Amid the transformations unfolding across the Syrian landscape, a fundamental question arises: How can we build a state from the ashes of destruction and the fragments of memory?
At the Syrian Future Movement, we do not view the state-building project as merely a technical plan or an administrative working paper. Rather, we believe it is a comprehensive, historic national project rooted in planting a clear vision, mobilizing the latent energies of the people, and crafting a future that unites both hope and action.
First: Planting the Vision Before Engineering the Institutions
The starting point for any state-building project is not infrastructure or drafting laws, but rather the cognitive foundation and intellectual vision.
We are not merely rebuilding institutions; we are redefining the fundamental purposes of the state: Why do we want a state? For which people? And with what values?
The vision proposed by the Syrian Future Movement is based on the following:
- Equal citizenship as the foundation of the relationship between the individual and the state, without religious, ethnic, or regional discrimination.
- Transitional justice as a gateway to reconciliation—not compromise—preserving rights and holding criminals accountable, without neglecting the requirements of civil peace.
- A participatory, non-centralized state that acknowledges the diversity of Syrians and grants them a voice in determining their local destiny.
- A unifying Syrian identity that transcends sectarian and partial affiliations toward an inclusive national and civilizational belonging.
We believe that planting this vision requires rebuilding social awareness, reexamining historical narratives, and cleansing curricula and discourse of authoritarian and exclusionary residues.
Second: Mobilizing the People — From Silent Public to Active Partner
There can be no state without a people, and no renaissance project without masses who believe, participate, and hold accountable.
Thus, the transformation from a “public” to a “political people” is the core challenge we adopt. This is achieved through:
- Empowering civil society to play its role as the guarantor of individual rights and the driver of reform demands.
- Ensuring fundamental freedoms—especially freedom of expression, press, and assembly—so that criticism becomes a tool for reform, not a pretext for treason.
- Energizing youth potential by integrating them into political life and providing platforms for real influence over public policies.
- Elevating political awareness from familial and sectarian loyalties to national belonging, and from fear to participation.
People are not moved only by hunger, but by the sense that their voice makes a difference, that their dignity is preserved, and that their future lies in their own hands.
Third: Shaping the Future — From the Dream’s Imagination to Policy Reality!
The future is not something to await—it must be actively shaped.
And shaping it requires a comprehensive forward-looking vision, not temporary patchwork fixes!
At the Syrian Future Movement, we do not settle for restoring a collapsed state. Rather, we strive to design a new state from the ruins of the old—one that:
- Is governed by institutions, not individuals; by constitutions, not whims.
- Appoints based on competence, not loyalty.
- Leads a knowledge revolution in education, media, and political thought, reshaping the nation’s collective consciousness.
- Opens up to the world with balance, preserving its national decision-making independence—without dependency or isolation.
The future of Syria will not be drawn in closed rooms, but at transparent dialogue tables among its people, in vibrant parliaments, elected councils, and a just legal environment.
Conclusion: From Revolution to Statehood
The Syrian revolution was a moment in which the people reclaimed their voice—but true victory is only fulfilled by building the state that protects and expresses that voice.
At the Syrian Future Movement, we regard the project of state-building as the culmination of the people’s struggle—not a break from it. It is a project that cannot be built in a single day, but rather demands:
- Strategic patience,
- Leadership with intellectual and moral depth,
- A national alliance that places the public good above narrow interests.
The Syria we dream of is not a repetition of a bygone era, but the birth of a new homeland—whose vision is planted in collective consciousness, whose people move with determination, and whose future is built with the minds of its men, the hands of its youth, and the nurture of its women.
Dr. Zaher Baadarani
Presidency office
Article
Syrian Future Movement (SFM)
