Chat With a Strongman’s Wife

With democratic change afoot in Tunisia and anti-government riots in Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East, some 20 American college students were in Syria and, among other things, wrapped with Asma al-Assad, the very accomplished wife of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. This news comes from George Mason University’s (Va.) Center for World Religions, Diplomacy, […]

With democratic change afoot in Tunisia and anti-government riots in Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East, some 20 American college students were in Syria and, among other things, wrapped with Asma al-Assad, the very accomplished wife of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad.

This news comes from George Mason University’s (Va.) Center for World Religions, Diplomacy, and Conflict Resolution, which supported the trip.

Assad, 35, belies the image that some people have of Muslim women as dowdy and oppressed. Born in London, Assad went into investment banking after university. She married Assad in 2000, and according to her bio, seems to be trying to do some good – youth advocacy, rural development, cultural heritage. The students, from George Mason and several other universities, spent more than 90 minutes with the First Lady as part a class.


According to the Center, Assad “noted that politics is necessary for human relations, but it is only people-to-people work that changes reality. People-centered development work, and work with youth to give them the passion for learning and developing each in their own way creates the only real change in a society.”

The center also reported that Assad, in response to a question from a student of Palestinian-American background, “that Syrian identity is in its essence Jewish, Christian, Palestinian, Muslim, and many, many other groups. It is not proper to speak of Syria as a place of tolerance or coexistence, which are insufficient adjectives to describe the deep nature of pride and identity in multiple religions that defines what it is to be Syrian.”

Seems like these kinds of meetings are useful, and provide young Americans with images of Muslim societies a lot of don’t get to see.

But I also wonder if the students got a chance to ask Assad some uncomfortable questions, and how she responded: What does her husband’s government say about allegations that it has political prisoners and maintains ties to Islamic militants? What do Syrians think about the pro-democratic protests in Tunisia and elsewhere in the Europe? Is the Syrian regime nervous that it might face protests?

If I hear back from the Center’s media folks about this, I’ll update this post.

And speaking of democratic upheaval in the Middle East, a reported 2,200 Arab politicians, activists and scholars have issued what they call the Casablanca Call for Democracy and Human Rights. You can read this short and interesting proclamation at the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy website.


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