A few months ago I went to Syria as a tourist, to visit my wife’s cousin, who is teaching in Damascus. I had a very good time (in stark contrast to an unpleasant trip to Morocco) and since then I’ve been trying to sort out my experience. What have I to say about that most controversial of matters—the Arab world, and an Arab dictatorship—based on my personal experience as a tourist? What does my truly enjoyable trip mean, compared, say to the neoconservative view that Syria is evil (put forth by Paul Berman in Terror and Liberalism, and by David Frum and Richard Perle in An End to Evil)?
Here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to post an entry now on my impressions of Syria. Then I’m going to post an entry in which I talk to Josh Landis, a professor at Oklahoma U. who is on my side (the left, though more centrist than me) and one of the leading experts on Syria, having lived there and married a Syrian.
So. My impressions:
—I went all over Syria and the people were gracious everywhere I went, hospitable in the way that Arabs are famous for. When I got lost in Damascus, people invariably went out of their way to escort me to the right place, often speaking English. They also wanted to have political conversations at every turn, and to put down Bush and America. Of course, these people have witnessed (I witnessed some of it myself) a lot of suffering from Iraq, the spillover of hundreds of thousands of refugees often with horrifying tales of murder and kidnapping. “The Arab street,” which I engaged with whenever I could, was genuinely enraged about American policy. And, yes: they feel completely misunderstood by us.
—The English-language newspaper, The Syria Times, was full of anti-Israel talk. It was the major theme of the paper, to show America and Israel in a corrupt alliance, and sometimes had an anti-Semitic flavor. This tended to support the claim I’d heard from Jewish critics in America, that these dictatorships rely upon stoking anti-Israel feeling to distract their people from their own political problems. I’d add that in a number of conversations with ordinary people I said I was Jewish, and got a neutral or friendly response.
—I was surprised by how little evidence I saw of militarism. There were few police in the streets, no soldiers that I can remember, except for a couple of guys with semiautomatic rifles lolling outside an official building. In touring the country, we passed many military bases with watch towers. They were all unmanned. Syria is a poor country, and you see it in the absence of soldiers. I have no doubt that Israel could defeat Syria in no time.
—Speaking of militarism, I spent two days in Lebanon and saw how angry people were about the Syrian occupation, and even how respectful of Bush they were for helping to end it. I bring this up because I gather that John Bolton, the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., has expressed outrage over the Syrians’ treatment of the border with Lebanon. I just want to say that I crossed that border twice, in two different places, and on both occasions it was an easy crossing. There seemed to be no tension. In the second instance, the road to Damascus, I noticed a guy having the stuff he had bought in Lebanon confiscated, but it was amusing to everyone on my bus. I was with two westerners. On reentry, we were interviewed briefly, and very politely; the authorities expressed no interest in the copy of The Assasin’s Gate: America In Iraq (George Packer’s book) that I had with me. When we left Syria, customs officials thuggishly tried to extract cash from me for the (several beautiful) rugs we got in Aleppo. It was the one truly unpleasant moment on the trip. I went off to the side and emptied my wallet, gave them the $200 I had on me. They conferred and a few seconds later gave it back to me (!) and told me to get going. My chief feeling was pity. I felt there was something desperate in their actions.
—Partly because of the absence of guys in uniform, I sensed a great deal of personal freedom. The streets are active, lots of people are in business, and only one conversation I had was stopped (when an Arab friend, a woman, held up her hand in a fancy Damascus restaurant as we were talking about the lack of freedom for women in Arab societies, to say that one shouldn’t talk about these things in public). People seemed to be leading pleasurable lives, by and large. Commerce was lively. The internet cafes were hard to find, but they were teeming with young men. I am trying to convey my feeling that this is not a totalitarian place. In his book, which describes Syria as fascist, Berman imagines women in Arab societies throwing off their burkas with joy when they are finally liberated. This seems to me obviously wrong: women appeared to me to be covering themselves or not to varying degrees as a cultural norm, in line with their traditionalism and religiosity.
—That said, Arab society is very male. Women are excluded from public life. A New Year’s party I went to in a small city was all men, but for a couple belly dancers and tourists. Awful. And it seemed to me that this masculinity is very hierarchical and authoritarian. Very traditional too—like America in the early 20th century. Again and again, I said to myself, I want Islam to experience a reformation, and soon. The upside is I saw no evidence of crime. Indeed, I felt completely safe walking the streets, and never worried about leaving a bag outside my hotel for a few minutes. My companions and I said Syria felt like a Mafia town that way.
—Political complexity. When we were in Tartus, on the coast, we learned that a man from the American Embassy was staying in our hotel, had been there for months, dealing with grain shipments in the port that were destined to go on to Iraq to make bread for the U.S. troops. Does the Syrian government know about this? I asked my informant. Of course. So Syria has aided the occupation of Iraq, in subtle ways. And the State Department is funding education programs in Damascus.
—Finally, per Islam’s reformation. Syria has a high literacy rate, but: I never saw anyone reading. They didn’t read on the buses I rode. They don’t read on public benches. They aren’t reading in cafes. Few people seem to wear glasses. Once at a crusader ruin, I saw a schoolboy with a notebook crammed with his writing. A glorious exception, and one that proves the sad point, the intellectual life of the place is not very advanced.
In a couple days, I will tell you what Josh Landis had to say about all this.
Women in Syria have the opportunities to develop and be any way they want that is if we look at it from laws and constitution point view, as an example women are very active in political life on both sides (government and opposition), they work in large numbers as a percentage of the total female population, they hold leading positions in parliament, and ministerial positions. Even if we look inside the religion strict part of the society many women choose to wear the Hejab (COVER their heads), but if you go inside these families homes you find the women to be major in all decision making process inside these families. And you find mixed gatherings inside the relatives’ families events.
As on the reading and the general knowledge comments you would be amazed of the results if you did a simple facts test with two kids at the same age group one from Syria and the other one from the US say in geography I am sure that you will find the results in favor of the Syrian, I would allow my self to say so because I have lived in both countries for long time. The main fact I got from living in both countries that we have so much in common as humankind the we think and act, but unfortunately we score very little in communicating our selves to each other.
You saw no police because they are all civillian dress SECRET POLICE and dont for a minute think you were not followed at least on one ocassion!!!
How nieve!
Your impressions of Syria are similar to mine. I was there for a couple of weeks early this year – just after Christmas, in fact – and I was amazed at the number of Christmas trees, Santa Clauses and Christmas decorations all over the place.
Christians seem perfectly integrated there. I saw many Christian and Muslim women walking arm in arm and Christians worshipping at the shrine of John the Baptist inside the Omayyad Mosque.
I met with Bouthaina Shaaban, the Minister for Expatriates and a sort of spokesperson for the Syrian government. She was a charming and sophisticated woman. A devout Muslim, she doesn't wear a veil and holds forth at great length on how wearing a veil is a cultural issue – not a requirement of Islam. She had just returned from the Hajj and was still very moved by the experience but adamant about not wearing a veil.
Thank you for having an open mind, and of course I didn't mind reading your anecdotes debunking the neo-con myths. However, I should add that minimizing their influence falls to sensible Republicans. All in good time. To some extent, attacks on the neo-cons from self-professed liberals only strengthen the loyalty they unfortunately receive from mainstream GOPers.
My own time in Syria was about 15 years ago, when I briefly participated in an archaeological project and lived for about 10 days in a small village called Nefileh. En route to the dig and back I spent some time (much of it entirely by myself) in Damascus. I was bowled over by the hospitality and generosity of the Syrians I came to know, as well as those whom I encountered only briefly. Of course, images of Hafez al-Assad were omnipresent, and I was always aware that I was living within a very different political system, but never did the epithet of "terrorist state" seem to fit, notwithstanding the various reminders and warnings imparted to me before I left the US. Given the opportunity, I would go back in a heartbeat, and I would cherish the possibility of an extended stay.
Dear Phil Weiss
While I agree with your opposition to the neo cons, you belt out some terrible stereotypes. "Arab society is very male." Hmmm. Does this mean American society is very female. Or did you really meet with Syrian women? Where exactly did you go? Did you go to the universities? Did you visit families? Arab society is not male or female. Societies are mixes of many forces. Masculinity is a complicated and overdetermined concept to use. Please avoid such simplistic liberalism.
You say Syrians are not readers. Hmmm, yes of course on a bus you see no one is reading and voila. Hmmm, did you go to any bookstores, did you go to the universities again, did you hang out at some cafes, did you really do enough to say such overt generalizations. "Syria is very traditional like 20th century America" HMMMMM. You cannot be serious. Please go back and study early 20th century America and look at the legal rights of women and workers and believe me you will not say what you are saying. Did you interview the many couples? Really where did you go? I am sure if I visited the bible belt in the USA, I would call America a conservative country. Or maybe you want people to just look at our present think all Americans worship Jesus Christ as philosopher #1.
Anyway, the general tenor of your observations are not full of hate, but you must admit the ignorance of your position. To call a society male or to say they are not readers is an example of an ugly hubris that you might have. Do you really have strong defintions of what makes a society? Did you really study women in Syria? But you are the type and I hope not that would say that America support feminisim because Condeeleza Rice and Madeliene Albright are powerful. I just can't believe that people like you exist and that you even attempt to represent American or Jews. Are you going to say, "As a Jew, I have a special ability to understand Arab culture?" Or the sheer fact that you want to be identitied as Jewish tell your readers that you are the type of Jew that would always introduce an arguement by say "Well as a Jew,…." Please their are many kinds of Jews. Well all this reeks of anti-Semitism that has infected many Israelis. Maybe go back and look at Exodus and enjoy the blond Paul Newman and complain about those dark shtetl Jews that treat their women folk so badly. Yes, tell us about how Israeli society is so female. OH, you are so proud of real "jewish" women fighting for the IDF, or the Livni is a minister. Please wake up. To be a Jew or Arab or an Arab Jew is so much more complicated in any society. To travel for a few days and say such silly stuff show that you show too much hubris. Read some Greek Drama and then see what should happen to you…
Hi,
As a westerner living in Damascus many of the observations in your article are astute and to the point. Unlike Shanfara I agree about your point regarding reading in Syria. I was shocked to see so few book shops and to witness so few people reading for pleasure. People here read for work or as part of their studies, but that seems it. As an avid reader I would love Shanfara to post where these book shops are! I have searched high and low and venture to Lebanon or my reading material.
Some of the article is a little naive, Syria is a police state and naturally you feel safe from crime due directly to the large amount of police on the streets. Saying that, I have found the Syrian street the most generous and politically curious of any country I have ever visited. I have been made welcome all over the country and the 'tradition' of Arab hospitality is alive and well here. It is the political elites who let them down. They and their country have so much and in time they will join the international community in their rightful place. I am ever the optimist, as many of the great people in this let-down country are.
As an Arab Syrian woman, I was pleasantly happy to learn from your post that you had a good time in Syria, more importantly that you were respected, regardless of your customs .
As to your comment "I have no doubt that Israel could defeat Syria in no time." I will like to comment, that "if" Bin Laden and twelve hijackers were able to wipe off the World Trade Center, no doubt Israel and its allies will love to defeat another sovereign nation, and this is called greed, perhaps, arrogance, not sure ? morality is not an issue, because neither Israel nor its allies have values .
Salaam…Peace..Shalom ???
Davros:
Yes, in general the whole world does not read as much and the state of Arab publishing is dismal. YOu have to struggle in Damascus in between many bookshops all over the city, close to Sham hotel or even close to post office, in the Assad library but this isnot the point. It is difficult to get many books in Syria, but one cannot just say a whole country does not read. Go to the Palestinian camps, hang out with ex prisoners, go to the universities, to the poetry and literary clubs, see how many know Garcia Marquez or and I would say more than must US citizens well maybe pre Oprah … Maybe hang out with some older generations and they will relate many facts about Russian and Soviet lit. Maybe you are not meeting the right people. Also, what do you mean by pleasure reading? Go to some village in the North and see how much people recite poetry? Ok this is not reading like reading some faux history novel in a cafe, but it is a form of literature. Literature has a following in Syria and like the US or any other country it is appallingly a small group. Just because Barnes and Nobles has a whole section Middle Eastern Literature doesn't mean people read. If you are talking about books in English then you are right… Syria really does not offer much in comparison to Lebanon, but in terms of Arabic publishing you can actually find books… Cultivate relationships with booksellers… Trick is you must speak Arabic and be conversant in Arabic literature… I am not defending the state of Syria, but do not tell me people do not read for pleasure. There are many poets and write per capita in Syria than many other Arab capitals… Reading for pleasure again is a strange concept for many cultures these days, but you must also bring some class analysis… How can you read for pleasure with such a terrible economic situations… Maybe you can go to Germany and see people reading on buses or trains in some city, but travel to the factories in the East and you will see a different situation.
Davros,
You are correct in saying that we're let down by political forces. This has been the case for the past 39 years. A whole generation has left Syria and worked in countries where their talents can be compensated. But you can't be compensated to the same degree as by your own people….
As for the observations:
1) You will never see syria soldiers on the streets, unless they were off duty and couldn't be bothered taking off their kahkis. If you want to see some military, go to the zabadani and get as close to the golan heights as you are allowed to. Or go through the hinterland.
2) Secret Police are everywhere. Think warsaw/east germany style concentrations. You probably talked to a few mokhabaraat without knowing it.
3) No one has time to read, everyone is working 3 jobs just to get through to the next month. Syria's government is extremely corrupt, even though the people are hardworking and we have many resources (not oil, though) we are still poor. Go to a university if you want to see people "reading".
On that last note, how many people do you see "reading on a bus" in America? I've yet to see even one. Everyone I see is drowning out their lives with music on their iPod or something similar. Just because Syrians can't afford iPods, doesn't make us inferior in society to you.
Hope you enjoyed Syria, visitors are always welcome. ;)
"There were few police in the streets, no soldiers that I can remember, except…>
i was a tourist in Franco's Spain. It was the same.
As a tourist you cannot know and connot see the dictatorship in action!