The Unrest in Syria

Anybody who knows me, knows I like to get to the bottom of things and that’s just what I did when I met with Mr. X.  During a meeting with Mr. X and my husband, Don, this past week, I learned about what is going on in Syria from marriage customs to political unrest. Mr. X works in this country; however his home is in Syria.  His mother died a few years ago.  His father is still living and he calls his father every day when he is working in the U.S.  Family is very important to him.  Other topics also carry a lot of significance for him.

Mr. X brought up those living in poverty.  His mother was a nurse and his father was a physician.  They did not have to be concerned about money growing up and he didn’t have to work until he was in his late 20s. According to Mr. X, college courses are free in Syria.  Unlike what we have to be concerned about in this country, college costs are through the roof.  You either have to be poor and rely on Pell grants or you have to sell your soul to the student loan companies.  Most families cannot afford to pay for their children’s college expenses without making serious sacrifices.  Why does it cost so much to get an education?  Someone is benefitting and it is not the general population.

Let’s get back to Syria.  Mr. X’s family employs a housekeeper and she is only paid $4.00 a day for her services.  Mr. X was wondering why she is not being paid at least $30. a day, an amount she needs in order to cover all her expenses and not live like a pig.  He referred to people living in abject poverty as living like pigs.  He has complained to his father; but he also made mention that he also likes that his family lives comfortably. Don mentioned that there has always been poor people and those with great wealth.  Mr. X responded by saying, “why can’t it be more equitable.”  

According to a source entitled “Factsheet: Political Unrest in Syria, 2011,” the country faces economic anguish and drought induced food shortages and poverty.  There have been five consecutive famines which have caused 800,000 Syrians into deep poverty.  32% of Syrians are living on approximately $2.00 a day. This is driving a multitude into the cities.  The draughts have caused food prices to soar. 

Some of Mr. X’s nephews are sneaking around and giving donations to the poor families.  His nephews meet with these families and ask what the family needs.  The families provide shopping lists and the nephews purchase the supplies listed on these lists for the families. They have to do these good deeds in private otherwise there can be harsh punishments. These families don’t make enough to survive and it is against the law to help them.

According to Wikipedia, the country has an autocratic form of governance and Bashar Hafez al-Assad is the current president of Syria.  He succeeded his father’s reign in office after his father’s death.  Bashar is unlike his siblings, he dislikes politics.  His older brother died in a car crash so Bashar was next in line for the presidency according to the selection process.  The selection process sounds a little suspect to me. 

I wonder sometimes what is worse, being in a country that makes reference to being a democracy when 1% of the country decides what we watch on television concerning the news, etc. and have the majority of the resources.  Only the rich can afford to run for office and on top of things the candidates are given a huge amount of support in the name of campaign contributions.  You can’t tell me that there aren’t strings attached to this financial support.  I read an article a couple of years ago that referred to the Democratic and Republican parties as the Microsoft Word and AT&T parties. 

Our country is supporting Egypt’s reign of terror as a way of buying an ally.  This was another topic of conversation.  I will have to explore this further. However, it is food for thought.

The political unrest that started January 2011 was related to civil rights.  According to the factsheet, there have been approximately 60 Syrian security agents killed during the protests, but most protestors were unarmed.  Initially the protestors wanted political reform; however, they also wanted to end the 47 year state of emergency and to address anti-corruption issues.  After the government’s concentrated effort in late April of 2011, some of the protestors were asking for Bashar’s resignation and to put some of the regime’s figure heads on trial for corruption.  On the positive note, on February 27, 2012 Syria claimed a referendum on a revision to the nation’s constitution that received 90% support.  The referendum included a 14 year cumulative term limit for the president of Syria.  However, July 2012 can be memorable as a the time in which the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Red Cresent had officially declared Syria to be in a state of civil war as the nationwide death toll for all sides was reported to have almost reached 20,000. 

Things seem pretty grim concerning the state of unrest in Syria.  The country has been at this state of unrest since the 1960s and has been considered in a state of emergency since then.  Many of this country’s inhabitants are residing in poverty which in and of itself can create a war zone.  On top of the instability of the economic structure, there is a form of government that seems to leave little to be desired.  However, I do believe that for the most part we are awarded more safety and financial security in this country; but at the same time there are some similarities to what we are subjected to if we look close enough.