Perched on a hill overlooking the capital of Damascus is a sprawling mansion. It’s elevated position at one of the highest points in the city stands as a haunting metaphor for how its occupants reigned in snobbery and tyranny over the Syrian people for over three decades. Inside the massive mansion exposed the opulence that marked the life of deposed Syrian Dictator Bashr Al-Assad— pristine marble floors graced by a luxurious red carpet train, crystal chandeliers, rich wooden panels, ornate furnishing, a garage housing over two dozen luxury cars and refrigerators filled with the finest meat.
Beneath the shadow of that wealth is a contrasting story— a city in ruins, buildings in rubbles and lives devasted by perpetual wars, oppression and repression, excesses by an oligarchy and the abject poverty of ordinary citizens. In the last several years, over 5 million citizens reportedly lost their lives to the mismanagement of the few who only lived for themselves, reportedly brutally crushed opponents and as a result galvanised a robust resistance.
Bashr Al-Assad, who succeeded his father in rulership over the Syrian people, is but one story in a world that is ruled by the spirit of greed and selfishness. Jesus told his disciple that the rulers of the Gentiles lord over them, but those who wish to become great in his Kingdom must become servant of all. Unfortunately, this is a foreign concept in the world, and increasingly it is becoming concept in the church.
All across the world from Africa, to Asia, Europe, the Americas and the Caribbean, you will find leaders who have plundered their nation’s wealth, fatten themselves and cronies, destroying people’s lives to build their own wealth. Their personal wealth and successes have literally been built on the backs of the poor. In the Caribbean, dictators such as Papa Doc and Bay Doc Duvalier have gone down in history for their reported plundering of Haiti, leaving the Island and its people struggling to find their way to politically, socially and economically.
In Zimbabwe for some 30 years, Robert Mugabe reportedly ran the country into the ground, while enriching himself. The country’s economy was left in shambles, social justice non-existent, while the education and agricultural sectors are decimated by decades of mismanagement and neglect.
There are times when the plundering of the poor Is obvious and vulgar, but there are times when it is a quiet but raging war against the people. Selling out national assets to the highest bidders, taking bribes and cutting deals, denying the poor justice, quietly amassing wealth and indulging in corruption. Whether the plundering is open or quiet, the effect is the same—the robbing of a nation’s wealth, destruction of the nation’s economy and its social fabric while denigrating and subjugating its people.
Things will get worse all across the world before it gets better, as we are witnessing the rise of a global oligarchy united in their insatiable greed, and aspirations for empire. Recent developments in America are sinister signs of thing to come in that nation.
Bashr Al-Assad has apparently experienced a rude awakening, as the safety he thought awaited him in Russia has eluded him. After reportedly leaving Syria with plane loads of cash and other trappings of his nation’s wealth illegally taken, he was met his waterloo in Russia. The “friend” that propped him up for so long and whom he thought was a real friend has reportedly frozen his assets, confiscated his wealth and confined him under very restrictive conditions. His wife, whom from many reports is battling cancer, is seeking to divorce him.
There is a phrase in my country, when translated to English goes, “When a thief steals from another thief God laughs.” I pray that the Syrian people will have their wealth restored and get the justice they deserve.