الليبرالية السورية: بين وهم التغيير والتبعية الخارجية

Syrian liberalism: between the illusion of change and external dependence

The “liberal” discourse dominated the Syrian political elites, with their loyalties and opposition, more than a decade before the outbreak of the Syrian Revolution in 2011.

The collapse of the USSR and the Eastern European countries was an ideological turning point for large sections of the former leftists, the regime itself launched Savage liberal economic policies, the world was ideologically dominated by the myth of the end of history and that humanity could not bypass the capitalist system.

But in reality, the space for disagreement between the liberal elites, that is, the Liberals of the opposition and the Liberals of the regime, is limited to who the ruling minority should be, that is, the” political” liberals of the opposition should replace the “economic” liberals of the ruling regime.

 While the neo-liberal socio-economic policies are destroying the lives of ever-expanding sectors of the Syrian people and increasing their suffering and impoverishment, they have not been, and are not, the subject of real disagreement between them. The disagreement between them is limited to political power, it is a disagreement of ideologically similar elites.

What aggravated this liberal drift of” secular and Islamic forces and individuals ” was the American invasion of Iraq, where this liberal opposition (secular and Islamic) took root with a declared and no longer hidden conviction that the overthrow of the ruling regime would be carried out by Western military intervention, especially the United States, as was done in Iraq. The formation of the Damascus declaration in 2005 came as the first step to prepare this opposition to present itself as an alternative to the ruling “liberal” elite in the event of the latter’s fall thanks to the American intervention as the”Invisible Hand of the progress of history”!.

With the outbreak of the revolution in March 2011, this opposition was divided in its choices into two parts, despite the similarity in their vision of the tool for the required change; that is, they are not convinced that the same change is the Syrian people, but for them it is regional and major countries.

The first part of this opposition bet on the intervention of the regime’s allies to push it to Democratic Change, and was prominently expressed by the coordination body formed in mid-2011, while the second part bet on America, especially on the Western countries, Turkey and Qatar; the most prominent expression of it was in the National Council, which was formed under international and regional auspices at the end of 2011 and then turned into the National Coalition at the end of 2012.

In fact, the outcome of more than a decade of these liberal oppositionists ‘ leading the opposition political scene was disastrous, and we have already described them as “the greatest organizer of defeats in history”. 

They were not just cards in the hands of regional and international countries that were one of the parties to the counter-revolution, and thus contributed to the defeat of the popular revolution in a sea of blood. 

Rather, it continues its ideological intransigence and its bet that the winds of freedom are coming “ from the West” despite its failure and fragmentation and that it has become neglected by its sponsoring countries after these countries have completed achieving their goals in preventing the victory of a real popular revolution that threatens the regional and international order; and also after the economic and military capabilities of the Syrian people have been destroyed, which removes any subsequent threat to the imperialist watchdog in our region, the Zionist state.

There are only crumbs left of this failed and crumbling liberal opposition, its organizational structures have collapsed and some of them have been individually dissolved in the negotiating body and the Constitutional Committee, which are empty of content, and all of the Liberals are ruminating about UN Resolution No. 2254, as if it were a magic spell for change, despite realizing that it has not been and will not be implemented as hundreds of similar resolutions in the world because it is captive to the will of the major and regional countries in conflict.

This is how the Liberal opposition, with its secularists and Islamists, disintegrated and emptied all its organizational forms into names without content. Nevertheless, its members do not miss an opportunity to try to re-float themselves, by presenting their credentials to this or that country, or frantically seeking to invite or participate in repeated projects to regroup themselves, all of which have failed. 

This liberal opposition as a whole, including some of its rational members, lacked even the minimum political and moral integrity to critically review its positions and policies, which contributed greatly to the Syrian catastrophe.

This disjointed and bitter spectrum of liberal opponents is still trying to re-float itself, still promoting the illusion of betting on the upcoming “American” intervention and insisting that it is the only bet for change, and on the basis of this false and fatal illusion they practice politics and attempts to hold their conferences. 

Since this opposition is waiting for the” Godot ” who will not come, the Syrian Democratic Movement, which, despite its current weakness, includes a much wider spectrum of liberal dust, can only be built outside the political and practical framework of such a dependent liberal opposition, because the latter, whether some of its members are aware of it or not, is practically and in fact part of the counter-revolution. And any bet on it is a reproduction of failure and defeat.

As for us, we are working steadily and resolutely to build united fronts on the many concrete issues that contribute to the liberation of Syrians, and we are focusing our efforts to build the mass Socialist Workers ‘ Party through popular immersion; to push the masses to build their organizational and political fighting tools; and to benefit from the experiences and lessons of past years; to fight the difficult and long struggle, on the best terms, to win Bread, freedom, dignity and independence for the Syrian people.

Neither Washington nor Moscow

Neither Ankara nor Tehran

All the power and wealth of the people

Revolutionary Left current

September,2024