Mamdouh Bitar, Samir Sadek
For years, the slogan “No voice is louder than the voice of battle” was chanted. It was a slogan with no practical meaning on the ground or in reality, because a battle that is not louder than its voice is deadly, dead before it is born. Any real military confrontation will lead to the silence of the bullets and losses on the ground, then to the expansion of the territory controlled by Israel. It is a slogan of noise. The Arabs are a vocal nation, as one of them said. It is a slogan that implies waging war exclusively on the people, who have asked about the promised and anticipated success, even in one area… education… manufacturing… agriculture… freedoms… democracy, etc. The truth is, no voice is louder than the battle of dictatorships against the people. Wait, citizen, until you die! Then you will have no need for freedom, democracy, health, and dignity on earth. All your demands will be fulfilled in heaven after martyrdom. In addition, there are hundreds of houris!
The slogan “No voice above the voice of battle” intensifies something else, as the slogan embodies a kind of imbalance between the national and the humanitarian. The slogan intensifies a thick-shelled verbal patriotism, but it is empty and devoid of the content that the phrase suggests. The phrase does not only describe but also demands, demands that people practice human, social and political asceticism. Socially and politically, the people must practice the “austerity” of silence, as demanding freedoms is inappropriate in the days of general mobilization and preparation for the decisive battle to liberate Palestine. The people should have united their word behind the leader for the sake of the battle, as the time of thunderous bullets does not go well with demands to improve living conditions, which require a large amount of material things, which the wise dictatorial leadership needs for the sake of the battle and thunderous bullets. So, starve, O people, for the sake of the homeland, as the homeland is not victorious except by the arms of the hungry! As for democracy, now is not the time. After the clear victory, every event will be discussed, and the democracy of this so-called state entity will be an example for others to follow. This is what the late Al-Moallem, the Foreign Minister of the defunct regime, promised. Therefore, the people must be patient, and victory belongs to the patient!
The Islamists who joined the Assad regime in caring for the country and its people also had their objections to the waste of time and effort on unimportant matters…!!! So how can you, my believing brother, be preoccupied today with the veil and polygamy, while the Syrian revolution, led by Abu Bakr, Abu Omar, Abu Othman, and Abu Muhammad, and the war of liberation rages on? Those who claim to be secularists believed that victory would be just around the corner when polygamy is banned! Or when women are stopped from being beaten, bought, and sold. All of these were secondary matters, incomparable in importance to the battle and the crackle of bullets for the restoration of Palestine and its complete liberation from the brutal occupation!
The false patriot, whether Assad or religious fundamentalist, ignores the social and humanitarian situation, whether it be the catastrophe of polygamy, dowry, or the humiliation of the family through the concept of misyar or mut’ah marriage, etc., or violence against women through beatings or murder in the context of so-called honor crimes, which claim the lives of several thousand women each year. They advise focusing on the national, because the nation’s interest requires it! Those who are preoccupied with humanitarian issues, such as women’s rights, the veil, and other matters, expose national unity to decay, expose the country to the evils of discord and division, and destroy the unity of speech necessary for liberation!
Generally, popular culture suffers from the disease of impersonation. The least patriotic people impersonate the first patriot, and those most distant from religion claim to represent the true religion, even representing one and a half billion believers. The least honorable crimes have assumed the name of an honor crime and the defense of honor. The name “honor crime” is an impersonation of honor in a position that contradicts it. It is a pseudonym for the opposite of honor. Is the killing and slaughter of women an honor and a source of pride? Is killing a woman an act of honor, or is it shame itself? Simply calling the killing of a woman—by slaughter, shooting, strangulation, or hanging—honorable or an act of honor is dishonorable in and of itself. There is no such thing as an honorable crime! This name represents an incitement to commit these crimes, as corruption and flattery represent a means of impersonating patriotism. The law does not promote national fraud, nor does it facilitate betrayal by disguising the garb of patriotism. The evil is primarily the evil of a society characterized by Bedouin characteristics that establish corruption, hypocrisy, and prostration before the tribal leader, head of the family, or dictator. Thus, we notice the fraudsters occupying the forefront in various national political occasions with their drums, their bands, their outbidding, their lies, and their hypocrisy. All of that was easily available to the dictator, because religion ordered obedience to the ruler and submission to him. If it were not for this, the Assad regime would not have been able to ride on the necks of the people for more than half a century. The entourage of any dictator is lying and the team of those whofabricated, and as soon as the dictatorship stops providing fodder and privileges to the henchmen, these people turn in to To the team of those who curse the dictator, that is, to try to replace the source of livelihood, many of the henchmen of power and its mouthpieces have turned to the opposition with the aim of gaining from another party that might become power. The matter of the lie of the protectors of the homeland is like the matter of the protectors of high honor, and the source of both cases is the society of hypocrisy and Bedouinism that distorts the concept of patriotism and the concept of honor.
It is our duty to all ask the following question: What is to be done? The work here is not only in enforcing laws, but in changing people’s morals, values, and culture, and transforming all of that into a rational, humane, and logical form. This work cannot be accomplished in two days or two hours. It is a project for the entire future. Changing the laws is the weakest of faith. Even with weak faith, those ignorant peoples have not even begun yet!