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Kassioun Editorial 1208: Towards the Victory of the Patriotic Syrian Current
The circumstances of the country today, are similar to the initial circumstances surrounding its establishment nearly a century ago. Although the global and regional, political and economic conditions are very different from that time, the Syrian will to restore unity of their country and rally it, is the same will the founding fathers had, including: Youssef Al-Azim, Sultan Pasha Al-Atrash, Saleh Al-Ali, Ibrahim Henano, Mohammed Al-Ashmar, Ramdan Pasha Shalash, Ismail Hariri, and their comrades. In addition to those who came during the stage of independence, including: Abdul Rahman Al-Shahbandar, Faris Al-Khoury, Khaled Al-Azim, and others, who rose above narrow affiliations and above multiple intellectual trends, and came together through a major general current, which is the patriotic Syrian current.
In the conditions we are living today, we need to draw inspiration from the lessons of the early fathers of Syria, and we need to repeat their experience in a way that suits our time, and with the additions and creative solutions it requires.
The first thing that must be overcome is the sharp divisions of an ideological nature. In Syria, over a hundred years, there have always been three popular-political currents: a religious current, a nationalist current, and a leftist current. These currents entered into multiple alliances until the end of the 1950s, when the relationship among them began to move from natural and legitimate political competition to opposition, hostility, and sharp separation.
Today, in light of the urgent tasks facing Syria and Syrians, we are once again facing a need to return to a state of broad-based national alliance, within which there is no problem in competing, on a democratic basis, but whose highest patriotic priorities must be set so that they become the basis and framework for joint action.
The immediate, tangible task that a broad national coalition must take on is to complete the transition process towards a Syria that is united in land and people, in which democracy and social Justice prevail. This implicitly requires that the country return to being a single, connected market, as a foundation for its unity, and complete the eradication of corruption, which has nearly ended the existence of the state and is capable of ending it again if it is not completely eliminated. The resources that this corruption has plundered can be transformed into a tool for achieving a logical minimum of social justice within this stage.
The first step in completing the transition process, which must be managed properly, is the task of forming and holding a comprehensive national conference, which must be based not on gathering Syrians as “components” along sectarian, religious, nationalistic, and tribal lines, but rather as Syrian citizens with equal rights and duties. Political representation that transcends sub-affiliations is the basic tool in this gathering process, alongside representatives of the various forms of civil society in Syria with its many formations.
In parallel, the tasks of reaching a single national army, controlling arms, maintaining security, and preserving civil peace remain among the most urgent tasks. The national conference and the broad national alliance that we are calling for here, will, if they are worked on properly, become a fundamental assistant in achieving these tasks.
“The Syrian people are one” and “Syria is for all its sons and daughters”, are two very general slogans, but they are principled and fundamental in the new phase that the country has entered, and in establishing the broad national alliance as a tool for achieving: power for the people, dignity for the nation, and wealth for all!
