September 2011: Curbing the Violence ... in Preparation for Countering Military Intervention

The process of curbing the ongoing violence in Syria is of great and decisive importance. The violence that has turned into an organized daily occurrence carried out by armed militias divided between the two sides that are on their face against one another. That is, the regime on the one hand through the armed “Shabiha” and the violent security elements, and the popular movement on the other hand through those exploiting it from “terrorist organizations” and expiatory groups. To begin with, we must look beyond the external and local media speculations, each of which tries to deny one of the two forms of violence, each according to its position. We should go directly to looking at the reality as it is with patriotically responsible eyes, and then acknowledge the two forms of violence, and search for the cause and then the mechanisms for curbing the violence and taking Syria safely out of this in preparation for the undoubtedly forthcoming national battle.

In whose interest is the violence?

Some argue that the regime is the side that started with violence, through its severe suppression of the popular movement, the restrictions it imposed on it, and even causing bloodshed therein. They also go on by saying that weapons came out from within the ranks of the movement as a reaction to the first act. In this sense, those consider that the popular movement is innocent of all violence. This opinion, even if we assume its correctness, is part of the historical study of what happened, that is, it does not present a practical vision for the solution because what is important here is not who started and who fired the first bullet. In the framework of the cause-result relationship, the result becomes a cause for a subsequent result, and we enter a vicious circle of violence and bloodshed.
The reality now is that both sides are committing violence and its impact is intensifying. Even more dangerous is that the environment incubating the violence is expanding day after day, considering that the wasted blood of each side is its justification and its argument for shedding more and more blood of the other side. Therefore, the search for the true cause does not become correct except by neutralizing the excuses and directly moving towards the essence. To do so, we need to answer the question: Who is the stakeholder in the violence and its continuation and escalation?
With the launch of the popular movement, Syria witnessed the entry of a new force on the internal balance of power, and it is natural that a change in the balance of power must lead in the end to a new reality that is compatible with the new balance of power. However, reaching that reality, especially in light of the manipulation by the big international powers, goes through many pains and bumpy and tortuous roads that may eventually lead to mazes in which the new and old local powers get lost, and the new in particular might lose all their progressive meanings in terms of they being a necessity created by the crisis-ridden reality so it could change.
It is natural for the old to fight the new, and to use different methods to postpone it. From here, the old, which is represented by the great corruption within the state apparatus and by big merchants outside the state apparatus, does not spare any efforts to plunge the new into the retaliatory maze, the maze of sectarian and regional violence, until its compass deviates from the main target that must be taken out, because if the popular movement is able to unify the ranks of the Syrians on what really unites them, which is toppling the authority of corruption as it is primarily a political breakthrough and raising the ceiling of freedoms in a way that meets the first task and prepares for a rapid transition from resistance to attack. If the popular movement can really do that, the gallows of the big corruptors would no sooner be erected in the country’s squares, on charges of high treason!
Therefore, the beneficiaries of violence are first and foremost the domestic agents of the external powers, including the big corruptors and merchants, and behind them are the US and global Zionism.

The catastrophic consequences of the spread of violence

The propagandists and instigators of violence aim to split the ranks of the Syrian people, the majority of whom are affected by corruption and merchants, into two warring parties, the sum of whose strengths adds up to zero. Thus, Syria becomes easily accessible to external forces and easily fragmented. This will make us go from talking about the need to move from resistance to attack to talking about the need to create a national liberation movement again, and perhaps we will need dozens of historical leaders of the rank of Yusef al-Azmeh in order to reshape our national identity.

A safe exit

Today, the ball is still in the regime’s court, meaning that it bears the greatest responsibility for the future of Syria. This does not mean at all to take the responsibility off the popular movement, but this is the reality of things.
Some officials in the regime say: “Violence can only be confronted with violence”, and they act as if they are in a battlefield in which clear and potential enemies must be eliminated. This saying suffices them to think responsibly about what will happen to Syria as a result of this policy, while history teaches us that the real possibility of eliminating violence cannot exist without isolating it from its incubating environment. That is, by cutting off the supply routes for the militants on both sides – the “Shabiha” and the “terrorist organizations”. What is meant by cutting off the supply routes is not only the material part, but primarily the moral; that is, convincing people – “loyalists” and “opponents” – that armed action is not in their interest, and this convincing requires political action, not security action. The basic terms of this work are:
- Ensuring honesty in relaying information and responsible media dealing with what is happening, without accusing the other of treason, exclusion, or belittling the demonstrators, as is happening now. In addition to broadcasting the demonstrations – audio and video – through the official Syrian media, because this is sufficient to neutralize external media outlets and diminish its role on the one hand, and on the other hand to generate confidence in the demonstrators and raise the level of their purpose towards political action.
- Immediately launching procedures of a reversal process, the first of which is public accountability for the major corruptors, and implicitly the main figures of the previous government, the top of whom should be the economy deputy and his liberal team.
- Starting a public dialogue, in which what is said in every home and street is said publicly.
- Immediately releasing those detained following recent events and who have not been convicted of a crime.
- Forming joint popular resistance committees between the army and the popular movement in the border areas, which would work to repel external aggression and curb militants who are “Shabiha” and “terrorist organizations”, and to protect and secure the demonstrations.

(Arabic Virsion)