Syria's opposition boycotted a consultation meeting sponsored by the regime last week, making any dialogue that took place one between the government and itself, writes Bassel Oudat in Damascus A few days before last week's launch of consultative talks between the regime and the opposition in Syria, all the country's opposition parties, forces, organisations and independent figures announced their refusal to attend the meetings, saying that they would not negotiate until the regime had stopped its suppression of protests and released thousands of political prisoners. However, despite this refusal, which rendered the talks little more than a dialogue of the deaf, the National Dialogue Panel (NDP) formed by Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad insisted on going ahead with the talks. Naturally, the outcome was unsatisfactory for all present at the meetings and probably for large sectors of Syrian public opinion as well. Before the meetings began, the official Syrian news agency said that the talks would be attended by leading figures from the opposition without mentioning any names, but in reality not a single member of the opposition was there. The country's opposition figures have all refused to hold talks with the regime as long as blood is being spilled on the streets and more than 11,000 protesters are being held behind bars, underlining the lack of trust between the opposition and the regime. The dialogue was launched at noon on Sunday as military forces and tanks stormed districts in the city of Homs, killing several demonstrators and arresting tens of others, and snipers took up positions on the roofs of government buildings. On the same day in the southern city of Daraa, more than 30 people were arrested, with similar incidents taking place in other Syrian cities. Last week, the NDP sent out invitations to the meetings intended to discuss "the role of dialogue in a political and economic resolution of the current crisis and draft laws for political parties, elections and the media." The invitations, not sent in the name of any individual participant, were neither signed by the hosts nor stamped with the presidential seal, though they were sent to Syrian opposition figures abroad, such as Borhan Ghalyoun, Samir Eta, Haitham Manaa and Ammar Qorba, among others. All of these figures said they would not attend because of the killings and violence undertaken by the regime. "Hours before receiving the invitation, my brother was arrested," Manaa, a spokesman for the Arab Human Rights Committee, told Al-Ahram Weekly. "A few hours after the invitation arrived, security forces invaded my home village of Umm Al-Mizan near Daraa and arrested 35 young people. Are these the best conditions for dialogue?" Inside Syria itself, prominent opposition figures were invited, including members of the Syrian Opposition Party Coordination Board (SOPCB), formed two weeks ago to represent 18 Syrian, Arab and Kurdish political parties and dozens of opposition figures. This was the first time that these opposition parties had been recognised by the Syrian regime. Three days before the meeting, the SOPCB declared that it would not attend because the regime "continues to rely on violence to solve the crisis," meaning that "conditions are not conducive to dialogue." The meetings "are a diversion from the violent policies of the regime and an attempt to pretend that the regime is taking steps towards reform for the sake of its domestic and international audience," it said. The SOPCB said that it would continue to emphasise eight prerequisites for dialogue, including the withdrawal of the army, a halt to the violence, prosecution of state officials involved in the killings, the lifting of the ban on peaceful demonstrations, an end to the hostile media campaign, an end to the state of emergency in the country, the release of all political detainees, and a commitment to extensive constitutional change with a view to instituting pluralist democracy in Syria. Opposition local coordination committees, which play a role in coordinating the protests across Syria, also rejected the dialogue meetings, asserting that a "peaceful revolution is the only way to achieve the goals of the protests and overthrow the incumbent regime in order to transition to a plural and democratic civic state." The committees noted that 1,963 people had been killed since the beginning of the demonstrations earlier this year, and they demanded "an end to the media and political shenanigans of the regime" and "an immediate halt to the killings, sieges, and violation of the rights of the Syrian people." The 17 April Youth Movement for Democratic Change, active on the streets, took a similar position, rejecting the dialogue in "its entirety" and saying that the invitation to the talks had "come more than three months too late." The regime was not prepared to admit that there was a national crisis, the Movement said, because it "monopolises the shape, content and alleged participants in the dialogue. There cannot be dialogue with a regime that has been stripped of its legitimacy." Independent opposition figures inside Syria also refused to attend, including Michel Kilo, Aref Dalila, Fayez Sara, Hussein Oudat and others. "The Syrian regime does not want a political solution," Abdel-Azim, a veteran opposition figure who is also general coordinator of the SOPCB, told the Weekly. "It is implementing a security solution to the crisis because it believes the uprising is a conspiracy from abroad that requires security measures instead of political solutions." He was unimpressed by the regime's belated recognition of opposition political parties, saying that "our legitimacy comes from the people. Just because the regime has not recognised us for the past 40 years does not mean that we did not exist." However, despite the refusal of the country's opposition groups to attend the meetings, they were nevertheless attended by some 200 participants, including members of the ruling Baath Party and parties that are members of the National Progressive Front, which share power with the Baath. Several former members of parliament, religious leaders, writers, researchers and artists were also present. Syrian Vice President Farouk Al-Sharaa, who sponsored the dialogue, said in his inaugural address that he hoped the gatherings would result in a "comprehensive conference" and a "politically plural country". Al-Sharaa called on the opposition to join the dialogue, saying that "no dialogue is an absurd idea". He also warned protesters against continuing their demonstrations, adding that "unauthorised protests lead to unjustified violence." He also announced a decision that would end "illegal obstacles" preventing Syrian opposition figures from traveling to and from Syria. Although no opposition figures were in attendance, independent figures that were there condemned the regime and criticised its campaign of repression. "There are events that the meetings should have begun with," said Al-Tayeb Tizini, one of those present, referring to the "shootings in Homs and Hama" and "the thousands of prisoners who have been in jail for years and should have been released." Tizini concluded by saying that he hoped the meeting would "lay the foundations for a state ruled by the rule of law that has in the past been violated." However, whatever the intentions of those attending, protesters across Syria responded to the meetings with demonstrations rejecting dialogue with the regime and declaring that the Syrian people wanted to overthrow the regime, not hold talks with it. Thus far, Al-Assad's policy of responding to the demonstrations that have been sweeping the country with a combination of force and promises of reform has been ineffective, and it has not persuaded the protesters to stop their demonstrations. As the president called for dialogue in Damascus, the regime sent security forces into cities across the country to crush the protests. Earlier, while the president announced that he was ending the state of emergency in the country, this was immediately replaced with measures giving the security forces the right to imprison suspects in much the same way as the emergency law had. Although hundreds of political prisoners have been released, the security forces have arrested thousands of others. "I believe dialogue with the regime is nothing more than a continuation of the confrontational solution in dealing with the uprising, but through other means," said Yassin Haj Saleh, a member of the opposition. Meanwhile, the Damascus meetings discussed three draft laws prepared by government committees formed a few weeks earlier, including a law on political parties, another on the media and a further law on elections. The draft laws will be reviewed by the leadership of the Baath Party before they are presented to a meeting of the General National Congress. According to the opposition, the laws are unsatisfactory because they are written by bureaucrats who have simply followed the government's line. The same argument holds for possible constitutional amendments, where the focus has been to change Article 8 of the constitution that states that the Baath Party leads the state and society. By contrast, the opposition wants a complete overhaul of the country's constitution to reform the structure of the state, the powers of the president and install the separation of powers. Many observers believe that after nearly four months of the uprising in Syria, during which nearly 2,000 people have died, 10,000 others have been arrested and a further 10,000 have been displaced to Turkey and Lebanon, the Syrian regime is now trying to catch its breath. However, the way in which it is proposing to do this has been rejected both by the country's opposition and the protesters in the streets, meaning that the future is still uncertain and could still lead to a very bitter end.
