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Syria’s Role Among the New ‘Arab Culture Centers’

A very interesting piece was recently published on Al Monitor by Sultan Saood al-Qassemi. In it he makes the claim that Gulf cities are the new “centers of the Arab world,” and according to him they have usurped the position traditionally held by cities like Cairo, Damascus and Baghdad. Where do Damascus, and Syria, now fit?

Written by Maysaloon Published on Read time Approx. 3 minutes

Sultan’s piece triggered a wave of debate and indignation both online and offline about what it is that a “center” of anything should be, and about whether culture is something that can be bought or imported. Certainly history is full of nations that have had considerable cultural and scientific boosts at the expense of other countries undergoing crisis, whether it is the U.S. or Russia following World War II, or the Arab countries during the European Dark Ages almost 1,000 years ago. But what is simply most striking about this whole debate is its absurdity.

Let us take a look at this Arab world that the Gulf states are now said to be the center of. We have countries like Syria and Libya undergoing a national trauma as they struggle to overthrow vicious dictatorship, and other countries such as Yemen and Egypt that are still simmering after their failed revolutions. In one sense, it is true that the Gulf states offer a modicum of stability and prosperity in a violent and politically unstable region.

But let us not forget that the Arab Spring was sparked by an impoverished street seller who set himself on fire in sheer desperation. What we really need is less talk about grand Arabian cultural and political revivals and more talk about these simple acts of suicidal rebellion by small people, acts that are forgotten almost as soon as they occur.

I don’t think we should even pause over whether or not the Gulf cities constitute the new “centers” of an Arab world when we consider at what cost this might have come. Throughout the entire Arab world, but especially in the Gulf countries, many migrants – in particular from Southeast Asia – live and work under appalling conditions. From the Emirates we read recently about the “Dark Side of Dubai” and in Qatar we hear stories of migrant workers from Nepal working in conditions of near slavery as the World Cup 2022 deadline looms.

The Arab disease of prestige and desperation for recognition meant that the Formula One races continued as planned only weeks after protests throughout Bahrain were stamped down with extreme severity and after heavy criticism by Western human-rights groups. It is as if there is among a certain class of people in the Arab world a chronic case of cognitive dissonance. These people lament or weep over the lost glory of Andalucia and the perceived injustice they have suffered over the centuries, and yet seem incapable of treating the maids in their own homes with the dignity any human being deserves.

Then there are the “Champagne Arab socialists” who only see Palestine but have paid little attention to the suffering of Syrians or Libyans under brutal and (in Gaddafi’s case) virtually insane dictatorships. They burst with indignation if somebody mentions the treatment of women or sexual minorities in the region. Only recently some Gulf states have announced controversial plans to somehow “screen” for homosexuals when they arrive into the country, and Saudi Arabia simply bans women from driving.

As a Syrian and a member of the “old Arab center” I might try to argue that such countries are not fit to be new centers. But frankly I have as little right to champion the “old” when I come from a country where you can be shot or tortured if you oppose Assad. Furthermore, what could a person from Cairo or Baghdad add when we hear of chronic sexual abuse in Cairo’s streets and “virginity tests” forced upon protesters by the state apparatus, or when Baghdad is romanticized and yet we forget the sadistic rule of Saddam Hussein while lamenting the “stability” he offered.

Finally, I need only mention the tragic fate of Arabs and 100 other nationalities as they risk everything in a suicidal dash for a better life in Europe across the Mediterranean, a sea that once connected the region and is now used as a barrier.

I don’t know why we choose to remain so delusional. Perhaps this disease of denial is one that is regional rather than ethnic. One need only look at Israel and Iran, two countries supposedly at loggerheads, and yet more similar than they would both care to admit. I don’t know.

Frankly I couldn’t care less which city was the cultural centre of this “Arab world.” You can keep your “culture” and your cardboard cut-out cities, your history and your glorious past, good luck to you. I don’t want any of that when human beings can’t even live in our countries with the most basic elements of the human dignity that is their right.

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