Syria does not need a ‘handshake litmus test’

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot met with interim Syrian leader Ahmad al-Sharaa in Damascus on January 3. The visit took place less than a month after President Bashar al-Assad’s Baathist dictatorship, one of the most bloody in the Arab world, was abruptly overthrown.

There are a myriad of issues on the agenda of Syrian-European relations, not least regional stability, economic recovery, post-war justice and reconciliation, the refugee crisis and so on.

In keeping with Muslim religious customs, Western media chose to focus on al-Sharaa’s choice to greet Baerbock with a nod and a smile rather than extend his hand to her. Western media pundits characterised the incident as “a scandal” and a “snub”.

A Politico editorial even went as far as to say that trivialities like shaking hands should be used as a new “litmus test” to determine a Muslim leader’s real moderate status. The Politico article suggested that devout male Muslim leaders like al-Sharaa should be required to shake women’s hands regardless of what their religions dictate, or that doing so would sprang “alarm bells” in the West. The old adage “when in Rome, do as the Romans do” has become “when in Syria, do as the Germans and French do”.

The al-Assad regime’s regime’s “litmus test” of Arab leadership is full of contradictions and is simply offensive as a Syrian American whose father was exiled from Syria for 46 years and whose family friends have been tortured and killed by the al-Assad regime.

I wonder where was media’s fury when the British royal, Prince Edward, explained&nbsp, he preferred non-physical contact with ordinary Brits trying to greet him? Should we express gratitude when the goal is personal gain and anger when it is religious gain?

The Western media’s attempts to impose Western cultural values as the new standard for the “moderation” of Muslim Arab leaders are not surprising. It has done so for decades.

In her book Do Muslim Women Need Saving, anthropologist Lila Abu-Lughod argued that the West believes that liberal culture should serve as the universal benchmark for evaluating societies. The barbarians who don’t succeed are those who are “the ones who don’t”…

The very definition of “extreme” in Muslim religious norms is a sign of a hegemonic discourse that conceals Western norms as universal ones.

The negative aspect of this view is that Western cultural norms are not as prevalent as they might think. Even though we’ve seen a willingness to bend those expectations when it comes to British royalty, fear of COVID-19 transmission, etc., Muslims and Arabs also have agency.

In light of the brutal repression that Syrians have endured for 61 years under the authoritarian Baathist regime, the media’s hyperfocus on trivialities, such as al-Sharaa’s dress or personal mannerisms, seems trite.

Syrians have their own “litmus test” for evaluating their new leadership, like the government’s ability to deliver democracy and freedom, restore and improve civilian infrastructure, unite Syrians and protect constitutional rights, not whether male government members shake the hands of women. Most urgently, Syrians are concerned about their new leadership’s ability to steer the country towards peace, prosperity and stability.

More than 90% of Syrians live below the poverty line, and the majority of them are currently displaced. There are&nbsp, extreme shortages of food, water, and electricity. &nbsp, Unemployment is rife and the economy is in tatters.

Additionally, there is the trauma of enduring authoritarian rule for 61 years and a 13-year civil war.

I am aware of no Syrian family that has lost relatives or friends to al-Assad’s brutal repressive regime. My childhood friends lost their father, Majd Kamalmaz, a psychotherapist and a US citizen, when he went to pay condolences to his mother-in-law in Syria in 2017. Two teen brothers were tortured in al-Assad’s infamous dungeons by a relative from Aleppo. In a rural Damascus neighborhood during the civil war, my female cousin passed out bread in an underground prison for a month. Family friends – like Heba al-Dabbagh, who spent nine years in Syrian prison in the 1980s because the regime couldn’t find her brother – shared harrowing stories of torture.

Syrians are desperate for a new beginning and are holding on to tattered threads of hope after decades of suffering under one of the most brutal dictatorships in the world. They may have faced unimaginable horrors – mass killing, torture, systemic rape, repression, and displacement –&nbsp, but they are no helpless victims. &nbsp, They have a clear vision of the future they want.

The Western media needs to practice introspection and acknowledge how decades of hegemonic bias may have influenced Syria’s discourse and expectations. Instead of imposing a Western “litmus test” on Arab leaders, it should ask Syrians what they want in their leadership.

Source: Aljazeera