Kassioun Editorial 1282: Syria’s Workers and Farmers Protest Movement Is the Engine of a National Solution

The steady and growing wave of protests witnessed over recent months confronts the entire country with a number of indispensable conclusions, foremost among them:

First: The right to strike and to engage in peaceful protest in its various forms is a right for which Syrians have paid through long struggles and precious sacrifices. It is guaranteed by all domestic and international norms and laws, including the currently applicable Constitutional Declaration. It is a right that must be protected, consolidated, and defended.

Second: The protests of Syrian farmers—whether related to wheat pricing, flooding, fires, fuel prices, or the withdrawal of agricultural subsidies for fertilizers, seeds, and other inputs—constitute an alarm bell. They concern not only farmers’ living conditions but also national food security, which is now under severe threat and could endanger overall national security if not addressed with the utmost seriousness and urgency.

Third: The protests of Syrian workers are likewise a warning sign concerning national security and the future of national industry. This comes at a time when the state apparatus has withdrawn from its social role in protecting domestic industry and has instead contributed to its containment and weakening by increasing various costs—including, import policies, electricity and fuel prices, raw material costs, and the role of nepotism that allows profiting from imports at the expense of domestic production and its competitiveness.

Fourth: These protests, together with the realities associated with the economic measures pursued thus far, demonstrate that the pursuit of foreign investment and an economy based on luxury projects, spectacles, and hotels is nothing more than a chase after a mirage—a mere illusion and an attempt to grasp the wind. They also prove that Syria’s recovery can only be built upon national production, both industrial and agricultural, supported by a clear and active role for the state. This requires a complete break with the IMF, World Bank, and WTO formulas, as well as a complete break with the illusion of seeking “Western/American approval”.

Fifth: The mobilization of Syria’s farmers and workers is, by its nature, a movement that transcends ethnicities, religions, and sects. It is the movement of an entire people living below the poverty line. As such, it has the potential to rebuild a shared Syrian national identity and to close the door to those who seek to divide Syrians and pit them against one another. Chief among those pursuing such division, as everyone knows, is Zionist “Israel”. In other words, the movement of Syria’s workers and farmers is a patriotic force capable of unifying the country, preventing its fragmentation, and leading it toward the comprehensive national solution to which Syrians aspire.

The peaceful protest movement of the country’s impoverished people—those who produce all wealth yet receive only a tiny fraction of it—is today the most important asset upon which hope can be placed. It is the light at the end of the tunnel through which the country has stumbled for decades. It must therefore be protected, supported, and encouraged to organize its ranks and select its leaders on the basis of trust, proven experience, integrity, and good reputation.

The self-organization of the protest movement will pave the way for a general national conference through which Syrians can agree on the economic and political model their country needs—one that serves the interests of the Syrian people and genuinely unites them in both word and deed.

As the striking workers in Zenobia and Madar factories chanted:

“Syria’s workers are one hand”.

(النسخة العربية)