Azazel by Yousef Ziedan (Arabic) - Book Review عَزَازِيلَ

A product of Government schools in Egypt, I grew up reading Tawfik el Hakim, Taha Hussein and Arabic translations of Treasure Island and Robinson Crusoe. While my Arabic language remains reasonably good, I mostly read in English now. I found the quality of Arabic literature from the 1970's on tedious and banal with over emphasis on flowery language, series of nonstop metaphors and excessive symbolism lacking in coherence, creativity and feelings.

In the last few years I started again to read more in Arabic after being encouraged to do so from reading several books by Alifa Refa'at, Hannan Al Sheikh, Saher Khalifa and others that were translated to English. Books like Alaa el Aswani's Yakobian Building and Chicago actually returned to me the joy of reading in Arabic. El Aswani had something to say, his creativity and sensitivity only needed to be communicated and people who read the English translation got as much out of it as I did reading it in Arabic. The language did not add to the work, nor did it detract from it, in other words el Aswani's creativity was language neutral, could be enjoyed fully or almost fully as long as the translation is reasonably good.

Literature that I need to work on, that consumes me to appreciate fully is far more fulfilling for me than straight forward creative story telling of El Aswani for example. The power of language and the imagery that a certain use of the language can create helps me reach levels of intellectual and emotional joy that is hard to reduce to words. Ahdaf Souief writing in English about migration, alienation and cross cultural experiences from an Egyptian soul is particularly appealing to me. It has been decades since I read in the Arabic Language a novel that combined beautiful impactful prose with true creativity.

Gilead, the novel by Marilynn Robinson about a pastor in Kansas writing, in his dying days a letter to his young son, a book-long meandering letter about the pastor childhood, family and life and the struggle over slave emancipation within the church.

Yousef Ziedan's book Azazil is the most remarkable Arabic book I have read since the age of the greats Hakim, Mahfouz, Hussin and A’akad and arguably far more evolved than much of the work of these masters of Arabic literature. The Pulitzer Prize winner Gilead is the book I always thought of as I read Azazel. Ziedan use of the Arabic language was masterful; this will be a book that will need highly skilled translation in order for the readers in English or other languages to appreciate the beauty of its prose.

The portrayal of the Monk Hipa as a multi dimensional human with strong beliefs and doubts, with desires coupled with immense discipline was, in short, terrific. Most of the surrounding characters were less fully developed and to a certain extent played the roles of “goodies and badies”. The depth of the development of Hipa multi faceted personality did not make me focus too much on the cardboard nature of the supporting actors as I read this beautiful novel; only on reflection afterwards did I feel this shortcoming.

The choice of the mystical Azazel as the satanic companion turned into a semi-confidant of Monk Hipa was very interesting. Azazel is a confusing biblical mystical character that the monk recognized as his evil shadow. More symbolism maybe behind this choice of this not so well known “junior” devil …was he prevalent in the writings and beliefs of those distant Christians? Was it something to do with Azazel reputation for sexual temptation which seemed to have always conquered our monk? I was not sure.

With the level of sensitivity to protection of religion and fear of accusations of irreverence or worse in Egypt I was puzzled by Ziedan choice to put an Islamic hadieth at the beginning of the book ..was it a declaration of his faith to avoid scrutiny by would be Muslim critics? While the hadieth at the beginning of this wonderful novel is a beautiful spiritual one, it detracted from quality of the book and opened it to very fair criticism of the being an attack on the Coptic Church. On the one hand, this book does a great deal to explain so much more about Christianity to Egyptian Muslim readers as Egyptian Schools only teach Christianity to non Christians from a purely Islamic view point, in other words they don’t teach that Boutres or Gerges believes this and that, they teach that we as Muslims believe that the message of Christianity is so and so and Boutres and Gerges have it wrong. So it is nice to see a book exploring how a Christian monk viewed his own faith in a mostly sympathetic fashion. Yet, I wondered if a book written about a Sufi Imam written by a Christian with a quote from the New Testament would ever be published in Egypt let alone be nominated to and receive a regional prize … I highly doubt it!

Yousif Ziedan is a gifted and wonderful creative story teller. The needless presence of the discredited Protocols of the Elders of Zion on his web site makes me very uncertain of his scholarship despite his tremendous credentials, his relative insensitivity to the improbability of a mirror image book from a Coptic Christian in Egypt hold me back from whole hearted enthusiasm for this work that I enjoyed immensely while actually reading it.

AA
May 2009

Farting Against Thunder

It is a crude British expression, but I can’t shake the image it creates as I think of Gaza. Not only is it a crude expression, it is inappropriate in many important ways. Flatulence may be offensive but it’s generally harmless. Yet the Hamas rockets are more than just offensive, they kill and maim and, no doubt, cause fear, panic and nightmares. Moreover, Hamas rockets are not just innocent or involuntary flatulence, they are deliberate creations that people work very hard to produce, move and launch. Many die for their sake; these are not just simple farts! The rockets are aptly named Qassam, after a man who spent his life in futile fighting and who played a hand in planting seeds of hate beyond his declared targets. Qassam was fighting everyone and everywhere and was engaged in killing innocent civilians; just as his namesake rockets do today.

The image of thunder is also inappropriate. Thunder is not manmade, it is an act of God and it surely is indiscriminate in its effect. Indeed, conspiracy theorists in the Middle East absolve the Arabs in general and the Palestinians in particular of all blame by assigning almost God-like qualities to Israel and the USA. Much like Saddam was said to have invaded Kuwait because the US made him do it, or that Hezbollah was forced into starting the 2006 war in Lebanon by Israel’s manipulation, or that Hamas massacred Fateh in Gaza as part of an Israeli plot to justify the ensuing blockade and misery. The all-powerful USA and Israel are always scheming and plotting and Egyptians, Palestinians, Lebanese or Arabs have no will of their own and merely play their pre ordained role in the theater with Israeli directors and American producers.

What makes the image stick in my mind are the parallels in terms of scale. Thunder is infinitely more powerful than mere flatulence, so as I listened yesterday to the very articulate Bibi Netanyahu recounting the number of rockets to justify the massive Israeli retaliation, I thought that the sheer tonnage of explosives is a much more appropriate measurement rather than just mere numbers. The explosives on all of the Hamas and Jihad rockets over the last ten years may not add up to just one hour of Israeli bombings. Thunder is an act of God, which does not discriminate, so the young innocent helpless sisters and many others are slaughtered by the brutal thunder. The rockets are in a peculiar way similar to flatulence, they damage those around them more than those far from them. They must, however, make the Hamas operatives feel better after they release them.


With nearly 400 people dead, thousands injured and perhaps two million people living days on end in terrible anxiety and fear, would such a silly little expression be appropriate even to think about let alone to write about and share? How can this horrible suffering go on and on and all we get is the same as we’ve seen over the last sixty years? More condemnations of Israel, more arguments from Israel about self defense and more cruel tales of the thousands of innocent civilians being mere collateral damage? Israel: the rockets are awful granted, and they should be condemned, but at what price of Palestinian blood are you willing to stop to eliminate the rockets? Would a thousand dead Palestinians children be too much to eliminate the Qassams for one month? Why only one month? Because surely they will come again! How much cruelty on ordinary people will you dish out to punish Hamas?

For Americans and for the USA, how can we tolerate sitting in silence, witnessing such horror, such massacre? Is this the kind of self defense we had in mind when we supplied Israel with a huge arsenal of deadly weapons? Does Israel need our latest technology for this? What ratio of innocent civilian to Hamas fighter deaths are we unwilling to accept? Haven’t we finally learnt in Iraq that we save more of our troops by working harder to protect the ordinary people?

And Hamas, how many dead Palestinian children is it worth for you to keep launching rockets? Do you want all Gazans to suffer so your fighters can savor the joy of killing one or two Israeli kids every month? Is the total destruction of Gaza and the killing and maiming of thousands of Palestinians worth it, so that you can just carry on with your rockets?

December 31, 2008
AA

I got a date with my favorite chair!

A Tribute to Be

She told me that she tried Kale once and hated it, I said she must come down to dinner with us I will cook for her Kale that she would really like … I never got to do that but for years I have been meaning to do it. Last year we again had our Thursday C BSO tickets …I looked across to the right balcony searching for her so I can wave that we will meet for drinks during the intermission at our usual place….I did not see her …twice we went but did not see…had she changed her seats ..maybe she no longer did the Thursday C series, no impossible! This is her favorite, I knew for sure.

Grace, simplicity, generosity of spirit, true inner beauty these are the adjectives that come to my mind whenever I think of her. I am not sure if we met for the first time in 1981 or in 1991 …we were both never really sure, we shared the stories of the people of 1981 but we just couldn’t remember if we really met or not…. somehow this gave our relationship a head start to an earlier time. Eventually as I settled in Boston in the early 90’s I really got to know and work with her and she introduced me to the Boston Symphony and I too become a Thursday C series devotee.

To my knowledge Jazz was not really her thing, it was classical music and the Opera to which she was truly devoted. As we left the office one snowy evening I was telling her about my new found love for Louis Armstrong, so we sat briefly in my car listening to

Pardon the smile on my face my friend
Dreamin' of reachin' my journeys end
I'm headin' straight for my hearts desire
Gee, it's good to know I'm near the home fire
All of the folks that I love are there
I got a date with my favorite chair
With every step every hope grows higher
Didn't know how much I missed the home fire
The noises, the TV, the rusty old pipes
The cat always teasin' my dog
The neighbors, the quarrels, the screaming of kids
For the first time in years I'll sleep like a log
Heaven is waiting for me, my friend
Seven or eight dreams around the bend
And if you're ever in town inquire
We'll be glad to have you share the home fire
We'll be glad to have you share the home fire

In my mind this will always be a song I associate with her. I am not sure she really liked it or even liked listening to it that snowy day. I will never know for sure, for she only mostly let us know her agreements, her approvals, her support and rarely passed negative judgments. If she hated the idea of Kale again, she never said it, if she hated Louis Armstrong she never said it.

We once discussed one of these office type big framed paintings; I did not like the empty chair in the beautiful garden, it looked sad to me, it made me feel a loss … to her she saw it inviting …it was hers to take.. come and sit and enjoy. In my head, I have this image of the next BSO concert and her seat by the right balcony is empty with a spot light on it. Seiji Ozawa is back from Vienna for the occasion to conduct, he enters and goes directly underneath the right balcony and bows …the whole orchestra is up looking in the same direction and they give their most devoted fan a big bow ..no applause ..no words, just the simple respectful bow; this is what she deserved and this is what she would have wanted, no words, no fuss, no inconvenience or irritation to the other guests.

Ayman S. Ashour

December 27, 2008

What does a Palestinian American Man Married to a Jewish American Woman Tell President Elect Obama?

Dear President Elect Obama,

I am a Palestinian-American Moslem who grew up in Shatila refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon

I voted for you because I was voting for hope and change. I am sure that you will assemble a good team of AMERICANS to help take us out the current financial mess.
However, I have a deep concern that foreign policy is another story, Americans who served this country before and many from whom you will make your selection, already have a twisted idea about the Middle East. These same politicians have already shown their 100% support to Israel despite there being two sides to the story. Many in the American political circle forget that peace takes place between two peoples, not ONLY one. A just peace is the only smart way to end the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis.

Given the decisions and behavior of many others who have preceded you in office, I want to resist the temptation of having a very low expectation that you will have the will, against all odds, to contend with the tremendous pressures which come your way and stand up for fairness and justice. I am a man who believes that only peace will start the healing process that is badly needed.

I came to this country just like many immigrants including your father with the hope of a better life and yearning to accomplish more than was possible in the land and circumstances in which I was born. It appeared that in the United States I would be away from a war and freer and capable of achieving more. Similarly, before the election some people thought that they would not see a black president in their lifetimes; we have and thank God it is you. The idea that a black man has become the president of the USA is the definition of hope.

Another definition of hope comes from my own life. I took my 12-year-old son to watch me vote so he can remember this historic time and be inspired by the idea that what seems impossible may not eventually be so. I hope that when he is able to vote in few years that we have helped Peace become a reality in the Middle East. I am married to a Jewish woman whom I love very much, and with whom I have three children. I am reminded of all that is possible when people put their prejudices to the side and let their love guide them.

Just like I know there are people who are waiting for you to fail, there are people who are waiting for our 17 year loving marriage to fail. I know that the U.S. policies towards the Middle East have been anything but fair. Just as in marrying a Jewish woman against all odds, I had to contend with the resistances from people in both cultures, I am sure people are capable of changing to allow Peace to take place between Palestinians and Israelis. Whether they like or not their lives are intertwined. Sometimes people go out of their way to help a neighbor that they do not like. They do it because it will have a negative effect on their own life if they do not. If your neighbor’s house is on fire, and you are forced to help them, you are really helping yourself. Helping them saves their home will help you also save yours.

Palestinians and Israelis are in similar situation; they need each other to survive. There must be a just peace between our peoples. The USA can play an important role in being a friend and guide for them BOTH through the difficult decisions. Without peace, life is a continuous cycle of hate, killing and suffering for all and a squandering of human potential.

I say enough is enough. Being who you are, you can be part of a legacy that would allow Palestinians and Israelis to live in peace and work to advance their societies, cultures and not kill each other. Let us give Peace a Chance, God knows we have tried everything else. Yes We Can!

Peace
Kayed Khalil, D.C.

Everyone suddenly burst out singing!

The opening line of Siegfried Sassoon’s poem, written so many Novembers ago, came to my mind early Wednesday morning watching the Obama speech. This short poem, celebrating the end of World War I, contains so much hope: “And beauty came like the setting sun/ My heart was shaken with tears”. As I watched the tears streaming down Jesse Jackson’s face, I felt my own cheeks grow wet.

I was rather taken aback by my emotional reaction. After all, I am not African-American, nor do I have memories of this country during the Civil Rights era. Yet, as an immigrant to this country who became a citizen just before the election of George W Bush, this week I felt the most pride I have ever felt in my adopted country. Perhaps, as my husband pointed out to me, it has something to do with the fact that our immigration was a matter of choice rather than necessity. We had chosen to make the USA our permanent home and so the notion that we chose the things represented by the Bush administration made me secretly ashamed of my part in that choice, even though I did not vote for him.

Here is a chance for me to feel positive about my country’s future, to hold my head up with friends and family overseas. Of course, a cautionary note is sounded by history; World War I was, as we now know all too well, not The War To End All Wars. So, am I too cynical to suppose that Obama will not be the savior of the land? Anxiety can drain all enjoyment from life; moments of happiness are resented because we know misery is sure to follow. Tuesday night I threw caution to the wind and enjoyed the sensation of hope.

For hope is what it is all about; we the people must work to recover from our collective PTSD. Like the wounded soldiers returning from Iraq, it will not be easy, there are many obstacles ahead. But, with a nod to the Civil Rights struggles which have led us to this moment, perhaps this time truly we shall overcome.

FP
9 Nov 2008

American ...again and at last!

The years of my childhood were marked by shortages in the then socialist, self-reliant Egypt; by patriotic songs; by adults fearful of arrests; by stories of torture so everyone watched carefully what was said. The wars with Israel were also very dominant in my childhood, with the thunderous sonic booms of the Israeli planes and the horror of hearing them, after the bombing of an elementary school not far from Cairo by the Israelis, which killed some 250 kids just like me. In the seventies Sadat lifted Egypt from the soviet sphere and the October 1973 / Yum Kippur war with Israel restored Egyptian self confidence. The backlash against the failed socialist experience of Nasser and the complete defeat by Israel in 1967 came in the shape of an overwhelming “return to religion”. Islam became the solution and the fights of the girls in families shifted from being allowed to wear shorter skirts to being allowed to take up the headscarf. Universities saw a rise of fundamentalism. Islamist run student unions banned parties and cancelled concerts and, by the end of the seventies, Egypt was out of state imposed socialism and into the beginning of societal imposed fundamentalism.

I came to California almost 28 years ago. I loved the spirit of America, the easy going nature of the people and the diversity and tolerance. I had a well paying job before I came to America and was lucky enough to have been able to afford my first car, paid for with my own money earned before I came to America. I was not an economic migrant. As a twenty something, I waded into California’s young culture of the 80’s. I admired Ronald Reagan’s toughness on Russia and rejected big government but I hated Reagan’s shenanigans with Iran Contra and Robert Bork. I loved Reagan, still do, but I wanted the truth out as I later listened to the Iran Contra hearings on NPR and Pacifica Radio. Amnesty International was the first charity I contributed to. The stories of torture have always had an impact on me and the work of Amnesty International to stop it meant a great deal to me; still does.

In the late eighties I moved to Ohio and became an American. In the citizenship interview the examiner questioned my belonging to Amnesty International which I defiantly defended. The examiner had made a comment about Amnesty International helping illegal immigrants in Arizona and I still remember telling him that Amnesty International volunteers work on behalf of people in other countries not their own. I was relieved when he smiled and said: no problem. A few months later, I went to a big ceremony; I became an American; I registered Republican; I wore the flag pin and was truly proud to be an American. Being an American to me was a choice … it was not my country right or wrong. I had my idea of what America was and I was happy to belong to that, I bought in and I wanted to be an American.

I married another immigrant, from a different culture, and she too became an American. We eventually settled in Massachusetts, except for periods when I lived and worked in Asia and Europe. Mostly, my family remained at home. Yes, home, the US became home fully in every sense of the word. My Egyptian identity was always there and my ties with Egypt and family were always strong but America was my adopted country and I was comfortable with an Egyptian American mix and my kids growing up American with British & Egyptian heritage.

September 11, 2001 changed America for the worse. The American flag as a symbol changed for me. Foreign owned gas stations and restaurants put many American flags everywhere to protect themselves from backlash. I became more active in the Arab and Muslim American communities to help those less fortunate than I am. I wrote, I spoke at schools and churches, played a small part in revitalizing a community organization and became even more active in dialogue across faith and race. Gradually, I saw America change to something I liked less and less. The double speak of the 1960’s in Egypt was arriving in America ...the religious fundamentalism was taking over. I was horrified by the media and ordinary people maneuvering to avoid using the word “occupation” in Iraq. I was scolded by my wife and kids for going on a flight wearing a T shirt that said American Arab Anti Discrimination Committee in Arabic on a flight from Boston: I saw joy in the face of waiter in New York serving me coffee and commenting on the T Shirt in Arabic.

Most of all I was dismayed by Bush altering his job description from defending the constitution of the United States to defending the people of the United States and using this as an excuse to damage the constitution. The torture, the illegal detentions, the horrible practice of sending people to be tortured overseas given the clinical name “rendition”, the double speak, the racism. The damage to the US flag, the petty patriotism of my country right or wrong! The standing up in baseball games to sing God Bless America. The frightening religious fundamentalism that is mixed up with this fake patriotism to justify acts that can’t be of God or of the Constitution, all of this gradually led me to ask one big question of myself …do I still want to be an American? Is this me? Gradually I took refuge in my part of America, Massachusetts, New England and the North East which has pretty much remained sane as massive swathes of the country got caught up in phony, damaging, religious patriotism with racist and supremacist undertones.

I was very hopeful with Howard Dean and then John Kerry in 2004 but was deeply saddened when the reactionary anti constitution (and thus truly Anti American) wave took over and Bush won the popular vote by some 3 Million votes. Then a new face arrived on the scene, a black man even more articulate and intellectual than John Kerry and Howard Dean energized the masses in 2007 and 2008. This sounded very promising, there was hope again. I voted for Obama in the primary and, while he lost in my Massachusetts, he won my city. The era of adoration for the “Forrest Gump for President” could be coming to an end. Obama did not need to wear a US flag lapel pin to show that he loved America. Obama is not afraid of showing that he is an intellectual. Obama understands, admires and respects the constitution ….hallelujah and Allah Akbar...Finally someone I relate to has a real shot at winning.

I never much liked John McCain, but his choice of Sarah Palin was brilliant for my purposes …this election could really help me solve my identity crisis. Palin’s addition to the ticket made the choice very clear between Obama and Biden on the one hand and McCain and Palin on the other. Will America choose tolerance, freedom and democracy in action or will it choose this pseudo religious, supremacist patriotism? Will America vote on hope or fear? Will America vote for intellectual power and knowledge or a folksy inward looking hockey mom? I very much wanted Obama to win but most of all I wanted the result to be clear … a clear win for either side.

Americans born in America are more American than I am in certain respects and less in others. For them the process maybe is more emotional and possibly a tad tribal, for me the process must have a bigger intellectual side to it. I chose to be an American, not because I didn’t have another choice, not because of economic or other factors … I chose America because of what it meant to me 28 years ago, because of my memories and because of its spirit. I don’t believe that America is always right and that America is exceptional just because God blessed it. America is only exceptional by its tolerance and by the people’s rejection of tyranny and totalitarianism. Reagan’s words of freedom being “one generation away from extinction”, invoked by Sarah Palin in her debate with Biden, are so true, but wrong sided coming from her.

I voted and went back to work in Europe. I found a big election night party in Paris, so off I went and was in the middle of hundreds in a massive street party. Me wearing the official Obama campaign shirt and lots of French people and few Americans, the results came pouring in...PA goes for Obama and North Carolina and Ohio are leaning this way... I jumped in a taxi and went back to my hotel and as I watched CNN in my hotel room with more returns coming in, the tears rolled down from my eyes. America is back... Americans had a choice, a clear choice and have chosen a law professor who talks in complete sentences and nuances over folksy charm and supremacist ideas. For the first time since 2001, I will get my flag out again …. It is a proud flag that represent ideas of peace, of equality, of tolerance, of progress not the flag of conformance that says: don’t torch my gas station, America the beautiful not America the ugly. I went to work, in a suit and tie with my eyes red from lack of sleep, clutching my sweaty Obama shirt and showing it off... I am again truly happy with my choice of being an American.

Later in the evening as I watched the news and saw Jesse Jackson in tears I realized that the intensity of my feelings was nothing compared to those of the great grandsons and granddaughters of slaves. I can only imagine what it must feel to black Americans and I am thrilled for them. I remember in 1983 going to a country club in Montgomery, Alabama for a dinner and after sitting down the host suggesting we go elsewhere. Later my colleague explained to me that it was because of my non whiteness that the host decided to go elsewhere, after receiving looks I had not noticed. I looked down on the peasants from Montgomery and was not very bothered ….with the passing of the years, I recalled this experience again and my tears flowed again in happiness for Jesse Jackson and for black America... For me America is back but maybe, for some, America has finally, at last, arrived. One day I hope the words “Founding Fathers” will also include Martin Luther King because surely it was his dream that we are all witnessing now!

AA

November 9, 2008

Japan immersion beautifully created, but with too much denial!

book review of : The Street of A Thousand Blossoms

by Gail Tsukiyama

This is an outstanding and highly creative literary work; wonderful storytelling of the life of a Tokyo family pre, during and post the Second World War. Two brothers, two sisters, elderly grandparents, a sad mask maker and few other interesting characters are thrown into the mix. Sumo wrestling is the passion of the older brother and also of his grandfather, so there is a lot to know about Sumo, its rituals, history and mystique. A bit less of the Japanese Noh theater and its traditions and especially its masks which are to become the passion of the younger brother. The periods of the story covering the war were truly griping the portrayal came across very real, astonishingly real in its detail and giving the reader the real texture of life those terrifying days of hunger and fear. Tsukiyama's description of the damage to Tokyo from the firebombing, the grey everywhere and the emergence of a little green life months later was masterful.

I could not help feeling that Tsukiyama had exaggerated the anti war feeling amongst ordinary Japanese especially in the period leading up to the war. Virtually every single character we are supposed to care about was against the war...I wonder how representative this was of the Japanese society then! Were the Japanese essentially against the war and only their misguided leaders and those few self serving hypocrites that formed this image of a fanatical nation? I wonder but I am not convinced.... It is wonderful to see a sympathetic account of the lives of those ordinary human beings who just happen to have been on the side of the aggressor nation; it is also a cause for a re-examination of the justice and the morality of the horrors of the firebombing and the atomic bombing of Japanese cities ...I am not sure though that an exaggeration of the anti war feeling helps even though it makes the characters more sympathetic. Somehow this single but crucial point colored my enjoyment of this beautiful novel and made me often feel that the story lose some of its genuineness, its integrity to a certain extent.

While Tsukiyama had attempted to give us complete three dimensional characters, I felt that none of the characters were really sufficiently developed save perhaps for the master mask maker. Indeed there were the weaknesses, faults and difficult traits in everyone but these were somehow just very small shadows on otherwise two dimensional personalities; the strong brother, the sensitive artistic brother, the all wholesome granny, the responsible sister ..etc.

Still despite of these two important defects (antiwar sentiment and character development), Tsukiyama totally immersed me in a different time and culture. Tsukiyama style is wonderful in its detail and texture, her use of Japanese words always enhanced the book rather than detracted from the flow, she is, in particular, incredibly talented in creating a vivid picture of the scenery and place, you will feel that you have really witnessed Japan first hand. As someone fond of most things Japanese, I loved being there while reading The Street of A Thousand Blossoms!

AA

September 18, 2008

Who is more Egyptian?

Egyptians & Identity

In a post colonial world, an Egyptian living in the west suffers from the negative stereotypes attached to Arabs: a feeling of shame and anger at being labeled ‘Arab’, ‘Arab’ with petrodollars and hypocrisy, ‘Arab’ who oppress their women and lust for other women, ‘Arab’ trapped in traditions of betrayal and double talk. Naturally, facing such an ugly stereotype, one would attempt to disassociate from such images as much as possible. This is even more the case given the tension between Egyptians and Arabs under both Nasser (Arabs seen as reactionary) and Sadat (Arabs seen as rejectionist). Yet a better understanding of the negative stereotypes, save for the petrodollars, will show that their roots lie not really in Arabia but rather in Egypt. In his book Orientalism, Edward Said used a huge body of work by Orientalists to discuss Egypt more than any other culture. In fact, Arabia was only referenced in Said’s analysis of the writings of D. H. Lawrence. So much of the negative attributes assigned to the “Arab” are really based on a collective but erroneous Orientalist view of Egyptians rather than of Arabs!

The negative image of the Arab that prevails today in the west is the sum total of a long process that began with Lane’s detailed account of the customs of the Egyptians moving on to the lusty scheming King Farouk and continuing today in anti-Arab, racist movies ranging from Disney’s Aladdin to the Raid On Entebbe. Today, the negative image of ‘Arab’ has deepened to include the terrorism and petrodollars as new chapters in the same old book.

So what does an intelligent and proud Egyptian do in response? Does he go in and fight the unfair negative stereotype and the racist hatred or should he attempt to squash those stereotypes and distance himself from them? Indeed, Edward Said suggested that the process of Orientalism saw the transfer of all of the negative stereotypes associated with Shakespearian Jews to the Arabs in our time. Could a new Egyptian image, free from all of these horrible, negative stereotypes but largely built on Egypt itself be possible? An image dependent on Egypt’s ancient history and borrowing heavily from Christian Jacq’s portrayal of the wisdom and glory of that culture: Egyptians who lived by the Law of Ma’at until they were then invaded and defeated by the horrible hordes of Arabia! The problem now is Arabism, we want out!

Cultivating this image is totally incompatible unless one adopts an aggressive stance towards Arabism and in doing so, the bright young man or woman does not know that Arabism itself is but a product of colonial orientalist discourse. Indeed Arabism is no more than the very same attempt to gain distance from the negative image of Egypt that was painted by Orientalists and extended, unjustly, to cover not just all Egyptians but also other Arabic speaking and Moslem countries. Could it be that Arabism is just the other side of the coin of the neo-Egyptian nationalism?

Alas, we turn and look at Egypt, we find that the people there have many common backward links with the looked down upon Arabs. So what do we do? We de-Egyptianize them! We happily move forward with the concept that these people are Arabs, or at least mixed breed, while we Egyptians are progressive and forward looking.

Regardless of this argument and logic, one or two Million or even ten or twenty million cannot usurp the right to being Egyptian nor are they more Egyptian than the other 65 million who are there now. Egyptian is what Egypt is today and those seeking an alternative definition for what Egypt is today are better advised to look for another label for themselves, not for what Egypt is and Egyptians are today.

We are stuck with our fellow countrymen, poor, prejudiced, backward and suffering the ravages of corruption and ignorance. They are our people, we can’t deny them or de-Egyptianize them because it does not suit our self-image. We have to work to improve their lot in Egypt and we have to confront the stereotypes created by Orientalism. To subscribe to and aid in Orientalist thought is a matter of naive self-gratification, intellectual dishonesty and betrayal, but certainly not treason!

One day an Egyptian identity could remerge. If and when this happens, I hope it will be one that is based on what Egyptians have in common, on what makes them a unique people. If and when this happens, I hope the Egyptian identity will not be built on false, even laughable and defensive self-gratification against Arabs or others. I hope an emerging Egyptian identity would be wider than a narrow religious or ethnic affiliation. I hope for an Egyptian identity at peace with itself, accepting its own people for what they are now, striving for a better future for Egypt and not one stuck with ancient Egyptian glories.

Ayman S. Ashour

(An Egyptian nationalist fighting the superimposition of Arabism on Egypt and an Arab American fighting the negative stereotypes of Egyptians known through Orientalist ignorance as “Arabs”)

Originally Written March 13, 2003

I Think of You ...Book Review

Brilliant collection of Short Stories by Ahdaf Souief. I bought the book thinking it was new but as the stories felt familiar. After a while I realized this is just the American publishing of Ahdaf’s short stories from her very first book Aisha and also from Sand Piper.

As I read or re-read these stories, I thoroughly enjoyed them. Most of the characters were resurrected in Ahdaf Souif’s masterpiece “In the Eye of the Sun”.

What I love about Ahdaf Souief is the most, is that she appear to write mostly for herself, she is not a marketing oriented author, she is not writing to be accessed by as large an audience as possible. You need to want to get into her own world; you need to try to understand her language, her pace and her approach. The reader needs to work at it to get to see the beauty of the language, the characters and ultimately the novel. I have never read anyone better than Souif when it comes to a true and genuine bi-cultural sensibility, her skill with the language and her intelligence in writing are truly remarkable.

21 July 2008

On Obama by American Muslim High School Student

What Obama and McCain owe American Muslims
by Mohammed Hussain
Mohammed Hussain will be a senior at Lincoln-Sudbury High School this fall.

Over the past few weeks, the national media has focused on the relationship between the presidential candidates and one minority group - that of American Muslims. Articles and opinion pieces in the New York Times, the Boston Globe, and the LA Times, with titles such as "Muslims Detect a Snub from Obama," "Let Muslims share the stage," and "Obama and Islam," have focused specifically on the Democratic candidate.

Although many American Muslims see Senator Obama's historic candidacy as hope for change, they are also troubled by the distance he seems to keep from them. Volunteers at a rally moved two Muslim women wearing hijab, the headscarf worn by many Muslim women, from behind him, his aides turned down offers to campaign from Representative Keith Ellison, a Muslim, and, despite many invitations, Obama has yet to publicly visit a mosque. Senator McCain's record may be worse. Now, many Muslims themselves are questioning their place, or lack thereof, in the American political system and in the ongoing campaign.

If one is to look only at principle, Senators Obama and McCain should acknowledge the importance of Muslims as voters, be it by a symbolic visit to a mosque or whatever. Obama has stated that he does not oppose Islam and accepts Muslims, many of whom strongly support him. But he has not acted beyond the podium. By intentionally avoiding a group, its opinion, and its collective support, at least in public, after accepting it as part of the American fabric, Obama and McCain are being undemocratic, sidestepping the people so they can play the political game. A politician cannot consider it right to ignore a group who, if elected, he/she will be obligated to represent.

Unfortunately, public perception prevents both candidates from recognizing the political role of American Muslims. As a result of the scare tactics and wedge politics used today, the candidate who associates with Muslims will be penalized. While some fight against these methods, they do so to change the political system, rather than to support the civic rights of a group.

Misunderstanding still reigns as many Americans are unaware that mainstream Muslims, including national organizations such as the Muslim Public Affairs Council, have for years and years publicly denounced terrorism in the strongest language possible. However, the media has diverted Americans away from this truth, creating the current image and political climate of fear and suspicion. If Obama or McCain tries to alter the American public's perception of Muslims, he will most likely lose. Even if we desire it of him, Obama should not reach out to Muslims merely to "rock the boat" - even if the boat has already capsized. We, as Muslims and Americans, hope for change, for a sway toward understanding, but until that happens, those running for office will not politically associate with us.

As Muslims, it's frustrating to have our voices ignored by a candidate many of us support, because his opponents will rely on the public's ignorance to attack him and because he does not have enough public support to defend himself or the truth. Unfortunately, we, and Obama, know the consequences if he does act to involve us. If Senator Obama tries to work against public opinion now, he may lose the election and the opportunity to change public perception and policy as president. Does one accept injustice in order to bring about greater justice later? I would not like to think so, but it looks as if that is the only option now for American Muslims.

Mohammed Hussain will be a senior at Lincoln-Sudbury High School this fall.

http://www.wickedlocal.com/sudbury/news/lifestyle/columnists/x379984722/Hussain-What-Obama-and-McCain-owe-American-Muslims

The Israel-Palestine Quiz?

By Jeffrey Rudolph

18 June, 2008
Countercurrents.org

http://www.countercurrents.org/rudolph180608.htm

The Israel-Palestine conflict resonates deeply with many people. Opinions are sharply divided and generally unchangeable. However, as a member of a mainstream Israeli peace group, I often encounter opinionated people who are ignorant of many basic facts. And, while much concerning the conflict remains disputed, there are important, undisputed facts which must underlie any coherent opinion.

Therefore, in the spirit of Senator Daniel Moynihan of New York, who used to remind people that “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts,” I have designed the below quiz which may lead some to re-examine their misconceived opinions. (Indeed, I will deem the quiz a success if it merely reduces the number of times I hear the common refrains of: “the land was empty before the Jews came” and “Barak made a generous offer at Camp David.”)

While it is undoubtedly true that carefully selected facts alone do not constitute an informed opinion, answers to the following questions should not be ignored if one is to understand the Israel-Palestine conflict. And, while a strong commitment to a cause can blind some people to contrary facts, I appeal to such people through the words of the famous British Economist, John Maynard Keynes: “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?”

THE ISRAEL-PALESTINE QUIZ QUESTIONS:

1. Who wrote the following in 1891? “We abroad are used to believing Eretz Yisrael is now almost totally desolate, a desert that is not sowed, and anyone who wishes to purchase land there may come and purchase as much as he desires. But in truth this is not the case. Throughout the country, it is difficult to find fields that are not sowed. Only sand dunes and stony mountains that are not fit to grow anything but fruit trees – and this only after hard labour and great expense …”

Answer: Ahad Ha'Am: Liberal Russian Jewish thinker and a leading Eastern European Jewish essayist

2. Who declared the following in 1930? “Land is the most necessary thing for our establishing roots in Palestine. Since there are hardly any more arable unsettled lands in Palestine, we are bound in each case of the purchase of land and its settlement to remove the peasants who cultivated the land so far, both owners of the land and tenants.”

Answer: Dr. Arthur Ruppin: Head of the Zionists’ Land Settlement Department and the foremost land expert of the Jewish Agency.

3. Who, in 1919, wrote the following, in a secret memorandum submitted to the British Cabinet? “For in Palestine we do not propose even to go through the form of consulting the wishes of the present inhabitants of the country [i.e., we do not accept the principle of self-determination for the Arabs of Palestine] … the four great powers are committed to Zionism. And Zionism, be it right or wrong, good or bad, is rooted in age-long traditions, in present needs, in future hopes, of far profounder import than the desires and prejudices of the 700,000 Arabs who now inhabit that ancient land …”

Answer: Lord Balfour: As British Foreign Secretary, he was responsible for the Balfour Declaration in 1917 which promised Zionists a national home in Palestine.

4. According to Mandatory Palestine’s first modern Census, conducted in 1922, approximately what percentage of the total population were Jews?

Answer: 11%.

5. Approximately what percentage of Mandatory Palestine’s inhabitants were Jews in 1947?

Answer: 37%.

6. Approximately what percentage of Mandatory Palestine’s land was allocated for the Jewish state by the 1947 United Nations Partition Plan (which supported the division of Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state)?

Answer: 56%.

7. Approximately what percentage of Mandatory Palestine’s land was owned by Jews at the time of the 1947 UN Partition Plan?

Answer: 7%: Perhaps Arab rejection of the Partition Plan is more understandable when it is recognized that 37% of the population was given 56% percent of the land of which they owned only 7%.

8. Which state, the Jewish State or Arab State, was to include Jerusalem according to the 1947 UN Partition Plan?

Answer: Neither.

9. During the 1948-49 War, approximately how many Arabs fled or were ejected from the areas that became the Jewish state?

Answer: 700,000. Only 150,000 Arabs remained in Israel at the war’s end.

10. After the 1948-49 Arab-Israeli War, approximately what percentage of Mandatory Palestine’s land was part of the Jewish state?

Answer: 78%.

11. After the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, what percentage of Mandatory Palestine’s land was part of, or occupied by, Israel?

Answer: 100%.

12. Which future prime minister of Israel wrote the following in October 1937? “My assumption is that … a partial Jewish state is not an end but a beginning … and it will serve as a powerful lever in our historical efforts to redeem the whole of the country.”

Answer: Ben-Gurion, in a letter to his son, Amos.

13. From Israel's victory in the 1967 War to the Likud's electoral victory in 1977, approximately how many Jewish settlers migrated to East Jerusalem and to the West Bank and Gaza Strip?

Answer: 38,000.

14. At the time of the signing of the Oslo Declaration of Principles in September 1993, approximately how many Jewish settlers lived in East Jerusalem and the West Bank?

Answer: 267,000.

15. When the Camp David Summit began in July 2000, approximately how many Jewish settlers lived in East Jerusalem and the West Bank?

Answer: 365,000: Yet, the Oslo 2 Accords specified that “neither side shall initiate or take any step that will change the status of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip pending the outcome of the permanent status negotiations.”

16. In 2007, approximately how many Jewish settlers and how many Palestinians lived in Hebron?

Answer: 500 and 170,000, respectively.

17. Approximately what percentage of West Bank land is consumed by Israeli settlements and related infrastructure such as a separate road network for Israeli settlers and the Wall?

Answer: 40%.

18. Approximately how many Lebanese civilians were killed by Israel during its 1982 invasion of Lebanon?

Answer: 10,000.

19. Approximately how many cluster sub-munitions (bomblets) were dropped by Israel on Lebanon in the last few days of the 2006 Lebanon confrontation?

Answer: Four million bomblets were contained in hundreds of thousands of cluster bombs. The following was stated by the UN humanitarian Chief, Jan Egeland, soon after the war ended: “What is shocking and completely immoral is 90% of the cluster bomb strikes occurred in the last 72 hours of the conflict, when we knew there would be a resolution …” According to the UN mine action coordination centre for South Lebanon, by Dec 19, 2006, 18 people had been killed and 145 injured since the ceasefire in August.

20. Who said the following in 1998? "If I were a young Palestinian, it is possible I would join a terrorist organization."

Answer: Ehud Barak: Prime Minister of Israel from 1999 – 2001.

21. Who wrote the following September 18, 1967 Top Secret memo, concerning Settlement in the Administered (or Occupied) Territories, to Mr. Adi Yafeh, Political Secretary of the Prime Minister of Israel? “As per your request ... I hereby provide you a copy of my memorandum of September 14, 1967, which I presented to the Foreign Minister. My conclusion is that civilian settlement in the Administered Territories contravenes the explicit provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention.”

Answer: Theodor Meron: One of the world's most eminent international jurists; and in 1967 he was a legal adviser at the Israeli Foreign Ministry. Meron's clear recommendation was that the prohibition was "categorical and aimed at preventing colonisation of conquered territory by citizens of the conquering state."

22. Who wrote the following passage, in an article in one of Israel’s leading newspapers, in 2002? “The Six-Day War was forced upon us; however, the war's seventh day, which began on June 12, 1967 and has continued to this day, is the product of our choice. We enthusiastically chose to become a colonial society, ignoring international treaties, expropriating lands, transferring settlers from Israel to the Occupied Territories, engaging in theft and finding justification for all these activities. Passionately desiring to keep the Occupied Territories, we developed two judicial systems: one - progressive, liberal - in Israel; and the other - cruel, injurious - in the Occupied Territories. In effect, we established an apartheid regime in the Occupied Territories immediately following their capture. That oppressive regime exists to this day.”

Answer: Michael Ben-Yair: Israel's Attorney-General, 1993-1996.

23. Who wrote the following passage in his 2006 book? “For, regardless of party loyalties and according to most studies, the overwhelming majority of Israelis would support a peace settlement that is based on the Clinton parameters--two states, withdrawal from territories, massive dismantling of settlements, two capitals in Jerusalem--but they trust neither their political system nor, of course, the Palestinian leadership to come to an accommodation on that basis. Which may explain the results of a poll conducted in 2002 by the Steinmetz Centre for Peace at Tel Aviv University indicating that, convinced of the incapacity of their political system to produce solutions, 67% of Israeli Jews would support an American effort to recruit an international alliance that would coax the parties into endorsing such a settlement.”

Answer: Shlomo Ben-Ami: Israel’s Minister of Public Security in 1999, Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2000-2001, and Israel’s top negotiator at Camp David and Taba negotiations.

24. Who stated the following on Democracy Now! a news program, on February 14, 2006? “…Camp David was not the missed opportunity for the Palestinians, and if I were a Palestinian I would have rejected Camp David, as well. … But Taba is [another matter] …”

Answer: Shlomo Ben-Ami: As Israel’s lead negotiator at the negotiations, he should know.

25. Who said the following? "One million Arabs are not worth a Jewish fingernail."

Answer: Rabbi Yaacov Perrin: Stated at his eulogy of Dr. Baruch Goldstein, the American Jewish settler who, on February 25, 1994, entered the Tomb of Patriarchs in Hebron and opened fire on Muslim worshippers praying. Twenty-nine Palestinians were killed and many more wounded. In the riots that followed the massacre, another 9 Palestinians were killed.

Jeffrey Rudolph was the Quebec representative of the East Timor Alert Network in the 1990s, and presented a paper on its behalf at the United Nations. He is currently a member of Canadian Friends of Peace Now.