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

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.

One, two, three, viva l’Algérie!

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.

Sex & the Arab City: Arab winds of change.

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.

About Marriage and Divorce in the Arab World

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

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.

The Price/Prize of an (Egyptian) Intellectual

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

Traduttore, traditore : translation is a treachery…

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.

IT Revolution and Old time TV

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.

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

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.

Taxis in Egypt and in Palestine

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.

Nasser is back: a Series

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.

Divas and Politicians: the Dialectic of Body and Power

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.

Pepsi vs Coca : the mother of all Arab stars

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

“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 Alternative Music (2): Egypt

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.

The Culture of Politics: a Roadmap to Unesco!

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.

May08: Happy Birthday Mr Preisdent!

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!

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.

Good and Bad: Two Faces of the Arab Modernity

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

Songs & Politics : “I hate Israel”

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.