Women hold candles while attending Christmas mass at the Mar Shimoni Church in Bartella, Iraq, Dec. 24, 2016. Chris McGrath/Getty Images
Ishtartv.com
- aawsat.com
David
Alton and Wael Aleji, Wednesday, 22 January, 2020
The Arab Spring sparked a wide
debate within political and academic circles about the universalities of concepts
like “equal citizenship” and “human rights” and whether they are compatible, or
indeed incompatible, with religious and cultural norms in the Middle East.
Despite the rise of Political Islam Movements, the Arab Spring unleashed a
“process (or a wave) of questioning (or intellectual questioning or debate)” of
issues that had long been considered “red lines”, such as racism, sectarianism,
and women’s rights in the Arab World.
Religion plays an important (or prominent) role in Middle Eastern Politics, it
also has a direct impact on the lives of individuals in general. In some
countries, religion or sect (denomination) play a vital role in determining
someone’s place (or status) in politics or public life, as well as their right
to work and education. Most (if not all) Middle Eastern countries make sure
that their constitutions, laws and education curricula comply with the
religious norms dominant in each society, this sometimes fuelled (or inflamed)
sectarian divisions and conflict, like what is currently happening in Iraq,
Syria, Iran, Yemen and Lebanon, let alone the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict
which has a prominent religious aspect to it.
We had the pleasure of visiting Iraq last December 2019, we met with
politicians, religious and community leaders from different religious and
ethnic groups. And despite the disappointment, desperation, and skepticism many
of them expressed (which we share to some extent) we sensed a glimpse of hope
in a better future for all, especially in Kurdistan.
Iraq and Syria represent good examples of the complex relationship between the
three Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Although the three
religions share many spiritual, social, and cultural roots, the relationship
between them was marred by competition, conflict, and resentment during
different periods in history. As a result, different ethnic and religious
groups developed their own narratives of victimhood.
The Arab-Israeli conflict caused the death and displacement of hundreds of
thousands of Palestinian Arabs, tens of thousands of them still live in
neighboring countries as refugees. Sectarian politics and ongoing conflicts in
Iraq and Syria caused the death and displacement of millions of Arabs, Kurds,
Sunnis, Shiites, Christians, Yazidis, and many other ethnic and religious
groups. As for Middle Eastern Jews, only 30.000 still live in the region
(outside Israel): 17.000 in Turkey and 8000 in Iran.
During our time in Iraq, we visited the site of Simele massacre which took the
lives of nearly 5000 Iraqi Assyrians at the hands of the Iraqi army in 1933. It
is still possible to see the remains of their bones (skeletons) at that
neglected hill just outside the city of Duhok (the hill of martyrs as locals
call it). It was the Simele massacre that inspired the Polish Lawyer Raphael
Lemkin to coin the term “genocide”. It comes from the Greek word “genos” (race)
and the Latin word “cide” (killing). Later, Raphael Lemkin lost many members of
his own family during the holocaust.
Unfortunately, Simele massacre was not the last in Iraq. During Saddam Hussein,
millions of Shiite Arabs, Sunni Kurds, and Assyrian Christians suffered
widespread military operations which caused the displacement of millions and
the death of tens of thousands in Ahwar, Halbja, and Barwar. And following the
fall of Saddam, revenge, Iranian influence and sectarian politics marginalized
and discriminated against the Sunni Arabs, this contributed to the emergence of
extremist organizations such as Qaeda and ISIS which caused death and havoc
that affected everybody.
In Syria (under the rule of Assad family since 1970), where a sectarian regime
(supported by Iran and Russia) caused the death of nearly half a million and
the displacement of approximately 10 million Syrians, the vast majority of them
are Sunni Muslims.
At Bardarash refugee camp in the northern part of Nineveh Plain, we met with
many Syrian Kurdish refugees who were forced to flee following the latest
Turkish military operation in NE Syria. We listened to stories about random
bombardment, the use of white phosphorus, and the grave human rights abuses
committed by Islamist Military groups loyal to Turkey.
Almost every person (Iraqis and Syrians) we met with during our visit stressed
the destructive role Iran is playing, and Turkey to a lesser extent, in
fuelling sectarian sentiments and creating a state of polarisation and division
to weaken Arab societies and further their own geopolitical interests.
Different interpretations of the role of religion in public life play an
influential role in politics in the Middle East, this complicates the ongoing
conflicts in the region. This is mostly evident in the attempts of Iran and
Turkey to use their religious, political, financial, and military influence to
create political and military groups loyal to them and their interests. These
strategies caused a sharp increase in sectarian violence especially after the
fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003 and the start of the Arab Spring in 2011.
Although the vast majority of Arabs, Turks and Iranians believe in Islam, many
Iranian and Turkish political circles still remember (or haven’t forgotten) the
roles the Arabs played in the collapse of the Persian Empire in the 7th century
and the end of the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of the 20th century. From
Iraq to Libya and from Syria to Lebanon, Gaza, and Yemen, Iran and Turkey
compete not only to further their influence and interests in the Arab World,
but also on the leadership of the Muslim World; and Israel is monitoring both
countries very closely.
This complex situation presents serious and existential challenges to the
political, religious and social elites in the Arab World. These elites should
respond immediately by launching radical reforms to combat sectarianism and
corruption, to reform laws and education systems to promote human rights, women
rights and equal citizenship, if they really want to stop this rapid
deterioration which is threatening peace and stability not only in the Arab
World but in the entire world too.
In a region that had long suffered from dictatorship, corruption, sectarianism,
and violence, democratic reforms may take a long time. But this remains the
only hope for this complex region which witnessed the birth of the three
Abrahamic religions.
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