24 - 30 January 2002
Issue No.570
|
Al-Ahram Weekly Online 24 - 30 January 2002 Issue No.570 |
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Current issue | Previous issue | Site map | ||
Pushing the limits
With its third statement challenging the government on political reform, the Syrian opposition movement is keeping its demands within reasonable bounds and making its voice heard, reports Sami Moubayed in Damascus
The Syrian opposition movement, spearheaded by the Committee for the Restoration of Civil Society, issued its latest declaration calling on the government to grant more democratic reforms. The two-page declaration, released on 16 January and sent off to foreign newspaper bureaus, was disseminated throughout Damascus by all means available, including faxes and the often underestimated word of mouth.
The statement's authors denounced the September 2001 arrest of the movement's co- founders, Riad Sayf and Aref Dalilah, and demanded their immediate release. Meanwhile, a group of 50 Syrian lawyers, symbolically representing every major town and city in Syria, stepped forward to defend Sayf before a Damascus court. Sayf's defenders argued that his arrest on charges of "violating the constitution" was itself unconstitutional.
The declaration -- the third of its kind since Bashar Al-Assad became president in 2000 -- was considerably well-received by the state, given that none of its authors were questioned, harassed or interrogated. The Syrian public, however, fed up with words, received the declaration with mild enthusiasm.
The Committee for the Restoration of Civil Society was set up shortly after the death of former President Hafez Al-Assad in June 2000. The group was never officially registered, however, and remains an unlicenced organisation. Among the society's founders were the Damascus MP Riad Sayf, the Syrian philosopher Antune Makdasi, the writer Michel Kilo, and the economist Aref Dalilah. The group's primary goal was stated as the restoration of civil society and the termination of martial law imposed by the ruling Baath Party when it launched its revolution four decades ago. Among other things, martial law enables the government to make arrests without warrants, set up military courts and control all aspects of Syria's media and political outlets.
The Revolutionary Command Council of the Baath Party issued the military decree in 1963. The order was based on a December 1962 legislative decree passed before the Baath takeover claiming that martial law could be imposed if it is approved by the president or his parliament. Since then, however, none of the Baath presidents, including Bashar Al-Assad, have officially endorsed the establishment of martial law. In the absence of the Revolutionary Command Council, which is no longer in existence, the law should, therefore, be terminated.
Apparently eager for change, the reformist Bashar Al-Assad initially began by exploring the options of lifting martial law altogether. In January 2001, Al-Assad met with then-Interior Minister Mohamed Harba with that purpose in mind. But the February 2001 election of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon brought the idea to a grinding halt. Al-Assad feared that an all- out war with Israel could be on the horizon and it was argued that domestic freedoms needed to be restricted to avoid the outbreak of political chaos. Political instability in Syria would serve no one but Israel.
To appease those who had high hopes for the lifting of martial law, Information Minister Adnan Omran told reporters that martial law has been "frozen" since April 2000. The opposition, however, refused to accept this alibi, claiming that arbitrary arrests are still commonplace. In February 2001, the opposition issued its first declaration -- known as the "Declaration of the One-Thousand." The statement, signed by 1,000 intellectuals, called for a general amnesty, an end to one-party rule and the restoration of civil society.
The document was criticised heavily by the government for making no reference to Syria's struggle against Israel, offering some officials the pretext to claim that its authors were all "agents of the West, who are Americanised and serving the interests of the enemy." This prompted the society to release its second declaration in April 2001, following an Israeli attack on a Syrian radar station in Lebanon that killed two Syrian soldiers. In the second statement, the intellectuals expressed their support for Al-Assad's determination to defy Sharon, stressing that no Syrian would disagree with Syria's anti-Israeli policy.
The third declaration largely falls in line with the second. It concentrates heavily on the events in Palestine, praising Al-Assad's "efforts to combat Zionism." It also backs the government's anti-corruption campaign, which was begun by Al-Assad during his father's tenure. In December 2001, former ministers Mufid Abdul-Karim and Saleem Yassin were convicted of wide-scale corruption and both were sentenced to 10 years behind bars. The current document applauds this initiative, claiming that "uncovering the mechanics of corruption and its many faces is one of our concerns and part of our programme."
However, the authors criticised the government for the arrest last summer of 10 "dissidents," claiming that the move was unconstitutional. The statement also called on Al- Assad to free "all prisoners of conscience immediately -- with no exceptions." Because authors maintain that the arrests were politically motivated, they indicate their surprise at the government's decision to bring Sayf and Dalilah before a public court of law. "The law punishes citizens for what they do -- not what they say," the document said, pointing out that Sayf and his supporters were being punished for speaking out against the government, and not, as authorities claim, for conspiring against the regime.
Wrapping up, the document reads: "The intellect should be faced with opposing intellect, and thoughts faced with opposing thoughts ... [and not] with arrests." Finally, the statement warns that in the absence of constructive dialogue, intellectual, political and cultural differences can be transformed into a "dire war."
© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||
| ARCHIVES Letter from the Editor Editorial Board Subscription Advertise! |
WEEKLY ONLINE: www.ahram.org.eg/weekly Updated every Saturday at 11.00 GMT, 2pm local time weeklyweb@ahram.org.eg |
 Al-Ahram Organisation |
Recommend this page