Secretary of State Clinton said to CBS News on Sunday, March 27th that “There is a different leader in Syria now, many of the members of Congress of both parties who have gone to Syria in recent months have said they believe he's a reformer." At the same time, we have brave young protesters in Daraa and Homs burning posters of Assad and destroying the statue of late president Hafez Assad.
I am afraid to say that Secretary Clinton made this mistake previously, when she described Mubarak’s government in the middle of the Egyptian Revolution as a “stable government.” This statement incited anger among the protesters in Cairo and other cities, and consequently, key young leaders of the Egyptian revolution refused to meet her when she visited Cairo and Tahrir Square.
Secretary Clinton is repeating the same mistake right now in Syria. As protesters on the ground are writing a new history in Syria, they are watching carefully who offers them help and support. It is crucial not to send the wrong message through supporting those who suppress and kill them through a security apparatus.
In 2005, the Syrian opposition announced the “Damascus Declaration for Democratic National Change,” which called for political reform, starting with re-writing the constitution in a modern, democratic fashion that guarantees basic rights to its citizens and emphasizes a system of checks and balances between branches of government. This means a complete separation of the three branches of government: judiciary, executive, and legislative. Next, the declaration included a reform of the judicial system, an institution that has been overcome with corruption and loss of trust among Syrians. It also included lifting the state of emergency and all extrajudicial special, martial, and field courts—especially the State Security Court. In addition, the Syrian opposition demanded the release of all political prisoners, the legislation of a modern law governing political parties that would ensure the participation of all Syrians with no exceptions, the reform of media laws and regulations in order to guarantee freedom of the press, the legislation of a new elections law, and the formation of a national committee for truth and reconciliation to investigate the Syrians who have disappeared, and to compensate political prisoners. Above all, they demanded the granting of full political rights to Kurds, the removal of all forms of systemic discrimination practices against them, and the prioritizing of eastern provinces in development and infrastructure projects.
Bashar Assad’s response was to launch a wave of repression, which continued through 2006 and 2007. In May 2006, the State Security Services arrested twelve signatories of the Damascus–Beirut Declaration; a public statement calling for the establishment of full diplomatic relations between Syria and Lebanon, among other measures, meant to normalize ties between the two countries (Syria was accused of involvement in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri in February 2005). On December 9, 2007, the same security apparatus began a series of arrests of over forty activists involved in the Damascus Declaration for Democratic National Change in various cities. Twelve of them who were elected as new leadership for the Damascus Declaration for Democratic National Change were sentenced to thirty months in prison.
What little remained of Bashar Assad’s image as a reformer diminished when he used violence against peaceful demonstrators, who have been repeating slogans of “Peaceful…Peaceful,” in order to suppress the protests and stop them from spreading to other cities. The number of people killed now reaches one hundred and fifty in cities across Syria.
We Syrians now ask Secretary Clinton to call for a special session in the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, because the Syrian people have no trust in the local Syrian committee formed by the Syrian government. In addition, the Obama Administration should strongly publicly condemn the violence used against the protesters.
As Secretary Clinton has repeated many times throughout the age of the Arab revolution, we must be on the right side of history. I can assure Secretary Clinton that the right side of history in Syria right now is on the side of the brave people who are chanting “Freedom” in Daraa, Hims, Latakia, and Damascus.
Radwan Ziadeh is a Prins Global Fellow at Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies at New York University and a Visiting Scholar at The Center for Contemporary Arab Studies (CCAS) at Georgetown University.
I am afraid to say that Secretary Clinton made this mistake previously, when she described Mubarak’s government in the middle of the Egyptian Revolution as a “stable government.” This statement incited anger among the protesters in Cairo and other cities, and consequently, key young leaders of the Egyptian revolution refused to meet her when she visited Cairo and Tahrir Square.
Secretary Clinton is repeating the same mistake right now in Syria. As protesters on the ground are writing a new history in Syria, they are watching carefully who offers them help and support. It is crucial not to send the wrong message through supporting those who suppress and kill them through a security apparatus.
In 2005, the Syrian opposition announced the “Damascus Declaration for Democratic National Change,” which called for political reform, starting with re-writing the constitution in a modern, democratic fashion that guarantees basic rights to its citizens and emphasizes a system of checks and balances between branches of government. This means a complete separation of the three branches of government: judiciary, executive, and legislative. Next, the declaration included a reform of the judicial system, an institution that has been overcome with corruption and loss of trust among Syrians. It also included lifting the state of emergency and all extrajudicial special, martial, and field courts—especially the State Security Court. In addition, the Syrian opposition demanded the release of all political prisoners, the legislation of a modern law governing political parties that would ensure the participation of all Syrians with no exceptions, the reform of media laws and regulations in order to guarantee freedom of the press, the legislation of a new elections law, and the formation of a national committee for truth and reconciliation to investigate the Syrians who have disappeared, and to compensate political prisoners. Above all, they demanded the granting of full political rights to Kurds, the removal of all forms of systemic discrimination practices against them, and the prioritizing of eastern provinces in development and infrastructure projects.
Bashar Assad’s response was to launch a wave of repression, which continued through 2006 and 2007. In May 2006, the State Security Services arrested twelve signatories of the Damascus–Beirut Declaration; a public statement calling for the establishment of full diplomatic relations between Syria and Lebanon, among other measures, meant to normalize ties between the two countries (Syria was accused of involvement in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri in February 2005). On December 9, 2007, the same security apparatus began a series of arrests of over forty activists involved in the Damascus Declaration for Democratic National Change in various cities. Twelve of them who were elected as new leadership for the Damascus Declaration for Democratic National Change were sentenced to thirty months in prison.
What little remained of Bashar Assad’s image as a reformer diminished when he used violence against peaceful demonstrators, who have been repeating slogans of “Peaceful…Peaceful,” in order to suppress the protests and stop them from spreading to other cities. The number of people killed now reaches one hundred and fifty in cities across Syria.
We Syrians now ask Secretary Clinton to call for a special session in the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, because the Syrian people have no trust in the local Syrian committee formed by the Syrian government. In addition, the Obama Administration should strongly publicly condemn the violence used against the protesters.
As Secretary Clinton has repeated many times throughout the age of the Arab revolution, we must be on the right side of history. I can assure Secretary Clinton that the right side of history in Syria right now is on the side of the brave people who are chanting “Freedom” in Daraa, Hims, Latakia, and Damascus.
Radwan Ziadeh is a Prins Global Fellow at Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies at New York University and a Visiting Scholar at The Center for Contemporary Arab Studies (CCAS) at Georgetown University.
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