Bashar al-Assad's regime has been fostering fears of a religious divide in order to undermine protesters
Salwa Ismail
(Professor of politics with reference to the Middle East at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.)
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 28 April 2011
"The role of sectarianism in Syrian politics and the position in the power structure of the Alawi community – a minority sect in Islam thought to comprise approximately 12% of the population – have been off limits as a subject in public discourse until the recent crisis. This prohibition has been abandoned by the regime which is now raising the threat of sectarianism in official media narratives about armed gangs, Salafi militants and foreign conspiracies against Syrian national unity.
In response the opposition, human rights activists and local observers accuse the security forces of themselves sowing the seeds of sectarianism. According to independent reports, in coastal cities and villages where members of both Alawi and Sunni communities live, patrols of unidentified men have visited residents belonging to either group to warn them of impending sectarian attacks and to mobilise them against the other group. Similar attempts at stirring conflict on a sectarian basis are reported by residents in Barzeh al-Balad, a Damascus suburb. There, it is believed, security personnel spread rumours that Sunni residents were planning attacks on their Alawi neighbours.....
State-controlled media representations of the protests across the country are in sharp contrast to the people's perspective: their slogans and banners refute sectarianism and insist on national unity. A recurrent chant is "One, one, one – the Syrian people are one". But the regime has been insistent that there is a sectarian plot, hoping to establish a sense of unease and uncertainty among ordinary people in order to stop them joining the movement for greater political openness.
This unease is particularly felt by Alawis, to whom the regime has presented itself as a protector. The security approach is hinged on a strategy that holds minorities hostage, raising the spectre of sectarian aggression to cow protesters into compliance and justify the use of violence against demonstrations.
This strategy may not hold for much longer. The danger remains that the regime, in its desperation to hold on to power, will seek to turn its warnings of sectarian conflict into reality. But it is more likely to be faced with a general uprising that cannot be contained by deploying yet more violence."
Salwa Ismail
(Professor of politics with reference to the Middle East at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.)
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 28 April 2011
"The role of sectarianism in Syrian politics and the position in the power structure of the Alawi community – a minority sect in Islam thought to comprise approximately 12% of the population – have been off limits as a subject in public discourse until the recent crisis. This prohibition has been abandoned by the regime which is now raising the threat of sectarianism in official media narratives about armed gangs, Salafi militants and foreign conspiracies against Syrian national unity.
In response the opposition, human rights activists and local observers accuse the security forces of themselves sowing the seeds of sectarianism. According to independent reports, in coastal cities and villages where members of both Alawi and Sunni communities live, patrols of unidentified men have visited residents belonging to either group to warn them of impending sectarian attacks and to mobilise them against the other group. Similar attempts at stirring conflict on a sectarian basis are reported by residents in Barzeh al-Balad, a Damascus suburb. There, it is believed, security personnel spread rumours that Sunni residents were planning attacks on their Alawi neighbours.....
State-controlled media representations of the protests across the country are in sharp contrast to the people's perspective: their slogans and banners refute sectarianism and insist on national unity. A recurrent chant is "One, one, one – the Syrian people are one". But the regime has been insistent that there is a sectarian plot, hoping to establish a sense of unease and uncertainty among ordinary people in order to stop them joining the movement for greater political openness.
This unease is particularly felt by Alawis, to whom the regime has presented itself as a protector. The security approach is hinged on a strategy that holds minorities hostage, raising the spectre of sectarian aggression to cow protesters into compliance and justify the use of violence against demonstrations.
This strategy may not hold for much longer. The danger remains that the regime, in its desperation to hold on to power, will seek to turn its warnings of sectarian conflict into reality. But it is more likely to be faced with a general uprising that cannot be contained by deploying yet more violence."
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