Societal Awareness: A Weapon Against Bigotry and a Path to a Unified Syria

Amidst the identity conflicts sweeping many societies, societal awareness emerges as a decisive weapon in confronting sectarian, nationalist, and chauvinistic intolerance. This awareness is not merely a slogan, but a daily practice that recognizes diversity and turns pluralism into a source of strength rather than weakness. The Assad-free Syria, with its rich social fabric, presents a living model of the possibility of coexistence, as well as the dangers of this fabric unraveling under the weight of narrow ideologies.

The Economy: A Historical Lifeline

During periods of colonialism and extreme poverty, the economy served as a fundamental unifying tool. In factories, fields, and markets, workers from various sects and ethnicities gathered, united by their struggle for livelihood and survival. Common interests dissolved differences and forged a deep sense of shared destiny. Even in celebrations, the Dabke (folk dance) was performed collectively, with men and women from all backgrounds participating, expressing a shared human joy that transcended narrow affiliations. Moral and social depth prevailed, where values of solidarity and cooperation governed daily relationships.

The Challenge: When Sub-Identities Take Precedence

However, the scene changed when certain political and social discourses began pushing towards reducing identity to a single narrow affiliation: sectarian, nationalist, or ethnic. This weakened allegiance to the nation as an inclusive space, replacing it with competing partial loyalties. Cultural and religious particularities, once practiced as a legitimate individual and collective right, turned into closed ideologies that divided rather than united. The Syrian identity, which had long been considered a unifying vessel for all these components, came under threat.

Damascus: A Memory of Coexistence

Damascene history is rich with living examples of this coexistence:

1. Al-Hamidiyah Souq and the Shared Economy: The souq was a space for trade and daily life, where Muslim, Christian, and Jew, Sunni, Shia, and Druze would meet. Commercial interests and personal relationships wove a complex web of mutual dependence, making intolerance impractical even in the darkest times.

2. Mixed Neighborhoods: Areas like Al-Salihiyah, Al-Qaymariyah, and Al-Midan, where families of different origins and religions lived side by side for centuries. Religious holidays of any community were respected by all neighbors, with some even participating as an expression of social respect and solidarity.

3. Literary and Cultural Salons: In the early 20th century, Damascus's literary salons, hosted by prominent intellectuals, brought together writers and thinkers from all backgrounds to discuss issues of the nation and the ummah beyond sectarian divisions.

4. A Tangible Historical Event: During the Great Famine in Syria in World War I (1915-1918), everyone from all sects and religions suffered together. History documented stories of spontaneous solidarity, where Christian and Muslim families in neighborhoods like Bab Touma and Bab Sharqi shared the little food available, a stark expression that humanity and shared destiny outweigh any other affiliation when the danger is universal.

Towards a New Social Contract: Rousseau and Unifying Particularity

The social contract advocated by philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau reminds us of the importance of balance between public interest and individual rights. In Syria today, salvation seems to lie in returning to the idea of the nation as a unifying identity, but not at the expense of erasing particularities. What is needed is a new social contract that recognizes the right of every individual and group to their own cultural and religious identity, without allowing this particularity to become an exclusionary ideology threatening the overall fabric.

Recognizing the different Other, respecting their specificity, while emphasizing the common bonds forged by geography, history, and shared economic and social interests, is the path to rebuilding trust. Societal awareness here is that deep understanding that my prosperity is linked to my neighbor's prosperity, that my security is part of the security of the entire community, and that my Syrian identity is the framework that encompasses all my other identities without erasing them.

Syria, with its wonderful diversity, is not an exceptional case, but a microcosm of the world. Its most important lesson is that coexistence is possible when built on shared economic and social interests, daily ethics of solidarity, and an awareness that the homeland is that greater space that includes us all. Societal awareness, supported by just economic policies and respect for diversity, is the strongest weapon against all forms of bigotry, and it is the path we must all tread, not only in Syria, but everywhere threatened by the fires of division.

Mohamed Hamdan is an academic who focuses on cultural studies and ancient Eastern heritage.