Summary
Boutrus al-Bustani, the Syrian scholar and educator whose pamphlets from 1860, in Banko’s account (following Ussama Makdisi), helped foster modern concepts of civic identity in Greater Syria and stand at the genesis of post-1918 discussions of Arab nationality and communitarian citizenship (The Invention of Palestinian Citizenship, 1918–1947, PDF p.72 / printed p.61).
Details
- In a series of pamphlets written and distributed in support of Ottoman nationalism and Syrian Arab patriotism, al-Bustani urged his fellow patriots (abna’ al-watan), primarily other Ottoman intellectuals, to actively work toward a secular citizenship that could be ‘developed, taught, and embraced simultaneously at an imperial and local level’ (PDF p.72-73 / printed p.61-62).
- He wrote that Syrians were bound together as one nationality (jinsiyya) within the larger Ottoman state, and stressed that all Syrian nationals, as part of a specific community and as Ottoman citizens, must ‘sacrifice for the nation’ so that the empire could protect their rights in exchange (PDF p.72-73 / printed p.61-62).
- In his pamphlets he referred to civil rights such as the freedoms of thought and speech, but did not advocate political rights for members of the Arab and Ottoman polities (PDF p.73 / printed p.62).
Related pages
The Invention of Palestinian Citizenship, 1918–1947, Communitarian citizenship, Tanzimat, Ottoman Nationality Law of 1869