The problem of formal homeland and formal identity
Ruba Mansour, Moufid Bitar:
the basic Syrian identity, which has a historical depth of about 7000 years, is in conflict with the emergent Arab sectarian identity, which is approximately 1440 years old, and which Syria embraced as it embraced others such as the Roman, Byzantine, Persian, etc. All the emergent identities have gone, but the Arab-religious identity refuses to go to the memories of history, despite its cultural shallowness and failure compared to others.
There is no fixed essence for the features on which national identity or the identity of a country and people is based, while the essence of national identity for each specific country is fixed, The identity of a person in general is something that has nothing to do with birth, but rather with acquisition and choice, laws in various countries of the world specify some conditions for acquiring citizenship that develop and transform into a more complex form, which is identity. After residing for five years in a European country, a person becomes French or German, etc. Even to acquire Syrian citizenship there are similar conditions, When a person becomes a Syrian citizen, his identity must become a Syrian identity… that’s how simple it is.
When the new nationality does not develop into a new identity, a defect occurs, and nationality turns into a “permit” for permanent residence in the country, i.e. permanent cohabitation, This cohabitation is fraught with many risks, the greatest of which is the practice of formal citizenship, He is formally Syrian and works for another country, and this is the true matter of the religious Arab. This formal citizenship has transformed the Syrian homeland into a formal homeland that has ended up approaching extinction.
Back to the Syrian and Arab identity and their contradictions and agreements. The issue is not about rejecting or accepting the Arab identity, but rather about forced attempts to impose this Arab identity on others after its abject failure. Most Syrians have lived with this identity willingly for a very long time. They welcomed it, gave it many chances, forgave it its mistakes, and cooperated with it. It is not surprising that Arabism and Arabists make mistakes, but it is surprising that they do not learn from their mistakes. They failed and caused the country to fail with them through short-sighted, wrong, and destructive practices. Despite that, they insist on Arabizing the country under their banners. Arabism, as a politicized culture, has in and of itself become an end, and is no longer a means to achieve another goal represented by advancement, progress, and a better life.
Despite the blatant failure, the Arabists must be asked about their new ideas regarding achieving their goals. What are these goals? And how do they want to achieve them? Unfortunately, we do not hear anything specific about the means of achieving these goals, except to say that they are Arabs and are proud of that and cherish their Arabism, and that they will triumph over conspiracies and enemies. How? And who are these enemies? And what is the plan that will guarantee achieving these goals? Is it by arbitrariness and recklessness? That led to failure and destroyed the hopes and dreams of many of them, especially Arab unity, which was the focus and essence of their concerns. The quest to achieve this unity ended in fragmentation, despite that, they insist on their positions and on continuing the fragmentation.
The Arabists do not justify the necessity of Arabism as a policy by its successes, but rather by it being an ethnic characteristic whose roots extend back to pre-Islamic history. Practically, these justifications are worthless, because what is important is the success of the experiment regardless of its ethnic and historical roots. Moreover, those roots were weak, primitive, and backward. Whoever thinks deeply about the backward and weak present, thinks that the Arabists have succeeded in their efforts to implant the backwardness and weakness of the past in the present. They have succeeded in bringing backwardness into the present.
The first to produce Syria with its current borders was Sykes-Picot, as the Syrian Union was established in 1922 and the Syrian state from 1925 until the evacuation in 1946. It is noteworthy that the independent state in 1946 was called the Syrian Republic and not the Syrian Arab Republic, due to the awareness of the active elites at that time that Syria is not the affiliation and identity of the Arabists or rather the Arabized ones only, but rather it is the affiliation of a large number of groups and peoples that existed before and after 1440 years.
The intrusion of the term “Arab” happened during the period of the Arab kidnapping, when Syria was separated from its other components before and after the religious message and beatified under the name of the Arab and Arabized component, It became obligatory for the Kurd, Turkmen, Phoenician, etc. to carry a card on which the name of the person called “Arab Syrian” was written, that is, an Arab, despite his nose. Before that, only “Syrian” was said on the identity card. When the Syrians were Syrians, there was harmony and understanding between them despite their different origins. Arabism destroyed the understanding and harmony and turned it into fragmentation and hostility.
He who has no history has no present or future. There is no existence in the history of this country except for one common denominator, which is “Syria” for those who have lived in this country since ancient times until this day, Syrian belonging and the basic Syrian identity have no relation to any historical emergency such as the Arab presence that lasted 1000 years or the Roman presence, which lasted 700 years or others. Syrian belonging and Syrian identity have no relation to race, gender, religion or clan, but only to nationality, which legally represents the type of belonging to the society that constitutes the state, There is no existence in society for someone who is authentic and someone who is an intruder, We are all intruders or we are all authentic!
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