Historical inevitability, from Lesser Syria to Greater Syria

   Thought and practice are two sides of the same coin, and the contradiction between them may indicate a flaw in thought or practice or both, or consideration of an imposed balance, which may result in hindering the requirements of progress, advancement and positive development, Balance is not related to the will of one side, but rather to the will of other sides, and to circumstances not controlled by those who want balance and harmony between their thought and practice, but rather their directions are controlled by other parties that have a great influence on political balances.

The Syrian Social Nationalist Party is a secular party in doctrine and principle, and it operates in several countries, including Lebanon, Let us take a brief look at Lebanon with the intention of learning from the Lebanese experience, In Lebanon, there is a political system that the Lebanese agreed upon in Taif after a war that lasted 18 years. In addition to Taif, it can be said that this system, represented by sectarian power-sharing and democratic consensus, is imposed by an influential circle of the international community, which protects, sponsors, and even finances it. Under this system, which is unique in the world, the Lebanese lived, and their lives were until recently better than the lives of the peoples of their surroundings.

       The secularism of the Syrian National Party has two aspects: a principled, ideological aspect that fulfills the conditions of the secular approach, from separating religion from the state or politics, and from resisting the sectarianization of society, then calling for scientific principles, rejecting tribalism, and practicing openness and self-criticism, All these principled secular features are absolutely consistent with Syrian National Social thought, and this is very clear from the literature and internal laws of the party, which are known to everyone interested in the political-intellectual arena in this region.

         As for politics, the general political atmosphere, and the rules of the political game, they are not subject to the will and desire of the Syrian National Party absolutely, or even to a large extent, but rather are mainly subject to the will of those who are not committed to power-sharing and consensual democracy resulting from a Lebanese harmony between sectarian consciousness and sectarian consciousness, which is required to achieve stability that allows the country to develop to something better, and achieve living conditions that were not relatively bad compared to the rest of the peoples of the countries surrounding Lebanon.

            In this atmosphere, the Syrian Social Nationalist Party had to decide whether it could adapt politically and gradually to the desired and imposed Lebanese situation, which was represented by the presence of parties claiming religious authority, As is generally known, claiming religious authority does not mean its actual existence, and even the actual existence differs from one party to another, Hezbollah wanted a state of mullahs and a religious state of the jurist, but it overlooked the state of the jurist because it could not achieve it, as Nasrallah admitted, and because it is prohibited or even rejected internationally and unacceptable internally, Despite the nihilistic future of Hezbollah, it is still torn between dream and realism, still addicted to the Karbala-like narrative that killed Hussein 1400 years ago and killed Hassan also about a year ago!

                 Other Lebanese parties were nominally religious, but in practice, they were secular and secular, No party in Lebanon seeks to establish a religious state, with the exception of Hezbollah, which is torn between its Lebanese and Iranian identities, For the other parties, religious authorities have no significant influence, for example, on the drafting of laws, the state of the judiciary, or even politics in general. Therefore, political interaction—in the sense of political action—between these parties and the Syrian Social Nationalist Party is possible and could even be productive, as is the case with the interaction between nominally Christian Democratic parties and socialist parties in Europe, It cannot be said that the Christian Democratic Party in Germany is not a secular party, and secularism does not contradict the presence or absence of religious affiliation in a secular person. Indeed, the most devout sheikhs may be among the most secular people, Therefore, establishing political alliances between the Syrian Social Nationalist Party and these parties does not mean abandoning the secular approach as a goal, nor does it mean dissolving into formal or actual religiousness. Let us now move from the Lebanese situation to the more important Syrian situation.

             Some of the practices of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party are criticized, for example, its membership in what was called the National Front during the Assad era, in a country where political options were reduced to two, and let’s say symbolically, either Bashar or Abu Bakr, either Bashar or Azrael. The sensible person in this situation, limited to between Bashar and Abu Bakr, would choose Bashar as the lesser of two evils, From this standpoint, the party’s membership in the National Front was established against the fundamentalist Azrael, The goal was not to support Bashar, but rather to defeat Azrael, which was more important than anything else, Defeating Azrael, who represented the  muslimBrotherhood factions, was tantamount to defeating the worst and most oppressive dictatorship.

            The hypothetical future, should Azrael ascend the throne of the Caliphate in Damascus, will be no different from Kandahar, Therefore, the National Front was formed, which should not be a permanent, fateful entity but rather a temporary measure to confront the resurgence of fundamentalist, muslim Brotherhood-affiliated jihadism, Recently, the prevailing belief was that fundamentalism no longer posed a threat in the medium to long term, that it had vanished and been destroyed, and would be buried like Morsi, Reality has proven otherwise, Thus, a faction of ISIS is now being recruited to fight another faction, igniting an internal ISIS-ISIS war,For this purpose, al Julani was incorporated into the counter-terrorism team, The reward was the removal of Julani’s name and two of his fighters from the list of terrorists, The objective here was similar to that of the Assadist National Front, with a difference in the overall framework, What was local in the National Front has become a shared iglobal-local framework in the case of the international coalition, which now includes al julani group  , al  julani   swift joining of the international coalition and its immediate commencement of fighting against the very groups from which it originated is indicative of his weakness, Given their need to earn a living in order to survive, the question is, how long will this agreement last?

               There are many unresolved issues in this country, which, politically, even after reaching the age of a full century, lives a life of recklessness, folly, and mediocrity, some aspects of which can be reluctantly understood, such as the entanglement of religion with politics and the interference of the external with the internal, and the problem of the imbalance in national consciousness and the nationalism of consciousness, Therefore, the Syrian National Party and others had to work on consolidating maturity, because maturity is necessary and also possible, and because the party has an intellectual and ideological status, as if it was made for the future of Syria, It is the secular and scientific party that rejects sectarianism,The party is national or regional Syrian in a time of growing nationalism and regionalism after the failed union project with Egypt, The party is not   corrupt  of the widespread corruption in the country, and the party is internally democratic, its leadership is elected and changed periodically, and it respects its internal law, and it has no connection whatsoever to tribalism. Therefore, it is ready to play a positive role in developing Syria for the better.

The Syrian Nationalist Party may be the only party in Syria, as the Ba’ath Party has turned into a family militia, and the Muslim Brotherhood is not a political party but a sectarian herd, and the Communist Party was one of the most important remaining parties, but now it is politically wrecked, but despite that it is qualified to recover and play a positive role in developing the country, Have we forgotten another party that is as important as the Syrian Nationalist Party intellectually and methodologically in Syria!

The Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP) was expected to do a great deal, most importantly to dismantle the Assad regime, which has fallen and will subsequently fall along with the fundamentalist caliphate. The SSNP must utilize its capabilities to stabilize the Syrian situation after the elimination of the Assad regime, through a new approach that we clearly observe in the statements of the party’s officials, The party does not support authoritarian fundamentalism now, and the situation is different now than it was in the previous year and before. The party must be bolder, because authoritarian fundamentalism cannot deal with the Syrian Social Nationalist Party through persecution and annihilation as the Ba’ath Party did during the crisis surrounding the assassination of Maliki, and as Nasserism did previously, History does not always repeat itself, We do not expect respect for freedom, democracy, and equality from Caliph al-Julani, and it is impossible for us all to become soldiers in the ranks of al-Julani, the successor of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, to establish God’s rule and Sharia in this country!

There are a large number of unresolved issues in Syria, despite the country being nearly a century old as a nominal state, The country is still in its adolescence, and recklessness remains its guiding principle,This situation is understandable, albeit reluctantly, especially when considering certain Syrian national characteristics, Among the most important of these is the intertwining of national and religious identities, the entanglement of external and internal affairs, and the complexities surrounding the Sykes-Picot Agreement, with some viewing it as divisive and others as unifying, Recent developments suggest that Sykes-Picot, on a mere 185,000 square kilometers, brought together more than could possibly be gathered, Recent events in the east, west, and south of the country suggest that the impossible has been brought together, We believe the situation is a transitional one, shrouded in primitivism, violence, and the resurgence of international fundamentalism, Since it has always been in everyone’s interest for a Greater Syria to exist, this state will come to pass, despite the recent setbacks suffered by Syria, Iraq, and others, A historical inevitability will impose itself, however complex it may become, Things are different despite the setbacks that Syria is currently experiencing.  

The Syrian Social Nationalist Party will have a significant place in the future Syria, that is, Greater Syria,With its secularism, non-sectarianism, integrity, organization, and historical and intellectual foundation, the party represents, politically and intellectually, the clear and anticipated model of the future, Secularism has succeeded in becoming the methodology of all advanced nations in the world, while fundamentalist barbarism has failed to become the methodology of any advanced nation. Therefore, Syria’s transformation into a secular state is a historical inevitability, The future evolution from a smaller to a greater Syria is not a kind of theoretical or utopian luxury, but a reality imposed by the interests of all, No progress has been achieved through the entanglement of politics and religion, nor through the weakness of national consciousness, which was forcibly reborn about a century ago and remains bewildered, searching for its identity after fourteen centuries of confinement.