REGIME MOVES TO DEFUSE SUNNI ANGER OVER EDUCATION

C O N F I D E N T I A L DAMASCUS 003514 SIPDIS SIPDIS PARIS FOR WALLER; LONDON FOR TSOU E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/12/2015 TAGS: PGOV KISL SOCI SY SUBJECT: REGIME MOVES TO DEFUSE SUNNI ANGER OVER EDUCATION REFORM Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Stephen A. Seche, per 1.4 b,d. ¶1. (C) Summary: A July petition to President Bashar al-Asad, signed by 200 prominent Sunni religious figures, protesting eduation reform plans that would impact Islamic schools, apparently caused concern at the upper levels of the Asad regime. Senior security officials intervened and asked the leaders to mute the protest, assuring them that the reforms would be shelved. This controversy is the latest chapter in the ongoing story of rising Islamic religious sentiment in Syria, regime attempts to co-opt, use, and control it, while repressing violent fundamentalism, and the futile attempts of feeble non-Ba'athist secular forces to make themselves heard above the din. End Summary. ¶2. (C) Some 200 of the most prominent Sunni religious leaders in Syria signed a petition addressed to President Bashar al-Asad in early July, protesting SARG education reform plans. The sheikhs were angered by attempts by the ministries of Education and Awqaaf (Islamic Endowments) to extend the duration of primary school by two years, to include the seventh and eight grades. Part of the implementation included orders issued by the Minister of the Awqaaf that prohibited religious schools and institutes from registering students in the seventh grade for the upcoming school year. Under the previously existing education rules, students could choose as of the seventh grade to specialize in Islamic education, in a religious curriculum completely shaped by Sunni religious leaders rather than by the SARG. ¶3. (C) The petition certainly got the attention of the Syrian leadership, given that it was viewed as one of the first significant protests in decades against the Syrian regime by the Sunni religious establishment. It accused the Ministry of Education of preparing "a plan to dry up the tributaries of (religious) secondary schools and then abolish them." The petition also accused the government of discriminating against Sunni religious education, while allowing religious minorities to continue enjoying their special education privileges. (Comment: The arguments advanced in this section of the petition were largely specious, but the SARG no doubt found it embarrassing, nonetheless, to be accused by the influential Sunni establishment of coddling the Shiites, the Christians, and other minorities and allowing secular private schools -- American, French, and Pakistani, among others -- to function without such restrictions.) ¶4. (C) Senior security officials intervened and asked the sheikhs to hush the matter up, telling them that the regime had decided to back down and rescind the orders that were affecting registration of new students at the religious schools. According to contacts, these officers used the occasion to note that the President was their friend and would protect them from secular-oriented officials like the current Minister of Education, Dr. Ali Sa'ad. Some contacts went further and claimed that the regime actually manufactured the crisis to seek another opportunity to ingratiate itself with the Sunni religious establishment. ¶5. (C) Comment: The regime seems to have been very concerned by this protest, retreating quickly to placate a Sunni establishment it has courted assiduously over the years, and with renewed vigor for the past seven months, as it sought to counter international pressure and isolation. The controversy also provides another indicator of the growing power of Islam in Syrian society. While secular forces tried in this instance, as in many others, to raise their voices as a counter to the Islamist protest, forty years of SARG repression has left them enfeebled, with the ruling Ba'athist Party as the only secular game in town. With the regime intent on playing it both ways -- claiming to outsiders that it is the last bulwark against a rising Islamist tide (including a subset of violent fundamentalists),and claiming to Islamic leaders that it will protect them (and their perquisites) against the "lascivious forces" of Western and UN influence, and even against secular zealots in the SARG -- Islamism continues to grow in Syria and independent secular forces remain hopelessly hamstrung. SECHE