The regime has fallen, but the revolution has not yet triumphed
On the eighth of the last month of last year, the bloody junta regime of the Assad family disintegrated and collapsed with astonishing speed, as the forces of aggression deterrence arrived from Idlib to Damascus in eleven days. This event sparked immense joy among Syrians, as if a nightmare had been lifted from their chests. At the same time, great prospects for liberation and open political activity opened up before them, accompanied by a sense of anxiety among segments of them about the identity of the new authority and fears of what might come.
In order to explain what happened, it is necessary to emphasize a number of facts.
After more than thirteen years of popular revolt and the regime’s brutal brutality in its attempt to crush the revolutionary masses by killing, destroying, and displacing them, and after the counter-revolutionary parties destroyed what remained of the popular revolutionary forces, the country and the Syrian people have reached the maximum degree of disintegration and social and geographical collapse. The Syrian revolution, despite its defeats, has shaken the regime’s foundations, and its continued survival depends on the will of its allies and their direct military intervention, especially Russia, Iran, its militias, and Hezbollah.
Despite its continued control over large parts of Syria, the regime has remained deaf to demands for political reform from a liberal opposition that is itself fragile and weak, and has turned its back on the hand extended to try to save it by some Arab countries and Turkey. Worse, the regime has sucked the last remaining lifeblood out of Syrians, especially its social support base, which has completely disappeared in recent years, as it has not only driven its people to certain death, but has brazenly plundered their resources and impoverished them further.
The vast majority of the Syrian people have been reduced to abject poverty, while the fleeing Assad regime has degenerated into a decrepit, failing regime that is waiting for someone to drop the kiss of death on it.
The opportunity came with a confluence of interests between regional and international countries that saw that the conditions had become favorable to sweep away this dying regime, which had become an obstacle and a meaningless burden, especially after its allies lost their ability and/or desire to maintain it. An armed force of about 40,000 fighters, characterized by acceptable discipline, was available only to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham to draw the final curtain on the story of the declared death of a criminal, pariah, and moribund regime.
The main actor that gnawed away at the regime’s foundations and dismantled its components was the sacrifices of generations of Syrians, especially the popular masses in their great revolution of 2011. The Syrian masses struggling against the regime are the real liberators.
The masses rejoiced at the fall of the regime and immediately regained their freedom of expression, organization and protest.
Today, Syria is teeming with dozens of rallies and activities every day and is witnessing the beginnings of independent unions. The masses are once again practicing organized activism and freedom of expression. The space of freedoms won is a huge gain for the Syrian people that must be preserved and protected from any attempts to limit it, from any party.
The new interim authority, which is trying to find a social base on which to base itself, faces several pressures, the most important of which is public pressure from below to protect and expand the gained freedoms, build a democratic system and social measures in favor of the popular and impoverished segments in the face of calls for a free economy and massive layoffs of public sector employees and workers. On the other hand, there are pressures from some parts of the new authority to harden and adhere to its Salafi-jihadist project despite the changed circumstances. On the other hand, there is the Israeli aggression on Syrian territory and the pressure from Arab and Western regimes to secure their interests.
Today is only the beginning of a long process of political and social change, full of both opportunities and dangers. Therefore, what is urgently required at this critical moment is to work to organize social interest blocs, improve the ongoing mass struggles, and build united fronts based on programs of action on democratic issues, against sectarianism and chauvinism, on social issues, and on national issues to recover all occupied territories, support the Palestinian people for their liberation, oppose colonial and imperialist powers, and achieve justice, independence, and freedom for all Syrians.
All power and wealth for the people
Revolutionary Left Movement
January 2025
en.majalla.com
