2015 in Review: A Banner Year for Syrians and Muslims

posted on: Dec 30, 2015

BY: Adrian Tafesh/Contributing Writer

There is a phrase that is used a lot around this time of year in the sports world. You hear this phrase because it’s fun at the end of the year to assign categories for things that have happened. Its fun to put things into “eras” and “movements”, and the reason its fun is because it gives events a kind of completeness. The kind that just doesn’t come naturally all that often. The phrase is “banner year”, as in, it’s been a banner year for NFL controversies!

Well not exactly, by definition it is a period of time in which something good became successful or well-known. But contextually it is used both earnestly and ironically, as in, something dominated the headlines often enough to have in a way defined that year for us, even if it’s bad.

Of course it can be a banner year for many things in the same year. Socially and politically speaking, this year was a banner year for Syrians and Muslims. I mean really, there was a time not too long ago when your average American may not even have been aware of Syria’s existence. Now it is a household name in the United States.

Likewise there was a time when Islamophobia was largely relegated to the margins of soc— wait, no, we have been living that nightmare for roughly fifteen years. So, in a sense it was a banner year for Islam not because it hasn’t been before, but because the number of stories covered this year surrounding the Muslim identity seemed to glut. Certainly since the Paris attacks it seems Muslims and Islam are a daily feature of the news cycle.

So what exactly have the stories been? The largest by far has been the on-going refugee crisis. Since the number of Syrians and others escaping to Lebanon, Turkey and Europe exploded earlier this year, the crisis has been a recurring part of the news. The picture of a young refugee, Aylan Kurdi, washed up on a beach ignited a massive response on social media and brought the crisis to its emotional peak for many Americans. Of course, the crisis is perpetual, and the suffering for those escaping has not ceased.

This has also brought increased awareness of the actual war in Syria. The battle lines of Aleppo and Deir-Ez-Zor among other places, have been brought to the forefront. It has become of significance to Americans to choose a side in the conflict, and likewise for the presidential candidates. The dramas of civil war and terrorism and foreign intervention have become quite public, thanks in large part to social media.

Terrorism itself has been a focal point of the year. Prior to the attacks in Paris, ISIS existed largely as a distant irritation to many Americans, that every now and then made western headlines by recruiting an American or European. Well today ISIS is very much front and center in the minds of many, and people consider their safety in ways they had not since 9/11.

Suffice it to say, the wave of Islamophobia this has unleashed has been extremely threatening to Muslim life in the U.S. On top of the painful reality that Muslims are typically the first victims of ISIS in Syria and Iraq, they now must deal with being indirect victims over here, as the more wrong that group does, the more Muslims here are blamed.

The presidential campaign has obviously played a large role in terms of the Islamophobia that is being proliferated, as well as reactions against it. Needless to say, this has been a unique campaign, and the craziness has not been limited to Trump. In the last republican debate we had Chris Christie invoke the ghost of the long-dead King Hussein of Jordan, by insisting that he would be more trusted by Hussein than Obama. There have been suggestions by various candidates that involve tracking, keeping out, and detaining Muslims. Condemnations of these comments have come from both sides of the aisle, but the candidates who made them have not lost momentum in the polls.

So, given that brief and cheery summary of the year in Syrian and Muslim issues, it’s time to look forward. To begin with, let’s hope that more western leaders take a page from Justin Trudeau’s book, and not only welcome the refugees but do so in such tremendous style. Nothing says welcome to the country like “Hi I’m the Prime Minister”. Clearly, there are a lot of refugees, and they continue to arrive, so an even and proportional share of the population should be distributed amongst the western powers who have agreed to accept them. That means Germany cannot be asked to accept hundreds of thousands while the U.S. takes 10,000 Syrians and 85,000 altogether.

Let’s hope that a President is elected who will earnestly repudiate Islamophobia and make a commitment to protecting the American Muslim community, while earnestly considering its policy concerns. This is likely a long shot, but hey, Inshallah.

Perhaps most pressingly, let’s hope that ISIS and all extremists are defeated and that peace is restored to Syria and Iraq. And let that peace be on the terms of the Syrian and Iraqi people. They deserve the normality, freedom, and security that they have for so long yearned for. Sadly, this has been a wish many of us have had every year for a long time now.

Honestly, this has been an exhausting year in the news. Its easy to see so much of the same depressing stuff so consistently that it turns into legitimate fatigue. With that in mind, I’m going to relish the new year celebrations, and enjoy being around loved ones. The world is too much the rest of the time not to.

Happy New Year from Arab America