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The Opinion... and the Sword the Mechanisms of Possessing the State and Reinforcing the Authority Jad Al Kareem Al Jeba'i
Many expressions are used to describe the
type of authority's system in countries like Researching about a certain specific case, such as the Syrian case, requires checking the above mentioned terms and other terms according to the actual events and phenomena. Still, using any of these terms clarifies the writers' attitude toward the meant regime, also, implies an ideological element, which is imposed by the sense of the term and its functional criterion. Obviously, the complete "objectivity" is so difficult or rather impossible to be obtained, as well as, the complete 'neutrality', because in all the human sciences and criterions there is a personal subjective element, which could not be ignored. Due to state's incorporation in its controlling regime, we are inclined to use the concept of "dominating state" or "suzerain state". This means that the state transforms from a political form of social existence, which represents the social completeness, into an absolute subjugating regime, which makes the governmental organizations and the society structures just an expansion of it. Thus, the limits of the state and the limits of the authority become identical, also, both lose their political characteristics. A suzerain state is declined to a lower grade than a political state, it is a tool of compel and theft; accordingly, its people become sort of a subject and a material for theft and compel, but with all false grandness and magnificence. On the other hand, the use of the term 'suzerain rule' is tempting because, in Arabic language, it is linguistically, similar to the Sultanic rule of old Arabic historyژ(1)گ.
Khaldoon Hasan Al Nakeeb believed that the
historical origin of the dominating state was the bureaucratic state,
which was born at the beginning of last century, during the Romantic
period that succeeded the Renaissance period. It had two trends, the
political trend in The three elements: radicalism, publicist and nationalistic spirit grew in the modern bureaucratic state and produced the Liberal state and the suzerain state, which depended on the grade of the dominating elements' growth, according to its pyramidal arrangement and bureaucratic system. Probably, the separation of the authorities, people's observance of the rule, sovereignty of law, equality of citizens and the emergence of the authority from people were the main factors which delimited the development of subjugating elements in liberal countries.
We can say that the historical origin of
the dominating state was the state of the organizations' age, which
meant the The modern bureaucratic state of the west is the newborn government of the civil modern society and modern thoughts. Still, there are mutual elements among all types of dominating states, mainly: 1) The monopolization of all power, authority and wealth, besides, the penetration into civil society in order to organize its structure and absorb its power. 2) Bureaucratizing the economy, through extending the public sector, and making it as a private proprietorship for those who direct it, or executing a new sort of feudalism. 3) The establishment of ruling system legitimacy upon power, overcoming and duress, by means of organized terrorism and generalized repression. This suzerain state depends on three basics: - One) The dominating elite, civil or military, or one ruling Party. - Two) Bureaucratic pyramid that relies on the principle of personal devotion. - Three) Paralleled structures, such as, tribal, sectarian, ethnic and professional solidarity. The suzerain state in the third world has, in general, a distinguished middle class culture, or a consumption culture. Actually, these classes live in the margin of the social production operation, they have a distinguished environment of society masses' environments and a distinguished culture of masses' culturesژ(3)گ, which are supplied intensively by all means of directed media that praises the ideology of the ruling group. Also, this state has a distinguished economy, which is the capitalism of the depending stateژ(4)گ.
In The Environment of the Suzerain Authority: Nakeeb defined the suzerain rule as a despotic rule, which is built on the mastery of the bureaucratic state upon the society by extending its capacities to organize the underneath structures. So, it penetrates the civil society, completely, and makes it an expansion of its authority. Thus, the regime would be able to execute the effective monopolization of power and authority resources in the society. Usually, the resources of power and authority are restricted in the economical power, crowds' multitude power and the organizational power.
This definition, in spite of its
importance, ignored the historical span of the social, economical,
political and cultural factors which produced such a type of ruling in
the Arab world, in general, and First, let us say that, in general, bureaucracy is an important element in the state, especially, in the modern state. The dominating despotic element, which is implicit in each organizing order, progresses forward with the growth of bureaucracy's capacity to organize the social structure and absorb its power. Generally, this accords with the modern centralized bureaucratic state. The "historical retardation" provides for the despotic element a suitable environment to grow. This environment is the climate of the social political patriarchal system, the knowledgeable type or system and the relating virtual system. This, of course, facilitates the reproduction of the classical ruling type of Sultans characteristics, which rely on dependency, loyalty, gifts and privileges in a new modern and contemporary way. One more important external element is added to both previous elements, which is related to the capitalistic expansion after the 1st World War. The expansion was clarified in our countries by the imperialistic phenomenon, which unified the world paradoxically, deepened the polarization between the center and the sides, and generalized it on the world level. The operation of unification was and continues to be paradoxical and depends on margined integration, or containing and eliminating at the same time. Therefore, the authorities of dependent countries became a part of the global capitalistic system. They have the function of "brokers" between their countries and the capitalistic market. Besides, having the function of the weaker partners in stealing the wealth and the power of their nations' labor. Although imperialism generalized thoughts, ideologies and created organizations for the bureaucratic state in the entire world, it prevented the establishment of democratic independent constitutional nationalistic states in depending countries. It also, did not permit the accomplishment of an independent national progress in these countries; moreover, it weakened the democratic nationalistic states of developed countries for the benefit of the great powerful countries and the monopolizing multinational firms. Accordingly, the dominating state is a retarded capitalistic state, or a retarded capitalized and dependent country. In other words, as Yaseen Hafez said, the dominating state is a retarded incorporated government with the global system, which would reform it and restrict its structure and function. Thus, the secession of the dominating state from the society, which is supposed to have produced it, is the result of incorporation and neglect, or containment and elimination. On one hand, being a dependent capitalist and having the brokerage, "comprador", function, the dominating authority is incorporated within the global capitalistic system, on the other hand, due to its nationalism or nationalist, it is eliminated from the system. Actually, it also applies this paradoxical mechanism through its relation with its society. In its country, the dominating state incorporates the social powers including their economical, multiplicity and organizational characteristics, and deports the powers of social and political characteristics. The dominating regime unties the social groups and re-organizes them in a way that enables it to penetrate through society, paralyzes its effectiveness and controls its capacities. Therefore, the authority becomes a transcendental structure outside the society. The increase of the governmental interference in the society and economy for achieving social care, increases its authoritative power and its possibilities of accomplishing the effective monopolization of power and authority resources in the societyژ(5)گ. This general rule does not define, only, distinctions of grades between the dominating state and the modern bureaucratic state, which pay attention to social services and citizens' welfare, in fact, the interference policy of the dominating state does not look for citizens' welfare, nor protect their rights or security. Accurately, the dominating government is the disease of modern bureaucracy and nationalistic tendency at the same time.
In spite of the mutual characteristics and
features, the modern bureaucratic sample of state, even with its Fascist
or Nazi forms, could not be projected on the sample of the totalitarian
government, like the 1) Power, or imperialistic powers do not attach the penetrated system to its political system, completely, but it never allows it to escape from its suffocative control. 2) The penetrated system, therefore, remains continuously, facing the imperialistic powers. This unbalanced confrontation exhausts its resources and increases its rotten interior conditions. 3) In this penetrated system, the local political, provincial, national and international matters become all mixed together. Thus, the political system could not be understood without returning to the suzerain imperialistic powers. 4) This penetrated system is often, a political game played by local social, provincial and international powers in exchangeable and changeable alliances. So, political and social powers might often be local extensions of provincial and international powers. This position is, mainly, related to the range of imperialistic deep penetration. Accordingly, in this position many matters emerge like religious, sectarian, nationalistic, ethnic, cultural and linguistic. These matters arise in political forms, which imply pressuring powers that demand to share in political representations. Some of these powers look for independent rule or independent direction, or secession. This is called politicizing the minorities' matter. These symptoms that attack the penetrated political systems are the special forms of dependency, which its chief elements are lack of freedom, independence and sovereignty. It is a dependency, which results from the power relationships that the global system and the type of international relations are build upon. The penetrated political system can not be self-initiative to solve its interior problems. Besides, the ruling groups have restricted freedom to take strategic decisions, independently, from the suzerain external powers. Still, the decisive factor is always related to the interior positions, the ability of the social powers for penetration and the grade of the historical retardation effects.
The writer believes that the suzerain
authority in
Actually, the dominating state emerged in
the climate of the retreating project of the national rising.
In the climate of a shameful debacle against
1) The elimination of the nationalistic project, the embryo of the state, besides, the retrogression before the state period, such as, tribal rule, troop rule and sectarian rule.
2) Also, the elimination or splitting of
the retarded socialism to the benefit of the miraculous retarded
capitalism, which combined the consumption expenditure and the
subservient begging at petroleum tents. Thus, a new class emerged from
the 3) Since the debacle of June 1967, the ancestral domain of the traditional ideology started to expand, notably. Also, the sectarian political conflicts, whether concealed or exploding, which a number of Arab countries suffer from, became sectarian ideologies that supported the ancestral traditional ideologies. It loosened and cut the national ties among people, besides, presented the matter of minorities as an urgent and bursting matterژ(7)گ. The Arabic government in all its forms, such as, parliamentary, revolutionary, autocratic and military, which were enveloped during the imperialistic invasion with a semi-modern cover, remained of a traditional structure in its essence. The distinguished feature of such a country of these structures not, only, make it above the society, but also, provides an incorporation between the authority and those who practice it. This government, which has Arabic political traditions of theocratic type, still thrusts into the ideology of the motionless mass of the nation. Consequently, the pasteurizing feeling toward the government is the prevailing one among the most backward parts of the nation. On the other hand, the parts of the nation, which are less backward did not reach the extent to be stubborn fighters, thus, their rejection became expressed through withdrawal and introversion, in case of acceptance, they supported but did not participate. So, such a state opens the chances for any minority to practice a permanent domination. In retarded societies, the conflicts over authority are considered "politics", in which the most powerful minority of people overcomes the rest. Thus, by canceling the people's political life, the operations of modernizing politics becomes deactivated and impedes democratizing. This means that the individual's transformation into a member in the state becomes obstructedژ(8)گ.
The Debacle of June 1967 was neither just
a military defeat in front of - The separation of the rule from the people. - The separation of the state from society. - The stagnancy of society. - The coagulation of society's internal history. - The domination of the traditional ideology, which supported dependency. - The compliance, the deficiency, withdrawal and fear. - The fears from nature, government, truth, freedom. - The fear from self-confrontation and reality encountering, and fear from the future. One prominent feature of Mamaleek/ Ottoman age was that 'Freedom' did not exist and could not grow except outside the state and in opposition to it. Therefore, we Arabs did not share the rest of the nations' festivity of freedom, except in burying it. The dominating rule started and grew in the climate of the debacle, which was transformed by the advanced speech into a magnificent victory. The "advanced" systems lied to its nations, then believed its lie and obliged the nation to believe the lie. Except Jamal Abed Al Nasser, who confessed his defeat, announced his responsibility and resigned from the presidency. Later, due to the pressure of the crowds' movement, he withdrew his resignation. The historical retardation, especially the nationalistic splitting, combined with the political and ideological retardation, plus, the imperialistic penetration with the incoming bureaucracy from the modern liberal government. Also, the arriving totalitarianism from socialism, which was supported by the revolutionary coup d`etat ideology and deepened capitalistic expansion. Besides, the international polarizing between north and south on one side, and capitalism, free world and socialism, led by the Soviets, on the other. All these factors combined to produce a suitable environment for the growth of the dominating authority. Possessing the State and Assorting the Structures of the Society - The 8th of March Revolution in 1963:
On
The Military order No. 2 was the
announcement of the State of After a couple of days, the Council was expanded and joined a number of civilians, like Michel Aflak, Salah Aldeen Al Bittar and Mansure Al Attrash, beside three leaders of the Nasseri groups. The new civil members had no effective role in the Council. According to Patrick Seal, who interpreted what M. Attrash said, "the soldiers let us talk, but we discovered later that they, formerly agreed, within themselves, about the procedures of their decisions"ژ(10)گ. Patrick Seal added, "the first days of the revolution were spent for bargaining about the ranks and how to be divided between the different military groups. These matters were discussed in long meetings, which often needed whole nights"ژ(11)گ.
Unlike the former military coups d`etat
that occurred in Syria in which the military interfered to terminate the
political conflicts between the competing powers, the 8th of March
revolution delivered the country to the military. Accordingly, the army
turned from an essential power for the rule, into the essential power of
the rule. Therefore, as much as the military started to be politicized
and became a dogmatic army, politics started to militarize as well.
According to some former Ba'athi cadres, the civil Party wing was weak
with a small number, which at the time of the revolution did not exceed
400 members or much less. Antoin Makdesi referred that the number of
civil members was much less than the mentioned one. He wrote in his
second letter to the President of Syria on
In addition to announcing the State of
After clearing up the Army of the
"Damascusi Officers", who did the coup d`etat on the 28th of September
in 1962, the Nasseri Officers had to be cleared up, too, then the
non-adherent Ba'athi Officers. That was because some Nasseri officers,
led by Jasem Alwan, tried to make another coup d`etat on Patrick Seal pointed that "within four violent months loaded with bloody events, starting from March 1963, Assad and his friends in the military committee destroyed all the organized resistance against their rule, which they practiced behind the screen. Almost, from the first moment, they had to govern by the "force of power" and not with "agreement", probably, because they were a military group that split from a semi-dead Party and without a public base. The experience of these early days affected their attitudes during all the succeeding years. Even after the Party grew and became big and strong, they could not get rid of cautiousness and repression habits"ژ(13)گ.
The widest elimination attack, which
included adherent Ba'athi to the Nationalist Leadership, was after the
23rd of February movement in 1966. About 400 officers and employees were
expelled, beside the imprisonment of Ameen Al Hafez, Mohammed Omran and
their adherent leaders at the Central prison of Mazzeh. As well as, the
detention of thirty old Ba'athi members, like Salah Al Bitar, Mansure Al
Attrash and Shebli Al Aisami, plus, Lebanese, Saudi and Jordanian
members of the Nationalist Leadership, who were kept in the Guest House
at Baghdad St., a well known street in Damascus. Michel Aflak left
The first effective monopolization of power was, first, the monopolization of the military and security powers, then the power of the governmental organizations. During the operation of constructing the dogmatic army, then, the operation of Ba'athisizing the state were increasingly deepening, the masses were noticeably careless. Due to the Party's growth and the increase of its members, it was easy to understand the people's carelessness and rejection. Also, the public organizations, which included big masses, were negatively supporting instead of positively participating, or stayed with complete carelessness toward what was going on in the country including what related to their own living conditions, civil rights and fundamental freedoms. The first Regional Conference, which was held after the revolution of September in 1963, was an important turning point at the procession of Al Ba'ath Arab Socialist Party. In fact, Akram Al Horani and his supporters left the Party, beside the Nasseri' split. The Regional Conference was a preparation for the 6th Nationalist Conference in October 1963. The Regional Conference had a Leftist mark; it confirmed the principle of "The Party is the leader of the State and society". It legalized the army's interference with politics and considered that the political dogmatism of the army was as important as the military training. At that conference, it was decided to mobilize the masses by public organizations of workers, farmers and free professions, such as doctors, engineers, lawyers and others, beside the youth, students and women's organizations. The Party controlled all these organizations and they became the devices of building the national democracy, which opened the way for the socialist diversion.
The leftist trend became a general
tendency after the 23rd of February movement, led by Salah Jedeed, who
became the first man in the State. Still, he did not have any official
rank other than regional assistant secretary of the Party, then, Assad
appointed him as Minister of Defense. Both leaders paid all their
attention, first, toward the Party and the government, which became the
State of Patrick Seal said that the system came out after three years of conflict over the authority, which succeeded the 8th of March movement. Then, the expulsion of Nasseris, the suppression of the Right and religious opposition in Hama 1964 and the removal of Ba'athi old generation, made the atmosphere clear for the military committee to govern. Until that time, the military committee was the central institution through which the officers imposed their will. In 1966, after Omran left, the committee weakened and lost its effectiveness because officers monopolized the government institution, besides, there was no more need for secret conferencesژ(14)گ. The conflict over authority occurred on two fronts, one front was inside the Party, the other one was facing the competitors and the opposition from outside the Party. In both fronts, the military was the fundamental decisive power. After each confrontation there remained some less dangerous or unimportant groups, during the passage of time they all converted to the negative opposition at the civil and military sectors. What made the officers, cadres of the Party and high-rank employees have an honest loyalty to that leader or the other? Was it partial dogmatic bigotry, or class bigotry, or sectarian bigotry, or directional bigotry? Or, were there other reasons more objective, especially that the competitive leaders were, often, from the same Party and the same class or sector and trend? The reason of loyalty might be due to the privileges that the leader would give to his followers or the benefits that the leader would allow them to get, in addition to the temptation of authority and prestige. Patrick Seal said that "after the debacle of June 1967, Assad understood, thus, solidity replaced his delights, since that time he decided to develop his personal base within the armed forces. As the tribal chiefs do, Assad polarized his loyalty through rendering services, offering gifts and improving the conditions of his friends". Thus gradually, the authority diverted into a source of wealth, power and prestige, according to the need of the followers and supporters. Morally, the privileged cadres might have deserved what they gained because of their services to the country, which its frontiers shrank to be equal to the restrictions of the Party and authority. In the absence of law, the absence of the interrogation principle, the deformed organizations and the immobilized powers, the privileges, gifts and theft became the base of the authority. We can add that all bigotry met at one point, the private benefit, which gradually, replaced the general benefit. Therefore, the political denotations depended on personal benefits, so that the principles and foundations of the Sultanic government were repeated. According to Mohammed Abed Al Jaberi, these principles were, already, settled in the political unconsciousness as, "Tribe, Faith and Gaining". Flee from authority, or Sultanic government, or the dominating authority was repeated. Fleeing might be an escape form the authority or running to it. Those who escaped to it wanted either to avoid its harm or to gain its benefits; they became the masses of the ruler, his aura and his devotees. Still, they were not safe of tyranny, repression and terrorism, they were always, obliged to prove their loyalty through "bootlicking" and hypocrisy, or by denunciating friends, relatives, work companions and neighbors. On the other hand, fleeing from the authority was clarified by joining the Party or the paralleled organizations, such as, Ba'ath Vanguards, Union of Youth's Revolution, Union of Women. Also, Sportive Union, Farmers Union, Workers General Union, Writers Union, the Union of Journalists and other professional unions, which were, completely, dominated by the Party and the security agencies. The society was subjugated to a revolutionary diversion from the pastoral position into the mass position. The main feature of the mass's position was the negative support and the conditional response, like Pavlov's dog response, which responded to the clear and symbolic orders of the authority. The suzerain state depends on three bases that enable it to produce its society of masses, which are terrorism, ideology and the directed propaganda. These bases are consolidated by three principles: - The first is the effective monopolization, which means monopolizing authority, wealth and power, besides, monopolizing the truth and nationality. - The second is the principle of overcoming and duress. - The third principle is the personification of authority and worshiping power, which means that the person and his rank become incorporated. Also, the moral and material power of the rank is transferred to the person who becomes the ideal grandeur of power and influence. In this case, orders replace laws, privileges replace rights, and loyalties and devotions replace qualifications and merits. In order to clarify the vision of the suzerain state and its comprehensive span, each one of these bases and principles needs a special study. In fact, they all combine to produce what is so called settlement and continuity, which have no other meaning than preserving the actual conditions and obliging the people to believe all the falsifications. Due to former monopolization, the society and the nation become useless and exceed the needs. Actually, it is not possible to have a ruler without ruled people, or an authority without a nation, or a State without a society. This tragic paradox or the Black Tragedy (The authority's dispense and need for the nation) explains the authority's neglect and contempt of the people. The authority considers the nation incapable and believes to maintain it as a subject for its will and complete capacity. The authority, which is able to interpret the progress of illusion, can cancel plurality, variety and opposition, also, oblige the reality to yield to whatever ideology disciplined by the "General". A Society without Classes: The Agrarian Reform dropped the big proprietors and divided the confiscated lands among farmers. This led to the increase of small and middle proprietors. The decisions of the "Socialist" Nationalization dropped the rising national Bourgeois. Thus, the government, gradually, converted into a big proprietor, a unique industrialist, a wholesaler and retailer and a manager of the rising working class, which widened due to developing the capitalism of the dependent state. The Middle-class became distributed vertically according to its loyalty or opposition to the authority. Therefore, it was divided between a ruling group and masses, in which the ruling group split into masters and dependents. Masters were the Bourgeois of the upper authority, civil and military, the dependents and the followers of the dependents and who depended on the dependents, until the bottom of the pyramid, were the masses. Nationalization was an elimination of the working class and cancellation of its political and social role rather than a socialist act. This destroyed any class' solidarity among workers and farmers, or among poor rural people and the poor city people to face the joint liability of proprietors and managers. The government presented itself as a representative of these classes and decided their dissolution before they were culturally and politically identified. The procession of neglecting them quickened according to the growth of the dominating authority and the transfer of social power from the society organizations into the governmental organizations, which converted by time into security institutions. At the same time, there was a growing Aristocratic class of workers, farmers and medium Bourgeois, all protected and supervised by security agencies. The main features of such Aristocracy were corruption and virtual loose, but the national socialist ideology was its cover and justification. Day after day, the gap between the new Aristocracy and its supporting masses widened much more than the gap between the worker and his Bourgeois manager. Therefore, the working class and the drudged masses turned into a troop of slaves. The cancellations of Party, rural and workers aristocracy, which was a new class with mutual benefits, encountered the cancellation of classes or social groups. The serial elimination of these classes made their members slaves for the authority, because the slavery system would never create a free class. Thus, workers, rural and poor city people became slaves of the slaves. This is the main phenomenon of political, cultural and social negligence. The dominating authority does not accept the existence of united and unified privileged groups or classes, it only, accepts privileged individuals. Consequently, the opponents could not depend on organized and unified classes or groups of mutual benefits. Actually, by shattering and dividing, the dominating authority creates a crowed of isolated and competitive individuals, which their benefits relay on denouncing each other and withdrawing from the general affairs. Force or reality accuses each one, so, a person has to face the accusation by dropping it on others, also by adulating the ruler to convince him of his innocence and prove his loyalty. Thus, the individual becomes besieged from inside and outside and driven into a series of useless practices, which increase his self-despise and isolation. These futility practices, in fact, are blind instinctive responses toward an existing possible danger and violence. The violence of the dominating authority is not only directed to the opposition but could be, irrationally, practiced with everyone. In such a system, each individual is possibly considered an opposition and an objective enemy. Terrorism always presumes more illusions, more secret agencies and more detectives. This explains the cancer progress of security institutions. These institutions have the complete freedom to interfere directly with citizens' detailed life, on all levels of administration and activities. If these institutions did not enrich enough through stealing from the government, they enrich by stealing and blackmailing their victims, beside sharing the activities, which they were supposed to control, like gambling, prostitution, smuggling and drug trade. This made the security institution a sort of state within a State, which was established by terrorism, blackmailing, corruption and corrupting. These institutions transformed the society into the society of exchanged fear and doubts, plus, subjugating the society's concepts into their measures and virtual scales. Their essential functions might be and still are to control the plurality of the society and the infinite varieties and differences among human creatures in order to make them similar copies which resemble a mono totalitarian creature. This is impossible unless all citizens are diminished into one fixed and empty identity, which is constituted of instinctive reactions, plus, declining their freedom for the sake of preserving their kind. The political terrorism and the political detention with all the accompanying body torture and psychological oppression, severely, affected the ruining of the human relationships. Besides, penetrating the society and destroying all its forms of resistance transformed it into a kind of big Holocaust. Hanna Arndt said: "the first fundamental step for complete control is to kill in the person his legal self, then, to kill his virtual self, after that, ruining the individual is accomplished"ژ(15)گ. Converting classes or social groups into masses and canceling any solidarity or unification between groups are two obligatory provisions for full despotismژ(16)گ. The transfer from pastorals into masses is a transfer from uncovered pauperization and misery into disguised pauperization and poverty, also, from a frank slavery into a flowering one. According to Aristotle, a slave is the one whose spirit weakened; wits declined and annexed his self to others. Besides, a slave is the body, the ox and the tool of his Master. According to the writer of this report, he believes that the "dependent" is a body without spirit or mind nor conscience. In fact, everything in the state or society exists in the individual, by force or reality, so, what does this mean if the individual is a body without spirit or mind nor conscience? Actually, the society of masses and a dominating authority, or totalitarian, is a society and authority without spirit, or mind, nor conscience! The extinguished spirit, resigned mind, dead conscience and the deprivation of meaning are the most prominent productions of the dominating authority, at the same time, the most important provisions for its settlement and continuity. The dominating state is a meaningless authority because all its speeches and acts are meaningless. The 'meaning' is constituted of speech and action. Thus, a dominating authority can not produce the provisions of its settlement and continuity unless it slays the human spirit, blocks the voice of mind and executes the conscience and assassinates the meaning. The prevailing corruption, which some people might consider it an incidental extraordinary phenomenon, and a disease, which could be treated without changing the structure and function of the government, is the direct tangible result of the authority' settlement and continuity. The changes of the state' structure and function do not mean overthrowing the actual regime but retaining the state, as well as, canceling its partition feature, being the state of the leading Party, and gradually, transforming it into a political state, which expresses the social wholeness. This means transforming it into a State of rights and law without discriminations or exceptions among citizens, and reviewing the production of its functional social types. The writer of this report believes that the existing authority and Al Ba'ath Party could assist effectively in the grand historic conversion by transforming the authority into a political authority, and the leading Party into a political Party in a modern contemporary meaning of politicsژ(17)گ.
The democratic freedoms are based on the
equality of law between all the citizens; besides, the social justice
becomes the actual practice of equality. Thus, these freedoms would not
have a meaning and function unless the citizens, according to their
social environment, belong to groups who represent them and form within
themselves a social and political pyramid. Therefore, citizens would
belong, voluntarily and rationally, to free organizations and groups,
which are produced by society that express its effectiveness and
activities. These political organizations, associations and groups,
beside other civil organizations could not be really free unless all
their members are free. Freedom, here, is under the provision of law and
responsibility. Thus, the collapse of the social classes' system, which
means the evacuation of the only political and social base of the modern
state' structure, was one of the most tragic events in the history of
nations. This event occurred in a primitive, barbarian and tyrannical
way. The conflicts of the social classes do not always terminate by the
victory of one class and the deterioration of the other; actually, they
may terminate by the collapse of all the conflicting groups. The
conflicts in our country as in many other countries terminated with the
collapsing of all the conflicting groupsژ(18)گ.
This collapse corresponded to the rise of Fascism in The Indications of Reformation:
After all what we said, is it possible to
reform? Yes, it is possible and it is a duty. The radical corruption
needs a radical reformation. As the writer believes, Naturally, reformation is gradual, slow and sometimes painful. Reformations differ, the authority reformation with its own known devices and machinery would lead into the reproduction of the system with some improvement here and there. This will reproduce the same crisis, which will have no exit other than a radical reformation. The radical reformation occurs when the efforts of the authority and the nation combine, as well as, the positive participation of all the groups and powers of the society. This reformation would lead the country to exceed the present toward renaissance and progress. There is no third choice because all this corruption and ruin could not be canceled without a historical action on the same level of its danger and challenges. The writer claims that the feelings of necessity for reformation were growing slowly within some spheres of the authority, which deafened during a long time and did not hear the voice of the nation, especially, the voice of the intellectuals and the employees of the public field. These spheres felt the stiffness of the governmental articulations and the prevailing corruption in all the levels of the public administration, which became its distinguished characteristics. Also, they felt the rusty ideological project of the authority, "the nationalist socialist ideology", the aggravation of the economical crisis, the bankruptcy of the public economical sector, except the oil sector, which is considered a prohibited secrecy. Before the death of the former president, Hafez Assad, there were rumors about opening the files of corruption. Many names of prominent corrupted personalities were mentioned, which included high-rank employees in all the commanding sectors. Therefore, the former Prime Minister, Mahmod Al Zu'bi was accused of corruption and was abstained from work. There were conversations about a project of reformation held by Dr. Bashar Assad, which one of its headlines was to control corruption.
In this climate, cultural gathering
nucleuses of political spans started to be formed. They spread in all
the cities and Syrian regions, especially, in
The Seminar of the Economical Tuesday,
organized by the Syrian Economical Association had an important role. It
uncovered the factors and features of the economical crisis, its morals,
political and social effects in the society, plus, the aggravated
resulting effects of the administrative corruption. However, a number of
intellectuals and interested cadres gathered in
After the death of Assad, his son Bashar
became the president. He announced in his speech of oath the
"Presidential Program" of developing and modernizing. This refreshed
some prospects of improving the political position, especially, after
releasing 600 hundred detained politicians, which formerly, the
authority denied their existence. Therefore, the circles of Forums
widened and became overt, new forums were established in Damascus, such
as, the Forum of National Dialogue by Riad Saif, who used his own house
at one of the southern districts in Damascus. Also, Jamal Atasi's Forum
of Dialogue and Democracy, which was established at the house of the
intellectual and political leader Jamal Atasi. The writer of this report
had the honor to be the Spokesman of this later forum and inaugurated it
by a lecture titled "Present Matters for Discussions". He also had the
honor to assist the foundation of the Cultural Forum of Human Rights and
become a member of its administrative institution. Besides, he
inaugurated the cultural activity of the later forum at the residence of
the Lawyer Khaleel Ma'took in one of the southern districts in Plenty of Syrian intellectuals and educated people lectured at these forums, which included a wide range of political, cultural and social cadres. At these forums, the language and culture of the dialogues flourished, besides, forming many collective demands, which were expressed by statements, documents and writings. Therefore, one important statement was signed by 99 Syrian intellectuals and had the following demands:
- Terminating the State of - Canceling the Martial Laws and exceptional tribunals. - Releasing the political dإtentes and permitting the deported persons to return home. - Liberating fundamental freedoms. - Issuing the law of Parties and associations. - Issuing the press law, which organizes Journalism. - Viewing other matters, which related to fundamental freedoms, human rights and the sovereignty of law.
Within these activities, the predicament
of civil society emerged to oppose the totalitarian authority, the mass
society, plus, the cancellation of political life, pauperizing the
nation and neglecting it. This predicament with all its intellectual,
social and political inclusions was clarified in the "Fundamental
Document" that was issued by the foundational institution of the
committees for the revival of civil society. 1.200 intellectuals and
activists in the public field signed the document. They were writers,
journalists, artists, lawyers, engineers, doctors, graduates and
teachers of both genders. This document was called "Statement of the
Thousand". It was succeeded by a second document, titled "Toward a
National Social Age in The social movement, which was initiated by the intellectuals and supported by the opposing democratic national Parties, especially, the Parties that were included within the frame of democratic national assembling, assisted to exceed the screen of fear, rejected violence with all its political and social forms and features. Also, it achieved a sort of contact with the intellectuals and the political movements. As well as, it assisted the appearance of a new age, which adopts the principles of individual freedom and citizenship, plus, the equality of law. The statement of the general national concordance that was established by the foundational institution of the committees for the revival of civil society had less propaganda but deeper and wider effect. This effect was clarified among all Syrians, who were interested in the general affairs, inside and outside the country. Even the prohibited Party of Muslim Brotherhood announced its support to the Statement of the Thousand and issued the Convention of Honor, which seemed to accord completely with it. The convention of Muslim Brotherhood included the rejection of violence and an invitation for a comprehensive national dialogue, in which it admits the political and intellectual plurality, the democratic principles and peaceful alternation of authority. Moreover, the convention recognizes religion as a civil identity instead of a political doctrine. During the former months, new political and cultural features were formed. Thus, there became a deepened tendency toward an open and frank comprehensive national democratic dialogue. Also, there was a tendency for a national reconciliation that would lead to exceed the past and exit from the state of negative protest and disguise strikes into the state of positive participation. Furthermore, to pave a safe way to transfer into the State of rights, law and democracy system, plus, replacing the cultural base in which the suzerain state grew by a democratic base. The Syrian nation tried, and still tries to help the authority to get rid of its chronic crisis by producing a mutual political and intellectual sphere with it due to the speech of oath. According to some predicaments of that speech, some flatterers consider that it was an ideal complete presidential program, which was impeccable. Of course, this is not true. Unfortunately, the authority still refuses and prohibits the nation's help.
As a response to the demands for a
national dialogue, the authority decided to close the forums, accused
the intellectuals and charged them with treason. Moreover, the authority
went to extremes in monopolizing the truth, nationality and the
continuous corruption, which file was not yet opened, if it will ever be
opened. The Nationalist Leadership of Ba'ath and most of its members,
who were referred to as symbols of corruption and, as was said, who were
supposed to be interrogated in the regional conference that was held
after the death of Assad, attacked the nation. Besides, other supporting
Parties of the national front and all the bodies of security shared the
attack. They all led launches of slander and attacks against the idiotic
and ignorant people, who did not deserve liberty. Also, the launch
attacked the intellectuals who dealt with foreign embassies and evil
external powers. Moreover, they started to mobilize the Party and public
organizations against the civil society; also, they aroused the anger of
the president against the intellectuals. Thus, the president declared in
an interview to the '
All the former responses are headed by the
title 'the primacy of administrative and economical reformation',
without the need for a political reformation. In spite of the prevailing
corruption among the advanced national front, according to the
president, the political positions seemed to be fine. Therefore, every
discussion about the political reformation became a calumniation against
the modern history of "Humans, individuals and groups, are recognized by their future. The past is always present in the future as a span of its range. The opposite can not be true, because the future is always surprising. We Arabs have to live this matter because the Arab man, always, considers his golden age had passed and he has to go back to it. However, the daily experience shows us clearly that the past, in whatever power of presence it affects the present or the future, it had already passed and terminated, and will never be back." I believe that the sheik of Syrian intellectuals, who is madly in love with his country and people, tried to draw the attention of the young president to the past, which passed and has no more interpreted value. Furthermore, the persons of that past were neither always right, nor always wrong. It seems that Makdesi regained the Arabic poet saying "I was not honored by my people but I gave them honor and I was proud of myself not of my grandfathers". As if he wanted to say "you are the president, not the son of the president, thus, it is your duty to preserve the republic and defend it. However, the heritage of your father is grand and proud in your view, it is not your duty to preserve it and defend it, because life is passing as the current water of a river, where a person can not swim in the same water twice". According to the researcher, it seems that the authority, today, is hesitating between the absolute need of reformation and the fear from the expected and the delusional results. This fear is due to different visions and private benefits, which were produced by the operation of possessing the State. Therefore, there are meaningless discussions about the primacy of administrative and economical reformation instead of the political reformation. As if the social fields of life are separated and unconnected, and the serious reformations in any of these fields do not need a paralleled reformation in the other fields or does not relate to it. For the first time, the authority confessed about the economical stagnancy and administrative corruption, mainly, in judiciary, education and information. This confession brought the authority out of the complete yielding position, the complete believe and the state of avoiding reality into the admission of some truths. It seems unable and does not want to confess the political crisis, which became a relating type to all other crises. Actually, reformation can not start before confessing the political crisis and criticizing the past. There should be deep criticism for the foundations, which established the policy since the 8th of March in 1963. If we take this matter out of the pessimism and optimism circle, which means from the subjective circle into the objective circle of possibilities and probabilities, we can say that reforming the present situations of the country became an urgent and actual necessity. Furthermore, the authority, which still holds the reins of initiative and decisive power for reformation, has two equal choices. First, to close the doors which it opened and await the future. Second, to go ahead in the compulsory dangerous critical way if it does not accept a national reconciliation, which enables the civil society's powers of actual participation in the political life. In fact, it seems that the Syrians have a wide range of time to wait. __________ Footnotes:
1) We do not agree with the distinction of
Khaldoon Hasan Al Nakeeb between the dominating state and the
2) Khaldoon Hasan Al Nakeeb, "The
Dominating Authority in the Arab World", a comparative structural study,
The Center for Studies of the Arabic Union, 3) Review Al Nakheeb, previous source, also, Hanna Arndt " the Foundations of Totalitarianism", Edgar Moran "Introductions to leave out the Twentieth Century" and "the Spirit of Time" in two parts. Besides, a group of Arab researchers of "The State and the Society in the Arab World". 4) Al Nakheeb, previous source, p. 32 and the following. 5) Previous source, p. 36 - 37.
6) Yaseen Al Hafez, "The Debacle and the
Debacle Ideology", 2nd edition, Dar Al Hassad, 7) Previous source, p. 173 - 174. 8) Previous source, p. 212 - 213. 9) Patrick Seal, "Assad, the Conflict Over the Middle East", the translation of the General Organization of Studies, Publishing and Distribution, there is neither date nor place of publishing, p. 132. 10) Previous source, p. 133. 11) Previous source, p. 133.
12) A letter sent by the well-known Syrian
intellectual Antoin Maqdesi to the President of the 13) Patrick Seal, previous source, p. 142. 14) Previous source, p. 174. 15) Hanna Arndt, previous source, translated by Antoin Abu Zaid, Dar Al Saki, 1st edition, Beirut 1993, p. 221 and the following. 16) Previous source, p. 17. 17) We use the concepts of the political state, the political authority and the political Party as a substitute for the State of the one Party or, the leader Party, and the revolutionary authority. Thus, it is Patriarchal and disguises its military reality and security nature, also, instead of the ideological Party and in contradiction with it. Or let us say that we use the concept of policy instead of ideology and in contradiction with it. 18) Here, we distinguish the class conflict, being the logic of history, as Karl Marx said, from the conflict of the "modern tribes" over wealth and authority, which happened in our country and other backward countries. This conflict continued and no one gained unless in a personal and illegal way. |