Prominent exiled opposition figure Michel Kilo died of Covid-19 on Monday in Paris after a lifetime of peaceful struggle against Baath party rule in Syria, colleagues said.

Kilo, who turned 80 last year, was a key player in efforts to form a credible non-violent alternative to President Bashar al-Assad’s regime during the early stages of the conflict that erupted a decade ago.

“A great loss. Professor Michel Kilo departed us today after he was infected with Covid-19,” senior opposition figure Nasr Hariri wrote in a statement.

“Michel was an intellectual and patriotic powerhouse and his dream was to see a free and democratic Syria. God willing, the Syrian people will carry on this dream and see it through,” he said.

Kilo, who was also a writer, was born in 1940 to a Christian family in Syria’s Mediterranean town of Latakia, a bastion of the Assad family’s Alawite minority.

He spent several in prison under the rule of Hafez al-Assad and of his son Bashar. In exile, Kilo had been living in France. (AFP)

Kilo’s last message to the Syrian people from his sickbed on April 8.

To the Syrian people that I cherish, and belong to. To Syrian young women and men, our hope for the future: These are exhortations from my heart, my experience, and my hope for a better future for all Syrians:

No goal but freedom will set you free, so stick to it, in every big and small, and never give up on it, because in it alone is the death of tyranny, for life is the meaning of freedom, and there is no meaning for life without freedom. This is the instruction our people had and still need the most, to regain themselves, assert their identity, and realize the meaning of the word citizenship in our homeland.

Do not rate your people and your country through your passions, ideologies and identities, immediate, narrow and superficial, but look at all of that, through your people and your homeland, a factor of richness, enrichment, interaction, complementarity and solidarity, so meet those who disagree with you, far from your identity or ideological biases that were portrayed as an enemy while the enemy of all of us is tyranny that has robbed us of our rights and freedoms.

You will not beat tyranny individually or as separate .. You will not conquer it if you do not unite in a national framework and in a common word, and I mean an unifying national vision. A non-identity and non-ideological vision, in your unity is your salvation, so manage that, defeating all vulnerabilities, prejudices and personal accounts And categorization, whatever its type, or classification.

With a view to become a unified nation, our daughters and sons have to adopt national standards, and reject opposing and retaliatory mentalities in looking at each other and on yourselves. Societies do not become societies according to that, but rather they become truly societies by means of a clear, specific, and transparent social contract equal to Between all citizens vis-à-vis the state and before the law, and guarantees their rights, freedoms and dignities. This is what the regime has tried to prevent over the past decades, and this is what we must strive for, namely the transformation into a state of citizens, and the transformation into a society, that is, into a truly people, and in every sense of the word.

You will not become a unified nation as long as the (Bashar) al-Assad’s regime remains, and as long as it can manipulate you. Rather, you will continue to pay large regional and international prices for the sake of your freedom, so do not hesitate to push the steps in order to get rid of it completely, and come at the forefront of that unity, to isolate this regime and to get a permanent escape.

Rally around those with knowledge, thought, and noble positions among you. You have many of them. Listen to them and take what they suggest, and do not underestimate an experienced thinker, for it is part of your wealth, your symbolic wealth, and part of your history.

The splendid, courageous and patient Syrian woman deserves all the appreciation and gratitude, for she is the one who gave the Syrian revolution its special and distinct character, from its beginnings, and offered everything she could, in terms of sacrifices and heroics. Therefore, we cannot build a new Syria without a natural position for the Syrian woman, which guarantees her rights and her sublime position in society. This is the least appreciation for our mothers, sisters, wives and daughters, for they are a title for life and dignity.

Greetings to the brave young men of Syria who broke the clout of the regime with their daring demonstrations that confronted the clubs of the Shabiha and the bullets of the security services in their peaceful demonstrations, throughout Syria’s cities, towns and villages, and all the love for the children of our children who were deprived of their childhood and their countenance, this is what we tried for a better future for them.

A lot of appreciation and gratitude to all other groups of the Syrian people, teachers, doctors, media professionals, intellectuals, clerics, engineers, workers, farmers, and all those who played an honorable and pioneering role in resisting the Assad regime, and in the struggle for the freedom and dignity of our people.

Please, do not view your private interests as incompatible with the public interest, as they are part, or must be part, of it. How important is it for a person to achieve some special interest in a situation in which he is in a sinking or turbulent ship? Public safety, general prosperity and equality for all Syrians are the best guarantees for our prosperity and our personal development.

Adopt concrete, clear and resilient foundations for the state that accommodate everyone, Arabs, Kurds, Circassians, Turkmen, and Armenians, and all ethnicities and components, you will walk on, and they will not be subject to disagreement between you, even if their readings differ for you, because its stability guarantees the stability of the state on which the success of the revolution will depend, foundations based on freedom, equal citizenship and democracy, this is what guarantees the rights of everyone, and justice for all, to build a future Syria.

Do not ever forget that Palestine is a part of our basic issues. Palestine is an issue of freedom, dignity and justice, and the cause of our people is also, as well, and these lofty values ​​are indivisible. Our struggle with the people of Palestine is part of our struggle against tyranny, and vice versa. Let the restoration issue of the (Occupied) Golan Heights remain at the top of our national agenda.

Our revolution has not been able to achieve its goals due to internal troubles and external dependencies. Our people have paid dearly for the past ten years. However, the (Assad) regime, along with the Iranian and Russian allies, did not win. Let us preserve our determination, and our desire to recover our Syria, by ridding ourselves of this system that has confiscated more than half a century of our country’s history.

Our people deserve peace, freedom and justice. The best and most beautiful Syria awaits you. (Zaman Al Wasl)