Amarji

Syriana or Syriosis?

They see him here… They see him there… Those bloody idiots see him everywhere. Is he in heaven? Or is he in hell? – the Khaddam Pimpernel. Ah rumor-mongering, the appetizer de jour in desperate times, the favorite pastime of the cowards and wishful thinkers of the world, the quintessential salt of a long parched earth, like our “earth” happens to be these days. Ah, the thrill of it all. I can watch this while eating buttered popcorn, belying all my claims to dieting, reneging, so early, on all my New Year’s resolutions, that is, had I not been part of this whole thing, had I not been right here smack in the midst of it all, having a clear stake in the outcome, like freedom, and all that. To me, this unfolding melodrama feels more like Syriosis than Syriana. It’s a disease, a full blown disease, with no cure yet in sight. Or, to be more specific, the cure might be well-known really, but it is bitter, too bitter for our all too refined taste. After so many thousands of years of civilization, we tend to expect things to work themselves out in our favor somehow, no need to suffer the bitterness of the potential cures. You wait a long enough period, and all diseases can prove ephemeral. But we… we are here to stay, or so we’d like to think. Because the alternative is just too damn… empty, as far as we are concerned.

Poof!

Unless he can indeed manage to recruit some new figures to join his government in exile, Khaddam’s moment, his fifteen minutes of fame, seem to be over (his eternity of shame, on the other hand, is just beginning).

Indeed, it is about time for a new actor to venture onto the stage, and for a new twist to take place in the ever convoluting plot that represents the endgame for a certain decrepit regime. It is indeed time for another fuckup by our timid yet angry lion-cub.

What will it be this time, I wonder? Another convenient car-bombing? Another stupid interview? A meaningless and empty gesture to try to appeal to the internal opposition? Or will he surprise us with something really creative this time around, fucking up being the real essence of his creative genius?

I can't wait. I am actually holding my breaths.

The Elephant that Is Not in the Room, but Should Be!

Or,

Where Are All the Entrepreneurs?

Very few entrepreneurs in the Arab World seem to be seriously interested in reform. Indeed, they can be heard every now and then in countries such as Syria, Sudan, Yemen and elsewhere, criticizing cumbersome government procedures, import/export regulations and the endemically corrupt bureaucracies, and calling for effective reforms of the country’s financial institutions. But that has been the extant of their “activism” so far. Politically speaking they continue to be missing in action, although they could probably generate more popular sympathy and endorsement, despite their known part in ongoing corruption schemes, than any of the existing opposition groups. Or, by joining or allying with some of the existing opposition groups they can probably bestow upon them a greater sense of legitimacy and credibility.

For people are not that really stupid, and they do realize at a certain level that their consumerist desires and expectations represent, in one form or another, an actual endorsement of not purely capitalist ideals, than at least certain mercantilist ones.

Now the entrepreneur class, or to be more specific, the businesses community, is not in any way, shape or form some homogenous groups of individuals. In addition to their religious, ethnic and provincial diversity, they are also divided by, if not ideology per se, than at least, conception of the role in society and their relationship to it.

The traditional aristocratic families, aka the Bazaaris as they are called in Iran, are quite different from the surviving feudal overlords in certain parts of the region, and both are quite different from the Nouveau Riche, that fractious group of individual shady entrepreneurs who emerged under existing regimes and who owe much of their wealth to the shady deals and scheme made possible by the corruption and corruptibility of these regimes.

The Nouveau Riche might seem like opportunist bastards at first, but some of them have been around for a while now, let’s not forget that some of the regimes go back a few decades, that is, enough time to allow some of the Nouveau Riche to make the crossover into Old Money, at least from the point of view of the increasingly young population. Some might have, in fact, managed to establish family ties with some of the old aristocratic families out there, benefiting from certain rough times that many of these families have gone through during the heydays of the 60s, 70s and in some cases even the 80s and 90s.

Some Nouveau Riche elements, however, might have grown less opportunistic and as such more willing to be critical of some of the policies of existing regimes. But so far, and even for them, the politics is still out of the question.

For representatives of Old Money, on the other hand, early involvement in politics have arguably backfired on them, at least in their own minds, and was simply too costly. But this is a rather dubious take on things. The reason for the failure of Old Money’s dabbling in politics is related to their insistence on the pursuing their own narrow interests firsts and at the expense of everything else. They did not show any real commitment to improving the living conditions in the countryside, in poorer communities, or any kind of serious developmental activities. Their narrow mindedness, lack of vision and petty squabbles spelled their doom, and that of their respective countries to some extant. It is their failure that facilitated the rise of the Baath in countries such as Syria, Iraq and Algeria, and brought about the Nasserist experiment in Egypt, with its influence elsewhere in the region.

The fact that this same mentality continues to plague the minds of the old entrepreneurial class, who now prefer to play it safe, and prefer to take part in the various corruption schemes in order to maintain their quiet, luxurious yet quite marginal subsistence in their countries and societies, will continue to have a very debilitating effect on their societies.

Why is the role of entrepreneurs so important? Because, in the absence of serious intellectual leaders and political leaders from the scene, the added absence of entrepreneurial leaders might just doom the region to a long period of atavistic mayhem.

Ours, the proliferation of pretenders notwithstanding, are in fact leaderless societies, which is just another aspect of our continuing plight.

The Falafel Republic – 2!

Despite the advice that President Jacques Chirac seems to have gotten from his Egyptian counterparts and Saudi counterparts, statements made by the French President during his recent address laying out French foreign policy for the year ahead reflect a certain unwillingness to compromise with the Syrian regime at this stage. President Chirac affirmed that the time for dabbling in Lebanese affairs and attempting to destabilize it is over, he then called on the Syrian authorities to cooperate fully with the UN commission and asserted that Syria's "return to the heart of the community of nations is contingent on a change in behavior."

Coming so soon on the heel of the visits by the Egyptian President and the Saudi Monarch, these are pretty uncompromising stands adopted by the French President. As such, the likelihood of a deal with France seems highly unlikely at this stage.

Meanwhile, the former Syrian PM, Muhammad Mustafa Miro, has just been stopped with his family at the Aleppo airport and prevented from traveling to Poland. His passport was confiscated and his name and that of other officials is said to be on a recently circulated travel ban list.

Moreover, the Syrian Minister of Justice (and what an oxymoron that is these days: Syrian justice) has just announced that Khaddam will be tired for high treason on account of this recent stands and statements.

The Syrian people couldn’t care less about any of this seeing that their Feast of Sacrifice is currently including them a well. Prices are so high, they couldn’t afford the traditional lamb meal, and fears of the Bird Flue drove them away from chicken.

Falafel anyone?

The Falafel Republic!

This is indeed how many Syrians refer to the country as least when viewed from the perspective of the great majority of the people who cannot afford to eat anything but Falafel these days, thanks to 40 years of Baath rule and corruption.

But, and according to a recent article published in the Arabic news site Elaph, the Falafelites, despite the Khaddam offensive, are still holding hope that President Bashar will finally begin to crackdown on corruption and take serious steps to improve their living standards, transforming the state back into the Shawerma, Kufta & Kebab Republic.

Unfortunately tough, the only the Shawerma, Kufta & Kebab that this President seems wiling and capable of delivering are the ones made of our won decaying carcasses, which does not seem like a very appetizing prospect to me. Thanks to this regime, cannibalism could soon be making a comeback in this land of endless civilization.

But whom am I kidding? Cannibalism has always been the spice of our lives hereabouts. This is what our long spate of civilization has been all about. We live on because we can cannibalize ourselves. We have been feeding of each other for thousands of years now, and there is nothing anyone can do to make us stop. We have long developed a taste for our own flesh, not to mention God’s of course. Autophagia, Theophagia, Omniphagia. This is what human progress is all about, a steady progression towards hell led in the name of everything sacred.

My Big Heretical Heart!

Or,

How I Can Love Hariri, Tweini & Syria all at the same Time!

I thought this dialogue is too important and needs to be given more visibility. For it gives me the chance to clarify further my position on why I oppose the Syrian regime.


The Comment

I just don't understand how you could ever think of Syria's involvement in Hariri's assasssination and how by any chance I saw you on TV mourning Tuieni as if he was your role model. I just want you to have more insight into the politics of the region and suspect others like Junblat and Mossad and not preclude the high probability of their committing this heinous crime. Regarding Tuieni's assassination, I surely denounce it but let's not forget how his spiteful stir-up of the Lebanese hatred caused the killing of many Syrian workers and other individuals and led to growing enmity between the two blood-related peoples.

--Posted by I love my country to Amarji - A Heretic's Blog at 1/09/2006 02:05:54 PM

My Reply

I love my country too, which is why I hate this regime. It sucks our blood like a vampire and preys upon us like a vulture. Had the President and his ilk not being totally caught up in their power games and struggles, had they not been so blind as to the changing world around them, had they not been so incompetent and foolish, we would not have been in the position we are in today, with our country on the verge of another series of potentially disastrous developments.

I say, potentially, because if we are willing to break the barrier of fear for once and confront the real reason for our misery at this stage, we might still be in a position to prevent the implosion of the country and bring about regime change ourselves, and save our country from an unnecessary face-off with the powers-that-be in this world.

Still, let's play it dumb for a while and let's assume that it is indeed the Mossad, or Jumblat, or anybody but our idiotic leaders, that was behind Hariri assassination, even then, the Syrian regime is still to blame for the problems we are now facing today. You know why? Because they failed to read the very obvious signs that have been gathering around for many years now, signs to the effect that it was time to pull out of Lebanon, to focus on internal matters, to reinvent the regime and its basic structure, to go along with the necessity of loosening one's grip on power and allow for more participation in the decision-making process, to focus on fighting corruption and dealing with the serious developmental challenges that this country is facing. The signs were obvious, the warnings were being issued by all and sundry, to no avail. To no avail.

To Bashar & Co., this is was never about patriotism and national interest. This was always about their particularistic interests, their grip on power. They tell us about patriotism, reform and conspiracies, but all they really care about is staying in power and fleecing the flock.

Well, I don't know about you, but I am tired of being fleeced, bled-dry and devoured, no matter how piecemeal. I think I deserve better than this. I think the country I love deserves better than this.

My opposition to this regime has always been premised on this idealistic love for freedom and country, believe it or not, and not the Hariri assassination, and I have been doing most of my opposition while back in Syria, armed with nothing but my Syrian citizenship and my own talents and skills. So, my current daring is not related to my being in the US at this point in time. I have been saying very much the same things when I was back in Syria.

For at least fifteen years now, countries in Eastern Europe and some in Latin America and Southeast Asia have been working hard at developing and modernizing themselves. But under our regimes, most of them anyway, our region has been doing none of that, because our leaders are more interested in power than reform on the one hand, and because they are unequal to the task of reform on the other. Since those who are equal to the task will constitute a serious threat to the regimes' hold on power, even if they appear uninterested in power, then, these people cannot be allowed to function freely, they cannot be allowed to run their NGOs and companies and achieve what the state is failing to achieve.

For this reason, regimes such as the Syrian regime can only pave the way to disaster and implosion. This is the essence of my opposition to it.

As for my reading of the Hariri situation, you don’t have to agree with it, in order to agree with me on the necessity of regime change from the inside. All you have to do here is love your country, as you say you do, and seek what is best for her, which is not necessarily what is best for the regime.

On the other hand, I do admit that I have always respected Hariri and Tweini. They both worked as hard as they can for their country. Hariri may not have been Mr. Squeaky Clean to some people, and being in the position he was in having to deal with the kind of people he had to deal with all the time in both Syria and Lebanon, I don’t think he could have afford it really. Still, his love for Lebanon was manifested in his support for the tens of thousands of students who were sent to study abroad at a time when few others were paying attention to the importance of such moves, and in what he did in downtown Beirut, Sidon and other Lebanese cities. He might have taken from Lebanon somehow, but he clearly gave as well. The taking in Syria is too blatant to be denied, but where is the giving?

The case for Tweini is even more easily justified. By opening the pages of an-Nahar to liberal intellectuals from all over the Arab World, and not just Syria and Lebanon, to discuss issues that no other newspaper would have touched, Mr. Tweini, demonstrated his deep appreciation for freedom and for liberal and liberating values. Yes, I didn’t know him personally and I did miss the chance to meet him on a number of occasions, but I do consider him a soulmate, nonetheless.

QED

The Simple Truth!

Khaddam’s call for popular resistance against the Assad regime, reiterated in several interviews he gave over the last few days, are serving to make some people question the wisdom behind calling for work stoppage at this stage. For most people at this stage might think that such a call came in response to Khaddam’s own.

Indeed, the situation is getting murkier and murkier. But clarity has never been a fact of our life in Syria, and the region as a whole. So like it or not, we simply had to keep our focus on what is really at stake here, namely: our freedom and the quality of our life.

Under this regime no improvement is possible. Indeed our conditions have been getting steadily worth. We have clearly reached a dead-end here and we do need to start over. The new beginning, however, could easily lead us to more of the same, with only changes in key state positions and nothing more. But unless new dynamics are introduced at street level, and by the right actors, which I take to mean the secular opposition groups and liberal activist figures, more of the same is exactly what we are going to get.

More on the unfolding situation in the recent article by Massoud Derhally.

Khaddam Speaks! Bashar Squeaks!

Well, according to Reuters, an Egyptian journal will be running an interview with Bashar on Monday in which he denounces Khaddam’s stands and refutes his accusations.

In the interview Bashar asserts that he never threatened Hariri and he says that no one attended the last meeting between them. But it should be noted here that the meeting to which Khaddam had referred was not the last meeting between the two men but an earlier one. Khaddam made this very clear in his interview with al-Arabiya.

As such, Bashar does not come off very convincing. Moreover, his own accusations against Khaddam as having become part of “designs” against Syria even before his resignation in June is quite reminiscent of Khaddam’s denunciation by members of the People’s Assembly.

Indeed, if the President knew about or had reasons to believe that indeed Khaddam was planning such a move, why did he allow it to take place? What was stopping him? If he was only informed afterwards, what doesn’t anyone get sacked for these kind of errors?

Be that as it may, it is clear by now that, whenever Bashar opens his mouth to speak, he comes off as a complete moron. I don’t know why there are still so many people around who refuse to see this.

As for Khaddam, if he truly desires to reinvent himself, here is one little piece of advise.

So far, there is not a single admission of wrong doing on is part, not a single apology for past misdeeds. True, we cannot expect the man to come out and says that he was corrupt himself, still, since his corruption has long become the stuff that modern fairytales are made off in the country, trying to muddle through without admitting past mistakes will only serve to undermine the credibility of his current stands and will prove counter-productive. He needs to admit to certain mistakes, at least on part of certain family members, and he needs to make a gesture towards redemption. Let’s say, the establishment of a certain endowment to support various developmental projects in the country to the tune of something like 200 million USD.

That should do it. Let’s see if Khaddam’s advisors are reading this blog.

Meanwhile, let the battle rage on, our shoulders still have some meat left, and the lions and the hyenas of our miserable part of the world are forever hungry.

No Holds Barred!

Khaddam has come out clearly for the removal of his former boss. In his interview with al-Asharq al-Awsat (summarized here by the BBC), he left no room for speculation as to his intention and desire to see a regimefall in Damascus. No. He does not support an Iraqi-style change, nor is he calling for a military coup, Khaddam wants the street to move against the President. Has he been, or anyone of his advisors been reading my blog I wonder? Be that as it may, I doubt that the Street will listen to Khaddam, not to mention my heretical self.

But, as the dogs go at each other’s throats, and as they proceed to strip each other of every fig leaf they have in front of our disbelieving eyes, sooner or later the reality of their inherent ugliness is bound to dawn upon us all.

The opposition will be well advised not to take sides and to simply point at ugly scene in front to of us and address the Syrian people and say:

“Didn’t we tell you? They are all alike, they are all corrupt. So, even if you are afraid of change, can’t you see now that we have no choice but to change? Don’t we deserve better rulers than these? Don’t we need at this point in time, better rulers than these? Isn’t it the corruption of this ruling class that is gnawing at the foundation of our state and undermining its stability?”

Exposing the endemic corruption of the regime and explaining its role in getting us where we are today is key to getting popular endorsement and sympathy. The House of Khaddam and the House of Assad are doing us all a big favor because exposing each other.

The Real Heresy that is Freedom!

If Khaddam can bring enough pressure on the Assad regime to break it, this will not constitute a move towards democracy in itself. But such a development will have broken the status quo, the stalemate that has been plaguing us for years. A popular uprising against Khaddam and his new government might easier to organize in such conditions, considering that his claim to legitimacy will be even less than that of Bashar. For, in the final analysis, ours remains a struggle for freedom, not for the change in the name of the tyrant or in the nature of the tyranny. As such, this is going to be a long struggle, because we will be fighting to learn for ourselves what the meaning of freedom really is, and all along the way, we will have to pay the prices of this learning. We might be born with the inherent and inalienable right to be free, but freedom is seldom granted and it does not come cheap. So, to summarize, if a move by Khaddam will serve to weaken this regime, or break it, this will be a good thing, but this will only represent a small opening of a window of opportunity through which we need to slip, if not barge in.

Meanwhile, the internal opposition in Syria needs to prepare itself for all eventualities. It should not be overly concerned with might or might not happen with Khaddam. The street needs to be politicized in all cases. It needs to begin to agitate for freedom, regardless of what particular tyrant is in charge.

The call for a national work stoppage on February 1st as a sign of protest against the endemic government corruption is meant as a tactic that can get people and opposition groups on the same side fighting for a cause that concerns one and all. Since, this stand does not constitute a direct and overt challenge to regime’s legitimacy and does not require any direct act of confrontation with it, it has the potential of well-publicized to appeal to a certain critical segment of the population. People need to develop a habit for civic action, and there is no better time for it than now.

Still, by issuing such a call, I am more likely going to demonstrate to one and all my complete irrelevance within the Syrian civil society scene, as my call is not likely to be heeded. Or is it the irrelevance of the various civil society organizations and opposition movements themselves that will be shown here?

Be that as it may, I stand by my call, of course, and I will continue to lobby for it while keeping my fingers crossed. Not for me, mind you, I can easily survive with a bruised ego, I have been doing that all my life, but for the Syrian people, yes the Syrian people, no matter how "tacky" this might sound these days. They simply need to wake up, before it’s too late.