The Philanthropic Activities During Conflict: The Case Study of the Expatriate Syrian Business Community

Yıl 2021, , 49 - 74, 30.06.2021

Ching-an Chang

https://doi.org/10.26513/tocd.884311

Öz

This paper analyzes the ways in which the expatriate Syrian business community engages in philanthropic activities to provide help to its fellow countrymen in host countries. Why and how did this group of people, after experiencing the brutal war and losing their assets and families, decide to provide a giving hand to others after relocations? And why did some others not? The mainstream media and reports usually describe the refugees as aid receivers who are disadvantaged or resourceless. However, from the case of the expatriate Syrian businesspeople who fled from Syria to its neighboring countries due to the conflict back home, there are various groups of Syrian philanthropic organizations funded by those businesspeople to give help and aid to other Syrians in the host countries. Their philanthropic aid is not limited to material goods, but also includes religious courses, education, and employee training. The paper argues that although refugees are usually considered to live in a poor or weaker position, the economically strong members (mostly businesspeople) among them can bring positive effects to the difficult humanitarian situations.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Syrian refugee, refugee businesspeople, philanthropic activities, transnationalism, diaspora

Destekleyen Kurum

Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan (R.O.C.)

Proje Numarası

Most 108-2636-H-004-002

Çatışma bağlamında hayırseverlik faaliyetleri: Suriyeli göçmenlerin iş dünyasından örnek vaka incelemesi

Öz

Bu makale, göçmen Suriyeli iş dünyasının bulundukları ülkedeki yurttaşlarına yardım sağlamak için organize ettikleri hayırseverlik faaliyetlerini analiz etmektedir. Bu insanlar, savaşın acımasız yönlerini deneyimledikten, sahip olduklarını ve ailelerini kaybettikten sonra, göç ettikleri yerlerde başkalarına yardım etmeye neden ve nasıl karar verdiklerini? Ve bazılarının, aksine neden bu tür girişimlerde yer almadıklarını? incelemektedir. Ana akım medya ve araştırma raporları genellikle mültecileri dezavantajlı veya imkanı olmayan, muhtaç kişiler olarak tanımlıyor. Ancak, iç savaş nedeniyle Suriye'den komşu ülkelere kaçan Suriyeli göçmen işadamlarının, ev sahibi ülkelerde diğer Suriyelilere yardım ve destek sağlamak için kurdukları çeşitli Suriyeli hayırsever kuruluş grupları bulunmaktadır. Bu yardımlar sadece maddi değildir, aynı zamanda dini kurslar, eğitimi ve mesleki eğitimleri de içermektedir. Makale, mültecilerin genellikle zayıf veya muhtaç bir konumda yaşadıkları düşünse de, aralarındaki ekonomik açıdan güçlü üyelerin (çoğunlukla iş adamları) bu türden insani krizlerin hafifletilmesinde katkı sağlayabildiklerini göstermektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Suriyeli mülteci, mülteci iş adamları, hayırsever faaliyetler, ulusaşırılık, diaspora

Proje Numarası

Most 108-2636-H-004-002

Kaynakça

• Al-Ali, Nadje, Richard Black and Khalid Koser. “The limits to ‘transnationalism’: Bosnian and Eritrean refugees in Europe as emerging transnational communities.” Ethnic and Racial Studies vol, 24, no. 4 (2001): 578-600.
• All4Syria. “(ʿAbd al-Qādir Sankari) muʾassasa rāʾida tasʿā li-bināʾ al-insān fī al-dākhil al-Sūrī,” [The leading (ʿAbd al-Qādir Sankari) institution to seek for building the humanity inside Syria] February 7, 2016. Accessed March 16, 2017, http://www.all4syria.info/Archive/291002.
• All4Syria. “al-sīra al-dhātiyya li-wazīr al-baniyya al-taḥtiyya wa al-zirāʿ mu. Walīd al-Zuʿbi,” [CV of the Minister of Infrastructure and Agriculture engineer Waliyd al-Zuʿbi] November 12, 2013. Accessed March 16, 2017, http://www.all4syria.info/Archive/110771.
• Asfari Foundation. Accessed March 16, 2017, http://www.asfarifoundation.org.uk/who-we-are/.
• Baraka Charity Institution. Accessed March 17, 2017, https://www.facebook.com/pg/barakacharity/about/?ref=page_internal.
• Brinkerhoff, Jennifer M. “Creating an Enabling Environment for Diasporas’ Participation in Homeland Development.” International Migration 50, no. 1 (2009): 75-95.
• Brinkerhoff, Jennifer M. “Diaspora Philanthropy in an At-Risk Society: The Case of Coptic Orphans in Egypt.” Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 37, no. 3 (2008): 411-433.
• De Elvira, Laura Ruiz. “State/Charities Relation in Syria. Between Reinforcement, Control and Coercion.” In Civil Society and the State in Syria. The Outsourcing of Social Responsibility. Laura Ruiz de Elvira Carrascal and Tina Zintl, 7-31. Portland: Lynne Rienner, 2012.
• Dunn, Kathleen. “Diaspora Giving and the Future of Philanthropy,” The Philanthropic Initative (2004). Accessed March 07, 2017, http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.601.3219&rep=rep1&type=pdf.
• El Qorchi, Mohammed, Samuel Munzele Maimbo, and John F. Wilson. Informal Funds Transfer Systems: An Analysis of the Informal Hawala System. Washington, D.C.: International Monetary Fund, 2003.
• Faist, Thomas. “Transnationalization and Development: Toward an Alternative Agenda.” Social Analysis 53, no. 3 (2009): 38-59.
• Flanigan, Shawn Teresa and Mounah Abdel-Samad. “Syrian Diaspora Members as Transnational Civil Society Actors: Perspectives from a Network for Refugee Assistance.” Contention: The Multidisciplinary Journal of Social Protest 4, no. 1-2 (2016): 51-65.
• Freedom Floka. Accessed March 17, 2017, https://www.facebook.com/pg/FreedomFloka/about/?ref=page_internal.
• Graham, Benjamin A.T. “Diaspora-Owned Firms and Social Responsibility.” Review of International Political Economy (2014): 432.
• Guarnizo, Luis Eduardo. “The Economics of Transnational Living.” International Migration Review 37, no. 3 (2003): 666-699.
• Homs League Abroad. Accessed March 17, 2017, http://www.homsleague.org/.
• Khan, Sultan. “The Nature and Extent of Philanthropy amongst the Rainbow South African Muslim Community.” Man In India 91, no. 1 (2011): 169-193.
• Lyons, Terrence. “Conflict-Generated Diasporas and Transnational Politics in Ethiopia.” Conflict, Security & Development 7, no. 4 (2007): 529-549.
• Monsutti, Alessandro. “Cooperation, Remittances, and Kinship among the Hazaras.” Iranian Studies 37, no. 2 (2004): 219-240.
• Mulloy, Leila. “Questioning Spaces: Host Society Development and Diaspora - The Asociación Cultural de Ayuda Social Europa-Africa por el Progreso de Senegal.” Migration Studies Unit Working Papers. Migration Studies Unit, London School of Economics and Political Science, 2010. Accessed March 10, 2017,
• http://www.lse.ac.uk/government/research/resgroups/MSU/documents/workingPapers/WP_2010_08.pdf.
• Newscenter. “majlis rijāl aʿmāl li-daʿm al-shaʿb al-Sūrī,” [Business Council supports Syrian people], March 9, 2013. Accessed March 16, 2017, http://www.newscenter.news/ar/news/view/4552.html.
• NGOSyria. Accessed January 20, 2019. http://ngosyria.org/.
• Niumai, Ajailiu. “Indian Diaspora Philanthropy: A Sociological Perspective.” Man In India 91, no. 1 (2011): 93-114.
• Paris Group. Accessed March 16, 2017, http://www.parisgroup.ae/pg/index.html.
• Perthes, Volker. “A Look at Syria’s Upper Class: The Bourgeoisie and the Ba’th.” Middle East Report no. 170 (1991): 31-37.
• Petrofac. Accessed March 16, 2017, http://www.forbes.com/profile/ayman-asfari/.
• Pierret, Thomas and Kjetil Selvik. “Limits of “Authoritarian Upgrading” in Syria: Private Welfare, Islamic Charities, and the Rise of the Zayd Movement.” International Journal of Middle East Studies vol. 41, no. 4 (2009): 595-614.
• Pierret, Thomas. “Sunni Clergy Politics in the Cities of Ba’thi Syria.” In Demystifying Syria. Edited by Fred Haley Lawson, 70-84. London: Saqi, 2009.
• Saïd Foundation. Accessed March 16, 2017, http://www.saidfoundation.org/our-vision-and-values.
• Skrbis, Zlatko. “The Mobilized Croatian Diaspora: Its Role in Homeland Politics and War.” In Diasporas in conflict: Peace-Makers or Peace-Wreckers? Edited by Hazel Smith and Paul Stares, 218-238. Tokyo: United Nations University, 2007.
• Slackman, Michael. “Fashion and Faith Meet, on Foreheads of the Pious.” The New York Times, December 18, 2007. Accessed March 17, 2017, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/18/world/africa/18egypt.html.
• Stevens, Matthew R. “The Collapse of Social Networks among Syrian Refugees in Urban Jordan.” Contemporary Levant 1, no. 1 (2016): 51-63.
• Tchouassi, Gérard and Fondo Sikod. “Altruistic Preferences as Motivation for Migrants in The Diaspora to Remit to Home Communities.” Research in Applied Economics vol. 2, no. 1 (2010): 1-18.
• The Washington Post. “Syrians at Home and Abroad Try to Ease Humanitarian Crisis,” December 18, 2012. Accessed March 16, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/syrians-at-home-and-abroad-try-to-ease-humanitarian-crisis-/2012/12/18/561a0d76-4939-11e2-ad54-580638ede391_story.html?utm_term=.393b7fb47fe0.
• Werbner, Pnina. “The Place which is Diaspora: Citizenship, Religion and Gender in the Making of Chaordic Transnationalis.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 28 (2002): 119-133.
• Youtube. “fulūka al-ḥurriyya ll ḍimn ḥamlat tawzīʿ al-madāfiʾ ʿalā ukhwata-nā al-Sūrīyīn fi madīnat Anṭākiyā al-Turkiyya,” [Floka Freedom ll part of the distribution campaign of heaters to the Syrian brothers in the Turkish city of Antakya], December 20, 2013. Accessed March 17, 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71fp4egS8tI.
• Youtube. “jamʿiyya fulūka al-ḥurriyya - mashrūʿ aḍāḥī al-ʿīd - al-Ghūṭa al-Sharqiyya,” [Floka freedom association - Project of sacrificial festival – eastern al-Ghūṭa], September 13, 2016. Accessed March 17, 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5upOdwaFHTg.
• Youtube. “mashrūʿ fulūka al-ḥurriyya min al-dākhil al-Sūrī ilā dākhil Turkiyā,” [Floka Freedom Project from inside Syria into Turkey], August 25, 2016. Accessed March 17, 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZFDZoAUGPA;
• Youtube. “muʿawwināt māliyya muntadā rijāl al-aʿmāl - al-Malīḥa al-Gharbiyya,” [Financial aid Business Forum - Western al-Maliyḥa 2013-5-23], May 23, 2013. Accessed March 17, 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZifJ6L2iyg.
• Youtube. “biṭāqat shukr min idārat al-mashfā al-maydānī li-majlis rijāl al-aʿmāl al-Sūrī wa-l-maktab al-ṭibbī al-Sūrī al-muwaḥḥid,” [Thanks from the field hospital of the Syrian Business Council and the United Syrian Medical Office], May 23, 2013. Accessed March 17, 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpKiDcLPjlk.
• Youtube. “jamʿiya fuluka al-ḥuriya (minhaj al-ṭifl al-suri al-ḥur),” [Floka Freedom Association (free Syrian children approach)], June 29, 2015. Accessed March 17, 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0o1hMbGqNVY.
• Zintl, Tina. “Syria’s Reforms under Bashar al-Asad: An Opportunity for Foreign-Educated Entrepreneurs to move into Decision-Making?” In Business politics in the Middle East. Edited by Steffen Hertog, Giacomo Luciani, and Marc Valerie, 159-182. London: Hurst, 2013.