The Post "Women & 'gendercide'" comes to me in the form of an email.
I receive these emails every other day from a wonderful source, an acquaintance whom I will call 'Sitalbanat' or 'S' as that is where the emails come from. She's an interesting sweet sensitive Saudi girl living in Dubai who first introduced me to the book "The Girls of Riyadh" and other interesting reads.
As a person, she reflects the quiet feminine confidence that I'm used to and link directly to Dynamic Educated Arab Women. As well, she is cultured and exudes a certain 'je ne sais quoi' that may confuse some but is a welcome breath of freshness to others.
She and the other Saudi girls that I first met in October, have come as a breath of fresh air! For the only Saudi women that I'd encountered, were the average abaya clad mothers of four or more during the Dubai Shopping Festival.
Though I'd heard of & encountered a few of the elite Saudi's I vaguely remember them from Cannes.
That's were you'd be in the summer of '84 or any other year of the eighties (every decade has its favourite city/country - the 80's were Spain & France, the 70's England rather London and the 90's was Germany/Holland and then of course there's the usual side dish of south east asia for the Arab men or the chosen honey moon place for conservative moslim couples!)
But I digress! These lovely ladies of Jeddah & Medina - KSA not USA - Have left a great impression on me, though we now meet rarely, we did meet more often during Ramadan. I'd even been invited to the Birthday of 'Sitalbanat' a.k.a. 'S' even though we'd just met. That was an elegant gesture which I would not forget.
The other ladies were just as generous and perhaps quite funny, especially 'N'! She's a ball of laughter and fun and she's not fat! (I used to be obese and people thought me funny so there had always been a reflected relation between Fat & Funny)
She's petite, Pretty and with a sultry natural bronze complexion that screams femininity. N is witty and sweet, she would revel us with her antics and stories of past experiences that somehow made one laugh despite the stories being at times somewhat serious subjects.
As for 'R', well at first I couldn't figure her out. Was she a tom boy or was it just a facade to protect herself. She's Intelligent with bright greyish brown eyes and soft dirty blonde brown waves of a crown, a pout that would cause jealousy for some and a personality that would do the same to many.
R had the dry wit that hits when you least know it. She's strong in charachter and exudes a self confidence that would leave many a moustache shaken, yet at the same time she has a gentleness that would astound the softest heart.
When 'H' invited us to her house, I was shy and honoured to be invited because of our short aquaintance. When I arrived, I discovered that it is only natural to be shy in front of such generosity and hospitality. as a mother of two, she personifies the woman that most of us as women would hope to be once married. Beautiful, adept, intelligent, a great cook, a fun & loving mom and a wonderful wife. (Ma Sha' allah - May God Almighty protect them all from the evil-eye!)
H made an amazing filo pastry pie filled with an assortement of cheeses & sweetcorn, Saudi Kabsa and I can't remember the rest. the desert table overflowed into two and the Ramadan drinks variety ranged from teas & coffees to juices and drinks. H had a big beautiful home and a bigger heart.
I actually enjoy the company of these ladies altogether, you get a wonderful variety of what makes women so special and the object of many an amourous poem throughout history. They are all intelligent & dynamic women whose busy lives only adds yet another fascinating facet to their characters which seems more like the colours reflected by the sun through a window of memories from a lazy afternoon as a child.
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Women and 'gendercide'
By Ayaan Hirsi Ali, AYAAN HIRSI ALI, a Somali-born Dutch legislator,
lives under 24-hour protection because of death threats against her
by Islamic radicals since the murder of Theo van Gogh, with whom she
made the film
March 26, 2006
AS I WAS PREPARING for this article, I asked a very good friend who
is Jewish if it was appropriate for me to use the term "holocaust"
to portray the worldwide violence against women. He was startled.
But when I read him the figures in a 2004 policy paper published by
the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces, he
said yes, without hesitation.
One United Nations' estimate says that between 113 million and 200
million women around the world are "missing." Every year, between
1.5 million and 3 million women and girls lose their lives as a
result of gender-based violence or neglect. As the Economist, which
reported on the policy paper, put it last November, "Every two to
four years the world looks away from a victim count on the scale of
Hitler's Holocaust." How could this possibly be true?
Here are some of the factors:
• In countries where the birth of a boy is considered a gift and
the birth of a girl a curse from the gods, selective abortion and
infanticide eliminate female babies.
• Young girls die disproportionately from neglect because food and
medical attention is given first to brothers, fathers, husbands and
sons.
• In countries where women are considered the property of men,
their fathers and brothers can murder them for choosing their own
sexual partners. These are called "honor" killings, though honor has
nothing to do with it. Young brides are killed if their fathers do
not pay sufficient money to the men who have married them. These are
called "dowry deaths," although they are not just deaths, they are
murders.
• The brutal international sex trade in young girls kills uncounted
numbers of them.
• Domestic violence is a major reason for the deaths of women in
every country.
• So little value is placed on women's health that every year
roughly 600,000 women die giving birth. As the Economist pointed
out, this is equivalent to the genocide in Rwanda happening every 12
months.
• Six thousand girls undergo genital mutilation every day,
according to the World Health Organization. Many die, and others
live the rest of their lives in crippling pain.
• According to the WHO, one woman out of every five worldwide is
likely to be a victim of rape or attempted rape in her lifetime.
All these figures are estimates; registering precise numbers for
violence against women is not a priority in most countries.
All the victims scream their suffering. It is not so much that the
world doesn't hear them; it is that fellow human beings choose not
to pay attention.
It is much more comfortable for us to ignore these issues,
especially when the problems are so widespread and for many, so far
away. And by "us," I include women. Too often, we are the first to
look away. We may even participate, by favoring our sons and
neglecting the care of our daughters.
Going forward there are three challenges:
Women are not organized or united. Those of us in rich countries,
who have attained equality under the law, need to mobilize to assist
our fellows. Only our outrage and our political pressure can lead to
change.
Next, there are the forces of obscurantism that want to close the
world off. The Islamists are engaged in reviving and spreading a
brutal and retrograde body of laws. Wherever the Islamists implement
Sharia, or Islamic law, women are hounded from the public arena,
denied education and forced into a life of domestic slavery.
Lastly, cultural and moral relativists sap our sense of moral
outrage by defending the position that human rights are a Western
invention. Men who abuse women rarely fail to use the vocabulary the
relativists have kindly provided them. They claim the right to
adhere to an alternative set of values — an "Asian," "African"
or "Islamic" approach to human rights.
This mind-set needs to be broken. A culture that carves the genitals
of young girls, hobbles their minds and justifies their physical
oppression is not equal to a culture that believes women have the
same rights as men.
Three initial steps could be taken by world leaders to begin
eradicating the mass murder of women. A tribunal like the
International Court of Justice in The Hague should look for the 113
million to 200 million women and girls who are missing. A serious
international effort must urgently be made to precisely register
violence against girls and women, country by country. And we need a
worldwide campaign to reform cultures that permit this kind of
crime. Let's start to name them and shame them.
In the past two centuries, those in the West have gradually changed
the way they treat women. As a result, the West enjoys greater peace
and progress. It is my hope that the Third World will embark on this
effort. Just as we put an end to slavery, we must end
the "gendercide."
lives under 24-hour protection because of death threats against her
by Islamic radicals since the murder of Theo van Gogh, with whom she
made the film
March 26, 2006
AS I WAS PREPARING for this article, I asked a very good friend who
is Jewish if it was appropriate for me to use the term "holocaust"
to portray the worldwide violence against women. He was startled.
But when I read him the figures in a 2004 policy paper published by
the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces, he
said yes, without hesitation.
One United Nations' estimate says that between 113 million and 200
million women around the world are "missing." Every year, between
1.5 million and 3 million women and girls lose their lives as a
result of gender-based violence or neglect. As the Economist, which
reported on the policy paper, put it last November, "Every two to
four years the world looks away from a victim count on the scale of
Hitler's Holocaust." How could this possibly be true?
Here are some of the factors:
• In countries where the birth of a boy is considered a gift and
the birth of a girl a curse from the gods, selective abortion and
infanticide eliminate female babies.
• Young girls die disproportionately from neglect because food and
medical attention is given first to brothers, fathers, husbands and
sons.
• In countries where women are considered the property of men,
their fathers and brothers can murder them for choosing their own
sexual partners. These are called "honor" killings, though honor has
nothing to do with it. Young brides are killed if their fathers do
not pay sufficient money to the men who have married them. These are
called "dowry deaths," although they are not just deaths, they are
murders.
• The brutal international sex trade in young girls kills uncounted
numbers of them.
• Domestic violence is a major reason for the deaths of women in
every country.
• So little value is placed on women's health that every year
roughly 600,000 women die giving birth. As the Economist pointed
out, this is equivalent to the genocide in Rwanda happening every 12
months.
• Six thousand girls undergo genital mutilation every day,
according to the World Health Organization. Many die, and others
live the rest of their lives in crippling pain.
• According to the WHO, one woman out of every five worldwide is
likely to be a victim of rape or attempted rape in her lifetime.
All these figures are estimates; registering precise numbers for
violence against women is not a priority in most countries.
All the victims scream their suffering. It is not so much that the
world doesn't hear them; it is that fellow human beings choose not
to pay attention.
It is much more comfortable for us to ignore these issues,
especially when the problems are so widespread and for many, so far
away. And by "us," I include women. Too often, we are the first to
look away. We may even participate, by favoring our sons and
neglecting the care of our daughters.
Going forward there are three challenges:
Women are not organized or united. Those of us in rich countries,
who have attained equality under the law, need to mobilize to assist
our fellows. Only our outrage and our political pressure can lead to
change.
Next, there are the forces of obscurantism that want to close the
world off. The Islamists are engaged in reviving and spreading a
brutal and retrograde body of laws. Wherever the Islamists implement
Sharia, or Islamic law, women are hounded from the public arena,
denied education and forced into a life of domestic slavery.
Lastly, cultural and moral relativists sap our sense of moral
outrage by defending the position that human rights are a Western
invention. Men who abuse women rarely fail to use the vocabulary the
relativists have kindly provided them. They claim the right to
adhere to an alternative set of values — an "Asian," "African"
or "Islamic" approach to human rights.
This mind-set needs to be broken. A culture that carves the genitals
of young girls, hobbles their minds and justifies their physical
oppression is not equal to a culture that believes women have the
same rights as men.
Three initial steps could be taken by world leaders to begin
eradicating the mass murder of women. A tribunal like the
International Court of Justice in The Hague should look for the 113
million to 200 million women and girls who are missing. A serious
international effort must urgently be made to precisely register
violence against girls and women, country by country. And we need a
worldwide campaign to reform cultures that permit this kind of
crime. Let's start to name them and shame them.
In the past two centuries, those in the West have gradually changed
the way they treat women. As a result, the West enjoys greater peace
and progress. It is my hope that the Third World will embark on this
effort. Just as we put an end to slavery, we must end
the "gendercide."
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Customer Service...
I love this place, and I love living here, and it really bothers me when I see negativity reflecting it.
I feel that as a whole, the community in the UAE is supposed to be directed towards customer service, it is THAT which it is actually lacking.
We have the best facilities and hotels but with the attitude of the customer we have encouraged (not all!) a similar attitude from the service provider.
It used to be known across Europe and perhaps the world, that for really terrible customer service one can rely on the French & the Spanish. Are we now competing with the west on this one?
My colleague has been in Dubai for under a year and I have seen him suffer with transactions every now & then. And I ask myself why does he suffer? Is it because he has such high expectations from the service providers? Well yes! And why's that? It's because we advertise how we want to be a global leader, a dynamic force in the region to be compared to only the most advanced nations... And yet we lag behind in the most simple, measurable and tangible way, by the service we provide.
Who's to blame? All! What are the solutions? Innumerable! But we need to acknowledge that we have a problem, and we need to want to solve it, else we will lead in other areas that may progress to notoriety rather than fame.
Here's his latest hurdle:
"Re: CANCELLATION OF VEHICLE PURCHASE & RE-FUND OF DEPOSIT
Dear J*******,
Please be informed that I have decided to cancel my planned purchase of the 2006 Toyota Prado from the Al Futtaim showroom in Festival City.
I expect to be refunded the AED500 that I paid as a deposit by the end of business today, 2006 April 15.
Here are the reasons for this cancelled order:
1. Unreasonably long processing time for the order.
My first visit to your showroom was April 1. It is April 13 and I still do not have the car. I have purchased several vehicles for my personal use in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East (4 of those vehicles were Toyotas) and I have not been subject to as much hassles and delays as I have experienced with Al Futtaim in Festival City.
2. Emirates Bank is extremely unprofessional.
First, they assigned me Ashraf who had a limited command of English. Second, I had to send the required documents at least 7 times by email and fax reflecting poor handling of very sensitive and confidential documents such as bank statements, salary certificates, passports, etc. My calls to Emirates Bank were unanswered and hardly returned. Further, an article in today’s paper about a computer glitch in Emirates Bank completely eroded my confidence in your partner’s professionalism.
3. Unreasonable pricing and restricted choice of insurance providers.
If I wanted your showroom to arrange insurance, I would pay 7% premium, vs. ~5% with other reputable insurance companies. This creates an unacceptable amount of hassle on my part as I’d need to drive all over Dubai to obtain no-claim letters, insurance policies, etc.
Let this be a reminder to Al Futtaim that I am the customer. You should make it easy and convenient for me. You should take and return my calls. You should select financing and insurance partners that make purchasing a Toyota a good deal and not a nightmare for me.
Please act on my refund ASAP. I expect the refund to be couriered to me. I may be willing to pick the refund up at the Al Futtaim showroom on Shiek Zayed Road but that is the farthest I would go as I reside near Jebel Ali."
I feel that as a whole, the community in the UAE is supposed to be directed towards customer service, it is THAT which it is actually lacking.
We have the best facilities and hotels but with the attitude of the customer we have encouraged (not all!) a similar attitude from the service provider.
It used to be known across Europe and perhaps the world, that for really terrible customer service one can rely on the French & the Spanish. Are we now competing with the west on this one?
My colleague has been in Dubai for under a year and I have seen him suffer with transactions every now & then. And I ask myself why does he suffer? Is it because he has such high expectations from the service providers? Well yes! And why's that? It's because we advertise how we want to be a global leader, a dynamic force in the region to be compared to only the most advanced nations... And yet we lag behind in the most simple, measurable and tangible way, by the service we provide.
Who's to blame? All! What are the solutions? Innumerable! But we need to acknowledge that we have a problem, and we need to want to solve it, else we will lead in other areas that may progress to notoriety rather than fame.
Here's his latest hurdle:
"Re: CANCELLATION OF VEHICLE PURCHASE & RE-FUND OF DEPOSIT
Dear J*******,
Please be informed that I have decided to cancel my planned purchase of the 2006 Toyota Prado from the Al Futtaim showroom in Festival City.
I expect to be refunded the AED500 that I paid as a deposit by the end of business today, 2006 April 15.
Here are the reasons for this cancelled order:
1. Unreasonably long processing time for the order.
My first visit to your showroom was April 1. It is April 13 and I still do not have the car. I have purchased several vehicles for my personal use in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East (4 of those vehicles were Toyotas) and I have not been subject to as much hassles and delays as I have experienced with Al Futtaim in Festival City.
2. Emirates Bank is extremely unprofessional.
First, they assigned me Ashraf who had a limited command of English. Second, I had to send the required documents at least 7 times by email and fax reflecting poor handling of very sensitive and confidential documents such as bank statements, salary certificates, passports, etc. My calls to Emirates Bank were unanswered and hardly returned. Further, an article in today’s paper about a computer glitch in Emirates Bank completely eroded my confidence in your partner’s professionalism.
3. Unreasonable pricing and restricted choice of insurance providers.
If I wanted your showroom to arrange insurance, I would pay 7% premium, vs. ~5% with other reputable insurance companies. This creates an unacceptable amount of hassle on my part as I’d need to drive all over Dubai to obtain no-claim letters, insurance policies, etc.
Let this be a reminder to Al Futtaim that I am the customer. You should make it easy and convenient for me. You should take and return my calls. You should select financing and insurance partners that make purchasing a Toyota a good deal and not a nightmare for me.
Please act on my refund ASAP. I expect the refund to be couriered to me. I may be willing to pick the refund up at the Al Futtaim showroom on Shiek Zayed Road but that is the farthest I would go as I reside near Jebel Ali."
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Why the Emirati culture matters
(Permission granted by author)
"The older I get the more I realize that I don’t really know that much about the culture of the United Arab Emirates, and I am a local! Sure I know that culture is more than just the physical means of living in the U.A.E., we learn that in school. But does the culture of the U.A.E. really matter? It would seem to me that what really matters is not me being me but being more like those expatriates who tell us how to be. Maybe I have been giving my own culture the short end of the stick as I have been caught up in the wave of the west is the best.
I used to generalize a lot about the culture of the U.A.E. and think it was primitive and needed to change. I have always argued with people that my culture, the U.A.E.’s culture, is a very close-minded culture and needs to loosen up. But today I am finally beginning to realize that my culture is more than a just Henna, dune bashing and dancing. Culture is more than just the means of living in the U.A.E., it is the very law under which all we Emiratis live, and I had to learn that the hard way. I hope I have not begun to learn about the importance of my culture too late!
When people meet me for the first time they usually assume that since I’m an Emirati national I know and understand the Emirati culture, but to their shock, just because I wear a sheila and abayaa doesn’t mean I am a U.A.E. cultural expert! In fact I am embarrassed to admit that many expatriates know more about the culture of the U.A.E. than I do.
How can this be? Well in short the success of the U.A.E. might also be seen as its failing. (Sir I didn’t get what you talking about here)
You see, even though I am an Emirati I have lived most of my life traveling around the world from one country to another following my father where his career took him. I am embarrassed to say that I have grown up learning about many different cultures but I have failed to learn my own.
There is no question the UAE culture is unique. Unlike many consumer driven cultures ours is also heavily steeped in our religion, and as hard as this is for westerners to understand we are proud of the place of our religion in all we do. In fact our religion merges with our very traditions creating something that is very special.
As you learn more about the U.A.E.`s culture you realize that all the parts that you once believed were negative, or that you are told are negative by the ever powerful media and global flow of ideas especially those that expatriates bring with them to the U.A.E., turn out to be positive in one way or the other.
I have only just begun to realize that it isn’t the culture of the U.A.E. that has the problem but me! It is me, an Emirati, who has been looking at this truly amazing culture from a very narrow-mind point of view.
The Emirati culture as it grows, accommodates and reasserts its fundamental tenants of community, sharing and goodwill that makes this country so exceptional. Many of my fellow countrymen hold onto our culture with great defiance as they fear it will be lost with time. Dubai is slowly drifting toward that very consumer culture that so many expatriates were socialized into in their own homeland.
What is scary me today is that the Emirati people are slowly and systematically being told that our culture and progress don’t match be it from business, to construction, to education we are slowly being stripped of our unique culture to help aid the rapid development of one of our great cities, and what sadness me is that some of the other Emirates are right behind Dubai in adopting this consumer culture.
The aim of Dubai, as I see it anyway, is to be an international city where everyone is welcomed. But wasn’t that the situation 20 years ago? Hasn’t our culture always been to welcome people, ideas and great stories that can help us grow? Today we seem to be growing at the expense of our very lifeblood, our culture.
Many of my expatriate friends have told me that the reason they have come to the U.A.E. was the good pay, safe environment, and the difference in culture. If that’s the reason then shouldn’t all UAE residents Emirati and non-Emirati worry that the UAE culture is slowly changing into something foreign? Sure every culture has its up’s and down’s, as nothing is perfect but we should all stand together and acknowledge the beauty of this culture and not be so quick to sell it out.
The culture of the U.A.E. is the legacy of our ancestors; it is a piece of art of living, thinking and being that should never fade away. Maybe we need Emitari’s to remember to “act locally and think globally” because once we have lost our culture we will never get it back!"
Méytha Al Mutawaa.
"The older I get the more I realize that I don’t really know that much about the culture of the United Arab Emirates, and I am a local! Sure I know that culture is more than just the physical means of living in the U.A.E., we learn that in school. But does the culture of the U.A.E. really matter? It would seem to me that what really matters is not me being me but being more like those expatriates who tell us how to be. Maybe I have been giving my own culture the short end of the stick as I have been caught up in the wave of the west is the best.
I used to generalize a lot about the culture of the U.A.E. and think it was primitive and needed to change. I have always argued with people that my culture, the U.A.E.’s culture, is a very close-minded culture and needs to loosen up. But today I am finally beginning to realize that my culture is more than a just Henna, dune bashing and dancing. Culture is more than just the means of living in the U.A.E., it is the very law under which all we Emiratis live, and I had to learn that the hard way. I hope I have not begun to learn about the importance of my culture too late!
When people meet me for the first time they usually assume that since I’m an Emirati national I know and understand the Emirati culture, but to their shock, just because I wear a sheila and abayaa doesn’t mean I am a U.A.E. cultural expert! In fact I am embarrassed to admit that many expatriates know more about the culture of the U.A.E. than I do.
How can this be? Well in short the success of the U.A.E. might also be seen as its failing. (Sir I didn’t get what you talking about here)
You see, even though I am an Emirati I have lived most of my life traveling around the world from one country to another following my father where his career took him. I am embarrassed to say that I have grown up learning about many different cultures but I have failed to learn my own.
There is no question the UAE culture is unique. Unlike many consumer driven cultures ours is also heavily steeped in our religion, and as hard as this is for westerners to understand we are proud of the place of our religion in all we do. In fact our religion merges with our very traditions creating something that is very special.
As you learn more about the U.A.E.`s culture you realize that all the parts that you once believed were negative, or that you are told are negative by the ever powerful media and global flow of ideas especially those that expatriates bring with them to the U.A.E., turn out to be positive in one way or the other.
I have only just begun to realize that it isn’t the culture of the U.A.E. that has the problem but me! It is me, an Emirati, who has been looking at this truly amazing culture from a very narrow-mind point of view.
The Emirati culture as it grows, accommodates and reasserts its fundamental tenants of community, sharing and goodwill that makes this country so exceptional. Many of my fellow countrymen hold onto our culture with great defiance as they fear it will be lost with time. Dubai is slowly drifting toward that very consumer culture that so many expatriates were socialized into in their own homeland.
What is scary me today is that the Emirati people are slowly and systematically being told that our culture and progress don’t match be it from business, to construction, to education we are slowly being stripped of our unique culture to help aid the rapid development of one of our great cities, and what sadness me is that some of the other Emirates are right behind Dubai in adopting this consumer culture.
The aim of Dubai, as I see it anyway, is to be an international city where everyone is welcomed. But wasn’t that the situation 20 years ago? Hasn’t our culture always been to welcome people, ideas and great stories that can help us grow? Today we seem to be growing at the expense of our very lifeblood, our culture.
Many of my expatriate friends have told me that the reason they have come to the U.A.E. was the good pay, safe environment, and the difference in culture. If that’s the reason then shouldn’t all UAE residents Emirati and non-Emirati worry that the UAE culture is slowly changing into something foreign? Sure every culture has its up’s and down’s, as nothing is perfect but we should all stand together and acknowledge the beauty of this culture and not be so quick to sell it out.
The culture of the U.A.E. is the legacy of our ancestors; it is a piece of art of living, thinking and being that should never fade away. Maybe we need Emitari’s to remember to “act locally and think globally” because once we have lost our culture we will never get it back!"
Méytha Al Mutawaa.
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Pain
I saw a picture of a Chinese woman - "in anguish". The same features, the same sorrow as the Indian woman from the paper last week. She had the same agony, the same devastation as the other woman in Iraq...
The look is the same, it is! Shoulders pulled by someone holding them back, dry eyes from the pain, a breathlessness and disbelief immeasurable. The scrunched up features of anger, questioning, empty hollowness of grief.
It's all the same, the skin colour doesn't matter, nor race, nor does religion figure in - perhaps after reality sets in, as a comfort & solace - social status is neglected, riches have no importance.
If you concentrate hard enough, you will feel it... you know! The tightness in your chest, the twisting of the intestines, the stomach in knots and you feel out of breath...
The pain is the same, that's all that remains.
And yet, there are still those out there that thrive on providing it, at no cost, absolutely free, free of humanity, free of sentiment, free of feelings... They will provide this for you or anyone just because someone made them believe that because you are different, therefore you have no right to think, to be alive, to breath or even (gasp) to have a good life.
Pain does not know Jew, Christian or Moslem, does not differentiate between Arab, Persian or Black, does not separate between Sunnis, Shiites, Catholic, Protestant, Sephardic, Ashkenazy, and does not know the difference between Hindu & Sikh...
Pain is pain... I feel that perhaps Khalil Gibran would write something like this: Pain is sufficient to be unto its own self as pain. Pain knows no one and embraces all in it's warm dark depth of despair, and lest you forget, it rears its head when you least expect, to stand & humble you to realise that you are not absolved by it until it washes over you and you realise for a moment, that no one has felt this way or ever will. Yet you, like all of blood that is red, since creation, are one and the same of the first whom have felt this pain, from Adam, to Cain & Abel. And what is pain if not ablution from your senses to cleanse your false sense of immortality, is it not with pain that you receive pleasure, the pleasure of birth and growth and life after death, the pleasure of unison between two. So forget not this pain and all others; that is what keeps us human.
The look is the same, it is! Shoulders pulled by someone holding them back, dry eyes from the pain, a breathlessness and disbelief immeasurable. The scrunched up features of anger, questioning, empty hollowness of grief.
It's all the same, the skin colour doesn't matter, nor race, nor does religion figure in - perhaps after reality sets in, as a comfort & solace - social status is neglected, riches have no importance.
If you concentrate hard enough, you will feel it... you know! The tightness in your chest, the twisting of the intestines, the stomach in knots and you feel out of breath...
The pain is the same, that's all that remains.
And yet, there are still those out there that thrive on providing it, at no cost, absolutely free, free of humanity, free of sentiment, free of feelings... They will provide this for you or anyone just because someone made them believe that because you are different, therefore you have no right to think, to be alive, to breath or even (gasp) to have a good life.
Pain does not know Jew, Christian or Moslem, does not differentiate between Arab, Persian or Black, does not separate between Sunnis, Shiites, Catholic, Protestant, Sephardic, Ashkenazy, and does not know the difference between Hindu & Sikh...
Pain is pain... I feel that perhaps Khalil Gibran would write something like this: Pain is sufficient to be unto its own self as pain. Pain knows no one and embraces all in it's warm dark depth of despair, and lest you forget, it rears its head when you least expect, to stand & humble you to realise that you are not absolved by it until it washes over you and you realise for a moment, that no one has felt this way or ever will. Yet you, like all of blood that is red, since creation, are one and the same of the first whom have felt this pain, from Adam, to Cain & Abel. And what is pain if not ablution from your senses to cleanse your false sense of immortality, is it not with pain that you receive pleasure, the pleasure of birth and growth and life after death, the pleasure of unison between two. So forget not this pain and all others; that is what keeps us human.
Banaat Al Riyadh
I’d finished reading this thrilling account in a day and a half (including during traffic jams and at roundabouts of Emirates Highway where enormous trucks shaded me from the noon day sun). The book started of not as a book but as an email log from a young woman in Riyadh, KSA, ranting about her friends’ lives (perhaps reflecting some of her own) and the goings on within their social circle.
What transpired was a humongous readership and avid following with many a suggestion of publishing the writings; and as such the writings became a book that has caused some ruffles in certain feathers. The book is unavailable in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and is available in most Arab Countries (Perhaps even all - I got mine here in the UAE thank God!)
I liked it, it was juicy, fresh and the dialect changes were delightful, some of my friends would have loved to read it but it is unavailable in any other language so unless I’m commissioned to do so, I will not be able to translate!
Good book, worth a read and the gossip is yummier!
other views:
http://www.djibnet.com/mabraze/index.php?showtopic=9657
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/02/05/wnovel05.xml
Thursday, April 06, 2006
Blood Wedding by Federico Garcia Lorca
For those who seek culture at great opportunities:
The play: Blood Wedding
Date: April 17th & 18th
Venue: American University of Dubai
Points of Sale: Box Office & Virgin (prices at 25, 50, & 100 AED)
"Based on a true story of love, lust, and betrayal, Blood Wedding is one of the most powerful and innovative plays written this century. Federico Garcia Lorca wrote his best known play years after reading a newspaper account of a young bride in Andalusia who abandoned her husband-to-be on their wedding day to escape with her childhood sweetheart. Lorca evokes the spectacle of human passion through sophisticated and often surrealistic poetic technique, elevating the love story to a tragedy of fate." (quoted from Theatre Zone)
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Local Tee
This one's one of my favourites...
Apparently most kids at schools are wearing these... I feel sooooo behind. I think this is very beautiful in design and I would like to get one if not a few! I've contacted the email enquiring as to wear I can obtain any number of these funky new design t-shirts.
This is new local design that I am proud of, something different, retro, off the wall and whats that word... on the side.. no, by the wall... no, AAAAARGH!! um you know not main street high street but rather underground sorta kinda like that... you know!
Apparently most kids at schools are wearing these... I feel sooooo behind. I think this is very beautiful in design and I would like to get one if not a few! I've contacted the email enquiring as to wear I can obtain any number of these funky new design t-shirts.
This is new local design that I am proud of, something different, retro, off the wall and whats that word... on the side.. no, by the wall... no, AAAAARGH!! um you know not main street high street but rather underground sorta kinda like that... you know!
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