The Syrian blogosphere has been embroiled in a heated debate over the weekend. It is a debate that is quite reflective of some of our modern disagreements as Syrians, over a wide range of basic issues: identity, religion, state and personal freedom.
The casus belli came in the form of a post, by Syrian blogger Ahmad Edilbi, that called for professional hackers to destroy Syrian blogs he deems are “immoral” [Ar]:
The post itself caused outrage, and many of the commenters were highly opposed to such means.
The incident, until yesterday, was mostly unknown in the English part of the blogosphere – as language is one of the many lines of divide in the Syrian blogosphere.
The real debate exploded when Razan Ghazzawi quoted the post, and used it in a comparison between Syrian Expatriate, and Local bloggers [Ar]:
ما معنى ان تكون اول مدونة سورية تدعو الى الغاء زملائها في التدوين السوري مدونة محلية باللغة العربية وذات خطاب ديني؟
The post was picked up by a number of bloggers, and each discussed the incident from a different perspective.
Dania, of My Chaos, discussed what she feels as a religious fever sweeping the society, and in turn, the blogpshere:
I don’t mind it, after all it is freedom of expression, but some of them are sending messages of not respecting the “other” freedom of expression, and more dangerously to attacking other's freedom of expression. Can any one help me out in here to figure this thing out? Is our society heading toward the religious mentality to hypnotize itself out of a miserable reality? Is it systematic? Chaotic? A normal result of giving the freedom of religious organization to move after decades of firm controlling? is it a type of defense system against the global media hostility against Islam?What is it?!
Abu Fares, expressed his own observations on the state of the Syrian blogosphere:
The Syrian blogging movement had started as a secular/liberal outcry in the face of political totalitarianism. The early writings addressed individual freedom and liberty, attacked the unilateral decision making process of the political establishment in Syria and advanced pluralism. Generally speaking, they were mostly written in English. The recent trend, mostly expressed in Arabic, is best characterized as a sweeping current of religious zealotry. These newcomers may or may not openly oppose the political establishment but they share the common vision/dream of Islamic Revival to right what is presently wrong in this country and the rest of the world.
His post attracted a large debate, and around 37 comments, so far.
The debate was further expanded by different perspectives on the matter shared by Dubai Jazz, Abu Kareem, and Ayman Haykal [Ar].
The heated exchange clearly highlights some of the most pressing, and controversial issues that divide the Syrian society. The internet and the implications of such open mediums like blogs, the definitions of personal freedoms, and the concepts of Law and State, between the different ideological currents roughly representing a Secular and Religious outlook for the future.
The exchange also highlights how divided the Syrian blogosphere is, and how isolated each group is. This debate was almost exclusive to the bloggers who are associated with the English-language Syrian blogosphere (except for some comments on Ayman’s post [Ar]), just like the debate that took place around the first post [Ar], was almost exclusive to the Arabic-language bloggers.
While the bloggers may not represent a true quantitative image of the dynamics of the Syrian society, they do represent many of the colors and currents that are flowing, and clashing in that society.