Syria: The Opposition To Assad Is In Search of Unity
by JPG
At least three Committees and various Councils have been formed in recent days: in Turkey, Paris and Syria, with the aim of reforming the country. A growing risk of an armed struggle, while the repression continues. The arrest of the psychoanalyst Rafah Nashed.
Damascus (AsiaNews) – In a suburb of Damascus, on 17 September there was formed a "National Committee for Democratic Change" (CNCD), with an 80 member Central Council representing various trends (Arab and Kurdish nationalists, Islamists, Marxists, and independent personalities from the internal opposition). They are demanding an "immediate" end to the repression and the overthrow of the current regime; they affirm the need for peaceful struggle and for the territorial integrity of the country, and they reject all "foreign" intervention.
This Committee, the first formed in Syria, joins the "National Council" formed in Istanbul on September 15 (9/16/2011 Syrian Opposition Forms 'National Council' To Oust Assad), and the "Coalition of Secular and Democratic Syrians" (CSDF) formed in Paris on September 17, etc. In fact, at the beginning of the second semester of the "March 15 revolution", and while the Syrian oppression continues, the Syrian opposition has not yet managed to find a unity, and no personality has emerged as a future leader of the country. On the ground, on the other hand, there is in danger the desire of various leaders to continue their protest in a peaceful way, because many activists now want an armed conflict.
If the growing diplomatic isolation of Damascus regime continues, even in the Arab world (with tensions, especially between the Syrian government and the Arab League), President Bashar Al-Assad is supported by two permanent members of the Security Council that oppose sanctions against his regime. Yesterday he received a delegation from the upper chamber of the Russian Federation, which arrived for an observation mission. In his speech to the Russian delegates, according to the news agency Sana, the Syrian President complained that in each of the political and social reforms that the Government has put into action, the response has been "an increase in political and media pressure, attempts to interfere in Syria's internal affairs and armed terrorist operations against civilians, the army, the security forces and the police, to destabilize the country."
If the beginning of the school year seems to have been normal, yesterday, September 18, in Damascus and in major cities, the scientific community was shocked by the arrest, on September 10, at the airport of Damascus, of Dr. Rafah Nashed, (pictured), founder of the school of psychoanalysis of Damascus. Nashed, 66, was headed to Paris for family reasons. The analyst had never intervened in politics, but on September 14th was formally accused of "activities that may lead to a destabilization of the state". Dr. Nashed, who is Muslim and highly respected in France (where she obtained her degree) and Syria (to which she had returned from Paris in 1985 to pursue her profession), had begun last April, in collaboration with the Jesuit Father Elias Rami, also a psychoanalyst, to offer weekly sessions of psychological support for people, both Muslim and Christian, traumatized by the events. She is currently in prison in Damascus, where her husband has been able to visit her twice.
This Committee, the first formed in Syria, joins the "National Council" formed in Istanbul on September 15 (9/16/2011 Syrian Opposition Forms 'National Council' To Oust Assad), and the "Coalition of Secular and Democratic Syrians" (CSDF) formed in Paris on September 17, etc. In fact, at the beginning of the second semester of the "March 15 revolution", and while the Syrian oppression continues, the Syrian opposition has not yet managed to find a unity, and no personality has emerged as a future leader of the country. On the ground, on the other hand, there is in danger the desire of various leaders to continue their protest in a peaceful way, because many activists now want an armed conflict.
If the growing diplomatic isolation of Damascus regime continues, even in the Arab world (with tensions, especially between the Syrian government and the Arab League), President Bashar Al-Assad is supported by two permanent members of the Security Council that oppose sanctions against his regime. Yesterday he received a delegation from the upper chamber of the Russian Federation, which arrived for an observation mission. In his speech to the Russian delegates, according to the news agency Sana, the Syrian President complained that in each of the political and social reforms that the Government has put into action, the response has been "an increase in political and media pressure, attempts to interfere in Syria's internal affairs and armed terrorist operations against civilians, the army, the security forces and the police, to destabilize the country."
If the beginning of the school year seems to have been normal, yesterday, September 18, in Damascus and in major cities, the scientific community was shocked by the arrest, on September 10, at the airport of Damascus, of Dr. Rafah Nashed, (pictured), founder of the school of psychoanalysis of Damascus. Nashed, 66, was headed to Paris for family reasons. The analyst had never intervened in politics, but on September 14th was formally accused of "activities that may lead to a destabilization of the state". Dr. Nashed, who is Muslim and highly respected in France (where she obtained her degree) and Syria (to which she had returned from Paris in 1985 to pursue her profession), had begun last April, in collaboration with the Jesuit Father Elias Rami, also a psychoanalyst, to offer weekly sessions of psychological support for people, both Muslim and Christian, traumatized by the events. She is currently in prison in Damascus, where her husband has been able to visit her twice.
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