Life without walls...!

By Anis Albasha

One of the most interesting things I have seen in Europe is the scene of schools with no walls surround them. This might be a normal scene for Europeans. But for a person who came from a different background in which ‘walls’ are in everywhere, such wall-less views were so unusual.

Since ancient times, walls and fences have been an important part of human’s life. People built walls to protect themselves from impending danger. Walls played a pivotal role in wars. Impregnable walls were the main obstacle which determines the victory or the defeat of a nation. Today, some countries build fences on their borders to prevent the flow of migrants or smugglers. Some people might establish mental walls in order to keep a distance between them and other people. When it comes to Arabic culture and societies, concrete walls play a major role in people’s lives.

In my country as an example, the view of walls is very common. There are walls that surround school buildings, there are walls that surround houses, and there are also walls that surround buildings, companies and government facilities. Moreover, we have walls that surround vast areas of uninhabited and barren lands! The main purpose of all these physical fences and walls is to maintain privacy as well as to protect against thieves and nosy people. As for schools fences, the walls are there to hold students and keep them within the premises until the end of the school day. Besides, schools fences prevent ‘foreign’ people from entering the school. And because of these high fences and the rigid system of our schools, students' attempts to flee the school building know no end.

Unfortunately, these attempts sometimes have tragic endings. I remember one time I was in the secondary school and one day we were setting in our classroom when we saw from the window a student who was trying to escape by climbing one of school’s high walls "at least four meters height." The boy managed to climb the fence successfully. But when he tried to get to the other side of the wall, he grabbed the power cables which were close to him and unfortunately he was shocked by the electric current and died instantly. I am sure that if people from Europe saw that horrifying scene, they would not have imagined for a moment that this "escapee" was just a student wanted to flee the school. Those people, who come from countries where there are no walls around schools, would think that this poor student is a dangerous criminal who is sentenced to death so he was trying to escape in order to save his life. 

I’ve never climbed a school wall. But that does not mean I loved staying inside the school. Like many of my peers at the time, we look at the school as a kind of prison which we were forced not to leave until the end of the school day.  Perhaps that feeling was due to schools’ high walls that surrounded us or because of the poor level of education we had. When it comes to the houses, the fences and walls in my country may exceed the height of five meters, especially those fences surrounding the houses of the rich people or high ranking officials. It is very common to see some luxurious houses and villas surrounded by very high walls which are extended along the sight. Usually, there is a direct correlation the height and length of the fences and the status and the wealth of the owners of these luxurious.

However, the fences that surround houses in many Arabic societies often fail to provide privacy to their owners. Sadly enough, in the societies in which we grew up, there is no respect for the privacy of the others. Therefore, many people tend to interfere in others' affairs, bug each other, and intrude into the privacy of the others. Those 'interferers' continue doing so even with the existence of all those walls and fences made by people in order to maintain some privacy. The bigger the height of the walls, the greater the desire to climb these walls in order to know what is going on behind them.

I do believe that the shape and the size of the walls in any society is a reflection of the nature of that society as well as its inhabitants. The lower the walls in the society, the greater the awareness and the urbanization of the people who live in that society. The high number of fences in a society is evidence of the low level of awareness and urbanization among members of that community. In contrast, the high number of walls and fences in a society is an indication of the low level of awareness and urbanization among the members of that society.  

So, as I mentioned at the beginning, the view of very low fences that surround the houses here or the view of the pupils' playing in the schoolyard without climbing the walls will continue to catch my eyes. It is said that “Walls don’t fall without efforts”. So, I hope that one day; walls in my country will get more shorter and the sense of self-control among people will get more bigger. 

What is happening in Ghouta?

Pic from Pixabay

By Anis Albasha

Mark Twain once said that “If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you're misinformed”. This saying is perfectly applicable when it comes to the pattern that is used by many western news media when covering the volatile events in the Middle East.

Few days ago, western news media, and also some regional media outlets, were so concerned with what was going on in Syria, particularly in Ghouta area. All of a sudden, news media started wailing and weeping about the ‘outrageous’ killing and destruction committed by the Syrian Army in Ghouta. Headlines in many western newspapers and magazines were very heartrending, such as ‘It is not a war. It is a massacre’ or ‘It’s raining rockets’!

Anyone follows the media coverage of Ghouta’s events would feel that they are talking about an apocalypse which is about to happen. For many days, Ghouta news has become the top news bulletins and headlines in the written and visual media. The question here is: is what really happened in Ghouta worth all this wailing? Of course, a terrible war is going on not only in Ghouta but in many parts of Syria.  But what is the reason behind the news media hysterical coverage of what was going on Ghouta, particularly in this timing? Do the media give us a true picture of what is going on there? Or there are certain agendas some players are trying to pass through this over-coverage of the Ghouta’s events? Posing these kinds of questions sounds very reasonable for the following reasons:

1- At a time when the media were wailing about the ‘horrible genocide’ against the people and the children in Ghouta, we have not heard or seen a quarter of this interest and sympathy about what is going on in Yemen. The country witnesses a vicious and a cruel war waged by dozens of neighboring countries with the support of superpower countries. This ongoing war against Yemen has claimed the lives of thousands of innocent civilians including children. According to the UNICEF, ‘Nearly all children in Yemen are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance. More than 5,000 children have been killed or injured in the violence – an average of five children every day since the conflict began’. So, for those who feel devastated about the children of Ghouta, why don’t they feel the same about the children of Yemen?

2- According to dozens of reports from international entities and organizations, Yemen’s war is one of the worst disasters in the world since the WW2. Reports state that Yemen is currently facing one of the worst hunger crises in the world. Stephen O’Brien, the UN under secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, stated that the largest humanitarian crisis was in Yemen where two-thirds of the population — 18.8 million people — need aid and more than seven million people are hungry and did not know where their next meal would come from. However, the same media that cries over Syria and Ghouta did not shed a single tear on what is happening in Yemen!

Some may argue that the Syrian regime is accused of killing children by using banned chemical weapons. This is something unacceptable by the ‘modern’ world and it was the reason behind that ‘feverish’ media coverage of Ghouta’s events. In fact, it is so strange that, before any biased investigations take place, and in the absence of any physical evidence, western news media insists that the culprit is the Syrian regime. I can’t help but wondering, is the Syrian regime so stupid to decide to use banned chemical weapons at the time when the Syrian army was winning the fight against the main opposition group in Ghouta? Let alone the fabricated footage that was broadcast from inside Ghouta after the alleged attack. We saw children who were said to have been subjected to chemical weapons being sprayed with water by ‘paramedics’ who did not wear the minimum protective clothing which are crucial in such situations!

However, let’s believe the news media this time. Let’s pretend that, all of a sudden, the mainstream media is so sympathetic about the atrocities committed against innocent civilians in Ghouta. If that is the case, why don’t we e see similar reaction towards what is going on in Yemen? According to many accredited reports, Saudi-led coalition used banned cluster bombs in Yemen. Human Rights Watch has accused the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen of using indiscriminate cluster bombs supplied by the United States. Human Rights Watch said it has evidence of the bombs being used at least five times, including an attack in that injured civilians. According to the Guardian, the British defense secretary Michael Fallon has seen government analysis indicating that UK-made cluster munitions were used by the Saudi-led coalition in the current conflict in Yemen.

So, if it is about using internationally banned weapons, why don’t we see the same media coverage when it comes to Yemen? For many days, Western news media was so busy with the ‘horrific’ scenes of the children of Ghouta, whom the media accuses the Syrian regime of killing them by bombs as well as by banned weapons. Why don’t we see a similar coverage about the children of Yemen who were also killed by banned weapons? Does news media need accredited reports about the outrageous situation in Yemen? According to the Save the Children, “More than 50,000 children in Yemen are expected to die by the end of the year as a result of disease and starvation caused by the stalemated war in the country, Save the Children has warned.” So, are not these miserable children in Yemen worth a little attention by the western media?

Do mainstream media need more accredited reports about Yemen? Well, according to the UNICEF “Nearly 2 million Yemeni children were out of school, a quarter of them since the conflict escalated when a Saudi-led coalition intervened in March 2015. More than 3 million children were born into the war, it said, adding they had been “scarred by years of violence, displacement, disease, poverty, undernutrition and a lack of access to basic services”. Based on that, it is so obvious that the news media coverage on Ghouta is not out of compassion and humanity. Otherwise, we would have seen the same concern when it comes to Yemen. This brings us back to the basic question: what exactly is happening in Syria and what are the reasons behind the recent exaggerated media interest of the events of Ghouta?

Actually, what is going on in Syria, whether in Ghouta or in the other areas of the country is a conflict of interests between different forces in order to achieve certain agendas. The people’s suffering because of these conflicts is exploited by the news media to achieve certain goals which are far from human sympathy with those people. If the news media deals with the events in the Middle East as credibly as it claims and if it really cares about the suffering of the innocents, they must stop this partial coverage which cries over certain alleged claims in Syria while completely ignoring the real tragedies that take place in other areas of the region like Yemen.

It is said that not only are things not what they seem, they are not even what they are called. In the digital media age in which we live, I may add that things are not also what they are ‘broadcast’. The events of Ghouta are an example which proves that the greatest wisdom when dealing with the news media is to see through appearances.

Stop being a ‘weltschmerz’ !

Pic from Pexabay

By Anis Albasha

Heal the World
Make It A Better Place
For You And For Me
And The Entire Human Race
There Are People Dying
If You Care Enough
For The Living
Make A Better Place
For You And For Me
**

We are the world,
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So, let's start giving
There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
It's true we'll make a better day
Just you and me

When I was young, I used to listen to such lyrics which triggered a burst of emotions inside me. At that time, like many other teenagers in my age, I was full of enthusiasm which was decorated with a number of promising imaginations about the future. I believed that it was my generation that could change the world and make it to a better place. Only when I grow up, I found out how foolish I was when I thought that I could change the world just because I have the passion within me.

At the beginning, I was one of those who look at this issue as a sacred duty that needs to be done no matter what. Inside me was that urgent desire to lessen the suffering for humans, animals and even plants. I do not know whether it was the atmosphere and the circumstances in which I grew up or the books I used to read, but I used to think positively and optimistically. I had the impression that one day everything would be reformed and changed to the best. As the American football coach Lou Holtz once said, “Nothing is impossible in this world if you just put your mind to it and maintain a positive attitude”. And I had both, the determination and the positive attitude. I am not sure of that, but I think that was the case for many of my own generation, at least in the society where I lived.

As I grew older, I started to look at this issue from a different perspective. I began to realize that the world around me was more complicated than I what I thought. The first interaction that shook my confidence encountered me right after the death of my father. At that critical period, I had to deal with the judicial system in my country for the first time in my life. To be honest, even at that time when I was a teenager, I didn’t have a full promising perception about the situations in an underdeveloped country like Yemen. However, I never expected the matter to be that bad. A respectable, independent and trust worthy judicial system is something crucial in any civilian society.  It is ‘the mechanism that upholds the rule of law’.  Unfortunately, the judicial system we have in Yemen was and still is faulty and corrupt. The experience I got by dealing with that system has badly affected me and diminished my hopes.

The second incident happened when I established my first private business. Full of aspirations and hopes, and after strenuous battles with the corrupt judicial system, I started a small business in my city. I wanted that business to thrive and I was dreaming of making it a very successful one. I started to regain my confidence and to forget about my bitter experience with the judicial system and with other parties. Sadly enough, after a short period of success, the second clash with the corrupt state institutions took place. At that time, I was still full of unbridled enthusiasm and I didn’t want to give up easily. Again, I thought that nothing would be impossible to a willing heart and to a determined mind. Napoleon Bonaparte believed that ‘impossible’ is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools. I wasn’t a fool. I was able to establish an independent business while I was 20 years old. So I tried to fight back but the world was bigger and stronger than me so I was defeated in the end. And again, I was wrong and my confidence was badly shaken this time.  

Later, during the different experiences I have gone through throughout various stages of my life, I came to realize that changing the world around me is a kind of bailing out the ocean with a bucket. I consider that realization I eventually came up with as the real beginning of an actual maturity in my personality. Being totally convinced and relieved about that conclusion, I started to see things from different perspectives. I told myself that perhaps it’s time to relegate this task. Eventually, I restructured my way of thinking and recognized that there is no need to hold high hopes or to be in a hurry. The best way to make a change is first to accept the fact that we are not living in utopia. As a matter of fact, the world we live in is far from perfect and far from ideal. So, the only thing we could do is to make the change within ourselves. As it is said, everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.

The crux of the issue of changing the world is to be realistic enough to realize that things like corruption, poverty, lack of justice and wealth inequality will always be part of our world. I still see many people who have strive hard thinking that they can fix the world on their own. I can understand this naïve enthusiasm for those who are still young. I myself was there and used to think the same. But for those who are mature, I just wonder when they will be able to understand the reality of the world in which we live. Let’s admit that it is ok to exert some efforts on this issue every once in a while, but to spend a lifetime on such a Sisyphean task is just senseless. Those who suffer from hyper-responsibility believe that they have more control over what happens in the world than they actually do. ‘Weltschmerz’ is an awesome German word that describes the state of those people. It describes the feeling of having the weight of world on one’s shoulders.  

To conclude, regardless of the society or the community we live in, we should understand that are not supposed to fix the world and make it a perfect one. Having an illusion of a perfect world would make it even worse. We must be able to see the reality of the world we live in. This is not a call to give up or to feel pessimistic, but to remain in a state of rationality in order to realize that we will not be able to turn our world into a utopian place. The wise thing we can do is to try to be part of the solution not the problem. Let’s not be part of the corruption and the injustice we see in this world. As Jalal al-Din Rumi once said, ‘Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself’.