On January 3, German International Minister Annalena Baerbock and French International Minister Jean-Noel Barrot travelled to Damascus to satisfy with Syria’s interim chief Ahmad al-Sharaa. The go to got here lower than a month after the sudden downfall of probably the most violent regimes within the Arab world – the Baathist dictatorship of President Bashar al-Assad.
There are a myriad of points on the agenda of Syrian-European relations, not least regional stability, financial restoration, post-war justice and reconciliation, the refugee disaster and so forth.
And but, Western media selected to deal with al-Sharaa’s resolution to greet Baerbock with a nod and a smile as a substitute of extending his hand to her, in observance of Muslim non secular norms. Western media pundits characterised the incident as “a scandal” and a “snub”.
A Politico editorial went so far as suggesting that minutiae like shaking fingers ought to develop into the brand new “litmus take a look at” on how “average” a Muslim chief actually is. Within the identify of inclusivity, the Politico piece implied that religious male Muslim leaders like al-Sharaa ought to be pressured to shake ladies’s fingers – no matter what their faith instructs – or else, it ought to set off “alarm bells” within the West. The outdated adage “when in Rome, do because the Romans do” has develop into “when in Syria, do because the Germans and French do”.
As a Syrian American whose father was exiled from Syria for 46 years and whose household pals have been tortured and killed by the al-Assad regime, I discover the Western “litmus take a look at” of Arab management laden with contradictions and easily offensive.
I ponder the place was media’s fury when the British royal, Prince Edward, defined he most well-liked non-physical contact with extraordinary Brits attempting to greet him? Ought to we provide grace when the motive is private choice and anger when the motive is non secular observance?
It isn’t shocking that Western media is attempting to impose Western cultural values as the brand new litmus take a look at for the “moderation” of Muslim Arab leaders. It has accomplished so for many years.
As anthropologist Lila Abu-Lughod has argued in her e-book, Do Muslim Ladies Want Saving?, there’s an assumption within the West “that liberal tradition is the acultural norm and ought to be the common normal by which to measure societies. Those that fall brief are the barbarians outdoors the gates…”
The very characterisation of Muslim non secular norms as “excessive” is a symptom of a hegemonic discourse by which Western norms are masked as common ones.
The dangerous information for many who subscribe to this viewpoint is that Western cultural values aren’t as dominant as they might think about. Muslims and Arabs even have company – the company to decide on to watch their non secular values even after they defy the dominant cultural expectations within the West – though we’ve seen a willingness to bend these expectations in relation to British royalty, concern of COVID-19 transmission, and so forth.
The media’s hyperfocus on minutiae – like al-Sharaa’s gown or private mannerisms – seems trite within the context of brutal repression that Syrians have endured for 61 years below the authoritarian Baathist regime.
Syrians have their very own “litmus take a look at” for evaluating their new management, like the federal government’s skill to ship democracy and freedom, restore and enhance civilian infrastructure, unite Syrians and defend constitutional rights, not whether or not male authorities members shake the fingers of girls. Most urgently, Syrians are involved about their new management’s skill to steer the nation in the direction of peace, prosperity and stability.
Half of the Syrian inhabitants is at the moment displaced and greater than 90 p.c of the individuals inside Syria reside beneath the poverty line. There are excessive shortages of meals, water, and electrical energy. Unemployment is rife and the financial system is in tatters.
Then there’s additionally the trauma of residing by means of a 13-year-long civil struggle and 61-year-long authoritarian rule.
There may be not a single Syrian household I do know that has not misplaced members of the family or pals to al-Assad’s brutal repressive regime. My childhood pals misplaced their father, Majd Kamalmaz, a psychotherapist and a US citizen, when he went to pay condolences to his mother-in-law in Syria in 2017. A relative from Aleppo misplaced two teen brothers to torture in al-Assad’s infamous dungeons. My feminine cousin spent a month in an underground jail for passing out bread in a poor neighbourhood in Damascus throughout the civil struggle. Household pals – like Heba al-Dabbagh, who spent 9 years in Syrian jail within the Nineteen Eighties as a result of the regime couldn’t discover her brother – shared harrowing tales of torture.
After struggling for many years below probably the most brutal dictatorships on the planet, Syrians are determined for a brand new starting, holding on to tattered threads of hope. They could have confronted unimaginable horrors – mass killing, torture, systemic rape, repression, and displacement – however they’re no helpless victims. They’ve a transparent imaginative and prescient of the long run they need.
If the Western media desires to get Syria proper, it must observe introspection and recognise how its discourse and expectations could also be formed by many years of hegemonic bias. As an alternative of imposing a Western “litmus take a look at” on Arab leaders, it ought to ask Syrians what they need of their management.
The views expressed on this article are the creator’s personal and don’t essentially mirror Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
