Great Leaps Forward In Syria And Jordan

By Rami G Khouri
This commentary was published in The Daily Star on 28/03/2011 

Events in Jordan and Syria last week marked perhaps the most significant leap forward in the continuing Arab citizens’ revolt against the modern Arab security state since the overthrow of the Tunisian and Egyptian regimes.

The public challenge to the pervasive and efficient security and intelligence services in both countries has meant that citizens have crossed a major threshold in demanding changes in the conduct of their respective power systems. Should power configurations and policies change in Jordan and Syria – given their links with Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia – the entire Middle East will be impacted in important ways.

I have been in Damascus and Amman in the past week and discussed the current regional upheavals with regime stalwarts, opposition or independent figures, and ordinary citizens. The ruling elites in both countries are neither willing to admit that the regional democracy wave is lapping at their doors nor clear about how to respond.

Jordan and Syria have portrayed themselves as immune to the regional pressures for change, and assume that their large and omnipresent security sectors can control any outburst of democratic agitation. On both counts, last week suggested, they are almost certainly wrong.

The outburst of small demonstrations in several Syrian cities that culminated in the major clashes in the southern town of Daraa, leaving close to 100 people dead, coincided with a bold move Thursday by hundreds of young Jordanian activists to set up a permanent tent encampment in front of the Interior Ministry. There they vowed to remain until their demands for serious constitutional reform and an end to corruption were met.

What is truly significant is that in both cases the Jordanian and Syrian authorities have been forced to make major promises to examine how they can respond to the demonstrators’ demands. These demands include ending emergency laws, amending the Constitution, changing government officials, and allowing greater political pluralism and government accountability.

Two other dimensions of events in Syria and Jordan last week were important to note. The first was that demonstrators were publically calling for ending or reducing the security and intelligence agencies’ interference in routine affairs of state and society that are unrelated to what we might call pure security threats. The second was that those demonstrating and calling for real change were not from one party or group. Rather, they represented a variety of groups in society that, together, form a formidable coalition of discontented citizens.
In the Jordanian demonstrations that have taken place every Friday, and now in the “March 24” tent encampment that the demonstrators have called “Tahrir Square,” emulating the Cairo piazza that anchored the revolt against President Hosni Mubarak’s regime, leftists, nationalists and Islamists have joined together to demand real reforms. They chanted: “The people want to reform the regime. We want the corrupt put on trial. Revolts are around us, it is your turn Jordan. Intelligence Department, we want your hands off politics!”

Such public demands of the king and criticism of the powerful General Intelligence Department are novel developments. King Abdullah earlier this week had ordered an acceleration of results from the “national dialogue committee” that he established last month, which is hobbling along because of a boycott by Islamists who do not think the king or prime minister are serious about reform. This follows the king’s changing of the prime minister and government two months ago in the face of weekly protests. He had promised “quick, practical, and concrete steps to launch a process of genuine political reform, comprehensive development, and strengthening democracy.”

In Syria, similarly, a regime that had been in total control of every dimension of society and public life now finds itself forced to respond to the demands of citizens who braved the security services to march in the streets. After the Daraa deaths and the rising number of citizens who defied a ban on public demonstrations, the government Thursday said it would consider lifting draconian restrictions on political freedom and civil liberties, including the lifting of a state of emergency that has been in effect since 1963. A close presidential adviser, Buthaina Shaaban, also said the government was drafting a law that would end the Baath Party’s political predominance, loosen media controls, fight corruption, and provide public servants with higher salaries and health insurance.

Important new dynamics are taking hold in Jordan and Syria, reflecting a fearless boldness in the activism of citizens who had long remained docile in the face of pervasive security controls. Where all this will lead is not clear, but it is clear that a historic page has been turned in the Levant, as has happened in North Africa. Strong and assertive governments now find themselves responding defensively, and not always convincingly, to a public political agenda that is being defined by young men and women in the streets.