The language of violence

Analysis: Is the Syrian Regime Adopting New Tactics?

By Abdallah Sahili

The gap between what the crime machine of the Syrian regime is doing, and what the state media is saying, seems very ironic.

And the gap is increasing. The more killings and brutality there is in the street, the more the lies and misleading information. It’s like they are interconnected in a way. Kill, then lie to justify the killing, then lie again to set the stage for more killing.

In an atmosphere of panic and fear, there is a higher tendency to believe rumours, the market of which flourishes these days, especially rumours that are fabricated in an oversimplified and illogical way. If one was to give such rumours just a little thought, their absurdity would show itself right away. But fear blinds the mind and makes the rumours difficult to refute.

The common factor among the lies of the regime’s media, broadcast on its TV and radio stations is: made up stories and twisted facts.

The media proves again that it can be a weapon, in the street and in politics. The Syrian regime is using it in a brilliant way that is leading to more justified killings and martyrs. The coverage of  Al-Jazeera and other Arab satellite channels, showing repeatedly the horrible images of what is going on in the streets, has helped restrain the killing machine a little bit. And this is how some of the demonstrations have passed without killings.

On April 15, tens of thousands of Syrians took to the streets. It was truly the “Great Friday” and there was no shooting, except for what happened in Latakia that day. All of Syria was in the streets and no guns firing. Is this a bluff? Is it the regime’s new policy? A new tactic? We cannot talk about a new policy because policies prove their credibility over time. It’s a tactic that the regime resorted to after it realised that it’s facing a tide of dissent. The regime has been exposed in the Arab media and maybe it even was subject to international pressure.

We know the regime in Syria is, in fact, one that depends on its security forces. Anyone who thinks that the regime will practice flexible politics and abandon violence is utterly dreaming. Politics, to this regime, is just a tactic.

However, the more or less “peaceful” protest on  Great Friday, puzzled many. The state media admitted, for the first time, that what was going on in the street is a demonstration, and not a “conspiracy” or a “riot”. This situation represents a seemingly new position of the authorities on the protests – no overuse of violence, contrary to what had been happening every week in Der’aa, Latkia and Douma as well as Homs on April 17.

The security forces were barely able to stop a march of protesters coming from Jobar to the Abbasid square in Damascus. But what about the coming days? Will the regime and its media keep this stand next Friday? What happened yesterday in Homs, seems to tell a different story. What we are sure of, though, is that this regime speaks nothing but the language of violence. And if it did try to calm things down a bit lately, then that’s because it couldn’t do otherwise.

Syrians’ experience of the regime is one of distrust and disappointment. But it seems that a new stage of the Syrian revolution has begun.