Vol. 18, No. 67 - Al Jadid Magazine

Transcription

Ziad Majed Talks on His Syria’s
‘Orphaned Revolution,’ and The
Assad’s Syria Nevermore
Books: From Lebanon to
Canada: A Tale of Immigration,
Contrasts and Contradictions
Caroline Seymour-Jorn Reviews
Hala Halim’s ‘Alexandrian
Cosmopolitanism: An Archive’
ALJADID
A Review & Record of Arab Culture and Arts
COPYRIGHT AL JADID
www.ALJADID.com
VOL. 18, No. 67 (covering period. 2013-’14)
“Untitled” (2013) by Mohammad Labash
Behind a Mask: How an Era of Progressive Scholarship
Helped Conceal Assad’s Sectarianism–by Elie Chalala
Translating Syria’s Foremost Playwright to the
New York Stage–by Rula Jurdi
Tribalism: A Modern Approach to the Gulf–by Hilary Hesse
Life From Beneath The Knife–by Hanna Saadah
Essays & Features
Behind a Mask: How an Era of Progressive Scholarship
Helped Conceal Assad’s Sectarianism
BY ELIE CHALALA
Since the beginning of the Syrian conflict, many have
radical sectarian groups like ISIS, to whose strength the
claimed that the Assad dynasty is secular. How do supporters regime contributed both directly and indirectly.
of this claim defend their argument? It’s impossible to
With every new ISIS horror, from the mass murder of
answer this question simply, although the regime’s
Yazidis and the forceful expulsion of Christians from Mosul,
supporters and opponents have tried to do so many times
to the gruesome beheadings of American journalists James
over many years. It seems the true answer to this question,
Foley and Steven Sotloff, spurious claims relating to Assad’s
which has been on my mind for some time now, is more
commitment to secularism continue to resurface, thanks to
nuanced than those
his loyal propaganda
debated on social
machine in Lebanon, as
media, flashed across
well as to the remnants
television screens, and
of his well-funded
written about in
public relations
newspapers.
contacts in Europe and
Considering this
the U.S.
debate reminds me
Yet, this simple
once again of the
history does not even
outcry over the horrors
begin to cover how the
of ISIS in the Arab
fallacy of Assad’s
press, and how both the
alleged commitment to
regime and opposition
secularism has managed
have each relentlessly
to endure for so long;
resorted to their own
claims to secularism
particular reasoning to
continuously resurface
associate one another
even after the largely
with ISIS.
sectarian-based murders
The Assad regime
of close to 200,000
argues that its
people and the forceful
opponents, far from
displacement of almost
being secular or
half of Syria’s
reformist, are the
population. Thus,
ideological soul-mates
accepting claims to
of ISIS, takfiris, and
Assad secularism
terrorists. On the other
proves imprudent
“Refugee,” 2012, by Tammam Azzam from “View from Inside,” Fotofest,
hand, the opposition
whether made by
Houston, TX and Schilt Publishing, Amsterdam, NL, 2014, p. 149. (Courtesy
claims that the Wests’s
Western “public
of the Artist and Ayyam Gallery, Dubai and London.)
delay in aiding and
relations” firms, or by
arming moderate rebel groups during the early phases of the
media cabals in Lebanon and Syria. In either case, the goal
Syrian revolution has weakened non-sectarian forces, as well remains one of propaganda, to sell their master to the West
as peaceful protestors. The opposition also claims, and
as a leader with secular credentials.
rightly so, that extremist religious groups benefitted
The fact that we can now regularly find support for this
logistically from the regime’s release of former prisoners
viewpoint from such sources suggests that there are more to
who would later go on to fight alongside ISIS, though this
these claims than the genius of Al Akhbar and As Safir
was initially a simple attempt to divide its opponents by
columnists in Lebanon, or the media advice offered by
creating strife between moderate and extremist opposition
former Al Jazeera host, Luna al-Shibl who assumed a job as a
groups. Even without regime ploys, the various opposition
media advisor to Assad. Instead, the numerous assertions
forces display a tendency to point fingers at the regime with attributing a secular ideology to the regime derive from a
secular factions directly correlating the weakness of the
body of scholarship, both Western and non-Western, a
moderate opposition with the ascension and success of
literature whose dominance in academic circles, although on
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AL JADID Vol. 18, no. 67
Essays & Features
intellectual-propaganda apparatus seems to bury itself in old
the wane, still provides Assad apologists with the intellectual
books and “antiquated” ideologies. Unless the regime has
ammunition to cover up the regime’s discrimination in favor
decided to excise the events in Syria since mid-2011 from the
of its narrowly based Alawite community.
pages of history, the facts debunk the myriad of claims
When I started my graduate studies at UCLA in the
defending Assad’s supposed secularism.
1980s, students, including myself and many other Arab
Careful examination of the regime’s military operations
Americans and future Mideast scholars (many of whom still
over the past three and a half
vouch for Assad’s secularism)
years reveals a clearly
were socialized into the belief
sectarian character. Though
that entertaining sect, tribe or
the horrific details of the
region as motivations for
massacres often obscure their
individual or group political
underlying goals, the
behaviors in the Arab world
geographic locations of each
was at base a form of antioperation reveal the
Arab, anti-Muslim racism. We
intentions of the perpetrators.
held this approach to be a
The same applies to the types
legacy of Orientalist
of violence as well: instances
scholarship designed to
of rape, torture, assaults on
portray Arabs as inferior and
bakeries and funerals, as well
uncivilized, and suggested
as the Al Ghouta chemical
that analytical approaches
massacres, with its first-year
used in studying Western
anniversary commemorated
politics were inapplicable to
last August. The immediate
the Arab and Muslim world.
causes of such atrocities
Spending years
should not overshadow the
researching Syrian politics
fact of their Sunni-dominated
under the Baath, I fell for
locations, or the
some time under the sway of
overwhelmingly Sunni
the Political Economy,
identities of the victims
Dependency, and Structuralist
themselves. The consequence
academic approaches and
of the regime’s violence
became skeptical of the
remains the ultimate clue to
application of concepts like
unraveling its real goals,
sect or tribe to any legitimate
despite attempts to cloak
explanation of Syrian
them in anti-terrorist rhetoric.
politics. These approaches
In short, sectarian cleansing,
dismiss sectarianism,
or forced demographic
tribalism, culture and even
transfer of Sunnis from towns
religion as fundamental
“The
Clouds,”
by
Farah
Azrak.
(Courtesy
of
Art
Residency
Aley,
and villages with mixed
determinants of politics, and
Lebanon.)
communities (Alawites,
instead offer social class,
Sunnis, and Christians) forced
dependency, and colonialism as relevant analytical tools for
dominance
by
the
Alawites.
This
inhuman transfer, this
the analysis of Syrian and non-Syrian politics alike.
displacement
of
millions
both
inside
and outside of Syria,
Although an argument for or against the validity of these
serves
as
the
Assad
regime’s
true
motivation,
and the cruel
approaches in and of themselves belongs to another venue, it
goal
of
its
sectarianism.
must be acknowledged that many scholars failed to speak out
Sectarianism thus fulfills many regime functions. Due to
when the facts supported neither ideology nor theory in the
the
regime’s
failure in defeating the opposition, Assad has
Syrian case. Many of those same scholars, both in the West
adopted
a
lethal
strategy, one that has already fulfilled a major
and the Arab world, still remain tethered to old ideas
goal,
namely,
the
sectarian cleansing of entire swathes of the
invalidated not only by time, but by the hundreds of
Syrian
population.
Since the army, 350,000 strong, has been
thousands dead, by the equal numbers maimed, and by the
unable
to
defeat
the
opposition, the regime has decided to
millions displaced. When we read or hear current assertions,
enlist
Syrian
society
in its militaristic campaign, sparing no
both private and public, regarding the Syrian conflict, we
thought
for
the
deadly
implications of such a strategy. In other
discover, in the most vivid and concrete terms, the
words,
the
regime
unleashes
and inflames the country’s
phenomenon of ideological totalitarianism.
different
religious
groups
in
hopes that religiously opposed
Rather than living up to their own supposed standards of
Continued on page 6
relying on theories grounded in history and facts, the regime’s
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3
CONTENTS
Essays & Features
2. How an Era of Progressive
Scholarship Helped Conceal Assad’s
Sectarianism,
By Elie Chalala
8-11. Editor’s Notebook/Elie Chalala
12. Saad bin Mohammed:
Epitomizing His Country’s Journey of
Discovery,
By Wided Khadraoui
Interviews
13. “The Assads’ Syria” Nevermore:
Ziad Majed Speaks on his
“The Orphaned Revolution”
14. A Visit with Casey Kasem: the
1996 Interview – Kasem Speaks Out
About Activism, Hope and Change,
By Elie Chalala
16. The Embrace of Beauty and
Suffering in Dina Abd Elsalam’s
‘Rest in Peace’,
By Nada Ramadan Elnahla
Books
20. Is Geography Destiny?,
By Lauren Khater
22. Translating Grief, Scattered Blonds
and the Memories of the Dead,
28. When Fences Do Not Make Good
By Theri Alyce Pickens
Neighbors, a review of “The Great
Race to Sycamore Street.”
22. A Philosopher’s Tale:The
Remarkable Life of Ibn Sab’in,
28. Unlikely Yet Lovable Immigrants, a
By Frances Khairallah Noble
review of “The Golem and the Jinni.”
24. Alexandrian Cosmopolitanism:
Beyond Western Privilege,
By Caroline Seymour-Jorn
25. From Lebanon to Canada: A Tale
of Immigration, Contrasts and
Contradictions,
By Jihad El-Zein
26. The Death of Plows and Books: Isa
al-Yasiri’s Devastating Vision of
Peasant Migration from the Iraqi South,
By Rula Jurdi
27. Tribalism: A Modern Approach
to the Gulf
By Hilary Hesse
39. Mauritania: A Study in
Contradictions,
By Rebecca Joubin
29. A Carpet Ride Past the
Kalashnikovs, a review of the “Fort of
Nine Towers, An Afghan Childhood.”
29. A Musical Memoir: Wasif
Jawhariyyeh’s Jerusalem, a review of
“A Musical Record of Jerusalem: the
Storyteller of Jerusalem.”
30. Blue Hair, Love, Jobs, and the
Lebanese War, a review of “An
Unnecessary Woman.”
31. Living with Voices: Magical Realism
in War-Torn Iran, a review of
“Afsaneh, A Novel From Iran.”
31. Eulogy for Love: A Casualty of the
Iranian-Iraqi War, a review of “The
Corpse Washer.”
32. Afghanistan’s Multigenerational
Victims and Villains, a review of “The
Pearl That Broke Its Shell.”
18. The Arab: A 19th Century
American Imperialist Narrative,
By Lynne Rogers
Fiction
19. Fragments of Love and Loneliness:
Adania Shibli’s New Novel,
By Lauren Khater
34.Life From Beneath The Knife,
By Hanna Saadah
Correction: The photo credit of D.H. Melhem
in Al Jadid, Vol. 18, No. 66, p. 34 should read:
(Photo Credit: Lorraine Chittock, Copyrights
Saudi Aramo World).
19. The Only Diner in the Restaurant:
A Travel Writer’s Perspective on the
Arab Spring,
By Daniel Hugh-Jones
FOUNDER & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF:
Books In Brief/
By Lynne Rogers
ELIE CHALALA
ASSOCIATE EDITOR: APRIL I. DECKER ASSISTANT EDITORS: HILARY HESSE, DANIEL HUGH-JONES CONTRIBUTING
EDITORS: REBECCA JOUBIN, PAULINE HOMSI VINSON WEBMASTER & COMPUTER: IDP PRODUCTION: INTERNATIONAL
DESKTOP PUBLISHING
Al Jadid (ISSN 1523 - 746X) is published biannually (twice a year) by International Desktop Publishing, P.O. Box 805, Cypress, CA
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$8.95. Reproduction without permission for any use of translations, editorial or pictorial content is prohibited. Translations to
English of artistic and cultural titles are those of Al Jadid’s editors and not officially adopted or approved by their own Arab or
Mideast authors. Trademark registered. Articles signed represent the opinions of their authors and do not necessarily represent
the policy of Al Jadid. Use of any person’s name or description in fiction or humorous features is purely coincidental and not the
responsibility of Al Jadid. We encourage the submission of articles in the areas of Arab culture and arts, mainly about books, films,
music, fine arts, theater, and science. Al Jadid assumes no responsibility for unsolicited materials. Manuscripts or artwork not
accompanied by stamped, self-addressed envelopes will not be returned.
4
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CONTENTS
Theater
40. Translating Syria’s Foremost Playwright
to the New York Stage,
By Rula Jurdi
Briefly Noted/
By Frances Khairallah Noble
33. American or Lebanese? Where do immigrants
belong?, a review of “Through & Through.”
33. The Bedouin and Gertrude Stein, a review of
“Gertrude.”
33. From Nomad to Farmer: The Steep Price of
“Civilization,” a review of “New Waw.”
Poetry
Jihad El-Zein (“From Lebanon to Canada: A Tale of Immigration,
Contrasts and Contradictions,” p. 25) is an opinion editor in
Lebanon’s major daily, “An Nahar.”
Miled Faiza (“A Faraway Room,” p. 11, and “Puppets,” p. 32) is
the author of “Baqaya al-bayt aladhi dakhalnahu maratan wahidatan” (The
Remains of a House We Once Entered), Madrid: Dar-Alwah, 2004 and
Amman: Dar- Azmina 2004. His poetry has been translated into
English, French and Serbian and has appeared in many
periodicals and anthologies. He teaches Arabic at Brown
University and currently lives in Rhode Island.
Daniel Hugh-Jones (“The Only Diner in the Restaurant: A Travel
Writer’s Perspective on the Arab Spring,” p. 19) is an English
essayist and editor currently living in Los Angeles. An immigrant
himself, he is interested in the liminal or marginal aspects of the
Arab cultural experience. He is currently engaged upon a study
of the Egyptian writer and suicide, Waguih Ghali.
32. PUPPETS
By Miled Faiza
37. MY NATIVE TOWN
By Joseph Ayoub
CONTRIBUTORS
Rebecca Joubin (“Mauritania: A Study in Contradictions,” p.
39) is an assistant professor of Arabic at Davidson College.
Joseph Ayoub (“My Native Town,” p. 37) is a Lebanese-American
poet, and author of “From the Pen of a Poet.”
Farah Azrak (“The Clouds,” artwork, p. 3), a Syrian artist,
specializes in concept building, fabric manipulations, draping,
and digital design, and has a special interest in free-hand
illustrations and paintings. Born in Damascus in 1986, she received
a BA in Fashion Design from the Instituto Marangoni, London,
UK. Azrak’s artwork appears in the current issue, courtesy of Ms.
Ragad Mardini Ms. Ragad Mardini and the Art Residency Aley,
Lebanon (www.artresidencealey.com/index.html).
Khaled Al Boushi (“Untitled,” artwork, p. 6) is a Syrian artist
whose activities include sculpture, painting, and installations.
He graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Damascus
University. He participated in solo exhibitions “7 Days” in
Atelier Rondo Graz, Austria, 2010, and “Existentialist Sufism,”
Goethe-Institut, Damascus, 2010. His work has been mostly
influenced by the abstract expressionist movement. His artwork
appears in the current issue, courtesy of Ms. Ragad Mardini
and and the Art Residency Aley, Lebanon
Nada Ramadan Elnahla (“The Embrace of Beauty and Suffering
in Dina Abd Elsalam’s ‘Rest in Peace’,” p. 16) is a lecturer in the
Department of English at Alexandria University, Egypt, with a
Ph.D. in comparative literature.
Hilary Hesse (“Tribalism: A Modern Approach to the Gulf,” p.
27) is a San Francisco based writer and an assistant editor of Al
Jadid.
11. A FARAWAY ROOM
By Miled Faiza
(www.artresidencealey.com/index.html)
Elie Chalala (Editor’s Notebook–pp. 7-11, and “Behind a Mask:
How an Era of Progressive Scholarship Helped Conceal Assad’s
Sectarianism,” p. 2) is an Editor-in-Chief of Al Jadid, and
associate adjunct professor of political science.
Rula Jurdi (“The Death of Plows and Books: Isa al-Yasiri’s
Devastating Vision of Peasant Migration from the Iraqi South,” p.
26; “Translating Syria’s Foremost Playwright to the New York Stage,”
Continued on page 17
Co
ver Ar tist
Cov
Mohammad Labash (whose artwork “Untitled,” 2013,
appears on the cover) is a Syrian artist, born in Daraa in 1989
and graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts (Department of
painting and drawing), Damascus University, in 2012-2013.
Labash has participated in several collective exhibitions and
workshops, including the Fine Arts Students Exhibition,
Damascus 2013; the 8th Exhibition for Syrian young artists,
Damascus 2013; the Annual Spring Exhibition, Damascus
2013; and the Annual Spring Exhibition, Damascus 2008. He
also participated in many workshops at the Faculty of Fine
Arts in Damascus. Labash’s artwork appears in the current
issue as courtesy of Ms. Ragad Mardini and the Art Residency
Aley, Lebanon (www.artresidencealey.com/index.html)
www.ALJADID.com
5
Editor’s Notebook
parties will battle one another in a campaign from which
Assad will emerge the main beneficiary. This strategy further
allows him to portray the conflict as a sectarian civil war,
rather than acknowledging it as a revolution against a
repressive regime.
Assad’s sectarianism has become visible and no longer
remains in doubt. While the bloodshed of the past three years
has revealed the true nature of the regime and has
consequently called for restraint in leftist defenses of Assad,
“secularism” remains the only surviving claim in support of
this leader, thanks only to the “rejectionists” who still cling to
this conviction. Yet, one must be weary of those
“rejectionists” who seek only to salvage their own credibility,
shattered when they chose to side with Assad in the first place.
Nothing can or should erase the
fact that their support extended
a lifeline to a regime lacking
any morally or politically
redeeming qualities. AJ
her, subjecting the artist to investigation, and then consigning
her to house arrest. Though the Lebanese authorities actually
carried out this travesty they did so at the behest of the Syrian
“government,” who, last year, requested Nasri’s detainment
based on her alleged contacts with an unnamed “enemy.”
Since the “investigation” apparently yielded no evidence
of these contacts, none found it surprising that the Lebanese
quickly dropped all charges.
In the age of the Assads’ dictatorships, anything goes and
Asala Nasri becomes a traitor for dealing with a phantom
“enemy.” Mrs. Nasri traveled to Palestine last year at the
invitation of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas
who, during that period, was stressing the importance of Arab
artists demonstrating support by visiting and performing in
the Palestinian territories.
Meanwhile, the regime’s two
brutal attacks on Palestinian
camps are conveniently
forgotten. One took place just
a year ago at Al Yarmouk,
whose residents sought fatwas
to eat dogs, cats and donkeys
while being starved by the
government. The other attack,
in 1976, resulted in the
massacre of thousands of
Palestinians at Tal al-Zaatar
refugee Camp in Lebanon,
while the army of Bashar’s
father stood by watching and
facilitating the attackers’ entry
into the camp. Irony aside, who
would you describe as the real
traitor here?
But the pursuit of the
“Untitled,” by Khaled Al Boushi. (Courtesy of Art Residency Aley,
singer also reveals a dangerous
Lebanon.)
regime pattern. While Mrs.
Nasri’s
stardom
and
international
standing worked to her
It is amazing how the Syrian regime orders its priorities at
advantage,
this
has
not
been
the
case
for other Syrian artists.
a time when an armada of allied forces daily bombards its
One
might
recall
the
murder
of
the
Syrian
singer Ibrahim
territory. Nothing appears to restrain Assad’s war against his
Kashoush,
whose
own
voice
provided
the
soundtrack to the
people. He ignores with equal facility the “global war,” ceded
peaceful
demonstrations
against
the
Assad
regime in the early
daily to ISIS, the blood of 200,000 Syrians, the displacement
days
of
the
uprising,
and
whose
body
was
subsequently
of millions, and the reflexive, cynical destruction of some of
discovered with its tongue cut out.
civilization’s most ancient cities. Apparently, none of these
By all accounts, what befell Asala Nasri in Beirut
facts have any power to instill sense into the Assad clique,
represents
a failed attempt by some of Syria’s Lebanese
otherwise why would they choose to pursue Mrs. Asala Nasri,
“legal”
henchmen,
who ignore the quandaries facing their
an anti-Assad artist, singer and UN peace ambassador to the
own
state
and
country
in order to do the dirty work of their
Middle East?
Damascus
masters.
What
threat to Syria does an artist pose
One would think a regime boasting a genocidal resume
whose
main
weapon
is
a
voice
against Assad?
would not waste time on “petty politics” such as pressuring its
The
unfortunate
Lebanese
nation is currently
Lebanese cronies to arrest Asala Nasri. On Wednesday,
experiencing
a
host
of
political,
military and constitutional
September 24, the singer arrived at Lebanon’s International
problems,
most
of
whih
are
the
result
of Syria and Hezbollah,
Airport ahead of a scheduled appearance on the popular
still
factions
of
the
Lebanese
government
find the time to
television show “Star Academy,” only to have her passport
oblige
Damascus
by
arresting
one
of
its
artists,
in honor of the
seized by authorities, after which they immediately arrested
“Treaty of Brotherhood, Cooperation, and Coordination” with
Editor’s
Notebook/
Elie Chalala
Asala a Thorn in
Assad’s Side, Her
Arrest a Black Eye
for the Lebanese
Government
6
www.ALJADID.com
Editor’s Notebook
Syria, a legacy of the Assads’ occupation, and dominance of
Lebanon.
As for Asala, she posted the following to Facebook after
the incident, writing, “I am fine and my dignity is fine and
Lebanon is my beloved always.” One tends to believe her, as
she has proven no stranger to attempts of intimidation by proAssad Syrian and Lebanese artists and journalists. Regardless,
it would appear that she has the support of a sizable segment
of the Lebanese public, who greeted her with several standing
ovations, particularly after her renditions of “My country is
being born anew” and “Lebanon I love you.”
Many observers believe that the Assad regime cares little
about Lebanon, its sovereignty, and the integrity of its state.
This became clear in view of the trumped up charges that led
to the arrest of Mrs. Nasri – charges that two ministers – one of
Interior and another of Justice—categorically rejected, setting
the artist free, and most importantly, allowing her to remain a
thorn in Assad’s side.
New TV Series on Arab-Israeli Conflict
Echoes Old Ideas of ‘Balance’
Broadcasting “The Honorable Woman” does not represent
a response to current events in Gaza, according to Hugo Blick,
the British producer who wrote and directed eight episodes of
the 4-hour mini-series.
Produced by Sundance TV and the BBC, the TV drama,
shot in London and Morocco, follows the life of Nessa, a
British industrialist played by Maggie Gyllenhaal. Having
witnessed as a child the assassination of her father, an Israeli
arms dealer, at the hands of a Palestinian, the idealistic Nessa
dreams of promoting peace through the modernization and
economic growth of Gaza. To this end, she uses the profits
from her family business to establish a high-speed broadband
company that will serve Gaza and Ramallah.
Would this TV drama have gained the same degree of
attention if not for the current war between Israel and Hamas?
Aside from this concern, many objections still exist
concerning the inadvisability of broadcasting the fictional
series at a time when a very real conflict rages in front of us,
with its news and horrific images dominating the networks
and social media. In an article published on July 28, 2014, in
the New York Times, Dave Itzkoff addressed this issue, stating,
“Civil dialogues, conflict causes and solutions are hard to
come by” under these circumstances. The timing of “The
Honorable Woman” broadcast, which coincides with
escalating hostilities and a growing anger and rage between
Israelis and Palestinians, might pose a serious predicament for
the producers of the show. If the program creators hope to
inform and change attitudes, rather than rekindle hostilities,
their production may face insurmountable obstacles due to
the “particularly polarized” attitudes currently dominating
the region. In the past, rather than benefiting from plots that
approximated concurrent regional conflicts, a number of
“television thrillers” were instead cancelled or postponed.
Ahmed Mater Magnetism IV, 2012 (From “View From Inside
Contemporary Arab, Video and Mixed Media Art,” and courtesy of the
artist and Athr Gallery, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.)
Indeed, using terms like “balance” or “balanced
presentation” in relation to current dramas, or any other
modern artistic form, appears to invite cynicism and partisan
mockery. The New York Times article quotes Ibrahim Hooper,
the National Communications Director for the Council on
American-Islamic Relations, as saying, “If you offer a
balanced portrayal of the conflict, somehow you’re anti-Israeli
or pro-Palestinian, and that’s not the case. Facts are facts, and
history is history.” Hooper adds, “Any kind of programming
that brings this issue to the American public, that gives a
balanced perspective on the conflict, is of value.” Yet the issue
of “balance” remains complex and elusive.
Ramy Yaacoub, the deputy director of the Tahrir Institute
for Middle East Policy offers a similar argument to Hooper’s,
but approaches the issue from a different angle. In his New
York Times interview, Yaacoub welcomes drama productions
that parallel current Mideast conflicts with the caveat that,
along with explaining more about the situations, their creators
must also pay special attention to “nuance,” and remain openminded, “welcoming criticism” and the need “to make
changes.”
In the final analysis, the reader cannot overlook the
significance of the title of the New York Times review,
“Adding Fiction to the Fray.” This begs the question of what
role “fiction” can play in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict?
Again, cynics will argue against any fictive influence with
child-like naiveté, forgetting that the arts and literature have
been utilized in the past by both sides to support their causes.
Will the fictive dream driving the new miniseries, “The
Honorable Woman,” exercise any real influence in Gaza or
Israel? Blick offered his own view on this issue in a telephone
interview with the New York Times, stating, “There is no way
that a fiction should try to contribute or analyze what’s
happening right now, because it isn’t the place of fiction to
reflect that. On the other hand, even when these conflicts flare
up, as they have right now, the possibility of reconciliation
should never be withdrawn from the table.”
www.ALJADID.com
7
Editor’s Notebook
Editor’s Notebook (continued)
A Tale of Two Lies: ‘Transfer’ of Homs
Population Sold As ‘Victory’
I have been watching and hearing too much about Assad’s
military and political victories, especially his spurious
electoral 88 percent landslide. Watching Lebanese TV rarely
gives you a break from the news of Assad’s various and sundry
supposed victories, especially in the neighborhoods of Homs.
As if this were not enough, three days ago I was treated to
Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s televised speech where he cited
Homs as evidence of the regime’s “victorious” performance,
the likes of which will soon follow in other cities. The speech
was designed to remind us that Assad will remain a fixture in
Syria for some time to come, and any solution starts and ends
with him.
Though I did not expect anything different from Sayyed
Hassan, nevertheless I was amazed by how the man, along with
the shameful mumannah Lebanese media, glossed over the
city, which lies in ruins, and how they reasoned that some sort
of victory had been won, apparently both in ruining Homs and
slaughtering many of its people, as well as in the agreement
between the rebels and the government, according to which
the fighters would retain their light arms while withdrawing
from some neighborhoods of the city.
In addition, the agreement only became possible after two
and a half years of continuous war, and numerous human rights
violations, culminating in one and an half years of an
inhumane siege of Homs. The presumed “victory” and the
agreement was put into the proper context by Lebanese
journalist and author Hazem al Amin in Al Hayat:
“The regime army did not enter Homs because it defeated
its hungry fighters, nor because it demolished the whole city
over the heads of its people. The army entered because a few
hundred fighters decided to withdraw...The regime itself placed
the number of the withdrawn fighters at 980. How shameless
does the victory announcement seem!”
Despite its advantage in numbers, its arsenal of advanced
weaponry—Scuds, barrel bombs, chemical weapons and
airpower—the Syrian Arab Army was able to “enter the city
only when the fighters finally exited.” Throughout this
atrocious campaign against Homs, a comparative handful of
fighters were able to humiliate the Asssad regime, and defend
Syria’s third largest city. The fighters were “Syrians and only
Syrians, most of them were even from Homs itself.” In
vouching for the regime’s victorious stand, the mumannah
media had the audacity to claim that “the revolution has
abandoned its capital.” Instead, the fighters’ “departure was
painfully simple and tragic: they had been starved after
months of eating grasses, some of which were poisonous.” After
two and a half years, Homs has now been left a heap of rubble,
with no trace of walls or a square in which a child could play.
“The city’s population death count exceeds 20,000, with just
8
as many missing. Is there a victory more false than this victory,
or a more blatant impudence?”
“This is not a story
about winning and
losing, this is the story
of the obliteration of a
city. It appears this
atrocious regime will
not enter Homs with
fanfare, because this
time the destruction
serves a different
function.”
Hazem al-Amin
reaches a conclusion
that many observers
share: the pain and the
suffering the Syrian
regime inflicted upon
its own people in
Homs by far surpasses
what Israel did to the
Palestinians. Mr. alCamille Zakharia, Khameese Mosque
Amin calls it “The
1998 (From “View From Inside
Contemporary Arab, Video and Mixed
Transfer,” thus the title
Media Art,” and a Courtesy of the Artist
of his article. “The
and Taymour Grahne Gallery, New York.)
Transfer is
Accomplished After
the Destruction of the City” (Al Hayat, May 11, 2014).
“The Transfer,” al-Amin concludes, “was a mission that no
army had accomplished in over half a century...The term was
invented to describe what the Zionist organizations undertook
during what they call their ‘War of Independence’ and what we
call ‘Al Nakbba’ [or the Catastrophe.]” In the case of the
Palestinians, the event occurred when the Zionist Hagana
extracted them from their villages and towns, while in the case
of Homs, “the ‘transfer’ was bloodier, and the cost to its people
was greater than the price the Palestinians paid.” Yet the Assad
regime and its cheerleaders in Lebanon still classify its army’s
need to resort to war crimes and flagrant human rights
violations against its own people as a “victory!”
Reason Slides Backwards as Assad
Moves Toward a “Landslide”
Watching the news of the preparations for the Syrian
presidential elections and the excitement, if not mass hysteria,
sweeping the Syrian electorate in Lebanon, I found myself
asking where is the “reason” in watching a mass murderer
running for reelection as president. What prompted me to this
line of thought was an article titled “The Future of Reason,”
written for the digital Lebanese newspaper, Al Modon, by the
well-known Lebanese intellectual, Karim Mroueh. In the
article, Mroueh considers certain scenes that seem to call into
www.ALJADID.com
Editor’s Notebook
regime Al Akhbar newspaper in which his silence on Syria’s
crimes against humanity perplexed many of his admirers.
In 2000, Unsi al-Hajj sent Al Jadid a gracious letter in
which he expressed appreciation for our publication of one of
his famous poems, “Clouds,” which was translated by Professor
Issa J. Boullata (Al Jadid, Vol. 6, no. 31, Spring 2000).
Al Jazeera's Floating Symbol of 'New
Type of Media' Slowly Sinking
Camille Zakharia, Albert Hajj, 1999/2000 (From
“View From Inside Contemporary Arab, Video and
Mixed Media Art,” and Courtesy of the Artist and
Taymour Grahne Gallery, New York.)
question the very idea of reason or rationality, one of which is
Bashar al-Assad’s candidacy for a new term. “The first scene is
President Bashar al Assad running for a new term in light of
what his country is suffering at his hand and the hands of his
allies— that is the cold-blooded and organized destruction of
the country’s geography, history, special sites, and homes, as
well as the organized killing and exile of millions of Syrians.
Does this scene point to the presence of ‘reason’ in the minds
of those who are in power and who practice destruction,
killing, and expulsion with him?” Despite the seeming lack of
causes for optimism, Mr. Mrouhe remains hopeful: “Despite
what I have pointed to and expounded upon, I will remain
optimistic about the future of reason, as I will remain
optimistic that the rational actors for whom we have been
waiting will rise up to perform the role of building our nation
and expelling irrationality.” I confess that at times I find it hard
to see how Mrouhe sustains his optimism.
The Passing of Unsi Al-Haj
The Lebanese poet Unsi al-Hajj passed away on February
18, 2014. No one who cared about Arab and Lebanese letters
could be unaware of Unsi al-Hajj’s contributions. He
distinguished himself as a modernist poet (especially by his
association with the avant-garde journal Shi’ir—”Poetry”), art
and cultural critic, essayist, and editor of what used to be one
of Lebanon’s most important dailies, An Nahar. He closed his
career writing for the polemical pro-Hezbollah and pro-Assad
I have often written about the disgraceful institution
known as Al Mumannah Media. Now, it appears as though
shame touches even other media outlets, including those
which openly boast of their adherence to what most journalists
consider professional standards.
Foremost among these is Al Jazeera, whose conduct has
become nothing short of unseemly in the wake of the collapse
of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. Al Jazeera has ceased to
be an exemplar of the new "Arab media," a symbol of
progressive and courageous reporting challenging the
information monopoly of conservative and authoritarian Arab
regimes. Instead, Al Jazeera has regressed into an organ of
propaganda at a time when new forms of social media are
flourishing and moving forward.
I witnessed the latest instance of this just today, when the
network was downplaying what ISIS has been doing to Iraq's
minority communities, particularly the Yazidis in and around
Mosul. One of its news programs, during which the host raises
questions about the wisdom of using military action to stop
ISIS, coincides with reports that ISIS is now responsible for the
murder of more than 500 Yazidis, as well as the subsequent
flight of tens of thousands now stranded upon the Sinjar
Mountains. In fact, Al Jazeera has reverted to a well-worn trope
of state media in the Arab world, that of alleging a U.S.-backed
conspiracy to re-occupy Iraq. In so doing, the network also
parallels one of the news outlets run by Ghassan bin Jiddo, its
former star Lebanon bureau chief. Jiddo currently runs the proMumannah Al Mayadeen TV, a station whose latest act of
journalism is the discredited allegation that, according to
Hillary Clinton’s book, the U.S. actually founded ISIS!
The irony is that Al Jazeera's reporting lends credence to a
notion I still find myself reluctant to accept: that Qatar is
linked to ISIS in one form or another. What is also deplorable
is when you tune into Al Jazeera for current or breaking news,
you will often find its focus on Qatari allies such as the
Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, always a far cry from what is
actually happening in the world..
But this is not the only drawback with Al Jazeera. Its hosts,
both male and female, increasingly resort to making the most
outrageous of claims, and excel at alienating viewers: they
openly tell guests "I will not allow you to continue" (I ask
myself why the guests are invited in the first place), they
interrupt them in the middle of sentences and deny their
viewers the benefit of following the flow of a guest's thought.
www.ALJADID.com
9
Editor’s Notebook
Furthermore, they routinely overlook the factual errors that
their guests actually do make because they are too busy
waging ideological battles with them. These are some of the
many problems which, in fairness, are not particular to Al
Jazeera, but are characteristic of many other TV stations in
Lebanon and the Arab world.
‘Photographs of Agony,’ from Vietnam
to Gaza, from Ghouta to Mount Sinjar
The memory seems as though it is wired to store images,
images that often live unpredictable lives within the psyche.
Aziza, a 15-year old Yazidi
Kurdish girl, has been
haunting me for more than
a week. Her innocent facial
expression, a look of fear
mingled with cognitive
disorientation, continues to
disturb me despite the
helicopter that ferried her
out of Mount Sinjar to
safety. CNN’s Ivan Watson,
the reporter who aided
Aziza onto the chopper, is
said to have become
choked up with tears on
several occasions. The pain
one feels in this instance is
less the result of politics
and more that of the human
condition. Perhaps the
power of such images lies
in their apolitical and uncontextualized nature.
Their humanity trumps
politics, Yazidism,
Sunnism, Alawism, or Shiism.
Another enduring image which I have stored in my files is
that of a man comforting a young Syrian girl who is quite
obviously in near-total shock, screaming in Arabic “I am
alive!” in the aftermath of Assad’s chemical attacks on the city
of Ghouta in August 2013. Her words suggest that the young
woman has seen much death around her. As a child, she is
searching for a definition of death by inquiring whether she is
in that state or its antithesis.
Another enduring image is one that was discussed in
Geoff Dyer’s essay “Echoes of Agony” in the print issue of the
New Republic and “I Keep Returning to This Haunting Photo
From Gaza” in the digital issue. The image taken by the
photographer Finbarr O’Reilly was taken in a hospital in the
aftermath of the shelling of a U.N.-run school where 16 people
were killed. “But I kept coming back to this one (the
10
Photos credits
(Photo at top of
column 2 is from
the New
Republic; photo
in middle of
column 1 is webbased.)
picture)—partly because I couldn’t work out why I kept
coming back to it,” writes Dyer in his “Echoes of Agony.”
Apparently, that image evoked another from the past, that
prompted the author to search for it: “The answer came as
soon as I stopped searching for it: Don McCullin! Specifically
his picture of a Vietnamese man crouching with his back to a
wall, holding a blood-soaked girl injured in the wake of a U.S.
attack in Hue in 1968. The resemblance between the pictures
is extraordinary—and, on reflection, completely
unextraordinary: When a civilian population is bombed,
pictures like this are inevitable.”
John Berger (as cited by Dyer) who analyzed the more
than 40-year old picture in “Photographs of Agony,” offered
two competing explanations: “Berger claimed that the
publication of images like McCullin’s could be taken either
as a sign that people ‘want to be shown the truth’ or that
growing familiarity with images of suffering was leading
newspapers to ‘compete in terms of ever more violent
sensationalism.’”
But Berger rejects these two explanations and concludes
with a third one of his own. He claims that “such pictures
place events—which are the product of politics—outside the
realm of the political, where they become, instead, ‘evidence
of the human condition.’ They accuse ‘nobody and
everybody.’”
But Dyer’s analysis of these two pictures are gloomy with
regard to the prospects for a peaceful resolution of the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict: “There is one crucial difference
between the Gaza picture and McCullin’s: Whereas the eyes
of the Vietnamese child are turned imploringly toward us,
neither the Palestinian man nor the girl pay us any mind.”
Music Trumps Politics: Israeli-Palestinian
Orchestra Weathers Gaza Storm
The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra participation at the
Lucerne Festival coincided with the ongoing conflict between
Israel and Gaza, the reverberations of which cannot go unnoted
by the ensemble.
The West-Eastern Orchestra is the legacy of Daniele
Barenboim, an Israeli musician and conductor, and the late
Edward Said, a Palestinian- American academic and activist.
According to the Orchestra’s website, the project, founded in
1999, grew out of a workshop that targeted young Israeli and
www.ALJADID.com
Editor’s Notebook
Arab musicians and hoped to combine musical study with
intercultural collaboration—bridging a divide between
peoples and “cultures that traditionally have been rivals.”
Further proof of the concerted effort to establish common
ground through music is name of the Orchestra, the “WestEastern Divan.” The title “refers to a collection of poems by
the German poet Johann Wolfgang Goethe.” The founders of
the Orchestra attribute this intentionality to Goethe, as he “was
one of the first Germans to be truly interested in other
countries—he started to learn Arabic when he was over 60.”
I do recall many debates and discussions before and after
Said’s death in 2003, including controversies resulting from
his partnership and association with what his critics call the
“Zionist” Barenboim. Much, if not all discussions, were
derived from politics and the underlying approach of the WestEastern Divan project to transcend music and to create
sustainable understanding between Arabs and Israelis. Many of
the criticisms raised were in relation to Said’s latest position on
the solution of the Israel-Palestine question; before his death,
Said exhibited a marked change in his thinking in his support
of a bi-national one-state solution as opposed to the
establishment of two separate states for Israel and Palestine. It
is crucial to note that involvement in with Barenboim was
never a strictly political interest for Said, as he exhibited both
an academic and personal affinity for music his entire life; he
was the Nation Magazine’s music editor until his death in
2003.
The orchestra’s recent participation in the Lucerne
Festival of Switzerland was the topic of a critic’s notebook
article by James R. Ostreich in the New York Times (“Arabs and
Israelis Find Common Ground a Baton,” August 21, 2014). The
piece provides an account of the recent performance that
highlights both the successes and strains caused by “external”
factors ranging from the decision to play Wagner in Israel or
the violence of the current conflict between Israel and Gaza.
While the Wagner issue has only caused problems for the
Orchestra inside of Israel, the Israel-Palestine issue seems to
accompany the orchestra wherever and whenever it tours.
The Orchestra’s performance in the Lucerne Festival was
an “unqualified success,” according to Ostreich’s notebook.
Yet, there is something about this project that transcends music
and acquires a special importance in international peacemaking efforts. This intention is immediately evident in the
conceptual genesis of the Orchestra, the ensemble’s ethnic
makeup and the goal outside of musical performance the group
aspires to achieve. The youth participants in the Orchestra
have learned to draw on the social psychological theory that
peace starts at the personal level in order to create a successful
model for cooperation and coexistence between Israeli and
Palestinian citizens. The orchestra model has the ability to
begin at a micro-level, in schools and recreational clubs and
then transfer the fruits of collaboration and mutual
understanding to higher levels of cooperation in domestic and
international politics.
The Lucerne Festival this year coincided with the ongoing
war between Israel and Gaza, a conflict that has touched the
lives of all members of the ensemble. “The warfare between
Israelis and Palestinians is another matter, a potential spur to
conflict between Jews and Arabs within the ensemble,” wrote
Oestreich. Politics have a long history of impacting the
ensemble; “Daniel Barenboim recalls that there were serious
tensions during the fighting in Gaza in 2005, and that some
concerts were postponed, but that none of the players accepted
his offer to release them if their misgivings demanded it.” At
this time, Barenboim has reassured that “there is no tension.”
Yet Barenboim’s quote should not be taken literally, for
whatever tension and strain the war placed on the group was
“overcome.” Violinist Layale Chaker, a Lebanese of Palestinian
descent, told the Times, “Of course there are certain strains,”
but they are resolved “through open dialogue and debate.”
Is the Barenboim-Said legacy still alive despite the
political reverberations that the Orchestra faces on a daily
basis? The Times’ critic answers in the affirmative; “Certainly,
to judge from the performances here, whatever disunity may
exist is left off the concert stage.” AJ
A Faraway Room
B Y MILED FFAIZA
AIZA
I couldn’t sleep last night.
I tossed and turned in bed for hours,
thinking of my faraway room,
closed up these last fifteen years.
I didn’t open the door of the room
so as not to bother the spiders, busy building new bridges
or the dried flowers.
I didn’t shake the dust off Gorky’s The Mother
Or take a pencil and change Rimbaud’s hairstyle that I
sketched
when I was a child dreaming of the Orient
and of trading cheese and weapons.
I didn’t realize, back then, that an American wolf was
howling in my veins,
seeking refuge from my burning suns in the snow
And that a women was contemplating her nakedness in
my language on the California coast
And praying in an old church for god to let me go.
I couldn’t sleep last night.
I touched the key with a trembling hand
and stood for a moment in front of the door,
eavesdropping on the hushed wailing coming from the
wardrobe.
My fingers weren’t strong enough to turn it
and the key fell from my hand.
Translated from the Arabic by Karen McNeil.
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11
Essays & Features
Saad bin Mohammed: Epitomizing
His Country’s Journey of Discovery
BY WIDED KHADRAOUI
One of the pieces hanging in the Naila Gallery [un]stitched
exhibition, held September of last year in Riyadh, offers a
surprising poignancy, despite, or perhaps because of its repetitive
simplicity.
In this piece, labeled “Untitled”, a crowd of headless figures
in thobes (garments) stands at attention in systematic rows. The
painting is exquisitely detailed, with the creases on the shoulders
of the figures juxtaposed against the dark background. An army
without faces, wearing seemingly identical thobes.
The artist, Jeddah-based writer Saad Bin Mohammed,
displayed two of his paintings in the exhibition. Regarding
“untitled,” Bin Mohammed explains, “I am trying to identify
the current status of being, of most humans, as they decide to be
followers, standing in harmony, but without heads, as a symbol
of not utilizing the gift of the mind: thinking.”
This overall lack of critical thinking has led to a reductionist
understanding of Saudi Arabian culture, even domestically. Most
of the public art in the country depicts formulaic elements of
Saudi culture. Images of the moukhabarat (intelligence service),
palm trees, horses, and Arabic coffee pots all feed into this
simplistic vision.
Internationally, conjured images of Saudi Arabia usually
include a sea of black abayas (traditional gowns) and white
thobes. Yet these limitations don’t seem to constrain Bin
Mohammed’s creativity. The artist states, “Art has no nationality
or locality, art is all about delivering ideas, regardless of where
you are. I have one mission, in all my writings and art works, a
journey of self-discovery, not personally but globally.”
Bin Mohammed published four books, with his first two,
“Ana…!” (Me…!) and “Ana…Mara Okhra!”(Me…Again),
being released anonymously. The decision to publish
anonymously arose from his deep seated belief in the privacy of
self-discovery. “I mainly write/document for myself, as a way of
ventilation, so I don’t care to publish my writings and paintings
as it’s such a personal matter for me.”
The third book in the series, “Me….Finally”, will be
released in 2014. Bin Mohammed’s other published book, “Qal
wa Radadtu” (He Said and I replied), constitutes a unique work
of prose, reminiscent of Orhan Pamuck’s novel, “IstanbulMemories and the City”, in its poignancy and gentle
examination of existentialist topics. The work features poetic
dialogues between the author and a diverse cast of characters
expanding upon a variety of conversations and ideas. Bin
Mohammed explains, “I believe that thoughts are Gods… added
to our brains, alongside knowledge and observation of life, so
whatever we write or think, it is just recycling the original
thought.”
12
“Untitled” by Saad bin Mohammed
His latest release, “Khalf An Ana” (Behind the I), offers an
internal monologue, where the narrator acts as a representative
of the reader. Here, Bin Mohammed develops the theme with his
characteristic emphasis on exploration and unearthing, aspects
of which can be found in the entire range of his work.
“Nothing is easy, if you are finding any easiness in what
you are doing, you should recheck what you’re doing; you’re
probably doing something wrong,” says Bin Mohammed,
“Mainly, I am a thoughts deliverer, using writing to do so, if
letters didn’t[don’t] help, I turn to color and canvas to help with
that delivery.”
Throughout Saudi Arabia, the art scene and other creative
movements have increasingly gained momentum in a country
infamous for its austerity and challenges to both visual and
literary artistic endeavors. Representation of Saudi artists at
regional and international art shows, as well as art biennials,
continues to increase, with three new galleries opening in the
country this year alone.
Scheduled for February 2014, Saudi Arabia’s first festival
dedicated to design, presented by Riyadh-based arts and culture
magazine, Oasis, will coincide with Jeddah’s second annual
weeklong arts festival. As both his, and his country’s journey of
self-discovery continues, Bin Mohammed explains, “Saudi
Arabia is not an exception to art’s essential spirit of
AJ
exploration.”AJ
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Interviews
“The Assads’ Syria” Nevermore:
Ziad Majed Speaks on His
“The Orphaned Revolution”
Let’s begin with the title of the book. What do you
mean by the “orphan revolution?”
I chose this title, which was used by Farouq Mardam Bey in
one of his articles two years ago, because, in my opinion, it
accurately describes the condition of the Syrian Revolution. It
is a revolution that, from its inception, has not enjoyed proper
support or solidarity as guaranteed by its “advocates,” or at the
very least, not in proportion to the amount of sacrifices and
nightmares that have pursued the Syrian people due to the violent
response of the Syrian regime and its allies, Iran and Russia.
Suffice it to say that today, despite more than 130,000 killed,
150,000 detained, 8 million displaced, chemical attacks, missile
and air raids, and photos of the “death industry” inside Assad’s
prisons, the global response has not met its responsibility,
politically, militarily, diplomatically, in the courts, or on the
streets. This gives us a people left to face a severe, monstrous,
and well-equipped killing machine: an image of orphans.
So why this abandonment, or this global onlooker
mentality?
There are many reasons which I have tried to explain in the
book. Some relate to the reality of international relations today,
others to conflicting regional interests, a regression in “Western”
interest in the Middle East, the rise of a culturalistic school
towards our region that sees violence as normal behavior for its
groups. Then there is Islamophobia, causing some to defend the
regime or be biased in its favor as a secular and progressive
alternative to Islam, despite being despotic and criminal. Finally,
there are those who believe in “conspiracy theories,” and they
are many. This group interprets the world as a series of plots into
which all people fall victim.
The book is dedicated to “media and legal activists
in Syria.” Who are these activists, and where do they
stand on the revolution today?
These are the thousands of youths, male and female, that
were pushing for the revolution in several regions from day one.
They organized protests and sit-ins, filmed and photographed
what was happening around them on their mobile phones. They
also worked to defend detainees, document violations, record
lists of martyrs, and write in newspapers not only about the
situations in Syria and its prisons, but also about the joy found
in freedom of speech and of the press.
Mr. Ziad Majed (right) and the book cover (left)
They also uploaded pictures and videos to social network
sites, thereby increasing media outlets, while at the same time
issuing periodic statements and reports that allowed us to follow
the course of revolution. Thus, they established a shared Syrian
memory which prohibited forgetfulness and the Assad regime
from drowning out the people who stood up to seize their freedom
and defend it. Let it be known that hundreds of these activists
paid the price for this with their lives, and hundreds more today
are in prisons, in exile, and in hiding. Most of those still able
continue to work for the cause, or work in the fields of
development and aid. But of course their leading influence over
the trajectory of the revolution regressed since the summer of
2012, after the armed resistance turned into the dominant means
in facing the regime.
I must point out that when I finished the book at the end of
November 2013, Razan Zaitouneh, who through her work
embodies the activists I mentioned earlier, along with Samira
Al-Khalil (a former political prisoner and an activist from day
one in the revolution), Wael Hamada (activist and husband of
Mrs. Zaitouneh), and Nazem Hamady (lawyer, activist and poet),
had not yet been kidnapped. In my opinion their kidnapping is
one of the most brutal and ugly acts, both for what it meant and
for its location (in Douma in the heart of the “liberated” East
Ghouta), as well as for the responsibility for the kidnapping by
a large, militant Islamic group that controls the region. Therefore,
I amended the dedication in the French version, which was issued
in Paris, to read: To Razan Zaitouneh, Samira Al-Khalil and
Faïek al-Meer. The latter played a very important role in the
revolution, having previously spent 12 years in the Assad prisons,
and was arrested on October 7, 2013.
But is “revolution” an accurate description of the
current conflict in Syria? Can it be said that the
revolution has been hijacked as stated by many of
the activists you just mentioned?
That question is often repeated, and I believe that repetition
comes from an idealistic definition of a revolution, where it is
considered to be a general, noble, and peaceful rebellion against
an oppressive government. But that definition flies in the face
of the history of revolutions. For you will find violence in
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13
Interviews
revolutions, as well as opportunists, changes in the leadership
and in social orders, and lots of mistakes. You will also find that
in a revolution as deep-rooted as Syria’s, the innermost parts of
society are brought out, both the most praiseworthy and the
most vile. The revolution, therefore, continues, and the entry of
an armed resistance is a tragedy that was forced upon Syria by
the barbarianism of the regime and the global community’s
resignation of its duties. There is no doubt that this entry changes
many matters and pushes “war lords” to the forefront, especially
with the passage of time, with outside players able to interfere
by building up influence and buying loyalties and settling
scores.
That is all happening in Syria today, but that does not alter
the essence of a struggle against a despotic regime that enslaves
its people, nor does it alter the essence of the regime itself or its
fascism that can be seen through terrifying violence every day.
But as for the talk of a stolen revolution, it has no scientific
meaning. If what is meant by this talk is the tyrannical practices
of the Islamists, then the issue is their military presence and
participation in the fighting. Most of them are from rural Syria
and the suburbs of the marginalized cities.
Of course I am speaking about the Islamists of the
revolution, and not about ISIS or the jihadists coming in from
abroad and who thus have no link to the Syrian cause. They
have fought the revolution and punished its people — especially
in Raqqa— much more than they have fought the regime, which
was glad of their arrival from the beginning as they serve its
propaganda and weaken its enemies.
If we asked you what is the greatest thing that the
Syrian revolution has achieved to date, what would
you reply?
The restoration of “Syria the society” and “Syria the
people.” For Syria, apart from the current situation and its future
outcomes, is no longer merely borders and geopolitical strategy,
as Hafez al-Assad wanted it to be, and as he and his son named it
“The Assads’ Syria.” It no longer belongs to them, living outside
the era they once wanted for it: “Forevermore,” as their hideous
slogan said. But the price has been very high, and, of course,
dreadful. AJ
This conversation is excerpted from an Arabic-language
interview in the Lebanese electronic newspaper, NOW.
Translation and publication is by permission from Mr. Ziad
Majed.
Kasem Speaks Out About
Activism, Hope and Change
BY ELIE CHALALA
The late Casey Kasem (1932-2014) was one of the most
well-known radio personalities in the country. With his
immediately recognizable, distinctive voice, he has been
counting down the hits for over 40 years. His shows, including
“Casey’s Top 40 With Casey Kasem,” “Casey’s Countdown,”
and “Casey’s Hot 20,” used to be heard over 500 stations worldwide. In addition, he has guest-acted in numerous television
series, done thousands of radio and TV commercial voice-overs,
and provided voices for many TV cartoons characters. Kasem
son of Lebanese immigrants, was also extremely active in
promoting causes he believed in, which included anti-nuclear
power and weapons, opening dialogues between Arabs and
Jews, and combating anti-Arab stereotyping and
discrimination. Casey’s (he admonished me once for calling
him Mr. Casey) absence will be missed dearly by us in Al Jadid,
especially his kindness and support.
In 1996, I had the honor to interview Mr. Kasem. In that
interview, which we reprint here (From Al Jadid, Vol. 2, No. 6,
1996), Mr. Kasem emphasized how important political
participation and lobbying can be, remained optimistic, and
cited examples of organizations that are continuing to make a
difference in the public perception of important Arab American
and Arab issues. He also stated that activism has significantly
impacted Hollywood, and will continue to do so in the future.
The interview took place at the time of Israel’s 1996
“Operation Grapes of Wrath” or April War against Hezbollah,
who was leading the resistance against Israel’s occupation of
southern Lebanon. What follows is my 1996 interview with Mr.
Kasem.
As on many other occasions, Casey Kasem – one of the
most, if not the most prominent Lebanese-American personality
in this country – was in the forefront of those who demonstrated
outside the Israeli Consulate in Los Angeles this month. As
expected, he gave many statements to the members of the media.
In preparing this special issue of Al Jadid on Lebanon, I visited
with Mr. Kasem at his home and conducted the following
interview.
For Non-USPS Shippers
Al Jadid: How do you feel about the arguments that Arab
Americans are no match for the pro-Israeli lobby, and that, instead
of investing resources and energies on lobbying the government,
we are better off establishing links with other societal, nongovernmental groups?
(Publishers, Film Distributors)
Al Jadid has new address:
Al Jadid Magazine, 5825 Lincoln Ave. SteD 224
Buena Park, CA 90620
Casey Kasem: I think that there are enough people in Congress
– the Black Caucus for instance – who are sensitive to the issues
and who are knowledgeable about what’s happening and what
Translated from the Arabic for Al Jadid by Joseph Sills.
Translation Copyrights © 2014 AL JADID MAGAZINE
14
A Visit with Casey Kasem: the 1996 Interview
www.ALJADID.com
Interviews
has happened in the Middle East. There are Senators, past and
Al Jadid: Our community, or rather segments of the community,
present, and Congressmen like Bonior of Michigan, who have
often cast doubt on the usefulness of debates between Arab
been concerned and sensitive to the issues. So, I think it’s futile
Americans and Jews, liberals and conservatives. What is your
to be pessimistic. I’m an optimist and I know this: any cause
evaluation of such debates – like the coming one between Dr.
that’s really worthwhile is not one that’s going to be solved in
James Zogby of the Arabyour lifetime. Those are really the
American Institute and former
ones to be concerned about. I
Congressman Mel Levine, to be
happen to be a vegetarian, for
held in Los Angeles on May 20,
example; I know that not everyone
1996?
is going to become a vegetarian in
my lifetime. But I’ll carry the torch
Casey Kasem: I say to them that
and pass it along to the next
if they want to get the message and
[generation] and eventually,
the other side of the story told, to
hopefully, things will change.
the Jewish conservatives or
So we have to be patient; we
liberals, or to Israelis, then they
have to be optimistic. But more
have to be there to tell the story.
importantly, we have to be active.
In order to deliver the message,
We must recognize the “One person
you have to be there to do the
can make a difference” idea,
delivery! Let’s assume that
because it’s absolutely true – from
nothing happens. Are they any
a grassroots level and from a
worse off than they were to begin
political level in Washington D.C.
with? But what if something does
There are organizations like the
happen? What if people listen and
Arab American Institute (AAI),
recognize that there’s another
National
Arab
American
story to be told? Then it will
Association (NAAA), Arab
awaken their conscience. And who
American Anti-Discrimination
knows when the person who may
Casey Kassem by Zareh for Al Jadid
Committee
(ADC),
and
have been listening isn’t minister
organizations like the American
of Israel, etc? I believe that you
Task Force for Lebanon (ATFL). I think all of these organizations
can plant seeds through dialogue in conflict resolution – and I
are valuable and all of these organizations do impact the
believe that’s what we did. I’d like to believe that if people who
Congress, and, in some ways, the President.
act on conscience are told the other side of the story, then in
Look at it this way, if we hadn’t been actively lobbying, it
some way it will have an impact.
would only be worse than it is today. So I’m sure that somewhere
down the line the message is heard.
Al Jadid: In the wake of the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty in
1979, and more after the Oslo Accords that paved the way for
Al Jadid: Why are there not many Arab Americans involved in
some peace between Israel and the Palestinians, many Israelis
the political process? Are you content with the level of their
called for “normalization” of relations at the non-governmental
participation?
level – social, economic, and cultural – between Arabs and
Israelis, and between Arab Americans and American Jews.
Casey Kasem: Most Arab Americans in this country are not
However, there are many people opposed to such
involved, and it could be for the same reason that most
“normalization.” How do you feel about such opposition?
Americans are not involved politically. We can’t just blame Arab
Americans for ignoring the issues and not participating. They’re
Casey Kasem: I can certainly understand it. There’s a lot of
doing the same things that all Americans are trying to do, and
animosity that Arabs feel towards Israelis in particular, and some
that is: raise a family, bring home a paycheck, try to map out a
Jews, in particular who say “Israel right or wrong!” They feel
future, and they really have little time for other things. It’s one
that, until they’re on a level playing field, they’d like to wait
thing to give your money, but it’s more important to give other
before they build bridges along cultural, economic and social
resources as well: your time, your energy, and your concern on a
lines. And it’s understandable. But I would hope that all of us
large scale. Not everybody can do that. So, I’m just delighted
always keep in mind that there are good people and there are
that there are those who are doing it, and more and more every
bad people. For example, I would not want people to judge me
day, I believe people are beginning to recognize that Arab
based on what my government, the United States of America,
Americans do have a voice in Washington, in the organizations
has done in my lifetime to Third World countries with the use of
that I just mentioned. While they’re slow to become activists,
the CIA – because then they would hate me through and through.
there are those – young and old – who are joining and becoming
involved on a monthly, almost a daily, basis. So I’m optimistic.
www.ALJADID.com
15
Interviews
We can’t do that with Jews or with Israelis. They have to be
judged individually.
So, if you’re approached by someone who wants to build a
bridge because he recognizes that good people should get
together and do what they can to impact change, then I think
that’s important. I think progressive Jews and progressive Arabs
and Israelis and Palestinians have managed to do that, even in
some small way. And I would encourage that.
But I can understand why there are those who don’t, feeling
that it’s almost hypocritical when you’re being oppressed on
one hand, to try to build bridges on the other.
The Embrace of Beauty and
Suffering in Dina Abd
Elsalam’s ‘Rest in Peace’
Al Jadid: After attending the ADC’s latest convention in
Washington D.C., I would like your opinion on the following:
Some Arab Americans would like to see an organization like the
ADC focusing mainly on civil rights issues and leaving other
political questions like lobbying efforts to other organizations.
Casey Kasem: It’s hard to just be narrow in your approach.
What is happening to Arab Americans and to Arabs in the Middle
East seems to be intertwined; one seems to dovetail into the
next. I do believe that the ADC should focus more on civil rights
and anti-discrimination and leave it there. But it’s hard not to
pass judgment on things that are happening, that in some way,
impact what [the ADC is] doing. It would be easy to find fault
with that, of course, because you recognize that, using your
resources to take on a job that maybe NAAA or another
organization should be doing, diminishes your impact in a
certain area.
I hesitate to pass judgment on the ADC because they’ve
done such a magnificent job. Before the ADC, there was hardly
anything [in the area of anti-discrimination]. I know that I and
many of my friends have become active because of what Jim
Abourezk, Jim Zogby and Albert Moukhiber did, and all of the
other people who have been at the helm and who have worked
so hard all these years. I just have nothing but praise for them,
and I’m going to continue to support them and continue to
encourage other people to support the ADC. A lot has been
done. If you were to make a list of all of the accomplishments of
the ADC over the years, it would be enormous. When you
consider their budget, compared to the budget of the Jewish
Anti-Defamation League [tens of millions of dollars], it’s night
and day.
Al Jadid: In light of the two recent movies that depict the Arabs
in negative light, as a close observer, and direct participant in
many meetings with entertainment executives, do you see any
chance that the maligning of Arabs by the motion pictures
industry will be reduced?
Casey Kasem: I believe that the ADC’s voice is being heard in
this community. It’s all because there have been people who met
with industry leaders, asking them to be more sensitive to scripts
that might denigrate Arabs or Muslims. I think that we’ve had an
16
Courtesy of “Rest in Peace”
BY NADA RAMADAN ELNAHLA
Dina Abd Elsalam is an Egyptian lecturer in Alexandria
University. Her film debut, “This Is Not a Pipe” (2010), was
screened in a number of international festivals and received the
Arab Women Filmmakers award from Baghdad International
Film Festival in 2011. It was followed by her novel, “A Text
Abandoned by its Characters” (Nass Hagaraho Abtallaho),
published in December, 2012. Her second short fiction film,
“Rest in Peace” (Alf Rahma we Nour), received a funding award
from the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in 2013, won the best film
award from the Rencontres de l’image film festival (2014), and
was declared the winner of the Jury Prize for Short Fiction Film
from the 17th Ismailia International Film Festival for
Documentaries and Shorts (3-8 June, 2014) for “its mesmerizing
performances and stunning writing.” I spoke with Dina Abd
Elsalam on her passion for art, gender, filmmaking, the novel,
and future projects.
Nada Ramadan Elnahla: Your film opens with two elderly
sisters finding it difficult to sleep after one of them has just lost
her husband. What I find refreshing in your work is the focus
on the solidarity of the two sisters, a solidarity cemented by
their old age. The faint memory of the late husband, and the
references to issues like pension, public health insurance, and
even climate change, pale in comparison. Do you identify
yourself as a woman artist, and if so, do you consider yourself
a feminist?
Dina Abd Elsalam: It is true that when you’re a woman filmmaker,
you’re likely to be more sensitive towards women’s issues, as
was the case with my first works. That is why many came to see
me as a hard-core feminist. However, after you vent your initial
concerns in your early works, you tend to become more inclusive.
To be an artist is to embrace human suffering in its entirety, and
to perceive beauty wherever you find it.
www.ALJADID.com
Interviews
Nada Ramadan Elnahla: At the end of 2012, your debut novel,
“A Text Abandoned by its Characters” (Nass Hagaraho
Abtallaho), was published, and a year later, you went back to
the medium of short films. Which do you consider the artistic
medium that better represents you, writing or directing?
on it. Now, I am still in the first phase, as I have a hazy idea for a
new feature film about life and drama, and a hazier one for a new
novel, but will have to pull my socks up pretty soon and give
the muse a chance to strike. As Pablo Picasso once said,
“Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.” AJ
Dina Abd Elsalam: In the beginning, since I was doing so many
things at the same time, I was afraid to lose track and become
distracted. But the truth is, I don’t find them the least
contradictory. In fact, they are quite complementary. Many artists
have this tendency to concurrently participate in parallel
mediums, or at least to dabble in different art forms every now
and then. It is not something that you can help; it just happens.
If you want a logical explanation for it, I believe this is simply
due to the fact that the arts are interwoven, with extremely flimsy
borders between them.
Speaking in terms of
achievement, it is always
more practical to focus
on one area. But then I
want to follow my heart
and march to its beat.
There are things that I
want to say in writing,
and others in film. There
are times when I enjoy
being
among
my
students, and times when
I like to write a critical
piece. Whatever I do, I do
out of love and passion,
for these are my guiding
stars.
CONTRIBUTORS
Nada Ramadan
Director Dina Abd Elsalam
Elnahla: If the movie
industry is not as glamorous as the layman perceives it,
then navigating the independent film industry is probably
more difficult. Based on your experience, what were the
hardships you faced bringing your work to light?
Dina Abd Elsalam: Passion helps one, among other things, to
overcome financial limitations, time constraints, hesitation,
stress and overwork. But what I find really difficult about being
an artist, and particularly an independent filmmaker, is that you
can never really predict how your work will be received. It is
like gambling; the risks are always there and you have to be
prepared to take them. I hate to sound like a broken record, but
once more, passion keeps me going.
Nada Ramadan Elnahla: Please tell us about your future
projects.
Dina Abd Elsalam: When I have a new idea, it usually appears
in the form of flashes or dreams. Then, after a while, it starts to
haunt me and this is when I realize that I have to start working
Continued from page 5
p. 40) is an Associate Professor of Islamic History at McGill
University in Montreal. She has several publications on Islamic
Shiite intellectual and sociopolitical history, including articles,
encyclopedic entries and two books, one of which is co-authored
with Malek Abisaab.
Wided Khadraoui (“Saad bin Mohammed: Epitomizing his
Country’s Journey of Discovery,” p.12) is a freelance writer whose
publications have appeared in literary publications. She is
currently working on translating the Algerian poet Tahar
Djaout poems from French into English for Banal literary
Magazine in the UK.
Ziad Majed (“The Assads’ Syria” Nevermore: Ziad Majed Speaks
on his “The Oprhaned Revolution,” p. 13) teaches Middle Eastern
studies at the American University in Paris, and writes for many
Arab and European publications.
Frances Khirallah Noble (“A Philosopher’s Tale: The Remarkable
Life of Ibn Sab’in,” p. 22; “Briefly Noted,” p. 33 ) is an editor,
critic, and author of “The Situe Stories” and “The New Belly Dancer
of the Galaxy,” both by Syracuse University Press.
Lauren Khater(“Fragments of Love and Loneliness: Adania
Shibli’s New Novel,”p. 19; “Is Geography Destiny?,” p.20) is a
graduate of Davidson College with research interest in
international studies and Mideast politics.
Theri Alyce Pickens (“Translating Grief, Scattered blondes and
the Memories of the Dead,” p. 22) is an assistant professor of
English at Battes College. Professor Pickens’ latest, “Narratiing
Arab and Black Identity in Contemporary United States”
(Routledge, 2014).
Lynne Rogers (“The Arab: A 19th Century American Imperialist
Narrative,” p. 18; “Books In Brief,” pp. 28-32) and is a professor and
author whose articles have appeared in various publications.
Caroline Seymour-Jorn (“Alexandrian Cosmopolitanism:
Beyond Western Privilege,” p. 24) is an Associate Professor of
Comparative Literature at the University of Wisconsin at
Milwaukee. She is a specialist in Modern Arabic Literature and
Gender Studies and is currently working on arts and literature
related to the Egyptian Revolution.
Hanna Saadah (“Life From Beneath The Knife,” p. 34) is Emeritus
Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of Oklahoma Health
Sciences Center. He is also the author of several novels and books
of poetry.
www.ALJADID.com
17
Books
The Arab: A 19th Century
American Imperialist Narrative
American Arabesque, Arabs, Islam and the 19th Century
Imaginary
By Jacob Rama Berman
New York University Press, 2012, 269 pp.
B Y LLYNNE
YNNE R
OGERS
ROGERS
Jacob Rama Berman begins his erudite “American
Arabesque, Arabs, Islam and the 19th Century Imaginary” with
one of his many fascinating and little known cross cultural Arab
American anecdotes about the Syrian American, Hi Jolly, who
becomes one of the first U.S. Army camel drivers, and later retires
with his pet camels to Quartzite, Arizona. Well versed in both
Arab and American literary traditions, Berman examines the
manipulation of the “Arab” or Bedouin to create a “racial map”
of 19th century American culture.
Consistently drawing attention to the current relevance of
this manipulation of the “Arab,” Berman recounts how the rather
dubious 1805 American intervention in Tripoli establishes a
precedent of using military action as an “expression of America’s
commitment to freedom and democracy.” By way of contrast,
Irish American diplomat and former Barbary pirate captive and
freed Algerian slave, James Leander Cathcart, reaffirms American
self-righteous patriotism by emphasizing the chaos and brutality
of the North African country of Algiers. At the time of the
American passage of the Indian Removal Act, New Yorker, John
Lloyd Stephens characterizes the Bedouins as Native Americans
in his travel journals.
With impressive scholarly dexterity, Berman compares
American conflation of the Native American with the Bedouin
as a means of creating an historical narrative with 14th century
Arab writer, Ibn Khaldun’s, discussion of the Bedouin as a
contrast to urban progress. Berman then charts several American
cultural references, from artwork and female travel journals to
Melville, that borrow the Biblical narrative as a paradigm for
American imperialism and cite the interest in Petra as a reminder
of the folly of grand commercial optimism.
While Berman’s writing can be formidably dense, he offers
a wealth of cross-cultural examples and currents that beg further
exploration. His chapter on Edgar Allen Poe, alone, rushes from
references of 20th century American poetry to contemporary
and ninth century Arabic poetry, as well as the French Symbolists,
and finally concludes with a comparison of Poe’s short story
“Ligeia,” with its Sufi mysticism. In Poe’s terrifying refashioning
of Arab décor and images, he divests the arabesque of any
religious or cultural significance and “reinvests it with secular
anxieties about individuality, distinction, uniqueness, and/or
sovereignty.”
In his chapter “American Moors and the Barbaresque,”
Berman explores how the fluid figure of the “Moor” plays out in
the fascinating and contrasting historical narratives of Black
18
“Quartier Watwat” (1977) by Seta Manoukian. (From Michel Fani’s
“Dictionnaire de la peinture libanaise,” 2013, p. 266, Editions Michel
De Maule.)
America. Establishing the Moorish Science Temple around the
same time as the Harlem Renaissance, Noble Drew Ali preaches
that the black man in America descends from the Moors of
Morocco, thereby establishing a positive origin narrative rooted
in something other than slavery. At one point before his
mysterious death, Drew Ali, an accused plagiarist, and peddler
of healing mineral oil, attracts 30,000 followers with his appeal
to Blacks looking to Islam as a religious and political alternative
to white Christianity. Berman borrows Caribbean poet Claude
McKay’s term “Babaresque,” examining both McKay’s and
DuBois’ ambiguous responses to interracial relations with North
Africans. In a wonderful and logical bit of scholarship that would
startle the sleepiest student Berman suggests that Muslims, still
faithful at heart to their original religion despite being forcibly
converted to Christianity, traveled with Christopher Columbus
on his voyage to the New World
Berman concludes his study with the ethnic performative
role of Arab identity for the Syrian immigrants and inspires one
to reread Ameen Rihani and Vance Bourjaily. From the Arab
street urchin, a figure of Protestant redemption, to the iterant
peddler, Syrians can choose to ‘wash away’ their “Arabness” or
reclaim and enhance their ‘exoticism’ as a self-marketing strategy.
While reading Berman will provide challenges for the
uninitiated reader, he opens an array of topics that demands
further study and contains some historical and literary gems. If
I were still a graduate student, I would run to the library to order
“American Arabesque, Arab, Islam and the 19th Century
Imaginary.” AJ
Contempor
ar
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Contemporar
ary
Artt
Paintings by Zareh
www
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eh.com
www.ar
tistzareh.com
www.ALJADID.com
Books
Fragments of Love and Loneliness:
Adania Shibli’s New Novel
We Are All Equally Far From Love
By Adania Shibli
Translated by Paul Starkey
Clockroot Books, 2012
B Y LA
UREN KHA
TER
LAUREN
KHATER
Eschewing the traditional framework of a novel, Adania
Shibli’s work “We Are All Equally Far From Love” instead draws
together fragments of stories that emphasize the essence of
human relationships. “We Are All Equally Far From Love” begins
with the story of a young woman who, per the instruction of her
boss, begins a correspondence with an older man. Although her
initial letters begin as a business inquiry, the young woman
finds herself falling in love with the man behind the letters. Told
only from her perspective, we never truly know if he reciprocates
her love. What becomes markedly clear, though, is that this love
is an anchor to her soul: “it was only when I was writing to him
and reading his letters that I would feel myself.”
As abruptly as this young woman’s love story begins, it
ends, and the narrative shifts to Afaf, a young girl who works at
a post office, channeling information to her father who is a
collaborator. Afaf comes across the letters and keeps them as
treasures, flickers of light in her dark life. She lives in a household
characterized by her step-mother’s hatred, her father’s cruelty,
and the shame brought upon her family when her mother left
with another man.
From there, the story moves fluidly into that of a woman
who longs to leave her husband for the doctor who cares for her
after she suffers abuse at the hands of her spouse. In this transient
relationship, she experiences the normalcy of a relationship:
laughter, kindness, touch, and healing. As such, “she no longer
had any chance but to love him”; yet, her expression of this love
wins nothing more than a dismissal, and she is left trying to
forget about him.
Next, comes the tale of a man suffering crushing loneliness,
who has had only fleeting experiences with love and who cannot
even bring himself to interact with the people who come into
his store.
Then, we learn of another marriage coming to a close, with
both the husband and wife desperately grasping at the ends of
their relationship. He desires to be with her, to the point that he
threatens rape, and she, desperate to move forward, develops a
“ray of hatred” for him.
The final tale in the novel tells of a woman and her family:
an indifferent father, an angry and demanding mother, and
siblings who care nothing for her. Surrounded by these unnatural
relationships, the girl is struck by “a tenderness” in her father’s
voice that she had “never heard before” for a woman not his
“Composition” (1970) by Salwa Raouda Schoucair. (From Michel
Fani’s “Dictionnaire de la peinture libanaise,” 2013, p. 320 Editions
Michel De Maule.)
The Only Diner in the Restaurant:
A Travel Writer’s Perspective on
the Arab Spring
A Tourist in the Arab Spring
By Tom Chesshyre
Bradt Travel Guides, Ltd.
The Globe Pequot Press Inc., 2013
BY DANIEL HUGH-JONES
When the first violent images of the Arab Spring flashed
across our television screens, most of us watched with interest,
wished the demonstrators more or less success in their efforts,
depending on our points of view, and then got on with our lives.
Tom Chesshyre, on the other hand, decided to take a look from
up close, travelling through Tunisia, Libya and Egypt in the
wake of revolt. This might come as no surprise – he is a journalist
for the Times of London after all – but Chesshyre is not that sort
of journalist. He is not a foreign correspondent. He writes, but he
writes about travel: chatty books written from the point of view
of the casual tourist. As he readily admits at the beginning of his
latest book, “A Tourist in the Arab Spring,” he is no “veteran
reporter with gung-ho tales from the front line” and has “no
www.ALJADID.com
19
Books
“Graffiti Tunis” (courtesy of “A Tourist in the Arab Spring.”)
experience of the sound of bullets fired in anger.” He plans to
visit the region not as foreign correspondent but as a “casual
visitor with an open mind.” It is this readiness to admit that he is
visiting the region as a tourist – not just out of his area of expertise
but out of his comfort zone – that gives his book much of its
charm.
Nonetheless, it is his desire to address the political roilings
of the region, so he begins his voyage in Tunisia where the Arab
Spring began. At Sidi Bouzid, in 2011, an unknown fruit seller
named Mohamed Bouazizi drenched himself with paint thinner
and set himself alight in protest at his ill treatment by corrupt
local officials. Arriving in Sidi Bouzid, Chesshyre immediately
establishes the modus operandi he will use throughout his
journey. It is simple and personal. He navigates to the place
where the crucial events occurred and starts talking to people.
Some will talk to him and some will not. At times he is treated as
a spy, and on one chilling occasion he is abducted by the local
militia. The result however, is a series of snapshots of life in the
aftermath of revolution that, while sometimes sad, is always
frank, generally engaging, and often revealing. Travelling
through Tunisia, Libya and finally Egypt, he meets smugglers,
policemen, rebel soldiers and, in one memorable scene, a group
of men engaged in the dangerous task of mining unused bullets.
As a journalist, Chesshyre is ever alert to the practical results
of the political turmoil, and his sharp attentiveness to telling
details is one of the book’s strengths. Much has been made of
the importance of social media in the revolutions of 2011 and
2012, and in all three countries he is quick to notice the
prevalence of graffiti written in English or of images without
words at all, facilitating foreign media coverage and thus
garnering international attention. And while he generally
eschews broad political analysis, Chesshyre is astute in his
efforts to point out how such small, individual details combine
to reveal a larger pattern. Like any other tourist, he spends much
of his time with guides and drivers, as well as eating in hotel
restaurants. But in his case, he notices that he is always eating
alone, the only diner in the place, with no one to talk to but the
staff. One unfortunate consequence of the revolutions in all
20
The author with his guide, Othman, keeper of the Berber castle.
(Courtesy of “A Tourist in the Arab Spring.”)
three countries has been the damage done to their economies
through the reduction of the tourist trade.
By talking to ordinary people, Chesshyre gains a sense of
what fueled the various revolutions and the differing
circumstances of those who took part in them. In doing so, he
also offers a picture of life post-revolution. It is not a carefully
posed landscape, photographed from a distance: it is a messy,
fractured close-up, but it is extremely vivid. It is clear, moreover,
that events are still moving. If there is a common theme to his
interlocutors’ comments, it is their belief that, especially in
material terms, things are not much better than they were and
that as a result, political events may move in a variety of
directions. As events have shown, they were right in their
predictions. AJ
Is Geography Destiny?
The Revenge of Geography
By Robert D. Kaplan
Random House Publishers, 2012
B Y LA
UREN KHA
TER
LAUREN
KHATER
Various disciplines—political science, economics, religion,
and history, among others—have toiled endlessly to examine,
predict, prevent, or understand the basis for interstate strife.
Robert D. Kaplan approaches the study of international conflict
through a different lens or discipline: that of geography. His
major contribution, “The Revenge of Geography,” uses
geography, and its sister field of geopolitics, to analyze trends
in global and regional hostilities.
The format of the book is divided into three distinct parts:
the first constitutes a literature review of major geopolitical
philosophers, ranging from Herodotus to Mackinder (“the father
of modern-day geopolitics”); the second offers an in-depth
review of a handful of case studies, emphasizing such critical
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Books
“pivots” as Iran, China, and India; finally, the third and shortest
part contains Kaplan’s forecasts for what the United States might
face in terms of foreign policy challenges based on these
geopolitical conclusions.
Running through the author’s discourse is a singular thesis:
that geography affects politics, and, by extension, shapes conflict
in ways that man-made borders and nation-states cannot
counteract. He offers a compelling argument for the power that
immovable mountain ranges exercise over fluctuating politics
and governments; or the influence water sources have in defining
borders that distinctly cross and reject boundaries drawn by the
course of human history. He even develops the idea that dominion
over various geographic realms (air, land, water) can bolster or
weaken the political prowess of a country.
The core of Kaplan’s book are the case studies, which he
uses to flesh out his theory of how integral geographical features
such as mountain ranges and waterways can drive global
conflicts. In order to make evident these relationships, the case
studies focus on the political histories of various nation-states
and peoples, while concomitantly offering descriptions of the
various geographic characteristics unique to each of those
countries. Kaplan ties some of these observations together into
salient points about exactly how geography can affect the
political maneuverings of governments, although more analysis
would have helped to strengthen his theory.
An example of this analysis lies in Kaplan’s exploration of
the Middle East and the evolution of its various conflicts as
dictated by geography. In the book’s introduction, he briefly
addresses how the region’s geography drives certain trends of
political turmoil, looking at Tunisia and Yemen as disparate
political systems because of their defining geographic
characteristics (e.g. Tunisia’s proximity to Europe makes it more
prone to democratization while Yemen’s mountainous terrain
weakens unity and centralized power). This discussion
foreshadows the crux of the corresponding chapter on the former
Ottoman Empire, where he uses geographic factors to analyze
and predict the results of various countries’ experiences of the
Arab Spring and the wave of democratization flowing across the
Middle East. Here, Kaplan’s analysis switches between forecasts
for various nation-states, ranging from Turkey to Iraq, giving
significant attention to the obviously relevant case of
Syria. Given the constant evolution of the Syrian crisis, this
case study stands out as the one by which the reader might best
test some of Kaplan’s theories and predictions. Kaplan opens
the discussion by looking at Syria’s historically and
geographically diverse populations, which transcend the
modern-day boundaries imposed by Western powers upon the
dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. He aptly identifies the
sectarian divides that plague the region, and are particularly
exacerbated by Syria’s position at the center of a complex web
of religious groups whose communities extend from
sectarianism-scarred Lebanon into the vast populations of Iraq
and Iran.”
As the conflict continues to unfold, it will be interesting to
see how Kaplan’s geographic propositions play into the final
In Memoriam
Sabah Zwein (1955-2014)
a Lebanese poet, contributor,
and a friend
“après-midi” (1976) by Assadour. (From “Dictionnaire de la peinture
libanaise”, 2013, p. 71, Editions Michel De Maule.)
resolution: indeed, we might find that while geography may
play a critical role in determining the result of such conflicts,
the human factor—that is, the steering of a country’s fate via the
actions and reactions of groups, leaders, and the population at
large—may prove, figuratively speaking, an equally difficult
mountain to conquer.
At its outset, “The Revenge of Geography” promises an
exciting and novel approach to global conflict studies. Indeed,
Kaplan’s expertise in world affairs and experience in dealing
with such topics is found throughout his work, replete with
examples from his professional life, where he has served in a
multitude of political positions, both inside and outside
government institutions. The thesis, although a compelling
explanation of global conflict trends, may prove too
deterministic.. Despite Kaplan’s repeated strains that geography
does not predetermine conflict, his analysis promotes that
viewpoint. If this approach to a complex field of study, shows
the influence of Samuel Huntington (a personal hero of Kaplan)
in its generalizations, it also contains prescient points about
geography’s relationship to conflict. These will certainly help`
policymakers and world leaders to better prepare for future
conflicts and perhaps understand the ways in which geography
can be used to resolve some of the most troubling sociopolitical
problems the world currently faces. AJ
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21
Books
Translating Grief, Scattered Blonds
and the Memories of the Dead
The Rising of the Ashes
By Tahar Ben Jelloun
Translated from French by Cullen Goldblatt
City Lights Publishers, 2010.
The Blond Texts and The Age of Embers
By Nadia Tuéni
Translated from French by Amir Parsa
UpSet Press, 2012.
B Y THERI AL
Y CE PICKENS
ALY
The task of the translator is a thankless one. Repeatedly
overlooked when a work has been praised, translators more often
take the blame when a piece does not hook its intended audience.
Both Tahar Ben Jelloun and Nadia Tuéni have written their
original collections of poetry in French. As a community of
readers, we should be thankful that Amir Parsa and Cullen
Goldblatt
have
shouldered the task of
translating three of
these
collections.
Though previously
translated into Arabic
(Tahar Ben Jelloun) and
English (Nadia Tuéni),
these collections were
not widely available in
English until the Parsa
and
Goldblatt
editions.Ben Jelloun’s
The Rising of the Ashes
focuses on the dead and
the dying. Written from
the perspective of the
dead, the long poem
approaches its difficult
subject matter with the
startling clarity of grief.
In my experience, it is
not possible to read
this collection without
becoming
griefstricken. The Rising of
the Ashes begs the
reader to not only
acknowledge the dead,
“Structure Speciale,” 1972, by Salwa
but to also relinquish Raouda Sehoucair. (From “Dictionnaire
any claims concerning de la peinture libanaise,” 2013, p. 321,
the narratives already Editions Michel De Maule.)
22
told about them – whether patriotic, imperialist, nationalist, or
silent.
In these poems, the various speakers contemplate how they
want to remember and to be remembered, as well as what to
make of the memories of others. As we contemplate the
repercussions of war, this collection presents the voices most
often overlooked, but perhaps most integral to our conversations.
Tuéni’s Blond Texts speaks mainly in the lyrical “I”,
revealing the influence of Arab oral traditions. Unlike Mahmoud
Darwish, Tuéni does not repeat phrases with a difference. As a
result, Blond Texts does not capture the improvisational quality
of a storyteller, nor the bluesy quality of a chanteuse. Repetition
becomes redundant rather than striking, while poetic images
reveal a passion and verve. For instance, the poet writes: “You
see, Narcissus/if it’s not given to everyone/to know how to love/
to hate beautifully/is a gourmet’s prerogative.” Yet, these
moments prove scarce within Blond Texts. I suspect that Tuéni
draws upon the colloquial correlation of “blond” with “scattered.”
In that vein, the amalgamations of images and aphorisms
becomes cohesive.
The Age of Embers possesses a clearer focus, while
showcasing more fascinating ambiguities and surprises of
language. Unlike the first collection, The Age of Embers contains
images that repeat with a difference, making them smolder and
spark
Despite my reservations concerning stylistic choices in The
Blond Texts, I recommend these collections to all readers. Both
authors provide a rare aesthetic, focusing on the mundane and
making it new again. After all, isn’t that what poetry ought to do
– change your perspective? AJ
A Philosopher’s Tale:
The Remarkable Life of Ibn Sab’in
A Muslim Suicide
by Bensalem Himmich
Translated from the Arabic by Roger Allen
Syracuse University Press, 2011
BY FRANCES KHAIRALLAH NOBLE
Set in Spain in the turbulent twelfth century, “A Muslim
Suicide” follows the Sufi philosopher Ibn Sab’in in his daily
life as he negotiates the political, religious, and cultural
upheavals of his era. The Crusaders seek to reclaim Spain from
the Muslims; Muslims argue religious doctrine amongst
themselves; and government leaders engage in corruption.
Because of Ibn Sab’in’s inclusive moral and ethical views, and
the size and devotion of his followers, he is the unwilling enemy
of them all.
Ibn Sab’in narrates his own story in great detail, usually
offering philosophical and religious perspectives to his
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Books
experiences—whether it is
making love, seeking his lost
manuscript, the pouring of
milk by a friend, living in
solitude, fleeing to Mecca, or
taking
refuge
in
an
underground cellar. Under the
best as well as the most difficult
circumstances, he gives praise
to God and affirms life on earth.
He simultaneously maintains
distance and lives immersed in
what is happening around him.
How to lead a worthy life; how
to act; the nature of man and
his dilemmas: these are the
overriding subjects that
consume him and he sees their
relevance to the mundane as
well as the sublime.
Yet, in the end Ibn Sab’in
commits suicide. Or does he?
Is his mind clouded by fever
and hallucination? Does he
kill himself? Does he imagine
an attacker? Or does he
experience death at the hands
of another who is his enemy?
Does the manner of his death
change the meaning of the
words he spoke during his life?
Himmich allows his
narrator considerable leeway
in setting forth what is on his
mind—he assumes a willing
and persevering listener for the
great philosopher. In addition
to being a work of historical
fiction, the book is, after all, a
meditation: a reminder to slow
down and think deeply. Not all
readers will be so patient,
however, and the story
occasionally gets bogged
down.
In a rich and majestic style
well matched to his subject,
Himmich has woven together
fiction and history to explore
Ibn Sab’in’s individual life as
well as a complex period of
medieval Muslim history. “A
Muslim Suicide” is complex,
challenging, and rewarding. It
is a book to be savored. Or as
Ibn Sab’in advises, “…seek to
understand the secrets, clear
the path before you, and you
will see both past and
AJ
future.”AJ
Fragments of Love
wife. She, too, seeks a
relationship that bears more
weight than the moment it
lasts, but seemingly never finds
it.
What makes this novel so
beautiful is its eloquent
depiction of the ephemeral,
fragile, and vital nature of
human relationships. There
exists between these stories a
delicate connection, so
exquisitely written as to make
the reader wonder whether each
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fragment is truly divergent from
the others or if they are pieces
of the same story. In this way,
Shibli evokes the universality
of our experiences with human
relationships, our equal
“distance
from
love,”
regardless of where or when a
story begins and ends. AJ
www.aljadid.com
23
Books
Alexandrian Cosmopolitanism:
Beyond Western Privilege
world, different valences of cosmopolitanism do exist in his
texts. Halim uncovers these, in part, by exploring some of his
unpublished and lesser-known poems. Indeed, she argues that
his larger corpus offers complex and shifting categories not only
of Greek, and barbarian, but also of Persian, Hellenophone and
Alexandrian Cosmopolitanism: An Archive
Philhellene identities, among others.
by Hala Halim
Perhaps most fascinating for this reviewer is Halim’s
Fordham University Press, 2013
penultimate chapter on the little known Bernard de Zogheb
(1924-99), a virtually unpublished Alexandrian writer of SyroBY CAROLINE SEYMOUR-JORN
Lebanese background. Halim focuses on de Zogheb’s libretti,
which remain largely unpublished. Halim explores various
In her “Alexandrian Cosmopolitanism: An Archive,” Hala aspects of de Zogheb’s identity as Levantine, Alexandrian and
Halim explores enduring and critical literary constructions of queer, examining his attitudes toward Alexandrian
Alexandria and its long touted “cosmopolitanism.” She cosmopolitanism. Interestingly, she explores how this writer used
reexamines some of the canonical writings on the city, such as a camp approach and pidginized Italian in his writing both to
those by C.P. Cavafy (1863-1933), E.M. Forster (1879-1970) poke gentle fun at the Levantine elite culture and also to celebrate
and Lawrence Durrell (1912the ‘mongrelized’ linguistic
90), and, questions why there
worlds of the Levantine
has been a persistent disregard
dragoman and middleman. For
for other authors and other
Halim, de Zogheb’s interest in,
representations of the city.
and representation of, diverse
Halim’s concern with the focus
personalities, positionalities
on select ‘canonical’ works
and linguistic worlds pushes
derives, in part, from the
back against the notion of a
resulting discourse which
glorified Greek and European
characterizes the city’s
based
cosmopolitanism
cosmopolitanism as Europeanusually celebrated as part of
based and nurtured.
Alexandria’s golden past.
This discourse also implies
Halim does not pose a
that the Arab-Islamicization of
rigid
definition
of
the city witnessed the downfall
cosmopolitanism in this
of this cosmopolitanism, and
intriguing text, but rather
of the city in general. Halim
explores the concept as it has
remarks that in literary studies
interfaced with colonialism,
of Alexandria, the neglect of
post-colonialism, and more
contemporary
Egyptian
recently, the 2011 Revolution.
authors writing in Arabic
She challenges her readers to
causes particular concern with
consider
that
the increasing availability of
cosmopolitanism is not a
translations from Arabic. She
Western concept or privilege,
points to well-received and
and that this can only be made
translated authors, such as “Cavalier populaire” (1970) by Rafic Charaf. (From “Dictionnaire de la clear by a study of Arabic and
Edwar al-Kharrat (b. 1926) and peinture libanaise,” 2013, p. 113, Editions Michel De Maule.)
Italian authors, among others,
Ibrahim Abdel Meguid (b.
who have made literary
1946), whose works offer alternative views of the city, its history, explorations of the city. She suggests these can provide an
practices and inhabitants, presenting contrapuntal alternative, post-colonial reconfiguration of cosmopolitanism
cosmopolitanisms of the city.
by appealing to the complexity of the city’s culture, and its
In her chapter on Alexandrian Greek poet, Halim argues for popular traditions, including those of syncretism and interfaith
a more complex approach to constructions of cosmopolitanism. reciprocities.
She suggests that although the binary between the Greek and
Halim’s text will be of great interest to students of
the barbarian has been central to traditional notions of comparative literature, cosmopolitanism, post-colonial writing
Alexandrian cosmopolitanism, this binary is not, when and Mediterranean studies. It will be useful, as well, to students
considered as a whole, entirely entrenched in Cavafy’s works. of Egypt in general, but particularly to those interested in the
She states that although many critics have characterized Cavafy Egyptian intelligentsia, literati, and artists. AJ
as ignoring the Egyptian/Arab elements of Alexandria’s cultural
24
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Books
religiously mixed Beirut of the 1970s. He then turns to his
migration as a university student to Canada and his settling
there and how he has gone on to find both stability and success.
We learn of his intellectual, social, and even sexual maturation
up in Canada, which culminates in a description of a visit he
made to a Canadian Aboriginal reserve, in the company of the
Canadian woman who would become his wife and the mother of
their daughters.
Beirut Culture Shock: A Canadian Tale
Tying the book together is the constantly recurring motif of
By Kamal Dib
contrast in both time and space; between the present and the
Beirut, Les editions dar annahar, 2013
past; between the Lebanon of the past and the Canada of today.
We read about Beirut, Toronto, and Ottawa, the people and
BY JIHAD EL–ZEIN
cultures he has encountered; and at every turn, we are served
The author Kamal Dib enjoys his current identity as a with a comparative exposure, at once personal and profoundly
Canadian, but he has not lost track of his Lebanese roots, even culturally revealing. Dib contrasts his happiness in Canada with
though his memory of Lebanon is that of a country that no the dismal life in the Lebanon of his childhood but he rejects
longer exists. In his new book, “Beirut Culture Shock: A any simplistic analysis. He continues to question his current
condition,
exploring
his
Canadian Tale,” Kamal Dib
understanding
of
what
it
is
to
be
presents his personal experience
Canadian,
and
how
he
became
the
of the state – and the State – of
man he is, his integration in
Lebanon. Dib’s view of what is
Canadian society, and the stability
“personal” is a broad one, and
and sense of inclusion he found
the work offers a multithere.
dimensional vision of the
It is when he considers the
Lebanese experience focusing
political,
social, and economic
on a variety of different identities
decline
of
Lebanon since 1975 in
and cultures. His style is
the
light
of his positive
cinematic; using a careful
experiences
in
Canada that Dib’s
assemblage of depictions of
work
is
at
its
most
penetrating. The
individual experiences, the
author’s
analysis
leaves no stone
writer provides a thoughtful
unturned
in
its
persistent
albeit bleak commentary on the
questioning
of
both
the
public and
cultural, political, and economic
private
elements
within
Lebanese
contrasts between Canada and
“Souvenir” (1979), by Crayon De Coulteurs. (From “Carras
culture.
He
throws
into
bold
relief
Lebanon.
Christos Carras,” Athens, 1982.)
Canada’s
success
at
integrating
It is a commonplace,
perhaps even a cliché, for intellectuals who have left Lebanon millions of people from vastly diverse backgrounds and contrasts
to live in the West, to recognize that the version of Lebanon that it with Lebanon’s disintegration as a state and society. We learn
lives in their minds no longer exists. Many wish it could of institutional failure too. He reveals to us the scandalous state
somehow be revived, but relatively few have taken up the of the Lebanese media and Beirut’s hate-promoting television
challenge of directly addressing this question of having two stations. Avoiding polemic, he does so by using eyewitness
identities, new and old, coexisting side by side. In the past 10 accounts, allowing the story to tell itself. Kamal the economist
years though, we have seen the emergence of a group of Diaspora is also at work here, diagnosing the bankruptcy of Lebanese
Lebanese authors, first generation immigrants, who lived a economic policy since the early 1990s until today, the failure of
portion of their lives in the old country but then acquired a new the goals of reconstruction and development in the period that
identity in their adopted homelands. Some notable examples followed the civil war and the alarming gap between rich and
are Rabih Alameddine and Anthony Shadid in the United States, poor.
Dib combines a deep awareness of classical Lebanese and
Kamal Dib in Canada, Amin Maalouf in France, and Abbas ElArab
culture with an intellectual mastery of modern Western
Zein in Australia. Working in a variety of formats, ranging from
culture,
and this ability to see both sides deepens the tragedy of
novels to biographies or autobiographies, they have written
his
loss.
He writes a moving elegy to the bygone Westernized
about their experiences but in the language of their adopted
Lebanon
that belonged to his childhood, a lament for a spent
countries.
modernity,
a failed state, and a society in general decline. One
In its details and chronological flow, Dib’s book reads rather
may
not
agree
in every detail with his analysis but one cannot
like a novel. He describes his life as a child, and then as a
help
but
be
moved
by it. AJ
schoolboy and adolescent in the cosmopolitan, ethnically and
From Lebanon to Canada:
A Tale of Immigration, Contrasts
and Contradictions
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25
Books
The Death of Plows and Books:
Isa al-Yasiri’s Devastating Vision
of Peasant Migration from the
Iraqi South
BY RULA JURDI
Isa al-Yasiri, a well-known Iraqi poet, comes from one of the
towns of Maysan in southern Iraq. He moved to Baghdad in
1972, working at Sawt al-Jamahir, then the Literary Section of
Jaridat Al Iraq. He became the main editor of the Cultural Section
of the magazines “Alif Ba”, and “Asfar”, both devoted to
literature and art. The Iraqi publishing house, Dar al-Qissa alIraqiyya, awarded him the Creativity Coronet (Qiladat al-Ibda)
in 2004, and he received the 2008 Damascene International
Griffin Award (Al-`Anqa al-Dawliyya), as well as the International
Free Word Award (2002), tied to the International Festival for
Poetry in Roterdam-Holland. Other recipients of this award
include the Spanish poet Raphael Alberti, the South African
poet Braytan Bakh and the Morrocan poet Taher Ben Jelloun.
A tour de force, al-Yasiri’s poem “For Things I Love” (Min
Ajli Ashya’a Uhibbuha), appears in his collection “Shita alMarai” (The Pastures’ Rain) and has been translated into 12
languages:
I know it to be cruel and frightful
This world
I said to it: Oh you madman
Shake the cement off your body
And tar from your feet
It turned its back to me to continue the game –
Of flower slaying
Ayyam Qaryat al-Muhsina (2011), al-Yasiri’s novel, offers
the reader a rare look at southern Iraqi life painted through an
array of rural characters faced with state oppression, nature’s
inconstancy, and their own human limitations. The novel takes
us to the heart of the Iraqi south, to Maysan, around the river of
Abu Abshut, a tributary of the Tigris river. The cries of the
partridge bird calling its mate are interrupted by the sound of
the hooves of al-Saqlawiyya, the stallion that carried the
community leader of al-Muhsina village through moments of
triumph, sadness and defeat.
The large landholder, Al-Jadd al-Sayyid Ali (Grandfather),
is a benevolent and accomplished graduate of Najaf’s seminary.
Not merely the revered patron of the peasants, he has also helped
them teach their children and has protected them from the
capricious policies of the state. The Grandfather appears in the
image of the healer, transforming the spirit of Ithwayni from “a
rugged land to a soft one.” The Grandfather and his descendants
have abandoned a reputable judgeship and state posts in order
26
“News” (1989), by Stan Dann. (From ART LA89 Catalogue, p.135.)
to preserve their “sanity,” and morality. The land and the book
offer two symbols of salvation in this novel.
Two generations later, the grandchild faces a different
challenge. The fear of state intrusion and of losing their family
“treasure”, the library, intensifies when state officers begin
persecuting the teachers at al-Kumayt school, whom they accuse
of corrupting the views of the young and encouraging
communism. With the threat of floods and drought imminent,
the prices of cereals, sugar, tea, tobacco and textiles also begin
to rise. The novel captures the peasants’ conflicting emotions in
the face of the drought.
The ambiance of the village, its linguistic, social and
psychological features, evokes some of William Faulkner’s works,
especially Shall not Perish. This rural south, unlike its
counterpart for Faulkner, is neither tarnished by prejudice nor
marked by alienation. At this juncture in Iraq’s history under the
Baath regime, al-Yasiri portrays a utopian south, a place for
love, sacrifice, excess, humor, folly, and frivolity. The village
offers opportunities for collective salvation and self-reform, a
place that transforms thieves like Iwar into benevolent villagers.
At various junctures of the narrative, the author invests the
tale with Greek mythology and Mesopotamian symbols of
resurrection. The loss of innocence runs parallel to the South’s
loss of its peoples, its sense of direction, and its way of life. This
way of life brought the great grandchild, Ghalib, back from
Baghdad. Al-Yasiri also reverses some Biblical symbols of divine
wrath, flood and salvation. For instance, he alters the significance
of the “ark of Noah”, writing that before pestilence hits the
village, a white ship with a white sail, resembling Awfi’s ship,
passes through the river of Abu Abshut announcing the names
of those who must board it, and those who will face their death.
As soon as the chosen villagers board the ship, it turns into a
bird and flies away.
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Books
Flood and peasant migration to the city occupy important
places in the novel. Al-Yasiri takes us through the changing
world of the Grandson and his emotional state as he faces the
unknown:
“The stars turned to satanic creatures torturing him. They
no longer looked like those familiar stars, which used to
hold his hand, and take him to the woman who awaits
him, who loves him and whom he loves. They addressed
him saying: If you want to know the place of your lover
tonight, you must put the “polar” star above your right
eyebrow. You will be in her lap after a distance of one
hour on foot.”
The novel presents the relationship to the land through
changes in nature, alterations in the river, the woods and pasture,
as well as through changes in labor patterns. The depictions of
the people of al-Muhsina, their dreams, triumphs, failures,
disappointments and departures, also help to establish a sense
of place. Al-Yasiri’s presentation of these emotions is enriched
by his beautiful imageries.
When Ghalib returns to the village from Baghdad, it begins
to disintegrate, not only economically but also morally, losing
its coherence and social fabric. He witnesses the death of the
plows and the books swallowed by fire. The utopian village life
is no longer sustainable under the Baath regime. The peasants
carry “above their heads the building of the Saray (the city hall),
and above it [stands] the provincial governor, and his
policemen.” They hand each peasant who has burned his farming
tools or crops “a carriage filled with debris,” brooms, or tin sheets
oozing with unpleasant odors. Others receive “long ears placed
over their ears” that resemble donkey ears. The peasants who
demonstrate physical strength are “given tools for killing.”
Remembrance of earlier days persists, with nostalgia for
hunting trips, and scenes of women washing their pots with the
fireplace ashes and peels of the red Shilib rice. Surprisingly, alYasiri’s novel ends with hope. As the shrine of the Grandfather
appears to Ghalib from a distance, granting him strength and
inspiration, he witnesses the germination of new plants. The
reader may wonder if this final ray of hope is not merely ritualistic,
driven by the author’s need to reclaim the present by insisting
AJ
upon the possibility of human recovery and renewal.AJ
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Tribalism: A Modern Approach to
the Gulf
Tribal Modern
By miriam cooke
University of California Press, 2014
BY HILARY HESSE
By way of geological fluke, one of the world’s most
forbidding regions improbably became one of its wealthiest: in
1908 oil was discovered in the Middle East. The winners of this
natural resource lottery – in particular, the newly established
Gulf sheikdoms of Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the
UAE–thereafter
underwent
a
disorientingly
fast
social and economic
restructuring whose
tremors continue to be
felt
today.
Once
sprinkled with only
wandering tribes and
camels, these arid lands
now showcase some of
the world’s most
spectacular cities and
expensive cars. And, yet,
signs abound that the
tribal not only endures,
with Bedouin tents still “Corbusier and Rug” (1967) by David
prominent throughout Hockney. (From “David Hockney”
the desert, but that the Thames and Hudson, 1976.)
idea of the tribe is
increasing in importance, with Bedouin culture becoming a
cornerstone of national image.
In her book “Tribal Modern,” distinguished Duke University
professor of Arab Studies miriam cooke challenges the humdrum
assumption that lingering tribalism reflects a failure to progress.
Attributing this misconception to “popular thinking and media
hype,” she argues that the tribal has actually “enabled a form of
hypermodernity.” The tribal and the modern thus live in
symbiosis, “each reinforcing the other,” with Gulf states using
the concept of the tribe to build internationally competitive
national brands that combat the “flattening anonymity,” or
cultural evisceration, of globalization. In other words, the tribal
brand draws tourists, cultivates a marketable national image,
and gives citizens a sense of collective identity.
“Tribal Modern” cogently builds its case. cooke describes
the racial caste system in today’s multicultural Gulf, emphasizing
the obsession with bloodlines and tribal “purity” as determinants
of citizenship. We learn how governments used the idea of the
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27
Books
Books in Brief/Lynne Rogers
When fences do not make
good neighbors
The Great Race to Sycamore Street
By J. Samia Mair
Kube Publishing, 2013, pp. 189
J. Samia Mair has created a beguiling
tale, blending today’s youthful
preoccupations with electronics healthy
competition and curiosity about the past.
On their first solo excursion by train to
their grandmother’s farm in Fairfax
County, Maryland, Mair’s two young
protagonists, Amani and Hude, must cope
with the challenge ofa group of rowdy
boys. Once at the farm, the brother and
sister ride bikes, swim in the swimming
hole, pick fruit off the trees and prepare
for the competition at the country fair.
Life would be perfect if it wasn’t for those
cicadas, the mysterious and unfriendly
new neighbor, and those still menacing
boys.
While Amani takes a break from her
adventure stories to fine tune her cooking
skills, her brother makes friends with the
neighborhood dog. Practicing his archery
for a competition, Hude reconnects with
his dead grandfather through the Turkish
tradition of archery.
The siblings learn another important
lesson when the new neighbor, Mr. Carr,
threatens to have the family’s beloved
peach tree cut down. Amani’s and Hude’s
Muslim grandmother counters their anger
by teaching them about the Prophet’s
28
“Geometry Park” (1988) by Jeffry Mitchell. (From “Art LA 89 Catalogue,” p. 80.)
admonition to be kind, “slow to anger and
quick to calm.”
Drawing upon the lessons of their
heritage and faith, as well as the principles
of the American way of life, the siblings
find creative, constructive, and humorous
solutions. Not only do Amani and Hude
save the peach tree, but they also
strengthen their sense of community and
make new friends.
In a place where fences do not make
good neighbors, “The Great Race to
Sycamore Street,” will reinforce for young
readers the importance of using their
traditions, faith and nature to negotiate
the everyday challenges of dealing with
neighbors.
Unlikely yet lovable
immigrants
The Golem and the Jinni
By Helene Wecker
HarperCollins, 2013, pp. 484
I f you suffer from a childhood
deprivation of storytelling, or simply miss
safely snuggling on your grandparents’
knee while he or she relates a tale of
faraway and long ago, reach for Helene
Wecker’s magical novel, “The Golem and
the Jinni.” Wecker whisks her readers
away to the nostalgic New York of the late
1890’s, where each neighborhood boasts
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its own flavors and small shops peopled
with large-hearted characters.
The narrative eases into a fluid
crisscross of centuries and continents
when, in Little Syria, a mild tinsmith
releases a handsome, yet haunted, jinni.
Meanwhile, across in the Yiddish
neighborhood, an old rabbi rescues a
forlorn Golem, a woman made of clay. The
golem senses people’s thoughts and
possesses a prodigious physical strength.
Both caretakers assume the responsibility
for introducing their supernatural
foundlings to the streets of their respective
neighborhoods, taking the reader up the
crackling halls and down the crowded
alleyways of old New York.
Haunted by his mysterious past, the
Jinni longs for his old acquaintances, the
ifrits, and the young Bedouin love who
taught him about human life in the desert.
His memories remind the reader of the
village morals and myths that continue
to mold the sense of community in Little
Syria. At the tinsmith shop, the Jinni tries
to retrieve his blocked memories of
trauma while fashioning Bedouin
necklaces, which express his longing for
the old country. In one burst of
inspiration, he creates a magnificent map
of the Arab desert in the form of a tin
ceiling to shelter Syrian immigrants with
their homeland as they wearily enter their
apartments.
Neither creature needs sleep and, with
the lure of metropolitan lights lying before
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them, they inevitably cross paths. In one
wondrous scene, the adventurous Jinni
escorts the wary Golem to the Aquarium
at night, showing her the fish. In return,
the Golem introduces him to the sexual
intrigues of the dancehall. Inevitably,
death, issues of love and money, as well
as an assortment of treacherous villains,
intrude upon this mystical Hansel and
Gretel. Drawing upon a multitude of
fables, myths, and fairy tales, “The Golem
and the Jinni” will charm even the most
reluctant reader with its marvelous oldfashioned love story.
A carpet ride past the
kalashnikovs
Fort of Nine Towers, An Afghan Childhood.
By Qais Akbar Omar
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013, pp. 388
In his memoir, “A Fort of Nine Towers,
An Afghan Childhood,” Qais Akbar Omar
recounts his coming of age and his
family’s survival through the strife in
Afghanistan. He begins by describing his
family’s idyllic upper class life before the
arrival of the Mujahedin in Kabul. While
his father urges the family to flee, his
patriarchal grandfather generously
believes the Mujahedin only need time
to organize into a benevolent and
indigenous government.
Unfortunately, the armed Mujahedin
quickly turn malevolent, terrorizing the
city and robbing the family of their
treasury of carpets. After several harrowing
attempts to leave the country, the family
flees through the countryside, finding
refuge and hospitality with both strangers
and associates. Their journey illuminates
rural Afghanistan, alternating between
incidents of looming violence on the
roads, and moments of wisdom and
gentleness. As if out of a fairy tale, a
creative and attractive young deaf
Pashtun woman teaches the narrator the
art of weaving.
Eventually, the family returns to
Kabul and the schools re-open. Life again
becomes precarious for the fourteen year
old Oais when the Taliban reach Kabul.
With the arrival of the Americans, the
author, who lacks the finances to attend
university, remembers his deaf teacher and
turns his attention back to carpets in order
to secure his future.
“La Pointe a I’oeil” (1931), by Alberto Giacometti. (From “Christie’s, Contemporary
Art,” London.)
Through the eyes of a young boy
maturing during a period of war, “A Fort
of Nine Towers” tells a powerful tale of
contemporary Afghanistan.
A musical memoir:
Wasif Jawhariyyeh’s
Jerusalem
A Musical Record of Jerusalem
The Storyteller of Jerusalem, the Life
and Times of Wasif Jawhariyyeh, 19041948
Edited and introduced by Salim Tamari
and Issam Nassar.
Translated by Nada Elzeer
Olive Branch Press, 2014, pp. 304
Wasif Jawhariyyeh’s memoirs
describe his prominent Eastern Orthodox
family and his everyday life in Jerusalem
from 1904 to 1968, beginning with the
last years of Ottoman Rule, through the
treacherous British Mandate, and then
concluding with the author’s refugee days
in Beirut. Jawhariyyeh’s father, an icon
painter and attorney, taught his young son
to recite the Qur’an, a skill which later
greatly enriched both his musical talents
and active social life. After his father’s
premature death, Jawhariyyeh was taken
under the wing of the prominent political
figure, Hussein al-Husseini.
Through these tumultuous political
times, Palestinians also became
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acquainted with the amenities of modern
life, such as the introduction of
refrigerators, gas lighting, and, more
important to a young aspiring musician,
the phonograph. Still, technology could
never replace the camaraderie of late night
drinking, hookahs and live music in the
streets of Jerusalem where participants
included local and international
musicians. In Jawhariyyeh’s Jerusalem,
Muslims, Christians and Jews celebrated
their holidays and special family
occasions together as neighbors until the
British arrived with their divisional
policies and promises to help establish a
Jewish homeland.
Jawhariyyeh’s unadorned memoirs,
translated by Nada Elzeer, describe
everyday life for a young child in the Old
City, a life enriched by events such as
taking plates of food to the prisoners in
Habs el-Dam, “as was the custom at the
time.” The boy’s first real music teacher, a
Moroccan caretaker, made a tan bour for
his pupil out of pumpkin shell and
goatskin.
Throughout his life, Jawhariyyeh
learned from every musician he
encountered. His music came to reflect
these experiences and the rich cultural
tapestry of Jerusalem. Later as an adult,
he remained a civil servant rather than join
the Palestine Broadcasting House,
because he saw his “art as a religion, which
I would follow solely for the love of it,
just as I had been raised to.”
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Jawhariyyeh’s multiple careers as a
civil bureaucrat, collector and musician
gave him entry into the many social
circles in and around Jerusalem. While
the memoirs contain entertaining details
concerning Ragheb Bey Nasahibi’s Jewish
mistress and their nights of carousing, they
also document the physical, political and
cultural geography of Palestine. As a
civilian bureaucrat and a tax collector,
Jawhariyyeh witnessed, at close hand,
events ranging from the arrival of the
British, who were initially greeted with
celebrations that filled the streets, to the
subsequent disillusionment with British
policy, the imposition of heavy taxes, the
early strikes of the Palestinians, and the
Palestinian currency issued with the
Hebrew phrase “the land of Israeli.”
Drawing upon the author’s geographical
and financial memories of who owned
what where, and who ran what café or
pharmacy, a reader could literally draw a
map of the old city and the surrounding
neighborhoods.
Some readers may wonder how such
a patriot could find himself buying
canaries for Andrews, the British
appointed governor of Jerusalem, a man
who made no secret of his disdain for
Arabs (and was later assassinated) or
Jawhariyyeh’s partying with Sir Ronald
Storrs, a colleague of Lawrence of Arabia.
Never claiming to be a fighter, the author
voices his political distress while still
trying to maintain his integrity as a
humanist and a musician without
boundaries.
After fleeing his home and burying
his wife, Jawhariyyeh finds himself
renting an oud which badly needs repair
and asks himself “Has time been so unfair
to me that now I have to rent an oud on a
monthly basis, having left back home in
the Jawhariyyeh Collection seventy-two
Western and rare Eastern musical
instruments?” The reader will soon
discover that “The Storyteller of
Jerusalem, the Life and Times of Wasif
Jawhariyyeh, 1904-1948,” provides a
valuable resource for a wide range of
disciplines, from urban history and
economics to musical and cultural
anthropologists.
Our telephone and Fax:
Tel: (310) 227-6777, Fax: (310) 602-6222
e-mail address is [email protected]
30
Blue hair, love, jobs, and
the Lebanese war
An Unnecessary Woman
By Rabih Alameddine
Grove Press, 2013, pp. 291
Estranged from her family and not
particularly fond of her three female
neighbors, Aaliya longs for her one friend
Hannah. Hannah died a virgin and
bequeathed Aaliya her journals filled with
pristine, fictional romance
As Aaliya hoards more and more
manuscripts, the borders in her apartment
seem to shrink as the maid’s room becomes
a warehouse of translated works that no
one has or will ever read. Explaining
Readers of Rabih Alameddine may
rejoice, as the author continues to exercise
his charm in his most recent novel, “An
Unnecessary Woman.”
While Beirut and the
devastation
of
the
Lebanese War still haunt
the setting of this novel,
Alameddine’s original and
wry protagonist, Aaliya
Saleh, a reclusive elderly
translator, will win readers’
hearts with her staunchly
maintained literary rituals
and defense of her worn
out kingdom, a peaceful
reading corner.
With echoes of Sarah
from “I, the Divine,” who
dyed her hair red whenever “Tent” (1982), by Charles W. Moss. (From “The History and
she felt frustrated, the the Collection Introduction,” by Sam Hunter. Abradale Press/
reader meets this new, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., and the Museum of Modern Art, New
slightly
nonplussed York 1984, pp. 461.)
protagonist
as
she
reminisces over red wine, after having herself to the reader, she proclaims “If
shampooed her hair blue. Yet Aaliya is no you read these pages and think I am the
blue haired old fogey. Remembering her way I am because I lived through a civil
husband’s lackluster performance, she war, you can’t feel my pain. If you believe
wishes she could have asked his second you’re not like me because one woman,
wife, “In all the years of marriage, did you Hannah, chose to be my friend, then you
ever see his penis? Did that shrivley are unable to empathize.”
In contrast to the personal
appendage ever reach half-mast?”
Like the characters found in several devastation revealed by Hannah’s journal,
novels that have emerged from this war, Aaliya’s solitary, self-ordained task of
Aaliya lives in a hen house apartment translation allows her to carry on despite
filled with discarded women on their own. the chaos of war. She derives strength and
She inherits the apartment after her a sense of order from the pride she takes
divorce, but must deal with her family’s in her systematic choice of texts, and her
attempt to bully her into exchanging it rigid rituals of translations.
Yet Alameddine also hints at the
for one of their smaller flats--after all, she
question of artistic utility in the face of
has no children.
Aaliya’s estrangement from her family tragedy. As he drew parallels between the
mirrors the historical roots and brutality devastation of the AIDS epidemic in
of the war being waged on the streets of California with the war in Lebanon in
Beirut. When a Palestinian gunman breaks “Kool-Aids,” the author now draws a
into her apartment and then defecates, she parallel between those solitary readers
decides to arm herself. Aaliya manages to around the world with impeccable literary
obtain an AK-47 by exchanging her taste yet impotent in their political and
favors with a fellow bookworm who has emotional context.
As always, Alameddine tempers his
become one of the war’s preeminent
exposure of our petty pride and monstrous
torturers,
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Books
inhumanity with loveable moments of
humor and the possibility of redemption.
In a bizarre, yet delicate rearrangement of
another Holy Land scenario, the narrator
bonds almost wordlessly with her niece
as she clips her old mother’s toenails.
A lifelong reader, the narrator’s
assessment of writers and her wild
pronouncements upon critics will send
readers running to their library. I really
don’t know if Camus felt only American
authors acknowledged no obligation to
be intellectual, but the idea does give me
an irreverent chuckle. “An Unnecessary
Woman” reconfirms Alameddine’s
talented originality and his ability to
make one think critically about art and
politics while still having fun. What a
find for those women who belong to book
clubs and battle their own impulses to
blue their hair.
Living with voices: magical
realism in war-torn Iran
Afsaneh, A Novel From Iran
By Moniru Ravanipur
Translated from the Persian by Rebecca
Joubin
Ibex Publishers, 2014, pp. 211
Moniru Ravanipur introduces her
protagonist, Afsaneh, as she flees in the
middle of the night wearing only her
orange nightgown.
In Ravinpur’s
indictment of the patriarchal order,
Afsaneh never finds her way back to a
concrete memory of that night and only
briefly alludes to her husband’s gambling
debt and her subsequent shame, which
precludes her seeking refuge in her father’s
home. Instead, the reader witnesses
Afsaneh’s unsuccessful, yet valiant
attempts to maintain a sense of
professionalism as a writer and to find both
a mental and domestic space in which to
live in peace as a single woman in an Iran
at war with Iraq.
Afsaneh’s mental fragmentation has
already firmly taken root when the novel
opens. During her conversations with
friends, colleagues and her intrusive
landlady, she observes herself from a
distance and engages internally in yet
another
conversation
with
her
companions, the dictator and the
horseman. These two internal characters
further complicate her desperate sense of
instability, as they constantly veer from
protective behaviors to destructive ones.
When the Dictator begins to control her
conversation, the embattled woman does
remember, “At the beginning, he was not
like that. He used to be peaceful--he had
wanted to start from scratch--but now he
was just destroying everything in the
middle of the battlefield.”
Afsaneh’s chorus of internal voices
reflects on the political situation as the
narrative wrestles with the historical
literary tradition that informs the
multifaceted ills of the present. In an effort
to escape one invasive landlady,
Ravanipur’s protagonist finds herself in
an apartment with bleeding walls which
can no longer cover the closeted histories
and the plethora of human needs. While
Afsaneh struggles with history and her
own demons, the other characters deal
with domestic violence, the after-effects
of war, prescriptive drug abuse, and opium
addiction. In one of many unforgettable
pictorial and psychologically vivid
scenes, Afsaneh’s attempts to write are
interrupted by her neighbors, two terrified,
giggling virgin spinsters dressed in
tattered wedding gowns, who want her to
put the spirit of their deceased, cruel, and
wheel chair-bound mother’s spirit into a
glass.
In a narrative coup, Afsaneh’s insanity
becomes increasingly sane to the reader.
At one point, the narrator writer thinks to
herself that “Tonight Shahrazad’s story
would come to its close.” Yet the story
does not follow suit for the reader will
want to revisit this intricate novel time
and again, empathically drawn to help
Afsaneh find some semblance of calm, a
state that may yet be achieved through a
third internal voice, that of a young
woman writer.
Eulogy for love: a casualty
of the Iranian-Iraqi war
The Corpse Washer
By Sinan Antoon
Translated from the Arabic by the author
Yale University Press, 2013, pp. 185
In his second novel, “The Corpse
Washer,” Sinan Antoon, Iraqi-American
poet and activist, alternates his
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“Untitled and undated,” by Nazem Irani. (From
Michel Fani’s “Dictionnaire de la peinture
libanaise,” 2013, p. 229, Editions Michel De Maule.)
protagonist’s life narrative with his
nightmares. Set in Iraq during two wars,
the distance between daylight and
nightmares diminishes as Jawad, the
young narrator, continues to awaken to a
ghastly landscape. Before the war, like
many young men, Jawad struggles to
establish his right to study art, feels the
pressure of having a loving, older
“golden” brother, the doctor, and finds his
first love and subsequent heartbreak with
a beautiful young widow. However, unlike
most men, Jawad’s father is a humble
mghassilchi, a corpse washer, who
inherited his patrilineal occupation and
wants Jawad to follow in his footsteps.
Antoon exposes the reader to the
benevolence of Shiite culture and
resurrects the nobility of death through
the pragmatic corpse washer, who
approaches the rituals of his task with a
dignified simplicity, preparing each body
with humility before God. Throughout the
novel, the poignant body washing scenes
reflect a poetic sensibility that transcends
the political landscape.
In contrast to his family’s concern
with physical realities, Jawad’s drawing
instructor introduces him to Iraqi cultural
heritage and teaches him that art “is a
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challenge to death and time, a celebration
of life.” However, his teacher disappears,
his brother is slain in the Iranian-Iraqi War,
and an American bomb kills his praying
father. Eventually, circumstances and the
unrelenting line of bodies overcome
Jawad’s resistance to his father’s
profession. The deteriorating condition of
the corpses mirror the war’s escalating
brutality. When the young artist turned
corpse washer and his mother offer refuge
to the family of one of his female cousins,
Jawad has a second chance at salvaging
courage to love.
Antoon’s quietly profound novel not
only laments the destruction of the war,
but also mourns the resulting absence of
emotion. The art of washing the dead
becomes a moment of crystallized beauty
as his story leaves the reader wondering
what happens in a world where young men
no longer possess the stamina to love.
While many American veterans take up
their pens upon their return home from
the Iraqi War, Antoon’s “The Corpse
Washer” provides them with a rare and
much needed perspective.
“Mask of Fear” (1932) by Paul Klee. (From
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, p. 90.)
Afghanistan’s multigenerational
victims and villains
to provide food for their families. In a
fascinating glimpse into village life, the
The Pearl That Broke Its Shell
By Nadia Hashimi
William Morrow, 2014, pp. 452
In Nadia Hashimi’s engrossing novel,
“The Pearl That Broke Its Shell,” she
follows the contemporary tradition of
Khaled Hosseini in depicting the
misogyny of Afghan warlords. With the
exception of the King Amanullah, whose
attempts at gender equality ended with
his abdication in 1929, one could begin
to wonder if all Afghani men act like
cardboard villains aided by wicked
mothers-in-law. Still, Hashimi provides
the reader with a real life page turner,
relating two captivating stories of women
who adopt the identities of bacha poshes,
girls who assume male identities in order
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for newly
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32
author reveals that the adults realize the
bacha posh are females, yet treat them as
males who are negotiating the harsh
realities of rural life within the restrictions
of tradition.
The first story deals with Shekiba,
named ‘the gift ‘by her parents. As a
toddler, she accidently scars her face with
hot oil, leaving her with half beautiful
features, and half that look like mushy
hallem, “a dish of slow-cooked meat with
grains.” After cholera and hard work claim
her family, Shekiba faces further abuse
from her extended family, who tend to
reflect the values of a society not known
for its grace towards the disabled or the
disfigured. Eventually, in another ‘gift’
transfer, Sheikba finds herself in the role
of a bacha posh, employed as a guard of
the King’s harem, exposing the reader to
an array of political and love intrigues.
An outspoken hunchback spinster
aunt narrates this story to Sheikba’s
granddaughter, Rahima, which brings the
tale into the near present day, reinforcing
the idea of a scarce, yet persistent strain
of female solidarity. Hashimi also reveals
another detail not usually noted about the
Puppets
By Miled Faiza
When puppets fall, their blood does not spill on the ground
They make a small clatter
or they echo hollow cliches
and fall silent when their batteries run down
Puppets don’t sleep
Their glassy eyes remain fixed on the eyes of
whoever is holding them, rocking them,
or moving their strings from above
Puppets fall apart in the hands of small children or angry crowds
filling squares and plazas and illuminating the sky
Puppets melt when their limbs burn
and then are thrown in the trash
July 3, 2013
Translated from the Arabic by Karen McNeil
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Briefly Noted/Frances Khairallah Noble
American or Lebanese?
where do immigrants belong?
through & through
By Joseph Geha
Syracuse University Press
Second Edition 2009
Does a Lebanese immigrant to the United
States ever become wholly American? Joseph Geha would say “no,” but he doesn’t
stay Lebanese either. Whether in Toledo,
Ohio, or on a return trip to his “homeland”
in Zahle, Lebanon, he is asked, “Where
are you from...originally?” “Through and
through” is a gentle, humorous collection
of stories about the stark realities of the
Great American Melting plot: outrunning
the old customs, tensions between generations, marriage between cultural opposites, and surviving the Gangster Days of
the l930’s. Geha’s conclusion: America is
a rich and complex mosaic and there is
probably room for us all
The bedouin and
Gertrude Stein
Gertrude
By Hassan Najmi
Interlink Publishing Group, Inc.
Boston, 2014
The “Gertrude” in the title is Gertrude
Stein in her early years in Paris when she
establishes her famed salon where some
of the most important artists of the era,
including Picasso and Hemingway,
congregate on Saturday nights. In
addition, there is Muhammad, a Bedouin
born Moroccan, whom she and Alice
Toklas met on a trip to Tangier, where he
was their guide and became Gertrude’s
lover. Ultimately, Muhammad accepts
Gertrude’s invitation to go to Paris and
lives in the roof apartment above her house
for several years. In Muhammad’s eyes,
Gertrude is magnetic and thrilling and her
flesh, irresistible. A peripheral participant
in her famous salon, he nevertheless meets
the illustrious visitors as they congregate
and pass through, while his role in the
household remains a mystery or source of
gossip. One day, Gertrude abruptly and
cruelly dismisses Muhammad and he
returns to Tangier a broken man, with
stories about his life in Paris that no one
believes.
The novel begins as Muhammad lies
dying and asks a young poet and
journalist named Abu Hasan, also a
Moroccan, to record his life with
Gertrude. As Hasan discovers the truth of
Muhammad’s story, he becomes involved
with an African American woman
diplomat, another strong and compelling
woman. She opens doors to the West for
him, including an introduction to the
Metropolitan Museum in New York to
view Picasso’s portrait of Gertrude. This
is to be a highpoint in his research, but
the elusive portrait is gone when he
arrives, having been loaned to a museum
in London.
In “Gertrude,” Najmi lyrically
intertwines an assortment of loves,
joustings between East and West, art and
artists, and an imagined view of a softer
sweeter Gertrude Stein.
From nomad to farmer: the
steep price of Civilization
New Waw
By Ibrahim Al-Koni
Translated and Introduced by William M.
Hutchins
Center for Middle Eastern Studies,
The University of Texas at Austin, 2014
Ibrahim al-Koni has an ancient story
to tell. It is the story of his tribe’s transition
from nomadic to settled life, a transition
depicted as an abandonment of the
freedom and wandering required to
invigorate the soul, a surrender to the
seduction of earthly things. It is a story of
the Sahara, a hymn to the desert, an
acknowledgment that place is destiny.
New Waw is the name given to a mythical
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“Actor’s Mask” (1924) by Paul Klee. (From
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, p. 88.)
Saharan oasis, an unattainable and
imaginary place where ultimate longing
is fulfilled, where there is eternal life and
freedom from earthly problems.
In “New Waw,” occurrences in nature,
such as the arrival of a bird, and the
condition of objects, such as the shape of
a dagger, have symbolic value and
consequences for the tribal members. The
story is laced with myth, metaphor, magic,
prayer, poetry, secrets, prophecies, as well
as diviners, warriors, and jinni.
As the tribe settles in what it hopes
and believes is its “New Waw,” its oasis, it
develops the trappings of “civilization”
– a progression from fixed water sources
to houses, agriculture, roads, commerce,
and a plaza, as well as the need for walls,
gold, protection and armed merchants – a
progression accompanied by the
corresponding demise of the tribe’s
spirituality. “Civilization” marks the end
of its civilization. AJ
Casey Kasem:
the 1996 Interview
impact, but we have to continue to do what
we’ve been doing, joining coalitions of
other minorities who have the same
problem. It’s not going to happen
overnight. But I’m sure that there are fewer
writers turning out the kinds of scripts
they did back in the 70’s and the 60’s, and
the decades going back to the 20’s. I
would like to believe that we have made
some inroads and will continue to 33
do
AJ
so.AJ
Fiction
Life From Beneath The Knife
BY HANNA SAADAH
“Come, Salem. Come quickly.”
“Oh… What happened?”
“Mom has fallen ill.”
“What?”
“She’s in the hospital.”
“Why?”
“She’s had a stroke. Her right side is paralyzed. She’s
babbling: life… knife… fingers... No one understands. We
don’t know what to do. Everyone is waiting for you.”
“Ok, Sis. I’ll be on my way.”
My schedule brimmed with appointments like a
bookshelf, stacked back to back. The names, silent like book
titles, filed in the waiting room. I motioned to Norma to
follow me into my office. She hesitated, trying to disengage
from a conversation she was having with Mrs. Stitchmaker
who stood at the window with questions about her bill.
“So, why did they deny…”
“Myrtle…”
“They paid only $3.25 on the EKG…”
“Myrtle, I’m sorry…”
“And they paid nothing on the urine…”
“Myrtle, the doctor is calling me…”
“And here they say you overcharged me $1.25…”
“Myrtle, please, lower your voice and have a seat. I’ll be
back in a minute.”
Exasperated, Norma hurried in, her eyes on the flashing
telephone line tolling its fourth ring.
“This poor woman is driving me crazy and everyone can
hear…”
“Norma, I need to leave right away…”
“Leave, with a waiting room full of…”
“My mother has had a stroke. Lamia just called.”
“Oh my. I still remember when they called about your
dad and you had to leave right away. Would you like me to
drop everything and work on your tickets?”
“Please, I’d like to leave today. And write off Mrs.
Stitchmaker’s balance and tell her that her insurance paid it in
full.”
While Norma worked on my tickets, I saw my afternoon
patients with my usual alacrity, and not one of them noticed
my absent mind or my vacuous eyes. As I ushered my last
patient out, Norma stood suspended next to my desk, with a
shuffle of papers in her hands.
“I can have you in Beirut tomorrow evening if you can be
at the airport in two hours. You’ll fly American Airlines from
here to London and Middle East Airlines from London to
Beirut. By the way, your patients all noticed that you seemed
34
“The Abed Clock.” (From Michel Fani’s “Paris-Beyrouth,”
Editions de l’escalier, 2010, p. 136.)
distracted and, one by one, have asked me if anything was
wrong. What would you like me to say?”
I examined the tickets. How transparent I must be, even
when I think that I am faking it well… These last minute fares
are steep. They prey on the desperate. I have no choice. The
words of a poem I had written many years ago welled up out
of my unconscious, began drumming within my chest, and
racing with my heart:
“The east wind calls my name
I know that I must go
The wind may never call again.”
I handed Norma my credit card, organized my unwritten
charts into three delinquent piles, took off my white coat,
packed my brief case, and, as I walked out, Norma gave me a
shuddering embrace and whispered, with wet lips into my
shoulder, “Please be careful. They’re still fighting. This
morning, there was a battle in Sidon between the army and a
new rebel group.”
“The battle was north of Sidon, my dear, at the refugee
camp by the river. Mother is in the Soha Hospital on the other
side of town. I’ll call you as soon as I see her. I don’t know
when I’ll be back. Call Drs. Hooper and Michael; they’ll
cover for me while I’m gone.”
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Fiction
“My mother has had a stroke.”
“I’m sorry, sir. Have a safe trip.”
“L’hotel Astoria donme a lire un A8TO.” (From Michel
Fani’s “Alphabet de Beyrouth,” Editions de l’escalier,
2010, p. 56.)
In tenebrous October skies, the airplane buffed against
cotton clouds and swooned down lurking air pockets as it
arched its way from our windy city to the other one, which
embraces Lake Michigan, and then to the world’s crucible of
hospitality, marred by its two absent towers. My connecting
time was barely enough to make the transatlantic leg. In the
takeoff distance, floated the lit mirage of Bartholdi’s colossus
and in my heart, echoed the words of Emma Lazarus on the
Statue’s base:
“Give my your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teaming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”
Heathrow was awakening when we landed, and the unthronged passport lanes yawned in the misty British sunrise.
“How long are you staying in London, sir?”
“I’m transiting to Beirut.”
“Business or pleasure?”
“Neither, sir.”
“Oh?”
The crowded Middle East Airline left on time with kneeroom-only seats; no one crossed legs during the four-and-ahalf-hour flight. The Lebanese hors d’oeuvres and bellydance music, however, tempered our imprisonment and
ameliorated the backaches that groaned with failed attempts
to shift positions. Over Beirut, I could see smoke arising from
distant fires and rubble-riddled streets that, as a student, I had
sauntered through and frequented their loud, politically hot
cafe’s. When we touched down, a communal sigh breathed
relief throughout the cabin as knees felt assured that freedom
was imminent. As I walked out, having cleared customs, my
brother stood waving in the distance. He managed a smile as
we hugged before he whisked me to Sidon.
Along the serpentine, seashore highway—bedecked with
towns, resorts, restaurants, and shallow seawater bins lined
with salt sacks—we broached sundry topics. We talked of
Syria, Israel, Hezbollah, Muslims, Christians, Jews, the
recently assassinated son-of-Sidon, Senator Hilu, and the
upcoming olive harvest in Kafr Az-Zaitoon. We even talked
about the weather, the early snows, and the failing economy.
We talked about everything except about Mother.
At the hospital, a crowd stood in front of her room. Aunts,
uncles, cousins, friends, and distant relatives, one by one,
kissed me on both cheeks and mumbled unintelligible phrases
ending with the divine word, Allah. In the room, Mother’s
shadow lay motionless and a slow-dripping IV line snaked
underneath the white sheets into her left arm. Those in the
room stood back, as I approached and began stroking her
forehead. She started to breathe faster when she felt my hand,
then her eyes opened and wandered about the room until they
fell on me. A smile lit up her face as she attempted to
articulate my name, “Sa… Sal… Salem” and, at the same time,
reached with her right hand and clasped mine. Murmurs and
whispers behind me got louder and louder, turned into cheers,
and the outside crowd long-necked into her door. The words,
“She said his name and moved her right arm,” echoed from
one to another and many eyes teared over quivering cheeks.
It took me a while to apprehend that Mother had been in a
coma until that very moment.
On the third hospital day, barely leaning on my arm, she
walked down the hospital hall and on the fourth day, we took
her to our home in Sidon. In our mountain town, Kafr AzZaitoon, rumors frenzied about her sudden recovery and
reached Father Elias who hurried down to Sidon for a visit.
“They are saying that you woke up for your son who came
from America to see you. They are saying that you woke up as
soon as he touched your forehead. They are saying that he
has a healing hand. You have to come with him to St.
Nicholas this Sunday; lots of sick people are planning to
come to be healed by his hand. Through him Christ has
performed a miracle. Praise God. Praise the mighty Allah.”
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35
Continuations
“Father Elias, I am leaving tomorrow; I have patients and
appointments that cannot wait till next week.”
“I’ll come in his place, Father. Christ does not need my
son’s hand to heal the sick. We’ll all pray together this
Sunday.”
“Inshallah, Inshallah, Doctorah. May God bless you all.
Too bad Dr. Salem will not be coming up to Kafr Az-Zaitoon
with you. A lot of people will be disappointed but it must be
God’s will that he return to his own patients in America.”
That night, my mother talked and I listened. “They killed
my son, the one I brought to life from underneath the knife.”
“What do you mean mother?”
“I have never told a soul… but I may tell you now since
Dr. Babandi and all his children have died. You cannot repeat
this to any one because people still remember and it will
shame the Babandi family. Do you promise?”
“I promise, Mother.”
“It happened in 1944, after the Great War. I had just
finished my Obstetrics and Gynecology residency at the
American University of Beirut and came to Sidon to work
with Dr. Babandi at the Babandi Hospital. I assisted him on
surgeries and there were lots of them because he was the most
famous surgeon in all of South Lebanon. One day, he was
operating on a spinster who had an abdominal mass and
couldn’t eat. When we opened her up, we found the mass to
be a pregnant uterus.
He asked me what he should do and I said, “Close her up
and get out.” He did not agree and thought that, for the
reputation of the woman, he would do a hysterectomy, tell
everyone that he took the mass out, and that she was cured. I
said, “No, you can not kill an innocent fetus; when God gives
life, no one may take it away.” He insisted as the chief
surgeon, with knife in hand, on going ahead with the
hysterectomy. I covered the woman’s uterus with my gloved
hands, looked him straight in the eyes, and in front of the
stunned operating room crew, I shouted into his masked face:
“You will have to cut my fingers first before you kill this
innocent child.” He looked around, paused for a moment,
threw his knife into the air, and walked out of the operating
room mumbling: “You close her up then, and go explain
things to her waiting family.”
I closed her up, told her parents that she was pregnant,
that she should relocate to another town, and that she should
dedicate her life to raising her child because, as of that
moment, her child should become her most pressing
responsibility. After leaving the hospital, she married the
father of her child and left town in a storm of bitter gossip.
Sixty years later, that boy became Senator Hilu, who was
recently assassinated. Shhh… No one knows this story but
you. The operating room crew, Dr. Babandi, the woman, her
husband, and her parents have all died. I am the only one left
from that era. When you reach ninety-five, you will have
outlived all your generations. Have a safe trip home, Son; I
will light a candle for you this Sunday at St. Nicholas and
pray for your healing hands.
36
When I returned to work, I told Norma the story but
camouflaged the names and places, of course. Her eyes filled
up with tears as she said: “Stop writing poetry. Stop writing
novels. This is the one story you must write for your mother’s
memory. That’s why, when she was in a coma, she lay
mumbling: life… knife… fingers… Don’t you see? It was the
only memory that re-surfaced above her coma. Life From
Beneath The Knife, that’s what you need to call that story.” AJ
Translating Syria’s Foremost
Playwright to the New York Stage
and as a staged reading at Dartmouth with New York Theatre
Workshop.
Myers collaborated with Saab once again in translating
“Tuqus” (Rituals). In 2013, Myers produced the Englishlanguage premiere of the play at Babel Theatre in Beirut, directed
by Sahar Assaf. Saab and Myers collaborated again in the
translation of “al-Diktatur” (The Dictator) by the Lebanese
playwright Isam Mahfouz, which is expected to appear in print
soon.
“Rituals” was performed on stage in Beirut through the
efforts of Sahar Assaf, a Lebanese actress and director, and those
of Marvin Carlson. Assaf, the co-founder of Beirut 8.30 Theatre
Company, teaches acting and directing at AUB. She recently codirected “From the Bottom of my Brain” (with Zeina Daccache),
a play performed by the residents of Al Fanar Psychiatric Hospital
at Al Madina Theatre in Beirut in July 2013.
After the staged readings in New York, Assaf discussed the
success, which Wannous’s play achieved in Beirut. The staged
play took over two hours. Myers noted that there were no
criticisms or challenges whatsoever from the audience afterwards.
The translation, the directing and the performance were perceived
as an astounding success.
Marvin Carlson, the Sidney E. Cohn Professor of Theatre,
Comparative Literature, and Middle Eastern Studies at the
Graduate Center of CUNY,and recipient of several esteemed
awards and prizes, also played a main role in the publication of
“Four Plays” and in the performance of “Rituals” in Beirut. His
newest work is the “Theatres of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia”
co-authored with Khalid Amine.
Before watching the staged performance of “Rituals” in
New York, I read Myers’ and Saab’s joint article, “Sufism and
Shakespeare: The Poetics of Personal and Political
Transformation” in Sadallah Wannous’s “Tuqus al-Isharat waal-Tahawwulat.” The authors suggest that the play’s unique and
“aesthetic power derives from aspects of Shakespeare, principally
‘Measure for Measure’, and from motifs, lexicon and ritual
theatricality derived from Sufism as aesthetic form and religious
practice.” Myers and Saab stress how the Sufi tradition offers
Wannous a way to critique ritualized religious practice and to
break with it, hence, the “radical metamorphosis,” which a
number of his characters undergo, a transformation expressed in
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Continuations
body, and self, and, one may add, indirectly in the body politic,
that is, the nation.
Saab draws additional insightful links between the character
of Mumina and the Sufi ‘martyr’ al-Hallaj, whose torture and
death have inspired many modern poetic and dramatic writings.
Indeed, in the play, Mumina refuses to conform to her father’s,
brother’s, husband’s or the Mufti’s expectations. She embarks
on a path of forbidden sensuality, replacing marriage with sexual
exploration and spiritual journey, which transforms her and those
around her. This results in an outcome both liberating and tragic.
After he had been diagnosed with a terminal illness,
Wannous wrote “Tuqus” in 1994. The point of departure in the
play is a social-historical incident, which occurrs in the 1880s
in Damascus, and is treated by historian Fakhri al-Barudi. In
this incident, Damascus is polarized between two feuding clerics
and their allies. The first cleric is Shaykh Qasim, the Mufti, the
chief religious authority and implementer of the shari‘a, and the
second is Sayyid Abdallah, the Naqib al-Ashraf, a dignitary who
is descended from Prophet Muhammad. Wannous reworks the
social roles, using not only the views articulated in the historical
account but also the silences, and the absences. He presents the
voices of the women who were formerly marginalized or appeared
acquiescent, and brings forth a powerful feminist, multi-sexual,
and antinomian (non-shari‘a based) affirmation of self.
Despite their power struggles, in “Rituals,” the Mufti and
the Naqib appear united in defending their gendered privileges
and public conformity to social rules. Thus, in the second scene,
the Mufti is seen rushing to save the Naqib’s reputation when
the latter is arrested with his mistress during lovemaking.
The play investigates a number of dualities including those
between self and society, carnal desire and spiritual desire, man
and woman, and heterosexual and homosexual. These dualities
appear to be resolved or transformed in the case of the Naqib
who becomes a Sufi. Wannous explores these dualities in their
material and spiritual dimensions; dualities, which Sufi thinkers
consider a veneer for a deeper unified reality.
In the case of the Mufti, his unexpected love for a “fallen
woman” like Mumina (who turns into a high-prostitute named
Almasa), goes against his teachings and clerical role. This love
opens him up for the recognition of new dimensions of
womanhood intertwined with divine love, hence the reference
to his “annihilation” just at the verge of having sexual
intercourse with Almasa.
The presentation of homosexuality in the play is also
multifaceted. On the one hand, homosexuals are well-integrated
into the society. On the other hand, there is a social acceptance
of bisexuals who publicly present themselves as heterosexuals.
Pure homosexual passions and love, on the other hand, are
denigrated as a sign of a “lack of masculinity.”
I felt curious as to how these complex Shakespearian and
Sufi features would travel in their multiple Arabic layers and
forms, to find expression through multiple layers and forms of
English. The powerful translation and the creative rendering of
the Arabic classical and colloquial dimensions of “Rituals” into
English, struck a chord in me. More importantly, I was captivated
by the performance of Ito Aghayere-Kim who appeared in the
role of the Naqib’s mistress, Jacqueline Antaramian as Mumina/
Almasa, Michael Braun as Afsa (a commoner), Ramesey
Faragallah as the Naqib and as Abbas (a commoner), Peter Ganim
as the Mufti, Nuah Ozryel as Simsim (a homosexual), and Evan
Zes as (Mumina’s father).
Hadi Eldebek accompanied the performance with beautiful
pieces from his Oud. The staged readings of “Rituals” in New
York was produced by Noor Theatre and directed by Kim Weild.
Noor Theatre is dedicated to supporting and presenting major
works of theatre artists of a Middle Eastern background.
The attempt to bring “Rituals” to English-speaking
international audiences is the more significant given the way
Sufism has permeated various intellectual and artistic domains
in modern Arab society, and how radical thinkers and feminists
have adapted it as a critique of patriarchal structures and
oppressive states. AJ
My Native Town
BY JOSEPH AYOUB
Between the mountains, down in the vale
Lies my town beautiful and pale
Its houses built with loving artistry
Like wondrous creatures or bits of jewelry
A river passes tranquilly by
Its burbling song praising land and sky
Silver cascades upon sleepy rocks
With the rhythmic sound of soaring hawks
It seems a small, but precious paradise,
A place of refuge, land of promise,
Bathed in glowing gold and crimson light,
Shed by heaven’s queen, consort to the night.
Here, where man rose from the heart of a boy,
I view this beloved and dear town,
It’s gorgeous weather, fine houses, and streets,
Through memory’s lens, forever unchanged.
The poem is“From the Pen of a Poet,” by Joseph Ayoub,” Publish
America, Baltimore, 2012
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37
Continuations
‘Tribal Modern’
Mauritania: A Study in Contradictions
tribe to construct a sense of common race – key to the
development of a modern state. “This racialization process,”
she writes, “homogenizes heterogeneous populations,” making
“what is not natural…appear as natural.” The idea of nation is
then forged from this sense of common race. “Tribe becomes
race becomes nation,” cooke says. One important reason to create
a cohesive sense of nation is to differentiate citizens, who are a
minority, from the sea of foreign workers.
While citizens owe their first allegiance to the state, the
tribal equals aristocracy, conferring both wealth and status. But
tribalism is not merely a biological affair: it has assumed
enormous symbolic value in the oil era. To stimulate both
nationalism and international marketability, governments
appropriate the tribal and allege a strong affinity between the
tribe and state. This reliance has produced the tribal national
brand.
The Gulf states develop the tribal brand by nationalizing
Bedouin activities like falconry, camel racing, pearl diving, and
poetry recital; constructing architecturally distinctive national
museums and heritage sites; and equating traditional dress with
privilege and ethnic superiority. cooke shows how nostalgia for
a romanticized Bedouin past has led to the inventing of traditions
that “convert oil wealth into nationally legible cultural capital.”
This crisis of meaning and hunger for identity seems very first
world: a suddenly wealthy population yearns to reclaim its soul
by incorporating traditions of yore. The rich past replenishes
the empty present; the tribal gives depth to the modern.
Social scientists have the unenviable task of clarifying
borders, overlap, and how dissimilar elements interrelate. cooke
figuratively uses the barzakh, a Qur’anic term denoting
“undiluted convergence” and the “simultaneous mixing and
separation in two dimensions: metaphysical and physical,” to
explain the interaction between the tribal and modern. She writes
that Qatar’s National Museum “will elaborate a distinctive
identity permeated with the barzakh motif: it is neither Gulf nor
Western, tribal nor modern, and yet both and, above all,
something else.” Intellectually this makes sense: we live in a
world of hybrids. But while the barzakh theme is creative and
offers a visual, it does not necessarily sort out the complex
relationship between the tribal and modern; it mostly reinforces
the idea that the border between the two is a murky realm of
coincidence and contradiction, which might be said of any
frontier.
Nevertheless, “Tribal Modern” offers a refreshing
perspective on the meaning of the tribal in the oil-rich Gulf.
More generally, the book shows that the traditional can be
updated to enhance the modern – that the traditional can even
become modern. We set “Tribal Modern” down wondering if,
instead of hindering progress, the traditions we bemoan –
religious, cultural, or otherwise – have facilitated it.
generation of young Mauritanians, ready to take their place in
the new global economy.” “Mauritania,” the book, is clearly a
labor of love, written and photographed by individuals who
wished to capture an admiration for the country to those who
have had no first-hand experience in Mauritania. Yet, the subtle
contrasts between essays and photographs show subversive
difficulties of daily life.
The book ends with the statement: “And long after the
traveler has returned home, the memories will linger: walking to
the morning call of prayer and the singing of Quranic verses, the
taste of sweet mint tea in an afternoon market, and always, the
warm smiles and hospitality of this ‘Land of People.’” These
descriptions don’t match the Mauritania in the news. As if they
were referring to another country, articles in the press describe a
coup-prone and troubled Mauritania, with growing protest
movements against unemployment, poor infrastructure, and
women’s rights. The press delineates how tensions between the
opposition and the government continue to grow as protests
aim to end military rule. In addition, the current constitutional
crisis and growing terrorist threats make Mauritania a potential
risk for tourism and investment.
Paul Shackleton and Gary Fitzpatrick’s book present none
of this vital information overtly. One must pay careful attention
to fact-based captions and the historical table in order to garner
important information. Had the writers acknowledged the
country’s instability and explained that they hoped to highlight
another side of Mauritania, it would have given the book more
importance. As it stands, “Mauritania” remains a beautiful art
book for the coffee table, filled with colorful photography and
multi-lingual essays that aspire to entice the adventurous traveler
or foreign investor. The careful reader will need to study further
scholarship in order to gain a fuller picture of domestic
controversies. AJ
38
Books in Brief
war, noting that Rahima’s father, who has fought since his
adolescence with both warlords and the Americans, selfmedicates, treating his PTSD with opium. The resulting addiction
causes him to neglect his paternal obligations and sets the stage
for Rahima to follow her grandmother’s example and act as a
bacha posh until her marriage.
Rahima’s story, set against a background of political
hypocrisy and violence, paints an ugly landscape. Married off
at 13, Rahima eventually finds the courage, after experiencing
many tragedies, to survive in the memory of her grandmother.
This becomes Sheikba’s enduring gift, and Rahima’s one valuable
inheritance. AJ
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Books
Mauritania: A Study in Contradictions
Mauritania
By Paula Shackleton
Photography by Gary Fitzpatrick and Paula Shackleton
Ewrks Media, 2013
BY REBECCA JOUBIN
This coffee table art book, based on a collection of essays
and photographs, offers a poignant glimpse into Mauritania, a
country viewed as a cultural bridge between sub-Saharan Africa
and the Maghreb. The visual book is divided into several
chapters, which all begin with essays – written in Arabic, English
and French – bearing geographical titles such as the “Desert,”
“Oasis,” “Coast,” “Interior,” “Urban,” and “River.” Each section,
illustrated with colorful photographs, attempts to introduce this
little known northwest African nation to the incognizant,
portraying Mauritania as steeped in desert culture and history,
an ideal destination for world travelers.
The section entitled “Desert,” for example, proffers many
artistic photographs: men in bright blue and white kaftan-like
garments contrasted against orange and yellow stone walls, views
of the old city, and women in colorful clothes gathering in lines
at the market. Other photographs show children in basic
classrooms, and French street signs, remnants of colonialism.
While the essays paint a positive picture of the country,
these colorful and captivating photographs, perhaps
unknowingly, manifest the contradictions within its society and
politics. For example, the text hailing school attendance rates
among boys and girls at 88% contrasts with photograph showing
a dusty school room with peeling walls and litter lining the
floors, indicating malaise. Similarly, the section entitled “Coast”
contrasts with the “Urban” chapter. The former shows powerful
close ups of fisherman, boat fleets, impoverished-looking cement
tables exhibiting their catch, while the later portrays the vastness
of Mauritanian art and culture through images of museums,
cultural centers, and artists.
Even as the writer attempts to zoom in on Mauritania’s
beautiful culture, the contradictory portraits evince the
complexity of Mauritanian society. The essay in “Urban” speaks
of the freedom of expression in the media as well as freedom of
speech and the rights of individuals to protest the government.
In these two chapters the book seems to suggest that the country
is both modernized and provincial. Images of printers
demonstrate how the Imprimerie Nationale prints 24 different
daily and weekly newspapers. Yet, the colorful scene of a market
place, with poor women squatting on the ground selling handwoven goods, and a stream of men and women crowded against
the background of run-down buildings, shows an aspect of
poverty not referred to in the text.
The book concludes: “Mauritania is poised for discovery
by the Western world. Investors and business people are only
now awakening to the great economic opportunity that lies
ahead, particularly around the country’s underdeveloped mining
Inside cover. (From “Mauritania”
by Paula Shackleton,
photography by Gary Fitzpatrick
and Paula Shackleton, Ewrks
Media, 2013.)
“The fishing boat fleet sits at
rest on the beach.” (From
“Mauritania” by Paula
Shackleton, photography by
Gary Fitzpatrick and Paula
Shackleton. Courtesy of Ewrks
Media, 2013, p. 82.)
“Elementar y School.” (From Paula Shackleton’s “Mauritania,”
photography by Gary Fitzpatrick and Paula Shackleton. Courtesy of
Ewrks Media, 2013, p. 57.)
“The Great Friday Mosque of Chinguetti with its square minaret and
ostrich egg finials” and “Interior corridors have ceilings and sand floors
patterned with the footprints of worshippers.” (From “Mauritania” by
Paula Shackleton and photography by Gary Fitzpatrick and Paula
Shackleton. Courtesy of Ewrks Media, 2013, pp. 42-43.)
and oil reserves. In turn, this holds the tremendous promise of
new economic development and opportunity for an eager
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39
Theater
Translating Syria’s Foremost Playwright
to the New York Stage
BY RULA JURDI
On March 3rd, 2014, the Martin E.
Segal Theatre Center in New York
presented staged readings from “Rituals
of Signs and Transformations” (Tuqus
al-Isharat wa-al-Tahawwulat) by
Sadallah Wannous (1941-1997), Syria’s
foremost playwright. This paid tribute
tothe publication of “Four Plays from
Syria: Sadallah Wannous,” co-edited by
Marvin Carlson and Safi Mahfouz, with
translations from Marvin Carlson, Safi
Mahfouz, Robert Myers, and Nada Saab.
Wannous rose to prominence in
Arabic theatre during the late twentieth
century, particularly after the 1967 ArabIsraeli war. In 1996 he became the first
playwright from the Arab World to be
invited by UNESCO to give the yearly
address for World Theatre Day.
Wannous saw theatre as a medium
to explore the human desires, needs, and
hopes threatened by social regulations
and political structures of community
and nation. While Wannous continued
to deem the nation-state necessary for
modern “progress,” he tried to salvage
individuality and selfhood within these
collectivities.
In the preface to “Rituals,” Nada
Saab writes that for Wannous, “Theatre
[became] not just a manifestation of civil
society but a prerequisite for the growth
and development of such society.” An
assistant professor of Arabic Studies at
the Lebanese American University, Saab
brings her knowledge of Sufi theory and
ritual to bear on her understanding of
Wannous’s works. Her expertise in the
medieval Sufi tradition is reflected in
her work “Sufism, Black and White” by
Abu al-Hasan al-Sirjani (d. ca. 470/
1077), co-edited with Bilal Orfali,
associate professor of Arabic Studies at
the American University of Beirut. It is
also developed in “Sufi Theory and
Language in the Writings of Abu Said
al-Kharraz (d. 286/899).” Saab’s research
contributions cover the modern
manifestations and discourses of Sufism
in Arab drama and poetry.
Photo by Alexy Frangieh; Muhammad al-Khansa, as Abdullah, being tickled by his mistress
Warda played by Dima Matta.
Photo by Alexy Frangieh; Yara bou Nassar, as Mu’mina/Al Maza, as she undergoes her
transformation into prostitution.
Robert Myers and Saab, along with
the Chicago-based theatre company Silk
Road Rising, had received a MacArthur
Foundation Grant to translate “Rituals”
in 2012. Robert Myers is himself the
author of over a dozen stage plays,
including “Atwater: Fixin’ to Die, The
Lynching of Leo Frank,” “Dead of Night:
The Execution of Fred Hampton,” and
“Painting Persia.” Myers co-translated
“Hammam Baghdadi” (Baghdadi Bath)
by Iraq’s prominent director Jawad alAsadi with Saab, produced at LaMama,

Vol. 18, No. 67 - Al Jadid Magazine

Transcription

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