Tololy's Box

CEDAW: Pseudo Science & Pseudo Care

There’s a lot going on lately in Jordan and the Arab world to tempt one to claw their faces off. But I won’t claw my face off, because I obviously need it.

It seems to me that there is a growing tendency for Jordanian conservatives to pose as pseudo-scientists of late, and this is most evident in their refusal of the CEDAW (Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women) which, interestingly enough, was not even signed within the last decade (signed in 1992) and was ratified in 2007. The uproar caused by the country’s recent lifting of its reservations on one of the three articles it originally objected to has been quite telling. It sort of opened Pandora’s Box of Medieval retardedness.

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Inside Out

Some guy I knew briefly a couple of years ago sent me Bryan Adams’ song “Inside Out” at one point in time and, in the folly of youth, I got excited. I thought the man really wanted to know who I was; my darkest hour, my hardest fight.

Do we ever really know the people around us? Do we ever know who our partners are? Yes, surely we know how they talk and how they behave, but that is only true for what they choose to reveal to us. We know only that much, and nothing else.

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Dreams Derailed

March 8th was International Women’s Day, and I remained mum.
March 10th was the 6th tragiversary of my aunt’s death, and I forgot.
March 12th was the 2nd blog about Jordan day, and I didn’t participate.

While attending a seminar last summer at the Socialist Thought Forum, about women and the Left, I was genuinely captivated by the eloquence of the speaker — a Palestinian activist. She knew her stuff and she spoke so well that I almost couldn’t breathe. I had found it, I knew I had found it even though I didn’t know what it was.

In the Q&A session that followed, a man with side parted hair stood up. He demanded to know if women had a “special condition” that would call for “special treatment.” The man with side parted hair was wearing a white shirt and grey pants, he had grayish hair even though he was young. He was clearly emotional as he made his case against the separation of man and woman, his arms moving restlessly and his voice a tad louder than necessary.

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Philosophizing

People, I am not contemplating suicide. If I were, I wouldn’t announce it. I was merely presenting a philosophical point of view, which I happen to subscribe to, for debate. That said, judging by the cliches contributed (no offense, eh?), I bet Orwell is turning in his grave right about now.

We need a healthy dose of philosophy so we may be able to exercise our minds a bit, step beyond our mundane thought patterns– maybe even shock ourselves with our audacity. Imagine letting go of all of your preconceived notions and floating about naked in intellectual wonder. That’s what we should do every now and then: float about naked, uninhibited, unleashed, child-like. It is only then that we begin to learn who we truly are.

Thus spake Tololy.

Washing The Shame Away

The Israeli war on Gaza is the hot topic at the moment. It’s everywhere; in random chats, on TV, in the papers, in blogs, in the background of every daily activity of anyone who has seen the pictures of the bloodshed in Gaza.

A lot of what is being said about the situation is emotional. That’s understandable. It’s hard to restrain your emotions when you see your people being maimed by Israeli bombs, dismembered in the streets and killed in mosques, and when you hear the aggressive occupiers dismissing their crimes as if they were nothing. The damage does not stop at the physical destruction in Gaza, but is carved deep in the minds of everyone who sees it: this lust for blood which our “neighbor” periodically displays both frightens and angers us. The international official silence and our leaders’ utter failure to act burns deeper still.

How can you not be emotional when you experience all the shame and shock in the world; shame because you are part of the problem, and shock because the world is not doing anything to solve it?

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NEW! Noor T-shirts!

I was at the mall the other day and I saw these kids’ t-shirts featuring Noor and Mohannad, the stars of the ultra-popular Turkish soap opera currently dominating airtime on Arab TVs, and I thought “You’ve GOT to be kidding me!”

It’s one thing to be fascinated by the characters or the plot of the story as an adult (you’re old enough to decide for yourself what to like and what to dislike, and if you ask me you’ve got poor taste in drama if you like Noor, but whatever), but to have children wear pictures of some actors who play mature roles is beyond unacceptable. The trouble is that children, especially young girls, are captivated by the show as well, due to the influence of the adults in their families or through peer pressure. This is sick and it says a lot about the depravity of our society.

And for good measure, Bab Al-Hara characters also had their own t-shirts. I am dreading Ramadan…

All of this reminds me of the Cassandra mania, which was a mid-90s social obsession with a Mexican soap opera with Arabic voice overs. One of my school friends at the time wrote in my notebook “You’re prettier than Cassandra,” and she signed her words with a sticker featuring Cassandra herself, with her long black hair and shoulderless and sleeveless white top. Cassandra skirts, colorful wrinkled gypsy-type long skirts, were all over the market and most girls wore them for a year or two. Cassandra’s lover, Ignazio (?), was the epitome of masculine appeal, as is this Turkish character Mohannad these days.

It seems to me that our society is programmed to fall in love with TV dramas every now and then, and it goes out of its way to prove its devotion. Heck, Jordan even hosted Noor and Mohannad the other day! If this is not an indication of some chronic voidness, I don’t know what is.

Humpty Dumpty

When I was a little girl I found a page torn from a book in the small book case we had in the “laundry room” on the roof. The page had the Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme illustrated on it, very similar to this one:

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

All the king’s horses and all the king’s men.

Couldn’t put Humpty together again.

- Source

In my childish mind then and up until today I can’t get over how tragic that story is, how morbid and heartbreaking. This is a cute character for children who is first seen smiling and then falls off a wall and shatters into pieces, it dies right there in the rhyme and nobody can help it. I have always found nursery rhymes to be generally inappropriate under the excuse of achieving music.

That said, I now love the metaphor in Humpty Dumpty. Think of Humpty as a negative concept of your choice, let’s say dominance or monopoly of power, then think: the fake image shatters and “all the king’s horses and all the king’s men” cannot put it back again. That’s why fragile people like Humpty Dumpty should not sit on walls.

Has Anyone Been Watching Nart TV?

Nart TV (National Adiga Radio & Television) is such a great idea that I can’t believe a similar initiative was not born years ago. The TV station aims to reach Circassian viewers and to spread Circassian traditions, culinary arts, and language. This is important because as the official website of Nart TV says “the language is almost not spoken within the many Circassian communities today and virtually about to go extinct among our youth of Circassian descent. The disappearance of the language would not only be a loss of world’s linguistic heritage, it would also open the door to the gradual loss of Circassian culture around the world.”

The Circassian flag, used in Nart TV logo.

The word “nart” means chevalier or horseman and it’s the name of one of my cousins. My own parents (both of them, which I find very cute) always have the tv on Nart to watch either dancing, or traditional cooking, or even to learn the language. My mother, albeit Circassian, did not receive a solid linguistic instruction from her mother or father. Living in the heart of Amman at the time, right around the Roman Amphitheater, she was brought up to speak Arabic rather than Circassian. She understands it though, and can speak it if spoken to, but she never could make a serious effort to teach us her language.

This is heart warming really. I think what the young people at Nart TV are doing is a commendable effort, and a large part of it is actually volunteer work. Another one of my cousins is a volunteer there, and very much encouraged by his family, as I imagine all the other Adiga youth in Jordan are, to help the channel any way possible. I heard they had a bazaar the other day to support the channel. It’s all good.

They should also enlist the help of the talented Circassian “visual artists;” be they graphic designers, art producers, photographers, or others. The Circassian community in Jordan -at least- boasts of an impressive number of these talents and they would do well to help educate young generations about their culture. I also think on the long run they have to have solid partnerships with well-to-do Circassians and corporations, or to generate substantial funds through ads and other endeavors, in order to remain in business. Even if it’s not a for-profit project, it still needs money to function.

The Old Hag

For as long as I can remember, the name Dr.Nawal Saadawi equaled nothing more than an old hag who preached immorality and social dysfunctions. That was (is) how my family saw Saadawi, and consequently that was how I saw her too.

From the bits and pieces I heard infrequently about her, she wanted to “liberate women and corrupt society,” and demanded things like “calling a child by its mother’s name” and “abandoning the veil.” These her points of view were quickly linked to her physical appearance, words like “masculinized woman” and “old bitch” were invariably linked to her ideas and effectively stripped them of any validity somehow. Why is it that a female thinker is seen as a masculinized woman and her hair color and texture are brought up in a discussion of her ideas?

I never bothered to investigate Saadawi because I thought I had her figured out through what everyone thought of her. Gradually, though, as I started to grow out of what-everyone-else-thinks bubble I began to understand what I had been missing out on, and it was a lot.

Just today I visited Saadawi’s official website where I discovered that this is an educated, intelligent woman who has written many books (fiction and non-fiction), has served her country and has tried to raise awareness against female genital mutilation. None of that was ever mentioned in any discussion of her that I witnessed. People only talked about her crazy hair and how she had no “shame” of going on TV and speaking against society and religion at her very old age. They had not been prepared for her discourse, so they focused their attention on throwing cheap shots at her hair and age.

I have never read anything by Saadawi (novels, plays,etc.) but I plan on looking for her writings and reading them (some are available on her website). As such, my attitude to date is based on internet materials I read from and about her. I am very impressed with her talking sense into people and suffering for her cause. She was put in jail, exiled, some lawyer tried to force her divorce from her husband through courts (where does that ever happen except in the Arab world?), and some other ultra-conservative lawyer in Egypt recently tried to deprive her of her Egyptian nationality on the basis that she mocked religion through a play of hers. Thankfully, logic triumphed and the latter case was dismissed by the court.

Saadawi’s ideas on women and the wellbeing of society are also impressive to me. In this BBC Q&A she answered people’s questions directly and cleared out some ambiguities created around her thought by the media. She said she is strongly opposed to female genital mutilation, she supports secularism and argues for the essential link between women’s rights in a society and its general wellbeing and progress — things that make sense if we only reflect on them.

I find it scandalous how many religious people fabricate lies around a single woman’s thoughts instead of taking them into consideration. For this reason, I will read more about Saadawi now that I know she makes sense, and I will learn her opinions and hope they spread far and wide, because we need them now more than ever.

Someone's Independence Is Someone Else's Nakba

Caelum Moffatt reflects on this the 60th anniversary of Israeli independence/the Palestinian Nakba, in MIFTAH:

Following the Second World War, the holocaust and the termination of the British Mandate, UNCSOP passed Resolution 181 in November 1947 which called for a partition of the British Mandate into two bilateral states – Israel and Palestine. Even with a quarter of a decade of immigration and colonization, Jews still only comprised 30% of the population and owned just 7% of the land. Despite these facts, the state of Israel would be granted 55% of the former British Mandate. A war ensued firstly between Palestinians and Jews, then later between Arabs and Israelis after Israel had claimed independence on May 14, 1948.

The Arabs were defeated and by the time the armistice lines were drawn in July 1949, Israel had extended its territory to 78% of historic Palestine. 800,000 Palestinians were forced from their homes, 530 villages were destroyed and 86% of the Palestinians who now fell within the 1949 armistice lines were displaced. Of the 14% that remained, 70% of their land was confiscated or made inaccessible to them.

According to UNRWA estimates, there are presently 5.5 million refugees spread across 58 camps in the occupied Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.

These have been replaced by some 5.5 million Jews living in Israel flourishing in freedom, prosperity and international acceptance in what can only be described as obstinate blindness and pure disregard for the brutality they employed and still adopt today in order to sustain their existence. They maintain that their actions are justified after being subject to worldwide contempt, suffering years of persecution and anti-Semitism. It is as if their unwavering resolve to achieve their goal supersedes Palestinian claims and relegates them to the unfortunate byproduct or obstacle standing in the way of their destiny.

Source

I plan to commemorate the Nakba throughout this week. There are many events going on around town to mark the tragedy and I actually have someone to go with me for a change — progress!

Cultural Week

Guardians of the Memory — A week marking the 60th anniversary of Al Nakbeh. Starting May 10. Until May 16.

Tel: 079 5222512

May 10 Drawings Exhibition

Carlos Lattof, Naji Al Ali, quotes,

Ghassan Kanafani

Location: Al Hannouneh

Time: 7:00pm

May 11 Gallery

Tamam Al Akhal, Ismael Shamout drawings

Location: Directorate of Arts and Theatre – Jabal Luweibdeh

Time: 8:00pm

Screenings of short films

Location: Al Hannouneh

Time: 6:00pm

May 12 Poetry Night

Jerees Samawi, lute player Sakher Hattar

Location: Daret Al Funun

Time: 8:30pm

May 13 Bazaar

Traditional products, food and handcrafts

Location: `Ebaal Charitable Organisation

Time: 5:30pm-10:00pm

May 14 Al Hannouneh Folkloric Dance

Location: King Abdullah Cultural Centre – Zarqa

Time: 8:00

May 15 Al Hannouneh Folkloric Dance

Location: Radisson SAS Hotel

Time: 8:00pm

May 16 Concert

Sho Hal Ayam band

Location: Directorate of Arts and Theatre – Jabal Luweibdeh

Time: 7:00pm

I must say that I wasn’t always aware of the dimensions and the sheer injustice of the occupation of Palestinian land and the dislocation of its people until recently, and I am ever so glad I achieved that state of awareness. It is angering how the international community embraces Israel as a model of democracy and a shrine for human rights, when in truth the country’s history and current treatment of Palestinians testify to its violent and brutal ways. Remember, dear readers, if you do not stand for something, you will fall for anything.