Oppression is the seed of extremism. The Syrian regime has planted so much oppression, and has started to reap deep political and religious radicalism, heralding the difficulty of the stage which will follow Bashar al-Assad's fall. Since the first press conference of advisor Butheina Chaaban, a few days after the eruption of the Syrian revolution in Daraa, talk started circulating regarding the Salafi Emirate, the Arab and foreign Jihadists and the Takfiri gang, at a time when Ghayyath Matar and other peaceful activists were distributing flowers to the soldiers. This was a self-fulfilling prophecy, whose wide spread was allowed by the ruling security-military-familial system in place. In addition, the regime's efforts were fruitful, as they pushed the revolution towards armament and militarization, and caused the opposition to raise the level of its rhetoric to such an extent that the calls for dialogue and reform became meaningless in the face of the methodic and well-planned killing and torture, which surpassed any sick imagination and are still being practiced by the regime's men. This reality not only led to the violent and drastic rejection of the state established by the Baath Party based on arbitrary measures, violence and the unleashing of the thugs on Syrian society, but also to the rejection of all the aspects of the state and the authority. This reached the point where some are pledging to fight "the civil democratic state" which those advocating the "hypocritical project" might be trying to impose in Syria in the post-Assad phase, in a childish regression to the fictive times of purity and chastity. The names of the brigades and divisions of the Free Army which are all drawn from religious heritage, the calls for the establishment of an Islamic state by a number of brigades in Aleppo, the activities of the Al-Nusra Front and its defense by opposition figures and forces that are distant from the religious movement after the American administration placed the Front on the list of terrorist organizations, and the establishment of the Ansar al-Khilafa Brigade, are not mere details along the course of the Syrian revolution. Indeed, the insane oppression practiced by the regime fell onto a hollow social entity, deprived of all forms of expression and free thinking. Hence, it was natural for the reactions to rely on the traditional cultural and moral baggage, which might not – at its core – differ from the baggage of the exclusionist regime. But things can change. And while phenomena such as the Al-Nusra Front are prone to expand and to find people to justify their actions, this does not mean that their hegemony over the course of the revolution and the future of the Syrian people during the upcoming stages should be accepted, or that their shortsighted vision of the relations with the ethnic and religious components that are an inherent part of Syria and whose legitimate presence is unquestionable should be tolerated. Despite the apparent "news corridors" which the Syrian revolution had to cross, including militarization and the exploitation of religion as an ideological backing in the face of the regime, this does not spare the Syrian opposition from its major responsibility, in containing the nihilistic tendencies of some forces in it and by contributing to the accomplishment of the task which was launched by Al-Assad's regime in its war against Syrian society in order to eliminate it. We must not reach a stage in which the leaders of the Syrian security bodies can quote the European Socialists when they said "Bismarck is carrying out our missions." It is from that angle that the Syrian revolution is exceeding its primary arena and turning into the most important tool in changing the Arab Levant and drawing up its image for many decades to come. Therefore, the Syrian oppositionists are not only leading change in their own country, while the Syrian revolution – which is the deepest and most drastic among all the other Arab spring revolutions – will enter history as the event that paved the way before a new qualitative stage in the region. And this is exactly what makes it so difficult and what makes it the object of so many hopes.
