Die arabische Straße
03. Januar 2009, von Thomas von der Osten-SackenEinige Beobachtungen von Farid Ghadry über die vielzitierte arabische Straße bzw. den arabischen Volkszorn, auf die zu berufen sich in Kreisen deutscher Nahostexperten und Journalisten liturgische Pflichtübung in jedem Konflikt ist:
There is something strange about unruly crowds and impromptu demonstrations uniquely Arab, and more so Syrian in light of the few we have seen over the last few days.
In almost all cases, as if by some miracle, passionate demonstrators are captured at the right time doing the right thing; invariably, screaming at the camera, or burning some country’s flag, or waving with animosity threatening slogans. And invariably, once the camera is off or the cameraman stops staging (as is the habit of some Al-Jazeera cameramen), the crowd returns to normal and their eyes veer towards the government security agent for a sign of approval so that they can go home and start worrying about what matters most in their lives: Jobs, education, food on their table, and the freedom to control their destiny. All are either not allowed or hard to come by in the Syria they live in today.
This is not to say that some demonstrators are not truly possessed by the cause for which they find themselves, unanticipatedly, on the street in the middle of the week. Not at all. But they number in the hundreds when the Syrian government tells us they are in the tens of thousands. If you really want to see the real demonstrators, the ones who have been forced to exhibit an interest in Gaza, just go to the back of the gathering, or on a narrow side street.
In the case of the demonstrations we witnessed, prompted by the events in Gaza, there is another kind of demonstrator who enjoys almost no chance to vent out his anger ever on a Syrian street. He is the devout Muslim — not an Islamist prone to acts of violence — who dislikes the Israelis but hates Baschar al-Assad because he tastes the misery of his policies every day. If we observe them demonstrating against Israel on the streets in Damascus, it is because, under normal circumstances, they are never allowed to manifest their anger, which is far greater against the Syrian government than any other country or people.
The good news is that Syria and Iran cannot sustain these demonstrations indefinitely because of the detachment many Syrians, and Arabs in general, have towards expressing freedom spooned by the government’s agenda. Also, because some of Arab regimes are hated by their people, demonstrations on an Arab street have the life of a Y sperm rushing to its destination. Since the Gaza campaign started on a Saturday, and since the Syrian government requires that devout Muslims keep its spark alive, any demonstration after today’s Friday prayers will fizzle into history. The majority of Syrians who have demonstrated against Israel, eventually will start asking: Why can’t we also demonstrate against food prices? or corruption? And that is when the Syrian government freezes planning for more demonstrations.
The west, and certainly Israel, should not compute these demonstrations in their cost-benefits analysis as the campaign against Hamas enters a momentous stage. All we wish is that innocent civilian Palestinians be spared the tragedy befalling them as a result of Hamas myopic miserable existence and that the unpopular rulers in Damascus and Tehran lose big, very big.
One can decipher the folly of Middle East politics if one can unravel the mystery between the terror of the Assad regime in supporting Hamas or the error of the Israeli government in supporting the Assad regime. The Chinese have a wise proverb that goes: “It is good to strike the serpent’s head with your enemy’s hand”. And while Assad applies it (i.e. The Alawites and the Muslim Brotherhood are natural enemies) to strike Israel, Israel, on the other hand, helps, with its policy towards Syria, to be stricken all the time by Assad.
Short of regime change for Syria and Iran, we are living in a carousel of perpetual absurdities impregnating our minds and confusing our sense of direction. Let us make matters simpler:
If you want Hezbollah and Hamas rocket-less or destroyed, start planning seriously for new regimes in Syria and Iran
11. Januar 2009 um 18:55
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