What We Can Do

[TW: Kidnapping, violence]

Self-described out lesbian Syrian blogger Amina Abdallah Araf al Omari:

"We [Arab gays] have gotten used to being used rhetorically by the advocates of war, occupation, dispossession, and apartheid as ‘evidence’ that the primitive sand-people don’t deserve anything other than killing by the enlightened children of the West....

Those evil primitive Moozlims and Ayrabs, see, unlike the brilliant stars of tolerance who want to indiscriminately bomb any worshipper of Allah, are ho-mo-phobes … ‘cause there aren’t San Francisco style Gay Rights parades in Teheran or Damascus … and since religious conservatives here preach against same sex marriage (and of course no one opposes that in Antrim or Alabama save for Moozlims!), the whole religion be damned, nuke’em, gas’em, it don’t matter ….

Or so one would gather from some of the rhetoric. Reality, of course, is different. Having lived in both worlds, I can tell you this in all honesty; I have never once encountered any problem here on account of my sexuality that I would not have encountered were I straight as an arrow. I have never once been attacked or beaten or even screamed at for being a lesbian in an Arab land. On the other hand, I have had dung thrown at me in America for wearing a hijab, been attacked and struck by strangers for being an Arab ….

I cannot speak for anyone else but I can speak for me. I will not be used as an excuse for oppression. I will not be used as a propaganda piece to undermine democracy. I for one believe in my people and, rather than condemn them, I want them to be free. Some will hate me. Some will cast aspersions on me. Far more will ignore me. But they will be free. No more dictators, no more occupiers. Free....

I do not want personal freedom if it comes at the cost of the oppression of millions. Freedom is merely privilege extended unless enjoyed by all." (emphasis added)

On June 6, 2011, a blogpost purportedly written by Amina's cousin reported that three men kidnapped the blogger in Damascus.

We have reason to be cautious in assuming Amina's abduction was motivated primarily by her sexual orientation, as opposed to by her political speech and anti-government acts of protest. Freedom of expression is heavily restricted in Syria and many bloggers and journalists live in fear of being detained and tortured.

In commentary following articles about this incident, I've seen many people ask "What can we do to help?" Is that not a natural human reaction to such heinous violations of freedom?

Given Amina's unequivocal desire to not be "used as an excuse for oppression," perhaps an important role for Western progressives is to not fall prey to the classic imperialist bait-and-switch of "Hey, look at how the brown men are oppressing women, gays, and religious minorities" as that has had a historical tendency of turning into the brilliant idea of "Let's invade them and then impose the correct form of oppression on women, gays, and religious minorities." Oftentimes, the same folks who express concern about the Muslim treatment of women and gays in Other Cultures are suspiciously found fighting against LGBT rights and feminism within their own cultures.

I don't know what the correct course of action here is. But as we search for it, as Muslim feminist scholar Leila Ahmed advocates, in our well-intentioned yearning to help, we must not become unwitting collaborators in racist ideologies that replicate sexist and homophobic hierarchies.