- Promote friendly relations between the peoples of the USA and Syria
- Advance human rights, civil liberties, and democracy in Syria
- Encourage international cooperation, based on international law and justice
These were laudable goals, I thought, and the program looked interesting, so I decided to attend.
There were between 75-100 attendees. The organizers stated that the goal was to find ways in which Syrian-Americans can help promote reform in Syria but hoped to do achieve that in a non-confrontational way. The invited speakers were to include a spectrum of viewpoints but was most notable by those who were absent. Neither ambassador Imad Moustapha nor Bouthaina Shaaban made (scheduling conflict was the given reason; yeah, right!). Opposition member Riad Seif, with his passport confiscated could not attend and fearing his safety, understandably declined to address the meeting by phone. For similar reason neither could Jad al-Kareem al-Jibai, a human rights activists though he addressed the conference by phone from Damascus speaking fearlessly about the situation in Syria. There was a lively point counterpoint between Najib Ghadban, a fierce critic of the Syrian government and Muhammad Habash, an ostensibly independent member of parliament. The latter's glass half-full view of the Syrian regime led him to make inane justifications for the regime's behavior. Both Habash and David Lesch, author of The New Lion of Damascus, in response to a pointed question, seem to be smitten with Bashar (is he such a charmer? or is it Asma?). Lesch's presentation still left me wondering about the real Bashar. Perhaps I am making too much of Bashar the "enigma". I should take him at face value. After all, to be enigmatic implies a certain cleverness not evident in Bashar's disastrous serial political blunders. The most compelling presentation was that of Radwan Ziadah, director of the Damascus Center for Human Rights. A small and unassuming man, Radwan gave a very perceptive analysis of the state of human rights in Syria. Having recently signed the Beirut-Damascus declaration, he came to this meeting at great risk to himself.
So, what can Syrians, living so far actually do? SAC does not want to be viewed as part of the political opposition but nevertheless wants to promote change and reform. So, by necessity, it is limiting its work to only "non-controversial" issues such as economic and institutional reform, things that even a Baathist can comfortably pay lip service to. This greatly diminishes the second stated goal of its mission statement (promotion of human rights and democracy). SAC also needs a partner within Syria to assist in promoting change. NGOs would have been the appropriate partners but the regime has made it difficult for many NGOs to function properly. So who is left to partner with? Perhaps selected, reform minded, non-Baathist technocrats and independent members of parliament. Are there enough such people to work with? I am not certain.
Despite all these difficulties, perhaps SAC's Achilles heel is the fact that no matter how careful it is in its message, it will always perceived as foreign and therefore in the paranoid mindset of the regime, suspicious. It is after all the Syrian AMERICAN Congress. The absence of Moustapha and Shaaban from the proceedings is an early indication of the regime's disinterest.
Whether political change happens slowly and painfully or rapidly (and painfully), Syria is in need of reform in all aspects of its public life. I therefore fully support the intentions of the SAC although I am skeptical that, in the current climate, anyone can, from the outside, assist in reforming the system from within.
One thing I am certain about after this meeting, though, is that there are righteous people working within such as Jad al-Jibai and Radwan Ziadah whose tenacity and courage astound me. These are the true Lions of Damascus and they deserve our full support.
5 comments:
Hmmm.. Sounds like it was an interesting meeting!..
I must say, I share your 'guardedness' (is there such a word??!..) about the viability of change from outside.. The example of Jalabi in Iraq is still too fresh in people's memory. As you said, people have an inherent distrust ot the moment of everything American, even if it was only by name..
I think our real hope is change that is driven, first and foremost, from within, but strongly supported by those outside, be it Syrian expats or friendly foreign powers..
I'm glad you posted about it. Maybe you are the only one to do so. They did zero publicity. I would have gone, but foolishly delayed my ticket purchase until it was too expensive.
I hope Radwan will be okay when he returns to Syria.
I am disappointed that Imad and Bouthaina did not attend, perhaps this will be remedied in the future. The mere fact that the SA Congress has reached out to the regime though, indicates that this group is not in the Jalabi league (he means Chalabi if any Americans are reading this).
There definitely is a place for a distinctly Syrian-American organization that by its own admission is not "opposition" and will work within the confines of the status quo, as frustrating as it can be especially in weeks like last week.
I cannot agree more with George Ajjan. It is high time that Syrian Americans become active and join the debate. Even if they can never hope to have but a limited impact on Syrian domestic politics, they can certainly have an impact on local American politics. If Syrian-Americans can gain respect in America, they will win the ear and respect of Damascus. As the saying goes, politics are local. Build a constituancy and they will come - so will jounalists and others. Syrian Americans should be setting the debate on Syrian-American relations rather than leaving it to others.
Lebanese Americans have built a most impressive political action pressence in the US, why shouldn't Syrians?
I have only praise for the imagination and hard work of the founders and board members of the Syrian American Congress. Every start is bumpy.
As Woody Allen said: "Nine-tenths of life is showing up." It is high time Syrian-Americans showed up.
Bravo, Joshua Landis
Dear Abu Kareem:
I really liked your blog and your style. I wish we could get you in SAC to benefit from your ideas and work. I agree with you. The most problematic is with whom to partner: So who is left to partner with?
The other issues raised here is the advertisemtn for the conference. This we still need to work on. The problem we face that the Syrian community is so dispersed that it is hard to reach everybody in the same time. I hope we will do better in the future with your help ;-)
kassarm@yahoo.com
Mohyeddin Kassar
SAC
Mohyeddin,
I was hoping you would read this post. I noticed on your website that you picked up my initial posting on SAC. We met briefly in Chicago. I am a SAC member (I think) since I paid the conference and membership dues.
With regards to advertisement I can think of many outlet that could have spread the word (Washington report and Arab American Business journal come to mind immediately). Also the blogosphere is not to be underestimated. When I posted on SAC, George Ajjan alerted Josh Landis about my post who then commented on it in one of his posting. Given the popularity of Syria Comment, this resulted in an exponential increase in the number of daily hits on my blog for couple of days after that. So between my humble blog and Syria Comment, I would imagine that several hundred people now know about the Syrian American Congress.
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