KFC - Round Two
Last night I was walking with a British friend of mine by the KFC and noticed a 'protest' of sorts: posters, banners, a guy with a megaphone and a substantial police presence standing guard. Despite what I expected to be an 'anti-american' flavor of this protest, I couldn't help but walk into the crowd and ask the protesters a few questions. As I've reported on this blog before, Syrians have been so forward about distinguishing their political views as aimed towards American policy and not as an attack on the American people; thus, i felt totally safe and without concern walking into this 'gathering'. I was also wearing my Syrian Flag scarf, literally 'wrapping myself' in Syrian nationalism - so I thought, correctly, that it would be no problem.
Most of the protesters were university students and I sought out a group of them and started asking some questions about what they were protesting; why they were protesting; what group the were involved in and what they thought about KFC coming to Syria.
Side Point I: Fighting my inner-nature and overwhelming impulse to confront with open debate and exchange, I wisely limited myself to asking questions. I cannot and do not "take the gloves off" in matters of politics - sometimes this makes me sad.
Side Point II Conversations like this are NOT the place to practice my Arabic. I don't want to be misunderstood or misinterpreted. Plus, I can control the conversation if i stick to English. Some occasions require such linguistic advantage. I can get all the Arabic I want out of other exchanges less fraught with politics and police and emotions.
Anyway, a group of Syrians - both guys and girls - seemed more than happy to entertain my questions. To the question - of which I knew the answer and expected the standard talking points for - Why are you protesting KFC? They responded with something like this: "We don't want any money to go to the American government who gives money to Israel and kills our people in Palestine and Iraq". I then asked them if they knew that the company was Kuwaiti and most of the money would go to the Gulf, they replied that they know that a certain percentage of the profit goes to the company. This was good, confirming that I was dealing with fairly informed and educated protesters. They asked me where I was from and I told them: America. They then told me, nearly falling over each other and in several different ways, that they love the american people and they didn't want to hurt my feelings or for me to see this as a personal attack on americans. Then they pointed out my Syrian scarf and seemed very pleased that I was wearing it. "Syria is my home this year" I told them. I then asked: "So then you guys are also for boycotting all american products, right" And they nodded and said yes. I said "Pepsi and Coke and Microsoft?" They roundly agreed until I got to Microsoft, saying: "Science and technology is different - we need and want our country to progress!" And then a girl whipped out an Arabic edition of "Scientific American" and showed it to me. I was polite and told them that avoiding KFC is a good thing to do because: "This is part of the reason that some Americans are very very fat". They were all very kind and sweet. While we were having this conversation someone who was wearing a leather jacket and had shinny shoes on stood close by and listened. I knew that he was much more concerned with what the Syrians were saying than what I was saying. . . thus I couldn't ask questions that could potentially moved them away from from nationalist talking points and thus get them into trouble.
Most of the protesters were university students and I sought out a group of them and started asking some questions about what they were protesting; why they were protesting; what group the were involved in and what they thought about KFC coming to Syria.
Side Point I: Fighting my inner-nature and overwhelming impulse to confront with open debate and exchange, I wisely limited myself to asking questions. I cannot and do not "take the gloves off" in matters of politics - sometimes this makes me sad.
Side Point II Conversations like this are NOT the place to practice my Arabic. I don't want to be misunderstood or misinterpreted. Plus, I can control the conversation if i stick to English. Some occasions require such linguistic advantage. I can get all the Arabic I want out of other exchanges less fraught with politics and police and emotions.
Anyway, a group of Syrians - both guys and girls - seemed more than happy to entertain my questions. To the question - of which I knew the answer and expected the standard talking points for - Why are you protesting KFC? They responded with something like this: "We don't want any money to go to the American government who gives money to Israel and kills our people in Palestine and Iraq". I then asked them if they knew that the company was Kuwaiti and most of the money would go to the Gulf, they replied that they know that a certain percentage of the profit goes to the company. This was good, confirming that I was dealing with fairly informed and educated protesters. They asked me where I was from and I told them: America. They then told me, nearly falling over each other and in several different ways, that they love the american people and they didn't want to hurt my feelings or for me to see this as a personal attack on americans. Then they pointed out my Syrian scarf and seemed very pleased that I was wearing it. "Syria is my home this year" I told them. I then asked: "So then you guys are also for boycotting all american products, right" And they nodded and said yes. I said "Pepsi and Coke and Microsoft?" They roundly agreed until I got to Microsoft, saying: "Science and technology is different - we need and want our country to progress!" And then a girl whipped out an Arabic edition of "Scientific American" and showed it to me. I was polite and told them that avoiding KFC is a good thing to do because: "This is part of the reason that some Americans are very very fat". They were all very kind and sweet. While we were having this conversation someone who was wearing a leather jacket and had shinny shoes on stood close by and listened. I knew that he was much more concerned with what the Syrians were saying than what I was saying. . . thus I couldn't ask questions that could potentially moved them away from from nationalist talking points and thus get them into trouble.
posted by Kicky Sack at 9:29 PM
2 Comments:
hi its one of ur cousins! got this address from grandpa and ive been reading it and all i gotta say is u are still as funny as ever i miss u and love u stay safe and when u come home ill be excited to see u and hear all the funny stories
meghan
ps. ill see if u have an email address from grandpa or ur dad so i can email u:D
hey -- just wanted to say that you should be careful with all these demonstrations. i just heard abotu the two embassies that were torched. remember, whenever you get into trouble: La illah ila Allah, wa-Muhammad rasul-Allah!
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