National Democratic Rally (Syria) - History

History

The National Democratic Rally was formed in January 1980 by the five member parties listed above, and its membership has not changed since. In several cases these parties were originally opposition wings of parties that had joined the governing National Progressive Front, which is a leftist-nationalist party coalition established under the leadership of the Syrian Baath Party. A few parties also had sister parties or factions in other Arab countries, such as Nasserist Egypt or Ba'athist Iraq. Its first spokesman was Democratic Arab Socialist Union chairman Jamal al-Atassi. At his death in the year 2000, his role was inherited by his successor at the helm of DASU, Hassan Ismail Abdelazim.

The Rally took part in the opposition movement of 1980 - a period of civil protest by leftist, Islamist, liberal and nationalist groups which coincided with an armed uprising by Islamists in the Muslim Brotherhood and more radical factions. This led to severe repression of the Rally by the Syrian regime; several of its main leaders were given long prison sentences (e.g. Riad al-Turk, jailed 1980-98). The Rally was later active in the Damascus Spring of 2000, holding seminars and advocating political freedom. However, its member parties are now relatively marginal on the Syrian political scene, even if they remain an important segment of the organized opposition, due to decades of severe repression and denial of freedom to organize. Most leaders and many members are today old men, after joining or founding their respective parties in the early 1960s to late 1970s, and have had relatively poor success in appealing to younger generations of Syrians.