US embassy cable - 05DAMASCUS6075

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DAMASCUS 006075 
 
SIPDIS 
 
PARIS FOR ZEYA, LONDON FOR TSOU 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/17/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, SY 
SUBJECT: WHY CAN'T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG? FISSURES (AND EGO 
TRIPS) IN CIVIL SOCIETY 
 
 
Classified By: CDA Stephen Seche for reasons 1.4(b)/(d) 
 
1.  (C) SUMMARY: The inability of Syrian civil-society 
players and opposition activists to put aside egos and 
ideological differences was on full display during a recent 
three-day international women's conference held at Damascus 
University.  Two panels featuring Syrian religious figures, 
as well as regional women's scholars and activists, fueled a 
heated audience discussion about women in Islam, human 
rights, and Islamic reform that deteriorated into a shouting 
match among a number of Islamists, secular human rights 
activists, and lawyers.  END SUMMARY. 
 
2.  (C)  Poloff attended the final day of a three-day 
conference entitled "Women and Tradition," sponsored by 
Syria-based Etana Press and four Western embassies.  (NOTE: 
Organizer Ma'an Abdul al-Salaam received 19,800 USD in USG 
funding to pay for printing and distributing a book related 
to the conference.  Under SARG pressure, Salaam decided to 
postpone publication of the book and a related gallery 
opening of an exhibition of the photographs for the book. END 
NOTE)  The conference, which included panelists from Arab 
countries, Iran, and Afghanistan, featured pan-regional 
presentations and discussions on women and traditions, 
conflict resolution, and law.  The first panel, "Women and 
Tradition: Challenges on the Road Ahead," featured 
presentations by two Syrian clerics, one Muslim and one 
Christian.  Both criticized what they described as false 
interpretations of the Koran and the Bible, interpretations 
which they claimed foster a perception that Christianity and 
Islam permit gender discrimination.  A fellow panelist, an 
Emirati female political scientist, called for an examination 
of how and under what circumstances such interpretations were 
formed and for "reopening" the door for new interpretations. 
The second panel, "Building on Regional Experience," featured 
speakers from Bahrain, Afghanistan, and Iran discussing 
current women's issues in their respective countries. 
 
3.   (C)  The follow-on discussion then deteriorated into an 
emotional, highly polemical free-for-all.  A number of 
audience members, including prominent civil-society 
activists, used the open microphone as an opportunity to 
debate minutiae and present their own platforms, at times 
with no effort to maintain any connection to the 
presentations themselves.  Three male Syrian members of the 
audience identified to Poloff as Islamists by other 
participants lashed out at Afghan panelist Roya Rahmani (a 
27-year old woman dressed in Western clothing) for 
criticizing the burka.  They emphasized that the Koran 
commands women to cover themselves: "If you have a problem 
with the actual form (of the burka), that's another thing." 
A heated discussion continued between another Islamist and a 
woman identified as an associate of Grand Mufti Sheikh Ahmad 
Hassoun regarding the correctness of certain Koranic 
references made by Rahmani, followed by an argument over the 
need to return to the original texts.  Human-rights activist 
Haitham al-Maleh, striving to move even farther afield, then 
interrupted the discussion to read a prepared speech 
criticizing the new political parties draft law that bans 
religious parties. 
 
4.  (C)  Tempers exploded when the next audience speaker, a 
young Syrian woman, began to describe her negative 
experiences in the Syrian judicial system as a rape victim. 
She was cut off by the moderator (with applause coming from 
the Islamist group). At this point women's rights activist 
Daad Mousa began arguing with the moderator and demanded that 
the young woman be given her say.  After a few minutes of 
debate, the microphone was returned to the young woman.  The 
Syrian girl switched between Arabic and English, leading 
Mousa to speculate that the girl was too afraid and 
embarrassed to discuss a cultural taboo like rape in her own 
language. 
 
5.  (C)  Not to be outdone, human-rights activist Anwar 
al-Bunni criticized the conference's focus on religion. 
Bunni pleaded that instead of relying on controversial and 
often outdated religious texts, reformers acting on behalf of 
women's rights should instead focus their efforts on 
achieving compliance with international standards like the 
Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  Bunni,s statements 
were quickly challenged by an Islamist, who noted that 
Western human rights organizations were playing a negative 
role in the Middle East.  The Islamist cited the example of 
Human Rights Watch's protest of the capital punishment 
sentences handed down to foreign health workers in Libya: 
"What do they want -- to set them free so that they can 
spread AIDS to other Arab, Muslim children?"  Mousa entered 
the fray, retorting that HRW was protesting the sentence of 
capital punishment, not the legal process itself. 
 
6.  (C)  At this point, the discussion returned to the issue 
of Islam and soon dissolved into a physical confrontation 
between the Islamist HRW critic and the group of fellow 
Islamists, resulting in university security removing the HRW 
critic from the hall. The moderator was replaced 
mid-discussion by conference organizer Salaam, who steered 
audience members back into a brief discussion of the 
presentations made. Salaam closed the conference by reminding 
the audience of the importance of dialogue and respect for 
each other's opinions. 
 
7.  (C)  Reaction to the discussion was mixed.  Mousa was 
frustrated that the discussion had sunk to the level of 
discussing minutiae about texts and characterized the sharp 
dissension as typical for many civil society meetings.  A 
Swedish diplomat told Poloff that as one of the sponsors, the 
Swedish Embassy was happy to have provided a platform for 
such discussions to be held publicly and hoped for further 
opportunities to sponsor such public discourse. Iranian 
panelist Nahid Fatemeh Ashrafi told Poloff that she found 
such a heated debate very positive: "After all, this sort of 
discussion leads to what we want: democracy." 
SECHE