On January 3, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot traveled to Damascus to meet with Syria’s interim leader, Ahmad al-Shara. The visit came less than a month after the sudden fall of one of the most violent regimes in the Arab world – the Baathist dictatorship of President Bashar al-Assad.
There are numerous issues on the agenda of Syrian-European relations, not only regional stability, economic recovery, post-war justice and reconciliation, the refugee crisis and so on.
And yet, the Western media chose to focus on al-Sharia’s decision to greet Baerbock with a nod and a smile instead of extending her hand, in accordance with Muslim religious norms. The Western media characterized the incident as a “scandal” and “undermining”.
A Politico editorial went so far as to suggest that trivia like handshakes should become the new “litmus test” of how “moderate” a Muslim leader truly is. In the name of inclusivity, the Politico article implied that devout male Muslim leaders like al-Sharaa should be forced to shake hands with women — regardless of what their religion dictates — or else “alarm bells” should be set off in the West. The old adage “when in Rome, do as the Romans” has become “when in Syria, do as the Germans and French”.
As a Syrian American whose father was exiled from Syria for 46 years and whose family friends were tortured and killed by the al-Assad regime, I find the Western “litmus test” of Arab leadership to be fraught with contradictions and simply offensive.
I wonder where the media outrage was when Britain’s Royal Prince Edward explained that he prefers non-physical contact with ordinary Brits who try to greet him? Should we offer grace when the motive is personal desire and anger when the motive is a religious ritual?
It is not surprising that the Western media is trying to impose Western cultural values as a new litmus test for the “moderation” of Muslim Arab leaders. It’s been that way for decades.
As anthropologist Lila Abu-Lughod argued in her book Do Muslim Women Need Saving?, there is an assumption in the West “that liberal culture is the accultural norm and should be the universal standard by which societies are measured. Those who fail are barbarians outside the gates…”
The very characterization of Muslim religious norms as “extreme” is a symptom of the hegemonic discourse that masks Western norms as universal.
The bad news for those who subscribe to this view is that Western cultural values are not as dominant as they may imagine. Muslims and Arabs also have agency – the ability to choose to follow their religious values even when they defy dominant cultural expectations in the West – although we’ve seen a willingness to override those expectations when it comes to the British royal family, the fear of COVID. 19 transmission etc.
The media’s hyper-focus on trivialities—like al-Sharaa’s dress or personal manners—seems trite in the context of the brutal repression Syrians have endured for 61 years under the authoritarian Baathist regime.
Syrians have their own “litmus test” to assess their new leadership, such as the government’s ability to restore democracy and freedom, rebuild and improve civilian infrastructure, unite Syrians and protect constitutional rights, and whether male members of the government shake hands with women. Most pressingly, Syrians are concerned about their new leadership’s ability to steer the country toward peace, prosperity, and stability.
Half of the Syrian population is currently displaced, and more than 90 percent of people in Syria live below the poverty line. There are severe shortages of food, water and electricity. Unemployment is high and the economy is in shambles.
Then there is the trauma of the 13-year-long civil war and 61-year-long authoritarian rule.
There is not a single Syrian family that I know of that has not lost family members or friends to al-Assad’s brutally repressive regime. My childhood friends lost their father, Majd Kamalmaz, a psychotherapist and American citizen, when he went to pay his respects to his mother-in-law in Syria in 2017. A relative from Aleppo lost two teenage brothers to torture in Al-Assad’s infamous prison. My cousin spent a month in an underground prison for distributing bread in a poor district of Damascus during the civil war. Family friends – like Heba al-Dabbagh, who spent nine years in a Syrian prison in the 1980s because the regime couldn’t find her brother – shared harrowing stories of torture.
After suffering for decades under one of the world’s most brutal dictatorships, Syrians are desperate for a fresh start, clinging to frayed threads of hope. They may have faced unimaginable horrors – mass killing, torture, systematic rape, repression and displacement – but they are not helpless victims. They have a clear vision of the future they want.
If the Western media want to get Syria right, they need to practice introspection and recognize how their discourse and expectations may be shaped by decades of hegemonic bias. Instead of imposing a Western “litmus test” on Arab leaders, the Syrians should be asked what they want in their leadership.
The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Al Jazeera.
