Culture & Politics in the Arab World

Global Imam vs Al-Azhar. The Iron Wall in Gaza

2010-01-18T14:03:00.000-08:00

No clerics in islam !as it is often said but the reality may be slightly different since the modern times and the professionnalisation of the various religious careers. Since the last decades, the muslim clergymen are not anymore the ones they used to be, because of a set of changes in the social realm (education, urbanization…) and in the media : radio imams have been followed by tape imams, then came the time of the TV imams who became today internet imams delivering online fatwas. And it is no surprise that such a quick and violent and deep transformation of the religious institution leads to some eccentricities as it has been the case more than once.

Modern states have also played an important role, creating a religious bureaucracy submitted to stick-and-carrot incentives as illustrated by the last controversy about the building of an "iron wall" on the southern border of Gaza with Egypt.

As very few people seem to be convinced that it is a good idea to reinforce an already cruel siege on the population of Gaza, the Egyptian government called to the rescue leading clerics in order to legitimate what they were doing. One more time, shaykh Tantawi, rector of Al-Azhar, has demonstrated that he was an obedient servant of the state. He explained that opposing the wall was illegitimate and, thus, against against the islamic law.

Of course, such a statement has been followed by countless critics from all sorts of religious authorities, and notably enough from the « Global Imam », shaykh Qardawi, one – if not – the leading cleric for the Sunni Muslims.

But the worst thing is that the only voice to be heard for shaykh Tantawi’s defense was that of the Palestinian minister of religious affairs (Waqfs). He explained that Egypt was perfectly right in building on his border a wall (which will add to the suffering of the population of Gaza !)

Unsurprisingly, clerics in Egypt have opposed their reputed boss at Al-Azhar. Members of "Al-Azhar scholars front" have made a demonstration and various imams have refused to read the speech prepared for the Friday prayer in the Egyptian mosques. Their employer, the minister, has cut their wages in retaliation and it is possible that things get worst.

In the West Bank too, the local imams have been asked to read a prepared speech which was very critic of shaykh Qardawi. Those who have obeyed the official instructins have not been able to finish and the police had to come sometimes to calm the vociferous worshiping. Obviously, it is not necessary to be a sophisticated cleric to understand where does justice stand in Gaza case !

On the cultural side, famous Tunisian director Al-Majiri is preparing a moovie about the tunnelers of Gaza. Khalid Taja, a very respected Syrian actor, will play the leading role. Al-Qardawi’s life is represented on stage in a theater in Qatar. The illustration of this post is taken from the cover of a book edited by Bettina Gräf and Jakob Skovgaard-Petersen about Al-Qardawi well depicted in this interesting article.

As usual, the link to the original post in French.

Me and my for husbands: gender equality and polygamy

2010-01-09T08:28:00.001-08:00

Nadine al-Bedair has got some fame in the arab world since she started to work for the US financed TV channel Al-Hurra where she hosts a program about women issues. This young Saudi journalist has been the target of many comments a few months ago because of her pronounced taste for skirts which seem to be too short for other’s taste.

Again, she has been the focus of many comments in the arab media after she published, a few weeks ago, an article (arabic) in the Egyptian daily Al-masri al-youm about the right, for women, to have more than one man. Taking the arguments ordinarily used by men in order to justify their sexual “rights” to more than a woman, she explained how, in her view, real equality between men and women should also mean sexual equality and the right for women to polygamy.

Of course, Nadine al-Bedair “forgot” to mention that polygamy is licit – for the men – according to the religious texts. Furious condemnations have been pronounced from many parts of the arab world (an Egyptian MP for instance declared his intention to sue her and the newspaper’s editor for such a blasphemy), but there has been some people too, brave enough to defend, or better to understand, her views about gender equality.

In a second publication, under the title Now, you have tasted wrath savor (arabic), she explained her satisfaction for the discussions raised by her provocative writing, which, to her great satisfaction, did not provoke any official reproval in her own country. She also mentioned the legislation adopted in Arab countries like Tunisia or Morocco and called again for a real equality between genders, including in the sexual realm.

Obviously, there is some provocation in the outburst of a young journalist working for such a “pro-westernized” (if not pro-US) TV channel as Al-Hurra, and polygamy is not such a social problem in her country where, according to official statistics, it concerns no more than 1% of the population.

It remains that the “Saudi Nawal Al-Saadawi” as she has been called sometimes has reactivated the public debate about the women rights in the Arab society. Not a bad news at the beginning of a new year.

As usual, the link to the original post in French.

No (Coranic) Logo!

2009-12-31T10:33:00.000-08:00

Is there any connection with the agreement to be passed with Robert Murdoch’s very conservative and pro-zionist News Corps? To be sure, the pious commercials broadcasted by Alwaleed bin Talal Foundation on the various Rotana channels between racy videos clips have fuelled many discussions.

It is not the first time that such campaigns have been launched in the Arab media. There has been previously the Mercy campaign during Ramadan 08, or the Al-baraka bil-shabab (Youth is a blessing and/or The blessing youth) broadcasted by the MBC channel.

An interesting questions raised by such advertising campaigns, tackling “virtuous issues,” is the use of statements (ahâdith) of the Prophet Muhammad. Obviously, there is no problem at all with the message itself but the context might seem too profane and thus unsuitable to the dissemination of the sacred words.

At least it is the point of view of various Saudi religious scholars who have forbidden, some time ago, the use of Coranic inscriptions on players shirts during soccer competitions (they still remain legitimate for charity matches!) Similarly, Al-Azhar has recently condemned the use of Coranic verses for politics of business! According to a previous official national mufti, the sacred words must remain a guide for life and not a logo!

In short, No Coranic Logo! to use Naomi Klein’s motto. But such a claim might become a dead letter considering the countless stickers printed with sacred words posted everywhere in the Arab world… The religious message is everywhere but his meaning is vanishing.

With the usual link to the original post in French, one of the videos of the Al-baraka bil-shabab campaign...

Voices of the (arab) nation : Arabism, songs and linguistic adaptability

2009-12-19T13:48:00.000-08:00

In the days of the triumphant Arabism, when Cairo was not only the unchallenged political capital of the area but also its cultural one, there was no question about it: Arab stars had to express themselves in colloquial Egyptian even if classical Arabic was used from time to time for “higher” (or less popular) forms of cultural expression.

It was thus a real symbolic turn when the famous Abdel-Halim Hafez decided in the late 60’s, dressed in the local garment, to sing various pieces from the Kuwaiti traditions (see this interesting article, in Arabic, in the daily Al-Quds al-arabi.)

Today, it’s nobody’s surprise when an Arab singer, from whatever country of the area, uses another variety of colloquial Arabic: Egyptian stars sing in a so-called “Arabic of the Gulf” (a mere fiction as there is of course a fair amount of local variations), Lebanese or Iraqui starlets whisper in Egyptian colloquial, to say nothing of many popular voices from the various Maghreb countries who sing either in Egyptian or or forms of colloquial arabic.

During the three or four last decades, the Arab linguistic map has greatly changed thanks to the always growing cultural industries with their transnational media. Indeed, the new generations have probably lost some proficiency in “classical” Arabic, but they have developed new linguistic skills, especially an unprecedented adaptability to cross-over boundaries of all local variations of the Arabic language.

Many times, this linguistic ability is a mere gimmick in order for a singer to gain the favours of a special audience. But the shifting from a vernacular to another can also be used in very conscious way, as a political gesture. Latifa for instance was born in Tunisia and has worked, among others, with the Lebanese composer Ziad Rahbani and the Iraqi singer Kadhem al-Saher, after she has become a panarab star when she left her country for Egypt.

She is now promoting her new CD with songs in “Arabic from the Gulf,” a decision in line with the political stand she took in various circumstances, for instance at the 2004 Music Awards in Los Angeles when she declared that her happiness wont be complete without the liberation of the Palestine and the Iraqi people. When asked about the issuing of her new record with songs in the colloquial Arabic used in the Gulf area, Latifa explained, according to the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar), that singing in another vernacular than you native one, when you are from the Maghreb or whatever other part of the Arab world, is a way to brake the borders drawn between the Arabs by colonialism (أحبّوا ذلك أم كرهوا، لا بدّ من كسر الحدود المرسومة بين العرب جغرافياً، فنياً وفكرياً. لأن هذه الحدود من ركائز الاستعمار).

And with the usual link to the original post in French, a rare video of the “brown nightingale” in a Kuwaiti song.

One, two, three, viva l’Algérie!

2009-12-13T09:31:00.000-08:00

They look “too much like Arabs” in France, but Algerians are nonetheless often considered to be too close to the Frenchies by many Arabs "surprised" by the way they live a complex identity in which colonial history and globalization merge to lead to a slogan like “One, two, three, viva l’Algérie!”

As everybody with some interest in soccer and/or politics in the arab world knows: Algeria has defeated Egypt and will be the only Arab country to participate in the next world cup in South Africa. A long-waited revenge for the Algerians who have being waiting for their turn to come in that competition for 20 years, precisely since Egypt eliminated them from the final competition 20 years ago.

In the two countries, and also in Sudan where the last match took place, the real confrontation did not occurred on the ground only but, first, in the media where experts from the two countries added fuel to the flames, then in the streets where crowds of galvanised supporters of the two national teams expressed violently their feelings against their supposed “arab brothers.”

Such clashes raise many questions. First about the freedom given to media to say and write whatever they wanted on that matter, something which is not so usual in both countries and which suggests that the authorities saw some interest in not interfering in a polemic announced well in advance by a round of shared accusations and insults among Internet users of the two countries.

A “game” in which Egypt was due to score better than Algeria, the latter not having notorious panarab TV’s sportscasters like ‘Amr Adib who performed extremely well as a fanatical and almost racist supporter of his national team. For instance, during an on-air program, he has been fool enough to call for retaliations against the Algerians living in Egypt… But the truth is that the Algerian press has not managed in a much clever and professional way.

Both Algerian and Egyptian leaders did not travel to Sudan in order to assist to the last match between the two teams, but they had sent their closest counsellors. No less than the two President’s sons on the Egyptian side, with a bunch of pop stars and movie actors. A move which has not been very successful as the disappointed Egyptian supporters turned their anger against their official representatives.

The whole story is too long and complicated to be summarized in a few lines To say nothing about a fair amount of casualties and various violent demonstrations in both countries, it is worth to mention that the two countries are engaged in a diplomatic crisis as severe as the ones Egypt has known from time to time with Israel since Camp David agreements.

Of course, countless comments in the Arab press about the “battle of Khartoum,” denouncing the politicization of these football matchs or the “ballification” of the politics (تكوير السياسة) as a way to prevent that all the frustrations of the Arab youth to get out of hand.

As usual, the link to the post previously published in French.

"Murdochtana": an Arab media revolution

2009-12-01T13:13:00.000-08:00

Saudi officials or “para-officials” started to pay serious attention to the Arab media industry as soon as the end of the 1970’s. Various panarab newspapers like Al-Hayat or Al-Sharq al-awsat were bought and (re)launched using the very first digital technology at that time. A bit later, the state took a majority control of the shares in the Arabsat program.

Saudis have also be involved with the first satellite TVs: MBC as soon as 1991, then ART in 1993, Orbit un 1994. Last but not least, Al-Walid ibn Talal became a major player on the Arab media scene when he bought from shaykh Saleh Abdullah Kamel’s (owner of ART) his shares in the top Arab channel, the Lebanese LBCI, in 2003.

Thanks to his private holding, the Saudi prince has become now one if not the Arab media tycoon whose more valuable asset is probably Rotana, a globally integrated firm with a record label where most of the major Arab pop stars have signed, more than half a dozen of TV channels from disco to religious programs as on Al-Resalah TV channel, not forgetting various societies for advertising and the organisation of events, a chain of hype restaurants and pubs burgeoning in all the major Arab cities, etc.

Entertainment is Rotana’s job. Nonetheless, politics are not very far. Being a global company, Rotana has to work on an international scale, dealing thus with the very sensitive issue of normalisation with the Israeli state, one of the implications of the agreement signed in June 2008 between Sony and Rotana which became its regional representative. As a consequence of that, some “Israelis” Internet sites (run by Palestinians) are now tops charts in a country like Tunisia because they are targeted by young Arab internet surfers aiming to download Rotana’s products.

And it is just a beginning… Whatever is its future after the financial crisis, there is no discussion about a dramatic change in the managing of the company. After endless rumours about the departure of many stars for other societies, Rotana has decided to down-size dramatically its offices in activities in Beirut for various reasons, including a serious clash between Pierre Daher, LBC’s General manager who has been preferred to Gabriel Murr, who, in turn, has obliged Rotana to pay cash the fact they had fired him!

After the many difficulties faced by Walid Ibn Talal who did not succeed in breaking the veto against a film industry in Saudi Arabia, finding a way out of the crisis, obviously is not an easy job for Rotana’s boss. This could explain the expected agreement with another global tycoon, Robert Murdoch.

A deal has been searched at least since spring 2008, when Rotana contracted with the 20th Fox Century for the broadcasting of the Fox Movies channel in the Arab world. Today, it is said that the negotiations between the two media giants could lead to the buying by News Corp of some 20% to 25% of Rotana shares (between 250 and 350 million US dollars).

Adding to the Saudi supremacy, such a deal - if confirmed - between the neocons tycoon and the “liberal” Saudi prince, owner of the major dream factory for today’s Arab youth, opens a new stage in the Arab media history.

As usual, here is the links to the two posts (1) and (2) previously published in French about Rotana.

Sex & the Arab City: Arab winds of change.

2009-11-11T02:37:00.000-08:00

Reading the countless comments in the press and on the Internet about the arrest and judgment of the “Saudi Casanova” who boasted his sexual exploits on the panarab LBC channel, gives the feeling that Arab sexuality is really an interesting topic (in the “West” at least).

More recently, female pop singers have moved once again the sexual issue to the top of the chart. In Egypt, first, when an Egyptian MP, close to the Muslim Brotherhood, protested against the coming of Beyonce, a symbol of depravation and immorality, to the rich and fancy Red Sea Resort.

Different characters but more or less the same story in Morocco after Haifa Wehbe performed at Agadir tolerance concert. Although a large number of the (masculine) audience was obviously fascinated by the "aura" of the Lebanese icon, wearing an offensive négligé, comments in the local press, for instance in the daily Al-Tajdid, close to the religious opposition, opposed violently what the perceived as a pitiful picture of a South ripping off clothes and dignity.

Such polemics are nothing new of course (see for instance this previous post) but it gives us the opportunity to mention an interesting discussion on a related topic between Brian Whitaker, the Guardian’s Middle East Editor and As’ad Abu Khalil, a Lebanese born professor of political science at California State University.

Under the title Arab Winds of Change, Whitaker underscores what he sees the real challenges in the region: “If asked where change is likely to come from in the Arab countries, I would not put much faith in "reformist" politicians and opposition parties – they're mostly no-hopers – but I would definitely put feminists, gay men, lesbians and bloggers very high on my list”.

Why? Because “In these highly stratified societies, people are discriminated for and against largely according to accidents of birth: by gender, by family, by tribe, by sect. Women, as the largest disadvantaged group, can play a major role in overcoming this and helping smaller disadvantaged groups to do the same. Once the equality principle is accepted for women it becomes easier to apply it to others. Contrary to popular opinion, most human rights abuses in the Arab countries are perpetrated by society rather than regimes. Yes, ordinary people are oppressed by their rulers, but they are also participants themselves in a system of oppression that includes systematic denial of rights on a grand scale”.

An explanation which infuriates the Angry Arab (As’ad Abu Khalil’s blog title) who denounces a “pathetic” analysis, “an insult to the people of the region.” (see his comment here, and Whitaker’s answer there.

Whatever opinion you choose, it is worth to note that discussion, for once, is not limited to the classical topics but embraces unusual topics.

Indeed, a bit like As’ad Abu Khalil’s blog, which focuses, as mentionned in the subtitle, on “politics, war, the Middle East, Arabic poetry, and art”!

As usual, here is the link to the more developed post in French.

The Last Iraqi Communist Comes to Heaven

2009-11-07T08:21:00.000-08:00

“Change with the Red” (غيّر بالأحمر), is today’s slogan of the Lebanese Communist Party for its 85th anniversary, a good opportunity to recall the very significant role of the various Marxist parties in the intellectual and cultural life of the modern Arab world. A good example is Iraq where the “Red menace” is still rearing its ugly head in the literary field after democracy has been generously “given” to its native people!

Around the middle of the 20th century, various young Iraqi poets conduced the Arabic poetic revolution. Among them, Badr Shakir Sayyab (بدر شاكر السياب). Born in a modest family from the southern part of the country, Sayyab joined the (then) powerful communist party during his studies in Bagdad. Later, he publicly moved away from his former “comrades” with a collection of articles first published in the Iraqi daily Al-Hurriya, then collected in a book in Beirut under the title “I was a communist”. (The book has been recently reissued by Al-Jamal, an Arabic Publishing house in Germany.)

Also coming from the south of the country, Saadi Youssef (سعدي يوسف) may be the last « great Arab poet » after Mahmud Darwish’s death. Faithfully following the poetic innovations of the 1950’, Saadi Youssef carries on his writing year after year. Two years ago, he has published a new collection: The Last Communist Comes to Heaven. A telling title for somebody grown up in the feverish atmosphere of the communist militants a mid-century ago and now established in London when his country is occupied by foreign troops.

As the inexorable decline of poetry in Arab literature is balanced by the irresistible rise of prose fiction, the formally Iraqi poet Ali Badr will be our third example. After his first novel, Papa Sartre, which gives an ironic description of the leftist intellectual life in the Bagdag of the sixties (the book has been translated into English), Ali Badr has written other books such as Chasing the wolves (الركض وراء الذئاب), a brilliant story which relates the fate of various Iraqi communists in Africa, where they fled the Saddam Hussein’s regime.

As usual, here is the link to the more developed post in French.

Playing on the borders of the National Identity: Khaled under the flags

2009-10-29T04:55:00.000-07:00

Identity for the people living in the Arab world is far to limit itself to the only Islamic and Arabic components. For instance, national identification has indeed some importance.

A fact very well perceived by many artistât (for the meaning of that word, see previous post) who play with the national feelings of their audience in order to raise the bidding. Although they can’t display the same selling points, singers very tug at the national heartstrings, for instance in displaying the national flag in all sorts of ways.

At times, playing with a national banner may be dangerous, as it has been the case with Saad al-Saghir and, at various occasions, with chebb Khaled. During his Summer tour of Morocco in 2008, the singer has had all sorts of problems because of a photography of him with the emblem of the Polisario Front. To make things worst, the Algerian pop star was politically naïve enough to also stand on a stage with an Amazigh flag between his hands.

Did the blunderer want to clear his name? Recently, an interview in the Moroccan weekly TelQuel caused uproar in Algeria. According to the Algerian press, the singer had compared the expelling of thousands of Moroccans citizens in the mid 1970’s to the deportation of Jews during Word War II!

Fortunately, the “fuss and muss” over Khaled’s alleged declarations stopped after a vigorous denial from the singer. But Al-Quds al-'arabi - Novembre 2sd - mentions that the Algerian star, repeating that politics and culture should not mix (he should read this blog more frequently!) asked again for an opening of the borders between the two countries.

Link to the orginal in French, with more details.

TV Serials between Comedy and Tragedy in Palestine

2009-10-27T09:52:00.000-07:00

Although many Arab TV serials dealt with the Palestine issue during the last years, it has not been the case in Ramadan 09, a fact which can be explained by the economical situation of most of major Panarab channels, but also by the situation of the Palestinian political scene.

Nonetheless, one of the good surprises of last Ramadan TV programs came from Palestine where millions of TV viewers have been watching Watan ‘a watar (something like “a country on the tightrope”).

A success which is linked to the way the authors and comedians dealt with day-to-day problems with a frankness and a boldness quite unusual on the national channel. For instance, an episode was filmed at the 7th Fatah’s congress hold in Nablus in 2509 with the great-great grandsons of the actual leaders and an everlasting Mahmoud Abbas repeating in an infinite loop: negotiations, always negotiations, and only negotiations!

It is said that the President of the Palestinian Authority had a good laugh watching his own caricature. But all of this happened just before the UN Human Right Council took the decision to postpone its vote for the approval of the Goldstone report.

Sadly enough, the Palestinian officials did not make very sincere efforts in order to gain the approval of the majority at the Council. Thus they proved to their many critics among the Palestinian people how right they are when they laugh at their leaders who act and speak like the ridiculous characters of a sad muppet show.

Various links to be found in the original post in French.

About Marriage and Divorce in the Arab World

2009-10-06T06:01:00.000-07:00

Four posts about related questions dealing with marriage and divorce in today’s Arab societies (links to the original ones in French).

In the first one, mention was made to Urîdu hâlan (I want a solution), a movie with (and largely thanks to) Faten Hamama. An interesting example of an art production which has had a real impact on the Egyptian society. After years of discussions, the Egyptian law finally gave the women the right – under certain circumstances – to divorce their husband.

Today’s Egyptian women publicly speak not only of their legal right to divorce but of the personal satisfaction they may find living as single, after a divorce or ever-postponing a socially expected marriage. Examples of this new attitude may be found in the writings of two bloggers whose writing have been published in books. In both cases, the colloquial form for “I want”, in Ghada Abdelal’s (غادة عبد العال) I want to get married (عايزة اتجوز) and Mahasen Saber’s (محاسن صابر) I want to get divorced (عايزة اطلق) is a clear reference to the classical verbal form used by Faten Hamama’s point, thirteen years ago.

The second post was about the rising number of unmarried young people (9 millions adult above 35 years in Egypt for instance). The cost of the wedding ceremony may explain this situation, probably connected to the growing phenomenon of sexual harassment in Cairo streets and which is exploited by all sorts of crooks using internet phishing sites. It is also linked to the rising number of non-official unions with the resulting issue of thousands of children born from such unions without any legal status as women does not have the right to declare a birth according to the actual Egyptian law. Considering the great number of students who are engaged in such “unlegal” unions (almost 20% of them according to various studies), one has to think that the sexual practices of many young Arabs are undergoing a radical transformation.

An evolution which is probably conformed by the rising number of divorces in many Arab countries (data in the original post in French from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the Arab Emirates and even Gaza. Even in this last case, local analysts emphasize the fact that economical difficulties only cannot explain the breaking of so many unions – and the rising number of unmarried young people. On the contrary, for a growing number of young Arabs, the need to reach personal/individual fulfilment probably becomes more important that the necessity to obey the social requirement of a “family arranged” marriage.

Nonetheless, local traditions remain very strong in many areas, as it is the case with child marriage. Here again (see last post), the increasing denunciation of this phenomenon in the Arab press can be interpreted as the sign of a change. Even if too publicized stories in the Western media like the one of the little Nojood Ali in Yemen (among Glamour magazine “women of the year” !!!”) seem to show the contrary, recent public discussions and legal decisions in Yemen Saudi Arabia or even Morocco are a clear indication that sexual habits, representations and practices in the Arab world are changing.

Ads and Ramadan TV

2009-09-13T10:48:00.000-07:00

Great, this week The Arabist - a blog you must know for sure! - has donne the job for me! Here is his summary, with somme adding, of the post originaly published in french (so you'll discover who his the charming lading making an ad for Faruk's Nablus Soap there. Many thanks!

The excellent [!!!: my comment] Culture et Politique Arabes site has a detailed analysis of the commercial underpinnings of Ramadan entertainment (Al Quds Al Arabi estimates that the Holy months brings in $100 million in TV advertising revenues). The post points out that the Egyptians got the jump on other Arab countries this year–in an increasingly competitive TV market–by starting to air their Ramadan soap operas a night before everyone else. The post also mentions the lack of Ramadan spirit in the new Egyptian TV channel El Qahera wa En-Nas (Cairo Centric in English) whose yellow posters all across Cairo have been promising “Ramadan’s most daring TV.” The campaign has clearly already raised some hackles, as this article in Islam Online describes what they consider to be a controversial exchange on one of the stations’ talk shows, in which the director Ines El Daghidi, to the question “When do you think you might take the veil?” replied يا رب ماتكتها علي” (”Oh God, don’t decree this for me”–I think). What’s extraordinary is that apparently this “daring” station is considering editing the exchange out of the broadcast. (...)
Link to The Arabist original post.

Cartoons in the Emirates

2009-08-02T07:37:00.001-07:00

Hamdoon, a cartoon character, is more and more popular in the Emirates particularly among the locals who use that word as a diminutive for Hamdan, a very common name which also refers to the typically Emirati way of wearing the tarha, the head-scarf.

Supported by official institutions like the Khalifa Fund to Support and Develop Small & Medium Enterprises and the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage, Hamdoon, created by Abdullah Mohammad Al Sharhan (عبدالله محمد الشرهان), is another attempt to foster the Emirati (political) identity with popular cartoon characters, popular with the young generation, like (Ajaaj in Dubai a few months ago.

Cartoons are flourishing in the Emirates, but not only for the young. The coming Ramadan should see new episodes of very successful series directed to a family audience, like Shaabiyat al-cartoon (شعبية الكرتون), by Haydar Muhammad (حيدر محمد), or Freej (فريج, for “the district”), a rather unconventional carton created by Mohammed Harib (محمد حارب) whose main characters are four aged ladies commenting the amazing transformations in the Emirates.

From Hamdoon to Freej, via Ajaaj and many others, cartoons are not at all stripped off of some political meaning.

As uasual, more links and details with the original post in French.

Arabîzî : the Romanisation of Arabic

2009-07-21T06:25:00.000-07:00

Even if Arabizi means nothing to you, you may use it everyday when you work on your laptop or send messages from your cell-phone. Arabizi is one of the expressions for what is also called ‘arabiyyat al-dardasha, i.e. the more or less phonetic Arabic written with Roman characters in order to use various IT applications when an Arabic keyboard is not available and/or easy to employ.

‘Arabizi – or Aralish, or Franco (for franco-arabe in the Maghreb countries) – is not anymore an absolute necessity in order to communicate in Arabic as it was in the early ‘90s with the very beginning of a widespread Internet but it remains useful at times. Above all, it has become a funny way, now adopted by many young Arabs (and marketed by advertising agencies) to express oneself with the too serious and intimidating written Arabic.

It is worth mentioning that the mere existence of Arabizi gives some credit to those who think that something like a “common Arab culture” still exists! Indeed, Arabizi has appeared and developed itself as an accepted code among all IT Arab users, without any interference of any kind from any official body.

Arabisi may be understood as a new lingua franca (the "lingua franca" was a kind of pidgin, mainly a mixture of Arabic and various Roman languages, which was still in use around the Mediterranean shores at the end of the 19th century). Promoted by the more dynamic and globalised segments of the society, Arabizi is the language of the youth, a language which has absolutely no respect for the older elites and for their command of the (difficult) written Arabic used as a tool for their “symbolic domination”.

Indeed, many (grown-up) people will condemn such a “foolish” attitude toward the Arabic language which is considered to be the core symbol of the Arabic and/or Islamic community. And sometimes they could not be blamed when you watch ads like the one which promotes Maren, one of the tools developed to type Arabic from an English keyboard: it gives the impression that nobody had never typed in Arabic before Microsoft software!

Even more, the ones who are afraid of the spread of these news tools which make easier the shift from the Arabic to the Latin alphabet remember that if the use of the Arabic alphabet in order to transcript other languages like Berber, Persian, Urdu and many others has been historically the rule, in modern times, the first example which comes to mind is, on the contrary, the romanisation of the Turkish language in 1928, shortly after another very symbolic decision by Kamal Atatürk, the abolition of the Califate in 1924.

Links to the some softwares for a “romanised” writing of Arabic to be found in the original post in French.

The Price/Prize of an (Egyptian) Intellectual

2009-07-11T00:19:00.000-07:00

Every year, the Egyptian state gives several prizes to its best intellectuals. In a very democratic way, the local intelligentsia is supposed to select itself its nominates according to rituals which do not contribute very much to the surge of new talents although they show the self-proclaimed celebration of some of the more obedient voices to the regime.

A reality that nobody really denies in fact. For instance, the celebrated Egyptian novelist Baha Tahir confessed he did not feel at ease receiving the “Mubarak prize for literature” being at the same time member of the jury.

But everybody does not share Baha Tahir’squalms about the public generous gifts. The literary critic Gaber Asfour for instance, now in charge of the “National initiative for translation” after he has been almost 15 years the General Secretary of the Supreme Council for culture, an official body who, incidentally, gave him that year one of its prizes, of some 200.000 EP (around 30.000 USD).

But Ahmad Higazi, a poet previously mentioned in this blog, has done better: he gave himself, a few months ago, the prize (100.000 EP) he organized as president of the Poetry commission at the same Supreme Council of Culture!

Fortunately enough, not all Egyptian intellectuals are able to accept anything against the regime gifts. We already mentioned how the scandal provoked by Sun’Allah Ibrahim’s public refusal of a distinction given by a state doing nothing for the Palestinian according to him.(And recently, the Egyptian press has spoken of – useless – pressures from Faruk Husny, the Egyptian minister for Culture, against Sonallah’s participation to a Literary festival in the south of France.

As usual, here is the link to the more developed post in French. Illustration : photo by Joshua Stacher/http://www.personal.kent.edu/~jstacher/Photo.html#home

The « Fourth Power » of a Rebel Diva

2009-07-02T10:45:00.000-07:00

Some people could be surprised to learn that Mrs Malouma Mind Meidah (المعلومة بنت الميداح), the well-known singer, is also, since 2006, a member of the Mauritanian Parliament.

Elected for an opposition party, Malouma is not afraid to make her own way, in politics as in art. Thus, she does not follow the classical path of the musical traditions she inherited from her family but creates a “contemporary tradition” where the Arab and Berber local maqamat (musical modes) mix with the African rythms.

Her new blues comes from a long tradition where songs – for a celebration as for a protest – have always been a kind of “fourth power” in the Mauritanian society, at least before the coming of the modern media.

If the Arab women seem to gain some political presence in the Arab Peninsula, it must be said that they play a larger political role in Mauritania since the country achieved its independence in 1960. Today, women represent 18% of the members of the Parliament, and one third of the local elected representatives.

Recently, Malouma has had some trouble with the local authorities who seized, as she was back from Senegal were she had them printed, thousands of her CD’s, with some new songs rather critical of the regime. A sign, although she says the contrary, that her protest songs, and politically oriented art in general, has still some influence in a country like Mauritania.

Here the introduction (1'30) of a documentary film (52 min) produced by Al-Jazeera documentary and more links and information, as usual, with the more developed the post in French.

Traduttore, traditore : translation is a treachery…

2009-06-21T13:46:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, Mr Farouk Hosny, the Egyptian minister of Culture, announced the forthcoming translation into Arabic of various contemporary Israeli novelists like Amos Oz or David Grossman. Something which has not been done before, according to Gaber Asfour, the well-known literary critic who heads the Supreme Council for Culture because of exclusively legal problems: on one hand, dealing directly with an Israeli publishing house was absolutely impossible, due to the boycott, a motto particularly effective on the cultural scene, and on the other Egypt was not willing to publish such works without an agreement of the publishing house, thus enforcing the international agreements on the copyright.

Finally, a "smart" solution has been founded and the Egyptian will make the deal with… the European publishers of the Israelis writers! But if the novels are to be translated from European languages too, the Arabic versions of the works originally written in Hebrew will be real treacheries!

But it is not the only treachery which is suspected with this initiative, and many people in Egypt and in the Arab world think that the sudden love of the Egyptian official cultural bodies for modern Hebrew literature has something to do with Hosny’s campaign in order to be elected General Director of the Unesco.

Indeed, after a rather offensive “open letter” published in the French daily Le Monde by three well-known (at least in their country) French intellectuals calling President Sarkozy to act against somebody who had said that he was ready to burn Israeli books if they were to be founded in the Egyptian libraries, Farouk Hosny thought he had to give public apologize.

Something which has been understood as one more “positive sign” – or rather concession – made by the Arab candidate in order to facilitate an election, difficult to win in case of an Israeli opposition.

Indeed, the translation of Hebrew novels into Arabic is not the first manifestation of Faruk Hosny’s “good will”. Coming after previous initiatives (see previous post), it has been written in the Arab press that the Egyptian ministry of Culture was hoping very much an Israeli participation at the “Red Sea Festival”.

And now, according to this article published in the Lebanese Al-Akhbar, there are talks about the possibility of an official Israeli participation during the next Cairo book fair, a demand always rejected by the Egyptian since the signature of the Camp David agreements in 1978…

But the next book fair will in February 2010, when the election of the General Director of the Unesco is next October…

As usual, here is the link to the more developed post in French.

Women in the Arab Gulf: a Few Things to be known.

2009-06-02T14:08:00.000-07:00

At the political level, changes in the Arab word are not to be expected in the short range, but a look at the social issues gives some reasons to be more optimistic. Even thought violence against women could be even worst than before, according to Madawi El-Rasheed’s contribution in Al-Quds al-‘arabi, such a fact could be explained as a confirmation of the reality of the threat, for some men, of the feminist acts of self-affirmation.

A feminist affirmation which takes at times unexpected paths, as with the Million’s Poet contest, on Abu Dhabi TV, a very successful program run by an woman from the Emirates, Nasha Al Rwaini. In an interview to be founded on Middle-East Online, she explained her surprise when she discovered how the Poet’s Million could pave the way for women empowerment, especially after poetess Al Jahani (photo) successively resisted pressure from her family and tribe (but not her husband!) to resign from the competition.

Regarding the very symbolic question of allowing women to drive in the KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), it has been noticed that a “liberal” shaykh has recently issued a fatwa making the lifting of the ban more possible than ever, and encouraging, in the same declaration, women’s gym (in all-women clubs, of course !). Before, a group of young Saudi women had launched an online campaign called Let her get fat to protest a government decision to shut down gyms.

Foreigners may misunderstand this “Gulf women lib” where a total segregation between sexes (in coffee shops or hotels for instance) may be a way for women to affirm themselves but this “quite” (and soft) revolution should not be underestimated as day-to-day issues, linked to women’s situation, are obviously backed by some elites eager to push for political reforms (on the photo, al-Waleed Ibn Talal supporting, a few months, members of the first feminine Saudi soccer team, from Jeddah!

As usual, here is the link to the more developed post in French.

Arab Women in Politics: a Quite Revolution

2009-05-22T00:38:00.000-07:00

Ten years exactly after they got the right to vote, four Kuwaiti ladies win parliamentary seats. Despite the well-spread clichés, the last elections in Kuwait confirm a trend already noticed for instance in Jordan when a lady won in November 2007, for the first time in the country’s history, a parliamentary seat.

In Arab modern history, women’s affirmation traces back to the end of the XIXth century, a political affirmation followed a few decades later by well-known political activists like the Egyptian Hoda Shaarawi or the Syrian Nadhira Zayn al-Din.

Independence has been, in many countries, the golden age for Arab women as their participation to the political life has constantly declined since, partly because this participation has been dictated by regimes which have lost any credibility to people looking for solutions from a Islamic dictated agenda.

But the trend toward the progressive vanishing of women’s participation in Arab politics could reverse as political “modernization” has became a “necessity” in the post 9-11 world, and with a ever-growing number of young educated women aiming at more individual identity and way of life.

In the Gulf states, often caricatured for its backwardness especially regarding women’s lib issues, some positive changes have already taken place as mentioned in a previous post about Saudi Arabia. After sheikha bint Nasser al-Missned, Qatar’s first lady, was named on 2008 Forbes magazine's list of the world's 100 most powerful women in the world, it was Nura Al-Faiz’s turn to appear in Time Magazine’s list of 100 most influential people in the world, after she had been appointed Saudi Arabia`s first woman minister.

As usual, here is the link to the more developed post in French.

The Arabic of the Media and the Moroccan Exception

2009-05-13T05:13:00.000-07:00

At first glance, Moroccan TV watchers are no exception. According to local audience surveys, they love, like any other Arabs, to watch the Turkish serials dubbed into Arabic, partly, suggests movie critic Ahmed Sijilmassi, because they are perfectly suited for the cultural habits of the Moroccan housewifes.

After the previous waves of Mexican and South-American TV soap operas, the last one, with the Turkish productions, raised an unexpected linguistic issue. Before, the case was different when "local" productions, coming from Lebanon, Egypt, then Syria, used their own colloquial which was broadly understood, and accepted as a part of the whole set of shared cultural references.

There are changes in Morocco, a country where a whole range of newspapers, radio stations and even TV channels have shifted, in a unchallenged way by the rest of the Arabic speaking countries, to the local darija. For instance, 2M, the second national TV channel, has recently started the broadcasting of a new Mexican TV sopa opera, dubbed into "Moroccan" language.

It is believed that there is no political agenda behind such a decision, but only the quest for a bigger audience. Nonetheless, voices have already raised to condemn an assault on the Arabic and/or the Islamic country’s heritage.

It is a matter of fact that the Arab world, as a geopolitical concept, appeared a bit more than a century ago and that its political existence is more than ever in jeopardy. Have the peripheral states, confronted the weakness of its center, started to look for solutions elsewhere? At the Eastern end of the Arab world, the TV channels broadcast Hindi TV soap operas in country where Arabic, like in the Emirates, is already the third language after English and Urdu, and at the western one, they are more and more TV programs using colloquial Arabic…

Is the trend toward vernacular language a real threat for the Arabic language, an essential component of the political unity? For some linguists (see this post, sorry, no translation!), the extensive use of colloquial Arabic in the media remains, in the long range, the best tool for the promotion of the modern "Arabic of the media".

As usual, here is the link to the more developed post in French.

IT Revolution and Old time TV

2009-05-09T08:18:00.000-07:00

Today, around 70% of the Egyptians watch more than 500 Arab satellite channels, and more than 30 millions Arabs are connected to the Internet.

Even if nothing of that kind existed two decades ago, it is probably not enough to make a "real" revolution in an area dominated by experienced leaders like Presidents Mubarak and Gaddafi (28 years in power for the former, 40 for the latter).

As already mentioned, the Egyptian impulse was decisive when most of the Arab League States have adopted in February 2008 a document "regulating" satellite broadcasting.

Shortly after that, the Egyptian Nilesat took Al-Hiwar, an independant channel based in London, off the air, and TV shows like 90 Minutes on Al-Mihwar had to end rapidly thanks to police intervention in the studios.

And some days ago, Libia TV, a channel linked to Saif al Islam, Moammar Gaddafi’s son, was unexpectedly nationalised as the Egyptian foreign policy had been violently criticized by the very famous and popular Egyptian journalist, Hamdi Qandil.

Is it still possible to master today’s media just like in the good old times? After its unexpected "nationalisation", Al-Libia thought to moove to places like Amman or Dubai then apparently choose London.

And it would not be surprising to discover that Hamdi Qandil’s shows will still be aired on Al-Libia, or even the Lebanese pro-Hizbollah Al-Manar according to the last rumors.

As usual, here is the link to the more developed post in French.

The picture is from the cover of book on the Arab media recently edited by Tourya Guaaybess and myself.

Jodhaa Akbar : far away form the Mediterranean sea

2009-04-27T22:26:00.000-07:00

“Hindi movie”: used since a long time in a very pejorative way, will the expression take a very different meaning in the Arab world after the unprecedented success of the last serial aired by the Middle-East Broadcasting Channel?

The Dubai based and Saudi-financed channel has hit new record audience with Akbar Jodhaa, its hindi saga. Based on historical facts, it relates the story of Akbar, the muslim Moghol emperor, and Jodhha, his hindi wife, who remained an everlasting example of tolerance.

Questions raised in the Arab world after such a success: what is the reason for the lack of such works in the Arab world? If all the TV blockbuster are to be dubbed from Turkish or Hindi into Arabic, what is the future for the local productions?

But did MBC take a real risk airing a dubbed Hindi serial? Adding to the fact that a large number of Hindi speaking people already live there, many Arabs from the Gulf countries feel at ease with the cultures of the Indian Subcontinent, a place where they very often travel to for business or leisure.

At the time of the difficult launch of the ill-fated Mediterranean Union, it is worth seeing that this part of the Arab world has already started to look East, far away from the Mediterranean shores.

As usual, here is the link to the more developed post in French.

Images of War and War of Images in the Shiite Crescent

2009-04-16T14:38:00.000-07:00

Since King Abdallah II’s famous declaration about the threat of the Shiite crescent, tensions become more obvious day after day. After Morocco broke its diplomatic ties with the Islamic Republic of Iran last March, it is Egypt’s turn to denounce Lebanese Shiite movement Hizbollah.

The coming fights and the secrets thoughts of the political scene could easily find in the “war of images” a very fertile ground as the two main branches of Islam do not have exactly the same doctrine about the question of the representation of human faces.

In modern times, sunnism usually proscribes it when shiism shows a more flexible position. Since the XIXth century at least, Shiite artists commonly represent Muhammad’s cousin, Ali, and his two sons, Husayn and Hasan.

Because of this divergence about the question of representation, the making of Asbat, a kuwaiti financed TV serial about the first Shiites “martyrs”, has created a lot of opposition from various local authorities, especially in Syria where the work is due to be filmed.

Al-Buti, a well-known local imam, has said for instance that such a project was a very first step toward the representation of the prophet Muhammad himself. Something which is not totally unlikely regarding the making of various Iranian movies like the last Jesus, the spirit of God, a film directed by Nader Talebzadeh.

For his defence, Al-Anzi, the Kuwaiti producer, explained that the TV serial describes a period when Islam was united. He also said that distinguished religious authorities do not condemn the use of figurative images, including those of the prophets.

He could have said that even in Saudi Arabia, land of the Wahhabis who profess the more restrictive doctrine on the subject of representation, children books use such pictures, for pedagogical purposes, and that it has been a long time that royal features grace the country bank notes.

But, certainly, all Saudi kings are not holy people.

As usual, here is the link to the more developed post in French.

Mahmud Darwish : the story of an heritage

2009-04-09T02:17:00.000-07:00

As they have been told by Mahmud Darwish that he had a collection of poems almost ready to be published, some of his friends looked in his papers for those works, and found different pieces.

Regarding their publication, some thought they could publish a selection of the works who looked finished or almost but Elias Khury, the famous Lebanese novelist and critic, convinced them to publish everything, arguing that nobody could take Darwish’s place and choose for him what was to be published or not. It was also suggested to entitle the book “The Last Poems” instead of “The Last Collection”, in order to emphasize the different character of this last publication.

But problems appeared when Riyad El-Rayyes, Darwish’s exclusive publisher since the 1990’s, printed the book, أريد لهذه القصيدة ان تنتهي (I don’t want this poem to end) which was distributed with a little booklet, written by Elias Khury, explaining the founding of those poems and the circumstances of the publication.

Various articles published in the Arab press, sometimes by well-known poets, have mentioned quite an amount of mistakes in Darwish’s last publication, especially at the rhythmical level. Something people could notice as the Palestinian poet used to write a “cadenced poetry,” in a way opened in the 1950’ in Iraq, which only follows some of the rhythmical laws of the classical Arabic versification.

Following a bitter exchange in the press of justifications and renewed critics, the publisher, Riyad El-Rayyes, publicly declared that he could not be considered responsible of such failure, as he could not see the original manuscript as he used to do when Mahmud Darwish was alive. It was then Elias Khury’s fault, who did not give him access to the original text and who had insisted very much in order to have his own text, explaining the founding of the poems, published as a preface or a postface, something which never occurred during Darwish’s life and that Rayyes totally refused.

Obviously, the real question is that of Mahmud Darwish’s symbolical heritage, and there are people who think that Elias Khury tried to sing his own praise and at least has given the impression that he was willing to do so.

The various episodes of this heritage story must be only mentioned because they show how terrible is the lack of some real great names on today’s Arabic cultural stage. Such a desire for great cultural icons makes thus natural the project that Fares Ibrahim announced to the press some months ago: after Umm Kulthum, Ismahane and Nizar Kabbani, this famous Syrian producer of TV serial wants to make a TV novella based on Mahmud Darwish’s life…

As usual, here is the link to the more developed post in French.

Lebanon: in the area, first of all!

2009-04-02T04:06:00.000-07:00

Once again, political ads invade Beirut streets and TV screens. Three months before the coming elections, people are reminded that Freedom is in their hands according to a dubious motto: Lebanon first! Criticised in the daily Al-Akhbar, the advertising campaign depicts its political opponents as people not only radically wrong but even dangerous. According with the political grammar of today’s Arabic, those “localist” ads use “pure” vernacular Lebanese (when more “arabist” political trends are prone to use a more classical wording).

Once again, it is not difficult to find who stays behind those ads and billboards: the graphic composition, the red, white and green colors, the typographic composition were already used for previous campaigns like Independence05 or I love life… (see previous posts 1 and 2.

Nonetheless, it is interesting to note that the famous Saatchi & Saatchi advertising agency officially denies to have played any role in this new campaign: even those who speak out for "Lebanon first" do not forget that there are regional realities that must be respected.

As usual, here is the link to the more developed post in French.

Jerusalem, the “complete and united” capital of Arab culture

2009-03-23T11:30:00.000-07:00

Since 1995, there is every year a new “Capital of Arab Culture”. After Damascus, it was normally Bagdad’s turn. Due to the circumstances, another city had to be proposed and the Palestinian minister of Culture, in the new Hamas government, suggested, in 2006, Jerusalem.

It was a real challenge to make a city under Israeli occupation – at least for the Eastern part of the city – the symbol of the ‘urûba (Arabism/ “arabity” for “Arab identity”). To be successful, such a project had to tackle various difficult issues, starting with the difficulty to deal with the occupied city of Jerusalem as a cultural capital when Ramallah has became, since the Oslo agreements, the real focal point of the Palestinian cultural life.

Jerusalem itself was a problem as one could ask which “city” had to be celebrated: the Eastern part, still reclaimed by the Palestinian authority although the Oslo agreements have enforced its “judaization” or the whole town, with the Western area on which Israel has full “legitimacy”? And who was to be involved in the cultural events: Palestinians living in the West Bank who are not allowed to go Jerusalem or Palestinian living either in the Israeli state or abroad and who are not under the “Palestinian Authority”?...

The political struggle between Hamas and Fatah made things worst as each party insisted to have its “official” committee: one has organised in Gaza, cut off from the rest of the world, its opening on March 7th, when the second had its own one last Saturday (March 28th) – plus a last one, led by Palestinians from the Diaspora, to be set on Earth Day, the 30th of March.

For the second one, Mahmud Abbas was obliged to attend the celebration, with some official who had come from various Arab countries, in Bethlehem as the Oslo agreements stipulate that the Palestinians are not allowed to have any political activity outside "their" territory.

Jerusalem being since 1980 the “complete and united” capital of their state, the Israeli authorities had no problem in cancelling a series of Palestinian cultural events in Jerusalem, as they had already done, one year ago, at the meeting for the launching of Jerusalem Capital of Arab Culture motto.

The lack of any serious protestation in the world shows that everybody is obviously convinced that the celebration of Arab culture in the Holy city is, indeed, a political matter.

As usual, here is the link to the more developed post in French.

Natives in Palestine

2009-02-26T04:49:00.000-08:00

At Ben Gurion International airport, travellers are suggested to buy local souvenirs. Among them, “Ethnic sweets” packs of pastries which say with a lot of straightforwardness that Palestinians are now considered like the “Native Americans”: an almost disappeared population, without even a name.

The keffieh as a symbol

2009-02-15T12:48:00.000-08:00

Since a previous post post written two years ago (and not translated into English), about the "globalisation" of the Palestinian keffieh and its transformation, in Western societies, to a fashion accessoire, the phenomenon has spread to the Arab world where the keffieh has been adopted by many young men and women with its trendy look (with all sort of colors and sometimes a modification of the patterns). In the “historical Palestine” for instance, Israeli Jews may wear the “new” keffieh, something unbearable for many Palestinians who see it as another spoliation of their national heritage (as it has been the case before with the hommous and the falafel).

In Lebanon too, the (now) fashionable keffieh has made a noticed apparition in the streets of Achrafieh and Ayn al-Rumaneh, areas of Beirut whose people were not precisely well known as supporters of the Palestinian cause. Thus, the traditional keffieh still to be found in the refugees camps faces the challenge of two different versions of the Palestinian symbol : that of the trendy globalised keffieh but, also, that of the Shiite Lebanese who have adopted a different similar in patterns but where the black color dominates.

For old people, the rejection of the modernized keffieh transformed in a accessoire à la mode could be less a political question than a “moral” one, as the keffieh has always been traditionally associated to masculine values. Something Palestinian artist Mona Hatoum made very clear in her famous “Keffieh” – presented at her last personal exhibit in Amman – were the apparently usual headscarf interweaves strands of women's hair with the Arab symbol of machismo.

In Palestine as in other places, the keffieh is a reliable barometer of the public opinion. After the bombardments of Gaza, the classical keffieh has made a noticeable come back on the shoulders of many stars of the Arab screen as around the neck of many demonstrators in the streets.

Is it still possible for the classical keffieh to reaffirm itself as the symbol of the Palestinian identity? Whatever is the answer, it is worth to consider that the last local keffieh factories are on the verge to disappear after the market has been flooded with cheaper products made in Asia.

Is this symbolic of the Palestinian fate?

(On the last Palestinian keffieh factory, there is wonderful – and short video - made by a French journalist, Benoit Faveley, which I founded on Hawgblawg, an always very interesting blog, in English.

As usual, here is the link to the more developed post in French.

Singing politics: Gaza

2009-02-08T14:04:00.000-08:00

The consequences of the Israeli bombardments on Gaza are difficult to appreciate but, with the exception a few opinion leaders like Adel Imam pretending to defend an untenable position, most of the Arab intellectuals and artists have lined up with the Arab victims.

Nothing exceptional regarding a singer like Abdel-Rahim “Shaaboula” Shaaban whose speciality is to give “live comments” on the political actuality of the area, but something much more unusual for popular singers : Nancy Ajram for instance, whose last video-clip have been modified in order to fit with the last events, or even Tamer Hosny.

Before he paid a visit to Gaza’s hospitals, the heartbreaking star of the Arab teenagers gave a new song, officially called “All together” (Kulluna wahed) but apparently known as “I don’t know what to do” (Mesh aref a3mel haga).

Such a title may be a clear indication of the prevailing mood in the Arab opinion and many articles have been published in the press to critic the too compassionate and lachrymal tone of most of the songs, especially with regard to Michael Heart’s song for Gaza, entitled “We will not go down”.

People go even further and say that many singers are going political just to surf on the wave and to benefit from the media coverage of everything related to the Gaza events. It could be true but one has to remember that songs have been, and remain, a powerful tool for political mobilization in the Arab history which various dramatic stages are connected, in the Arab popular imagination.

Thus, the poor quality of most of the political songs written about Gaza reflects the regional political crisis as much as it is a consequence of the general transformation of the local cultural practices dominated by global mass-production patterns.

As usual, here is the link to the more developed post in French.

Adel Imam's star is falling when he speaks his mind on Gaza

2009-02-01T23:47:00.000-08:00

Adel Imam, probably the most popular Arab comic actor, has publicly criticized not only the Hamas party but all the Egyptians who have demonstrated in support to it. In his opinion, Hamas was to be blamed for its senseless provocation of the Israeli forces.

Taking such a stance, at the beginning of the Israeli shelling on Gaza, the actor was adding his voice, well-known to be close to President Mubarak’s family, to that of the “Arabs moderates” who were not so unpleased to see the Israeli army doing the dirty job.

But with more and more bombardments and victims, his declarations have aroused considerable reactions. To the point that the leader of an extremist group based in Algeria and supposed to be closed to Al-Qaida has issued a fatwa saying that the killing of the “traitor” was legitimate.

An opportunity for the actor to correct the awful impression made by his first declarations, and to explain that he always considered Hamas resistance legitimate and that his critics were addressed to the Egyptian Muslim brotherhood (although there are not so many ideological differences between the two political movements).

Once a courageous defender of the Arab feelings, Adel Imam seems to have lost his political beliefs but may be also his popularity. The issue is not only that of a movie star getting older, but that of his whole generation, born in the Nasserite era, raised at Sadate’s time and active during Mubarak’s regime, whose fate seems to be sealed.

As usual, here is the link to the more developed post in French.

Waltz in Gaza

2009-01-21T01:41:00.000-08:00

Ari Fomman took best Foreign Film at the Golden Globes Awards on January 11 with Waltz With Bashir, a personal documentary about Sabra and Shatila massacres in 1982. The same day, as Tania Tabar’s article on Menassat reminds us, around 60 Palestinians died under the Israelis bombs in Gaza. And many more during the following days…

Tania Tabar follows mentioning that nearly 90% of the public opinion in Israel supported the war in Gaza (a statistic which does not include the “useless” opinion of the Palestinian citizens). How is this possible regarding the success, even in Israel, of an “antiwar film” like Waltz with Bashir, and compared to the thousands of Israelis who marched in the streets of Tel-Aviv as a reaction to Sabra and Shatila massacres? (Again, the 100 000 Arab Israelis who demonstrated against the war in Gaza in Sakhneen, one of the major Arab towns of Galilee, do not matter very much !)

A first explanation is the fact that Ari Folman’s film places the responsibility of the massacres in 1982 on the Phalangist militia and on Ariel Sharon who gave his green light” for the killing of civilians in the Palestinian camps of Beirut. Thus, the “naive young men (…) were only participating in a massacre because of the time and the place they happened to be” explains Tania Tabar, who also underlines that the “personal” narrative of Waltz with Bashir fails to provide a complete historical background which could explain why and how the Israeli state has been using for such a long time systematic violence against the Palestinian and Lebanese populations.

Waltz with Bashir ends with the animation suddenly shifting to real footage of the massacres which took place in the Palestinian camps of Sabra and Shatila in 1982, and with Palestinian ladies yelling and screeming at the camera [and the viewer] : “Where are the Arabs, where are they ?”

Since Waltz with Bashir is not a political movie, but a kind of personal testimony, accordind to Ari Folman's declarations, why did he choose such an ending? asks Tania Tabar.

Indeed, the question needs an answer. As an answer is needed to many others, today, “after” the war in Gaza, as many people ask : where are the Arabs? Where are they?

As usual, here is the link to the more developed post in French. Illustration : We are all Gaza. Demonstration in Beirut (Al-Akhbar)

Gaza under the rain...

2009-01-14T08:59:00.000-08:00

... and blogging seems very useless... This drawing is by Mazen Kerbaj, a Lebanese artist (and musician). I suggest you visit his blog, and that you do your best to stop that criminal (and politicaly stupid) war.

Ban on movies (almost) lift in Saudia

2008-12-21T14:05:00.000-08:00

Is the KAS (Kingdom of Arabie Saudia) ready to go for movies? Since a few months, at least last march, the answer seems to be yes. Before long, the local movie fans will not be obliged to travel a thousand miles away to satisfy their passion as cinemas could open in their country. (Or let’s say reopen, as the ban on the movies has been established “only” in the 1970s.)

Some days ago, "Menahi", a Saudi comedy, was distributed in two cinemas in Jeddah and Taef (not far from Mekkah). Al-Hayat, one of the leading Arab newspapers, found the information important enough to publish it - on the web edition – on the first page. Nothing to be surprised in fact, as the movie has been produced by Rotana, the leading producer/distributor of Arabic music and film in the world, owned by prince Waleed ben Talal, also owner of Al-Hayat (among many other things, for sure !)

A success for the Saudi liberals who did not celebrate too ostensibly their victory. On the contrary they insist in saying that “It was a great experience and hopefully the next films we make will just get better," to quote Al-Maliki the most popular Saudi actor.

Even if the screenings have stopped in Taef a few days later, after violent critics from various well-known religious clerics, for many people in the country this is be just the beginning of more to come.

As usual, here is the link to the more developed post in French.

Wandering Jewish Arabic Voices in Israel

2008-12-15T11:01:00.000-08:00

We don’t hear very much about Antun Shammas, a Palestinian that many specialists considered as one of the best writers in Hebrew. But who has never heard about Samir Naqqash (سمير نقاش), an Israeli Jew writing in Arabic?

His family arrived in Israel when he was 13 years old, like many other Jewish families signing away their Iraki citizenship in order to emigrate to Israel, after bombings in Bagdag that could have been done by some sionist organisations willing to “encourage” the millenarian Jewish community in Irak to flee to Israel.

Samir Naqqash spent his whole life in search of a “better” exile, crossing the Lebanese border when he was 15 years old, then looking hopelessly for a more appropriate homeland in Iran, India, Turkey, Egypt after the Camp David agreements…

He died in 2004, after half of a century in his new homeland where he refused to give up his first language, the colloquial Arabic spoken by the Jewish people of Bagdad. His last novel, Shlomo the Kurd, myself and time, has been published by al-Jamal, an Arabic publishing house in Germany, a good summary of the literary destiny of an Israeli Jewish author writing in Arabic facing the Arab policy toward the Arab Jews and the contempt of the sionist state for the Arabic culture.

But not all the Iraki Jews living in Israel stuck to their native language. On the contrary, most of them use Hebrew, sometimes as a way to promote the Arabic culture through translations. Born in Irak in 1926, friend of the great Palestinian writer Emile Habibi, Sami Mikhail (سامي ميخائيل) has translated into Hebrew Nagib Mahfouz’s famous Trilogy.

His latest book, The pigeons of Trafalgar, offers a rather unusual dialogue with the Palestinian writer Ghassan Kanafani, assassinated in Beirut by the Mossad in the beginning of the 1970’ and author of the world-acclaimed Returning to Haifa. In his own novel, Sami Mikhail suggests another ending to this story of a couple of Palestinians going back to Haifa in order to enquire about the son they had lost there because of the war in 1948. After the death of her husband in a military operation, the mother of Khaldun/Dov – the Palestinian boy raised as an Israeli – refuses to abandon none of her children and tries to gather them around her in Cyprus.

Not surprisingly, some people have been upset by what they have called the “spoliation” (see previous post) of a Palestinian work but others were obviously interested to see how two voices, doomed to live in two different endless exiles, could, nonetheless, hold such a literary dialogue.

As usual, here is the link to the more developed post in French.

"The Invasion," but not on the Arab screens

2008-12-08T09:55:00.000-08:00

The first awards in the “telenovela” category given by the Emmy Awards Academy went to The Invasion, a real surprise as the serials are about the fights in the Palestinian camp of Jenin in 2002, a touchy issue which is tackled from a pro-Arab perspective.

As usual with this kind of work which has been filmed in the Palestinian camps south of Damascus, Arab Tele Media Productions (ATP), the Jordanian production house, has gathered professionals from various countries: Jordanians, Palestinians and Syrians actors, a Syrian screenwriter from a Palestinian family and the successful Tunisian filmmaker, Shawqi Majiri.

ATP, one of the major private production houses in the Arab world, had previously distributed many works to various Arab channels. Among them, Road to Kabul, a serials aired by Qatar TV and other major Arab TVs, whose showing was brutally ended without very clear explanations.

On ATP site, various trailers (see below) give a rather clear idea of the serials, obviously well done and edited according to the best ruling standards for that kind of TV productions. The scenario, based on real facts, follows the destinies of some major characters, with the inescapable love story between Mustafa the Palestinian man and Yael, the Israeli.

Even if the Arab press and Talal al-Awamleh, the owner of ATP, seem more inclined to explain it for political reasons, this Israeli-palestinian love affair could be the real motive behind the fact that The Invasion has been only aired by the Lebanese LBC during Ramadan 2007 (and the Libyan TV later on). And it could also explain why The Invasion won over the juries ot the Emmy awards academy.

Apparently, the multiplication of the TV channels in the Arab world does not mean the same diversification in the programs. But now it has been distinguished by a prestigious international prize, The Invasion will probably make its way to the Arab audiences.

As usual, here is the link to the more developed post in French. You'll find in the "comments" of the French post a link to screen the whole serials on the internet.

Again, the boycott and its many questions

2008-11-29T22:13:00.000-08:00

Again the boycott issue, with its difficult questions already tackled in previous posts, like that one about two movies, an Israeli one, The Band’s visit, and another, Egyptian, Salata Baladi (Salade maison).

This time the discussion concerns a book, Madinah, City Stories from the Middle East. This collection of short stories edited by the Lebanese writer Joumana Haddad gathers ten texts written by various Arab writers, by a Turkish one and… by the Israeli writer Yitzhak Laor with a text about Tel Aviv.

The Palestinian poet Najwan Darwish started the whole discussion in the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar asking how Arab writers could have accepted to participate in a project which presents Tel Aviv side to side with the other Arab towns, as a figuration of the New Middle East map…

Because of such reactions, the English publisher published on his site a declaration mentioning among other things that “the request to include an Israeli story was the publisher's” and that the editor “was initially very much against it (…) until the name of writer Yitzhak Laor was eventually suggested”, an idea “highly supported by the Palestinian contributor to the book, Ala Hlehel.”

Hlelel, a Palestinian living in Acco, had already expressed his point of view in Al-Akhbar saying that Yitzhak Laor, as a radical opponent to the Sionist state, was perfectly entitled to participate in such a book, even with a story about Tel Aviv, a city built on the ruins of the Palestinian villages.

Later on, Al-Akhbar published Laor Yitzhak’s answer. His text begins with an interrogation about the wijdân¸a word used by Najwan Darwish and for which there is no easy translation in other languages. Then, Yitzhak Laor goes on saying that Darwish’s attitude means in fact that when an Arab public discourse speaks of secularism, democracy and so on, another one, like in Darwish’s article, denies any right for a Jewish presence in the Middle East.

Of course, explains Yitzhak Laor, nobody is asked to forget on which ground Tel Aviv has been built but, at the same time, somebody like Najwan Darwish should learn that all the people who live in that city are not the same. Something the reading of his text, which describes Tel Aviv as a huge and frightening military camp, makes quite obvious…

Pierre Abi Saab, the editor of Al-Akhbar cultural section, comments on Yitzhak Laor’s position. He regrets that the Israeli writer sees Najwan Darwish’s position as racist when it is just the denial of a policy which aims at making the Jewish occupation like something natural (tabî‘î, a key word very closed to the Arabic tatbî‘ for ~~“boycott”~~ "normalization" [see comments]).

Of course, the dispute is much more elaborated than said in this short summary. But it has to be mentioned that it was published in Al-Akhbar, a daily supposed to be very close to the Lebanese Hizbollah, and thus to Al-Manar. A TV station that Germany has recently banned on grounds that it violates the country's constitution!

Just to make things more complicated, another boycott issue was raised by the same Al-Akhbar with the possible coming to Beirut of the West-Eastern Divan. Founded by Daniel Baremboim and the Palestinian Edward Said, the orchestra has played only once in an Arab country. It was in Ramallah, some three years ago. Knowing that the players come from various Arab countries, from Spain and from…Israel, should the visit be boycotted?

As usual, here are the links to the more developed posts in French, about Al-Madinah and the West-Eastern Divan.

Occidentalism : the other face of Orientalism

2008-11-23T00:48:00.000-08:00

In Beirut, two galleries run an exhibition of art works by the well-known Lebanese film director Jocelyne Saab. In the first one, called Soft Architecture, pictures of abstract patterns taken from the local traditions are displayed at the Agial gallery. In the second one, Sense, Icons and Sensitivity, the artist uses neo-pop art icons objects of mass production and of popular culture like Barbie dolls to express the hidden thinking of Arab society towards changes in cultural taste and habits due to globalization.

Some of those last works have been deemed unsuitable by Solidere, the company which which owns the venue where the exhibition opened. Among the most controversial pictures was a photo entitled "American-Israeli playground" where Christ is on a crucifix surrounded by images of Nasrallah and two Barbie dolls in the background. “French Can Can in Bagdad,” with Barbie dolls wrapped in Iraqi currency bearing the image of former dictator Saddam Hussein has not been very much welcomed too!

Even if the Agial gallery has agreed to host, not in a too noticeable place, the pictures expressing “the popular anger in the face of Israeli-Lebanese conflict,” Jocelyne Saab’s last exhibition shows how politics and religion remain two very sensitive issues.

As usual, links to articles in Arabic or English with the more developed post in French.

Taxis in Egypt and in Palestine

2008-11-16T11:01:00.000-08:00

Are the old Cairene taxis due to disappear? According to the new regulation, cars over 20 years will not be used for taxi cabs anymore and new authorisations will not be delivered to cars over ten years. Before long, the eternal Nasr 1300 should not be seen in Cairo streets.

In Khaled Al Khamissi’s view, the author of the unexpected best-seller Taxi, it would also be the end for the typical “osta”, the classical local taxi driver. Around 100.000 copies of his little book, largely written in colloquial Egyptian arabic (and translated into English, Italian and very soon French), have been sold, probably as much as there are taxicabs in the streets of the capital of Egypt! An indication, according to the writer, of the new cultural climate made possible by the absolute failure of the actual regime.

Less famous abroad than film directors like Michel Khleifi (Wedding in Galilee, 1987) and Elia Suleiman (Divine Intervention, 2002), Rashid Mashharawi (رشيد المشهراوي), born in Gaza in 1962, has just finished Laila's Birthday, the story of a juge obliged to work as a cab driver but still fighting in order to enforce the law on his fellow citizens in a country tore to pieces by the Israeli occupation.

Mohammed Bakri, probably the more praised Palestinian actor, plays the main character who compels his clients to fasten their seatbelt in a taxi with a sticker on the windshield which says: Forbidden to people bearing arms!

Things are changing, and artworks are not anymore the narrow-minded expression of an ideology. For those two Arab writer and film maker, the taxi is thus a way to stay in line with a definition of art which commands the artist to be a careful commentator of the social reality, but paying attention not to the great historical narratives but to the many little stories of everyday life.

Here is Laila's Birthday trailer and as usual, the link to the more developed post in French.

Made in KSA: the Saudi hip-hop

2008-11-03T01:03:00.000-08:00

Hip-hop music has become popular in the Arab world since a few years in places like Palestine, Morocco, Egypt… But today, it is also a reality in the supposedly less flashy country of the whole area, the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Qusay, a Saudi-born musician who has lived a few years in the USA before he came back to the KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), is the leader of a band called The Legend of Jeddah (a reminiscence of Star wars Legend of the Jeddai?). Their last CD has been an unexpected success.

Obviously, rap music in KSA does not come from the ghetto. Performing in places like the economic forum of Jeddah and adopted by the prestigious MTV Arabia, the Legend of Jeddah has nothing to do with "gangsta rap" music.

On the contrary, its clean hip-hop music can be seen as a perfect advertising for a modern KSA, far away from the clichés of islamic radicalism and moral rigor, something Qusay himself explains in great detail in his various interviews for the Arabic press.

Still, the Legend of Jeddah rappers make clear that things are changing in the KSA. For instance, their greatest hit, the Wedding, is a slightly ironic parody of the local traditions, with a wedding party which almost becomes postmodernist when Qusay starts singing, nicely mixing modern rhythms with traditional tunes.

Have a look to their 5’ minutes clip which should calm down the advocates of the so called “clash of civilizations” !

As usual, the link to the more developed post in French. Illustration from www.elaph.com.

2008 : Women’s Year in Saudi Arabia?

2008-10-25T07:43:00.000-07:00

Saqi, the UK’s largest publisher on Middle Eastern and Arabic titles made another success with one more “scandalous Saudi writer”. Although her short book (77 pages) has not being received as a masterpiece, Samar al-Muqrin’s Nisâ’ al-munkar (something like "Reprobate Women": the title alludes in Arabic to the famous local moral police) has become a best-seller in the Arab world.

Another success story which is obviously linked to the fact that the novel, like Rajaa Alsanea’s Girls of Riyadh before (see previous post), tackles important issues for many Arab women (and men).

Various decisions have been taken during the last months in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia in support of the women’s rights like the opening in Riyadh of a hotel reserved to women, something which makes travelling easier for them. Going alone to an academic library has also become easier for female Saudi students.

In Western eyes, those little “victories” could even be misunderstood. For instance, the right for Saudi women to give finger prints instead of photography for their ID could be interpreted as another step back in order to comply with outdated traditions. But in fact the new regulation aims at helping women’s right especially in courts.

It is the same thing with the highly discussed legislation which asks every owner of a shop specialised in lingerie to hire female employees, a step toward larger job opportunities for women which is backed by local women associations which has raised the idea of boycotting the shops not compelling with the new regulation.

Recently, new professions have been opened to Saudi women in various professional fields. In fact, such a move from the authorities has become almost a necessity since the young Saudis women are more and more educated. In fact, many of them are already turning to neighbouring countries, like Kuwait and Bahrein, in order to find jobs in line with their professional skills.

Following the path opened by the first pioneers who have already taken high positions in some Gulf governments and administration, the Saudi women seem to be ready to “leave the man’s abayya” (the traditional masculine coat).

As usual, the link to the more developed post in French. Illustration from www.elmaqah.net, a very interesting site dedicated to literature (in arabic).

Local salad and identity spoliation

2008-10-17T01:07:00.000-07:00

Wikipedia reminds us that the famous “Israeli salad” is also named sometimes an “Arabic salad”! Indeed, the borders of gastronomy do not always fit with the political frontiers and the (famous) Kefraya wine, from the Lebanese Bekaa, could become, according to this article (arabic) in al-Akhbar, an Israeli brand in the US States!

Obviously enough, people in the Middle East are quite upset to see that the recently born Israeli state has a tendency to phagocyte anything it could. For instance, air hostesses on El Al Israeli aircraft carriers wear a so-called “national dress” whith embroideries, a tradition which can be traced back to the Kanaan people who have been expelled from their original land by the Hebrew tribes according to the Bible.

During the last Olympic games, the Israeli state participated in the Beijing international garden by a symbolic donation: a “gazelle horn” -- as this flower has been referred to in Arabic for centuries – and, even more offensiveg, an olive tree, although thousands of them have been uprooted by the caterpillars of its alleged “Defense army”!

Not so long before, the publication of “Palestinian Art,” a book by Gannit Ancori became a sort of scandal when famous Palestinian artist and Art historian Kamal Boullata complained about the plagiarism of his own works and ideas by the author, professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

However, Bilal al-Shubaki, professor of Political sciences in the West bank is probably right when he understands (article in arabic) the spoliation of the Palestinian memory as a consequence of Israel lack of national identity.

As usual, the link to the more developed post in French. Photo : Mémoire de soie, costumes et parures de Palestine et de Jordanie, Paris, IMA-EDIFRA, 1988, from the Widad Kawar's collection.

Enough with the "Arab street"!

2008-10-17T01:06:00.000-07:00

In an article (arabic) published by the daily Al-Quds al-‘arabi (2008/09/02), famous Lebanese writer Elias Khoury comments on the use by the actual media of the expression “the Arab street”.

Compared with “the Arab masses” (al-jamahîr al-‘arabiyya) of the 50’s and 60’s, the “Arab street” reflects, in Khoury’s mind, the actual situation of the Arab word and media, dominated by the Gulf States.

According to him, the “Arab street” is an expression which conveys the idea that no political mobilization is possible in today’s Arab world. The lack of reaction of the “Arab street” during the second intifada is a reality which can not be denied, although every major Arab TV station gave an extensive coverage of the tragic events in Palestine.

Financed by Gulf investors, most of the Arab media are obviously not interested in promoting nationalist ideas. For a while, the mainstream Arab media thought they could find a solution playing on the islamist cord but it only lead to more contradictions.

The Turkish soap operas recently aired by other Arab TVs gives another illustration of the lack of a public expression in this so-called “Arab street”. As a perfect illustration of mass consumption products marketed by cultural industries, they are no more than a cheap “relief valve” for “veiled societies” unable to make a collective move toward the future.

The “Arab street” is full of poor and desperate people, only able to look, on their TV screen, for an individual solution to their endless problems.

As usual, the link to the more developed post in French.

Nasser is back: a Series

2008-10-06T05:09:00.000-07:00

Among the most commented TV series of Ramadan 08, Esmahan and Nasser, two classical productions based on a winning combination: a pan-Arab production based on historical facts appealing to a pan-Arab audience.

After the highly contested series about king Faruk’s life last year, the launching for this Ramadan season of a TV series dedicated to the great Egyptian leader was due to be a succession of passionate episodes.

In fact, the first protest started as soon the project for a TV series about Nasser was announced. Angry comments were made at that time, about the pro-nasserite ideas of the script writer or the Syrian nationality of the film maker.

Choosing the actor for the main character was also a problem, as was shooting various episodes in Egypt. And new troubles came about when the series was achieved, as no major pan-Arab TV station seemed to be interested by a product althought it was very similar to the highly acclaimed King Faruk of the previous Ramadan! At the last time, even the official Egyptian TV decided not to air the series, giving as a pretext that the holy month of Ramadan was not a time for “serious” TV programs!

For many commentators of the Arab press, such a decision was obviously political since the actual political leaders of the country were not interested in comparisons between their popularity and that of Nasser.

Finally, Nasser’s saga ended, at least temporarily, with the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood complaining bitterly about the way the series described the role played by the organisation in the 40’ and 50’ in Palestine.

Nothing new in fact as the negative painting of the political Islam is as old as the first “political soap operas” on the Egyptian TV, namely the very famous Hilmiyya Nights’ at the end of the 80’.

As usual, the link to the more elaborated post in French. About "Layali hilmiyya", The Politics of Television in Egypt, par Lila Abu-Lughod (University of Chicago Press 2004)is a must, but also look at "New Approaches to Popular Culture in the Middle East and Beyond (University of California Press, 2000), by Walter Ambrust.

Watching the reference moovie, Nasser 56, is possible on the Net following that link.

The Slave Market: War, Prostitution and Creation

2008-09-23T08:51:00.000-07:00

Sundus Abdul Hadi is a Iraqi-Canadian artist who lives in Canada. She draws her inspiration from Ancient Sumerian art and the early Islamic aesthetic and, in her own words, her work is “a commentary on the media, history, politics and social issues as related to being an Arab woman in today's world”.

Shortly after the US press did so, the online daily Elaph mentioned a few days ago one of her works, called “Inanna in Damascus” (Inanna is the Sumerian goddess for sexuality and war). As she explain in her blog, she wants, with this reinterpretation of Jean-Léon Gérôme, a French Orientalist painter, to “expose the sex industry that is currently running rampant in Middle East due to the consequences of the 2003 war in Iraq and the resulting exodus of refugees”. She sees that “these same connections of pimp and client, the soldier and the politician, and the Arab businessman [already] existed in the 19th century and today.”

To fully understand the strength of Sundus Abdul Hadi’s work(s), one has to remember how important the Iraqi school has been for modern Arab plastic expression, especially in the 50’s with the foundation of a local form of abstraction based on the use of the Arabic alphabet (a school called hurûfiyya in Arabic: see previous post.

Memories of such a fertile experience make the present time particularly bitter to the Arabs artists and intellectuals. The exodus of the Iraqi artists, which started in the 90’, is now so important that it is said that more than three quarters of them live abroad.

Thus, those who stayed in the country deserve a warm tribute, as does Artiquea, a gallery in London which has done its first exhibition with works done by twenty-three artists “who still live and work in Iraq”.

As usual, the link to the more elaborated post in French.

Fatwas as a Ramadan Ritual

2008-09-21T13:09:00.000-07:00

After the TV soap operas of Ramadan, a new ritual seems to be adopted in the Arab countries: the Ramadan fatwa. It is inevitable that the habits of the Holy month, like traditional Christian celebrations, reveal the contradiction between pre-modern religious rituals and the practices of the post-modern consumer society.

Saudi Arabia, a country with a large and rich population and a strict religious oriented regime, is probably the place where such contradictions are to be felt causing a real clash, not between civilizations but between extremely different ways of living a same religion--Islam.

After many calls by religious authorities against the too successful Turkish soap opera “Noor”, Sheikh Salih Ibn al-Luhaydan, the most senior juge in the kingdom, has said it is permissible to kill the owners of satellite TV channels which broadcast immoral programmes.

Such a condemnation is a real provocation as most of the major Arab TV channels are own by people very close to the ruling family. So, it is no surprise that Sheikh Salih Ibn al-Luhaydan toned down his fatwa a few days later.

In spite of all the comments about such a strange fatwa, this new battle gives the impression that the traditional components of the Saudi society are doomed to lose ground at the advantage of the liberal ones.

As usual, the link to the more developed post in French.

Divas and Politicians: the Dialectic of Body and Power

2008-09-12T07:09:00.000-07:00

For a change, the subject of all conversations in the Arab world during the holy month of Ramadan was not the countless TV soap-operas aired at that time of the year, but the serialized novel of the murder of a well-known Lebanese singer, Suzanne Tamim.

Her body was found in her flat in Dubai and, a few days later, the police arrested the murderer, a former Egyptian cop. But, the real scandal came when it became obvious that Hishma Talaat, a famous Egyptian billionaire, leading member of the ruling Party and close friend of President Mubarak’s family, was charged with arranging the murder.

The Arab press (see this article in Elaph) has suggested many scenarios to explain the somehow unusual promptness of the Egyptian justice: rivalries among the ruling elite, the necessity of restoring the Egyptian Department of Justice reputation after various disputed decisions, the desire of calming things down considering the popular reaction, and also bearing in mind the fact that the Emirates authorities were urging for a quick and efficient elucidation of the case.

It is certainly not the first example, and the last one, of the "dialectic of power and body", to use Adnan Abuzeed's nice way to put it. After all, the famous Jahiz wrote in the IXth century his famous eulogy to the qiyans, a kind of Arabic variation of the famous Japanese geisha. Obviously, there is some sexual activity in the (supposedly) puritanical Arab world.

As another evidence of the many connections between sexual fame and politics, mention could be made to the famous Haifa Wehbe (see previous post). When she mentions, as she did more than one time, how fascinated she is by shaykh Hassan Nasrallah’s personality, we must ask ourselves if we are always right in using opposed categories like securalism and liberated sexuality on one side, and religiosity and moral uprightness on the other.

As usual, the link to the more developed post in French.

Palestinian Hip-Hoppers: Jackie Salloum’s "Slingshot Hip Hop"

2008-09-01T13:33:00.001-07:00

Rap music in Palestine began as an “Israeli phenomenon”, with young Jewish and Arab rebels coming from the poor industrial suburbs of Israel sharing the same rage against their living conditions.

A short-lived artistic coexistence as the Palestinian hip-hoppers went their own way with the Second Intifada (2000) and the adoption a more nationalist political discourse by artists like Dam, while Israeli rappers like Subliminal became more and more extremist.

Today, rap music has been adopted by the young Palestinians as a way to express their (political) identity and musicians perform regularly in Israel, as well as in the so-called “Autonomous Territories” or in the Palestinian camps of the surrounding Arab states.

Thus, after Ramallah and Jenine in June, Jackie Salloum was in the Palestinian camps of Lebanon in August to show her first “real” movie, Slingshot Hip Hop. Listening to the soundtrack was a real shock for the young Palestinian raised in Lebanon: certainly not because of the music but because they were amazed to discover that Arabic and Hebrew could be used by “Israeli Palestinian” rappers.

As they explained in an interview given some time ago to the Moroccan weekly Telquel, the three members of Dam are eager to be heard, especially by an Israeli society upset by their national claims.

Under Slingshot Hip-Hop trailer...

... a link to the more elaborated post in French and to Jackie Salloum's website where two shorter moovies could be seen: a must !

Oriental Fantasies on video: Haifa Wehbe

2008-08-28T03:28:00.001-07:00

Since Edward Said’s seminal book, Orientalism, some forty years ago, it is well known that fantasies about the Orient exist. But what about fantasies of the Oriental people themselves? For Arab women, the Turkish TV opera soap “Noor” (see previous post), featuring the handsome Muhannad, provides may be an answer. And for the men, there is Haifa Wehbe, the “hottest” sex icon of the many videos aired on Arab TV satellites.

Being the target of so many Arab male fantasies at a time of public dispute about the right moral behaviour, Haifa Wehbe becomes, willing or not, a subject of political debates. Regularly, people protest again her coming to their country. It happened in Algeria, in Egypt and, recently, in Bahrein when the pop singer was invited for the celebration of the workers festival (!).

After very “lively” discussion at the Chamber of Deputies (dominated by “islamist” parties), a compromise has been reached: Haifa would come and give her performance, but dressed in a decent (محتشم) way (see pictures). In a rather smart move, the Lebanese singer paid a visit during her stay in Bahrein to some institution for disabled children, a “perverse” way to shut up critics by shifting her public image from the scandalous and glamorous sex icon to the untouchable one of the pitiful mother of sorrow and all pain, a strategy already used in a very successful way with her very ambiguous hit “Boss al-wawa” (with lyrics like "see the owie, kiss the owie, make the owie get better. When you kissed the owie, you made the owie go away. Hide me close to you, cover me and make me warm. Without you I am so cold aahhhh", etc.)

Following that link to the French post, you’ll find a translation to French of an article published in the Lebanese daily Al-Safir by Ahmad Moghrabi. He comments in a very interesting way on Haifa’s latest video which is there for you to… enjoy it!

Ziad Rahbani: the beating heart of Arabism

2008-08-21T02:06:00.000-07:00

There is no way to present Ziad Rahabni, son of Assi Rahbani and Lebanese Diva Fayrouz, in a few lines. The wiz kid published his poems at the age of 13 and shortly thereafter became a comedian, a playwright, a songwriter, a composer, a singer, a radio host, before he turned more recently to jazz music.

And it is the jazz composer and player who has been officially invited to perform in Damascus, for the first time is his whole career. Two hours before the beginning of the show, the audience was already there, clapping hands and singing by heart the most famous hits of the Lebanese composer and singer.

Thus, a real event, at the musical and the political levels, since Ziad Rahbani is a major icon of the Arab left wing. Indeed, his coming to Damascus, within the official frame of the (very successful) celebrations of “Damascus, Capital of the Arabic Culture”, means that things are changing in the country, at least at some level and even if Fayrouz’s son is not anymore the trouble maker he was.

It means also that the relationship between Lebanon and Syria is certainly more complex and deep-rooted that what we usually read in the main-stream media.

The text of the original post in french (with other links) and a video by a fan.

Mahmoud Darwish Is Gone: Death of a Nation

2008-08-11T10:06:00.000-07:00

The “Palestinian Authority” and a number of Arab intellectuals have asked Israel for Mahmoud Darwish to rest in his homeland, close to Akka. The answer was no, and the poet will be buried in Ramallah. Obviously, the Israeli state could not grant such a request. During
his whole life in exile (since 1970), the poet got a permit for a short stay in his homeland only three times, the last one being last year, for a lecture in Haifa (see previous post).

Mahmoud Darwish always asked to be heard as an artist, and not as the spokesman for the Palestinians. The world's reaction to his death shows that he succeeded in becoming recognized as the great poet he was. But he died before he could see any success on the other side of his life struggle, a real solution for the Palestinians, including for them the right to return, even after their death, where they were born.

The link to the original (and a bit different) post in french and a excerpt from Notre musique, a movie by Jean-Luc Godard which shows Darwish discussing with a Jewish student.

Pepsi vs Coca : the mother of all Arab stars

2008-07-31T02:15:00.001-07:00

Boycotted until the beginning of the 90’, Coca is still running behind Pepsi in the Middle East with only 35% of the market shares. Although the area is priceless for soft drink producers, with a terrific demography of (presumably) non-alcoholic young drinkers, Pepsi should keep leading the run.

A few days ago, Pepsi launched its last advertising campaign for the area. Sea of stars (بحر النجوم), the first promotional full-length arab movie, has been released, simultaneously in many arab countries. Not a great event on the artistic side, the movie could be nonetheless a hit thanks to the participation of five famous stars of Arab pop music.

At a time US policy in the area does not use anymore the expression anymore but, instead, new concepts like “the Muslim world” (what could it be !!!) or “the New Middle East’, it is interesting to note that Pepsi advertising campaign focuses on something called the “Arab world”.

Otherwise, what could be the explanation of a such a casting gathering, around the leading sexy Lebanese trio (Haifa Wehbe, Carole Samaha and Wael Kfoury), an “oriental” singer (Ruwaida Al Mahrooqi) and another one (Ahmed El Cherif) from Maghreb (meaning "Occident" in arabic) ?

A remark which leads to another reading of the movie pitch : indeed, the forgotten island which needs a new impulse for its future, it is, of course, the Arab world. United, this world will be able to face up to its destiny. Of course under Pepsi umbrella!

The more elaborated post in French following that link and the moovie trailer

Egyptian movies: Hassan & Morcos, without Cohen

2008-07-25T02:57:00.000-07:00

“Leader” (zaïm, his nickname) of the Egyptian (and the Arabian) stage for more than three decades, why should Adel Imam care to pledge allegiance to his national authorities? The fact is that the young actor who claimed formerly to be an “artist for the people” is now firmly committing himself for Jamal, putative heir of his father Hosni Mubarak (see previous post).

Hassan & Morcos is already one of last summer blockbusters in Egypt. Co-starring Adel Imam and Omar Sharif, it is the story of two men, a Copt and a Muslim, who have to change their identity in order to get away from religious fanatics. The Coptic thinker (Omar Sharif) pretends to be an imam and the Muslim guy (Adel Imam), a Christian priest.

The comedy, in the usual Adel Imam style, is obviously aiming at delivering a political message, that of the national unity jeopardized by religious extremism, from all sides.

The movie is successful and the public seems to approve the political lesson given by the two Egyptian main stars. Nonetheless, voices have raised, especially on the net, calling to a boycott of the “Christian(ised) Adel Imam”.

Today, movies play a major role in shaping the “national collective memory”. Thus it is striking to notice that Hassan & Morcos refers to a well-known movie from the 50’ called Hassan, Morcos & Cohen.

As in Fatma, Marika and Rachel, another movie of that time, the plot gathers a “trio” of Egyptian main confessions : the Muslim one, the Christian and the Jewish.

Sixty years after the birth of the Israeli state, Cohen has disappeared from the screen. And in the “New Middle East”, calls to National unity seem to be necessary in order to keep Morcos and Hassan side to side…

The more elaborated post in French following that link and the moovie trailer

Arab Alternatie Music (5) : Morocco

2008-07-20T07:00:00.000-07:00

World music is a story which started long ago in Morocco. Just after World War2 to be precise, when Paul Bowles and the Beat generation came to Tanger, followed by musicians looking for their (imagined) roots: guitar player Brian Jones for sure, but also free jazz musicians like Ornette Coleman or Archie Shepp among many others. Without forgetting the very first of all, the great pianist Randy Weston.

And almost every time, the beating heart of those encounters was the musical tradition of the gnawas. A tradition revisited by two bands still very active on the Moroccan stage, three decades after they appeared : Nass el-Ghiwane (see previous post) and Jil Jilala.

But like the previous countries already visited, there is a new impulse for alternative music mixing world traditions. In Morocco, the starting point for this phenomena is the L’Boulevard festival, organised in Casablanca since 1998.

Dragging hundreds of thousands young Moroccans, l’Boulevard festival became a kind of social event, giving the opportunity for a part of the Moroccan youth to express its own way of life, encapsulated by a funny moto: H’mar wa bkheer (I’m a donkey, and I’m proud of it!).

Meaning more or less “having a great time”, nayda is another Moroccan expression which expresses this counter-culture in which hip-hop music plays a leading role. But with the growing success of “dirty” rap singers like Taoufik Hazeb “Al-Khasser” (the “rude”), there is a growing risk of commercial and political hijacking.

Recently, a liberal publication like Telquel has expressed openly its satisfaction after king Mohamed VI declaration in favour of financial support to some “good” local rap musicians. A good news for the liberal wing as many Islamic circles are criticizing everything which has to do with alternative music. But not necessarily a good news for the music itself…

With the link to the more elaborated post in French, links to publications (in French too) dealing with alternative music in Morocco :
Nextline, Raptiviste, Rap-bladi and Marock magazine (actually off-line).

And the very interesting trailer of a documentary about the Nayda phenomenon.

Arab Alternative Music (4): Syria

2008-07-08T00:50:00.000-07:00

One does not need more than a quick look to its musical production to understand that Syria is not anymore an isolated country living under particular conditions. Some ten years ago, like in the surrounding countries, a new generation of musicians has appeared, opening the classical repertoire to the last trends in world music. With a very few exceptions like Al-Theatro, a popular venue opened by actress May Skaf, well trained musicians lack places to perform.

The turning point for the alternative music came with a band called Kulna Sawa (كلنا سوى : All together) by the mid 90’s. Thanks to its production, the Syrian audience has learnt how to appreciate a kind of “oriental fusion,” meaning the mixing of Oriental musical traditions with rhythms and melodic lines coming from other cultures.

For many people, Hiwar (حوار : dialogue), founded in 2003 by Kinan Azmeh and Issam Rafea, is today the leading band for this kind of music in today Middle-East.

“Oriental jazz” is a trend represented in Syria by Lina Shamamian (لينا شماميان) who sings with local saxophone and trumpet player Basel Rajoub. Their first record in 2006 was a audacious interpretation of various local traditional songs, something which raised a new and interesting issue for today’s Syrian culture, that of the intellectual property of the classical repertoire when “remixed” by contemporary players.

Of course, there is also rock or folk music in Syria, distributed by Incognito, the Lebanese producer of alternative music, along with another interesting group founded in 2004 by Issam Refat (also playing with Hiwar). Playing in a more classical mood, the band is called Twais (طويس), a tribute to the first singer of the Islamic era who, according to tradition, was born in Madina and who died in Bosra (south Syria).

A way to make clear that alternative music aims at a real revival of the tradition.

Follow that link to read the original post in French.

Arab Alternative Music (3): Lebanon

2008-07-06T22:53:00.000-07:00

It would have been impossible to give an idea of the alternative musical scene in Lebanon without the help of some Internet sites.

Four of them deserve a very special mention:
- Incognito, founded very recently by Tony Sfeir in order to settle a kind of regional network for Arab alternative musicians (and artists as Incognito also offers a selection of DVD, books and comics).
- Forward Production founded in 2001 by film maker Carole Mansour and player Ghazi Abdel Baki with the idea of “pooling together the cooperative efforts of young artists in the Middle East” and aiming “to encourage new and creative trends in the musical
Arts.”
- Al-Maslakh (the Slaughterhouse) is an UFO says the group of
musicians who launched that new label some five years ago, in order to “document the nascent scene” which was emerging at that time, largely thanks to Irtijal, a festival they organise since 2000, dedicated to (experimental) improvisation.
- The last one, Those kids must choke, goes more or less on the same experimental tracks.

Following the previous posts, some remarks about “Oriental Jazz”, an expression made popular in the mid 80’s by Ziad Rahbani who does not like it anymore. Mention must be made to musicians like the oud player Charbel Rouhana or the singer Rima Kcheich.

In a less jazzy mood, you may enjoy Ziad Sahhab work with his band Shahhadeen Ya Baladna.

Fans of musical experimentation will listen to the works of the Irtijal (Improvisation) Festival, Bechir Saade, Raed Yassin and Mazen Kerbaj (author of the picture used for this post).

Here to read the original post in French.

Arab Alternative Music (2): Egypt

2008-06-26T08:16:00.001-07:00

Many years (31) after his death, Abdel Halim Hafez’s fame did not lessen. According to daily Al-Hayat , the “Brown nightingale” still smashes the sales records.

Along the old fashion music, a new style has been adopted by the new generation long ago. Since the 90’, the new generation has its own music, precisely called jeel music (jeel meaning generation in Arabic).

Deeply entangled with globalisation and consumption, Arab pop music has been adopted by large and popular audiences, a trend which is not easily accepted by conservative circles.

Nonetheless, pop singers –men and women – do pay their tribute and make “pious recording” when necessary (see previous post). Even religious music comes closer to the new global musical standards (see previous post).

But since a few years, more and more artists gave up the commercial rules of the game. Today, a rich and fertile alternative music has made a real break-out in the musical landscape.

Follow the links to get more information, and musical excerpts : they deserve it!

Wust el Balad (وسط البلد – Center City) and Massar Egbari (مسار إجباري – One Way Street) gather together musicians from all parts of the country, including descents of Nubian immigrants to Cairo, the real melting-pot of the new music.

Thus, mixing jazz sounds and African roots to the Arabic tradition is a characteristic, something which is illustrated by the famous Fathy Salama, founder of Sharkiat band and winner of a Grammy award with Senegalese singer Youssou N’dour.

Egyptian musician do participate in the elaboration of the so-called "Oriental jazz". Listen for instance to Bakash , El-dor el-awel (First Floor), Masar (مسار – Trajectory : oud solo by his leader, Hazem Shahine on this video) and Eftekasat (افتكاسات- Innovations).

Here to read the original and more detailed post in French.

Arab Alternative Music (1): Jordan

2008-06-24T05:38:00.000-07:00

As if musical stereotypes have to be associated with visual ones, almost all the (western) images of the Arab world that we see are illustrated by the same clichés : a vibrant nay (flute) solo or, more often, the call to the prayer.

Nevertheless, it is easy to hear and appreciate Arab alternative music and to understand, even without knowing the language, that something interesting is occurring in that particular field.

Zade Dirani (زيد ديراني), a 25 year old pianist and composer, is the great name of the Jordanian musical scene. His majesty mentioned him as “one of the six achievers that are leading the country into its new era” in recognition of his work in order to foster a better understanding between people, a necessity Zade Dirani get aware of it as he was living in the States at the time of the 9/11 events.

The performance given a few days ago by the young composer at the Roman theatre of Amman, with the London Philarmonic Orchestra and a English famous choir, has been attended, among many others, by Zade’s friend, princess Haya, daughter of king Hussein and wife of cheik Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Prime Minister of the Arab Emirates.

Viewing that vidéo, in which the young Jordan composer explains his project, one feels that the Western taste, in this musical cooking, is obviously stronger than the Oriental one.

A blending which is also used by Rum, a band founded in 1998 and whose international fame comes to some extend from the music written by its leader, Tareq Al Nasser (طارق الناصر), for films and TV serials (see their Web site). But proportions are different with Rum as the Oriental spices exceed the Western ingredients.

In fact, every musician has his own way of mixing Western and Oriental influences, the last ones prevailing in Yazan Al Rousan’s (يزن الروسان) folk songs or Aziz Maraka’s (عزيز مرقة), Maccadi Nahhas’ (مكادي نحّاس) and Ruba Saqr’s interpretations.

All of them are from a generation in its thirty now, all of them using to some extend jazzy ingredients in their music. Referring to jazz, and especially what is called “Oriental jazz” mention has to be made to guitar player Kamal Musallam (كمال مسلم), to a new band called Sign of Thyme (زمن الزعتر) and to the very strange interpretations given by Ayman Tayseer of famous classical Egyptian songs of the 50’s (Jazz Abdul Wahab).

For rock fans, listen to Akheer Zapheer or Tyrant Throne , two local bands who give an idea of the vitality of the Jordanian musical scene.

Here to read the original and more detailed post in French, for which I am deeply endepted to Ruba Saqr, for her blog The Musical Thoughts of Ruba Saqr and to Khobbeizeh, another very interesting blog about music, especially in Jordan.

The Culture of Politics: a Roadmap to Unesco!

2008-06-12T00:51:00.000-07:00

Is Faruk Hosny’s name famous? At least, the recordman minister of Culture of the Arab Republic of Egypt (21 years in office!) has got a rather good fame locally as somebody who played a leading role in putting his country back to the limelight on the arab cultural stage.

His next challenge is to run for the coming election at the head of the Unesco, and to become the first Arab in charge of this international institution.

Head of the Egyptian cultural policy for such a long time, Faruk Hosny does not have only friends in his country! Indeed, the “minister of crises” as he is often called in the Arab press has survived many problems, thanks to his ability to get rid of some of his best friends at hard times, and to the backing of some powerful people like Mrs Mubarak.

Regarding the freedom of expression, M. Hosny’s file is so-so: yes, he acted rather strongly against hard-line Muslim during May 2000 crisis about the publication in Egypt of a novel by Syrian writer Haydar Haydar (حيدر حيدر), no, he did not show the same strength during other attacks, one year later for instance when works by the famous Iraki poet of the 8th century Abu Nuwas were burnt for “immorality”!

Faruk Hosny’s main trick has been to “bribe” a helpless intellectual class who “stayed in the sheep-fold”, to put it in the Egyptian minister's words.

It is not an easy job to be elected at the head of the Unesco, especially if you are an Arab may be… Thus, Faruk Hosny needs some extra backing.

This could explain why he announced, in November 2007, that he was working on the project of a museum dedicated to the history of Jews in Egypt.

Certainly a “positive gesture” but not a definitive one as the key issue is probably the “normalisation” of the cultural relations with Israel, something the Egyptian intellectuals and artists strongly resist since Camp David agreements.

Nonetheless, a step toward “the good direction” was recently done when the cultural attaché at the Israeli embassy in Cairo was invited to atend a performance at the National Theater.

Halas! Sometime ago, the Simon Wiesenthal Center gave some publicity to a declaration given by the Egyptian cultural minister saying to some local politician that there was no Israeli books in his the national libraries and that “he would burn Israeli books himself if found in Egyptian libraries”. Of course, the Israeli authorities officially protested to such a declaration.

Apparently, Faruk Hosny knows what he has to do if he wants to succeed in his project and he has recently tried to correct his image saying that (cultural) normalisation with Israel was “a dream”.

All the more, such a dream should not be broken by foolish decisions. Thus, complete normalisation would be the result of a peace between Palestinians and Israelis.

Knowing the difficulties of the famous “roadmap” for peace between the two nations, the road to the Unesco offices in Paris could also be a long one!

Here to read the original and more detailed post in French.

The Arab Conscience: (re)Birth of a Nation ?

2008-06-01T12:56:00.000-07:00

The expression “Arab World” was almost never used before the birth, around the last quarter of the 19th century, of the Arab nationalism. An arab nationalism which was obviously very much linked to the spread of the printing facilities and other IT facilities developed at that time (telegraph, new maritime roads…)

Thus, a challenging hypothesis is to bet on the re-birth of Arab nationalism, with the coming in age of a new IT revolution in the area (satellite TV’s, internet…)

A way to test such an hypothesis is to have a look at two multi-stars videos, produced by Ahmad Al Aryan who recently launched his second opus, “The Arab Conscience”, after the tremendous success of “The Arab Dream”, released in 1998 (see previous post).

With the collaboration of many famous singers, from all parts of the Arab World, “The Arab Conscience” tells in pictures the painful story of the Arab countries and populations since the release of “The Arab Dream”.

The main message is repeated again and again: People hearts are dead, our love and love to each others is dead, we probably forgot that all Arab been a family once upon a day…

The video has just been released and it is probably too soon to know if it will be as successful as the previous one ten years ago.

But it is easy to see that “The Arab Conscience” has been aired by 15 major Arab TV’s only and that all (pro)Saudi channels did not participate in the promotion of the video (when “The Arab Dream” had the backing of Al-Waleed Ibn Talal, the famous Saudi tycoon)…

Indeed, such a split in the “Arab TV consensus” gives a fair picture of what Ahmad Al Aryan and his Arab friends wanted to say: the worrying state of the “Arab Conscience”.

Here to read the original and more detailed post in French, and there for "The Arab Conscience" video, with English subtitles.

Crossing the borders : movies and music from Palestine

2008-05-24T00:30:00.000-07:00

The Salt of this Land, a Palestinian movie, will be presented at the International film festival in Cannes (France). The film is about Emad, a young Palestian who tries desesparately to live in homeland, and Soraya, a third generation emigrant to the states travelling to her parents’ country looking for her roots.

A story which has something to do with the film maker’s one, Annemarie Jacir (آن ماري جاسر), born in Nazareth, raised in Saudi Arabia then in the USA. Since a few years, she lives now in the Occupied Territories or, better, she used to live as the Israeli authorites did not allow her to come back to her home in Ramallah, in spite of her American passport (something which helps usually).

Thus, the movie was finished not in Palestine but in… Marseille (south of France). Anyhow, Annemarie Jacir remains happy with that: with her movie, she will be able to express her ideas about the most sensitive issue, that of the right for the Palestinians to return to their homeland.

Rim Banna’s story, a singer from Nazareth, is about the same issue: how a Palestinian (artist) could make his/her voice heard across borders?

Since her beginning in the mid 80’s, Rim Banna has become a leading figure of the new Arab song which mixes traditional pieces with modern music and rythms. But, having an Israeli passport, she has more opportunities to meet her audience in the western countries than in the Arab ones.

For instance, she was invited some months ago to give a show in Damascus but she never got her visa to leave. Thus she decided to have a “virtual show” with her fans listening to her in an Internet coffee shop in Damascus, something she did also with for the Jordan, Lebanaese and Gazawis audiences.

To be fair, the Israelis authorities are not the only ones which make her travels to Arab countries almost impossible. Even if there are agreements between Israel and some Arab governments, the boycott issue, a difficult and painful one LINK, adds to the difficulties.

Nonetheless, Rim Banna was happy enough to meet some days ago her Arab audience, for the very first time, in Abu Dhabi. She had brought with her a little stone, taken from the ruins of a church in Saffuriyyeh, a little village close to Nazareth where it is said that Jesus’s mother was born.

It remains almost nothing of that village whose inhabitants live now in Nazareth or even in the Palestinian camp of Ain Heloue (Lebanon).

Is has been destroyed by the Israeli forces during the war.

Just 60 years ago.

Links to some videos and articles with the original post, in French.

Lebanon : Worlds against Forgetfulness

2008-05-18T13:21:00.000-07:00

The works of the Lebanese artists are more necessary than never when the specter of the civil war comes closer and closer. And it is the reason why they should not be gagged.

It could have been the case in August 2007 with “How Nancy wished it was just an April fool joke”, Rabih Mroueh’s last work. The play, which was said to fuel confessional divisions, has not been banned, thanks to the intervention of Lebanon minister of Culture, Mr Tarek Mitri (whose help was useful later against the ban of Persepolis, a French cartoon about the life of a young Iranian girl).

Under changing posters inspired by Zina Maasri’s work on the graphic use of such posters by political parties during the civil war, four “witnesses” tell the story of Lebanon, from the very beginnings during the mid 70’s, to the end of the play which ends, not in the beginning of the 90’s with the Taef agreements but with the last (at that time) events of the 25 January 2007, when fights in Beirut were close to send the country toward a new war. Just like now…

One could read Mroueh’s title as a way to wish, with the Nancy mentioned in the title, that nothing never happened and that all those events were just a “joke”. Nothing serious happened.

But it is just the contrary: with many other Lebanese writers and artists, Mroueh reminds us that - to put it in Mahmud Darwish’s words - Memory is necessary for forgetfulness (more or less the title of Darwish’s famous book about the siege of Beirut in 1982).

May08: Happy Birthday Mr Preisdent!

2008-05-08T00:14:00.001-07:00

May 4 was president Mubarak’s birthday, and an opportunity for the Egyptian oppositional movements to call for a second day of protestation.

Among many other reasons for that, the cost of living, the lack of job opportunities. And the recent agreement for the exportation of Egyptian gas production to Israel when Gaza population is in lack of everything because of the Israeli embargo.

The call for the strike has not been a great success, even after the Muslim Brotherhood joined the movement. An explanation could be the threats exerted by the Egyptian authorities who asked for instance the private phone companies to cancel some 250 000 lines whose owners were not very well known.

Indeed, those lines have been used in order to call strike. Thus, the real meaning of the last events may lay in the rising importance of IT facilities in public mobilization. In spite of the arrest of a rather large number of well-known political bloggers, calls for the strike spread on the web through new outlets like Facebook groups for instance.

IT facilities, like other artefacts of globalization, are already part of day-to-day culture of the Arab youth who are inventing new forms of social protestation and demonstration: wearing black garments for instance, writing on banknotes and, of course, playing protest rap songs like that one.

A short translation of the lyrics with the original post in French.
And more songs following that link.

A stop to Metro: more banished pictures in Egypt!

2008-04-21T04:41:00.000-07:00

Policemen paid a visit to Malameh Publishing house in Cairo last April 15th. It did not bother very much Mr Al-Sharkawi, the owner. He is already in jail because he is among those who called in the Internet for 15th April general strike (another one is programmed for Husni Mubarak’s birthday, the 4th of May).

The policemen targeted the remaining stock of Metro, a book published a year ago. According to the Egyptian law, an honest citizen had complained against an outrageous publication (using dirty colloquial words says more or less the accusation).

Metro is not an ordinary book. It is the first “graphic novel” in Arabic. Magdy El Shafee (محمد الشرقاوي) spent five years working on that detective story whose main character, Shihab, is a young Egyptian IT engineer who decides to rob a bank. The money being hidden in the subway, the real problem is to find the way out…

A question that many Egyptian ask themselves nowadays.

Little chance to find Metro now that the book has been confiscated! But some pages have been published (translated into English) on the Internet, and some other drawings.
Magdy El Shafee has a web site, and he wrote a post (in English) on his blog when his book has been confiscated.
He also links to Lebanese musician and artist Mazen Kerbaj work, who also writes a blog.
For articles (Arabic and English) about Magdy El Shafee’s, see links on the original post in French.

Poetry and TV in the Arab Gulf: a question of “geopoetics”

2008-04-13T13:58:00.000-07:00

“The Millions Poet” has been shown on Abu Dhabi TV for the second year. Until the finals, the great poetry contest was a very successful operation but it could turn into a political and even an economical fiasco after the victory of the Qatari contestant.

In Saudi Arabia, calls for a boycott can be heard as a revenge for this unbearable conspiracy against the Saudi poet Nasir al-Fara’ina, the expected winner (a proof of this being, among others, that competitors were asked to improvise upon two verses composed by a poet from the Saudi rival Al Racheed family).

For some Saudi commentators, the Emirates are duplicating with “The Millions Poet” a game already experimented by Qatar with Al-Jazeera: putting the pressure on a powerfull neighbour using the asymmetric weapon of the media.

But there is a true lesson in those “geopoetics”: passion for poetry and games could be strong enough to shake the Saudi Kingdom born less than one century ago.

Apparently, the Saudis were beaten at the “Millions Poet” competition because they did not agree on one national competitor but split their votes between two poets according to tribal rivalries!

Follow that link to read the original and more detailed post in French.
And click on that link for a video giving an idea of "The Millions Poet" competition.

Good and Bad: Two Faces of the Arab Modernity

2008-04-08T12:49:00.000-07:00

Dancing with the Saudi flag, on which coranic verses are written, is not something to be done, especially when you have already been seen drunken on a stage in Dubai. All the worst if you have been the partner of the outrageous Dina whose belly dance was close to set fire to the Cairene street in October 2006 when an hysterical crowd of young men started to harass every passing-by woman. (An information which was mainly reported by the local bloggers whose importance began to be clear with that event.)

Thus, Saad al-Saghir (سعد الصغير) had many reasons to “repent” as many others did before him recording religious songs (see previous post). A contribution which raises some interrogations among the lovers of the high tradition of nasheed.

Nonetheless, others see nothing problematic with that modernization of the nasheed which can be heard on Arab TV’s among other (non religious) musicals songs.

With the success of Sami Yusuf’s songs, the modern nasheed has given up the old fashion style. Thanks to digitalization, the ban of musical instruments is no more a problem. Singers like Kuwaiti Alafassy make clear that today religious songs may deal with new issues like ecology. Even relations between men and women may be tackled in a musical genre strictly restricted before to divine love.

One could suspect, or even make fun of such a quick shift from shameless behaviour to a so pious one. But the coming back to virtuous behaviours is a complex phenomenon. For some singers, TV and movie stars probably, but certainly for most of the Arab youth who admire them and watch them, the “bad” cheeky fruit seller dancing in an outrageous way and the “good” devout young muslim singing his love to God are in fact two inseparable sides of the Arab modernity.

Follow that link to read the original and more detailed post in French.

And to whach an almost "satanic" dance by Saad al-Saghir follow this link and then shift to the pious singer with that video of Ahmidu rabba-na

"Mari": A Syrian All Women Symphonic Orchestra

2008-03-23T10:09:00.000-07:00

Born in Irak, raised in Damascus before he went to the famous Victoria College in Alexandria, then to London at the Royal Academy of Music, Solhi al-Wadi’s life is a nice example of a Middle-Eastern sophisticated cosmopolitanism better known in the West through Edward Said’s works and life.

Like the great maestro Solhi al-Wadi who died a few months ago, Ra‘ad Khalaf is from an Iraqi origin. Famous violinist, inspired in his works by thousand-year old heritage of the Syrian civilization, he founded at the end of year 2006 the first all women symphonic orchestra in the area.

Conductor Ra‘ad Khalaf got the idea of this orchestra by year 2006 in order to help its 62 players and 39 singers, trained in Syria or abroad, in finding good opportunities to perform in concerts, as the orchestra did in Dubai with great success, some days ago.

Obviously, the project is also to give a different picture of the Syrian culture and of the situation of women in this country. Let us hope that Professor Bernard Lewis will hear about Mari Orchestra: he could give up some of his arrogant ideas about culture in general and music in particular, in the Arab World!

Follow that link to read the original and more detailed post in French. And to discover the more cultural than political blog ot the official Syrian "visitor" to the USA, this link to a very intreresting and (apparently) more cultural and personnal than political blog

Songs & Politics : “I hate Israel”

2008-03-18T06:50:00.000-07:00

Some years ago, Egyptian singer Abdel-Rahim “Shaabula” Shaaban” became incredibly popular with a song which plainly says “I hate Israel.”

Surfing on every major political event in the Arab world (Irak, Palestine, Lebanon, Darfur…), Shaabula also deals with local politics. I don’t like chairs, one of his most famous songs is a clear allusion to Egyptian “chair-man” Husni Mubarak and the Kefaya movement used it for one of its political campaigns.

Today, Shaabula gives a new version of his very first hit with new lyrics dedicated to US President Georges Bush, whose election was such “a black day” (for Arabs…)

The fact that he was hired by both Egyptian authorities (for a preventing campaign against the bird flu) and muslim preacher Amr Khaled (in a campaign against drug addiction) reveals how popular the former mekwagi (a man who irons shirts and throusers) remains.

Heir of a long and rich tradition of Arab protest singers (see previous posts 1 and 2), Shaabula has a popular and comic touch that makes him similar to great names of the past like Shaykh Imam. But he is also the product of a radically different cultural era, dominated by media and mass production of cultural artefacts.

An era in which the raising of stars like Shaabula sometimes may be seen like a kind of revenge: the revenge of “low” classes which have been living too long under the cultural patronage of cultural elites.

Follow that link to read the original and more detailed post in French.
To wath Shaabula in one of his most famous hits, 'Ammi 'araby, (with English subtitles), this video from Walter Ambrust's study, Bravely Stating the Obvious: Egyptian humor and the anti-American consensus.

The Fate of the Picture in Saudi Arabia: Ads and Movies

2008-03-10T10:51:00.000-07:00

According to the Wahhabi interpretation of Islam, pictures of “living beings” are normally forbidden in Saudi Arabia although TV exists in the country since the 60’. There are also numerous illustrated newspapers and all the digital facilities in particular since the opening of the Internet in January 99.

Because of those regulations which, according to the local professionals, remain unformal, ads along the roads and main streets of the Kingdom have to accept the forbidding of human representations.

Thus, using tricks invented long ago in Islamic art, today graphic designers often use in their illustrations different aliasing effects as the shape of a face or a body remains “licit” if there is no “manifestation of life” given by the human look,.
It explains why so many (male) figures represented on the billboards wear sun glasses!

Billboards which remain, when they are electric and animated, the only public screens Arabia as there are no movie houses in Saudi Arabia.

A reality presented in one of the very first local movies filmed by Abdallah al-‘Ayyaf in 2005. “Next Moovie House: 500kms,” a documentary, is about the trip, between Riyadh and Manama (Bahrain), of a Saudi movie fan who wants to go to the “real” movie...

The same year saw the not-so-private screening of another local made documentary. “Women without shadow,” a film, by Haifa Mansur, made a big fuss when the well-known Muslim preacher, Aaidh Algarne, retracted the statement he gave in the movie about the question of veiling.

The very first local fiction movie was to be released in 2006 but the main Saudi participation to the realization of “Kayfa al-hâl” (How are you?) was that of its producer, the Arab tycoon Waleed Bin Talal and his Rotana company! Thus, the “title” of the first local movie could rather go to “Shadows of Silence,” released almost at the same time by Abdullah al-Muhaiseen.

Since that time, various movies have been produced and cinema festivals are more and more openly organized.

One century after the first screening of a movie in the Arab world, in Egypt, picture has finally got some legitimacy in the Saudi kingdom. Even in the legal courts of the country which accepts, since 2005 too, pictures as legal evidences.

A decision which raises many issues in the time of the digital picture but it is another question!

Follow those links 1 and 2 to read the original and more detailed posts in French.

And to watch an interesting video where a Saudi activist shows, thanks to the camera, that a woman, yes, can drive, follow this link.

Charms for a Suffering Society

2008-03-03T03:23:00.000-08:00

For many Muslim believers, the Coran, the divine word, is supposed to have curative effects. In the Arab world, people may go to a shaykh “specialized” in Coranic medicine. Most of the times, he will “cure” psychological diseases.

If correctly used and as a way to recognize the power of God, the ruqy, the “magical incantation” of God’s words is a well known and rather accepted – if discussed – tradition in many Arab countries, especially among popular and uneducated segments of the population.

When people can’t see any solution to their difficulties, they are incline to turn to charms which can “magically” solve their problems. It is the case in Gaza where traditional “doctors” are mushrooming.

Same thing in Algeria, a country where people had to cope with dramatical events and where 10% of the population is said to suffer from psychological difficulties.

The revival of magical traditions is obviously an evidence of the suffering of many people in the Arab world.

Follow that link to read the original and more detailed post in French. Photo: www.tattar.com

The Many Places of Censorship

2008-02-20T04:23:00.001-08:00

Regulating Arab Satellite TVs.
According to Syrian actor Duraid Lahham, the only Arab politicians able to reach an agreement between us are… Home Secretaries! In fact, when repression is on the agenda cooperation can be expected even between Information departments of most Arab countries.

It has been the case a few days ago when a document “regulating” satellite broadcasting in the Arab world was signed by all the members of the Arab League, with the only exception of Qatar.

Indeed, the “Al-Jazeera Emirate” has nothing to expect from a document which calls for sanctions against satellite TVs in case of defamatory statements against heads of state or “national and religious symbols.”

Prepared in no more than six months, adopted in less than one hour discussions, the “regulating” document is already adopted by the Egyptian authorities for all new media projects, including in the so-called “free zone” of Media City.

The coming meeting of the Arab League, next June, should see the creation of an Arab official body in charge of the application of the adopted document whenever prosecution will be necessary.

And now, according to “well informed sources” a similar document is under study in order to “regulate” the Arab internet.

Press freedom in Palestine
One more problem with political cartoons... In Palestine for a change. Because of this cartoon (taken from the very interesting www.menassat.com), the pro-Fatah daily Al-Ayyam in Ramallah has been banned by a Gaza court for being “defamatory”. According to the general attorney, the cartoon was not only offensing to Hamas members of the Parliament but also to Islam.

Al-Ayyam distribution is forbidden in Gaza since February 6th.

Western Censorship too…Whenever he scores in a soccer competition, Muhammad Abu Trika, from the Egyptian national selection, does not only make the sujûd (to prostrate oneself to thank God) as seen in the previous post.

Being an “engaged man” in the actual meaning of the word, he can also express his sympathy for a cause like the fate of the Palestinians in the Gaza strip.

Many Arab bloggers and journalist have noted that when the Egyptian soccer star has been fined by the soccer federation because of this demonstration, other players in similar occasions, Brazilian (and Christian Evangelist) player Kaka by instance, did not get any sanction even when he expresses his faith in God.

More than that, Abu Trika’s photo has almost disappeared from the Internet. Searching for “Abu Trika” and “Gaza” on Google does not give you anymore access to a photo which has been published so many times…

Enough, even though Google denies it, to allow many people in the Arab world to think that Egyptian and/or Israelis authorities are behind the vanishing of a too popular picture…

Follow that link to read the original and more detailed post in French.

Soccer, religion and rituals: the Egyptians Pharaons win the Africa Cup of Nations

2008-02-20T04:15:00.001-08:00

Obviously linked to political issues (see this previous post), soccer has always been associated with demonstration of national but also regional, ethnical and local identities.

Since the last decade, Arab soccer fields have also been a place for the affirmation of religious identity through the new habit among many (muslim) players of doing the sujûd (to prostrate oneself) whenever they score a goal.

According to muslim authorities, to do the sujûd whenever you want to thank God is perfectly OK. Others add that it may even be useful to show that soccer fields are places where God rewards those who He loves…

Sami Sabri, from the Egyptian national selection, explains that the sujûd also is a way for the muslim player to express his happiness according to the rites and values of the Arab and muslim societies, and without imitating the sometimes “grostesque gesticulations” of players coming from other cultures.

Nonetheless, there could be another explanation behind the endless demonstrations of piety showed by the Egyptian team during the competition : playing in Africa, and especially in Kumasi, capital of the Ashinti kings, they had to protect themselves against witchcrafts by the reading of Coranic verses!...

Follow that link to read the original and more detailed post in French.

Modern Letters: Today’s Arab Calligraphers

2008-01-15T02:50:00.000-08:00

Mostly appreciated as a prestigious artistic activity, calligraphy is nonetheless an everyday and popular practice. To know that, you just have to look at decorated trucks and cars running along streets and roads in the Arab world.

A recent study in sociology paid attention to that phenomenon in Jordan, something Arab graphic designers have done long before.

There is a long list of incredibly interesting internet sites and everybody interested in modern Arab culture has to pay a visit to it (see the French version for the links).

Better than anything else, modern graphic designers make obvious the inanity (insanity?) of the (classical) opposition between “tradition” and “authenticity”. They give the best possible example of a “tradition” – that of calligraphy – truly inherited because it a living practice which uses today’s facilities.

Illustration : Wael Morkos, www.theplacedesign.com.
To read the original and more detailed post in french, just a click here!

Ramadan and TV (1/3): political boycott and women’s affirmation

2007-12-28T13:31:00.001-08:00

Ramadan has seen many comments about the sudden disappearance of Syrian TV serials from the Arab screens. The very much acclaimed Bâb al-hâra (The door of the district) was the only one to make its way to numerous viewers. For many people, the boycott of the Syrian production by most of (Saudi owned) TV stations could be the real explanation.

Censorship was a second issue, especially in Egypt with a TV serial which tackled a very sensitive question, that of the fate of hundreds of Egyptian soldiers who were said to be buried alive in the Sinai sands during June 67 war.

But it is Question of Public Opinion (قضية رأي عام), filmed in Egypt by the Syrian director Muhammad Aziziyyeh and aired on different channels, including the prestigious Dubai TV, which had been the most debated production. Famous actress Yusra, considered to be “liberal” gave many press interviews to defend the work she acted in as a rape victim. She said, among other things, that shocking pictures could be a necessity if someone wants things to change.

If the stories described by the various TV serials reflect to some extend the real preoccupations of the Arab audience, indeed many people think in the Arab world that it is time to see changes in women's rights and situation in the area.

To read the original and more detailed post in french

Ramadan and TV (2/3): Comedies, Social Critic and Censorship

2007-12-28T07:52:00.000-08:00

High Season for TV watching, Ramadan also is a time for more freedom in TV programs which deal, in a way or another, with social and sensitive issues.

For TV watchers of the Arab Peninsula, the big thing is, no doubt, a program called Tash Ma Tash (something like “Got it, Lost it!”). Since some 15 years (!), that incredibly popular TV serial succeeds in addressing sensitive issues in rather non conformist and “progressive” ways.

That year, Tash Ma Tash writers decided for instance to deal in a not so respectful way with the religious TV channels phenomenon mentioned in our previous post.

As they need more than one scandal for their TV season, they also spoke of the debated religious courts and it has been said that an Islamic judge pressed charges against them in Dubai.

But Tash Ma Tash writers broke that year with the tradition as they dedicated one program to the critic of the “liberal wing”.

Such an unusual tone for Tash Ma Tash writers was of course the subject of many discussions. Apparently, many people think that such an attack on the progressive wing was a clever move in order to look more neutral.

All Ramadan TV writers are not so successful with censorship. You’ll pay for your faults sooner or later (for the Arabic "lil-khataya thaman"), a TV serial due to be aired on MBC TV, was “postponed” after violent demonstrations in Kuwait.

To read the original and more detailed post in french

Ramadan and TV (1/3): More and more Religious Screens

2007-12-28T07:41:00.001-08:00

Ramadan, the great time for TV watching in the Arab World, had something new this year: the rising number of religious channels.

In the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar, an article describes the phenomenon under the title “This is how ‘religion’ has won the Satellite TV war.”

Showing how media tycoon Al-Waleed Ibn Talal, owner of Rotana, a music channel, is investing in various religious channels for specialized audiences (chidren, migrants, etc.), the journalist explains that Ramadan 2007 will see a decisive battle between competing religious channels using classical marketing tools in order to increase their public.

According to one Arab professional, there is still room for more good religious channels even if many unprofessional ventures which have been launched are due to collapse sooner or latter.

Poorly managed, with very low investments, many religious channels are taken between contradictory and even conflicting projects: the small ads which can be read at the bottom of the screen do not fit at all with the religious advices given by the many shaykhs acting in the various programs.

To read the original and more detailed post in french

From Kufiya to Islamic Scarf

2007-12-26T09:46:00.001-08:00

The Palestinian kufiya is trendy in western boutiques. But even as a fashion accessory, the success story of this symbol of the Palestinian struggle may be unbearable to some people and an “Israeli kufiya” – white and blue, with stars of David on it – has been invented. A “spoliation” of the Palestinian heritage very much criticized in the Arab press, unless one could see it as an indirect and unintentional tribute to the Palestinian national cause.

The kufiya became world-wild known during the 60’, with the rising of the PLO and of their charismatic leader. This picture of Leila Khaled, famous for participating in various hijacking operations, reflects the spirit of that time when the struggle for liberation and national identity went hand in hand with the affirmation of the women’s rights and equality to men.

Well known in the whole Middle East and adopted by the Palestinians as a national symbol at least since the 30’, the kufiya is, according to Fred Halliday (100 myths about the Middle East, p. 13), a kind of ‘invented tradition’ (Eric Hobsbawn) as the pattern associated with Palestinian national identity was designed in an English factory of Manchester in order to be used by the soldiers of the famous Arab Legion!

Whatever origin it may have, a look at this picture of Venezuela’s President Chavez shows that the kufieh has not lost all of its political meaning. But a question remains: is it because the kufiya has become a fashionable accessory sold in the fancy boutiques of the Western World that the Islamic scarf is now so trendy in the Arab countries?

Plenty of comments on the kufiya on Ten Swedenburg's blog.
To read the original and more detailed post in French, follow that link

My life, Arab Movie : Boycott and Normalization

2007-12-18T05:01:00.000-08:00

Since the Camp David Agreements in 1978, “normalization” means in Arabic the refusal by most of Arab artists and intellectuals of any activity in connection with Israelis.

“Normalization” may be enforced by law according to the regulations of professional associations as in Egypt where the Artists syndicate has recently decided to clear actor ‘Amr Waked of all charges after his contribution to a movie about Saddam Hussein’s where an Israeli actor was also performing.

“Normalization” always raised problems, especially with Arab Israelis unable to meet other Arab because of their “wrong” passport. On the other side, Arabs artists who visit Palestinians, even in the Occupied Territories, face trouble. It was the case recently with a Tunisian singer, although he was invited by the major Palestinian phone society.

Last October, the organizers of the first Middle East International Film Festival of Abu Dhabi also had to cope with normalization. First, they were supposed, according to some Israelis newspapers, to put an Israeli film, called The Band’s Visit, in their program. Under the threat of a boycott by many Arab professionals, they denied such an intention although it is known that pressure for the selection of that movie has been put on them, as on other Arab film festival organizers.

Later on, an Egyptian documentary, called Salata Baladi (Mixed Salad), also raised the issue of normalization. The film is based on the real story of an Egyptian family, from a “mixed” religious origin (Christian, Jew and Muslim). The family is split between various countries, especially since a part of it went to Israel in 1946, something Mary, a leftist activist and grant mother of the movie maker, Nadia Kamel, never accepted. But the old lady finally accepts to brake the taboo of “normalization” and goes to Israel in order to visit her “lost” family.

Salata Baladi has been seen, by some Arab viewers, as an unacceptable call for “normalization” unless the film is obviously anything but a “black and white” story.

What happened to Salata Baladi – even if the film was defended by many voices in the Arab world – reminds us of the reactions provoqued by the short visit, back to Haifa, that Palestinian poet Mahmud Darwish made last summer.

Obviously, normalization remains a controversial issue, and a painful one.

To read the original and more detailed post in french
And that link for the blog on Salata Baladi film (arabic and english)

Islam and Videos: Sami Yusuf (2/2)

2007-12-10T07:57:00.001-08:00

First of all: we should not speak of Sami Yusuf in this blog dedicated to Arab modern culture. Born in Iran in an Azeri family, Sami Yusuf is marketed by the firm Awakening, based in the UK and specialised in Islamic commodities.

But Sami Yusuf, the man who "invented" the Islamic videoclip, regularly tours Arab capitals where he has many fans, two of them running an impressive site dedicated to their favourite singer.

The singer appears regularly on major Arab satellite TV screens, even if he does not speak Arabic. Like many other non-Arab muslims, he performs his religious duties in a foreign and “dead” language, like Catholics used to do with Latin not so long ago.

Sami Yusuf’s fame in the Arab world started in 2003, with his CD “al-mu‘allim” (the Master, for the Prophete). The recipe for success was already there: Arab and English lyrics in the tradition of the nasheed songs which glorify God; a kind of halal music which only uses percussions and voice (a piano appears on more recent works); a very Western mood whose pictures remind us of Hollywood Chewing gum advertisements!

In the Arab world at least, someone was behind this success story as Sami Yusuf met the Egyptian TV preacher ‘Amr Khaled (already mentioned in the previous post), when the latter was living there more or less in exile. They started collaborating, during 2005 "Muslim World Star" tour for instance.

Of course, this collaboration went on when the singer started his Arab career. Sami Yusuf was invited at various Amr Khaled’s TV shows and both are marketed, in the Arab world, by the same company, “Good News for Me”.

When some people expressed their reprobation of this kind of joint venture between two media stars, Sami Yusif replied that he did feel very “oriental” and that his only desire was to spread a spiritual message showing that one could be muslim and modern, nice looking and devoted to God.

Obviously, this is a point of view which touches many young people in the Arab world, especially within the raising middle classes which do not believe in political struggle in order to change society but see that moral action is more successful.

A turn toward a kind of “soft islam” (see this previous post), quite appealing to people who fear an islam somehow too political.

To read the original and more detailed post in french.
And think link leads you to al-mu'allem song.

Islam and Videos (1/2)

2007-12-10T07:39:00.000-08:00

Moral videos are fashionable in the Arab world. For instance, a video, which is said to be the first clip produced by nationals, was recently filmed in Saudi Arabia by a young producer named Qaswara al-Khatib.

The pitch is rather simple: a young professional is living a “bad” life and getting into more and more troubles until he comes to understand, after an accident on his motorbike, that “only God will help” (ما لك غير الله).

As noticed in Amal’s “Arab Woman Progressive Voice” blog, it is not just a coincidence if the camera shows at different times the main character wearing a T-shirt with the world “progressive” written on large letters on it. As we have seen in a previous post about TV soap operas, “progressist” or “liberal” are indeed very “bad words” for those who hope to put the youth back on the right track.

Ramadan being a high season for devotion and business, many singers take this opportunity to sell CD’s records with pious songs. In the impressive list of them which was published in Al-Hayat, Tamer Husni deserves special attention as one of the most favourite and scandalous pop singers of the Egyptian and Arab youth has radically changed since he left jail some months ago.

Indeed, when he was in prison Tamer Husni has been visited by the very famous ‘Amr Khaled, one of the top preachers of the new generation. Since that meeting, Tamer has become a committed (ملتزم) singer, meaning a singer committed to the spread of the Good World and the Right Thinking.

It would be very nasty to see in that cooperation something like a smart marketing campaign between two icons of the Arab youth. Thus, when an Internet site like islamonline.net, close to the religious opposition, does allude to such a possibility, one may think that there is some kind of irritation, sincere or not, for this commercial use of religious feelings…

To read the original and more detailed post in french and to listen to Only God Will Help song, this link.

When a mufti speaks for women’s rights...

2007-12-09T06:47:00.001-08:00

... nobody cares in the West! Nonetheless, Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah’s fatwa, delivered on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, made its way in the Arab World.

For instance, Al-Quds al-‘arabi daily wrote that there were a lot of talks in Jordan mosques last Friday, after long debates on the Internet and during satellite TV religious programs.

Indeed, Fadlallah’s fatwa arguing that women have the right to defend themselves against men's violence made a lot of fuss.

Such a position, presented in many media as “the right for a woman to beat her husband and to desert his bed”, was very much welcome by local associations for women’s rights, but was refused by Islamic jurists in Saudi Arabia or Egypt.

How strange is it to see that Western media, so incline to castigate whatever “wrong” position expressed in the so-called “Arab street”, did no pay very much attention to that rather open-minded fatwa!

Sure, it is safer to keep on saying that Islam is fixed for ever, and obviously unable to deal seriously with controversial issues!

Indeed, they are many crazy and indulgent muftis but others are not frighten by audacious thinking and open discussion.

To read the original and more detailed post in french
Text in English of Fadlallah's fatwa.

Orient deserted by Oriental dancers

2007-12-02T08:41:00.000-08:00

Today, Oriental dance is mostly Occidental. In Cairo cabarets and elsewhere is the Arab world, belly dancers are no more local as most of the professionals come from countries of Eastern Europe.

In 2003, Egyptian authorities tried to cope with that situation and prohibited foreigners from practicing in clubs. A ban which was left in September 2004, because of the lack of performers!

Belly dancers are seen from very contradictory perspectives: heirs of an ancestral tradition or exotic puppets in the tradition of Orientalism; venal femmes fatales seduced by the power or free women fighting against conventions…

The great names of the Oriental dance have vanished and the fact that an Arab satellite TV is preparing a soap opera about Tahia Carioca’s life is just another proof of it. Today, who could dare to perform as Tahia? And which Carioca will be depicted? The repented old woman of her last days or the outrageous lady who married 14 times and was sentenced to jail under different governments?

As one feels in the beautiful “Farewell to Tahia” written in 1999 by Edmard Said, “Nanaesque figures” are no more to be found on the stage of the Arab theatre.

To read the original post in french
To read Edward Said's text, and to watch a nice video featuring Tahia Carioca and Samia Gamal, this link.

Foreign and Domestic “Personal Services” in the Arab World (2/2)

2007-12-02T08:37:00.000-08:00

After the problems that children face because of “careless” foreign maids, more and more articles in the Arab press and on the Web tackle another issue, that of the consequences of sexual relations which may occur with young adults, with husbands and sometimes between women.

A survey in Saudia was for example very much commentated because it says that almost 60% of the foreign maids would accept sexual intercourses before marriage. So that wise housewives do pay attention in choosing not to nice-looking maids for their home.

But maids and generally speaking female workers do not always come from non-Arab countries and it is quite easy to find on the Internet announcements for Moroccan girls “wishing a job in the Gulf”.

Normally, the business is run by private agencies but states may find it attractive too. In May 2007, an agreement between Egypt and the Saudi Kingdom was to be passed for the employment of some 120.000 “young Egyptians ladies” (less than 30 years).

For many people in Egypt, such a deal was a real scandal, an attempt to the national pride, In their articles, journalists made rather clear allusions to the sexual consequences of the sending of young Egyptian ladies behind the closed walls of foreign houses.

Hopefully enough, private houses are not the only place for unmarried sexual practices in the Arab world. Hotels and “massage parlours” are well known meeting points, and the authorities, as in the Emirates or in Jordan for example, have been obliged to change the regulations in order to channel the flow.

With the globalization of the sexual market, the local competences face more competition. A real threat for the many Moroccan “artistat” who work in Jordan for example. A phenomenon, so well-known that “Moroccan”, in modern Arabic, is largely used to mean a prostitute. Nicely enough, in French “professional” slang, “un saoudien” (a Saudi) is a client!

To read the original post in french

Maids Made in Asia: a Global Market (1/2)

2007-12-02T08:32:00.001-08:00

The situation of the Asian maids “imported” by numerous Arab families is not exactly a taboo in the Arab media. But it is a subject which is mainly tackled from an educational point of view, because of the consequences for the family.

There is however an evolution. Recently for example, videos have been filmed in Saudia to remind viewers to be kind with the people working in their homes, especially during the holy month.

Since a few years, to employ a foreign maid is no more the privilege of well-doing families living in the rich states of the Arab peninsula. On the contrary, it is becoming something more and more casual in countries like Syria where the authorities are more used with the regulation of national emigrants than with the immigration of foreign workers.

With the generalization of education, finding a good and cheap little maid on the local market has become a real challenge and the business of trading “human commodities” is indeed flourishing.

Then, as any other product, prices are changing according to the origins (Sri-Lanka, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Somalia…) and to the “season” – Ramadan being the most expensive one!

A Human Right Watch Report: Middle East: Sri Lankan Domestic Workers Face Abuse
To read the original post in french

Fatwas for Mr President

2007-11-27T06:45:00.000-08:00

For decades, and even centuries, fatwas have been delivered by religious people in order to help ordinary people to find solutions for their day-to-day problems. Of course, fatwas also have been requested for more important matters, and then subjects of many disputed political debates.

In modern times, the muftis have to compete with new voices which appeared with the modernization of the Arab world, namely voices of the intellectuals (muthaqqafun) and thinkers (mufakkirun) and, today, the stunning voices of the media stars (anchors, actors and so on...) who speak more and more in the name of religion.

It could be an explanation for the extraordinary mess of crazy fatwas which make a wonderful target for western media in times of muslim bashing, even if other religions probably provide similar examples of isanity.

The fact is that the mushrooming of (often so-called) religious programs, all of them competing for fame, opens the flow to "scandalous" fatwas. Egypt has seen for example the revival of an "old" one, initialy given in Saudia, which forbides the shooting of weddings and divorces on screen, as they are thing "not to play with"...

Of course, issuing a fatwa also has something to do with politics. It is obviously the case when Egypt official mufti said that religion punishes the spread of “false information,” a clear allusion to the trial of various important journalists.

Worst, the same mufti, Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi, declared that he had nothing to say against the succession of Gamal Mubarak to his father Husni, should the son been correctly elected.

He did not mention the case of of president George W. Bush but he should have!

French readers are reminded that their own president, Mr Sarkozy, at a time he was "only" one of Chirac's ministers, paid a visit to Dr Tantawi in order to get a fatwa to legitimate the prohibition of the Islamic scarf in French (governmental) schools.

To read the original post in french

Soccer and Politics in the Arab Middle-East

2007-11-27T03:19:00.000-08:00

After an Iraki singer made it to the last round of the very famous "Star Academy show" aired by Lebanese satellite channel LBC, the victory of the national soccer team at the Asian soccer cup was a rare opportunity in Irak for manifestations of joy and national pride and unity (that the last goal was the result of a joined action between sunni, kurdish and shiite players!)

But war is also on the football fields. For example in Turkey where a clash between two players, one Israeli and the other Egyptian in September 2006 just after the Israeli bombardments in Lebanon has led to riots.

In Israel too, political issues are obviously at stake when it comes to sport, for instance when the Bitar Club, supported by the right wing, meets the surprisingly successful "Son of Sakhneen" team, supported by the so-called "Arab Israelis".

Then there is the incredible story published in the Israeli Yediot Aharonot some time ago about two Brasilian twins playing, one for an Israeli team and the other for a Syrian one! Is this the New Middle-East?

To read the original post in french

The Ban of Pop "artistat" in Syria: a war for moral or against brands?

2007-11-27T02:50:00.000-08:00

There are two translations in arabic for the word "Artist" : one is "fannânûn" and the other, not so correct, "artistât".

Recently, Syrian Union of artists (fannânûn) has declared a ban on "artistât" - mainly Lebanese - coming to Syria. Such a decision is a real threat to the "creativity" of Lebanese "artistât" already coping with many economical difficulties at home. There is no political reason for such a decision, according to Salah Obeid, the Union leader, but the necessity to protect the country against "moral pollution" of female singers playing more with their body than with their musical gifts.

Regarding what some people have coined the "ajramisation" of the Arab societies (from Nancy Ajram, one of the most glamorous Arab pop singers, "icon" for Coca-Cola in the Middle-East when Elissa, another "artistat", is the other one for Pepsi), the Syrian ban may be seen as another chapter against the (global) Amecanization of the Arab world.

To read the original post in french
And to discover Elissa, former Lebanese top model, this video

Enrico Macias back to Algeria? The Hight Price of Friendship

2007-11-27T02:15:00.000-08:00

Finally, French singer Enrico Macias, born in Algeria in a Jew family from Constantine some 68 years ago, will not go to Algeria with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Such a visit, already planned many times, rised too many issues, either rooted in the past (the Liberation War and the role played at that time by some Jewish families according to different voices in Algeria) or connected to the present problems, mainly because of Macias's repeated declarations in support of Israel.

Knowing that Sarkozy is expecting big profits, at least on the economic side, from his trip to Alger, the price of his friendship for Enrico Macias was indeed to hight.
Algerian voices, in the press or on the Internet, suggest Macias to do what many others "pieds noirs" (black foot, for the French who left Algeria at the Independence of the country) have done before him : to take a ticket, by plane or by boat, and to visit his native country without any official frame and game...

As a matter of fact, the best thing to do for him could be to join the great El Gusto band, which associates musicians coming form North and South of the Mediterranean, and from mixted generations and religions.

To read the original post in french
And to listen a nice presentation of El Gusto, in the Buena Vista Social Club mood, this video