Will ancient monuments survive the Arab Spring?
The international human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) has condemned the desecration and destruction of cult buildings of religious minorities in Syria by militants of the Syrian opposition.
The HRW statement gives specific instances of desecration, robbery and destruction of shrines and holy buildings of Syrian Christians and Alawites in the provinces of Idlib and Latakia on the part of the opposition.
According to scientist-participants of the Arab Archaeological Symposium in Cairo, Egypt has lost more cultural treasures during the past 2 years than any other time in the country’s history.
Over the last 8 months, 35 Sufi mausoleums had been destroyed In Tunisia, Vice-President of the Union of the Sufis of Tunisia Mazen Sherif said. According to him, Wahhabis are behind these attacks, and he fears that before long they will resort to destroying monuments of cultural heritage in Carthage, El Djem and Duga.
Is the destruction of historical monuments an inevitability of the revolutionary process, or a mere accident? We addressed this question to a witness of the war, Syrian political analyst Taufik Jarrad.
“It is not an accident. All that we see and face is an operation aimed at destroying the Arab world. This plan was announced by American politicians back in 1983. Strategists set the goal of re-dividing political systems of Iraq, Egypt, Yemen, Tunisia, Syria and Libya, in order to get free access to their natural and cultural resources. There is oil under the ground, and on its surface there are valuable cultural monuments which are worth billions. Ancient cities and monuments, which cannot be taken away, are destined to destruction. Firstly, it raises the price of the items taken away. Secondly, it erases their culture and civilization from the memory of the people. Even spiritual heritage, literature, and schools are subject to terrorists’ “attention”. They deliberately destroy schools, libraries, mosques, and churches. The whole spiritual life of the people is in danger. And it's not only the issue of money. Their goal is to create people without a past and a future”.
The Western press presents the situation as if the destruction of cultural monuments is the result of religious intolerance on the part of the Arabs. However, it was not yesterday that various trends in Islam appeared. And it was not yesterday that Arab-Muslims began to coexist with Arab-Christians. And in the course of many centuries, these relations were quite neighborly; in the Arab world there has never been such religious discord, which is typical, for example, for medieval Europe.
So how did this intolerance appear? Here is Egyptian political scientist Ayman Faid’s take:
“The myth that we are destroying our culture ourselves is equivalent to the myth that the Arabs have organized the revolution themselves. Specialists, who have created the Arab Spring plan, are competent psychologists. At first they staked on the dignity of the Arabs. For example, they addressed the Egyptians as a nation with a great history, who will not allow the absolute rule of a dictator. Rumors were spread that Hosni Mubarak was going to leave his power to his son, and Muammar Gaddafi – to his son, which would mean the end of democracy and the beginning of slavery. The atmosphere was heated, and then a skillful hand ignited the fire and the countries flared up. Now, all the memories of our past greatness are being destroyed with the hands of armed Islamists playing on the side of the West. It reminds me of the story of Juhu, in which a man took the place of a donkey instead of riding it. They want us to become donkeys. Donkeys are easy to manage and cheap to keep”.
At one time, the destruction of the ancient statues in Bamyan by the Afghan Taliban was rightly perceived in the world as a crime against culture. However, not all Afghans, but only the Taliban were accused of this crime. Exactly as all Arabs are not responsible for current crimes against culture in Syria, Libya, Egypt and Tunisia. A relatively small group of people is responsible for this. And the fact that at the moment these people are the allies of the West doesn't change the situation.
Source http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_01_25/Will-ancient-monuments-survive-the-Arab-Spring/
The HRW statement gives specific instances of desecration, robbery and destruction of shrines and holy buildings of Syrian Christians and Alawites in the provinces of Idlib and Latakia on the part of the opposition.
According to scientist-participants of the Arab Archaeological Symposium in Cairo, Egypt has lost more cultural treasures during the past 2 years than any other time in the country’s history.
Over the last 8 months, 35 Sufi mausoleums had been destroyed In Tunisia, Vice-President of the Union of the Sufis of Tunisia Mazen Sherif said. According to him, Wahhabis are behind these attacks, and he fears that before long they will resort to destroying monuments of cultural heritage in Carthage, El Djem and Duga.
Is the destruction of historical monuments an inevitability of the revolutionary process, or a mere accident? We addressed this question to a witness of the war, Syrian political analyst Taufik Jarrad.
“It is not an accident. All that we see and face is an operation aimed at destroying the Arab world. This plan was announced by American politicians back in 1983. Strategists set the goal of re-dividing political systems of Iraq, Egypt, Yemen, Tunisia, Syria and Libya, in order to get free access to their natural and cultural resources. There is oil under the ground, and on its surface there are valuable cultural monuments which are worth billions. Ancient cities and monuments, which cannot be taken away, are destined to destruction. Firstly, it raises the price of the items taken away. Secondly, it erases their culture and civilization from the memory of the people. Even spiritual heritage, literature, and schools are subject to terrorists’ “attention”. They deliberately destroy schools, libraries, mosques, and churches. The whole spiritual life of the people is in danger. And it's not only the issue of money. Their goal is to create people without a past and a future”.
The Western press presents the situation as if the destruction of cultural monuments is the result of religious intolerance on the part of the Arabs. However, it was not yesterday that various trends in Islam appeared. And it was not yesterday that Arab-Muslims began to coexist with Arab-Christians. And in the course of many centuries, these relations were quite neighborly; in the Arab world there has never been such religious discord, which is typical, for example, for medieval Europe.
So how did this intolerance appear? Here is Egyptian political scientist Ayman Faid’s take:
“The myth that we are destroying our culture ourselves is equivalent to the myth that the Arabs have organized the revolution themselves. Specialists, who have created the Arab Spring plan, are competent psychologists. At first they staked on the dignity of the Arabs. For example, they addressed the Egyptians as a nation with a great history, who will not allow the absolute rule of a dictator. Rumors were spread that Hosni Mubarak was going to leave his power to his son, and Muammar Gaddafi – to his son, which would mean the end of democracy and the beginning of slavery. The atmosphere was heated, and then a skillful hand ignited the fire and the countries flared up. Now, all the memories of our past greatness are being destroyed with the hands of armed Islamists playing on the side of the West. It reminds me of the story of Juhu, in which a man took the place of a donkey instead of riding it. They want us to become donkeys. Donkeys are easy to manage and cheap to keep”.
At one time, the destruction of the ancient statues in Bamyan by the Afghan Taliban was rightly perceived in the world as a crime against culture. However, not all Afghans, but only the Taliban were accused of this crime. Exactly as all Arabs are not responsible for current crimes against culture in Syria, Libya, Egypt and Tunisia. A relatively small group of people is responsible for this. And the fact that at the moment these people are the allies of the West doesn't change the situation.
Source http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_01_25/Will-ancient-monuments-survive-the-Arab-Spring/
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