The announcement of Syrian President Hafiz al-Asad's death on Saturday, 10 June 2000, prompted panegyrics to his greatness and public displays of grief. Syrians Ð those who genuinely admired him... Show moreThe announcement of Syrian President Hafiz al-Asad's death on Saturday, 10 June 2000, prompted panegyrics to his greatness and public displays of grief. Syrians Ð those who genuinely admired him and even those who feared him Ð may have experienced sadness at his passing. Death has a way of generating mournful feelings, or at least of inducing apprehension about the future. Yet the political rituals praising his rule, likening his brilliance to the sun's and stressing his role as a 'man of the people', were not new to Syrians. Asad's image was omnipresent for much of his rule (1970-2000), and the rhetoric of flattery was commonplace. In newspapers, on television and during orchestrated events, Asad was repeatedly lauded as the 'father' and the 'gallant knight'. If only by dint of its repetition, all were fluent in this symbolic language of the Syrian state, which had become a hallmark of Asad's rule. Show less
