CEMENTING CITIZENSHIP IN THE ARAB WORLD – DR. BOUTHAINA SHAABAN

31. Dec, 2010 Print This Article! 0 Comments

by: Dr. Bouthaina Shaaban

People, all over the world, are preparing themselves to bid farewell to a departing year and receive another one with promises, wishes and dreams, unaware that they are unconsciously saying goodbye to parts of themselves and turning a page of their lives. That is why the feeling of celebrating a new year is juxtaposed with a deep feeling that we are shedding off a piece of our lives. The sure thing is that we are all departing. That is why scientists have been competing to calculate time accurately and invent time machines. And that is why people have been trying to use the latest technologies to save time. But time is not fixed, except perhaps in memory and history; time, this tyrant, the ever fluid, ever moving constant, leaves its mark on all: the great and the humble, the powerful and the weak, the rich and the poor, pressing on them that it is eternal and they are all temporary and ephemeral.

We reminisce on some features of the past year: moments of joy, grief, achievement, frustration or mere beautiful memories. As it is our custom every year, we make plans to realize our wishes, thinking that we manipulate time for our own purpose; while in reality time tosses us around at will outside this cycle of expectations. But unlike most of those celebrating the departure of one year and the arrival of another, there is one that is growing in elegance, value, pride and authenticity in direct proportion to the thousands of years of its history. It is the homeland.

At this point in time, we see enemies working hard to discredit the concept of loyalty to the homeland and national identity in the eyes of some, and turning them into mere slaves for a handful of dirty dollars at the expense of their families, identities, friends, neighbors and the security and safety of their homeland. At this point in time, we need to discuss this new type of war which does not attack our countries on the borders, or aim at occupying our capitals, but rather at dragging consciences, souls and spirits into the dirt of treason, as details of their secret wars unravel in Lebanon, Egypt, Palestine, Iran and other places.

Our enemies have declared they are determined not only to continue their traditional wars to achieve their objectives – particularly that these wars have cost them dearly and have brought them deep into quagmires – but, as revealed by their think tanks, find it necessary to shift toward an old-new method based on assassination, espionage and limited operations inside targeted Muslim countries. This new type of war aims at undermining Muslims’ safety and security and controlling their resources without total – military or political – costly domination.

Treason is old in history and has plagued liberation movements throughout the world, and was to be expected during the fight for national independence. But now it has become a well-established method in fighting independent and sovereign states for military, industrial, security or political reasons. The new development in this field is the targeting the telecommunications sector in the Arab world by Israel so that relations and dealings in a country are exposed to Israel in a manner that enables it to hunt down scientists and experts either by assassination or through dragging them down the muddy slope of treason. This is the war waged with great momentum by Israel and its allies in Lebanon, Egypt, Iran, Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan and, of course, against the Palestinians for decades, whereby Israel killed the best in these countries: scientists, writers, thinkers, journalists and intellectuals.

What is the source of weakness in our societies so that they become easy to penetrate by a ruthless enemy known for its ability to recruit agents and traitors to serve its dirty objectives. The measly amounts given to such miserable souls are insulting, particularly after recruitment, they are blackmailed because they have fallen into disgrace and can no longer control their lives or destinies.

Why agents are uncovered one after another in the Arab world, those who spy for Israel, which arrests, tortures and kills hundreds of thousands of us, destroys our houses, violates our soil and sanctities, uproots our trees and steals our water; while we do not find a single Israeli agent working for the Arabs, although our cause is right and honorable for all those who believe in justice? Is it only poverty which drives those to treason? Some of those are not poor at all. On the contrary, there are millions of poor Arabs, who prefer to starve rather than serve their Israeli and American enemies known for their hatred of Arabs and Muslims and their barbaric wars against them. Poor Arabs have even been the vanguard of resistance armies and in the forefront of fighting and martyrdom. The cause lies in a weak sense of belonging and an undermining of the concept of citizenship in the minds of the Arabs who achieved independence after great sacrifices; but afterward, education at home and at school, in the mosque and the church, the party and the tribe, culture and media, did not continue to enhance the concept of citizenship and national identity in educational curricula at all levels and in every particular in culture, education and society.

Uncovering a spy here and there does not entail only punishing him and fathoming the damage he caused against his people and country, but also looking for the failures which led to this disastrous result. We all, governments and peoples, scientists and experts, should act to enshrine national identity and belief in the homeland by stressing that we all are ephemeral while homelands are permanent. Homelands are the real treasure that we have inherited from our fathers, and which we should protect with the pupils of our eyes to be able to bequeath it to our children and grandchildren and to maintain its dignity and honor.

Source: The Daily Star

Professor Bouthaina Shaaban is political and media adviser at the Syrian Presidency, and former expatriates minister. She has also been a writer and professor at Damascus University since 1985. She has a doctorate in English Literature from Warwick University, London. She was the media spokesperson for Syria. She was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005.