The echo of Tunisia: Syrians demand economic reforms

SMN No. 12, January 17, 2011

A newly-created Facebook group has highlighted the economic difficulties faced by Syrians, calling on the government to take urgent steps to address the crisis.

Established immediately after the recent uprising in Tunisia – which started after a Tunisian man set himself on fire in protest against his desperate economic situation – the rapidly-growing Facebook group demanded action over Syria’s “extremely deteriorated economic situation”.

The group declared that the Syrian government had followed an economic policy that lead to increasing hardship in recent years, with prices of basic goods skyrocketing to the point where “we are not able to meet the simplest requirements of life”.

With the agricultural sector among those hit hardest, the Facebook group discusses the rise of unemployment in Syria, growing slums in the cities and worsening public services for which citizens have to pay higher prices. One example given is that of poor but expensive electricity provision.

Such circumstances leaves the average Syrian citizen with the choice to either be hungry or to resort to corruption and take bribes in order to make ends meet, the group said, calling on the government to take several urgent steps including reversing all price rises on electricity and oil.

They also demanded the government fight corruption and to guarantee real and fair distribution of national resources instead of leaving it in the hands of a small group, as well as cancelling taxes recently imposed by the Ministry of Finance and reversing all decisions regarding the privatisation of education, electricity and public services.