- Editorials
- Posted
Kassioun Editorial 1207: Three Urgent Tasks Before the State and the People
The Syrian popular movement in its second phase, after having completed in its first phase overthrowing the fugitive authority, faces several major tasks. Most notably of these is restoring the unity of the country and the unity of the Syrian people, preserving the dignity of the country and its sovereignty over its territory, in parallel with maintaining security and civil peace and working to build a national army, solely with which weapons are confined.
Within these general lines, three urgent tasks stand out today:
First: A clear position must be taken to put an end to the “Israeli” encroachment on Syrian territory and the dignity of Syrians, as a first step followed by continuous work to restore all occupied Syrian territory. The “Israeli” encroachment is working to assassinate the hopes and joy of Syrians and to booby-trap their future and blow it up if it is able to do so. Taking a clear practical position on this must include using all political means available to us as Syrians, including relying on international laws and resolutions and benefiting from countries that have no interest in the enemy expanding within our land, and relying on the clear national position of the Syrian people, which expressed itself most beautifully in the countryside of Daraa when its residents stood with exposed chests in the face of the occupier, defending their dignity and the dignity of their people and country. It is not permissible before this task to use weakness and fatigue as an excuse to permit insulting the dignity of Syrians and allow the agendas of prostration and surrender under the name of “peace”.
Second: The recurring security chaos, called “individual incidents”, cannot be contained in the manner used by firefighters. No matter how strong the central authority’s desire to control security is, it will not be able to resolve the issue without relying directly on Syrians. This requires a political breakthrough by reassuring Syrians by clarifying important matters in a transparent manner, such as the mechanism for forming the National Dialogue Conference and the transitional government, which are still unclear at the moment. This does not allow for strengthening national unity to confront new challenges, including the chaos that is likely to recur and expand due to the fifth column and external enemies who are not happy with what is happening so far.
The issue of maintaining security and civil peace cannot be effectively achieved through so-called “security solutions”, but rather by relying on the Syrian people themselves, their experiences, capabilities, and their desire for stability and to open a new page. This cannot be achieved without broad-based people’s activity within the framework of civil peace, which is already happening and needs further strengthening and organization, in parallel with real preparations for a comprehensive national dialogue conference to prepare for the transitional phase, a conference that is based primarily on political pluralism in Syria and ensures that the “leading party” situation is not repeated. Syria is much more complex and much larger than any party can monopolize.
Third: People’s living conditions are extremely miserable, as is the Syrian economy in general. This requires a rapid revamp of the economy, primarily through national efforts, without pursuing illusions about lifting sanctions soon. The West, led by America, has made it clear that it will not lift sanctions anytime soon, and that it wants to impose its political and economic conditions and bring in its loyal employees, by parachuting them into power in Syria, to complete the previous authority’s path of striking national production under the names of “liberalism”, “free market economy”, and “social market economy”. Solving the major problems in the Syrian economy is possible within a medium term not exceeding 5 years, if we rely primarily on domestic resources, primarily the resources of grand corruption, through a fair redistribution of wealth, and under strict, organized, and conscious popular oversight. Secondly, we can rely on unconditional political aid from many countries that have an interest in Syria’s stability and its continued unity, and by taking advantage of the new international balance.
These three urgent tasks are the current translation of the interconnectedness among national, democratic, and socioeconomic issues, none of which can be separated from the other within the Syrian people’s struggle to take back their country, so that power is for the people, dignity is for the homeland, and wealth is for all!
