of the directing center of
external policy was a very effective factor for this policy. In spite of
several executive assistants, who were next to the president during thirty
years, Hafez Assad used to supervise the external policy, directly, and follow
its accurate details. This supervision distinguished the Syrian external policy
for its stability and high credibility in dealing with other external political
sides.
The past three decades
showed that the features of the Syrian external policy are based upon the
benefits in the international atmosphere. In fact, the relations with the
The Syrian external policy
was, closely, related to the Arab-Israeli conflict, in which
The general feature of the
Syrian external policy, which was sketched and consolidated during three
decades, still continues the same with little justifications. Due to the need
to renew the Syrian policy and exceed the retreat of the Syrian external
relations during the eighties, some little justifications took place in the
recent years. The deterioration of the Syrian relations with the neighboring
countries was a result of their interference with its interior affairs and
supporting the political and armed oppositions. Therefore, the Syrian relations
worsened with
The Syrian deteriorated
relations with the Arabic sides were accompanied with another deterioration
with other countries, mainly, the western countries. These countries, often,
protested against the Syrian policy, not only in relation to the Arab-Israeli
conflict, but also to its policy in
The general deterioration
of the Syrian relations led
The Latest Developments:
According to the new
adjustments, after the Conference of Madrid in 1991,
In the context of changing
external policy, since 1998,
Also, after the tension
that followed signing the agreement of
The recent changes of the
external Syrian policy could not be reviewed without considering the position
of Bashar Assad, who since 1997 started to follow some files of the external
policy, like the Lebanese matter. Bashar's influence enlarged
by becoming the president in summer 2000. His role was decisive toward
the Syrian-Palestinian closeness. In March 2001, presidents Bashar Assad and
Yaser Araft met at the Arab Summit in
Also, during the recent
years,
These developments were
accompanied with the decline of the Syrian interference in the Lebanese
interior affairs, such as, the Syrian attitude toward the latest Lebanese
Parliamentary elections. The Syrian attitude assisted the success of some opponents,
who were against the Syrian existence in
Since Bashar Assad became a
president, two matters had affected the Syrian-Lebanese relation. The first matter
was related to the Israeli withdrawal from
The Lebanese movements
against the Syrian existence in
According to the
opposition, the problem is not due to the Syrian-Lebanese relation but to the
nature of the Syrian existence in
A more cautious relation
with the
While
The Syrian-European
Partnership:
During the recent years,
the Syrian-European partnership was the most important subject that marked the
Syrian relations with the European countries. Although six rounds of
negotiations did not reach any agreement, yet, the problems of partnership and
the attitudes of both sides were clarified in which will affect to reach a
clear agreement.
One fundamental problem
would arise by the Syrian-European partnership, which is their effect on the
economical, social and political structures in
The other related problem
to the Syrian-European partnership is the launch campaign of strict
restrictions, which prevents the Syrian agricultural production to enter the
European market. Thus, while the Syrian market will be opened for the European
agricultural productions,
The economical and social
problems are a part of other problems that result from the partnership, which
includes political problems as well. The political side was more clarified at
the European-Mediterranean Partnership Conference that was held in
The discussions clarified
the dissimilarity of thoughts between both sides about the concept of
partnership. While the European side confirmed the type of partnership as a
commercial one, the Syrian side wanted a developmental partnership in which
The attempts for a
Syrian-European partnership prove the interest of both sides, but the
differences of each side's visions restrain achieving an agreement. Therefore,
the position should be more carefully examined to reach a real positive
partnership for both sides, which is the essence and basis of a partnership.
Conclusions:
After Bashar Assad became a
president, due to three main factors, the Syrian external policy witnessed
changes in the international, regional and Arab relations:
- First, the new president
has different specifications and qualifications that differ from the previous
one, as well as, his way of dealing with the external policy. Accordingly,
president Bashar visited many Arab and foreign countries during his first year
of presidency. Also, he participated in both Arab Summits in
- Second, new facts
affected the Syrian policy, mainly, the deterioration of the economical
position and the necessity for treating it. The treatment is, surely, related
to the external policy of
- Third, new economical and
political facts emerged in the field of international, regional and Arab relations,
which are imposed upon
Within these factors we can
notice the active movement of the Syrian officials and its effects in the
external policy. During last year, high Syrian officials visited most Arab and
foreign countries, especially, those that had traditional and solid relations
with
The results of changing the
Syrian external policy and the active movements are subjected to necessary
interior modifications in
(The
First Comment)
The
Policies of Conflict and Isolation
During
the Age of Hafez Assad
Sameer Al AdeliŽŽ(*)
The Location and Identity:
In July 2000, Dr. Bashar
Assad did not only inherit the authority and the big material and morale
benefits, but also a heavy-loaded inheritance. The load included the natural
results of political choices that were adopted by his father during thirty
years of strict rule, iron fist and without any partner. This inheritance has
three connected axes:
- The interior axis is
connected to the crisis of the rule through its relation with the society and
its powers, as well as, the political and economical policies.
- The Arab regional axis is
related to the national security of the region and the Arab-Israeli conflict,
which is called the crises of the
- The third axis is related
to the policies and international alliances, especially, the Grand powers.
Herewith, we will treat the
general or grand sketches of the Syrian regional policies during the rule of
Hafez Assad and include, as much as possible, the relation of these policies
with the interior element.
At the beginning of
The geographical location
of
As in any other country,
especially, in the
If obtaining and
conflicting over
The Search for a Role:
Since March 1963, the
military officers of Ba'ath imposed and generalized the concepts of security
theory on all the political and social levels. The officers' bloody interior
conflicts and continuous splits weakened the country and the military. Their
ideological programs caused the isolation of the country and weakened its
military capacities of defense, which were already weak. They had violent
conflicts with all the neighboring countries, especially,
In 1967, while President
Jamal Abed Al Nasser made a fundamental adjustment for his policy after the
war, Syria responded according to the Party and military speech by considering
the aim of the six-day's war was to drop the progressed system of DamascusŽ(2). Nasser called for
Arab solidarity, admitted the decision No. 242 of the Security Council and was
prepared to negotiate with Israel for a permanent reconciliation. The leaders
of the Party and the military institution in
During the period from 1967
to 1971, the conflicts between the wings of the Party and military did not stop
in
In brief, the Minister of
Defense Hafez Assad came to presidency in 1970 according to a program of two
central axes:
- The first was the
priority of the military role and the regular war instead of the nation's war
in the Arab-Israeli conflict, and the priority of the state's authority before
the Party's authority. This axis had two important meanings, first, the
settlement of the rule to the extent of establishing a ruling dynasty. Second,
during the long period of Hafez Assad's rule,
- The second axis of Hafez
Assad's program completed the first one. It was the Arabic solidarity and the
dissolution of the isolation that continued during the previous period of his
solo rule. From a practical view, the second axis meant two dealings, first,
the success to "break the imposed circle around the Party", which was
mentioned by the political report of Ba'ath Nationalist Leadership and
submitted to the eighth Nationalist Conference in Damascus on 4.5.1967Ž(3). In
addition,
Hafez Assad attempted a
decisive inclination in the regional Syrian policy. According to his speech on
The Primacy of Monopolizing
the Authority:
Obviously, the great
changes in the Syrian policy of Assad concentrated on giving the priority to
the benefits of the "Syrian matter" or his system before the
Palestinian benefits in the regional policy that included the Arab-Israeli
conflict. In an interview by Time magazine, dated 24.1.1977, Assad confirmed
that the possible retreat of PLO to participate in the operation of peace
"would not cause the immobilization of the concerned Arab countries' moves
nor change the aims of Arabic solidarity to achieve the Israeli withdrawal from
the occupied lands in 1967".
The change of policy was
because Assad re-established regional and international Syrian relations upon a
central aim, which was building the institutions of a new state of unified
center and decision. According to Hafez Assad, the strategy and choices of
Locally and regionally,
President Assad used power to subdue people to become subservient. He did not
trust the political nor national movements because he believed that their
loyalty was either due to fear or benefits. Assad could not stand two types of
people: those who refused to subdue completely to him and those who pulverized
to express their full subjugation. While he hated the first and eliminated
them, he despised the others and pulverized them when it was needed without
hesitation. Nothing turned him from eliminating his interior or regional
opponents with all means, including detention, torture and slow killing or
assassination. The Arabic nationalist ideology of Ba'ath allowed Assad to
combine between the legitimacy of loyalty to Syria, which was transformed into
a big camp of detention that included thousands of Lebanese, Jordanians, Iraqis
and Palestinians by the name of the Arab nationalist policy, and to spread fear
through his bodies of security in the whole region.
The attitude of Assad
toward the non-Syrian politicians was tricky and stable, mainly, toward the
Palestinian Yaser Arafat and the Iraqi Sadam Hussein. Assad had a bloody
conflict with Sadam, where all types of weapons that they both owned were used
like, closing the frontiers, cutting off water and oil, arranging conspiracies,
assassinations and attacks in Lebanon. Assad allied with the enemies of Sadam,
everywhere, including the First and Second destructive Gulf Wars.
Also, until the last
moments before death, Assad was arranging for eliminating Arafat. Although that
aim accorded with the Israeli wish and weakened the Syrian strategic attitude
in its conflict with
In this context, the
Syrian-Lebanese example seemed to be an interpretation of the relation between
the interior and external home. The ambitious entry of the Syrian forces into
The insistence of Assad to
continue his "policy of conflict" with the neighboring countries was
not an expression of a long-term strategy that he wanted to achieve, at
whatever cost. Actually, all his regional wars were for preserving his
presidential palace and regime, which had to be no other than
"absolute" and "eternal".
Invading
The direct results due to
lack of national and personal security became a source to rebuild the relations
of the authority, internally and externally, on the base of subjugation. Also,
this condition created official and people's terrorist movements, which
reflected the scare of the ruler in his isolation, as well as, the fear of the
convicted for his life. Corruption became an official and necessary policy to
guarantee the loyalty of the security bodies that grew, multiplied and
generalized the repression. Therefore, the economy collapsed and
The logical result of all
these policies was the stumble of the declared strategy of the regime toward
the strategic balance, the weakness of the Syrian attitude toward the Israeli
occupation of Golan, consequently, weakening the whole Arab attitude. Since the
eighties, mainly during the era of Gorbatchev, the
After the success of the
Lebanese resistance to liberate the South of Lebanon from the Israeli forces,
the reality of the Syrian existence in
The paradox is that while
the Syrian policy is passing through the most difficult periods in
__________
Footnotes:
1) Abd Al Razak Al Husni,
"The History of the Iraqi Ministries",
2) The statement of the
Nationalist Leadership about the work of the exceptional ninth conference in
17.9.1967.
3) The Nationalist
Leadership of Ba'ath, "Statements",
4) The Economist, 12-18
June 1976.
5) The reports and
decisions of the Fifth Regional Conference in
6) The previous source, p.
86.
7)
8) Al
Ba'ath newspaper,
9) Al Safeer,
(The
Second Comment)
A
Field Study
For
the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership
Violette DaguerreŽŽ(*)
It was difficult to deal
with this subject while we investigated the opinions of some Syrian
intellectuals in order to know the attitudes of the civil society toward this
subject, which was only dealt by the ruling authorities. Due to the tensioned
atmospheres after the Intifada of Al Aqsa, one person of our investigating
group was advised by his European Embassy not to travel to the region. The
Syrian Prime Minister issued on 18.11.2000 a quick secret circular to all
Ministries, organizations, unions and different institutions to stop attending
any meeting, conference or forum that related to the Euro-Mediterranean
Partnership of multiple sides, including the meetings that
The chief editor of
Moukarabat, a political Syrian Magazine issued in
The principle results of
the investigation about the Association, which summarized the most prevailed
directions, were the following:
The Primary Rejection:
The rejection was built
upon considering Barcelona Decleration and the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership
as the second step after the Conference of Madrid and related to it. The first
gave the
The Preliminary Acceptance:
This acceptance is based on
a pragmatic deal with the position of Arab countries now. In addition, due to
the failure of heavy industry projects, development and keeping up with the information
revolution, Arab countries came suddenly upon economical, communicational and
cultural facts, which they could not go along with the western countries. The
Arab countries could not establish a big economical entity nor enter the
agreements of the International Trade strongly. The Gulf war damaged the
possibilities of establishing a considerable Arab Market. Within these
conditions, the European Union, whose benefit from the settlement of north and
east Mediterranean countries are related to immigration or security, offers its
initiatives. The Association presents one positive point, which is obliging the
southern countries to respect their international treaties, at least to what
concern human rights.
Yes, But:
There are not too many
choices. So, perceiving the weak position of the Arab countries, the group of
this opinion asks the following questions to urge thoughts and find solutions:
-How can we make this
Association a future form of an even and fair relation instead of just
exchanging the European market for the consuming small states, and facing
western civilization by countries on the seaside?
-Why does not the form of
the Association include all the Arab countries instead of the Mediterranean
ones only?
-Why the complete Arabic
economical integration is not demanded in this Association?
-Why the Arabic Islamic
civilization is not regarded?
The mission of the Arabic
intellectuals and the NGOs is to bring up these questions, continuously, to
direct the Association toward even relations among the civilizations and
nations in order to avoid its collapse at any accident. This matter is
perceived by a number of the European Commission and Arab specialists who wish
the continuous enriched interaction between both Arab and European
civilizations. Whether liking that or not, the European Union is having an
undeclared cultural and economical war with the
No, But:
The problem is that the
negative choice is a disaster because there are no prepared substitutes. The
positive choice is, also, a disaster because it originates for an uneven
relation between the Arab and European countries. Therefore, the League of Arab
States is demanded to lead the project of an even Arab-European Association in
which no European provisions are imposed. Anyhow, the Arab-Israeli conflict
should not be related to such Association.
It is clear that the Syrian
government attempts to consolidate its international rank and image through the
Partnership. This is clarified by the Syrian visits, declarations and announced
and unannounced attitudes. At the same time,
CH
17
The
Characteristics
of an Epoch
Violette DaguerreŽŽ(*)
In this last chapter, we
approach subjects which each was supposed to be
discussed in a separate research. Due to some reasons that we referred to in
the introduction of this book, we will discuss these subjects briefly. We hope
that the image, which was presented through these researches about the
positions of human rights and democracy in
The Security and the
Constitutional Base of the Executive Authority:
The Syrian constitution did
not refer to the importance of the principles of human rights that most
constitutions of the democratic countries regarded. The principles were
regarded because the international treaties, which related to human rights,
obtained a stronger authoritative source than the local laws. However, the
Syrian constitution had no reference to both treaties that
The "introduction"
of the constitution, which was considered by Article No. 150 as a non-separate
part, included the first defect through considering the speech of the ruling
Party represents the speech of each citizen and declaring principles for all
the political activities. Consequently, the constitution's introduction
canceled the concept of political plurality for the benefit of the unified
political system. Also, it canceled the right of disagreement by restricting
the relation between the ruling Party and society according to the relation of
a leader with his people. This concept of custody was also represented in the
relation between the Party and the members of the ruling national front, which
in spite of its constitutionality it did not have the advantages and rights of
a legal Party.
Although the constitution
did not include a clause that, clearly, prohibited the establishment of a
political Party, which adopted the aims of the Progressive National Front, the
constitution could be used for preventing the existence of political Parties,
which aims differed from Ba'ath and its Front. This
contradicts the freedom of organization, which was included within the Syrian
international commitments, mainly, the related treaty of political and civil
rights. Thus, in the introduction of the constitution the ideology of Ba'ath
represented the beliefs of the whole nation and Article No. 8 authorized Ba'ath
to lead the state and society. In addition to the introduction, more than one
Article chose the method of the "democracies of masses" in Europe,
the previous Warsaw Pact, as an organizer for the relation between
associations, Parties, individuals and groups on one hand and the ruling Ba'ath
on the other hand.
The executive authority is
composed of the President, the Council of Ministers and the local People's
Councils. The Articles from No. 83 to 130 of the constitution are specified for
the executive authority. The jurisdictions of the executive authority,
especially the President, dominate the jurisdictions of both Judicial and
Legislative authorities. According to the suggestion of Ba'ath Regional
Commission, the People's Council nominates the President. Then the candidacy is
presented for a national referendum due to the specified two items 1 - 2 in
Article No. 84. Therefore, even the Parties of the advanced national front are
prevented from nominating candidates for presidency or any independent
candidate.
The Syrian constitution
does not issue anymore the prohibition of electing a president for more than
two times like the other constitutions of the world. The President in
Through Ba'ath, the
President dominates the People's Council, completely, to assure the Party'
successful choice of the president. The nation has, only, one choice, which is
certifying the candidacy by a referendum. Obviously, the result is almost the
unanimous vote for one candidate, who often wins 99% of votes. In Article No.
95, the President has the right to nominate his vice-president, one or more,
the Council of Ministers, the Ministers and their deputies, as well as,
accepting their resignations and exempting them from their jobs. Also, the
President has the right to send the Minister for a trial (Art. 123) without the
approval of the Prime Minister, who has very restricted jurisdictions. As a
result, the President of the Republic dominates all the authorities (Art.117).
The Syrian constitution
pointed out that the President sketches the general policy of the state by
consulting the Council of Ministers and supervising its implementation (Art.
94). The constitution does not mention any role for the People's Council to
observe and discuss this policy. According to Article No. 71 (Item 3, 8), the
role of the People's Council is restricted to discuss the functions of the
ministers' council and the ministers, as well as, voting of no confidence to
the ministry or one of the ministers.
The Constitutional Supreme
Court is authorized to observe the constitutionality of laws. The members of
this court are nominated by the President of the Republic (Art. 139) without
any mentioned role for the Judicial and Legislative authorities. The decision
of law's constitutionality is subjugated to provisions: "according to the
objection of the President or one quarter of members of the People's
Council" (Art. 145/1). This means that the Parties of the front,
organizations, institutions, associations or individuals have no right to
object to the constitutionality of laws.
Mr. Ibraheem Fawzi and
other jurists, who were close to Hafez Assad, prepared the constitution to
avoid the danger of the Judicial Authority, the Bourgeoisie, against the
settlement of the President's authority. Therefore, they arranged closed texts
that enabled autocracy to dominate all the affairs of the country. Due to
Article No. 135, the law becomes the organizer for the judicial system
including all its ranks and grades, besides, setting up the rules of
specialization in all the different courts. Even though the constitution was
made to the measure of Hafez Assad's personality, which inclined to monopolize
the authority and leadership, up till now, after a year and a half in the
presidency, his son did not suggest the idea for adjusting the constitution and
democratizing it.
The results of applying
exceptional laws led to violate the principle primary laws. Article No. 153
mentioned that the effective legislations, which were issued before the
announcement of the constitution, would remain operative until adjusted to
accord with the clauses of the constitution. Some of these results were the use
of the exceptional courts, which existed because of the state of emergency and martial laws that were declared since March
1963, and the later successive special penal laws. Thus, there was no more
commitment to the fundamental principles of penalty trials' codes. The same
occurred in the military judiciary and the
Since the law of protecting
the revolution, which was issued by the legislative decree No. 6 on 17.1.1965,
the exceptional law, gradually, replaced the normal law, besides, the role of
the judicial system was minimized and withhold from its independence. At the
beginning of Hafez Assad's presidency, the judicial system was entrusted to the
exceptional courts in all that related to political and association struggles
and the general affairs of people. The general frame of judicial and security
policy of Hafez Assad was reflected at the beginning of his rule in August 1971
by prosecuting more than 400 Ba'athi members. All of them received hard sentences
by the
The
- It regarded the crimes
that threaten the security of the state, which are penalized in the Articles
from No. 263 to 311.
- The acts that contradict
the application of the Socialist system, whether they actually happened by act
or speech or writing or any other mean of expression or publishing.
- The crimes that
contradict the verdicts of the legislative decrees, which were issued or will
be issued, and relate to the Socialist diversion, contradicting the orders of
the judge-martial, who is the President of the Republic.
- Opposing the achievement
of Arab union or any goal of the revolution or impeding that, whether by
strikes, gatherings, riots, urges or announcing false news in order to cause
disturbance and shake the people's confidence in the aims of the revolution.
- Receiving money or any
other grant, having any promise or any benefit from a foreign country,
institution, Syrian individuals or any contacts with a foreign direction in
order to perform any behavior by acting or talking against the goals of the
revolution.
- Attacking or offending
the specified places for worshipping, practicing religious rituals, the centers
of commandments, military organizations, official institutions, public and
private associations, including factories, commercial centers, residences. Also, the court regarded the crimes that arouse
religious fanaticism or sectarian or racial, plus,
exploit the masses' agitation and strikes for plundering and stealing.
After the issue of law No.
53 on 8.4.1979, which related to the security of Ba'ath Party, the
specialization of the
Accordingly, the
Also, this court does not
comply with the legal procedures, which are issued in the effective
legislation, in all the stages of prosecution, inquiry and judgment. The
General Attorney has all the jurisdictions of the judges of inquiry and referee
through the effective laws (Art. 7, Item B). Besides, this court has the right
to determine the rights and the civil compensations for the damages that result
from the crimes (Art. 7, Item C). It does not accept any way of appealing
against its verdicts. Its verdicts can not be effective unless certified by a
decision of the President of the State, who has the right to cancel a verdict
and order to repeat the trial. Also, he has the right to cancel the verdict and
keep the case, abate the penalty or reduce it to a lesser one. The decision of
the President is irrevocable and can not be reviewed.
The Jurisprudence
considered the issued decision of the President in the
Accordingly, during the era
of Hafez Assad thousands of personalities and political leaderships of all
opposing secular and Islamic Parties were prosecuted without exceptions. Not
one politician was presented for normal hearing in a normal court. When an
accused person is not judged by the
The Dominating Structure
and the Vulnerable Groups:
1 - Women's Rights:
The Vulnerable groups are
considered the first victims of the dominating structures. The military and
security nature of any political system regard the morale value of power,
virility and aggressiveness on the expense of mind, tolerance and equality
between the weak and the powerful. Actually, in spite of the statistics and
speeches for external consumption about the number of working women and their
presence in the People's Council and ministries, we do not find strange the
retreat of women and children positions during the authority of Assad.
To remind of the important
role of women in the Syrian society, we should mention that "Al
Aroos" was the first women's magazine issued in
Women had an important role
in resisting the French Colony. This struggle extended the range of women's
work into the political, cultural and social fields. The national liberation
was a mutual point among all the political trends, whether conservative or
leftist. In 1949, women had their right for election and in 1953,
they obtained the right of candidacy.
To follow the relation
between the freedom of women and the freedom of society, since the independence
until today, we can, generally, talk about the period of liberating women and
democratizing the organizations, and the period of militarizing the country and
the repression of women. The first period was from 1946 to 1970 and the second
one was from 1970 to 2001. During the first period, which witnessed many
military coups d'etat and important changes that did not permit any government
to continue for more than five years, the Syrian women had many associations,
which defended their rights. Continuously, the percentage of working women and
those who participated in the political Parties increased. In return, the
percentage of illiteracy retreated and the percentage of kindergartens covered
7% of children. During the first years of the state of emergency (1963-1970),
in spite of loosing the right of organizations and associations' plurality by
the General Union of Women, which replaced all forms of women's civil
representations, women gained many benefits. The first years of Ba'ath Party
gave a lot of hopes for many women, especially, after issuing some
"theoretical starting points" in the sixth conference of the Party,
including the demands for a complete equality between the two genders. In the
sixties, the government determined new rights for women, but the military monopolization
of authority in 1970 and attacking the trends of the historical Parties and the
lefts stopped the positive intervention of the executive authority. The
interference of the authority with the reality and law became an element of
obstruction against the natural development that was known in the region. Since
that date,
We can say that
militarizing the society, the spread of corruption and the relation between
security and the executive authority put women aside from the wide sectors of
parasite economy and unhealthy institutions for females. When we know that the
military organization includes more than 500 thousand men, the bodies of
security and police include only 414 women, we do not find strange the restrain
of women from such atmosphere. Until today, the percentage of working women
among the various sectors in the state does not exceed 18%. According to the
official statistics, the percentage of females' economical activity is less
than 15%.
Militarizing the country
was, clearly, reflected on the liberation of women by families' introversion
much more than before. The percentage of females who attended schools retreated
and, in some cases, the percentage of females, who continued their elementary
schools, retreated twice than males, and four times in some districts. Most
females cannot go out doors without their families. In the streets, the woman
who is accompanied by her brother or son is, usually, viewed with less
aggression than the one who walks alone, especially, after the repeated attacks
against women by the cadres of the regime's security. During the period of
conflict between the regime and Muslim Brotherhood, Saraya Al Difaa, led by
Riffa't Assad, used to attack women in the streets who wore Al-Hidjab, a veil.
In fact, for years, the conservative people were scared to let their daughters
attend the public places.
The system of the
influential, "the security, Party and authority man", which was
imposed by the ruling military assemblage and the mono Party in the last three
decades, made the jobs and the economical, political and social favoritism pass
through males in the villages, districts and centers of work. Except for two or
three female names of Assad's family, who had an influential role, the function
of domination and corruption was a complete role of males. This function caused
the withdrawal of a large number of women from the economical and social public
life and projects to preserve their reputation. We notice that the nature of
such authority excludes women, first because of militarizing and security
domination, second, because it negates the concept of civil society, which
considers the dignity of women as a part of the dignity of the society and
humans.
Legalizing the position of
women according to the personal status law, adjusted by law No. 134 and
certified by General Assad on 13.12.1975, provides all the reassurances against
the worries about the family status and the exchanged dignity between its both
"pillars", man and woman. Due to Article No. 37, "Man is
prohibited to marry a fifth wife until he divorces one of his four wives and
waits for the termination of her 'Iddat'* to remarry". In Article No. 279,
the law of inheritance considers the portion of the male equals to that of two
females. Besides, the mentioned law treats women's rights in the following
text: "the right of the wife's alimony is dropped if she works out-doors
without the permission of her husband" (Art. 7). Moreover, according to
that law, divorce is subjected to the lone will of man or according to an
irrevocable verdict issued by the Islamic Religious Court. A woman can ask for
divorce according to the will of the husband, which means, when the husband
authorizes his wife to direct her "bond of marriage".
Of course the present
authority should not be blamed alone for the legal retardation in the matters
of equality. The authority's morale and international responsibility is implied
because it started to rule ten years before the agreement of eliminating all
forms of discrimination between the two genders. Besides, while the authority
called for equality, it nationalized women's struggle and restricted that to
who adhered to it. In fact, we find many gaps in the normal penal codes, which
were not approached nor improved. In
Today, the central problem
is that the government's points of view and the General Union of Women
captivate the exclusive measures for women's position in
* 'Iddat': the period of
waiting, the period during which a widow or a divorcee` may not remarry. The
duration of this period is about four months.
2 - Children's Rights:
On 13.6.1993, the law No.
8, which related to the agreement of the rights of the child, was issued. In
spite of the Syrian government's reservation for some items of the agreement,
this law formed an important event in the country because since 1969,
Although in page No. 7 the
report acknowledged that the agreement of child rights became an obligatory
resource for the Syrian legislator, the local laws were not adjusted to accord
with that until today. Especially, the cases of Syrian Kurds that are deprived
of nationality and the children of the expatriated Syrians for political
reasons are not resolved yet. Both cases include about 90 thousand children
inside and outside
The Syrian authority still
prohibits any NGO specialized with children to activate in the country. It
still relates the matter of children to Al Ba'ath Vanguard Organization, which
obligates children to absorb the ideology of the regime and glorify the family
of Assad, the father and the son. As we mentioned before, the Patriarchal
mentality of the political authority reflects its influence on the deemed weak
groups by its clear neglect of all what relates to working women and child
care. There is a dialectical relation between the spoliation of a woman's
rights and her abstains from offering ideal care for
her children. However, in the mentioned official report about the position of
children in
Childhood represents 42% of
the total population in
The Psychological-Mental
Characteristics of the Regime:
We will try to spotlight
the background of the regime's mental- psychological characteristics to
conclude the nature that ruled for more than three decades in
The Syrian regime, which
started on 16.11.1970, was based on a specific psychological-mental background
and a definite political, cultural and social consciousness to the concept of
authority, principally, according to the President and, secondly, to the
adherent group which accompanied him. Besides, the regime made use of the
inheritance from the past governments and the military samples that assumed
authority in 1963, the sample of Abed Al Nasser and the Free Officers in
The authority adopted the
ideology of Ba'ath, framed it in the institutions and bodies, practiced it through laws, decisions and directions. By this
ideology, the regime justified its security, cultural, economical and political
practices. Like other ideologies, the ideology of Ba'ath uncovers only the
visible part of the regime's psychological-mental structure. The other
invisible part relates to undeclared or conscious psychological factors, which
are connected to childhood, upbringing and origin, plus, illogical whims,
hidden desires and suppressed needs that are not necessarily logically
justified. We can conclude some of these characteristics through some
researches in this book.
This ideology was, somehow,
a screen that protected the regime behind it to conceal its reality and
unexpressed desires. In fact, what penetrated the ideology deeper with the
desires of ego and personal benefit was a very effective factor. The observer
becomes confused because of the contradiction between the hidden and the
declared attitudes. The contradiction of the regime toward who share the same
ideology is confusing, for example, the ruling wing in
People are much more
concerned with the application of a theory in reality and its accordance with
their needs than its correctness or its theoretical ineffectiveness. Some
theoretical points are transformed and diverged because of the wrong practices
of the right thoughts. When the ideology becomes frozen in stable and regular
concepts, which can not accompany the moving reality and comprehend the changing
and developing human relations, it will shrink and retract. We have watched how
some ideologies collapsed because they were inflexible and unable to go along
with the renewed and changeable reality.
Before Hafez Assad, the
authority was changing and alternating among different people. Also, there had
been many military coups d'etat and sudden diversions. Therefore, due to fear
of changes, when Assad became a president, he restrained the authority with an
iron hand and employed all the capacities of the state in order to continue his
regime. In spite of the claimed participation of the nation, the Party or the
constitutional institutions, since Assad came, he personified the authority,
circled himself with an aura of glory, dominated all the authorities, controlled
all the governmental institutions and issued the important decisions. The
governmental organizations were connected to him and the political,
intellectual, informational fields were marked by his personality. The new
leaders were chosen from those who expressed their loyalty and supported him.
The Special Forces of military were chosen from relatives or relating sectarian
tribes. The one word and one attitude were behind the ideological front and the
leading Party in which the actual political plurality was concealed, the
fundamental rights and freedoms were confiscated and the other opinion was
assassinated.
The Syrian regime captured
the state and extorted the state's right of sovereignty by considering the
sovereignty of the state is the sovereignty of the nation. The work of the
regime was not directed to build the state but to build itself. The regime is
more important than the state, which might restrict and limit the jurisdictions
of the regime. Moreover, during the last three decades, the aim of the regime
was to reduce the esteem of the state and weaken its constitutional, judicial,
Parliamentarian, informational institutions because of its fear from loosing
domination. Thus, this regime concealed the state's relation with citizens and
replaced it. It left the Syrian society closed away from all that happened
outside and tried to hide its feelings of defect and failure to apply better
flexible and civilized methods in dealing with the citizens.
The aim of this regime was
to make a history for itself, thus, that was on the
expense of the citizens who were thrown out of history. Those citizens, who
were led by force against their benefits, were prevented from expressing their
severe pain. The victims are not only those who were assassinated or imprisoned
or whipped, but also those who are daily humiliated, dishonored and obliged to
bend their heads without talking, waiting for time or a divine power to release
them from the destructive nightmare.
This regime was despotic
and attempted to destroy everything that threatens its settlement, which might
practice upon it the same suppression that it used. Therefore, security was the
hallucination of this regime. Accordingly, it obtained the tools and developed
the means, which subjugated the others, confiscated their freedoms and
guaranteed their obedience and loyalty. Thus, it gave jurisdictions to the
different branches of security to observe and punish every suspect. The
suspects were imprisoned for long years without verifying whether they had any
relation to an accusation or not.
Also, the regime depended
on informational direction and excessive propaganda to serve its purposes, therefore, it distributed pictures, signboards and
slogans everywhere. Furthermore, it spread an atmosphere of permanent horror in
which the citizens were prohibited of any open conversation, especially, in the
political field that was monopolized by the regime. In fact, a citizen became
afraid of talking with his family about any subject and had fear of his
telephone set, which might be tapped.
The regime knows that the
severe prolonged repression will explode like a volcano, especially when
frustration, compulsion and desperation urge the reactions. Due to that, the
regime became worried from assembling, so, it prohibited all gatherings and
strikes, and it also imposed the state of emergency and martial laws. It became
afraid of crowds and the latent power of the citizens,
therefore, it restricted their reactions by intensive watching, following,
eavesdropping and pursuing. When some demonstrations were permitted, they were
for supporting the regime. Usually, the leaders and organizers of the
demonstrations were chosen to prevent the transformation of the crowds into
uncontrolled strikes. Due to the orders of the regime, demonstrations were
organized to serve its benefits, expose its power and show its publicity, such
as, the demonstration for supporting the referendum of the president or for the
tomb of Bassel Assad or for the death of the President last year and others. In
these occasions, the regime obliged the people that it could order them like,
the employees of the government, whose number was 1.600.000 persons, to join
the demonstrations and threatened them with penalties if they refrained from
participation. Many methods were used to subdue people and make them accept,
such as, fear of denunciation. Until today, this authority does not understand
that the demonstrations of protest and criticism are devices for discharging
the anger and suppression of the nation. When a human looses his dignity,
self-respect and the meaning of his life, then what does he fear to crush the
barriers that the regime had built in between them?
Through practicing
repression, the regime created a gap between it and the citizens. This gap
secluded them from each other and planted fear in between. On one hand, the
regime has fear from the citizens' actions to turn the power scale into their
benefit because it, always, feels the lack of its legitimacy. On the other
hand, the citizens are afraid because the regime obtains greater and efficient
devices to keep the power scale under its control and send them to hell. The
regime originated for a crisis with the citizens by excluding them from
participating in governing. So, ruling was monopolized by a minority, which
gathered according to certain belonging, such as, faith or sectarian or
familiarity or mutual advantages or personal benefits, dissimulation and
loyalty.
When the end justifies the
means, according to the Machiavellian principal, all restrains and moral rules
are abandoned and everything becomes permissible. Most people adopted this
principle, including those who adhered to the Syrian regime. This occurred
through tempting some people with ranks and promotions to obsess them and
charge them with missions, besides, entangle them in practices, which
dispossess them of their neutrality and oblige them to be loyal to the regime.
Accordingly, all that offend the regime offend them too. However, to secure
their safety, they defend the continuity of this regime with all legal and
illegal forms. The regime dismisses, releases and excludes every worthy and
considerable person, instead, it keeps the flatterers and cajoles, who would
flee whenever the regime changes.
Some climbers dash to
incarnate the cover of the regime and exploit the rights of their new rank. So,
they would behave in an unusual way and believe themselves to be qualified and
unique for such jobs. To prove their qualifications, they would submit the most
precious thing they have to the regime. Usually, a used person in the authority
has a tendency to confiscate it and tries all ways to consolidate it. He would
start by temptation and endearing himself to others passing through all ways to
turn the power scales to his benefit like, depending on the principle of
"divide and rule" or other games of emotional exploitation and mental
terrorism. Finally, he would practice frightening, tyranny, violating the
rights of the others and use the authority for self-assurance and self-victory.
This regime marked all its
bodies with its own psychological-mental characteristics, including the whims
and the illogical visions in order to guarantee their complete loyalty, which
protected it from the rebellion and the disobedience of those who might react
to it. Abusing the authority frightens the abusers because they become demanded
to fortify themselves against their victims. However, the hallucination to
oppress more people might become a sickness. The contrary might happen to
others who tarry to play their roles because their conflicts with themselves
and the others cost them a lot. So, in spite of remaining in the front, they
isolate themselves and become marginal.
Having tendency to
excessive evaluation of self-qualifications and doing over capacity in practicing
authority, there should be necessary controls to protect such an individual
from himself. Also, there should be restrains to protect the groups from his
superiority complex, which allows him to apply practices on the expense of the
group. When the authority is arbitrarily used, the relations become distorted
and morbid. This is the case in the classical societies, especially those who
are not used to democratic relations. Thus, the practices of such authorities
are based upon repression, subjugation and violence, including the cultivation
of children. Such practices become synonyms to excessive tyranny and injustice,
especially, when accompanied with lack of qualification and competency for
practicing the required role.
If we go back to the
childhood of those persons, we find that they passed through suffering and
humiliation. They had dreams to grow and obtain an authority to revenge on
their agony without having to justify their deeds for a dominator. For them,
the authority becomes something that should be gained or taken from the others
to recover from their complex of inferiority, which went through their
childhood and made their ideal people those who control the power scales and
did what they wanted. When such a person becomes responsible and able to use
power, his primitive instincts, the agony of childhood and the accumulations of
unconsciousness would flow over, so, he looks for compensation to all his
previous suffering of failure and injustice, and satisfies all the deprivation
he passed through.
As violence creates
violence, the obvious result for such barbarity against the citizens caused the
spread of corruption and immorality. When there are no ways to resist
repression and terrorism, the primitive rough practices of the authority
disassemble the society. There is a dialectical relation between the political
violence and the social violence. Violence spreads horizontally because the
reaction was unable to be directed toward its source, thus, the relations in
work, inside the family and in the street became a miniature sample of the
practiced violence from above. Accordingly, each person who has authority,
however powerful he is, becomes prepared to use his power against the other to
subjugate him and to release his own antagonism. It is enough to watch the
movement of the policeman, the driver and the pedestrian in the street, to
notice, clearly, the law of the jungle in which the large fish swallows the
smaller one, the smaller swallows the smallest and so on. Another example is
seen with the prisoners who are exposed to uncivilized barbarian methods of
violence. When legal and moral controls are lost, the bestial instincts become
free, dispossess the individual of his humanity and transform him into
something else, other than a human. See an example in the annex No. 3 or 9,
"The testimony of a Prisoner": Ridda Hadad talks about his
flagellant, who was wearing a silky trouser of beige color. While he was
drinking whisky and smoking cigar he tortured Ridda, severely, and humiliated him
with excessive tyranny.
The long years of inclusive
tyranny and violated freedoms turned most citizens into unenvied conditions of
mentality and logic. Their unconscious personality overcame their rational and
logical attitudes. Therefore, they were subdued to orders from above and made
acts against their benefits. The regime knew how to agitate the feelings of the
misled citizens, whom it disturbed their consciousness, by convincing them that
all actions were for their benefits.
The opponents reinforced
their rejection because they were not satisfied with the regime, which was
based on illegitimate falsifications and was taken by force. Although the
existence of opponents is normal among humans, mainly those who refuse yielding
to authority, and is always found in any authority, the Syrian regime was
scared of them. In fact, the existence of political opponents refers to the
level of freedom and the consciousness of the society. In general, opposition
in
Until now, it seems that
the present authority, which did not loose any of its previous features, is
still apprehensive and afraid of the contradicting opinions, even if they were
objective and beneficent. Today more than ever, the authority cannot,
objectively, practice the same previous methods of accusing and punishing the
criticizers of the system, including the scientific and objective criticism,
whether it comes from the People's Council, street, press or university. The
usual practices of the regime ruin its relation with people and reality. So,
carrying on the same fixed visions and stable beliefs is futile and dangerous.
The human reality is
changeable and alternating by the accelerated developments and the modified
human conditions. Thus, the ready-made regular frozen forms are so difficult to
be applied for humans. As the economical, social, political and cultural
movements of the society can not continue in one line for a long time, the
present system can not go on the same way. The continuous changeable social
reality will impose new conditions for the ideologists and guards, especially,
that many ideological visions were formed according to individual and groups'
feelings and needs, which were released for self-defense, as we mentioned
before.
The continuity of the
present political system is subjected to its material and knowledgeable
capacity, which it could provide for the society, its legitimacy and the
acceptance of the people to this authority, beside their satisfaction in its
practices. If due to time changes, interior and external factors, some
manifestations of repression declined, the problem of the authority's
legitimacy would remain. The present authority includes minority with
jurisdictions, who participated in extorting the power and used it for personal
benefits during long years on the expense of the majority that it pauperized,
humiliated and destroyed. There is a well-known proverb: "attack, is the
best way of defense". This proverb expresses a psychological mechanism,
which anticipates the acts and escapes to convince the worried personality
about the unknown that the good and correct attributes belong to it, all other
than that is wrong, bad and ugliness, which exist in the other. This other,
which is the mirror of the self, has to bear all what the self cannot bear.
To regain the lost balanced
relation with citizens, the present authority has to take some steps. A citizen
must obtain his right to participate in decisions and developments, reacquire
his dignity and enjoy the rights of his citizenship in a state of law. These
necessary steps would modify the dominating regime into a system that
administrates the organizations of the society by the authority of the state.
This would, also, save the torment of some individuals of the present regime. Those who did not loose their conscience and values and still feel
a personal responsibility toward the positions of who related to them.
The regime was forcible with the majority of people,
it attempted force and violence to gain subjugation and extort loyalty, also,
it was compensating to some minority in which it subdued them by gifts, grants
and donations to buy their conscience in return for yielding, silence and
preserving its secrets. The authority must attempt new steps in order to become
suitable, which means to depend on dialogue, accordance and respect the rights
and dignity of the citizens.
It became necessary for the
authority to act, quickly, with wisdom and enough knowledge to move from the
inferior practices to upgraded methods. The knowledge, which the regime uses as
a device of threatening, immorally and illegally, might be its most democratic
resource. The marginal individuals might have this knowledge too. The authority
is afraid of knowledgeable individuals because while it attempts to manipulate
their consciousness and capacity of adopting attitudes, they are strong and
dispossess some of the regime's power. So, we can understand, for example, why
the phenomenon of forums scared the authority, which tried, at the beginning,
to comprehend, then watched, later prohibited most of them.
There are mechanisms of
diversion, which should be found in order to modify the Syrian regime into a
positive presence in reality. If the first thought of any authority is continuity,
this regime should perceive that continuity could be achieved by rebuilding the
relation between it and citizens on the bases of democratic participation.
Whatsoever the position of the dominating individuals and their history is, the
settled systems do not terminate by their disappearance. The transfer from the
swampy settlement into a dynamic one is established upon the objectivity of
society organizations and its structure, which are not connected to authority
and subjugated to its orders and directions. When these organizations loose
relation with society, they loose objectivity and legitimacy. They, also, loose
the justification of continuity and settle by modifying into organizations of
the authority and devices for its service that swing among its orders,
decisions and attitudes.
The real settlement is not
an aim but a moving personification for the specialization of the authorities
and supervising the organization of the society, which work according to the
spirit of legal and administrative responsibility of independent practices.
This requires the establishment of justice and the chances for progress instead
of impeding the political and social initiatives and confiscating the
opportunities of work and production. The settlement is achieved by restricting
the illogical tendencies and the negative psychological effects of the persons
who supervise these organizations and, consequently, affect the performance of
the state and accomplish its general policy. By then, citizens can be tranquil
to deal with the organizations of their country, which fulfill their
satisfaction.
Could it be imagined that
the citizen would be tamed endlessly and his feelings and consciousness
manipulated by exaggerating the achievements of the revolution, stultifying the
opposing opinion, claiming popularity and monopolizing knowledge? If the regime
succeeded to hypnotize the citizens for a period of time, is it possible to
believe that this would continue forever? The authority perceives that the
present time is different from the former one and the stupid people will not
remain so because they receive the news on their space channels and witness the
movements and changes of the world. Many citizens in
The
absence of correct facts, restricted wide sectors of the Syrian nation against
their own benefits. These facts were uncovered, so, the authority's extortion of
referendums over laws, the adjustment of the constitution, the presidential
rank and others became clear. The position in
Unfortunately, till this
moment, we still have the crisis of democracy's absence, the crisis of
participation in governing and the alternation of authority, the crisis of the
authority, which still rules against the benefits of the nation and despotizes
it before wakening. The authority does not seem to have paid attention yet to
the sword of punishment that started to be directed by the oppressed to
reacquire their rights. This principle has expanded in the world that almost
has no more limits and in which the power of law overcomes the law of power.
Nowadays, no tyrannies are tranquil about their positions. They could be
prosecuted everywhere in the world for their crimes and sins against the people
of their nations.
Judgement and Punishment:
Nowadays, the mission of
the defenders of human rights is not any more to establish legal education or
investigate and reject the violations of human rights, but for most of them,
calling to account for these violations became an important part of their daily
struggle. In
Accordingly, some
committees were formed in
Unfortunately, while the
prospect to prosecute the accused persons of big crimes is near, it seems that
the matters of corruption and big thefts are away from judiciary. Many
decisions of presidential amnesty, concerning this matter, were issued, which were
the only practical decisions during the time of Hafez Assad. The human
international legislations are still incapable of calling to account the
depraved people on the local and international level. This mission has to be
attained by the NGOs who must include the matters of corruption and stealing
the public fund in the field of suing and criminal sanctions. Such
organizations started to exist and became a rising power of pressure. The best
example could be seen in
__________
Footnotes:
1) Daniel Le Gac, "La
Syrie du GÅnÅral
Assad", Åditions complexe, 1991.
2)
Ebertan Kiende, "Contemporary
3) Haytham Manna,
"L'histoire des Frères Musulmans en Syrie", Sou'al, No. 5, 1985.
4) James Paul, "
5) RenÅ Clement,
"Parents en Souffrance", Åd Stock,
1996.
6) Patrick Seal,
"Assad, The Conflict Over the Middle East",
translated by the General Organization for Studies, Publishing and
Distribution, 1990.
7) Jamal Al Haytham Na'al,
'Democratic Freedoms, The Human Rights and the Crisis of Judiciary in the
Syrian Constitution', Arab Commission for Human Rights, September 1999.
8) Hafez
Assad, the Speeches and Declarations of President Hafez Assad, Dar Al Ba'ath.
9)
10) Violette Daguerre,
'Tyranny in the Arab Society, the Safety of Soul and Body', The
Arab Commission for Human Rights, 1998.
11) Violette Daguerre, 'The
Dominating Pedagogy and the Democratic Pedagogy', A lecture addressed in the
pedagogical seminar about human rights,
12) Nicholas Van Dam,
"The Conflict Over the Authority in
13) Haytham Manna,
"The Syrian Woman Between the Walls and the
Ideology of Sultan", the Rights of People,
Appendixes
Annex
No. 1
The
Committed Massacres During
the Era Of President Hafez AssadŽŽ(*)
The
massacre of
After General Hafez Assad
was exposed to an assassination attempt in 27.6.1980, some military units of
Saraya Al Difaa attacked the prison of
"Executions continued
for a long time in the military prison of Mazzeh, in the Branch of Military
Inquiry in Baramkeh-Damascus and in all different centers of security
"Mukhabarat", which detained cadres of Muslim Brotherhood. The
'Branch of Breaking and Bursting in' did many quick executions at the moment of
arresting persons. The only exceptions were the leaders of the movements
because the bodies of security kept them alive to draw more information or due
to other political considerations. The operations of executions included some
relatives of the accused, who belonged to Muslim Brotherhood. The number of
people who were executed during the period from 1980 to 1984 was about 10
thousand citizens, males and females. This number covered the individual and
collective executions, including those who were executed in
The Massacre of Jeser Al
Shugoor:
The massacre was committed
in 10.3.1980. The Private Units and Saraya Al Difaa killed more than 60
citizens. Also, 20 citizens were injured and more than 100 citizens were
detained. Besides, about 15 houses and 40 commercial shops were ruined.
The First Massacre of
From 5 to 12.4.1980, the
regime committed the first massacre of
- Dr Omar Shishakli (45
years old), head of Ophthalmology Association in
- Khuder Shishakli (80
years old), a member of the National Mass and the owner of the "House of
Nation" during the French Colony era; he was dissolved in acid.
- Abd Al Khader Kantakji,
he was an Orthopedic Surgeon.
The Massacre of Masharkah
District in
In the morning of Eid Al
Feter, in 11.8.1980, the Private Units committed a massacre in the district of
Masharkah. More than one hundred citizens were killed and buried by bulldozers;
some of them were only injured and buried alive.
The Big Massacre of
In 5.2.1982, the great
massacre of
Annex
No. 2
Riad
Saif
The
Syrian Government Looses 400 Billion Syrian Pounds
through the Contract of Mobile Phones.
On 4.8.2001, Mr. Riad saif,
an independent member in the People's Council (MP) submitted a note to the head
of the People's Council and the 59 members of the committees of services and
financial laws about the draft contract of mobile phones. Mr. Saif referred in
his note to the loss of 400 billion Syrian pounds, which equaled 8 billion US dollars.
In addition, the two contracted companies will gain from the illegal
manipulated net profits about 200-300 billion Syrian pounds, which equal 4-6
billion US dollars. Mr. Riad Saif included that these big numbers were equal to
the total salaries, wages and compensations for all the employees in the
ministries of Justice, Education, High Education, Health, Social Affairs and
Labor. The same amount was enough to sustain about 1 million Syrian citizens
during 15 years. In other words, the lost profit was equal to the total
salaries of 220 thousand employees in which the average of each could be 5
thousand Syrian pounds during 15 years. Mr. Saif confirmed that such contract
contradicted the constitutional rules because the whole operation was a monopolizing
deal, which would enable the owners to monopolize the Syrian market for seven
years with all the worse effects of monopolization. The worse effects appeared
since the beginning through the customers' contracts and the bad service due to
lack of necessary experience and neglecting the complaints of the customers,
who did not have other choice of services. Moreover, while the estimated normal
need of
Mr. Saif said that,
according to the instructions of the People's Council, his research was to
assist the specialized commissions to study this matter. He prepared the
research using his available documents with the help of some specialists in
this field and some persons who were interested in public affairs. Being an MP,
he considered his step a duty because he found that these contracts would cause
harmful damages to the country and the citizens. As an MP and a citizen, it was
his right to demand for uncovering all the secrecy about this developmental
economical social matter. Besides, any citizen who obtains information that
might be useful to clarify the subject and assist the Council to take proper
measures for the national benefit should not hide it. The research clarified
that the organization of telecommunication hid the process of the deal since
1999 until the success of signing the prejudicial contracts in 12.2.2001. Due
to doubts and queries, which were accompanied by customers' complaints because
of high costs and bad services, as well as, the scandal of BOT contracts in
Therefore, the permanent
contracts came through the efforts and arrangements between the directory of
the organization with some members of the government and the investor. The
benefits and profits of the contractor were secured on the expense of the
organization. The contracts offered all necessary guarantees for the contractor
to continue investing during 15 years with immunity against canceling or
adjusting these contracts. The organization succeeded to settle the contracts
with complete secrecy and away from any supervision. The tender was announced
in a ridiculous way and urgent in the official newspaper on 15.7.2000, and the
final date to submit the offers was 16.8.2000. Thus, while such a great
technological project needed several months to prepare its technical and
financial studies, the available period for submitting the offers was limited
to 31 days. In addition, the timing of the announcement was during summer holidays
in most parts of the world.
According to Mr. Saif, the
organization estimated the contract's customs duties of 5 billion Syrian
pounds, but the present Prime Minister, Mohamed Mustafa Meero, issued in a
written letter dated 4.3.2001 a permission of temporary entry for the
supplements of the project until legalized after registering the contracting
companies. It was confirmed that the entry of supplements was not legally
supervised either by the organization or the customs. This of course impeded the
inspection of equipment, whether they accord with price and specifications, or
whether they were new or used. Furthermore, the ministerial committee issued on
24.2.2000, as well as, the book of condition some recommendations, which
included that all the contractor's inflow should be transferred through buying
and exporting local goods and productions, but this provision was completely
skipped from the contracts.
Annex
No. 3
A
Selection from the Testimony of a Former Prisoner
Issued
in Al Quds Newspaper on 13.7.2001
Mr. Hilal Abd Al Razak, a
British citizen of Iraqi origin. He was born in Karkook in 1957, married to a
Syrian lady and had four children. Hilal was a professional basketball player
and participated in many Asian and Arab championships. Due to his success in
sport, he was called to train a team in Hama-Syria where he decided to extend
his residency for another year.
The Military Security in
Hilal narrated his story as
follow: "On Sunday 23.7.2000, a member from the general directory of security
phoned me and asked me to meet him at the club to discuss the documents of my
residency in
On Monday, the morning of
the second day, the series of terror started, which continued for 11 months. I
woke up hearing voices of beating, cursing, crying and calling for help. I knew
that these were the first shifts of the barbarian torture that the dÅtentes were exposed to. The jailers used to start
their shifts in the early morning, opening the cells and violently dragging
their victims, chained and eyes covered, like animals. I was watching full of
fear and terror. The jailers started by lashing the prisoners with electrical
wires and, without distinctions, they whipped their victims' backs and all
other parts of their bodies. The jailers shouted with the same questions: 'Who
do you know?', What is your relation with X?', 'When
did you see him?'.
I was arrested because the
security found my phone number registered in the agenda of my wife's relative.
Then, I started to think that most of the dÅtentes
were imprisoned not because they committed a criminal act but because the
numbers of their phones were found in the agendas of some suspects. Many
innocents were perished and disappeared for years in prisons due to this
arbitrary way of detention. I was waiting for my turn at any moment. Actually,
one guard arrived, chained me, covered my eyes and dragged me to inquiry. One
interrogator entered the room and ordered the guard to remove the blindfold
from my eyes. He gave me a paper and a pen to write the complete story of my
life. When I wrote my life story, he started to correct, delete and add various
lines, thus, I objected to that, but he said: 'Do you want to give me
instructions about my job?'.
On Saturday 29.7.2000, the
chief of inquisition, Major Gassan Al-Jawad came and passed by the cells
overlooking the prisoners. When he reached my cell, he opened the door and said
'My son, we know that you are innocent but we are waiting for the orders from
-The first abstained from
voting in the presidency election of Bashar Assad,
therefore, he was dragged to prison and harmfully beaten for his rebellion.
-The second was arrested
due to a security report, which mentioned that he said 'The people of
-The third talked sadly
about his phone call with his relative in which he told him about accompanying
an official delegation to Kurdaha to visit the tomb of the dead president. His
relative asked him: "what will you wear for such a visit?". He answered 'a red
underwear'. The man did not know that his conversation was wiretapped, so, he
was arrested the same day. Actually, the jailers promised to turn his backsides
to blue color under torture.
- The fourth was imprisoned
because he owned an archeology-searching tool in his land.
- The fifth was accused for
selling smuggled cigarettes.
While all
of them were tortured by electrical shocks and whipping, I escaped from
torture, probably because of the Club's mediation to my favor.
Finally, three days later,
the awaited telegram from
The Solitary Cell No. 11:
Hilal passed six months in
a solitary cell of 180-cm length and 80 cm width. The cell smelled awfully, and
lacked light and ventilation, therefore, it was full
of cockroaches and louses. As Hilal's height was 190 cm and he could not expand
his body for six months continuously, his back bent, he lost 45 kg and turned
to walk like an 80 year old man. Suddenly, overnight, Hilal's name became No.
11 and he was prohibited to mention his real name. He became another desperate
lost prisoner in Palestine Branch.
The prisoners' break to
restrooms was the principle chance for the jailers to practice their sadism. There
were 19 solitary and 4 collective cells. 42 prisoners alternated for two
bathrooms, three times a day. Through kicking and whipping, the jailers used to
drag us to the restrooms and we were prohibited to remain more than half-moment
inside. I confess that the first time I was dragged to the restroom I endured a
lot of kicks and lashes by Chief Hassan. When I objected his behavior and
reminded him that I was a human like him, he shouted at me and said 'Shut up
dog, or I will oblige you to eat your shit!'.
Since there was no water or
soap, most of us had hemorrhoids, and the bleeding covered the toilet. If one
of us was delayed in the bathroom, he would be violently dragged out and kicked
back to his cell. Each prisoner had one pot to use for eating and drinking but
due to the harsh violent treatments of the jailers, many of us, when felt
severely ill, used their food pots in the cell instead of going out to
restrooms. Then we were obliged to wash the pot and use it for food again.
As my accusation was not of
first grade, I had less torture than the other prisoners. As a matter of fact,
listening to the voices of the tortured prisoners was so much more painful than
being whipped. Usually, the shifts of torture started in the early morning and
continued until
I slept and sat on a rotten
blanket in a humid and unventilated cell, my clothes blackened, and I had skin
tumors and dermatitis. Even the jailers complained about my terrible smell when
they passed nearby my cell. All my pleas could not convince them to change my
dirty rotten blanket. I was sick with colitis and suffered from chronic asthma,
the allergy spread all over my body but the treatment was forbidden during the
whole period of my imprisonment. At the end, sickness and lack of appetite
caused the loss of 45 kilograms of my total weight.
My human instinct cost me a
lot. When I heard a female throttled call for help who suffered asthma in the
women's cell, I knocked my door until the jailer Hassan came shouting: 'What
you want dog?', I gave him the spray can for asthma
and asked him to deliver it for the suffering woman. Immediately, he punched my
head strongly and I fell down, then he continued beating and kicking me with
the most obscene curses until I lost consciousness. Later, I heard Chief Hassan
closing the door of my cell and saying: 'You bastard, are you trying to be
honest? Here we have no humanity'.
Announcing for lunchtime
was always the same. Rafeek, the jailer would shout in the corridor: 'Dogs,
today the food is rice and soup. Turn your faces to the wall, if anyone does
not turn well, then I will sodomite him'. Food was so dirty and bad. We drank
the chicken soup without finding any piece of chicken because the jailers and
the assistants of the prison's directors had stolen most proper food. Many
times I had to pick up crouches and other insects from the soup, then drink it. If the meal included boiled potatoes or
apples, in special occasions, the jailers would throw them into the back of our
turned heads. During the whole week, we received twice an egg. The jailers hid
fresh bread and fruits above the ceiling of our cells to take that home, later
on.
We suffered severe cold in
wintertime and suffocating heat during summer; still, we used the same filthy
blankets, which we inherited from previous prisoners. In addition to
cockroaches and louses, we suffered from rats, which attacked our isolation
fleeing from hungry cats.
At the end of January 2001,
the jailers led me again for inquiry. While the inquirer interrogated me, I had
permission to sit on the floor. He asked me the same questions that were asked
six months ago. When he did not find anything new, he said quietly: 'Go now'. I
begged him to transfer me into the collective cells.
From the Stories of the
Collective Cell:
I improved at the
collective place, ate, drank and spent long hours talking and listening to the
tragedies of other prisoners. I remember Sulaiman, who spent eleven months with
us, whose 70 years old mother was imprisoned, too, in the prison of women.
Sulaiman and his mother were detained because one of their relatives had phoned
them from abroad and asked about their conditions after the death of the
president, Hafez Assad, they simply answered: 'We feel great'. This response
was enough to drag them both into prison...
Mohamed Shaher from
There were a group of 28
Syrians and Palestinians who responded positively to the Palestinian Intifada.
They were arrested while trying to pass some arms to the occupied land through
the Jordanian borders. We found it strange that those prisoners were, severely,
tortured in a country that claimed challenges and resistance against
I can not forget Na'eem,
who lost his leg. He was accused of trying to smuggle some arms through
Jordanian borders to
There was a former Colonel
from the Syrian military, he was old and had a heart problem. He used to beg
for his medicine but the jailers would not accept. One time, he fell down
unconscious, the foam came out of his mouth, hence we were scared, we carried him and called for the jailers. They kicked him,
saying: 'Stand up .. Bastard, whatever you do, you
won't get the medicine'. When he did not move, they called the medic of the
jail, who examined his pressure and decided that his case was very critical.
Thus, they lifted him up and took him. After a period of time, the guards came
back and took his clothes and stuff; then, we were told that he died! Although
we were very sad, the jailers did not have the least feeling of pity or guilt,
on the contrary, they told us: 'You will all die here like that dog!'.
This was the case in which
I spent five months. We were crowded as a herd of sheep in a tiny place that
was less than enough for half of our number; thus, we alternated shifts for
lying down to sleep and others to stand up. During summer, some of us
volunteered to fan with their filthy clothes in order to get a bit of
ventilation. The jailers used to pass from time to time and call for one victim,
who would move trembling of fear, and soon we would hear his cries and moans of
torture.
Samples of Torture:
Whipping with the
electrical quadruple wires was a usual practice that no one escaped from. The
prisoners of high grade accusations were exposed to another type of torture,
mainly, 'The German Chair', where the prisoner is fixed on, then, the chair is
dragged back until the head become almost near the knees, thus,
the prisoner looses his consciousness. Due to this chair, most prisoners
suffered chronicle back pains. After the tortured victims returned back to the
cell, we used to lay them on the ground and massage their backs. They remained
laying for several days because of their inability to stand or walk. Also, the
jailers used the 'Wheel', where the prisoner's head, hands and feet were
inserted to one side of the wheel and his back and buttocks to the other side.
Then, the prisoner was stroked and beaten up until he confessed what they
wanted him to say. Some of our mates complained from being hanged from their
fists, like sheep, and beaten on their nude bodies. The beating was less
painful than the wrist pain that endured the whole load of the body, thus, the
tortured would remain a couple of days unable to move or use their hands.
The Cells of Women:
Hilal estimated the number
of women who were in one dormitory about 14 women with their children. There
was a child of five years, another of four and a girl of eleven. The children
heard their mothers being cursed, humiliated and tortured. There was a young
girl of 16 years, who memorized the Qur'an by heart,
another girl of 17 years was detained with her father and mother. Also, there
was a woman, who had been married for fifty days before she was detained and
she was pregnant.
Pity and mercy did not
exist in the hearts of those jailers, who did not distinguish between a man, a
woman or a child. The girl of 16 years was imprisoned in a solitary cell,
whenever a jailer opened her door without alert, she cried for her dignity. The
prisoners were annoyed from the continuous impolite behaviors of the jailer,
so, they protested against this shameful act and stroke the iron doors of their
cells with anger until the Brigade came with some officers and transferred the
girl into another place. Through the pipes of the drainage system, we were able
to contact the women's dormitory and we heard a poor girl crying and
complaining from the jailer Shadi, who was slapping and cursing her awfully. I
still hear her childish innocent voice crying: 'Father, father, this jailer
Shadi is beating me!', actually, her father and we cried for our deficiency to
do anything to help her. Some prisoners told me that they saw a woman stripped
of her clothes in the room of inquiry, she was
helplessly crying and trying to cover her nude body with her bare hands.
The Corruption:
The basement of Palestine
Branch is composed of a long corridor that includes 10 collective dormitories,
each is 465 Meters, 19 solitary cells, each is 806180 cm and 4 double cells,
each is the double size of the solitary cell. Sometimes, 8 persons were stuffed
in the double cell and we wondered how they managed to sit or sleep in it.
The Director of the prison
was a 1st Adjutant, named Ahmed. He had three deputies: Shadi, Hatem and Abu
Isam, who were so tough, bad and used the worst language that could ever be
uttered. The guards were three groups of five jailers, who were chosen
carefully. All of them were from the same governing sectarian group and had
very bad former records. They were so much rough, offensive and enjoyed
torturing the prisoners; they even competed how to harm them. Prison was the
only source to earn their living; therefore, they established a market that all
prisoners knew very well. In the first stage, the director co-operated with
security bands outside the prison to negotiate with the prisoners' families
about the highest price for allowing them to visit their sons. They divided the
amounts of gained money in between according to the percentage of each. We
learned that the director gained 5 thousand Syrian pounds for each visit's
permission. Also, he shared with the guards all the money, clothes and food
that were brought by the families for their sons, in fact, the prisoners
received so much little of that. So, if a family had left five thousand Syrian
pounds, the director deducted three thousand Syrian pound and gave the prisoner
two thousand Syrian pounds, only, and of course, the prisoner could not protest
nor say a word. Often, we watched the jailers steal and eat our food and sweets
laughing in front of us, without giving us anything.
Once a month, we were
allowed to buy some food and other stuff, such as, cheese, tea, sugar,
cigarettes and soap. This occasion was called 'Nadwa', where we signed an
authorization for the director to deduct the demanded amount from our money
that he kept as deposit. This deal was a great opportunity for the prison's
directory to steal us. In the Branch of Palestine, there were at least 500
prisoners, from whom the director registered the double of the prices and stole
the difference of money. However, the jailers obliged us to buy what they
desired, so, once we received the goods, they would confiscate whatever they
wanted and we could not object. I remember, once, when I bought two packs of
cheese but did not receive other than three portions from the second pack. The
jailers drank our tea and used our sugar and soap. They used to tell us: 'If
you become hungry we become hungry too'.
The calamity that my family
passed through represented an example of the disaster that thousands of dÅtentes' families in
The real trade was
practiced by more important persons than the jailers did. Someone suggested to
my father-in-law to pay 2 millions Syrian pounds for releasing me. My
father-in-law persisted to collect this huge amount of money but, due to harsh
sorrows, he died with a heart attack before collecting this amount. His body
was weak and could not stand all the pressures and afflictions.
The reader could imagine
the condition of one family out of thousands and thousands of cases, who were
distressed by the Syrian bodies of security. In such a case, the wife was in
the hospital, her father died, her husband imprisoned and her children were
crying day and night without knowing a reason for this current catastrophe.
Furthermore, the security bands attempted to gain more, and with no mercy or
pity, they manipulated my family till the last minute.
In the prison's dormitory,
we had to bear the expenses of every released prisoner. 1st Adjutant, Ahmed,
asked us to contribute in the expenses to send our released companion to his
home. Thus, the director used to collect money, which reached ten times more
than the demanded amount and kept the rest for himself.
When I had severe asthma, Chief Hassan rebuked the rest of the prisoners for
their heartless affections and blamed them for not helping to buy my medicine,
so, the prisoners rushed to pay all that they could, but no medicine came.
Later on, I knew that Hassan used to sell the medicines outside the prison.
Volumes could be narrated
about the disastrous terrifying events that occurred at visit times in the
prison. After long months and years of separation, the director of the prison
might allow the families to visit their sons on condition that they pay a
demanded amount of money. When the families arrived, the directory of the
prison did not allow them to see their sons more than short quick moments. The
guards humiliated and, badly, treated women and urged them to pay more money.
One prisoner, Khalil, had a nervous breakdown after his family visited him. His
disabled father begged the jailers to allow him to kiss his son, for the last
time before he died, but they would not. Instead, the guards dragged the
imprisoned son in front of the father, roughly, into the cell.
The Release:
Five months passed without
any inquiry. In mid June, I was recalled by the directory of the prison and
told by the interrogator that the British Embassy had, strongly, mediated for
my discharge. The British Ambassador called many times and contacted the
National Council for releasing me, as long as I did not commit any violation of
law. Unlike the past months, Ahmed, the jailer, asked me, nicely, with a
different face: 'Oh Hilal, are not you going to give us anything?', I answered him: 'I have nothing more left'. He examined
me and said with unbelievable impudence 'Okay then, give me the watch in your
hand', while I refused, the jailer insisted and did not stop until one
interrogator came to me with his last message. The strong and confident voice
of the interrogator said: 'If you open your mouth, we know how to bring you back.!'.
They delivered me with
chains to the immigration department and I entered the room of the Brigade,
where the British Consul and some members of the Embassy were present. I asked
them with anguish: 'Why were you late?', the Consul
responded: 'We were looking for you and asking the Syrian authorities, but they
negated your existence'. He showed me a big file that included their
correspondence, which proved their sincere interest to find me. Then, the
Consul reassured me about the conditions of my wife and children who had,
already, left
I did not know how horrible
I looked and the great changes that occurred to me until my mother-in-law saw
me and lost her conscious in middle of the street. I must confess that I did
not feel safe until my plane left
Annex
No. 4
Arab
Commission For Human Rights
His
Excellency Dr. Bashar Assad
President
of the
Allow me, first, to define
the Arab Commission for Human Rights, which I have been honored to become its
head since the beginning of year 2001. It is an International Non-Governmental
Organization that cares for human rights in the Arab world and defends the
rights of Arab citizens who live abroad. The commission is licensed in
Since five months, the
commission started a mutual project with the European Commissariat in
In brief, our mission is to
meet all the political, organizational and cultural effective cadres in
We look forward to a
positive answer from your Excellency, with best regards and consideration from
the members of Arab Commission for Human Rights.
The head of Arab Commission
for Human Rights
Dr. Violette
Daguerre
Annex
No. 5
Arab
Commission For Human Rights
Mr.
Nasser Kadoor Paris, 10.7.2001
Minister
of State for Foreign Affairs
Ministry
of Foreign Affairs -
In co-operation with the
European Commissariat in
It is my pleasure to
include herewith the essential text of the book, which would be published in
Arabic, French and English. I would like to draw your attention that during my
delegations of research to
Usually, when we deal with
a comprehensive study about a certain country, it is the tradition of our
commission to listen to different points of views. Therefore, I direct to you
the primary important studies of the book, which contradict the opinion and
image of your government. We hope that your excellency
will clarify your opinion, or whom you might authorize, about these studies to
be entirely published in the book, which is attempted to be publicized in the
near future, because this is your natural right. You can send your response in
Arabic language, with or without any translation in English or French, where we
can depend on a professional sworn translator.
We hope that your answer
would be heard within a month from the date of receiving the documents, in
order to deliver the book for publication.
Best regards with respect
to your Excellency.
The Head of Arab Commission
for Human Rights
Dr. Violette Daguerre
Annex
No. 6
of Honor For Political Work
"Primary
Drafts"
{Help ye one another in
righteousness and piety, but help ye not one another in sin and rancour: Fear
Allah}
Surah Al Ma'idah No. 2
These papers...
These papers represent
primary ideas, suggested by the group of Muslim Brotherhood in
The papers are set forth to
dialogue in order to accomplish a national convention of honor that organizes
the procession of the political work in a very delicate period among the
interior, regional and international political diversions. It is a new epoch in
which no more than one Party can claim to represent a whole country. Now, the utmost
possibility for a political group is to have its place among other national
parties, according to its real size through free and honest voting.
The Initiative...
Our submitted initiatives
in these national papers do not abase the rights of others to develop or adjust
this project to become acceptable by most of our free proud people through a
positive developmental dialogue. Therefore, we call all the political powers
and public personalities, the intellectual and the cultural, to participate in
this draft convention. Through the national dialogue, we all have the same
right of existence and no one has the custody above others. The dialogue might
clarify ambiguities and fill up gaps; all this would unify the national
attitude, pushes the moves into the front and develop the system.
The first political demand,
which all political powers must struggle for, is confirming their official and
legal existence, through which they charge their national load. It might be
necessary to assure that these different powers obtain their legitimacy from
their real existence among the nation, not from a law signed by an official pen
or a document that its color might change with time.
First: The Constants:
Having faith in 'dialogue'
and calling for it was not born from absoluteness or emptiness. We Syrians are
neither a star that lost its location nor a planet that lost its axis, but we
have a deep-rooted stable existence in the map of place and time. Consequently,
our call for dialogue is spontaneously based upon a group of constants, which
supplies our nation's existence, strength or distinction among the rest of
other nations.
The first constant is
Islam. Through its elevated directions, supreme values and tolerant code
'Sharia', Islam forms a civilized resource and a personal identity for this
nation, which Islam preserves its existence, clarifies the features of its
particularity and establishes its speech for all people.
According to the people of
our country,
The second constant is that
our Syrian country belongs to the Arab system. This belonging has to be
considered essential for building any future strategic policy. It is necessary
that this belonging expresses itself through a real effective personification,
which consolidates the links and assures the connections between the Arab world. Such binds would unify the nation within studied controlled
policies that should not remain present as theoretical images or emotions or
sentimental feelings.
The confrontation between
Arabism and Islam was a title for a past historical period. Due to factors of
agitation, bad comprehending and the fever of ideologies that spread in the
general atmosphere after the independence, the confrontation was created.
As our country's belonging
to Islam is an identity and a resource, which does not harm its national unity,
therefore, its belonging does not include any superior or racist aspect. In
fact, the citizens find the essence of their nationality in the spirit of
justice, brotherhood, equality and the historical participation of good and bad
events.
The third constant is that
our previous confirmations about resources, identity and belonging do not embed
us from benefiting of the other nations' experiences and the facts of our
present age. According to our civilized bases, we are invited to indulge in the
ultimate competence to win and have the priority of power. Wisdom with all its
extents remains our object that we have the right to use and we are able to
direct.
Second: The General Aims:
Through theoretical and
practical political efforts, the signers of this convention attempt to achieve
the following goals:
The first goal: building
the modern state
The modern state has its
personifications, which are tangible in the real life that
include the individual and the society.
The modern state is a state
of contract, where the contract emerges from the free conscious will of the
governor and the governed. The contractual form of the state is one of the
Islamic donations to the human civilization.
The modern state is a state
of organizations. It is established upon the organizations from the base of the
pyramid to its top. It is also based upon separating the authorities and
affirming their independence. In the modern state, there is no place for the
domination of an individual or an authority or a party above the governmental
institutions, or for swallowing them.
Besides, the modern state
is a state of alternation, where free and honest elections are the bases for
alternating the authority among all the citizens. Also, the modern state is a
state of plurality, which includes several visions and opinions and different attitudes.
In this state, the political oppositions and the organizations of the civil
society have the function of supervising and directing, so that the country
will not drift into despotism or corruption.
The function of the
military forces in the modern state is to defend the country and protect it
from any external enemy. The honor of belonging to this national institution,
the military, is a general right for all citizens according to the bases of
justice and equality.
The second goal: facing the
challenges of general set up:
Developing the individuals'
education, conscious, behavior and commitment is very important in the age of
globalization, which blows its hazardous wind upon the human soul,
particularity and belonging.
-Setting up the society of
joint liability and solidarity that spreads love, brotherhood and social
justice in both its images. The first image, the 'original' that includes
solidarity and co-operation, the second is the up to date state that includes
organizations.
-Setting up organizations
of the civil society, including all political, social, economical, cultural and
professional units. The role of these institutions is to protect and direct the
society.
- Setting up the spirit of
achievement and challenge, as well as, resisting all types of relaxation,
dependence and other consumption devastating and inactive types.
- Setting up systems and
mechanisms which assist to make benefit of our natural resources and employ
that to develop the country and preserve the dignity of its nation.
- Setting up controlling
rules which prevent the spread of all types of corruption, preserve the general
fund and protect the wealth of the country.
- Setting up the plans of
general development to free our country from the load of loans, the
restrictions of the International Monetary Fund and the provisions of the new
global system.
The third goal: confronting
the Israeli project
The Israeli projects with
all its cultural, economical, political and military aspects form the greatest
danger that threatens our country and Arab nations. This position requires
assembling the powers and mobilizing the energies to face the Israeli project,
which attempts to dominate humans, land and wealth.
The individuals who signed
this convention confirm the Arabism of Palestine and the right of the
Palestinians to return back to their land, decide
their destiny and build their independent state.
In this convention, the
signers assure their hold on the occupied Syrian land and their co-operation to
regain its complete sovereignty.
The individuals who signed
this convention put the plans, programs and suitable mechanisms to resist the
Zionist project, strengthen the policies of boycott and stop the operation of
normalization and talks about false peace, which facilitate the enemy's
domination of land, wealth and human will.
The fourth goal: the
attempt to achieve the Arab-union:
Achieving Arab unity on
solid bases of social, cultural, economical and political connections is a
legal duty and a national necessity. Until the objective provisions for unity
are fulfilled, we need to reestablish the Arabic solidarity, exceed all
disagreements, open the borders between all Arab countries and establish a
joint Arab Market to upgrade the Arab relations into the level of cultural,
economical and political challenges that face the Arab nations.
Third: Principles and
Commitments:
All who signed this
convention assure the following:
1 - The free citizen with
dignity is the base for setting up the modern state. However, any political,
economical or social reformation can not be accomplished unless the individual
is respected and honored, and his political, civil and human rights are
recognized, including his right of positive participation in performing the
present and future of the country.
2 - A citizenship includes
rights and duties. Thus, positive participation in the national decision and
protecting the country, building and upgrading it is a national duty, which can
not be monopolized by anyone independently.
3 - The differences of
visions and attitudes between people are natural and relate to general reality
of human existence. As long as differences are within the field of national
constants and the direction of good and general benefit, they are legitimate
and should be regarded with consideration.
4 - The saying "People
are equal like the teeth of the comb" is a tangible personification of
equality among people, which our Sharia and civilization has the honor to
present it for humanity. Equalization and equality of opportunities bring forth
the national unity, which is the solid foundation for the purposed national set
up.
5 - Recognizing the other
national, political, intellectual and cultural individual is an essential base
of thoughts and movement. Actually, time proved the failure of policies that
adopt extermination or defamation or draining the sources because no one can
obliterate or expatriate the other.
6 - Objective dialogue and
discussions are the best and elevated ways of dealing and understanding with
one another, as well as, building the bridges of connections and acquaintance
between people. In fact, the positive dialogue confirms mutual points and
restricts margin of differences.
7 - Free and honest ballot
boxes of governmental organizations or the independent fair judicial system,
judge all the differences between general visions, supreme policies and fatal
decisions.
8 - The signers of this
convention affirm their absolute distinction between the term of state, which
includes land, nation, authorities and law, and the term of government, which
means the executive authority. Besides, they warn from the domination of the
executive or security authorities above the government, its people and
institutions.
The Commitments of the Signers...
1 - Whatever the imposed
external challenges are, they commit to sacrifice themselves for protecting the
country and its security and dignity.
2 - Whether the abandonment
of personal benefit includes pain or sacrifice, the preference of the country's
upper benefit to the personal private benefits in all the political balances is
a must.
3 - Practicing their role
in the public life with absolute transparency under the sun and away from all
secrecy and hiding. They want to resist all the reasons that lead to embarrass
the national work or push it for covering and disguising. Such clarity and
purity include principles, programs, policies, activities, relations and
others.
4 - They assure their
commitment to the mechanism of democratic political work and its methods, beside confirming the right of equality for all people to
make benefit of the government's ability to clarify their attitudes, support
their visions and introduce their programs.
5 - They reject violent
methods and perceive that the security resolutions of the matters of the state
and society, and the violence of the executive authority are one entrance for
corruption. They recognize between international terrorism as a method of
terrifying and the political extortion, and the forms of national resistance,
which are adopted by the nations to defend their rights and matters.
6 - Co-operating to protect
the human rights and the individual citizen, plus, supporting the deem weak and
the oppressed, protecting women and defending their rights, as well as,
confirming women's equality to men in qualifications, humanity and civilized
considerations.
7 - All who signed this
convention comprehend the gradual importance to achieve the general goals of
it. They all have the national feelings of responsibility and regard the
demands of the actual conditions. At the same time, they confirm the necessity
to treat the human file with all its extents, urgently and comprehensively.
Qora'n...
3.5.2001
The group of Muslim
Brotherhood in
Annex
No. 7
The
Essential Treaty of the Committees for
The
Revival of the Civil Society
"A
Statement signed by 1000 intellectuals in
More than any time before,
The honest faith in the
country and nation that include creative and powerful energies, and comply with
the positive interaction with any serious initiatives for reformation demand a
comprehensive dialogue between all the citizens. All social groups, political
powers, intellectuals, creationists and producers are invited to participate in
the effective activities, which lead to develop the civil society that is based
on the freedom and rights of the citizens. Also, we need to build a state of
right and law that achieves equality between all citizens and maintain their
dignity without exceptions or distinctions. Today, our country demands all the
efforts for the revival of the civil society, which its weakness, through the past
decades, deprived the operation of development from important and effective
national capacities.
The confusion of the civil
society's concept, which emerges from the multiple democratic experiences in
the old and new history, does not negate its real existence in our country,
because the concept of the civil society is a social entity that existed in the
history and the world. Also, the ambiguity of the civil society's concept does
not negate the transfer of its hindered procession into a modern and civilized
society, through which our society produced renewed cultures, free press,
associations, political parties, constitutional tutelage, and the peaceful
alternation of authority. Therefore, our civil society became the most
progressing and developed one among the Arab countries. The progressive
procession elevated our society into the social and national integration until
the sudden legitimacy of the coup d'etat confronted the constitutional
legitimacy. Unless the identification of authority and state, as well as, the
individual and his job, and marking the state with the stamp of one party, one
color and one opinion it was impossible to relinquish and abandon the civil
society. So, the revolutionary legitimacy made the state a non-separate part of
the society and without regarding the particularity of the society's part it
represented the nation, led the state and society. Moreover, this system abased
the nationality into the narrow level of Party members and personal loyalty,
thus, the rest of the citizens became just following people. The state's fund,
organizations, wealth and the associations of the civil society became
proprietorships, feudatories and personal possessions, which were distributed
among the adherents and followers. Consequently, privileges replaced laws,
gifts and donations replaced rights, and the personal benefit replaced the
public benefit. The society was desecrated, its wealth roped and its capacities
became controlled by the symbols of despotism and corruption. Each citizen became
a suspect, condemned and on call. The authority abandoned the people and
considered them as a subject for its will, furthermore, minors and incapable.
Whenever there were gestures of expressing opinions and demanding rights, the
citizens were condemned as traitorous. It is important to mention that by the
absence of the civil society, the state became absent
too, which refers to the dialectical relation in between, because each is set
up by the other. Actually, the civil society is the signification of the modern
state, which represents the political form of the civil society, and both
create the democratic system.
Our society produced the
national revolution against the colony, as well as, its political movement
against the political despotism. Our society clarified its national-nationalist
soul that leaped into liberation and progress. Our society who was tolerant and
submitted so many martyrs and sacrifices for the sake of freedom and justice is
still able to reproduce its social and political life and rebuild its culture
and economy according to the modern facts and the logic of development. Our
society can be the pioneer and heads the front of scientific and technological
developments. Besides, our society is able to exceed the relations and
structures that produced despotism and articulated with imperialism and the
resulting nationalistic separation.
The results of the upheaval
against the political democracy by the name of Socialism became clear to
everyone. After the collapse of the Soviet sample and its extensions in Eastern
European countries, which were called the third world, it became well known
that building socialism or social democracy is impossible without a political
democracy. Also, the fragility of the state, which does not obtain its legitimacy
from the civil society, and the weakness of the authority that does not get its
legitimacy from the nation, were clarified. The results of regarding the nation
as a substance or a subject for the 'revolutionary will' became clearer. Plus,
the results of denying the particularity of the reality, the plurality of its
political and cultural diversities, the differences and disagreements between
the various benefits of the social groups became clear as well. The denial of
the reality of law, which is essential for the state and the legal expression
of the general system and the mutual expression among all social groups of
citizens, became clear, too. In fact, law is the historical compromise between
all the benefits and differences, which has to be the base of the national real
unity. This historical compromising produces the constitution and the
historical agenda according to the general developing system that is affected
by the international development. Therefore, laws and constitutions are
adjusted and developed according to the actual developments. The concept of the
civil society, which revived in the seventies, represented the spontaneity of
the social existence, since the humans transferred from nature into society
that is the construction and civil policy, according to the expression of Ibn
Khaldoon. This concept produces course of concepts in which Ibn Khaldoon
referred to in his book "the Social Contract" to face the 'Divine
right' that was adopted by despotic Emperors and Kings. The Contract was a logical
revolution that made the human knowledge's center of gravity found in man,
hence produced the modern society, the modern thinking and the civilized modern
state. The new state guarantees the freedom of opinion, belief and the practice
of the religious rituals.
Nowadays, it is necessary
to revive the social civil organizations that are liberated from the domination
of the executive authority and the bodies of security, which obtained all the
jurisdictions, also, from the relations and traditional structures like, the
sectarian and tribal, and became completely independent. The revival of civil
society will reproduce the policy in a liberal, conscious and purposeful way.
It will, also, achieve the necessary balance between the society and the state
and organize the functions for accomplishing freedom, justice, and equality,
besides, strengthening the national unity. It will consolidate the esteem and
sovereignty of the state and make the law as the general resource and judge for
all citizens. Through the civil society, only, there could be a comprehensive
national dialogue based on the freedom of expression and the respect of the
other opinion, as well as, the recognition of the public participation
according to the national and general benefit. No social or political group has
the right to decide, alone, the national and nationalist benefit and the methods
of its achievement. Any social or political group, including the ruling
authority, must submit its program and visions to the nation for discussion and
dialogue. There is no possible dialogue without the freedom of opinion and
expression, and without free associations, free media, free social
organizations and legislative institution that represent the nation in action
and reality. There could not be a possible reformation without a comprehensive
national dialogue, which reproduce new facts for all
the citizens. The logic of dialogue negates the logic of monopolizing the truth
and nationality or others. Therefore, we call for adopting the principle of
dialogue, positive criticism and peaceful development to solve all the
disagreements through reconciliation and understanding, which are the most
important features and advantages of the civil society.
The vitality of the civil
society is clarified in establishing voluntary organizations, independent,
non-governmental and diversified, in which essence is based on democratic
choice. The aim of these organizations is to establish the state of law and
right that guarantees the civil rights and protects public freedom. This is why
we find that defending the civil society includes defending its state and
authority.
The economical reformation
and the corruption's control should be accompanied with a comprehensive
constitutional and political reformation; otherwise, all the first reformations
would be useless. Thus, the operation of reforming and the control of corruption
must transform into a continuous legal mechanism, which urges public
participation and strengthens the continuous supervision on the governmental
organizations and the activities of the private sector, as well. The atmosphere
of transparency enables all social groups and political parties to have the
practical chance in planning, preparing, executing and adjusting national
matters. Also, they assist in notifying about wrong acts, wasting and
corruption, plus, enabling the judiciary and controlling institutions to
investigate and castigate. In fact, the partial and choosy resolutions do not
lead to reformation.
Our vision and practices
start from considering the human as the goal, and we bear in mind that his
freedom, dignity, welfare and happiness are the aim of progress and
development. Also, we consider that the national unity and the public benefit
are the two principles and measures for all the policies and practices. All the
citizens are equal to law without distinction or differentiation between people.
Actually, distinctions and differentiation produce owners of privileges and
people deprived of rights. They both plant the seeds of discord and separation
among citizens and abase the social relations below the policy. We believe that
the real policy is not based on private benefits and individual works, but on
the national-nationalist benefit and humanity. Also, we believe that the
national achievements are ascribed to the nation not to individuals, besides,
the social groups and political parties unify with the social and national
wholeness instead of restricting it, moreover, the people are the source of all
the authorities. We find that the political reformation is necessary and the
only entrance to move out from the stagnancy and retreat, beside
bringing out the general directory from its chronicle deficiency. The most
urgent necessary steps for the political reformations are:
1 - It is necessary to end
the state of emergency and cancel martial laws, the exceptional courts and all
the related laws, beside rectifying the resulting oppression and releasing all
the political dÅtentes. Furthermore, it is
necessary to adjust the positions of those who were deprived of their civil
rights and the right to work due to exceptional laws and judgments; also, to permit
the expatriates to return into their country.
2 - It is necessary to
release the political freedoms, as well as, the freedom of opinion and
expression. The civil and political life must be included within a democratic
law that organizes the activities of the Parties, associations, clubs and NGOs,
especially, the associations, which were transformed into governmental
institutions, so, they lost partially or completely the functions that they
were established for.
3 - It is necessary to
reactivate the press law, which guarantees the freedom of journalism and
publication. This law was banned according to the martial laws.
4 - It is necessary to
issue a law of democratic voting in order to organize the elections on all
levels and become available for all the groups of society. All the operations
of election must be supervised by an independent judicial system, thus, the
Parliament would be a real legislative and supervising institution that
represent the will of the people. The Parliament must be the supreme resource
for all the authorities and expresses the citizens' membership in the state and
their positive participation to define the general system. In fact, the
generality and wholeness of the state are, mostly, clarified in the legislative
authority and the independence and uprightness of the judicial system.
5 - The independence and
uprightness of judiciary and the sovereignty of law upon the ruler and the
ruled is very important to be achieved.
6 - It is necessary to
enforce the political rights of citizens, which are issued in the permanent
constitution of the state, mainly, the right of the citizen to acquire a fair
share from the national wealth and national income. The citizen has the right
to obtain a suitable job and a decent life. The rights of the coming
generations in the national wealth and a clean environment must be protected
too. There is no meaning for a social and economical development if it wont rescue the humans from the social oppression, and
humanize the provisions of life and work, and control the unemployment and
poverty.
7 - Insisting that the
parties of the Progressive National Front represent the vital powers in the
Syrian society and consume the political movements without the need for other
activities that will cause continuous social and economical stagnancy and
political paralyze. Actually, the relation of the front with the authority
should be reviewed. Also, the principle of the Party is the leader of the state
and society, and any other principle that keeps the nation away from the
political life must be reviewed.
8 - It is necessary to
cancel any distinctions in law against women.
From the point of positive
assistance in the operation of the social development and reformation we call
for establishing the commissions for the revival of social society in every
location. These commissions are the continuity and development to the Friends
of Civil Society. Due to the feelings of national responsibility and
independence, we hope to assist in exceeding the negative condition and move
out from the stagnant position, which doubled out retreat in comparison to the
international advancement. We hope that we can achieve the decisive step, which
was delayed for decades, toward an independent, sovereign and free democratic
society that establishes new foundations for an upswing project, which would
promise a better future to the Arab nation.
Annex
No. 8
Declaration
of Mamoun al-Homsi
Dear Fellow Citizens;
It's been 10 years since I
was given the honor of representing you in the People's Assembly. Since then, I
have always sought to communicate your grievances and to defend your interests
with all honesty and uprightness, the most important of these being:
1) to
follow the provisions of the Constitution and put an end to the declared state
of emergency and its regulations;
2) to
establish the rule of law, and strengthen , reform and guarantee the
independence of the judiciary;
3) to terminate the control
of the "Central Committee for Inspection and Oversight" , which has
become a source of terror, and a tool for settling personal accounts, and which
has also surpassed the within which it should be operating;
4) to demand that the
government puts an end to the imposition of fees and price increases which have
overburdened citizens and undermined all their aspirations, while refusing at
the same time to consider salary increases that would provide for a minimum
level of fairness and equity;
5) to
persist in the battle against corruption in all its forms;
6) to
prevent certain officials and their sons from exploiting the goods of this
country, so that they may be distributed equally and fairly amongst social
groups;
7) to
demand the cancellation of cellular contracts, as they represent a clear
violation of the Constitution, a manipulation on behalf of influential persons,
and a waste of an insurance opportunity for the treasury;
8) to put an end to the
intrusions of the secret service into the everyday lives of citizens, and to
ensure that their authority is reduced to the handling of issues that directly
affect the country's stability and safety and that of its citizens, and in a
manner that is consistent with our efforts to raise a generation of youth that
is capable of exercising its rights to live free and fully practice democracy;
9) to
call upon the government authorities to establish a parliamentarian committee
for the protection of human rights and to take steps to authorize and
facilitate its establishment;
10) to activate the
People's Assembly's role, and cease to subject active members (both inside and
outside the Assembly) to intimidation and suppression Furthermore, the
government is called upon to respect Article 66 of the Constitution relevant to
the immunity of parliamentarians, and to ensure that the Chairman of the
Assembly adheres to these internal provisions in a consistent manner;
Dear Fellow Citizens;
It is rather unfortunate
that in the very recent past, the government has been ignoring all these
demands. Instead of addressing your grievances, it has continued to exert
pressure, to defame me and other colleagues, and to raise doubts about our
nationalism and commitment to the well being of this country. This it has done
by using the same methods that it has used against the Syrian Intellectuals,
many of whom are the focus of respect and source of pride of the majority of
Syrians.
One of the methods that it
has followed is to accuse me of evading the payment of an "imaginary"
tax figure of 45 million Syrian Lira, keeping in mind that my
tax track record has been available to the authorities for the past 20 years,
and that I have not once evaded my taxes. On the contrary, I have a very
persistent record of paying the taxes that are due, and have documents to prove
it.
This, and other methods
resorted to by the authorities against me and colleagues of mine are in clear
violation of the constitutional provisions that provide us with parliamentary
immunity. No wonder that from within the three legislative branched and its 750
members, the only ones to have been accused of tax evasion are the independent
members that have put forward courageous initiatives and who have received the
majority of votes during the elections over the past 10 years.
For these reasons, and in
hope that those who wish freedom upon
Independent Member
of the People's Assembly
Mohamad Mamoun
Al-Homsi
Annex
No. 9
From
the Testimony of
Redha Haddad
Selections
from the testimony of the journalist Redha Haddad, which was published in many
languages. I met him in the
"In prison, you loose
your particularity, your individuality vanishes... you become nervous and a
victim of tension. There are no regular lists that define your rights and
duties, but you are, completely, subjugated to the mood and whims of, not only
the director of the prison, but also to the minor security cadre of the guards
in any prison that we passed in. Most security officers used to say with irony:
'Rights, which rights are you talking about? You have
no rights, our desires and needs are the only rights!'
One of our companions became angry once and said 'if we have no rights, then
why do we have duties? Why do the Syrian laws exist? Even the laws and systems
of the prisons talk about the rights of the prisoners, but you are not
committed to anything!'. The Lieutenant Colonel
shouted at him and said: 'The law you are talking about is in my buttock and
under my shoe!'
Most bodies of security and
officers are from rural areas. It is rare to find a cadre or an officer from
the city. The rural regions had a long period of isolation away from city and
civilization. The organized manipulation by the responsible bodies of security
made the cadres very ill tempered and mean in dealing with us being political
prisoners. They behaved roughly, either due to their belonging to certain
regions or a certain sectarian, or due to fear from the authority and
punishment. Sometimes, they used to concoct punishment for the prisoners to
assure their loyalty to their bosses.
Our political belonging
formed only one factor to pressure us, the matter was, simply, a hazardous map
of factors. The real problem that we suffered from was because we were
permissible humans for cursing, beating and humiliation in any moment for
senseless reasons. This continued until the year 1989, where the responsible
for our prison was changed.
The horrible thing that
pressed your nerves and awakened all your senses, fears and obsessions to the
extent of panting and suffocation with the feelings of anger and repression was
when we heard, late at night, the voices of torture from the room of inquiry.
The sounds of sticks and cables colliding with human flesh, followed by
barbarian shouts destroyed something inside you. Although torture was
practiced, weekly, and more than once, many times I could not stand the painful
and suffering voices, so, I trembled and cried with despair from the sense
humiliation. The most difficult thing was when I heard the voices of a tortured
woman.
Once we protested in front
of an officer about exposing us to hard feelings and torture, he found our
protest strange and said: 'Please, take care of the country instead of us and
tell us what to do! Do you think that we are in
Each day, we spent
twenty-two hours and twenty minutes in the cell, when we slept,
each one had the area of 30 cm width. The pressure increased, tension enlarged
and disagreement started among the prisoners. The capacities of people to endure
vary, their fears and conditions differ as well. The
pressure of long imprisonment created destructive phenomena like, hallucination
of doubts and suspicion, and schizophrenia in many cases. Other illness were
created too, but they were able to be treated with time, such as, the
prisoner's concentration on his own solicitude, suppressed feelings and fears
from another person, who might be one of his friends, sometimes, and rarely one
of the jailers. Thus, the feelings of hatred would appear against a person and
start to criticize him and bear him all the possible epidemics and vileness.
This case was created from time to time among a number of prisoners. I believe
that this was a sort of discharging the energy of aggressiveness, which was
created by repression and suppression.
A proverb says (Who never
tried the cautery will never know the story). In prison, the person could be
crushed into the extent of depriving him of his small normal things in daily
life. He would be placed in inhuman places and dispossessed of everything,
including his name, to become just a number. Gradually, we discovered that the
directory practiced successive pressures on purpose. From time to time, the
jailers concocted problems with us to apply punishment for the least reasons. One
day, one of us refused to take the trash into the garbage place, thus, the
guards started to beat, slap and kick him, barbarously, on his face and all his
body. They said 'You son of a bitch, you don't want to serve us? You will serve
our boots and polish it with your face!'. They forced
him into the wheel, and savagely enough they started to whip his bare feet with
a cable from copper, cursing and kicking him and ordering him to wipe the dust
of the office. The prisoner insisted on his refusal, he said 'I am not your
servant and you can not oblige me to do what is unacceptable to me'. He paid
the price for his stubbornness, he was tortured for a
week two hours a day... Kicking, bunching, slapping... he was beaten up with
sticks and iron cables, besides wetting his body before and during the torture
and pouring cold water on his body for long periods. Muhi Al Deen continued to
be stubborn and he is still in the prison.
Hearing the voices of our
friend under torture tormented us and reflected sadness and gloominess in our
cell. He called for our help but we could not help him because all of us
suffered the nightmare of the directory's vengeance... we were transferred into
the horrible prison of
I will not explain here
about the conditions of
Most prisoners had a clear
image about
From time to time, these
temporary nervous breakdowns and hysteric attacks occurred, but the daily
nightmares continued to many prisoners. It is the
suppression, the horror and terrors from spending the rest of your life in
prison, where the authority had the complete power to do whatever it wanted.
How could a person's soul endure all this torture
without moans or complains?
In 1986-1987, our food was
reduced into three trivial meals. You can not imagine a simple breakfast
containing 50 grams of jam, an egg or a couple of olives only. Lunch lacked
cleanness and meat. The portion of each prisoner in the three meals might not
reach 60 grams during a whole week. Dinner contained two boiled potatoes or an
egg or some chickpea or broad beans. We had three loafs of bread, daily, which
total weight is about 350-400 grams. Within two years, the immunity of our
bodies deteriorated and different infections spread among us. We, often,
demanded that the directory would permit us to buy food from outside the prison
or allow our families to bring us food. Due to the severe health deterioration
and digestive illness because of the bad food, our demands were responded at the
end of 1987.
To depress the morale and
practice pressures, officers suggested, many times, to
release us in case we submit a statement in which we withdraw from the
party, abandon any political activity, declare our acceptance to work with the
bodies of security and become at its service. Some prisoners refused and others
responded.
I can not forget those who
died under torture or because of repression in the prison. Abd Al Razak Abazeed, suffered from severe pneumonitis after he was
exposed to barbaric beating and very cold water. He was plunged in a basin of
iced water, then put in the cell without a cover for several days, thus he died
after two or three months. Sheik Abu Saleem Al Masri died after spending seven
years in prison. He was old over 67 years of age. His only accusation with his
two sons, brother, two sons-in-law and nephew is that they all belonged to
Masri family. They were hostages until the demanded Sheik's son comes back. The
Sheik died, quietly, at night by a heart attack in 1990.
The electrical engineer,
Abd Al Majeed Abu Shaleh, from
Another brother from
Nasseri movement, Ahmed Rajab, who died of a heart attack due to the fatigue
that he was exposed to while transferred from the prison of
During my whole former
explanations I avoided talking about the first stages of detention and the
period of inquiry because it torments me to remember that. That period jumbles
me up and renews all the feelings of humiliation, subservience and mental pain.
They make you a non-human, nothing, and in every minute, they confirm that you
are just a number which could be erased from their files and existence whenever
they wanted and so simply. My number was 61... this is
what I knew after returning from the hospital to the branch of inquiry. I spent
seven days in the hospital, two days in the intensive care with complete
unconsciousness. I reached that state because, moments after my detention, they
wanted me to provide information, which I did not know anything about. My eyes
were covered, my hands and feet were chained when
Brigade Hisham Behtiar and General Ali Duba, the head of military security,
interrogated me. The General said "Say what we want and you will return to
your work and home. You are an educated journalist and we do not want to harm
you". In spite of my fear, I smiled inside my heart. Actually, five armed
cadres abducted me in the middle of the street, covered my eyes, cuffed my
hands and chained my feet, then they would say 'We do not want to harm you!'. I confirmed to them many times that I knew nothing about
the subject, which they investigated about. I told Mr. Ali Duba that I was a
friend and an adherent to the communist party-political office, but this did
not mean that I owned the demanded information.
The circle of infernal torture
started, which left its effects for the rest of my life. There were body
defects, permanent and temporary, and psychological effects that I will never
recover from. I was hanged on a high metallic ladder, my hands tightened into a
metallic board and my body swung in the air, about one-meter high from the
floor. I was stripped off all my clothes, my eyes were covered with a black
blindfold and received many punches on my abdomen and my back... I could not
know for how long I was hanged and swinging. All I remember is the horrible
pain in the muscles of my armpit... then convulsion... unconsciousness...they
awakened me to start another course of torture. My feet were beaten with cables
until swelling, completely. While beating, both officers repeated their
questions... and I confirmed that I do not have any information about the
subject they wanted. Again I fainted... later, I found myself tied into a
chair, and my knees emerged to the front because my legs were folded and
fastened in a way, which till this moment I do not know how. I was so much
confused... the blindfold was still on my eyes and my thighs were spliced.
Brigade Hisham started to
beat me by a solid object, severely and savagely, on my knees. He cursed me and
spoke so many obscene and dirty expressions. 'Dog, beast, you are an insect, I
will mash you with my foot...Bastard, I will fuck your
mother and sisters'. He repeated the beating and I repeated my same answer.
General Duba punched and kicked me, he said: 'You dog, son of a bitch, if you don't
confess I will bring your wife and I will strip her and fuck her in front of
you...'. I fainted and felt the need to vomit all the
contents of my stomach in the face of this monster. Again, I became
unconscious, when I awaked I found myself stretched on the floor and the
fingers of my hands and feet were tied into two electrical wires. While I was
laid on the wet floor, the electrical current started to run in my body...
Brigade Behtiar stood near my head and General Duba was sitting on a chair. While
I was lying down, for seconds, through a little fissure from under the
blindfold, I could see Duba. He was wearing an ecru silky trouser, crossing his
legs, smoking a grand cigar and holding a glass of Whisky. This was what I
really saw at the time I was trembling from the electrical current that ran in
my body and the pain was tearing every cell in my flesh, mainly, my brain. They
stopped for sometimes, repeated the question... then poured the water on my
body and passed electricity again. I could not know for how long I remained
under torture. At the last stages, I could not stand the pain; my head was a
blazing ball, I felt that I was torn and vanishing, my brain was exploding of
pain and electricity continued in my blood. With complete despair, I started to
hit my head by all the strength that remained in my body; so, I severely hit my
head and kicked the floor. They cursed me and held my head. General Duba was
furious because he could not reach any hopeful results, he kicked my head and
stepped on my neck with his shoe, he even entered the front of his shoe in my
throat, saying angrily: 'I will kill you bastard, son of the whore. You want to
die like a hero, I will fulfill your desires, die bastard!'.
I heard curses, which I never heard from any human before. He took a stick and
started beating me all over my body... Hisham shared him with a metallic
cable... Duba lost his mind, his stick broke, so, he
took the cable from Hisham and continued beating me hysterically.
I stopped feeling anything
and became, completely, unconscious. After a couple of hours, I found myself in
an unknown hospital. Later, I knew that it was Mazzah hospital, where I spent
seven days. Then, I was brought back to the inquiry branch, where I spent 15
days thrown in a basement, under the ground. We were 55 prisoners stuffed in an
area of 4 quadruple meters. We did not recognize days from nights, our eyes
were covered all the time and our hands chained during 24 hours, in addition,
the jailer resided with us. Every couple of hours, the jailer was changed. The
jailer had an iron cable to punish anyone who might try to talk. Anyone who
might utter a word to his neighbor, whose body is clanged to him, would receive
punishment, beating, kicking and curses. Anyone who might try to loosen the
painful tightened blindfold or rub the pressing leather blindfold would receive
the same punishment.
After I regained my
consciousness, gradually, I discovered that my hand became, partially,
paralyzed, thus, I could not hold the sandwich with my fingers nor the cup of water, I had to use both fists together to move anything.
The paralyzing case continued for about ten months, then, gradually I improved.
Also, the cartilage of my right knee was ruptured. I had a surgery at the
beginning of year 1993, where they did the ablation of the ruptured cartilage
in a public hospital. Now, forty days after releasing me from prison, I
discover that I have Leukemia. Although I left the prison, prison did not leave
me, the effects of its pain penetrated in my blood, but my soul still looks for
freedom, dignity and justice.
Annex
No. 10
ARAB
COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
COMMISSION
ARABE DES DROITS HUMAINS
Office of
Mrs. Mary Robinson, High Commissioner of Human Rights.
Ladies and Gentlemen of the
Action Group against Arbitrary Detention
Palais Des Nations
Dear Sirs/Madams.
The Arab Commission of
Human Rights, (ACHR), wishes to draw your attention to the appalling detention
conditions endured by the political prisoners in Syrian jails. Indeed,
Following the release of six hundred prisoners on the sixteenth of August 2001
(most of whom have completed or were about to purge their prison sentences and
a large number of them were in poor health condition), We, the ACHR, have
expressed our concern about the fate of scores of prisoners who remained in
jail and in critical health conditions. The ACHR has called for the release of
all political prisoners within the framework of a general amnesty, as well as
the closure of the notorious
Since that date, all
release measures have almost ceased, with the exception of few individual
cases, such as our colleagues, Mr. Nizar Nayouf and Mr. Ziad Ahmed Qassab plus
seven other prisoners from the countryside of the
Further more, seven more
people from the town of
Furthermore, we are gravely
concerned by the arrest of a Syrian MP, Mr. Mohamed Mamoun Al-Homsi (45 years
old) on
The case of Mamoun
Al-Homsi:
Around
Its worth mentioning that
Mr. Al Homsi has started a hunger strike two days prior to his arrest and he is
suffering from diabetes, which highlights the serious and inconsiderate
treatment of the security forces with citizens.
The Syrian authorities have
subsequently accused the arrested MP with defamation of the constitution,
hostility to the regime and establishing contacts (though phone conversation)
with hostile outside parties
The ministry of interior
published the statement of accusation via the Syrian News Agency. The regime
backed Press conducted a defamation campaign against a so called planned
conspiracy concocted between Human Rights organisations and MP, Al-Homsi with
the purpose of stirring troubles in
During his arrest, Mr
Al-Homsi was not allowed any visitors and was not admitted at any hospital for
treatment of his deteriorating medical conditions caused by his hunger strike.
Furthermore, the security forces prevented his lawyer from visiting him in jail
despite having prior approval by the Attorney General, claiming that they were
following strict instructions from the Minister of Justice.
Its worth mentioning that Mr.
Al-Homsi statement regarding his Hunger strike protest, called for: The respect
and the integrity of the constitution, the end of the state of emergency, the
abolition of martial laws and the overwhelming control of the security services
over the political system. He also called for the dissolution of the central
organisation for control and inspection which became a source of terror and a
tool for personal vendetta
The Arab Commission for
Human rights considers the arrest of MP Al-Homsi as Arbitrary and demands Action
Group against Arbitrary Detention to adopt his case.
Incomplete list of
prisoners who are in severe critical conditions:
1- Mohammad Lutfi al-Qala,
2- Imad al-Din Rinko, 3- Isam Zaybaq, 4- Isam Dawwara, 5- Jony Surour, 6- Mutab
al-Shoufi, 7- Ali ubaid Mousa, 8- Ammar Haiyani, 9- Mustafa Kujuk, 10- Mustafa
al-Shatti, 11- Abd al-Razzaq Umar Razzouq, 12- Usama Hamra, 13- Jihad Muhammad
Ali Abdu, 14- Adel Lukji, 15- Muhammad Wahid al-Sahm, 16- Fayez Mardini, 17-
Abd al-Karim Bazijan, 18- Zakariya Rahhal, 19- Khalid Khabbaz, 20- Abd al-Salam
Taqiya, 21- Muhammad Sunoun, 22- Adel Hablas, 23- Munir Kahlawi, 24- Nasir
Hmmoud Salih, 25- Umar Shafiq al-Umar, 26- Fayiz Ahmad al-Umar, 27- Ziyad
Qassas, 28- Shahada Dabour, 29- Mahmoud Uthman al-Hasan, 30- Muhammad Murdi
Salih, 31- Zaki Muhammad Kamil Asi, 32- Muhyey al-Din Khalaf Salih, 33- Salih
Barbouti, 34- Yasir Jamous.
One should not forget to
mention the three members of the Arab Communist Organisation who are still in
jail since 1975: their medical conditions are as follows:
Haytham
Na'al, suffering from lung hypertrophy, ulcer and urological complications.
- Faris Morad, suffering
from bad blood circulation, severely infected spinal cord, High blood pressure.
- Imad Shiha, chronic
intestinal condition, sciatica,
There is no legal
justification for the continued imprisonment of these prisoners, bearing in
mind their severe medical condition. Their incarceration is therefore, nothing
but a vindictive and cruel action.
We have repeatedly warned
against their deteriorating situation, through various reports and letters.
ACHR sources estimates the
overall number of prisoners in Sidnaya prison to be 871 divided as follows:
411 from
the Muslim brotherhood.
123 followers of the Iraqi
branch of Baath party
69 prisoners accused of
collaboration and espionage (including Lebanese, Palestinian, Jordanian, Iraqis
and Syrians (with relations to countries like
20 alleged members of Fateh
movement of Yasser Arafat
1 Democratic Baath party
member
109 various cases
(homicide, drug, smuggling, border crossing, etc)
80% of these prisoners
received sentences, of which 60 have been convicted by on-site trials. They
include military personnel, members of the Islamic liberation party.
The prisoners of
150 Muslim brotherhood, 56 followers of the Iraqi branch of al-Bath
party
10 prisoners accused of
collaboration and espionage
20 members of Fateh
movement of Yasser Arafat
53
unknown felonies.
All of these prisoners were
convicted by on-site trials and there is no definitive sentences pronounced
against any of them.
The prisoners in
interrogation centres:
ACHR estimates the number
of political prisoners in the interrogation centres to be more than one hundred
Syrians and Arabs, spread on various centres among which is Far Filastin. Put
aside the Common law criminals, the number of the political prisoners in Syrian
prisons exceeds 1200 political prisoners, confirmed to be alive.
The
tragedy of
For thousands of Syrian
families, the name of
We have mentioned in
previous studies the harsh conditions of these prisoners, which engendered
chronic illnesses to many of them, that this prison, which is considered to be
the worst in the Arab World, should be closed immediately, because there is no
plausible justification for its existence.
Thereupon, we send this
letter to you to draw your attention to the case of the arbitrary arrests in
Syria, and to call upon you to act immediately for a prompt release of those
with critical health conditions, of whom we have submitted a list of 37 names,
and finally to put pressure on Syrian authorities to close these prisons and
release the remaining of the prisoners of opinion.
Best regards from ACHR
Violette Daguerre
President
Annex
No. 11
ARAB
COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
COMMISSION
ARABE DES DROITS HUMAINS
What About
the Future?
REMARKS ON THE SECOND
PERIODIC REPORT
That should have been
presented by
Prepared by: Haytham Manna
Spokesperson of ACHR
End of March 2001
INTRODUCTION:
After 15 years of delay,
Syrian authorities have not found it useful to explain to us why we had not
been entitled to this report in 1984.
In 1984, the number of the
political prisoners (Syrians and Arabs) in the Syrian prisons was 18 000 people,
the number of disappeared was around 3100 people. It was also the occasion to
give us some explanation on the collective massacres that took place in
1 - Can we find an
authorized independent organization of human rights and fundamental freedoms,
which can work freely without interference in its activities?
2 - Does the government
respect the principle of a warrant for arrest and the time limits of police
custody or control the limits of the extra judiciary?
3 - Does it respect the
right of a multiparty system to exist and to exert their right of expression?
4 -Does it accept the
independence of the judicial system, lawyers and trade unions?
5 - Does the sovereign
government prevent the serious violations of the human rights or, on the
contrary, take part in these violations?
6 - Does it respect the
rights of cultural, national or religious minorities?
7. Does a policy of the
promotion of human rights exist?
Does it authorize the
democratic means of defense of the individual?
9 - Did the international bill
of human rights form part of the governmental references within the framework
of fundamental freedoms and the rights of the person?
10- Does it guarantee a
minimum of social and economical rights for a life worthy of citizen?
For all these minimal standards,
doe we have any positive responses in
The CONSTITUTION:
The Syrian constitution is
an example of partiality, ideologization and is arbitrary. From several points
of view, it is in contradiction with the pact relating to the civic and political
rights. It adopts the ideology of the Baas Party openly in its preamble. The
word democracy had not the right to be mentioned (in the English translation of
the official report Paragraph 14 - one can read: "The
The Syrian Constitution
"nationalizes" the state and the society for the political account of
one party (article 8). It limits public freedom to the respect of principles
which the executive power does not respect: the construction and the protection
of socialism, as well as the right to form an NGO, which is limited by the
respect of old programs of the Baas party that even this party does not respect
any more (article 49).
The prevalence of the
executive power is very important in articles 111, 132, 139, 149. Article 28
about the independence of the courts does not guarantee impartiality and
competence. It is also the case of chapter 3 on the judicial power. In spite of
its weak points, the constitution has never been a reference in the political
process; in fact the laws of have dominated the political scene in the country
since 1963.
A
STATE lacking laws:
In a general way, it is
possible to summarize the question of the confiscation of democratic and public
freedoms in the following way:
1. The persistence of the
state of emergency and the submission of the country to martial laws since the
8/03/1963, this in spite of the absence of any legal justification or
objectives called upon by the government. In this illegal "and abnormal
situation", the laws, and the constitutional guarantees making it possible
for citizens to defend their rights became quite simply ineffective. In
addition, new laws were promulgated that go against what was envisaged by the
national constitution and the International Covenant on Civil and Political
rights. An example is " the principal law of the civil
state workers" at the beginning of 1984 and in particular article 138
which authorizes any person of the hierarchy to lay off a subordinate when it
seems appropriate to him and without justification. Another example is that of
the law of the confederation of journalists of 1989. And there exist plenty of
other examples. According to martial law, the governor of the martial law has
the right, like all the sections of the security services (currently more than
a dozen), to arrest any citizen, from his house or in the street or on his
place of work. The procedure is carried out without need to present "a
warrant for arrest" or to obtain authorization from the Attorney General.
It is in the same way possible to hold this same citizen indefinitely. The citizen
Saad Jaoudat Said was arrested on the day of the referendum because he voted
no. He remained there in prison for two months without any charges being
brought against him. Hussein Daoud, expelled from FRG on the
Approximately 1200 Syrian,
Palestinian, Jordanian and Lebanese prisoners are in the Syrian jails because
of these "illegal" laws. According to martial law, Syrian citizens do
not have the right to form political associations, organizations or parties, in
order to express or to defend their opinions. Concerning trade-union freedoms, the
official authorities continue to make more unconstitutional violations and
interventions with regard to the trade unions. The organizations of workers and
students are infiltrated in their activities and their elections. The hierarchy
is often imposed. We will quote only certain obvious examples, those concerning
the elections of the confederation of the trade unions of the workers, the
doctors, the engineers and the journalists. The Chamber of Commerce is until
now the only trade-union organization entitled to elections, and is not
controlled and relatively free within the framework of the policy of
"economic pluralism".
2. In 38 years, the
systematic marginalization of justice upset the values and created a true legal
underdevelopment marked by the domination of the extra-judiciary. The
omnipresence of the emergency courts, re-appearing since1992, makes it possible
to work of jure et de facto in total infringement of
the regulations of the international instruments. The
Each time that a prisoner
purges his sentence, he is transferred to a section for interrogation to sign a
document of a personal self-criticism in a spirit of later collaboration,
including a condemnation of his own party and a promise not to be involved
politically ever again, and of course supporting the policies of the President.
We will like to mention the case of doctor Abdel Aziz
Al-Khayyer, the head of the Communist Party arrested in 1992 and condemned to
22 years of prison, and the defender of the human rights Nizar Nayyouf, condemned
to 10 years of prison.
Last but not least, one
month before the publication of the official report, more than 100 prisoners
were arrested arbitrarily for political reasons (See the list with this report)
3. Another law of exception
is that quoted in the paragraph 60 concerning the capital punishment in the
Syrian legislation. This law stipulates, "Anyone who joins the Muslim
Brotherhood organization is condemned to death" (art. 10 of Act No. 49 of
IMPUNITY:
32. All citizens,
regardless of their occupational or social status have a legally guaranteed
right to seek legal remedy in respect to any act of injustice committed against
them. Article 319 of the Penal Code stipulates that: «Any act that is likely to
prevent a Syrian from exercising his civil rights or fulfilling his civil obligations
shall be punishable by detention for a term of one month to one year». Article
57 of the Syrian Code of Criminal Procedure is also explicit in this regard,
since it affirms that: «Anyone who deems himself to be the victim of a felony
or a misdemeanor has the right to file a complaint with the Department of
Public Prosecutions, which has an obligation to institute public proceedings if
the complainant brings a personal action». In regard to the exercise of this
right, the code makes no distinction between one person and another on grounds
of color, gender, race, religion, language or even nationality and this legal
right applies to any offence committed against the claimant.
85. Article 28, paragraph
3, of the Syrian Constitution stipulates that: "No one may be subjected to
physical or mental torture or degrading treatment, the perpetrators of which
shall be liable to the legally prescribed penalties".
86. Under the legislation,
it is prohibited to subject an accused or convicted person or any person under
judicial investigation, to any mental or physical pressure with a view toward
the extortion of a confession or information. Article 391 of the penal code
stipulates as follows:
"1. Anyone who
subjects a person to illegal acts of violence with a view to obtaining from him
a confession to an offence or information pertaining thereto shall be liable to
a penalty of detention for a term of three months to three years.
2If such acts of violence
cause sickness or wounds, the minimum penalty shall be one year's
detention."
87. Any act that is likely
to prevent a Syrian from exercising his civil rights or fulfilling his
obligations is punishable by detention for a term of one month to one year if
it is committed through the use of threats, violence or any means of physical
or mental coercion (Article 319 of the Penal Code).
88. The courts look into
any allegation by a citizen concerning his subjection to physical or mental
torture or degrading treatment, award appropriate compensation and impose the
prescribed penalty. (from the OFFICIAL REPORT)
Syria still has not
ratified the convention for abolishment of torture, and yet on March 13,1986, the Syrian representative at UN said in an oral
argument to the 42nd session of the Commission of Human Rights in Geneva: "Torture
is generally practiced in the absence of laws or in the non-application of the
current laws under the domination of a non-democratic government, which
prevents its citizens from taking part in political life. The judicial system
bends to the political power preventing thus anyone from having his right to
have his day before the courts and the recognition by the security forces of
the truth (... Although torture aims at the man as a human being, its goal is
to dehumanize the human (...). Whatever the called upon reasons or motivations,
especially in a state of war or occupation or for prisoners of war, torture
cannot be justified as a mean of obtaining information or humiliation (...). I
must say that the Convention Against Torture adopted
by the General Assembly of UN drew the attention of the Syrian authorities. For
that, the Ministry for Justice prepared a law, which declared the adoption by
1987: Ahmad al-Abbas,
Ibrahim Ahmado, Muhammed al-Arraj, Ahmad As'ad Ghanoum, Ihsan Izzo, Umar
al-Jamil, Ahmad Jaroud, Haytham Khoja, Rif'at al-Rachid, Taha Abdelrazzaq Sarhan,
Mudhar al-Jundi.
1988: Abdel Razzaq Abazid,
Muhammad Rashid Abbas, Ridhwan Dughaim, Umar Wahid Haidar, Muhammed Issa
al-Mane', AbdelKader Murtada, Saleh Rukhaima, Wajih Shihadeh, Musa Zaydan,
Ahmad al-Zir.
1989: Muhammed Hashem,
Muhammed Hassan, Khidr Jabr.
1990: Zahi Abadi, Muhammed
Dawud, Mounir Francis, Ziad Musa Qatnani.
1991: Jamal Hassino,
Hussein Zaydan.
1992: Mounir al-Ahmad,
Ahmad Rif'at Rajab.
The international campaign
after the death under torture of engineer Mounir Francis and the tragedy of
Doctor Nour Eddin Attasi undoubtedly played a key role in the precautions taken
after this date. This had not prevented the death under not yet elucidated
conditions of Mr. Salah Jedid nor the "calculated" end of Mr. Karim
Al-Haj Hussein (
"On December 7. 1986
at dawn, a patrol made up officers (it quotes two names) and other agents of
Fara Falasine /235 / (center of detention in Damas) made came to my home to
arrest me. Not finding me at the house, they struck my wife in front of our
small daughter, who was then four years old, and took her along to Fara
Falastine, where one separated her from her two daughters, of whom the younger
was only one month old (... During her absence, the house was ransacked by the
moukhabarat. It is what my wife could note on her return a few days later (...
They made pressure on the owner so that it refuses to honor his engagement in
our connection and expels my family. I ask the court to examine the injury
caused by the forced expulsion of my wife and my two children.
Since my arrest on
(Mohammed Mradni is
condemned to fifteen years of prison with forced work and deprivation of his
civic rights). The torture inflicted on our colleague Nizar Nayyouf leaves
after-effects for life. It is because he requested medical attention that he
underwent months of isolation. The torture, exerted against more than 18,600
prisoners with forty practiced methods, remains unpunished.
Critical cases in prisons:
The following is a
non-exhaustive list of political prisoners in a very bad health
Fares Murad (in prison
since 1975), Haytham Na'al (in prison since 1975), Imad Shiha (in prison since
1975), Abdul Wadud Yousof (in prison since 1980) Ibrahi A'ssi (in prison since
1980), Mouhammed Moumar (in prison since 1986), Mouhamed Nizar Mradni (in
prison since 1987), Nizar Nayyouf (in prison since 1992)
Freedom of expression:
275. In
The ministry of information
imposes a strong censorship on all the sources of information likely to provide
information to citizens or to enable the citizens to have opinions that go
against the political line and ideological of the government. Throughout the
period of Hafez Assad, only the newspapers of the Baas Party were authorized.
Today the Syrian
authorities grant these types of authorizations to only party members in power.
That being, the censorship
is not limited to the ministry for information. Often, the security services
took on this role. They arrested known writers, intellectuals and thinkers, in
order to them question on interviews, conferences or debates, which they gave.
The ministry for information often pushes the writers of official journals to
defame certain writers and intellectuals for their view. It is the case in the
attacks orchestrated against the people of the forum of the renaissance of
civil society (Ihia al-mujtama al-madani).
The following categories of
nationals are exempt from having to obtain exit visas or any other type of
authorization:
1. Persons over the age of
50.
2. Persons who have
performed military service or paid a fee in lieu thereof or who are exempt
there from on health grounds or because they have performed military service in
a foreign army.
3. Women over the age of
18, with the exception of those between the ages of 18 and 35 travelling to
certain countries.
4. Persons whose passports
were issued less than three months previously.
5. Citizens living outside
the country and holding valid foreign residence permits and citizens holding
foreign passports who leave the country less than three months after entry.
Persons leaving to perform
the pilgrimage, and holding special hajj travel documents.
(180 OFFICIAL REPORT)
The continued interference
the intellectuals undergo by the authorities prevents the publication of their
cultural works. Of my 21 books, only one is authorized: «The Universe of Sleep
». Even the Short Universal Encyclopedia of Human Rights is prohibited in
These extra legal practices
often exceed the framework of the individuals to include whole groups and
cultural institutions.
The official report
confirms that: Syrian law in no way restricts the exercise of this right except
where necessary in order to protect public safety, national security, public
order, the rights of others, public health or public morals. In
These last years, the
authorities tightened their control on the intellectuals so much so that any
work, manuscript, article, and even the short speech given in the mosque on
Friday must be reviewed by the security forces to obtain their consent, if not,
prohibition will be guaranteed for them. As we started to have a respite after
the death of General Assad, there has been a multiplication of spontaneous
meetings organized in private homes and the appeal of 99 intellectuals followed
by an appeal by 1000 intellectuals for democratic reform in the country.
However a counterattack was organized by the Baas Party and the security forces
in order to take the upper hand and paralyze any initiative of free expression.
The National Command of the Baas Party published the circular 1075, which was
republished by the internal newspaper of the party "al-Munadhel") and
classified all the reformers in terms of the past colonial era and unstable
period in
Since
An application for
authorization presented to the governor 2 weeks before the date of the meeting.
Obtain authorization for
the person who speaks.
3) The list of names of the
people who will have to take part in the debate.
4) Formulating an idea on
the envisioned debate.
5) The place and the
duration of the meeting Mountada.
Here is the testimony of
Habib Saleh after having presented a request of this kind:
"Irequested from the
governor of
Occupied Syrian
territories:
1 . Wiam Mahmoud Amasheh
2 . Amal Ewadat
3 . Hayl Hasan Abu-Zaid
4 . Asam Mahmoud Al-Weli
5 . Basheer Soulayman Al-Maqet
6 . Soudqi Soulayman Al-Maqet
7 . Zikan Nemer Al-Wadi
8 .
Yasser Khanjar
9 .
Radwan Jamil Jawhari
10 . Imad
Sami Ewedat
11 .
Zahio Nayf Awadf
WOMEN RIGHTS:
There is no significant
difference between the two sexes regarding health, while a large chasm
separates them in connection with illiteracy. 84% of men are able to read and
write, but only 50 % of women are literate. On the level of the primary school,
11% separate the two sexes. At the university level, the percentage of the
women is 20,75 %. Those occupy 18 % of the whole work
force of the country with nearly 500 000 women in economic activities.
The QUESTION OF BIDOUN
(persons without nationality):
On
The arrival of the Assad
General to the capacity in 1970 slows down the project of the Arab Belt without
repealing it. The seats of Kurdish at the assembly of the people will be
decided from the top to slow down democratic political mobility in the area.
The policy which will prevail will be to support those which work against the
social opposition and political arabo-Kurdish, and the successive governments
will not hesitate to play the chart of naturalization for Bidoun (Kurds without
indentity card) in order to exert pressure over the Kurdish political movement.
At the same time the
ministry of the interior issues decision n-122, which binds any Kurdish child
to register with the appropriate authorities, and since October 1992 dozens of
Kurdish children were not registered because their parents gave them first
names of Kurdish origin.
The Syrian government
agreed, for the first time, to answer the questions of a
ONG about the Kurds. It sent on12/07/1997 a detailed response to the American
organization Human Rights Watch in which it describes how those of Kurdish
nationality are treated like foreigners. It gives figures very close to our
estimates (142465 according to the government). The legal part of the answer
does not even deserve to be approached for one does not even find there the
traces of international engagements of
The second category of
those without nationality made up of those in political exile outside
The ACHR is counting the
exact number of those in exile without nationality. We ask your committee to
intervene to solve the problem of the Kurds and exiled Syrians, for each Syrian
is entitled to nationality.
CLAIMS:
- End of the arbitrary
arrests and release of all the political prisoners Syrian, Lebanese and
Palestinian. The right of return of all exiled people with
legal guarantees within the frame of a general amnesty.
- Abolition of the state of
emergency and martial law and the democratic reform of the Constitution.
- Promulgation of a modern
law, which authorizes and organizes the activity of the parties, associations
and the press, by guaranteeing real pluralism.
- Ratification by
- Official Recognition of
the legality of all the ONG for defense of the civil society, human rights and
fundamental freedoms, while granting the right of observing the condition of
human rights and violations of public and democratic freedoms in the country.
The Publications of the
Arab Commission for Human Rights
- Violette Daguerre and
James Paul, "For the End blockade against Iraqi People": two texts
about sanctions, 1998.
- Arab Commission for Human
Rights, "For the Protection of Human Rights Defenders in
- Arab Commission for Human
Rights, "
- Violette Daguerre,
"Civil Marriage in
- Jamal Al-haytham
Al-Na'al, "Democratic Freedoms, Human Rights and the Crises of the
Judicial System in the Syrian Constitution", 1998.
- Omar Mestiri, "A
- Mohamed Hafez Yakoub,
"International Criminal Court", 1998.
- Arab Commission for Human
Rights and the
- Moncef Marzouki, Violette
Daguerre, Issam Younes and Haytham Manna, Physical and Mental Integrity,
Torture in the Arab World", 1998.
-
Violette Daguerre, "Economical Sanctions on
- Arab Commission for Human
Rights, "For the Sake of Democracy and Human Rights in
- Haytham Manna, "A
Judicial observation during the trial of Radia Nasraoui and other convicted
activists, who were charged for belonging to the Workers Communist Party of
Tunisia", 1999.
- Haytham Manna, "A
Judicial observation (watch) for the trial of Jalal Ben Brik Al Zuglami",
1999.
-
Nathalie Budjerada, "A Judicial observation for the trial of Moncef
Marzouki and Najeeb Hosni", 2000.
- Haytham
Manna, "A judicial observation for the trial of the activists of the
Moroccan Association for Human Rights", 2000.
- Mahmoud
Khelili and Amina Kadi, "Forced Disappearance and Torture in
- Violette Daguerre,
"A Preliminary Report about Health Conditions in the Intifada", 2000.
- Taoufik
Ben Brik, "Now, Listen to Me", Dar Al Sabar with the Arab Commission
for Human Rights and the Arab Program for Human Rights Activists, 2000.
- Mohammed Hafiz Yakoub,
Violette Daguerre and Mohammed Abu Harthieh, "Palestinian Refugee Rights
and a durable solution based on International Law", 2000 ( English edition 2001).
- Haytham
Manna, "Freedom in the Creativity of Immigration", the series of
Buds, with Dar Al-Ahali, 2001.
- Moncef Marzouki,
"Are We Qualified for Democracy?", the
series of Buds, with dar Al-Ahali, 2001.
- Haytham
Manna, "What about the Future?" ( Notes on the
report of the Syrian government presented for the Commission of Human Rights in
- "Tunisia of
Tomorrow", a collective work by Ahmed Manai, Taoufik Ben Brik, Rashed Al
Gannouchi, Moustafa Ben Jaafar, Moncef Marzouki, Nourddin Khatrouchi, the
series of political reform and human rights, 2001.
- Al Haq Organization,
"The Use of Power by the Israeli Security Forces", translated into
French language by Nazha Rakim Satoor, 2001.
* * *
(*)
Violette Daguerre: A Lebanese researcher has Ph.D. Psychology, which she teaches.
The head of the Arab Commission for Human Rights. She
has many writings and researches in different fields.
(*) Jad Al Kareem Al Jeba'i : A writer and a researcher who produced different
writings. He is interested in the political mind, the matters of democracy,
civil society, and human rights. Mr. Jeba'i is the secretary of the committees
for the revival of civil society in
(*) Salamah Keilah : A Palestinian writer. A graduate
of Political Science. He lives in
(*) Aslan Abd Al Kareem : A specialist in pedagogy and Arabic language, which
he was teaching before detention by a martial law in 1984 because of his
activity in the Communist Labor Party. He was released in the year 2000. He
produced some political writings.
(*) Abdel Razaq Eid : Doctor of Letters, a researcher and a writer, who has
many publications in literature, history and politics. His last books are
"the Crisis of Illumination" and "Democracy between Secularism
and Islam".
(*) Mohammed Najati
Tayarah: A writer and a researcher who published a book and studies of
political sociology and pedagogy. He is a member in the committees for the
revival of civil society in
(*) Kareem Abu Halawa : Ph.D. Sociology. He has many studies and
researches, and two books "The Concept of the Civil Society" and
"The Arabic Culture".
(*) Haytham Manna : MD and Ph.D. Anthropology. He is the spokesman of
the Arab Commission for Human Rights. He published many writings and researches
in different fields and various languages. Lately, he published the Universal
Encyclopedia of Human Rights. He lives in exile.
(*) Haytham Al Maleh : A Lawyer and a former Judge. Due to his unionist
activities he was imprisoned for many years. He has several legal studies.
Lately, he was elected the head of the Syrian Association for Human Rights.
(*) Mohammed Issam Dimashki : An electricity engineer. He worked at the
Ministry of Electricity before he was detained in 1982 because of his belonging
to the Communist Labor Party. He was released 18 years later in the year 2000.
(*) Hussein Al Oudat : A graduate of Geography and French Literature. He
was appointed in many high ranked positions in the field of information.
Lately, he established the newspaper Akhbar Al-Arab. Presently, he directs his
established house of publication Dar Al Ahali. He has many writings and books.
(*) Amer Mahmood: A Syrian
Economist, who assumed different ranks in various economical organizations. He
produced many studies related to the Syrian Economy.
(*) Mohamed Al Oudat : Ph.D. Ecology. He works as a researcher in the
Atomic Energy Commission of Syria. He has several publications in
Phytogeography, Pollution and the protection of environment.
(*) Fayez Sarah : A Syrian writer and journalist who is interested in
the Arabic matters and Arab-Israeli conflict. He has a number of political
publications like, Studies in the Political Islam, The Minorities in the East
of the
(*) Jad Al Kareem Al Jeba'i : A writer and a researcher who produced different
writings. He is interested in the political mind, the matters of democracy,
civil society, and human rights. Mr. Jeba'i is the secretary of the committees
for the revival of civil society in
(*) Tameem and Majed : Both are fresh graduates of Medicine and Engineering
and they work in their fields of specialization. They have attention to the
general affairs and voluntarily work.
(*) Omar Deeb Abdel Hameed : A Syrian political writer who is interested in the
Syrian policy. During the last ten years, he published many studies and
articles in the Arab press.
(*) Sameer Al Adeli : Ph.D. Political sciences. A writer
and a researcher who has different publications in the field of politics.
He lives in exile.
(*) The
Editor.
(*) Violette Daguerre: A
Lebanese researcher has Ph.D. Psychology, which she teaches. The
head of the Arab Commission for Human Rights. She has many writings and
researches in different fields.
(*) The mentioned
information are supplied from the archives of the Arab Commission for Human
Rights, the report of the Committees for the Defense of Freedoms in 1992, the
Syrian Committee of Human Rights, The Syrian Commission Of Human Rights, Human
Rights Watch and the book of "Syria unmasked".