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  • johnpi 8:11 am on November 12, 2009 Permalink
    Tags: , , , , , , , Arabic culture,   

    The source of all problems in the Arab world: Regimes or people?

    Bloggers who cover the Arab world – both Arabs and non-Arabs – are talking about UK reporter Brian Whittaker’s new book, “What’s Really Wrong With the Middle East.” The provocative thesis of his book, writes The Arabist blogger, “is that there is too much focus on how bad the Arab regimes are not enough of Arab societies’ problems: patriarchy, intolerance, misogyny, etc.”

    Whittaker writes about his book:

    My purpose in writing the book was to present an alternative view of the “Arab problem”. One that would challenge the neocons’ preoccupation with “regime change” and their tendency to equate freedom with free elections (but little else). And one that would also challenge the popular Arab notion that all the region’s problems are the fault of foreign powers.

    It is on this latter point that the book steps into what, for many Arabs, is very sensitive territory. Blame foreigners, even the regimes if you like, but the people are – and must remain – blameless.

    Rob (formerly of The Arab Shack, now with a new blog) says it boils down to society’s relation to the individual:

    …in societies where there is overwhelming pressure to conform and stay inside the box, the individual’s creative capabilities are wasted. When you take away the creative dimension, you get stagnation.

    The Angry Arab (As’ad AbuKhalil) accuses him of racism. Whittaker responds,:

    There is nothing racist or illegitimate about pointing to the flaws in a society and discussing how they might be addressed, as I do in the book. That is very different from presenting them as an immutable part of the national character, hard-wired into people’s genes.

     
    • null 8:30 am on November 12, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      Is Manji writing the foreword?

      • johnpi 8:43 am on November 12, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

        lol.

        I should add my own response to this: I haven’t read the book. I’m sympathetic to the direction he’s pointing because I’ve always conceived of social and religious progressivism encouraging a sense of personal responsibility and inspiring direct action.

        However, I’m leery of anybody who claims they have a ‘unified field’ theory of why something as complex as society is the way it is, and the ‘magic bullet’ solutions cum disasters that seem to always result from them.

        • johnpi 8:51 am on November 12, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

          In the context of the other ‘unified field’ theories that are out there – ‘it’s all about the foreign interference,’ ‘it’s all about the regimes,’ this is an attempt at balancing the conversation to make it more ‘reality based,’ I gather. Taking it by itself though outside that conversation would be a distortion.

          But again, I haven’t read the book so I don’t know if it’s even successful at doing what it sets out to do.

          • null 9:19 am on November 12, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

            Agree with all of that.

            I can’t comment as I haven’t read the book, but the title itself is so provocative that it instantly makes me skeptical of the contents. If I weren’t familiar with Brian Whittaker, I would simply think it were another piece of neo-con, imperialist, paternalistic propaganda talking about the inherent backwardness of “tribal desert people”

          • shams 11:30 am on November 12, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

            The UFT of culture and society is evolutionary biology and Social Brain Hypothesis.

            • shams 11:32 am on November 12, 2009 Permalink

              and cognitive anthropology i guess.

    • plimfix 9:02 am on November 12, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      So when is Brian gonna write the sequel (or perhaps prequel), “What’s Really Wrong With England.” Covering cultural enfeeblement in the form of unsustainable consumerism (i.e. avarice and greed) and an oprobrious media (from the Express to ‘Closer’), the sexualisation of culture, growing divisions of wealth along with class hatred, intellectual torpor (e.g. growing support for climate change denial and creationism), and political apathy. That’s just for starters.

      • null 9:25 am on November 12, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

        Hopefully there are some Arab authors willing to take up the challenge. I’m sure they will be taken very seriously if they do.

        • johnpi 9:37 am on November 12, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

          There certainly are. Religious and intellectual movements throughout the Arab world have developed extensive damning critiques of ‘the West.’ Given that these movements and their theories drive a lot of action in the world, they are influential and not ignored.

          • null 9:49 am on November 12, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

            Sure, I think my emphasis would be more on my second sentence than the first. An Arab writing about all the ills of the Western world isn’t cause for westerners to huddle around and lap up those worlds. Oh, please enlightened foreigner, tell us where we have gone wrong! People roll their eyes, and move on. Another Arab talking about the hedonism of the west. Yawn.

            It would only be taken seriously, as you say, in their own societies, where people are already sympathetic to these views. When Imran Hussein talks about the evils of riba, the only people listening are Muslims.

            I guess that’s what I found irksome about Whittaker’s book project. It seems like more fodder for people who think these distant lands are a puzzle – their problems to solve. If only they could find the missing piece.

            (These are only primary, gut reactions. Maybe this book is a sincere attempt to communicate important points, out of which much good comes. God knows.)

            • johnpi 10:00 am on November 12, 2009 Permalink

              “Not ignored” is not the same thing as “respected” or “well-considered.” I think for some though, there is an exchange of ideas.

              We’re talking about change arising from ideas developed within and without societies, but there’s a third direction that drives social change: out-of-the-blue Acts of God.

              I would say the arrival of AIDS had far more to do with the conservative reorientation on sexual behavior in both the Western and Arab worlds than conservative critiques in either.

  • buzz 9:03 am on November 2, 2009 Permalink
    Tags: Arabic culture, , , , , , , ,   

    ishr-burka-1CAIRO (Reuters) – Rokaya Mohamed, an elementary school teacher, would rather die than take off her face veil, or niqab, thrusting her to the forefront of a battle by government-backed clerics to limit Islamism in Egypt.

    Egypt’s state-run religious establishment wants teachers like Mohamed to remove their veils in front of female students, sparking a backlash by Islamists who say women should be able to choose to cover their faces in line with their Islamic faith.

    “I have put on the niqab because it is a Sunna (a tradition of the Muslim prophet Muhammad). It is something that brings me closer to religion and closer to the wives of the Prophet who used to wear it,” she said.

    “I know what makes God and his prophet love me, and no sheikh is going to convince me otherwise. I would rather die than take it off, even inside class,” she added.

    Egypt, the birthplace of al Qaeda’s second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri, fought a low-level Islamist insurgency in the 1990s, has faced sporadic militant attacks targeting tourists since then, and is keen to quell Islamist opposition ahead of parliamentary elections next year and a 2011 presidential vote.

    The spread of the niqab, associated with the strictest interpretations of Islam, is a potent reminder to the government of the political threat posed by any Islamist resurgence emanating from the Gulf, where many young Egyptians go to work.

    (More …)

     
    • johnpi 9:46 am on November 2, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      Buzz – I’m distracted by an image i’ve sen so many times on Muslim-bashing/fear-mongering websites. I’m not saying my response is “right” or even rational, but if your object is to engage readers rather than deflect them, it’s worth considering…

      • Buzz 2:00 pm on November 2, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

        John, I don’t know how to spin this one so you get the warm & fuzzy. People who don’t like the message won’t read it. Hijab is very controversial and tolerance for any kind of rational discussion is generally low. I think the image matches the story and only one perspective sees it as muslim bashing. The real damage to Islam may be coming from the people who feel offended by such images.

        Images get picked up and used by all kind of orgs. The source is ISHR.org. They are a legitimate human rights org which is not anti-Muslim.

        • johnpi 2:35 pm on November 2, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

          Fair comments all. Trolls are always going to around to latch onto material, and I’ve resolved myself not to be dishonest and silent to avoid them because lack of discussion/communication is as bad or worse than anything the trolls can do with it…

          I spent alot of time just sitting on my ideas and concerns with no interaction with other Muslims about them before I started blogging, and it was not helpful to me being a better Muslim to bottle it up.

  • johnpi 5:38 am on April 29, 2009 Permalink
    Tags: Arabic culture, , , , , , , , , ,   

    Arab investors to build ‘Arab cities’ in Malaysia.

    Malacca chief minister Mohamad Ali Rustam reportedly said the project, due for completion by 2012, will attract more Middle Eastern tourists and give locals a chance to experience Arabic culture.

    Arab tourists spend on average 10 times more than other tourists, according to recent reports on Malaysian tourism that showed an increasing number of Muslim Middle Eastern tourists are seeking “halal tourism” in Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei while avoiding the U.S. and Europe because of post Sept. 11, 2001 stereotyping and racial profiling.

     
    • Sabir 1:54 pm on April 29, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      I thought that the whole point of tourism is to explore other cultures, not re-create your own culture in a foreign locale.

    • Alphonso 7:50 pm on April 29, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      can get cheaper arab goods now huh? (kopiah, carpets, perfumes) oh wait, most goods in arab are made in indonesia…

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