Spread the word

First Boston Palestine Film Festival coming this fall.

Make plans to attend and pass along to filmakers.

Call for Entries 2007
http://www.bostonpalestinefilmfest.org
The Boston Palestine Film Festival (BPFF) is now accepting entries for its first annual festival to be held in September-October 2007.

Criticisim of Contemporary Arab Society or Just a Divergent Rant

The drive, the evolution, the creativity, the progress is all at a standstill. A stagnant existence cripples us like a drug addiction.

It seems the Arab masses have rested too long. We have developed an aura of arrogance based on our previous historical accomplishments. We have contributed nothing of value in the past century other than sitting on oil. All we have become is the purveyors of perpetual pop.

Sure we can say things like we invented the numbering system, algebra, the two-stroke engine and the torpedo 800 years ago, the ice cream cone or whatever, but what has been our contribution lately is a knack for mimicking. The strive is long dead and we didn’t even mourn since we are in denial. To be like others and to blend seems to be only saving us from temporary destruction. We quickly give up the things that make us who we are.

This is not meant as an attack on our society (and by no means is this an academic work) rather, a venting in hopes of sparking some revival within myself and others.

There are several issues I have on our perception, our reputation and our future.

The perception is that we are special. Others' perception of us is disturbingly negative.
Why such a chasm? Is there something we don't see or is this a product of years of propaganda purposing a divergence of truth staging our demise? It appears to be a combination of both.
We see our selves above all with no fault, resting on the weight of past glory. And we are victim to centuries of unjust attacks. Our reputation is a violent and decadent one, certainly unjustified to the extent propagated, yet clearly we have lost our way. This is not to say that we all are guilty but when there is this grim cloud covering our movement we all suffer, therefore we all need to act to reignite our evolution into a perpetual positive progression. The future is not bright by any means, in fact the reality is that we are headed into our darkest hour since the time before Prophet Mohammad. And there may not be a recovery. There is a correlation between the rise of Islam and the dawn of a great Arab civilization, one which rescued vital ideas of justice and philosophy. Now it is believed that most of Europe's advancements were merely inventions copied from the Arab world centuries earlier. I mentioned the torpedo, but weapons of destruction aside, there was the creation of the library, university and hospital. And the advancements in irrigation and the time piece and so on.

Where is that knowledge now? I'm assuming it all went into the abyss to replace the oil that was drawn out. the majority of Arabs do not have oil but this has cursed us all, since the powerful have taken us down with them. There is no shining light leader to bring us back up. and we wallow in a mucky swamp of pop culture imitation trying to fit into a new society. We graze the diseased fields like sheep. And like sheep we find ourselves behind fences and walls. To what end, a violent catastrophic one?

When do we take control of our own lives, lead ourselves, create our own track, represent ourselves, draw our own boarders, embrace our own culture, protect our brothers and sister and not kill them to serve others?

I'm not sure I even had any coherency or direction in this, but I am tired and frustrated and unwilling to go on in this present state.

A wall is a barrier, a form of oppression, just ask the Palestinians.

Iraq It seems that Iraqis don't want a wall after all. after the US military started building a wall to divide Sinni and Shi3a neighborhoods based on "granting the Iraqi's wishes" They protested and stopped the wall...for now. There will be other ways to divide and conquer.

Palestine

Mexico

An Interview with Marcel Khalife

An interview on the state of music today with Marcel Khalife from the Arab International Festival in 2002. Interview by Transient and IBJ
(Sorry audio is low, don't forget to turn off music at bottom of page)

Fire them all

Radio Idiot Don Imus was fired for his racial remarks.
Ok, this sounds good; people held responsible for thier actions and their racist words.
But why only him, and why not until now?
Shouldn't he have been fired directly after those remarks, did his employers have to wait until they were threatened? or until the sponsors started pulling their money?
And why wasn't he fired years ago after many racist statements about others?
The claim that this firing is the right thing to do is BS.

Why isn't every post-911 journalist, reporter, shock-jock, pundit, news anchor, TV host, and so on fired, since almost every single person with an audience has made inflamitory, derogatory, racist, stereotypically bold statements about Muslims and or Arabs since 911. They should all have been fired, or are Muslims and Arabs not due the same respect and dignity as other human beings?

The problem is, Imus could call me a terrorist or any thing else he like and not one person would call for his job. If he says "nappy-headed hos" he gets fired. Both are bad, but being called a ho may not hurt you, stereotyping Arabs and Muslims makes them targets.

You'd think that this double-standard is bad enough.
Then the thought of this being a racist country that uses money as a moral guide sounds a bigger alarm. I am under the belief that not one person would defend what's right if the price was too high.

So, why have there not been any firings after much worse remarks aimed at Arabs and Muslims? There have been arrests, firings, deportations and violence towards Arabs and Muslims as a direct result of some of these comments, and not one media member has been fired. Why is this? Is it because the sponsors believe in the same aniti-Arab and Muslim agenda as people like Bill O'Rielly, Don Imus, Howard Stern, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter and so on? Or are they the ones who dictate what should be said?

Either way the issue of racism in this country cannot be solved with one firing and a diversity session, especially when the biggest target is left unprotected.

(Minor lines found along the way in my writing while writhing of words in search of that story I long to hear)




Either, other, or, no not me.
I am sentenced here to pleasing demons,
rising fire-winged from the depths of my ill remorseful soul,
bleeding my heart into submission,
taking no care in banishing my identity into the abyss of that dark sea I over flew many decades ago.
The wide sea tears away at the flesh of my being as crashing waves crash endlessly about for my self-lost identity.






By the light of improbability
The other stakes the claim of passion in verse as stakes pluck his eyes.
Seeing by not seeing, as now truly has light shone his way and all things clear,
a vision of what's to come. Let me be blind to this world and hence traverse
the endless wild of being.

For when my others falter,
I sit sipping my muddied drink and swirl the smoke taken in and taken out.
By lit darkness my eyes swell a tear or two, one from the smoke that infests my lungs
and the other for the days that should have come.
The studio creaks out its asbestos skin as it lay silent.
No strokes brush the coarse canvas with their customary passionate hues.
No voices break with laughter the silence that becomes my days ever more.
The doors must close a final time and I sit longing for the days that should have come.

by now the road is narrow and baleful is the passing

Marcel Khalife in Detroit

I've been a fan of Marcel ever since I heard the first song, for obvious reasons. Other than being the premiere Lebanese folk singer, composer, musician, he just seems to represent everything I hope for in an artist; integrity, progress, creativity, ethics, human concerns, political awareness and so on. many people hear his songs or his music and get transported to a better time or place where nostalgia overtakes the melancholy. There is the sound of a timid hopefulness that most Arab's hear and it goes on long after the song.



The concert at Orchestra Hall was good, but it did seem a bit odd. He wasn't with his usual ensemble or Al Mayadine or Omayma or anyone else you'd recognize. He was playing with Kristjan Jarvi's Absolute Ensemble. They were pretty good, but it seemed that Marcel was their guest and it was not his concert. He only sang one full song, three total.



The Hall was not as posh as I thought and the sound engineering seemed lazily prepped for the concert. The acoustics seemed pretty bad as well. It could have been just my perception, and my one faulty ear, but it didn't sound right.
And the energy was not there as if it was a dress rehearsal and Marcel was going through the motions. Sure he was still great and the ensemble was very good at times, but not what I expected. Maybe it was his age...or maybe it was mine.



Perhaps it was the latest controversy that surrounded his music, or maybe even the extensive travel burdens and being detained at every port. Whatever the reasons for this being less magical than past performances, it was magical none-the-less and I'm glad to have been able to see him again.

moment of clarity

In that composed moment after grief, that moment of indifference, I became a part of this earth and not this world.

The Inanimate became animated and the animated became still.

Conventionally life-less objects began to notice my state in their approach, welcomed me without reservation, and all those people bound by habit seized as I walked through their tired immobile forms. Clarity reigned as for purpose previously reined by stagnant revolving souls, still, still I chose to venture past my destiny and remain as they, life-less.

I'm back

Diwan: A Forum for the Arts has come and gone, maybe too soon. What should have been an opportunity for me to network with people who can help my Film career was spent sitting back and marveling at the wealth of amazing Arab artists from across the country sharing their experiences and hanging out as old friends. It was inspiring.

I finally met Jack Shaheen, Malek Akkad, Assad Kaleda and others, but I never talked about film. It was interesting talking to people about their art, their state of mind and of course politics. The art was amazing especially the two exhibits coinciding with the forum.

One of the highlights was the presentation “Brooklyn Beats to Beirut Streets” with Nizar from The Philistines, Omar from N.O.M.A.D.S., Joe Namy and some guy named Mark Gonzales.

Most exciting was just meeting new people and hanging out. There were old friends and some odd new ones.

(images were altered to protect the not-so-innocent)


Then there was the after party hosted by Other. There are still a few people trying to recover from it. (will someone claim the little arab man we found behind the couch this morning). It wasn’t as wild as past parties nor as energetic, but fun none-the-less. Of course no party would be as crazy without the Iron Sheik and the kibab. If you were there, I hope you had fun and thanks for stopping by, hope to see you next year, if Diwan survives (more on that later).

BTW, happy birthday RED.