A biweekly digest of select reports prepared by Tharwa-Syria
Note: All links below are to the original articles in Arabic.
Syria: sectarianism under the ashes
In this article, Tharwa correspondent Muhammad Issa calls upon Syria’s authors and intellectuals to stop burying their heads in the sand when it comes to the issue of sectarianism in Syria, since this issue is too urgent to be ignored or shunned, and the Syrian street seems ripe for an ethnic meltdown. The Alawite community should not be blamed for the sins of the regime, Muhammad insists, nor should the Sunnis be continuously asked to offer guarantees to everyone. The different communities in the country need to reach a new social contract to which everyone should adhere.
In the preceding two weeks, Tharwa correspondents conducted a number of insightful and frank interviews, widely circulated on the Internet, on Syrian and regional politics with a number of noteworthy figures in the Syrian opposition scene, including:
“I don’t want Bashar to be the worst Syrian President ever. ”
In this candid interview, Syrian opposition member and former political prisoner Khalil Hussein tackles a number of thorny issues related to Syria’s current predicament. He also speaks of the conditions of his previous imprisonment. In order for reform to have a chance, Mr. Khalil insists, Baath members have to take part in it, and they need to stop allowing their party to be used as a shield behind which the Assads can hide. The Syrian opposition needs to get more organized, Mr. Khalil says, and people like Rifa’at al-Assad and former VP Abdul Haleem Khaddam have yet to offer anything to the cause of change. Change itself depends on the participation of Syria’s youth; meanwhile, Syria’s Arab majority needs to deal more rationally with the Kurdish issue.
The Syrian opposition, according to Kurdish opposition figure Muhammad Khaznawi, has so far failed to come up with an effective remedy or prescription to the ills that they have accurately identified in Syria. The country has been poisoned, asserts Sheikh Khaznawi, while the Baath Party members have long lost their faith in it. Yet peace and democracy cannot be brought to the country by speeches and slogans. The people need to move, but lacking the right leaders, Syrians are unlikely to move at this stage. But the cause of change will be helped greatly if the Arab and Kurdish opposition movements found ways to agree.
Tharwa correspondents produced a number of chilling and hard-hitting reports over the last couple of weeks regarding the realities of daily life in Syria, with a special focus on state-sponsored evictions of marginalized groups from squatter settlements; the expansion of such settlements in many parts of the country; the proliferation of child labor, human trafficking, and increasing assaults on women; and rampant inflation. Many of the reports were documented using multimedia.
“Go let Hafiz al-Assad give you a home!”
This reports documents the plight of hundreds of Syrian citizens whose settlements were demolished by the Syrian authorities in order to clear the way for a planned road. The authorities failed to provide substitute housing or adequate compensation for the people involved, legal norms and requirements notwithstanding. In the few cases when substitute housing was provided, corruption ensured that the wrong people got them. Alternatively, the new homes were located far into the countryside with few or no basic services provided, and far from places of employment. When one person tried to invoke the law enacted under the late president, Hafiz al-Assad, the local official ridiculed him and said: “Go let Hafiz al-Assad give you a home!”
Children ages 8-16 speak to Tharwa correspondents about the conditions that drove them to work, often at the expense of quitting school. Some of the adults involved in this fast-growing industry were also interviewed for this report. The pictures provided speak a thousand words.
Squatter settlements – a problem awaiting a solution
According to the latest estimates, there are around 121 squatter settlements in Syria today, with over 50 of them in Damascus alone. Aleppo hosts 22, Homs 11, Lattakia 8, and Hassekeh 10. The main cause of the proliferation of these settlements, the report points out, is the demographic explosion that the country is witnessing, coupled with joblessness, the lack of state planning, and increasing rural migration to the big cities. Experts estimate that countering this dangerous phenomenon will require a several billion dollar investment in city planning and job creation, which in itself will require the establishment of a proper legal context in order for all this to take place.
Prices rise as promises of reform increase
A report that contrasts the proliferating promises of reform made by Syrian officials with the reality of continuing price hikes affecting everything, including such basic items as sugar, rice, potatoes and beans, usually considered “the poor man’s fares. ” The increases are in no way commensurate with the average monthly wage, usually estimated at less than $150. The recent increase in the price of gasoline has further served to feed this tendency.
Human Trafficking… it happens in Syria
While many reports tend to focus on the sex side of the human trafficking story, this report also notes that a new and growing dimension of the story involves the illegal trafficking in human organs for transplant surgeries. While this phenomenon is far from being unique to Syria, it has now established a firm niche for itself there, and seems to have become one of the country’s new industries in the age of reform.
Over 200,000 foreign maids now work in Syria, feeding the growing appetite for showiness among the country’s thin upper crust. Naturally, notes the author, this “slave trade” comes to Syria with all the frills and trimmings affiliated with it elsewhere, including the inhuman and humiliating conditions under which these maids tend to work, profiteering, corruption of laws and mores, and increasing the divide between the country’s social classes.
Do these photos belong to a cultural capital?
There are definitely still quite a few beautiful places and neighborhoods in Damascus, but the pictures that can truly capture the reality that most Syrians experience daily tend to be the kind of pictures shown in this pictorial report. The title of this report refers to the recent decision to name Damascus as the Arab Cultural Capital for 2008.
Attacks on Women no longer an individual happenstance
The author of this report uses the recent incidents in Damascus involving the throwing of acid on young unveiled women to discuss the rise and spread of this phenomenon in so many countries in the Arab world. The author concludes that sexual frustration, repression in school, at home, in the workplace, and even in houses of worship, as well as gender segregation, all play a role in this.
A University of Sands and Illusions
The author comments on several reports made in Syrian websites and even official press to denude the scandal involving the Mamoun University for Science and Technology, one of several private universities established in the country in the last few years. The reports detail various false pretenses under which the university was established, from the fact that many of its international liaisons were actually fictitious, the fact that many of the professors involved have forged degrees, to the unsuitability of the curricula and the facilities provided. Yet, the university is licenses to operate in the country and its doors are wide open to devour the dreams and meager funds of so many of the country’s youth and their parents.
High Education in Syria: the rosy dreams and the ugly realities
This report, based on extensive interviews with Syrian university students, documents the various shortcomings of the Syrian higher education system and students’ complaints in this regard.
Corruption Matters
Corruption infuses every aspect of life in Syria
The reports chronicles the various cases of fraud and corruption by high level officials that have been uncovered recently in various state sectors all over the country. Investigation into corruption allegations have so far led to the dismissal of 32 general directors, one deputy minister, 30 municipal heads, and more than 20 heads of farmers' associations.
Corruption in the Aleppo branch of the Lawyers Union
This report discusses one aspect of the corruption that infuses the Aleppo branch of the Lawyers' Union, namely the haphazard imposition of unjustifiable fees meant to line the pockets of certain union officials rather than fill out its coffers. Over 430 lawyers are currently involved in a quiet campaign to protest the practice. The quiet approach is necessitated by the all too legitimate fears of harassment and disbarment.
Unifying religious instruction textbooks is a national imperative
An incident in which a little girl asks her father whether she is a Christian or a Muslim makes the author of this report hearken back on how his days in school and how the segregation of Muslim and Christian students in school during the religious instruction period served to hinder the development of a national consciousness, all rhetoric in this regard notwithstanding. When we separate our children when they are young, how can we teach them to stand together when they are older, the author wonders. For this reason, and considering the many commonalities between the Christian and Islamic faith, the author calls for combining all textbooks in this regard so ethical behavior is taught in a manner that does not hinder the development of a unifying national consciousness.
Gender segregation, the author contends, does not prevent immoral behavior, but encourages it. Segregation does not foster mutual recognition and respect. The problem of Arab societies does not lie in challenging the traditional mores and allowing for the commingling of the sexes, the problem lies in the cancellation of reason when dealing with sensitive issues.
“Enter the House of Munira, it is safe. ”
This young author raises the plight of his colleague, Maya Jamous, who continues to be harassed by Syrian security on account of her article dealing with a squatter settlement known as Commune 86, established on the outskirts of one of Damascus's plusher neighborhoods. The author contrasts how the authorities treat young secular activists such as Maya with their continued toleration and support (tacit and open) of Islamist movements in the country. The author concludes by calling on Maya to enter the house of a well-known female Islamist preacher, where she will be quite safe, he asserts.
© Tharwa Foundation, 2007
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