Category: Palestine

Inexplicable Discrimination

مرحبا (Hallo),

The word for today’s class is “inexplicable.” Let’s get some قهوة عربية (arabischen Kaffee) and try to understand why news stories should be read with discrimination and not with discrimination.

Hey man, look at this crazy crap. There’s a cow on the news right now and it’s walking down the expressway. Is that like something you’ve ever seen ever? It’s like a North Korean spotted anywhere outside North Korea: an escapee from an authentically horrible place. A possible location of said cow using Google Maps: buildings densely populated by bovines. You are responsible for finding two (2) similarly inexplicable matters.

Doctors make house calls in Cuba, infant mortality is low, education is free, something about literacy rates and a cartoon character. What do my fellow Americans know about Cuba, its culture, its history?

Time for a Google search, exact phrase: “most moral army in the world”. Find a sentence that incorporates all six (6) words. For example, here is one such result from Haaretz (March 3, 2014): “The most moral army in the world fired an anti-tank missile at the house in which a wanted young Palestinian was hiding. The most moral army in the world ran a bulldozer over the top of the house and destroyed it.” I subscribe to Haaretz, so this article may not be available to you. Now, to stay on task, consider usage: inexplicable or explicable.

Class assignment: clip stories from your local newspaper about police officer heroes. Compare to episodes of The Wire. Consult this database maintained continuously and meticulously by The Guardian:

People killed by Police in 2015

You may also view the following video from Australian journalists that might pique your interest and provide examples of the “inexplicable.” It’s 53 minutes long. Remember that my quiz questions may come from anywhere in the video. If you are not a member of this class you do not have to view it. It’s here for its value; however images of gross child mistreatment are always disturbing:

Stone Cold Justice

The following link is provided as extra credit or for students majoring in the Israel-Palestine Conflict (1948 to present):

Electronic Intifada

 

 

Menschheit (Humanity)

Today’s topic is humanity and crimes against humanity. As I was putting this together, Jimmy Carter was being interviewed on The Diane Rehm Show. What a Mensch! More tomorrow..

Hamza Namira is an Egyptian singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Namira sings on Arabic modern culture, discussing relevant social and humanitarian issues through his songs.

Egypt radio bans popular singer Hamza Namira for ‘critical’ songs

Here is one of those ‘critical’ songs:

Insan

And now a visit to Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces by Jewish Voice for Peace, first, from July 2014, a video:

JVP Protest at Friends of the IDF

Then a memory from Ferguson, MO. In the likely event of a possible misreading, the Nixon referred to below is Governor Jay Nixon. My excerpt is from the August 24, 2014 issue of the online article in BeMagazine.org original article on Ferguson is in Mother Jones.

Stay Human
Humane T-shirt

JEWISH VOICE FOR PEACE: ON MONDAY, HEDY EPSTEIN, A 90-YEAR-OLD HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR, WAS ARRESTED FOR “FAILURE TO DISPERSE” WHILE PROTESTING NIXON’S DECISION TO BRING THE MISSOURI NATIONAL GUARD TO FERGUSON. SHE’S A MEMBER OF JEWISH VOICE FOR PEACE, A NATIONAL GROUP THAT ADVOCATES FOR EQUALITY FOR PALESTINIANS AND ISRAELIS. “I AM DEEPLY, DEEPLY TROUBLED BY WHAT IS GOING ON IN FERGUSON,” EPSTEIN TOLD NEWSWEEK AFTER HER RELEASE. “IT’S A MATTER OF INJUSTICE, AND IT’S NOT ONLY IN FERGUSON…THE POWER STRUCTURE LOOKS AT ANYONE WHO’S DIFFERENT AS THE OTHER, AS LESS WORTHY, AND SO YOU TREAT THE OTHER AS SOMEONE WHO IS LESS HUMAN AND WHO NEEDS TO BE CONTROLLED AND WHO IS NOT TRUSTED.”

Honoring the Names of the Dead in Gaza

#GazaNames

 

 

النكبة al-Nakba The Catastrophe

Israelis celebrate Independence Day with abandon on the 14th of each May. Remembering Nakba occurs the following day, but be aware: it is not permitted to mourn in Israel on Nakba Day, so it is forbidden to grieve ancestral family roots past, present and future. Many Palestinians lived on the Mediterranean coast. Certainly this would be my choice too, since the climate is that of Southern California. Californians also seem to prefer the coast, some prefer Sacramento. 700,000 Palestinians exiled in 1948. They left homes and lives rooted in many generations, many family trees. There is yet no legal option in Israeli law to a right to return. In the following video you’ll see a skeleton key on a sign: it signifies all the house-keys carried into the West Bank, Gaza or wherever a diaspora may take you.

Caution: This Video Contains Strong Language:

Mourning is Prohibited