If you want to ask the Syrian citizen to do everything necessary to survive (i.e., obtain bread, water, electricity, and kerosene) and at the same time make the revolution, we do not need an economic crisis for people to come out into the street. The theory of economic crisis is thus being mobilized against the revolution. This is because people are within a social mobilization and not ousted from it. For people to be able to come home to some comfort and return [into the streets] anew the next day, they need to be able to find the bare minimum means for living. This is why we were against the notion of an economic crisis that would somehow accomplish the task of the revolution. Economic crisis would do the opposite, as it would limit the stamina of the majority of mobilized people.. This majority would no longer have the energy to do what we ask of it: to secure its necessities, to meet the challenges it faces, and to sustain mass-based mobilization within the context of a political, economic, social, and military siege. In the face of all of this it would not be possible for the revolution to maintain itself. A revolution is not reactionary, nor is it vengeful. We cannot kill a soldier simply because the regime killed three of our family members, one through torture, and the other two during protests. So we do not descend into such a situation, we need to provide the minimum capacity to breathe. This is why the theory of economic crisis is, in reality, a theory of extremism.
We face two dangers: the first is the exacerbation of the economic crisis, and the second is that of violence. If they combine, then the revolution is dead. For thirteen months, violence has been escalating. That is why we said we wanted Kofi Annan, and when we were asked about Kofi Annan we said, “cease fire.” We need to stop the violence to resume the political discourse. We need to once again consider the political solution. During such a political solution, you can have a discussion with everything on the table. Such a discussion should first be held amongst the various sides of the opposition and then with the regime. This is so as to reach a solution with the least amount of losses. The losses we have endured thus far have been immense, and Syria cannot sustain any more. We need to know how to stop paying a human and material cost that is greater than the human and natural capacity of Syria.
