Syrians have more freedom after Assad, but could they lose it?

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On the morning of 8 December 2024, I waited anxiously on the Lebanese border, hoping to get into Syria as quickly because the crossing opened, not figuring out what to anticipate.

Bashar al-Assad, the president of 24 years, was gone. Opposition fighters had superior in the direction of Damascus, taking main cities together with Aleppo. I could not imagine what I used to be seeing: Syria was free.

Like many Syrians, I would solely ever identified the nation underneath the rule of Assad and his father Hafez, who had been in energy from 1971 till 2000. Life underneath the Assads had meant greater than 50 years of disappearances, incarceration – and the civil conflict that started in 2011 had claimed the lives of tons of of hundreds of Syrians.

I would been detained firstly of the rebellion that yr, and several other instances afterwards; I witnessed males lined as much as be crushed and heard screams of torture. Even after I left the nation in 2013, I learnt that safety forces had damaged into my house in Damascus and vandalised it.

I assumed I would misplaced my residence nation for good, then immediately final yr the dictatorship was toppled in simply over per week. As I crossed the border into the nation with out concern of arrest, and watched insurgent fighters shoot celebratory gunfire, whereas individuals rejoiced on the streets, I felt like laughing and crying directly.

For weeks, Damascus’s most important Umayyad Sq. grew to become a hub of celebrations. Younger and previous talked freely about politics and all over the place Syria’s future was debated brazenly; amongst avenue distributors and taxi drivers, boys cleansing sneakers. All of this was unthinkable underneath Assad, as Syrians might by no means protest freely for concern of reprisals.

Solely now, 4 months on, the scenario is extra advanced. Although nice strides have been made in gaining some social freedoms, there are rising considerations round what democracy will appear to be but additionally round the role of Islam in the new regime.

So, how lengthy would possibly these social freedoms stay – or might, as some concern, the newly received liberties be short-lived?

At Rawda Café in central Damascus, simply throughout the street from Parliament, intellectuals collect round lengthy tables to smoke shisha and talk about tradition. Underneath Assad, political activists had been picked up and arrested there. Hearsay had it that some waiters had been regime informants.

Right this moment, it is a very completely different image. The café hosts talks and music performs. Outstanding figures who as soon as fled the nation have returned too – many are greeted by a band enjoying conventional songs with a large drum.

Syrian journalist Mohammad Ghannam is one in every of them. He tells me that he spent months in prisons throughout Assad’s regime and later moved to France; his euphoria at returning is palpable.

“I feel everybody who can come again, ought to come again to rebuild the nation,” he declares. “There’s a window to do no matter you need now in contrast with earlier than 8 December 2024.”

Reflecting on the previous, he provides: “Even preachers within the mosques wanted to get approval and know what they had been going to evangelise. [Now] it is utterly free. [At] Friday prayers the Imam was speaking about how your private freedom should not step on different individuals’s freedom.”

Odai al-Zobi has additionally lately returned to Syria after 14 years – he left to review however says he was unable to return again prior to now as a result of he was outspoken in regards to the regime.

“My books had been banned right here,” he tells me. “Now there isn’t a censorship, you’ll be able to learn no matter you need. I used to be very shocked that lots of people need to learn and need to know extra.”

“This can be a massive change,” agrees Ali al-Atassi, a Syrian documentary-maker and son of former Syrian President Noureddine al-Atassi. (His father was deposed in a coup by Hafez al-Assad.)

“It modified the foundations of the sport, and opened lots of views for the nation.”

Syria’s vibrant arts and tradition scene has lengthy been a supply of the nation’s satisfaction: the Assads supported it, eager to current a wealthy tradition to the world but some artists and writers had been killed for his or her views on the regime.

Even carrying sure books was as soon as trigger for arrest. Right this moment, nevertheless, every kind of books are on show in retailers across the capital – even political titles. Cinema golf equipment display screen movies that had been beforehand banned too.

For weeks after Assad’s fall, the caretaker authorities did not appoint a Minister of Tradition, however musicians and artists grouped collectively to guard the tradition scene.

Now, nevertheless, there are contemporary considerations: whereas Syria underneath Assad noticed political debates repressed, some fear that repression by clerics might find yourself forbidding some types of artwork seen as anti-religious.

There is no such thing as a clear proof of this. Dr Maher Al Sharaa, the brother of the interim president, has been seen on the metropolis’s Opera Home along with his household; Vivaldi was performed by Syrian musicians. The household regarded like several fashionable one who would go on a weekend cultural outing.

And after the autumn of Assad, a cultural occasion with talks about cinema, music, theatre and performances was held at Beit Farhi, a historic home within the coronary heart of Damascus’s Jewish quarter. An all-female orchestra performed songs that praised revolutions and martyrs. Some within the viewers had been left in tears.

“It’s nice to have this chance to speak amongst us about the right way to shield and assist the artwork scene in Syria,” says Noura Murad, a choreographer.

Mr al-Atassi additionally chooses to be optimistic. “I imagine the Syrians will not permit this regime to enter of their personal lives, to create guidelines on the right way to behave within the public house.”

When Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who led the insurgent offensive that overthrew Assad, was appointed by a army council on 29 January, he delivered a speech through which he harassed that the precedence was to “fill the ability vacuum in a reliable and authorized manner”.

However months on, there may be concern amongst some across the probability of constructing a long-lasting democracy. And there’s no system in place to carry officers, together with the president, accountable till a everlasting structure is adopted and elections are held.

“The previous few months, the regime has not been able to share energy and permit different political and social forces to seek out their place in society,” argues Mr Al-Atassi. “With out opening up the political area to different forces, I do not suppose Sharaa can carry Syria again to the worldwide group.”

In February, tons of gathered on the Individuals’s Palace in Damascus for a two-day nationwide dialogue about Syria’s future. Some critics argued that the assembly was organised in haste and was too brief to cowl all the important thing subjects.

In accordance with Abdulhay Sayed, a Syrian authorized professional and managing companion at Sayed and Sayed legislation agency, it was neither consultant nor really reflective of consensus.

“Giant segments of Syrian society felt excluded or unrepresented,” he argues. “[It] was conceived as a mechanism to simulate wider assent.”

Nonetheless, he concedes: “It does mirror a sure willingness on the a part of the brand new authorities to develop the scope of session.”

Sharaa, who was chief of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the previous al-Qaeda affiliate and Islamist group that dominated the insurgent alliance, has clearly acknowledged his dedication to establishing a rustic with “free and neutral elections”.

He has additionally appointed a committee to work on a constitutional declaration, which laid out Syria’s future over a five-year transitional interval. Nonetheless, the following declaration did not enshrine the separation of powers.

“He wants to point out that he is extra critical about political participation from all teams,” says Mr Al-Atassi.

There are some examples of this: a Christian feminine minister was appointed minister for social affairs, whereas head of the White Helmet civil defence group, grew to become minister of emergencies and disasters. However some have raised questions in regards to the appointment of Sharaa’s brother as head of presidential affairs.

“Excessive-ranking former HTS members now occupy key sovereign positions,” provides Mr Sayed.

Mr Al-Atassi additionally claims that “extremely certified individuals in worldwide legislation weren’t requested to take part within the Cupboard. They had been ignored.”

The Minister of Justice holds a level in Sharia legislation (Islam’s authorized system, derived from the Quran), and isn’t an professional on Syria’s Civil Code, which pulls closely on French and Ottoman legislation. One query being requested is whether or not codes primarily based on Sharia legislation may very well be utilized relatively than civil ones.

“The brand new authorities have to date made no try to interchange the present authorized codes with Sharia-inspired laws,” says Mr Sayed. Nonetheless, he provides, “this stays an space we proceed to observe intently.

“Probably the most urgent concern is whether or not judicial independence might be restored and successfully safeguarded.”

Underneath Assad’s regime, ladies had comparatively equal rights and had been represented in parliament for the reason that Fifties, in addition to being current in society in any respect ranges. There are not any new written guidelines that time to that altering, however there are some regarding indicators.

Just one lady was appointed within the interim authorities. In accordance with analysis by College School London and McGill College, ladies’s rights advocates have raised considerations over HTS imposing an interpretation of Islamic legislation, which might for instance severely prohibit ladies’s mobility, gown and public participation.

“One essential space to observe is whether or not ladies judges – who make up roughly 35 to 40 per cent of the judiciary – will face marginalisation or dismissal,” says Mr Sayed. “Thus far, we’ve seen no indicators of such a pattern, however continued vigilance is crucial.”

As for spiritual freedoms, there have been no new legal guidelines or rulings proscribing social life, however some Syrians report that they’ve seen what look like makes an attempt to implement Islamic rule.

The Ministry of Justice has begun separating entry for women and men, plus there have been experiences of males distributing flyers on buses and in Umayyad Mosque in Damascus asking ladies to put on full-faced veils.

In Christian neighbourhoods within the capital, automobiles have been filmed driving by the streets with preachers advocating for Islam over loudspeakers. An order to close down bars and eating places within the previous metropolis’s Christian quarter was solely revoked after a public outcry.

Some observers of Islam inform me they’re frightened. Damascus is thought for its tolerance however there are fears in some quarters that the brand new authorities have a Salafi background (a strict, orthodox Sunni Muslim sect).

“There may be an rising name for a return to spiritual values,” says Mr Sayed. “This presents a profound problem for individuals who nonetheless imagine in democracy, the rule of legislation, and equal citizenship.”

Nonetheless Husam Jazmati, a Syrian educational who researches Islamic actions on the civil society analysis organisation Impression, claims that Sharaa “opposes each Islamist and non-Islamist political actions [and] neither needs to determine an Islamic state nor believes it is attainable.

“They do not need to, and so they cannot”.

Even when the federal government needed to instil hardline practices, the query is whether or not they might? Alaa El Din Al Sayyek, an imam primarily based in Damascus, thinks not. He argues that Syrians would reject any try to take action.

“It’s unimaginable, our society is not going to settle for it,” he tells me. “We’ve lived in concord with completely different sects for years even throughout tough instances. The Quran says it clearly: no compulsion in faith.”

Right this moment there are rising tensions: violence in coastal cities has left greater than 1,400 individuals lifeless, lots of them Alawites (a part of Assad’s minority sect). They had been mentioned to be revenge for assaults on Syrian safety forces.

Elsewhere, within the north east of the nation, though the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) declared victory over IS in 2019, camps nonetheless maintain about 56,000 individuals, lots of them the members of the family of Islamic State group (IS) suspects, greater than 5 years after the jihadists’ territorial defeat in Syria.

The principle query now going through the nation, nevertheless, is how Syrians see their future. There are some tensions round this, which have seeped right into a push-pull between the management and HTS, in accordance with Mr Jazmati.

He claims that whereas Sharaa’s high circle needs to construct “a conservative, economically liberal” state, “they cannot cease lots of their members – these they’ve appointed in numerous positions and depend on as a result of they’re trusted – from attempting to Islamise public life in Syria.”

The suppose tank Worldwide Disaster Group has related considerations. It has mentioned that it believes Syria resides “on borrowed time”.

“The interim authorities is operating out of funds, safety forces are overstretched, poverty is deepening and insurgency is brewing on the periphery. Outsiders are meddling. Western sanctions deprive leaders of what they should rebuild, whereas stopping fragmentation or a return to civil conflict.”

For Mr Al-Atassi, the answer is easy: He believes Sharaa must open up the political area. “There are not any elections at this time in Syria, there are solely nominations,” he says. “That is very harmful.”

With a pause, he provides: “It may very well be {that a} new dictatorship is within the making – however I do not imagine that the Syrian individuals are prepared, after 5 a long time, to simply accept a brand new dictatorship.”

And as for the prospect of lasting democracy? “We have to wait to see,” he says. “However I am by no means optimistic.”

Nonetheless there’s a wider concern too. That’s, might there be a lack of religion within the very concept of democracy given the nation’s latest historical past?

Mr Sayed thinks so. “Although the Assad-era constitutions formally proclaimed political freedoms… our expertise of political modernity got here within the type of shells falling on our heads, whereas our our bodies had been laid naked in detention camps,” he tells me.

“Giant segments of the Syrian inhabitants have misplaced religion within the guarantees of political modernity.”

Of the numerous challenges going through the brand new management, maybe it’s this that they might be smart to deal with first as they proceed to carve out a brand new path for the way forward for Syria.

High image credit score: Getty Pictures

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