Strike in Syria: The Civil Disobedience Factor

The success of civil disobedience as an effective, creative and preferred form of struggle against the Assad regime will be put to the test Sunday when the latest call for a nationwide campaign of sit-ins, shop closures, and public workers strike comes into effect.

Damascus - When the protests first started in Syria, calls emerged urging people to commit to the principle of non-violent, peaceful resistance, despite the violence protesters faced when taking to the streets.

This approach was difficult to sustain as protester casualties continued to mount, and many people began to call publicly for armed struggle and foreign intervention –– ideas that found support among some opposition leaders. But the course of non-violent action made several surprise appearances.

The most prominent unexpected actions took place in cities that had more or less avoided participating in the protest movement. One day, for instance, the pools of Damascus and the banks of the river Barada that runs through it mysteriously turned red.

In one surprise move, the voice of the Syrian singer Ibrahim Qashoush, a supporter of the protests, blasted over loudspeakers in government offices in several separate instances, confusing the workers and security officers. In another case, activists covered the walls of the city with phrases calling for freedom, and victory for the people of the Syrian cities currently in revolt.

The most recent of these actions was replacing the names of streets and schools with the names of murdered protesters. Together, these actions have laid important ground for the Syrian activists who will open the coming week with a new step: a general strike.

Although this upcoming Sunday’s strike was preceded by several other calls for strikes endorsed by many branches of the Syrian opposition, this time the announcement seems very well prepared. The printed plan for the strike is dozens of pages long, and its demands, in support of the Syrian revolution, include the withdrawal of the army and security services, as well as freeing political prisoners.

According to this plan, the strike will begin on Sunday morning, and will include stopping work across all sectors until midday, along with keeping students home from school.

The next step, over the following days, will involve gradually blocking off streets and neighborhood entrances, alongside a strike by government employees.

Finally, the third stage will encompass a strike among commercial establishments and universities.

A Damascus-based activist of the Syrian Community for Peaceful Action, and one of the organizers of the strike, explained to Al-Akhbar that all of these plans fall under the title “Days of Freedom.”

The activist explained that activities of dissent in general are divided into three main categories: the first depends on the element of surprise and secrecy. The purpose of these actions is to attract attention, and to cast doubt into the ranks of the regime. The second type of actions are participatory, and they are not very dangerous. This opens the possibility of widespread participation.

The most important in this second category is the plan for the university movement. Indeed, the universities in Damascus, explains the activist, have seen major activity recently, for the students agreed to wear black in protest.

The last category is in the realm of ideas.

“These are ideas about non-violent action, with the purpose being to raise consciousness and speak to the entire spectrum of Syrian society in support of the idea of non-violence,” he added.

Regarding expectations of the response in large cities like Aleppo and Damascus, the organizer said, “We are aware that the response will always be larger in the provinces and the more tense areas, but we do still have a lot of hope that the people of Aleppo and Damascus will respond in significant numbers.”

“According to what we’ve seen and the conversations we’ve had with Damascus society, we are certain that the silence and inactivity of a large swath of the population is entirely due to fear and terror of the regime’s ruthless oppression,” the activist added. “The regime has increased its security presence in the city in order to limit any revolutionary activity in it, intimidating the people. Yet the majority of the Damascus street sympathises with the revolution. Based on these facts, we decided to organize actions in support of revolutionary activity within the city, and to encourage its people to actively participate.”

On the practical side, he said, “We have benefited a great deal from our past experience, especially in Hawran, Homs, and Hama, as well as the countryside around Damascus, where we were able to identify particularly strong areas and rely on them more, while strengthening weaker areas.”

The strike movement has been accused of forcing people to strike, and in response to these claims the activist said, “No strike can be successful without a compact bloc comprising the majority of the movement. This applies to all kinds of civil disobedience. Of course some individuals will separate from the group, and they find themselves isolated from the others. This separation happens randomly. But things should not go beyond that point.”

Regarding the options available should the regime decide to break the strike, the activist said that the success of the strike depends on the size of the compact bloc participating. The bigger it is, “the harder it will be for the regime to confront us.”

Syrian opposition leader Luay Hussein said in an interview with Al-Akhbar that this call for striking and peaceful struggle “is a much-needed initiative in confronting the discourse of violence that has recently dominated opposition circles and conversations among street protesters.”

However, he does not believe that the strike this coming Sunday will mark a turning point in mobilizing citizens who have not yet participated in past strikes, especially in the big cities. In his opinion, the time is not yet ripe for this. As much as most Syrians are terrified of the growing tyranny of the security services, he says they are just as afraid of an uncertain future sketched out by calls for embargo, boycott, armed revolt, and foreign intervention.

This article is an edited translation from the Arabic Edition.