With the tenth anniversary of the Syrian revolution and to save guard the principles and foundations of the revolution that were made 10 years ago, today the covenant has been renewed. The principles of the revolution were heard 10 years ago when the people took to the street revolting in towns and cities all over Syria, chanting to “overthrow of Assad and his regime with all its institutions and symbols”. For half a century this regime deprived the Syrian people of their identity, killing their dreams, plundering their wealth, depriving them of their freedom dignity, and decent life, it went as far as imprisoning, murdering, and torturing them in Assad’s slaughterhouses which were later revealed to the world and became the talk of global media.
The principles of the revolution are a red line that cannot be crossed, it can’t be agreed on part of it, or modified. These principles for which the people have sacrificed what was precious to them, the blood of the martyrs, the groaning of the wounded, and the weeping of the women. Principles for which millions of people have been displaced internally and externally around the world or in camps with harsh conditions on the borders. It is an exorbitant bill paid by the free Syrian people, desiring dignity and to regain their freedom which was stolen from them for a long period of time.
The amount of sacrifice prevents us from accepting the fascist regime again in any form, or under any modification. It is dangerous and foolish to accept a part of the regime while overthrowing another part because the tumor will still remain in the body, thus will affect it and make it ill again. The crimes of this regime against our people cannot be tolerated except by punishment.
Bashar al-Assad may be replaced by another president over Syria, an Alawite or even Sunni. This alone does not change the truth, and if it happens, this isn’t toppling the regime, which is one of the most prominent principles of the revolution, rather, it is the removal of Bashar and replacing him with someone else, while the entire regime remains with its security, intelligence, and military institutions, who are also the cause of the destruction, scourge, and plight of the Syrian people. As Jeff Goodwin, professor of sociology at New York University stated that Revolutions entail not only mass mobilization and regime change but also more or less rapid and fundamental social, economic, and/or cultural change, during or soon after the struggle for state power.
We will not give up the principles and foundations of the Syrian revolution, they are memorized by the young before the old. Whoever sacrificed all these throughout the last 10 years will never accept Bashar or anyone from his regime, he is only one person, but with him are his successors, senior officers, criminals who carry out his orders and oppress the people on his behalf. Among them are some who are even much worse than him. Bringing down the whole regime with all its military, security, and intelligence institutions is the only solution to live freely in our country.
Our battle in the future may turn into a battle of awareness and understanding, more than just a military battle. Egypt’s revolution overthrew Mubarak but did not overthrow his regime, thus didn’t achieve its goals, in Tunisia Ben Ali was overthrown but the military and the intelligence services remained in its place. Weren’t they the reason why the flames of the Arab Spring ignited as Mohamed Bouazizi set himself in flames due to the oppression of a policewoman in the town of Bouzid? In Libya, Gaddafi fell and Haftar came in, and the result was worse. The lessons we can derive from these Arab Spring scenarios is that overthrowing the head of the regime is not enough, but staying true to your principles and conducting a complete change of regime regardless of the time it will take will give you real freedoms.
