Since March 2011, demonstrators in
towns of Dar’a and Homs voiced their longing for freedom, dignity, and
justice. Syrians across the country, who
took to the streets to demand change, also voiced their awareness of the
diversity of Syrian society, hence the famous chant of “One, one, one, the Syrian people are one”.
The initial momentum of the
uprising morphed into a crisis over time, resembling a civil war. Sectarianism seeped into the fore; communities
and people were targeted based on their ethnicity and religious sect. Which in
a country like Syria is a recipe for self-annihilation. The full capability of
the Syrian army was launching on all out assault on armed groups, which did not
spare innocent communities from its wrath. Two years of mutual destruction
fueled and prolonged by regional and international power tug, resulted in more
that 60,000 dead, and millions displaced internally and externally. Towns and
villages across Syria deemed unrecognizable.
Neither side, the predominantly
Islamists armed groups and the Syrian military, are able to assert control and
restore stability. Prolonged attrition
warfare even if it resulted in a pyrrhic victory would not serve the political
cause of either side. In short, it is a lose/lose situation, and the cost in
lives and infrastructure are much too great. The urgent reason to start direct negotiations
between the two sides is to stop the blood spilling, continuous displacement of
people and the senseless destruction. But that is not the only reason.
If there was one virtue in the time
passed since March 2011, it would be the painful and incremental political
maturing of the Syrian opposition. It
might not be a stretch to say that hundred of thousands of Syrians had to pay
the price for political incompetence, fragmentation, and short sightedness. The
inescapable path to negotiation was paved with delusional demands for American
military intervention, demands for direct arms supply from Saudi Arabia and
Qatar, and the hope that Russia, China and Iran detract their support for the
Syrian government. It is a disgrace and
a dishonor to everything that was sacrificed by Syrians, willingly or
unwillingly, if the opposition prolongs the crisis when the writing is
clearly on the wall.
There are long-term reasons to
start negotiation between the Syrian government and the Syrian opposition with
minimum condition: that is to set an elite precedent that solution oriented
discussions among situational adversaries is possible. Not only possible, but that it is the only way
for Syrians to coexist in a non-coercive environment, for democratic practices
to be institutionalized for the benefit of larger and more diverse segments of
society, and to establish the start of an inclusive national dialogue.
The social, political, and economic
fabric of Syria is woven by a multi ethnic and religious daily exchange. Disenfranchised
communities in Idleb, Dar’a, Raqqa and Dair al Zur can not flourish and benefit
form future political reform and economic development if they are not
integrated with and the benefactor of the diverse socioeconomic reality of the
rest of the country. From the time you
leave your apartment in downtown Damascus to get coffee, croissant and a
newspaper, you would have run into, talk to, ask for and receive from, people from different ethnic and religious backgrounds . The factory owner in Aleppo buys his
material from, employs, and sells to most if not from all ethnic/religious
groups in Syria.
Any attempt to institutionalize
democratic practices, rehabilitate communities across the country, and start
the rebuilding process, must start with a meaningful attempt at a dialogue, negotiation
and compromise between the two sides at the top. Yes, between Syrians
themselves.
