First Lady Asma Al-Assad during a dialogue meeting at Beijing University: We face attempts to obliterate national cultures

Beijing (ST): First Lady Asma Al-Assad held a dialogue meeting with students of Arab studies at the Foreign Studies University in Beijing on language and human and cultural relations between countries. A large number of professors and students and a number of ambassadors accredited to China attended the dialogue meeting.

Mrs. Asmaa said: “From Damascus, the oldest inhabited capital in history, to Beijing, the capital of the oldest civilizations, from Syria, the cradle of the first alphabet, to China, the home of one of the most ancient and diverse languages and dialects, I stand with you today, and I am overwhelmed with feelings of gratitude and pride, gratitude for the hospitality with which you have met me. I feel proud for being able to address you today in my mother tongue, and of your great ability to understand it.”

Mrs. Asmaa added: “My talk before you about the Arabic language in one of the most important and oldest universities in China reflects that established relationship that has brought us together historically and culturally since the Silk Road caravans traveled between China and the Levant thousands of years ago. Therefore, when we talk today about teaching the Arabic language here, with all this depth and passion, we are not just talking about learning grammar and vocabulary, but rather about a language that is part of the social and cultural diversity shared between our two civilizations since time immemorial.”

Mrs. Asma Al-Assad continued: “There is no doubt that we are all facing attempts to obliterate the national cultures of the peoples themselves, through multiple means in form, and one in content, whose title is development and modernity, and whose content is the dissolution of identity and belonging, and the most powerful weapon to achieve the above is attacking the people’s mother tongues and accusing those who hold on to it of having backward outlook.”

The First Lady pointed out that occupying language is the shortest path to occupying awarness, and thus occupying independent decision-making, and destroying societies and erasing their identity and uniqueness.

 These distorted models of hybrid languages that we witness today are only one of the manifestations of the new liberal model, just as tampering with the human race, hybridizing it, and creating a third race. From this comes the tampering with language, its hybridization, and the creation of a third kind of it. Both actions are the foundation and essence of modern liberalism, from moral inclination to imposing abnormal and deviant concepts of the image of a healthy family in a way that contradicts human nature.

Mrs. Asmaa stressed that languages do not survive except through renewal, communication with others, and keeping pace with present-day sciences and terminology. Language is the essence of man, and man is a societal being who does not grow alone in isolation. Therefore, the call to be proud of the mother tongue, and to adhere to the national cultural heritage and revive it, does not mean a call for isolationism against other cultures, rather, it is a call to adhere to the roots with one hand, and to communicate cognitively and culturally with others with the other hand, as peoples’ openness and respect for themselves and others lead to the growth and well-being of humanity, and this is the essence of the Belt and Road Initiative that China launched a decade ago.

Mrs. Asmaa said: “Perhaps what is the most admirable about the Chinese experience is the amazing technical and scientific development that China and its people have achieved, the adherence to the unique cultural and civilizational character, the preservation of heritage and the preservation of language and identity, thus providing a model for development without dependency, urbanization without dissolution, and growth without assistance and economic advancement with full national dignity.”

Mrs. Asmaa added: “Here lies the role of academic and cultural institutions, including the College of Arabic Studies at your prestigious university, and as I stand on its podium, I cannot help but salute the spiritual father of the Arabic language in China, Professor Abdul Rahman Najoon, and value the efforts of other Chinese intellectual figures from the “Arabic Language Academy” in Damascus, the oldest Arab scientific academy, and of course I do not forget the Syrian writer and poet Salama Obaid, who, along with an elite group of Chinese professors, compiled the first dictionary of the Arabic and Chinese languages, and many other Syrian cultural figures.”

First Lady Asma al-Assad continued: “The ancient countries that adhere to their civilizational and human history, are proud of their identity and language and reject subservience and subordination, have been and continue to be coveted by the colonialists for thousands of years until today, and so is Syria, my country, which faced a war and is still defending its existence and freedom of decision-making to protect its heritage, which they tried to destroy, and to preserve its people, who are still standing steadfast, building what was destroyed, planting what was burned, and looking forward to a bright future, no matter how difficult the present is.”

Mrs. Asmaa said: “From here, from this scientific and cultural edifice from which hundreds of diplomats, ambassadors, and political advisors emerged, we can only thank China, which stood by our side in international forums and contributed to preventing projects that were and are still being hatched against independent countries.”

First Lady Asma Al-Assad concluded by saying: “I thank you all for your love for my mother tongue – the Arabic language – and for your passion to learn it, and for our ability today to communicate through it. Language is an ancient link between our two civilizations, and today it is directed towards the bright future of our children with all its development and modernity, but without compromising on principles and morals. Language carries with it the pride and dignity of societies, and there is no doubt that China and Syria carry a lot of pride and dignity.”

K.Q.