The Syrian intellectual, Louay Hussein, says violence in not an option

By Karen Dabrowska

For Louay Hussein, one of Syria’s leading intellectuals who was imprisoned for seven years by Assad’s regime because of his views, violence is not an option in the current struggle for democracy.

In a recent lecture to students and Arab and British political activists at the London School of Economics, Hussein, leader of Building the Syrian State Movement, emphasised that if an armed opposition is victorious the best armed elements will rule and they are not necessarily those who are devoted to democracy.

“Calls for violence lead to further divisions. The biggest threat is social division which leads to civil strife and civil war. If we enter the cycle of violence will not find a democratic solution but the division of the country. The way we overthrow the regime will determine the alternative regime.”

Hussein as the first political opposition figure to be arrested after the onset of the uprising in Syria and was released a few days later, after being tortured. In 2011, he organised the first opposition conference to be held in Damascus.

The Building the Syrian State Movement describes itself as a political movement created by a group of Syrians who don’t necessarily share the same theoretical or ideological background. Rather, they agree to the constituent documents issued when BSS was established.

Their future vision for Syria is as a civil democratic state impartial towards all ideologies and doctrines; a state of citizenship and equality among all citizens regardless of their race, gender, religion, sect or culture; a state based on a social contract reflecting the free will of all citizens; and a state of laws that avoid the reproduction of the current totalitarian regime.

It rejects reforming the regime as this would only perpetuate and strengthen it and advocates all political measures to dismantle and eliminate Assad’s regime in order to build a civil and democratic state on its ruins.

Hussein stated that the new Syrian state has to be a state for all the people - not a state for the winners or losers in the current conflict.

He is hoping for more support from democratic European countries rather than ‘certain blocs which are not democratic’ and called on NGO’s and civil society organisations to put pressure on their own governments to ensure that the conflict in Syria does not escalate into a regional or international conflict.

“Syrians deserve democracy and the opportunity to realise the values of modernity, freedom, equality, justice and the rule of law.”

Hussein categorically rejected the armed struggle: “Now that we are holding arms we have lost and the regime has won. Peaceful non-violence is the best way to stand up to the regime.”

He concluded that Syria has failed to achieve the Tunisian scenario and was concerned that it was heading towards the Libyan or the Iraqi scenario and the collapse of state institutions. “That is why we are working on advancing the cause of civil society.”

When asked about his non-violent strategy and how it could topple the Syrian regime, Hussein seemed like a man with a vision but without a roadmap or a timetable.

Syria has a myriad of opposition parties and groups with widely different views and strategies. The main armed group is the Free Syrian Army led by Riyad Al-Asad a former colonel in the air force.

Al-Asad has agreed to co-ordinate more closely with the main opposition coalition the Syrian National Council (SNC) a coalition of 40 opposition grassroots groups, Kurdish factions, tribal leaders and independent figures. Its charter lists human rights, judicial independence, press freedom, democracy and political pluralism among its guiding principles.

There is also the National-Co-ordination Committee made up of opposition blocs inside Syria. It calls for peaceful change, opposes military intervention and reportedly believes members of the current government can play a role in transition fearing that the toppling of the government could lead to chaos.

One of the main political parties is the Muslim Brotherhood whose leader, exiled Mohammad Riad Shaqfa, advocates non-violent, democratic change to replace autocratic rule with a plural system where it can present an Islam-based manifesto to a free vote.

(Karen Dabrowska has been reporting on Islamic and Middle Eastern issues for twenty years. She helped set up a number of newsletters including Kuwait Review and Iraq Update and was assistant editor of Al-Muhajir a London-based newspaper for Arab immigrants.

She has just completed three books: The Libyan Revolution: diary of Gaddafi’s newsgirl in London, Justice Denied: Riad El Taher and the oil-for food surcharge and Into the Abyss: human rights violations in Bahrain and suppression of the popular movement for change.)