Twentieth Anniversary of a Marriage

My wife and I celebrated our twentieth wedding anniversary a few days ago. We took the day off from work just to spend time together, to reflect. We took a walk along the lake shore, had lunch, talked and remembered.

It was not love at first sight. Early on in medical school, I sat in the back of the class. I was, at the time, the odd man out in class. Most of my classmates knew each other from their undergraduate years at AUB while I had done my undergraduate studies in the States. She always arrived to the first class of the day five to ten minutes late looking harried and sat in the back rows. Typical Beiruti girl, I thought, late because she was still fixing her hair; looking pretty was more important than class. And pretty she was, and always well-dressed. I did not know it at the time, but she was attracted to me, the quiet stranger sitting opposite her in the back of the class. She actively tried to get my attention when we were both involved in rehearsals for the year end class play. I was, as men are wont to be, totally oblivious to her attention. The play would never take place. I still remember the last rehearsal as we huddled around the radio listening to the news of Israel's invasion; it was the summer of 1982. Our class dispersed that fateful summer and we did not reconnect until the fall. It was only then, as we hung out with mutual friends, that I finally noticed her.

There were a number of things about her that attracted me. She had unpretentious good looks but it was more her seductive femininity that first drew me in. To watch her delicate hands gesticulating gracefully in the midst of a lively conversation turned my heart into a puddle of mush. She was also a great cook and I was smitten, with her tarte aux fraises. Yes, I am afraid that the old adage about getting a man through his stomach was true for me. In my defense though, I should say that those tartes were baked with love. But there are many other intangible reasons that two people connect. When you are falling in love, you don't stand back and try to analyze it, you just follow your heart. The reasons become obvious later, sometimes years later.

Beneath her delicate exterior was an independent, strong-willed, and yet vulnerable young woman. She was open minded and sincere to the point of bluntness. She was competitive and pursued what she liked passionately. She hated injustice. I remember one day as we drove in her car turning onto a one way street only to find another car coming at us fast in the wrong direction. The driver of the other car honked and flashed his light as if to say, "get the hell out of my way!". She would have none of it. She pulled her car into the middle of the road, stopped, leaned out of the window and cussed him out -not very feminine, but very effective. Keep in mind that, at the time, such altercations in Lebanon often ended in a blaze of gunfire. Stunned, the other driver pulled to the side and let her pass. I knew then and there that there was something different about her.

On paper, we were too different to have a lasting relationship. I tended to be quiet, reserved, reflective. She was lively, outgoing and told you exactly what's on her mind. I was passionate about history and politics. She hated politics and was passionate about cooking. But as our relationship solidified we became inseparable. Perhaps it was that our personalities were complementary. Our relationship was uncomplicated, organic; we never seemed to tire of each other's company. That is not to say that there was no friction, or doubt, along the way.

When five years later we got married, I didn't have to get down on my knees and ask. We each knew that we could not live without the other. Twenty years later and a continent away, much has changed in our lives and in the world around us. We now have a family with two lovely kids and challenging, difficult, careers. Some things, though, never change. My heart still melts when I see those beautiful hands get animated in a lively discussion. And every morning, she rushes out the door late to work. The reason, as I had guessed from the first day I laid eyes on her, is that her hair had to look perfect.

You can take the girl out of Beirut but you can never take Beirut out of the girl.

(Illustration: Chinese double happiness symbol of love)

Middle East: Currents of Change

For any Middle Easterner interested in the state of the region, the news we are bombarded with daily are numbingly depressing. Yet, as Rami Khouri notes in his article below, underneath the apparently unchanging rigidity of our societies, there are important and hopeful changes in the way we Middle Easterners are thinking of ourselves and our future. I have observed these changes in the increasing diversity of opinions that you can see in the various Arabic newspapers of the region. I also see this change reflected in the opinions and thoughts expressed in the various regional blogs I read. This very fact was central in my decision to start my own blog. So in the midst of the deluge of bad news, I remain hopeful that we, collectively, and without the influence of outsiders with ulterior motives, will eventually be able to move forward .

Constructive currents flow below Middle Eastern civil society
By Rami G. Khouri, Daily Star staff, Saturday, April 28, 2007

We are often so obsessed with the problems and conflicts that define the relationship between the Middle East and the West today that we tend to lose sight of the constructive currents that flow beneath the surface. An unusual week of consecutive conferences and seminars in Amman and Beirut brought that point home to me last week. Honest exchanges with scholars, officials and activists of integrity and insight - especially ones we disagree with - enrich our understanding of this region, its ties to the world, and the core issues that plague and challenge us.
In my rich week of exchanges with colleagues from throughout the Middle East, Europe and North America, we discussed many timely issues: Iraq and its consequences, Arab political reform prospects, the weaknesses and potential of Arab secular political parties, and indigenous agents of change and innovation within the Arab world (such as youth, businesses, women, young Islamists, and the culture and arts sector).
Such gatherings reflect an important aspect of the Arab world, Turkey and Iran - a constant, often intense, analytical probing into the nature and causes of our many shortcomings, along with serious attempts to chart a way out of our predicaments. We no longer spend a lot of time merely bemoaning the chronic cycle of violence, warfare, occupation, neocolonialism and extremism that shatters many of our countries, or romantically pleading for more justice or democratic governance. Today, we seem be in a new mindset of working together across borders, to probe deeper into fixing what is wrong, instead of only cursing the darkness.
Civil society, scholars, journalists and businesspeople from all over the world are doing what most of their governments seem unable or unwilling to: meeting regularly with an open mind - without banning or boycotting any party, free of threats and sanctions - to agree on both the problems and the solutions of our societies. The meetings I attended last week were sponsored by a range of institutions that reflect this global dynamic, including Germany's Heinrich Boll Foundation, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the American University of Beirut, the Arab Reform Initiative that comprises Arab, European and American research centers, the University of Jordan, and Canada's IDRC, among others. No clash of cultures here, only an overdose of croissants and coffee.
Iranians, Turks, many different Arabs, Americans, Canadians and assorted Europeans at these and other such gatherings painstakingly dissect our distortions and deviant behavior; but they also identify the positive forces for stability, self-confidence, creativity and real development that prevent Middle Eastern societies from total collapse. There is plenty to identify on both side of this assets-liabilities divide.http://www.dailystar.com.lb
For one important trend that has emerged in recent years, and seems to dominate these days, is the tendency to recognize nuance and shun absolutism, to see the world as a range of shades rather than starkly black and white, good or evil, cowboy or Indian. This may sound slightly simplistic, but it is important to recognize in the face of aggressive attitudes - and occasional organized lobbying campaigns - by some parties in the United States, Israel, and parts of Europe and the Arab and Islamic worlds that would paint us in single colors, and reduce us to silhouette cartoon figures that deny rather than affirm our humanity and rights.
This tendency to judge others in absolute terms emerges from the discussion of any aspect of the contemporary Middle East - Iraq, Palestine, Hizbullah and Lebanon, democratic change, women's status, take your pick. The truth is, these and other facets of our region mirror two sides of the same human beings: a tendency to political and intellectual militancy and violence, alongside a heroic, often epic, commitment to reason and humanism in the face of the barbarism and pain inflicted upon them.
The increased number of conferences, study groups and quiet, private meetings that bring together Middle Easterners with colleagues from the rest of the world is a positive sign of the capacity of our societies to engage humbly and rationally and politically seek solutions to our shared tensions, instead of emotionally and militarily. In gathering after gathering that I attend in the Middle East and abroad, I sense this growing commitment, and capacity, to dialogue across cultures and ideologies - but to go beyond only dialogue, and to find realistic solutions that might one day influence our dysfunctional decision-makers.
We all meet, talk, learn and seek a rational consensus on which to build an edifice of tolerance, respect and coexistence - in those interim periods when we are not killing and defaming each other. Take your pick, for there is indeed a choice to be made, for those who care to acknowledge the real world of nuanced human beings, rather than their fantasy world of silhouette cowboys and Indians.

Syrian Elections: Make Believe Democracy

I hoped against all odds that, with the present Syrian elections, there would be some signs of a country moving forward; if not a full step forward then at least a half step. Hell I would happily take an eighth of as step forward. Unfortunately, the elections appear to have been more of the same, a show replete with the illusion of a democratic process, the illusion of real choice, but whose outcome was predetermined; in short, a farce. But as Abraham Lincoln once said: "You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time." After almost thirty five years of inept Baathist rule no one is fooled. The Syrian people voted unanimously, by staying home. They stayed home not in response to opposition calls for a boycott of the elections but because the empty slogans from predictable candidates did no inspire them in an election whose outcome will be no different than any other in recent memory.

In the end, the Baath party and its National Progressive Front allies gained three seats of the 250 seat Majlis el Shaab (People's Congress) at the expense of three from the independents who are down to 80 representatives. The whole electoral process was so opaque that you couldn't even get an accurate accounting of the basic numbers. Different news reports, all quoting official sources, put the number of candidates for the 250 seat Majlis al Shaab (People's Congress) at anywhere between 900 and 2500 (or was it 10,000?). I have yet to see real numbers about the turnout of eligible voters. A report of Hassakeh suggested a turnout of 1.5% on the first day of elections. The government admitted to dismally low turnout numbers but blamed it on the opposition's call for a boycott. Additionally, there were reports of many irregularities including the addition of shadow lists of Baath-approved independent candidates and of Baath activists going door to door to force people to fill and cast their ballots.

So how can one trust an election skewed to favored those in power and whose electoral machinery is not transparent for all to see? And what does the single digit turnout tell us about the legitimacy of those elected? After seven years of empty promises for real reform, the Syrian people are losing their patience.

Nine Parts of Desire: Iraqi Women Tell their Stories

We recently saw a production of the play "Nine Parts of Desire", a powerful and moving play based on the stories of Iraqi women between the first Gulf war and into the second. The play by Heather Raffo is not to be confused with the book of the same name by Geraldine Brooks, a non-fiction examination of the life of Muslim women. Raffo, American-born to an Iraqi father and American mother, based her play on her interviews of Iraqi women between 1993 and 2003.

In the play, nine Iraqi women of various backgrounds, speak directly to the audience, as if talking to the playwright, giving us glimpses of their lives. There is the leftist exile from the 1960s living in London, the famous artist in bed (literally) with the Baathist regime and the mother who lost her children in the Amiriyya bombshelter as well as others. The collective stories weave a complex and multi layered tapestry of the life of these women, of Iraq itself. The stories touch on all aspects of life in that decade of Iraq's history, stories that continue to relevant today as the epic tragedy that Iraq is living continues with no end in sight. The playwright does not take sides but empathetically gives a voice to women whose voices are seldom heard. We hear about Saddam's legendary brutality, the Western embargo that impoverished the people and made the regime stronger, the effects of depleted uranium munitions left behind by the American military, and the devastating effects of the first into the second Gulf wars. These events form the backdrop of these women's personal stories, their longing for normalcy and for peace. They also long for freedom, not only from the violence around them but from the restrictive roles they are relegated too in their society. Raffo's nuanced portrayal of her subjects underscores a sensibility of one who clearly understands the culture. I doubt that another Western playwright, without Iraqi or Arab roots, would have succeeded in the portrayal of these women as well as Raffo did.

Perhaps the most interesting of the women is Layal, based on the famous Iraqi artist, Layla al-Attar who died in 1993 when an American tomahawk missile slammed into her house. Raffo never met Layla al-Attar as she was killed shortly before she arrived to Iraq. The playwright portrays her as a cynical survivor, one who readily exchanged sexual favors with influencial members of the regime in return for protection and advancement. She is a complex and conflicted character and the least sympathetic of the nine women. Whether this is an accurate portrayal of Layla al-Attar or not, I cannot say. I could not find much detail about her online. She was, though, by all accounts, an accomplished and important artist. The painting of the nude hugging a tree, titled "savagery" is alluded to several times in the play.

The stories of these women are absorbing and emotionally wrenching even for those not familiar with Middle Eastern culture. There was barely a dry eye in the house by the end of the play. My wife sobbed at one point as Um-Ghada (mother of tomorrow) describes losing all her children in the American bombing of the the Al-Amiriyya bombshelter. For me and my wife, many of the stories resonated with our own experience: the fear and horror of war, the feeling of longing for home and the guilt of watching from the safety of a distant continent as your home and family are threatened by violence and strife.

Lebanon: Mental Images of the Civil War

If war is Hell, civil war is an unspeakable horror. There is something about the unpredictability and randomness of a civil war that makes it all the more vile and evil. All justifications for such a conflict are quickly forgotten as violence and destruction become ends in themselves. The senseless violence escalates into a self-destructive orgy, consuming everything in its way.

This year, with the specter of renewed civil strife lurking in the background, the April 13th anniversary of the Lebanese civil war is especially poignant. For me, having lived through, and survived, seven of fifteen years of civil war in Beirut, the April 13th anniversary brings back many memories of a personally transformative time. There are memories of friendships and love and overcoming of adversities. But there are also, seared into my memory, dark moments that have forever changed me; they have made me essentially a pacifist. In violence and war, I do not see honor, nor glory, nor patriotism, nor martyrdom, nor any other of the romantic ideals trumped up to convince men of the necessity of war. All I saw were shattered bodies, shattered lives, shattered communities and shattered innocence.

These are the mental image seared into my memory from this time:

• The endless nights huddled in the stairwell of the apartment building where I lived.
• My blue VW golf turned into a sieve from the shrapnel of a mortar shell.
• The smell of blood, sweat and explosives that permeated the AUH emergency room on a bad day.
• The stunned look of a young girl, not older than six, with a superficial shrapnel wound on her delicate cheek, as I carried her into the emergency room.
• All the different permutations of militias that at one time or another clashed with each other.
• The eerie quiet of a bright spring Beirut morning following a night of horrifying bombardment, when all you could hear was the chirping of birds.
• The nausea I felt at the putrid smell of death coming from the overcrowded hospital morgue.
• Being turned back by a Kataeb checkpoint as I tried to leave Beirut in the midst of the Israeli blitz of 1982.
• Fearing that every parked car I walked by in Hamra was about to blow up.
• Spending nights sleeping uncomfortably on chairs in the hospital conference rooms when it was too dangerous to leave the building.
• The anger I felt as I peeked out the window and saw an Israeli tank advancing into the neighborhood in 1982 after the PLO evacuated the city.
• Seeing flares go up across the city and hearing muffled gunfire as, unbeknown to me, the orgy of violence in Sabra and Shatila was taking place.
• The feeling of rage at having to show deference to the militiamen that controlled the neighborhood, when most were nothing more than mere thugs.
• Being stopped at the Airport by the Syrian mukhabarat because I should have been helping liberate the Golan Heights.
• Watching the light fixtures in our classroom suddenly drop down as the shock wave of the bombed American embassy shook the room like an earthquake. Then rushing outside to see the walking wounded, stunned, covered in dust and blood, coming up the street.
• and .... and...

It is because of these memories that images from Baghdad - and Algiers- leave a knot in the pit of my stomach. I can empathize with ordinary Baghdadis trying to live their lives in the midst of this useless, destructive mayhem. It behoves all Lebanese to remember these images of the civil war, not to point fingers of blame, but to make sure it never happens again.

Predicting the Future

Future studies reflects on how today’s changes (or the lack thereof) become tomorrow's reality. It includes attempts to analyze the sources, patterns, and causes of change and stability in order to develop foresight and to map alternative futures (Wiki).

One of the leaders in the field of Futures studies is Sohail Inayatullah. He is a big picture man, the forest from the trees type of a person, except that the forests he describes are ten, fifty or a hundred years into the future. I didn't just stumble into this rarefied world of Futures studies by accident. In fact Sohail is an old high school classmate of mine. We reconnected briefly several years ago by email. I looked up some of his work and was intrigued by what I read.

In these uncertain times, predictions about the future are always interesting reads. But there is an added interest in Sohail's writing. His is a non-Western, non-Eurocentric point of view.

For all of the twentieth century to the present, the West has dominated the World technologically, culturally and politically. Almost all non-Western countries, in charting their development look at Western models as examples to emulate because, to them, the West equals modernity. In nearly all fields of endeavor from economic development, to urban planning to running institutions and businesses, it is the standards and norms set by the West that people strive to follow. Even the intellectual elites in most non-Western countries, who are often Western educated, will -consciously or not- subsume a Western perspective. This is not meant to be a blanket indictment of all things Western. However, Western ways are sometimes are incompatible with the cultural, religious, geographic and geopolitical realities of non-Western countries and societies. Moreover, some Western ways are just simply wrong. Because of their success, the West has also largely determined the historical narrative of the twentieth century. That may change with the emergence of China and India as major economic economic and political powers.

West and Non-West, Ego and Alter-ego: Technological, Communicative and Microvita Futures Explored by: Sohail Inayatullah

Summary: The argument made in this article that there are generally two foundational global futures – the artificial (globalization-technologization) era and the communicative-inclusive era. The basic perspective in the first scenario is that things rise – more progress, more technology, more development, more wealth and more individuality. This is generally the view of older age cohorts and those in the center of power. The second scenario is focused on inner and social transformation, whether because of green or spiritual values or because of the wise and moral use of technology. This is the vision of those marginal to the system - youth, women, the "others" - it is idealistic, and not beholden to the values of the Market or State but firmly entrenched in the People's Sector. In contrast to the exponential curve of the first scenario, this scenario has a cyclical curve (returning to a more stable time) in some variations and a spiral curve (a return to traditional values but in far more inclusive terms) in other variations.

These two scenarios, images of the future, oscillate in the West. The West needs the latter, its alter-ego, to refresh itself. Within this over all pattern, Collapse remains the fear (technology gone wrong or overpopulation from the South either because of the exploitation of nature or over-concentration of power and wealth) that spurs the West to constantly create new futures. The image of collapse is used as a call to action, to either join the technology revolution or the consciousness revolution, than as a firm belief in the end of the world.

We also argue that the West is by definition in crisis, indeed, crisis – the threat of collapse or a return to a slower time (an imagined past when men were men and economies were local, with chaos controllable) is how it refreshes itself. Without these two pillars, the West would have fallen to the way side and other civilizations would have reigned supreme.

In contrast to the West, the non-West follows a different pattern. The ego of the non-West has now been constructed by the West, such that as much as the non-West resists Westernization, it embraces it, becoming even more Western than the West, as, for example, Japan or Malaysia. The alter-ego, however, comes across in two ways: first as traditional, ancient indigenous knowledge, generally, focused not on the Western utopia but on the Indic and Sinic eupsychia – the cultivation and perfection of the self. Related to this concern is the self-reliant, localist, community model of development and social relations. Second, as attempts to not only limit their understandings at local levels but making new claims for the universal. This perspective is best stated by the Indian philosopher, P.R. Sarkar. His theory of agriculture as well as the worldview behind it, which he terms Microvita, offers a new vision of the future of science, society and particularly of food and agriculture. The article concludes by exploring the impact of Sarkar's theory on the future of agriculture and food. (click link above to read the rest of the article)

Here is another interesting article by Sohail Islamic Civilization in Globalization:From Islamic futures to a Post-western civilization .

On Pelosi in Syria

The current U.S. administration's refusal to talk to the Syrian government has always struck me as idiotic. How can you influence what happens in a complex region if you don't talk to a major player and potential spoiler. Talk is not the same as appeasement, but the present absolutist administration does not see it that way. In fact, it is their obstinacy that now makes Bashar look like a winner as dignitaries from various countries come knocking. By winner, mind you, I mean in the modern Arab, very low expectations sense of the word: glorious victory is declared when you lose your international pariah status.

I am not quite sure why the U.S. turned against the Syrian regime in the first place. Didn't they, after 9/11, invite the FBI over and provide them with information about all of their troublesome Islamists? Did they not oblige the U.S. by jailing and torturing Maher Arar for a year? The American administration complains about the porous Syria-Iraq border but where the Syrian regime was not supine enough, was in its refusal to cut off support for Hamas and Hizbullah. The independence of Lebanon from the hegemony of Syria also gets a mention, never mind the U.S. seemed oblivious to the sanctity of Lebanon when it was invaded by Israel last summer.

All of this makes me very skeptical of any American government's intentions towards Syria . Many who looked to the U.S. to force positive change in Syria were disappointed that Pelosi, during her visit, snubbed human rights activists by barely meeting with them. I am not sure why anyone is surprised. If there is one thing that the last six years have taught us is that the U.S. foreign policy is set to serve the myopic, short term, perceived interests of the United States, period. Once the U.S. gets what it needs from the Syrian government, any talk about human rights, freedom and democracy will cease (just look at Egypt).

The U.S.' re engagement of Syria may result in some positive changes such easing of economic sanctions and getting Syria out of Iran's sphere of influence. The bottom line, however, is that real, transformative change in Syria has to come from within: by Syrians for the good of all Syrians.

The Surprising Faces of Prejudice

A couple of days ago, I met with a very senior colleague in the department where I work along with several staffers to discuss ongoing research projects. In the midst of a lively discussion, that colleague, wanting to give an example of ways to control unruly women (in the presence of three women!), half-jokingly turned to me and said: "In your country you beat them, isn't that right? yeah, Muslims beat their wives". I was shocked but not totally surprised.

These statements are not the product of a defective and ignorant mind. My colleague is a highly educated man, a world traveller who spends half of his time flying from country to country to give invited lectureships. Yet as brilliant as he is in his profession, he remains essentially a closed-minded bigot and yet he would never admit it. He is of Anglo-Saxon descent, and remains a die hard Anglophile. No other culture or ethnicity quite measures up. The farther East or South you are, the less worthy. On his scale of worthiness, Italians from Milan are passable but those swarthy Sicilians might just as well be Arabs. He is also a born-again Christian and does not miss an opportunity to proselytize. He once told a bright Indian post-doctoral fellow working in our department that she behaved like a Christian. He meant it as a compliment. She, a Hindu by birth, but from a secular family, rightly took it as an insult. She did not fit his stereotype and yet he could not accept that what he admired about her as being intrinsically Indian; it must have been the result of some Western, Christian influence.

I have always assumed that people exposed to other cultures were likely to be more open-minded and less prejudiced. It is obviously a wrong assumption as the case of my colleague demonstrates. He loves to travel and meet different people, but what he takes away from these encounters is very selective. Anything that reinforces his own preconceived notions, he took in wholeheartedly and anything that challenged the stereotype, he ignored. So, in a twisted way, the more exposed to other cultures he was, the more prejudiced he became.

My assumption was also proven wrong in other ways. As a clinician in the U.S. for the past twenty years, I have treated patients of all socioeconomic backgrounds, ethnicities and religions. With most patients, my own background mattered little, although with some, it was a problem. I was always surprised by the people to whom my background mattered the least. It was almost invariably the simplest of rural folks, who could not place Syria on a map if their life depended on it, with whom I developed the most trustful and mutually respectful patient-doctor relationships. With this realization my own preconceived notion, my own stereotype of the "bigot", was shattered.

Of course, in the greater context of East-West misunderstanding, this type of prejudice cuts both ways. We all know many of our brethren who go West and come back without having expanded their cultural horizons one iota.

So what happened with my colleague?

I did not confront him during that meeting but chose instead to send him an email later that day. I measured my words carefully. I started with a long tirade that I thought was too confrontational and so I whittled it down to short paragraph:

"I just wanted to let you know that I was deeply offended by the statement that you made earlier today that spousal abuse is the norm in among Muslims and in "my" country. It is akin to saying that spousal abuse in the United States, not a trivial issue, is a "Christian" problem rather than a societal problem. And for the record, my mother, a European Christian, will tell you that, as a woman, she feels much safer walking at any time of the day or night in Beirut or Damascus than she would in any Christian European or American city. "

And he responded:

"Thank you for telling me. I hope you know that I would not intentionally offend you. The recent NY Times articles on the issue have made the same point that you make. They have also noted that a sense of humor about the differences in cultures is the best hope for mutual understanding. Please accept my apologies. "

Despite his apology, I am not sure he gets it or that he is truly remorseful. It was rather a cold response for someone with whom I have worked closely and successfully for the last fifteen years. Unfortunately, he is set in his ways and I will not be able to change his outlook. At least from now on he may think twice before unleashing the humorous interludes meant to improve mutual understanding among cultures.

Hands Off Marcel Khalife!

To the Bahraini members of parliament who opposed Marcel Khalife's show, I say: get a life! Of all the multitude of serious, home grown, problems that afflict our various Middle Eastern societies, Khalife's work is treated like it is a national threat to the high moral fiber of the Bahraini people. It is time for conservative Muslim preachers to stop treating their constituents like a bunch of unthinking sheep incapable of making intelligent decisions about what they deem as morally acceptable.

Marcel Khalife in a new controversy

Freemuse, the World Forum on Music and Censorship, expresses our concern over the attack on a music, song and dance drama by world renowned composer and musician Marcel Khalife and Bahraini poet Qassim Haddad. We are deeply concerned about what the consequences of the Bahrain Parliamentary investigative committee’s findings will be and express our full support to the distinguished artists.

International conventions secure musicians, composers and writers right to create, perform and act without interference from governments or religious groups. The attack by the Bahraini parliamentarians is a violation of freedom of speech as it applies to musicians.

Freemuse has signed the petition list initiated by the Lebanese Cultural Forum in France and signed by poets, writers, artists, researchers, academics, and media representatives in the Arab world.

We hereby respectfully and kindly ask the Bahraini parliament to reverse its decision and dissolve the Investigative committee, and to reaffirm the importance and role of artists and artistic freedom in society and ensure that the Parliament does not take any action violating the UN Declaration on Human Rights.

FREEMUSE

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Background

Marcel Khalife’s and Qassim Haddad’s performance premiered in Bahrain on 1 and 2 March 2007 as part of the inauguration of the annual Spring of Culture Festival which was organized by the Bahraini Ministry of Information. The show was attacked by fundamentalist members of the Bahraini parliament as being in violation of Islamic morals and Sharia laws after an Islamic preacher, Sheikh Ali Matar, had complained in a prayer sermon that the Spring of Culture Festival features a play with scenes that “arouse [sexual] instincts” and “encourage debauchery”.
Parliament second vice-chairman Dr Salah Abdulrahman said the event included “sleazy dance moves” which were offensive to Muslims and non-Muslims.

On 13 March 2007 the Bahraini parliament voted to create an investigative committee look into the controversy. Islamists control three-quarters of the 40 seats in the parliament in Bahrain.
More information and photos of the performance on www.freemuse.org/sw18500.asp

This is not the first time Marcel Khalife has been attacked for his work. In 1999 he was accused of blasphemy for allegedly insulting religious values by being accused of using a verse from the chapter of the Holy Qu'ran in a song.
Read more on: www.freemuse.org/sw1551.asp
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Joint action:
Declaration In Defense of the Spring of Culture

Responding to an initiative of the Lebanese Cultural Forum in France, Arab intellectuals comprised of poets, writers, artists, researchers, academics, and media representatives, have signed the following statement:

In Defense of a Culture of Love and Life

The face of aggression has, once again, appeared in full display of its dark-age menace, waging an anachronistic war against the “Spring of Culture” in Bahrain, and against the basic notions of love, freedom of expression, and the pathways of culture and art, represented here by Marcel Khalifé and Qassim Haddad.

This dark-age assault on the "Spring of Culture" in Bahrain is nothing but a protraction of the prosecution which Marcel Khalifé endured some years ago in Beirut, and of all the suppression and aggression to which Arab writers and intellectuals are subjected to by a number of Arab regimes.

Such obscurant, fundamentalist currents build no future or genuine culture, liberate neither land nor people, and augur no spring, and no love. Freedom alone, specifically freedom of expression, innovation and creativity in all its diversity, difference, and richness, can raise the foundation of our future, guarantee a culture of life, liberate women, and address the debilitating scourges of poverty, ignorance, disease, illiteracy, regression, corruption, power-mongering, aggression, suppression of thought, and dispossession of Arab lands.

We salute the institutions of civil society in Bahrain that stood up in defense of liberty and love. We salute the Spring of Culture in Bahrain and throughout the Arab World.

We salute Marcel Khalifé and Qassim Haddad.
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Freemuse (FREEdom of MUSical Expression) is an international human rights organisation advocating freedom of expression for musicians and composers worldwide.

A Correction and... a Glimmer of Hope?

In a post several days ago, I spoke of an older Syrian man, jailed in late January because of a poem he wrote, who reportedly died of a stroke or heart attack in custody. The report of his death, publicized by the Syrian Committee for Human Rights turned out to be false. The man, Mohamed Ali Derbak was released by the authorities soon after rumors of his death became public. Also released were the owner and the clerk of the bookstore where Mr. Derbak was making a photocopy of his poem.

I am, needless to say, happy for Mr. Derbak and his family. I am also happy that the authorities were essentially forced to release him to squelch rumors of his death. The fact that they would react this way rather than risk public indignation is encouraging. More often than not, one gets the impression that the authoritarian ways of the Syrian government are hopelessly immutable. Whether this is an small indication of change or whether this is a calculated act of self-preservation , I don't know. Mr. Derbak's saga, however, highlights the importance of publicizing these cases either by human rights organizations as well as activists of all stripes.

The Dismantling of Old Damascus

"I will try not to cry until late at night; to cry for my memories and the memories of my family and all that pulls me to this magnificent place. I cannot cry during the day because I have several families whose livelihood depends on my business. I need to think about how to feed them and to insure a dignified life for them." Soon to be evicted store owner in old Damascus as told to Razan Zeitouna.

Several websites and blogs have have reported on the story of the plan to bulldoze a last vestige of old Damascus outside the city walls (here, here, here). It is a critical issue that is worth repeating to give it the widest exposure as the anonymous comment on my last post stated. An article in the magazine, The Architectural Review, aptly titled "The Damascus Massacre" which appeared in 2005 details the history of this ongoing dismantlement of the very heart of this ancient city. It is a history of colonial destruction (the 1925 French bombardment) followed by imposed urban planning, misguided modernization and most recently a combination of neglect, mismanagement, corruption and greed. The current project for the old city date back to the 1968 plans of Michel Ecochard, a French architect commissioned by the city. His plans, followed the Western urban planning ideas of the time, emphasizing urban functionality; hence the focus on wide arterial roads to the detriment of everything else.

The 1968 plans have been met with a variable resistance from Damascenes since then , but even when parts of the plan was implemented, it was done carelessly. In fact UNESCO, which designated old Damascus as part of the World Heritage has been unhappy with the course of events in the past few years. The recent plans and the haste with which they seem to have been implemented have aroused protests but also some suspicions. Interestingly even government controlled media outlets have published articles critical of these plans. The plan when implemented will result in the loss of livelihood and displacement of thousands of Damascenes without plans for adequate compensation.

No one can dispute that change is needed in a city whose population is mushrooming. However, intelligent change takes into account the social, historical and architectural character of the city and minimizes the impact of any planned change. Unfortunately, no such intelligent planning can be seen in the completely unregulated and chaotic expansion of the outer areas of Damascus. Given the opaque and corrupt nature of most government institutions in Syria, there is little confidence that what is being planned is absolutely necessary and if so, that it is carefully thought out and executed.

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Speak No Evil!

It has not been a good week for freedom of expression in the Middle East. Egyptian courts denied blogger Kareem Amer's appeal against his four-year sentence. Meanwhile, in Damascus, some sixty members of the Damascus declaration were manhandled and some arrested as they tried to unfurl a banner demanding an end to the state of Emergency in front of the palace of Justice. Those arrested included ex-parliamentarian Riad Seif and writer Ali Abdallah among others (see Also Fares' post here). More recently, a 72 year old man, arrested by one branch of the mukhabarat in late January died in custody. His crime was writing a poem containing a verse that was critical of the Shia. The poem was written shortly after reports were aired on al-Jazeera of Syrian refugees being killed by members of the Sadr militia. The poem came to light when the writer was making photocopies of it in a bookstore. The bookstore's owner and clerk were also arrested for good measure.

Why isn't there more public outrage about these blatant violations of the right to peacefully and freely express one's opinions? Certainly a great contributor to this inertia is fear of the long and oppressive arm of the state. But there is more to it. The following is statement by Tarek, left as a comment to one of Fares' post:

وهكذا تغيب المسؤولية تجاه أفراد المجتمع الآخرين، فعلى سبيل المثال إن السجناء السياسيين في البلدان العربية ضحوا بأنفسهم من أجل الشعب ولكن الشعب نفسه يضحي بأولئك الأفراد المناضلين الشجعان، فلم نسمع باحتجاج أو إضراب عام يقوم به عامة الناس في المجتمع من أجل السجناء السياسيين، لأن الناس يتصرفون مع قضية السجين السياسي على أساس أنها قضية فردية. إن ذلك من أخطر مظاهر عدم الشعور بالمسؤولية.

Translation: There is a lack of responsibility towards other members of society. For example, political prisoners in Arab countries sacrifice themselves for the people, but the people, in turn, sacrifice these courageous activists. We rarely hear about public demonstrations or general strikes for political prisoners because people behave with regard to the issue of political prisoners as if it was a isolated, personal matter. This is one of the most dangerous manifestations of this lack of feeling of responsibility.

I think there is certainly some truth to that. In societies where corruption is rampant and the rule of law is applied capriciously, economic survival is a constant struggle usually won by those who are willing to bribe and cheat their way to the top. This survival of the fittest mentality promotes self-preservation above any greater societal needs. Those who profit from oppressive regimes are free-wheeling businessmen with connections in the Presidential palace but also lowly, and well connected, government employees. To people who have "made it" in such societies, a person like a Kamal Labwani or a Michel Kilo must seem like unreasonable trouble makers. For them, the status quo is golden.

(Painting: Speak no evil, Jeffrey Freedner, 1995)

Mr. Yazbek’s Gift

As I reach new mileposts in life -new school, new job, new country, marriage, children- I often shed the superflous clutter of my previous existence. Not everything, of course. Photographs are preciously preserved as are other sentimental momentos of the past. The oldest such momento, surviving numerous life-changing events, sits in the drawer of my nightstand. It is a little green notebook with frayed and discolored pages, containing in the careful and deliberate handwriting of a thirteen year old, sayings and verses of poems in Arabic.

The thirteen year old was me, long ago. My Arabic teacher at the French Catholic school I attended in Lebanon, was Mr. Yazbek. He had the habit of peppering his lessons with sayings and verses from famous and not so famous poets. There was a little Ibn el-Rumi, a little Jibran, something from al-Buhtary and even a few of Mr. Yazbek's own poems. I would quickly jot down what he said in class and later collected them carefully in my green notebook, neatly divided under catogories like "greed", "courage" or "virtue". None of these sayings or verses were part of the curriculum and so I did not have to memorize them for an exam. I am not sure what compelled me to compile these sayings except the sense the Mr. Yazbek was different than other teachers.

Perhaps it was the way he unexpectedly tossed out his little gems, with a flourish and conviction that was absent when he taught us the standard lessons. For Mr. Yazbek, the Arabic language was not just a tool of the trade, it was a passion that he tried to impart to his students. His literary knowledge of Arabic was broad. Once a week, when most of the boys in the school attended mass, Mr. Yazbek, a Christian, would bring together the handful of Muslim boys in my class and teach us verses from the Quran. That Mr. Yazbek took the time to do that for us warms my heart to this day. To some, what he did may seem incongruous; to me it makes perfect sense. Mr. Yazbek has definitely earned his place in my imaginary Levantine dreamhouse where tolerance and respect reign supreme.

Mr. Yazbek was my last Arabic teacher. We left Lebanon that year prematurely ending my secondary school education in Arabic. I would never be exposed to literary Arabic beyond the tantalizing snippets that Mr. Yazbek introduced me to. It is something I regret and makes me feel somehow lacking especially that my father, a prolific writer, has an excellent command of the language; and who doesn't want to measure up to their father?

And so I continue to hold on tightly to the little green notebook, Mr. Yazbek’s gift. On the one hand the notebook reminds me of Mr. Yazbek's passion but also my inadequacy when it comes to Arabic. On the other hand, armed with this thin tome of sayings, I also feel that I still have my foot (more like my toe) in the door of Arabic literature... After all, I can still quote verses from Ibn el-Rumi:

كم من منزل في الارض يألفه ألفتى ـــ و حنينه أبدا لأؤل منزل

نقل فؤادك حيث شئت في ألهوى ـــ ما ألحب ألأ للحبيب ألأول

أبن ألرومي

The Muhaddithats: Muslim Female Scholars in History

Did you know that there has been at least 8,000 women Islamic scholars in the past 1400 years? I didn't. Here is an intriguing story from today's New York Times Magazine. It is interesting that Prince Turki al-Faisal of Saudi Arabia has agreed to publish the forty volume biography of these women. Let us see if Saudi women -or for that matter men- will acutally have access to this biography or if it will be considered too incendiary for KSA's fossilized religious establishment.

A Secret History

By CARLA POWER
Published: New York Times Magazine, February 25, 2007

For Muslims and non-Muslims alike, the stock image of an Islamic scholar is a gray-bearded man. Women tend to be seen as the subjects of Islamic law rather than its shapers. And while some opportunities for religious education do exist for women — the prestigious Al-Azhar University in Cairo has a women’s college, for example, and there are girls’ madrasas and female study groups in mosques and private homes — cultural barriers prevent most women in the Islamic world from pursuing such studies. Recent findings by a scholar at the Oxford Center for Islamic Studies in Britain, however, may help lower those barriers and challenge prevalent notions of women’s roles within Islamic society. Mohammad Akram Nadwi, a 43-year-old Sunni alim, or religious scholar, has rediscovered a long-lost tradition of Muslim women teaching the Koran, transmitting hadith (deeds and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad) and even making Islamic law as jurists.
Akram embarked eight years ago on a single-volume biographical dictionary of female hadith scholars, a project that took him trawling through biographical dictionaries, classical texts, madrasa chronicles and letters for relevant citations. “I thought I’d find maybe 20 or 30 women,” he says. To date, he has found 8,000 of them, dating back 1,400 years, and his dictionary now fills 40 volumes. It’s so long that his usual publishers, in Damascus and Beirut, have balked at the project, though an English translation of his preface — itself almost 400 pages long — will come out in England this summer. (Akram has talked with Prince Turki al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia’s former ambassador to the United States, about the possibility of publishing the entire work through his Riyadh-based foundation.)
The dictionary’s diverse entries include a 10th-century Baghdad-born jurist who traveled through Syria and Egypt, teaching other women; a female scholar — or muhaddithat — in 12th-century Egypt whose male students marveled at her mastery of a “camel load” of texts; and a 15th-century woman who taught hadith at the Prophet’s grave in Medina, one of the most important spots in Islam. One seventh-century Medina woman who reached the academic rank of jurist issued key fatwas on hajj rituals and commerce; another female jurist living in medieval Aleppo not only issued fatwas but also advised her far more famous husband on how to issue his.
Not all of these women scholars were previously unknown. Many Muslims acknowledge that Islam has its learned women, particularly in the field of hadith, starting with the Prophet’s wife Aisha. And several Western academics have written on women’s religious education. About a century ago, the Hungarian Orientalist Ignaz Goldziher estimated that about 15 percent of medieval hadith scholars were women. But Akram’s dictionary is groundbreaking in its scope.

(Continued Here)

Syrian Bloggers in Solidarity with Kareem Amer

Fellow bloggers worldwide, but especially Middle Eastern bloggers need to vehemently protest the sentencing of Egyptian blogger Abdel Kareem Soliman (Blogger name: Kareem Amer) to a four year prison term for his dissenting views. We all realize that blogs afford us a degree of freedom of expression and exchange of ideas that is sorely lacking in our part of the world where information is tightly controlled by authoritative governments and where conservative societies stifle discussion of important topics that are considered taboo. I personally believe that such freedom of expression is vital to instigate reform and move the Middle East out of its intellectual and cultural stagnation.
I am asking all Syrian bloggers to post the following statement in support of Abdel Kareem's right to express his opinion freely. I welcome any suggestions as to the wording of the statement. Please leave me a comment when you post the statement on your blog:

We, as a community of Syrian bloggers, condemn the arrest and sentencing of Egyptian blogger Abdel Kareem Nabil Soliman for the peaceful expression of his dissenting views. We ask the Egyptian government to reconsider its decision to arrest and prosecute Abdel Kareem. The stated reasons for their action include the preservation of the public peace and state security, and the prevention of incitement against Islam. We contend that his arrest will achieve neither. Silencing such dissenting voices as Abdel Kareem’s, serves only to strengthen the hands of extremists who will not shy away from violence to achieve their goals. Moreover, we remind the Egyptian government that his arrest and prosecution violates at least two articles (see below) of the 1948 United Nations universal declaration of human rights to which Egypt was a signatory.

Relevant United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights articles:

Article 18. Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Article 19. Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Such rights for freedom of expression are also enshrined in the 1990 Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam and the 2003 Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the World's religion

Egyptian Blogger Kareem Sentenced to Four Years in Jail

Twenty two year old Egyptian blogger from Alexandria and former Al-Azhar student, Kareem Amer (Abdel Kareem Nabil Soliman) was sentenced to four years in jail for his personal posts critical of the government of Hosni Mubarak, for his secular writings and criticism of sectarian strife in Alexandria last year. He was initially arrested for several days then released in 2005. He was dismissed from Al-Azhar last year which then filed a complaint against him with the public prosecutor. He was rearrested last fall. The charges against him included: Spreading data and malicious rumors that disrupt public security- Defaming the President of Egypt- Incitement to overthrow the regime upon hatred and contempt- Incitement to hate “Islam” and breach of the public peace standards- Highlighting inappropriate aspects that harm the reputation of Egypt and spreading them to the public.

The language of the charges is sickeningly familiar. It is the language that paranoid authoritarian governments use when they feel threatened, when someone tells the TRUTH. They ring hollow as if drawn up by a bored bureaucrat, the same set of charges paraded out thousands of times before; all they had to do was change the name of the accused. And for what? Abdel Kareem just expressed his thoughts, he did not incite or threaten violence, he did not undermine the security of the country. His only true crime is that of having and expressing critical thoughts, an inexcusable deviance for an autocratic and corrupt regime much more difficult to deal with than a bomb tossing terrorist. Citizens of such countries are expected to be subservient automatons without critical thought. They are supposed to act like castrated sheep, bleating meekly and bowing to the almighty, infallible leader, Hosni Mubarak (or Bashar al-Assad, or, or.....).

I am equally disgusted with the behavior of Al-Azhar's administration. What they have done is shameful whether they acted as a tool of the government or of their own free will. Are the tenets of Islam so fragile that they cannot withstand the criticism of a single free thinking blogger?

This is a dark day for Middle Eastern bloggers as well as for democracy and freedom of expression in our region.

More information at: Free Kareem

History Matters!

I am writing this at the risk of appearing to perseverate. However, I think it is an important enough to make it worth restating.

In an exchange of comments on a recent post, a blogger questioned why I brought up the issue of the Lebanese civil war in discussing the current crisis in Lebanon. The short answer is that the current polarization of the Lebanese along sectarian lines is the direct result of unresolved issues that were left to fester under the surface since the end of civil war. There is no doubt that the present political context and immediate problems are very different than those of 1975 but when you boil it down to its bare essentials, there is little difference. Each side claims to be the "real" Lebanese and will reference different versions of history to support their claim.

I had posted an article in January about what Lebanese children are taught and not taught about their history. Here is another recent article that appeared in the Daily Star discussing the matter in more detail. Many if not most Lebanese children get their education in non-secular schools that teach different versions of the history of Lebanon. All schools, however, seem to agree on one thing; when it comes to the history of the civil war, no one talks about it. It is as if history stopped in 1975 only to resume in 1991.

This selective amnesia amounts, in my mind, to criminal negligence on the part of the Lebanese state. It is not the fault of the educators but the fault of the sectarian politicians whose agreement was needed but never obtained for a unified history textbook and curriculum to be taught in all schools. Seventeen years have been wasted since the end of the civil war and a whole generation of Lebanese have no real awareness of what happened between 1975-1990. What they do have are bits an pieces of that history that they gleaned from their parents whose views are colored by their personal experiences and political -and sectarian-leanings. Meanwhile, politicians directly involved in the civil war or their descendants continue to wield power and can manipulate the new generation down the same ruinous road that Lebanon took in 1975. That is not to say that the new generation of Lebanese are ignorant or passive. As the two articles I quoted show, they are aggressively questioning the history that they are not being taught. At the same time, an incomplete understanding to history is what leads the young Lebanese blogger I cited previously to post pictures of both Bachir Gemayel and Samir Kassir side by side as Lebanese "martyrs". I think any impartial view of history could never make a hero out of Bachir Gemayel -or Aoun for that matter.

In teaching the history of the civil war there is no need to create monsters or false heroes. The younger generation is perfectly capable of drawing their own conclusions from an objective rendering of history. They will learn from that history that the civil war was an obscene, futile and wasteful tragedy. Surely all Lebanese would agree to this characterization of the civil war.

(Photograph: A.K. with Photoshop)

Kassir: On Being Arab

I must admit that prior to his assassination, I knew little about Samir Kassir. The short biographies about him suggested a man of great intellect and wide breadth of knowledge and interests in history and politics. He was a vocal critic of the Syrian government yet by no means was he reflexively anti-Syrian. Born to a Palestinian father and a Syrian mother, Kassir was close to Syrian intellectuals of the Damascus Spring.

It is unfortunate that after his assassination politics and propaganda have distorted his image by conflating his ideas with those of the Lebanese right, like the Lebanese forces, who now sing his praises just because he opposed Syrian hegemony over Lebanon. I have even seen a Lebanese blogger put his picture next to that of Bashir Gemanyel under the heading of Lebanese martyrs. Samir Kassir would have been offended .

Being Arab is more a long essay than a book and is divided into seven chapters with titles that would suggest utter desperation and disgust with the state of the Arab world. With titles such as The Arabs are the most wretched people in the world today, even if they do not realize it, you would think that it is an all out attack on everything Arab. It is nothing of the sort. Kassir sets out to analyze what he calls Arab malaise and its root causes. This is an impassioned, honest analysis by someone with a clear sense of what his Arab identity means and who cares deeply about the future of this part of the world. Unlike many critics these days, Kassir does not believe that Arabs are intrinsically programmed to fail.

Kassir re-examines current perceptions of Arab history and its trajectory from the Islamic golden age, the long age of decline, the 19th century reawakening (Nahda) and into the twentieth century. The perceptions of what these periods of Arab history mean depend on one's political and religious affiliations. On the one hand, purist Islamic fundamentalists recognize only a very brief golden age and recognize no positive accomplishments of Arab history or culture subsequent to that. At the other end of the spectrum, and interestingly, coming full circle to meet the fundamentalists, are some Western anti-Arab propagandists who recognize no Arab accomplishments even dismissing the accomplishments of the Golden age. One of the cornerstones of current criticism of Arab society is the failure of the Nahda to propel Arab society into modernity. Kassir, showing a profound understanding of Arab history and culture of the last one hundred and fifty years, begs to differ. He spells out the many accomplishments of the Nahda and argues that its positive impact started to wane only in the past generation.

The reasons for the waning modernizing influence of the Arab Nahda are many according to Kassir. The persistent meddling of the superpowers, either directly or indirectly through the unconditional support of Israel, geography and geology (oil), the rise of religious fundamentalism and too narrowly defined, exclusivist, nationalist impulses. This book reminds me of another by Fouad Ajami I read a couple of years ago The Dream Palace of the Arabs. I never liked Fouad Ajami, having been irritated by his statements whenever I saw him interviewed by the American media. Yet I thought the book's analysis to be brilliant though I did not agree with his conclusions that invariably exonerates the West from any culpability in the calamities that have befallen he Middle East. In Ajami's pessimistic outlook is a sense that there is an incorrigible aspect to Arab intellectual thinking, an intrinsic defect. It is easy for him, sitting, as he is, far from the Arab "street", in an American ivory tower, to cast asperions about the Arab mind. Kassir, writing as an Arab intellectual from within, does not succumb to such deterministic cultural labels. That is not to say that Kassir shies away from self-criticism:

"So it is not just that the West needs to re-examine its stance. The Arab world in particular needs to make a profound effort to eradicate the ambiguities that encourage a logic of cultural confrontation. This mean first putting victimhood into perspective. We must replace Arabs' customary assumption of victim status not by cultivating a logic of power or a spirit of revenge, but by recognizing the fact that, despite bringing defeats, the twentieth century has also brought benefits that can enable the Arabs to participate in progress."

In the end, despite the many gloomy chapter titles, Kassir's manifesto is actually one full of hope for the future. He reminds us of the many accomplishments of the last century that have been overshadowed by the many defeats. His last chapter is full of optimistic signs of change such as the development of a more cohesive and inclusive Arab culture brought about by the communications revolution which has bypassed traditional state imposed barriers.

I highly recommend this book. It is a heartfelt plea for change and reform by a great Arab intellectual who will be sorely missed.

Lebanese Heroes: Women Clearing Cluster-Bombs

A Swedish agency charged with clearing the tens of thousand American-supplied, Israeli delivered cluster-bombs in South Lebanon has found numerous women volunteers ready to take on this dangerous task. At a time when the Lebanese political scene is dominated by self-serving politicians trading ugly accusations, these women are a breath of fresh air.

Their courageous, selfless act for the common good is exemplary. They are true patriots.

Allah yahmeehom (May God protect them).

Terror-Free Oil: War on Terror Lite

To assuage their guilt-ridden consciousness about being the biggest per capita consumers of the world's energy resources, Americans can now fill their SUVs with Terror-Free oil. On February 1st, a gas station in Omaha Nebraska will be the first in the nation to sell Gas that does not originate in Middle East, where of course, every cent made from oil goes to finance terrorism. What is most disturbing about this preposterous notion is that the American public will swallow the simple-minded concept whole and without much question. For the last six years the American media has been filled with stories about how we, in the Middle East, are fed anti-Western propaganda and blame the West for all that ails us. Although, there is more that a grain of truth in this, the Western media fails to look at itself in the mirror. There are deep-rooted cultural biases against Muslims in general and Arabs in particular that were always kept in check by political correctness. Since the terrorist acts of 9/11 though, all pretenses have been dropped and now well-known syndicated columnists routinely publish hate-filled anti-Arab and anti-Muslim drivel without anyone batting an eye.

It is in this atmosphere, compounded by a president who fudges the facts and is fighting an amorphous "war on terror" that the logic of "terror-free oil" becomes acceptable. No facts, context or reason are needed; it sounds good, so it must be right.

When I first heard the story, I thought it sounded more like right wing propaganda than anything else. My suspicions were immediately confirmed when I logged on to the Terror-Free Oil initiative site. On the upper right hand side is a changing banner that changed from "God bless America" to "We stand with Israel". Look at their blog links and you realize that this initiative is not about stopping financing of terrorism as much as about anti-Muslim hate mongering.

Rami Khoury on Lebanese Crisis

Here is an analysis of the Lebanese situation that echos my sentiments exactly. Rami Khouri is one of my favorite commentators. His opinions are always balanced and reasoned, never shrill.

Enough abuse of the streets in Lebanon

By Rami G. Khouri
Daily Star staff
Saturday, January 27, 2007


Just as it was half a century ago, Lebanon is once again a pioneer and pace-setter in the Arab world, though this time the direction of movement may be toward destruction and incomprehensible violence. For years Beirut and Lebanon were known as the Paris and Switzerland of the Middle East, reflecting their freewheeling leisure activities, liberal culture, human talent in banking, education and engineering, and their open, welcoming capital that accommodated exiled politicians from all parts of a very ideo logical Middle East.

This week, those who rule Lebanon and Beirut seem to be saying that they are also capable of being the Afghanistan and Mogadishu of the Middle East, characterized by inter-communal warfare and collapse of law and order, brought on by the irresponsibility that all sides have practiced in bringing the country to the brink of inter-communal clashes.

The street clashes in Beirut and other parts of Lebanon last Tuesday, and again on Thursday, have left over half a dozen people dead and several hundred wounded. Events Thursday led to a night curfew in Beirut, and heightened fears that the situation could turn into full-fledged sectarian warfare. This occurred, paradoxically or deliberately, during the week that many countries in the world met at the Paris III gathering and pledged over $7 billion to assist Lebanon in its economic recovery program.

The tragedy of the current clashes among angry politicized youths and spontaneous neighborhood and sectarian gangs is that neither side is totally right or wrong. The opposition led by Hizbullah and the Free Patriotic Movement has already been widely blamed for escalating tensions to their current dangerous level, and is more likely than the pro-government side to lose politically if things persist in the current direction of tension and clashes.

Hizbullah has already elicited criticism by many Lebanese that it recklessly triggered the war against Israel in July 2006 that destroyed much in Lebanon and set back the country's economy for many years. The party is now widely accused of pushing its legitimate demands beyond reasonable limits, and acting more like a tyrant on a rampage than a respected and powerful opposition that operates through the existing political and constitutional system.

Hizbullah and its smaller partners in the opposition are correct to point out that the ruling political elite that has dominated Lebanon for the past two decades has irresponsibly raised the national debt to some $41 billion, and is taking on more debt through the Paris III mechanism. They are correct to demand more integrity, efficiency and rationality in state policies, less corruption and nepotism, and a more effective defense system. They also raise some reasonable concerns about aspects of the tribunal being established to try those who will be accused of killing the late prime minister, Rafik Hariri.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb

These are relevant issues that require serious debate and resolution, which Hizbullah and its junior partners should have forced through the political structures that exist, such as Parliament, the Cabinet, the judicial system or the several national dialogue sessions. Instead, they detracted from the validity of many of their grievances and concerns by pushing their street protests to the point of widespread disruption of life and a weakening of the economy. Their tactics, and the response they triggered from pro-government groups, stoked the flames of sectarianism, unleashing haphhazard groups of young men with guns and sticks roaming the streets of Beirut looking to fight or to destroy cars and property.

There is nothing special about Lebanon's current predicament in terms of the wider Arab world. It is just another Arab state that has suffered the tensions inherent in a situation where the central government and institutions of statehood are weak and inefficient, and most citizens turn instead to their religious, tribal or ethnic identities. The problem is compounded by support from external forces - Iran and Syria behind Hizbullah, and the United States and France behind the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and the parliamentary majority - which creates deep suspicions among the Lebanese themselves.

Lebanon's strong external support, as demonstrated in the Paris III pledges, should be a blessing for the country.

The structural reforms in state finances that will be enacted as part of this process should also benefit all Lebanese. There is a chance this will not happen now, which could plunge the country into years of low-intensity conflict and simmering tensions - well below the level of the 1975-1990 civil war, but enough to keep Lebanon mired in perpetual mediocrity and stagnation.

The stakes are very high, and very clear. Lebanon is at an ominous moment of reckoning, and sadly its fate might be determined by the vagaries of gangs of angry and fearful young men with sticks and guns. The modern Arab state is tested once again, and is not doing very well.


Rami G. Khouri writes a regular commentary for THE DAILY STAR.

Sticks and Stones...and Bullets: Lebanon on the Slippery Slope

I never trusted the intentions of Hizbullah and their allies. How can you when they have at their disposal, should politics fail, a standing army more powerful than the country's armed forces. Yet, I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. I supported their right to object to the policies of the standing government and to do so peacefully but what happened in the last two days was thuggish intimidation pure and simple. Organizing massive a blockade of all roads with mounds of dirt and flaming tires, the wanton destruction and burning of cars and the forceful prevention of people from reaching their work or the airport is not peaceful protest. The message was clear:" we have played nice so far, but this is what can happen when the gloves come off!"

Yet even now as the violence escalates out of control, Nasrallah is talking from both sides of his mouth. On the one hand he issues a fatwa to have his followers get off the streets and respect the Army and the security forces. On the other, he arrogantly says that he has the power and the guns to topple the government, but he will refrain from doing so - for now. If this is not a violent threat, I don't know what is.

Among the supporters of the opposition are Lebanese -Christians and Shia- who feel disenfranchised both economically and politically. They have real grievances and object to the course in which their country's developement was set in the 90s, a course that has resulted in a shrinking middle class and an ever widening gap between rich and poor. However, their leaders, Nasrallah and Aoun, while giving lip service to the grievances of their consituency, are only interested in one thing, power.

The images of the past two days are disturbingly familiar to anyone who remembers Beirut in 1975. Nasrallah admitted that he overplayed his hand with the Israelis last Summer, he is doing it again, this time with his own compatriots. If Lebanon descends yet again into the abyss of civil war, Nasrallah bears full responsiblity.

What's a Lebanese?

The article below appeared recently in the New York Times and deals with the disparate national historical narratives that children in Lebanon are taught and its effect on national identity. These are issues I tackled in previous posts, but they have become even more relevant after last summer's war and its continuing political ramifications.

The Lebanese need a national dialogue to directly confront the demons of the civil war. They need a South African style truth and reconciliation that would finally bring closure to civil war. They also need to decide on a common national identity, one that weaves together the historical narratives of the individual communities. Without that any short term political fix is destined to fail.

A Nation With a Long Memory, but a Truncated History

By HASSAN M. FATTAH
New York Time: January 10, 2007

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Jan. 9 — History classes across the globe serve two purposes — they educate the young and they shape national identity. They also often sidestep controversy to avoid offense.In Lebanon, textbooks generally avoid mention of such leaders, and of events since the early 1970s, especially the country’s long civil war. It is the same here as elsewhere, but the controversy being avoided is the vicious, 15-year civil war that started in 1975 in which Lebanon kidnapped, killed and bombed itself nearly into oblivion.

The bizarre results are evident in any schoolbook here — history seems simply to come to a halt in the early 1970s, Lebanon’s heyday. With sectarian tensions once again boiling here, some educators fear that the failure to forge a common version of the events is dooming the young to repeat the past, with most of them learning contemporary history from their families, on the streets or from political leaders who may have their own agendas.

“America used the school to create a melting pot; we used it to reinforce sectarian identity at the expense of the national identity,” said Nemer Frayha, the former director of the Education Center for Research and Development, a research organization that develops Lebanon’s curriculum. “From the start, I am forming the student as a sectarian person, not as a citizen. And what’s worse is that the people who are encouraging this are the intellectuals themselves.”

Students are frustrated by the omissions, knowing they are getting a distorted view of the past. “We keep asking them when we’re going to learn the real history,” said Fatima Taha, a ninth grader at Hara International College, a secondary school in Beirut’s southern suburbs. “The history just suddenly stops.”

Private schools, which educate about half the country’s one million or so students, teach history based on books of their choosing, but approved by the Ministry of Education; public schools teach about two hours per week of history, based on textbooks virtually unchanged since they were written in the 1960s and 1970s.

In one textbook, the students get to know the Ottomans as occupiers; in another, they read about them as administrators. In some, they study the French as colonialists; in others, they study them as a examples to emulate.

In some Christian schools, history starts with the ancient Phoenicians, whom many Christians believe are their original ancestors, and the dawn of Christianity. In many Muslim schools, the Phoenicians are glossed over and emphasis is placed on Arab history and the arrival of Islam.

Whether Lebanon was occupied by the Ottomans, subjugated by the Ottomans or was simply a principality of the Ottoman Empire depends on the sect and region, much like whether the French, who oversaw the country until the 1950s, are depicted as colonialists, administrators or models of emulation.

“If they would just give us a national history, this country’s entire outlook would change,” said Jawad al Haj, Hara’s principal. Mr. Haj, who says two of his students were killed while fighting Israel last summer, has banned his students from attending protests in Beirut, fearing they could be indoctrinated by various political parties.

He has also prohibited any talk of politics inside his school, and is especially strict on any hint of sectarianism. About half of his 1,500 students are Shiites and the rest are mainly Sunnis, along with a few Christians.

“The kids need realities, a history they can believe in,” he said. “Otherwise, they will never learn the meaning of citizenship.”

Under the 1989 Taif accords that ended the civil war, Lebanon was supposed to unify its history and civics curriculums with the hope of building a national consensus and a more solid national identity.

Nearly two decades later, however, the history and civics curriculums are the only subjects that have not been revamped, still seen as the third rail of Lebanese politics. Beginning in 1997, a committee put together by the Ministry of Education spent three tumultuous and argumentative years trying to arrive at a common history curriculum.

In 2000, it released guidelines for a new curriculum that sought to depoliticize the history, several committee members said, focusing on the effects of scientific and economic development on the country, with lessons in sociology and economics in addition to teaching techniques of historical analysis.(Continued Here)

Apartheid Any Way You Slice It

From the firestorm of protests that followed its publication, one would think that Jimmy Carter's book, Palestine Peace Not Apartheid, was a rabid anti-Israeli manifesto. Instead, it is a very understated, painstakingly balanced look at the situation in Palestine. Carter writes very much like he speaks; soft spoken and understated to a fault. Yet this rather short, cursory summary of the history of the conflict as seen through his eyes manages to get one point very clearly across, a point that, though self-evident to the rest of the world, seems not to have penetrated the American narrative of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict due primarily to the deep-rooted assumption that Israel is invariably the victim in this conflict. The point is that Israel has and continues to systematically dispossess Palestinians of their land under the false pretense of security.

It is perhaps Carter's ability to get this point across without sounding strident or shrill that most enrages critics like Alan Dershowitz who have, predictably, slapped him with the anti-Semitic label, among others. That smear campaign is unlikely to work as Carter is one of the most respected men in the United States.

Whatever one thinks of Carter's presidency and the merits of the Camp David accord, his sincerity, honesty and forthrightness are beyond reproach. His achievements after his presidency with his work at the Carter center, on a global scale, in monitoring elections and mediating conflicts have been outstanding.

What Carter said in this book has been said many times before. What is novel, for an American readership, is the fact someone with the stature of Jimmy Carter is now saying it.

First World and Other World Science

Several weeks ago I was in Seattle, one of my favorite American cities, to attend a conference for advancing research in a rare crippling disease that I have been studying for more than a decade. This being Seattle, the sky was grey and the air wet, as we convened in a swank conference room overlooking a garden in a sprawling privately-funded research institute with gleaming laboratories packed with the most advanced equipment that money can buy.

As I sat there among a dozen invited researchers discussing the intricacies of the unusual genetic mutation in this particular disease, my mind wandered. Being essentially a clinical researcher, some of the discussion about little known genetic mechanisms went over my head anyway, but this is not why my mind wandered. Being of multiple worlds and always feeling somewhat of an outsider, I have the habit of mentally stepping out a particular situation to look at the bigger picture.

The bigger picture is that this was a “First world”scene; one of security, wealth and virtually unlimited resources to allow these scientists the luxury and comfort to concentrate their intellect in the pursuit of apparently esoteric scientific questions. The other part of the big picture is a scene of equally gifted minds in Second and Third World settings whose intellectual output is limited by preoccupations with inadequate wages, insecurity and limited resources.

Such is the fate of many scientists in the Arab world. But although money is necessary, it is not sufficient in itself to spur on scientific pursuits; you need to have a culture that values progress and rewards innovation. While among the “brotherly” Arab nations many are not wealthy enough to commit to scientific endeavors, the few that are obscenely rich lack the will. It seems to me that these countries would tire after two generations of trying to outdo each other in extravagant, wasteful displays of wealth, and would start investing in projects that will contribute to the betterment of their own people, the people of the region and mankind as a whole. An indoor skiing slope and a man made island as a playground for the world’s super rich do not qualify as such projects.

Where are the regional cancer research institutes? the biotechnology hubs? the Arab silicon valley or the alternative energy research institutes for when the oil runs out?

(Photo: Cattails in winter by AK)