No Woman, No Cry!

From my weary eyes falls another unwanted tear
The poet Elizabeth Bishop says in One Art that:
The art of losing isn't hard to master; so many things seem filled with the intent, to be lost that their loss is no disaster.
I agree, somethings should be lost, be it one's innocence, virginity, ability to forgive or not forgive...whatever it may be...bas tears are tough to loose!
Bob Marley says it best:
Everything's gonna be all right!
So no, woman, no cry;
No, woman, no cry.
I seh, O little - O little darlin', don't shed no tears;
No, woman, no cry, eh.

Sorry Thierry Henry

I have just read the most upsetting piece of news-ok not most upsetting bas it is quite high up there. I am a huge Arsenal fan, have been so for the past couple of years, have watched them go from the top of the Barclays Premiership league to number 7!!! I was even confused the other day since I support both Real Madrid and Arsenal and they were playing each other in the Champions League, and I ended up cheering for Arsenal!!!!
But today while surfing through BBC news, I was blown away when I read Israel Seeking Goal with Arsenal. It goes on to tell us how Arsenal has signed a two-year, £ 350,000 deal to promote Israel as a tourist attraction!!! I mean honestly...then it goes on to say how Arsenal got permission from the officials in the United Arab Emirates, whose national airline bought the naming rights to the new stadium. The humor of what is being said hit me in the next sentence, when it says-like a footnote-that the UAE does not have diplomatic relations with Israel...la2 balla!!! Bas the UAE is more than happy to-in effect-co-sponsor a walking, goal shotting, advertisment for people to go and visit Israel...how could this every be justified?
I am angry with my team for even considering doing this, and for such little money (I mean for fucks sake, at least ask for a bit more), but for an ARAB country to actually allow this to happen on something that they have sponsored!!! I mean Emiriates airlines has pretty much paid for the new Arsenal Stadium, do they not have enough power or maybe more to the point-guts to say NO...you will not help get tourism for a country that is occupying another country-and not just ANY country but an Arab one at that!!!!!
"We think football is a great product and we think it will assist Israel become a more popular destination," Mr Kieth Edelman, Arsenal's managing director said. I went to the Israeli Minsitry of Tourism to check out what it has to say about it. In Press Release you find a link to a Word document...reading it made me want to rip each and every photo that I have of Thierry...and bury my head in a pillow and cry-ok exaggeration bas you get my point-according to the agreement, Israel becomes Arsenal's official and exclusive travel destination. The country's tourism ministry joins sponsors like NIKE, Thomas Cook and Emirates Airlines. "Israel will become known as a preferred travel destination amongst millions of people in Britain, Europe and the world," says Tourism Minister Avraham Hirchson.
I really wonder what the slogan will be...any ideas?????

Instant Pleasures

I have just gotten my iPod Nano, and am very excited about it-it really is quite tiny, sorry but I was surprised how tiny it was. I had the iPod mini before, and I completely fell in love with it. It made my trip on the London Tube so much more pleasent, trips on the bus, on the plane...just became a joy. I loved going out for walks in Edinburgh-where I was for university-and kind of making a soundtrack for each day. I had broadband in the UK, so I was able to download all sorts of music and thus kept my ipod updated with all the stuff that I like old and new. But when I first got to Amman I didnt have broadband, and so was forced to listen to the same music for over three months. Finally now my torture is over and I can enjoy new music again.
What I don't like about the ipod, is exactly that, you get bored of your music. Changing the song is so easy, all you have to do is swirl around for a bit and click...new song...while before when I had a Diskman (why wasn't it called Discwoman?) you would have to stop, pull out the new cd you wanted to hear and blah blah takes ages, and how annoying was it when you only wanted to hear one song on this new cd???? But you would enjoy it even more somehow.
I miss those times when I didn't have the iPod and I would sit listening to the radio, and there would be rubbish on, but I would hold out...and then your song would come on...and boom you jump up, top volume and you start dancing around your room/house...to the annoyance of my parents (who ended up memorising all my favorite songs because of this policy). Even better, you are in your car, stuck in traffic-I drove in Beirut so I know what it feels like to be stuck for HOURS with the dude in the car next to you reading his newspaper!-and you are listening to the radio, and you are putting up with all the tripe that comes on...and then it comes...the song...the one and only song for that specific mood you are in...and you blast the music...and start singing at the top of your voice!!! What am amazing feeling...how much I miss that...really enjoying a song, because you knew that the next one will be horrible again...and then you wait and wait...and another 'perfect' song comes on and your pleasure is orgasmic!

Liberals vs conservatives

As a relatively new blogger, who has been reading and really getting into the Arab blogs-love the Egyptian ones-I have come to find a few quite annoying. I know this will be controversial, but whatever. Before I get into this, I guess I should place myself, I am quite leftist, well really leftist, so secular, and as a woman in the Arab world, not a big fan of the conservative movements in this region and their policies on women. Eventhough if you look at the Jordanian parliament and some of the laws (nationality, Ahwal Almadaneyeh, etc.) that have been suggested and how they were voted down not only by the conservatives, but also by the women, and the liberal forces within our parliament, one should be careful of to many generalizations.
Bas back to the point, the Arab blogs seems to range from quite liberal to really conservative, and that is great, the whole point is for all points of view to be heard and discussed. But I have been getting annoyed with the fact that some of the liberal ones-for they are the ones I seem to always end up on-are so anti the Islamist movements in the Arab world. I mean there seems to be an attack on movements such as Hamas and Hizbullah, and the Muslim Brotherhood, this is good if the arguments where well thought out and had backing. But some of them are things like look at these pictures they are brainwashing kids...blah blah.
I also find this idea that we secular people have that if an Islamist government is formed, that they will instantly ruin the country. I mean look at what is happening in Palestine...Hamas was voted in-for whatever reason-democratically, and instantly people have decided that they are going to ruin Palestine. This way of think is exactly what happened in Algeria and look at what happened in that country. Instead of allowing the government to be formed and give them and the Algerians see if they were correct to vote them in, instantly the international community interfered and civil war broke out!
There is a real fear and threat that Hamas and Fateh will end up forgetting their real enemy and start fighting each other. Instead of this election that started quite well, ending with a new government-that Hamas wants to be an alliance of the different Palestinian parties-we have different factions saying that they wont work with Hamas. How completely illogical is that and just plain stupid? Why not allow the government to be formed, let Hamas start dealing with the Israelis-because they will have to-and who knows, we might see this party that everyone is so worried about prove everyone wrong. There is the possibility that the expectations of the 'liberals' in the Arab world will come true, but isn't that what democracy is all about? You vote for someone, and when their time is up you decide if you want them back or not.
All over the world where people are allowed to vote, sometimes they get leaderships that they are not completely happy with, or where the international community is not very pleased with, bas they are left alone. Why are the Islamist movements not given the same respect? The argument that they do not give that respect. I think is rubbish and it can not be justified currently, for we have not had an experience with an Islamist government. Some will say look at what happened in Iran, but the method that they came into power was not elections, but out right revolution. Completely different then people going out to vote, where there is a campaign where people give you a platform of their agenda and you decide if they represent you or not.
Back to the bloggers, I just think that extremes-on both sides-are always a bit much, but what I find what is worse is when liberals who are all about opening up and allowing people to be free and think what they want and be how they want, start to lecture the conservatives about changing and not allowing there to be these two sides in our political arena. Isn't that what the Liberals are so worried about, that if the Islamists get into power they won't have the space to speak and be in opposition? Yet they seem to be doing the same, seems a bit like a double standard.

Some Thoughts

You know when you listen to something, and you hear something that is just bizarre, and you start to think like the people talking and it takes to you to sides of your brain that you have never been before. For example I was listening to this podcast, and they were talking about the most intriguing things. So the first thing I found funny was that one should only eat things that look good when they are alive, so that would exclude Octopus, and snails, lotuces-which I ate while in Tanzania YUMMY-bas that keeps things like cows, chicken...well thats kind of it really!
Then there was the thought, why don't companies sponsor the homeless, I mean if you think about it, it is a good idea. The company would get good advertising since the homeless wonder around the cities...but at the same time if they were sponsored then they would have enough money to get off the streets and that would kind of negate the whole point why the companies sponsored...hmmm...ineresting:)
There is a Chinese saying that says she who cuts the wood up warms herself twice-please notice how gender aware I am-now that I think is one of the best little advises that I have ever heard...not to sure how one can apply it to the world today, bas still not a bad thought! There is another one which states a camel is a horse designed by a committee-now how I was explained is that one person has a vision of something-a horse-bas a camel is created when too many people are given the opportunity to comment and make suggestions. You would have to wonder what kind of person would have offered to put the hump...ma hek?
Now on this same show, I was informed that an octopus can fit in a jar, and we would have to wonder about two things, first why would an octopus wanna do that, and if the octopus didn't want to-since she would not really be able to do that, you know go and buy a jar and then put herself in it-what kind of person would think about doing something like that???? But then again when I was a kid I used to love to catch scorpions-in a glass-then we would light a fire all around it, because-and here is a scientific fact I am sure of-scorpions would rather kill themselves then be caught by a predator, so they sting themselves...kind of an animal suicide bomber-ok not funny sorry...so back to my story, we would light the fire around it and then watch as it ran around and then sting itself...damn I was-maybe still am-quite sadistic!!!

Ipso Facto

I love this man, Ricky Gervais, he is an amazing comedian. I am sure people have heard of him, he wrote The Office, and was Brent in it. He is now doing a show on The Guardian web page, and its fucking funny...do check it out...that is if you like British humour. Which to be honest if the BEST comedy!
Here are a few other webpages with British comedians:
Sowerby & Luff's Big Squeeze
and
Simulacrum

And here is the British 'nicepod' remix:
I could eat a knob at night (for all those none brits educated a knob is another word for penis) and they have made a remix of what this guy said on the Ricky Gervais Show on the Guardian. Please do go and download it...listen to it...fucking Brilliant!

Ulcer by 30!

As a 27 year old woman, who works, is finishing her PhD, trying to find a man to love and fall in love with her, an ulcer by 30 does seem like a likely thing, but I have added another element. I let people get under my skin, like the Frank Sinatra song-but not romantically-I mean it more when it comes to people I have around me. Joni Mitchell says it perfectly: Everybody'’s in it for their own gain, You can'’t please '’em all, There's always somebody calling you down.
I let people's atitudes towards me and the way they deal with me effect how I am...I don't know how to explain it, but if I think that someone is upset, then I get upset, if someone annoys me...then instead of telling them to shuv it, I get all worked up. I have these two friends, who have the best attitude and I wish I could be like them, they always tell me lulwa il biz3al byirda...they don't let things get to them...if someone pisses them off, or annoys them, then they either stop talking and thinking of them, or they just tell them to fuck off...I know it might sound like they are heartless, but they aren't like that with people they care about, I see them if they upset someone they love then they go out of their way to reconcile with them and work things out. But when it comes to people on the periphery then they just don't allow it to get to them.
I on the other hand, seem to allow people who I don't care about get to me, they fuck up my mood, I get angry, and then my whole day or night is ruined. I end up staying up late at night, thinking about what someone said, how they said it, why they said it...when I am done with that, I turn to what I said, how I said it, and why didn't I say something else? You must know those moments where someone says something and you reply only to think about it later and think of a thousand ways that you could have answered better...how I wish I had a time machine for those day!
Bas seriously what a fucking waste of my time, and my effort, on people that are not worth the time of day...and writing this blog about it, seems a bit pointless...and a waste of time and energy (not only mine bas your also...sorry)...bas still...I need to talk/write about this.
This is a genuine call to the people of the blog world, does anyone have a way to deal with people like that...people who just get on your nerves and they do it over and over and over again and all you can do is allow them too...fuck what a shite way to be!!! Some people say being caring is a good thing...bas to be honest I just want to strangle those people. I hate feeling like this, and feel a bit stupid writing about it, and I know that some annoying person is going to write a comment along the lines of "well if you feel stupid writing about then why did you?" All I am going to say is: shuv it!
Guess writing this did help :)

Stupid Girls!!!

Soft spoken, eye-batting, hair flicking, and one of the most annoying species ever to exist...they prance around our cities, in the coffee shops, bar, offices, as if they could possible for someone to look like that without at least three to four hours of hard work! I am sure a lot of you know who I am talking about, they are the sort of women who when you walk next to them you go from feeling that you are one darn pretty looking cookie to thinking that you could have at least put in another hour of so before leaving the house. I hate those women...I also find it very odd that women somehow are unable to be friends...as in we get a long, but somehow something always seems to get in the way...men want to see cat fights, well all they have to do is listen to how woman speak to each other sometimes...they might be smiling but the claws are out!!! There is a whole list of things that might get in the way...they range from having bought the same pair of shoes-and wearing them on the same night-to men. Now here I have a nice thing to say about the other sex, I have noticed-from extensive research-that men seem to have a set of rules-unwritten and unspoken-that they follow when it comes to how they deal with each other. One of the rules that I wish-with all my heart-that women would follow is, that guys have this shotgun rule-who ever calls a girl first gets to have priority in flirting and being with this particular girl. So if two guys are at a bar, at a party, and they see a girl, whoever says first "hmm...I think she is hot" seems to win...the other guy will back off.
Now with women, the opposite seems to happen, when a girl tells her friend, oh I think he is hot...the female friend instantly-it seems-become attracted to that SAME guy, and goes out of her way to get him. I have heard the most bizarre stories-and experienced quite a few-one story that I love, is about this girl who started to bake a cake-chocolate no less-for this guy that her good friend was interested in...she seemed to have taken to heart her mom's advice: to get to a man you have to go through his stomach!!!!
I was listening to the radio this morning, and heard for the first time Pink's song, Stupid Girls, and I completely fell in love with it. Baby if I act like that, that guy will call me back What a paparazzi girl, I don't wanna be a stupid girl Baby if I act like that, flipping my blonde hair back Push up my bra like that, I don't wanna be a stupid girl These are another group of women that I despise, now women who choose to act stupid to use men, well that is kind of ok with me-if a guy is dumb enough to fall for it then great-bas the ones who annoy me are those who REALLY believe that this is what men want, and actually care about what men want enough to act like this.
The women who really get under my skin are those pathetically weaklings...you know them we have all met them...they come and are like "oh why does this happen to me" blah blah...and you try and help and they seem to be getting on and then slip and they are back to the SAME old habits...and they get hurt, talk about it, sort themselves out for a day or two and then SLIP...these habits can be anything from over-dependence on people, feeling that they will never be able to success...yada yada...and the list goes on. I don't hate them because they are weak, we are all weak in certain things I guess, but I hate the fact that they can't get their acts together and actually try and CHANGE...the concept seems foreign to them...they just keep doing the same old shite, and then come and cry to me. I get very annoyed, and I end up screaming and they end up crying and I look like the bitch...that is another thing...the crying thing...why oh why do some women resort to tears???? oh how I hate women who cry when I am trying to talk to them about something serious, be it constructive criticism, because they upset me, or we are arguing...the tears start, and yes we all feel bad...as Eddie Murphy said, " men see those tears, and they are like OK"...but I still hate them, and when they leave the room and I have retracted everything that I have said-eventhough I meant all of it-I hate them even more...and just want to kill them!!!!!

Message to Men.

I wonder why men seem to think that just because they do something, that women should also be the same...and what I love even more is how they use the argument of if you want to be equal then you have to do the same..."I say, if women want to be equal to men, then they have to talk like men"...kind of missed the whole point behind the concept of equality.
Anyhow, I was reading this blog, where this guy is talking about how women don't admit to masturbating, and that they should. Now to be honest, I agree with him that is it a bit stupid to suppose that women don't do it. But for him to suggest that because women don't 'talk' about it, makes them stupid is fucking annoying...I think is ridiculous...it would be like me saying that men are stupid because they lack the ability-or willingness-to talk about feelings...to discuss, to sort through thing...every sentence that starts with "I feel..." Instantly becomes drama for them...that for them to be at the same level as women they should ALL start talking about how they feel, because we all know that they have feelings-well at least I honestly hope so!!!!
I love this kind of warped logic that people use, and it is hard to talk to them...because they are right in a way-I mean this dude goes on to say that it is stupid how girls can comment on men's weight but the other way is not really accepted...I agree with him...but then look at the next statement:"and yes they talk about the most pointless crap a donkey wouldn't approve of" Funny...for sure...I cracked up...valid...not at all...don't men talk about the most POINTLESS crap...I know this for a fact...I have male friends, and I hear what they talk about...pointless sometimes...absafuckingloutly!!!!!

One year Anniversary

It has been a year since Harir's death, and wow has our region gone through some tough times. Last year this time, there were mass demonstrations on the streets of Beirut, that forced the Syrians out of the country, and there have been a constant sage of alliances that first are hard to believe and are even harder to digest when they fall apart. In Syria the situation has gone from bad to worse, with the United States seems to have gone out of its way to attack and badger, and the Syrian people are even more behind their president.
Then you have Palestine, where a people who are under occupation, and who's country is not recognized went to the polls and showed the world what democracy is. They voted, peacefully, with no fighting...what happened after was a bit sad. I am not a big fan of Hamas-but I was still impressed that the Palestinians voted for them. They might have done this for a number of reasons, some say to show Fateh that they are not happy with them, others because Hamas stands for resistance and that is what the people want. I think that it is a combination of these two reasons, and really the important thing is that democratically they were voted in, and there is no reason for the way that the world has reacted to it.
In Iraq the situation has gone from not to good, to quite bad, with Saddam's trial turning out to be more of a mahzaleh, then a way to get retribution for what this man did to his people. News of what the British soldiers have been doing to Iraqi children has just hit the media, and there is no way of knowing whatelse will arise.
The latest thing to hit the Arab world, has been the over talked and over dramatized issue of the cartoons, and the way that the Arab/Muslim street has dealt with it.
I am just surprised how much can happen in one little region, and that people are still able to laugh and get on with their lives...maybe that is the issue, that we seem able to just get on...wonder what it will take for us Arabs to get upset enough...or worked up enough...to actually force some sort of real and concrete change.

Bunny Boiler?!?!?

Valentine's Day is like herpes: just when you think its gone for good, it rears its ugly head once more. No wonder some people prefer to call it VD.
I am sure we are all aware of what today is: Valentines Day!!!
I am not a big fan of this day, yes and am single, but today on the radio while going to work I again reaffirmed my dislike for this day. on Sawt al-Gad radio station, they had dedicated the morning show for people to call in and to announce their love for someone. So they poor guy called Mike calls in and asks the woman on the radio to call this girl that he likes and to tell her...LIVE...that he is in love with her. So radio woman calls this girl, who is going into her lecture, the girl is obviously surprised and is told on NATIONAL RADIO...that one of her friends is in love with her...she is so oblivious of this fact...only to tell all of Jordan that she sees him only as her friend-sorry-best friend!!!! I felt so bad for this guy, who because of this day felt that he MUST profess his love for this girl...I guess it is kind of his fault he didn't have to do it on the radio, but that is the point, Valentines day seems to force people to act in a way that really is not them...he could have told this girl in private how he felt. I am sure he had thought about telling her before, but knew that she would say they are only friends, but because of V-day, his hopes seem to have risen, he ginuenly believed that if he did it via this medium that she would what...fall to her knees and realise that she is madely in love with him.
Please don't get me wrong, I am not attacking this guy, or what he did, but I was upset that he got so humiliated...I know that love hurts, but really it is not supposed to make you feel like shite! I am a romantic, and you would thus think that today would be my favorite day, but I hate it, it makes people feel obliged to act and say things, that really they should not be forced into doing. I don't want someone to tell me they love because, because the calender tells them to! No I would rather have them tell me on some other day, on a day where I would not be expecting it, where finding flowers on my office desk, or a box of chocolates on my door step, would put a smile on my face...rather then me picking them up and continuing with my day. A friend of mine today was talking to me, and telling me that he was thinking of gong back or recontacting an ex because he heard that she might be getting engaged. The last time this friend talked about this particular ex, all he could say aobut her was that she is boring, not really his type, and didn't know how he could have stayed with her so long...yet now all of a sudden-VD-he is thinking that maybe she is the woman of his dreams...that he should not have left her blah blah...I mean honestly, any other day and he would never have had these thoughts...and I am sure that tomorrow he will be like, hmm...wonder what I was thinking???
I am telling you, today makes single people feel like they have some sort of diease, that they have never been loved, or even worse that they will never be loved...the worst thing thought is that I have noticed that my male friends dont seem to be that effected by the day. Someone should do a study on this fact, why is it that the single women that I know today feel like crap, while the single men I know go around with no bad feelings what-so-ever-well except for the friend mentioned above-could it be because more women like chocolate than men??? Or maybe I should just be like them...and not care...

Fisk

Robert Fisk is a great writter, and I very much enjoy reading his articles in the Independent or on ZNet. I know that the issue of the the Danish Cartoons has been over done-and that I have said that before-but a friend of mine forwarded this article for me, and I felt that is a must read...quite insightful and kind of a new perspective. The article is entitled:

Don't be fooled, this isn't an issue of Islam versus secularism
'The Koran does not forbid images of the Prophet but millions of Muslims do'

So now it's cartoons of the Prophet Mohamed with a bomb-shaped turban. Ambassadors are withdrawn from Denmark, Gulf nations clear their shelves of Danish produce, Gaza gunmen threaten the European Union. In Denmark, Fleming Rose, the "culture" editor of the pip-squeak newspaper which published these silly cartoons - last September, for heaven's sake - announces that we are witnessing a "clash of civilizations" between secular Western democracies and Islamic societies. This does prove, I suppose, that Danish journalists follow in the tradition of Hans Christian Anderson. Oh lordy, lordy. What we're witnessing is the childishness of civilizations.
So let's start off with the Department of Home Truths. This is not an issue of secularism versus Islam. For Muslims, the Prophet is the man who received divine words directly from God. We see our prophets as faintly historical figures, at odds with our high-tech human rights, almost caricatures of themselves. The fact is that Muslims live their religion. We do not. They have kept their faith through innumerable historical vicissitudes. We have lost our faith ever since Matthew Arnold wrote about the sea's "long, withdrawing roar". That's why we talk about "the West versus Islam" rather than "Christians versus Islam" - because there aren't an awful lot of Christians left in Europe. There is no way we can get round this by setting up all the other world religions and asking why we are not allowed to make fun of Mohamed.
Besides, we can exercise our own hypocrisy over religious feelings. I happen to remember how, more than a decade ago, a film called The Last Temptation of Christ showed Jesus making love to a woman. In Paris, someone set fire to the cinema showing the movie, killing a young man. I also happen to remember a US university which invited me to give a lecture three years
ago. I did. It was entitled "September 11, 2001: ask who did it but, for God's sake, don't ask why". When I arrived, I found that the university had deleted the phrase "for God's sake" because "we didn't want to offend certain sensibilities". Ah-ha, so we have "sensibilities" too.
In other words, while we claim that Muslims must be good secularists when it comes to free speech - or cheap cartoons - we can worry about adherents to our own precious religion just as much. I also enjoyed the pompous claims of European statesmen that they cannot control free speech or newspapers. This is also nonsense. Had that cartoon of the Prophet shown instead a chief rabbi with a bomb-shaped hat, we would have had "anti-Semitism" screamed into our ears - and rightly so - just as we often hear the Israelis complain about anti-Semitic cartoons in Egyptian newspapers.
Furthermore, in some European nations - France is one, Germany and Austria are among the others - it is forbidden by law to deny acts of genocide. In France, for example, it is illegal to say that the Jewish Holocaust or the Armenian Holocaust did not happen. So it is, in fact, permissible to make certain statements in European nations. I'm still uncertain whether these
laws attain their objectives; however much you may prescribe Holocaust denial, anti-Semites will always try to find a way round. We can hardly exercise our political restraints to prevent Holocaust deniers and then start screaming about secularism when we find that Muslims object to our provocative and insulting image of the Prophet.
For many Muslims, the "Islamic" reaction to this affair is an embarrassment. There is good reason to believe that Muslims would like to see some element of reform introduced to their religion. If this cartoon had advanced the cause of those who want to debate this issue, no-one would have minded. But it was clearly intended to be provocative. It was so outrageous
that it only caused reaction.
And this is not a great time to heat up the old Samuel Huntingdon garbage about a "clash of civilizations". Iran now has a clerical government again. So, to all intents and purposes, does Iraq (which was not supposed to end up with a democratically elected clerical administration, but that's what happens when you topple dictators). In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood won 20
per cent of the seats in the recent parliamentary elections. Now we have Hamas in charge of "Palestine". There's a message here, isn't there? That America's policies - "regime change" in the Middle East - are not achieving their ends. These millions of voters were preferring Islam to the corrupt regimes which we imposed on them.
For the Danish cartoon to be dumped on top of this fire is dangerous indeed. In any event, it's not about whether the Prophet should be pictured. The Koran does not forbid images of the Prophet even though millions of Muslims do. The problem is that these cartoons portrayed Mohamed as a bin Laden-type image of violence. They portrayed Islam as a violent religion.
It is not. Or do we want to make it so?

What is the world coming to?!?!?!?!?!?!???!?!?!?!??

Sheltered in my Mind

I love sitting in my bed at night, just before I fall asleep, and start letting my mind wonder while listening to my music. You are in your pjs...nice and warm under the duvet, and you are waiting for your eyes to close, and thoughts start going through your head. I usually have my ipod on, and am listening to some good music, and you catch a line of a song: I know you can't resist, trying reopen a sore. It makes you think...about how you do that sometimes...bring things up that should just be left to lie...your mind starts to think about what someone had said that day...or how your responded. Then all of a sudden you are smiling because you remember a bad joke your friend had said and that was not funny...but now is absolutely mind-numbingly funny...at this point of course you remember that you have work tomorrow...and you try to shut your eyes...only for another song lyric to jump out at you: And so you see I have come to doubt, All that I once held as true, I stand alone without beliefs. How scarey would that be, to stand alone without beliefs? Your mind starts to wonder again, this time taking you to a movie you had just seen where a guy is saying how great it would be to wake up one morning and find yourself without any responsibilities, without people who love you and that you love, where you can just go anywhere, with anyone, and feel no guilt about the people you left behind...how amazing would that be, yet how lonely...again your eyes start to shut...one more drink, Could you make it strong, 'cause I don’t need to think...one more drink...how nice would that be, that would sure knock me out, no more thinking about things. Wonder what I will be doing at work tomorrow, I hope its not boring, I wonder what the girls I am working with did tonight? What would they think of my night, going out for a drink and playing 20 questions? il3ab il3ab il3aaaaab, blasts through your thoughts, and as your hands try to find your ipod between the sheets to turn it down, your mind realises that your ipod was on shuffle...how great is shuffle, its like your own private radio station, your are guaranteed songs that you love-well I used to love that song!!!! So this is love, So this is what makes life divine, I'm all aglow, Mmmmmm no wonder I am a raging romantic, how could Disney do that to kids? But everyone loves Disney...well yeah of course but from the time we are kids we are listening to lyrics like that, how could we possibly NOT get our hearts broken when we are older, since love is NEVER ever like that aglow feeling!!! Bitter, don't become bitter lulwa, I tell myself, life is great...and the moon is out and the stars are bright and whatever comes s'gonna be alright. The eyes start to shut, I take my ipod off, find my Peter and slowly slip into a peaceful sleep...good night!

Violence

I know that we are all getting a bit bored and fed up with blogs that write about the whole Danish cartoon saga...but what I have been thinking about lately is not what this saga is about and blah blah, but more about why is it that the Arab street felt tat the only way to make their point is to go out and burn and pillage these embassies, in Syria and Lebanon? In other words why is it that people turn to violence? This is a long and complicated question-one that took me a whole chapter in my PhD to try and answer-but it is one that I find very interesting.
There are over a thousand reasons and theories as to why people decide to use violence, be it at home, pubs, football matches, on street or in times of war. But I think when it comes to political demonstrations, and people becoming violent during them, it has to do with one thing, that they fell repressed. They don't think that their governments are representing them, they don't feel that their governments are even listening to them. If we go down this path of thought, we get to one of the greatest Arab Feminist writers of all time, Fatima Mernissi, in one of her books, she states that men oppress and are violent toward the women in their lives, because they are themselves oppressed and facing acts of violence outside their homes. So to feel in power they take it out on the people they have at home, wives, sisters, daughters, mothers.
So why did the men in the streets of Syria and Lebanon attack the embassies, I am sure there are many theories out there, but mine is quite simple. If these men felt that their governments were doing anything to show the world how unhappy their people were with these cartoons, they would have had a peaceful demonstration. I don't think that Arabs are by nature violent, or that we see ourselves as either the victims or the victimizers, these men felt-rightly or wrongly-that they had to do this for the world to understand how upsetting the cartoons were, and the fact that the Danish government was no apologizing.
Now before any of you pops a vein, my purpose here is not to justify what happened in these two cities, or to get into the discussion of whether or not the Danish government should apologize for what was published in the newspapers. The only point is to see why people decide to take the violent path. It is quite simple, if people in the Arab world felt that they truly participated in their governments, that 'our' leaders-some elected some not-were actually listening and then implementing we want, I am more than a 100% sure this violence would not have occurred. People resort to these sort of acts in all regions of the world, it is not an Arab or Muslim trait, just look at the riots on the streets of London during May Day, the riots that happened in Los Angeles after Rodney King was beaten up by the police. But what is quite true is that people of this region do get 'worked' up more about this stuff, and again the reason for that being, they are the most repressed and oppressed people. Allow the people to participate and feel that their voice is-at the VERY least-being heard, and watch as people become less violent.

Freedom of Speech?????

I am sure you have all seen the cartoon that have caused the outcry in the Arab world. I have been reading the BBC World News and Aljazeera web pages about what has been going on, and call me naive but I have been surprised.
Firstly, to see that not only did the Danish newspaper print the cartoons but also now a French and German one also. What I found comical-if that is the right word-is how the French and German newspapers have justified reprinting them. The editor of the French newspaper France Soir, Serge Faubert stated unapologetically that : "Enough lessons from these reactionary bigots! There is nothing in these incriminated cartoons that intends to be racist or denigrate any community as such, some are funny, others less so. That's it. That is why we have decided to publish them." The German newspaper, Welt daily, put one of the drawings on its front page on Wednesday, saying the picture was "harmless" and regretted that the Danish Jyllands-Poste daily had apologized for causing offense. "Democracy is the institutionalized form of freedom of expression," the paper said in a front-page commentary.The Danish paper had apologized a day earlier for causing offence to Muslims, although it maintained it was legal under Danish law to print them. Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen welcomed the paper's apology, but has rejected calls to punish the paper, saying the government cannot censor the press.
Secondly is Arab reaction to this whole issue has also been amazing, Palestinians protested against Denmark for allowing publication of the cartoons and Arab ministers called on it to punish the newspaper that first printed them. Saudi Arabia and Syria have recalled their ambassadors from Copenhagen and Libya has closed its embassy.
I know that people have been emailing these cartoons to each other-I have gotten this email at least three time in my private inbox, and another 2 times in my office address-telling each other how outraged they are and that we should boycott Danish products. Supposedly the Danish dairy company in Jordan has been sending out pamphlets saying that it is Danish only in name.
I guess what I find interesting about this whole issue, is that both sides are right, and in my opinion they are one side. The Arab street is saying that just as much as these newspapers have the right to publish this kind of material, so do the people how it directly effect have the right to demonstrate against it. How can an organisation as reputable as Reporters Without Borders state that the reaction in the Arab world "betrays a lack of understanding" of press freedom as "an essential accomplishment of democracy"? Is this not also not allowing people to voice their opinion, to say NO we do not find the cartoons funny, nor is the topic a comical one for us. What has the Arab street done that hasn't happened before. When it was found out that Nike used sweat shops, did people not demonstrate against it and boycott the products? When Nestle sold powered milk that was not good to mothers in the Third World, did people not come out in masses on the streets and not eat Kit Kats? Why is it that when this region gets upset, and show it, the people are called emotional, irrational, and worst of all uncivilised? The pictures that are shown of the demonstrations are always of people shouting and screaming. The BBC web page dealing with the cartoons, has a picture of the Satanic Versus's being burned and a list of past issues that Muslims have gotten upset about. It makes it seem as if this community is just unable, or more like unwilling to deal with any other perspective. When I was reading that list I felt like a parent talking to a child telling them all the wrong things they had done...hummiliating!
I think that the cartoons should have been published, and that people who didn't agree-or who didn't find it particularly funny-should show their disapproval. But I also think that this should have been used as an opportunity for both sides to understand each other better. For them to sit and to decide that they would no longer see the 'Other' as the enemy, to try to figure out why did the West feel that it could publish these kind of things, and why the Muslim street reacted like it did. So that the negative is not longer seen, or expected, and that it no longer is we are better than then, or they are worse then us. Instead each side has dug themselves further in their trenches, and are even less willing or able to see what the other is saying.