What Good Are Laws Enabling Syrian Political Parties When Assad Keeps Arresting Protesters

What good is a law that allows political parties to be established when Bashar Assad's thugs are arresting the very people who would form the basis of those new political parties.

Women, children and two well-known boxers were among those detained as people took to the streets yesterday for evening rallies in parts of the central city of Homs and the suburbs of Damascus, Ammar Qurabi, of the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria, said in a telephone interview today. At least 300 people were arrested in the capital’s Rukneddine district alone, he said.

The proposed multiparty law endorsed late yesterday by the Cabinet is “a waste of time,” Qurabi said. “As long as there is a system where you have a constitution that says the Baath party is the main party that leads society and the state, then this law is pointless,” he said. The Baath party has dominated Syrian politics since 1963 and banned opposition groups.

At least 19 protesters were killed by security forces over the weekend, Qurabi said. The protests in Syria to demand Assad’s ouster are part of the wave of unrest across the Middle East and North Africa this year that unseated the leaders of Egypt and Tunisia. Assad has blamed the dissent in Syria on a foreign conspiracy, while saying demonstrators’ demands “have merit” and that changes are needed.

The new law is for show - Assad has no intention of allowing power to flow to anyone but his trusted circle of sycophants and family.

This is far from the first time that Assad has claimed that he's made changes to his government or authorized reforms; and each time those announcements coincide with renewed crackdowns, further bloody suppression efforts, and an ever-rising body count at the hands of Assad's security apparatus.

Even Palestinians are realizing that Assad is no friend to their cause. They've started engaging in protests against Assad's regime alongside other Syrians.