Opinion

Batoul's choice: political mudslinging in the new Syria

While government supporters defend the Alawite woman's decision to embrace Sunni Islam and wear hijab, critics say she was forced

img
Alia Mansour
last update on

Batoul's choice: political mudslinging in the new Syria

Alia Mansour
last update on

The case of Batoul Alloush has become a matter of public concern. In recent days, the 21-year-old has become the subject of intense discussion among Syrians and beyond. Was Batoul abducted? Was she taken captive? Did she freely decide to leave her family home and change her sect, or was she forced to do so? Many questions were asked, many answers offered, statements issued, and categorical judgments made. Amid it all stood a shy young woman who had become breaking news.

I will not issue a definitive judgment on what truly happened to Batoul. What struck me most, however, was the way Batoul, and before her other women with stories of their own, became fuel for political mudslinging between the authorities and their opponents, and on occasion for point-scoring, in the fierce dispute and polarisation dividing the two sides.

For the authorities and their supporters, Batoul is an Alawite woman who decided, entirely of her own free will, to embrace Sunni Islam and wear the hijab. To claim she was abducted, in their view, is merely an attempt to tarnish the authorities and incite against them.

For opponents of the authorities, Batoul is an Alawite woman who was, somehow, abducted, forced to embrace Sunni Islam, and compelled to wear the hijab and clothing alien to the region. Some even noted that her hijab does not resemble the typical headscarf worn by many Syrian women.

It is striking the way the case of Batoul was used as fuel for political mudslinging between supporters and opponents of the new Syrian government

Political fodder

A media battle unfolded between the two sides, with each using Batoul as a catapult to lob accusations at the other. Supporters of the authorities became defenders of Batoul's choice, insisting she made it freely. It is striking to see them defend a young woman's right to choose her own fate and adopt what she believes accords with her convictions.

But what if the situation were reversed? What if Batoul were another young woman who had decided to leave her parents' home and remove the hijab? Would those defending Batoul's choice today afford the same benefit of the doubt to their opponents? Most people would probably think not.

On the other hand, feminists and defenders of women's rights dealt with Batoul's case as if she were a minor incapable of making her own decisions. It's strange that those who claim to support women's rights would be so willing to strip a 21-year-old woman of the agency to choose for herself. Instead, they prefer she be returned to her parents' home. Some even advocated that this should be done by court order. They never paused to consider, even briefly, that such a demand might itself constitute a violation of the very rights they claim to defend.

No matter which side of the debate one finds themselves on, the stark reality is that very few truly believe in a woman's right to choose

Stripped of agency

In 1936, Reza Shah Pahlavi issued a decree officially banning all forms of hijab and chador in public places in Iran. In 1979, after the victory of the Iranian Revolution, Khomeini issued a decree imposing Islamic dress and the head covering, the hijab, on all women. In both instances, women were stripped of the freedom to choose.

Under Khomeini and later Khamenei, hundreds of women paid with their lives for defending their right to choose. Yet what remains absent from the minds and thinking of many women and men who claim to defend women and their rights is that not wearing a head covering should also be a matter of personal choice, not something imposed. No matter which side of the debate one finds themselves on, the stark reality is that very few truly believe in a woman's right to choose.

The renowned Iranian sociologist and philosopher, Ali Shariati, once said: "Women's freedom never means liberation from traditional clothing and adornment. Women's freedom means freedom of choice, freedom of thought, and freedom of life." Nearly half a century after his death, that freedom seems increasingly elusive.

font change

Related topics Syria
Related Articles

Damascus is keen to improve Lebanon ties. But is Beirut?

Alia Mansour
Alia Mansour

Leaked torture videos rehash Syria sectarian grudges

Alia Mansour
Alia Mansour

Amjad Youssef's arrest and out-of-touch Syrian elites

Alia Mansour
Alia Mansour

Hezbollah is trying to sabotage the Lebanon-Israel talks

Alia Mansour
Alia Mansour

Will the 'Syria First' promise hold up under pressure?

Alia Mansour
Alia Mansour

When the cost of inaction is greater than the cost of war

Alia Mansour
Alia Mansour