Syria being an issue, these days, I picked up “Wij zijn Arabieren: Portret van een Ondoordringbaar Syrie” (2012) in a bookstore, recently. The book is written by Dutch student and journalist Maarten Zeegers, who spent almost a year in Syria, before and during the Arab Spring, before being evicted by the regime. In Dutch only, I am afraid.
Mr Zeegers, who studies sharia law, has managed to write a very informative book, blending the insights he gains in Islam, and specifically the various factions present in Syria, with his own day-to-day experiences as an Arab-speaking foreign student in Damascus. Every time he comes across an issue, or a situation, he takes the time to explain the background, about Alawites, for instance, or the Prophet, or Koran-endorsed polygamy, whilst at the same time telling his own story. Sometimes funny, sometimes sad, but always with a personal touch that makes the book so credible. Mr Zeegers has experienced Syria himself, and not just the tourist-side of it. He has friends, even female friends, but also meets sheikhs, imans and priests, and his formidable landlady, from whom he rents a Spartan room.
His knowledge about Syria takes an unexpected turn, when he witnesses, on several occasions, the beginnings of protests against the regime that have, by now, turned the country in a civil war. Where in his view a minority of intellectuals and a large group of Sunnite tribals have only one thing in common, their hatred of the regime, which is however supported by many others who fear the chaos and the religious crack-down after the regime falls. It is a pity that a few months into the unrest Mr Zeegers is declared unwanted alien, and is forced to leave; he would have been an excellent observer inside this troubled country, with understanding both the local culture and how the West looks at this.
Even if you don’t read the book, read the epilogue, and his analysis that, whatever happens with Syria, the country has bigger problems than the Assad regime alone. Mr Zeegers assesses that Syrian society is incredibly stratified, in business, in family, everywhere really, and that each stratum or sub-stratum has its own mini-dictator, whether it is the family father or the restaurant owner, and that without changing this fundamental principle Syria will never be a free country, at least most Syrian people will never be truly free. ( )