Are Syrians today free?

With the fall of the Assad regime, Syrian men and women breathed a sigh of relief, and long-awaited dreams of freedom stirred within them. Yet the weeks and months that followed this historic moment revealed a bitter truth that is difficult to ignore: the fall of the despot does not necessarily mean the fall of despotism itself. Freedom is not merely the absence of the tyrant from the scene; it is an institutional, cultural, and social structure that requires sustained effort and a deep awareness of the mechanisms of domination and repression that have become embedded in our social and political lives over long decades of organised fear.

Historical experience teaches us that peoples who overthrow their tyrannical rulers without dismantling the deep structures of despotism rooted in society, culture, and the collective consciousness inevitably find themselves captive to new forms of domination and control no less severe than those that came before.

The structures of despotism in Syria were never confined to the security services prisons and torture chambers, despite the horrors they inflicted over more than five decades. Repression penetrated the entire social, cultural, and religious fabric, until blind obedience became a behavioural pattern reproduced in the home, the school, the mosque, the neighbourhood, and the workplace. Many failed to notice that they were practising on others what had been practised on them.

A comprehensive system was established based on an allied triad: political criminalisation, which intimidates anyone who considers dissent and turns the demand for rights into a criminal accusation; religious prohibition, which reinforces submission to the ruler by framing disobedience as a violation of obedience to the legitimate authority; and social exclusion, which deprives dissenters of communal protection and turns them into outcasts.

The new Syrian government today stands before a historic responsibility that does not permit delay. It must prove that it represents a real break with the logic of absolute power that is not held accountable. I observe with deep concern troubling indicators: excessive concentration of authority in the hands of a particular group, increasing marginalisation of differing voices and independent expertise, and unjustified delay in establishing clear mechanisms of accountability.

These indicators remind us that those who triumph in struggles for change often reproduce the practices of those they fought and overthrew. Building a true state of law requires that the ruler be the first subject to the law; that legislative, executive, and judicial powers be truly separated.

Opponents are not exempt from responsibility. The Syrian opposition, which struggled for a long time against repression and despotism, often failed to build an alternative model that embodies the pluralism it advocated. It suffered from repeated divisions, narrow factional, tribal, and partisan loyalties, and some of its structures reproduced the same patterns of centralised authority they sought to dismantle.

International and regional supporters of a new Syria must recognise that freedom is not something that can be imported like consumer goods. Support tied to external agendas does not create a sovereign state with independent decision-making; it produces a new form of dependency. If external powers are serious about supporting Syrians’ transition, they must support the building of independent institutions, an impartial judiciary, an effective and genuine civil society, and a modern education system that fosters critical thinking and active participation in public life. They should also support a real productive economy that unleashes human potential and safeguards dignity, because those who do not possess their daily sustenance cannot possess their freedom.

No discussion of real freedom is complete without addressing the freedom and status of Syrian women. Women who bore the burdens of war, displacement, resilience, and survival, and paid a doubled price in suffering, loss, and sacrifice, now face a real danger of marginalisation once again, in the name of traditions or the priorities of the transitional phase. 

Syrian men and women are not yet free, not because they do not deserve freedom or are incapable of it, but because freedom is not a gift granted from above nor a favour bestowed by a ruler or a party. It is an achievement built daily through effort, awareness, and perseverance. Our country deserves that we undertake this long struggle with patience, determination, and clarity of vision, because the magical salvation some expect from an inspiring leader, a saving party, or great external powers will never come. True freedom is made from within, from the depth of society’s awareness and the core of its just institutions, or it does not exist at all.