Friction

The picture above was taken in Abdoun, an upscale section of Amman. It’s a shack in a vacant lot, set amongst apartment complexes and housing developments that probably rank among the most expensive in the city. These vacant lot shacks are in evidence throughout Amman, and I haven’t quite yet determined their purpose; I get the impression that they are either temporary dwellings for construction workers, or the similarly temporary dwellings of the financially downtrodden. In all likelihood, it’s probably some combination of the two. Nevertheless, the takeaway from this picture is the incongruity.

A couple weeks ago, a discontent individual opened fire on a bus in downtown Amman, near the tourist-drawing Roman amphitheater, following an evening concert at the Citadel (a hilltop Roman/Byzantine/Umyaad archeological site). It’s the third incident of violence at that location in about as many years. Six people were injured before police chased the gunman down and he turned the gun on himself. According to press reports, the young Palestinian man hailed from the Baqa’a refugee camp, located north of Amman. The camp, which was established following the mass dislocation of the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, is home to more than 90,000 registered refugees, according to the UN. The shooter’s motivations are still unknown; initial official reports suggested he was acting alone and it was not an act of organized “terrorism.” Amman is something of a rumor mill, and other reports suggest that the individual may have thought the bus contained Israeli passengers (most of the victims were actually Lebanese Arabs). A few days later, security authorities reportedly carried out a raid in Baqa’a in which a handful of individuals with potential “militant” connections were arrested, possibly in connection with the shooting.

My amateur photography and the shooting story have nothing in common, except to point out that Amman, despite its generally quiet and stable socio-political climate, is not without significant (though sometimes subtly evident) friction points.

Upon first impression (as described in an earlier post), one is struck by the diversity in Amman, where several generations of the region’s immigrants, refugees, and exiles coexist fairly peaceably. Native Jordanians (a concept which will require more explanation at a later date), Palestinians, Lebanese, Circassians, Chechens, Somalis, South Asians, Iraqis, and Gulf Arabs, as well as Muslims and Christians of just about every variation call the city home, if in many cases only for an indefinite term.

Diversity does not by necessity indicate harmony, however, and the colorful social makeup of Amman glosses over some significant level of societal tension. As with any other city in the world, the residents tend to sort out into demographically homogenized clusters, with certain neighborhoods being distinctly Christian or Muslim, native Jordanian, Palestinian, Circassian, Iraqi, or so on and so forth. Of course, this homogeneity is not perfect, and the various communities share more heterogeneous urban borders. Interaction takes place in economic venues like marketplaces and shopping malls, or in the schools and universities. Interaction and communal heterogeneity is to some degree being further forced upon the population by the demographic pressures exerted by immigration (particularly the Iraqi diaspora which is usually estimated at anywhere from 500,000-750,000) and the concurrent rising costs of real estate.

Throw into this mix the ups and downs of economic development and globalization, as well as a constant influx of western cultural exports, and it all makes for inevitable social friction, which I’m slowly beginning to pick up on everywhere. The clerics at the mosques have to compete with western consumer culture for the attention of their constituents. The Hezbollah-affiliated al Manar television station shares the satellite airways with MTV Arabia, the former promoting a conservative social culture and more radical politics, while the latter preaches the consumer status quo and the infinite virtues of pimping one’s ride. The population is young and growing younger; it’s hard to raise one’s children per traditional social values when insulation is made impossible by social proximity and the neighborhood internet cafe.

Jordan is majority Sunni Muslim by an overwhelming margin, so thus far the Sunni/Shi’a friction experienced elsewhere in the Middle East is not yet in evidence here. But even the Sunnis are not a homogenous block; there is considerable variation within Sunni communities, particularly in terms of adherence to traditional values and gender roles. Women completely covered except for their eyes share the street with others that would be at home on Sunset Strip, and I don’t get the impression that both ends of the spectrum are always completely comfortable with one another in the same social space. On top of this intra-religious tension, there seems to be an at least mild degree of misunderstanding and distrust between the Christians (about 5-10% of the population, depending on your source) and Muslims.

Societal ills and economic instability are inevitably blamed on the most recent generation of outsiders (again, a familiar story); Iraqis have overtaken post-1967 Palestinians as the new scapegoat (although incidents like the one a couple weeks ago always bring the Palestinians back to the fore). There is some degree of hope in that unlike the Palestinians, who remain stuck in indefinite limbo, the Iraqis may someday be able to return home. Of course, the Iraqis (particularly the initial arrivals which drew heavily from the upper and middle classes) provided a stimulus to the Jordanian economy which is probably under-appreciated. If they all were to leave en masse, it’s not clear what effect this would have on local markets. Turmoil on arrival, turmoil on exodus.

All of this is not to say that Jordan is primed for a cataclysmic social meltdown per its civil war in 1969/70, or Lebanon in the 1970s (a country even more diverse in its demographics, and similarly a destination for the dispossessed), or that the dynamic somehow makes Jordan radically different from any other 21st century metropolis. Indeed, given the level of regional political pressure the Jordanians have had to endure, the situation could be far worse. Moreover, despite whatever friction might exist, there is usually more than enough civility to go around. At the end of the day, most people share the same concerns (family, work, health, etc...) and are in no hurry to rock the boat.

Similar issues stemming from religion, immigration, and globalization are in evidence in spades throughout the United States, as the rhetoric and debates surrounding the upcoming election are making apparent. It should also be noted that one is probably still more likely (by a large margin) to be the victim of violent crime in most U.S. cities than in Amman, although the motivation may not be so politically charged. I feel safer walking around Amman at night than I do at home.

Nevertheless, there is far more breathing room in the United States for these complex social dynamics to play out; if one is so inclined, one can more easily retreat to a gated Texas compound and shut off from the world. This isn’t quite as feasible in Jordan, where more than 2/3 of the population calls the crowded capital city home. A country as simultaneously small and complex as Jordan is terribly vulnerable to exogenous shocks, and such shocks unfortunately abound in these troubled times. I think most people here are praying that the spillover from the Iraq War is the last such shock they will have to feel for awhile.

Again, I’ve only been here a little over a month, so these observations are by no means definitive, or really all that different from anything you might read elsewhere about Jordan. Don’t cite me in your research paper quite yet (remember to drop my name though when your children are writing theirs; if nothing else, they should be able to find someone writing about how I was completely off the mark).

I promised music, so a more upbeat (and hopefully condensed) music post is forthcoming, Insha’Allah.

Vaya en Paz.