The President of Syria, Bashar al-Assad of the Ba’ath party, first came to power in 2000 and was re-elected in 2007 — unopposed each time.
Birth of a dictator
Born on September 11,1965 in Damascus to Aniseh and Hafez al-Assad, Bashar grew up in a home dominated by politics. His father had come to power following the 1966 coup d’etat and would rule the country for 29 years. Bashar, however, was reserved and lacked any interest in politics unlike his brothers Basil and Maher and sister Bushra. He received his primary and secondary education in Arab-French al-Hurriya School in Damascus and studied Medicine from Damascus University, graduating in 1988.
He then served as an Army doctor in the country’s largest military hospital ‘Tishrin’. He went to the United Kingdom to specialise in ophthalmology. Meanwhile, his father was grooming Basil to succeed him as President.
His Father’s Son
Hafez al-Assad, born October 6, 1930, ruled Syria for three decades till his death in 2000. He is credited with bringing some stability to governance after a series of coups and counter coups. One of benchmark changes he brought was the 1973 constitution which guaranteed ‘equal status to women’ in society amongst other welfare reforms. He was also known for his initiatives to revive the economy and open trade with foreign markets. Though he is acknowledged for spearheading infrastructural growth in education, health, urban-rural development all of this sugar-coated the corruption and repression of his regime. He was responsible for the infamous Hama massacre in which more than 10,000 Syrians were killed in February 1982. It is often labelled “the single deadliest act by any Arab government against its own people in the modern Middle East”. The Assads belongs to the ‘Alawi’ religious group who are Shias. Those massacred were Sunnis.
Doctor President
Bashar may have been intent on his studies but fate had other plans for him. Basil al-Assad died in an unfortunate road accident in 1994 prompting Hafez to bring Bashar back and begin training him as his heir apparent. Bashar entered the Army again in 1994 and this time was propelled up the ranks finally becoming a colonel in January 1999. Bashar was also making his way into public affairs and became a political advisor to his father. He campaigned heavily for a corruption-free state to eliminate from politics all potential candidates for the post of President. This tactic paid off and after his father’s death, Bashar al-Assad was elected the next President of Syria unopposed with a popular support of almost 92 per cent of the votes.
The Syrian revolution
Bashar al-Assad would have never thought that the story of his presidency would be penned in two different ways, one of his choice and the other of an uprising that is shaking his establishment to its roots.
Syria did not remain untouched by the Arab Spring and protests began on January 26, 2011. These protests weren’t organised. The first glimpse of a mass uprising occured mid March in Daraa. From there, the movement grew into a full-scale nationwide revolt with protestors demanding the resignation of President Bashar al-Assad along with overthrowing the entire Ba’athist government to bring in a more democratic form of governance.
The Syrian protestors, like their counterparts in the other countries touched by the Arab Spring, organised marches, hunger strikes and riots but all in a sustained civil resistance campaign aimed at ending the four-decade autocratic rule by the Assad family. This was just the beginning as the revolution got bloodier with every passing month and human rights became the price paid for the revolution.
The crackdown
As protests continued the use of tanks, weapons and soldiers armed with snipers became a common sight. Water, electricity, and other basic amenities were withdrawn in order to force people to bow down to the demands of the government. During the course of the uprising, the Syrian Army stormed the cities of Daraa, Douma, Baniyas, Hama, Homs, Talkalakh, Rastan, Jisr ash-Shughur, Deir ez-Zor and Latakia, among other towns. Sooner rather than later ‘Shabeeha’ came to light. It is a term used to describe the notorious Alawite paramilitary which is loyal to Assad and is accused of unofficially enforcing his regime on people by all means possible. A number of civilian deaths can be attributed to these forces but no official records are available to prove the same.
Before things got worse the government on April 21 declared a State of Emergency which took away all constitutional rights from citizens and other pressure groups acting against the government. Laws were declared to invite more political parties and groups for discussion to appease the protesters. But this time the protesters denounced every law as superficial as they believed obeying would increase the effect of Article 8 of their Constitution, according to which the Ba’ath party would lead the government till a new leader was elected. As the human right violations increased, the pressure of the international community on the Syrian government too increased. The Arab League, European Union and the United States heavily condemned the use of force against protesters.
Dictatorship, absence of an effective Constitution, human right violations, and increasing economic disparities became a common topic on social networking sites. In August 2011, Syrian security forces attacked the country’s best-known political cartoonist, Ali Farzat, a noted critic of Syria’s government. “The condition of Ali Farzat shows freedom of expression in our nation. Boycott Bashar!” were messages on Twitter and other social media.
International reaction
Amnesty International declared that the Syrian government was involved in crimes against humanity.
The death toll by late October had already touched 4,000 lives and there are approximately 14,000 people who have been detained. Syria has been threatened with de-affiliation from many international organisations.
The BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) nations urged Syria to talk to the leaders of the opposition and control the situation before it was too late, leaving foreign intervention as the only option.
The UN released a report this month stating that at least 5,000 people had been killed since the uprising began.
The issues
It is needless to say that reforms, equality and emancipation have been at the centre of the revolution. One protester from Syria symbolising this is Fadwa Soliman, an Alawite who became an icon in the uprising against Bashar al-Assad. She is a world famous Syrian actor who to everyone’s surprise stood up against the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Her family appeared in the national media and disowned her, but she continued to express her opposition to Assad. Soliman knew she faced death or prison but she stood her ground and opposed government claims that the people behind the revolution were armed terrorists.
Syrian protesters so far have not been as successful as their counterparts in Tunisia or Egypt. The road to freedom is long but what it promises is a better country where citizens will be valued with dignity.