In an unprecedented act of public expression against Bashar al-Assad’s regime, protesters took to the streets of the southern Syrian city of Daraa. So far security forces killed 15 and wounded dozens. The protest continued to spread to other cities and towns in southern Syria. Does this mean ruling of the al-Assad family is coming to an end?
Hafez al-Assad bequeathed to his son two important lessons: First, keep drumming the ideological tune by standing on the opposite side of Israel and the US. As Bashar put it: “So it is not only about the needs and not only about the reform. It is about the ideology, the beliefs and the cause that you have.” Second lesson is the machiavellian wisdom of better to be feared than loved. Assad, the father, put this lesson into practice in 1982 when the city of HAMA revolted, by killing an estimated 10,000 to 25,000 people.
Yet these learned lessons have become outdated in this age of democracy and globalization; neither ideology nor fear seems capable of holding the tide of revolution. Even a small size protest (in comparison with Egypt and Tunisia) is a clear signal that the barrier of fear is coming down, and the ideology myth is dissolving in the face of demands for political freedom, end of corruption, and release of political prisoners.
Photo credit: CharlesFred via Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA
Experts
Related Content
