Waḥda, Ḥurriyya, Ishtirākiyya () is a Ba'athist slogan and key tenet associated with the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. The slogan served as the national motto of Ba'athist Syria from 1963 to 2024 and

Ba'athist Iraq Ba'athist Iraq, officially the Iraqi Republic (1968–1992) and later the Republic of Iraq (1992–2003), was the Iraqi state between 1968 and 2003 under the one-party rule of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region, Iraqi regional bra ...

from 1968 to 1991. The slogan expresses the basic principles of the Ba'ath Party, reflecting its

revolutionary A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates for, a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective to describe something producing a major and sudden impact on society. Definition The term—bot ...

, Arab socialist, and pan-Arabist doctrine.

History

The slogan was coined by

Michel Aflaq Michel Aflaq (‎, ; 9 January 1910 – 23 June 1989) was a Syrian philosopher, sociology, sociologist and Arab nationalism, Arab nationalist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of Ba'athism and its political movement; he ...

, who believed in a necessary revolutionary transformation of Arab society toward the goals of unity, freedom, and socialism. "Unity" stood for the creation of an independent, strong, unified Arab nation. "Freedom" or "liberty" did not mean

liberal democracy Liberal democracy, also called Western-style democracy, or substantive democracy, is a form of government that combines the organization of a democracy with ideas of liberalism, liberal political philosophy. Common elements within a liberal dem ...

, but rather freedom from colonial oppression and

freedom of speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The rights, right to freedom of expression has been r ...

and

thought In their most common sense, the terms thought and thinking refer to cognitive processes that can happen independently of sensory stimulation. Their most paradigmatic forms are judging, reasoning, concept formation, problem solving, and de ...

. "Socialism" on the other hand did not mean

socialism Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

as defined in the

Western world The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to various nations and state (polity), states in Western Europe, Northern America, and Australasia; with some debate as to whether those in Eastern Europe and Latin America also const ...

, but rather a unique form of

Arab socialism Arab socialism () is a political ideology based on the combination of pan-Arabism or Arab nationalism and socialism. The term "Arab socialism" was coined by Michel Aflaq, the principal founder of Ba'athism and the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Part ...

. Aflaq believed that the Ba'ath Party would rule and guide the people as a vanguard party in a transitional period of time without consulting the people. According to Ba'athist thought, socialism had originated under the rule of the

Islamic prophet Prophets in Islam () are individuals in Islam who are believed to spread God's message on Earth and serve as models of ideal human behaviour. Some prophets are categorized as messengers (; sing. , ), those who transmit divine revelation, mos ...

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

. Both Syria and Iraq under Ba'athist rule adopted a variant of the Arab Liberation Flag as their national flag, featuring three green stars which represented the three core pillars of Ba'athism: unity, freedom, and socialism. The slogan of Unity, Freedom, Socialism was also used during the 1969 Libyan revolution that was led by colonel

Muammar Gaddafi Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi (20 October 2011) was a Libyan military officer, revolutionary, politician and political theorist who ruled Libya from 1969 until Killing of Muammar Gaddafi, his assassination by Libyan Anti-Gaddafi ...

Meaning

Unity

The Ba'ath Party saw the creation of a single Arab nation as a basis for a working methodology. It rejected nationalist parties within individual Arab states, viewing them as negative, limited, and ultimately futile. It also opposed

imperialism Imperialism is the maintaining and extending of Power (international relations), power over foreign nations, particularly through expansionism, employing both hard power (military and economic power) and soft power (diplomatic power and cultura ...

in all its forms, including

Zionism Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

, and denounced racial and ethnic discrimination. Ba'athists also advocated for a secular state where religion and state were separated, promoting religious tolerance while allowing religious life and values to thrive.

Freedom or Liberty

Freedom or liberty was understood as the liberation of the

Arab world The Arab world ( '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, comprises a large group of countries, mainly located in West Asia and North Africa. While the majority of people in ...

from both

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

colonialism Colonialism is the control of another territory, natural resources and people by a foreign group. Colonizers control the political and tribal power of the colonised territory. While frequently an Imperialism, imperialist project, colonialism c ...

and indirect

neocolonialism Neocolonialism is the control by a state (usually, a former colonial power) over another nominally independent state (usually, a former colony) through indirect means. The term ''neocolonialism'' was first used after World War II to refer to ...

. Aflaq defined freedom as "freedom from the outside, against the foreigner, the imperialist; and freedom inside, opposite oppressive rulers." While some scholars interpret this as merely independence from external domination, Ba'athist principles were broader and emphasized that the party "believes freedom of speech, freedom of association, and freedom of worship and art to be sacred; no government can impair them."

Socialism

Both Michel Aflaq and Salah al-Din al-Bitar rejected the

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

interpretation of

, deeming it "unsuitable to the Arabs." They argued that

extended beyond basic material needs, such as food, shelter, and clothing, emphasizing the liberation of human potential and creativity. Ba'athists contended that these objectives would be obtained by revolution.

Order of importance

The founding fathers of Ba'athist thought disagreed with each other on the importance of each of the three components of the slogan. While

Zaki al-Arsuzi Zaki al-Arsuzi (; June 18992 July 1968) was a Syrian philosopher, philologist, sociologist, historian, and Arab nationalist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of Ba'athism and its political movement. He published several b ...

put freedom first, Michel Aflaq argued that all three were important, but unity had "priority and greater moral weight and the ranks of the Ba'ath cannot ignore that fact." The order Aflaq proposed was the one that went forward.

Criticism

After the

fall of the Assad regime On 8 December 2024, the Assad regime collapsed during a 2024 Syrian opposition offensives, major offensive by Syrian opposition, opposition forces. The offensive was spearheaded by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and supported mainly by the Turk ...

in Syria,

Sami Moubayed Sami Moubayed (; born 16 July 1978) is a Syrians, Syrian historian and writer whose works cover the modern history of Damascus from the late Ottoman period until the creation of the United Arab Republic in 1958. In 2017, he co-founded the Da ...

, a Damascus-based historian and writer, said that both the Iraqi and

Syrian Syrians () are the majority inhabitants of Syria, indigenous to the Levant, most of whom have Arabic, especially its Levantine and Mesopotamian dialects, as a mother tongue. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend ...

branches of the Ba'ath Party failed to live up to their slogan of "Unity, Freedom, and Socialism." He remarked, "There was never unity, let alone freedom. Their socialism amounted to disastrous

nationalization Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with p ...

s."

References

Notes

{{Ba'ath Party National mottos Ba'athism Ba'ath Party National symbols of Iraq National symbols of Syria Arab nationalist symbols Socialist symbols