09 April 2011 By Abdul Rahman Al-Rashid In Jordan, demonstrators are accused of being
provoked by Syria, whereas in Syria, the opposition is
accused of being provoked by Jordan. Such is the case
with all troubled countries in the region, yet we all
know the truth: the problem lies within the borders,
and even if evidence of foreign interference was
found, people would not have taken to the streets in
such numbers, had there not been deep convictions to
do so. What happened in the Arab world has occurred
roughly 30 years late, but no one wants to
courageously admit that the protests have resulted
from chronic deplorable conditions that were
inevitably going to explode, be it yesterday, today or
tomorrow. Following Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Libya and Bahrain,
it is now the turn for Syria, and the crisis there is
still in its infancy. The Syrian regime can either
address it wisely and emerge victorious, or foolishly
and lose the battle. Nobody can claim that they did
not expect the situation to explode in such a closed
country. It is natural for the situation to
deteriorate rapidly in a country that has been living
in a state of war for nearly have a century, yet at
the same time, continues to promise development. Syria
has chosen to live in the trench of a war that has not
taken place for 40 years. Now the regime thinks with a
trench mentality, awaiting the battle and formulating
its policies accordingly. In this continued state of emergency, several
problems have piled up, and caused the situation to
explode. Is it a sectarian problem this time? Or is it
a problem of political freedoms? Or is it a problem
related to living standards? Or is it a political
conspiracy? In fact, all the aforementioned elements have
contributed to the explosion. Without addressing the
covert talk of sectarianism, it is impossible to
remedy this ill. Any orator in Syria could mount a
platform and provoke the Alawis or the Sunnis, and his
talk would resonate amongst some of those who felt
congested by the situation. Without dialogue and
frankness to emphasize the fact that internal unity is
more important than all religious and ethnical
loyalties, sectarian calls have now found fertile
grounds. The restrictions placed on freedom have also caused
the streets to 'explode'. Although President Bashar
al-Assad has pledged to increase the margin of
freedoms, the state has continued to suppress, despite
the fact that its people are considered to be amongst
the most intellectual and cultured Arab peoples. For
example, recently unrest broke out in the city of
Daraa, after the security forces arrested some boys
for scrawling the following slogan on a wall: "Now it
is your turn, doctor." True, such a phrase would be
alarming for a country that is not familiar with the
freedom of expression, but we are in an age where we
see far more dangerous messages being spread across
the internet, and read by a million people across
Syria. Instead of taking this graffiti with a pinch of
salt, or even painting over the walls, the police put
those boys in jail! In addition to the suppression of freedom, the
country has been living in distress for four decades,
as a result of its outdated war policy. Damascus is
still hosting obsolete organizations that date back to
the 1960s and 1970s, costing the state budget hefty
sums, and making Syria an object of international
isolation. It is not logical for Syria to be
self-constrained under the pretext of war, whilst all
other countries around the world have changed; from
Russia to China, and even Vietnam. The people here do
not see a war, so they cannot be patient, nor do they
experience any affluence, so they cannot rejoice. The
Syrian people have been patient in supporting the
oppressed people of Palestine, but it is inconceivable
that they should support abhorred regional entities
such as Iran or Hezbollah, nor should we expect their
own skeptical people to support them. Who cares today about talk of resistance in the
Shebaa farms, or about aiding Hezbollah or Hamas
against the Palestinian Authority, or talk about Ahmed
Jebril, or even Ahmadinejad in Iran? For a Syrian,
like all other citizens of the world who love their
countries, Syria is the number one priority. It is certain that Syria's preoccupation with
political disputes and alliance games have drawn its
attention from internal reform, at a time when a
citizen there can see his neighbors enjoying better
lives. Here I am deliberately not talking specifically
about democracy or internal political reform; because
I know that these two demands are very difficult to
put into practice. Al Rashed is the general manager of Al -Arabiya television. He is also the
former editor-in-chief of Asharq Al- Awsat, and the leading Arabic weekly
magazine, Al Majalla. He is also a senior Columnist in the daily newspapers of
Al Madina and Al Bilad. He is a US post-graduate degree in mass communications.
He has been a guest on many TV current affairs programs. He is currently based
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