1 June 2011

Amnesty ....

Amnesty …

So, the regime has decided that now would be a great time to make a concession:
They are saying that there will be an amnesty for all of us who have spoken out and acted out in opposition to them, not just in the ongoing rising but back, back decades. There will even be an amnesty for members of the Muslim Brotherhood …

Which, I’ll be the first to admit, would have been considered by almost everyone a huge step forward just a little while ago.

But, it comes with a catch; we can all come out of the shadows, they say, and the basic structure of the state will not change. The Party and the National Front will remain embedded in power …

So, we’re going to reject it. They could have done differently. Back when it was colder, back when our protests were restricted to a small groups in Damascus holding candles, it would have mattered. Back when the news was coming from Tunisia and Egypt that Ben Ali and Mubarak had fled, they could have done so.

Back then, I heard of back channel talks between regime and Brotherhood. Not quite official on either side and the people doing the talking to each other here were such that they could have claimed that it was no more than a cousin visiting a cousin or bringing word from one sibling to another. “Plausible deniability” as they say if things came out and needed to be disavowed on either side; hardline Ikhwaan or hardline Baathis could be appeased if the talks failed and, if they had succeeded, Assad could have had his game changer. What I had heard was that, back then, what was being discussed was a legalization of the Brotherhood (or at least one wing) and it coming above ground here and joining the National Progressive Front. It would be a move akin to that done last decade by the Social Nationalists though probably more significant as the Brotherhood is far larger and more influential. Certainly, from a coldly pragmatic viewpoint, it would have been a clever move and, combined with the other reforms that were promised, it could have been a real opening. We might have had a ‘soft landing’ in this season of discontent.

But they mishandled that. They mishandled everything. Bouthaina came on television and said that we would have an end to emergency law, an end to secret trials, that the overreactions in Dera’a would be dealt with … and for a moment we really did think it might be so.

But they dragged their feet and hemmed and hawed while there was no stopping of the party’s gangs, no stopping of the mukhabarat and the special brigades in their killing. The rising spread …. Peaceful, peaceful, Syria was one … and as it did, the old guard of the sons of the dog and their militias went chasing dissenters, beating bystanders and killing, killing, killing …

And we saw that the end of emergency law was a sad, sad joke, that nothing at all had changed and they were as brutal as they’d ever been. If anything, they were simply more emboldened by the awakening of the Syrian people. They spread lies, they killed, and they began to lose control.

We meanwhile keep getting stronger. They still manage to hold on to power but it is slipping from their grasp. They fear the people awakened, they fear the army breaking ….

So they try and make concessions again and buy for time. But again, it is too little, too late.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's time for a world without rulers.

Dave said...

Anyone remember that movie, Mars Attacks?

There's a scene where the Martians are running around causing havoc and one of them has the translator device, saying, "Don't run! We are your friends!"

That's what I keep thinking of whenever we hear about the latest attempts by Assad to get people to stop with the protesting. Nobody is fooled, dude, we can see the gun in your other hand.

Micah said...

Another couple of questions: Are there many Syrians who do want to see more western intervention? Are the sanctions welcomed or resented?

Anonymous said...

Micha, that question is irrelevant as the West hasn't expressed any interest in an intervention.

Micah said...

I was asking about the sentiment in Syria.

The west's position at the moment is quite clear, although that may change down the road.

Anonymous said...

It's been many many weeks now and the army is still intact and remaining loyal to Assad. The two cities in Syria with an actual civil society have also not seen huge demonstrations.

But go on, dismiss this gesture by Assad. Keep encouraging people to go out demanding the toppling of the regime. After all, its not like your the one who is likely to be shot and killed.

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