Two Months of Silence and Now This?

It was his first speech for two months. Two months of chaos and uprising without a word from the president.

In this long-awaited speech, there were leaks that Article 8 of the constitution, which states that the Baath Party is the ruler of state and society, would be modified or scrapped. It wasn’t. And many more hopes were also dashed during this long speech.

President Bashar Al-Assad took to the stage at the University of Damascus, apologising for not speaking earlier. He didn’t want to just present ‘propaganda,’ he said.

He looked nervous. Gone were the jokes and arrogance of previous lectures. This time, it was all about technical details. He promised election reform (heard that before), new anti-corruption campaigns (heard that before) and national dialogue (heard that before). There was nothing new here. Nothing at all.

Instead, it still seems like the government is in denial. Bashar blamed “radical and blasphemous intellectuals wreaking havoc in the name of freedom”.

And said that some are “being paid money to film demonstrations” and communicate with the media. Others are being paid to attend demonstrations.

This was so far away from what the protestors wanted to hear. There was no plan here. This was not the speech of a leader.

Too little too late would be an exaggeration.

by Syria News Wire

The Syria News Wire is written from Damascus and London. It was the fourth Syrian blog to appear on the internet – back in 2004. It is a Lonely Planet favourite, award nominated, Toot-ified blog, which gets about 15,000 hits a month. In 2008, Damascus became the Arab Capital of Culture. The year was packed full of events. Every month, a programme was published – but it didn’t hit the streets until half the month had passed. In Damascus, that doesn’t matter. We find out what’s happening by word of mouth. And the same goes for news, or plans for the city’s development. This site puts some of those whispers on to the net. News from the streets of Damascus, and beyond.

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