Middle East & North Africa
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Issue 10 September 2016 Middle East & North Africa Borders: Lines in the Sand or in the Mind? Hanaa Edwar 13 Tamara Qiblawi 18 Khalid Mouna 49 The Dream of Overcoming all Borders On the Borders of Dreams - Stories from the Borders, Drugs and Migrants in Northern Front Lines of Political Partitions Morocco Editorial Contents Editorial 1 When ISIS announced the establishment of the by ethnicity, religion, class and gender. Is Partitioning Syria a Solution? 2 so-called ‘Islamic State’ it fuelled discussions The Lebanese artists of KnoozRoom con- Haid Haid as to whether this would herald the ‘end of sider the situation of people in communities The Kurds and the Shifting Borders of the Middle East 6 Sykes-Picot’ – borders artificially drawn by the particularly affected by the drawing of borders – Bakr Sidki colonial powers at the beginning of the twenti- a project featured by one of its creators, Tamara The Dream of Overcoming all Borders 13 eth century. But borders are more than ‘lines in Qiblawi. Hanaa Edwar the sand’: they divide. While the privileged few Mohammed Dibo discusses the relation- On the Borders of Dreams - Stories from the Front Lines of Political Partitions 18 may cross legitimately by simply presenting ship between a virtually shrinking world and Tamara Qiblawi their passport, for most, these borders present the new challenges globalization poses to iden- The Myth of Demographic Purity 22 difficult if not insurmountable hurdles. People tity. In a world where some have the chance to Mohammed Dibo fleeing from war, climate change or economic move and others are forced to migrate, peo- Frontières Fluides 30 hardship, attempt to cross the Mediterranean ple become modern nomads; this, at least, is Katrin Ströbel & Mohammed Laouli but many drown trying. the approach of Moroccan artist Mohammed Hungary Successfully Stops Birds’ Attempt to Migrate to Europe 43 Crossing borders legally has become Laouli and German Artist Karin Ströbel in their Al Hudood Team increasingly difficult which leaves many who project ‘Frontières Fluides – fluid boundaries’. If Europe is a Fortress, then its Walls are Full of Cracks: are desperate at the mercy of smugglers or Morocco is a transit country for migrants from the Case of Sub-Saharan Migrants in Morocco 44 human traffickers; and, in this equation, it is Sub-Saharan Africa, and because of the proxim- Mehdi Alioua more often the victims who are prosecuted, ity of some of its borders to Europe, it is particu- Borders, Drugs and Migrants in Northern Morocco 49 punished and deported than those who sell larly affected by border regimes. Khalid Mouna passage on barely seaworthy vessels. The Jordanian satirical magazine Al Hudood On More Subtle Borders So what is on the map for the region? Syrian mocks European efforts to seal its borders, A Discussion with Author, Director and Performer Sawsan Bou Khaled 54 author Haid Haid discusses whether the divi- while Moroccan author Mehdi Alioua describes Abraham Zeitoun sion of Syria is an option. This necessarily raises the ‘Walls of Fortress Europe’ as full of cracks the question of the future of the Kurds, a ques- that allow for selective and ambivalent trans- tion that has become even more relevant fol- gressions. In similar fashion, Khalid Mouna lowing the Turkish intervention in Syria. Bakr looks at the city of Tangier and how migration Sidki explores whether the issue is autonomy, and drug trafficking blur the concept of border federalism, or something entirely different. control as a means to enhance security. While borders between nations might be Abraham Zeitoun interviews actress Sawsan the best documented, there are plenty of other Bou Khaled on her understanding of the more lines of division: social, ethnic, religious and subtle borders of the body and the arts. ideological. How firm or permeable the divi- Finally, this issue is illustrated by the sions are is subject to change, but any border Lebanese artist Nadine Bekdache with her take is a painful memory of the fact that it is not an on space, borders and transgression. individual’s choice to define which side he or Permit us a little celebration: with ‘Borders’, she is on. the Arab Middle East and North Africa offices Hanaa Edwar, a member of the Iraqi com- publish their tenth edition of Perspectives! munist party, joined the Iraqi resistance, the Peshmerga, in the 1980s. She takes us back to a Bente Scheller, Dorothea Rischewski, Bettina time when she and her comrades developed a Marx and Joachim Paul. vision of how to overcome the borders imposed 2 Is Partitioning Syria a Solution? Is Partitioning Syria a Solution? 3 Is Partitioning Syria a Solution? Haid Haid Over the past few years, talks about partitioning for years to come. Given Syria’s geopolitical Lack of National and said in a conference call with reporters on 8 Syria as a potential solution to ending the importance and the negative ramifications of Regional Support March 2016.4 Seventy opposition armed groups conflict have been taking place among its conflict, regionally and internationally, a signed a statement rejecting the federal system diplomats and experts; these ideas tend to gain political solution is essential to restoring peace. Despite the deep divisions between Syrians and vowing to resist any ideas that could lead momentum following significant military shifts Furthermore, the failure of previous attempts to all of them, at least in public, agree that to the partition of Syria.5 The Kurdish National or before high profile political talks. The most find a political solution that all Syrians approve, partitioning Syria is not an option. The Syrian Council, one of the Syrian opposition blocs, significant development in this context was the has motivated efforts to think ‘outside the box’, conflict began in March 2011 as a peaceful also denounced the PYD’s declaration and US secretary of state, John Kerry’s, statement to find ways to resolve the conflict and restore revolution calling for basic rights and political claimed that the declaration would ‘undermine about a Plan B that could involve partitioning stability. One group of experts came up with reform, and, despite the ongoing atrocities the Syrian Kurds’ struggle and their national Syria if a planned ceasefire in February 2016 did an obvious solution, divide the country and against civilians for which Assad is largely and patriotic aspirations.’6 Furthermore, the not work, or if a political transition did not begin create borders between those who are fighting responsible, Syrians did not call for partition as Syrian Foreign Ministry rejected talks about a in the coming months.1 each other. Their justification: that the odds of a solution. Even Syrian Kurds, who are usually federal system in Syria and warned in an official Although Kerry did not advocate partition restoring Syria to a fully functioning state are accused of being separatists, clearly stated statement that ‘raising the issue of a union or as a solution and refused to reveal the details of slim, therefore partitioning the country along on many occasions that they did not support federation would prejudice the unity of the Plan B, many people interpreted his words as a sectarian and ethnic lines would reassure a division of Syria.2 Moreover, the negative Syrian land.’7 threat to partition Syria. Some of the supporters groups within Syria and end the fight to control reactions to the attempts of the dominant In addition, several regional and of this proposal justify their position with the the state. Kurdish party, Democratic Union Party (PYD), international powers released statements de facto division of Syria, as different groups There are differing views on how the country to declare a federal system in the Kurdish- rejecting the declaration of the federal system. control different areas. Others see it as the should be divided, but there is a common controlled areas of northern Syria, shows how In a joint press conference with his Iranian only way to end Syria’s conflict, as all political understanding that it would be divided into little support there is for partition as an option. counterpart, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut attempts have failed, arguing that Syria’s ethnic three regions: an Alawite region in the coastal PYP officials declared in a number of statements Cavusoglu lashed out at the PYD for establishing and religious groups do not want to live together cities, a Kurdish region in the east, and a Sunni that they are preparing for a federal system in a federal region.8 ‘They want to divide Syria …. anymore. Partitioning Syria is yet another region in the central areas. However, others northern Syria something they believe should with Iran, we support the territorial integrity decontextualized proposal made by people argue that this kind of negotiated partition be adopted by the whole of Syria.3 They are of Syria.’ Iran and Turkey fear the creation of an who are not well informed about the Syrian is unlikely because of the balance of power keen to emphasise that they are not lobbying autonomous Kurdish region in Syria, similar to context and who do not even try to become in Syria. Therefore, they advocate an ethnic/ for a Kurdish-only region but an all-inclusive the Kurdish region in northern Iraq, believing so. Partitioning Syria is not an option because religious/political partition along unofficial area that would provide representation for it would fuel the separatist ambitions of their people, locally and regionally, are against it; de facto division lines in Syria. In this scenario, Turkmen, Arabs and Kurds in northern Syria. own Kurds. The Arab League also rejected because it lacks the necessary requirements the Assad regime will control what they call Abd Salam Ali, representative of the PYD party Kurdish-led moves for a federal system of and because it has many downsides which will the ‘useful Syria’; the coastal areas and the in Moscow, stated that, ‘Separation of Rojava government in Syria, warning that they would be discussed here.