Reform party of Syria
www.reformsyria.net
Syria Cracks Down on Democracy Dissidents
Washington DC, October 5, 2004 /RPS News/ -- As expected, Syria has started a new campaign of cracking down on Syrian dissidents who, in the last few weeks, raised their voices to object to the lack of freedom and transparency in their own country.
Such is the case of Jihad Nasra and Nabil Fayad who were reported to have been detained in the last few days. Both writers are well known to the Syrian public and the Syrian Diaspora for writing about liberalism and democracy. In fact, they founded, with other writers and intellectuals, the Syrian Liberal Forum on September 13. As a result, more are expected to be arrested in the coming days. When reached by phone, Mrs. Nasra said that her husband has been moved to Damascus. No one knows what became of him or when he will be released.
Why now?
Syrian Ba'athists tend to loosen their grip in regard to abuse and oppressive measures when under tremendous pressure and tighten it when they sense that the international community is praising them publicly. With all the pressure being yielded by the international community through such acts as UN Resolution 1559 and the Syria Accountability Act, lately, certain public statements made by U.S. Officials have all but erased all the pressure that was meticulously worked out between U.S. departments and nations. One such statement was made by Secretary Colin Powell that praised Syria's cooperation on September 22 after he met with foreign minister al-Shara'a in New York. "I sensed a new attitude from the Syrians," Powell told reporters in New York. After which Syria's Ba'athists became bold enough to jail dissidents and will continue, in the near future, to abuse human rights in Syria.
A public praise by the U.S. State Department has consequences. People of Syria view it as sanctioning the regime of Assad in support of their policies in the region. They do not see it as narrowly and in the same diplomatic terms as the rest of us do. Why do Syrians view the praise this way? Because the Ba'athists interpret any statement praising the regime as Carte Blanche to continue oppressing the people of Syria. The direct correlation between U.S. statements and human rights abuse in Syria have never been so clear in the past but they are today.
If a praise helps the U.S. interests, then it should be done in private. In fact, the Ba'athists sometimes demand a public praise in order to show the world that they are supported by the U.S. when in fact, the U.S. should do everything to avoid being used as a tool to help perpetuate a regime whose agenda is the bashing of what the U.S. stands for in the Middle East and whose deeds exemplify the very same terrorism we are combating with all our resources. This is morally wrong.
If the U.S. State Department is serious about helping dissidents and democracy advocates in Syria as they claim they are, then they should maintain the tough language no matter what Syria does. Any public praise by Powell or others brings more misery for the people of Syria, which inevitably turns back the clock on the very democratic goals the U.S. is trying to promote in that region.
Reform Party of Syria
The articles published on this site represent the opinion of their writers and not the opinion of the webmasters.
