Thucydides used to say: “The secret of happiness is freedom. The secret of freedom is courage.” Freedom is not just a word: beyond it, you’ll find something merely of vital importance for human being. Why I’m talking about freedom? Because freedom is the reason why Syria is in this chaotic and surreal situation. The Arab Syrian Republic is a wonderful and very complicated country, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea, Turkey, Iraq, Jordan and Israel, so far from a modern state, but crucial in the analysis of the Middle East affaire.
President Bashar al-Assad (former president Hafez al-Assad’s son), is a well-educated but controversial figure, both in Syria and in international politics world (is well known that his secret police routinely tortures, imprisons, and kills political opponents during his regime).
The Assads, belongs to the Allawite sect, a prominent mystical minority religious group centred in Syria, who constitute a branch of Shia Islam and had the chance (thanks to the Assad family), to hold most of the top positions in the government and military sector. This is a remarkable question, because could help us to better understand the syrian riot and the military violent reaction of these last weeks.
Bashar al-Assad , has tried to show to the world the new syrian face: he made gestures toward openness, revolutions in the economy. But he didn’t really succeed. Maybe because he didn’t really want it….or need it. It’s easier to rule without any control and Syria is still one of the region’s most repressive regimes. And the emergency law is a good example of that.
Syria has been under Emergency Law since 1962, effectively suspending most constitutional protections for citizens, public and private lives. Three weeks ago, large protests began in Dara’a and Lattakia. These ara both significant towns for the Syrian protest, because they “host” most of President’s cousin Rami Makhlof properties. Makhlof is a businessman who controls the country’s cellphone network and, more than anyone else, personifies the tangle of power and wealth in Syria (are we so different?).
So…What Syrians are searching for? A search for equality, justice, dignity and freedom is what they pretend from these protests. Nothing in a religious way… They just would like to live in a safe and free country, where these all-pervasive restricions will be lifted.
From the beginning of the protests, human rights groups said they had documented 170 deaths of protesters.
Whatever the outcome of the protests (and we all hope in the better way…even if we don’t have any support of that), Syria has a difficult road ahead. But a door is open and will be difficult to close it by force, because Syrians have finally woken up, afters decades of lethargy and repression.
