By: Masud Javed (Bureau Consultant- International Affairs) ICN Group
Syria, the only communist country in the Arab world.
NEW DELHI:The fall of Berlin Wall in 1989 yielded a wind of change which swept East Europe. The people living in the counties allied to the erstwhile Soviet Union ( Warsaw Pact members namely, East Germany, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary and Romania), revolted against their socialist/communist governments and finally managed to bring in democratic form of governance and leaders. In other words, they joined the capitalist bloc with an exception of Slovakia which remained in the socialist bloc. Not only that, even the Soviet Union could not stand in the face of the powerful wind of change. This, too, was disintegrated into 15 separate independent states. All these developments were welcomed as victory of democracy over totalitarian form of governance.
The Arab world (the people, not the governments), too, welcomed the Arab Spring in 2011. The people in certain Arab countries revolted against their authoritarian rulers. Thanks to this uprising , people successfully managed to overthrow Tunisia’s president, Zeinal Abedin Ben Ali, and Egypt’s president Mohammed Hosni Mubarak and their “elected” governments. (elected though farcely through manipulated democratic process) Egypt’s Mohammed Hosni Mubarak had taken office as president in 1982 and remained till the revolt in 2011 i. e. 29 years uninterrupted. Tunisia’s Ben Ali took the office as president in 1987 and remained in power till he was overthrown in 2011.i.e. 25 years without any break. Yemen’s Ali Abdullah Saleh became president in 1978 and remained as head of the State till the demonstrators forced him to resign in 2012 i. e. 34 years without interval. Syria’s Hafez Al Asad, father of the present president Bashar Al Asad became president in 1971 till he was passed away then his son Bashar Al Asad succeeded him i. e. 36 years,father and son together.
The public anger and resentment were quite natural and had been growing in Syria since long time, but lack of freedom did not allow them even talk against the regime. Nonetheless, 2011 Arab Spring instilled in them the spirit of freedom. Hence they also took to the streets and demanded Al Asad to quit. They did not realise that there is a big difference between a democratic country though below the mark and a totalitarian/communist country. They did not realize that any demonstration against the regime is construed as treachery and anti national. It is worth mentioning that to eliminate their opponents, communist regimes and dictators never care for any justification. Human Rights report and critiques from the civilized world are just a piece of paper. So did Bashar Al Asad. Aware of what was going on in the neighboring countries, he wanted to nip rebellion in the bud. He killed hundreds of demonstrators, brutually tortured many more and imprisoned whoever took part. Thus he, dealing with iron fist, wanted to suppress the public demand. (To Be Continued…)
