Big pimpin' Abdel Halim

Timbaland is a notorious for 'borrowing' Arabic music, sometimes without credit. He and Jay-Z were sued for using the intro to this 1957 Abdel Halim Hafez song, "Khosara, khosara" from the Egyptian film "Fata Ahlamy" in their 1999 hit "Big pimpin."

The two videos provide an amusing juxtaposition.

Iraq is the new black

Now that the semester is coming to an end and everyone has chosen their cultural artifact to analyze, I thought I'd share one of my own...

It's the video for a song called P.H.A.T.W.A. by the Narcicyst, which came out earlier this month. It provides a searing commentary on the topic of US empire, which we've talked about a lot in the past few weeks.




Narcy also posted a response to the Busta Rhymes song "Arab Money," which is also worth a listen! I'll be interested to hear your thoughts.

Notes from Obamastock

Obamastock has arrived. The concert definitely lived up to its message of inclusion, with amazing artists from every possible genre and age range. It was great to see older musicians like Stevie Wonder and Pete Seeger collaborating with their younger counterparts. Stevie Wonder sounded fantastic and I'm so glad I got to see him live. The girl in front of me was overwhelmed with joy at seeing Usher and Beyoncé and kept texting the names of each new performer to someone back home. There were people climbing trees and sitting on top of port-a-potties to try to get a better view.

Unfortunately I didn't get many close-ups because my camera's zoom turned out very grainy. Obama was speaking at the podium in the middle of the stage in this first photo--his face is on the screens below. The backdrop of the Lincoln Memorial was poignant but the patriotic themes became a bit overdone at times, like when two bald eagles were brought out for display and allowed to spread their wings for the cameras.

For me there were two highly significant moments during the concert. The first was when Bono spoke of MLK's dream as "an Irish dream, a European dream, an African dream... an Israeli dream... and also a Palestinian dream." I really thought he was going to stop after he said an Israeli dream, and his reference to Palestine was crucial at this moment of intense violence in the region. I think it's time for the struggles of both the Israelis and the Palestinians to be recognized by the public at large.

The second moment was during Pete Seeger's rendition of "This Land is Your Land," in which he sang the song in its entirety, with Woody Guthrie's subversive lyrics that have been left out for the past fifty years. As Greendem remarked in the Daily Kos, "Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen restored the song to its former glory, not the sanitized version so many of us learned in grammar school and summer camp."



In one of the verses that has been omitted, the song speaks of the line of hungry people in front of the "relief office" and asks, "Is this land made for you and me?" Instead of a blanket statement about the happiness and diversity of Americans, then, the song actually contained a critique about poverty and implied that the land was truly meant for you and me, not just for those who can afford it. At age 89, Pete Seeger continues to be an icon of the American folk movement and I am so glad Obama invited him to come and to sing the WHOLE song.

Here are the verses most of us haven't heard before:

There was a big high wall there that tried to stop me;
Sign was painted, it said private property;
But on the back side it didn't say nothing;
That side was made for you and me.

In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people,
By the relief office I seen my people;
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking
Is this land made for you and me?

Nobody living can ever stop me,
As I go walking that freedom highway;
Nobody living can ever make me turn back
This land was made for you and me.

Arctic chill

With the inauguration swiftly approaching, many have been asking how DC will survive the huge numbers of people that are expected to turn up. Maybe it's simply because I'm a California girl, but I'm wondering if the people will survive the freezing weather that has just hit the east coast. Perhaps it will warm up by next week, but if not, will the cold affect the numbers and the behavior of the crowds?

You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows

"Hello, I'm going to read a declaration of a state of war..."

Okay people, no matter where you stand on the political spectrum, pleeease watch this documentary.

It sheds light on a period in history that holds an amazing amount of relevance today. You can watch it instantly on Netflix. It is fascinating and horrifying at the same time.

Thugocracy

My brain has been a little foggy for the past few weeks, but one thing I've been following carefully is the news about the riots in the suburbs of Paris. After a police car collided with a motorcycle and killed two French teenagers of Moroccan and Senegalese origin last month, major riots broke out and residents used hunting rifles, Molotov cocktails, and rocks to attack police. At least 100 police personnel were injured. Maybe I just haven't been looking or listening in the right places,but there's been seemingly little nuanced discussion about this in the American media. Among people who are talking about it, there appear to be two main reactions: 1. Angry protest is to be expected in situations where large groups of people live in sub-standard conditions, or 2. France should learn its lesson and keep those Muslim immigrants out of the country because they're causing trouble again.

While the first statement is viable, neither gets to the root of the violence, verging on warfare, that occurred in 2005 and again last month. France's President Nicolas Sarkozy has called for a crackdown on the drug culture and "thugocracy" that has overtaken the suburbs. Sarkozy has repeatedly insulted "thugs," suggesting that the main causes are recklessness and stupidity. In an Al Jazeera article he is quoted as saying, "I reject the kind of naive wishful thinking that makes every deliquent a victim of society, and every riot a social problem. What happened in Villiers-le-Bel has nothing to do with a social crisis and everything to do with thugocracy."

What is thugocracy? And how could there ever be a violent uprising without a cause? Some observers assume that wherever there are Muslims, there will be violence. They argue that if you allow Muslim immigrants to enter the country they will spread dangerous anti-Western sentiment, and little by little take control. This article from the Sunday Times in London has accumulated a series of provocative and alarmist comments about the riots. A reader from Flint, Michigan writes, "Deportation. Expulsion. Muslims are unfit to live in any historically Christian nation. Give them one year to get out, and then start sterilizing. Deport, deport, deport." This chilling xenophobic rhetoric echoes Nazi arguments about moving Jews out of Germany, as well as discussions about the perils of Latinos moving across the border into the U.S. I find it appalling to read such disgustingly blatant racist statements anywhere, much less on a news-related website. Haven't we learned anything from the wars and genocides of the past century?

Religion simply does not explain the riots; here's a great explanation of why. Juan Cole also wrote an insightful blog on this subject back in 2005. I've heard a claim that American gang culture has been exported to France in the form of hip hop, creating harsh, violent new masculine ideals. Digging deeper, though, it becomes clear that American culture has little to do with the real problem. France has a long history of colonialism in Africa, and what happened during those years of occupation is profoundly connected to the current situation.

Torture was routinely used as a tool of control by the French Army, and one particularly important example of this was during the Algerian War for Independence from 1954 to 1962. The resistance army, also known as the FLN, employed bloody guerilla warfare as a means of bringing down the French occupation. Since the 1950s, Algerians have moved to France in large numbers seeking jobs and better lives. Poor immigrants are generally limited to housing projects and shantytowns on the margins of French society. A new generation has been born and raised in these circumstances with few financial prospects, and treated as second-class citizens. Colonialism remains central to the problems surrounding French identity and to this day, discrimination has a monumental impact on the lives of first, second and third-generation immigrants. In this culture of hopelessness, violent resistance is likely viewed as the only way to claim power and get noticed by the government.

Mark Patinkin, a columnist for a paper in Providence, RI, claims that the Paris riots say almost as much about America as they do about France. Highlighting the "mostly Muslim underclass" around Paris, he says that the 21st century U.S. is a model of peaceful coexistence. Here's the reason: American minorities have political representation, and minorities in France don't. Does anyone believe we can safely say the United States is a model of ethnic and religious coexistence? Maybe there aren't riots in the streets these days, but there's a lot of underground anger. Consider the case of the Jena 6. There's still a lot of misunderstanding and hatred to overcome.

Being Bad

How to be Good isn't Nick Hornby's most famous novel, and I don't think it's his best. But what the book lacks in persuasive storytelling it makes up with necessary and uncomfortable questions. The plot centers on marriage and family; Katie is a doctor with a curmudgeonly husband who spends his life complaining and writing a weekly column called "the angriest man in Holloway." Katie wants to be good, but it doesn't come naturally. She finds she has to force herself to be nice to her patients, and she jumps into an extramarital affair with little regret. Meanwhile her husband David encounters DJ Goodnews, a sort of 21st century shaman, who transforms his worldview. David is overcome with goodness and decides to actually live out his beliefs. He gives $80 to a man he has never seen before, takes his daughter's laptop to a women's shelter, and convinces three neighbors to allow homeless people to move into their spare bedrooms. Katie is so disconcerted by David's new saintly lifestyle, she sneaks out at night to sleep in a friend's empty apartment.

What does it mean to be "liberal" in today's world? If you buy produce from the farmer's market, drive a hybrid car, and have an anti-war bumper sticker, is that "good" enough? What does it mean to truly live in a selfless manner? I think Hornby is right to point out the hypocrisy of white middle-class liberalism. I'm reminded of this every time I walk into Whole Foods, where the wealthy customers are buying their fancy organic this-and-that from mostly African American and Latino low-wage employees. There's something wrong with this picture.

Intro to Disaster

This is a worthwhile video from avaaz.org. A nice two-minute summary of the political mess we find ourselves in; the "clash of civilizations" where it's "us" against "those terrorists." Thanks to the amazing Raj at Green Parenting for the link. I read his blog and I'm not even a parent. Check out his post on immigration reform for some very honest and rousing words, and also this one about life in India and looking at stars.

Outsiders

On the road between Amman and the old Nabataean city of Petra in Southern Jordan, there are dots of color scattered across the flatness. From antiquated depictions like the one above, I knew they were Bedouin tents without having to ask. It's hard to avoid romanticized notions about the free-roaming lifestyle of Bedouins; the simplicity, the rootlessness. But times are changing. 90% have settled permanently and switched to farming, and 10% continue to travel as nomads with flocks of goats or sheep, inhabiting woven tents. Someone asked our 18-year-old volunteer guide what the Bedouins own and how they survive. He said "They own this land, as far as you can see. It has been passed down by families for hundreds of years." I tried to imagine what it would be like to belong to a stretch of desert without ever claiming one particular plot as home.

In Israel, there is a fierce struggle between the government and indigenous Bedouins in the Negev Desert. Since the 1970s, the Israeli government has been demolishing Bedouin villages and attempting to move the residents to small recognized government townships. This campaign still continues, with 'unrecognized' settlements being bulldozed and people being forced to leave. The Bedouin population is understandably infuriated and some are refusing to go. I'm sad that this story is following the same course as so many others - the indigenous minority group fights for rights and recognition, but ends up mistreated and impoverished.

I went to the Dead Sea on the Jordanian side, where you can look across and see the banks of Israel. A new crop of luxury hotels has sprung up there and each one charges a fee for visitors to use the beach below. At the Dead Sea Spa Hotel, there was a metal detector at the entrance and a guard who checked our bags. Across from the first of two swimming pools leading down to the sea, I saw a replication of a Bedouin tent. It was made from fine materials and had an opening on the side for people to see in. There were beautiful textiles and cushions lining the walls and floor and small benches to sit on. In the midday heat beside a pool and hotel bar, it looked absurd. A chance for tourists to experience fantasies of Bedouin life without leaving the safe bubble of their luxury hotel.

However unsettling this may be, at least in Jordan there seems to be a general acknowledgment of the importance of Bedouins in the history and culture of the region. If I had to choose, I'd prefer that the Bedouin lifestyle be used as a tourist gimmick rather than being scorned or wiped out altogether.

Kitsch Matters

Danger is always exciting. In The Sheik, a 1921 silent film with Agnes Ayres and Rudolph Valentino, Algerian "Sheik Ahmed" abducts a strong, independent British lady and takes her to his camp. She resists his forceful advances until she's kidnapped by a rival sheik. When Sheik Ahmed rescues her, she decides he isn't so bad after all and they fall in love. The film was based on a popular romance novel by Edith Hull, which apparently sparked an extended trend in sheik (or sheikh) fantasies. Elvis incorporated the theme into his farcically campy film Harum Scarum about a singer who is kidnapped and trapped in an imaginary Middle East. The sheikh, the infamous 'bad boy,' still runs rampant in the world of romance novels. Bitch Magazine recently published an article about the subject (thanks to my sister for this), pointing out that the Arab men in these stories are perceived as menacing yet desirable. The website Sheikhs and Desert Love lists all the books published in this genre to date. Some of my favorites titles are Beauty and the Sheikh, Cobra and the Concubine, Bed of Sand, and Arabian Love-Child. Who knew suspected terrorists could be so sexy?