MSDThe Aleppo Cultural Forum organized a Syrian feminist dialogue meeting entitled “Women and Democratic Transition in Syria” on Friday, where a wide spectrum of Syrian feminist figures attended the meeting from various regions (Damascus and its countryside, Homs, Latakia, Tartus, Sweida, Aleppo, Manbij, al-Shahba areas and Idlib), as well as women from Iraq, Egypt, Morocco and Lebanon participated in the meeting via the Zoom application.
A number of Syrian feminist figures discussed the concept of the Syrian inclusive national identity with the aim of contributing to the explanation of a vision of the inclusive national identity with all its components and multiple cultures to achieve community peace, where the Syrian inclusive national identity paper was presented, which was the theme of the first session of the Syrian Feminist Meeting by a member of the Relations Bureau of the SDC, Fatima Al-Husseino
During her presentation of the paper, “Al-Husseino” touched on the concept of identity in its terminological and theoretical framework and its forms, national identity in the contemporary history of Syria, the principles and importance of the Syrian national identity and its items. This is based on the social and historical reality achieved in the country and the responsibility of women to find possible resolutions for the Syrian crisis.
On the importance of the Syrian inclusive national identity, Al-Husseino pointed out the importance of ending the state of fragmentation of identities in Syria, which is considered a start for civil peace and coexistence in Syria and a resolution for the accumulated issues, stressing that the main reason for the fragmentation of opposition bodies and entities is because the Syrians did not have a unified identity to reunite them on an issue.
She stressed that the social and physical infrastructure in Syria must be rebuilt, education must be restructured, and focus on creating a new political and media discourse that adopts the Syrian inclusive national identity, the establishment of civil peace committees and work to raise awareness and empower the role of women in all fields of life and their participation in international forums and they should be able to make and formulate decisions by themselves.
The participants stressed the need to empower women in all aspects of life, especially at political level, and facilitate the equal participation of women and men in civil, political, economic, social and cultural fields of life based on their gender identity and joint work in order to reach a political resolution that guarantees the rights of all Syrians, especially women, to be the first contributor for resolving the Syrian crisis.
The first day of the Syrian Feminist Dialogue Meeting ended with the setting of an agenda for the second day, where the discussion will be held in the second session of the meeting on “The role of Syrian women in the democratic transition towards decentralization”, and the meeting is scheduled to be concluded with a closing statement.
