Killers, Cowards and Charlatans

On March 15, 2011, the Syrian street was divided between those who wanted freedom and those who kept opting for security at all costs. This cartoon shows why liberty is a much better idea, for all the risks it brings.
On March 15, 2011, the Syrian street was divided between those who wanted freedom and those who kept opting for security at all costs. This cartoon shows why liberty is a much better idea, for all the risks it brings.

At the beginning of the Syrian revolution there were many millions who wanted to oust Assad, and many who wanted him to stay. Each group motivated by their own concerns, most of which were pretty legitimate. The systematic violence unleashed by Assad and his supporters, and the lies they perpetrated to get support for this policy from their sympathizers paved the path to where we are today. Nonviolence could not continue to work in the face of such mass and systematic violence, coupled with international indifference and opposition ineptitude.

But we are now in a situation where both sides are using violence and intimidate and have no qualms targeting civilians, even if the scale of developments still point to Assad and his backers domestic, regional and international backers as being the main culprits.

Still, we simply cannot forget how things started, or adopt a version of developments that gives Assad’s supporters a pass on having been misguided. No, I am not demanding blanket retribution against Assad’s supporters, and will never do so. The only retribution I will ever seek will focus on those who committed provable war crimes from all sides and parties involved in the conflict. But I will also not endorse a lie in the name of national reconciliation and the greater good. In my opinion, lies will not serve either. I do not support the writing of history as a result of some intellectual comprise between the different sides. As for what we have to teach our children, the content of any future educational system will depend on how and when the conflict will be resolved, and what the geopolitical realities on the ground will be.

If I am to write a history of the Syrian Revolution and, of Syria under Assad rule in general, the following observations will represent, from my point of view, some of the facts on which I will not compromise, unless someone can find a way to scientifically refute every bit of that trove of verifiable evidence supporting them.

    1. The regime under Bashar Al-Assad had ample opportunity to reform and avoid civil strife, and willfully chose the path of oppression, and willfully continued to plant the seeds of that strife.
    1. The regime was never interested in reform or dialogue with its opponents neither before nor after the beginning of the revolution.
    1. Efforts to launch a serious and civil discussion of the country’s ethnic diversity, its implication for its future, and relevance to the processes of modernization and democratization were stifled both by the regime and the majority of its intellectual and political opponents. Indeed, the regime has long survived by perpetrating intercommunal and interregional mistrust and, therefore, saw an existential threat to its survival in any effort trying to bridge the gap between the country’s different communities and regions. Meanwhile, and for their part, members of the country’s intelligentsia and political opposition simply lacked the political sophistication needed to differentiate between ideals as goals to be pursued and signposts to illuminate the way on the one hand, and the realities with which they had to work to get to these ideals, on the other. As such, they objected to any talk on the issue of minority rights, intercommunal arrangements, decentralization, power-sharing, etc. on the pretext that such talk will fragment the country, which is exactly what happened as a result of the current conflict and continuing refusal to reexamine these issues.

There are other facts which I can mention. But this sample should suffice to illustrate the need for continuing documentation of unfolding developments. Otherwise, the history of this terrible period will be written by killers, cowards and charlatans.