How we can counter pro-regime propaganda?

There are so many errors in today's reporting on Syria. Pick up a newspaper or book, or browse through a news website and you are guaranteed to find an inaccuracy, a half-truth, or even a plain lie lurking somewhere. Problem is: Many of these actually benefit the dictatorial regime of Bashar Assad. Through a sneaky PR and media campaign, Assad is trying to promote his regime to the world by spreading certain false ideas. These ideas have been picked up by well-meaning reporters, columnists, academics, even politicians, and repeated without much thought. The more it is repeated, the more likley it will be adopted as gospel truth. Here we bust some of these myths and show just how sinister pro-regime propaganda can be.  

Myth 1: Only Syria can bring about stability in region.

This plays into the hands of the ruling Ba'th Party's image as leader of the Arab world and inflates the regime's view of its own strategic importance. During the last 37 years the Assad regime has been involved in five major wars with its neighbours and one internal civil war. The regime has supported countless terrorist groups including those bomb passenger airlines and carry-out high profile assasinations. The regime has thrived on violence and turmoil. Like a common thug, it has threatened, bombed and murdered to get its way. The regime's deep unpopularity makes it inherintly unstable, and it has used its foreign policy not as a way of promoting the common good in the region, but as a means of survival. There is no evidence to indicate that it can ever support peace efforts or stability in the region.    

Myth 2: Syria's alliance with Iran can be broken.

This is offered as reasoning for greater "engagement" with Syria. The logic goes that if the West offers enough incentives to Al-Assad, he will quit his alliance with Iran. This is an extremely unlikely scenario. The regime's links with Tehran go back for decades, and sectaran, economic and political factors have cemented this relationship. The alliance between the two is committed, strategic and enduring. Massive Iranian economic investment in Syria shows that the pair are in it for the long-haul. Even if Assad appears to offer a compromise to the West simply to end diplomatic isolation, he will still remain a firm ally of Tehran. For the Assad dictatorship the Western offer will never be as good as the Iranian one. 

Myth 3: Talking with Al-Assad will resolve Mid-East problems.

Otherwise known as "engagement", it is said that talking to Bashar Assad, as opposed to threatening him, will open up new prospects for peace in the Middle East. This suits the regime just fine because it means it could get away with murder, quite literally. As long as the West is perpetually ready to sit down with dictators and negotiate deals, these dictators have nothing to fear. The Syrian regime regards any "engagement" as a sign of weakness by the West, and a green light to go around destabilising the region without facing the consequences. For over 40 years the Ba'th has exported its internal instability to its neighbours; it simply cannot survive in a region where there is peace. Whether in Lebanon, Iraq or Palestine, the Syrian regime will continue to play a negative role so long as "engagement" is on the cards.

Myth 4: Syria is a secular country.

This is a popular one for the regime because it marks it out against Islamic fundementalists. In a post-9/11 world, standing up to terrorism is seen as a sure way for many dictators to escape international isolation. However, the regime is anything but secular. Through a dedicated ministry and secret police network, the regime tightly controls mosques and imams, making sure they tow the official line. Christian as well as Muslim religious figures are forcibly co-opted to legitimize the regime's rule and to dampen popular dissatisfaction. The most flagrant breach of secularism is the regime's long-standing policy of sectarian discrimination. Moreover, Assad's distaste for Islamic fundemntalists does not extend beyond his own borders, and he happily encourages them abroad where it suits his interests.   

Myth 5: Assad is reforming Syria.

This is a surprisingly persistent myth. One would have thought that after seven years of Bashar the word "reform" would no longer be used to describe his tenure so far. Assad loves to project the image of the young reformer and modernizer to the world, notwithstanding realities on the ground. The Ba'th  regime has not really changed all that much since Assad snr died in 2000. Bashar has done nothing to promote free speech, civil liberties, human rights or democracy. He has failed to reign in the mukhabarat secret police, or to reform the judiciary or any arm of the executive. Despite the cult of personality, Bashar is unwilling to engender a true reform process. Amnesty International's latest report says that 2006 was the worst year for human rights in Syria since 2000. Things are actually getting worse, not better.

Myth 6: Syrian regime protects Christians.

Knowing that the West attaches special importance to the protection of minority groups, particularly Christians, and the Syrian regime has always been keen to highlight its supposed credentials in this regard. As a rule, Syrians have always been tolerant of minority religious and ethnic groups. This is something intrinsic to Syrian society and is in no way linked to the Ba'th or Assad. For many centuries the great cosmopolitan centres of the Levant were great melting pots of religious and ethnic groups. Syria prides itself on having a rich tapestry of faiths and languages. Conversely, it is the regime which has done the greatest disservice to minority relations by re-introducing sectarian and tribal loyalty into the political arena. The regime has actively persecuted certain ethnic, religious and tribal groups, and continues to play one group against another in a divide-and-rule policy. This more than anything is undermining the principle of equal rights under the law, and is consequently harming the interests of minorities.