المرأة العلويّة بين مطرقة الحرب و سندان الميديا

Since the protesting movements in several Arab countries erupted, the internet, especially the social media, has turned into a real war arena. A “Facebook revolution” or a “Twitter revolution” are terms that have been used to signify the role of this media in planning, organizing and reporting the peaceful protests and the armed conflicts live and instantaneously. The media blackout and the tight censorship on journalists are considered an important reason why the social media sites have become the first news source for many traditional media.
The division of the Syrian society into supporters and opponents of the government and the president Bashar Al-Assad was clearly reflected in the interactive media which turned into platforms of swearing, threats and proudly displaying the images of the murdered people and hostages. The recipients of traditional media have become senders and receivers at the same time because of the social media. This has made them contribute to the process of spreading the propaganda of the camp to which they belong. They have rather become an essential contributor to the psychological war. The Syrian opposition attempted to confront the government and the president Al-Assad through media in different ways the most important of which is YouTube.
The purpose of this qualitative-semiotic study is analyzing the image of the Alawite woman that is presented by some of Al-Assad opponents on YouTube in order to know how this woman is being used as a weapon in the psychological war. The importance of the research lies in uncovering the mental images which the opposition attempts to depict or reinforce about the Alawite woman in the context of a conflict in which sectarianism is considered one of its most prominent pillars; it is so at least for some of the fighting parties, and in a context where the peoples harvest the disasters which result from politicizing religion and religionizing politics. According to the results of the study, the Alawite woman has been considered a traitor of the Syrian people, murderer, kidnapper and sexual tool in the hand of the regime. The opponents have often linked the Alawite identity to the moral descent especially on the sexual level.