MyLifeDump

Yesterday I attended this group panel discussion on Racism and War. I must say that it was very interesting to hear what the panel had to say about the war in Iraq and the racism that’s rising against Arabs and Muslims.

In the panel we also had the President of General Union of Palestinian Students or GUPS, Ramsey El-Qare. He pointed out the racist bias that exists that puts all Arabs under the umbrella of Islam. Recently this was depicted in an article written by Jason Shuffler for the SF [X]press.

There was this big Republican rally where flags that had the word “Allah” written on it were trampled upon, of course by the Republican Students. GUPS President Ramsey El-Qare approached Leigh Wolf, who is the press officer for the College Republicans, along with 2 other students.

The image is totally absurd as the three students shown in the image are not even Muslims. They are Christians trying to tell this rally that stepping on the name of “Allah” doesn’t achieve anything as it insults anyone who believes in God.

The article had a mediocre spin on the whole issue that made concerned students look like Muslims. I don’t think you have to be a Muslim to protest desecration of God. But the lack of understanding and the ignorance that exists is to a proportion where there is no hope of revival.

Just because few concerned Palestinians decided to stop an act of ignorance taking place in and educational setting, they were labeled Muslims. What does this say about racism and the desire to feed it more with a desert of ignorance and salad of hate?

Once I moved to Sharjah, I had all my friends in Bur Dubai where I used to live before. There was no inexpensive way for a 15 year old to go back to Bur Dubai on the weekends to play some cricket or meet old friends.

But there was some hope, in the form of a wooden boat. This is how it worked… you take a taxi from sharjah, this taxi would allow you to share the ride with other passengers, four passengers per taxi. That was like 5 Dhs per head. That taxi would drop you at Nasser Square in Deira. From Nasser Square, Abra is like 5 minute walk but it still used to be a drain because of the heat and humid weather.

After reaching the Abra (Boat) stop, you open up your ears and eyes and follow people who are flocking towards the Abra that is going to leave once it has 20 passengers. It was 50 fils to go from Deira to Bur Dubai and vice versa. Thats like less than 50 cents roundtrip. The whole trip was about 6 Dhs, instead of around 50 Dhs if I were to use the taxi back and forth from Dubai and Sharjah.

The Abra ride itself is around 7-8 minutes, the water is blue, the buildings are scenic and the breeze is relaxing. This is one thing about Dubai that it believes in preserving the ancient practices and ethnic heritage when in today’s world, they can offer the same roundtrip in an electronic air conditioned boat.

Two Thumbs UP for Abra and Dubai!

I am writing this post again, maybe I shouldn’t be that negative on this blessed day.

So brothers and their sisters, Eid Mubarak…

I hope that your prayers and duas are answered on this day and throughout Ramadan all the good deeds you undertook are rewarded in your lifetime and life after death.

It’s interesting that this time around, Diwali and Eid were like almost 3 days apart…. do you remember the last time that happened? I don’t…

I am alone here at the moment and miss my family back in dubai more than anything else… this is the 4th year in a row that I will be celebrating eid without my family. Hopefully this spell will end soon…. okie I am whinning I think…

EID MUBARAK - Have a Blast this Eid and send me your Eidi….

I saw this car and at first was puzzled as to what was hanging off the trunk… then I tried to get behind this car and lucky me, it was red so he stopped and I was right behind him.

I thought it would be a good idea to take pic, that’s why people have camera phones these days. This leg really looked real, the pic doesn’t capture it but the leg was bloody too, not red but you could see the blood.

I don’t know about you people but I saw this for the first time and thought hmmm interesting!

It’s my first semester at SFSU and during one of my classes, I was made aware about this mural controversy shaping up on campus right now. It’s a debate over Edward Said’s Mural that was approved to be painted on the Cesar Chavez Student Center building with other Murals but was halted, without any specific (vague) reason at first and then the Art committee was asked to revise it’s mural approval process. This helped start a petition drive which is currently under way.

[X]Press at SFSU has never talked about Edward Said in any of the Mural related articles. Before I talk about this issue, let me talk about Edward Said. From wikipedia:

“Edward Wadie Said (November 1, 1935 – September 25, 2003; Arabic: إدوارد سعيد‎) was a well-known Palestinian-American literary theorist, critic, and outspoken Palestinian activist. He was a University Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, and is regarded as a founding figure in post-colonial theory.”

In his long list of contributions, he is best known for describing and critiquing “Orientalism”.

“Said is best known for describing and critiquing “Orientalism,” which he perceived as a constellation of false assumptions underlying Western attitudes toward the East. In Orientalism (1978), Said described the “subtle and persistent Eurocentric prejudice against Arabo-Islamic peoples and their culture.” He argued that a long tradition of false and romanticized images of Asia and the Middle East in Western culture had served as an implicit justification for Europe and America’s colonial and imperial ambitions. Just as fiercely, he denounced the practice of Arab elites who internalized the American and British orientalists’ ideas of Arabic culture.”

It would be a good idea to google Edward Said and read more about him. I just wanted to give you a basic idea as to what this man is and why I believe people like him are important in post 9/11 world.

Student Center Governing Board at SFSU approved the mural in a 6-2 vote on July 13th 2006. SFSU President Robert Corrigan placed an “immediate moratorium” on Edward Said Mural and all other murals at the student center. According to Corrigan, the mural is “conflict-centered”. He fails to mention what about it is conflict centered. He has also asked the board that approved the mural to change its policy because “it is at odds with the most fundamental values to which San Francisco State University is committed”, said Corrigan.

This mural is sponsored by General Union of Palestinian Students or GUPS. They have worked for over a year on this mural as you can see in the mock-up and if it goes live, SFSU will become the first university in the U.S that will have a Palestinian Mural.

Corrigan has shown his concern over murals in the past also, he had problems with Malcolm X mural once it was approved and painted. Situation got a little out of hand and he had to order riot police to take charge on campus. The original Malcolm X Mural “contained the Star of David with dollar signs and skulls superimposed over it.” Corrigan took some heat because of that controversy which he wants to avoid this time.

It’s not the Star of David this time that seems to be issue, it’s the cartoon character “Handalah” holding a key and a sword shaped pen on the right hand side of the mural. “Handalah” was created by a news paper cartoonist Naji Al-Ali. Talking about this cartoon character will take us away fromt the real debate which is about a mural that honors Edward Said. Every element of the mural has a meaning and in this instance, “Handalah” represents struggle.

Knowing the history of Islam, in simple terms, sword shaped pen can be seen as an image translation of a popular Hadith by Prophet Muhammad. He reportedly said “The ink of the scholar is more holy than the blood of the martyr”. Edward Said was a scholar; he brought more positive attention to the issue of Palestine than any martyr of Hamas. That explains the sword. The key, I believe is once again enforcing the view that the “Key” to the solution is through “Pen”. The cartoon character, the pen, and the key, put it all into perspective and it should be clear that “Handalah” has nothing to do with violence or hatred.

This is not a view shared by Corrigan or Hillel, the off-campus Jewish group opposed to the mural. Corrigan recently called supporters of this mural “Bigots”. It should be known that this mural was approved by a democratic process in place for murals. Corrigan now wants the mural approval process to be revised, that’s one of his conditions to approve the Edward Said Mural besides the fact that “Handalah” should be erased. Only after the approval of this mural it occurred to Corrigan that the mural approval process has flaws and needs to be revised.

It would be interesting to see what happens with this mural. Every issue has two sides to it, sometimes one side is right, sometimes both the sides are right, and sometimes none of the sides are right. This mural debate speaks for itself and the clear facts incline us to support one side.