Caledoniyya

Quickly, bring me a beaker of wine, so that I may wet my mind and say something clever.

Middle Eastisms, Pt. 3

Following on from yesterday, part 3 in the series of Perceptions of the Middle East:

Group 3

And because this image not only comprises shocking writing but also devastatingly diabolical cameraship, a breakdown:

Middle East

Islam, oil, Dubai, Mecca and Medina, desert, terror, Arab-Israeli conflict – war – two Gulf Wars, Palestinians, Jews, Hamas, food – hummus – olives.

Oddly, two themes are becoming recurrent: food and war.

What complex beings we humans are.

Filed under: Culture, Frivolities & Miscellaeny, Middle East, Politics, Religion , , , ,

Bookwormery

Despite the maelstrom of deadlines billowing about my desk, I still have time to flit between books like a literary harlot.

Right now I have five on the go, with some garnering more attention than others.

I am ashamed to admit that the scale of attention leans much heavier towards the fantastical than the academic, with the most dour entries languishing at the bottom, when they should really be on top.

Tsk, tsk.

The guilty parties first then:

Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer. Vampires. Emotional turmoil. Strapping young men with a propensity for shirt removal. Need I add more? This is guilty literary pleasure at its finest and is almost viral: until I finish this goliath bloodfest, there is no contender for the top spot of my bookish time.

Unspeakable Love: Gay and Lesbian Life in the Middle East by Brian Whitaker. Started off as a work-read, now an addictive, informative and utterly engrossing read. I read forty pages in 45 minutes at the weekend (laundry time). Enough said. Incredible.

Dracula by Bram Stoker. As above, but the original, the finest, and the perfect accompaniment to a night alone in a room facing pine-smothered hills accompanied by a howlingly cruel gale that whips the windows with passionate ferocity. If Breaking Dawn is a box of chocolates, then Dracula is eating Nutella with a spoon. A big spoon. From the jar.

The Return by Håkan Nesser. Since catching the original Wallander series I have had an insatiable craving for all things detective and Scandinavian. Admittedly, I also bought this book after a chance discovery. Nevertheless, I am determined to finish it by Christmas and find out who really did kill the recently released convict and athletic hero.

The remaining two are under review, so it is perhaps not most prudent to debate their virtues and vices here.

Nevertheless, I am juggling the books with horrendous commitment and shamelessly apportion all the blame to Meyer.

For her saga is simply irresistable.

Filed under: Bookwormery, Caledoniyya Book Club, Culture, Layla, Pop culture , , , ,

Middle Eastisms, Pt. 2

Belated, but as promised, the second instalment in the experimental Perceptions of the Middle East:

Group 2

My writing is quite heinous, so in sum:

Middle East

Ottoman Empire, Aladdin, falafal, shisha, Persia, camels, conflict – terrorism, Islam, glamour, oil – money, traditions – customs – dress.

Getting better, then.

Filed under: Culture, Middle East, Politics, Pop culture , , ,

Wallbanger

This image is just crazily beautiful:

Wallbanger

“Wall banger: A Palestinian demonstrator climbs Israel’s separation barrier moments after knocking down a segment of the concrete wall during a protest in the West Bank village of Nilin.” Photo: Bernat Armangue / AP

Via Angry Arab.

Filed under: Conflict Zones, Imagery, Israel, Middle East, Palestine , , , ,

Best of the Rest: I’m Changing My Sex

A splendidly novel initiative launched by the dynamic Bekhsoos team:

Hello! You’ve probably noticed that I’ve changed my sex on Facebook. Were you surprised? Annoyed? Intrigued? Disgusted? Outraged? Did you think it was a joke? Did you perhaps think it was a mistake?

Actually, I’m glad you asked. Today is the international day of action for sexual and bodily rights across Muslim societies: “One Day, One Struggle.” To mark the occasion, I’ve changed my sex on Facebook to raise awareness around challenges facing transgender people everywhere in the world. And I’m going to keep it that way till November 20, the Transgender Day of Remembrance. [...]

My friends, there is a lot of awareness we need to raise about transgender issues. We need to break the silences and the misconceptions – starting from the ones in our own selves.

So I ask you to join me by doing the same on your Facebook. If you feel too scared about what people will say, then you can understand – if only for some fleeting seconds – what transgenders have to go through their entire lives. So please, take the bold step and stand up for a community who continue to suffer among us every day.

To find out more, click here.

Because ultimately, that’s all it takes: one click to show solidarity.

Yalla, what are you waiting for?

Filed under: Africa, Americas, Asia, Best of the Rest, Culture, Europe, Middle East , , , , ,

Simply Splendid (And Wanted)

Via Roba, a call has been issued through YouTube for the following fellows to be found in return for a JD 1,000 reward:

To find out more, click here.

Filed under: Frivolities & Miscellaeny, Jordan, Middle East, Pop culture , ,

How? Why? Jeez…

The results of polls such as these always prompt a swift hanging of the head in shame and the contemplation of how we reached this point:

Adolf Hitler was the manager of Germany’s national soccer team, and Auschwitz was a World War Two theme park, a poll released by the Daily Mail on Friday said, questioning U.K. children aged 9 to 15.

The study, which was conducted by war veterans’ charity Erskine in the run-up to Remembrance Day, tested 2,000 children for their knowledge of last century’s two world wars.

One in 20, according to the poll, thought the Holocaust was the celebration at the end of the war and one in ten said the SS was Enid Blyton’s Secret Seven.

The poll also showed only half of the respondents knew D-Day was the invasion of Normandy, with a quarter of those asked believing it was “Dooms Day,” with another quarter thinking a nuclear bomb was dropped on Pearl Harbour, spurring America’s involvement in the war. [Source]

How do such general knowledge gaps occur?

This is not just at junior level – I have been told of university students who think Jordan is in Lebanon and that Iran is a small country on the Mediterranean.

How, how?

Filed under: Europe, Frivolities & Miscellaeny

Dirty Business in Tunisia

Lest we forget Tunisia’s burgeoning censorship portfolio, here is the latest case:

Zouheir Makhlouf was arrested in 20 October after he published a video about pollution, lack of infrastructure and basic services in the industrial zone of the city of Nabeul, 60km southeast of the capital Tunis.

Makhlouf was charged with “harming or disturbing others via the public telecommunications networks” and could face up to two years in prison if convicted. He was remanded in custody until the next court session on 24 November.

Makhlouf was denied bail when he appeared in court on Tuesday. He appeared weak and unable to speak or stand; his lawyer said his client had been on hunger strike for over 10 days in protest at his arrest and detention. [Source]

The “public telecommunications network” in question was Facebook.

Zine El Abidine Ben Ali is now entering his fifth term in presidential office and it seems that with every increase in time, so too does the paranoia rise accordingly.

The grip on Tunisian media – in particular the blogosphere and social sites – is terrifying and yet deeply ignored.

We know about China and Iran; isn’t it about time we added Tunisia to the list of countries that censor?

Filed under: Africa, Censorship, Politics , , , , ,

A Question of HonestReporting

Let us begin at the beginning: a lecture titled A Look at Anti-Israel Media Bias, hosted by the University Jewish Society, was always predestined for contention on a plethora of levels.

Certainly the title denotes a bias itself, but I was intrigued and wilfully hopeful that an alternative, positive perspective would emerge from within an educated and proven argument.

Sadly, it was not to be: presented by Simon Plosker, Managing Editor of HonestReporting, the lecture woefully meandered through PowerPoint slides displaying images of atrocities committed against Palestinians and Lebanese civilians supported by an argument with more holes than a wheel of Swiss cheese.

beirutwoman2In sum: most images had been doctored; the pesky Arabs were planting toys in the rubble to gain world sympathy; the elderly woman mourning the loss of her home [left] was a savvy media harlot positioned repeatedly outside broken homes.

The fractured bodies under bricks, iron rods and cement? Merely actors! They were later seen running around!

The plumes of smoke as Beirut crumbled and smouldered under the Israeli attacks in 2006 [below]? My dear, they were merely Photoshopped! There was only one plume of smoke that was duplicated three times. See? Look!

And so it went on.

And on.

Ad infinitum, or so it seemed for one hour.

As image after image slammed onto the projector, Plosker’s explanations grew correspondingly fantastical.

During a lament that the plight of the Palestinians is likened by the media to the Holocaust, he indicated a picture of a young boy – no more than 12 – being hustled by IDF soldiers.

Beirut

The boy, whose trousers were wet from distress, drew no mercy: “As you can see, oh dear, the boy has wet himself. In reality, it was only a stern talking to.”

I took three pages of lecture notes, but only the adjectives capture the true essence of the lecture: ‘pendantic’, ‘craptastic’, ‘7alaaaas’, ‘bollocks’ and ‘excruciating’.

By minute ‘80 my eloquence had gone out the window and my heart was thumping dully to the waves of nausea and ennui.

Funded by a 160,000 subscriber roll, rather than the Israeli government, members are encouraged to swell the inboxes of national newspapers that portray Israel in a negative manner.

For example, when Newsweek featured a cover illustration lamenting the tragedy of a young Palestinian suicide bomber aged 18, it placed her image alongside one of her victims, an 18-year-old Israeli girl [below].

NewsweekBoth young, both beautiful, both cut off in their prime by the cruelty of politics and conflict.

Unfortunately, for HonestReporting this is not tragic: it is scandalous and akin to placing the pictures of slain students at Virginia Tech alongside that of their killer.

The nuance was missed: the war takes lives on both sides and a life is a life is a life.

Whether the sentence structure does not tickle your nationalist fancy is irrelevant.

When questioned whether their arduous scrutinization of pictures of smoke plumes will change the reality that a disproportionate number of Palestinians and Lebanese die(d) in comparison with Israeli casualties, Plosker reverted to: ‘What if it is my kid? What if bombs fell on her kindergarten? Are you saying it doesn’t matter if my child is killed?’

The general absence of academic argument in favour of conscience-tweaking and speculation was rampant, and the desire to comprehend why one must favour the findings of Israeli bloggers in favour of the BBC/Reuters/AP was never sated.

The question and answers section proved equally inexorable as numerous hands shot up to protest Israeli settlements and the maltreatment of Palestinians.

What struck me was not the hecklers – this is as inherent a part of such an event as hangovers on New Years Day – but the demographic and responses.

Of an audience of around 30, but one Arab attended – a Palestinian journalist who provided the most cogent and constructive critique of Plosker’s speech.

My question is: where were all the Arabs? At the bar? At home watching soaps? Why were they not there?

The lecture was publicized all over the University and while many said they would go, they ultimately did not.

Call it boycott, call it avoiding confrontation; I call it betrayal – in such instances Arab perspectives must be heard.

The audience was made up of young students – many of whom are new to the issue of Palestine-Israel.

As Plosker weaved his Israeli propaganda, so too were their young minds imprinted upon; had it not been for the plucky and vociferous Palestinian journalist, Plosker would have succeeded in convincing the students of the veracity of his argument – that the Arabs are wanton media opportunists and that the real victims are the Israelis.

Voices must be heard and more crucially, the voices of organizations such as HonestReporting must be challenged.

Painful though it is to endure, the propaganda must be heard and responded to: it is not only a battle for politicians and militants, but one for academics and academia alike.

If this point was enough for Plosker to emphasize in his conclusion (albeit to an Israeli angle), as Arabs and sympathizers to the Palestinian cause, so too must we be present.

By all means boycott oranges; but do not boycott ideologies.

Filed under: Culture, Europe, Israel, Lebanon, Middle East, Palestine , , , , , , ,

Return to Sheikh Jarrah

Sheikh Jarrah is fast proving the hub of settler activities: in August the Jerusalem district witnessed the endeavours of the Hanoun family to retain their home, though they are sadly one of many families enduring uncertainty and loss.

This week is the turn of an 85-year-old Kurdish woman, whose family have been unceremoniously turned out of their home on the pretext that “They can go to Syria, Iraq, Jordan”.quds-home1

I kid you not, and here is another nugget of settler philosophy 101:

We are six million and they are billions. This land is Israel. We are in Israel. God gave this land to the Jews. The Torah tells us so. You want war? Declare war on God, not on us. [Source]

Not only is the Al Kurd family missing a home, but clearly an obscure village shrouded by the mists of time and ignorance is also mourning the absence of its prize idiot.

The seizure marks the seventh Palestinian home to be occupied this year, as settlers attacked the house under Israeli military and police cover.

Later today a protest vigil will take place outside the Al Kurd home.

Filed under: Israel, Middle East, Palestine , , , , , ,

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