In Exile - A reminder

Steve Sabella believes that “Jerusalem has a distinctive meaning to Palestinians. When asked to, each one of us, undoubtedly, will have a different description of the city. For people who cannot visit it, or whose visit to it is limited to a tourist stay due to occupational constraints, or to those who have been denied the right of return, a certain image of Jerusalem dwells in their imaginations and memories. These, over time, become thoughts suspended and charged with emotion. They also struggle to come to light, and to reality. However, this factual reality is colonized and entrapped. Hence, he “would like to liberate and transform these imaginings and thoughts into visual images—that is, to create a photographic image from the descriptions of these various mental ‘images’ of Jerusalem” as relayed to him by Palestinians from all over the world.

“Jerusalem needs visual liberation. This can only be achieved if a new dimension is added to the photographs. This dimension exists in us—deep in the imagination. Reaching that dimension requires a deep look, a journey into the minds of many people; where they will all unite to ‘rebuild’ and ‘reconstruct’ Jerusalem.” I don’t believe you have to be Palestinian by origin to share your own mental image of the city, ‘Jerusalem, or the issues of Exile, Palestine, Belonging, Home or any other related subject.’

So go ahead…Send your mental image of Jerusalem to Steve Sabella…he’ll put your thoughts into art!

For more, I recommend this great read.

We are, in a word, drifting away from the path of vision. We no longer find joy, as did the ancients, in pure thought. Pragmatism and utilitarianism are our gods.

…We often choose the line of least resistance. We must be practical and we must have our creature comforts. Moreover, we expect, we insist upon, our reward within a certain time in the material things of the world.

… We are a practical people — very busy — in a hurry. We have no time for ethics. Experience is knowledge; but knowledge, when it is sought only as a material resource, is not always a blessing. Experience is wisdom; but wisdom, with those who lack vision, is not always power.

… A thought in the crucible of life melts into the thought of the world; the footsteps of a pioneer become ultimately the highway of a nation.

… Every human action, collective or otherwise, has in it the possibility of a creative or destructive force.
-Ameen Rihani

Never mind the fact that it’s Fox News, Greta’s blog is quite interesting as - lately - she gives readers the inside scoop on First Lady Laura Bush’s Breast Cancer Awareness focused trip to the Middle East…with pictures and videos from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan… Check it out

Marcel Khalife is simply amazing … a true cultural icon… Despite facing some challenges in his North America tour, he comes to Chicago November 17th bringing with him his long known voice of reconciliation, peace, and hope… I am looking forward to his performance and will not miss it for anything - I’m skipping on a Las Vegas trip that weekend (with, umm, my sister-in-law’s parents )…seeing him and hearing his beautiful music and voice live tops Vegas any day!!!

He was here in November of 2004… And this is what i wrote back then:

Marcel Khalife is simply amazing … a true cultural icon…He was in Chicago this past Sunday. The theater was full of a lively & attentive yet silent crowd. Lively & attentive when Marcel encouraged sing along and clapping, and silent that you can hear a pin drop when he requested pure silence for pieces that call for that!

I am not the only one who sees Marcel as a cultural icon; Mahmoud Darwish says, “In Khalife’s song there is useful beauty and clear purposefulness…He brought back the absent emotional space needed to reconcile poetry with its alienated audience. Now, the streets sing with Marcel and words need a podium no longer.” and I must say, on Sunday the large Arab American audience proved this to be true. (Read on …)

Two years ago marks Lebanon’s former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri’s two-year assassination.

It is with great sorrow that we mourn the passing away of the legendary Palestinian artist Ismail Shammout who passed away a few days ago as he was undergoing a heart operation. The Palestinian American Congress expresses its deepest sympathies and condolences to his family and to the Palestinian people. (Read on …)

Florence’s first mosque is born
At the same time, Elzir and a group of around 20 students and workers, all immigrants from across the Islamic world, decided that the city’s nascent Muslim community needed a place to gather and pray.

“With those 20 people, the first mosque in Florence was born in 1991,” he said. “Over time this mosque has grown, and now more than 600 people come to Friday prayers.” Every three years, the Islamic Community of Florence and Tuscany elects a “parliament” of 21 people. The leaders then choose a president who also serves as imam. Elzir was first elected to this position in 1992 and has been reconfirmed over the years.

At the same time, Elzir and a group of around 20 students and workers, all immigrants from across the Islamic world, decided that the city’s nascent Muslim community needed a place to gather and pray. “With those 20 people, the first mosque in Florence was born in 1991,” he said. “Over time this mosque has grown, and now more than 600 people come to Friday prayers.” Every three years, the Islamic Community of Florence and Tuscany elects a “parliament” of 21 people. The leaders then choose a president who also serves as imam. Elzir was first elected to this position in 1992 and has been reconfirmed over the years.

(Read on …)

Architecture (so was Drama) was one of the majors I had in mind when I started college, but I never really pursued it! Anyway, this year’s Pritzker Prize for Architecture goes to Paulo Mendes da Rocha.

In six decades of work, the Brazilian architect has been creating “honest” buildings, according to the Pritzker jury. His projects include high-rises made of concrete, stadiums of concrete, houses –- even his own –- of concrete, and a chapel in — you guessed it — concrete.

Brazil was not rich and it lacked highly trained construction workers, so da Rocha created simple buildings with simple forms in the simplest of materials. Called “Brazilian Brutalist,” it’s a modernist style for a new-world country.

But architecture is not about style, da Rocha says.

“Architecture is a human endeavor inspired by the nature all around us,” he says. “We must transform nature; fuse science, art and technology into a sublime statement of human dignity.”

(Read on …)

I particularly liked the ‘Sugar Children.’ “There’s a poet named Ferreira Gullar from Brazil.  He has a poem that sort of explains where the sugar comes from. His bar? No.  It comes from the store?  No.  Until he ends up … ‘It’s with the bitter life, of bitter people, I sweeten my coffee on this marvelous morning in Ipanema.’  And I was drinking coffee by the time that it  hit me really strong.  And I said, ‘Yeah.  I’m drinking the childhood of these children.  The beauty … you know, the sweetness of them.  It’s right here in my coffee.’”
It’s said that Vik Muniz was born in Sao Paolo, Brazil in 1961; that his mother was a switchboard operator; that his father was a bartender; that he’s read parts of Ovid’s Metamorphoses every morning since he was six.

Vik says his grandmother taught him to read at a young age, but according to a system that identified complete words, not syllables or letters. That meant he consequently had trouble writing when he entered school, and during those first two frustrating years of schooling turned to a more universal language: drawing.

If drawing was one half of the equation, compulsive curiosity was the other. One day the Encyclopedia Britannica arrived at his house via wheelbarrow — Vik’s father had won it in a pool game. Instantly, the book was Vik’s link to the mysteries and details of the outside world. “It was like the Internet,” he recalls. “But, you know, for primitive people.” (Read on …)

PALESTINIAN ARTIST
NAZARETH — Ali Suliman is a Palestinian actor who played the part of Khaled in the recent film, “Paradise Now,” the only Palestinian film ever to be nominated for an Academy Award.

The film tells the story of two suicide bombers, Said and Khaled — in what may be the last 48 hours of their lives — as they make their way from their West Bank City of Nablus to their target in Tel Aviv.

The film has been both praised and criticized for bringing a human dimension to suicide bombers. Directed and written by Hany Abu-Assad, the production faced daily obstacles from the continuing violence of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict while filming on location in Nablus.

Abu-Assad said in other interviews that barely a day went by when filming wasn’t shut down because of gunfire, explosions or dire warnings from factions concerned about how the film would deal with the subject matter.

Suliman, 28, is Palestinian but an also an Israeli citizen. He has appeared in five other films, but this is his first starring role. I spoke with him by telephone from his home in Nazareth.

Kevin Sites:
Were there were parallels from your own life that you were able to use for the character Khaled in “Paradise Now”?

Ali Suliman:
For me as an actor it was like a puzzle to build the role. The first thing was (the city of) Nablus where we did most of the filming. A lot of things look familiar to me. But as far as the character is concerned, we have similarities — sometimes I don’t think things all the way through, I just do it. Like Khaled — he doesn’t think about this mission deeply, he just goes and does it. Sometimes I take decisions without thinking them through.

KS:
What was it like on location in Nablus?

AS:
The characters are supposed to live in Nablus and we did too while shooting. It’s surrounded by (Israeli) soldiers 24 hours, there are checkpoints everywhere. You are a target for the soldiers all the time. The soldiers go inside and take people, whoever they want. It’s like you’re waiting for your death all the time. Everyone there has someone they’ve lost in the conflict or is in jail. When we made the film, there was no one in Nablus that didn’t know about it.

KS:
You’re Palestinian but also an Israeli Citizen. Where does that leave you in the conflict?

AS:
It’s a big conflict — for me as a human being — I face a big conflict by being Palestinian and Israeli citizen. I’m not Palestinian at all and I’m not Israeli at all. I’m not like a part of this country as a citizen. The country should give citizens support and I don’t get that support. I don’t have the rights to do what I want. As a Palestinian I also don’t have a country. I’m so confused when I go to Arab countries; they look at me like I’m Jewish because I have an Israeli passport.

KS:
Have you ever felt discriminated against because you’re Palestinian, even though you’re also an Israeli citizen?

AS:
I’ve been humiliated by Israel police when I was a student. I went to the mall and I’m surrounded by security and they suspected me as a terrorist. They asked me for my ID, but I’d forgot it at home. So they took me to the security office and I was really scared. I was put in handcuffs. I asked them, “What did I do?” I was humiliated. They started questioning me for six or seven hours until someone came and told them I was an Israeli citizen and they released me.

KS:
What do you think this film sets out to accomplish?

AS:
It’s the first time someone looks at these people (suicide bombers) like human beings — that there’s courage needed to do it. The message is, there is a human being under this wall, they scream about being able to do what they need to do to have life.

KS:
How do you think Jewish Israelis will react to the film?

AS:
A lot of people who didn’t see the film wrote things against it. But those who did see it like the actors and like the issues. It’s not about taking sides. It’s a story about two friends who decide to bomb themselves in Tel Aviv and there is a human story behind the issue. I think the reaction has really been positive (among the Israeli Jewish community).

KS:
Do you think the film in way glorifies the idea of suicide bombers?

AS:
I don’t think so. It’s not about taking sides. There are a lot of things it takes for people to make this step. The occupation shows how bad their lives are and why they choose to do it.

KS:
Can this type of film advance the peace process, or simply highlight the divisions?

AS:
I think the story of these people everywhere in the media in the West is, they think the Palestinian people are born to kill, that they like to kill themselves, but it’s not like that. But everyone has the potential to be like this because of the bad situation in which they live.

[For full script]

Februray 14, 2006 marks Lebanon’s former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri’s one year assasination. One year ago, an explosion ripped through Hariri’s motorcade killing him,  seven of his bodyguards and bystanders.

A self-made billionaire through hard work and dedication, Hariri was able to rebuilt Beirut form all aspects within a very short period after the Civil War.

“If there is anything that defines Hariri’s and points to his proudest achievement, it is, by his acknowledgement, the Hariri Foundation. It is a testimony to the importance that he gives to education and future generations. He admits that the work of the foundation is the closest to his heart. He founded the Hariri Foundation in 1979, a non-profit organization that helped educate more than 33.000 Lebanese students in the best universities in Lebanon, the U.S., the U.K, France, and Canada.

The Hariri Foundation provides also health, social and cultural services to the needy in Lebanon as well as promotes cultural issues and childrens welfare. It maintains offices in Lebanon, Paris and Washington. In recognition of the Hariri Foundation’s commitment to education and culture, it has granted scholarships, built schools and colleges throughout Lebanon and sponsored efforts to preserve Islamic architecture and refurbished mosques, the Foundation won “King Faysal International Award for Serving Islam”, for the year 2005, equally with the Islamic Bank for Development, in Jeddah.”

God bless his soul.

[For more]

Ibn Khaldun (1332-1395 C.E.) 

Ibn Khaldun, considered the greatest Arab historian, is also known as the father of modern social science and cultural history.

[His contribution to history is marked by the fact that, unlike most earlier writers interpreting history largely in a political context, he emphasized environmental, sociological, psychological and economic factors governing the apparent events. This revolutionized the science of history and also laid the foundation of Umraniyat (Sociology).]

…..

Abd al-Rahman Ibn Mohammad is generally known as Ibn Khaldun after a remote ancestor. His parents, part of the Banu Khaldun, an upper-class Andalusian family which held many high offices in Andalucia, who were originally Yemenite Arabs, had settled in Spain, but after the fall of Seville, had migrated to Tunisia.

He was born in Tunisia in 1332 C.E. (732 A.H.), where he received his early education and where, still in his teens, he entered the service of the Egyptian ruler Sultan Barquq.  Under the Tunisian Hafsid dynasty, some of his family held political office; Ibn Khaldun’s father and grandfather, however, withdrew from political life and joined a mystical order. 

(Read on …)