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THE IMPERMANENCE OF POWER
On the night of 6th December 2024, Syrians slept in chains and woke up the next day on the cloud, specifically on cloud nine.
As rebels encircled Damascus, the country’s capital, a decades-long dynasty disintegrated. Who was it that had to scamper down from the high horse of power in Damascus and scurry like a terrified rat, tail between his legs to Moscow? It was Bashar al-Assad, the former strong man of Syria, suddenly reduced to its fleeing scoundrel.
How Syrians wished they could have laid their bare, burning fingers on the spoiled scion of a family complicit in the ruin of one of the world’s most iconic countries, very much like Libyans did with Gaddafi in 2011.
As the volcano of freedom vaporized the barriers of the infamous Saydnaya prison, which a ruthless dictator had turned into his personal holding pen, the prisoners, some of whom were broken by their incarceration, suddenly felt the air of freedom waft in, something they had considered impossible.
The world has also borne witness to how terminal tyranny is. Together with his family, al-Assad has been granted asylum in Russia, a country that seems to be a magnet for all manner of illegalities and fugitives at the moment thanks to extremely ill-informed decision to invade Ukraine in February 2022.
For long-suffering Syrians who have somehow managed albeit painfully to keep their faith through a slow disintegration of their country at the hands of a ruthless dictator who succeeded his father in infamy to serve as Russia’s pawn in the proxy war in his country, it is freedom at last.
There are definitely lessons out of Syria for the world at this time. Territorial sovereignty may be a key cog of international law and relations but in the interest of the most vulnerable of humanity, it must become impossible for dictators that have neither respect for their people nor regard for any principles to hold people to ransom in the name of dubious leadership.
Democracy has many devils driven into its details. For the impatient and impious, democracy may seem a lot of drivel, especially when there is the temptation to hasten things up.
In the history of the world, the most enduring lessons of democracy is that the patience to build institutions, put rules in place and hold people accountable which democracy does expertly have its merits after all.
Without the languid but luminous lines which democracy recites to leaders and the led, haste by dictators masquerading as pragmatists would make waste of society. History is replete with such scoundrels exporting their execrable expediencies and exigencies.
For years, Syrians had watched their country’s fragile institutions come under heavy attack by al-Assad and his supporters.
Now that the dynasty that destroyed everything they held dear for years has been dismantled, they have to pick the pieces and rebuild their country.
They must be determined to move on from the debris of dictatorship and rebuild their beloved country, which had the terrible misfortune of falling into the hands of a debauched Dr. Death.
The rebuilding will be slow, painful and tasking, but it is necessary for the memory of Syrians killed by the regime, for the present generation of Syrians who have survived everything thrown at them and the unborn to whose magisterial promise Syria will be entrusted to.
Crucially, Syrians must remember that vigilance is the price for freedom and must be ready to pay this price. Their unflinching vigilance will protect their country and ensure that its future will become their past.
Now that Satan has finally fled Syria to Russia, another country where devils are in charge, may the long-suffering people of Syria and their many homesick exiles hit the long but luminous path to discovery and recovery.
Kene Obiezu,
