The religious and ethnic minorities are entitled to preserve their unique identities, and even struggle to keep their cultures, languages and traditions alive. They are also entitled to feel concerned in times of major conflicts and drastic transformations, which feature the threat of seeing the histories of groups – that lived for thousands of years in the areas witnessing this renewed turmoil – completely erased. But what is happening today with the attempts to establish equivalence between religious minorities and political minorities, is extremely dangerous and undermines the basic meanings of politics, the state, and democracy. This is due to the fact that the expression by the various groups of their interests and opinions eliminates individuals as essential units of the political process. And this is where the flaw resides in any national structure whose members want to belong to their epoch. Indeed, 19th century European nationalism ended after achieving its historical purpose in shaping the nation states. Politics then went back to being an individual-based practice, through the voluntary selection by individuals of their inclinations and representatives. In our regions however, and during the times of the Arab revolutions, regimes and states are trying to exploit the legitimate fears of minorities to stop the course of history. They thus want to build an alliance of sectarian minorities, which would become implicated in a futile confrontation with a majority that does not have the required ideological rhetoric and internal cohesion to act as a clear-cut political entity. And based on methodic misleading that reached a scandalous level, there is a wish to depict the minorities as being an endangered species, which necessitates a special action in their favor regardless of the fact that they have faced and are still facing their share of threats, just like the majority. In Syria for example, the Daraya, Jdeidet al-Fadl and Houla massacres among others, along with the use of chemical weapons against Otaybeh, Homs and Khan al-Assal, are considered to be ordinary events as long as the dead and the losses are afflicting the majority. But the simplest incident which affects a member of the country's minorities provokes wide-scale reactions, prompts the intervention of the superpowers and pushes towards the exertion of pressures on the Syrian opposition to reassure these minorities, not only in Syria, but also in Lebanon, Iraq and Egypt. One should say that nowadays, the reassurance of the minorities is not the primary task. Indeed, the Arab revolutions broke out to render all people equal citizens at the level of their rights and obligations, including the minorities and majorities. It is thus essential for these minorities to stop acting as panicked victims and start participating in the efforts aiming to draw up their countries' future as citizens enjoying their full rights. Moreover, they should not succumb to obscurantism and backwardness, regardless of the side practicing them. Hence, it would be a crime, mainly against the minorities, to remain silent towards the dubious exaggeration seen at the level of the separation of their causes from those of the remaining citizens, in the presence of agendas prepared by regional powers that are duping these minorities with slogans related to the defense of the holy sites and the preservation of diversity and differentiation vis-à-vis the remaining components. The local minority leaders might not be in control over the situation and might be forced – under the pretext of Vileyat-e Faqih or to serve futile personal ambitions – to succumb to dictations reaching them from afar. However, these minorities must reconsider their priorities, interests, and perception of the region in which they want to live. It is useless to say at this level that the recollection of the slogans and discourse of the seventh and eighth centuries (first and second centuries Hijri) merely aims to tamper with the feelings of the simple people, who are pushing their children towards death, although the current events in the region are not a retaliation for what happened in Karbala or a continuation of the Arab conquests. More importantly, remaining in the court of sectarian and ethnic groups, whether they are a majority or a minority, will lead to a catastrophe which will not spare anyone. The road towards salvation goes through the hastening of the fall of the tyrannical regimes and the building of a modern state based on free citizens who are aware of their rights and obligations.
