On 17 July 2000, during his swearing-in-ceremony President Bashar Assad called on his regime to open up and start accepting the opinions of others. Immediately the Syrian people, longing for freedom of expression, responded to his call.

On 17 July 2000, during his swearing-in-ceremony President Bashar Assad called on his regime to open up and start accepting the opinions of others. Immediately the Syrian people, longing for freedom of expression, responded to his call.
Overnight, political petitions were issued, asking for an end to one-party rule, a return to civil society, and the suspension of martial law, imposed by the ruling Baath Party following its rise to power in 1963.
Political discussion at restaurants and cafés, long considered taboo, made a return to public life. Dialogue forums mushroomed all over the country and controversial articles from the Lebanese and other Arab press (all of which openly criticising the outdated order) began to circulate through Syria’s towns and cities.
“The wall of fear” had started to come crumbling down after four decades of authoritarian rule. And, despite attempts by old-guard officials to re-build it earlier this summer, it seems there is no going back.
President Assad said there were “red-lines” that could not be crossed, these included the legacy of the late president
In September 2000, three months after Hafez Assad’s death, an “intellectual declaration” was issued in Damascus and published in Beirut, calling on President Bashar to lift martial law and release all political detainees. Surprisingly, the regime refrained from harassing or questioning the manifesto’s authors.
Gaining momentum, the “intellectuals” set up a Movement for Civil Society to promote their cause, aimed, more or less, at turning the clock back to pre-1963 Syria. Spearheading this movement was Riad Sayf, a middle-age businessman and two-term independent deputy who used to own Adidas sportswear stores in Damascus.
As early as 1992, Sayf had established himself as a maverick politician — harbouring views for years suppressed by the socialist state.
Following the 1991 Madrid Conference on the prospects for peace between Israel and the Palestinians, Sayf told the London-based Al Hayat newspaper, he would not mind doing business with the Israelis “when a just peace is achieved.” His statement, back then, raised eyebrows in official circles and caused shock waves in Damascus.
Following Assad’s death, Sayf spoke out again. In January 2001 he revealed the charter of his own political party, the Movement for Social Peace, a coalition of merchants, intellectuals, and entrepreneurs, endorsing the principles of capitalism, globalism and democracy.
His party demanded an end to one-party rule and espoused a free press, a general amnesty for political prisoners, compensation for 38 years of socialist rule, and a return of land and territory nationalised by the Baath regime in 1964.
In his founding ceremony held in Damascus and attended by hundreds of supporters, Sayf claimed that since 1963, the “military had deviated from its original task and became a part of political life — something that should come to an end.”
Around the same time another, unrelated, petition, signed by over 1,000 intellectuals, made similar demands. On 15 March, Sayf was summoned for interrogation at Syria’s central intelligence bureau but no action was taken against him.

Read the full story in the January 2002 edition of The Middle East Magazine

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