By MIKE NALLY
Staff Writer
Garden Grove, CA

Chances are good that if your last name listed in an O.C. phone directory is Hanna or Hannalla, you are a member of the Coptic Christian Egyptian community here.

You are highly educated, well-off, and professions of choice are doctor, lawyer, accountant, car repair specialist, and business entrepreneur.  Your faith is very important and you devoutly attend every Sunday morning a liturgy (6:30 am in Arabic, 11:30 am in English) at Archangel Michael Coptic Orthodox Church in Santa Ana.  The women, always smartly dressed, jeweled, with the latest hand bags, place a veil on their heads (provided by a church bin) and sit to the right.  The men, well-groomed, wearing expensive watches, sit to the left.
After church, some of you will head downstairs to have mediocre coffee and chat with other church members; but many of you will prefer to head to Starbucks at Talbert and Newhope for better coffee and richer, relaxed conversations about family, business, but increasingly, concern and worry over what’s befallen the Egyptian Copt community and your relatives there and the news is not good.

A fringe group of Islamic extremists have been attacking and torching Coptic houses of worship in Alexandria and towns near Cairo.

On a recent breezy Sunday morning, as a stiff wind blew through the palm fronds of trees on the perimeter of Archangel Michael church parking lot — filled with Lexus cars, BMWs, Mercedes, and Hondas — I catch up with worshippers about to enter the stately, stylish Copt Orthodox church, whose altar was consecrated by H.H. Pope Shenouda III of the See of St. Mark (117) on a Sunday (Sept. 20th) nearly 20 years ago.

Virtually all offer the same refrain:  “We are fearful of what’s happening to the Copts and our relatives there in Egypt.”

“It is a very difficult situation,” commented Dr. Nashed Hany, a pediatrician from Long Beach.  “In Embaba, two Copt churches — St. Mary and St. Mina — were set on fire.  It’s disturbing.”

Amir, an engineer who left Cairo to work in Dubai for three years, and came to California with his family just 11 months ago, said: “We are discriminated against by the police, the army, and the government.  When we apply for jobs or attend university, we are dealt with in a different way.”

Chimed in Mary, from Huntington Beach, who was attending the liturgy with her ten-year-old son, Abanoub, and has been here 3 years: “Egypt now is difficult.  All Christians there are afraid.  Some of their daughters have been kidnapped, so we worry….  The Copts all want to come to the United States.”

What did you think of Egypt? I asked her young, feisty son.

“I hated it,” he replied.  “The roads are dirty and there are chickens all over the place.”

Farouk Estafanous, 71, of Anaheim, a retired gas station worker, also echoed her thoughts: “It’s not good in Egypt.  But we have the power of God, the power of Jesus to watch over us…”

But Jesus, I challenge him, does not seem to be protecting your Copt churches right now.

Farouk shrugs.

“Jesus has given freedom to everyone — even the devil.  But I tell you this, at the end of the age, the Lord will come — to judge those who do right, and those who do wrong.  The world is in His hands.  The Muslims hate us because they say we believe in three separate Gods — father, son, spirit.  Many centuries ago, they wanted us to pay tax, convert to their religion, or be killed.”

Farouk then hands me warm Coptic bread from a basket on the church steps.

“Eat, and rejoice in our Lord, our Redeemer.”

I took the bread offered by this humble Copt, and then was introduced to Nabil Hanna (58), an accountant who works in Garden Grove and lives in Huntington Beach.

Hanna, whose intense eyes are framed by large glasses, is a man who resembles a university professor.  He also heads up the Coptic Assembly of California, and tells me today, after the liturgy, he will take a busload of church-goers to the Federal Building in Westwood.  There they will protest with banners and signs what they believe is persecution of Copts by radical Islam.

What will the signs say?

“End the Islamic jihad against us,” interjects Hanna’s thirteen-year old son, Michael, who stands now by his father’s side.

“Yes,” adds Hanna, “The Muslims think we are infidels because we do not believe in the Koran, so we must be killed. The Koran instructs them to kill the unbelievers.”

I reply that some of these verses — especially “the sword verses” are often taken out of context, just as right wing Christian groups play Scripture roulette with biblical passages to suit their purpose in an argument.

But Hanna remains vigorous in his stance against radical Muslims:  “They want to dominate our country, Egypt.  So they instill fear by burning our churches.  They claimed a Christian girl wanted to become a Muslim, so she was held captive inside one of our churches, and that’s why the Muslims became angry, and invaded Copt property.”

Does that not make you want to fight back, Michael?  I ask Hanna’s son.

Michael shakes his head solemnly.

“Let God hurt them, not us,” he says.  “The Muslims vandalized the Coptic Church, took the holy oils from the altar, but the ones who did it, ended up punished.  They fought and argued over what they stole, and some were killed.  Another Muslim’s house near the church also caught fire and burned down.”

“You see — divine retribution,” exclaims Hanna.  “We will protest but not do personal violence against Copt attackers.”

The feud between Muslim and Christian is long-standing; Hanna points out and goes back centuries to when 6,000-7000 Saudi Muslims invaded Egypt in 720 AD.

“We should have taken a firm stance against them back then, and Copts wouldn’t have such a problem” says Hanna.  “There are some 80 million Arabs in Egypt now.  “Close to 15 million are Copts.  The rest are Muslim.  And 75% of those Muslims are below the poverty line in Egypt, and the young people have high unemployment, so they are forced to steal and make other troubles.  There is trouble, even though the (Sunni) Kingdom of Saudi Arabia pays the Muslim Brotherhood $2 billion a year — to keep them out of the Iranian (Shiite) orbit and influence.”

Hanna shakes his head woefully.

“I tell you plainly — Egyptian Copts right now are caught in the teeth of the lion!”

Hanna signals a friend to check on the status of the bus that will take his Coptic protesters to Westwood and the Federal Building. (The bus has not arrived yet).  We continue the discussion.

“Thanks, God, for Father Zacharias of California,” says Hanna.  “Do you know him?”

I have not heard his name.

“He teaches every night about our religion by satellite cable, and Muslims in Egypt are listening, paying attention to the truths he teaches.  From our sources we estimate over 600,000 Muslims are interested in the Christian gospel.  But when they attend a Coptic church there, we tell them not to shave their beard, or change their Muslim dress.  Just come as they are to the church.”

Interesting I tell him.  Have any influential Muslim leaders converted to Christianity?

“Yes! Yes! Exclaims Hanna.  “But the government hides it or covers it up!”

Example?

“Imam Faham is one.”

When was this?

“I believe back in the 80s or 90s,” says Hanna.  “Imam Faham moved to California and is a Christian now.  But the government back in Egypt faked his funeral procession — put sand in his coffin — and paraded it through the streets of Cairo.”

I gesture to the front of Michael Archangel church and tell him I admire the tall, graceful arches, and also the detailed inlaid mosaics.  Does it not show the Islamic influence on the Coptic architecture?

“No, no — the other way around,” replies Hanna.  “Our Copt churches were among the first in the Roman Empire.  The Muslims took all their ideas and style from the Copts.  Like their minarets (prayer towers) resemble church steeples.  The Muslim women who wear the veil?  They stole it from the Catholic nuns and their sacred habit.”

In the interest of fairness, why not invite a leading Islamic scholar or imam to debate you or a Coptic leader?

“Oh, I already have done that, my friend!” replies Hanna passionately.  “A few years back in Fullerton I debated with a Muslim cleric.”

And?

“I asked him why God (or Allah) would send down two religions on earth to divide and disturb the people.  One of us is a liar.  One of us has the true religion.  And the Muslim replied: You tell me.”

Hanna answered him:  “We, along with the Jews, are the first people of the book.  We have been here since the beginning of creation.  Your God (Allah) teaches Muslims to kill with the sword.  Our God, Jesus, tells us to love our enemies.  So your God is the fake one.”

I let Hanna have the last word, and joined other believers headed to the church basement after the liturgy to have coffee and share some more fellowship.

I was chatting just outside the Coptic bookstore located downstairs with the owner who wanted to sell me a book on the ten Coptic virtues.  I already know them I smiled and surprised him.  They include: Love, faith, hope, purity, patience, humility, and long-suffering …  I was then engaged in conversation by an attractive mother of five children, Halwadie, but was interrupted when a dispute broke out between two men in Arabic, but I recognized the word shouted loudly “Al-Quds!”  (To Jerusalem!)

I informed her I have been to this holy city but she told me, “We Copts cannot go there from Egypt.  It makes me sad.”

BY GAIL EVELYN ALFAR
Guest Writer,  Austin, TX

Omar Barghouti, co-founder of the BDS movement, was allowed a VISA to enter the US for a book tour in support of his new book.  He will speak at Universities including Harvard, Columbia, Princeton, Rutgers, Brandeis, NYU and Brown.

His initial book launch took place at the London Review Bookshop on March 7, 2011.  Segments from that talk appear in this article.
The title of his new book is BDS: Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions – The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights”.  It has been praised by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Naomi Klein, among other notables.
Prior to Barghouti’s talk, two key points were mentioned:

The Former Commissioner General for UNRWA, Karen Koning AbuZayd’s statement was shared “Gaza is on the threshold of becoming the first territory to be intentionally reduced to a state of abject destitution, with the knowledge, acquiescence and – some would say – encouragement of the international community. An international community that professes to uphold the inherent dignity of every human being must not allow this to happen.”

John Dugard (South African International Law Expert, former UN Special Rapporteur for human rights) “The West cannot expect the rest of the world to take issues it regards as important seriously if it persists in its present attitude to the Israeli occupation.  For the rest of the world the issue of Palestine has become the litmus test for human rights.  If the West fails to show concern for human rights on the OPT,   the rest of the world will conclude that human rights are a tool employed by the west against regimes it dislikes and not an objective and universal instrument  for the measurement of the treatment of people throughout the world.”
Barghouti, calm and pensive as always, explains that the BDS movement is a rights-based approach and it rejects all forms of racism, including anti-Semitism.  He states, “…so Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions is firstly  about ending complicity,  and that’s not something heroic that we’re asking you to do, -‘don’t participate in crime’-  that’s common human decency, I think,  a basic ethical principal, don’t allow your tax money to be used  in Israeli apartheid, occupation,  and settler colonialism… that’s the first level…”

From his book’s chapter titled “Why BDS?”

BDS is not only an idea. It is not merely a concept. It is not just a vision. It is not all about strategy. It is all those, for sure, but also much more. The Palestinian Civil Society Campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel is above everything else a deeply rooted yet qualitatively new stage in the century-old Palestinian resistance to the Zionist settler-colonial conquest and, later, Israel’s regime of occupation, dispossession, and apartheid against the indigenous people of Palestine.

Tactics and the choice of BDS targets at the local level must be governed by the context particularities, political conditions, and the readiness (in will and capacity) of the BDS activists. In the United States, for instance, two of the most active and creative BDS groups, Adalah-NY and Code Pink, endorse the 2005 BDS Call with its comprehensive rights-based approach and run effective campaigns that are very targeted and nuanced, focusing only on companies indisputably implicated in Israeli violations of international law in the occupied Palestinian territory.

Barghouti breaks into a reserved smile when he conveys to his audience, “The success (of the call for BDS) has been well beyond our dreams, in fact, it went beyond anything we had imagined.  When we issued the call on July 9th, 2005 (for BDS), we had no idea it would spread so virally in five years.  Literally, because the most important experience that has affected us, and that we’re inspired by is the South African anti-apartheid movement, and people forget that, people have a short memory, they say ‘Oh but that was a consensus, I mean everyone in Britain was boycotting.’  Yeah, that was in ‘89, but they started the boycott in ‘59.  It took 30 years to reach that stage of mass support for the boycott of apartheid South Africa, and of course your prime minister (UK) was the very last on earth to support it, with Reagan, her buddy.  So boycotts take a long time to kick in, to have impact.  We had no idea in 5 years we would achieve, almost as much as our South African comrades had achieved in 20 years. “

He goes on to explain that “We had no idea people like Meg Ryan or the Pixies or (Elvis) Costello…Gil Scott-Heron…Pete Seeger, or Roger Waters would come out and support the boycott, but they have.  Not to mention Judith Butler, Naomi Klein, John Berger, Ken Loach, and so on.  So the number of artists, writers, intellectuals, best-selling authors that are heeding our boycott call has mushroomed after the flotilla.”

He elaborates that Israel’s strong economy is totally integrated into the western economy, but that integration makes it also much more vulnerable to BDS.  Israel does not sell minerals to the world that they cannot live without, like South Africa did. It sells high-tech, fruits, weapons, and diamonds.

On diamonds, Israel gets the diamonds from Africa, polishes them in India, sells them and makes all the profit.  Barghouti states “So that’s easy, it should be easy, to end that revenue from reaching Israel  and funding its war economy.”

Later in his talk he says “The BDS movement is not centralized movement, its not a party hierarchy ideology, it depends a lot on the creativity and initiative at the local level.  So we defer to our partners in every part of the world, to know best what to do, what to target. “

Making another point, he says “It is intimidating because the long lists of companies that are complicit in Israel’s occupation are intimidating.    The lists are endless; Israel is totally integrated into the world economy.    “We need to be strategic, and we need to focus on campaigns that we can win, we don’t do BDS to feel good, we’re doing it to attain our rights, so we need victories.  We need sustainable, continuous victory, and if a victory is too fast, it’s no good, because it’s not sustainable.    We’ve had victories that were too fast, to (quickly) achieved , so we had not built a movement to carry on that victory  to build on it to protect it first, because of course we’re under attack.”

“We have a BDS campaign within Israel, it’s called Boycott from within, it has gathered a lot of momentum lately.  We have several partners in Israel including the Coalition of Women for Peace who run the “Who Profits from the Occupation” website, an excellent resource for BDS activists all over the world, we all use it.  It a database of all the companies profiting from Israel’s occupation.”

Responding to an audience member about BDS challenges, he elaborates on two challenges to BDS: “Repression in Israel is on the rise against BDS campaigners, especially Israeli BDS campaigners. They are discussing in the Knesset about passing an anti-BDS law that would criminalize calling for a boycott…but not even calling for a boycott as in political activism… even if you write a comment in a newspaper that you think that Israel should be boycotted, and then if an Israeli company loses revenue, or claims to lose revenue due to the boycott, they can sue you, according to that law.  You’ll be liable.  So it is truly scary, it’s going to a repressive measure that has not been seen before inside Israel against Israeli citizens, this is extreme.  In France, and Canada they are trying to criminalize the boycott of Israel. Trying to use arguments that are really untenable but the hypocrisy in Europe is an art, and in the US as well, I did not mean to leave out the US.”

Continuing, he explains “The second obstacle is the occupation of our minds, the inhibitions we have that this is unbeatable, this is extremely difficult to do so we will not do it.  I think once we overcome this internal inhibition, this self-censorship, is extremely important.  As Edward Said once said, ‘many intellectuals  and academics know what is right and refuse to say the right thing they are so scared of the repercussion’… they’re so scared of being attacked by the lobby as anti-Semite, as whatever,  they could be Jewish but they’re still attacked as anti-Semite, so that self-censorship is, I think, the biggest obstacle.  We have to overcome that by awareness-raising and by campaigning, it is not enough to sit on an armchair and read about BDS, but you need to do some action and you learn much more in action.”
An audience member challenged him, asking would he or his family accept Israeli help in a medical emergency, because that would be a double-standard.    He gently answered “When you are living under apartheid you have no choice.  You pay taxes to the apartheid regime, you accept services from the apartheid regime, how else can you survive?  You go to hospitals, you go to Universities, you go to the Post Office, you go to Government Offices in the apartheid regime, you are a subject of that colonial system, there is no other way.  Ghandi said it at the British University as well.  The point is when you are under occupation, or under apartheid, you have no moral choice, there is no choice.  We ask people outside to boycott because they have a moral choice, responsibility comes with choice.  Germans under Nazi rule, who couldn’t open their mouths, were cowards.  But we can perhaps forgive them for not opening their mouth when you think that they will be shot by the Nazi genocidal regime.  Israelis that stay silent are far more cowardly because they do have a choice and they won’t get shot if they stand up against the occupation.    So we measure this with how much choice you have.  When you have no choice, what do you do?    So there is absolutely no double-standard for people under oppression to call on people who are not under oppression standing in solidarity with them to oppose and boycott completely the oppressive regime.  What we cannot do, you can do   (in the UK).  Of course we do not boycott Israeli medicines in Israel, what else can you buy?    We’re not irrational, I don’t know your view of the Arabs, but we’re not suicidal.”  With this the book launch ends in laughter and applause.

Barghouti’s tour of the Northeastern US brings him from April 9 to April 15th.    Haymarket Books Editor Anthony Arnove stated, “It is regrettable that Haymarket Books and various free speech advocates and human rights groups had to mount a campaign to allow Omar Barghouti to enter the United States to speak and discuss his work, but it is proof that protest works and that solidarity matters.”

By MIKE NALLY
Staff Writer
Garden Grove, CA

He has been an American citizen since 1962, and has lived for the past 35 years in Orange County, most recently in a modest housing tract in Fountain Valley with his son, Joseph.

When he opens the door, both his fluffy black and white cat, Oreo, and his faithful Scottish dog, Maggie, eagerly greet him.

“Oreo is so good,” he says, “she never scratches.”  After picking her up, he sighs deeply and lets the cat scamper across the living room.

On the living room mantel is a photo of his beloved wife, Janet, a beautiful English woman, he met while they were both students at the University of Nottingham, a leading UK school.

“I miss her terribly,” he remarks.  “She passed away a few years back from liver cancer.”

There are also framed black/white photos he proudly displays of himself as a young man, along with his brother, seated across from King Hussein in his palace in Amman, Jordan.  He had become a close friend of the king when they studied together back in the early 60s at school in Alexandria.

Farouk “Frank” Nashashibi, 70, once belonged to one of the most prominent Palestinian families based in Jerusalem. The Nashashibi family held senior positions in governing Jerusalem.

“My father’s cousin, Raghib al-Nashashibi was the mayor of Jerusalem from 1920-1934,” he comments.  “Our family history dates back to the 5th century — when Naser al-Din al-Nashashibi (in 1469) migrated to Jerusalem.  He guarded the al-Aqsa Mosque there and a mosque in Hebron as well.”

“We were politically moderate,” Farouk adds.  “Our rivals were the more militant Husayni family who favored violent opposition to the British mandate and Zionism.  The Husaynis advocated total rejection of the Balfour Declaration policy.”

Farouk points out that his family felt that Arabs were more likely to achieve their goals through compromise and by working within the Mandate system, rather than opposing it.  When the Nashashibis formed their National Defense Party, the Husaynis in response formed in 1935 the Palestine Arab Party.  Their goals?  The dissolution of the Jewish National Home and the creation of a solely Arab government.

Farouk gives some more brief history.  The Arab Revolt (1937-1939) rejected the more moderate policies and compromises of the Nashashibis — in part fueled by opposition to Jewish immigration which had jumped due to anti-Semitism in Europe.  The Arab Revolt targeted certain members of the Nashashibi family, and Raghib (the mayor of Jerusalem) was forced to flee to Egypt after attempts on his life were ordered by the mufti, Hajj Amin al-Husayni.

Wow, with all these hits, it sounds like an Arab Godfather feud, I interject.

Farouk nods and continues.

“Long story short,” he says, “after the UN favored (1947) the partition of Palestine, but not yet the creation of a Jewish State and Homeland, other Arab countries wanted to help the Palestinians.  Egypt sided with the Husayni family.  The Nashashibis support went to King Abdullah of Jordan.

Unfortunately, in 1948 events turned in favor of the Zionists and the proclamation of Israel as a state.”

And now?  It seems the Husayni family may have had a better grasp on what would happen to the Palestinians under a Zionist state …  I see clearly how bitter and angry you are, Farouk….

“Yes! Yes!” he replies agitated, “We were wrong to be so moderate. I cannot sleep at night! I want my family property back that the Israelis have stolen!”

He disappears for a moment into a back bedroom, and comes back out into the living room waving his family property deeds and papers.

“Look! — I have proof of their thievery, our family land the Zionists have confiscated.   Do you know Sheik Jarah, Shepherd’s Hotel, that is just one area we owned ….”

Of course,  I lived in nearby Beit Hanina back in the 80s, I inform him.

“Yes, I am bitter, frustrated … with the Zionists, with the Arab League — it’s a lost cause because no one listens anymore!  Not our U.S. State Department!

On a table he lays before me copies of 10 deeds of ownership, as well as a letter sent to State Dept. dated Jan. 14th, 2006, and which I quote some details:

My father, Najati Nashashibi, died August, 1964, St. Joseph Hospital, Jerusalem, Jordan.  Dr. Gaspar, physician.  My mother, Ikram Helmi Essaid, died on March 28, 1989 in Amman, Jordan.  My grandfather is Haj Bakr Nashashibi, my uncle Ismail Nashashibi.  (Copies of death certificate, inheritance certificate (notarized) and signed by my sister Rifa to sell the property as I see fit.  US Passport and Palestinian Passport all enclosed)

“I the undersigned, Farouk Najati Nashashibi, inherited upon the death of my mother, property consisting of ten houses and land, located mostly in West Jerusalem.  When my mother died, subject property was turned over to me as indicated in the enclosed certificate of inheritance … notarized by Judge Mohammed Hashed Al Khaldi in the city of Naour, Jordan.”

I have been trying to sell the property on several occasions since 1990.  The latest attempt was through an Israeli lawyer in Jerusalem.  I was advised by him that he was unable to sell the property due to a law, issued in 1950, that stipulated the seizure of Palestinian property of any Palestinian who left Jerusalem in 1948.

For your information, my father did not leave Jerusalem until he died in August of 1964.  However, my mother and I left Jerusalem for Egypt in April of 1948, and returned to Jerusalem in October of 1948.
Finally, the enforcement of a law on absentee landowners passed in 1950 is described by the Israeli lawyer as “a land grab.”

Note: As of April 2011, Farouk has not heard back from the U.S. State Dept. he wrote nearly 5 years ago regarding his claim. He believes even if there is a comprehensive peace settlement in the Middle East, he still will not get his land back.

By Kim Silarski

The Arab American National Museum (AANM) – the only museum of its kind among the 17,500 cultural institutions in the United States – brought its biennial DIWAN: A Forum for the Arts to New York City March 25-26, 2011. Diwan is an Arabic word that translates as “gathering.”

Highlights of the conference, held at The Graduate Center at The City University of New York (CUNY), included panel discussions on the ways Arab American artists have grappled with the impact of the tragic events of September 11, 2001 in their work, and how Arab American artists intervene in the reality of war and conflict in various creative genres.

“The Arab American art movement galvanized around New York City as local artists of Arab heritage began collaborating through art in a positive response to 9/11,” says Holly Arida, a noted author on Arab American art and the coordinator for 2011 DIWAN.

“As we approach the 10-year anniversary of the tragedy, it is important to remember the positive contributions that Arab Americans continue to make to American culture and how the collaboration among artists that began in New York has grown nationally over the past decade.”

Among the artists who appeared at 2011 DIWAN was Libyan American poet Khaled Mattawa, a Ford/United States Artist for 2011 and recipient of the 2010 Academy of American Poets Fellowship Prize. Mattawa, a professor at the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor, has been a frequent commentator on the current situation in Libya in recent months.

“The recent protests that have rocked the Arab World have drawn the world’s attention to the region and Americans are hungry to learn more about this part of the world,” Arida said.

“This significant gathering of Arab American artists and scholars and outstanding programming offered a bridge of understanding to Arab culture in the heart of New York, the city that for more than 100 years has served as the major point of entry for immigrants coming from the Arab World.”

Delivering the 2011 DIWAN keynote address on March 26 was Prof. Joseph Massad, associate professor of modern Arab politics and intellectual history at Columbia University in New York. His 2007 book Desiring Arabs was awarded the Lionel Trilling Book Award; he is also a columnist for the Egyptian Al-Ahram Weekly and the Lebanese daily newspaper Al-Akhbar.

AANM was pleased to partner with New York’s ALWAN for the Arts as well The Middle East and Middle East American Center (MEMEAC) at The Graduate Center, CUNY, for its fourth DIWAN, part of the Museum’s ongoing commitment to convene and generate a national dialogue among artists and academicians about the state of Arab American art. DIWAN also encourages diverse audiences to explore the boundaries of art in addressing social issues related to Arab Americans and the community at large.

“This is the first time we have taken DIWAN to New York, a city with one of the largest populations of Arab Americans in the country and a destination whose educated, discerning audiences demand excellence in arts and culture,” said Dr. Anan Ameri, founding director of the AANM, which celebrates its sixth anniversary in May 2011.

Previous DIWANs were held in 2006, 2007 and 2009 at the Arab American National Museum, located in Dearborn, Michigan amid the largest concentration of Arabs outside the Arab World. The event has always been open to the public but this year, free admission was instituted to encourage attendance.

“As a national institution, the AANM must not only unite artists from across the country through events such as DIWAN, but we must also take such programs outside the Museum walls to diverse audiences throughout the nation,” Ameri said.

Past DIWANs have earned rave reviews from presenters and attendees. In fact, after the 2006 event, enthusiastic participants demanded that what was planned as a biennial event return immediately in 2007.

“I will never forget the feeling of that first year, discovering Arab American artists, and those in support of our work, from such a range of disciplines, backgrounds, and geographical locations,” said award-winning actress, writer and teaching artist Leila Buck, who has taken part in previous DIWANs and served as a moderator this year.

“It gave us all a sense that we are a strong, nationwide, vibrant community. I was particularly moved and encouraged by the support of more established, experienced Arab American artists.  Having someone like [author] Naomi Shihab Nye come up to you and praise your work means the world to a young artist, and her incredible generosity of spirit has been with me ever since.”

In addition to scholars, authors and actors, 2011 DIWAN artists represented the full range of creative genres. Presenters included activist painter and filmmaker John Halaka, who discussed the development of his documentary Wounds of the Heart: An Artist and Her Nation, which investigates the ideas and experiences that inform the artwork of Rana Bishara, a Palestinian visual artist. Halaka also reflected on a video archive of interviews with Palestinian artists he is currently developing.

Saxophonist and theorist Hafez Modirzadeh, who is a professor of World Cultures in Music at San Francisco State University, a two-time NEA Jazz Fellow and a Senior Fulbright Scholar, drew connections between musical forms and current events.

“Aspiring convergence of musical systems (i.e. maqam, jazz, flamenco) reflects not only a drive towards shared source, but also liberation from those formal restraints that suppress shared empowerment,” said Modirzadeh, who has performed, recorded and published internationally on original cross-cultural concepts spanning Iranian, Andalucian and African American musical traditions.

“Here, from the musical to socio-political, a Convergence Liberation Principle is offered in consideration of the recent shape-shifting events that are occurring throughout the Arabic- and Persian-speaking worlds.”

Learn more about the programs and participants of 2011 DIWAN at www.diwanart.org. The site also includes links to a Flickr photo set from this and past DIWANs; by June 1, 2011, video of 2011 DIWAN panels and talks will be available for free viewing at the Arab American National Museum’s iTunes U page.

Published proceedings from earlier DIWANs are available via the AANM Library & Resource Center; also available is Etching Our Own Image: Voices from Within the Arab American Art Movement (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007), a collection of 2006 DIWAN submissions edited by Holly Arida and Dr. Anan Ameri. Call the AANM at 313.624.0223 for further information on these and related resources.

Major funding for 2011 DIWAN came from the Nathan Cummings Foundation. DIWAN was also made possible in part by the Ford Foundation and the Kresge Foundation. The online Arab American arts magazine FEN was the 2011 DIWAN media sponsor; visit www.fenmag.com for 2011 DIWAN coverage.

The Arab American National Museum documents, preserves, celebrates and educates the public on the history, life, culture and contributions of Arab Americans. It serves as a resource to enhance knowledge and understanding about Arab Americans and their presence in this country. The Arab American National Museum is a project of ACCESS, a Dearborn, Michigan-based nonprofit human services and cultural organization. Learn more at www.arabamericanmuseum.org and www.accesscommunity.org.

The Arab American National Museum is a proud Affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Read about the Affiliations program at http://affiliations.si.edu.

By: Mike Nally

“We Sail until Palestine is Free” (www.freeGaza.org) — this caption in white lettering along with a sailboat logo on black T-shirts were being marketed at a table in the lobby of the Embassy Suites Hotel in Garden Grove, Saturday March 12th.

The occasion?

PAWA’s (Palestinian American Women’s Association of Southern CA) 27th year anniversary reception and fundraising dinner celebrating International Women’s Day.  But the sentiment expressed on the T-shirts struck a chord with a number of PAWA’s guest speakers, who later, in the evening, all underlined the fact that there would be no revolution in the Arab world today had it not been for the protests organized by the first Palestinian activists going back to the 1930s.

As I sat in the lobby, I had a chance to chat with Samar Fareez, 58, in hijab, who was admiring the T-shirts and other merchandise laid out on the tables.

Are you Palestinian?

“Half and half,” she smiled back.  “I am Jordanian, from Amman.  But my husband is from Gaza.  We have made 10 trips to Gaza; the last one was in 1983.  Now we live in Amman’s 7th Circle district.  We have 4 children.  I attended Basma — a government school.”

And what about tonight’s event?

“Well, yani, I think it’s good for Arab women to come together like this — but I am disappointed Helen Thomas could not make it.  I just learned she had to cancel.”

Indeed, many people were, according to one of the dinner organizers, Vicki Tamoush:  “Several asked for their money back and wanted to cancel …  Poor Helen was just too exhausted (she is close to 90) on a four city tour.  We had booked two rooms for her because she travels with a nurse.  But,” Tamoush added “we’re hoping for a full room tonight — 400 people.”

When I picked up my green banquet ticket, I noticed the PAWA Banquet featuring the legendary Thomas — that her name had been replaced with a white label and her new guest speakers:  Professor As’ad AbuKhalil and Professor Sherine Hafez and proved to be quite dynamic, the dinner tickets were $65 per person.

But even Thomas’ no show, could not dampen the spirit and the always lively and exciting atmosphere the annual PAWA reception and banquet generates. Each table of ten was nicely set, with the exquisite handcrafted centerpieces — a blue/white ceramic teapot (made in Al-Khalil, Palestine) that rested on a kefayeh the colors of Palestine.

And in a deft touch, that underscored the evening’s program book and title: “The People’s Revolution: Media, Protest & The Changing Arab World” — each table had white placard announcing the guest’s table number and a distinct city in the Middle East, in both black Arabic script and English.

For example: Table #3, Cairo, Egypt.  Table #5, Tripoli, Libya.  #13, Amman, Jordan.  #14, Jerusalem, Palestine (my favorite of course). At the Beirut, Lebanon table I met Muhammad El-Hassan and his wife Nisreen (from Jenin).  He is a business writer for the Daily Breeze in Redondo Beach and had “mixed feelings” about both the revolution and repression of women. Nisreen felt it was “sad and tragic” what was happening in Libya.

Also at the Lebanon table was a unique artist from Syria, Sam Hassan, now of South Pasadena.  You can visit his stunning beautiful work at his site (Sam@samhassanart.com).  Sam’s original paintings were also on display for the silent auction at the banquet.

At Table #7, Alexandria Egypt, I saw Soraya Deen, from Sri Lanka, now lives in L.A., and was dressed in a lovely emerald-green sari.  Deen is an author, visionary, speaker, and lawyer who works hard to promote interfaith dialogue through more compassionate communication.  Her latest book is Serve: A Call to Muslims (www.ACalltoMuslims.com).

“I am optimistic about the future,” she said, “for both women and Muslims.  Challenging times like ours can bring people together.”

At another table, I think Algeria, sat businessman and bankers, and the erudite and international economist, Dr. Raymond Jallow, a big fan of The Independent Monitor newspaper.  At another table near them, was the genial Saudi, Rashad and his friends.

At my own Table #6, Benghazi, Libya sat, Fatmeh and her husband, publishers of Al Enteshar Al Arabi Newspaper in L.A., Sam of SEA in Pasadena, Rita, originally from Bethlehem, of Life Moments Photography, Tawfieq, an engineer from Nablus, who hopes soon to visit Palestine, and pulling up a chair next to me was Solomon Saddi, a realtor in Redlands and poet.

Are you from Libya?

“No — Damascus, Syria.”

Sorry, then you can’t sit here — just Libyans.”

The tall, silver haired Saddi smiled and sat down.

What’s the name of your poetry book?

“Songs for Your Eyes,” he replied.

What do you write about in it?

“Politics.”

Tell me about the Syrian Socialist National Party.

“You don’t want to go there,” he said, his face shadowing over.  But just then, passing by our table, was a tall, lithe blond in a tight black pant suit and heels clacking on the arm of an obviously older, wealthy, well groomed gentleman.  Solomon’s bushy eyebrows hit the ceiling.  The look on his face was priceless. I motioned to the couple as Solomon’s gaze followed them to their table: “Now there is a better subject for your poetry, Solomon.”  The Syrian smiled again.

Then the waiters served up a delicious meal, super salads and dressing, buttered rolls, fish, chicken, chocolate cake, iced tea, and coffee.

By then, the Embassy Ballroom was packed with over 400 guests, there was a great vibe as people embraced, hugged, and kissed each others’ cheeks.  Then it was time for the opening welcome by Samera Sood of PAWA’s Social/Fundraising Affairs Committee:  “2011 marks a new beginning and turning point for all of us.  To be free, not just from dictators who have ruled the Arab people, but to be free also from (Israeli) occupation, settlements, check points, home destroyers … We here at PAWA raise our voice as one … and  (to loud applause) a people united will never be defeated!”

Next up on the dais was the President of PAWA, Rinad Abdulla, tall, eloquent, spirited, and I believe an attorney who practices in Ontario, CA.  “Remember this — to educate a woman is to educate a nation.  We at PAWA are in the business of educating and empowering women — to become leaders in Palestine.  Thanks to your support, PAWA continues to promote self-esteem and self-confidence … and pushes for both political and social growth for Arab American women.   And this year, PAWA is sponsoring college scholarships for 60 young and ambitious Palestinian women throughout Palestine.  We donate funds for clean drinking water for school kids in Gaza, and our annual Olive Oil project continues to help Palestinian farmers.  Women’s Day events bring us Arab women who inspire us through poetry, political work, music, culture, and art.  Every year you support us, we grow — and we count on your continued help!”

Next up on the dais was Samira Jaridly of PAWA and past president (someone in the audience yelled out “Go Mom!”) to present the Activism Award to Dr. Laila Al Marayati, Chairwoman, KinderUSA, and former president of the Muslim Women’s League which challenges discrimination against Muslim women.  KinderUSA advances the well-being of Palestinian children.

“I am honored to receive this award,” said Al Marayati.  “Some people feel things are not changing fast enough in the face of discouragement and defeat.  But we Palestinians are waiting for our time, and there is hope for our future.”

Guest speaker Margaret Zaknoen DeReus of IMEU (Institute for Middle East Understanding) was overjoyed by the Egyptian Revolution — “It can happen!”   And, “the Tunisians and Egyptians have broken the mental siege of fear.”

Her brief pep talk was followed by a short video featuring Helen Thomas who praised and encouraged PAWA’s efforts.

The next two guest speakers really excited the dinner audience and received standing ovations.

First up, was Professor Sherine Hafez of the University of California-Riverside, Women’s Studies whose forthcoming book, An Islam of Her Own (2011) discusses the production of female subjectivity in Islamic movements.

“I am thrilled to be here tonight with so many empowered women … and men!” she said.  “What a struggle it has been for 180 million Arab women to achieve equality, freedom, justice, dignity.  For too long Arabs have been oppressed and misruled by tyrants.  Too often the question has been asked: Is the outcome of a revolution worth the blood of those who are going to die?”

Hafez went on: “Thugs were hired to keep women in their place and at home ….”   Then she showed video of a young, 26 year-old Egyptian woman, brave, outspoken:   Can I stay and sit at home?  No we must break our silence and speak out!  We must protest, ‘Here are the women, where are the men??’

And added: “God will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves.”

Hafez pointed out that Egypt has a history of women who would not keep silence, especially when it came to unfair labor practices.  She mentioned Huda Sharaway who back in 1923 established the Egyptian Feminist Union and brave women who went on strike when the government denied them promised bonuses for their work.

Finally, a guest speaker — a man known as the “Angry Arab”  (angryarab.blogspot.com), Professor As’ad AbuKhalil of California State University – Stanislaus, who really ripped into Israel and the Zionist thugs.

“Oh, the Israelis are really in a frenzy now and that gives me great pleasure!  The Zionists are shedding more tears over the demise of Hosni Mubarak than his own two sons!   Israel — your years are numbered!  The Zionists are squirming now!  We will not forget or forgive, every murder, every massacre, every assassination we remember!  You bomb Arab countries with impunity — Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Libya!”

AbuKhalil added:  “I am Lebanese, but I owe all my passion for justice to the Palestinian struggle and their leaders and activists who were the true teachers of protest.  Even on the lips of the Tunisian people in their revolt was the word, ‘Palestine!’”

He also slammed the fatuous, Jewish New York Times writer, Thomas Freidman, who went to Cairo and in the square there, said: “I don’t hear anything about foreign policy…”

And AbuKhalil answered:  “That’s because Freidman doesn’t understand Arabic.  And the New York Times also tried to inform its readers that some guy in Boston no one ever heard of was the man responsible for inspiring the Arab revolution through his essays.  ”We don’t need the white man inserted in to our Arab success stories!” said AbuKhalil.  “We don’t need any Lawrence of Arabias!  Mubarak — that agent of Israel in America — ended up afraid of his own people!”

“And the Obama-Hillary Clinton regime wanted to preserve that petty tyrant?  And all the treaties forced on Arabs against their own will?  A leader can’t be afraid of his own population.  Contrary to what America and the Zionists believe, force is not the only language Arabs understand. But no, never will we recognize the Zionist State of Israel!  We must go back to the 1968 PLO charter, not the one engineered by Bill Clinton in Ramallah.  We Arabs, Palestinians, cannot be equivocal when it comes to Israel.  The Arab world will never prosper until the Zionist regime is removed!”

He added:  “Yes, I am gloating now —Israel sees their ordered world now collapsing before their very eyes.  We celebrate the demise of Israel, yes, Israel, your days are truly numbered!”

AbuKhalil got a thunderous, standing five minute ovation.

The audience then got a chance to chill and catch its collective breath with the music of the outstanding MESTO conductor and violinist, Maestro Nabil S. Azzam who was trained in both European and Middle East classical musical styles.  There was one song so beautiful he played that took me back to Jerusalem and a rough English translation would be: “I am writing the name of my country Palestine …” It was so lyrical, sad, and moving, hot tears stung my eyes.

The evening came to a close with a special presentation by the world renowned cartoonist and sculptor and author, the irrepressible and hilarious Khalil Bendib who was born under colonial rule during Algeria’s war of independence against France. Tonight, he wore a jaunty Moroccan fez, shades of Casablanca and Rick’s Cafe.

“As many of you know, I ran for President as the first Muslim American — but was defeated by an African American.  But here’s some of my platform:  “I am against pork, and pork spending.  Where’s the beef? — It better be halal.  We need to import less crude oil from OPEC and more olive oil from Palestine.  We should act as patriots and repeal the Patriot Act.    We should withdraw from all occupied territories including the West Bank, Gaza, and Washington, D.C.    America should remember that its number one energy drink — coffee — originally came from Yemen and the Turks.  Wake up and smell the coffee!  In Tunisia they fired rubber bullets. In Libya, lead bullets. In Saudi Arabia, gold bullets.”

Bendib then displayed some of his famous cartoons.  The one I liked best was a drawing of real estate property — a steal on the West Bank. Location, location, location!  Recently refurbished!  Three bedroom, blood bath.  No Arab neighbors!  Splendid view of Eratz Israel!

And a drawing of a cuckoo clock in Switzerland near a mosque:  The chimes ring five times a day to call Muslims to prayer, and the bird comes out to sing Allah Akbar!  Oh, those crazy Muslims, cuckoo, cuckoo!

The reporter would like to thank Mary Harb of PAWA’s membership committee for the dinner ticket and intros.

By: Gail Alfar
In February, Austin welcomed Huwaida Arraf.  Huwaida chairs the Free Gaza Movement, which is the organization behind the Gaza Freedom Flotillas.  She was aboard the 2008 Free Gaza Boats, and also aboard the 2010 Freedom Flotilla that was attacked by Israeli commandos in International waters on May 31, 2010.  She is also the co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement.

A fundraising dinner for the U.S. Boat to Gaza was attended by some in the Austin community as well as by students from the PSC at University of Texas-Austin.  Huwaida was given a lavish welcome by the students with mouth watering food including many Palestinian specialties.

Haithem El-Zabri of the Palestine Online Store asked Huwaida Arraf what the most important thing was that we could do to help the Free Gaza Movement.  Huwaida conveyed two ideas: (1) If you are Palestinian, then let your voice be heard, and (2) Join or participate in the BDS (Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions) movement.

One attendee mentioned that Caterpillar (which is one aspect of the BDS movement) has seen larger profits, in other words, BDS has not affected that company’s revenue, and so what would be the inherent value of a campaign like BDS?  Huwaida agreed, but also acknowledged that today, when most people Google “Caterpillar” it is hard not to see results come up explaining Caterpillar’s complicity in the occupation.

Huwaida’s message to two of the dinner’s attendees who were of elementary school age was “Always believe that you have the power to make change.” and “You are as strong as you believe you can be.  Always believe.”  These two young children were proud to have an autographed photo of Huwaida in Turkey holding the Palestinian flag about to embark on a voyage to Gaza.

The present voyage, “The Audacity of Hope” is set to depart this month (April), from the East Coast.  This ship will sail with numerous courageous American human rights advocates on board, and bear the U.S. flag. The ship sails with the goal to break Israel’s siege on Gaza and call on the U.S. Government to stop enabling the illegal Israeli siege and to join the people in insisting that Israel be held accountable for its illegal attacks on Palestinians as well as internationals — whether in Gaza, the West Bank or East Jerusalem, whether on land or at sea, and whether Israel chooses to acknowledge its own culpability or continues, to defend the indefensible.  According the Israeli online journal “ynet.com,” Israel threatens to disperse trained attack dogs aboard the next flotilla, saying “The IDF is learning from its experience with the flotilla to the Gaza Strip, and when the next flotilla – if there is one – is boarded by the navy, the soldiers will be assisted by attack dogs from the Oketz unit. The dogs will be the first to board the decks, to prevent harm to soldiers from hostile elements on board.” (July 10, 2010)

As governments continue refusing to hold Israel accountable, the people in the International Community, (including some Israelis), are exerting pressure on Israel that is becoming increasingly unbearable for the pariah nation to withstand.

Figures within Israeli society are emerging, such as Joseph Dana and Max Blumenthal, that are helping to bring justice to Palestinians ever the more near.  Huwaida Arraf , with joint USA-Israeli citizenship, is a key figure in Palestine Solidarity.    It is likely, but not confirmed yet, that she may be the spokesperson in Jerusalem when the Audacity of Hope sails Gaza this month.

DIWAN: A Forum for the Arts unites Arab American artists, scholars and performers representing myriad academic fields and artistic genres. It will be held for the first time in New York City at The Graduate Center for The City University of New York (365 Fifth Avenue) March 25-26, 2011.

Download a pdf of the 2011 DIWAN brochure HERE.

Full Schedule:

Friday, March 25, 2011

8:30-9 a.m. Registration

9-9:30 a.m. WELCOME (Recital Hall)

Holly Arida, DIWAN coordinator, Arab American National Museum
Anan Ameri, director, Arab American National Museum
Mehdi Bozorgmehr co-director, MEMEAC

9:30 -11 a.m. REFLECTIONS ON ELEVEN SEPTEMBER (Recital Hall)
As we approach the 10-year anniversary, Arab American visual artists and writers grapple with 9/11 in their work

Moderator Lama Mansour
Eleven Reflections on September Andrea Assaf
Explosives Called Words—Arab American Writers Grapple with Terrorism Andrea Shalal-Esa
Quest to Belong Ayad Alkadhi

9:30 -11 a.m. THE STORIES WE TELL (Room C198)
Arab Americans convey their truth through emerging mediums of installation art, film and the graphic novel

Moderator Devon Akmon
The Hookah Girl and Other True Stories Marguerite Dabaie
New York Chronicles Maymanah Farhat
Stories from Studio Haret el Yahoud: An Egyptian-American Artist Meets her Neighbors Nada Shalaby

11:-11:15 a.m. Break

11:15 a.m.-1 p.m. CHANGING THE DIALOGUE (Recital Hall)
Artists use language to redirect discourse on Arab America

Moderator Mike Mosallam
Changing the National and Global Dialogue through Theatre, with Nancy Vitale and Maha Chehlaoui of Noor Theatre
Becoming American, Prose, Poems and Paintings Ibtisam Barakat
Hip Hop and Identity Maytha Alhassen
And It Don’t Stop – Hip Hop as a Means of Criticism of Global Marginalization in Suheir Hammad’s breaking poems Katharina Motyl

11:15 a.m.-12:45 p.m. EDUCATION AS ART (Room C198)
From public television to high school and university classrooms, artists shape the next generation’s perceptions about Arab Americans

Moderator Dr. Christa Salamandra
Representing Arabs in a Positive Light Though Children’s Entertainment Shabnam Rezaei and Aly Jetha
Written on the Body Randa Jarrar
Arab American High School Juniors Reflect on their Experience of Arab American Art and Literature in their K-12 Education Taher Dahleh, Rami Benayad-Cherif, Deema Dahleh

12:45-2 p.m. Lunch

2-3:30 p.m. ONE-WOMAN SHOW: FEMALE, FREEDOM, AND FADWA (Recital Hall)
Spotlighting successful shows that Arab American women have brought to the stage to tell their stories across the country

Moderator Leila Buck
Everyone Has Tears Cynthia Sophiea with Zafer Tawil
I Heart Hamas and Other Things I’m Afraid to Tell You Jennifer Jajeh
Lend me an ID Nora Armani

2-3:30 p.m. UNCONFERENCE SESSION (Room C198)
Our audience chooses topics around Arab American art for an open dialogue

Moderator Devon Akmon

3:30-5 p.m. WE ARE THE EARTH: HOME, HOMELESSNESS AND TERRAIN, A READING (Recital Hall)
Some of our finest poets contemplate frequent themes that frame the Arab American experience

Moderator Khaled Mattawa
Elmaz Abinader
Deema K. Shehabi
Hayan Charara

Saturday, March 26, 2011

9:30 a.m.-10 a.m. REGISTRATION & WELCOME (Recital Hall)

Anan Ameri, director, Arab American National Museum

10-11:30 a.m. CONVERGING ON ARAB AMERICAN MUSIC (Recital Hall)
How music gives voice to modern and classical Middle Eastern culture

Moderator Taoufik Ben Amor
An Arab American Voice in Film Music Kareem Roustom
On the Convergence Liberation of Maqam, Flamenco, and Jazz Systems Hafez Modrizadeh
The Iraqi Maqam: Musical Structure and Cultural Synthesis Amir ElSaffar

11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Lunch

1-2 p.m. PERFORMANCE BY THE PHILADELPHIA ARAB MUSIC ENSEMBLE (Recital Hall)
Led by Music Director Hanna Khoury, featuring Percussion Director Hafez El Ali Kotain and formed by Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture, this community ensemble of singers and instrumentalists performs a selection of music from Lebanon and Egypt by composers such as Marcel Khalife, Muhammad Abdel Wahab and Sayyed Darwish.

2-3:30 p.m. ART AS INTERVENTION (Recital Hall)
Artists intervene in the reality of war and conflict through multimedia arts, sculpture and film

Moderator Holly Arida
Mapping: Un/Real Cityscapes The Beyrouth: Baghdad Project Youmna Chlala and Dena Al-Adeeb
Responding to the War on Gaza: From Emotion to Metaphor, from Sentiment to Symbol Reem Gibriel
Wounds of the Heart: An Artist and her Nation John Halaka

3:30-4:30 p.m. 2011 DIWAN KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY PROF. JOSEPH MASSAD (Recital Hall)
Introduction by Ahmed Issawi, ALWAN for the Arts

Joseph Massad is associate professor of modern Arab politics and intellectual history at Columbia University. He is author of Desiring Arabs (2007), which was awarded the Lionel Trilling Book Award; The Persistence of the Palestinian Question: Essays on Zionism and the Palestinian Question (2006), and Colonial Effects: The Making of National Identity in Jordan (2001). Professor Massad is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Palestine Studies, and is the book review editor for the journal. He is the author of tens of academic articles and is also columnist for the Egyptian Al-Ahram Weekly and for the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar.

7-11 p.m. 2011 DIWAN AFTER-PARTY

KINAN AZMEH’S CITY BAND
and
AlSarah & The Nubatones
plus
DJ Seif Al-Din

(DROM, 85 Ave. A between 5th & 6th Sts.)
Presented by FEN Magazine

Click HERE to learn more about the performers and to buy advance tickets, $10, online.

Celebrate DIWAN’s New York debut at this festive affair featuring the worldly jazz of Kinan Azmeh’s City Band and the soulful sounds of Alsarah & The Nubatones, with DJ Seif Al-Din spinning in between sets. Experience a never-before-heard collaboration between some of Arab America’s finest artists.

Tickets are $10 in advance; $15 at the door the night of the event.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Noon-2 p.m. IN THE CROSSING, A new play by Leila Buck
The Living Theatre
21 Clinton Street at East Houston
New York, NY 10009
Subway: F to 2nd Avenue; Bus: M21 to Houston, M9 to Avenue B

Click HERE to buy advance tickets, $18, online.

Welcome to the annual gathering of the International Society for Intercultural Dialogue and Education!  Leila, a Lebanese-American writer/performer, and her husband Adam, an artist from a Jewish family, have been invited here by Joan, the president of the board (and Adam’s aunt) to present their experiences in Lebanon during the 2006 Israeli-Hezbollah war.  But as the evening unfolds in unexpectedly humorous and dangerous ways, the biggest conflict this family must face is the one between them. An interactive dialogue about the personal in the political, and how their intersection shapes who we are.

Written and Performed by Leila Buck
With Adam Green, Kathryn Kates, and Maya Serhan
Directed and developed by Shana Gold

By DIANE SHAMMAS
Courtesy of Information Clearing House

On January 8 the Society of Professional Journalists’ Executive Committee voted to retire the Helen Thomas Lifetime Achievement Award. The SPJ’s full board is expected to give their final approval within 10 days. In the meantime, amidst the unrelenting backlash, Helen Thomas has rebounded as a columnist for a North Virginian community paper, Falls Church News Press.

The core criticism against Helen Thomas is not so much her one comment captured on video May 27, 2010, or the subsequent round of comments shared at a diversity workshop in Dearborn on December 2 that both Wayne University and the Society for Professional Journalists assert is their reason for pulling her awards. Rather, it is what all of the comments symbolize –an opposition to Zionism. Please how long do many of us who fight against social injustice, including a growing number of anti-Zionist American and Israeli Jews, have to engage in this tireless defense that we are not against Jews or Israelis, but a racist ideology? A racist ideology that was responsible for the ethnic cleansing of three quarters of the indigenous population of Palestine in 1948 similar in impact to the catastrophe of the dispossession of American Indians and the redistribution of the tribal lands of the Five Civilized Tribes [1887 Dawes Allotment Act].

Hurling accusations of anti-Semitism do not work for people, like me, who have spent time in Gaza and the West Bank, and have experienced first-hand the devastating effects of the siege, occupation, and collective punishment.  I lived for four months in the Gaza Strip, teaching university students and analyzing survey data on post-traumatic youth and adults after what some refer euphemistically to Israel’s 2008-2009 War. In Bethlehem, everywhere I turned there was a sinuous, omnipresent concrete wall that separates Palestinians from their agricultural lands. Flashback images emerge where upon entering the Jewish settlement in Hebron I was greeted with the words, “Gas Arabs signed by JDL” scrawled on a retaining wall. Further on, there is Abraham’s watering hole where Palestinians are forbidden to take a dip. My Palestinian guide and a Palestinian student friend of mine could not enter, but the settlers not knowing I was of Arab American descent allowed me to descend the winding steps to the spring. The visceral racism sparked the recollection of my father’s stories about his experiences in the Jim Crow South when he would travel to the car auctions in Baton Rouge.

In the mid-1950s, Helen Thomas also had been to Israel.  She visited former Palestinian villages and met up with Palestinians driven from their homes in 1948. So, what explains her protracted criticism of Israel in front of Rabbi Nesenoff’s video-camera? Schechter’s interview with Thomas provides some insight that for fifty years “she censored herself as a reporter” but currently in her role as an opinion columnist she perceived that she had a freer rein. One observer opined that Thomas’ comments typify an oppositional response heard among persons of Arab descent .

Although not being in Helen Thomas’ skin, I can only offer a perspective as a fellow Lebanese-Arab American.  More than being oppositional, Thomas’ comments reflect an accumulative anger and ire at an America that has not only vilified Arab Americans in their media and immigration laws for over a century, but also with a U.S. foreign policy that for over 60 years biases Israel and is complicit in perpetuating the oppression against the Palestinians.

The criminal nonchalance of the international community in watching Lebanon go up in flames during the 16-year civil war, and in 2006 hearing Condoleezza Rice’s analogize Israel’s slaughter of 1,200 Lebanese civilians to “the birth pangs of the Middle East”. And, the piece de resistance the U.S. occupation and wholesale destruction of the high civilization of Iraq and the U.S. military’s abuse and torture of the civilian population.

Like other ethnic groups in the U.S., Arab Americans have transnational ties to their countries of origins. When Israel attacks innocent civilians in Gaza and Lebanon with American made and donated F16s, phosphorus and cluster bombs, Arab Americans psychologically absorb the assault and annihilation, because it is more than likely they have close relatives and friends residing in these countries.

With well over a century of emigration to the U.S., Arab Americans have proven themselves as loyal Americans, who like Helen’s parents and my paternal grandparents sought and became U.S. citizens. Shortly after 9/11, Noam Chomsky remarked that being anti-Arab, e.g., making overt racist comments against Arabs is considered legitimate; whereas, being anti-Black or anti-Semitic, is not. This is not to say, that racism does not exist against African Americans or Jewish Americans, just that if racist remarks are expressed openly it is rightly denounced as unacceptable. Lamentably, anti- Arab and anti-Muslim racism is not uniformly condemned in the U.S. or abroad.

For example, where was the public censure of Ann Coulter when she remarked that “press passes can’t be that hard to come by if the White House allows that old Arab Helen Thomas to sit within yards of the President”?

Numbering over three million in the United States, Arab Americans are asking for a fair shake like any other U.S. citizen and a more balanced foreign policy towards Palestine. Ms. Thomas’ outcry embodies a half century of frustration and mental occupation that Arab Americans feel as their voices of historical truth is pilloried, discredited, and dismissed as either delusional or Anti-Semitic. Are not Arab Americans a part of America’s participatory democracy that as an under-represented minority are penalized and ostracized when they speak out against social and political injustice perpetrated against them and their sisters and brothers in the Middle East? Ms. Thomas has apologized for her remarks to the novice interviewer/filmmaker Rabbi Nesenoff. Yet, while defending Helen Thomas’ freedom of speech, the Society for Professional Journalists deems her remarks as “inappropriate and offensive”. Why then is it not considered equally reprehensible when  Rabbi Nesenoff, a man of the Book, has not apologized to the Mexican American community after a widely circulated you tube, entitled “The Mexican Weatherman” pictured him delivering a hokey and racist impersonation of a Mexican priest. Nesenoff justified his off color comedy stint under the pretext of getting into the spirit of Purim. /1/ While for some of us he was fanning the flames of anti-immigrant rhetoric that helped to fuel the present climate of hatred behind the recent Arizona shootings.

In light of the enormous contribution that Helen Thomas has made to the field of journalism, the context in which she spoke candidly should be rightfully recognized and her media awards restored back to her name.  Or does our country’s unwavering allegiance to the Zionist ideology irrevocably trump and excoriate any truth-telling of Palestinian suffering?

Diane Shammas holds a Ph.D. in International and Urban Education and Policy, with a specialization in Arab American Studies. She is a lecturer in American Studies and Ethnicity. She can be reached at dshammas@usc.edu

By Sarah Price
Guest Writer
Los Angeles, CA

The January 2011 uprising in Tunisia and removal of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali opened the door to citizen self-empowerment across the Middle East.  But before the eruptions of the current revolts in Libya, Iraq, Bahrain, Iran and Yemen, Egypt led the way with its example of peaceful protests winning over violent government reactions.

Protests in support of the Egyptian people spread quickly across the world, largely being organized the same way: not by organized religious or idealogical groups, but by individuals, drawing people of all backgrounds together for a united cause, utilizing the fastest and most widespread forms of global communication: Facebook and Twitter.

Organizers of the February 5 protest at the Federal Building on Wilshire Blvd, Mohamed Kolkela, Amr Elshennawy, and Tamer Abdelrahim live in Los Angeles, but are all native Egyptians, and unaffiliated with any group, used the same methods to bring several hundred people together to voice their support.

Kolkela is from Mahalla El Kobra and has been in the United States for nine years.

“We can’t guarantee the result,” he said. “The people’s movement is the important part.  They know they will lose their lives.  They have no problem with that.  If [Mubarak] stays, it will be chaos.  When you kill the hope, you can’t get it back.”

Supporter Mazen Al Moukdad is from Syria, and has lived in the US for 32 years, and knew that the toppling of Mubarak was imminent and unavoidable.

“It’s a matter of time,” he said. “The revolution is going peacefully. The people organizing the protest have no desire for bloodshed. They speak for 85 million Egyptians. They will do whatever it takes. This corruption has been happening for 30 years.  My prediction is he will be out by next Friday (February 11 – the day Mubarak did step down).  I had a good feeling this was coming.  It was a matter of time.”

He added that family and friends in Syria had suggested that there were similar stirrings happening there, and that there were issues beyond the obvious oppression in Egypt that needed to be addressed.

“There are more Egyptian doctors in the US than in Egypt,” he said. “It’s draining the resources, when you create intellectuals and they leave the country.  But they had no option but to leave.  [Mubarak] doesn’t care.  That’s the problem.”

Addressing the crowd, Sarah Knopp, an American supporter from the International Socialist Organization, said, “We have a responsibility to get the boot of our government off the necks of the oppressed people around the world.  We don’t just want [Mubarak] to go, we want him to give the money back to the Egyptian people, that he stole from them.”

Within hours of his resignation, the Swiss government moved to freeze any funds and assets in their banks that may belong to him or his family.

“Thank you to the Egyptian people,” Knopp said, “for setting the example of peace to the rest of the world.”

Unfortunately, the peaceful protests in Bahrain and Libya, in particular, have been met with extreme violence from police and military units.  Libya’s Col. Moammar Gadhafi, proclaiming that he is not going anywhere, has asserted his authority by claiming he would crush those opposing him, and has followed through on his threat by using warplanes and helicopters to fire on his own people.  Soldiers who have refused to kill the protesters have been killed themselves.

In Bahrain, authorities unleashed a brutal attack on sleeping protesters in Manama’s Pearl Square, using live rounds and tear-gas canisters, killing two and injuring more than four dozen, including children.

In Sana’a, Yemen, protesters demanding the immediate resignation of President Ali Abdullah Saleh have been energized by the attacks on them, making them more resolute to remove Saleh, who has been in power for 32 years, and had previously announced that he would not run again when his term ended in 2013.  On February 23, seven members of parliament resigned in protest of the government’s violence against the demonstrators.

Currently in Iraq, protesters are taking to the streets in cities across the country to protest the lack of leadership and action, and continued corruption in the government.  They want this parliament thrown out and an actual democratic election to follow – one with leaders they can hold accountable, and whom they can believe have their best interests at heart.  Several large protests are planned, despite numerous deaths and injuries at previous protests.

In Iran, despite government-voiced support for the Egyptian and Tunisian uprisings, days after Mubarak’s ousting, protesters in Tehran’s Enghelab (Revolution) Square were fired upon by police, and motorcycle police were reported to be chasing protesters through the streets.  Later, the announcement of further protests caused the government to shut down phone service.  President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had even taken credit for the peaceful protests in Egypt, claiming the Egyptians were taking their inspiration from the 2009 demonstrations in Tehran.  Demonstrators at that time were protesting what they believed was a corrupted election, leaving him in power.  The activists were met with violence during the demonstrations and even imprisonment and torture after they had left, as police would go into their homes to arrest them.

This year’s widespread protests have been compared to the Eastern European revolutions of 1989/90, but it remains to be seen where these uprisings will lead.  Despite the seeming victories of the activism in Tunisia and Egypt, and the resoluteness of the protesters across the Middle East, there is an aftermath that has to be dealt with – holding elections whose outcomes citizens feel they can trust; building an economy based on a new form of government; and electing a government that can help a country hold its own in a changing national landscape and foreign policy.  But for those who are putting themselves in the way of danger or even death to make a change, these new problems are far more desirable than one more day with the old ones.