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