The dictatorship

Syria, the cradle of civilization, the country in the world where once one of the first high cultures aroused, is today a totalitarian, brutal and repressive dictatorship. The educated, dynamic Youth of the country is not allowed to realize and develop their ideas. The far-reaching potential of the people, the culture and the natural resources is not used efficient enough by the ruling class. The many-sided and beautiful country, “the Pearl of the Orient”, is today only a shadow of one`s former self. One of the reasons for this is the dictatorship.

Humans create a state, in order to live secure, which means that they don’t want to live in constant fear of life and property. Therefore they give away their natural freedom (to do everything, what they want). The citizen in the state is not allowed any more to do what he wants. The civil liberty allows him to do everything, if he doesn’t hurt others. The human trades his natural freedom for the civil liberty when he joins a state, in order to live in peace. The civil liberty means, that humans in the state are still permitted to think freely and to pursue their individual goals.

Human beings assign some to reign over them, in order to escape out of the disadvantageous state of war of all against all (Hobbes). The Individuals conclude a contract, by handing over the power to a ruling class(Rousseau). The ruling class is obliged not to abuse the power, but to rule always for the good of the people and to protect the human dignity.

Hereby the state is legitimized, because the majority elects a minority by free elections to reign over them. If however, the ruling class abuses the power, the contract is void and the people have the right and duty to take back the power, to assign a new government. In a dictatorship there is no contract, but some people just take the power, which means that the system is not legitimized through free elections. They are legitimized often afterwards by the ruling class with a special danger or a crisis, that makes it necessary to decide very fast and powerful. In the case of Syria it is called “Emergency”. This however is only a pretext to suspend the fundamental rights of the people and to rule with arbitrariness.

The centering of the power in one person or a small group is always dangerous, because power changes human beings in a negative way. The history gives many examples, where power was abused. Even if the ruler doesn’t use the power for selfish interests, his successor may be not as qualified as he had been. A good single ruler is, however an exception. In the long term a dictatorship is always bad. Assad for instance didn’t have to fight for the power, because he inherited the power. He didn’t have to prove himself, if he was capable of leading the state and he didn’t have to fight for it. This makes him, as an illegalized ruler anyway, even more contemptible.

The power of the dictator is without restrictions and that makes his word the law. There are no binding laws in a dictatorship that secure the rights of every individual. The Dictator is always right, even if he rules against all moral principles. A key principle of a democracy, the separation of powers (Montesquieu), which protects all members of the state and the state itself, does not exist in this system. The separation of powers is a condition for freedom.  The principles of the state are defined by the dictator and it is his right to change them every time he wants to. There is no control over his decisions and principles. The fate of so many people depends on the mood of one single person. He controls everything, from the three branches (executive, legislative, judicative) to the press, media and the education system. He is the total power.

People have to obey the orders of the dictator, because he rules with terror. There is no rule of law, which means that people are arbitrarily arrested, tortured and sentenced to death. People just disappear and the relatives don’t know for years if he/her is still alive. Terror is a key principle of a dictatorship and it is not possible for this system to rule without terror, because the whole state is based on violence and oppression. Violence is in this system a legal method to achieve certain goals and this leads to a moral decline of the people. Bloodthirsty hordes of secret service bully the members of the state and they don’t have any empathy for other human beings anymore, because their job is killing and torturing. They are emotionally dulled and therefore don’t even spare innocent children. Humanity is killed in a dictatorship, because the victims want to take revenge and the people who kill and torture don’t have any humanity left anyway. If you kill a child you also kill the relatives morally. This leads to a circle of violence.

The omnipresence of the secret service creates fear and makes it impossible to trust someone you don’t know. The society is sick, because a parasite terrorizes and supervises the people. Freedom of expression is dangerous and can lead to serious problems.

The dictator rules without restrictions and thinks for everyone; therefore he doesn’t need an educated, responsible people, but only executing organs without own ideas or thoughts. Political Education is dangerous for the power of the dictator, because people then realize the injustice of the system and start to make demands in order to change it. The human being is not free to think by himself, but forced to think the way the system wants him/her to think. There is no independently, mentally development of the individual. Therefore the aim of a dictatorship is always to keep the horizon of the people narrow, so that they don’t make demands. You have to distract the people with stupid things so that they don’t get own ideas and thoughts. Therefore a dictatorship is always against education of the people, which is, however a fundamental right of every human being.

A further indication of a dictatorship is the propaganda, which is used to deceive the people. The propaganda machine creates a godlike figure, often in a grotesque way. The Illusion is created through lies and exaggerations. Because of the visual Omnipresence the dictator is always in the mind of the people. He is like a shadow over the state or an invisibly phantom behind everyone. This is the case in Syria, where behind the shiny façade of the nicely dressed ruler and his beautiful wife the darkness and brutality of the dictatorship hides itself. Inside the shining shell there is a black rotten core. 

All in all the dictatorship is disadvantageous for everyone, except for the dictator and his comrades. Therefore it must be destroyed, in order to create a free, equal and brotherly system, where justice is the key principle above everything. In a free and tolerant environment everyone can find his personal way to happiness and live in peace.

Schiller Ode to Joy:

Courage firm in great suffering,

Help there, where innocence weeps,

Eternally sworn oaths,

Truth towards friend and foe,

Mens’ pride before kings’ thrones --

Brothers, even if it costs property and blood, --

The crowns to those who earn them,

Defeat to the lying brood!