I mentioned that I was not going to post the interview with MacMaster but then a reader convinced me otherwise. He said that I am rather obligated because I asked him to respond to questions. So my questions are on top followed by his answers.
My questions:
My questions:
1) Why should I now believe what you say? How do we know that you are not now posing as somebody else, in Tartus perhaps?
2) On the Zionism question. You say (in the email) that you have never been a Zionist or an apologist for Israel. Why did you then decide to post from last may that you fictional inventions dream is to be posted in Israel in a state of peace between Israel and Syria? And what is the story of the Hebrew site of Amina Arraf?
3) I was incensed that you took shots against Orientalism when your own act smacks of classical themes of Orientalism (especially sexual Orientalism): did you not decide to represent the natives, when you enjoy several layers of privilege? And the gender element: the White Man posing as the Native girl, that does not remind you of classical Orientalist premises?
4) You repeat how you want to empower or rescue or whatever the gay and lesbian community in the Middle East: is that not like mission civilizatrice?
5) You criticize Western media; and there is ton to criticize there. so your solution is in fabrications and stealing of identities?
His answers:
Of course, theres absolutely no reason to trust a thing I say or write now. Thats why I gave you the list of people of mutual acquaintance, any or all of whom should be able to vouch for, at the very least, my existence if not more."
I never set out to create a hoax or to punk the media; all of the interviews in either persona were requested by members of the media. I didnt initiate any of them and turned down at least ten for every one that I did do. Instead, the origin of the character and the hoax comes from the gullibility of large parts of the media and public.
Around twenty years ago, my best friend (Mahdi Fakhreddin, now deceased, a graphic artist and, according to himself, founder of the Ghassan Kanafani school in Bourj an Barajneh) and I were discussing art and ideas. Even then, my lifes ambition was to write powerful and meaningful novels that would make people think. Mahdi strongly encouraged me to try and come up with a novel that would as powrfully present the point of view of the Arabs of the Levant and that might replace things like Exodus as the literary touchstone of the Palestine conflict. Thats hardly a simple mission. A good novel needs to have a compelling plot, vivid characters, and be well written in a clear voice. I struggled with aspects of my literary mission and, one day, the Amina character emerged. I began researching and writing her and her material while the novel slowly grew. To make her more real and more compelling, I created as full an online persona for her as I could. For most of her online existence, she was incredibly obscure. I presumed she would remain so until I had completed the novel in which she would have full existence and all the research materials could be eliminated (or I might let them continue just so that there would be some ambiguity over whether there really was an Amina and whether I, that is Tom, had stolen her identity).
Unfortunately for my plan though certainly not for the causes we believe in events inside Syria overtook my writing. Suddenly, this character writing about living in Damascus became interesting to an enormous number of people. I didnt seek that out.
Amina, the character, was always meant to be complicated, contradictory and conflicted. One aspect of her was that she was imagined as being on her fathers Syrian side from a wealthy and politically connected family. In fact, though I never explicitly stated so on the blog, I imagined her as being a very close relative of Najah and Isam al Attar. I wondered what things would be like for someone who wanted to be loyal to both of them.
One of the more arresting aspects, from my point of view, of the whole controversy over the alleged hoax, though, is that while many are (or claim to be) upset at my claiming to take on an Arab womans POV, they ignore that the character is herself of a mixed background; her Arab side is wealthy, urban, politically and socially connected. Her Anglo side, though, is quite the opposite. Her maternal grandfather was a truckdriver in rural Appalachia; that family is, in Aminas words, rednecks. Aminas American personality is forged far from the centers of power, influence and money, in Virgnias Shenandoah Valley and in lower middle class suburbs. It has been ironic to me to note the implicit class-bias of many of my critics as, regardless of ethnicity or gender, they ignore and belittle people who didnt go to posh schools or have elite opportunities. But enough of that!
As to the issue of Amina wanting to be in a Syrian embassy in Tel Aviv, she herself makes clear that that was in the past, during that brief window when the Turkish government was trying (with Syrian cooperation) to achieve a full return of Jaulan. Aminas plans, along with that initiative, was scuttled by Operation Castlead, if youll recall. Some might even believe that preventing peace was the purpose of that campaign.
The Hebrew website netlog is some sort of phishing thing; I filled it in as her as I thought I was being contacted through it by a real friend in East Jerusalem (Palestinian friend). Theres little more to say on that.
On the blog, Amina repeatedly put forth arguments as to the necessity of the right of return and of the absolute rights of Syria to the Jaulan. To read a certain wistfulness that opportunities for peaceful two state solutions are now in the past and that the now inevitable rivers of blood will flow before the usurping entity is overthrown as endorsements of Zionism is to misread what was written. Amina has a bit of a Cassandra-personality; she says what she sees and bemoans that people wont take the steps necessary to achieve peaceful solutions. Hence, civil war in Syria and war to the bitter end against Israel are inevitable.
On the Orientalist charges, I think theres a certain amount of people talking past each other or using terms that mean different things. To me, the essence of Orientalism is to see the Oriental as innately childlike and inferior and not the equal of an Occidental. The Orientalist idea is that they are different from us on some basic level and so are incapable of being fully human. They dont deserve the same rights and same considerations nor can they ever hope to be treated as equals. Amina as a character is meant to be a refutation of that idea and quite a lot of her success as a media phenomenon comes from that: Amina is an intelligent, pretty, thoughtful, and complicated human and people connected with her because she was a human who didnt fit any preconceived type based on race, ethnicity, language, gender, or sexuality. That, to me, is how real people, whether from Damascus, Syria or Damascus, Virginia really are. No one is a pure type of anything.
On the other hand, I scoff at some of the notions I have seen that no one is entitled to study or write in a character voice that is unlike them. If that argument is taken seriously, the only literature and the only history or other social science permissible is autobiography. Everyone must only write about people exactly like themselves. I can only write about SF geeks studying medieval history who are of Scots ethnicity and from the Shenandoah Valley by way of Atlanta; you can only write about Lebanese people exactly like yourself. That, of course, is absurd. Certainly Dr Said would have scoffed at that (unless Im mistaken, he was neither a woman, English nor alive during the Regency, yet wrote extensively on Jane Austen). We do not condemn authors who have characters completely unlke themselves.
However, the argument that only those with ancestral right can comment is strong in American culture. Of course, the strongest voices for that come from the pro-Israel camp; no non-Jew can legitimately discuss Israel in American discourse without being an anti-Semite, with a partial exemption for people of Palestinian origin. Certainly no goy or shikse may.
And of course, the people most publicly pushing that idea in this case are by and large Zionists: Dan Littauer and his farm of sockpuppet gay Arabs, Jonah Goldberg, Mark Steyn, etc have all been deeply upset that I usurped Arab womens voices. I would presume if any actual Arabs had come to harm due to my actions, those same people would be cheering wildly."
