Syria enters its 17th month of nationwide fighting, the Christian minority continues to support the ruling Assad regime. Several Christian-populated towns have been spared the violence ravaging the country, but many Christians fear for their rights should the regime succumb to revolutionary forces.
The Rule of a Minority over a Majority
Christians have accounted for 10 percent of the Syrian population since independence was achieved in 1946. Though 85 percent of the population is Muslim and the Syrian Constitution requires a Muslim president, Syria is officially a secular state. Under the rule of the Ba’ath party, which came to power in 1963, Christians have always benefited from the protection of the state. “Ba’athist ideology has always stressed the importance of Arab identity rather than religious identity, and had used this supposed non-sectarianism as a way of rallying support from among Syria’s religious minorities,” said M. Rex Brynen, a political science professor at McGill University. The military coup in 1963 transferred power from the Sunni majority to the Alawi minority (a branch of Shia Islam), whose members obtained key posts in the army and in the ruling Ba’ath party. Support from minority groups has formed a pillar of the regime’s strategy for survival against the Sunni majority. Throughout this period, Christians freely attended Sunday Mass, managed their own schools and judicial courts, and Christian civil servants were permitted to take Saturday and Sunday off as opposed to the official national weekend of Friday and Saturday. “In practice the regime was sectarian in its own way, building a particular power base in the Alawi Muslim community. Nonetheless, many Christians supported the regime as a sort of bulwark against the threat of Sunni majoritarianism,” said M. Brynen.
Beginning of the uprising
When protests began in March 2011, the majority Sunni Muslim population was quick to support oppositional forces against the regime of Bashar al-Assad. They were inspired by the resignation of Tunisian president Ben Ali in January and the ousting of Egyptian president Mubarak from power one month later. In joining the protests, Sunni Muslims were putting themselves and their families at risk, but they considered this a necessary sacrifice to bring down an authoritarian regime. Religious minorities, on the other hand, (Christians and Alawi Muslims) were reluctant to participate in the movement for fear of losing the state’s protection against the Sunni majority. “Many Christians generally supported the regime, and were fearful of the Sunni Islamist character of some of the opposition. Others supported the opposition. Still others were perched nervously on the fence, or were intimidated by threats of repression,” said M. Brynen. Christians were aware of the authoritarian nature of the government but preferred to show support instead of risking losing protection from a future government: “Christians lived very well under Assad. They did not see a reason to change regimes because of the uncertainty the next one presented,” said Elianore Wehbi, a Christian Syrian living in Montreal who still has family in Syria.
It is difficult to tell when Christians began losing faith in the regime. Initially the lack of attacks by Assad forces on towns with mainly Christian populations such as Aleppo, Partous and Maaloula were considered a continuation of this historic state protection. However, since the regime began increasing air drone attacks, it has become clear that regardless of Christian populations, “these attacks are specifically targeted at areas with a high oppositional presence,” said M. Brynen. When the Free Syrian Army moved to Aleppo in July 2012, the city was bombarded despite its large Christian populace (Partous and Maaloula have not been attacked for lack of a visible opposition to the regime).
Recognizing the decline of state protection, Christians are increasingly turning their backs on Assad, if not explicitly supporting the opposition. In a video she posted on Youtube in April 2012, Christian Syrian activist Hadeel Kouki said, “I am sure that the Christians of Syria know what the regime has done to them, and to Christians in Lebanon. This regime in no terms could be considered as protector of minority rights or of Christians.” The Christian Syrians for Democracy, an activist group of Syrian expatriates based in the United States, strongly condemns the Assad regime. On their official website, a key point in their stated mission is to “combat the propaganda and deceit of the Assad regime as a protector of Christians in Syria.” However, Ms. Wehbi thinks many Christians in Syria continue to support Bashar al-Assad: “I think an important number of Christians are in favor of the president, more so than the regime itself. They give him much credit for the economic liberalization that the country has experienced under his rule.”
An ambiguous future
If the Assad regime collapses, how would a future government treat the Christian population? Should Christians fear for their rights in the event that an Islamic party comes to power? In Egypt the Freedom and Justice Party came to power, and the Ennahda party in Tunisia. “Islamist parties may well gain significant support in subsequent elections, as they did in Egypt, and that is likely to make many Christians nervous,” said M. Brynen. In an appeal for rallying Christian support for the opposition, activists try to downplay this concern: “The fear of Christians comes from the sectarianism and repression the regime has worked hard to instill in the hearts of Syrians. It is the same as the fear of any Syrian,” said Ms. Kouki. She added that “there should be no fear of the future for Christians or other minorities of Syria because the revolutionaries have proven every day and in every protest that they are far from sectarianism.” Some disagree with this position: “Several members of the opposition have been deeply sectarian. There have been killings of minorities, notably Alawis, simply because of their religion. It is a civil war, with all the brutality and political polarization that it entails. In addition, the opposition leadership has done a very poor job of reassuring minorities or of rallying them to the opposition cause,” said M. Brynen.
Another concern among Syrian Christians is that once the threat of the current regime is gone, the next government may accuse Christians of having supported the Assad regime: “The biggest risk to the Christian community is that it may be seen to have supported the regime or sat on the sidelines during the revolution and, as a result, could face widespread resentment from other Syrians,” said M. Brynen. In the same Youtube video, Ms. Kouki recognizes the uneven support for the opposition among the Christian community: “Where were you when dozens of other Christians and I were detained and tortured? None of the Christian figures or leaders asked for us then.” Others recognize the risks that the post-Assad regime may present for Christians, yet remain optimistic as to the position it would adopt towards non-Sunni groups: “I don’t think it would do the government any good to show intolerance or revenge towards Christians,” said Ms. Wehbi. “It would only undermine its legitimacy.”
The Months Ahead
On October 8th 2012, the Arabic news station Al-Jazeera reported that rebel-held city of Homs suffered heavy bombardments from government forces. This a sign that the current fighting is not near its end. According to M. Brynen “the regime is bound to be overthrown in the end, although that process, sadly, is likely to take many more months of bloody civil war.”
Should the post-revolutionary government be Sunni-dominated, one hopes it is the product of proportional representation, and will continue to protect religious minorities as the Syrian state has done since 1963.
