Damascus spring

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Pope John Paul II in Damascus - the Pope's visit in 2001 was seen as a sign of reconciliation between the religious-political groups

The Damascus Spring (rarely translated: German  Damascus Spring ; French Printemps de Damas ; Arabic ربيع دمشق, DMG Rabīʿ Dimašq ) was a period of intense political and social debates in Syria that began after the death of longtime dictator Hafiz al-Assad in June 2000, but only lasted to a certain extent until autumn 2001, when most of them did related activities were suppressed by the government of Bashar al-Assad .

background

Officially a people's republic, Syria has been subject to the Emergency Act since 1963 and is dictatorially ruled by the Ba'ath Party ; the head of state has been a member of the Assad family since 1970 .

Under Hafez al-Assad , President of Syria from 1970 until his death in 2000, all political activity was strictly controlled, and from 1980 onwards effective opposition activity was almost impossible. Five main security organs were primarily used to eavesdrop on dissenting political opinions: Due to the state of emergency that has existed since 1963, military courts apply martial law and special courts negotiate political cases in disregard for human rights and the rule of law. Political prisoners were regularly tortured and held in inhumane conditions.

From 1998 onwards, the degree of repression weakened noticeably. After Hafez al-Assad's death in June 2000, his son Bashar al-Assad was installed as president.

Events

The Damascus Spring was characterized primarily by the emergence of various muntadāt , also known as "salons" or " forums ". Groups of like-minded people met in private homes, exchanging news orally and discussing political and other social issues . The phenomenon of salons spread rapidly in Damascus and, to a lesser extent, in other cities such as Latakia and Aleppo . Long-standing members of the Syrian opposition also contributed to the spread of the movement among intellectuals who consider themselves apolitical, including Omar Amiralay . Members of the Syrian Communist Party and reform-minded Ba'ath members . The most important of the forums were the Riyadh Seif Forum and the National Jamal al-Atassi Dialogue Forum.

The Damascus Spring can be viewed as mobilizing for a certain number of political demands expressed in the Manifesto of 99 signed by well-known intellectuals. These demands were above all the lifting of the state of emergency and the abolition of martial law and special courts, the release of all political prisoners, the return of political refugees without fear of persecution and the right to found political parties and civil organizations. The more precise political demand that Article 8 of the Syrian Constitution should be repealed has often been added to these. This article mandates that the Ba'ath Arab Socialist Party lead the state and society.

The Damascus Spring had a huge impact in the Arab world , and initially there was considerable optimism that it would lead to real change. The writer of the Syrian state newspaper Tishrin announced that he intended to create a committee to involve prominent intellectuals such as Maher Charif , Ahmad Barqawi and Yusuf Salameh in a new opinion sheet, but paid lip service. The salons debated many political and social issues, from the position of women to the nature of the educational methods and the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories .

Initially, the regime was unsure of how to respond to the Damascus Spring. Hundreds of political prisoners were released in November 2000 when the infamous Mezze prison was closed. This step was considered in the press as the "high point of the Damascus Spring". However, after only a year, the regime fell back into its methods of repression. In 2001, a series of arrests and the forced closure of the salons put an end to the Damascus Spring. Some of the forum participants and organizers detained for extended periods of time were Ma'mun al-Homsi and Riad Seif , who were accused of "intentionally changing the constitution through illegal means" and "inciting racial and sectarian strife". They were sent to prison for a total of five years by the Damascus Criminal Court. The other eight activists, Riad al-Turk , Aref Dalila , Walid al-Bunni , Kamal al-Labwani , Habib Salih , Hasan Sadun , Habib Isa and Fawwaz Tello were sentenced to between two and 10 years in prison by the Supreme State Security Court.

Although the wave of arrests ended the Damascus Spring, its effects continue: Syrian intellectuals have issued other declarations repeating the Manifesto of 99, including the Damascene Declaration ; smaller demonstrations have also taken place in Damascus; and until 2005 one of the salons, the National Jamal al-Atassi Dialogue Forum, was allowed to operate. The Jamal al-Atassi National Dialogue Forum ("Atassi Forum") was closed after a member read a statement by the banned Syrian Muslim Brotherhood , a Sunni Islamist terrorist organization that carried out bloody attacks against the secular government of Hafiz al-Assad in the in the early 1980s and murdered thousands of government officials and supporters of the Alawite religious minority . Many civilians were also killed in attacks by the Muslim Brotherhood. But the regime also made it clear that a collaboration with the Muslim Brotherhood, although the exile leadership is viewed as the strongest opposition movement in Syria by far, represents a “red line” that must not be crossed.

aftermath

As a result of intense international pressure on the Syrian regime after the death of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri in February 2005 and the publication of the UN - Mehlis report intellectuals Syria were brave again. Democracy and human rights activists like Wissam Tarif continued to campaign for democratic change within Syria despite being driven out of the country. In late October 2005, a declaration calling for democratic reform was adopted by most of the opposition, including the radical Islamic Muslim Brotherhood . The government has so far held back from any serious action against the signatories. On January 18, 2006, the government released five political prisoners associated with the Damascus Spring. Analysts saw this as an attempt by the ailing government to look better after the unprecedented international pressure resulting from the Hariri attack.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Manuela Pfohl: The will-o'-the-wisp from Damascus. Stern, May 1, 2011
  2. No Room to Breathe, October 16, 2007
  3. ^ Peter Beaumont: No longer the pariah President. The Guardian, Nov. 16, 2008
  4. Human rights monitoring Damascus Spring
  5. Aron Lund, The Ghosts of Hama, Swedish International Liberal Center, June 2011, p. 10 (PDF; 3.8 MB)
  6. ^ Foundation for the defense of prisoners of faith - FDPOC
  7. Syria releases 5 political activists - washingtonpost.com