Uprising of Syria - Research Paper Example

?THE SYRIAN UPRISING Introduction The Syrian uprising commonly known as the Syrian revolution is one of the many revolutions or uprisings which have been occurring in the Arab nations across the world. This includes Tunisia uprising, which was the first Arab country to revolt against the ruling authority in the year 2011, then came the Egypt and Libyan revolution, which paved way for Syrian revolution. Other Arab uprisings of 2011 ended accomplishing the final goal while the Syrian and Egypt has been ongoing; with Syria being one of the country most affected by these uprisings. The Syrian uprising, which has turned to be more of revolution in the recent past, has caused so much tension among the high eight nations. Moghadam in her article on Syria crisis and prospects quotes the UN secretary general saying, “We need to come up with an immediate solution to these uprisings”. On this has seen some of the nations like the United States of America and Britain argue that it is crucial to intervene in the crisis in Syria, while other nations like Russia and France arguing otherwise (Moghadam).The Syrian uprising has attracted attention from every nation across the world given the fact that Syria was once considered as the most peaceful and stable Arab country in the world. Different leaders across the world have varying opinions on the crisis in Syria. Some view it as a civil war while others view it as a revolution which involves political forces. The Syrian crisis should so far be classified as civil war since the government is fighting against a well organized rebel gang “Sunnis” which was possibly established during the initial uprisings. Most revolutions bare some aspects of civil war; however some aspects of civil war cannot be overlooked during a civil war as in the case of the Syrian revolution which has turned out to be a civil war. The question every Syrian citizen should ask themselves is: “what are the factors that lead to these uprisings and what could be the lasting solutions to the crisis?” Ms Hill in her article in the U.S foreign affairs provides this paper with the question under discussion: “What are the major causes of crisis in Syria and what would be the long term solutions”. The tragic fact surrounding the Syrian crisis which cannot be denied is that; Syrian citizens are fighting and killing others on their own soil. The questions, which arise from the crisis in Syria, are the nature of the Syrian conflicts, the relationship between a civil war and a revolution and whether the crisis in Syria overshadows a revolution (hill). Nature of conflicts in Syria The crisis in Syria cannot be classified as purely sectarian as the international and the local media try to classify it. This classification of the Syrian conflicts as sectarian is as a result of the failure of the media personalities to understand Syrians or generally Arabs in other terms, which do not identify them as sectarian. A sectarian conflict can only be described as one that lies outside a country's history and does not depend on any social and economic factors. Sectarian conflicts are often referred to as religious conflicts and are static. The Syrian situation is similar to the case of Spanish civil war, Yemen civil war and the revolution that occurred in Libya. The main cause of the Syrian civil war is as a result of the uprising of the Syrian citizens against a class of individuals whose main goal is to enslave others. According to McMahon in his article on crisis in Syria, he describes the cause of the continued crisis is mainly as a result of disunity among different religious and ethnic group. This makes it more difficult to find a concrete solution to these crises (Macmahon). US president is quoted in solidarity magazine saying, “The crisis in Syria should be solved through a meditation led by international community”. This implies that international communities like the United Nations should initiate the process of mediation in order to find long term solutions to the crisis. The U.N has already involved the two sectors involved in crises in Syria into mediation led by Kofi Annan with no avails. This is a positive move by the U.N and continued efforts might end the crises. The Sunni rebels are demanding social justice and are also driven by the fact that they seek revenge against those individuals that want to enslave them as compared with the view of many people that the main aim of the Sunni rebels is the sense of Sunni sectarianism. People also view Sunni rebels’ major enemy as the ruling family and its close relatives who are members of the Alawite sect who enjoy a vast share of the national resources and influence. The Syrians however, are fighting for political and social-economic reasons, which are different from the perspective of sectarian projects hence the crisis in Syria cannot be classified as purely sectarian since it is a combination of both political, religion and economic projects (Macmahon 3-4). The crisis in Syria has been contributed by several factors, which include: internal sectarian, territorial, ethnic, religious and class-related tensions contributed by the external factors which include both regional and international demands (Macmahon 3-4). Relation between Civil war and Revolution The term civil war refers to the crisis in Syria which has the intention of putting the crisis to an end. When the Syrian crisis is referred to as a civil war, it implies that there is a war between two sides with each side trying to gain power through violence. However, the two sides involved in the in a civil war in Syria, are two receiving support both regionally and internationally with the intentions of benefiting themselves after the war. The Syrian citizens are being used for the benefits of the fighting powers in the cold war as pawns. The Syrians believe that this civil war is between the citizen against the barbaric rule representing the Alawites and other minor communities against the Sunnis. The Sunnis believe that they have been neglected by the central government since the current president took charge of the country. This war if not stopped by bringing the conflicting parties to an agreement; it might lead to the destruction of Syria as a state. The war between the Sunni rebels and the Syrian government implies that one of the parties is not impressed by the central government rule which the Sunnis believe is tyrannical (Maghadom 3-4). Map of the conflicts Syria conflicts started on 26th January 2011 as peaceful demonstrations across the country, which later escalated to the current uprisings in mid-march 2011 during the wave of Arab protests, which began in Tunisia. Major uprisings began in Syria in Dara’a after some students were tortured after putting up a graffiti which criticized the government. The uprising later spread to other parts of the country with protesters demanding the following: Political freedom such as freedom of assembly and speech, resignation of the president Bashar al-Assad, rights for kurds, reforms in the public sector and allowing multiple political parties. The crisis worsened when the government started to apply an emergency law which gave the government the right to deny citizens their rights in April. The government also began a crackdown which involved sending military tanks to resistive cities while the security forces were allowed to open fire to protesters by using snipers, tanks and guns to force demonstrators off the streets (Macmahon 4-5). The government also ordered the shutdown of water and electricity in major resistive towns with the security officers confiscating food from the citizens in these cities. The conflicts in Syria are inclusive of those who are fighting for positive while others are led by negative forces. The interacting forces, which come out clearly from the uprisings in Syria include: The rule of law which would be referred to as the regime, those who are engaged confrontations in the country and would be the reason for continuing staff off between the government and the citizens include the security forces who are using excessive force against the citizens made up of the third and fourth divisions of the army, parliamentary groups commonly known as the shabiha and the security forces who are the police. Violent forces, which are made up of the group which are taking advantage of the demonstrations to implement their violent practices who are made up of dissident soldiers and army officers who take part in training the rebels. The non-violence groups who are the major participants of the uprisings and their main goal is to counter the violence being practiced by other groups, these groups are comprised of citizens who take part in the protests and demonstrations in the wake of fighting for their rights. Groups within the non-violent crowds who take part in violence activities, which would drag the demonstrators into violence The third and final element is made up of a group whose operations are mainly behind the curtains as they provide the other groups with moral and material support as they participate in the uprising. These groups include the government, the regional and international organization as well as the media which provides the citizens on the progress of the protests (Blake, 1-3). 1. The government The former leader of Syria Hafez al-Assad established a regime in which he took control of everything including the rights of the citizens and the media. This regime capitalized on loyal groups who included the army and the Ba’ath party members who are believed to be directly bound to him. The president’s vast experience in various levels in the power gave him an edge in managing and controlling matters according to his own wish. This qualification was lacking in his son Bashar al-Assad who took over the regime and is the current president of Syria as he could not inherit the structure and the methods his father applied in managing the Syrian economy which made him include his close members into state management and powers. This led to transformation of the Syrian power circle as from, and individual domination to a mafia like a family affair. Therefore, this reduces any chance of a political solution to the current crisis in Syria. This is so because the sides governing the government agree with the presidents decisions since its made up of close family friends. The use of force by the Syrian circle of powers to end the violence is viewed by many critics as a wrong mechanism of solving the crisis in a country where citizens have had no democratic rights for such a long time, this could create wider boundaries between the Syrian authorities and its citizens. The Syrian regime being one of the causes of the crisis should come up with ways of negotiating with the citizen especially the affected ethnic groups so that they can agree on a long term solution to issues affecting them (Price 10). President Basher-al-Assad of Syria should also involve other ethnic groups in Syria in governing of the nation such that the problems of each of the issues of various religious and ethnic groups in the country are handled appropriately and in a fair manner to avoid future uprisings in the country. The Syrian regime should also work closely with both regional and organizations citizen can have access to a variety of information from most international corridors to enable them to make a clear comparison of their rights and those enjoyed by citizens of more developed nations. The regime should also consider the freedom of association of their citizens so that citizens can be able to present their issue and complaints in a more democratic manner without necessarily protesting against the rule of law. According to the research carried out in Syria, most citizens view president Bashars regime as one of the major cause of the crisis in the country especially due to the president’s overreliance of his close relatives’ advice in running the affairs of the nation, and therefore, should play a major role in it solution. In his first public appearance since the uprisings began, president says, “In my personal capacity as the president, I lift the law on curfew and denial of freedom of movement in Syria”. (Moghadam 3-4). The president was ready to contain any form of resistance given the situations in Tunisia and Libya. This infringed the rights of the citizens creating more tension between the government and citizen hence the citizens had more reasons of overthrowing the government. Groups involved on the ground The groups involved in the Syrian crisis include the security officers which comprises of the army, the police and the parliamentary group who have been deployed to maintain peace among the rioting citizens. This group according to the research carried has contributed a lot to the increasing crises in Syria, this as a result of their effort to maintain law and order by use of excessive force, which would face resistance from the rioting people. The approach of security forces in dispersing demonstrating crowds in the wake of the crisis could have triggered more resistance due to use of tanks and live bullets by the Syrian army officers. According to US foreign affairs department the war in Syria is as a result of uncontrolled strikes. The head of foreign affairs argues,” No strike hence no wars”. The former president of Syria came up with the structure of the Syrian security system which is believed to be one the strongest security systems in the Arab world (Blake 1-2). The Syrian armed forces are believed to comprise a total of four hundred personnel is formed under the principal of relying on full loyalty for better service to the president's regime and its citizens. In the wake of the violence, the president issued a curfew which was not obeyed by the citizens hence ordering the military police to disperse the crowd which was causing major destruction in most resistive cities (Hill 1). The citizens who were determined to overthrow President Basher’s regime were not intimidated by the presence of police rather they continued with violating the rule of law. The president of Syria made a major mistake by allowing the police and the armed forces to fire directly to rioting citizens, which triggered more violence in almost all the major cities in Syria, (Moghadam 3-4). Syrian security forces being one of the reasons why the riots escalated to other parts of the country could have played a major role in preventing the violence hence bringing the riots to an end before turning to a civil war. According to Hill in her article in the U.S external affairs magazine, she argues that the moment the armed forces retaliated using force on the citizen created an atmosphere of revolution. This explains why the number of groups opposed to the government keeps on increasing each day (Hill, 1-4). The armed forces should not have been on the ground in the first place given the tension that existed between different ethnic groups in the country; the use of tanks and live bullets to disperse rioting citizens could have made the citizens think that they were fighting a regime that had oppressed them for years by denying them their rights. This is clearly critisised by Britain’s prime minister, “use of excessive force is a crime against humanity by the government of Syria”. (Price 10). The armed forces on the hand could have used less force against citizens and also try to negotiate with them on better ways of presenting their grievances to the authority without necessarily engaging in violence and destruction of property. Blake quotes the rebels in his article,” president Bashaar has brought more war than peace in Syria”. The army officers who are trained to deal with external threats to the security of the nation should not have been involved in dispersing the rioters rather the police who are specifically trained to deal with such occasions should have been left to deal with the citizens (TOT 1). According to Hill, the army officers who ended up killing innocent citizen in the streets of resistive cities could have sent a wrong message to Syrians which might have been the cause of widespread violence across the country. The other elements on the ground which might have contributed to the spread of the riots and demonstrations across the country include the citizen. This group is comprised of citizens who demonstrated for the right course and those whose intentions were not in order. When the crises began, some citizens participated purely on demonstrations whereas others involved themselves in looting and destruction of property. The torture of students by the police for painting a graffiti criticizing the government could have triggered the hidden rage of most of the citizen who viewed President Bashars regime as oppressive hence had a chance of overthrowing or rather ending the tyrannical rule. The demonstrations later spread to other parts Syria given the diverse ethnic groups in Syria and the belief that the government was not being fair in handling all groups equally. Syrian citizens could have prevented the unrest by finding ways of presenting the atrocities to the authority without rioting (Hill 1). Conclusion In conclusion, the crises in Syria originate mainly from the internal factors and forces. The major internal cause of the crisis is the government of Syria, which triggered the initial demonstration through infringing the rights of its citizen. To find a concrete solution, the government should adopt a democratic way of leadership. The other internal elements are the rioting groups who preferred use of force other than negotiation to present their grievances to the government. In order to contribute to the process of finding solution in Syria, these groups are supposed to embrace negotiations with the government as proposed by the United Nations. The external forces involved in the crises in Syria are the United Nations, the Arab League and the United States. These are groups which are trying to find the way forward on the crises in Syria by providing the needed advice to the U.N and providing with humanitarian needs. Work Cited Blake Matt. US and Russia vows to hold peace conference to end Syrian civil war… but rebels says Assad has bought more time to keep killing. U.S. Mails online. 2013, 1-2. Print Hill, Fiona. "Puttin scores on syria." U.S.A. Foreign affairs Publishers. 2013, 1. Print. Macmahon, Robert. Issue Guide: The Syria crisis. U.S.A. Council Of Foreign Relations. 2013: 4 5. Print Moghadam, Val. "On syria crisis and prospects." U,S.A.Solidarity.2013, 3-4. Print. Price, Richard. "No strike, No problem." U.S.A. Foreign affairs Publishers. 2013, 10. Print. TOT. "Syria crisis." Times of India . 2013, 1.Print. Read More