Syria: Resistance, Revolt and Renunciation; Struggling between Chaos and Conservation
By
Mushtaq Ul Haq Ahmad Sikander, New Age Islam
31 July
2023
Revolt
in Syria: Eye Witness to the Uprising
By
Stephan Starr
London,
Hurst & Company
Pp 226. ISBN: 9781849041973
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The
phenomena of what is known as Arab Spring started in Tunisia in 2011. Since
then, it has spread over most of the Arab world, with dictatorships and
monarchies falling apart under the mass peaceful protests of people. The Arab
Spring received an arousing welcome in many Arab countries and it spread
quickly to others. Wherever the Arab Spring bloomed it had varied influences,
impacts and ramifications. The spring resulted in somewhat peaceful
transformation of power in Tunisia; the change of guards was good in Egypt too.
Libya after some reluctance and bloodshed ousted Colonel Ghaddafi. The dynamics
of the Arab spring are quite different in each place and it is difficult to
predict the future of these nations that came under the sway of Arab Spring.
But one fact must be acknowledged that Arab Spring didn’t bring any permanent
revolutionary change in its wake as most of the previous political and social
institutions remained untouched. A number of reasons can be cited for the
fragility of this phenomenon. The fruits of the Arab spring were temporary and,
in some places, it soon lurked back to Arab winter. The fate of Syria in the
wake of Arab spring that has retrograded to Arab Winter there is the best
testimony of this fact. In Syria the tussle between the protagonists of Arab
spring and status quo still continues at the heavy cost of millions of lives.
The book
under review by the freelance Irish journalist Stephan Starr documents the
arrival of Arab Spring in Syria, the response of Syrians to it and how this
phenomenon had a deep irreversible impact on their lives that were thrown into
disruption. In his Prologue, Starr vividly describes the regime of Bashar al
Assad as, “The regime has no interest in peace, only in keeping power. As with
past plans, it will use this chapter to carry out further crackdowns. Thus far
it has successfully faced down the international community which once proposed
UN resolutions calling for Assad to step down. It routed the rebels in Baba
Amr, Idlib and elsewhere around the country in February and March 2012. On a
certain level, it has never felt stronger and more convinced it can win than it
does in April 2012. But perhaps this arrogance will lead to its downfall”
(P-xi). Despite Starr’s surmise he lambasts the apathy of world and disunity in
Syrian opposition. “Neither the political or armed opposition have particularly
endeared themselves to the millions of Syrians sitting on the fence or to
elements of the international community keen to stop the regime’s violence”
(P-x). Starr also describes his relation with Syria and how the circumstances
later on forced him to leave. He ends the Prologue with a surmise about the
future of Syria in these words, “In the long term the regime simply cannot win
this fight. Too many have suffered too much. But nor can the opposition win
outright in the near future. Syria seems set for months and perhaps years of
economic stagnation, brutal repression and divisions” (P-xii).
Besides the
Introduction the book contains eight chapters each dealing with a different
facet of the resistance, politics, protests and public life in Syria. Starr
vividly describes the beginning of the waves of protests against Alawite regime
headed by Bashar al Assad lead by masses who were inspired by the successful
downfall of the regimes headed by monarchs and dictators in their neighbourhood.
Starr very well brings forth the denial mode of the State and its authorities
who were labelling these indigenous protests as being fuelled by outsiders and
trouble makers who were enemies of Syria. The Alawite minority who rules and
have major stakes in Syria were claiming that these protests were held at the
behest of Saudi Arabia in league with U.S. The State organized parallel
demonstrations in favor of regime of Bashar Al Assad and then telecasted the
same giving them coverage through the state-owned media outlets, so as to
prevail on the other Syrians and demonstrate that everything was fine with the
regime. The propaganda and Media war thus began among the supporters and
opposition of the regime. The use of social media like Facebook, Twitter and
video sharing website You Tube was made to support or oppose the regime.
Journalists who tried to be factual and file reports based on grassroots
realities were questioned and made to toe the line of the regime, helping to
drive its propaganda machine. The foreign journalists who refused to do the
same were deported. It is an interesting story that Starr describes as to how
he survived in such a hostile environment without being deported or
assassinated. Although he acknowledges the fact that he also missed to capture
various issues and things due to this mode of survival attitude. Also, the
native papers had either to miss some issues or shut down due to lack of the advertisements.
Only those survived that followed the regime’s dictums. Starr being a person
related to media lucidly describes the impact of the tussle in Syria on media.
The
demonstrations and protests were held on every other day against the regime,
and in some cases, they were followed by a pro regime demonstration too. The
demonstrations and protests had their own peculiar characteristics too. Starr
provides an insight to the same, as to how some of the protests got organized
by the activists and how they were repressed by the State. He also describes
the personal lives and political outlook of some of these protestors. He also
makes the reader aware as to how the major demonstrations were confined to the
outskirts and rural areas as Damascus being mostly inhabited by business
community who didn’t want to rise against Bashar as that would hit their
economic interests. He describes the impact of the situation on the business.
Starr describes the reaction of rich and poor to the new situation. He
describes how the poor taxi drivers were used by the regime as spies.
He then
tries to analyse the relationship between demographic, ethnic, religious,
regional and educational levels of masses viz a viz the protests. He finds that
majority of the Syrian population being below thirty years of age want the
change of regime but there are others who too want change but are afraid to pay
the price for change because they think that civil war will accompany the
change. The threat of the civil war lurks large in Syria as it is composed of
various ethnicities like Kurds, Druze and others. Also, the sectarian and
religious division is strong too. The Syrian Christian minority is against any
kind of change so are the Alawite sect. Most of the population of Syria
comprises of Muslims, but majority of them belong to the Sunni sect who want
the Shia Alawite regime to be replaced by a Sunni majority one. Thus, these
contending parties are bound to clash and this clash has opted for violence to
achieve its aims and goals.
The State has
also adopted the solitary option of Iron Fist policy to suppress these
indigenous protests and they are in no way serious about conceding to the
demands of the people by including permanent reforms in the working of the
State through incorporating changes. Despite the fact that there are varied
views about whether the regime should stay or go, but reforms that lead to
better political participation and equal distribution of economic resources
will surely put Syria on a path of progress instead of civil war. But the
regime is depicting no seriousness for a political settlement but it uses only
the language of power against its political opponents. The use of Shabiha
(ghost) gangs, illegal irregular forces, non state actors by the State to
torture, kidnap and kill its opponents and then put the blame on Free Syrian
army is only contributing to the escalation the violence in Syria.
Starr very
well observes, “There is little doubt that those in power- the ministers, the
presidential advisers, even the mukhabarat on the street-are little more than a
cabal of gangsters who through pure guile and willingness to create fear,
installed brutality over Syria. They are not well read. They did not attend
college. Their mindset of statesmanship is non-existent. They will fight to the
last man on the premise that those coming to take their places (Sunni, simply
because Syria has a predominately Sunni population) want to kill them for being
Alawite. The notion that the Sunnis were coming to take over because some
Alawites have used/misused their power was never a reality for them. They will
not negotiate because the concept is alien to them in their everyday lives,
never mind in the game that is international politics” (P-206). Thus, due to
this ‘only me’ attitude the conflict in Syria will continue without any
positive breakthrough.
The
meticulous articulation and academic worth of the book doesn’t get diminished
despite its flaw of chronicling the events till June 2012 only. This book has
the privilege of being the primary source and firsthand account of the events
that shaped/are shaping the contemporary history of Syria. This book traces and
tracks the multi-dimensional impact of revolt and conflict in Syria has on
various fields of polity, economy, ethnicity, education and public life. It is
an important contribution to the studies of Arab spring in general and Syria in
particular. No person having interest in contemporary Arab can afford to miss
this book. It remains a recommended read on contemporary Syria and its worth in
the coming years would increase with further citations and references. A
powerful and welcome read indeed.
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M.H.A.
Sikander is Writer-Activist based in Srinagar, Kashmir.
New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism