Located in the hub of the Middle East, Syria is subject to contrasting religious and ethnic ideologies proving to be the single most decisive means to controversy. Over the past few weeks, not only has strife between the Kurds and Arabs caused conflicting demonstration, but Syrians together are raising hostilities toward government practice. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his government are being criticized for lack of reforms and overly austere censorship producing many unnecessary political prisoners.
The ubiquitous protests in Northern Africa and The Middle East have given even the most oppressed citizens the wherewithal to join in protest. Commencing in the southern city of Deraa, protests began in mid-March as a result of a build-up of military intervention against minor instances of anti-government propaganda.
Recognizing that two generations of the Assad family have acted as president since 1971, the oppression does not go without blame. The Syrian government statistic that al-Assad achieved 97.29 percent of the vote when elected seems skeptical at best when questioning whether or not democratic elections were applicable. The atmosphere throughout the world is giving those who experience injustice hope that democracy will prevail. With enough reason to believe democracy is being avoided and severe authoritarianism in place instead, the United Nations and other world leaders are expected to intervene which occurred in Libya. Unfortunately, this will not necessarily be the case because of a lack of credible information and the question of whether or not Assad has directly ordered the armies intervention and protestor killings.
With social networking resources such as Facebook, the protests have gained support throughout the world. Sympathy is proclaimed through messages and posts on these websites updating the status in varying nations. Countries such as Norway, Germany, and Egypt have supported the protests through demonstrations in their capitals.
Videos of protests in major cities of Syria, such as Deraa, and the capital Damascus, have been leaked onto the web. A BBC article linked to a video showing the shocking death of a simple protestor coming into the city for his cause. These videos portray the dismal realities that citizens in these oppressed countries are exposed to on a daily basis. Be it mild censorship, or more severely being thrown in to protest for being pointed at for having said one merely anarchist comment, the outcome is rarely favorable.
Despite the opposition throughout Syria, their capital Damascus has held pro-al-Assad demonstrations in order to set off the balance. Whether they were bribed or forced into this, no one knows, but this inevitably promotes al-Assad’s cause and gives western powers less of a reason to intervene.
Given that the demonstrations are promoted on such a world-wide basis with sympathy demonstrations throughout, countries outside may be more inclined to intervene. Without this, the protesters seem to have a bleak outcome with al-Assad’s overbearing authoritarian regime. Whether or not the U.S. will intervene is unclear, but Obama has condemned the killing of innocent protestors. Promises of reform from al-Assad make it difficult to formally object on the international stage. The only hope is that al-Assad will initiate reform in favor of his people in order to stop demonstrations. However, the crucial decision is solely up to him.
