I'd rather begin with an analysis of this article than merely summarize it, because of how well this journalist tackles the daunting task of condensing the complexities and numerous players in the Syrian civil war into a single feature length article. As fighting grows more intense, neither Bashar's brazened army nor the revolutionists seem to be budging anytime soon, making this one of the bloodiest stalemates in modern history. As outsiders looking in, Americans are inundated with daily TV news updates on casualty counts and the escalating sophistication of weaponry used, making an article published over a month ago seem obsolete and irrelevant. But rarely does a news source provide such a deep understanding of the ontological story of what each side is fighting for, their strategies to achieving it, and the things that are being seen and felt by all involved. The story focuses on Taftanaz, a small northwestern town about 80 miles inland from the Mediterranean, which saw an especially brutal attack by Assad's regime in April this year. Harper's Magazine contributor Anand Gopal goes to great lengths to get the personal perspectives of rebels, community organizers, military deserters, and citizen bystanders, and to give their voices a humanness that reaches beyond merely their roles in the conflict. Its easy to capture the urgency and direness of day to day fighting against such a formidable army, but equal in scope is the urgency to formulate ideas for current and future governance. As one rebel commander, known to hand out French Revolution literature to his fellow freedom fighters put it, "this is not an intellectual's revolution..this is a popular revolution. We need to give people ideas, theory." Adding to local frustrations are the regular housekeeping tasks that are having to be done, from garbage removal to message couriering as government infrastructure and mobile phone services have been shut down indefinitely. These are the kinds of frustrations that go unseen to those uninvolved. Everybody watching the news sees the guy planting IED's in the road to blow up encroaching tanks. What you don't get to see are town councils meeting as mini-parliaments (or tansiqiyyat as rebels call them) to delegate responsibilities and discuss strategy, or military defectors in Turkey trying to raise funds and ammunition for the rebels back at home. These are people finally given the opportunity to govern themselves, and they are doing it miraculously well considering the odds they are facing. Bashar's regime is ruthless and dead set on maintaining control at all costs. After citizens were indiscriminately rounded up and executed in Taftanaz, homes were set ablaze and silver graffiti reading "NOBODY CONTROLS SYRIA EXCEPT BASHAR" and "ASSAD OR THE COUNTRY BURNS" was painted onto the few buildings left standing. Yet the revolutionists continue, armed with the ferocity that can only come from the brink of desperation.
Woven into the ongoing narrative of the Battle of Taftanaz is a brief history of the regime's rise to power, from Hafez al-Assad's consolidation of power in 1970 to his death and replacement by Bashar, his son, in 2000. The economic sanctions placed on their citizens and the absolute fealty they aggressively enforced do a great deal to explain how frustrations could have escalated to such a calamity that a couple cans of spray paint could spark a civil war. Inspired by the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, two young Syrian teens were arrested in March of 2011 for painting antigovernment graffiti in Daraa. That night, hundreds of protesters showed up in the streets, and demonstrations from that moment forward started popping up all over the country. Fighting began after Assad deployed his army to quell the uprising and ordered them to open fire on civilians. Mughabarat and shabeck (secret police and mercenaries, respectively) were also sent to disrupt protests from within. Since then, many soldiers in the Syrian Army, incapable of firing upon innocent civilians, have deserted and found solace in hiding or by joining the rebel effort. These military defectors have formed the Free Syrian Army, and many operate outside of the Syrian border. They coordinate with the Syrian National Council based in Turkey, which communicates through foreign press to negotiate aid for rebels within Syria. Many civilians on the ground accuse the FSA of cowardice and feel the situation inside is being misrepresented to outsiders by these ex-soldiers no longer even connected to the rebellion. Foreign nations like the US prefer dealing with known institutions outside of the country rather than the grassroots forces within who rely on their anonymity for survival.
Ethnic oppositions are always an underlying factor in Middle East relations. As oppressive regime after the next toppled like falling dominoes this past spring, the impression was given that these were two-dimensional popular uprisings- people versus the state, military regimes versus rebels. However the situation is always more complex than what is represented in the media (out of either sheer ignorance or journalistic laziness). Conflict exists even within the Syrian revolutionary community. Tensions between two major branches of Islam, Sunni and Shi'a, are pervasive across the Middle East and anywhere Muslims flourish, and Syria is no exception. Many Syrian Sunni's view Shia and the Alawi (a mystical religious group in Syria who follow the Twelver school of Shia Islam) as inextricable, and therefore some Sunni towns in Syria have escaped the onslaught of Bashar's Army by threatening the slaughter of nearby Shia towns, regardless of their involvement in the overall conflict. Although this has been an effective ploy that has certainly avoided further casualties, it does a lot to further complicate the revolution and any hopes of future unification.
http://www.harpers.org/archive/2012/08/0084010
Woven into the ongoing narrative of the Battle of Taftanaz is a brief history of the regime's rise to power, from Hafez al-Assad's consolidation of power in 1970 to his death and replacement by Bashar, his son, in 2000. The economic sanctions placed on their citizens and the absolute fealty they aggressively enforced do a great deal to explain how frustrations could have escalated to such a calamity that a couple cans of spray paint could spark a civil war. Inspired by the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, two young Syrian teens were arrested in March of 2011 for painting antigovernment graffiti in Daraa. That night, hundreds of protesters showed up in the streets, and demonstrations from that moment forward started popping up all over the country. Fighting began after Assad deployed his army to quell the uprising and ordered them to open fire on civilians. Mughabarat and shabeck (secret police and mercenaries, respectively) were also sent to disrupt protests from within. Since then, many soldiers in the Syrian Army, incapable of firing upon innocent civilians, have deserted and found solace in hiding or by joining the rebel effort. These military defectors have formed the Free Syrian Army, and many operate outside of the Syrian border. They coordinate with the Syrian National Council based in Turkey, which communicates through foreign press to negotiate aid for rebels within Syria. Many civilians on the ground accuse the FSA of cowardice and feel the situation inside is being misrepresented to outsiders by these ex-soldiers no longer even connected to the rebellion. Foreign nations like the US prefer dealing with known institutions outside of the country rather than the grassroots forces within who rely on their anonymity for survival.
Ethnic oppositions are always an underlying factor in Middle East relations. As oppressive regime after the next toppled like falling dominoes this past spring, the impression was given that these were two-dimensional popular uprisings- people versus the state, military regimes versus rebels. However the situation is always more complex than what is represented in the media (out of either sheer ignorance or journalistic laziness). Conflict exists even within the Syrian revolutionary community. Tensions between two major branches of Islam, Sunni and Shi'a, are pervasive across the Middle East and anywhere Muslims flourish, and Syria is no exception. Many Syrian Sunni's view Shia and the Alawi (a mystical religious group in Syria who follow the Twelver school of Shia Islam) as inextricable, and therefore some Sunni towns in Syria have escaped the onslaught of Bashar's Army by threatening the slaughter of nearby Shia towns, regardless of their involvement in the overall conflict. Although this has been an effective ploy that has certainly avoided further casualties, it does a lot to further complicate the revolution and any hopes of future unification.
http://www.harpers.org/archive/2012/08/0084010
I find this article to be extremely interesting. There is an introduction that hooked me, a main body, and a conclusion. Fantastic work. However, the end was the best part for me as I had a hard time understanding what you were saying. Big words...smh.
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