Syria as Superpower

Apart from that "Che Guevara" tent in Aleppo, I have not come across any whiff of anything slightly jihadist or or Al-Qeada-ish at all here. Not that it doesn't exist... but there is no way you would ever see anyone with an Osama bin Laden picture in their shop or anywhere in fact... and that is the propoganda we are fed.

Apparently, it is very common for Americans to come here and expect to see this sort of evil darkly cloaked nation with terrorist training camps around every corner, because this is what the prevailing propoganda about Syria says it is like!

And then just find this place where the people are really nice and seem apolitical for the most part, and go about their life in a simple and clear way - sure, not in a super slick way. But at least, they haven't sold out to the global capitalistic borg of consumerism and appear to have a strong collective and individual focus on the inner life.

They are just not very materialistic people it seemed to me. Although Hane was interested in my ipod, when I told him he could get one on ebay and how he could use ebay in Syria, he just wasn't interested.

I talked to a hip (in the sense of up to date looking!) looking young man who said his mother was an animal vet in Australia. I said you should go visit, and he said he wasn't interested. He was something to the effect of that he was quite happy in Syria thank you very much!

Through Hane, I met a few switched on young guys, and the impression I had of them, was that they were simply very switched on, beautiful young guys. In many respects radiated a great deal more of a clear and vibrant sense of character than the majority of the "too cool for school" or "valley girl/boy" young people you meet in the west. 60% of Syria's population is under 25, so it is very much a young person's country.

And I saw signs of rebellion from the dominant paradigm too... I remember once I saw this teenage girl dressed in a purple suit who looked like a dandy! The strange thing was I saw her crossing the road in a town in the middle of the desert in the middle of the day. I now just wish I had stopped and asked her if I could take her photo!

So I think this is what is dangerous, when places like the middle east are depersonalised and the people there are stereotyped and become not quite human, just one dimensional, rabid towel heads.

This is what Hitler did to the Jews, with these images the nazi's pushed of the sneaky, swarthy hook nosed miser.

These days, I think subtlety and unsubtley, the prevailing stereotype in the west is of these very swarthy, super angry people, waving machine guns, ready to blow things up and commit terrorist acts for the sake of their religion.

And in this case, these sorts of stereotypes I think allow injustices to occur, because then the people involved become less than human in the abusers eyes. We only know the extremists in their extreme mode.

This is obviously a way of distancing oneself from the humanity, and generalising into flat people who are actually not people... who are different from "US"... and I think that is historically, largely a British innovation.

When the reality is, the arabs are generally very peaceful people. The men count their prayer beads like buddhist monks. Road rage or anything like it doesn't seem to exist. Generally, it seems to be part of the culture, to want to do right by other people.

I think the way to really defeat this is to see past the stereotypes - positive and negative and focus on the realities of the people and how they live.

When you think of Syria... what do you think of?

Now, for me, I think of this multidimensional panorma of humanity I met there... which is very different from any humanity I have ever met... and I couldn't say I felt they were apart from me, or very different at all. They felt more near to me than far, in many ways, more similar than different - in that this culture has allowed the development of certain facets of humanity which I did know of, which I began to perceive.

Even though this may sound trite, I felt like people were seeing me as part of their greater family and that I was one of them now - and that was a boon. At times, I felt them to be more extra-terrestrial than terrestrial, in that, they were not at all dreary or even a known quantity in an earthly sense.

Everywhere you go, people would say, "welcome, welcome!"... anyone and everyone would go out of their way to help me, because that is what people largely do there.

I was rarely a stranger, and people only welcomed me.

I regret not accepting tea from an obviously kind and well educated man in a shop in Palmyra, he really wasn't interested in selling me anything. (and I bought something anyway) And continually, I would see the coldness and distance which is just the norm in western life, and also in myself. And also, I would see it in other westerners, who would never say hello when I passed them or just muttered something and stared ahead, trying to avoid you, looking typically ashen faced and like they continually dwelled on the bad year for them, that was 1991.

Syrians seem to live like people in a big village. It seems that even in the big cities, that people like to know each other and I have never experienced this sense of community in any other country I have been to. I met a French woman who worked for the French Embassy in Aleppo for two years and she just swooned about her time there.

Syria is not a democracy in its strictest sense. But I tend to think what they have here is something quite valuable. Bashar is a leader who everyone I spoke to, thinks is great. They really do love Bashar. Even young people (like Hane's cousin) put stencils of a "cool" Bashar wearing aviator sunglasses on their car windows.

In fact, Bashar and his wife are almost an advertisement for almost randomly picking out two bright professional people and putting them in charge of a country! Rather than a system where the power hungry professional weasel is voted in, after compromise after compromise to his party and voters.

It seems that Bashar and his wife, have quite some power to make the reforms and do what they please, for the most part and the people oblidge. There wasn't even a mobile phone network or the internet here in 2000 when he came to power. Now, all that is everywhere.

I read an interview with Bashirs wife, Asma Al-Assad, who is a British born Syrian, who used to be a merchant banker, believe it or not. Everything she says is just incredibly articulate and spot on - even somewhat radical in its progressive and forward thinking nature.

From the photos, you can see she is this very beautiful and graceful person, and she is very active in spearheading changes around the country, especially in regards to women's issues.

Strangely enough, she probably knows more about international finance and such than her husband, who never finished his eye doctor training in London before he was called back to Syria, to become president at 34!

So I think Syria is in good hands. Bashar is not like his father, who seems like a bit of a hard lined tyrant, but remember, this is a place where all the religious factions are not at each other throat and they all seem to tolerate each other.

As I write this, I find out today Washington is releasing photos of what they say is a nuclear development facility which the Israeli's bombed, with a before and after photo.

It looks like an empty military building like the Syrians say rather than anything as advanced as a nuclear power station. I have researched into this a bit, and all the relevant say this is all patently ridiculous for MANY reasons.

The American's are alledging that Syria is developing Nuclear weapons with help from North Korea, without proffering any evidence at all.

And all this is just a few days after Jimmy Carter says that America and other countries must engage with Syria if they want to have an effective peace process.

So I think this is really some form of cunning anti-diplomacy... which can only led to more misunderstanding and confusion, and also help to further demonise America in the middle east, which can only worsen their plight and effectively castrate any influence or sway they may have.

Force is not a real influence. It is only this immediate thing which has no influence in and of itself, except to create counter-force. Force does not inspire any proud people to just surrender to it, unless they absolutely have to and then they will maintain internal resistance.

And that state, of anyone having to surrender to absolute force, is not a healthy state of affairs, which can only lead to trouble (which we witness in the middle east!)

At least in Iraq, some of the Allied commanders and soldiers on the ground are having to learn that the only way to effectively proceed is to win the hearts and minds of the local people.

This applies to the Israeli's too...I feel that sooner or later if they keep using miltary force, and create more and more enemies, as the that their "enemy" is going to bite back. There is no way to "win" in these sorts of situations.

All this warfare is only going to inspire more warfare, and more and more people to get onto the bandwagon of wanting the jewish state destroyed.

The American and Israeli seem to have the philosophy of an eye for 1,000 eyes and a tooth for 100,000 teeth. And that is no real protection... and will only makes matters worse for all I would have thought.

In 10-100 years, every secondary student may have the ability to create nuclear weapons... in a thousand years, it is almost certain. So if the human species wants to continue, we have to begin living as if any one of us has the power to press the button.

Really, I feel the only solution to all this is a human and humanitarian solution. The only peace is in the heart and in the mind. At the moment, the hearts and minds of anyone in the middle east is not really being addressed by those who would have enough influence to influence them in some kind of obviously constructive and positive way.

Regardless of all this political stuff, I really do think Syria is a great place to experience a pure, but tolerant muslim country, relatively untainted by western values.

The food is supurb. The worst food I had was actually at the supposedly best restaurant in Aleppo! The next day I ate some little pizza things for 1/200th of the price, which were so much better than anything they gave me at that restaurant!

But it is not an easy country to travel in. Most people go there in big tour groups and rarely did I see independent travelers there... in fact, I think I could count them on two hands.

You know, the rocks and ruins are fine and I don't regret seeing them at all, but if I go again, I would spend more time along the Euphrates, visit the coast, spend more time with the Bedouin and maybe go visit some Kurdish settlements.

Like anywhere, I often think the best time you can have is to go off the beaten track and walk around in villages and towns and of course, in nature, and see what you see and encounter who you encounter!