Tunisia and Syria: Comparing Two Years of Revolution

Abstract

This article aims to reconstruct the connection between the uprisings in Tunisia and Syria—or rather provide the means for characterizing it—by comparing two extremes that could be defined as opposites: that of the particular moment of contestation; and also the circulation and communication of ideas. The purpose of this exercise is not only to challenge the common discourse but also to provide other possible lines of approach regarding the moment itself, what stirs it up, what shifts it, of what it is made, and what can blur the lines. This exercise also provides the opportunity, albeit paradoxical, to reflect on pressing concerns that have arisen from observing what has been occurring in the region since early 2011.

Keywords::

• Arab spring
• cinema
• opposition
• revolution
• resistance
• Syria
• Tunisia

Acknowledgements

The author wrote this article in French and would like to thank Elisabeth Marcus for translating it into English.

Notes

¹ J. L. Gelvin (2012) The Arab Uprisings: What Everyone Needs to Know (Oxford: Oxford University Press), p. 6.

² ‘One, the Syrian people is One.’

³ For a critique of ‘democratization studies’ about the Middle East, see the special issue of this journal: M. Valbjørn & A. Bank (eds) (2010) The Future of Middle Eastern Political Rule Through Lenses of the Past: Revisiting the (First) Era of Post-democratization, Middle East Critique, 19(3).

⁴ See L. Dakhli (2013) A Betrayed Revolution? Available at http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/10463/a-betrayed-revolution_on-the-tunisian-uprising-and, accessed June 3, 2013. Also the article by Kerim Bouzouita, (2013) Music of Dissent and Revolution, in this issue.

⁵ See F. Mardam (2012) La révolution syrienne et ses détracteurs, l'Orient Littéraire, October. Available at http://www.lorientlitteraire.com/article_details.php?cid = 8&nid = 3970, accessed June 3, 2013.

⁶ See the propaganda posters of the regime which featured Bachar as a crusader in the defense of the Christians.

⁷ See the revealing analyses (e.g. her study of marriage and political alliances) of C. Salamandra (2004) A New Old Damascus: Authenticity and Distinction in Urban Syria (Bloomington: Indiana University Press). Also see her 2011 analysis of Syrian popular culture: Spotlight on the Bashar al-Asad Era: The Television Drama Outpouring, Middle East Critique, 20(2), pp. 157–167.

⁸ This confessional balance as a political strategy is the heritage of the French mandate as Sandra Mervin demonstrates in 2010–11 with the case of the Alawites: Alawîs, Contemporary Developments, in: Encyclopaedia of Islam, 3rd ed. (Leiden: Brill), pp. 69–72.

⁹ B. Haddad (2013) Perpetual Recalculation: Getting Syria Wrong Two Years On. Available at http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/10674/perpetual-recalculation_getting-syria-wrong-two-ye, accessed June 3, 2013. See also his article in 2012: Syria's State Bourgeoisie: An Organic Backbone for the Regime, Middle East Critique, 21(3), pp. 231–257.

¹⁰ From an interview conducted by Cécile Boex with the collective Abou Naddara, called ‘Un cinéma d'urgence.’Available at http://www.laviedesidees.fr/Un-cinema-d-urgence.html, accessed October 20, 2013.

¹¹ This is the reasoning behind Jadaliyya's new page ‘DARS—Daily Actions of Resistance and Subversion.

¹² Here, for example, in Douma: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v = rwFJ8o1wW5I& = player_embedded, accessed October 20, 2013.

¹³ See M. al-Attar & O. al-Zoubi (2013) Syrie: révolution ou guerre civile?, L'Express. Available at http://www.lexpress.fr/actualite/monde/proche-orient/syrie-revolution-ou-guerre-civile_1237272.html, accessed June 3, 2013 (originally published in Arabic, in Al-Joumhouriyya).