Samir Sa’ifan – Al Quds Al Arabi
23 December 2011
Before the Arab Spring began, Bashar Al Assad was confident that no Syrian would dare to challenge his regime. He was used to viewing the authority of the Al Assad family as infinitely absolute. He is the son of the Defense Minister whose army was defeated by Israel in 1967, and instead of being held accountable, as the case in democratic countries ruled by institutions, he led a coup and seized power completely in 1970. He imprisoned his comrades who opposed him until they died in prison. He used to jail his opponents for decades just for initiating a political entity or issuing a statement. He prevented the formation of any political or non-political organizations, allowing only the creation of hollow and loyal ones. He fragmented all powers in society, such that it became paralyzed unable to carry out any collective activity. So, nothing was left in Syria that can threaten Al Assad.
Bashar Al Assad continued his Father’s approach; he never took the people into account, expecting them to clap for him always. Why not and he is the son of Hafez Al Assad who had labeled his ‘semi-sacred’ self with titles like “the Father Leader”, “the Eternal Leader” and the “Leader for Ever”, and enforced a pattern of viewing him as a sacred god that nobody can touch or approach, and made his power a taboo subject. Bashar Al Assad watched how his father was able to make Syria a farm of his own, and how he was able to bequeath him the presidency, and how the constitution was amended in a clowning session of the Parliament without any opposition from Syrians. He watched the queues of the lowly and the opportunist gathering submissively around him.

