Arab renaissance

Most analysts interpret the uprising in Syria as a sectarian conflict between the Sunnis and the ruling Awalis, who dominated the military forces and were able to take power in 1971 under Hafez Assad and the Baath party.  Baath means "renaissance" and the Party was founded in 1943 by Michel Aflaq, a Syrian Christian who was influenced by "The Arab Awakening" published in 1938 by another Christian Arab, George Antonius. Similarly in Egypt there was a nationalist military uprising in 1952 that overthrew the monarchy and established the National Democratic Party.  The Arab world was then led by a series of one-party military dictatorships until the so-called Arab spring of 2010 toppled them. 

There is no doubt that this nationalist socialist movement in the Arab world was largely influenced by the National Socialist (Nazi) movement in Germany led by Adolf Hitler from 1933-1945.  Aflaq himself used this then powerful example when establishing the Baath Party in 1943.  In fact, the Arab world largely supported the Nazis, including their anti-Semitic program, for example the pro-Nazi regime in Iraq that carried out the "Farhud" massacre of Jews in Baghdad in 1941, and the collaboration of the leading Palestinian nationalist, the Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al Husseini, with Hitler.  There were also pro-Fascist activities in Egypt and Syria, Pres. Sadat of Egypt had been a pro-German supporter against the British and in Syria after WWII several notorious Nazis were given refuge.

But, there is another way to view the current civil war in Syria, as the final stage of the movement to rid the Arab world of western influence in the form of national socialism, the kind of military dictatorship that was defeated in Europe long ago but lingered on in the Arab world.  The overthrow of such dictators as Saddam Hussein and Muammar Qaddafi, who modeled themselves as Arab versions of Adolf Hitler, was a way to remove this baleful influence.  Having tried national socialism, which failed them in terms of economic and military success (especially as measured against Israel), the Arabs are now turning back to their traditional mode, Islam.  Islamist parties are in power now in Tunisia and Egypt, although Libya has a more liberal government.  In Syria the anti-regime forces are a mixture of Muslim and democratic elements, although as in Egypt it is expected that the Islamists will come to the fore.  There may also be a secession movement among the Syrian Kurds as well as the Awalis. 

Whatever happens in Syria, it seems that the Arab world is turning away from secular modernity and back to a more comforting version of government that they feel is more authentic to them.  It would be as if there had been uprisings in Britain and France that brought a strongly Christian power to the fore.  The world may have to wait a long time before the Arabs can face up to the need for a more liberal and successful secular form of government.