The Arab of the Future by Riad Sattouf

 Little boys are defecating in the street, throwing rocks at donkeys, and pitchforking stray dogs. Women sit by passively as their sons beat up their cousins. Psychotic children follow a family through the streets with sticks. Then another little boy sees men hanged in the street, their bodies swinging in the rain while shoppers nonchalantly walk by. As for the boy’s refined French mother, she puts up with it. It’s no wonder that the kids in Syria are all evil.

Riad Sattouf, a French-Syrian cartoonist, has drawn more than a graphic autobiography. It’s a crazy adventure through a bizarre land, leaving the travelers awed and bewildered. Throughout the story, his family treks through a land where education is neglected, animals are abused, and the people are accustomed to being abused by dictators. His French-educated parents are clearly a cut above the rest, in terms of the (rather saintly) way they treat others, but they’re powerless to make anything good happen. They each, according to their upbringing, have reasons for not criticizing it. Perhaps that’s part of the problem.

Before I go further, let me say that Riad Sattouf’s The Arab of the Future is the opposite of a voyage of discovery. His life in Libya and Syria is all about the “new world” exploring the “old world,” and finding nothing. For starters, his Arab father and French mother, both educated at the Sorbonne, are opposites in their ideals. His father, Syrian-born, is a Pan-Arabist with a liking for the Ba’ath philosophy. He thinks that by aligning the nation with the Soviets and casting aside religion, the nation can become powerful. Riad’s French mother goes along, and she’s disgusted, but she doesn’t really protest much. I get the feeling that she’s been taught not to judge or criticize foreign ways. Racist? Maybe it is.

As for Riad, he’s a cute blonde kid who, like a typical French child, talks politely and behaves himself. That makes him a sitting duck for the nasty kids that he encounters in Syria. He clearly illustrates the contrast between two nations; French children are allowed to actually be children, while the Syrian kids are taught to be violent. Even the toys are violent; they have action figures of Israeli soldiers hiding knives behind their backs.

After reading The Arab of the Future, I realized why democracy, human rights, gender equality, and universal suffrage can never work in the Middle East. The ideals of democracy and human rights are based on Judeo-Christian ethics, where disputes are settled in court, and the husband can’t own the wife. In a place like Syria or Libya, that would clash with Sharia, or even the habits that predate Islam. Let’s face it, the Middle East is hopeless. If a country is collectively hostile to animals, and forces its anger on the children, why would they care about anyone’s rights?