Son of Mountains: My Life as a Kurd and a Terror Suspect by Yassin Aref is now on my Amazon wish list. So look for an upcoming review.
Yassin Aref's lawyer appeared on Democracy Now! The War and Peace Report.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Film: New Muslim Cool
June 23, 2009 is the broadcast date for the PBS documentary "New Muslim Cool."
Friday, April 24, 2009
Review: American Muslim Women: Negotiating Race, Class and Gender within the Ummah by Jamillah Karim
Jamilah King reviewed American Muslim Women: Negotiating Race, Class and Gender within the Ummah by Jamillah Karim.
I have not read the book. It is available from Amazon.
Updated January 19, 2015:
I have not read the book. It is available from Amazon.
Updated January 19, 2015:
A discussion with @jamillahkarim on gender and race in Islam @HindMakki @RamiNashashibi http://t.co/jQ187Y39SA
— Jamillah Karim (@jamillahkarim) January 16, 2015
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
Film: 'Bama Girl
'Bama Girl follows University of Alabama seniors in their campaign to be elected homecoming queen. It ended up focusing on Alpha Kappa Alpha member Jessica Thomas, an African-American who had set her sights on being the homecoming queen since her first year in the university.
I saw the movie as part of the Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers when Rachel Goslins screened her film in Augusta, GA's Imperial Theatre.
I had held a lot of anti-white fraternity/sorority life ideas since my undergraduate days. I used to repeat phrases like "buying friends" and "muffies and buffies" (before Buffy the Vampire Slayer). Now I've mellowed a lot since then, and I realized that people participate in white fraternities and sororities for a lot of different reasons, and I should not just judge people right off the bat. In addition, I did not spend my university life feeding the poor, so it's not like I was really that morally superior to people who spent their time dressing for socials and singing arcane songs.
But some of those anti-Greek ideas still remain, and I did not think I would be sympathetic to any students who cared about homecoming (I have yet to buy University paraphenalia such as sweatshirts), much less actively campaigned to become homecoming queen. As I watched the film and learned about the Machine's efforts to coordinate the white Greeks' votes behind a candidate and Jessica Thomas's gathering of her friends and supporters, including one who worked in an electoral campaign for the mayor of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, I asked myself why could not these people work to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and reduce carbon emissions and demand an end to the prison-industrial complex and the war on drugs.
But if I go beyond my crass Marxism, I admit to myself that this coalition building and canvassing is training for lives of public advocacy. While I may scorn university bodies such as student government and homecoming, I have to admit that those activities are an effective introduction to corporate and government work.
My other problem with the homecoming queen (and king) is its sexism. A quick search on the term "homecoming queen protest" came up with the following headlines:
I don't remember even hearing about a homecoming queen election at the University of Virginia, and fellow alumni told me that University of Virginia did not have a homecoming queen.
In addition, I have come to believe that part of being an "ally" with the "oppressed" is respecting the goals they set for themselves. While I may not consider an African-American winning the homecoming queen election at University of Alabama to be a milestone on the road to ending American white supremacy, obviously some African-Americans have considered things like homecoming queen elections important.
The film itself is humorous, gentle in its treatment of the people who appear in it and short enough that my interest did not stray.
I saw the movie as part of the Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers when Rachel Goslins screened her film in Augusta, GA's Imperial Theatre.
I had held a lot of anti-white fraternity/sorority life ideas since my undergraduate days. I used to repeat phrases like "buying friends" and "muffies and buffies" (before Buffy the Vampire Slayer). Now I've mellowed a lot since then, and I realized that people participate in white fraternities and sororities for a lot of different reasons, and I should not just judge people right off the bat. In addition, I did not spend my university life feeding the poor, so it's not like I was really that morally superior to people who spent their time dressing for socials and singing arcane songs.
But some of those anti-Greek ideas still remain, and I did not think I would be sympathetic to any students who cared about homecoming (I have yet to buy University paraphenalia such as sweatshirts), much less actively campaigned to become homecoming queen. As I watched the film and learned about the Machine's efforts to coordinate the white Greeks' votes behind a candidate and Jessica Thomas's gathering of her friends and supporters, including one who worked in an electoral campaign for the mayor of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, I asked myself why could not these people work to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and reduce carbon emissions and demand an end to the prison-industrial complex and the war on drugs.
But if I go beyond my crass Marxism, I admit to myself that this coalition building and canvassing is training for lives of public advocacy. While I may scorn university bodies such as student government and homecoming, I have to admit that those activities are an effective introduction to corporate and government work.
My other problem with the homecoming queen (and king) is its sexism. A quick search on the term "homecoming queen protest" came up with the following headlines:
I don't remember even hearing about a homecoming queen election at the University of Virginia, and fellow alumni told me that University of Virginia did not have a homecoming queen.
In addition, I have come to believe that part of being an "ally" with the "oppressed" is respecting the goals they set for themselves. While I may not consider an African-American winning the homecoming queen election at University of Alabama to be a milestone on the road to ending American white supremacy, obviously some African-Americans have considered things like homecoming queen elections important.
The film itself is humorous, gentle in its treatment of the people who appear in it and short enough that my interest did not stray.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
Film: Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson is a 2-DVD, 220-minute documentary about Jack Johnson, the first African-American heavyweight boxing champion of the world.
The first DVD covered Johnson's quest to win the heavyweight title, and the second DVD covered society's persecution of the champion, eventually leading to his arrest, flight from the United States and eventual imprisonment.
I hope that people can watch it to understand the comprehensive, pervasive white supremacy which encompassed all sectors of the United States in the first half of the twentieth century. That Euro-Americans considered boxing a sphere of racial competition is symptomatic of a deep pathology of which I have never heard in other places, even where there are patterns of racial, ethnic or tribal discrimination.
Additional Resources:
The first DVD covered Johnson's quest to win the heavyweight title, and the second DVD covered society's persecution of the champion, eventually leading to his arrest, flight from the United States and eventual imprisonment.
I hope that people can watch it to understand the comprehensive, pervasive white supremacy which encompassed all sectors of the United States in the first half of the twentieth century. That Euro-Americans considered boxing a sphere of racial competition is symptomatic of a deep pathology of which I have never heard in other places, even where there are patterns of racial, ethnic or tribal discrimination.
Additional Resources:
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Film: The Iron Wall
The Iron Wall is a 58-minute documentary about Israeli occupation of Palestinian land. It focuses on the West Bank and Jerusalem.
The film's official web site is an excellent source of information about the film. It is available for purchase in North America from Palestine Online Store.
What's there for me to add here? The film is gruesome in its detail of the appropriation of Palestinians' land. The film uses credible interviews and hits most of the important points U.S. audiences need to know.
The film's official web site is an excellent source of information about the film. It is available for purchase in North America from Palestine Online Store.
What's there for me to add here? The film is gruesome in its detail of the appropriation of Palestinians' land. The film uses credible interviews and hits most of the important points U.S. audiences need to know.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Review: Disturbing the Peace: The Story of Father Roy Bourgeois and the Movement to Close the School of the Americas
James Hodge and Linda Cooper. Disturbing the Peace: The Story of Father Roy Bourgeois and the Movement to Close the School of the Americas. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books; 2004. Foreward by Martin Sheen. 244 pages, including index. ISBN-10: 1-57075-434-9.
The authors chronicle the life of Father Roy Bourgeois and the development of the School of the Americas Watch.
Father Roy fought in the Vietnam War. There, he met a French missionary, who, through his example of caring for the Vietnamese poor and sick and injured, set Bourgeois on a path away from violence. After years of searching, he began a career as a clergyman.
Serving a mission in Bolivia, Father Roy began to realize that the violence peoples of the Americas endured was not an accident. Rather, it was partly the result of policies his own government pursued.
As other Catholic missionaries, both clergy and lay persons, were murdered in Latin America, Father Roy increasingly found that the trail of blood began in Columbus, GA. There, in the U.S. Army base Fort Benning, the United States was operating the School of the Americas. This school attracted military personnel from most countries of the Western Hemisphere, and it was the only educational program entirely taught in Spanish.
Although the school had been operating since the 1950s, information about its existence and activities was not readily available. Chance meetings and unrelated news reports led Father Roy to begin protest vigils at the base, demanding the closure of the school. Due to the dedication and persistence of Father Roy and other activists, this vigil has grown into the School of the Americas Watch, a leading organization advocated peace and justice in Latin America.
The book is a good balance between Father Roy's personal transformations, information about the human rights abuses of the graduates of the School of the Americas and the cover-ups of the successive U.S. governments of U.S. support of these abuses.
I believe that Muslims in the U.S. can learn a lot about the challenges in improving U.S. policy towards predominantly Muslim countries by studying U.S. policy towards the predominantly Christian countries of the Americas. They would find that the U.S. has been an equal opportunity imperialist. I hope that U.S. Muslim activists would then form productive alliances with other justice-seeking Americans and press the U.S. government to refrain from human rights violations, preemptive wars, covert actions and trade agreements that fail to protect workers' rights, subsistence agriculture and the environment.
The authors chronicle the life of Father Roy Bourgeois and the development of the School of the Americas Watch.
Father Roy fought in the Vietnam War. There, he met a French missionary, who, through his example of caring for the Vietnamese poor and sick and injured, set Bourgeois on a path away from violence. After years of searching, he began a career as a clergyman.
Serving a mission in Bolivia, Father Roy began to realize that the violence peoples of the Americas endured was not an accident. Rather, it was partly the result of policies his own government pursued.
As other Catholic missionaries, both clergy and lay persons, were murdered in Latin America, Father Roy increasingly found that the trail of blood began in Columbus, GA. There, in the U.S. Army base Fort Benning, the United States was operating the School of the Americas. This school attracted military personnel from most countries of the Western Hemisphere, and it was the only educational program entirely taught in Spanish.
Although the school had been operating since the 1950s, information about its existence and activities was not readily available. Chance meetings and unrelated news reports led Father Roy to begin protest vigils at the base, demanding the closure of the school. Due to the dedication and persistence of Father Roy and other activists, this vigil has grown into the School of the Americas Watch, a leading organization advocated peace and justice in Latin America.
The book is a good balance between Father Roy's personal transformations, information about the human rights abuses of the graduates of the School of the Americas and the cover-ups of the successive U.S. governments of U.S. support of these abuses.
I believe that Muslims in the U.S. can learn a lot about the challenges in improving U.S. policy towards predominantly Muslim countries by studying U.S. policy towards the predominantly Christian countries of the Americas. They would find that the U.S. has been an equal opportunity imperialist. I hope that U.S. Muslim activists would then form productive alliances with other justice-seeking Americans and press the U.S. government to refrain from human rights violations, preemptive wars, covert actions and trade agreements that fail to protect workers' rights, subsistence agriculture and the environment.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Review: Shadow Speaker
Read the review of Shadow Speaker at Muslima Media Watch. I have not read the book.
Review: Al' America
The blog Media and Islam has a review of the book Al' America: Travels Through America's Arab and Islamic Roots
.
I have not read the book.
.
I have not read the book.
DVD: The Tipping Point: Changing Perceptions of the U.S.-Israeli Relationship
This is a DVD of a panel discussion held at Cooper Union in New York City on September 28, 2006. It focused on the arguments in John Mearsheimer's and Stephen Walt's book The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy. The panel included John Mearsheimer, Rashid Khalidi and Tony Judt, who were more or less defending Mearsheimer and Walt, and Ambassador Dennis Ross, Ambassador Martin Indyk and former Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami, who criticized Mearsheimer and Walt, more or less.
On the whole, I find historians' reasoning and outlook more sound than political scientists and politicians, whom I find in comparison to historians to be overly focused on details and misleading data lacking causal mechanisms. So it was pleasant to hear Khalidi, Judt and Ben-Ami, and Mearsheimer was good, and Dennis Ross and Martin Indyk rarely made points which I thought worthwhile.
The forum is a good introduction to the arguments about how U.S. policy towards Israel is constructed.
It also includes two bonus features. It may be better for those unfamiliar with Mearsheimer and Walt to watch the bonus features first, as they illustrate how they make their arguments.
I think it is important for Muslims involved in policy debates regarding Palestine to hear these discussions so that they don't imply in their arguments that American Jews are making backroom deals to use United States power to suppress Palestinians. The "lobby" and its ability to influence U.S. politicians is a function of a whole congruence of factors, many of which have nothing to do with U.S. Jews. Perhaps Muslims can learn from a study of the pro-Israel lobby is how to advocate at many different levels of society simultaneously and continuously.
I purchased my copy from http://www.cnionline.org.It is available on Amazon.
On the whole, I find historians' reasoning and outlook more sound than political scientists and politicians, whom I find in comparison to historians to be overly focused on details and misleading data lacking causal mechanisms. So it was pleasant to hear Khalidi, Judt and Ben-Ami, and Mearsheimer was good, and Dennis Ross and Martin Indyk rarely made points which I thought worthwhile.
The forum is a good introduction to the arguments about how U.S. policy towards Israel is constructed.
It also includes two bonus features. It may be better for those unfamiliar with Mearsheimer and Walt to watch the bonus features first, as they illustrate how they make their arguments.
I think it is important for Muslims involved in policy debates regarding Palestine to hear these discussions so that they don't imply in their arguments that American Jews are making backroom deals to use United States power to suppress Palestinians. The "lobby" and its ability to influence U.S. politicians is a function of a whole congruence of factors, many of which have nothing to do with U.S. Jews. Perhaps Muslims can learn from a study of the pro-Israel lobby is how to advocate at many different levels of society simultaneously and continuously.
I purchased my copy from http://www.cnionline.org.It is available on Amazon.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Karen Armstrong: The Role of Religion in the Arab-Israeli Conflict
Karen Armstrong's talk at the Capitol in Washington, DC with a 20-minute or so Q&A period is being distributed by the Council for the National Interest Foundation.
The talk is basically a summary of positions she has laid out in her book The Battle for God. Her prime contention is that intra-religious battles about how to react to modernity result in social identities which, in situations of stress and political conflict, emerge into fundamentalist political movements.
She takes a little more time to deal with Christian fundamentalists, but she address Jews and Muslims as well.
This talk is a great way to address people who say things like "Those people are always fighting" or "God said there would always be war" or "God says we must do such and such (politically)."
The program is 78 minutes long.
The talk is basically a summary of positions she has laid out in her book The Battle for God. Her prime contention is that intra-religious battles about how to react to modernity result in social identities which, in situations of stress and political conflict, emerge into fundamentalist political movements.
She takes a little more time to deal with Christian fundamentalists, but she address Jews and Muslims as well.
This talk is a great way to address people who say things like "Those people are always fighting" or "God said there would always be war" or "God says we must do such and such (politically)."
The program is 78 minutes long.
Film: Gaza Strip, by James Longley
Update: James Longley has made this film available for free. Please consider donating to support the work. Also, read the comment he made regarding Israel's July 2014 attacks on Gaza.
Gaza Strip from James Longley on Vimeo.
The documentary film Gaza Strip by James Longley runs 74 minutes. The special features include some striking still shots, a map of the Gaza Strip showing the extent of Jewish settlements in 2002 and a narrated audio track by James Longley, which I have not yet heard.
You can also read other reviews of the film.
The film includes profanity in Arabic which is then translated into the English subtitles.
The film includes a segment describing Israeli use of a gas weapon which caused neurological symptoms. I had never heard that before.
Another amazing scene is a large number of children standing around and taking cover every 10 seconds or so as gunfire breaks out, but otherwise acting as if it was normal.
The most unbearable scene is a dialog where Muhammad Hijazi, a thirteen-year old boy who appears frequently in the documentary, talks about what he thinks might happen to him after death. He relates the conversation he imagines might take place between him and God and his assignment to Hell or, perhaps, purgatory.
The film's footage was shot in 2001 (I think).
As I was watching it, I was thinking that most of my previous office co-workers would not be able to handle the truth of this movie. The Palestinians Longley interviews express a deep pessimism combined with a determination to resist.
I purchased my copy from Amazon.com.
James Longley has also directed Iraq in Fragments. He is currently working on a documentary film about Iran.
Gaza Strip from James Longley on Vimeo.
The documentary film Gaza Strip by James Longley runs 74 minutes. The special features include some striking still shots, a map of the Gaza Strip showing the extent of Jewish settlements in 2002 and a narrated audio track by James Longley, which I have not yet heard.
You can also read other reviews of the film.
The film includes profanity in Arabic which is then translated into the English subtitles.
The film includes a segment describing Israeli use of a gas weapon which caused neurological symptoms. I had never heard that before.
Another amazing scene is a large number of children standing around and taking cover every 10 seconds or so as gunfire breaks out, but otherwise acting as if it was normal.
The most unbearable scene is a dialog where Muhammad Hijazi, a thirteen-year old boy who appears frequently in the documentary, talks about what he thinks might happen to him after death. He relates the conversation he imagines might take place between him and God and his assignment to Hell or, perhaps, purgatory.
The film's footage was shot in 2001 (I think).
As I was watching it, I was thinking that most of my previous office co-workers would not be able to handle the truth of this movie. The Palestinians Longley interviews express a deep pessimism combined with a determination to resist.
I purchased my copy from Amazon.com.
James Longley has also directed Iraq in Fragments. He is currently working on a documentary film about Iran.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Film: The Refusal-Story of Franz Jägerstätter, a martyr for justice
THE REFUSAL - Story of Franz Jägerstätter from GNV Team on Vimeo.
I purchased this DVD at the School of the Americas Watch rally in Columbus, Georgia, USA in November 2008. The movie was originally released in West Germany in 1971. This DVD has English subtitles available on-line, but no extra features. It runs for 95 minutes. The DVD label includes the web site for the Center for Christian Nonviolence. I spoke with John Carmodi of the center on January 26, 2009, and he told me that the web site's store was being rebuilt and it should be available again shortly. In the meantime, people who want the DVD can call 302.235.2925. [May 13, 2009-New English language translation of Franz Jägerstätter letter's and writings from prison].
I purchased this DVD at the School of the Americas Watch rally in Columbus, Georgia, USA in November 2008. The movie was originally released in West Germany in 1971. This DVD has English subtitles available on-line, but no extra features. It runs for 95 minutes. The DVD label includes the web site for the Center for Christian Nonviolence. I spoke with John Carmodi of the center on January 26, 2009, and he told me that the web site's store was being rebuilt and it should be available again shortly. In the meantime, people who want the DVD can call 302.235.2925. [May 13, 2009-New English language translation of Franz Jägerstätter letter's and writings from prison].
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Sonbolight Kids Web Site Focuses on Materials for Children to Enjoy Eid
While there are only a few items currently available from the sonbolightkids.com web site, I hope that Muslims support it in the hope that it develops into a quality supplier of decorations and children's activities materials for Eid.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Review: The Great Influenza by John M Barry
John M. Barry´s list of works in worldcat.org shows that he is able to make a popular, general audience book about topics that academic historians might write articles and monographs the general public would avoid, like the way Ken Burns does with PBS films.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Both Believer and Infidel-Herman Melville
And how nobly it raises our conceit of the mighty, misty monster, to behold him solemnly sailing through a calm tropical sea; his vast, mild head overhung by a canopy of vapor, engendered by his incommunicable contemplations, and that vapor - as you will sometimes see it - glorified by a rainbow, as if Heaven itself had put its seal upon his thoughts. For, d'ye see, rainbows do not visit the clear air; they only irradiate vapor. And so, through all the thick mists of the dim doubts in my mind, divine intuitions now and then shoot, enkindling my fog with a heavenly ray. And for this I thank God; for all have doubts; many deny; but doubts or denials, few along with them, have intuitions. Doubts of all things earthly, and intuitions of some things heavenly; this combination makes neither believer nor infidel, but makes a man who regards them both with equal eye.This amazing passage appears at the end of Chapter 85 of Moby Dick, entitled "The Fountain." It's a (surprise!) lengthy speculation on the breathing apparatus of the sperm whale. And just when you're wondering why you are reading it, you get this wonderful insight from the author, Herman Melville.
Here's an earlier blog entry I did with a Moby Dick quote.
2013-12-25: The Lettered Wayfarer posted a quote from Moby Dick with a thoughtful introduction.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
O God! by Mehdi Alavi
O God! by Mehdi Alavi
I reviewed this one in 2001. I've started to add my reviews to Amazon.com, and then I discovered a review I wrote in 2001. Eek!
I reviewed this one in 2001. I've started to add my reviews to Amazon.com, and then I discovered a review I wrote in 2001. Eek!
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Labyrinths by Ayman Fanous and Tomas Ulrich
He has been able to continue making music, and I was fortunate enough to get his latest album. Lately, he has been combining his classical guitar with Tomas Ulrich's cello. The latest CD is entitled Labyrinths, and its out on konnex records, konnex-records.de. I purchased my copy from squidco.com.
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