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Kassioun Editorial 1233: Political Imperatives and The Suitable Economy
There is hardly any disagreement among Syrians about the major political imperatives facing the country. Foremost among these imperatives are the unity of the country’s territory and people; its sovereignty and civil peace; genuine transitional justice, not vindictive, retributive, or selective, allowing for redress for past harms and is based on an examination of the underlying causes to prevent their recurrence. The imperatives also include a unified national army that ends the faction-based divide and is built on competence and a comprehensive national identity that views all Syrians as equal citizens, and its mission is to defend Syrians against external aggression and uphold the constitution, which in turn must protect the freedom of Syrians in its political, social, and cultural dimensions.
Achieving national political imperatives requires searching for an economically appropriate model – that is, an economic model that provides a solid foundation for achieving those imperatives. At the same time, it requires breaking with any economic procedure or approach that hinders or prevents the realization of those imperatives. In other words, achieving political imperatives cannot be achieved without clearly and logically linking them to the economic model.
It is obvious that achieving civil peace, unity of the country and people, and ending destructive divisions, etc., cannot be achieved without truly addressing the problems of poverty, unemployment, and marginalization, without a strong social role for the state in education, health, housing, and key strategic sectors such as ports and energy, and without genuine support for industry and agriculture.
The practical behavior followed so far by the authorities indicates an economic orientation identical to that which prevailed under Bashar al-Assad, at least since 2005: a trend toward savage economic liberalism, the state’s abandonment of its social role, “privatization”, a so-called “free economy”, and the implementation of IMF and World Bank formulas.
The historical experience of dozens of countries in the “Third World” indicates that the application of liberal formulas has led to the deepening of massive corruption, the impoverishment of the general public, the weakening of real production, and ultimately the weakening of the state as a whole, intensifying its internal contradictions and increasing the likelihood of its implosion.
Within the palette of actual economic measures being taken so far, which are generally in line with Western institutions’ formulas, a statement by the Central Bank of Syria Governor stands out as a correct direction contrary to those measures. The Governor stated, “by order of His Excellency President al-Sharaa, Syria will not resort to external debt, and there will be no recourse to borrowing from the IMF or the World Bank”. He added, “We will not peg the value of the Syrian pound to the dollar or the euro”.
Although these statements represent a departure from previous statements and behavior, they nevertheless express a correct position that must be supported and reinforced. Reliance should be placed on domestic resources, and reliance on external debt should be minimized to the maximum extent possible, especially debt from Western institutions with their disreputable terms for what they call “structural reform” (which entails undermining the state’s social role and opening the door to speculators, plunderers, and businessmen to profit at the expense of the general public). Reliance should be placed on industry and agriculture and their development, away from Bashar al-Assad’s slogans, which sometimes stated that “trade is the engine of growth” and other times that “tourism is the engine of growth”.
Returning to the top, political imperatives and the economic model are intertwined, requiring each other. The key to addressing them is genuine Syrian participation in shaping their own decisions and shaping their country’s future. This can be achieved through a comprehensive national conference, which will be the gateway and tool for empowering the Syrian people to self-determination.
