Interviews with Ammar Abdulhamid

It´s no longer about the revolution. Now it´s about the state. We have gotten to the point where the transition is beginning. We have to think as state builders now. We have to think as statesmen, not as gun-toting revolutionaries. The rebels did the job. Now they expect us to provide guidance and vision for the future that can allow this fragmented entity that´s Syria to become whole again. That requires political skills. This requires negotiations. This requires pragmatic thinking. This requires a plan.

We cannot keep fooling ourselves and saying that we can produce this vision on our own. A vision for a country, in order for it to be legitimate, has to include a dialogue between all constituent members of that country, between all the communities, between all the regions. And it cannot take place behind closed doors. This kind of a dialogue about the future of a country and the vision of a people has to be done publically. Because the people are part of it.

We need them to legitimate the final vision when it comes and it´s put forth. So we really cannot shy away from the word “political solution.” It´s not an either/or, either military struggle to the end or political solution, it´s both. We can, however, create this parallel process of dialogue. We can tell the international community, “Look, we´re ready. We are ready to dialogue on a new vision for Syria, on a new structure for Syria, on a new administrative entity, a new system for ruling Syria.”

We are going to negotiate with all of the relevant forces. We are going to negotiate with the Kurds represented by all of the major parties. We are going to negotiate with the regime represented by its people. We are going to sit down with other opposition groups who have different points of view. All of us, we are willing to talk about these issues.

It´s not going to be easy, but this is what international mediation is all about. Give the chance to the international mediators to work. Don´t just tell them, “No, no, no, no, no.” At one point in the beginning, no was right, because it was not you know, the international community wanted to negotiate at a time when the regime would´ve given very little, you know? Because facts on the ground were such, you know, they didn´t need to give us much. But now, our position is far stronger. And as I said, we have actually toppled the regime.

We´re negotiating about the future of Syria now, not the future of the revolution. So we are in a better position. We can negotiate from a position of strength. And this is what we should be doing instead of thinking into, you know sinking into this emotional sort of responses of an either/or mentality feeling that if we are going to negotiate, that means we´re turning our back on the revolution. And it´s not true at all.

So this is when the time where statesmen really emerge. This is what we need. So right now, we are consigning ourselves in this way to being only a group among other groups. And we are consigning ourselves to the fragmentation of Syria. So we need to rise above that.

Ammar Abdulhamid is a Syrian human rights activist who in 2003 founded the Tharwa Foundation, a grassroots organization that enlists local activists and citizen journalists to document conditions in Syria. In response to his activities, the Syrian government subjected Abdulhamid to repeat interrogation and threats. In September 2005, he and his family were forced into exile in the United States. From his home in Maryland, Abdulhamid remains one of the leading bloggers and commentators on events in Syria through the Syrian Revolution Digest.

Follow Ammar Ahbdulhamid on Twitter @Tharwacolamus and on his blog, Syrian Revolution Digest.