In 1992 or 3– memory is a little fuzzy — I was part of the Model United Nations and the country we were representing was Syria. I remember thinking “I know nothing about Syria” and having to cram as much information as I could to prepare. There was a delegation of us, I think… 8? 12? I just remember probably six of us crammed into a hotel room in New York, where the final event is held, toward the end of the school year. It was my first trip to New York, and I learned a lot.
West Point had, if I remember correctly, Burkina Faso. I do not know why I remember that. I just remember seeing what looked like two very white bro-dudes representing Burkina Faso and then looking at our delegation of mostly female persons representing a country that only superficially extended any rights to female persons.
To establish the zeitgeist of the moment: the US had just “won” the first Gulf War (fun fact, I was on an airplane to Australia for the student exchange when we declared war. The pilot shared that on the overhead. I and some 30 other exchange students didn’t know what to do with that), the “Middle East” was and had been for some time a scary place (inasmuch as all the news we got at the time was about scary things happening there). There was no internet (or none that was easily navigable to), and news was something you either got from a physical newspaper or from 6pm-8pm on TV. Heading to New York to effectively pretend to be Syrian — as a female person, in the company of *mostly female people*– was going to be an interesting prospect.
It was straightforward – act in “your own” interest. In the case of Syria, that was one of a wedged country – Syria participated in the Gulf War on the side of the US (because the alternative was siding with someone who would be interested in invading Syria) but also had a history of cracking down (murderously) on its own people. On one hand, Syria could be simply oversimplified into “bad guys in the Middle East that we had to work with against a worse guy” (plus assorted other stereotypes) and on the other hand how do you concentrate millennia of cultural history into context for play acting over 3 days? Not terribly well.
In pursuant years Syria remained a talking point on the nightly news as a Player In The Middle East and the older I got the more I understood (or thought I did) about how they moved in their local sphere (or internationally). Remembering my time in the Model UN meant I attached a little asterisk in my head to mentions of Syria; thinking back to “oh remember when you oversimplified their international stance over a 3-day period in an ironically mostly female representation?”
All is not wine and roses in Syria now; they still have crushing poverty and homelessness; they still need medical support and humanitarian aid. Yet this morning, I opened up the latest article in my inbox from the Economist to see that Syria is the Country of the Year – much improved and more democratic (yes, a subjective take), having shed itself of a dictatorship (and put in some measure of stability in the ensuing year). It had stiff competition — as noted in the article — but really, a transformative year. One that cannot, and should not, be oversimplified.
You can donate to UNICEF in support of Syria here.
If you’d rather donate closer to home, you can donate to Habitat for Humanity here.
You can learn more about the Model United Nations here. Most schools have to fundraise for their delegations and materials, so if you have an alma matter and if you have an interest, you can reach out to them and provide support.
Bobbie Conti 