Under intense and unreasonable scrutiny from the very beginning for a perceived “closeness” to Islam, the Barack Obama campaign has once again fallen prey to the work of right-wing anti-Muslim organizations in the United States. The campaign’s freshly-appointed Muslim-American outreach coordinator Mazen Asbahi resigned after only ten days on the job following a misinformation campaign regarding his alleged “ties” to “Muslim fundamentalists.” National media, including the Wall Street Journal, by and large quoted these sources without investigating their claims or origins and, sadly, the Obama campaign has shown once again that it was not willing to stand by Muslim Americans in the face of this now routine anti-Muslim xenophobia. By letting his outreach coordinator go, Barack Obama is letting the Muslim American community go with him.
What they cover up, from a Damascene school
July 10th, 2008 § 1 comment § permalink
There are many official postings on the walls of this Damascene kindergarten, primary, and secondary school, containing gems (or, at least, we are supposed to assume they are gems because they are on the wall) from aqwal so-and-so. I have always been suspicious of such postings, especially ones that assert positive aspects of a thing: I’m reminded here of the BlueStarPR posters around San Francisco that address many things about Israel, except the occupation. Even the new oil company advertisements, which never refer to oil production, but always to some environmental program or humanitarian assistance that the company in question claims to be responsible for, come to mind. It would not be necessary to desecrate our sensory landscape with these things, unless the points they made were not, at the very least, questionable.
But along with all these official items, are the unofficial and unauthorized ones that pop-up uncontrollably and unpredictably, and which official administrators no matter the setting are often tempted to paint over. So it is that the graffiti photographed above in this particular school, written on there by some daring child, from a more authentic collection of aqwal, will probably be erased some day, or maybe the perpetrator punished. Maybe if they cannot remove it they will simply cover it up with a cartoon telling the students how to think, or a periodic table.
Such an example makes the act of painting over seem innocent, or the unauthorized script whimsical: but something happened in Damascus last week, and it too, is being painted over. It is a classical official information control strategy to produce stories about a topic dealing with everything but the issue at stake: so rather than cover the slaughter of prisoners at Seydnaya Prison last week, the official Syrian news sources reported on a conference of Orthodox Assyrian Christian leaders in Seydnaya.
The truth, these days, it seems, can only be shared in whispers.
Traffic and Civilization in Damascus
July 10th, 2008 § 11 comments § permalink
Since I’ve been in Damascus long enough for any American journalist to be considered an expert on the entire Middle East (exactly two weeks), I figured that it would not be too strange for me to share some of my observations on traffic in downtown Damascus.
If you’ve spent most of your life in exploitative parts of the world (Europe, America, among other places), you are sure to notice the different way traffic is done, or rather, the way it happens, in Damascus. That means there are not really ‘lanes’ in any systematic sense, and that cars are literally within centimeters of one another at any given time. There are constantly random obstacles popping up in the way in the more crowded areas, like people crossing the street or bicyclists weaving their way through traffic on the busiest streets. I doubt any still picture can really relay the fluidity of traffic in Damascus.
I’ve encountered more than one person that considers this to be a lack of “civilization,” whatever that means, and they immediately formulate a traffic “problem” that must be “fixed” by the institution of things like detailed traffic laws, lanes, a bunch of police officers giving out tickets, and “driver’s education,” which doesn’t teach you how to drive a car in traffic, but how to follow the rules while driving a car whether or not there are other cars out there.
Abdel Wudud and his chickens: A look at Muhammad al-Maghout and Durayd Lahham’s al-Hudud
June 17th, 2008 § 4 comments § permalink
Have you had a chance to think much about borders, besides the pain of waiting in line to have your passport checked and visa approved? If not, take an hour or two out of your time to watch al-Hudud (“The Border”), a Syrian comedy starring Durayyid Lahham and Raghda, and written by esteemed writer, the late Muhammad al-Maghout. In al-Hudud, the aloof but incredibly perceptive traveler Abdel Wudud attempts to pass between two countries named Sharqistan and Gharbistan (in Arabic, sharq is “east,” and gharb “west”) when he ends up losing his passport somewhere between the two checkpoints marking the entrance to each country. Despite his numerous attempts to explain the situation to the senior guard at both ends, he is merely sent in circles back and forth, as each one promises to allow him in with the permission of the other side.
Continue reading “Abdel Wudud and his chickens: A look at Muhammad al-Maghout and Durayd Lahham’s al-Hudud” »
Understanding political tokenism
June 17th, 2008 § 15 comments § permalink
Since my encounter with Ismail Khaldi, I have been thinking of the crucial defining characteristic of a “token” in political terms. I think I understand it now, after having seen The Spook Who Sat By The Door. Not only does the token in his appointed capacity have no power to change a system’s design or behavior, he actually plays no crucial service whatsoever in its maintenance. Thus, Dan Freeman in The Spook becomes the first black member to be admitted to the CIA after intense training, but is given a position photocopying papers even though he is advertised as proof that the CIA is now “integrated.” And Ishmael Khaldi is the “first Bedouin Arab” to work for the Israeli foreign ministry in the United States, as we often hear, but his job is to give stump speeches on college campuses and to be shown off to ASUC officials. It’s no surprise that at the same time Tikvah and similar groups buy people dinner to come “see the Arab” in the zoo-like showcase they’ve organized in order to obscure Israeli apartheid, that Israeli Knesset members are calling for the ejection of all Arab MP’s from parliament, and all Arabs, out of Israel. Yet another proof that Israel is the most progressive occupying power in the world.
Averting Contradiction: Arab- and Muslim-Americans?
June 2nd, 2008 § 13 comments § permalink
A few reflections on calling ourselves Arab versus Arab-American, and the responsibility that is demanded of us as beneficiaries of American imperialism either way
Is the name of our identity something we should be comfortable with? For those of us who are the children of immigrants, especially from parts of the world that are currently feeling the brunt of our parents’ new home country (and if we consider more than direct military action, this means most countries not in Europe), the question often looms: do we keep the hyphen-American, or do we drop it? Further, what does it mean to do one or the other, both within our current location, and in relation to the distant group of people we identify with?
It seems to me that this politics of naming is lost in a complicated intersection of various beliefs and attitudes that have the common property of inducing a feeling of alienation from what one considers the norm. For many Arabs or Muslims in such a position, this has been extenuated by domestic marginalization (especially the sort of racial profiling we see by police and in public discourse) that complements the strong and just objections we might have to American foreign and domestic policy. The fact that we are overwhelmingly against the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as unconditional US support for Israeli dispossession and abuse of the Palestinian people, among other things complements the fact that secondary security checks at airports and similar measures are a test of our patience in a country that is supposed to be our home. Continue reading “Averting Contradiction: Arab- and Muslim-Americans?” »
Iron Man, Messianic Violence, and Arabs in Film
May 12th, 2008 § 11 comments § permalink
Another film that tries to integrate contemporary political themes into its plot, Iron Man tells the story of an exuberant Tony Stark who, despite accusations that weapons made by his company Stark Industries make him a “merchant of death,” believes he is helping to defend noble ideas like freedom and democracy. His alpha-male confidence makes him a cultural pop-star and manages to land even his strongest critics (characterized, unsurprisingly, as feisty female reporters) in bed with him.
That is, until he is captured while demonstrating new technology that he has developed for the American occupation army in Afghanistan. After spending weeks in captivity, living thanks to the inspirational motivation of a similarly captured Afghani doctor, Stark appears to have undergone a “change of heart,” returning to America after an almost too-brilliant escape only to announce that he intends to shut down the weapons-manufacturing wing of Stark Industries, a company that specializes in weapons technologies.
In his seclusion, Stark develops an impressive new suit that has him dubbed the “Iron Man” by the press. With flying capabilities as well as advanced navigation, aiming, and targeting systems, all powered by radioactive polonium, the suit, ostensibly, is supposed to be a weapon that can’t end up in the wrong hands. Of course, Stark’s vision is undermined by the work of his former captives and a traitorous colleague who successfully reverse engineer the crude prototype he had built in order to escape his captors in Afghanistan, providing for a formidable foe in the final scenes in the movie. Continue reading “Iron Man, Messianic Violence, and Arabs in Film” »
Why does the Daily Cal print anti-Muslim advertisements?
May 6th, 2008 § 8 comments § permalink
For some reason, the Daily Californian yesterday printed an advertisement, shown above, by the “David Horowitz Freedom Center” that alleged Muslim students around the country were “waging” a “stealth jihad on America’s college campuses.”
While the advertisement does contain a disclaimer “PAID POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT,” probably to distance the views expressed from the newspaper itself, it’s difficult to see why this classification was chosen: the advertisement does not support nor oppose any specific political candidate, legislation, action, or issue. All it does is bash Muslims. Since the Daily Cal is under no obligation whatsoever to print all advertisements, it retains full discretion over what it does and does not agree to print. Why it did agree to print this is still unanswered.
Continue reading “Why does the Daily Cal print anti-Muslim advertisements?” »
Barack Obama’s Charisma Will Save The World
April 20th, 2008 § 26 comments § permalink
When it comes to Iran, Barack Obama says that the US needs to be careful about the use of force and must pursue other avenues, invoking George Bush and Iraq as foils to his “new foreign policy.”
When it comes to Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama says that Americans should not be quick to judge the man, and should make an attempt to understand his statements, sentiments, and beliefs within the context of his experience in a racist America.
But when it comes to the Palestinians, Barack Obama rejects any such nuanced approach. Instead, he, Hillary Clinton, and every other Democrat try to the best of their abilities to sound as much like George Bush as possible. Deviation from the norm here is not called ‘debate’ or an ‘exchange of ideas,’ it’s downright sedition.
For those who would claim that he might be “concealing” his true opinions: I don’t believe in trojan horse politics; I don’t believe a trojan horse democracy is democracy; the only trick trojan horse candidates play are on those who might support them on that premise. Continue reading “Barack Obama’s Charisma Will Save The World” »
Who are academics, activists, and the media talking to?
August 2nd, 2008 § 1 comment § permalink
That is the way I can best understand what editorials which take no meaningful positions whatsoever, but express frustration at “incompetence,” are doing, as if one should appreciate what I can only describe as “finesse” in management and governance without even considering what kind of actions and decisions are being undertaken, or what their assumptions and consequences are, in the first place. Nowhere has this been more clear than in press ambiguity on the occupation of Iraq, where the position has not been to end the occupation, but to run it more intelligently. Continue reading “Who are academics, activists, and the media talking to?” »