The Syrian opposition began its "martyrs' week", which opens Tuesday with a day of protest: a new initiative synonymous with defiance to President Bashar al-Assad. This mobilization, relayed on the Internet - including via Facebook Page "The Syrian Revolution 2011" - is both unprecedented challenges is severely repressed. The scheme, contested for almost three weeks despite a strong presence of its security services, could not imagine delivering such a showdown.
According to the organizations of human rights, about 130 people have been killed since the beginning of the movement - particularly Deraa, epicenter of the revolt at 100 km south of Damascus.Far from being intimidated by the violence of the regime, the youth can she provided lead the uprising to an end - like his distant cousins Tunisian and Egyptian?
The Baath Party, the undisputed master of the political scene
Nothing is less certain. Since the 1963 coup that brought him to power, the Baath Party, a sort of combination between socialism and Arab nationalism, reigns supreme in the political arena. His supremacy is enshrined in the Constitution of 1973, which was consecrated as the ruling party of the state and society.An established order maintained since through the law on state of emergency which will suppress "legally" attempts at protests and political opposition. Responding to a claim, President Al-Assad has recently formed a commission to study the repeal of this draconian law.
"Syria has been frozen and sterilized to intellectual and politics since coming to power of the Baath and the establishment of the emergency law," said Syrian academic Bourhane Ghalioun, director of the Center for Arab Studies and the Orient contemporary at the Sorbonne. Parliamentary and officially secular, Syrian Republic is supposed to be open to the multiparty system.Are tolerated but only parties that comprise the "National Progressive Front," a coalition of several groups allowed by the Baath Party. "This coalition is expected to play the role of opposition is a sham, since it obeys the finger and the eye of the regime. The true pro-democracy opposition is silenced," says Ahmad, between exile in Paris.
An opposition gagged
Leaders exiled or jailed, activists routinely hounded by the intelligence services of the plan, the parties divided on objectives: opposition struggles to be heard."The opposition parties have never managed to unify their positions or to propose a joint project, mainly because of repression," said Bourhane Ghalioun.
In 2005, however, the secular opposition parties and the Muslim Brotherhood, based in London, had signed a founding text entitled "Damascus Declaration" calling for "democratic and radical change." In December 2007, a national council (governing body) of the "Damascus Declaration" was created in Syria, but many of its members were quickly arrested.Muslim Brotherhood, officially dismantled by the regime, the extreme left (Marxists, communists ...) through the Kurdish parties, the opposition continues to work illegally, with a margin of maneuver. "Prevented by force to speak, meet, develop relationships with people and to recruit young supporters, these parties are isolated from the rest of society," said the professor.
A phenomenon which explains the profusion of NGOs, intellectuals and protesters engaged in the country. The latter, mostly intellectuals or organized and supervised, "represent 90% of the opposition," according Bourhane Ghalioun."This is a direct consequence of repression against opposition parties," he developed. But this exposes the individual commitment equally to intimidation, arbitrary arrests and lengthy prison sentences.
The youth, who spearheaded the uprising
But a new factor has come to seize the effectiveness of the repressive machine of the regime, early this year. Inspired by the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, the country's youth gathered at the forefront of the current uprising. Despite the continuous monitoring on the Internet and the low penetration of the medium nationally (16.8% of the population only had access to the Web, in 2008). "Youth is the spearhead of the movement.Like the regime, opposition parties have been overwhelmed by this spontaneous movement and were content to support them, "says Bourhane Ghalioun. The Syrian population is young (77% under 35 years) and it is n has been that the Assad regime and the state of emergency. "We thought these kids were depoliticized by the Baathist propaganda, but it is not: they are the lifeblood of the opposition. They thirst for democracy and modernity and they will take over from our generation, who was on the verge of resignation, "concluded Ahmed.
