Illustration of the outcomes of the National Charter Conference for Syrians in America

A conference was held in Washington during the ninth and tenth days of September that included Americans of Syrian origin, who wanted to get the Syrian issue out of its stalemate due to the complexities of the interests of the countries involved in the conflict in and on Syria, and as a result of the Assad regime’s inability to get out of its skin and authoritarian structure that it cannot leave, because it will then fade.

But the attendance was not as large as planned, due to the differences between the political and social frameworks of Syrian-Americans which are broad and extensive that prevent it grouping into a single movement that serves its cause in its American country, and therefore differs in its vision on how to solve the Syrian issue.

The Americans of Syrian descent should have thrown behind their self-ego and their ideological  introductions in looking at the totality of what concerns them in their presence in the United States. They should have chosen the primacy of moral elevation and pure patriotism, thus prevailing over the predominance of visions of their groups, ideological frameworks and negatively charged emotions over the Syrian national issue, as this predominance has shown its consequences with their divisions, and their inability to form an effective and influential “Syrian lobby” in the political decisions of the United States regarding the issues of their countries of origin.

Ideological predominance hides behind it other interests that we are not discussing right now, but it has weakened the pressure that this U.S.-Syrian political framework may exert on U.S. decision-making.

In this prevailing situation, a group of Syrian Americans called to hold a meeting to agree on a Syrian national charter for Americans of Syrian origin, and some of those who participated in the preparations for this conference said that they had spent more than a year to hold this conference.

Those who worked on holding the said conference did not notice that they did not deviate from previous attempts by mixed Syrian political groups that wanted to break through the stalemate in resolving the Syrian issue, because their comprehending of the events is lacking in depth and has been mixed with their political desires, thus, the failure was their harvest.

Conducting a process of examination, analysis and consultation of these previous experiences avoids repeating their mistakes, demonstrates a sincere intention to spread the spirit of collective action and its development, and promotes the principle of inclusiveness,  non-exclusion of others and, sense of belonging to any plans for an inclusive national project, which in return won’t be achieved unless the path of frankness and reconciliation between the groups involved in political work and activity is taken.

It is inconceivable how Syrians with American or European citizenship lead the forces of revolution and opposition when they are far from their internal interactions on the one hand, and their inability to build revolutionary political frameworks that exist on Syrian soil on the second hand.  This explains that they are in one valley and the Syrian issue in essence in another valley, it is not about the ingenuity of writing charters or political programs,  but about its bearings on the ground in this afflicted country and in its vicinity where about six million refugees gather, and inside it gathers Approximately this number of displaced people.

However, assuming the good will of the organizers of the Washington Conference for a National Pact for Syrian-Americans, this good will does not mean that it has been able to read the structure and process of the Syrian issue in its continuous changes and transformations, related to the change of positions, positions and interests of external participants, and this in my opinion led to the non-discovery of the dialectical relationship between the final product of the conference and the foundations of its production.

It is not understood at the Syrian national level that an American group of Syrian origin would come out to establish the principles of a national charter for it, as if we would later take such a step for Syrians in Europe, and for Syrians in Turkey, Lebanon or Jordan.

What is incomprehensible is that some of them want to reach results that they believe may form the basis of a national pact, with some amendments here and there, without taking the most important and fundamental step, which is to bring together the Syrian political and social components through their representations in a conference that can be called the “Syrian National Inclusive Congress”, this conference is the one that will develop a novice of a national charter that expresses its components without elitist superiority, and without exercising political imagination that this or that component accepts what this charter brings.

The convening of an inclusive Syrian national conference is a crucial and fundamental step to lay down the principles of a genuine and supra-constitutional Syrian national pact. It is the spirit of the social contract that will be the safety valve for the rights of all components without equivocation or injustice, and it is also the one that creates the historical impetus for the involvement of the components in building their country on the basis of their unity in their charter.

Therefore, outside the narrow political frameworks, Syrians should think collectively about whether they are with a preliminary drafted principle, discussed by all components at once,  where the representatives of these components are real representatives of their components.

This step is outside the organizational constraints of the Coalition of Revolutionary and Opposition Forces who should have been the initiator the development of a working map for the holding of the conference, as they are the internationally recognized political leadership of Syrians. This step requires the coalition to address the Syrian national political, social, economic and cultural components in order to develop a provisional working paper to be discussed in the preparatory meetings that will precede the convening of the All-Inclusive Syrian National Congress.

Reaching this formula will find violent political resistance from groups and individuals who know that holding such a conference will put them out of the playing field of the Syrian cause after re-criticizing and evaluating the results of the eleven years of work since the beginning of the Syrian revolution. These are not only outside the institution of the coalition, but they are present in this institution, and they are already one of the furthest this leading institution from the popular and revolutionary incubators.

The coalition is strongly demanded to call for the formation of a committee from within, which will be in contact with the Syrian political and social spectrum, to discuss the elaboration of a draft national charter, which will be submitted to the All-Inclusive Syrian National Congress for approval by all and signed as a supra-constitutional document.

Therefore, not to diminish the efforts of those who worked on the Washington conference for Americans of Syrian origin, the focus of their conference to develop a Syrian charter of action for Syrian Americans was like celebrating rain without clouds in the sky.

The Syrians, without equivocation and without embarrassment from anyone, want to get out of the terrible bottleneck brought to them by the ignorance of some of those who led the institution of the coalition on the principle of blocs and groups, which unfortunately were just an empty patriotic language used in speeches and seminars and fades with the end of these speeches or seminars.

From here I can boldly say that the comprehensive reform put forward by Sheikh Salem al-Meslat and his team will not be a reform program without bringing Syrians together on one supra-constitutional national charter, this charter requires the convening of an inclusive national conference, this conference that produces the authority of the Syrian people that prevents any deviation or political concession, as if the national cause is the responsibility of this or that individual.

Salem al-Moslat and his reformist team must have a revolutionary audacity that highlights the obstructors and enemies of comprehensive reform, and this is their duty before their people, if they do not, the independent Syrian national media will do so, although I am convinced that major changes in the structure of the coalition will occur despite the noses of saboteurs, obstructionists, and opportunists. The Syrian revolution will overthrow those who will stand as a stumbling block in the path to its liberation from the regime of tyranny and paralysis that does not build homelands.