When people emerge from the furnace of wars and conflicts and their revolutions triumph, it is not enough for the sound of the cannons to be silenced for life to return to normal. There are wounds in memory and betrayals in history that cannot be restored by simply signing an agreement or exchanging apologies.
Justice is not revenge; it is a necessity for the oppressed to be reassured that their voice is heard, and for the executioner to realize that his time has passed, irrevocably.
Hence, the need for the Political Isolation Law stems from this imperative step. This step prevents the symbols of the former regime from returning to political life and gives society a chance to catch its breath, build its institutions, and regain its self-confidence.
Just five years is enough for the national body to be healed of the toxins of the past and for a new spirit to sprout within it, untainted by the grip of the Baath Party, the eyes of its security services, its executioners, and the ragtag group of hypocritical, chameleons, whose evil is no less than that of those who carried a rifle.
How many people have died because of a word, how many victims have fallen as a result of a complaint to the security services, and how many applause from these people has increased the killing and torture of the criminal Assad, who is a mentally ill, sadistic criminal.
We are not demanding the Nuremberg trials or gallows in public squares, but rather a minimum of justice. Those who did not defect from the executioner during times of crisis, and who continued to beautify their crimes and consolidate their rule, cannot be awarded the Medal of Patriotism today, nor can they be remarketed under the pretext of "working behind enemy lines."
Fourteen full years have passed, and they have not extended their hand to the people when they were falling martyred in the streets. So how can they now claim to have been coordinating from behind the scenes? That is a mirage-like illusion, pursued by the thirsty, only to find nothing but deception.
The most dangerous thing facing people emerging from tyranny is not only material ruin, but the danger of reproducing the executioners in new garb. When those with dirty hands are allowed to enter the present through the gate of politics, they do not enter alone. Rather, the entire past enters with them, with its tools, methods, and heavy odor.
There is no trust in those who betrayed the hour of trial. There is no covenant with those who mortgaged the homeland to remain so. Political isolation is not hatred; rather, it is love of the homeland and a desire to ensure that the state is built on sound foundations, not on the rubble of betrayal.
Just as wounds are cleansed before they heal, politics must be purged of the remnants of tyranny before democracy can be built. Otherwise, we will replant the seeds of destruction in a land that is still bleeding.
Establishing a clear law on political isolation is a national matter, and its enactment is a moral victory and a guarantee for the future.
Mohamed Rafa' Abu Hawa
Zaman Al Wasl
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