Free eBook: "An Army Like No Other: How the Israel Defense Force Made a Nation" by Haim Bresheeth-Zabner

The Israeli government may speak of peace, but they have developed an arms industry that is one of the largest in the world. In light of the ongoing violence, we've made An Army Like No Other - a history of Israel and the IDF - free to download: https://t.co/vPVT3fCFcO pic.twitter.com/Gvjkn4P7rW

— Verso Books (@VersoBooks) May 14, 2021

Free eBook - "Ten Myths About Israel" by Ilan Pappe

We've made Ten Myths About Israel by Ilan Pappe free to download on our website: https://t.co/HFWLK863cy

In this groundbreaking book Israeli historian Ilan Pappe examines the most contested ideas concerning the origins and identity of the contemporary state of Israel. pic.twitter.com/SAlqP6Kvxp

— Verso Books (@VersoBooks) May 21, 2021

Author Olivia Abtahi Discusses Her YA Novel "Perfectly Parvin"

Author Olivia Abtahi discussed her Young Adult novel Perfectly Parvin, Thursday, May 27, 2021,  with Professor Neda Maghbouleh 

Stream Palestinian Filmmaker Elia Suleiman's Films for Free May 21-28

Palestinian filmmaker Elia Suleiman to stream all his films for free https://t.co/AX4qGDbkGN

— Usman Butt (@TheUsmanButt) May 17, 2021

The streaming is through the Eventive platform. Register for the films and Elia Suleiman's talk here.

Saqi Books - Free eBooks on Palestine - Available Through May 17, 2021

 Check out this great offer from Saqi Books. Free ebooks on Palestine through May 17, 2021.

H/t Arab Lit.

Frantz Fanon | Philosopher of the Month Collection | May 2021

Frantz Fanon is currently Philosopher of the Month at the Oxford University Press website.

12 journal papers and book chapters are free to read online or download: https://t.co/b43ZHCtYDC#PhilosopherOTM @OUPPhilosophy pic.twitter.com/nZzJoEXJyg

— Existentialism (@rethinkexistent) May 7, 2021

Review: "When Stars Are Scattered" by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed

 

My local independent bookstore & public university featured When Stars Are Scattered authors Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed in a series of author events.

Omar Mohamed related to Ms. Jamieson his experiences and thoughts about his life in the Dadaab Refugee Complex in Kenya. Ms. Jamieson drew sketches and added text in panels, and Iman Geddy added color.

The result is an engaging tale which communicates to readers some aspects of life as refugees. This is particularly important for people in the United States, where refugees are often portrayed as dangerous.

Ms. Jamieson's website has a resource list to learn more about Dadaab's inhabitants.

Omar Mohamed asks that people support his charity, Refugee Strong.

The political radical in me wishes the book dealt with why the civil war in Somalia has continued for so many decades.

I have my prejudices about graphic novels. Are they just a way for illiterate people to say they read books? But then, if the purpose of books is communication, may not images be as or more effective than prose?

Perhaps my prejudice is the result of my perceived inability to draw. With Ms. Jamieson's remote instruction during the Zoom call, I was able to sketch a child running.

I have been supporting American Relief Agency for the Horn of Africa.

Here is the book's trailer:

Recommendation: "The Color of Money: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap" by Mehrsa Baradaran

 

I remember adding Mehrsa Baradaran's book The Color of Money: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap to my reading list after watching the movie The Banker on Apple TV+, which mentioned the book in the credits.*

This book flushes out in great detail arguments you should have ready when your anti-black family members, friends and acquaintances casually say things like, "This is a good neighborhood, there are no blacks here," or "We came here with nothing, now look at how well we're doing. If blacks are poor, it must be their fault."

Baradaran examines different periods of USA history after the end of its civil war and abolition of slavery.** In each period, compensation to the enslaved peoples and their descendants is rejected in favor of half-measures which cost the state nothing and produce only symbolic and psychological benefits. And "half-measures" is hardly the right word in most instances. We need phrases such as quarter, eighth, one-sixteenth measures.

Comments on Ronald A. Lindsay's "The Necessity of Secularism: Why God Can't Tell Us What to Do"

A few years ago I read Ronald A. Lindsay's The Necessity of Secularism: Why God Can't Tell Us What to Do. I meant to reread it and then thoroughly review it, but I'm in a fit of Konmari & I need to send my copy to the person who requested it from me. So, I'm writing a few comments based on my skimming a few passages I had highlighted.

I hope readers of this blog, Muslims in particular, will attempt to understand secularism in a non-polemical manner. It isn't licentiousness (الإباحية), and it can be uncommitted on essential religious positions, so it is not equivalent to atheism.

Lindsay's layman definition of secularism is "the view that: government should not involve itself with religious matters; religious doctrine should play no role in shaping public policy or in the discourse about public policy; and religious institutions and beliefs should not enjoy a privileged position within society." [p. 18]

Flannery O'Connor's "Wise Blood" and Pathologies of Religion

I had read Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor a few years ago. I remember at the time I thought that the story had some insights into modern religious pathologies, but I would have to do a closer read and possibly some research to explore that thought further. Since my list of "backburner" projects has only grown since then, I'm giving this one up and simply presenting some passages I had marked and some accompanying thoughts.

The novel uses racist anti-black slurs frequently, as did the author in real life. None of these appears in the quotes for this blog entry.

My titles in bold. Quotes are from an online, full-text edition.

Comments on "Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World" by Anand Giridharadas

If you've found yourself wanting to scream at the "thought leaders" shoved down your throat on Public Broadcasting Service, Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World will help you translate your rage into coherent English. Author Anand Giridharadas gives us an "insider-outsider" view of MarketWorld:

MarketWorld is an ascendant power elite that is defined by the concurrent drives to do well and do good, to change the world while also profiting from the status quo. It consists of enlightened businesspeople and their collaborators in the worlds of charity, academia, media, government and think tanks. It has its own thinkers, whom it calls thought leaders, its own language, and even its own territory -- including a constantly shifting archipelago of conferences at which its values are reinforced and disseminated in translated into action. MarketWorld is a network and community but it is also a culture and state of mind.

These elites believe and promote the idea that social change should be pursued principally through the free market and voluntary action, not public life and the law and the reform of the systems that people share in common; that it should be supervised by the winners of capitalism and their allies and not be antagonistic to their needs; and that the biggest beneficiaries of the status quo should play a leading role in the status quo's reform. [p. 30]

Quotes from Mary Shelley's "The Last Man"

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797-1851) is most famous for Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus. A friend suggested her 1826 novel The Last Man was especially poignant during the COVID-19 pandemic.

If you can ignore the Victorian-era obsession with facial characteristics and the casual assumptions of European, in particular British, superiority to the rest of the world, the novel does have some excellent, thought-provoking passages.

Quotations are lifted from the Romantic Circles website page on the novel. The narrator is Lionel Varney, the sole survivor of a plague and its resulting chaos. I've added my thoughts in bold.

In Law & Order: SVU S06E20 "Night," the Violent Muslim Male Relative of the Rape Victim Satisfies His Honor By Assaulting the Assistant District Attorney

Dick Wolf's Law and Order franchise is a serial promoter of Islamophobia and other forms of stereotyping, as I've documented on this blog. One early episode of the original series achieved quantum anti-black racism in a 30 second clip. 

Season 6, Episode 20, entitled "Night," aired in May, 2005. Here's some excerpts from the script. Mildred Contana is the immigrant rights advocate who has been trying to get the police to investigate a series of rapes against undocumented women who are too afraid of deportation to report the crimes.

Thoughts Inspired by Peter Wohlleben's "The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate"

Peter Wohlleben's The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate (translated by Jane Billinghurst) makes me want to tell parents worried about their child's social and career prospects, "It's OK. Let beyta بیٹا be a forester."

Wohlleben promotes biophilia, a love and respect for other living inhabitants of our planet. He writes about forests, most specifically trees, in anthropocentric terms to engender those emotions in the reader. I am not qualified to assess the accuracy of his account or his criticisms of the forestry industry and foresting practices. I am  predisposed to accept Wohlleben's call to restrict human activity in large swaths of land for 500 years to allow old forests to reestablish themselves for a number of reasons: my suspicion of technological solutions to our social & ecological problems, the urgency of slowing down biodiversity loss and my fondness for hiking. 

In this blog entry, however, I am more concerned with two items: the implications of Wohlleben's assertions for proposals to ward off ecological change which would endanger human civilization and how texts from the Quran portray non-humans.

Global bodies are examining how aforestation and reducing deforestation may reduce greenhouse gas effects. Before reading Wohlleben's book, I imagined a Maoist regime compelling all the people who had previously worked in finance to report each morning to the reforestation detail, where a truck carrying trees to be transplanted & workers would go to that day's designated tree-planting zone. Now, I believe it's not as simple as planting rows of baby trees. Forests are more complicated than that.

E.O. Wilson believes one-half of the land surface of the planet must be set aside as a nature reserve. This seems more in line with Wohlleben's thinking, but implementing this seems even less possible than having a centralized planning commission retool mortgage brokers into arboreal workers.

Monotheistic religions have been portrayed as inherently hostile to non-human life. Discussing this assertion is beyond me, but, as I was reading The Hidden Life of Trees, I thought of these passages from the Quran:

وَمَا مِن دَابَّةٍ فِي الْأَرْضِ وَلَا طَائِرٍ يَطِيرُ بِجَنَاحَيْهِ إِلَّا أُمَمٌ أَمْثَالُكُم ۚ مَّا فَرَّطْنَا فِي الْكِتَابِ مِن شَيْءٍ ۚ ثُمَّ إِلَىٰ رَبِّهِمْ يُحْشَرُونَ

There is not an animal (that lives) on the earth, nor a being that flies on its wings, but (forms part of) communities like you. Nothing have we omitted from the Book, and they (all) shall be gathered to their Lord in the end. (6:38)

سَبِّحِ اسْمَ رَبِّكَ الْأَعْلَى الَّذِي خَلَقَ فَسَوَّىٰ وَالَّذِي قَدَّرَ فَهَدَىٰ

Glorify the name of thy Guardian-Lord Most High

Who hath created, and further, given order and proportion;

Who hath ordained laws. And granted guidance; (87:1-3)

قَالَ فَمَن رَّبُّكُمَا يَا مُوسَىٰ  قَالَ رَبُّنَا الَّذِي أَعْطَىٰ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ خَلْقَهُ ثُمَّ هَدَىٰ

(Pharaoh) said: "Who, then, O Moses, is the Lord of you two?"

He said: "Our Lord is He Who gave to each (created) thing its form and nature, and further, gave (it) guidance." (20:49-50)

إِنَّا عَرَضْنَا الْأَمَانَةَ عَلَى السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَالْجِبَالِ فَأَبَيْنَ أَن يَحْمِلْنَهَا وَأَشْفَقْنَ مِنْهَا وَحَمَلَهَا الْإِنسَانُ ۖ إِنَّهُ كَانَ ظَلُومًا جَهُولًا

We did indeed offer the Trust to the Heavens and the Earth and the Mountains; but they refused to undertake it, being afraid thereof: but man undertook it;- He was indeed unjust and foolish;- (33:72)

So if a child spends an inordinate amount of time examining flowers or ants and drawing pictures of birds and fish, don't worry if they'll fit in. Just make sure they get to pursue those interests and learn all they can about those creatures. They may figure out a way to keep this crazy bunch of tool-using, space-faring primates from killing themselves.

Review: "There Goes the Neighborhood: How Communities Overcome Prejudice and Meet the Challenge of American Immigration" by Ali Noorani

 

Ali Noorani is the President and Director of National Immigration Forum. He began writing There Goes the Neighborhood: How Communities Overcome Prejudice and Meet the Challenge of American Immigration in 2010, after Congress failed to pass The Dream Act, despite the Democratic Party majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate. Those advocating human rights for migrants were bitterly disappointed that, despite decades of advocacy and organizing, legislation which would have provided the most meager of relief for some undocumented immigrants failed. 

Ali Noorani identifies that cultural advocacy was the missing ingredient: "When Americans were looking for an answer to their questions of cultural identity, we gave them a political answer instead." [p. 30]

Documentary: The Problem with Apu by Hari Kondabolu

I've liked Hari Kondabolu since seeing a YouTube clip (profanity warning) of why he doesn't use an accent in his comedy acts. When Roku and HBO Max finally resolved their differences, the first movie I watched was his 2017 documentary The Problem with Apu. The documentary is an excellent walk-through about the importance of representation in popular culture, a topic which I've covered in this blog's entries on TV shows, movies and documentaries. There were several points the movie made which stand out for me.

The writers on The Simpsons never considered the impact the character Apu had on actual people. When Hari was interviewing a former producer who pointed out that the show's portrayal of the evil oligarch Mr. Burns was stereotypical and Hari pointed out that one couldn't compare the positions of oligarchs and convenience store operators in society, the producer said that the only consideration in the writers' room was whether dialog was funny. Hari then points out that the only reason Apu and his accent are funny is because society is racist.

Film: "Zahra and the Oil Man" by Yucef Mayes

My local NBC affiliate substituted "African American Short Films" by BamadiTV for the repeatedly postponed Baltimore Ravens versus Pittsburgh Steelers football game. Among the features was the short film Zahra and the Oil Man, directed by Yucef Mayes.

It's refreshing to see a depiction of USA Muslims without violence and with loving family relationships. Yet the film has a twist which I didn't see coming and a satisfying resolution, so I can recommend it for more than just its representational value.

The film is available for streaming from Alchemiya & Kweli TV.

The film has a Facebook Page. Here's the IMDB entry.

You can subscribe to be notified if a BamadiTV program airs in your locale.

Recommendation: India in the West: South Asians in America by Ronald Takaki

 

I remember attending an Asian Students Association meeting at the University of Virginia to hear from the guest lecturer Ronald Takaki, whom I had known about because of his book condemning the United States's use of the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. The students' excitement was as if a diety had entered the room, and it was really the first time I remember considering ethnicity and identity to be important. Professor Takaki was a leading figure in the movement for multiculturalism in education. India in the West: South Asians in America was published in 1995 as part of a series of books designed for young adult readers. It is adapted and reprinted from his 1989 classic Strangers from a Different Shore: A History of Asian Americans.

Review: "Green Illusions: The Dirty Secrets of Clean Energy and the Future of Environmentalism" by Ozzie Zehner

I watched the documentary Planet of the Humans and acquired Green Illusions: The Dirty Secrets of Clean Energy and the Future of Environmentalism, whose author, Ozzie Zehner, was a producer.

The book has three sections. The first debunks the idea of clean energy production. This is especially difficult to read, because I had never entertained serious doubts that humanity could and should continue to expand its energy production as long as it used "clean" & "renewable" energy such as solar, wind, tidal and (one day!) nuclear fusion. I'm an avid consumer of science fiction and futurism, and most of these cultural products assume that humanity has solved its environmental limits while maintaining an ever-increasing standard of living.

A few lines from Light of the Stars: Alien Worlds and the Fate of the Earth by Adam Frank explains why physicists believe this is theoretically impossible, but Ozzie Zehner's documentary and book brought this point home to me.

Recommendation: "Unbroken Brain: A Revolutionary New Way of Understanding Addiction" by Maia Szalavitz

I first heard of Maia Szalavitz from the Citations Needed Podcast episode 99, The Cruel, Voyeuristic Quackery of Rehab TV Shows. Her book Unbroken Brain: A Revolutionary New Way of Understanding Addiction basically contradicts everything I'd ever thought I knew about addiction to mind-altering substances before involvement with supporters of recreational and medicinal cannabis legalization and decriminalization, who opened my eyes to the compound hypocrisies and harms of prohibition and incarceration.