Many political and social literatures unanimously agree that the freedoms of people are measured by the liberation of women, and the presence of women in public affairs has long been a symbol of society’s liberation and its respect for civil, democracy, and humanitarian values. It is not a matter of discrimination to say that true femininity condenses concepts of ampleness and tolerance.. Compassion and love.. Insurgency and not to be subject to total principles and laws, whether they are military or civil partisan, or religious, for the nature of women in particular and their psychological structure, as assumed by psychoanalytic literature, is not capable of producing intolerance.
A lot might see that it is not the time yet for the luxury of thinking in the presence of women in political opposition formations and gatherings while we all suffer under a merciless brutal war machine. An activist friend from besieged Daraya expressed this matter to me by saying: “it is difficult to approach the topic from a (woman/man) point of view.. for the performance of the opposition, males and females, was unfortunately not characterized by independence.. but rather suffered from dependence and disability, and the problem of women is one of the symptoms of this collective disability in elites. If we got rid of this (curse) it will then be possible to deal with other problems, prior to that, we are all (maids) at the Sultan of fear of the strong!”.
Let us say as a beginning that the approach of Masculinity/ femininity does not match with the approach of man/ woman, because femininity is a number of qualities that might exist in women and men, and masculinity as well. In the sense that every human is characterized as female and male alike, and his general orientation is influenced by educational, ethical and objective determinants in a reality. Needless to say that what the Regime has imposed on the Syrian arena during the years of his rule and in particular during the two years of the Revolution is a patriarchal tendency which is characterized by hostility and maximizing strength and predominance in war .. and tyranny of intolerance. Despite the presence of a feminine tendency in many men, women are supposed to be the main carriers of peace speeches.. because we cannot image cases of slaughter, murder, rape and mass massacres committed by women! This is not a preference speech or a scale of inferiority and superiority between masculinity and femininity, they should not be compared as (Pierre Daco) says.. “in doing so, we are similar to someone wondering: Which is superior? Water or fire? Mountain or valley?” ..
The wooden Sultan of masculinity is the one who drove our revolution to this dark tunnel.. and the concept of (curse) which my friend talked about above belongs to the world of Warrior masculinity?! Wasn’t the “peaceful movement” a feminine resistance in the face of a “castrating” Regime actually and metaphorically? Who was able to drag the revolution into a masculine war in order to exercise the most severe kinds of sadism.. in his yard.. the yard of masculinity/ war.. which significance is concentrated in a scene that has become detailed for the diary of death .. Where men’s private parts are amputated in front of our eyes ..!
War in what it contains of political decline also includes a decline of democracy and civil values and a decline of liberation dreams.. when the scene is led by values of violence and control.. subordination and obedience.. intolerance and hatred.. the presence of force and harshness.. tough men versus moderate ones.. and versus the decline in the presence of women and the rest of the society’s components (the children, and the elderly), an intensified escalation in the scene of warrior masculinity and a gradual absence of femininity behind black blocks.
Therefore, it is not strange for the role of women to decline when it emerged in the early revolutionary movement, the result of the change in the general circumstances of the revolution and the militarization of it has closed a lot of horizons and possibilities which were strongly present in the beginnings.
If humanity is going in its evolution towards more femininity, then our revolution, that we wanted and still want it to be progressive, seems to be speeding the pace now towards more masculinity.. and towards a trapped femininity, towards a more influential presence of repressive patriarchic structure.. and towards social and psychological constraints that we thought were long gone.
This pessimistic characterization does not allow a retreat from the fundamental demands and goals of the revolution in overthrowing the most brutal Regime in history, it is also not meant to be frustrating. The pessimism of the mind is at the same time the optimism of the will.. and it doesn’t seem that we have a choice other than to keep going and working on snatching our multi-layered liberties with our hands, efforts, and sacrifices.. first and foremost with free thinking and rejecting “red lines” whoever draws them.
Syrian writer, journalist and activist; RFM Chief Editor
The Occupied Golan Heights
