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Know Your News! Understanding the Syrian Revolution in Under 4 Minutes

2012-03-06 · John · watch on YouTube · World affairs · news analysis

John gives Hank a four-minute history of Syria since 1946 (coups, the Ba'ath Party, the Assads, Alawism) to explain the regime's violent crackdown on the 2011 pro-democracy protests and the resulting civil war, and asks whether and how to help.

What is said

00:00:00 — Intro (understand Syria in four minutes); Syria 1946-1963: independence, unstable republic, Soviet pact, United Arab Republic, Ba'ath takeover; Ba'athism defined

  • ★★★ John sets out to help Hank understand what is going on in Syria in four minutes of historical context. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ John says Syria declared independence in 1946 and was briefly a parliamentary republic that never took, with four constitutions in its first ten years and many changes of government. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ John says that in 1956 Syria signed a pact with the Soviet Union in exchange for weapons. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ John says Syria and Egypt merged as the United Arab Republic in 1958, Syria seceded in 1961, and coups followed until the Ba'ath Party took control in 1963. — 00:00:29
  • ★★ John defines Ba'athism as a secular political philosophy advocating a socialist, pan-Arab state ('Ba'ath' means renaissance) and says the hoped-for Arab utopia did not work. — 00:00:29
  • ★ John tracks each of Syria's many flag changes through its history as a recurring gag. (playful) — 00:00:29

00:00:58 — Hafez al-Assad (1970-2000): bloodless coup, stability and growth, repression, Israel and Lebanon; Alawism

  • ★★★ John says defense minister Hafez al-Assad became president in a bloodless coup in 1970 and oversaw Syria's first stable period, a new constitution and a state-run economy with significant per capita GDP growth. — 00:00:58
  • ★★ John says Hafez al-Assad also killed many dissidents, disastrously invaded Israel in 1973 and in 1976 entered the Lebanese Civil War, switching sides. — 00:00:58
  • ★★ John says this began a Syrian occupation of Lebanon lasting almost 30 years, unpopular partly because Syria assassinated Lebanese politicians. — 00:01:27
  • ★★ John says Hafez al-Assad was Alawi, a Shia sect with unusual beliefs: unlike most Muslims, Alawis don't hold praying five times a day mandatory and they celebrate Christmas. — 00:01:27 · Christmas

00:01:56 — Alawis seen as apostates; Bashar al-Assad's succession and 97.9% election; crackdown on the 2011 Arab Spring protests; UN death estimate

  • ★★ John says Assad tried to bring Alawism into the mainstream, praying in public and building mosques, but many Sunni and even Shia Muslims still see Alawis as apostates. — 00:01:56
  • ★★★ John says that when Hafez died in 2000, parliament cut the presidential minimum age from 40 to 34, his son Bashar's age, and Bashar was elected with 97.9% of the vote with no other candidate allowed. — 00:01:56
  • ★ John says there was widespread hope Bashar al-Assad would bring reform, which he did not. (playful) — 00:02:26
  • ★★★ John says Assad responded to the pro-democracy Arab Spring protests of early 2011 by executing soldiers who would not fire, bombing towns, torture and mass arrests; the UN estimates over 10,000 killed in a year, mostly unarmed civilians. — 00:02:26

00:02:55 — Sectarian make-up of the sides; civil war; Russian and Chinese vetoes at the UN Security Council; no clear path forward; should we help?; sign-off

  • ★★ John says the fight is not about religion, but most of the pro-democracy opposition is Sunni while Assad keeps significant support among many Alawis and Christians. — 00:02:55
  • ★★★ John says Syria is now in a civil war and the UN Security Council has tried to act, but Russia and China have vetoed every resolution on Syria. — 00:02:55 · China
  • ★★ John suggests the vetoes may stem from old Cold War ties, from what Russia and China see as a failed intervention in Libya, and from Russia's only Middle East naval port being in Syria. (hedged) — 00:02:55 · China
  • ★★ John says violence continues with no clear path forward: Syria was expelled from the Arab League and sanctions will hurt its economy, but it is unclear whether Assad will resign or stability return. — 00:02:55
  • ★★★ John says the opposition flies the flag of Syria's unstable early years, but its people want freedom and representative government and the regime is massacring them for it. — 00:03:24
  • ★★★ John asks whether and how 'we' should help Syria, says these are not rhetorical questions, and invites viewers to continue the conversation in comments. — 00:03:24

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