Many adjectives could be used in describing the current moment in history of the Arab Levant, but we can add another: it is a struggle between two conceptions of "dignity".
In the Axis of Resistance's rhetoric, Gaza is the crown jewel of dignity, not only that of the Palestinians, but also Arab and Muslim dignity. Why? Because Gaza fires missiles and has missiles fired at it; it stands firm, engages the enemy, and defies - in a word, because it is fighting.
As we are well aware, however, youths protested in the streets of Gaza last month, chanting to demand their "right to a decent life." The eruption of protests and the Hamas security agencies' clampdown were preceded by incidents indicating a deterioration of security and that some in the Strip are dying of poverty and a lack of services, including electricity.
In turn, the Hamas government and its crowd did not forget to condemn the movement demanding improved living conditions and services, and to attribute it to the role of social media sites, which exist to further a malicious conspiracy, of course.
As for Syria, it is claimed that national and Arab dignity won the day, defeating a conspiracy that is simultaneously both "Takfiri" and imperialist. But a different opinion was voiced by the people of the southern governorates of As-Suwayda and Daraa. From denouncing the deterioration of living conditions, the rising costs of the fuel and subsidized commodities, and corruption, the protest escalated into a political movement raising matters of governance. We thus saw enraged protesters set a state building on fire and tear up pictures of Syria's rulers and the flag of the regime. Some cried out calling for an end to centralization and the adoption of decentralization.
It is more than a little indicative that, in one of their slogans, the protesters juxtaposed the “food” that they were demanding with the “poetry” (which they do not want or believe) showering them with glory and victory. Since the Jahliya of Amr Ibn Kulthum, poetry about dignity has been associated with war and how “The mighty fall to their knees before any boy of ours who has reached weaning age.”
As for Lebanon, it is the biggest stage on which this clash between the two conceptions of dignity is playing out: on the one hand, we have (poetic) emphasis on its abundance because of the resistance, its missiles, resilience, and the humiliation of Israel. On the other hand, we have complaints (in prose, i.e. rational) of an astonishing scarcity of dignity amid poverty, migration, destitution, and our failure to pay our national debt and secure cancer patients’ medication...
In our region, this poetic school of thought on dignity may have been founded by Gamal Abdel Nasser, the man behind the slogan “Raise your head up, brother.” Bear in mind, as he encouraged heads being held high, Egypt was begging the United States for wheat and making preparations for the crushing defeat that the military, which represents dignity and is charged with safeguarding it, would suffer in 1967. That is why the late Egyptian political researcher Anwar Abdel-Malik was not mistaken when he called Nasserist Egypt a "military society." In several Arab countries, many streets where conflicts (often civil wars) were fought are named in their honor and given names like “Dignity Street” and “Dignity Road”.
Dignity, here, always refers to the dignity of a community, never that of an individual. This may seem strange to English speakers, where in contrast to the Arabic word for it, "Karameh," "dignity" is principally associated with an individual. More than this, our thinking on what constitutes an affront to a community's dignity, be it a tribe or a nation, takes after from the patriarchal lexicon of tribalism - for example, they create dichotomy between “honor” and “shame”, “rape,” and similar terms.
And because this concept is a military concept before being anything else, it not only removes the female half of society from the dignity's orbit, but removes civilian men as well. Indeed, dignity can only be found where there is war; since women and civilians are noncombatants, they are not visible, just like the economy, security, health, and education... It is, in the end, the dignity of a narrow cohort of society who claim that their killing and fighting is done on behalf of the nation and for its dignity, before painting mendacious and poetic portraits of these victories.
In contrast to this notion of dignity, which is simultaneously belligerent, poetic, and communal, the other notion is concerned with the rights and freedoms of individuals. It believes that dignity comes from better health, better education, and greater prosperity. There is nothing dignified about people lacking the ability to choose freely because of deficiencies like those plaguing them today, just as there is nothing dignified about individuals being afforded no value, tortured, mistreated, called traitors, accused of infidelity, and defamed; nor is it dignified for a minor to be married off to a man of her father's choosing or for this husband to beat her.
This dignity is probably better than military dignity even at fighting and defending itself, if necessity demands it. This opinion is reinforced by the Israeli air force's daily strolls on Syria's skies. As they bombard the country and wreak havoc, their pilots watch the ceremonies celebrating the victory of dignity from above, and as their victims die, they die of laughter.
Many adjectives could be used in describing the current moment in history of the Arab Levant, but we can add another: it is a struggle between two conceptions of "dignity".
In the Axis of Resistance's rhetoric, Gaza is the crown jewel of dignity, not only that of the Palestinians, but also Arab and Muslim dignity. Why? Because Gaza fires missiles and has missiles fired at it; it stands firm, engages the enemy, and defies - in a word, because it is fighting.
As we are well aware, however, youths protested in the streets of Gaza last month, chanting to demand their "right to a decent life." The eruption of protests and the Hamas security agencies' clampdown were preceded by incidents indicating a deterioration of security and that some in the Strip are dying of poverty and a lack of services, including electricity.
In turn, the Hamas government and its crowd did not forget to condemn the movement demanding improved living conditions and services, and to attribute it to the role of social media sites, which exist to further a malicious conspiracy, of course.
As for Syria, it is claimed that national and Arab dignity won the day, defeating a conspiracy that is simultaneously both "Takfiri" and imperialist. But a different opinion was voiced by the people of the southern governorates of As-Suwayda and Daraa. From denouncing the deterioration of living conditions, the rising costs of the fuel and subsidized commodities, and corruption, the protest escalated into a political movement raising matters of governance. We thus saw enraged protesters set a state building on fire and tear up pictures of Syria's rulers and the flag of the regime. Some cried out calling for an end to centralization and the adoption of decentralization.
It is more than a little indicative that, in one of their slogans, the protesters juxtaposed the “food” that they were demanding with the “poetry” (which they do not want or believe) showering them with glory and victory. Since the Jahliya of Amr Ibn Kulthum, poetry about dignity has been associated with war and how “The mighty fall to their knees before any boy of ours who has reached weaning age.”
As for Lebanon, it is the biggest stage on which this clash between the two conceptions of dignity is playing out: on the one hand, we have (poetic) emphasis on its abundance because of the resistance, its missiles, resilience, and the humiliation of Israel. On the other hand, we have complaints (in prose, i.e. rational) of an astonishing scarcity of dignity amid poverty, migration, destitution, and our failure to pay our national debt and secure cancer patients’ medication...
In our region, this poetic school of thought on dignity may have been founded by Gamal Abdel Nasser, the man behind the slogan “Raise your head up, brother.” Bear in mind, as he encouraged heads being held high, Egypt was begging the United States for wheat and making preparations for the crushing defeat that the military, which represents dignity and is charged with safeguarding it, would suffer in 1967. That is why the late Egyptian political researcher Anwar Abdel-Malik was not mistaken when he called Nasserist Egypt a "military society." In several Arab countries, many streets where conflicts (often civil wars) were fought are named in their honor and given names like “Dignity Street” and “Dignity Road”.
Dignity, here, always refers to the dignity of a community, never that of an individual. This may seem strange to English speakers, where in contrast to the Arabic word for it, "Karameh," "dignity" is principally associated with an individual. More than this, our thinking on what constitutes an affront to a community's dignity, be it a tribe or a nation, takes after from the patriarchal lexicon of tribalism - for example, they create dichotomy between “honor” and “shame”, “rape,” and similar terms.
And because this concept is a military concept before being anything else, it not only removes the female half of society from the dignity's orbit, but removes civilian men as well. Indeed, dignity can only be found where there is war; since women and civilians are noncombatants, they are not visible, just like the economy, security, health, and education... It is, in the end, the dignity of a narrow cohort of society who claim that their killing and fighting is done on behalf of the nation and for its dignity, before painting mendacious and poetic portraits of these victories.
In contrast to this notion of dignity, which is simultaneously belligerent, poetic, and communal, the other notion is concerned with the rights and freedoms of individuals. It believes that dignity comes from better health, better education, and greater prosperity. There is nothing dignified about people lacking the ability to choose freely because of deficiencies like those plaguing them today, just as there is nothing dignified about individuals being afforded no value, tortured, mistreated, called traitors, accused of infidelity, and defamed; nor is it dignified for a minor to be married off to a man of her father's choosing or for this husband to beat her.
This dignity is probably better than military dignity even at fighting and defending itself, if necessity demands it. This opinion is reinforced by the Israeli air force's daily strolls on Syria's skies. As they bombard the country and wreak havoc, their pilots watch the ceremonies celebrating the victory of dignity from above, and as their victims die, they die of laughter.
