The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood and the Spectacle of Hamas
The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood and the Spectacle of Hama
Key takeaways
Bibliography: Conduit, D., 2016. The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood and the Spectacle of Hama. middle east j 70, 211–226. https://doi.org/10.3751/70.2.12
Authors:: Dara Conduit
Collections:: Arab-Israeli Conflict
First-page:
The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood has been a key diplomatic player in the current Syrian uprising; a role that stands in stark contrast to its reputation among Western authors. This article argues that this chasm between the Brotherhood's practice and reputation is a legacy of the 1982 Hama massacre. The slaughter has become a “spectacle,” as per the theory of Guy Debord, leading Hama to take on an exaggerated significance in portrayals of the Brotherhood.
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Reading notes
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This article has highlighted the negative impression of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, which stemmed from the memory of the 1982 massacre in Hama. Guy Debord’s theory of spectacle provides a useful lens through which to understand the massacre’s symbolism; it helps deconstruct the mythology surrounding the event so that we can understand that there was nothing inevitable about the way that Hama and the Brotherhood have been popularly interpreted
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Hama has acted as a barrier to Western authors examining the Brotherhood beyond the themes of 1982 accounts of the massacre
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The spectacle of Hama was created in Western media as the event unfolded, leading to the massacre being defined solely as an Islamist event. These themes translated directly into the widely held impression of the Brotherhood, prompting a change in the way that authors treated the group.
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The longevity of the Brotherhood’s association with violence is largely because of the blinding spectacle of Hama
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In the light of such reassessment, we may be able to understand what the Muslim Brotherhood’s role in the uprising means for the future of Syria. This has become an imperative given that the Brotherhood has launched a political party, the potential of which cannot be fully understood until observers’ focus shifts from the 1982 massacre in Hama to the full scope of the Brotherhood’s 70-year history and its contemporary behavior.