Kassioun Editorial 1032: The Popular Movement and 2254

This is what we said in a communiqué issued by the presidency of the National Committee for the Unity of the Syrian Communists (later the People’s Will Party) on April 16, 2011, and this statement is still true despite all that has happened.
All the adverse operations that came with the external intervention, internal repression, armament, terrorism, and the processes of dividing the plundered Syrians and distributing them on the mounds opposite each other in the interest of the extremists and war lords on both sides, and in the interest of the historical enemies of Syria and Syrians, all of this did not change the fact that the popular movement that began in 2011 was in essence nothing other than an expression of a deep national crisis that cannot be resolved except with a radical comprehensive national change, socioeconomic and democratic, in the interest of the impoverished majority of Syrians.
If all the adverse operations have brought the country to a state of de facto division, to a catastrophic economic and social collapse, and to the brink of a complete collapse, then the important role that the new international balance has played and is playing, by combatting terrorism, by formulating 2254, and through the Astana format and others, that role is condensed in preventing the collapse of the country, preventing its division, opening the door to restoring its unity and sovereignty, and expelling foreign forces from it, especially the Zionists.
However, all of these tasks are merely an entry point towards real stability that cannot be achieved without resolving the main task that the popular movement set out to achieve, i.e., the task of comprehensive radical change, a task that no one can achieve except the popular movement itself, but after it had matured more and paid a very high price in exchange for that.
The state shared by most Syrians of rejecting the various types of political representations -- loyal, semi loyal, semi opposition and opposition -- that are in the scene, which some see as a negative state, is quite the opposite. It is an expression of a higher degree of maturity with which old lies are no longer useful, and it is no longer easy to mislead them with new lies. This state of rejection began to increasingly express itself again and in richer, more diverse, and more complex forms than in 2011.
The popular movement, as a historical phenomenon, does not end without achieving its tasks. This is proven by the experiences of history, as well as present experiences in every place where the movement was deceived during its first phase through cosmetic changes, and it began to return again to complete the required change process.
Realizing the tasks of change becomes possible only when the movement turns from “high political activity” to “high and organized political activity”. In the Syrian context, the direct function of the full implementation of Resolution 2254 is now summarized in two issues:
First: The implementation of the resolution is an achievement equivalent to the sacrifices made by the Syrian popular movement in its various forms during its first phase, regardless of how the extremists classified them, that is, either under “loyalists” or “opposition”.
Second: Eliminating the various negative interventions that interrupted and distorted the movement’s development over the past years, while retaining in its memory the valuable lessons learned, to continue along, and starting from the highest knowledge platform it has reached.
This is to say, the full implementation of UNSC Resolution 2254 will be the starting signal for a new, stronger, and more orderly start for a popular movement that spurs steps towards building a new, strong, and just Syria, worthy of the sacrifices and history of its people, and they worthy of it!

(Arabic version)