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6/15/2006 - Paradox Lost by Andrew J. Tabler

AJT MIDDLE EAST Andrew Tabler Institute Fellow based Damascus Beirut studying Lebanese affairs Syrian reform Paradox Lost By Andrew Tabler June Al QurdAhA Syria Syrian opposition activist Orthodox Christian Michel Kilo noticed something spring about obituaries people around native latakia You rarely military service obituaries coastal urbanites while those their rural mountain counterparts civilians except those years March revolution military service Kilo wrote article london based Arabic daily Al Quds Arabi May Syria leadership Alawite these coastal mountains Al Qurdaha picturesque hilltop village about kilometers southeast latakia birthplace president hafez Assad Syria famous highly secular modern leader Struggling climb poverty Assad walked miles secondary school coast every before enlisting corps embarking career decades later would Syria The regime arrested Kilo weakening nationalist sentiment inciting sectarian conflict undermining state disseminating false defamation Many regime considered article straw political activism AJT Kilo obituaries political point Alawites continue dominate Syrian political grind regime President Bashar Assad recently launched widest opposition crackdown years As valid Kilo point however example captured region history producing influential people The mountains towering above Syrian coast rocky residue African Asian continents rubbing together produced military They spawned Arab World famous secular writers poets social critics produce seemingly different types people In search answer I visited Syria secluded coastal mountains month asked local residents about origins seeming paradox I wanted their brightest Arab world focus instead Persecution Colonialism Gumption For question geography Your villages produce playwrights novelists diplomats politicians admin istrators generals hafez Assad lutfallah haidar native Alawite village hussein Bahr former Syrian ambassador united Kingdom China What special about After thinking hometown about kilometers north Tartus haidar replied Well Mr President overlooking plains below Perhaps because tains hands Assad smiled slyly But there sands hilltops yours Syria Why people Syria other peaks coastal mountains country hauntingly spectacular Geologists coastal mountains formed million years beginning current Cenozoic period collision between African Arabian tectonic plates As subsequently pulled apart fault formed today encompasses Syria Ghab Basin lebanon Bekaa Valley Jordan river Valley Sea known collectively northern Great Valley The Ghab Al A river known Orontes Syria fertile valley In Ottoman times large Sunni Muslim landholding families based cities Idlib their Ghab while minorities religious AJT ethnic persecution including Alawites Ismailis Chris tians Armenians toughed rocky peaks When Alawites mountain search virtually servitude landed Sunni families Some Sunni simply taking advantage Alawites poverty Others claim Sunnis regarded Alawites today considered Shiite Muslim kufar apostates therefore entitled Koran moral protection People Book include Jews Christians The Alawite faith enigma Shiite Muslims Alawites regard descendents Ali Abi Taleb prophet Mohammed cousin rightly guided leaders Islamic faith Sunni traditional Muslims select their religious leaders based consensus Muslims geographic Alawites Ali seriously there controversy The traces origins followers Eleventh Shiite Imam hasan Askari representative Ibn Nusair leading branded Nusairis other religious sects Some sources sayAla wites consider Ali purpose divine knowledge Prophet Mohammed Others claim regard Ali hulul vehicle divine incarnation simply divine Alawites traditionally worship shrines dedicated religious leaders martyrs While small mosques first glance standard prayer minbars pulpits found inside At Sheikh daher shrine Al Qurdaha small antechamber message language Arabic script stone above The domed inner sanctuary contains three sarcophagi draped green ornamented tapestries On facing black hanging Ali embroidered thread embellished phrases praising They resonate outward spokes wheel Muslims still fighting consider Alawites Christians struggle classify Mormons Lebanese Shiite Imam Musa Sadr officially settled issue July declared Alawites followers Twelfth Shiite Imam Muhammed Mahdi Shiite Islam largest accepted Assad seized power October needed Sadr backing ensure Syrian presi dency position constitution Muslim Whatever great inequality wealth between different sects Ghab would implications modern Syria After Ottoman Empire defeat First World War September scent league Nations awarded France Ottoman areas encompassing today Syria Turkish province hatay known Syria Iskanderoon historians Alexandretta lebanon Class AMandates Since these areas reached stage development their existence independent nations provision recognized France obliged inhabitants territory league Nations provide advice administrative assistance until mandates stand alone In practice France ruled mandates officially named Syria lebanon colonies quickly altered their political boundaries lebanon INSTITUTE OF CURRENT WORLD AFFAIRS AJT while Syria split autonomous territories damascus Aleppo druze Mountains south mascus Alexandretta Alaouites homeland Alawites mountains plains along Syrian coast Forbidden league raise mandate France instead formed Troupes Sp ciales Levant armed force under French command predomi nately minorities mostly Circassians Armenians opposed Sunni Arab nationalists dominant Syria major cities France allowed Alawites enlist troupe supported coast political autonomy aspirations independence Then May Paris renamed Alawite territory The Government after coast major capital Independence short lived however France under pressure Arab nationalist parties damascus unify ritories The mandate authorities incorporated latakia republic Syria February The coastal mountains became integral Syria effects France colonial machi nations lingered decades Nabil Soulaiman writer critic native latakia Alawites denly persecution obscurity In Ottoman times people Syrian coastal mountains lived isolation Soulaiman The elite limited access culture foreign languages French colonialism broke force The mountain suddenly communicated coast Parties schools roads became different regions until ended cities monopolization politics nation culture This unveil secret secret behind appearance later generals heavily armed their political hopes Years after meeting Assad haidar family career coastal Syrians struggle human development We thought could answer through cation haidar We bookworms books summer After school brother chose military career while others chose cultural pursuits higher education Two Tracks Down Mountain The known those following humanities hussein Bahr native Saadallah Wannus Born Wannus climb stardom simply story country succeeded brought rural egalitarianism world Saadallah talked everyone Wannus mother Khadija Abu liked listen everyone point simple person would never important Thirsty knowledge world Wannus mountain Tartus where graduated secondary school With state scholarship sailed Egypt advanced study journalism Cairo University Wannus fulfilled scholarship service mitment return daily newspaper Al Ba Ministry Culture where wrote short stories essays theatre critiques plays In Wannus sought further study Paris where storytelling social critique Syria journeyed through turbulent political periods When military brought Ba Party power March declared emergency raging political instability beset Syria following independence Multiparty ground struggle within Ba emerged along sectarian lines The Wannus headed France Alawite officers Hafez Assad Mo hammed Omran Salah Jadid seized control Ba expelling party founders Michel Aflaq Orthodox Christian Salah Eddin Bitar Sunni Muslim favor Alawite Zaki Arsuzi junta declared Socrates party Instead capping member Wannus wrote A Party Fifth June which argued Arabs could avoid another disaster June War through greater domestic freedoms A later produced famous works The Elephant O Ages which Wannus Arabs afraid their leaders never reign their transgressions those people reminiscent penchant talking Wannus screenplays called actors audience pointed questions breaking called fourth barrier between performers spectators write provocative plays short stories books criticizing state society before death following battle cancer Despite decades Wannus criticism Assad authoritarian regime president personally nanced Wannus chemotherapy treatments Wannus women letters hailing heights overlooking Syria Medi terranean coast caused including poets Badawi Jabal Nadim Mohhammed Nabeeha Adonis Ali Ahmad Sa writers Bou Ali Yaseen Orthodox Christian Elias Mourkos While subject matters thread running through their works distinctly secular approach The works INSTITUTE OF CURRENT WORLD AFFAIRS author haidar haidar another product hussein Bahr tyranny basic freedoms democracy social justice Arab World Follow publication staunchly secular AFeast Seaweed Egyptian Islamists accused haidar blasphemy I invited haidar merous times interview fixing summer accept Alawites pursue political tivism Author former damascus university Economics Faculty Aref dalila mains prison health after delivering speech Sep tember criticizing rampant corruption state Ba Party advocating democracy transparency Syria political economic recently Communist labor Party leader Fateh Jamous arrested charges lishing undermining state contact Anti Syrian foreign groups working foreign states Jamous previously served years prison belonging unlicensed political party Both rested under Syria counting Emergency AJT Poverty Partition Dialectical Materialism latakia native author Orthodox Christian hanna Mina believes coast staunch secularism stems grinding poverty mountain I suffered Oph thalmia neonatal junctivitis I Mina whose remain cloudy We lived street The local afflicted urine place their When mother applied heated tomato slices I wasted child misery While Syria experts often coast historically poorest local dents suffered everyone The Syrian coast poorer damascus hassan M Youssef columnist daily Teshreen newspaper native Alawite mountain village Ad dalieh Bilad Sham The countries damascus exploited Ottoman Sultans drafted local people military seized harvests All Syria exhausted Palestine Syria Iskanderoon which sizeable Alawite Orthodox Christian Armenian populations Turkey disputed plebiscite prompted coastal Syrians leftist political which early foothold The first communist party office Arab World established French Iskanderoon Mina latakia spent childhood adolescence Syria province When I sweeping party office floors I involved politics At demonstration arrest Ba party founder Zaki Arsuzi French forces fired crowd killing friend standing right beside After conspiracy plebiscite I Latakia When I tried trade union there someone tried murder knife despite I Old Habits Some coastal writers attribute their homeland tradition Alawites practical approach faith Those living Alawite mountains religious institutions govern Nabil Saleh writer latakia editor Al Jamal website Alawite sheikhs religious leaders preside marriages funerals Alawites force their children practice Islam before adulthood Whether choose religious judged their behavior ethics practice their religion That people coast freedom sensitive about defending While answer close coast secular heart doesn explain motivating coastal Syrians other faiths including Sunnis Ismai Christians Could coast secular tradition predate monotheism The Syrian coast oldest cradles human civilization Youssef The border today latakia governorate ancient ugarit Kingdom BC world oldest alphabet system musical notation Excavations Shamra kilometers north latakia uncovered ancient cosmopolitan prehistoric remnants dating BC ancient Mesopotamia ugarit where desert caravans wider world The ugarits people which symbol mindedness everywhere world Youssef The doesn bring shipwrecks brings cultures On always horizons That people Syrian coast usually minded Maronite Christian druze areas Mount lebanon Syria sAlawite peaks produce ambitious defiantly independent people Be result history coastal Syrians continue unapologeti cally their secular impression increasingly Islamacized Arab World So might surprise Al Qurdaha resident simply shrugged Kilo ntroversial article neighborhood gossip unfortunately people wrote about Shake speare after alive Naji Mohammed Kuzi Kilo should focus living This article would possible without sistance Hussein Bahr native Dalia Haidar Syria Today magazine helped navigate peaks valleys shores Arab World secluded places AJT INSTITUTE OF CURRENT WORLD AFFAIRS Richard D Connerney January INDIA A lecturer Philosophy Asian Religions Philosophy Rutgers Iona College University Hawaii Manoa Rick Connerney spending years Phillips Talbot Fellow studying writing about intertwining religion culture politics India described former U S Ambassador John Kenneth Galbraith functioning anarchy Rick B A M A religion Wheaton College University Hawaii spectively Kay Dilday October FRANCE MOROCCO An editor New York Times Op Ed years Kay holds M A Comparative International Politics Theory Graduate Center City University New York Bachelor degree English Literature Tufts University graduate Universiteit Amsterdam Netherlands Cours Civilisation Sorbonne She traveled written Haiti began jouralistic council reporter Somerville This Week Somerville MA Nicholas Schmidle October PAKISTAN Nicholas freelance writer interested intersection culture religion politics Asia He spending years Pakistan writing issues ethnic sectarian national identity Previously reported Central Asia Iran published Washington Post Weekly Standard Foreign Policy Christian Science Monito others Nick received M A International Affairs Regional Studies American University December He lives Rikki Andrew J Tabler February SYRIA LEBANON Andrew lived studied worked Middle East since Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Fellowship enabled begin Arabic language studies toward Master degree American University Cairo Following Master editorships Middle East Times Cairo Times before moving Turkey Lebanon Syria working Senior Editor Oxford Business Group correspondent Economist Intelligence Unit His ICWA fellowship bases Beirut Damascus where report Lebanese affairs Syrian reform Jill Winder July GERMANY With B A politics Whitman College Walla Walla WA Master degree Art Curating Bard College Annandale Hudson NY Jill ICWA Donor Fellow looking Germany through ideas viewpoints contemporary artists Before months intensive study German language Berlin Thomas J Watson Fellow looking communist practice cultural politics transition former Soviet Czech Republic Slovakia Poland Croatia Hungary Latvia Romania Slovenia Ukraine Current Fellows their Activities INSTITUTE OF CURRENT WORLD AFFAIRS ICWA Letters ISSN published Institute Current World Af fairs Inc exempt operating foundation incorporated New York State offices located West Wheelock Street Hanover NH 03755 The letters provided charge members ICWA available libraries professional researchers subscription Phone E Mail valley Fax Web address Executive Director Steven Butler Program Assistant Publications Manager Ellen Koza Institute Current World Affairs The Crane Rogers Foundation The Information contained publication reprinted republished without express written consent Institute Current World Affairs Institute Fellows chosen basis character previous experience promise They young profession funded spend minimum twoyears carrying designed grams study writing outside theunited States The Fellows required report their findings experiences field month They write subject formally orinformally The result unique reporting analysis periodic assessment internationalevents issues