OPPRESSION AND ESCALATION
Introduction -
National Public Radio recently reported that the civil conflict in Syria claimed more than 6,000 lives during March 2013. Such carnage in a revolution that began as a peaceful nonsectarian protest is bloody proof that Syria is ground zero for the worst violence produced by the so-called “Arab Spring,” the unrest that has swept across the Arab world since early 2011. Spurred to action by popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, Syrians rose against an oppressive system that has for decades stifled political opposition using the most brutal means at its disposal. The Bashar al-Assad regime is the latest iteration of a de facto dynasty, which began with his father, Hafez al-Assad, a brutal and opportunistic dictator who came to power in a factional struggle between military “strong men.” Each time the rebels make gains, it seems that government forces are able to counter with superior technology and materiel. With no end in sight and tens of thousands having died, the only solution is for the intervening sides, Russia and the Western allies, to seek a diplomatic solution between them. The only other viable alternative is for the West to blockade Syria or implement economic sanctions against the Russians, a dangerous precedent that would risk a worldwide escalation.
It all began in early 2011 with protests that were, initially, populist in nature. The Syrian government made it quite clear very early on that even the most peaceful protests would not be tolerated, and that brutal suppression would remain the order of the day. There was very little question as to the nature of the conflict when Syrian police forces fired on a large crowd that was protesting the beating of a man in Damascus. The regime regarded this as a direct threat
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against a heavily Shiite rebel force.
The increasingly sectarian tone of the revolution has been, in large part, the product of the government’s decision to use deadly force from the very beginning. The police and
military forces fired live rounds of ammunition into unarmed crowds that had gathered together to agitate for civil rights and justice, but not through violent means. These were no mere troublemakers or rabble rousers but relatives of political prisoners, victims of one of the world’s most oppressive regimes (Slackman, 2011). The military’s use of tanks and helicopters to suppress the protestors left no doubt that al-Assad meant to use all the armed power at its disposal. What the country’s power brokers failed to understand was that the violent quelling of one massive demonstration would simply bring about another, a self-perpetuating cycle of violence. This pattern of protest and reprisal has been locked in by the contending interests of the Russians, who have a naval base in Syria, and the West, dominated by America’s interests in stabilizing the region.
Background -
It was the Syrian government itself that helped open the floodgates of protest. In February 2011, it had lifted the prohibition against the use of social media sites such as Facebook and YouTube, which instantly became powerful subversive voices against the regime’s tyrannical excesses. Foreign media outlets reported that the lifting of the Web-based ban was a purposeful attempt to stem the tide that was rising throughout the Middle East at that time.
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“Syria appears to be lifting the ban imposed in 2007 as a concession to avoid popular upheaval in Syria” (Putney 2011). That report from a Western Web-based news organization appeared to indicate change, including the possibility of elections. However, once the violence escl
Syria is just one example of the influence that social media has played in the Arab Spring, which has produced mixed results from country to country. In Libya, for instance, the Internet played the role predicted by many social theorists, who claimed it would be instrumental in forcing repressive governments to open up. Libya, like Syria, had been a totalitarian regime in the vice-like grip of a secret police force and a military that its ruler fully intended to use against his own people, if necessary. When the rising began in Tripoli, social media outlets were extremely important. They provided the means of rapid communication and coordination among the disaffected Libyan masses. As in Libya, where the Internet provided the outside world a window on events, the Syrian government and its reprehensible crackdowns were quickly exposed to an alarmed world. Unlike Libya and its former ruler, the Syrian regime has proven far more politically adept and has a powerful patron in Russia.
Like Libya, Syria’s swelling protest movement was angered by unfulfilled promises of reform, which the opening of social networking sites seemed to promise. Fueled by the newly enabled Internet access, demonstrations quickly spread, growing from small, isolated incidents to mass demonstrations in the country’s largest cities. After the violence in Damascus, another protest cropped up in Daraa, where the revolution would escalate significantly. Violent government reprisals in Daraa led to the deaths of hundreds more protesters. This was a shocking violation of religious inviolability, and of the sanctity of the Muslim faith in Syria. It
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was emblematic of the opportunistic nature of Syrian politics, in which the idea of religious faith and solidarity has often been used to excuse and rationalize the excesses of internal political infighting and the application of lethal force against the Syrian people.
Publicity played an important role in the early days of the revolution, not in newspapers or conventional means of dissemination but through Facebook and YouTube, through which images of violence and slaughter could be communicated both inside and outside the country. News reports had revealed that, by the end of 2011, many thousands had been killed in the conflict, with alarming reports of atrocities committed by government forces upon women and children. Such news reports earned the attention of the world at large, but could do comparatively little to illustrate the severity of the attacks. The Internet, on the other hand, could prove a powerful propaganda weapon. And yet it has proven a double-edged sword, with the government launching its own Web-based campaign of self-promotion.
Various human rights groups and news organizations continued to report on the activities of the Syrian military. In July 2012, the United Nations reported that Syrian forces had targeted and victimized civilians, which amounted to nothing less than a war crime. By late 2012, human rights officials within the U.N. reported that the casualty lists in Syria had reached well into the tens of thousands. Leading Western countries, including the United States, began applying political pressure for an end to the violence. However, Russia’s opposition to al-Assad’s removal has continually frustrated international attempts to end the violence and made it clear that its logistical and political interests in the regime’s survival has impossibly complicated the situation.
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As expected, the Syrian government re-imposed its ban on Web access, but by then it was too late. Not only had images of massive protest and widespread violence been circulated but illicit computer operators continued to work behind the scenes to frustrate the government’s efforts to halt the flow of information. Some of that visual information has featured evidence that the al-Assad government has begun to weaken, though al-Assad himself continues to defy the revolution and the political pressure levied by the international community. Government officials, some of them quite senior, have stepped aside and fled the country, some having become vocal critics of the regime they once served. Nevertheless, the fires of Syria’s civil war continue to be fanned by heightening exchange of rhetoric between the U.S. and Russia.
Conclusion -
The Russians continue to aid the al-Assad regime, while the support of the United States and its allies have helped the rebels make substantial gains. Further complicating the problem is the fact that the Shiites who have spearheaded the revolt have begun to show signs of disunity. In any event, it appears that the violence and the threat to the Syrian people will continue unabated. The Americans have been criticized for not intervening earlier and mounting a concerted effort to relieve the violence and suffering. Yet, given America’s long involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, there was little chance the U.S. would physically intervene in another Middle Eastern situation. At present, the situation recalls the power politics of the Cold War, with Russia and the United States in a diplomatic/political standoff. Thus, the promise of the Arab Spring and the internal change that unfolded in Libya and Egypt has been interdicted by competing foreign interests in Syria. For Syria to evolve, America must resolve the international
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stalemate through diplomatic means. Failing that, the U.S. and its allies will be forced to leverage their collective economic influence in bringing the Russians to the negotiating table.
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References
Putney, J.P. (2011). “Syria lifts ban on social media sites Facebook, YouTube.” The Jurist.
Accessed 6 April 2013 at http://jurist.org/paperchase/2011.
Slackman, M. “Syrian Troops Open Fire on Protesters in Several Cities.” The New York Times,
25 March 2011. Accessed 5 April 2013 at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/.
