Levantine family feuds and designer prêt-à-porter
April 8, 2006
A row of upper-end boutiques at the Four Seasons, Damascus.
I went to Lebanon a couple of weeks ago, using the normal route from Damascus - the Jdeideh post. We finished the formalities in minutes because so few people were there, and proceeded to drive through one ghost town after another; Lebanon seemed eerily empty so close to the Syrian border, and things had sure changed since Anjar's most notorious resident had departed. We stopped at a couple of places, and everyone complained about this big freeze, missing the heavy traffic and the ensuing healthy business that accompanied the Syrian presence. Indeed, the livelihood of people on the Damascus-Beirut road (on the Lebanese side) has been badly hit by the Syrian withdrawal, and by subsequent Syrian actions to complicate transit.
On the Syrian side, there is absolutely no doubt about the regime's message to Syrians: don't go to Lebanon until we tell you it's OK. The unjustifiable increase of the exit fee (from 200 to 800 Syrian pounds per person) was apparently not considered harsh enough, even though it has made visits not viable anymore for many people who have family on both sides; the regime has decided to make sure trips to Lebanon are as difficult and as useless as possible.
For instance, in the good old days of brotherly relations (not so long ago), you could fill your car with items bought in the Duty Free shop at the border (a Ramak enterprise, of course) and nobody would even cast a second glance at your purchases, waving you through automatically. That alone was well worth the expense and the time of a quick hop to Lebanon for many people. Now, they search cars returning to Syria, practically with a magnifying glass; God forbid you should think of benefitting from your trip to Lebanon, even when it also benefits Ramak. We went into the Duty Free on the way back (which stocks every type of product and brand you can imagine), just to see, and the ratio of salespeople to clients was about 10 to 1.
What's the logic? Isn't poor Ramak suffering? They don't care; Ramak's business is not exactly limited to the Jdeideh border, there are other Ramaks all around the Syrian borders, and you are free to shop there til you drop. As long as you don't go to Lebanon and inadvertently benefit the Lebanese as well.
Believe it or not, passenger cars can now cross the border with a maximum of 20 liters only. I saw with my own eyes how the few cars in front of ours (followed by ours) were being treated, with border officials opening the gas tank and dipping a measuring stick inside to determine the contents. It's not that they remove the extra gasoline -
but you are fined in the hundreds of dollars should you have the misfortune of filling up one day and deciding to go to Lebanon the next. With only about 20 liters, you are obliged to fill up in Lebanon where gasoline is more expensive - another deterrent.
Some shops in Beirut which catered mostly to an exclusive Damascene clientele, are still feeling the cold. Aishti, amongst others, is trying to woo back customers by offering to send selections of designer clothes to the clients' own houses (managing to get them through somehow), where they can choose at leisure. But wouldn't you just know it, the regime (which can get very very obsessed by petty details when it puts its mind to it) suddenly decided to allow the import of foreign labels, lo and behold.
Enter Villa Moda, the converted old khan in the middle of Medhat Basha (or the Street Called Straight) which has been transformed into a dream for wealthy shopaholics. In a street where old tiny shops adjacent to the souks have been trading for years, and just a stone's throw from the famous Beirakdar (where you can buy delicious pistachio nuts and other salty treats), a surreal addition has opened. Open until late, this is where you will find your Prada, Dior, Gucci and countless other designer labels, where jeans cost hundreds of dollars and handbags thousands. Now you can spend obscene amounts on clothes without leaving the city, how convenient. One less reason to go to Beirut, for some people.
I had an argument with a good Syrian friend (a highly educated, cosmopolitan, well-travelled lady), who has been living in Beirut for the past few years. As she poured her heart out about how she felt frustrated and insulted by the general anti-Syrian attitude that has overtaken many Lebanese people, she ended up, apparently unconsciously, defending the Syrian regime and its recent actions. I confronted her, arguing that while I had no doubt she has been subjected to a Lebanese form of racism, this didn't justify becoming a regime apologist. Alas, she was too hurt to retreat to a neutral position, and I encountered this exact attitude amongst many Syrians who have simply become fed up with what they perceive is their neighbors' sense of superiority and self-righteousness. The huge wave of sympathy that had initially blown westward has now been replaced by exasperation and indifference.
Truly, the attitude of many Lebanese has served the Syrian regime's interests very well!
Evidently, the Syrian regime is not ready to restore relations with Lebanon or even bring things to a more convivial level, especially as things in Lebanon seem to be going pretty much the Syrian way lately. While Fouad Siniora is eager to come to Damascus (with a heavy heart I'm sure), the Syrian leadership has made no secret of its gleeful reluctance to welcome him - for the moment. Nothing surprising when you know how this regime functions. But you've got to laugh when it is the new foreign minister who declares that some things are more important than diplomatic relations! According to Walid Muallem, "What Syria and Lebanon have is far more important than embassies." Brotherly relations and all that, you know - it's all in the family of course.
On that note, one of the latest jokes in Damascus has it that Syria finally agrees to establish diplomatic relations with Lebanon, and the Lebanese excitedly prepare themselves with all the red carpet formalities to receive the brand new Syrian ambassador - only to find out the ambassador is Rustom Ghazaleh.
