Today, yet again, we witnessed an act of savagery that now passes as part of the regular political discourse in the Middle East and neighboring Muslim countries. The culprits in Bhutto's assassination are probably al Qaeda or one of its associates from the North West Frontier province bordering Afghanistan. Also high on the short list is the ISI, Pakistan's all powerful intelligence agency. These suspects are not mutually exclusive as the ISI seems to play both sides of the political divide in Pakistan. Bhutto's courageous and vocal opposition of Islamic extremists put her in the crosshairs of al Qaida and their backers, but it was also her very public endorsement by the U.S. that made her politically radioactive.
Despite Benazir's checkered political past, there is something about her that has intrigued me. I am not sure what it is exactly; her intelligence, her charisma, her good looks or the fact that she was a powerful Muslim woman who shatters the stereotypes. It is perhaps a combination of the above. Whatever it is, there was the hope, the promise that she might...might... bring a new approach to the politics of a critical Muslim country the fate of which is now intricately linked to that of the Middle East.
An objective review of her stints as prime minister would suggest that I am wrong in having been hopeful about her. However, her last time in office was over a decade ago. She deserved a second chance; she certainly did not deserve this end.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Christian Muslim Dialogue in the Syrian Desert
Interesting story on the interfaith dialogue set up by an Italian Jesuit priest in Deir Mar Musa al Habashi monastery between Damascus and Homs.
Syrian Church Aims to Foster Religious Dialogue
by Deborah Amos;National Public Radio, December 26, 2007 ·
Every 33 years, the major Christian and Muslim holidays of Christmas and Eid al Adha fall close together. This is one of those years.
While Christmas focuses on the birth of Jesus Christ, Eid al Adha centers on Abraham, a shared prophet from the Koran and the Bible's Old Testament. In the Middle East, these dual holidays are reminders of the many shared traditions of Muslims and Christians.
Deck the Malls
In the predominantly Muslim country of Syria, Christmas trees twinkle in shopping malls. Muslim neighborhoods are decorated with festive lights, a new custom borrowed from Christians.
The jingle bells are jazzy at the Damascus opera house – and the choir is decked out in gold robes. The horn players wear angel wings. Syria's Christian community celebrates the season with a traditional concert. Muslim families, also part of the tradition, join in the holiday cheer.
Across the Middle East, however, true understanding between Muslims and Christians is harder to find.
Leading the Way
One religious community in a mountaintop monastery is trying to lead the way to understanding. Dier Mar Musa is a long trek up a mountainside, up hundreds of stone steps that finally lead to an arched doorway, a courtyard and a church. The church was built more than 1,500 years ago, when Christians were a majority in the region.
"Christians in the Middle East, the numbers are going down quickly," says Rev. Paolo Dall'Oglio, who leads this community of Christians and Muslims. "Some of us are willing to create hope together, to build a complementary world vision in a way that we can work on our future world, hand-by-hand as minorities that have something to offer to majorities."
An Organic Life
Dall'Oglio makes sure there is tea after the long hike and a sumptuous spread of cheese, jam, olives and bread. The community produces the food it needs.
"We have only goats because this mountain is so high," says Luay Jubail, a veterinarian who takes care of the goat herd. "All the milk from the goats, only is special to produce cheese and everything is organic."
Sister Huda Faduil conducts tours of the church, the restored 6th century altar and medieval frescos of Bible stories. She has lived here for 13 years; she says she was attracted to the monastery's main mission.
"The first time I came for a visit only to see the place," she says. "It has attracted me, the simplicity of the place and our vocation, the dialogue with Islam."
To promote this dialogue, a place has been set aside within the church for Muslims to pray facing the holy city of Mecca. And on the wall, Arabic calligraphy in the shape of a dove spells out first phrase of the Muslim call to prayer.
Dall'Oglio, who came here from Italy in the 1980s as a young seminary student, says he found his life's work in this ancient place, promoting dialogue between Muslims and Christians.
"Each one of us, Muslims and Christians, we block the other in our concepts. We don't know about how the other build his hope, his relationship with God and others, his feeling about the secret spiritual dimension of life," Dall'Oglio says. "From that level, we are in a failure of dialogue and we have to start and start again."
Syrian Church Aims to Foster Religious Dialogue
by Deborah Amos;National Public Radio, December 26, 2007 ·
Every 33 years, the major Christian and Muslim holidays of Christmas and Eid al Adha fall close together. This is one of those years.
While Christmas focuses on the birth of Jesus Christ, Eid al Adha centers on Abraham, a shared prophet from the Koran and the Bible's Old Testament. In the Middle East, these dual holidays are reminders of the many shared traditions of Muslims and Christians.
Deck the Malls
In the predominantly Muslim country of Syria, Christmas trees twinkle in shopping malls. Muslim neighborhoods are decorated with festive lights, a new custom borrowed from Christians.
The jingle bells are jazzy at the Damascus opera house – and the choir is decked out in gold robes. The horn players wear angel wings. Syria's Christian community celebrates the season with a traditional concert. Muslim families, also part of the tradition, join in the holiday cheer.
Across the Middle East, however, true understanding between Muslims and Christians is harder to find.
Leading the Way
One religious community in a mountaintop monastery is trying to lead the way to understanding. Dier Mar Musa is a long trek up a mountainside, up hundreds of stone steps that finally lead to an arched doorway, a courtyard and a church. The church was built more than 1,500 years ago, when Christians were a majority in the region.
"Christians in the Middle East, the numbers are going down quickly," says Rev. Paolo Dall'Oglio, who leads this community of Christians and Muslims. "Some of us are willing to create hope together, to build a complementary world vision in a way that we can work on our future world, hand-by-hand as minorities that have something to offer to majorities."
An Organic Life
Dall'Oglio makes sure there is tea after the long hike and a sumptuous spread of cheese, jam, olives and bread. The community produces the food it needs.
"We have only goats because this mountain is so high," says Luay Jubail, a veterinarian who takes care of the goat herd. "All the milk from the goats, only is special to produce cheese and everything is organic."
Sister Huda Faduil conducts tours of the church, the restored 6th century altar and medieval frescos of Bible stories. She has lived here for 13 years; she says she was attracted to the monastery's main mission.
"The first time I came for a visit only to see the place," she says. "It has attracted me, the simplicity of the place and our vocation, the dialogue with Islam."
To promote this dialogue, a place has been set aside within the church for Muslims to pray facing the holy city of Mecca. And on the wall, Arabic calligraphy in the shape of a dove spells out first phrase of the Muslim call to prayer.
Dall'Oglio, who came here from Italy in the 1980s as a young seminary student, says he found his life's work in this ancient place, promoting dialogue between Muslims and Christians.
"Each one of us, Muslims and Christians, we block the other in our concepts. We don't know about how the other build his hope, his relationship with God and others, his feeling about the secret spiritual dimension of life," Dall'Oglio says. "From that level, we are in a failure of dialogue and we have to start and start again."
Friday, December 14, 2007
What do Mormons and Muslims Have in Common?
No, you guessed wrong if you said polygamy. What they have in common is that in the United States both are vilified in the court of public opinion.
Since the events of 9/11 it has been open season on everything Arab or Muslim in the American media and among American politicians. What was considered unacceptable public discourse about any other religion, became perfectly acceptable when it came to Islam. This discourse served certain political and religious agendas intent on spreading fear and paranoia. One of the issues often remarked upon, usually with great indignation, is Islam's intolerance of dissent and of other religious traditions. This was always carefully contrasted with the West's superior and "exemplary" religious tolerance -history be damned.
So it is with great amusement that I now watch evangelical Christians, George W's constituency and the backbone of the Republican party, go after Mitt Romney, a Mormon, with the same zeal that they attacked Muslims. They accuse Romney of being the follower of a cult and insist that Mormons are not Christians. It makes them sound like a Wahhabi denouncing anyone who is not. It turns out, ultra-conservative evangelicals are as quick at pushing theTakfir button as Wahhabis are.
But the public preoccupation with Mormons does not mean that Muslims are off the hook. It turns out that one of Hillary Clinton's volunteer campaign workers was spreading email rumors that Barack Obama was (Gasp!!!) a crypto-Muslim. As if that is not bad enough, rumors have it that he sympathizes with Al Qaida types (double Gasp!!). Such garbage is not new as the not-so-Freudian slip of a conservative commentator a couple of years ago who called him Barack Osama clearly shows.
Doesn't look so good for the much vaunted religious tolerance of the Western, Judeo-Christian civilization.
Since the events of 9/11 it has been open season on everything Arab or Muslim in the American media and among American politicians. What was considered unacceptable public discourse about any other religion, became perfectly acceptable when it came to Islam. This discourse served certain political and religious agendas intent on spreading fear and paranoia. One of the issues often remarked upon, usually with great indignation, is Islam's intolerance of dissent and of other religious traditions. This was always carefully contrasted with the West's superior and "exemplary" religious tolerance -history be damned.
So it is with great amusement that I now watch evangelical Christians, George W's constituency and the backbone of the Republican party, go after Mitt Romney, a Mormon, with the same zeal that they attacked Muslims. They accuse Romney of being the follower of a cult and insist that Mormons are not Christians. It makes them sound like a Wahhabi denouncing anyone who is not. It turns out, ultra-conservative evangelicals are as quick at pushing theTakfir button as Wahhabis are.
But the public preoccupation with Mormons does not mean that Muslims are off the hook. It turns out that one of Hillary Clinton's volunteer campaign workers was spreading email rumors that Barack Obama was (Gasp!!!) a crypto-Muslim. As if that is not bad enough, rumors have it that he sympathizes with Al Qaida types (double Gasp!!). Such garbage is not new as the not-so-Freudian slip of a conservative commentator a couple of years ago who called him Barack Osama clearly shows.
Doesn't look so good for the much vaunted religious tolerance of the Western, Judeo-Christian civilization.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Peace through Gastronomy
Interesting review from the New York times Magazine on Middle Eastern cooking books written by Oriental Jews. Makes me long for an alternative reality than the one we live where Arabs and Jews got along. Politics aside, it is not that far-fetched, the rift is not personal or cultural. If one applies Brillat-Savarin's axiom, then Poopa Dweck is first and foremost a Syrian as much as Roden is Egyptian.Culinary Orientalism
By Jon Fasman
NYT Magazine, December 9, 2007
Tell me what you eat,” wrote the 19th-century French gastronome Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, “and I shall tell you what you are.” In other words, an understanding of a community’s cuisine entails an understanding of the community itself. Of late, the cookbook industry seems to have made — perhaps unwittingly — a case that understanding Middle Eastern cuisine is the path to resolving the world’s geopolitical crises.
Consider Claudia Roden’s “Arabesque,” a cookbook that takes in the variant cuisines of Turkey, Morocco and Lebanon. In a review in Slate, Michael Lukas, an American living in Turkey, points out that “Arabesque” is not just — is not even primarily — an excellent cookbook: by socially, politically and historically contextualizing the three cuisines, he argues, Roden has also written an effective primer on the diversity of the Middle East. Lukas even goes so far as to suggest that the late scholar and activist Edward Said (the author of “Orientalism,” an influential critique of traditional scholarship about the Middle East) might have recommended Roden’s book as a reliable guide to the region.
Poopa Dweck has done something similar to Roden’s feat in “Aromas of Aleppo,” a Syrian-Jewish cookbook that was published in August. Like Roden, Dweck traces her roots back to the all-but-vanished Jewish communities of the Levant. Aleppian Jewish cuisine, she argues — like the cuisine of any community — reflects and defines the community’s history. The Syrian Jews’ version of the classic Arab dish laham b’ajeen, for instance, gets its bite from tamarind, which they use far more than most other communities in the Middle East. Add together a few hundred such small differences and you have a subcommunity.
Dweck says that “the Europeans built a wall around themselves. We didn’t. My mother was shoulder to shoulder with Arabs in the market. We learned all our recipes from them.” A message of hope? Sure, but underneath that, an understanding of the need to understand.
(Photo by Yasmina)
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Holland and Its Muslim Immigrants
On a minibus transporting researchers to a medical conference, a Dutch colleague, sitting across from me said "look a mosque with TWO minarets". A sly smirk flashed across his face as he emphasized "two", as if trying to bait me. I turned around to look. Indeed, there amidst a drab urban landscape at the edge of Rotterdam, was a humble small mosque, not particularly attractive, with a central dome framed by two small, slender minarets. Refusing to bite, I said "yes, it is Turkish in style and their mosques often have two minarets". There was no further discussion. Now, I am not one to over read what people say, but clearly his statement was pregnant with what was left unsaid. "It is bad enough that we let THEM build a mosque, but then they have to rub it in by building TWO minarets" is what he meant to say. This sentiment, in a nutshell, summarizes the state of European suspicion, paranoia and distrust towards the recent -and not so recent- Muslim immigrants. The latest manifestation of this tension is the ongoing battle over the building of mosques.
In Holland, known for a long time for its liberal policies on immigration the tide turned abruptly in 2004 when the film maker and rabid Islamophobe, Leo van Gogh, was murdered by a home grown Muslim extremist. This murder was followed by numerous acts of vandalism against the Dutch Muslim community and resulted in a palpable hardening of Dutch feelings towards immigrants and asylum seekers in general.
Twenty to thirty years ago as the Dutch standard of living rose, these immigrants, mostly from Morocco and Turkey, streamed in to fill a void at the bottom of the labor market. In Holland, as many Northern European countries, they were provided with housing in communities physically separated from the rest of the population. The reasoning was that the immigrants were in Holland temporarily and thus keeping them together would maintain their sense of community and cultural integrity. Or perhaps the explanation was just a cover for a covert racist attitude among the Dutch who preferred that their "guest workers" remained out of sight. Whatever the true reason, this setup created second and third generation immigrants who are alienated and disenfranchised from the rest of the Dutch society and who became easy prey for peddlers of extremist ideologies. Some in Holland lay the blame on the immigrants themselves saying they prefer living in insular communities and that their closed and conservative faith prevents them from integrating into Dutch society. Yet some of my thoughtful Dutch colleagues tell me that me that racism and anti-Muslim feelings, present long before Leo van Gogh was murdered, are also largely to blame. A job application form with an Arab or Muslim sounding name, they assure me, stands little chance of being selected regardless of qualifications.
(Photo: Leiden canal, posterized photo by AK)
Saturday, December 01, 2007
Raoui
Algerian singer Souad Massi is one of my favorite female vocalists. Her smooth silky voice is like a soothing balm for all that ails you. Her voice warms you up like a cup of steaming hot, sweet, Magherbian mint tea; better than any synthetic drug- legal or otherwise. But she is more than just a beautiful voice. Her music is highly original, melding together many musical traditions but never too far from her Algerian roots.
Raoui (Storyteller) is one of my favorite Massi song. Listen to the lyrics.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Pity The Nation ...
"... Pity the nation that acclaims the bully as hero, and that deems the glittering conqueror bountiful.
Pity the nation that despises a passion in its dream, yet submits in its awakening.
Pity the nation that raises not its voice save when it walks in a funeral, boasts not except when its neck is laid between the sword and the block.
Pity the nation whose statesman is a fox, whose philosopher is a juggle, and whose art is the art of patching and mimicking.
Pity the nation that welcomes its new ruler with trumpetings, and farewells him with hootings, only to welcome another with trumpetings again.
Pity the nation whose sages are dumb with years and whose strong men are yet in the cradle.
Pity the nation divided into fragments, each fragment deeming itself a nation."
From: The Garden of the Prophet, Gibran Khalil Gibran
This quote from Gibran was the preface to Robert Fisk's 1990 book about Lebanon (Pity The Nation). It is sad to see that seventeen years later, Gibran's words still ring true. Lebanon's ruling class, across the board and without exception, has failed the people. Today's editorial in the Daily Star, echos well what I feel about those who have brought Lebanon to the brink of disaster. I am optimistic however that civil strife will be avoided. My hope lies in the belief that unlike their politicians, the Lebanese people have learned the lessons of their recent history and will not, like the proverbial lemmings, follow their leaders over the cliff.
Lebanon and its people deserve better than this.
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Syria: Another Round of Internet Censorship
Yet another round of random internet censorship. I don't get it! What is it that Bashar Al Assad, the self-described computer geek, and his government afraid of? He is securely in power, having, by pure luck or shrewd design, outmaneuvered both external and internal challenges to his authority. Moreover, this intermittent assault on the internet is useless in stemming the flow of information. With satellite TV, cellphones and proxy servers Syrians will continue to get plenty of information that that is not sanitized and whitewashed by their government.
So it is time for the government to stop this needless and futile censorship bullshit and move on. Everyone will be better off for it.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Morocco: A First Impression of the Maghreb
Taking advantage of a work trip across the Atlantic to Europe, I took a detour on my way back and spent a few days in Morocco. I always wanted to visit Morocco, but my added incentive was that my youngest brother has been working in Rabat for a couple of years and I hadn't seen him in a while.
The tone for my visit was set by the welcoming smile of the immigration officer once he learned I was Syrian. Moroccans have a particular affinity for Syrians given the ties with Andalusian history but also more recently in the sixties and seventies when many Syrians worked in Moroccan schools as Arabic teachers.
One of the first things that a Levantine Arab realizes is how different the Moroccan dialect is from Eastern meditarenean dialects. Past Asalaamu Alaikum, I was almost clueless as to what my brother was saying when talking to Moroccans. They tend to eat their vowels when speaking whereas Syrians tend to stretch them. Moroccan also use many different words than we do and their language is heavily influenced by Spanish and Berber.
In the short days I was there, we visited Rabat, took the train to Marrakesh and then drove up to visit the spectacular Atlas mountains. I saw only a small fraction of this country but I was fascinated. It is at the same time familiar and very different. Rabat’s physical appearance reminded me a little of Beirut and Damascus with its French-style art deco buildings from the 30s and 40s. But any such resemblance disappears when you get to the mud and stone wall of the old medina. Some of the faces on the streets were also familiar but also very different as the ethnic spectrum here includes Berber and African features and every permutation in between. You get the superficial impression that this is a conservative Muslim country but soon realize that the clothes that Moroccans wear tend to reflect more their adherence to their tradition rather than strict religious conservatism. The country’s history and traditions reflect its unique geography at the intersection of Europe, the Arab world and Africa. Nowhere
is Morocco's uniqueness better displayed than in the public square in front of al-Fna mosque in Marrakesh.Approaching al-Fna at night is a surreal experience. You can feel the energy of the place from a distance teaming as it is with thousands of people and lit up with a multitude of bare bulbs illuminating the food stalls and the veil of steam and smoke rising from the stalls. You also hear and feel the throb of the drums beating both recognizably Middle Eastern rhythms to powerful African ones. The place is packed with musicians, performers, dancers, story tellers, African and Moroccan traditional herbalists selling their ware. This place is not artificially conjured up for the pleasure of Western tourists. Sure, there are plenty of them but they are there for the exotic atmosphere and seem to care littler about what they see or here. On the other hand every night you see thousands of Moroccans descending on this place to enjoy to the music, get entranced by the story tellers or listen intently as a healer, using semi-scientific terms tells them how they can improve there sexual prowess.
I clearly got the sense, during my short visit, of a country on the move. You can see innumerable infrastructure construction projects under way. There are also large housing and hotel developments underway to accommodate the increasing popularity of Morocco as a destination for both Europeans and Arabs. In contrast, you also see a lot of poverty and wonder if the people are benefiting economically from the tourism boom. In the town of Asni, high up in the Atlas mountains we came across a small luxury hotel built by Sir Richard Branson (of Virgin fame). It is beautifully, if somewhat excessively, appointed with opulent oriental art, with incense wafting everywhere and a hammam. It is meant to be every Westerner’s Orientalist fantasy –minus the harem. Yet, sitting on their lovely veranda overlooking a valley, I could not help but wonder what the people across the valley, living in a village of mud huts with no paved road access thought of this over the top luxury in the midst.
Morocco’s political situation has parallels to Syria. King Mohammed VI, just like Bashar Al Assad, came to power following the death of his father in 1999. Just like Bashar, he was also touted as a young reformer. Unlike Bashar, however, Mohammed VI has fulfilled many of his promised reforms. Don’t get me wrong, this is still an autocratic regime and his pictures adorn, discretely, the walls of every store. On assuming the throne, the king set in motion a reconciliation with the people of the Rif in the North and pushed through reforms to significantly enhance the rights of women. He also set up a commission to look into the repression and abuses of human rights during the reign of his father, a time known in Morocco as Les annees de plomb (the years of lead). Morocco now enjoys the benefits of a lively and active civil society and a fairly open press with publications such as Telquel in French and its Arabic sister magazine Nishan, that regularly lambaste the royalty and tackle issues such as governmental corruption as well as take on taboo social issues. In fact, next to Lebanon, it is probably the freest press in the Arab world. I am, of course, speaking of relative freedom of expression. There remains clear red lines that the press cannot cross; they cannot, for example, attack the king personally. Where Mohammed VI has failed is in significantly improving the overall economic situation of the country. My brief (superficial) observations suggests that much of the visible investment is going into infrastructure and housing projects to benefit wealthy tourists, an approach that I don't particularly care for. Meanwhile, in Rabat, in front of the parliament, there are daily protests by unemployed university graduates.
Morocco deserves further exploration and a return visit will definitely be scheduled. It is also a country that deserves watching and learning from its success as it, like many other Arab countries, bring about needed reform and changes in the midst of rigid and autocratic system.
Photos: AK, top: Marrakesh medina, middle: Saadi dynasty tombs, bottom: Atlas mountains
Saturday, October 27, 2007
A Note to My Daughter
The short time that we have as parents to shepperd you, our children, into adulthood, is a time of much anxiety. We nag, we cajole, we praise and we lose our temper in our attempts to keep you and your brother in the straight and narrow. But when do we know that we have succeeded? Conventional wisdom dictates that children grow slowly into mature adults. But you, my dear, have defied conventional wisdom as you demonstrated to us, without a doubt, that we have succeeded.
It was not exactly how we wished it to happen, but then again life is never predictable. We sat in the corner of the office, worried sick, and watched as you, despite unremitting pain, spoke to the doctor calmly and with a grace and poise that belies your age. It is not that you were unaware of the gravity of your condition, but you refused to whine or wallow in self pity in spite of the poking, the prodding and the painful procedures. You cannot image how proud we are of the way you handled yourself during this ordeal.
Now that you are on your way to recovery, could you please pass on some of that wisdom to your younger brother?
(Photo by AK: Mekong river at sunset, Laos 1975. Handmade print in sepia tone; no photoshop back in the stone age)
Friday, October 26, 2007
A Benevolent Hegemon is an Oxymoron
Francis Fukuyama, the author of The End of History and one of the influential Neocons in the Project for the New American Century think tank starting in 1997, has shed his neoconservatism . After urging George W. to attack Iraq even if no connection with September 11 was found, he is now vehemently against the war and the militarisation of American foreign policy. What he describes as the Bush administration's failures were predicted and predictable by most non-American analysts. That most conservative American analysts could not see this coming is a reflection of the insularity of their thinking and the arrogance of their power. Their self-righteousness rivaled the religious self-righteousness of the fanatics that they claim to be fighting.
A self-defeating hegemony: Four key mistakes made by the Bush administration have made anti-Americanism one of the chief fault lines of global politics.
Francis Fukuyama, Guardian, October 25, 2007
When I wrote about the End of History almost 20 years ago, one thing that I did not anticipate was the degree to which American behaviour and misjudgments would make anti-Americanism one of the chief fault lines of global politics. And yet, particularly since the terrorist attacks of September 11 2001, that is precisely what has happened, owing to four key mistakes made by the Bush administration.First, the doctrine of "preemption", which was devised in response to the 2001 attacks, was inappropriately broadened to include Iraq and other so-called "rogue states" that threatened to develop weapons of mass destruction. To be sure, preemption is fully justified vis-a-vis stateless terrorists wielding such weapons. But it cannot be the core of a general non-proliferation policy, whereby the United States intervenes militarily everywhere to prevent the development of nuclear weapons.The cost of executing such a policy simply would be too high (several hundred billion dollars and tens of thousands of casualties in Iraq and still counting). This is why the Bush administration has shied away from military confrontations with North Korea and Iran, despite its veneration of Israel's air strike on Iraq's Osirak reactor in 1981, which set back Saddam Hussein's nuclear programme by several years. After all, the very success of that attack meant that such limited intervention could never be repeated, because would-be proliferators learned to bury, hide, or duplicate their nascent weapons programmes.The second important miscalculation concerned the likely global reaction to America's exercise of its hegemonic power. Many people within the Bush administration believed that even without approval by the UN security council or Nato, American power would be legitimised by its successful use. This had been the pattern for many US initiatives during the cold war, and in the Balkans during the 1990s; back then, it was known as "leadership" rather than "unilateralism".But, by the time of the Iraq war, conditions had changed: the US had grown so powerful relative to the rest of the world that the lack of reciprocity became an intense source of irritation even to America's closest allies. The structural anti-Americanism arising from the global distribution of power was evident well before the Iraq war, in the opposition to American-led globalisation during the Clinton years. But it was exacerbated by the Bush administration's "in-your-face" disregard for a variety of international institutions as soon it came into office - a pattern that continued through the onset of the Iraq war.America's third mistake was to overestimate how effective conventional military power would be in dealing with the weak states and networked transnational organisations that characterise international politics, at least in the broader Middle East. It is worth pondering why a country with more military power than any other in human history, and that spends as much on its military as virtually the rest of the world combined, cannot bring security to a small country of 24 million people after more than three years of occupation. At least part of the problem is that it is dealing with complex social forces that are not organised into centralised hierarchies that can enforce rules, and thus be deterred, coerced, or otherwise manipulated through conventional power.Israel made a similar mistake in thinking that it could use its enormous margin of conventional military power to destroy Hizbullah in last summer's Lebanon war. Both Israel and the US are nostalgic for a 20th century world of nation-states, which is understandable, since that is the world to which the kind of conventional power they possess is best suited.But nostalgia has led both states to misinterpret the challenges they now face, whether by linking al-Qaida to Saddam Hussein's Iraq, or Hizbullah to Iran and Syria. This linkage does exist in the case of Hizbullah, but the networked actors have their own social roots and are not simply pawns used by regional powers. This is why the exercise of conventional power has become frustrating.Finally, the Bush administration's use of power has lacked not only a compelling strategy or doctrine, but also simple competence. In Iraq alone, the administration misestimated the threat of WMD, failed to plan adequately for the occupation, and then proved unable to adjust quickly when things went wrong. To this day, it has dropped the ball on very straightforward operational issues in Iraq, such as funding democracy promotion efforts.Incompetence in implementation has strategic consequences. Many of the voices that called for, and then bungled, military intervention in Iraq are now calling for war with Iran. Why should the rest of the world think that conflict with a larger and more resolute enemy would be handled any more capably?But the fundamental problem remains the lopsided distribution of power in the international system. Any country in the same position as the US, even a democracy, would be tempted to exercise its hegemonic power with less and less restraint. America's founding fathers were motivated by a similar belief that unchecked power, even when democratically legitimated, could be dangerous, which is why they created a constitutional system of internally separated powers to limit the executive.Such a system does not exist on a global scale today, which may explain how America got into such trouble. A smoother international distribution of power, even in a global system that is less than fully democratic, would pose fewer temptations to abandon the prudent exercise of power.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Saturday, October 13, 2007
لماذا اكتب بألأنكليزية
Anas, from the blog An@s online raised the question a couple of days ago as to why some Syrian bloggers choose to write in English. It is a fair question, posed in a thoughtful way and without prejudgement. Here is my answer.
إلى أخي ألمواطن ألكريم أنس
I will try to answer your question as to why I blog in English rather than in Arabic. The reasons are not simple and straightforward and are my own personal reasons though I suspect that other Syrians who blog in English may share some of the same reasons.
I could tell you that I don't possess an Arabic keyboard and that I rely on a tedious, slow and impractical online Arabic keyboard for the few times that I do write in Arabic. That is all true but that would be a lame excuse for not posting in Arabic. The bottom line, the naked truth is that, unfortunately, my command of Arabic, my native language, is not good enough for me to effectively express my thoughts.
Why? It is a long story. It is the story of many expatriates like myself who left Syria (not by choice) early on and whose formative years were spent in a nomadic existence in and out of the Arab world. My early schooling was in Lebanon, where in most private schools, a command of the Arabic language was not emphasized. Subsequently all of my university education was in English.
So you see Anas, it is not that I chose not to write in Arabic, it is that I cannot do it effectively. I envy bloggers like yourself and other Syrian bloggers writing in Arabic who can write so effectively and eloquently in Arabic. One of the comments left on your post suggested that Syrians who write in English feel somehow superior to the common Syrian and though they may feel a longing for Syria it is a longing for the land but not its people. This cannot be farther from the truth and here I can speak on behalf of all the Syrian bloggers who post in English. One of the attributes of us Syrians as a people, if I may be allowed to make a sweeping generalization, is our simplicity. Simplicity not in the sense of simple mindedness but in the sense of tending to be humble and unpretentious. I have yet to see a post by a Syrian where other Syrians are slandered because of their social or economic status or their religious beliefs.
I understand your preference to read posts in Arabic, by thoughtful educated bloggers from within Syria. They certainly have a first hand view of the day to day issues that Syrians are dealing with and perhaps understand it better that I do. Where I disagree with you is your conclusion that somehow, because they write in Arabic, they are more steeped in and understanding of the culture and history of Syria.
But even if I could write effectively in Arabic, I would still write many posts in English. This is because I feel that in addition to exchanging thoughts with other Syrians, I want others to have access to our thoughts and ideas. I live divided among two cultures that are increasingly polarized by ignorance and the malicious spread of misinformation for political and strategic ends. I feel that is my duty, in whatever small way I can to try to bridge this chasm. My blog provides a window into which the curious can peer and learn about what I and other Syrians think and feel. Personal blogs, like few other ways of communication can humanize the "other". My American friends who read my blog have a much better understanding of not only who I am but have a better understanding of the broader issues that concern me and my Syrian compatriots.
You stated in your post that you rarely get past the first line of a post by a Syrian writing in English. I think that it is a pity. You are missing out on some very thoughtful and relevant posts. They will certainly broaden your perspective. We live in a rapidly changing and interconnected world, whether we like it or not. What happens anywhere in the world quickly ripples across the globe and Syria is certainly not immune to these effects. I am very interested in the thoughts of the blogs you prefer to frequent. But by the same token you ought to be curious about what other Syrians are writing, in whatever language they chose to communicate in.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Unblock Syrian Blogs!
Blogspot is now apparently completely blocked in Syria. I am republishing part of a post from last December in addition to other resources in the hope that some blocked Syrian bloggers may be able to use the information to bypass web censorship of their blogs- that is of course, if they manage to see this post.
Circumventing Web Censorship
There are several methods to evade censorship as outlined below including this recently released free software, Psiphon. The aim of this software as stated by its developers is as follows: psiphon is a human rights software project developed by the Citizen Lab at the Munk Centre for International Studies that allows citizens in uncensored countries to provide unfettered access to the Net through their home computers to friends and family members who live behind firewalls of states that censor.
Bypassing censorship through proxies (from Open Directory Project: http://www.dmoz.org)
Digital Cyber Soft - List of anonymous proxies.
FindProxy.org - Has articles about anonymous web browsing, internet security, and internet privacy.
Free Public Proxy Servers List - Regularly updated HTTP open/public proxy list
My Proxy - HTTP Proxy lists updated daily.
NNTime - Regularly updated proxy list.
OpenProxies - Open, public HTTP proxies, updated daily.
Proxy Blind - Information about using proxy servers for privacy, with socks and proxy lists.
Proxy Server Info - Proxy server guide and a small list of anonymous proxies.
Proxy Servers - Proxy list, tutorials and other related stuff.
ProxyDex - A large list of web based proxies.
Proxyleech.com - Checked list of proxy servers with IP and port, country, link to whois. List also available in plain text or as an XML file.
Proxy-List.net - Proxy lists submitted by users are automatically tested, and results posted.
Proxy-List.org - Automatically checked proxy lists, Proxy Extractor and related information.
ProxyLists.Net - Free HTTP and Socks proxy lists
Proxy.org - Contains a list of web based proxies, as well as a forum to discuss related topics.
Proxy.6te.net - Checked lists of free anonymous proxies.
Xroxy.com - Proxy lists and RSS feed
Free web based anonymyzing proxies:
Anonymouse - Free anonymous surfing.
Cool Tunnel - Site implementing CGI Proxy.
iphide.com - Free and safe anonymous browsing. No limits on download size or file types.
PHProxy - Web proxy, requiring JavaScript.
Proxify - Free web proxy with optional removal of cookies, scripts, ads and referers. Requires cookies.
Radical Overthrow - CGI Proxy site with SSL support.
SlyUser - CGI Proxy site to bypass filters at home, work, or school.
Vtunnel - Web proxy supporting SSL via the HTTPS encryption protocol.
Circumventing Web Censorship
There are several methods to evade censorship as outlined below including this recently released free software, Psiphon. The aim of this software as stated by its developers is as follows: psiphon is a human rights software project developed by the Citizen Lab at the Munk Centre for International Studies that allows citizens in uncensored countries to provide unfettered access to the Net through their home computers to friends and family members who live behind firewalls of states that censor.
Bypassing censorship through proxies (from Open Directory Project: http://www.dmoz.org)
Digital Cyber Soft - List of anonymous proxies.
FindProxy.org - Has articles about anonymous web browsing, internet security, and internet privacy.
Free Public Proxy Servers List - Regularly updated HTTP open/public proxy list
My Proxy - HTTP Proxy lists updated daily.
NNTime - Regularly updated proxy list.
OpenProxies - Open, public HTTP proxies, updated daily.
Proxy Blind - Information about using proxy servers for privacy, with socks and proxy lists.
Proxy Server Info - Proxy server guide and a small list of anonymous proxies.
Proxy Servers - Proxy list, tutorials and other related stuff.
ProxyDex - A large list of web based proxies.
Proxyleech.com - Checked list of proxy servers with IP and port, country, link to whois. List also available in plain text or as an XML file.
Proxy-List.net - Proxy lists submitted by users are automatically tested, and results posted.
Proxy-List.org - Automatically checked proxy lists, Proxy Extractor and related information.
ProxyLists.Net - Free HTTP and Socks proxy lists
Proxy.org - Contains a list of web based proxies, as well as a forum to discuss related topics.
Proxy.6te.net - Checked lists of free anonymous proxies.
Xroxy.com - Proxy lists and RSS feed
Free web based anonymyzing proxies:
Anonymouse - Free anonymous surfing.
Cool Tunnel - Site implementing CGI Proxy.
iphide.com - Free and safe anonymous browsing. No limits on download size or file types.
PHProxy - Web proxy, requiring JavaScript.
Proxify - Free web proxy with optional removal of cookies, scripts, ads and referers. Requires cookies.
Radical Overthrow - CGI Proxy site with SSL support.
SlyUser - CGI Proxy site to bypass filters at home, work, or school.
Vtunnel - Web proxy supporting SSL via the HTTPS encryption protocol.
Saturday, October 06, 2007
In Praise of Parents
To Yazan
Our parents are our anchors in this world. Even as adults, we still need the reassurance of their presence; they are our connection to the past and to our childhood. They know and understand the most intimate details of our lives. When we are far away from home and feel nostalgic, it is not so much nostalgia for a particular place or time, but nostalgia for the comforting, reassuring embrace that our parents provided us with as children.
When I became a parent my understanding of my own parents changed instantaneously. I finally understood what is meant by unconditional love. Until then, I was the recipient of such love and basked in its warmth and security but also took it for granted. Understanding that unconditional love can be both nurturing and overbearing, all previous disagreements, or friction that we had over the years became trivial and unimportant. In the end, as much as we like to chart our own way in this world, we are the product of our parents' nurturing love with all its complexity and contradictions.
Becoming a parent also made me rethink my own mortality. My life became in many ways secondary to that of my children. I would not hesitate a second to sacrifice my own life to save that of my children. Yet at the same time, I don't want to leave this world before I am certain that they are set to fly on their own, to forge ahead and have a productive life.
Yazan, I only know you from your writings and the comments that we have exchanged. But if you are, as I believe you are, a reflection of your parents, then you ought to be very proud of them. I can also state unequivocally that if my children, as adults, exhibit the qualities that you have, I will be a proud parent, at peace with the knowledge that my children will be worthy and productive citizens of this world.
We all grieve with you at this tragic and untimely loss; but as you grieve, also remember and celebrate all they have given you.
Our parents are our anchors in this world. Even as adults, we still need the reassurance of their presence; they are our connection to the past and to our childhood. They know and understand the most intimate details of our lives. When we are far away from home and feel nostalgic, it is not so much nostalgia for a particular place or time, but nostalgia for the comforting, reassuring embrace that our parents provided us with as children.
When I became a parent my understanding of my own parents changed instantaneously. I finally understood what is meant by unconditional love. Until then, I was the recipient of such love and basked in its warmth and security but also took it for granted. Understanding that unconditional love can be both nurturing and overbearing, all previous disagreements, or friction that we had over the years became trivial and unimportant. In the end, as much as we like to chart our own way in this world, we are the product of our parents' nurturing love with all its complexity and contradictions.
Becoming a parent also made me rethink my own mortality. My life became in many ways secondary to that of my children. I would not hesitate a second to sacrifice my own life to save that of my children. Yet at the same time, I don't want to leave this world before I am certain that they are set to fly on their own, to forge ahead and have a productive life.
Yazan, I only know you from your writings and the comments that we have exchanged. But if you are, as I believe you are, a reflection of your parents, then you ought to be very proud of them. I can also state unequivocally that if my children, as adults, exhibit the qualities that you have, I will be a proud parent, at peace with the knowledge that my children will be worthy and productive citizens of this world.
We all grieve with you at this tragic and untimely loss; but as you grieve, also remember and celebrate all they have given you.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Simon Shaheen's Musical Magic
Several nights ago I attended a Simon Shaheen concert, part of a local World Music concert series organized by my University's school of music. I first heard him play to a small audience at this same venue some fifteen years ago. It was at a time when his star was just starting to rise. He impressed me then with his virtuosity and his skill as he effortlessly switched from playing oud to violin . The next time I saw him was at a Beiteddine Festival in Lebanon about three years ago. He was part of an odd three act show that also included the Egyptian shaabi music star Hakim, interesting for about one song, and the incomparable Khaled, the king of Rai. I loved Khaled's powerful voice but Shaheen's beautifully crafted instrumentals evoked deep emotions in me, simultaneously joyous and melancholic.
Simon Shaheen is a Palestinian, born in the village of Tarshiha in Galilee. He learned oud at the tender age of five at the hands of his father, himself an accomplished musician. He left to the United States in 1980 for graduate studies in music and has stayed on since then. When he became an American passport he was allowed to travel and perform in Arab countries. He now runs a yearly musical retreat for talented Palestinian children on the West Bank.
Shaheen had established himself as a master of classical Arabic music by the 1990s. It was his 2002 CD, Blue Flame, however, that really exhibits his true genius. In it, he manages to blend several musical styles to produce lush, joyful and totally original instrumentals. Musical fusion doesn't always work well as it often feels contrived and artificial. There is nothing artificial about Shaheen's compositions. He blends different musical styles seamlessly. Yet despite the strong Jazz and Caribbean elements in his compositions, they never loose their essentially Middle Eastern sound and feel. Nothing warms my heart more that Blue Flame blasting on my car stereo as it conjures up Mediterranean sunshine and deep blue skies on the coldest and greyest days.
During this last concernt, along with some favorites from his last CD, Shaheen and his Qantara band played some new unrecorded compositions. One was titled "Iraq" that he dedicated to the people of Iraq and the other titled "The Wall" in reference to Israel's apartheid wall. Both were sad and moving compositions.
Simon Shaheen makes me proud and his music makes me happy. Here are few samples from his last CD.
Monday, September 24, 2007
More on Air Strike: Nuclear, Chemical or ...Neither
I do not pretend to know what the Israeli airs trike's target was, but it always seemed odd to me that the Syrian regime, already in the cross hairs of the United States, would be so reckless as to take on North Korean nuclear material at this very instant. The Syrian regime might as well have drawn a giant bulls eye on its forehead and waited for the inevitable. The story below makes more sense. But is this just a case of Israel degrading its neighbor's military capabilities to insure its continued superiority or is there more to come? What is the U.S. administration and its Israeli proxy concocting exactly?
Israeli air strike did not hit nuclear facility, intelligence officials say 09/24/2007 RAW STORY
by Larisa Alexandrovna
Israel did not strike a nuclear weapons facility in Syria on Sept. 6, instead striking a cache of North Korean missiles, current and former intelligence officials say. American intelligence sources familiar with key events leading up to the Israeli air raid tell RAW STORY that what the Syrians actually had were North Korean No-Dong missiles, possibly located at a site in either the city of Musalmiya in the northern part of Syria or further south around the city of Hama. While reports have alleged the US provided intelligence to Israel or that Israel shared their intelligence with the US, sources interviewed for this article believe that neither is accurate. By most accounts of intelligence officials, both former and current, Israel and the US both were well aware of the activities of North Korea and Syria and their attempts to chemically weaponize the No-Dong missile (above right). It therefore remains unclear why an intricate story involving evidence of a Syrian nuclear weapons program and/or enriched uranium was put out to press organizations. The North Korean missiles -- described as "legacy" by one source and "older generation" by another -- were not nuclear arms. Vincent Cannistraro, Director of Intelligence Programs for the National Security Council under President Ronald Reagan and Chief of Operations at the Central Intelligence Agency's Counterterrorism Center under President George H. W. Bush, said Sunday that what the Israelis hit was "absolutely not a nuclear weapons facility." "Syria has a small nuclear research facility and has had it for several years," Cannistraro said. "It is not capable of enriching uranium to weapons capability levels. Some Israelis speculated that the Syrians had succeeded in doing just that, but according to the US intelligence experts that is simply not true." But "Syria has a chemical weapons capability and has been trying to chemically weaponize war heads on their existing stocks of North Korean originated missiles," Cannistraro added. Israeli government and embassy officials are not commenting on the incident. According to intelligence sources familiar with the events leading up to the raid, an explosion on July 20 at a Syrian facility near the city of Halab, in the Northern part of Syria, caused Israel's retaliatory strike on Sept. 6. They could not say what caused the delayed reaction. Chemical warhead exploded at site North Korean scientists working with Syrian military and intelligence officials attempted to load a chemical warhead onto one of the North Korean missiles, likely the No-dong 1 model, according to intelligence current and former intelligence officers interviewed for this article. The result was an explosion that killed a few of those present and, according to some official reports of the blast, as many as 50 civilians. The SANA news agency described the blast at the time as "not the result of sabotage," but an explosion resulting from "the combustion of sensitive, highly explosive material caused by extremely high temperatures." The No-Dong 1 missile is a redesigned SCUD-C, which the Syrians are alleged to have acquired in the mid-1990s according to some estimations, while others say perhaps as late as 2000. According to the Federation of American Scientists, the No-Dong has a potential range/payload capacity of 1,000-1,300 km/700-1,000 kg. Cannistraro believes that these missiles were No-Dong, but did not specify which class. Others, however, named the No-Dong 1 model or described the missile in such a way as to indicate what could only be the No-Dong 1 model. The chemical explosion is believed to have included a Sarin nerve agent and made the area around the blast dangerous even after the fire from the explosion had been extinguished. This would make reconnaissance of the area difficult for foreign intelligence officers attempting to collect samples and data after the blast. The United Nations Chemical Weapons Convention treaty of 1993 outlawed the stockpiling of Sarin, but neither Syria nor North Korea are signatories to the treaty. Some believe that the Office of the Vice President is continuing to battle any attempts at diplomacy made by the US State Department in an effort to ensure no alternative but a military solution to destabilize and strike Iran, using Syria's alleged nuclear weapons program and close relations with Iran as a possible pretext. A Sept. 16 piece in the London Sunday Times alleged the attack proved Israel could penetrate Iran's air defenses. "By its actions, Israel showed it is not interested in waiting for diplomacy to work where nuclear weapons are at stake," reporter Uzi Mahnaimi wrote. "The Israelis proved they could penetrate the Syrian air defence [sic] system, which is stronger than the one protecting Iranian nuclear sites."
Israeli air strike did not hit nuclear facility, intelligence officials say 09/24/2007 RAW STORY
by Larisa Alexandrovna
Israel did not strike a nuclear weapons facility in Syria on Sept. 6, instead striking a cache of North Korean missiles, current and former intelligence officials say. American intelligence sources familiar with key events leading up to the Israeli air raid tell RAW STORY that what the Syrians actually had were North Korean No-Dong missiles, possibly located at a site in either the city of Musalmiya in the northern part of Syria or further south around the city of Hama. While reports have alleged the US provided intelligence to Israel or that Israel shared their intelligence with the US, sources interviewed for this article believe that neither is accurate. By most accounts of intelligence officials, both former and current, Israel and the US both were well aware of the activities of North Korea and Syria and their attempts to chemically weaponize the No-Dong missile (above right). It therefore remains unclear why an intricate story involving evidence of a Syrian nuclear weapons program and/or enriched uranium was put out to press organizations. The North Korean missiles -- described as "legacy" by one source and "older generation" by another -- were not nuclear arms. Vincent Cannistraro, Director of Intelligence Programs for the National Security Council under President Ronald Reagan and Chief of Operations at the Central Intelligence Agency's Counterterrorism Center under President George H. W. Bush, said Sunday that what the Israelis hit was "absolutely not a nuclear weapons facility." "Syria has a small nuclear research facility and has had it for several years," Cannistraro said. "It is not capable of enriching uranium to weapons capability levels. Some Israelis speculated that the Syrians had succeeded in doing just that, but according to the US intelligence experts that is simply not true." But "Syria has a chemical weapons capability and has been trying to chemically weaponize war heads on their existing stocks of North Korean originated missiles," Cannistraro added. Israeli government and embassy officials are not commenting on the incident. According to intelligence sources familiar with the events leading up to the raid, an explosion on July 20 at a Syrian facility near the city of Halab, in the Northern part of Syria, caused Israel's retaliatory strike on Sept. 6. They could not say what caused the delayed reaction. Chemical warhead exploded at site North Korean scientists working with Syrian military and intelligence officials attempted to load a chemical warhead onto one of the North Korean missiles, likely the No-dong 1 model, according to intelligence current and former intelligence officers interviewed for this article. The result was an explosion that killed a few of those present and, according to some official reports of the blast, as many as 50 civilians. The SANA news agency described the blast at the time as "not the result of sabotage," but an explosion resulting from "the combustion of sensitive, highly explosive material caused by extremely high temperatures." The No-Dong 1 missile is a redesigned SCUD-C, which the Syrians are alleged to have acquired in the mid-1990s according to some estimations, while others say perhaps as late as 2000. According to the Federation of American Scientists, the No-Dong has a potential range/payload capacity of 1,000-1,300 km/700-1,000 kg. Cannistraro believes that these missiles were No-Dong, but did not specify which class. Others, however, named the No-Dong 1 model or described the missile in such a way as to indicate what could only be the No-Dong 1 model. The chemical explosion is believed to have included a Sarin nerve agent and made the area around the blast dangerous even after the fire from the explosion had been extinguished. This would make reconnaissance of the area difficult for foreign intelligence officers attempting to collect samples and data after the blast. The United Nations Chemical Weapons Convention treaty of 1993 outlawed the stockpiling of Sarin, but neither Syria nor North Korea are signatories to the treaty. Some believe that the Office of the Vice President is continuing to battle any attempts at diplomacy made by the US State Department in an effort to ensure no alternative but a military solution to destabilize and strike Iran, using Syria's alleged nuclear weapons program and close relations with Iran as a possible pretext. A Sept. 16 piece in the London Sunday Times alleged the attack proved Israel could penetrate Iran's air defenses. "By its actions, Israel showed it is not interested in waiting for diplomacy to work where nuclear weapons are at stake," reporter Uzi Mahnaimi wrote. "The Israelis proved they could penetrate the Syrian air defence [sic] system, which is stronger than the one protecting Iranian nuclear sites."
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Crimes of Dishonor
Few things repulse and shock me more than stories of "honor" killing. As correctly noted in the article below, many of us would rather not think about it since it is a source of shame and embarassment. But ignoring it is tantamount to endorsing it.
The NYT Magazine article below recounts the details of Zahra's tragic death and its repercussions in Syria. I hope the title subheading, that Syrians are rethinking this tradition, is correct. It is high time. Sometimes it takes a single person standing up and breaking the taboo of silence before many more follow suite. Fawaz, Zahra's husband and his family were such people; they have stood up, against tremendous societal and tribal pressures, to say that this abhorent practice, cannot under any circumstance be acceptable.
Dishonorable Affair
'How the murder of Zahra al-Azzo, a 16-year-old rape victim, has led Syrians to rethink the widespread acceptance of honor killing.
By KATHERINE ZOEPF
NYT Magazine, September 23, 2007
The struggle, if there was any, would have been very brief. Fawaz later recalled that his wife, Zahra, was sleeping soundly on her side and curled slightly against the pillow when he rose at dawn and readied himself for work at his construction job on the outskirts of Damascus. It was a rainy Sunday morning in January and very cold; as he left, Fawaz turned back one last time to tuck the blanket more snugly around his 16-year-old wife. Zahra slept on without stirring, and her husband locked the door of their tiny apartment carefully behind him.
'How the murder of Zahra al-Azzo, a 16-year-old rape victim, has led Syrians to rethink the widespread acceptance of honor killing.
By KATHERINE ZOEPF
NYT Magazine, September 23, 2007
The struggle, if there was any, would have been very brief. Fawaz later recalled that his wife, Zahra, was sleeping soundly on her side and curled slightly against the pillow when he rose at dawn and readied himself for work at his construction job on the outskirts of Damascus. It was a rainy Sunday morning in January and very cold; as he left, Fawaz turned back one last time to tuck the blanket more snugly around his 16-year-old wife. Zahra slept on without stirring, and her husband locked the door of their tiny apartment carefully behind him.
Zahra was most likely still sleeping when her older brother, Fayyez, entered the apartment a short time later, using a stolen key and carrying a dagger. His sister lay on the carpeted floor, on the thin, foam mattress she shared with her husband, so Fayyez must have had to kneel next to Zahra as he raised the dagger and stabbed her five times in the head and back: brutal, tearing thrusts that shattered the base of her skull and nearly severed her spinal column. Leaving the door open, Fayyez walked downstairs and out to the local police station. There, he reportedly turned himself in, telling the officers on duty that he had killed his sister in order to remove the dishonor she had brought on the family by losing her virginity out of wedlock nearly 10 months earlier. (Read More)
Saturday, September 15, 2007
غمض عين، أفتح عين :Time Flies
A poem penned by my father, thirteen years ago, after he saw his grand daughter for the first time at the age of one. It is hard to believe that a week ago, she started high school and is almost as tall as I am.
حفيدتي ياسمينة
يا زهرة ألياسمين ___ يكفيك ما تحملين
على توالي ألسنين ___ من عبق طيب
يا زهرة...عاطرة___ ما زلت...بألذاكرة
في ألبسمة ألساحرة___ ولحظك ألمعجب
جدك ...لو تعلمين ___عانى شديد ألحنين
يحدوه شوق دفين___ لخدك ألأيرب
لما وصلنا ألمطار ___أحسست بعد ألديار
فكان كل ألحوار ___دمعا ...فلا تعتبي
لاغرو أن ألربيع___ أنجب زهرا بديع
حفيدتي ياسمينة
يا زهرة ألياسمين ___ يكفيك ما تحملين
على توالي ألسنين ___ من عبق طيب
يا زهرة...عاطرة___ ما زلت...بألذاكرة
في ألبسمة ألساحرة___ ولحظك ألمعجب
جدك ...لو تعلمين ___عانى شديد ألحنين
يحدوه شوق دفين___ لخدك ألأيرب
لما وصلنا ألمطار ___أحسست بعد ألديار
فكان كل ألحوار ___دمعا ...فلا تعتبي
لاغرو أن ألربيع___ أنجب زهرا بديع
يلهم فنا رفيع___ بألنغم...ألأعزب
فصار شعر غناء ___أرجوزة أو حداء
ترتيلة...و دعاء___ من قلبي...ألمتعب
قولي لبابا أنا___ لوالديك...ألمنى
ترتيلة...و دعاء___ من قلبي...ألمتعب
قولي لبابا أنا___ لوالديك...ألمنى
Its Time for the Palestinians to Talk...To Each Other
I thought the following commentary by Hussein Ibish was excellent. He was previously the spokesman for ADC (Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee) and was a common presence in the media defending the Arab point of view very effectively after 9/11. His analysis of the defense of Hamas by the left wing at the expense of Fatah is also applicable to Hezbollah and the March 14 bloc in Lebanon. His point is that in order for us Arabs to move forward, we cannot demonize each other. We blame G.W. Bush for his simpled minded dichotomous (with us or against us) view of the world, but we are apply this same principle to each other. Moreover, a political stance based on saying "NO", like the old Jabhat el Rafed, may be emotionally satisfying and make for fiery rhetoric but it achieves nothing.
Defend the Palestinian cause against its most unreasonable supporters
By Hussein Ibish, September 14, 2007
The conflict that has developed between Fatah and Hamas poses new and unprecedented challenges for supporters of the Palestinian cause. A rational response to this crisis should focus on reformulating a viable strategy for ending the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land. The only serious prospect for ending the conflict and gaining independence for the Palestinian people is a negotiated solution to the occupation and the creation of a Palestinian state.
To work effectively toward that aim, there is no need for supporters of Palestine to become partisans of Fatah. However, important choices need to be made and there are serious consequences to words and deeds.
In the United States a small but vocal group of left-wing commentators has reacted by defending Hamas and heaping vitriol on Fatah. However well-intentioned, their rhetoric, or more significantly what it advocates, might significantly undermine efforts to help to end the occupation. (Continued here)
Defend the Palestinian cause against its most unreasonable supporters
By Hussein Ibish, September 14, 2007
The conflict that has developed between Fatah and Hamas poses new and unprecedented challenges for supporters of the Palestinian cause. A rational response to this crisis should focus on reformulating a viable strategy for ending the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land. The only serious prospect for ending the conflict and gaining independence for the Palestinian people is a negotiated solution to the occupation and the creation of a Palestinian state.
To work effectively toward that aim, there is no need for supporters of Palestine to become partisans of Fatah. However, important choices need to be made and there are serious consequences to words and deeds.
In the United States a small but vocal group of left-wing commentators has reacted by defending Hamas and heaping vitriol on Fatah. However well-intentioned, their rhetoric, or more significantly what it advocates, might significantly undermine efforts to help to end the occupation. (Continued here)
Sunday, September 09, 2007
On Israel's Violation of Syrian Airspace
I have yet to hear a peep about Israel's aerial incursion into Syrian airspace from the major American media. Nothing! It apparently did not even deserve a stinking soundbite!
Imagine the response if Syrian fighters had invaded Israeli airspace and dropped a load of munitions. The U.S. military would be on high alert and the B52s would be in the air in no time fully armed for Armageddon.
International law is, apparently, a one way street. So to the rhetorical question "why do they hate us?" often asked on this side of the Atlantic, my answer is "because of your hypocrisy, stupid!"
Imagine the response if Syrian fighters had invaded Israeli airspace and dropped a load of munitions. The U.S. military would be on high alert and the B52s would be in the air in no time fully armed for Armageddon.
International law is, apparently, a one way street. So to the rhetorical question "why do they hate us?" often asked on this side of the Atlantic, my answer is "because of your hypocrisy, stupid!"
Saturday, September 01, 2007
Gibran the Terrorist
A new Arabic language school by the name of the Gibran Academy in NYC and its principal are being savagely attacked by the right wing xenophobes. The malignant hate that is being propagated by the those opposing the school that plays on the sheer ignorance and the fear of the American public is mind boggling. This is from the same people that are behind Bush's policy to bring freedom and democracy to the Middle East!!!
Counterpuch, August 30, 2007
The Right-Wing's War on the Gibran Academy
Arabic as a Terrorist Language
By ANTHONY DiMAGGIO
A good friend and former Professor of mine always began his classes on the developing world with an introduction to Islam. One of the first points driven home in the class, semester after semester, was the difference between Islam and Arabic. While the terms are obviously not synonymous (one being a religion and the other a language), this basic distinction is disregarded in recent fundamentalist efforts to demonize not only Islam, but the Arabic language itself.
I wanted to believe that we'd come far enough in this country that Muslim-Americans and non-citizens alike don't have to suffer under irrational hatred, fanaticism, and repression. But for America's small, but influential right-wing minority, this seems too much to ask.
I am referring to the racist war that has been declared on the Kahlil Gibran International Academy (in New York), and most specifically its Principal, Debbie Almontaser. The Gibran Academy is the first public institution in the U.S. committed specifically to learning the Arabic language. But the way the school has been attacked in media diatribes, one would think it was named after Osama bin Laden, rather than an uncontroversial, but well known poet. The Lebanese-American poet Kahlil Gibran is best known for his classic work, The Prophet, written over 80 years ago and translated into over 20 languages. While Gibran's works focused heavily on the corruption of Christian clergies and churches of his day, his other common themes include love, religion, life and death, and philosophy.
The Gibran Academy "controversy" comes at a time when Americans are desperately in need of shedding their parochialism of foreign cultures and languages. As the United States has become an international pariah during its occupation of Iraq, attacks on diversity can do little but strengthen American isolationism and ignorance. Americans are consistently rated in world opinion polls along with Iran and North Korea in terms of likeability, and incidents such as the Gibran protest are unlikely to improve its image. The anti-Arabic campaign is being spearheaded by notable reactionaries such as Daniel Pipes and Alicia Colon, as well as newspapers in the Big Apple including the New York Post and New York Sun.
But what, you might ask, are the specific crimes committed by Almontaser and the academy, deemed so egregious as to warrant the right-wing's wrath? Daniel Pipes lays out his case in a number of editorials written in the NY Sun in the last few months. Pipes claims as "fact" that "Islamic institutions [which Gibran Academy is not], whether schools or mosques, have a pattern of extremism and even violence." He argues that "learning Arabic in-and-of-itself promotes an Islamic outlook," as "Arabic-language instruction is inevitably laden with pan-Arabist and Islamist baggage." Pipes feels that the teaching of Arabic may lead to "moral decay," since "Muslims tend to see non-Muslims learning Arabic as a step toward an eventual conversion to Islam, an expectation I encountered while studying Arabic in Cairo in the 1970s."
In another Op-Ed for the NY Sun, Alicia Colon follows up on Pipe's statements, protesting that "This proposal [for an Arabic language school] is utter madness, considering that five years after September 11, ground zero is still a hole in the ground and we're bending over backwards to appease those sympathetic to individuals who would destroy us again." The editors at the NY Post also deem the anxieties over the school as "right on target."
Pipe's and Colon's anger appear to be derived, in part, from Principal Almontaser's alleged "support for terrorism." Almontaser was demonized for initially refusing to condemn a t-shirt with the slogan "Intifada NYC," which was being sold by the group "Arab Women Active in Art and Media," which shares an office with another group that has ties to Almontaser (a rather tenuous and tendentious "connection," I know). Aside from the "crime" of having this connection with the group in question, Almontaser has also committed the second crime of explaining the meaning of the word Intifada: "it basically means 'shaking off.' That is the root word if you look it up in Arabic. I understand it is developing a negative connotation due to the uprising in the Palestinian-Israeli areas. I don't believe the intention is to have any of that kind of [violence] in New York City. I think it's pretty much an opportunity for girls to express that they are part of New York City societyand shaking off oppression."
This statement, while seemingly innocent enough, is deemed irrefutable proof of Almontaser's "gratuitous apology for suicide terrorism," in Pipe's own words, and as evidence of "warmongering," in the eyes of the NY Post editors. Normally whenever I read such fanatical claims amongst American right-wingers, I don't bother to respond. Pipes and Colon's claims may be too stupid to merit a rebuttal, but the effectiveness of such attacks is truly disturbing for anyone committed to multiculturalism and democracy. Racist rhetoric has been allowed to dominate media discourse for too long, and has often been successful in setting the terms of debate as erroneous as those terms may be. Consider, for example, an August 26 report from the Chicago Tribune on the disputed school. The story claims that "at the core of the debate [over the school] is a linguistic disconnect." This may be what apologists for Pipes want the public to believe, but the claim has no bearing on reality whatsoever. For one thing, there has been no "debate" going on here, only racist bullying. American media commentary has been hijacked by pundits who have zero commitment to intellectual debate of the issues, and even less commitment to understanding the nuances that come along with learning about foreign cultures and languages. That the claims of Pipes and others could even be taken seriously by New York political leaders and media reporters is a sign of just how far our intellectual culture has deteriorated.
Consider a few of the following facts that are either ignored or twisted in the current media-political "debate" over the school.
1. While the Kahlil Gibran academy has been attacked for indirectly teaching Islam in a public institution, Gibran himself was not even Muslim, he was Christian Arab. Why the administrators of the school would have consciously chosen Gibran as an inspiration for an "Islamic school" is never explained in media debate (and why would devout Muslims enroll in a school named after a Christian poet expecting to get an Islamic education anyway?). One would hardly know about the school's non-Muslim roots, however, after reading Pipe's tirades.
2. The official language of the most populous Muslim country in the world (Indonesia) is not even an Arabic, but Bahasa Indonesia. One wouldn't know this either by reading the NY Sun or NY Post editorials. That there's nothing inherently linking Islam with Arabic is a lesson Americans should be taught as children, although it is not included in most civics discourses in this country.
3. Contrary to the claims of Colon and Pipes, Almontaser was indeed correct that the word "Intifada" means "uprising" or "shaking off." The word is not inherently tied to military attacks on civilians. I used to make this same point when I taught Middle East politics, although I would also presumably be denigrated as a terrorist sympathizer for my failure to declare war on the Arabic language.
4. The nation for which Pipes reserves most of his anger is Palestine as he attacks Palestinian suicide bombers who target Israeli civilians. While predominantly Arabic speaking, Palestine retains a sizable non-Muslim minority, another inconvenient fact ignored by Pipes. Twenty-five percent of West Bank residents are Christian and Jewish speaking Arabs. Such a reality would be deemed little more than a paradox, however, by ignorant minds vilifying the Arabic language as Muslim in orientation.
Claiming that the Arabic language is inherently Muslim makes about as much sense as claiming that English is inherently Christian. But this doesn't mean that such efforts to confuse the public are ineffective. As of late August (and in light of a five month campaign by the "Stop Madrassa Coalition," of which Pipes is a part) Almontaser has been pressured to step down as Principal of the Gibran Academy. Furthermore, Pipes and other members of his coalition have vowed not to end their campaign until the academy is permanently closed. The New York Times reports that, in light of the protests, "the chancellor of schools, Joel Klein, is considering other locations for the school [currently in Brooklyn], or even postponing the opening for a year." The attacks, and many others of their kind, have also left a terrible psychic scar on many Arab-Americans forced to endure unbridled American racism. Sadly, U.S. "multiculturalism" seems to make room only those with enough political and social capital to effectively fight back against media and public prejudice and xenophobia. Even Arab-American citizens are deemed as "outsiders" or "foreigners" within such a twisted value system.
It remains to be seen whether the racist views of Pipes and his ilk are representative of the American public as a whole. How Americans react to anti-Arab/anti-Muslim political-cultural campaigns will do much in determining the status of Arab Americans in the future, and the vigor of our democracy. One thing seems clear though: as long as a loud minority of reactionaries is allowed to hijack public dialogue and debate, not much is going to change.
Anthony DiMaggio has taught Middle East Politics and American Government at Illinois State University. He is the author of the forthcoming book, Mass Media, Mass Propaganda: Examining American News in the "War on Terror" (forthcoming December 2007). He can be reached at adimag2@uic.edu
Counterpuch, August 30, 2007
The Right-Wing's War on the Gibran Academy
Arabic as a Terrorist Language
By ANTHONY DiMAGGIO
A good friend and former Professor of mine always began his classes on the developing world with an introduction to Islam. One of the first points driven home in the class, semester after semester, was the difference between Islam and Arabic. While the terms are obviously not synonymous (one being a religion and the other a language), this basic distinction is disregarded in recent fundamentalist efforts to demonize not only Islam, but the Arabic language itself.
I wanted to believe that we'd come far enough in this country that Muslim-Americans and non-citizens alike don't have to suffer under irrational hatred, fanaticism, and repression. But for America's small, but influential right-wing minority, this seems too much to ask.
I am referring to the racist war that has been declared on the Kahlil Gibran International Academy (in New York), and most specifically its Principal, Debbie Almontaser. The Gibran Academy is the first public institution in the U.S. committed specifically to learning the Arabic language. But the way the school has been attacked in media diatribes, one would think it was named after Osama bin Laden, rather than an uncontroversial, but well known poet. The Lebanese-American poet Kahlil Gibran is best known for his classic work, The Prophet, written over 80 years ago and translated into over 20 languages. While Gibran's works focused heavily on the corruption of Christian clergies and churches of his day, his other common themes include love, religion, life and death, and philosophy.
The Gibran Academy "controversy" comes at a time when Americans are desperately in need of shedding their parochialism of foreign cultures and languages. As the United States has become an international pariah during its occupation of Iraq, attacks on diversity can do little but strengthen American isolationism and ignorance. Americans are consistently rated in world opinion polls along with Iran and North Korea in terms of likeability, and incidents such as the Gibran protest are unlikely to improve its image. The anti-Arabic campaign is being spearheaded by notable reactionaries such as Daniel Pipes and Alicia Colon, as well as newspapers in the Big Apple including the New York Post and New York Sun.
But what, you might ask, are the specific crimes committed by Almontaser and the academy, deemed so egregious as to warrant the right-wing's wrath? Daniel Pipes lays out his case in a number of editorials written in the NY Sun in the last few months. Pipes claims as "fact" that "Islamic institutions [which Gibran Academy is not], whether schools or mosques, have a pattern of extremism and even violence." He argues that "learning Arabic in-and-of-itself promotes an Islamic outlook," as "Arabic-language instruction is inevitably laden with pan-Arabist and Islamist baggage." Pipes feels that the teaching of Arabic may lead to "moral decay," since "Muslims tend to see non-Muslims learning Arabic as a step toward an eventual conversion to Islam, an expectation I encountered while studying Arabic in Cairo in the 1970s."
In another Op-Ed for the NY Sun, Alicia Colon follows up on Pipe's statements, protesting that "This proposal [for an Arabic language school] is utter madness, considering that five years after September 11, ground zero is still a hole in the ground and we're bending over backwards to appease those sympathetic to individuals who would destroy us again." The editors at the NY Post also deem the anxieties over the school as "right on target."
Pipe's and Colon's anger appear to be derived, in part, from Principal Almontaser's alleged "support for terrorism." Almontaser was demonized for initially refusing to condemn a t-shirt with the slogan "Intifada NYC," which was being sold by the group "Arab Women Active in Art and Media," which shares an office with another group that has ties to Almontaser (a rather tenuous and tendentious "connection," I know). Aside from the "crime" of having this connection with the group in question, Almontaser has also committed the second crime of explaining the meaning of the word Intifada: "it basically means 'shaking off.' That is the root word if you look it up in Arabic. I understand it is developing a negative connotation due to the uprising in the Palestinian-Israeli areas. I don't believe the intention is to have any of that kind of [violence] in New York City. I think it's pretty much an opportunity for girls to express that they are part of New York City societyand shaking off oppression."
This statement, while seemingly innocent enough, is deemed irrefutable proof of Almontaser's "gratuitous apology for suicide terrorism," in Pipe's own words, and as evidence of "warmongering," in the eyes of the NY Post editors. Normally whenever I read such fanatical claims amongst American right-wingers, I don't bother to respond. Pipes and Colon's claims may be too stupid to merit a rebuttal, but the effectiveness of such attacks is truly disturbing for anyone committed to multiculturalism and democracy. Racist rhetoric has been allowed to dominate media discourse for too long, and has often been successful in setting the terms of debate as erroneous as those terms may be. Consider, for example, an August 26 report from the Chicago Tribune on the disputed school. The story claims that "at the core of the debate [over the school] is a linguistic disconnect." This may be what apologists for Pipes want the public to believe, but the claim has no bearing on reality whatsoever. For one thing, there has been no "debate" going on here, only racist bullying. American media commentary has been hijacked by pundits who have zero commitment to intellectual debate of the issues, and even less commitment to understanding the nuances that come along with learning about foreign cultures and languages. That the claims of Pipes and others could even be taken seriously by New York political leaders and media reporters is a sign of just how far our intellectual culture has deteriorated.
Consider a few of the following facts that are either ignored or twisted in the current media-political "debate" over the school.
1. While the Kahlil Gibran academy has been attacked for indirectly teaching Islam in a public institution, Gibran himself was not even Muslim, he was Christian Arab. Why the administrators of the school would have consciously chosen Gibran as an inspiration for an "Islamic school" is never explained in media debate (and why would devout Muslims enroll in a school named after a Christian poet expecting to get an Islamic education anyway?). One would hardly know about the school's non-Muslim roots, however, after reading Pipe's tirades.
2. The official language of the most populous Muslim country in the world (Indonesia) is not even an Arabic, but Bahasa Indonesia. One wouldn't know this either by reading the NY Sun or NY Post editorials. That there's nothing inherently linking Islam with Arabic is a lesson Americans should be taught as children, although it is not included in most civics discourses in this country.
3. Contrary to the claims of Colon and Pipes, Almontaser was indeed correct that the word "Intifada" means "uprising" or "shaking off." The word is not inherently tied to military attacks on civilians. I used to make this same point when I taught Middle East politics, although I would also presumably be denigrated as a terrorist sympathizer for my failure to declare war on the Arabic language.
4. The nation for which Pipes reserves most of his anger is Palestine as he attacks Palestinian suicide bombers who target Israeli civilians. While predominantly Arabic speaking, Palestine retains a sizable non-Muslim minority, another inconvenient fact ignored by Pipes. Twenty-five percent of West Bank residents are Christian and Jewish speaking Arabs. Such a reality would be deemed little more than a paradox, however, by ignorant minds vilifying the Arabic language as Muslim in orientation.
Claiming that the Arabic language is inherently Muslim makes about as much sense as claiming that English is inherently Christian. But this doesn't mean that such efforts to confuse the public are ineffective. As of late August (and in light of a five month campaign by the "Stop Madrassa Coalition," of which Pipes is a part) Almontaser has been pressured to step down as Principal of the Gibran Academy. Furthermore, Pipes and other members of his coalition have vowed not to end their campaign until the academy is permanently closed. The New York Times reports that, in light of the protests, "the chancellor of schools, Joel Klein, is considering other locations for the school [currently in Brooklyn], or even postponing the opening for a year." The attacks, and many others of their kind, have also left a terrible psychic scar on many Arab-Americans forced to endure unbridled American racism. Sadly, U.S. "multiculturalism" seems to make room only those with enough political and social capital to effectively fight back against media and public prejudice and xenophobia. Even Arab-American citizens are deemed as "outsiders" or "foreigners" within such a twisted value system.
It remains to be seen whether the racist views of Pipes and his ilk are representative of the American public as a whole. How Americans react to anti-Arab/anti-Muslim political-cultural campaigns will do much in determining the status of Arab Americans in the future, and the vigor of our democracy. One thing seems clear though: as long as a loud minority of reactionaries is allowed to hijack public dialogue and debate, not much is going to change.
Anthony DiMaggio has taught Middle East Politics and American Government at Illinois State University. He is the author of the forthcoming book, Mass Media, Mass Propaganda: Examining American News in the "War on Terror" (forthcoming December 2007). He can be reached at adimag2@uic.edu
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Achieving Inner Peace for a Day
For me, inner peace is hard to define. It is not something I consciously seek, but like many things in life, in the most unexpected moments, it happens and then you understand what it is all about.
It is not that I am an unhappy or dissatisfied man but my restless mind is churning continuously. I ponder, analyze and worry. As parent, I am concerned about my children's' future, as a husband about my wife's happiness, as a son, about my aging parents' health and as a brother about my siblings' well being. I worry about my work and the state of the world. I feel like Atlas carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. You couldn't tell that by looking at me but it is all there, clouding the recesses of my mind.
Last Sunday morning, I called my father in Beirut to wish him a happy 80th birthday. We exchanged a few words; he was never very good at connecting emotionally with his sons, but we could talk for hours about politics. As he thanked me for the call and bid me goodbye before putting my mother on, his voice broke a little; he was happy I called. My mother sounded relaxed and satisfied; she did not complain about her health. My youngest brother had visited from Morocco where he lives and returned the day before. She was happy to have spent time with him and satisfied that he was doing well.
When I put down the phone on that warm, late summer day, the clouds in the recesses of my mind cleared. All the people I cared about, those around me and those far away, were content and happy and consequently so was I. All other worries and concerns were irrelevant and temporarily purged from my mind. I felt light, relaxed and at peace for the rest of the day.
Who knew it could be so simple?
(Photo: A.K., Rainbow on a stormy cloud)
Monday, August 27, 2007
Dr. Salem: Minister of Disinformation
I , like many Syrians, despite our belief that the Baathist regime is bankrupt and in dire need of change, accept the necessity for an incremental approach to reform. But how exactly is that to happen in an authoritarian regime, rife with corruption and run like a family fiefdom? One has to assume that the system is capable of change from within, a belief based more on illusion and wishful thinking than reality. It was a belief fostered by Bashar Al-Asad's pronouncements in 2000 and his subsequent appointments of few skillful technocrats to his government instead the same old recycled party bureaucrats. But will such technocrats be able to forge ahead independently and achieve substantive changes or will they be hemmed in and coopted by the system they are attempting to change?
In the case of information minister Amr Salem, it is, unfortunately, the latter. How else could one explain how this former Microsoft executive recruited with much fanfare back to Syria to propel it into the age of modern communication make such an absurd directive? In it, the minister makes it illegal for any website or blog to publish anonymous comments and makes the owners of those site liable for the comments left on their site. Moreover, it requires that all comments left on a site have a verifiable name and email address. In a scathing critique of this directive, Bassam Al Kady, from the نساء سورية (Syrian Women) site argues that not only are the requirements unenforceable, the minister has no legal footing to put out such a directive. Such a directive, if implemented, will have a chilling effect on the use of the Internet as a means of free exchange of ideas and opinions further limiting freedom of expression in Syria. I suspect that it will slow down the number of new Syrian blogs as new users become weary of the liability associated with expressing views online. The quality of site content will also decline as only mundane, non-controversial subjects are discussed.
Now, in truth, we don't really know if this directive was Dr. Salem's idea based on personal conviction or one dictated to him by "higher" authorities. I suspect though that it is his personal conviction as in 1999 he advocated a "cautious" approach to the internet:
"In order for President [Hafez] al-Asad to feel comfortable promoting a particular technology, it must meet the following criteria:
1. It should benefit the majority of the Syrian people. Technology geared toward the elite is not favored because such people have the resources and means to get what they want without government assistance.
2. It should not disrupt the social structure or adversely affect the middle class, and should be within the means of the masses.
3. It should have a direct impact on Syria’s overall social and economic development.
4. It should not jeopardize Syrian independence or security concerns."*
1. It should benefit the majority of the Syrian people. Technology geared toward the elite is not favored because such people have the resources and means to get what they want without government assistance.
2. It should not disrupt the social structure or adversely affect the middle class, and should be within the means of the masses.
3. It should have a direct impact on Syria’s overall social and economic development.
4. It should not jeopardize Syrian independence or security concerns."*
We all recognize what these apparently innocuous and vague statements really mean: The government decides what "adversely affects the middle class" or what constitutes a threat to "Syrian independence". So free access to the internet becomes limited to access to "Baathnet" where no news critical of the government can be seen and all comments are by Syrians performing virtual genuflections to a heroic president (virtual ass-kissing to put it more bluntly).
ANONYMOUS comments are WELCOME.
*Amr Salem, “Syria’s Cautious Embrace,” Middle East Insight, March-April 1999, pp. 49-50.
(Photo: A.K. + photoshop)
Syria and its Expatriates
Here is my take on the expatriate debate on Creative Syria as well as the opinions of others on the topic.
Also see a summary as reproduced on Global Voices.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Freedom of Speech Takes Another Hit
This is reposted from Yazan's blog. I applaud his continued activism and perseverance as many of us (myself included) are lulled into inactivity by a sense that nothing will ever change -for the Better- in the Middle East. In fact despite all the bad news below, when it comes to the free flow of information and ideas, things have changed for the better because of the elusive power of the internet. The continued attempts by the various governments to restrict freedom of expression are eventually bound to fail. In the meantime, we as a blogger community should continue to spread information about abuses of power in the Middle East as widely as possible.
Thank you Yazan.
Freedom of Speech, Massacred and dragged through the streets of the Middle East
What is happening in the Arab World is scary.Reading this, made me go into real melancholy.And the fact that there was absolutely no publicity about it makes it even more painful. Why do we have to be so selective in what we chose to fight for. Why was Kareem on almost every single blog, all through his trial, and sentence. While I struggled to find any mention of Mohamed Rashed al-Shohhi's case. And was it not for Amira slipping me a link to this small roundup from Sami Ben Gharbia on GlobalVoices I would not have even heard about it.While Egyptian bloggerKareem was on trial because of things he chose to write, Mohamed is sentenced to 1 year in prison and $13,600 fine for an anonymous comment on an online forum he happened to run. [You think there might be a connection with the decision to ban comments on Syrian sites earlier this month?! Hmmm...].Mohamed is in prison, and he literaly did not do ANYTHING.It is not a blow at freedom of speech. No, this a serious well-planned decision that can only be described as mental-terrorism. This is not aimed to keep him from practicing his right to express himself (Again, the guy did not do anything), rather this is a warning to anyone who might even think of raising a voice. Whether against totalitarianism, corruption or repression... all of them are a common characteristic of our Arab World.Again, in a very similar case, Kuwaiti blogger Bashar Al-Sayegh was arrested [He was released today] yesterday for an anonymous comment left on his forum.If you read this, please help spread the word. Let's not be selective in what we chose to rally for.The latest chunck of news coming from our Middle East does not look good.Blogspot is still banned in Syria, contrary to earlier reports about the ban being lifted.By decision from the Ministry of Communication, anonymous comments of Syrian sites are now illegal.Wordpress is banned in Turkey.UAE imprisons a webmaster and suspends the website over anonymous comments on his forum.Kuwait detains a blogger over anonymous comments on his forum.And, Egypt, Tunisia... Where to start exactly?!
Thank you Yazan.
Freedom of Speech, Massacred and dragged through the streets of the Middle East
What is happening in the Arab World is scary.Reading this, made me go into real melancholy.And the fact that there was absolutely no publicity about it makes it even more painful. Why do we have to be so selective in what we chose to fight for. Why was Kareem on almost every single blog, all through his trial, and sentence. While I struggled to find any mention of Mohamed Rashed al-Shohhi's case. And was it not for Amira slipping me a link to this small roundup from Sami Ben Gharbia on GlobalVoices I would not have even heard about it.While Egyptian bloggerKareem was on trial because of things he chose to write, Mohamed is sentenced to 1 year in prison and $13,600 fine for an anonymous comment on an online forum he happened to run. [You think there might be a connection with the decision to ban comments on Syrian sites earlier this month?! Hmmm...].Mohamed is in prison, and he literaly did not do ANYTHING.It is not a blow at freedom of speech. No, this a serious well-planned decision that can only be described as mental-terrorism. This is not aimed to keep him from practicing his right to express himself (Again, the guy did not do anything), rather this is a warning to anyone who might even think of raising a voice. Whether against totalitarianism, corruption or repression... all of them are a common characteristic of our Arab World.Again, in a very similar case, Kuwaiti blogger Bashar Al-Sayegh was arrested [He was released today] yesterday for an anonymous comment left on his forum.If you read this, please help spread the word. Let's not be selective in what we chose to rally for.The latest chunck of news coming from our Middle East does not look good.Blogspot is still banned in Syria, contrary to earlier reports about the ban being lifted.By decision from the Ministry of Communication, anonymous comments of Syrian sites are now illegal.Wordpress is banned in Turkey.UAE imprisons a webmaster and suspends the website over anonymous comments on his forum.Kuwait detains a blogger over anonymous comments on his forum.And, Egypt, Tunisia... Where to start exactly?!
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
London: First Impressions
When we decided that Lebanon was not the right destination for a family vacation this summer, we had to decide quickly on an alternative. We settled on London. Despite a lifetime of travel and innumerable transits through the city, I had never visited London. Each of us had a reason why they wanted to go to London. My parents first met there; so in a sense, I owe my existence to London. My wife, as a teenager, attended summer camps there and had not been back since. My daughter wanted to see the Monty Python show Spamalot and my son, a Chelsea fan, was promised a visit to Stamford Bridge stadium by friends of ours who are Chelsea fanatics. But the most compelling reason is the need, felt by myself and my wife, to leave the United States at least every twelve months. The source of this feeling is complex but it boils down to the need to periodically clear one's head from the fortress America mentality that seems to permeate many aspects of life in the United States since 9/11. I suspect that most Arab-Americans know exactly what I mean.
From a tourist's point of view, London did not disappoint. What's not to like: a lively city choke full of history, people from everywhere, big pompous old buildings, castles galore and ridiculously attired guards performing anachronistic rituals. We stayed in the Kensington area, a couple of underground stops from the Marble Arch, my parents' rendezvous spot several decades ago. We roamed the city by foot and the Underground and occasionally by bus. Despite its size, London feels cozy with few steel-and-glass skyscrapers and numerous pedestrian friendly and lively neighborhoods. Given the sizes of the crowds we saw everywhere, the Glasgow incident and the rigged London cars did not seem to have dented the city's tourist appeal. In a week's time we crammed as many of London's attractions as we could.
Clearly a week spent gawking at tourist attractions hardly qualifies me as a London or a UK expert. Nonetheless, a few things I saw made me stop and think a little beyond what was in the tourist brochure.
Windsor castle was one such place. I was astounded by the accumulated wealth contained within the walls of the castle, from the paintings to the arms lining the walls and the loot of war including Napoleon's Egyptian-made burnos. But more astounding was the fact that the castle and its contents were the property of the Royal family. I inquired with a friend in London about who pays for the upkeep of the castle. That set off my friend, a British republican, on a tirade about how the Royals live off the sweat of the people.The British Museum was another place that both impressed me but also troubled me. Much of the content of the Museum was "taken" -to put it politely- from lands without the consent of the people of those lands. My daughter, a thoughtful fourteen year-old, had a similar reaction. She kept on whispering to me "it is not fair!" as we passed statues, parts of temple walls and other massive artifacts from Egypt, Greece and ancient Iraq among other places. When you see the size of some the artifacts and realize that they were dismantled and transported without modern machinery, you cannot but be amazed at the gall of those British colonialists from days past.
One final observation is the shocking contrast I observed between the glitzy center of London and some of the decrepit and neglected residential areas on the outskirts of London that I glimpsed on train rides in and out of the city. On our final day in London, the cab driver taking us to Victoria station to catch a train to Gatwick expressed frustration at the economic situation in the country. He was a Moroccan immigrant in the UK for ten years, but was making plans to resettle in Australia. He says that London has become too expensive for the average wage earner.
Clearly a week is not enough to understand this sprawling metropolis. We enjoyed our time in London and vowed to come back for more. My only regret is not being able to visit with my friend SB.
Monday, August 06, 2007
Gemayel Defeat: Beginning of the End of Lebanese Sectarian Politics?
I never was a fan of Hizbullah’s overall strategy for Lebanon or of FPM’s leader with his Napoleonic complex. However, I think that the defeat of Amin Gemayel to a relatively unknown FPM candidate Camille Khoury signals a seismic shift in Lebanese politics. Just think of the setting: an aggrieved father, the scion of one of the most powerful political dynasties in Lebanon, Amin Gemayel, running for the parliamentary seat of his assassinated son in the Maronite heartland of the Metn. In the hereditary politics of the Middle East, the results should have been a forgone conclusion. What went wrong is succinctly summarized in the words of one of the Metn voters. Referring to the Lebanese Forces, he said that they took us for granted.
As my previous postings show, I was in favor of the broad outlines of Lebanon’s Cedar revolution. I was however disturbed by the hijacking of these ideals by the unholy alliance that came together to form the March 14 group. On local politics, they advocated the status quo; that is preserving the power and economic privilege of the well-heeled and the well-connected and did nothing to curb the influence of traditional feudal families. Most destructive, however, has been their single-minded, obsessive and very public anti-Syrian stance. That is not to say that the Syrian regime in not culpable for some if not many of what they are accused of, but having your whole political platform be consumed by a vendetta against Syria does nothing for the problems your constituents are facing.
As the gap between rich and poor grew in the post civil war years, the Lebanese middle class was eviscerated. The previously privileged Maronite middle class perhaps lost most of all. I was shocked in recent years, on seeing how decrepit some of the inner neighborhoods of the Northern Christian suburbs of Beirut have become. In fact they came to resemble some of the areas of the Dahiyeh. Is it any wonder, that the underprivileged among the Christians came to identify more with the populist politics of FPM and Hizbullah than with the tired rhetoric of the Lebanese Forces. It is very telling that the voters of the Metn were willing to break with a party that had been seen as the traditional defenders of the sect.
Whether the net outcome of this election will be positive or not is impossible for me to say. However, the fact that voters broke with their sectarian impulse to vote for Gemayel just because he was a Gemayel, is an important and positive development.
As my previous postings show, I was in favor of the broad outlines of Lebanon’s Cedar revolution. I was however disturbed by the hijacking of these ideals by the unholy alliance that came together to form the March 14 group. On local politics, they advocated the status quo; that is preserving the power and economic privilege of the well-heeled and the well-connected and did nothing to curb the influence of traditional feudal families. Most destructive, however, has been their single-minded, obsessive and very public anti-Syrian stance. That is not to say that the Syrian regime in not culpable for some if not many of what they are accused of, but having your whole political platform be consumed by a vendetta against Syria does nothing for the problems your constituents are facing.
As the gap between rich and poor grew in the post civil war years, the Lebanese middle class was eviscerated. The previously privileged Maronite middle class perhaps lost most of all. I was shocked in recent years, on seeing how decrepit some of the inner neighborhoods of the Northern Christian suburbs of Beirut have become. In fact they came to resemble some of the areas of the Dahiyeh. Is it any wonder, that the underprivileged among the Christians came to identify more with the populist politics of FPM and Hizbullah than with the tired rhetoric of the Lebanese Forces. It is very telling that the voters of the Metn were willing to break with a party that had been seen as the traditional defenders of the sect.
Whether the net outcome of this election will be positive or not is impossible for me to say. However, the fact that voters broke with their sectarian impulse to vote for Gemayel just because he was a Gemayel, is an important and positive development.
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