According to
the actions (or inactions) of some European nations, one could easily assume
that Syrians are less than human. True, throngs of Syrians are flocking across
Europe – some with reckless abandon – but with good cause. Which is, the right
to exist. The harrowing refugee narrative has the polarising force to beg the
abhorrent question: Do Syrians have the right to exist? That we must ask
such a question is bad enough. That some of us forget that Syrians are human is
perhaps worse.
Is Syria so
different than other Middle Eastern and Gulf regional states? If you think the
GCC is nothing more than a US/British protectorate governed by dictators, then
you would be right. That the rest of the Middle East – excluding Lebanon – is
an authoritarian haven rife in tyranny and oppression has long been verified by
decades of unmistakable facts on the ground. Recent years have seen a shift in totalitarian
behaviour – Tunisia and, to a lesser extent, Algeria - come to mind, but don’t
think “peaceful protests” is an easy endeavour in the Arab/Islamic world.
The
geographical state of Syria today is a by-product of a French-mandate post WWI.
Despite gaining independence in 1945 as a parliamentary republic, Syria has
always been surrounded by the stench of dictatorship and so, accordingly,
followed suit. I often then wonder why Syria is prohibited from being a
dictatorship while everyone else is given a pass!
Does Syria
cow-tow to western foreign policy? No. Do Western military bases/installations
dot its land? No. Are its oil and gas reserves given to and sold cheaply to the
west? No. So not being a western lackey has its perks and, unfortunately, its
pitfalls (Just ask Iran). The entire Middle East – to varying degrees – was redrawn
by the French, British and American governments in order to act as satellite states
to serve their plutocratic interests – but not Syria!
I recall
opening my ancient history textbook in grade 11 for the first time and reading
about the Sumerians and Mesopotamians. I know the Sumerians have all but vanished
but what about the Mesopotamians? Just ask the British. Iraq is the recently
renovated and refurbished version of Mesopotamia, spawned by British and American
interests and later catapulted into a colossal dictatorship whose prime engine
was no other than the western-backed Saddam Hussein.
So what’s
the point of highlighting western meddling in installing autocratic dictators throughout
the middle east and gulf region in order to extract resources and install military
bases to maintain a “manifest destiny” whose only adherents are a unique brand
of apocalyptic acolytes? Amongst other obvious reasons, it’s A-OK (predominantly)
for the US of A to install the best of the best autocratic despot if only they
are willing to jump off a cliff, no matter how high!
In which case
Saudi Arabia shoots to first place like a rocket! That leviathan of public
beheadings, that misanthropic misogynist of women’s existence, has – with
American collusion and its polarising media – taken the moral high ground. So
much so that it has the indignantly righteous audacity to tell the world how
lost and wayward Syria is and how only the “kingdom” can steer it correctly
onto the course of peace and prosperity! The irony, of course, is insufferable
– made worse by the fact a Saudi was recently appointed to head a key UN human
rights panel!
So yes, of
course, Syrians have the right to exist. But they do not require the vetting
and approval of the USA (The United States of Arabia) in order to claim that
right. Does Syria need to change politically? Yes. We have established the fact the geopolitical stripes of the
Syrian government is a by-product of western intervention and its bloodthirsty
lust for bloodthirsty tyrants acting as western plutocratic agents over the last
century. Do we want a Saudi-like government in place of Assad? If you answer
yes to this question, then maybe humanity has no future.
