Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Thursday, March 28th, 2024

The Syrian Episode

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The Syrian Episode

The Syrian protestors were mercilessly shot at on Friday as they were carrying out their protests against the 40-year rule of President Bashar Assad's family in Hama. 34 people were reported to be killed as the result of aggression of the regime's forces. This particular protest was demarcated in a sense that it contained the largest number of protestors so far in the anti-regime movement that has been going one for the last ten weeks or so. It has been one of the attributes of an autocratic regime that when it tends to prolong it-self, it has to vie through the protests of the people who have been under the strict rules of the regime.

And when autocracy like monarchy starts choosing the rulers on the basis of inheritence, the situation gets even worse. The regime, then, has to back its rulers in order to prove them as the most derserving ruler of all times, which can in no way be proved through logical reasoning as it is believed that 'you cannot fool all the people all the times'; therefore, the regime, in the wild goose chase to prove it legitimacy, turns strict and most of the times even voilent. It is bound to reach to a stage where it strives to crush all the opposition by force as it loses all the reasons and the people because of suffocation due to too many restrictions tend to turn voilent as well.

And this particular point of time in an autocratic system is considered as the transition period, the system on the verge of collapse. This particular phenomenon in political development is not new, and it has many examples backing it wehemently. The situation in Middle East and North African countries is a fresh example of the same phenomenon. And the Friday killing of the Syrian protestors also point towards the same concept. The government of Bashar Assad has lost its legitimacy and at the same time its reasoning, turning voilent is the only option for it, as it sees its horrible death approaching it speedily.

The Syrian regime has also taken strict measures to cut down the internet connections in the country, with the intention to isolate the country from the rest of the world so that the atrocities of the regime must be kept hidden; as, youtube, face book and other internet applications were the basic source of information regarding the attitude of the government towards the protestors. Many videos and pictures have been uploaded so far that show the evident display of terror against the protestors.

In a healthy political system, such as an ideal democracy, the opposition is treated positively because opposition tends to criticise the mistaken policies of the government and can provide a chance to the government to serve its people in a better way. But, autocracies, like the one in discussion, suffer from insecurity complex and ultimately turn to crush all sort of opposition even if they are for the benefit of the people. And another major blunder committed by such regimes is to consider that the subject are to serve the rulers and facilitate their regime, while in real sense the governments are formed to facilitate the people. If any government voilates the basic human rights and human freedom, it is bound to face debacle; as happened in Egypt, and now happening in Syria and Libya.
But the only point of concern throughout the proc

ss is the loss of valuable lives of the people. So far, almost 1100 people have been killed in different parts of Syria, including many children, since the protests have erupted against Assad in mid-march. And it is feared that more lives are at stake. No one knows for sure how many lives are going to be devored by the atrocities that are still to come. But one thing is sure - the autocratic regime of Syria is never going to care about that, as in 1982, Assad's father and predecessor Hafez Assad crushed an uprising resulting in the death of 10,000 to 25,000 people and failure of the movement, but the sacrifices going on in this very episode is not going to end up in smoke, as its objectives are for the basic rights of human beings.

All the people of the world deserve to rule themselves by themselves. People need to have share in the government and the governments have to serve the people not subjugate them with their exploitative policies. The victory of the people seeking democracy in Egypt was just the beginning; hopefully the movement will result in the success of motives of the people who are suffering in Syria and Libya and may further punish the autocratic rulers elsewhere in the world. The international world must strengthen such motives and play their role for the maximum good of the people of the concerned region not for their own national interests and the world has to keep in mind that all that has to be achieved with the minimum loss of the lives of the innocent people, as nothing stands more precious than human life.

The writer is a new growing columnist of the daily Outlook Afghanistan. He can be reached at sherzai@outlookafghanistan.com

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