{"id":10574,"date":"2011-07-03T15:39:50","date_gmt":"2011-07-03T19:39:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/?p=10574"},"modified":"2011-07-03T18:57:25","modified_gmt":"2011-07-03T22:57:25","slug":"an-interview-with-bassam-alkadi-president-of-the-syrian-women-observatory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/an-interview-with-bassam-alkadi-president-of-the-syrian-women-observatory\/","title":{"rendered":"An interview with Bassam Alkadi, President of the Syrian Women Observatory"},"content":{"rendered":"

An interview with Bassam Alkadi<\/a>, President of the Syrian Women Observatory
\n<\/strong>___________________
\n<\/em>Posted by Camille Otrakji<\/em> for Syria Comment.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nBassam Alkadi is President of Syria’s main women rights organization<\/a>. A relentless fighter for human rights in Syria. Although he has been fired from his job, arrested, jailed and forbidden from traveling, he continues to be driven by logic and not revenge. He rejects dialogue for the sake of dialogue. Instead calling for dialogue that follows some prerequisite, even if partial, implementations of some of the announced reforms announced by the Syrian government.<\/p>\n

In this interview he shares his with us his concerns and fears of the conflict in Syria as well as his hopes for a new democratic, secular Syria.<\/p>\n

Q1. In your view, if free parliamentary elections were to be held later this year, which of the parties would win popular support? Would it be the Baath, the Syrian National Socialist Party, the Communist Party, new parties \u2026?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bassam: This proposition is flawed from the get go. We can\u2019t talk about \u201cfree parliamentary elections\u201d as of today. For elections to be \u201cfree,\u201d all necessary tools and mechanisms must have been made available for all parties for an adequate period of time prior to holding any such election. How can the vast propaganda and media machines of both the Ruling Party and of the Islamists be effectively countered? Any such elections will not be \u201cfree\u201d in a meaningful way until the anticipated new democratic laws (Party Law, Media Law, and Free Assembly Law) have been in effect for at least a full year.
\nAnything less and elections would be limited to only the blindly pro-regime and the blindly anti-regime camps.<\/p>\n

Q2. What would be a reasonable time frame for the anticipated reforms presented by President Assad in his third speech? And do you support the President\u2019s preference of involving representatives of the people in formulating these reforms, as part of a National Dialog initiative? Or do you have a different model that you would prefer?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bassam: Absolutely, I support the regime\u2019s declared intention of involving true representatives of the Syrian People. Elitists, and Opposition figures have proven themselves to be failures and irrelevant for quite some time now, but especially so during the current crisis. Proving this particular point may require a dedicated article, even though it is easily provable.
\nThe real leaders of the Street (Loyalists and Opposition) are the ones that count, when it comes to National Dialog.<\/p>\n

Further, the reforms that have been launched since the lifting of the State of Emergency, really need years to be fully realized and implemented, and any talk otherwise by Western leaders can only be interpreted as pushing [the country] toward more and more tension. Let those who are pushing present a workable plan for realizing even a quarter of the promised Reforms in a full year, if they think they can.<\/p>\n

Having said that, significant implications of those reforms can be made visible before too long, even if incomplete. This would be very important as a confidence building measure.<\/p>\n

Q3. As president of the \u201cSyrian Women Observatory\u201d which monitors and promotes Women\u2019s rights in Syria, and which is dedicated to non-violence, and one who used to meet with Western NGOs and diplomats, you recently wrote a letter expressing your anger and distrust of the real motives behind the close follow up by the US and the EU, of events in Syria. You are also a critic of Turkish intervention in Syria\u2019s affairs. Do you believe that Syria today is still capable of maintaining its independent foreign policies, and how?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bassam: I object to describing what the West is doing (especially the US, French, British, and German governments) as \u201cclose follow up\u201d. On the contrary, their intervention is a deliberate provocation of the crisis with one goal, and that is to coerce the Syrian People to adopt the Libyan Scenario, or to force the regime to surrender to the West\u2019s political agenda. They [the West] have not only ignored facts on the ground, but have recently started exerting open pressure on the Syrian People, by punishing state-owned institutions and companies that tens of thousands of Syrian families depend on for their livelihood.<\/p>\n

Yes, Syria is capable of maintaining its independence. The regime today has to conduct critical surgery at its most fundamental levels. This, in a way, is the beginning of its demise as the regime that once was; the end of it as a system, but not necessarily the end of any individuals. One problem which the regime seems to have recently recognized is its need to employ public and open diplomacy, instead of its previously preferred secrecy and non-transparency. Public Opinion is now more important than ever before, and can only be addressed through open and public diplomacy.<\/p>\n

Q4. Can Syria remain (or become) a secular country if the Middle East (including Israel) witnesses a continued strengthening of extremist religious influence in political decision making as well as in society?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bassam: Syria has never been a secular country. And it has never been a religious state in traditional perceptions either.<\/p>\n

The Syrian street today, away from the manifestation of the anger that drives some to shout extreme sectarian slogans, is more aware than ever of the danger of the religious extremists.<\/p>\n

More importantly, any country cannot ignore the forces of civil society, and if the Syrian civil society previously used the state of emergency and other issues as an excuse to avoid involvement, after this crisis it doesn\u2019t have any excuse not to get involved. Let civil society (the truly civil one) face the religious extremists, then any system will be forced to take that into account.<\/p>\n

The type of relationship [between leadership and people] in any country does not turn into a regime and its herd unless the civil society and its organizations relinquish their responsibilities, whatever the reasons and justifications.<\/p>\n

Q5. You called on others to renounce violence as a means to create a healthy society and you are one of the first Syrians who condemned the violence since the beginning of the recent events in Syria. Through your experience in dealing with issues of violence, how it is possible in these circumstances that all the parties involved can adopt the statement of renouncing violence and using the language of dialogue as the only means to reach solutions, keeping in mind that you personally refuse to sit at the negotiating table today. What is the solution?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bassam: After walking in the streets of many Syrian cities, and through my vast relations with the real people, I know very well that the overwhelming proportion of them renounce violence in all its forms. Without accepting this fact of our society, we would not be here today; Syrian society would have exploded into a devastating civil war over a month ago.
\nArmed militias (religious radicals and others) are a small, but highly dangerous, minority. Hence I publicly supported \u2018precise surgical operation\u2019 by the regime against those militias.<\/p>\n

Dialogue does not mean people sitting at one table in a hotel! It is rather the outcome of a number of measures and mechanisms that allow people to define their forces, crystallize their thoughts and perceptions, and then elect their representatives. This is how dialogue can be a dialogue and not just talk.
\nWhen this takes place, neither I, nor the majority of the Syrian street today, would refuse to sit at the table for dialogue.<\/p>\n

What is happening today, what was announced, has nothing to do with a table for real dialogue. It is rather an attempt by some to reserve seats on the next train instead of the real people of Syria being empowered to build the train of their future.<\/p>\n

Give me the laws for associations, political parties and truly democratic media, and immediately amend the law of demonstrations today, and you’ll see an entirely different picture of Syria within a short time. A picture that does not only frighten the regime, but it frightens the “opposition” to the same extent.<\/p>\n

Q6. what is your personal vision for the future of Syria? What are the solutions that can be put forward to the current complex state of affairs?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bassam: Ending the crisis today is not directly related to shaping the future of Syria.<\/p>\n

In my opinion the future of Syria is simple: A democratic civil state that is both secure and stable. This is what many people, even within the regime, are well aware of as our only hope.<\/p>\n

Exiting the crisis today will not be possible without a basket of actions and mechanisms that allow people to move from the current fragmentation and marginalization, to the state of civic participation. This is not an illusion. Forces of the Syrian street did not learn to speak like as intellectuals, and did not learn to organize the way the elite do. Therefore it is urgently in need of help to grow.<\/p>\n

Here I particularly want to point out the real danger threatening the protest movement today, which is the danger of disintegration. They went through three and a half months of non-focused movement, under the real slogan expressing their anger and feeling oppressed, and not by the\u00a0 slogan heard more directly (down of the regime), even if some of the Syrians living in exile claimed otherwise. Moreover, the regime did not recognize them and did not provide them with a mechanism for the advancement of their movement in a civil manner. Finally, there are multiple forces, internal and external, seeking to exploit this situation. All this reduces the movement\u2019s ability to get organized, get rid of the impurities and to advance toward a well-organized and sustainable civil movement. Thus it (the disintegration) might allow each of the other forces (including: criminals, insurgents, thugs, bullies, or shabbiha ..) to take the leadership platform of this movement, and In that event, it will be really too late to the extent that we may have to pay a heavy price.<\/p>\n

_________________________________________
\nMany thanks to Jad<\/strong> and Averroes<\/strong> for their help in conducting and translating this interview. The original Arabic text follows.
\n_________________________________________
\n.<\/em><\/p>\n

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An interview with Bassam Alkadi, President of the Syrian Women Observatory ___________________ Posted by Camille Otrakji for Syria Comment. Bassam Alkadi is President of Syria’s main women rights organization. A relentless fighter for human rights in Syria. 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