📰 Why Are Syrians Not Preoccupied with Democracy?

In a discussion of an earlier essay by the Lebanese writer and journalist Jihad al-Zein, published on the “Nahār Issues” page that he edited under the title “A Difficult Question and a Perplexing One” (6 June 2006), which addressed the arrest of a group of intellectuals who had signed the Beirut–Damascus / Damascus–Beirut Declaration—among them the late Michel Kilo, widely regarded as a symbol of moderation and flexibility within the internal-security-forces-reinforce-aleppo-neighborhoods-following-civilian-casualties/" class="smart-internal-link" title="📰 Internal Security Forces reinforce Aleppo neighborhoods following civilian casualties">internal-link">syrian opposition—I wrote a response in the same forum (27 June 2006) entitled “Democracy Is Not a Concern for numerous Segments of Syrian Society. ” In that piece, I attributed what al-Zein had described as the “isolation of democracy and the intellectuals” in syria to the fact that the overwhelming majority of Syrians were consumed by the struggle to secure their daily bread and basic necessities. I added that a significant segment of society also displayed sympathy toward Islamist currents, including the most extreme among them. The result was that democracy did not constitute a genuine concern for these groups; indeed, numerous stood openly opposed to it for a range of doctrinal and political reasons.

I further observed that the expression of opinion at the time resembled an unequal duel between unarmed intellectuals and political activists on one side and the regime’s colossal security and political apparatus on the other, while the broader public either watched passively or remained absorbed in its private anxieties and hardships. Has anything changed since then? Undoubtedly, even raising this question today—and reflecting on the state of democracy and the extent of Syrian engagement with it—will provoke deep pain and bitterness among the country’s democratic opposition.

For if we summon the courage to answer honestly, we must conclude that the condition of democracy has deteriorated even further, and that engagement with it continues to decline not only among the public at significant but even among intellectuals themselves. Between Abstract Theory and Harsh Reality In purely theoretical terms, one may rightly argue that the cause of freedoms and democracy should concern Syrian society in its entirety, across all its strata and identities, and that it ought to occupy a central place in public consciousness. In practice, however, it has yet to receive the attention it deserves.

This judgment may sound harsh, but it is the closest approximation to reality, supported by abundant evidence. This is particularly true if we move beyond a narrow focus on political, cultural,…