Bashar Al-Assad: 'Our enemies aim at the destruction of Arab identity'

From a speech by the President of Syria, to the 10th regional congress of the Ba'ath Arab Socialist Party, at the Umayyad's Palace in Damascus

The period since the ninth congress in 2000 has witnessed important political events that has put tremendous pressure on Arab citizens and forced them to an unprecedented re-examination of their convictions and ideas. They have had to revisit their basic beliefs, which have been shaken by the storm of dramatic developments that struck our world and our region, which have led to uncertainty of vision, conceptual confusion, to the blurring of the meaning of terminology, and a conflict in values and frames of reference.

The period since the ninth congress in 2000 has witnessed important political events that has put tremendous pressure on Arab citizens and forced them to an unprecedented re-examination of their convictions and ideas. They have had to revisit their basic beliefs, which have been shaken by the storm of dramatic developments that struck our world and our region, which have led to uncertainty of vision, conceptual confusion, to the blurring of the meaning of terminology, and a conflict in values and frames of reference.

This comes amidst a huge influx of information and ideas made possible by the communications and IT revolution, which has made room for theories and projects, as well as lifestyles, that have overwhelmed Arabs and threatened their existence and cultural identity, and has increased the doubts and scepticism in the minds of young Arabs.

The forces behind these events have created an illusory virtual reality that inspires our feelings in a way that drives us in a direction identified by others. This leads in the end to the cultural, political and moral collapse of the Arab individual and his ultimate defeat even without a fight.

The ultimate objective of all this is the destruction of Arab identity; for the enemies of the Arab nation are opposed to our possessing any identity or upholding any creed that could protect our existence and cohesion, guide our vision and direction, or on which we can rely in our steadfastness. They simply aim at transforming us into a negative reactive mass which absorbs everything that is thrown at it without the will or even the possibility of thinking of rejecting or accepting it.

As members of the Ba'ath Party, we should redouble our intellectual efforts and political and cultural effectiveness in order to strengthen our national existence, and protect our cultural identity, and to respond to the fast moving logic of development. There is no contradiction between the two, in contrast to those who believe that divorce from the past is the way to the future, or that living in the past is the way to salvation.