The Baath Party, the symbol of authoritarian power that ruled Syria for more than five decades, is nothing more than a memory. In Damascus, its ancient seats, once impregnable, are now abandoned.
Published on 29/12/2024 06:37
Reading time: 2min
The Syrian Baath Party was founded in 1947 in Damascus. He seized power in Syria in 1963 in a military coup, before Hafez al-Assad took full control in an internal coup in 1970. The following year, Bashar al-Assad's father -Assad becomes president of Syria.
In the heart of Damascus, the former party headquarters, symbol of absolute power, is now abandoned. After 50 years of rule, the Baath Party suspended its activities on December 11 and handed over its assets to the new administration. For Maysoun and Omar, gathered near the building, any return of the Baath to politics is ruled out. “It was the devil's party, not the Ba'ath partysays Maysoun. We were oppressed because of him, and we didn't even have the ability to breathe. We could not study well, progress scientifically, or accomplish anything because of this party.”
Omar continues: “Anything can happen in life, except the return of the Baath Party, because it has created a bad memory in the minds of all Syrians, this party being a criminal party.”
“The Baath Party was instrumental in all the crimes that took place in Syria, so its return is absolutely unacceptable.”
Omar, resident of Damascusat franceinfo
Not far from the Umayyad mosque, north of Damascus, Syrian political activist and actor Maher Salibi is of the same opinion: according to him, this party is now out of the political and social equation and it will have no place in the future of Syria. “In my opinion, he said, what we experienced with the Arab Socialist Baath Party was a catastrophe and it was extremely horrible for all those years. It must be totally abolished, even if its basic principles were good. But when you get bitten by a snake, you can't come back and deal with it again. Either we put a barrier between ourselves and him, or we eliminate it. We have been bitten by this party for a long time, which is why there must be new and pluralist parties today.”
A few days after Bashar al-Assad fled to Russia, the new Syrian power promised to establish a “rule of law”.
