Liberty and Freedom in the 21st Century or cartoons & weapons of mass destruction
The Dannish Issue ....had some trouble with Blogger so could not put up the post ( I guess they have been overwhelmed by traffic) + I also have to sleep you know ;) anyway thanks for your patience and here is the update.
This is the update on my previous post about the Danish cartoons ; for those who did not get it, basically I said that the newspaper should not have run these carton because apart from hurting the image of a religious icon, they are racist. I also said that although free speech should not be questioned, there is nothing called 'total' freedom , because with freedom comes responsibility. Moreover, on the basis that free speech and human rights are for all, the Muslims should not be blamed for exercising this freedom to be offended- even if that is the only thing they every will do in their respective countries. So the Danes are free to criticise and so are we - that's fair right ?
Undeniably there is repression in the ME but that does not mean they have no rights to also feel about this subject and act on it civilly and peaceful (I expressly mentioned that they should emulate the West in their approach to these matters especially that now religion seems to have no place in the West but only civil society.
I quote "we should definitely mount a suitable campaign and civil action to prevent this kind of offense from ever recurring again but we have to play the game the Western way".) - but alas not everybody can hold their temper that is a human trait present on both sides. I won't quote from the Bible as many of you seem to find it irrelevant in this debate. I have always been under the impression that boycott is a civilized way to express disagreement.
Consequently hate speech by Muslims, death threats, and violence are not acceptable. I also do not think that diplomatic measures by states are a good idea either as they escalate the situation, or give international exposure. Still that is not a crime but only a method, albeit faulty. Calling Muslims retards and moronic ( by some Muslims) in order bow to pressure perpetuates bad sentiments also because it shows only one thing fear of a threat from the West, which is illogical because the ME is always under some kind of threat from the West if it does not concede to their demands ( that may be a flawed arguments but that is how many envision it).
Every one on the blogs is getting excited about the Jews, while this time should be about the Muslims. Funnily enough no one picked on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as Craig said either. What kept happening was what we call in Arabic '7adith torshan' a conversation of the deaf, with many people wishing to impose their own standards on others ( both sides) without stopping to think whether this might be the chance to reach out and actually talk WITH each other not AT each in order to reach a civil compromise that would satisfy all parties involved so that none of them believes they are wronged and perhaps also redress some historical wrongs in this regard similarly to what happened with the Jews.
In this regard I would like to point out that the persona of the Prophet Muhammad has been attacked and defamed viciously throughout the centuries by the West and Europe specifically ( Dante , Voltaire , the Church and countless others and others come to mind - thanks Eya).
On this same vein it is worth noting (thank you Eya again for reminding us)
that “Roger Du Pasquier points out:
In general one must unhappily concur with an Orientalist like Montgomery Watt when he writes that 'of all the great men of the world, no-one has had as many detractors as Muhammad.' Having engaged in a lengthy study of the life and work of the Prophet, the British Arabist add that 'it is hard to understand why this has been the case', finding the only plausible explanation in the fact that for centuries Christianity treated Islam as its worst enemy. And although Europeans today look at Islam and its founder in a somewhat more objective light, 'many ancient prejudices still remain.' (From Unveiling Islam, by Roger Du Pasquier, page 47 - quoting from W M Watt's Muhammad at Medina, Oxford University Press)”.
So neither Muhammad nor God need us to defend them, but yes we feel emotional about it.
A quote comes to mind which Egyptian Sally has graciously provided:
'French theologian Sohaib Bencheikh said, "One must find the borders between freedom of expression and freedom to protect the sacred.... Unfortunately, the West has lost its sense of the sacred."If only it were just the West'.
Is it not ironic that the US government found a cartoon in the Washington post OFFENSIVE ? (brilliant Hannibal).
The Danish Muslims it seems have accepted the paper's apology ( hattip Hannibal).Though many think it is incomplete check below MMM from subzeroblue :
"A bit earlier, I read that the Danish newspaper that published the cartoons has apologized for offending Muslims around the world, not for publishing the cartoons, but for offending Muslims."We apologize for the fact that the cartoons undeniably have offended many Muslims,"' Carsten Juste, editor-in-chief of Jyllands-Posten, wrote late yesterday in a letter on the paper's Web site. He said Jyllands-Posten wasn't sorry for running the cartoons though. As for Vebjoern Selbekk, the editor of Norwegian Magazinet, the paper that republished the caricatures, he too said that he "regrets if the drawings were offensive to Muslims.."
Still a good step forward to defuse the situation.
What did some Muslim leaderships in Arab countries do? they reply in civilized steps to also reign in the burning sentiments and call for civilized action, here is the announcement of the World Islamic Peaple’s Leadership (Arabic) for example. Or the essay on ceilings of freedom.
Compare it to the hysteria which has gripped the European press, by republishing the cartoons to make a point almost out of strife it seems, they solve nothing but only unwillingly or willingly demonstrate the extent of racism and hatred as Muslims suspected. It does not show any spirit of secularism or civil society or humanism yet they keep preaching to us about it.
The standoff between the Muslim peoples and the West hence continues and according to the media and to the blogs it’s like WWIII out there, but in reality it is not. The only looser in this embroglio are the Danish companies.
The Arab streets are not ablaze with boycotters and demonstrators who want to ‘defend the faith’ ( thanks Loulou) , that is simply not true. This is despite the calls by Fatah and Hizbollah for marching ( according the Sandmonkey ). The ME, NA and the rest of the Muslim world is a huge space and I don’t see 1.3 billion people reacting crazily ( not even one thousand- so far)– so please stop the media hype and exaggerations.
Certainly in Libya nothing is happening apart for some official statements here , here and here the Cen-Sad Union of Jurists issued a statement which states:
"[...]those cartoons stem from hostility, anti- beliefs and offending shrines, and igniting the spirit of extremism from which the world suffers a lot, as well as enlarging the gap between civilizations, and severing cooperation and solidarity among the peoples, transcending the professional journalistic values, and denying cultural plurality contradicting all international charters and covenants.
The Jurists Union of the Cen-Sad Community urged in its statement the need for the intervention of the international community, represented in the UN regarding this racist offense, as well as taking all necessary legal measures, according to the requirement of international charters and covenants, against those who committed such heinous behavior, by all courts, councils, and competent international organizations, and regard such request an official initiation of the law suit presented by the secretariat of the union.
The Union also asked in its statement the need for the Danish authorities to apologize to Muslims about that offense, punish the concerned newspaper and the author Viliming Russ.[sic] [this part I know is impossible and does not work the same way as in our world]"
Even the Libyan blogosphere is not interested apart from smokeyspice here.
I have said earlier that Libya had closed it's embassy, well my mistake it has not YET closed I should have looked at my own local press not blogs and foreign press, the statement issued by the governement is the following "going to close" is different then CLOSED ( which is a fait accomplit) .
Moreover, unlike is some other countries there is no frenzy of mobile text messages and only one lone email so far ( and believe me I’m very popular in real life ;) ).
However there is a popular movement by ordinary folks in the world and if they don’t want to eat Danish then it’s up to them. Danish products are still available in our markets in Libya for sale(I checked myself) and no one is preventing access to them so far, but they are labelled as Danish products. Plus anyway they have been paid for in advance to the Danish food company.
I will leave you with a rendering from Eman at Aquacool which encapsulated the whole thing please read it as it is very telling and go check her other posts on the matter also her comment section is full :)
"Today isn’t just my day. I’m sick, exhausted and working my head off to meet deadlines that have been given to me in a very short notice! Anyway, few minutes after I’ve got back from my lunch break, a client (a foreigner, doesn’t matter what nationality) is at the company door. He came to meet the boss, who was out. So I asked him to wait in my office till my boss arrives.
After a quick chitchat I got back to my work and he just looked through the window. Suddenly he strikes me with this question.
Client: You must be feeling ashamed of what your people are doing!
Eman: Sorry! (what the hell is he talking about)
Client: You know, the Danish cartoonist and the whole fuss Muslims did about that, come on, boycotting Denmark, asking for a punishment… this is quite silly I must say. (laughs)
Eman: Aha, that’s what you’re talking about then!
Client: I mean no offence to you, you’re different, you’re open-minded, not like those backward conservatives! are you even 100% Arab?
Eman: Well, I am 100% Arab, and I’m open-minded, and I am totally with the stand of “my people” on this… if that interests you!
Client: What!
Eman: Listen. I’m fed up of people calling us different kinds of things just because we stand for what we believe in, just because we stick to our principles. And you know what bothers me the most? It’s when people from within us: Muslims, and Arabs feel embarrassed because some of us spoke up!
Client: I’m shocked! You! I thought you were different and tolerant!
Eman: I am tolerant, you are NOT. I am open-minded, you are Not!
You lecture us about how we should live, how we should act, what we should say, and how we should react, but you free yourselves from every restriction in the name of democracy, and if we speak up you ask us to mind our own business?
Client: So now you are the civilized, democratic ones!
Eman: No, we still have a long way to go. But there’s a very fine line between democracy and racism; between freedom of expression and disrespect.
I might not totally agree with punishing the Cartoonist himself, but I am definitely with drawing lines to the relationship with any country that humiliates our religion.
You’re free to express, and so are we!
Client: But it was just a cartoon for God’s sake!
Eman: We -as human beings- have the right to object and protest. In your country, you have the right to sue someone if they used your name or picture without your permission, let alone use it in a racist, humiliating way!
Client: But…
Eman: But what? If I start drawing silly cartoons of your mother and humiliate her worldwide, would you still be friends with me?
Client: but it’s different, it was just a dead prophet!
Eman: To you, may be, to us he’s someone we look up to, someone we refer to, someone who’s always alive in every verse of Quran we read, in every school we go to, in every home we live… insulting him, is insulting me and “my people”, we’re not asking you to believe in him, but why humiliate him? If you insist to insult, go ahead, but you can’t force me to ignore the whole thing and act as if it didn’t happen, I’m free to feel disgusted, offended, and hurt!
Client: Hurt! What about terrorism!
Eman: What about it? You think you are the only ones suffering from it, we don’t?
Client: So you’re victims now!
Eman: No, and neither are you, we all have victims and criminals, we as Arabs have people who are such a disgrace, and so do you. The important thing is that we respect our differences and cultures.
Client: You’re right, but still I believe we’re free to choose the means of expressing ourselves!
Eman: You’re right, but still I believe we’re also free to choose the means of expressing ourselves equally!
(moment of silence)
Client: Now that I think of it, your people’s reaction does not sound so weird! That doesn’t mean I’m condemning the cartoonist.
Eman: I’m not asking you to, and thanks for listening to me.
Client: Thank you for explaining.
(the boss’ face appears on my security camera, I open the door, by the way… my boss is Arab and Muslim)
Boss: Sorry for the wait!
Client: Actually, I thank you for the wait, we had quite a discussion on the cartoonist issue.
Boss: What cartoonist? Ah right, the poor guy!
Client: Poor guy? (looks at me in shock)
Boss: He just drew few cartoons and boom attacks come from everywhere, I feel so embarrassed, really! You must think we are all backward bastards.
Eman: (I roll my eyes)
Client: (stands up, puts his hand on the boss’ shoulders) In fact, I believe as tolerant people, we should respect each other’s races and religions. You totally have the right to feel humiliated.
Boss: well… hmm…
Client: I mean, would you stand still if the cartoonist drew your dad the same way
Boss: (walking away from my office) I will kill him if he just thinks of it, anyway….
Client: (looking back at me) I was right, you are different! (smiles) "
Now from Highlander enough said this is very bad timing on a last note, why don't we ponder on this little incident of freedom "Take, for example, when Prince Harry dressed up in a Nazi outfit. The discussion was not about freedom of speech but what is considered offensive". (from BBC)
Friday, February 03, 2006
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Of cartoons and freedom of speech
You don’t read/watch the news for a couple of days because you have other more important things to take care of and when you come back to the world what do you find ?
The Muslim world and specifically the ME and NA in arms about the Danes, and the Western world in arms about Hamas’s democratic election, while the Iran -nuclear cliffhanger still has us holding our breath ‘will the US go to war (which is what it looks like 99%) or will the Iranians be cunning enough to avert the US wrath once again and deflect it on someone else? Or what is going to happen to Syria?’.
Please dear world give me a respite, I need to write the other posts I promised my readers, and not strive to catch up with current hot topics!!!!!!!
So for today since the Danish cartoons seems to have the blogging world abuzz, I’ve chosen to put in my 2 cents. I’m not going to take space on someone else’s blog and increase the confusion; I have my own blog for my own rants :)
I’ve decided to get involved because primo I can see from your IP addresses that many of you dear European friends especiallly are expecting me to say something on this topic ( I can see you ) . Segundo, I got one of those forwarded chain emails to my work email from a friend urging me to boycott Danish goods and tertio I find out yesterday that Libya has closed its embassy in Denmark over this issue.
Now when actions start to be taken at state level, things have definitely become serious and need time out for reconsideration. The silver lining in all this is that I don’t think we shall get carpet bombed by the Danes for that…. on second thought we might ..oh what the hell , we will all have to die one way or another. But this is out of topic let’s get back to what I was trying to say.
So what did I do with the email? well you know there is a preview option (without having to open the email) I clicked on it and found out that this was originally forwarded by someone from the UAE, ok I did not need to see more, I deleted the stuff on the spot. I don’t think that work areas should be sites for political debate or campaigning. I also phoned that so called friend and asked her to refrain from sending me inflammatory material especially at work. I don’t want to get arrested either for her stupidity, people sometimes just don’t think! I won’t repeat Sandmonkey’s words that they are ‘retarded’ .
As for Libya closing its embassy, well I was not surprised about that, we have always been the ones to try and ‘top’ other Arab countries in what I can only term ‘ a challenging, defiant stance’, almost like saying ‘ok you guys, who can do more than that now ?’
So what seems to be the problem and why has it gotten out of hand? With threats and deaths by extremists Muslim groups as well ? Why is everybody hell bent on proving Huntington’s Clash of civilization right?
The problem is compound, complex, and multifaceted, this is not good to start with, despite the way it is portrayed as an attack against ‘free speech ‘ on one side and a deliberate attack on sacred personae on the other, with the truth being lost. I’ve spent some time reading bloggers and readers, and have witnessed the wide spectrum of opinions and counter-opinions and almost lost sight of the original issues, because this has turned into another Islamophobia.
Let me try to dissect the problem for you (maybe I will make sense of it finally too).
A Danish paper decides to test the boundaries of ‘tolerance’ and exercise its ‘right’ at free speech by insulting ( thanks Michael) the most highly regarded and cherished figure in the Muslim and Arab world. Now with all due respect to Danes, I’m wondering is this a publicity stunt, a carefully planned agenda, or pure venom. I’m ruling out stupidity, because stupidity affects human relations but not in this deliberate way. Did the cartoonist really expect that their work will be glanced over? Why do it in the first place if you’re going to put your government in a tight spot, enflame the feelings of millions and issue an apology or apologies ( thank Sandmonkey) later?
This kind of action could have been expected from us Middle Easterners and North Africans renowned for our hotheadedness and boiling blood ; but in the cool Nordic spaces? no way. I find it surprising. With a Europe that is reeling and buckling under ethnic, racial , cultural and belief tensions as a large number of its population originates from immigrant stock ( i.e. non-white) this is begging for trouble. I mean if you don’t care about the Muslims in the rest of the world then supposedly you should care about the feelings of your own population since they carry your passport/nationality too. Otherwise in my book you are using double standards and those who do not ‘conform’ to a certain pattern don’t count ( I can already see some smartass trying to put me in my place and accusing me of being intolerant ;) well be my guest that’s why there is a comment section, just keep the profanities out please). Isn’t the paper’s action tantamount to incitement to hatred, when you bear in mind all that is going on in this world, including the heightened sensitivity of Muslims who only perceive persecution after 9/11 ( even if they could be wrong ?!?).
I believe that the right of freedom of expression does not exclude the right and necessity to be responsible. Plus let’s not forget the law of physics, ‘for every action there is an equal reaction’. That goes both ways by the way to the Muslims hotheads and to the Western hotheads (I’m not going to say Christians because that is simply not true ..in my humble opinion this is not a clash between Christianity and Islam no matter how much people like to say so and are mixing the deck of cards).
So those Danish cartoonist should have put their talent for a worthier cause of which there are so many in this world.
Now for the reaction from the Muslim world and particularly the ME and NA, I can understand it , I am very offended myself so are all those in my entourage. But as much as you have been offended some actions are simply out of place. Death threats in Gaza ? what are we terrorist bigots now ? This does not help our image as Muslims.
Yes, we should definitely mount a suitable campaign and civil action to prevent this kind of offense from ever recurring again but we have to play the game the Western way.
Our mistake as Arabs has been and will always be bombastic pride and arrogance (that’s probably a sin too ;) ). Please be reminded that most Arabs are not your cosmopolitan bloggers , but they are the ordinary people. We cannot assimilate that the rest of the world does not share our way of thinking and no matter to claims to the contrary most are not interested in reaching out to our way of thinking, you don’t do that when you are a dominating civilization .. While we Arabs have not accepted that our civilization though once great (emphasis on once) has waned. So we need to add another tool to our arsenal, think like ‘them’ and emulate their methods of problem solving. It will not diminish our personality, and it will reap us a lot of rewards in winning hearts and minds ™ in the West plus actually winning media wars followed by victory for the causes we are passionate about. We can keep our method of dealing as Arabs for each other, sort of like an internal memo and a circular memo.
Until the day we learn to do that, we will keep piling mistake upon mistake, whereby the truth and the right on our side will be turned against us!
Us acting stupidly, even though rightfully indignant, does not exonerate the Danish cartoonists and the paper from their grave miscalculations which may carry consequences we know nothing yet of. I don’t wish to be in their shoes with the dead people who are going to be on their conscience.
Some of you ask why are Muslims so angry?, ‘we don’t get angry when someone offends Jesus or Moses ( Peace be upon them ), or touches symbols of the church, that’s silly’. My reply is suit yourself if you don’t feel like redressing a wrong, but most offensive material about Jesus is usually by a Westerner. Muslims (especially ME and NA) revere Jesus and Moses just as they do Muhammad, they are certainly not going to ridicule them because that invalidates their Qu’ran and you cannot have that without the other.
Some westerners mention that they are called infidels (or kafirs) by bin Ladin types and wannabes and that they [the westerners] did not make a fuss about it? First of all bin Ladin and his ilk do not represent Islam but their own ideology and secondly if we look at it this way does beign called Kafir equate with Jesus being pictured as a killer and terrorist ? infidel or kafir is strictly reserved for non-believers those who have rejected Islam, and obviously Jews and Christians do have a book and are ‘people of the book and believers’ . So no affront has been done here since the persona of Christ has not been dirtied.
I’ve read a comment ( on Sandmonkey but can't find the specific link ) where some imam was preaching in Egyptian mosques and calling Christians and Jews pigs and cows, well this guy has absolutely no right to act this way and should be arrested for public insult, he definitely is not talking in the name of Muslims and should be incarcerated or sued, and is a bad believer, using ‘free speech’ wrongly. But mind you this imam has not denigrated our Jesus if you notice. This imam would not be in this world if he did because he would be thorn to shreds by the Muslim masses.
The qu’ran says ‘you have your religion and I have mine’.
RE. the cartoons again, I’ve seen this issue being explained as the fact that the Muslim should not make representations or statues of the prophet lest they fall into idolatry and that is why those cartoons are offensive. My response yes Muslims are not supposed to draw the prophet and his companions but those cartoons will certainly not encourage them towards idolatry, they are rather repugnant. To idolize and adore someone godlike you have to make him/her beautiful and attractive ( even on the cross) , look at the Virgin Mary and child statues and paintings, that is beautiful not repulsive and God loves beauty. If the cartoonist had tried to draw Muhammad in a ‘normal’ non satirical way they may have committed a faux pas but NOT an offense. There is a canyon between these two actions. On this same vein I’ve seen some bloggers justify the cartoonists' actions and refute this unspoken law about not representing the prophet by posting some calligraphies and illuminations and portraits ( hattip Roba) which represent the prophet and which were done during the Islamic age. I say again yes, but look at them closely again…. Is there anything offensive about them apart from the fact that they should not have been made in the first place ? They clearly depict passages from his life, and if you look closely you will see they are heavily Asian/East Asian influenced. No Arab would dare to do that. And I forgive them for this error because they Muslims applying their own cultural methodolgy to Islam.They have not portrayed the prophet in a threatening, evil, or blasphemous way. So using this as an excuse does not stand, it does not create a precedent to exonerate the cartoonists. Those were Chinese, Indian, Iranian or Turkish Muslims, but they have not insulted the prophet of Islam.
Arabs/Muslims have been stereotyped greatly in western media in far worse cartoons ( political and others ) and portrayals for the last 50 years or so and they never complained about that because, that is not offending the sacred religion. Westerners have also been satirically illustrated in Arab media yet never touching sacred beliefs so that is not an excuse to say ‘look at them they ridicule us’. Satire and offending the sacred are different things.
As for the so called boycott, well it may and may not work, me thinks it already did since the paper apologized.
Libya imports a lot of Danish products so I will miss the cheese and other dairy stuff, but thank God for other choices, I’ll go check today the state of the supermarkets.
When in the name of democracy and freedom of expression a state cannot interfere to clear the good name of a religious community by asking the offender to apologise, that opens the doors to attacking the human rights of others as stated in articles 18 and 19 of the Universal declaration of human rights .
Because the other party which feels wronged must not be begrudged also its ‘human rights ‘ and ‘freedom of expression’ to seriously contend the cartoonists action for example. My criticism is however leveled at the way used to respond to this onslaught of hate on Islam, not at the fact that it took place as everyone is free with their opinions.
Thanks to these cartoonists and hot headed Muslim counterparts the wick has been kindled, and the fire may run unchecked and engulf everything in its way… if we don’t do something to stop this there will soon be no humanity; especially if other nations decide to jump in to champion this cause.
Dear Muslims and dear people of the ME and NA, please don’t give the chance to your enemies (wherever they be) to laugh silently at you shooting yourself in the foot, you HAVE THE RIGHT to do something, take your time but do it with grace and brains. Your ancestors have done it before, I’m sure you can do it again. Amin .
You don’t read/watch the news for a couple of days because you have other more important things to take care of and when you come back to the world what do you find ?
The Muslim world and specifically the ME and NA in arms about the Danes, and the Western world in arms about Hamas’s democratic election, while the Iran -nuclear cliffhanger still has us holding our breath ‘will the US go to war (which is what it looks like 99%) or will the Iranians be cunning enough to avert the US wrath once again and deflect it on someone else? Or what is going to happen to Syria?’.
Please dear world give me a respite, I need to write the other posts I promised my readers, and not strive to catch up with current hot topics!!!!!!!
So for today since the Danish cartoons seems to have the blogging world abuzz, I’ve chosen to put in my 2 cents. I’m not going to take space on someone else’s blog and increase the confusion; I have my own blog for my own rants :)
I’ve decided to get involved because primo I can see from your IP addresses that many of you dear European friends especiallly are expecting me to say something on this topic ( I can see you ) . Segundo, I got one of those forwarded chain emails to my work email from a friend urging me to boycott Danish goods and tertio I find out yesterday that Libya has closed its embassy in Denmark over this issue.
Now when actions start to be taken at state level, things have definitely become serious and need time out for reconsideration. The silver lining in all this is that I don’t think we shall get carpet bombed by the Danes for that…. on second thought we might ..oh what the hell , we will all have to die one way or another. But this is out of topic let’s get back to what I was trying to say.
So what did I do with the email? well you know there is a preview option (without having to open the email) I clicked on it and found out that this was originally forwarded by someone from the UAE, ok I did not need to see more, I deleted the stuff on the spot. I don’t think that work areas should be sites for political debate or campaigning. I also phoned that so called friend and asked her to refrain from sending me inflammatory material especially at work. I don’t want to get arrested either for her stupidity, people sometimes just don’t think! I won’t repeat Sandmonkey’s words that they are ‘retarded’ .
As for Libya closing its embassy, well I was not surprised about that, we have always been the ones to try and ‘top’ other Arab countries in what I can only term ‘ a challenging, defiant stance’, almost like saying ‘ok you guys, who can do more than that now ?’
So what seems to be the problem and why has it gotten out of hand? With threats and deaths by extremists Muslim groups as well ? Why is everybody hell bent on proving Huntington’s Clash of civilization right?
The problem is compound, complex, and multifaceted, this is not good to start with, despite the way it is portrayed as an attack against ‘free speech ‘ on one side and a deliberate attack on sacred personae on the other, with the truth being lost. I’ve spent some time reading bloggers and readers, and have witnessed the wide spectrum of opinions and counter-opinions and almost lost sight of the original issues, because this has turned into another Islamophobia.
Let me try to dissect the problem for you (maybe I will make sense of it finally too).
A Danish paper decides to test the boundaries of ‘tolerance’ and exercise its ‘right’ at free speech by insulting ( thanks Michael) the most highly regarded and cherished figure in the Muslim and Arab world. Now with all due respect to Danes, I’m wondering is this a publicity stunt, a carefully planned agenda, or pure venom. I’m ruling out stupidity, because stupidity affects human relations but not in this deliberate way. Did the cartoonist really expect that their work will be glanced over? Why do it in the first place if you’re going to put your government in a tight spot, enflame the feelings of millions and issue an apology or apologies ( thank Sandmonkey) later?
This kind of action could have been expected from us Middle Easterners and North Africans renowned for our hotheadedness and boiling blood ; but in the cool Nordic spaces? no way. I find it surprising. With a Europe that is reeling and buckling under ethnic, racial , cultural and belief tensions as a large number of its population originates from immigrant stock ( i.e. non-white) this is begging for trouble. I mean if you don’t care about the Muslims in the rest of the world then supposedly you should care about the feelings of your own population since they carry your passport/nationality too. Otherwise in my book you are using double standards and those who do not ‘conform’ to a certain pattern don’t count ( I can already see some smartass trying to put me in my place and accusing me of being intolerant ;) well be my guest that’s why there is a comment section, just keep the profanities out please). Isn’t the paper’s action tantamount to incitement to hatred, when you bear in mind all that is going on in this world, including the heightened sensitivity of Muslims who only perceive persecution after 9/11 ( even if they could be wrong ?!?).
I believe that the right of freedom of expression does not exclude the right and necessity to be responsible. Plus let’s not forget the law of physics, ‘for every action there is an equal reaction’. That goes both ways by the way to the Muslims hotheads and to the Western hotheads (I’m not going to say Christians because that is simply not true ..in my humble opinion this is not a clash between Christianity and Islam no matter how much people like to say so and are mixing the deck of cards).
So those Danish cartoonist should have put their talent for a worthier cause of which there are so many in this world.
Now for the reaction from the Muslim world and particularly the ME and NA, I can understand it , I am very offended myself so are all those in my entourage. But as much as you have been offended some actions are simply out of place. Death threats in Gaza ? what are we terrorist bigots now ? This does not help our image as Muslims.
Yes, we should definitely mount a suitable campaign and civil action to prevent this kind of offense from ever recurring again but we have to play the game the Western way.
Our mistake as Arabs has been and will always be bombastic pride and arrogance (that’s probably a sin too ;) ). Please be reminded that most Arabs are not your cosmopolitan bloggers , but they are the ordinary people. We cannot assimilate that the rest of the world does not share our way of thinking and no matter to claims to the contrary most are not interested in reaching out to our way of thinking, you don’t do that when you are a dominating civilization .. While we Arabs have not accepted that our civilization though once great (emphasis on once) has waned. So we need to add another tool to our arsenal, think like ‘them’ and emulate their methods of problem solving. It will not diminish our personality, and it will reap us a lot of rewards in winning hearts and minds ™ in the West plus actually winning media wars followed by victory for the causes we are passionate about. We can keep our method of dealing as Arabs for each other, sort of like an internal memo and a circular memo.
Until the day we learn to do that, we will keep piling mistake upon mistake, whereby the truth and the right on our side will be turned against us!
Us acting stupidly, even though rightfully indignant, does not exonerate the Danish cartoonists and the paper from their grave miscalculations which may carry consequences we know nothing yet of. I don’t wish to be in their shoes with the dead people who are going to be on their conscience.
Some of you ask why are Muslims so angry?, ‘we don’t get angry when someone offends Jesus or Moses ( Peace be upon them ), or touches symbols of the church, that’s silly’. My reply is suit yourself if you don’t feel like redressing a wrong, but most offensive material about Jesus is usually by a Westerner. Muslims (especially ME and NA) revere Jesus and Moses just as they do Muhammad, they are certainly not going to ridicule them because that invalidates their Qu’ran and you cannot have that without the other.
Some westerners mention that they are called infidels (or kafirs) by bin Ladin types and wannabes and that they [the westerners] did not make a fuss about it? First of all bin Ladin and his ilk do not represent Islam but their own ideology and secondly if we look at it this way does beign called Kafir equate with Jesus being pictured as a killer and terrorist ? infidel or kafir is strictly reserved for non-believers those who have rejected Islam, and obviously Jews and Christians do have a book and are ‘people of the book and believers’ . So no affront has been done here since the persona of Christ has not been dirtied.
I’ve read a comment ( on Sandmonkey but can't find the specific link ) where some imam was preaching in Egyptian mosques and calling Christians and Jews pigs and cows, well this guy has absolutely no right to act this way and should be arrested for public insult, he definitely is not talking in the name of Muslims and should be incarcerated or sued, and is a bad believer, using ‘free speech’ wrongly. But mind you this imam has not denigrated our Jesus if you notice. This imam would not be in this world if he did because he would be thorn to shreds by the Muslim masses.
The qu’ran says ‘you have your religion and I have mine’.
RE. the cartoons again, I’ve seen this issue being explained as the fact that the Muslim should not make representations or statues of the prophet lest they fall into idolatry and that is why those cartoons are offensive. My response yes Muslims are not supposed to draw the prophet and his companions but those cartoons will certainly not encourage them towards idolatry, they are rather repugnant. To idolize and adore someone godlike you have to make him/her beautiful and attractive ( even on the cross) , look at the Virgin Mary and child statues and paintings, that is beautiful not repulsive and God loves beauty. If the cartoonist had tried to draw Muhammad in a ‘normal’ non satirical way they may have committed a faux pas but NOT an offense. There is a canyon between these two actions. On this same vein I’ve seen some bloggers justify the cartoonists' actions and refute this unspoken law about not representing the prophet by posting some calligraphies and illuminations and portraits ( hattip Roba) which represent the prophet and which were done during the Islamic age. I say again yes, but look at them closely again…. Is there anything offensive about them apart from the fact that they should not have been made in the first place ? They clearly depict passages from his life, and if you look closely you will see they are heavily Asian/East Asian influenced. No Arab would dare to do that. And I forgive them for this error because they Muslims applying their own cultural methodolgy to Islam.They have not portrayed the prophet in a threatening, evil, or blasphemous way. So using this as an excuse does not stand, it does not create a precedent to exonerate the cartoonists. Those were Chinese, Indian, Iranian or Turkish Muslims, but they have not insulted the prophet of Islam.
Arabs/Muslims have been stereotyped greatly in western media in far worse cartoons ( political and others ) and portrayals for the last 50 years or so and they never complained about that because, that is not offending the sacred religion. Westerners have also been satirically illustrated in Arab media yet never touching sacred beliefs so that is not an excuse to say ‘look at them they ridicule us’. Satire and offending the sacred are different things.
As for the so called boycott, well it may and may not work, me thinks it already did since the paper apologized.
Libya imports a lot of Danish products so I will miss the cheese and other dairy stuff, but thank God for other choices, I’ll go check today the state of the supermarkets.
When in the name of democracy and freedom of expression a state cannot interfere to clear the good name of a religious community by asking the offender to apologise, that opens the doors to attacking the human rights of others as stated in articles 18 and 19 of the Universal declaration of human rights .
Because the other party which feels wronged must not be begrudged also its ‘human rights ‘ and ‘freedom of expression’ to seriously contend the cartoonists action for example. My criticism is however leveled at the way used to respond to this onslaught of hate on Islam, not at the fact that it took place as everyone is free with their opinions.
Thanks to these cartoonists and hot headed Muslim counterparts the wick has been kindled, and the fire may run unchecked and engulf everything in its way… if we don’t do something to stop this there will soon be no humanity; especially if other nations decide to jump in to champion this cause.
Dear Muslims and dear people of the ME and NA, please don’t give the chance to your enemies (wherever they be) to laugh silently at you shooting yourself in the foot, you HAVE THE RIGHT to do something, take your time but do it with grace and brains. Your ancestors have done it before, I’m sure you can do it again. Amin .
Monday, January 30, 2006
New Years by the handful
Today is the 1st of Muharram 1427 in Libya , that is the first day of the month of Muharram in the Islamic ( lunar ) calendar. Happy New Year everyone. It will be the 1st of Muharram tomorrow in North America.
In the meantime the Chinese celebrated their New Year according to the Chinese calendar on January 29th this time, we are in year 4703 now. Happy New Year of the DOG everybody.
What is your chinese zodiac? and element? do you think that they are illustrative of our personality ?
Other Highlander link on these topics.
Today is the 1st of Muharram 1427 in Libya , that is the first day of the month of Muharram in the Islamic ( lunar ) calendar. Happy New Year everyone. It will be the 1st of Muharram tomorrow in North America.
In the meantime the Chinese celebrated their New Year according to the Chinese calendar on January 29th this time, we are in year 4703 now. Happy New Year of the DOG everybody.
What is your chinese zodiac? and element? do you think that they are illustrative of our personality ?
Other Highlander link on these topics.
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
A tiny part of the rich Libyan traditions : Ghadames
The Libyan city of Ghadames is renowned for its unique style of architecture, traditions and culture. Amongst these interesting traditions is the one found in a typical Ghadames home where a small peephole is made into the front door. A visitor would look through it inside the house at a reflection in a mirror hung on the wall opposite the door. This mirror reflects the picture of an oil lamp placed on a shelf.
There are 6 positions for the lamp, and these positions inform the visitor of what’s going on in this home and so help him to act/decide accordingly.
Whilst reading the local press in May of 2001, I came across an artist's drawing and a brief explanatory text of what I was talking about above, unfortunately this is not available online to be linked too and I could not find the author to credit him/her. So whoever you are thank you for this explanation. However I did cut out the diagram with the symbols and here it is for you dear readers.
1-There is a wedding or engagement in the house.
2-A birth
3-Circumcision
4-Illness or death
5-Father not home
6-Father home please come in!
How cool is that ? Those Ghadamsi people were such an ingenious society.
The Libyan city of Ghadames is renowned for its unique style of architecture, traditions and culture. Amongst these interesting traditions is the one found in a typical Ghadames home where a small peephole is made into the front door. A visitor would look through it inside the house at a reflection in a mirror hung on the wall opposite the door. This mirror reflects the picture of an oil lamp placed on a shelf.
There are 6 positions for the lamp, and these positions inform the visitor of what’s going on in this home and so help him to act/decide accordingly.
Whilst reading the local press in May of 2001, I came across an artist's drawing and a brief explanatory text of what I was talking about above, unfortunately this is not available online to be linked too and I could not find the author to credit him/her. So whoever you are thank you for this explanation. However I did cut out the diagram with the symbols and here it is for you dear readers.
1-There is a wedding or engagement in the house.
2-A birth
3-Circumcision
4-Illness or death
5-Father not home
6-Father home please come in!
How cool is that ? Those Ghadamsi people were such an ingenious society.
Saturday, January 21, 2006
Camel adventures
Camels are an ordinary sight here in Libya, but I don't know what is this one doing in this vehicle - a bit too tight of a spot for such a large animal.
This is a Honda Civic parked in front of a garage door obviously in Libya.
What do you think ? and how did he fit in here ? But the camel is soooooooooo cute :)
Saturday, January 14, 2006
Libyan blogs
Have been a bit lazy lately and delayed the introduction of some more Libyan blogs :).
Anyway they are doing pretty well without it ... still here we are everybody please welcome 7mada ( you've seen him commenting here) . He is so refreshing and lives in Britain.
The other blog Flying Birds has 3 members : A. , Serrag and Esra. Thanks Khadijateri for leading us to it.
That's all for today , if I get more news I will share them here.
H Out.
Have been a bit lazy lately and delayed the introduction of some more Libyan blogs :).
Anyway they are doing pretty well without it ... still here we are everybody please welcome 7mada ( you've seen him commenting here) . He is so refreshing and lives in Britain.
The other blog Flying Birds has 3 members : A. , Serrag and Esra. Thanks Khadijateri for leading us to it.
That's all for today , if I get more news I will share them here.
H Out.
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Ipod mania
A frivolous post to lighten up the mood . I am officially an ipod fan! yay . I recently acquired the nano , more like a few months back and totally forgot about it until a couple of weeks ago . Since then its been so great I just wonder why did it take me so long to accept it ? Maybe I did not want to be blindly following fashion ? be one of the herd . Oh but it is sooooo convenient, I have converted my favourite tracks there and it is such fun , especially when you have it on shuffle . Plus you can add your favourite photos as well ! Use it in the car , walking , shopping , working out ... I love it , it brought back the days of the CD walkman and other stuff.
Now "Denim giant Levi Strauss designs a pair of jeans able to control the wearer's iPod music player" ... I wonder how that is done ? I may want one of these .. fashion accessory ? imagine buying jeans to wear with your ipod ...
A frivolous post to lighten up the mood . I am officially an ipod fan! yay . I recently acquired the nano , more like a few months back and totally forgot about it until a couple of weeks ago . Since then its been so great I just wonder why did it take me so long to accept it ? Maybe I did not want to be blindly following fashion ? be one of the herd . Oh but it is sooooo convenient, I have converted my favourite tracks there and it is such fun , especially when you have it on shuffle . Plus you can add your favourite photos as well ! Use it in the car , walking , shopping , working out ... I love it , it brought back the days of the CD walkman and other stuff.
Now "Denim giant Levi Strauss designs a pair of jeans able to control the wearer's iPod music player" ... I wonder how that is done ? I may want one of these .. fashion accessory ? imagine buying jeans to wear with your ipod ...
Monday, January 09, 2006
Yahoo messenger announcement
To all those who left me offline messages, I am not ignoring you my friends, I honestly could not read them as they get dropped when I loose internet connection. Somebody decided to repair something in my street and the nitwits have been working for the past 2 weeks ruining my telephone cables in the process!!! I don't know why should the vibrations of a buldozers cut the telephone tone ? ( any engineers out there with hints ?) . It makes for unhappy haphazard blogging and surfing.
So please bear with me, I wil reply to your emails, listen to your voice messages , and answer your questions . The only thing I cannot do is know what you wrote in the offline messenges, therefore if it was important please email it to me and I shall eventually see it, and if it was urgent then call me ( those who have my number).
Eid Adha Mabrouk everyone. Please let me not interrupt you from the discussions on the other posts.
H.
To all those who left me offline messages, I am not ignoring you my friends, I honestly could not read them as they get dropped when I loose internet connection. Somebody decided to repair something in my street and the nitwits have been working for the past 2 weeks ruining my telephone cables in the process!!! I don't know why should the vibrations of a buldozers cut the telephone tone ? ( any engineers out there with hints ?) . It makes for unhappy haphazard blogging and surfing.
So please bear with me, I wil reply to your emails, listen to your voice messages , and answer your questions . The only thing I cannot do is know what you wrote in the offline messenges, therefore if it was important please email it to me and I shall eventually see it, and if it was urgent then call me ( those who have my number).
Eid Adha Mabrouk everyone. Please let me not interrupt you from the discussions on the other posts.
H.
Sunday, January 08, 2006
Divination, oracles, prophecies and analysis of the future
Predicting the future has become a favourite pastime on New Year’s Eve. We are familiar with the scores of psychics and analysts lined up on TV shows who bombard us with what they ‘read’ will happen in the next year. Also we must not forget the written media too. In our era knowledge is the most important commodity and if you know the future then you can prepare strategies for it, or wait in awe.
I can’t recall which philosopher stated that if we knew what the future had in store for us we would choose not to find out but rather to let it happen if anyone knows this quote please send it to me, I’m too lazy to research it!). On the other hand, an old Arab saying states ‘kadaba al munajum wa law sadaqu, i.e astrologers are lying even if they say the truth , the purpose of this is that supposedly these oracles can find out about parts of the ‘present-future’ due to their dabbling with the occult etc.. but only God knows the what the future holds and hence they ‘lie’ because they cannot predict all of and are bound to make mistakes which could be fatal.
December 2005 was no exception, and the Lebanese TV is never one to miss that. In Libya we watch a lot of Lebanese satellite TV stations (along with other of course) and it has become a tradition to decipher what the stars have in store for us. Many wait for this night and cancel any appointments to watch the pundits.
I won’t analyze what each tarot reader, crystal gazer, astrologist or analyst said, but I’ll attempt to give you the gist.
Because of the events going on in their country, and it being a Lebanese channel, the utterings of the guest speakers were especially valuable, with a sense of urgency for the Lebanese viewers. I noticed how even the hostess of the talk seemed nervous and somber. This comes in the aftermath of all the 2004 prophecies for 2005 coming true, or at least could be interpreted to adapt to the occasion –Hariri etc.. So Lebanese were understandably anxious.
Summary from TV:
Fortune teller A: ‘if you thought that 2005 was bad for the Middle East , I can assure you that 2006 will have nothing to envy it’.
Fortune teller B: ‘the current cycle of violence and bad karma for ME started in 2000 and will last for 10 years. That is only after 2010 will death and killing stop’. Thank you that’s encouraging, only 4 more years of blood baths.
Fortune teller C: ‘I’m sorry I will not be able to have our usual chat this year , I have specific orders not to talk about any event’ . I guess the government does not wish to increase the citizen’s panic. The situation is very precarious indeed.
Fortune teller D: ‘I lift the veil a little , Sharon will be gravely ill and probably die, his successor will be even more of a hardliner and this will translate into more hardship for Palestinians’. Ok so far we know that Ariel Sharon is in a coma . ‘The situation in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon will not see any change until 2007 were the planet X will affect the ascending Y and something will happen’. D does not say if it is good or bad, donc we assume the worst.
Needless to say the Lebanese and Arab viewer a quite concerned and worried , specially about the guy who refrained to talk. At the end of the show you could see that the hostess was getting quite emotional.
Falling into this category are the annual reviews and analyses and ‘estimations’ for next year. Aljazeera carried out an interesting one Libyan Leader and the Egyptian thinker/journalist Mohamed Hassanein Haykal.
In his comments about the region, Libyan Leader said that Damascus had done it’s role in Lebanon and holds the merit for effectively ending the civil war, and its pull- out has resulted in a lot of calamities.
With regards to common Arab cooperation, roughly translated he said ‘it is a common Arab hypocrisy , malice and an alliance with the enemy against one’ , it seems he forecasts that the Arabs will never have any ‘presence’ or future.
Haykal on the other hand, warned about the dangers in the ME (we know them habibi we have been aware of these for so long), and of the Israeli agenda. With regards to Iraq he thinks that the US will not pullout but would rather seek to control the oil wells despite the loss of some of its soldiers. He feels that comparisons with Vietnam are not logical because the Iraqi resistance is not unified and because he thinks the US objective is oil.( again)
Simpson from the BBC, thinks that “Osama bin Laden will be tracked down, but will not be captured alive” . While I think that if whoever was tracking him wanted to get him they would have years ago, he serves his purpose better alive than dead and also better on the run than in prison where he could not be blamed for every deviant youth.
Another breed of oracles is the Futurologist . While some see reasons to be cheerful in 2006 , Jihad el Khazen (3/1/06, Ayoon Wa Azan -we’ve been losing for 13 centuries) at Dar al Hayat, thinks the Arabs have been losing for 13 centuries. That’s a mighty statement, seeing our mistake is ok , but labeling ourselves as eternal losers is certainly not and self-hate is not good either . I will leave on a cheerful note with an excerpt from his article, his recipe for reasons for Arab readers to be happy in 2006;
Of particular note are points 4, 6 and 7 !
“As for the average Arab citizen, what would make him or her happy?
One, if the government were to leave office, that would be a big reason for happiness. Even bigger if the government leaves office and goes to South America. I would suggest seeing ministers go on trial, but that could lead to people dying of happiness.
Two, US forces and terrorists defeat each other in Iraq, so that Iraqis could get on with their lives.
Three, the government talks about democracy so much that it believes itself, and democracy is established and the government falls.
Four, during the upcoming com! petition between Likud and Kadima, Ariel Sharon kills Benjamin Netanyahu, or vice versa, while the killer is sent to prison for life. Labor returns to office to continue the peace process from the point where Sharon broke it off.
Five, the reader is blessed with friends, job opportunities, good health, a bad memory, and a hidden conscience. If the reader remembers that there is something he or she wants but hasn't obtained, he or she will be happy with the things he or she has, and not wants.
Six, they say (who's they?) that happiness is a married woman and a single man. But this takes into the realm of the impossible. We should remind the reader that Haifa Wehbi, Nancy Ajram, and Shirine are all single. The reader will truly become happy if he marries one of them in 2006, even though they say being single is a condition for happiness among men.
Seven, the reader falls asleep and doesn't wake up until 2007, or 2017, to get beyond 2006 and every year that won't br! ing happiness to Arabs.
Eight, half of Arab newspapers and magazine s, and three-fourths of satellite stations go bankrupt and are permanently closed. In fact, more than half of the Arab press and about 90% of Arab satellite stations are already bankrupt, but they continue to operate, magically, through unseen means, just like Arab governments.
Nine, 2006 passes without seeing the dreams of Arab optimists fulfilled, and neither the nightmares of Arab pessimists.
Ten, we defeat Burkina Faso in football (there have been no military victories since the conquest of Andalusia; we've been losing capital for 13 centuries).
Eleven, the government stops issuing laws that deprive citizens of everything that makes them happy.
Twelve, an intelligence agent receives a bomb from his president, to assassinate another Lebanese journalist, but it explodes and kills them both. The investigation continues and reveals a terrorist network responsible for all of the crimes committed in Lebanon since 14 February 2005.
Thirteen - I'll stop here, sinc! e the number 13 is unlucky. They say you get double bad luck if the 13th falls on a Friday, so I'll just let the reader dream of a better year [sic]”.
Predicting the future has become a favourite pastime on New Year’s Eve. We are familiar with the scores of psychics and analysts lined up on TV shows who bombard us with what they ‘read’ will happen in the next year. Also we must not forget the written media too. In our era knowledge is the most important commodity and if you know the future then you can prepare strategies for it, or wait in awe.
I can’t recall which philosopher stated that if we knew what the future had in store for us we would choose not to find out but rather to let it happen if anyone knows this quote please send it to me, I’m too lazy to research it!). On the other hand, an old Arab saying states ‘kadaba al munajum wa law sadaqu, i.e astrologers are lying even if they say the truth , the purpose of this is that supposedly these oracles can find out about parts of the ‘present-future’ due to their dabbling with the occult etc.. but only God knows the what the future holds and hence they ‘lie’ because they cannot predict all of and are bound to make mistakes which could be fatal.
December 2005 was no exception, and the Lebanese TV is never one to miss that. In Libya we watch a lot of Lebanese satellite TV stations (along with other of course) and it has become a tradition to decipher what the stars have in store for us. Many wait for this night and cancel any appointments to watch the pundits.
I won’t analyze what each tarot reader, crystal gazer, astrologist or analyst said, but I’ll attempt to give you the gist.
Because of the events going on in their country, and it being a Lebanese channel, the utterings of the guest speakers were especially valuable, with a sense of urgency for the Lebanese viewers. I noticed how even the hostess of the talk seemed nervous and somber. This comes in the aftermath of all the 2004 prophecies for 2005 coming true, or at least could be interpreted to adapt to the occasion –Hariri etc.. So Lebanese were understandably anxious.
Summary from TV:
Fortune teller A: ‘if you thought that 2005 was bad for the Middle East , I can assure you that 2006 will have nothing to envy it’.
Fortune teller B: ‘the current cycle of violence and bad karma for ME started in 2000 and will last for 10 years. That is only after 2010 will death and killing stop’. Thank you that’s encouraging, only 4 more years of blood baths.
Fortune teller C: ‘I’m sorry I will not be able to have our usual chat this year , I have specific orders not to talk about any event’ . I guess the government does not wish to increase the citizen’s panic. The situation is very precarious indeed.
Fortune teller D: ‘I lift the veil a little , Sharon will be gravely ill and probably die, his successor will be even more of a hardliner and this will translate into more hardship for Palestinians’. Ok so far we know that Ariel Sharon is in a coma . ‘The situation in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon will not see any change until 2007 were the planet X will affect the ascending Y and something will happen’. D does not say if it is good or bad, donc we assume the worst.
Needless to say the Lebanese and Arab viewer a quite concerned and worried , specially about the guy who refrained to talk. At the end of the show you could see that the hostess was getting quite emotional.
Falling into this category are the annual reviews and analyses and ‘estimations’ for next year. Aljazeera carried out an interesting one Libyan Leader and the Egyptian thinker/journalist Mohamed Hassanein Haykal.
In his comments about the region, Libyan Leader said that Damascus had done it’s role in Lebanon and holds the merit for effectively ending the civil war, and its pull- out has resulted in a lot of calamities.
With regards to common Arab cooperation, roughly translated he said ‘it is a common Arab hypocrisy , malice and an alliance with the enemy against one’ , it seems he forecasts that the Arabs will never have any ‘presence’ or future.
Haykal on the other hand, warned about the dangers in the ME (we know them habibi we have been aware of these for so long), and of the Israeli agenda. With regards to Iraq he thinks that the US will not pullout but would rather seek to control the oil wells despite the loss of some of its soldiers. He feels that comparisons with Vietnam are not logical because the Iraqi resistance is not unified and because he thinks the US objective is oil.( again)
Simpson from the BBC, thinks that “Osama bin Laden will be tracked down, but will not be captured alive” . While I think that if whoever was tracking him wanted to get him they would have years ago, he serves his purpose better alive than dead and also better on the run than in prison where he could not be blamed for every deviant youth.
Another breed of oracles is the Futurologist . While some see reasons to be cheerful in 2006 , Jihad el Khazen (3/1/06, Ayoon Wa Azan -we’ve been losing for 13 centuries) at Dar al Hayat, thinks the Arabs have been losing for 13 centuries. That’s a mighty statement, seeing our mistake is ok , but labeling ourselves as eternal losers is certainly not and self-hate is not good either . I will leave on a cheerful note with an excerpt from his article, his recipe for reasons for Arab readers to be happy in 2006;
Of particular note are points 4, 6 and 7 !
“As for the average Arab citizen, what would make him or her happy?
One, if the government were to leave office, that would be a big reason for happiness. Even bigger if the government leaves office and goes to South America. I would suggest seeing ministers go on trial, but that could lead to people dying of happiness.
Two, US forces and terrorists defeat each other in Iraq, so that Iraqis could get on with their lives.
Three, the government talks about democracy so much that it believes itself, and democracy is established and the government falls.
Four, during the upcoming com! petition between Likud and Kadima, Ariel Sharon kills Benjamin Netanyahu, or vice versa, while the killer is sent to prison for life. Labor returns to office to continue the peace process from the point where Sharon broke it off.
Five, the reader is blessed with friends, job opportunities, good health, a bad memory, and a hidden conscience. If the reader remembers that there is something he or she wants but hasn't obtained, he or she will be happy with the things he or she has, and not wants.
Six, they say (who's they?) that happiness is a married woman and a single man. But this takes into the realm of the impossible. We should remind the reader that Haifa Wehbi, Nancy Ajram, and Shirine are all single. The reader will truly become happy if he marries one of them in 2006, even though they say being single is a condition for happiness among men.
Seven, the reader falls asleep and doesn't wake up until 2007, or 2017, to get beyond 2006 and every year that won't br! ing happiness to Arabs.
Eight, half of Arab newspapers and magazine s, and three-fourths of satellite stations go bankrupt and are permanently closed. In fact, more than half of the Arab press and about 90% of Arab satellite stations are already bankrupt, but they continue to operate, magically, through unseen means, just like Arab governments.
Nine, 2006 passes without seeing the dreams of Arab optimists fulfilled, and neither the nightmares of Arab pessimists.
Ten, we defeat Burkina Faso in football (there have been no military victories since the conquest of Andalusia; we've been losing capital for 13 centuries).
Eleven, the government stops issuing laws that deprive citizens of everything that makes them happy.
Twelve, an intelligence agent receives a bomb from his president, to assassinate another Lebanese journalist, but it explodes and kills them both. The investigation continues and reveals a terrorist network responsible for all of the crimes committed in Lebanon since 14 February 2005.
Thirteen - I'll stop here, sinc! e the number 13 is unlucky. They say you get double bad luck if the 13th falls on a Friday, so I'll just let the reader dream of a better year [sic]”.
Friday, January 06, 2006
Praying for Ariel Sharon
The jaw dropping is audible, but hear me out folks. It seems there is no way to get out of the compulsory Sharon post…
Sooner or later, it was going to happen – the stroke I mean- the guy is hyperactive and overweight, has a lot of pent up anger, worries about Israel’s security, about voters , about the corruption case he was implicated in. I am surprised he held out this long. But Sharon is a tough man I must give that to him.
As a human being regardless of his cruel and bloody past I will ask that may God prolong his life and spare him or shorten his pain if he is dying.
As someone who has done a lot of harm in the ME and who was blatant about it then I must admit that I felt it is kind of ironic that he may soon join Arafat his archenemy in the afterlife.
If as the medical reports say that even if he survives he may be severely brain damaged, I think that would be a very cruel way to spend the rest of his life..some people may call it Karma.
For many Israelis he is a hero, and for the other camp he is a butcher. I absolutely understand the way he acted, because he was being true to his vision, and he stuck to it.
Sharon’s death will not herald a new era of peace, because in my opinion , the next PM will try to outdo Sharon to sound credible to his people and that can only bring more cruelty and bloodshed in the ME. I am going to pray for his recovery. God let Sharon live, at least he knows the situation and the people know how to deal with him.
The jaw dropping is audible, but hear me out folks. It seems there is no way to get out of the compulsory Sharon post…
Sooner or later, it was going to happen – the stroke I mean- the guy is hyperactive and overweight, has a lot of pent up anger, worries about Israel’s security, about voters , about the corruption case he was implicated in. I am surprised he held out this long. But Sharon is a tough man I must give that to him.
As a human being regardless of his cruel and bloody past I will ask that may God prolong his life and spare him or shorten his pain if he is dying.
As someone who has done a lot of harm in the ME and who was blatant about it then I must admit that I felt it is kind of ironic that he may soon join Arafat his archenemy in the afterlife.
If as the medical reports say that even if he survives he may be severely brain damaged, I think that would be a very cruel way to spend the rest of his life..some people may call it Karma.
For many Israelis he is a hero, and for the other camp he is a butcher. I absolutely understand the way he acted, because he was being true to his vision, and he stuck to it.
Sharon’s death will not herald a new era of peace, because in my opinion , the next PM will try to outdo Sharon to sound credible to his people and that can only bring more cruelty and bloodshed in the ME. I am going to pray for his recovery. God let Sharon live, at least he knows the situation and the people know how to deal with him.
The trend in Syria bashing
An Arab proverb, (and I’m not sure if it is Libyan or not anymore) states that ‘when the cow falls, the number of knives increases’. Basically the number of those ready to butcher it increases when such a massive animal is unable to defend itself.
This allegory in my opinion perfectly fits the situation of Syria currently. Syria is now caught between a rock and a hard place and no one is willing to give it a chance. Moreover, MSM, journalistic pretenders and pundits are riding this wave because it makes good coverage and serves to sell front page news.
I don’t object in principle to constructive criticism and analyses. However, I find it hypocritical to jump on the bandwagon once Syria and its regime are no longer under the aegis of western power who have discarded it like a used towel. That is, to me at least it seems as if western interests do not include Syria anymore and so the shield of respectability it provided for her is gone, uncovering Syria’s raw flesh to the ‘hungry’ masses clamouring for blood.
Bloggers are no exception to what is happening and the Lebanese blogosphere is full of speculations and accusations about Syria’s alleged responsibility in the wave of destructive murders of political and media personalities which have taken place since the killing of Hariri. Hariri’s death is the issue of an ongoing UN investigation, and the famous Mehlis report if you read it carefully does not prove anything but mainly speculates and attempts to connect the strings to find out the truth. As we stand many of the strings lead to Damascus but nothing more. There is absolutely no evidence. So maybe the ‘innocent until found guilty’ and ‘due process’ should be applied in this case as opposed to sanctions, war, unrest, and the democratization process a la Bush to destabilize the country.
“When Lewis Libby [US Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff] was accused [of perjury in October], President Bush said he was innocent until proven guilty. Why didn’t Bush apply the same principle in judging Syria?”
I WANT THE TRUTH just like everybody else.
I can understand the feelings and approach of the Lebanese bloggers, but I don’t think that other bloggers myself included could pretend to know what is better for Lebanon and Syria more than those concerned. And though I do not advocate censoring, but at times silence is indeed golden, sensational blogging no matter how good can perpetuate a lot of myths in the mind of readers unfamiliar with the Middle East.
Sandmonkey, one of my favourite Egyptian bloggers, is a wonderful, witty blogger and his site is one of my daily stops. His humour, insight fill me with amazement even though I sometimes find myself disagreeing with some points, though I highly respect the thought process that leads him to these conclusions. (The guy is a genius , but please don't tell him I said that mish 7and'ar 3aleh 'abadan ba3dein)
So when I saw his recent , loud and frank anti-Syrian rhetoric , I was slightly bemuzzled knowing his usual fairness in treating any issue. This prompted me to change my approach and seek the Syrian bloggers and what do they have to say on the historical events unfolding in their countries. After all, would not they have more first hand experience of Lebanon and Syria than myself or anyone else? I mean I’m not going to stand here theorizing and inciting hatred or love when they could say so much better.
If I thought that the Tunisian blogosphere was varied and interesting, I was amazed at the quality of the Syrian blogosphere. The spectrum of opinions is large, to name but a few randomly : Karfan (against everything is he for real?), Catherine (courageous with thorny subjects), Sasa (budding journalism), Damascene ( her family's Iraqi ordeal), Ayman (check the tallest Christmas tree in the ME) and numerous others. I have a whole new world to discover, their links will lead you to other unimagined riches.
An Arab proverb, (and I’m not sure if it is Libyan or not anymore) states that ‘when the cow falls, the number of knives increases’. Basically the number of those ready to butcher it increases when such a massive animal is unable to defend itself.
This allegory in my opinion perfectly fits the situation of Syria currently. Syria is now caught between a rock and a hard place and no one is willing to give it a chance. Moreover, MSM, journalistic pretenders and pundits are riding this wave because it makes good coverage and serves to sell front page news.
I don’t object in principle to constructive criticism and analyses. However, I find it hypocritical to jump on the bandwagon once Syria and its regime are no longer under the aegis of western power who have discarded it like a used towel. That is, to me at least it seems as if western interests do not include Syria anymore and so the shield of respectability it provided for her is gone, uncovering Syria’s raw flesh to the ‘hungry’ masses clamouring for blood.
Bloggers are no exception to what is happening and the Lebanese blogosphere is full of speculations and accusations about Syria’s alleged responsibility in the wave of destructive murders of political and media personalities which have taken place since the killing of Hariri. Hariri’s death is the issue of an ongoing UN investigation, and the famous Mehlis report if you read it carefully does not prove anything but mainly speculates and attempts to connect the strings to find out the truth. As we stand many of the strings lead to Damascus but nothing more. There is absolutely no evidence. So maybe the ‘innocent until found guilty’ and ‘due process’ should be applied in this case as opposed to sanctions, war, unrest, and the democratization process a la Bush to destabilize the country.
“When Lewis Libby [US Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff] was accused [of perjury in October], President Bush said he was innocent until proven guilty. Why didn’t Bush apply the same principle in judging Syria?”
I WANT THE TRUTH just like everybody else.
I can understand the feelings and approach of the Lebanese bloggers, but I don’t think that other bloggers myself included could pretend to know what is better for Lebanon and Syria more than those concerned. And though I do not advocate censoring, but at times silence is indeed golden, sensational blogging no matter how good can perpetuate a lot of myths in the mind of readers unfamiliar with the Middle East.
Sandmonkey, one of my favourite Egyptian bloggers, is a wonderful, witty blogger and his site is one of my daily stops. His humour, insight fill me with amazement even though I sometimes find myself disagreeing with some points, though I highly respect the thought process that leads him to these conclusions. (The guy is a genius , but please don't tell him I said that mish 7and'ar 3aleh 'abadan ba3dein)
So when I saw his recent , loud and frank anti-Syrian rhetoric , I was slightly bemuzzled knowing his usual fairness in treating any issue. This prompted me to change my approach and seek the Syrian bloggers and what do they have to say on the historical events unfolding in their countries. After all, would not they have more first hand experience of Lebanon and Syria than myself or anyone else? I mean I’m not going to stand here theorizing and inciting hatred or love when they could say so much better.
If I thought that the Tunisian blogosphere was varied and interesting, I was amazed at the quality of the Syrian blogosphere. The spectrum of opinions is large, to name but a few randomly : Karfan (against everything is he for real?), Catherine (courageous with thorny subjects), Sasa (budding journalism), Damascene ( her family's Iraqi ordeal), Ayman (check the tallest Christmas tree in the ME) and numerous others. I have a whole new world to discover, their links will lead you to other unimagined riches.
Saturday, December 31, 2005
Highlights of 2005 , Happy New Year 2006
Reflecting on the ending year of 2005, it has not really been one of the best in the world you are all aware of the events that took place so I'm not going to bore you with them here . But I think for Libya it has not been that bad, it is slowly but surely patching up its relationship with the West in general and the US in particular. I still am not sure if that is such a great thing or not but anything that would lift it out of isolation and get it back on its track is good , details can be taken care of later inshallah.
On the other hand,2005 has been cathartic for me as I've had some closures and made tons of new friends among bloggers and readers. I've met some bloggers in real life also ( Arab and non-Arab) , you know who you are, I'm not going to talk about that , but I would like to say that the bloggers I met where even better than I imagined they would be. The blogosphere is a nice community. I just wish I had the opportunity to meet the others, and I'm planning to meet some more in 2006 !I also wish the anonymous Libyan readers would email me as well. I love you all .
In Libya we do not have a tradition to celebrate the Gregorian calendar New Year, but we do wish people and each other a Happy New Year. So while I will not be partying I shall be relaxing at home with family or chatting and talking to friends online ( note for those who left me offline messages on yahoo or invitation to chat, they may have been lost as my line dropped a lot these last few weeks). Our own Eid al Kabir ( great feast) or Eid al -Adha which comes right at the end of the Hajj will be in about ten days time, while the Muslim New Year ( Hijiri) should be in approximately one month...which is a low key affair. Here are some Islamic holidays.
Anyway I'm not going to write a special post for today although I do have a few controversial topics up my sleeve ( viz. Bulgarian nurses, Ramadan TV series, the Rise of Islamism , yes or no ( for outlaw Michael)? Syria bashing etc..), because anyway you are all going to be busy enjoying your time hopefully with family, friends and loved ones...no time to read the rantings of a Libyan from her rock ;)
However, I would like to leave you with a compilation of my most popular posts since I began blogging , at least this is what the stats tell me are the ones that you guys keep reading over and over or whoever lands on my blog reads.
Scarves, hijab, veil, modesty and the right to choose ....
My night of terror...
Milud, the Prophet's Birthday in Libya..
My trip to Egypt 2004...
Scarves part II...
Replies to your questions I ...
Replies to your question II...
The trip to Syria series One, two, three , four .....and life in Syria... since Syria has been thrust on the international scene it is a popular topic .
The Libyan system of governance ( in theory)... and Thea's impression .
Italian occupation 101 ...where most who searched for Omar Mukhtar got that link there are 3 posts but this one is the most linked to I guess no one wanted to know about the genocide and concentration camps .
Christmas trip to the ME...Egypt, Syria, Jordan..
A midsummer night in Libya...
While some of my personal favourites were:
The motives for western warming towards Libya...
Acts of barbarism...
Eid Al adha in Libya...
My nightmare before Hariri's death which opened 'gates of hell'...
Highlander's blog in Spanish he he he and in Japanese ...I'm blushing, wish these readers would get in touch with me.
Tour of old city in Libya and a synagoge..
Is there humanity or are we all monsters... it's a pity that DNA pulled the plug :( - hope he is reading this and decides to blog again or at least let us know his news.
The black hole...
The Lover....
The purpose of blogging..and blogging in the Arab world.
Katrina and lessons in humanity..
Ramadan TV series ...sequel coming up soon.
Hybrid languages..
And the photolog ...
If all the above are not enough , I'm sure you will find something to your taste in the sidebar. In some of my older posts the comment section had not been activated. If you wish to leave a comment about any of the above please do it on this post and point to wich title it refers, it will just make it easier to all of us :). I always reply to comments by the way.
Peace everyone and happy new year, and as is the tradition here in Libya, I would like to ask forgiveness from each and everyone of you if I have hurt them unintentionally or intentionally!. We all need a clean slate to start a fresh year . سامحوني وكل سنة وانتم طيبين
Reflecting on the ending year of 2005, it has not really been one of the best in the world you are all aware of the events that took place so I'm not going to bore you with them here . But I think for Libya it has not been that bad, it is slowly but surely patching up its relationship with the West in general and the US in particular. I still am not sure if that is such a great thing or not but anything that would lift it out of isolation and get it back on its track is good , details can be taken care of later inshallah.
On the other hand,2005 has been cathartic for me as I've had some closures and made tons of new friends among bloggers and readers. I've met some bloggers in real life also ( Arab and non-Arab) , you know who you are, I'm not going to talk about that , but I would like to say that the bloggers I met where even better than I imagined they would be. The blogosphere is a nice community. I just wish I had the opportunity to meet the others, and I'm planning to meet some more in 2006 !I also wish the anonymous Libyan readers would email me as well. I love you all .
In Libya we do not have a tradition to celebrate the Gregorian calendar New Year, but we do wish people and each other a Happy New Year. So while I will not be partying I shall be relaxing at home with family or chatting and talking to friends online ( note for those who left me offline messages on yahoo or invitation to chat, they may have been lost as my line dropped a lot these last few weeks). Our own Eid al Kabir ( great feast) or Eid al -Adha which comes right at the end of the Hajj will be in about ten days time, while the Muslim New Year ( Hijiri) should be in approximately one month...which is a low key affair. Here are some Islamic holidays.
Anyway I'm not going to write a special post for today although I do have a few controversial topics up my sleeve ( viz. Bulgarian nurses, Ramadan TV series, the Rise of Islamism , yes or no ( for outlaw Michael)? Syria bashing etc..), because anyway you are all going to be busy enjoying your time hopefully with family, friends and loved ones...no time to read the rantings of a Libyan from her rock ;)
However, I would like to leave you with a compilation of my most popular posts since I began blogging , at least this is what the stats tell me are the ones that you guys keep reading over and over or whoever lands on my blog reads.
Scarves, hijab, veil, modesty and the right to choose ....
My night of terror...
Milud, the Prophet's Birthday in Libya..
My trip to Egypt 2004...
Scarves part II...
Replies to your questions I ...
Replies to your question II...
The trip to Syria series One, two, three , four .....and life in Syria... since Syria has been thrust on the international scene it is a popular topic .
The Libyan system of governance ( in theory)... and Thea's impression .
Italian occupation 101 ...where most who searched for Omar Mukhtar got that link there are 3 posts but this one is the most linked to I guess no one wanted to know about the genocide and concentration camps .
Christmas trip to the ME...Egypt, Syria, Jordan..
A midsummer night in Libya...
While some of my personal favourites were:
The motives for western warming towards Libya...
Acts of barbarism...
Eid Al adha in Libya...
My nightmare before Hariri's death which opened 'gates of hell'...
Highlander's blog in Spanish he he he and in Japanese ...I'm blushing, wish these readers would get in touch with me.
Tour of old city in Libya and a synagoge..
Is there humanity or are we all monsters... it's a pity that DNA pulled the plug :( - hope he is reading this and decides to blog again or at least let us know his news.
The black hole...
The Lover....
The purpose of blogging..and blogging in the Arab world.
Katrina and lessons in humanity..
Ramadan TV series ...sequel coming up soon.
Hybrid languages..
And the photolog ...
If all the above are not enough , I'm sure you will find something to your taste in the sidebar. In some of my older posts the comment section had not been activated. If you wish to leave a comment about any of the above please do it on this post and point to wich title it refers, it will just make it easier to all of us :). I always reply to comments by the way.
Peace everyone and happy new year, and as is the tradition here in Libya, I would like to ask forgiveness from each and everyone of you if I have hurt them unintentionally or intentionally!. We all need a clean slate to start a fresh year . سامحوني وكل سنة وانتم طيبين
Thursday, December 29, 2005
A summer night in Libya : 10th of July 2002
Feeling a little bit blue, I rummaged through some old diaries and came up with this entry . I recall how good it felt to write and wished to share it with you.
Now let me tell you about a summer night in my beloved country.
In Africa summer nights are enchanting so imagine how it could be in an African Arab country on the coast…you feel you have stepped into wonderland ..as if a magician has used a big wand to make everything just perfect !
As soon as the sun sets very late at around 8 PM a dark purple light gradually fills the sky and suddenly everything seems somehow dimmer…then the night in all its glory is upon you . I'd be sitting in the swing in our garden enjoying the light summer sea breeze and almost falling asleep with the pleasure, when slowly I would realize that there was a silence within the silence. Truly it is a blessed piece of land. My area is comparable to a village. It is so silent, yet so alive. I could hear the happy trills of the women at a wedding in the 'street ' behind us . The dogs who were resting throughout the day start to roam and cats are looking for a prey and a bit of fun. People are sitting on mats in their own gardens or backyards sipping green tea and eating watermelons . The crickets are singing ..you can hear all that yet the silence is overwhelming so much so that I have the impression that the clicking sound made by my keyboard is terribly disrupting to inner peace. Yet I continue to write because apart from telepathy , e-mail is the quickest way to convey a message.
As the night gets darker, the sky is sapphire blue and the stars illuminate everything ..there are no street lamps ..and so you really feel out of the century ....out of time. The palm trees make a lovely curtain to the velvety smooth sky. I have the impression that I could touch the stars and hold them in my little hand if I wish.
The night here is so beautiful it feels like a blasphemy to think otherwise. Then the smell of the earth rises up to your nostrils …you could almost think you were in heaven…At such times I remember even more God's grace & mercy upon us and fall down on my knees to thank Him. I have learnt that you do not pray to God when you are unwell or want something..you have to remember him even when you are full of happiness to thank him gracefully for his blessings.
Alhamdulilah
Feeling a little bit blue, I rummaged through some old diaries and came up with this entry . I recall how good it felt to write and wished to share it with you.
Now let me tell you about a summer night in my beloved country.
In Africa summer nights are enchanting so imagine how it could be in an African Arab country on the coast…you feel you have stepped into wonderland ..as if a magician has used a big wand to make everything just perfect !
As soon as the sun sets very late at around 8 PM a dark purple light gradually fills the sky and suddenly everything seems somehow dimmer…then the night in all its glory is upon you . I'd be sitting in the swing in our garden enjoying the light summer sea breeze and almost falling asleep with the pleasure, when slowly I would realize that there was a silence within the silence. Truly it is a blessed piece of land. My area is comparable to a village. It is so silent, yet so alive. I could hear the happy trills of the women at a wedding in the 'street ' behind us . The dogs who were resting throughout the day start to roam and cats are looking for a prey and a bit of fun. People are sitting on mats in their own gardens or backyards sipping green tea and eating watermelons . The crickets are singing ..you can hear all that yet the silence is overwhelming so much so that I have the impression that the clicking sound made by my keyboard is terribly disrupting to inner peace. Yet I continue to write because apart from telepathy , e-mail is the quickest way to convey a message.
As the night gets darker, the sky is sapphire blue and the stars illuminate everything ..there are no street lamps ..and so you really feel out of the century ....out of time. The palm trees make a lovely curtain to the velvety smooth sky. I have the impression that I could touch the stars and hold them in my little hand if I wish.
The night here is so beautiful it feels like a blasphemy to think otherwise. Then the smell of the earth rises up to your nostrils …you could almost think you were in heaven…At such times I remember even more God's grace & mercy upon us and fall down on my knees to thank Him. I have learnt that you do not pray to God when you are unwell or want something..you have to remember him even when you are full of happiness to thank him gracefully for his blessings.
Alhamdulilah
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Libyan Arab Airlines
The national carrier of Libya since it was a kingdom. Whenever I recall LAA I’m flooded with warm childhood memories of travels and adventures from Tripoli to other lands. LAA has a distinctive logo which won a prize for best logo back in the 70s. LAA won best airline in 1978 only to go downhill following the implementation of UN and US sanctions.
I was a bit saddened to read this month (see photo) that it will be soon replaced by the Libyan Airlines Company : LAC.
Please note the disappearance of the word ‘Arab’, I guess it is more western-friendly ;) .. sigh
Maybe I’m just being paranoid, because anyway in Arabic they always used to say Libyan airlines.
Whoever remembers what the logo meant in Arabic please forward it to me . I know it was something about a gazelle overtaking someone ..but I’m not sure if it was the competition or what. I will look it up but I appreciate if someone already has the answer. I hope they keep the logo it really is unique.
We will miss you LAR.
Sunday, December 25, 2005
Saturday, December 24, 2005
My 5 secrets ...
It's meme time again; Khadijateri has tagged me ( thank you ) : "Five things that most people don't know about me " ...so you want to know my secrets ? eh ?seriously ...hm lets see
1. I believe in aliens , i. e extraterrestrials, but please behave as if had not said that; I'm really not the tinfoil hat type ..
2. I dream of having Condolizza Rice's job , just don't tell her that please.
3. As much as I love travelling , the US was never on my top list I don't know why really, but India was especially the Rajisthan..but now I'm saving up for a visit next year :)
4. I like to think that I'm an expert bellydancer - but it's probably only wishful thinking ..
update 24/12/05 I guess I hit the publish post too fast or I don't have that many dark secrets anyway :) thanks Khadijateri for reminding me that I forgot no.5 my bad , so here it is folks:
5. Oh and I can't wait to start learning Hebrew and Farsi ....
It's meme time again; Khadijateri has tagged me ( thank you ) : "Five things that most people don't know about me " ...so you want to know my secrets ? eh ?seriously ...hm lets see
1. I believe in aliens , i. e extraterrestrials, but please behave as if had not said that; I'm really not the tinfoil hat type ..
2. I dream of having Condolizza Rice's job , just don't tell her that please.
3. As much as I love travelling , the US was never on my top list I don't know why really, but India was especially the Rajisthan..but now I'm saving up for a visit next year :)
4. I like to think that I'm an expert bellydancer - but it's probably only wishful thinking ..
update 24/12/05 I guess I hit the publish post too fast or I don't have that many dark secrets anyway :) thanks Khadijateri for reminding me that I forgot no.5 my bad , so here it is folks:
5. Oh and I can't wait to start learning Hebrew and Farsi ....
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Arabizi, Franco-Arab, Arabeng and other evolving linguistic hybridization
This recent article ( from Aljazeera) about the phenomenon of speaking a mixture of Arabic and English that is sweeping a certain strata of the Jordanian society has brought to my mind earlier conversations and viewpoints discussed with peers in the past.
But first let's see what “Arabizi” is? It's a contraction of the word Arabi-Englizi (Arabic -English), coined by Jordanian youth.
"Mixing Arabic with foreign languages has long been commonplace among Western-educated elites in Arab countries".
This was especially evident in Lebanon where your status was proportional to how many French words you managed to put in one sentence. I'm talking about this with firm experience. If I spoke generic Arabic with no accent where my interlocutor could not place if I was from the Gulf countries or other non-oil Arab countries ( therefore poor) I would be treated differently. I decided to try it for myself. As soon as I added phrases en Francais to the conversation, the attention span would pick up and the mood would become friendlier. In this way I have the seal of approval of belonging to an 'elite' of some kind.
In Algeria it is different, although most of their conversation is strewn with French it is not really a sign of elitism but rather mostly due to the protracted period of French colonialism - since 1830 - which tried to eradicate that country's heritage and effectively make it a part of the Republique.
Tunis is midway between both, a relic from the colonial era, but also a status symbol for the westernized people.
"But in Jordan, a poor desert country" states the article” the sudden popularity of Arabizi reflects deep changes in society since the early 1990s".
Another word synonymous with Arabizi , is Franco-Arab, this word was popular among my parents' generation where French was more of an international language especially among the cultured elite. It also covers the earlier mixture of Arabic and Western music which created many interesting hits which our parents enjoyed as teenagers and youth. This hybrid music is now of course 'normal' and we see it not just between Arab and western music, but western and Latin American, or even Asian. A good example is the new punjabi beat, or some of Shakira's hits. It's great for dancing.
"Linguists blame the growing use of English among young Jordanians on American pop culture inundating the Arab world.”
I'm not sure about that, because we have always been watching American pop culture. Moreover, I don't agree that Arabizi or other such manifestations is any threat to Arabic language or culture. Arabic in my opinion is a rich language, with a continuous potential for growth (I won't even get into the argument that it is the language of the Koran and hence its longetivity is guaranteed, because that is faith based).
Hybrid language™ ;) maybe new to Jordanian youth in general but I'm sure it is not new to graduates of science and medical schools in many Arab countries. For example in Libya, medical college students use it not as a cultural expression but out of necessity because their syllabus is in English. But the fun thing in Libya is that they end up Arabizing the English language or vice versa, and I'm not the first one who brought that up in the blogosphere. Dunia which calls it “Arabeng” has posted about it here , let me quote a hilarious extract from her post.
“Another example of Arabeng is a really funny sentence my little brother used a few days ago: "he ifsheled". Now to "ifshel" in Arabic is to fail, as in fashala, yafshulu, fa hua fashil. So "he ifsheled" uses the Arabic verb, but the English pronoun, and the English past tense suffix "-ed".”
“Arabeng is not restricted to Arabic words with English grammar though. There are quite a few instances of English lexemes changed with Arabic grammer morphemes tagged on. Usually, and a bit confusingly, those people who use Arabic words and add on English grammar are more used to English rules, and those people who use English words with Arabic grammar are more used to speaking Arabic. I think.[sic]”
A long time ago I tended to use a hybrid language with my peers unconsciously but a few weeks in Libya knocked that habit out of me because I would actually be looked down on as someone who was trying to show off.
Using a hybrid language then could also be threatening enough to destroy a relationship. A vivid example is that of my friend's cousin R. R is an MD married to an officer. Every time she meets her friends in social gatherings or would talk on the phone she would sometimes use medical expressions in English just out of habit. Her husband (who obviously has insecurity issues - sorry R if you're reading this) would never pass the opportunity to denigrate her by saying 'oh we know you are a doctor and can speak English, stop showing of'.
As for me I consciously started using a generic Arabic, and only lapsing into hybrid with those who would be of the same mentality. Of course if I'm in Lebanon or at any event in which Arabizi or Franco-Arab or any hybrid Arabic is preferable and more advantageous socially I would not hesitate to use it to further my cause or blend in, even though I believe to be fully capable of convincing someone of my point of view in classical Arabic.
This recent article ( from Aljazeera) about the phenomenon of speaking a mixture of Arabic and English that is sweeping a certain strata of the Jordanian society has brought to my mind earlier conversations and viewpoints discussed with peers in the past.
But first let's see what “Arabizi” is? It's a contraction of the word Arabi-Englizi (Arabic -English), coined by Jordanian youth.
"Mixing Arabic with foreign languages has long been commonplace among Western-educated elites in Arab countries".
This was especially evident in Lebanon where your status was proportional to how many French words you managed to put in one sentence. I'm talking about this with firm experience. If I spoke generic Arabic with no accent where my interlocutor could not place if I was from the Gulf countries or other non-oil Arab countries ( therefore poor) I would be treated differently. I decided to try it for myself. As soon as I added phrases en Francais to the conversation, the attention span would pick up and the mood would become friendlier. In this way I have the seal of approval of belonging to an 'elite' of some kind.
In Algeria it is different, although most of their conversation is strewn with French it is not really a sign of elitism but rather mostly due to the protracted period of French colonialism - since 1830 - which tried to eradicate that country's heritage and effectively make it a part of the Republique.
Tunis is midway between both, a relic from the colonial era, but also a status symbol for the westernized people.
"But in Jordan, a poor desert country" states the article” the sudden popularity of Arabizi reflects deep changes in society since the early 1990s".
Another word synonymous with Arabizi , is Franco-Arab, this word was popular among my parents' generation where French was more of an international language especially among the cultured elite. It also covers the earlier mixture of Arabic and Western music which created many interesting hits which our parents enjoyed as teenagers and youth. This hybrid music is now of course 'normal' and we see it not just between Arab and western music, but western and Latin American, or even Asian. A good example is the new punjabi beat, or some of Shakira's hits. It's great for dancing.
"Linguists blame the growing use of English among young Jordanians on American pop culture inundating the Arab world.”
I'm not sure about that, because we have always been watching American pop culture. Moreover, I don't agree that Arabizi or other such manifestations is any threat to Arabic language or culture. Arabic in my opinion is a rich language, with a continuous potential for growth (I won't even get into the argument that it is the language of the Koran and hence its longetivity is guaranteed, because that is faith based).
Hybrid language™ ;) maybe new to Jordanian youth in general but I'm sure it is not new to graduates of science and medical schools in many Arab countries. For example in Libya, medical college students use it not as a cultural expression but out of necessity because their syllabus is in English. But the fun thing in Libya is that they end up Arabizing the English language or vice versa, and I'm not the first one who brought that up in the blogosphere. Dunia which calls it “Arabeng” has posted about it here , let me quote a hilarious extract from her post.
“Another example of Arabeng is a really funny sentence my little brother used a few days ago: "he ifsheled". Now to "ifshel" in Arabic is to fail, as in fashala, yafshulu, fa hua fashil. So "he ifsheled" uses the Arabic verb, but the English pronoun, and the English past tense suffix "-ed".”
“Arabeng is not restricted to Arabic words with English grammar though. There are quite a few instances of English lexemes changed with Arabic grammer morphemes tagged on. Usually, and a bit confusingly, those people who use Arabic words and add on English grammar are more used to English rules, and those people who use English words with Arabic grammar are more used to speaking Arabic. I think.[sic]”
A long time ago I tended to use a hybrid language with my peers unconsciously but a few weeks in Libya knocked that habit out of me because I would actually be looked down on as someone who was trying to show off.
Using a hybrid language then could also be threatening enough to destroy a relationship. A vivid example is that of my friend's cousin R. R is an MD married to an officer. Every time she meets her friends in social gatherings or would talk on the phone she would sometimes use medical expressions in English just out of habit. Her husband (who obviously has insecurity issues - sorry R if you're reading this) would never pass the opportunity to denigrate her by saying 'oh we know you are a doctor and can speak English, stop showing of'.
As for me I consciously started using a generic Arabic, and only lapsing into hybrid with those who would be of the same mentality. Of course if I'm in Lebanon or at any event in which Arabizi or Franco-Arab or any hybrid Arabic is preferable and more advantageous socially I would not hesitate to use it to further my cause or blend in, even though I believe to be fully capable of convincing someone of my point of view in classical Arabic.
Monday, December 19, 2005
Libya and the World Heritage
You love your country and you know it is beautiful and contains wonderful and magical site, yet because you live in it you are used to the presence of these treasures on a day to day basis. So once in a while when you think deeply about it you realise how lucky indeed you are .
I am one of these people and have at times taken for granted all the gorgeous yet familiar landmarks in Libya.
I would like to share the most recognised of them international. Did you know that there are at least 5 registered UNESCO world heritage sites in Libya?
Many bloggers such as Khadijateri , Fatimaslibya, Redenclave, have shown their photos of some of these place. But if you want more here is an official site, with tons of photos and relevant links.
If you have been to Libya ages ago or recently, have photos, love Libya and want to share them with us why don't you put them online and send the link in the comment section ? I'm sure everyone would appreciate it.
You love your country and you know it is beautiful and contains wonderful and magical site, yet because you live in it you are used to the presence of these treasures on a day to day basis. So once in a while when you think deeply about it you realise how lucky indeed you are .
I am one of these people and have at times taken for granted all the gorgeous yet familiar landmarks in Libya.
I would like to share the most recognised of them international. Did you know that there are at least 5 registered UNESCO world heritage sites in Libya?
Many bloggers such as Khadijateri , Fatimaslibya, Redenclave, have shown their photos of some of these place. But if you want more here is an official site, with tons of photos and relevant links.
If you have been to Libya ages ago or recently, have photos, love Libya and want to share them with us why don't you put them online and send the link in the comment section ? I'm sure everyone would appreciate it.
Sunday, December 18, 2005
Bird flu: is there a reason to worry ?
In the past few weeks there have been rumours of ‘bird flu’ contamination in Libya, with accusations and disclaimers flowing back and forth .Of course upon hearing that there is even a remote possibility that this could be true and some poultry is indeed contaminated, I started to worry. Worrying is inversely proportional to knowledge, especially when world wide press and so called experts warn of the next pandemic , whipping our collective fear.
What does that mean ? simply that because I know nothing I’m just as likely to be scared. The logical step was to tell my GP about this and ask his advice. He was very cool about it and said ‘this is rubbish , you shouldn’t worry, bird flu does not affect humans’ . Hmm I’m telling myself, that’s comforting ..so what is the fuss about then? Apart from the evident loss of poultry stock , which is very saddening it is not the human tragedy we have been led to expect. I wasn’t satisfied by this answer, dismissing my fears as if they were idiotic is not ok. So I tried to do a little research by myself to allay these fears and fill the lacunae. I’m sure you have read it all somewhere but I wish to add my 2 cents.
Basically bird flu ( or avian flu ) is propagated among the bird population, that is, it supposedly does not jump species. However, according to the CDC :
“infections with these viruses [though rare] can occur in humans [and] confirmed cases of human infection from several subtypes of avian influenza infection have been reported since 1997. Most cases of avian influenza infection in humans have resulted from contact with infected poultry (e.g., domesticated chicken, ducks, and turkeys) or surfaces contaminated with secretion/excretions from infected birds. The spread of avian influenza viruses from one ill person to another has been reported very rarely, and transmission has not been observed to continue beyond one person.”
So far that does not sound bad, especially that the individuals most likely to fall sick are “people who have contact with infected birds or surfaces that have been contaminated with secretions or excretions from infected birds”.
Birds migrate, and poultry is imported from abroad so these events cannot be hermetically controlled . Currently cases have been confirmed in Asia and Europe . The White House it seems is testing the federal readiness for such an onslaught with a sophisticated ‘drill’ and experts are ‘watching’ … “Because these viruses do not commonly infect humans, there is little or no immune protection against them in the human population”.There is no vaccine and the antiviral treatments are expensive and not always targeted at the particular virus. So may God help anyone who catches this virus.
So now I’m not worried anymore, my GP was right. I figured out that the lowly common flu is just as deadly in the right environment. I have an equal chance of dying of cancer or any other disease anyway. Death is inevitable. If bird flu is present we should do something about the poultry infected and take no risk with the humans involved in their care. Basic hygiene/sterilisation procedures in farms and laboratories should do the trick. As for imported poultry for consumption well what are the quality control and quarantine people doing ? They should guard our borders, and I’m positive they are doing this in view of all these leaked rumours. As for migratory birds? You cannot do anything about that .
So I’ll continue eating chicken and turkey and fowl, there is nothing that fire and microwave cannot take care of.
For further info check the bird flu Q&A here, it is jargon free and comprehensive.
Thursday, December 15, 2005
Tunis Trip 2005 PART III
I had to divide the post into a third part as I've been having connection problems these last few days in Tripoli due to the rain and wind. The satellite dish almost flew off our roof this year and each time it rains there is so much static on the telephone line that there is hardly any tone.
What was I talking about ? aaah the Tunisian capital is a charming little city, please have a look at some of the streets.
A restaurant cafe?
In each country I go to I like visiting their main ‘old’ market, well here is the entrance to the medina/souk .Just like we have one in Tripoli only more commercial , i.e. geared for tourists perhaps ? I loved the antiquarians, but I have no way of knowing if those are real antiques or not so I did not buy any.
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Souk.....
Their traditional clothes carry a lot of similarities to ours, witness those beautiful silks here..
So I'll log off and let you enjoy Tunis.
Tunis Part II
As I was saying, this trip to Tunis was my best one so far. I really had a great time enjoying the famed Tunisian hospitality. But first let me just wrap up the rest of the WSIS exhibition. You’ve probably heard a lot about it on the news, and Tunisian bloggers have covered it quite extensively.
I was thrilled to see the unveiling of the cheap laptop to be used for ‘third world’ countries. When produced – hopefully by next year – it is supposed not to cost more than 100$ . Many countries have already pledged funds for this. I’m just wondering will the disadvantaged really benefit from this technology ? or will it end up as a gadget to be shown off by those in power and their offsprings in the poor countries at which this is aimed? I mean imagine you have a sturdy, portable tiny computer which can rewind manually when you need electricity and which is able to run basically the programs we are used to including browsing the internet all for approximately 100$? Hell I want one of those for my self why should I go buy the state of the art one for 3000 Dollars , then have to take an insurance for fear that it falls or gets stolen or the new Dell Inspiron ?
At the exposition the participants were asked if they needed a hostess for their stands …to make things look nicer and more attractive I guess ;) well look at this gorgeous Tunisian babe.
While I was taking a break at the cafeteria this girl was talking with her colleague then a Tunisian man came over to them and told them why are they dressed like this they should cover their legs and charms as the other men were looking at them in a bad way. She replied “ well it’s their problem not mine . I’m fine like this and this is the uniform of the company that I’m representing and I’m working for them now. If I have pretty legs it’s none of their business”. The guy was flabbergasted, he had to apologize saying that as far as he was concerned they were free to do what they wanted, but he was just warning them what most of the Tunisian guys were thinking behind their backs, and he was afraid for their reputations. I was under the impression that Tunisian men were permissive, it seems I was wrong. Talking about reputation here is a good comparative post from an Egyptian blogger Freedom for Egyptians (hattip Programmer_Craig ). She tackles women’s reputation and its importance in Egypt versus the US. Please remember she is talking about Egypt not about other Arab countries so do not make hasty judgments.
Another interesting item I found at the exposition ( yes we are still talking about it ) was a kiosk : called the ‘freedom toaster’ – no not related to freedom fries. Do you give up? Well in South Africa an entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth came up with the brilliant scheme of installing these little kiosks everywhere. The idea is that they contain open source software which is distributed for free. You only bring your blank CDs and burn/download it fast inside it . It can ‘toast’ 3 CDs at a time. I think that is a swell idea because if you have a slow dial up and it takes you ages to get this stuff online you can do it in a couple of minutes here for more details chexk their website . I relished getting my own CDs though I’m still using Microsoft and Windows XP , but it’s good to know I have alternative choices.
Did you know that the the UNDP supported by Sakhr ( an Arabic software development company) had launched project ICTARB which means 'get closer'. It aims to help the blind and those with special needs to get involved in ICT ? I think we need more of this in the Arab world.
As I was saying, this trip to Tunis was my best one so far. I really had a great time enjoying the famed Tunisian hospitality. But first let me just wrap up the rest of the WSIS exhibition. You’ve probably heard a lot about it on the news, and Tunisian bloggers have covered it quite extensively.
I was thrilled to see the unveiling of the cheap laptop to be used for ‘third world’ countries. When produced – hopefully by next year – it is supposed not to cost more than 100$ . Many countries have already pledged funds for this. I’m just wondering will the disadvantaged really benefit from this technology ? or will it end up as a gadget to be shown off by those in power and their offsprings in the poor countries at which this is aimed? I mean imagine you have a sturdy, portable tiny computer which can rewind manually when you need electricity and which is able to run basically the programs we are used to including browsing the internet all for approximately 100$? Hell I want one of those for my self why should I go buy the state of the art one for 3000 Dollars , then have to take an insurance for fear that it falls or gets stolen or the new Dell Inspiron ?
At the exposition the participants were asked if they needed a hostess for their stands …to make things look nicer and more attractive I guess ;) well look at this gorgeous Tunisian babe.
While I was taking a break at the cafeteria this girl was talking with her colleague then a Tunisian man came over to them and told them why are they dressed like this they should cover their legs and charms as the other men were looking at them in a bad way. She replied “ well it’s their problem not mine . I’m fine like this and this is the uniform of the company that I’m representing and I’m working for them now. If I have pretty legs it’s none of their business”. The guy was flabbergasted, he had to apologize saying that as far as he was concerned they were free to do what they wanted, but he was just warning them what most of the Tunisian guys were thinking behind their backs, and he was afraid for their reputations. I was under the impression that Tunisian men were permissive, it seems I was wrong. Talking about reputation here is a good comparative post from an Egyptian blogger Freedom for Egyptians (hattip Programmer_Craig ). She tackles women’s reputation and its importance in Egypt versus the US. Please remember she is talking about Egypt not about other Arab countries so do not make hasty judgments.
Another interesting item I found at the exposition ( yes we are still talking about it ) was a kiosk : called the ‘freedom toaster’ – no not related to freedom fries. Do you give up? Well in South Africa an entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth came up with the brilliant scheme of installing these little kiosks everywhere. The idea is that they contain open source software which is distributed for free. You only bring your blank CDs and burn/download it fast inside it . It can ‘toast’ 3 CDs at a time. I think that is a swell idea because if you have a slow dial up and it takes you ages to get this stuff online you can do it in a couple of minutes here for more details chexk their website . I relished getting my own CDs though I’m still using Microsoft and Windows XP , but it’s good to know I have alternative choices.
Did you know that the the UNDP supported by Sakhr ( an Arabic software development company) had launched project ICTARB which means 'get closer'. It aims to help the blind and those with special needs to get involved in ICT ? I think we need more of this in the Arab world.
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
World Energy Report in Arabic
The EIA ( Energy Information Administration) has recently released an Arabic version of the International Energy Outlook 2005 which forecast energy consumption.
The Annual Energy Outlook presents a midterm forecast and analysis of US energy supply, demand, and prices through 2025. The projections are based on results from the Energy Information Administration's National Energy Modeling System. AEO2005 includes a reference case and over 30 sensitivities
Well it 's about time there is an Arabic version especially that a very large share of the oil is in the Arab world. Anyway according to this report the annual consumption of oil will increase from 78 million barrels per day in 2002 to 119 mpd in 2025. Moreover, the US demand for oil will increase to 28 mbd in 2025. Please check the tables in the link provided above if you are interested.
So why am I bringing this up ? simply because if these forecasts are accurate. Then not much will change 20 years from now, the US governement will be forced to accomodate those entities strong enough to impose their will on it with the democratic process and the lobbying at the expence of the average American John Doe in the name of "special interests" which will continue to poison lives. i.e. Middle East unchanged with all that this implies.
The EIA ( Energy Information Administration) has recently released an Arabic version of the International Energy Outlook 2005 which forecast energy consumption.
The Annual Energy Outlook presents a midterm forecast and analysis of US energy supply, demand, and prices through 2025. The projections are based on results from the Energy Information Administration's National Energy Modeling System. AEO2005 includes a reference case and over 30 sensitivities
Well it 's about time there is an Arabic version especially that a very large share of the oil is in the Arab world. Anyway according to this report the annual consumption of oil will increase from 78 million barrels per day in 2002 to 119 mpd in 2025. Moreover, the US demand for oil will increase to 28 mbd in 2025. Please check the tables in the link provided above if you are interested.
So why am I bringing this up ? simply because if these forecasts are accurate. Then not much will change 20 years from now, the US governement will be forced to accomodate those entities strong enough to impose their will on it with the democratic process and the lobbying at the expence of the average American John Doe in the name of "special interests" which will continue to poison lives. i.e. Middle East unchanged with all that this implies.
Monday, December 05, 2005
Sorting hat ?
I has been official for a long time that I'm a Harry Potter fan, so I when I saw this quiz on Sandmonkey's I could not resist .... do you want to check it too?
I has been official for a long time that I'm a Harry Potter fan, so I when I saw this quiz on Sandmonkey's I could not resist .... do you want to check it too?
I'm from Ravenclaw!
Hogwart's Sorting Hat Quiz
made by The Genki Gang
Sunday, December 04, 2005
From here and there
Have been gone for a while since Tunis right? well sorry about that, was just too caught up in a lot of work - yes I work for a living you know :) not always blogging !
Anyways I wanted to say that I am officially back from Tunis. It was a lovely trip, I met many interesting people. A few of them I'm sure will become friends for life. I've been too Tunis several times before but this trip was one of the nicest, despite the internet connection that kept 'dropping' in my hotel even though it was the week of the 'information' summit. Lool it was a crazy, busy time but very enlightening. I'll blog the second part a bit later.
I first wanted to thank whoever had enquired about my absence ( special reference to Twosret :)) . No I have not quit blogging ...just did not feel like it.
Second I'd like to thank the Maghrebian bloggers and especially Tunisian blogger Adib (who blogs in French) for visiting here and for caring to search for Libyan bloggers and mentioning them - including yours truly- on the Maghrebian compilation blog. Dare I say that Adib is very prolific in his writings, and due to him I'm happy to note that traffic from Tunis has increased over here. I've been reading several Moroccan, Algerian and Tunisian blogs but tried to keep a low profile ...Now my little secret is out :). ! All you francophone people go check his sidebar links for great reads. One correction Adib, I'm not an expatriate, I live in Tripoli just a travel often...
What else has been happening? Oh you'd be delighted to know that it is 11 degrees Celcius in Tripoli , it's rained a few times since I returned, I already had the flu - no not that one silly . I also find the winter flies pretty annoying..aargh
What has been happening in the Libyan blogosphere ? hmmm let's see Smokey is still AWOL . But then we know by now she works in bursts of excitement. Khadijateri has told us about Jenna's freckles and attending a wedding with overexcited teenagers, about finnaly getting tiles for her new house but also about the tragic death of her friend's husband recently ( driving in Libya is a HAZARD). Redenclave is 'enjoying' the cold weather in Turkey. Do go and check her photos and cheer her up. Tareq has been silent for a month now . Is he busy too with the new house ? where are you Tareq? Tyenness has also moved to a new house and has no internet access there , so she reports to the blogosphere sporadically from those famous Tripolitanian internet cafes, all her posts are cool but my favourite is the Libyan folktale...please go read it ! Hibo is telling us about the recent tradition of 'singing tents' i.e. tents specially set up to gather a wide range of Libyan artists who will perform to either live audiences or for TV. The songs/lyrics are usually of great quality. This tradition has become a must in Ramadan and I believe that this was picked up by other Arab countries like Lebanon and Jordan and Egypt -with their particular add-ons- were Ramadan evening are spent eating listening to singers , drinking/smoking sheesha etc.. ( those elaborations do not take part in the Libyan version which is less materialistic- no offense to anyone). But if you are curious like me and click on Hibo's sidebar links :) you will discover that she has another blog - well done my dear - hip hip hurray for Libyan female bloggers. Hanu is celebrating the 7th annivesary of her wedding - check the story of the lamb with a pink scarf - alf mabrouk habibti. Nura has moved to Canada and is still settling in, we hope to hear from her soon. We love you Nura ! Barnita from India is still very busy !
Oh and last but not least, do you recall when I was wondering aloud about a Libyan blog aggregator? Well we had been chatting about it with Smokey a while back, but it was ever-active Hanu (thank you) who actually took the initiative and created a Libyan Hub for us. It has been up for a while but we had not officially shared it yet.You are all welcome into our combined piece of Libya. It's still humble but a lot of fun ! - Redenclave I'm sure would love to put the link up ! Thanks Haitham for the suggestion, I may still take you on it !
This post was supposed to be short and sweet, some kind of comeback but has turned into a marathon so I'll stop here and start working on the next one . I'm sure you'll have fun with all the links..should keep you busy .
Have been gone for a while since Tunis right? well sorry about that, was just too caught up in a lot of work - yes I work for a living you know :) not always blogging !
Anyways I wanted to say that I am officially back from Tunis. It was a lovely trip, I met many interesting people. A few of them I'm sure will become friends for life. I've been too Tunis several times before but this trip was one of the nicest, despite the internet connection that kept 'dropping' in my hotel even though it was the week of the 'information' summit. Lool it was a crazy, busy time but very enlightening. I'll blog the second part a bit later.
I first wanted to thank whoever had enquired about my absence ( special reference to Twosret :)) . No I have not quit blogging ...just did not feel like it.
Second I'd like to thank the Maghrebian bloggers and especially Tunisian blogger Adib (who blogs in French) for visiting here and for caring to search for Libyan bloggers and mentioning them - including yours truly- on the Maghrebian compilation blog. Dare I say that Adib is very prolific in his writings, and due to him I'm happy to note that traffic from Tunis has increased over here. I've been reading several Moroccan, Algerian and Tunisian blogs but tried to keep a low profile ...Now my little secret is out :). ! All you francophone people go check his sidebar links for great reads. One correction Adib, I'm not an expatriate, I live in Tripoli just a travel often...
What else has been happening? Oh you'd be delighted to know that it is 11 degrees Celcius in Tripoli , it's rained a few times since I returned, I already had the flu - no not that one silly . I also find the winter flies pretty annoying..aargh
What has been happening in the Libyan blogosphere ? hmmm let's see Smokey is still AWOL . But then we know by now she works in bursts of excitement. Khadijateri has told us about Jenna's freckles and attending a wedding with overexcited teenagers, about finnaly getting tiles for her new house but also about the tragic death of her friend's husband recently ( driving in Libya is a HAZARD). Redenclave is 'enjoying' the cold weather in Turkey. Do go and check her photos and cheer her up. Tareq has been silent for a month now . Is he busy too with the new house ? where are you Tareq? Tyenness has also moved to a new house and has no internet access there , so she reports to the blogosphere sporadically from those famous Tripolitanian internet cafes, all her posts are cool but my favourite is the Libyan folktale...please go read it ! Hibo is telling us about the recent tradition of 'singing tents' i.e. tents specially set up to gather a wide range of Libyan artists who will perform to either live audiences or for TV. The songs/lyrics are usually of great quality. This tradition has become a must in Ramadan and I believe that this was picked up by other Arab countries like Lebanon and Jordan and Egypt -with their particular add-ons- were Ramadan evening are spent eating listening to singers , drinking/smoking sheesha etc.. ( those elaborations do not take part in the Libyan version which is less materialistic- no offense to anyone). But if you are curious like me and click on Hibo's sidebar links :) you will discover that she has another blog - well done my dear - hip hip hurray for Libyan female bloggers. Hanu is celebrating the 7th annivesary of her wedding - check the story of the lamb with a pink scarf - alf mabrouk habibti. Nura has moved to Canada and is still settling in, we hope to hear from her soon. We love you Nura ! Barnita from India is still very busy !
Oh and last but not least, do you recall when I was wondering aloud about a Libyan blog aggregator? Well we had been chatting about it with Smokey a while back, but it was ever-active Hanu (thank you) who actually took the initiative and created a Libyan Hub for us. It has been up for a while but we had not officially shared it yet.You are all welcome into our combined piece of Libya. It's still humble but a lot of fun ! - Redenclave I'm sure would love to put the link up ! Thanks Haitham for the suggestion, I may still take you on it !
This post was supposed to be short and sweet, some kind of comeback but has turned into a marathon so I'll stop here and start working on the next one . I'm sure you'll have fun with all the links..should keep you busy .
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Bridging the 'digital gap' in Tunis
Well Highlander is travelling again, yep no resting yet .. this time yours truly is in neighbouring Tunis which is hosting the World Summit on the Information Society ( this is the UN link here ) or WSIS. This is a map of the venue. There is also an exhibition going on at the same time. The expositon centre is called Le Kram as per photo on the left above. No efforts have been spared.I have been to the stands yesterday and I could vouch that they are awesome even Kofi Anan was present :). The security measures also for this event are tremendous, you could feel it from the airport and at the hotels and almost everywhere. I mean imagine being asked for your badge in your own hotel?
The city is decked in the red Tunisian flag, and the plain clothes men are not being discreet at all, I guess no risk is to be taken when you are expecting 17000 guests including foreign dignitaries and heads of states, especially with the sad recent news from Jordan.
My favourite stand is of the course the Japanese one , they have all sorts of gadgets.This is my dream vehicle, GPS, motorbike , laptop , internet ..how cool eh?
The WSIS objective is to come up with solutions 'to help poorer nations benefit from the digital revolution' , but according to various programs and interviews on TV and articles it seems that there is an argument running on who should run the net.
Here are yesterday's results of a vote on the BBC website to the question 'Does the US have too much power over the internet?'
and this is my screenshot of it- on the left.
We shall see what the participants come up with. In the meantime it's wonderful to meet with people from all over the world including Israel. The Israelis were pleased to attend for the first time it seems in Tunis and to find out a different image from that provided by the mainstream media. I think this summit and the exhibition have if nothing achieved to promote dialogue between many peoples.
Part II will be blogged tonight or tomorrow.
Out for now H.
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Jordan sequels
A Jordanian reader, and blogger Lina has graciously left the following comment to my previous post which I thought was worth highlighting here : "I am so thankful to God that you were not at the Radisson SAS that night!! I know this sounds very selfish of me to say, but I hope you would still consider coming to Amman... just as people still go to London and still go to New York! I hate to see those terrorists have their way, and succeed in shattering our sense of stability and security.(and if you don't want to stay in a hotel then you are most welcome in our house :) )"
Thank you Lina for the offer of course it would be a pleasure to meet you anytime.
With regards to my post, I meant to say that with the grace of God my plans had changed and I was not in Amman that day because I had other obligations elsewhere.
However, I intend soon to visit beautiful Jordan again just as I have not been deterred by terrorists to go to London or Egypt or Lebanon again.
In my view death comes in its own time according to God's will so I will never cower or be afraid.
On another note the media and many bloggers have mentioned that Syrian-American producer Mustafa Akkad was among the victims, apart from Halloween he was famous for producing 'The Message' and 'Lion of the Desert' as previously mentioned on this blog. So I won't dwell on that much longer .
A Jordanian reader, and blogger Lina has graciously left the following comment to my previous post which I thought was worth highlighting here : "I am so thankful to God that you were not at the Radisson SAS that night!! I know this sounds very selfish of me to say, but I hope you would still consider coming to Amman... just as people still go to London and still go to New York! I hate to see those terrorists have their way, and succeed in shattering our sense of stability and security.(and if you don't want to stay in a hotel then you are most welcome in our house :) )"
Thank you Lina for the offer of course it would be a pleasure to meet you anytime.
With regards to my post, I meant to say that with the grace of God my plans had changed and I was not in Amman that day because I had other obligations elsewhere.
However, I intend soon to visit beautiful Jordan again just as I have not been deterred by terrorists to go to London or Egypt or Lebanon again.
In my view death comes in its own time according to God's will so I will never cower or be afraid.
On another note the media and many bloggers have mentioned that Syrian-American producer Mustafa Akkad was among the victims, apart from Halloween he was famous for producing 'The Message' and 'Lion of the Desert' as previously mentioned on this blog. So I won't dwell on that much longer .
Thursday, November 10, 2005
Jordan's 9/11
(image courtesy of BBC)
This latest in the series of bombings by Al quaeda franchises was not unexpected. Jordan had it coming, I was just wondering 'when'? and hoping it would not. Thank God I canceled my trip to Amman I was actually supposed to be there yesterday and specifically at the Radison SAS . This is the second explosion I miss in one year , first it was 7/7 ....no comment . May the victims RIP ; and at this moment I cannot offer any solution since the perpetrator was a suicide bomber anyway. This will not stop soon I'm afraid and the Middle East is going up in flames. Maybe I should keep to Libya for a while ? Now let me go check on friends and loved ones ...
Update 13/11/2005
Appart from two people , everyone I know is accounted for, maybe they are just travelling abroad ...
(image courtesy of BBC)
This latest in the series of bombings by Al quaeda franchises was not unexpected. Jordan had it coming, I was just wondering 'when'? and hoping it would not. Thank God I canceled my trip to Amman I was actually supposed to be there yesterday and specifically at the Radison SAS . This is the second explosion I miss in one year , first it was 7/7 ....no comment . May the victims RIP ; and at this moment I cannot offer any solution since the perpetrator was a suicide bomber anyway. This will not stop soon I'm afraid and the Middle East is going up in flames. Maybe I should keep to Libya for a while ? Now let me go check on friends and loved ones ...
Update 13/11/2005
Appart from two people , everyone I know is accounted for, maybe they are just travelling abroad ...
Thursday, November 03, 2005
Eid Fitr Mabrouk from good old Tripoli
Yes folks there is nothing like Eid with the family, and the noise of the kids and our sweets and visitors .... It is such fun to see twice removed cousins and discover ones you never knew existed and find out the recent additions to one's family . All this to announce that I am back home from this recent trip to London and I'm basking at the moment in the glow of Eid after missing most of Ramadan abroad.
So to all friends ( cyber/blogger and flesh ones ) and family عيد مبروك علينا وعليكم و انشاء الله عايدين فايزين
EID MABROUK :)
Now let me go enjoy the final episodes of the Ramadan series ...yes and that includes the Hur al3ayn one as well ....blogging will resume afterwards.
out for now Highlander
Yes folks there is nothing like Eid with the family, and the noise of the kids and our sweets and visitors .... It is such fun to see twice removed cousins and discover ones you never knew existed and find out the recent additions to one's family . All this to announce that I am back home from this recent trip to London and I'm basking at the moment in the glow of Eid after missing most of Ramadan abroad.
So to all friends ( cyber/blogger and flesh ones ) and family عيد مبروك علينا وعليكم و انشاء الله عايدين فايزين
EID MABROUK :)
Now let me go enjoy the final episodes of the Ramadan series ...yes and that includes the Hur al3ayn one as well ....blogging will resume afterwards.
out for now Highlander
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