At this point, I write mostly about Syria but I might write about local, national, or international issues. I write opinions, I write feelings, and I write thoughts and I try to keep them as short and as simple as possible.
Monday, August 29, 2011
سلمية حتى النهاية؟
Monday, August 22, 2011
Silmya (Peaceful) until the end?
- Disobedience: The Syrian regime, based on the system that it has established in the past forty years, knows exactly how an average citizen will react to any situation because it conditioned them to react to fear. It knows that almost every eighteen years old will report to the mandatory army draft. The underprivileged will serve in the barracks and the wealthy will pay his way off to serve at home. It knows that anyone who needs to get paper work done in a government agency has to bribe his way through different agencies in order to get his work done without disruption. It knows that any citizen who confronts any member of the ruling family or their allies for any injustices done to them will be subjected to severe cases of harassment, torture, and/or imprisonment. Until the Syrian people change their response to such scenarios and shock the regime, they will continue to have the same treatment by the regime. If people start refusing to pay bribes and stand up for their rights, particularly during this time when the regime wants to be nice, they will weaken the regime and start gaining the upper hand.
- Dismantling the pyramid: Governments are structured like pyramids with the President being the highest point of that pyramid. Just like the highest point in a pyramid is one block standing on top of thousands of other blocks, the President of a country cannot remain on top of a government pyramid if all the blocks below him were not stable. You might ask how can I remove any of the people who are around Bashar? It is simple. First, we need to get rid of the mentality that anything we do must be grand to be effective. Insects that destroy huge trees do it by taking one minute bite in the core of the tree at a time. Those tiny bites become a big gaping whole inside the trunk of the tree that causes it to topple when small winds hit it. Everyone knows someone in the Syrian government. When you know someone on a personal level you can influence them better. If you speak to that government employee, who can be a block at the bottom, middle, or top of the government pyramid, and put some doubts in them about the legitimacy of the government or its action against its citizens, you are in fact starting to remove the blocks beneath the head of the pyramid. If you own a business and can take one of those blocks and put him in an honest job, you have deprived this brutal regime of a resource that it might have been using to suppress your countrymen.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
ماذا بعد إسقاط النظام
السؤال الكبير الذي يطرح الآن بين الناشطيين السوريين, وماذا بعد؟ ماذا بعد سقوط النظام ؟ إذا لم تسأل نفسك بعد هذا السؤال فعليك التفكير به ملياً. إنّ عدم التحضير مسبقاً للمرحلة القادمة, مرحلة ما بعد التغيير سيكون بمثابة من يركض مسرعاً إلى حافة الهاوية غير مدرّك لما ينتظره. إذا لم نتحسب لما هوقادم فقد نفاجئ بنتائج غير مرغوب بها ونهاية لم نكن نتمناها
ماذا سيحدث في حال سقوط النظام الديكتاتوري في دمشق؟ بالنسبة للمؤيديين سيكون أمر لايمكن لهم تصديقه ولاتقبله . أما بالنسبة لكل من ناشد الحرية وسعى لها وعمل من أجلها فمن الضروري أن يجيب على السؤال المطروح بايجاد خطوات عملية تؤكد جاهزيتنا لمرحلة ما بعد النظام. سقوط النظام بدون بديل سيولد فراغا في السلطة, إذا لم يكن هناك من هو جاهز لملأ الفراغ وادارة شؤون الدولة والحكم فتسقط البلاد في فوضة عارمة ونتيجة غير مرجوة . إذاً فماذا بعد ...؟
قرار من سيحل في القصر الجمهوري والمراكز الحكومية في السلطة هو قرار يجب أن يتم اتخاذه عن طريق النشطاء السياسيين في داخل و خارج سوريا. إحدى الآليات التي يمكن اتباعها لإنشاء حكومة انتقالية هواختيار ممثليين عن كل اللجان التنسيقية لكل محافظة في الداخل. قد يكون عدد الممثليين بين الخمسة و العشرة أو أقل أو أكثر يتم ترشيحهم إلى المجلس الانتقالي. أما بالنسبة للنشطاء في الخارج فيتم انتقاء ممثليين عنهم أيضاً من كل كل قارة. بعد ذلك يتم الانتخاب بين ممثلي الداخل والخارج لانتقاء أعضاء المجلس الانتقالي الحاكم.
من وجهة نظري الخاصة, على أعضاء المجلس الانتقالي ألا يكون لهم أية مطامح مسبقة للوصول إلى أي منصب سياسي أوحكومي لفترة لا تقل عن ثلاث فترات رئاسيه بانتخابات حرة. يجب أن يتمتع المجلس الانتقالي بفترة محدودة لا تزيد عن السنة الواحدة يقود البلاد فيها لانتخابات رئاسية وبرلمانية حرة.
الطريق إلى الحرية ليس بالسهل و يتطلب الكثير من العمل والتحضير. أتمنى أن أرى سوريا حرة في القريب العاجل
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
What's Next???
August 10, 2011
So the big question that is circulating between revolution activist is “What's next?” If you haven’t asked that question, you should. Not planning for what happens after the fall of the Syrian regime is like running full speed to the edge of a cliff. If you don’t plan for the moment after you cross the edge of the cliff, chances are you will regret your lack of planning on your way to an undesirable end.
So what happens when the Syrian dictator is toppled? For those who adore him, it is an unfathomable question. For the rest of us who want to taste freedom, it is a question that we must answer and take the steps necessary to be ready for. If the Presidential Palace is vacated and no one is ready to step in, the country will fall into further chaos. This is not an outcome we want. So, WHAT’s NEXT!!!
The decision of who fills the presidency and other governmental posts should be made by activist inside and outside of Syria. Here is one mechanism of putting together a Transitional Authority for Syria. The Organizing Committees in each governance should elect between them a number of individuals that they can present to the Transitional Authority. That number could be five, ten, or any other number that is deemed appropriate. Activist outside of Syria should elect another number of representatives from each continent. Those elected by governance or by continent will then vote amongst themselves to create the Transitional Authority’s governing board. It is my opinion that those elected to the Transitional Authority must not have any political ambitions, run for any office, or be appointed to any position until at least the third free presidential election of the country. Also, the Transitional Authority must have a limited time, not to exceed one year, to run a presidential and parliamentarian election and to hand power over to a freely elected president and parliament.
The road to freedom is not easy. It is also a road that requires a lot of planning. I hope to see Syria free in the very near future.
Mohamed T. Khairullah
The writer is a Syrian born an Aleppo. He currently lives in the US and serves as the Mayor of the Borough of Prospect Park, New Jersey.