so for halloween one year in college, a group of friends and i were a creative set of alterna-spicegirls. i think the only 'spice' we had in common with the real group was 'sporty.' we had a 'sassy' and maybe a 'psycho'.... i was scandalous spice.... :-) in any event, scandalous spice struck again here in doha the weekend before last....
i set out last thursday as myself for a charity gala dinner supporting the qatar cancer society's work on beast cancer. it was a mellow enough gala involving much glittering pink ribbons and a rather strange fashion show & terrible food, but decent music. after the gala, i somehow became scandalous spice and found myself, along with a few other comrades in crime, in the private majlis of sheikh abdulrahman. abdulrahman is the "raaiss emiri diwan" literally the "president of the emiri diwan", and the emiri diwan is basically the government - it's the emir's office, so kind of a white house / congress / parliament / where it's at all in one. he's kind of a chief of staff, but is also a member of the royal family & is basically as close as you can come to being emir without being emir. (well, there is of course the heir apparent, but that's all premised on future power, less so current) ... so what is a majlis & why is this scandalous? a majlis - literally a 'place for sitting' or 'sitting' - is a space for men to go & sit & smoke & hang out & drink tea & just chill with their boys & their brothers all night long... it is a huge part of the culture here. men leave their homes in the evening to go hang out at the majlis, usually until the wee hours of the morning, especially on the weekend. the more traditional majlis has cushions on the floor & shisha pipes. the more contemporary majlis, such as abdulrahman's, is similar to a sitting room & has cuban cigars. the majlis is a place for men. women do not go to the majlis. so the fact that i ended up in one with three other women (we were brought by another member of the royal family who hosted the gala dinner) was very exciting... it was like going to this whole other underground world which is so much a part of society here, but which i have no access to.... apparently the sheikh had had women in his majlis on two prior occasions, so we were not the first, but it was still rare... this was especially apparent as various princes, cousins and brothers and other royals strolled in throughout the night. i was positioned facing the door and the looks on their faces as they approached and saw us was absolutely priceless! sheikh abdulrahman was quite charming and the baklava and tea and the experience more than made up for the ho-hum gala.... i still can't quite believe that it happened. anyone i've told here gives me a wide-eyed stare. and apparently our visit was all the court gossip for the next few days..... very scandalous doha-style!
two days after our scandalous midnight soiree at the maljis - which by the way is named "V5" for some reason i never quite understood except that it felt very james bond - i got to rub shoulders with more royals early saturday morning.... this time the doha debates was having a special program, a forum for students to ask questions of sheikha mozah - the emir's favourite and public wife who has done tremendous work for this country, especially in education. the event was unique because it was an open forum, the sheikha did not know the questions in advance (and there were challenging questions), and it was a fantasitc opportunity for the students to see and speak to the woman who has made so much of the educations they are receiving possible. she is truly a remarkable woman. she made some interesting points about islam and modernization, expressing her concern that too much emphasis was being placed on the external or the superficial - how much hair a woman revealed under the shayla, whether abayas were too form-fitting when islam and islamic values are truly embodied in the soul, not the external. islam, she said, is not about what you wear, but is felt within.... in response to a question about what she would say to a woman who objects to the fact that she has appeared in western countries without an abaya and without a hijab, she said she would respect her view, but then ask that woman to respect her decision. it was a powerful and important point, and one that few others could make so well.
the conversations at that debate, as in conversations in any of the informal debates i find myself in here, all tend to circle around the contradictions of this tiny country at this point time. inevitable when you're leaving in a crossroads of a city that truly is worlds in collision, but so very visible here sometimes... i think it is those contradictions that i will miss most. little moments when your view of the world cracks just a bit, revealing another layer or texture or colour or universe existing simultaneously.... we all skate around on our own thin worldviews to some extent, no matter how well read, well travelled, or open we may think we are.... so those moments of cracking, although destabilizing, and often very subtle, are very profound. i'll miss those moments. seeing a man kneeling between fancy cars and praying in the parking lot of the ritz at dusk.... seeing a incredulous and horrified look of shock and realization on the face of my partner in a conversation about 'islam and the west' when i am asked, "wait, wait, you mean you don't marry your cousins, but yet you drink alcohol?!?!?" and so many more....
the other moments i will miss most are moments of doing nothing. it's something else i've come to appreciate about this place, and the culture here. time goes slowly, people walk slowly, and there is a certain value on just being together doing nothing. not unlike sitting at the majlis, really. at first i really found this difficult. (and i'm still not really terribly good at it; there's only so much nothing i can do....) it was so different to the hustle and bustle of the life i have been accustomed to, and even to how we interact. we meet for social activities with a clear purpose, a meal or a drink or a coffee or a movie, and once that purpose has been achieved, we move on. among friends here, people will meet and then just hang out for hours, watching the same movie they watched together yesterday, or playing around with instruments they don't really know how to play, reading magazines, smoking shisha, or just sitting..... with no purpose. no goal. no time frame. nothing to be achieved except being together.... another foreign friend here remarked it was kind of like being a kid, when you just hung around and did nothing.... and maybe it is. but it's a curiously nice thing. becuase it is sometimes only after four hours of hanging around doing nothing that something truly marvelous or hilarious or meaningful happens. maybe because there is a kind of intimacy in doing nothing that can't be rushed through a coffee date or hushed through a movie.... i don't know. but i realized as i left doing nothing at a friend's house this saturday, that i would miss that too. i would miss going slowly and just letting life unfold....
i have three more days to let unfold in this strange little world. the sands are getting hotter by the day and soon it will be too uncomfortable to be outside for long... i always knew when the weather changed it would be my cue to leave. so i will exit stage left this thursday, and the curtains will close on all my strutting and fretting about this place. and you will be spared further missives about my quests for adventure and meaning.... :-) thanks for coming along for the ride. i'm looking forward to seeing many of you soon. in the meanwhile, doubt everything and find your own light.
Friday, May 8, 2009
adventurous days
so it has been some time and i feel as though there are so many stories and thoughts and plots i could unravel at the moment that i'm not sure where to begin or which to choose.... i wish i could write this as a 'choose your own adventure' novel so you could all pick what you want to hear about - "democracy" in the middle east, a hilarious car trip where my friend and i shared the bitch seat squashed between moroccan men for a few hours between marrakesh & essaouria, watching 'good morning, vietnam' on a recent plane ride and being overwhelmed by history repeating itself and the world and (un)common humanity and (only connect!) connection or lack thereof, moments of sheer joy feeling 18-without-the-baggage-of-being-18 reconnecting with my beijing classmates after 10 years, the absolute hilarity of returning to class and walking into the middle of a tribal warfare of sorts among the african students during oral presentations when i have one of the moments where i just look around in disbelief that this is my life and wonder if anyone is watching, or the calm, quiet perspective of a lazy doha day watching the oil tankers drift by, the US military planes drone overhead, receiving dirty looks from a qatari man in another car, but making a moroccan man at the beach smile by speaking his language and having good things to say about his country, lazing about with a lebanese friend and his visiting mother who, like mothers the world over, expresses her approval through homemade sweets.... even if it doesn't lend itself well to emails, the 'choose your own adventure' form is pretty ubiquitous sans computer, and i find it hard to believe that the adventure i have chosen in qatar is nearly over.... i will leave doha in 15 days. yowsa. [not that i'm counting.... ;-) ]
anyway, i am alone in our new office, which is as good a time as any to choose some adventures for you unwitting recipients.... today is our first day in the new digs, so it has all the unfamiliarity and uncomfortable, antiseptic scent of an unlived-in, unloved, just-built bland building. i don't even have my own office space, so i suppose it's time for me to move on.... i think more than anything else, my boss will miss our discussions. over the last few months, or maybe all along now that i think about it, we have the habit of having long-lasting, intense debates that tend to span hours, days, weeks. they usually begin (and resume) when we are meeting to go over some work-related matter. once business is taken care of, he'll say something along the lines of, "now about that discussion on palestine we were having the other day"..... and begin. though he may as well just say, "i'm in the mood to fight about israel again" because really it's always the same discussion circling hawk-like about the impossible israeli-palestinian quicksand question.... occasionally there will be a sharp, darting insight which momentarily grounds us, but usually the discussion just lazily circles as we both stare intently at the problem. as a palestinian-jordanian, alaa is committed to the palestinians receiving all the land and israel being eradicated as the only solution. i, meanwhile, continue to try to split the proverbial baby.... anyway, on this and other subjects, we have had some interesting talks. i think he will miss that. i probably will too.... it's always interesting what comes out in our conversations. in one on "democracy" in the arab world - or rather the lack thereof - he focused on how undemocratic jordan is. jordan, he explained, is embraced by the west as a paragon of virtue / democracy in the arab world because its king was european-educated (and speaks arabic as a second language, with an accent) and its queen is beautiful. they work well with westerners, they look the part, act the part, are glamorous, and are not bad people.... so no one in the western world bats an eye when the king reverts ownership of all public land in jordan to himself, rather than the state. besides, alaa pointed out, is the king's holding all the country's land in his own name really relevant when he essentially is the country? sure, there's a parliament in jordan. but it serves the lofty function of approving the king's government. the one time that the parliament did not approve the king's choices, the parliament was disbanded and many who opposed to him were thrown in prison.... some parliament. this actually came up in the course of something we were working on for a client. sometimes it just astonishes me how much money the locals are making, how truly outlandishly wealthy this region is.... it was a deal we were working on where a local "sponsor" - who does nothing except be qatari - was earning millions for doing nothing... this lead to a general discussion about the economics of the gulf. funny to think about how the use of all of this wealth is at the whim of a few extremely powerful and wealthy individuals.... for example, there is no "budget" for a city like dubai (also hailed by "the west" as an oasis of modernity in these backwards sands), or a country like qatar.... where money goes and how it is utilized is all entirely within the discretion of the emir.... so strange to realize. but even stranger and harder to realize that the people who support these unregulated economies, the imported south asian labourers, are essentially slaves. it breaks my heart. still, after nine months. that still breaks my heart.....
but enough on heartbreak, for there has been much that has been heartening of late. my trip to morocco was excellent - what a fascinating country! so many colours and noises and sounds, and such a landscape, and such people.... all a sort of beautiful chaos.....
a very different sort of beautiful chaos than that i found in berlin, when the international school of beijing class of 1996 reunited for a weekend of seeing how we've grown up, re-discovering how much we enjoy one another, and relishing in what we've shared and the unique place(s) we come from (in many senses).... we are an interesting bunch, and it was a fantastic weekend....
but life has been quieter here since i've been back... i've still been making it to the local we-all-wish-we-were-in-beirut club scene on fridays, which is much fun, even if i get a little tired of the hips-and-shoulders routine required for arabic dancing (i do so yearn for a hiphop hiatus just every once in awhile). but work is quiet, and classes are classes..... it's starting to get hot again, which is also an indication that my time here is coming to a close....
i realized i was about done with this town today during class. during our istiraha - 15 min break mid-way through class - i wandered over to the cabinets in the corner of the room.... this was new territory for me, for all of us really, because the cabinets are in a corner of the classroom off to the side and really there would be no reason to go there. but i braved it, and opened the cabinets. there was one vile glass that once contained some sort of coffee-esque substance and now could be a grade four science project, and a whole pile of disheveled papers. i picked up the papers, some of which were rather rumpled and which just seemed to be thrown in there haphazardly, and began leafing through. i was surprised when i came across my name, in my handwriting, and discovered an essay i had written first term. (i got 17.5 out of 20.) laughing, i started looking at the other names, and the other piles of paper on the other shelves.... here was our homework, our exams, our work from last term. some of it was graded, some not. i handed a few out to classmates. poor fariid had written 5 pages on our class trip to the museum (did i ever tell you about that??!!?? what an outing!), only to have it not be graded and thrown in the cabinet.... but what can you do but laugh? i really couldn't stop, especially when dr. abdullah inexplicably went over to the cabinet while we were supposed to be writing sentences using this rhetorical device he was teaching us (we were in "rhetoric" class, don't ask)..... anyway, made me feel a bit better about not doing my homework, and also made me realize i had about had it with this program.... when you've discovered the skeletons in the closet, even if they are just your homework, you're about done with a place.....
and so i am about done with doha. 15 days more and i'll be back in the land of the free and the home of the brave. people keep asking me how i feel about leaving, if i am sad, or excited, or ready, or something? but i'm not sure any of those really make much sense as adjectives. i am just leaving. i have always known the day would come when my time would be up, and it is nearly here.... for now, i am trying to make the most of what time i have left, though i am looking forward to seeing many of you soon. as for the here and now, i hope this finds you laughing!
no day but today,
mattie
ps - a correction: the explorer ibn battuta was moroccan, i incorrectly said he was egyptian in my previous email. haram!
anyway, i am alone in our new office, which is as good a time as any to choose some adventures for you unwitting recipients.... today is our first day in the new digs, so it has all the unfamiliarity and uncomfortable, antiseptic scent of an unlived-in, unloved, just-built bland building. i don't even have my own office space, so i suppose it's time for me to move on.... i think more than anything else, my boss will miss our discussions. over the last few months, or maybe all along now that i think about it, we have the habit of having long-lasting, intense debates that tend to span hours, days, weeks. they usually begin (and resume) when we are meeting to go over some work-related matter. once business is taken care of, he'll say something along the lines of, "now about that discussion on palestine we were having the other day"..... and begin. though he may as well just say, "i'm in the mood to fight about israel again" because really it's always the same discussion circling hawk-like about the impossible israeli-palestinian quicksand question.... occasionally there will be a sharp, darting insight which momentarily grounds us, but usually the discussion just lazily circles as we both stare intently at the problem. as a palestinian-jordanian, alaa is committed to the palestinians receiving all the land and israel being eradicated as the only solution. i, meanwhile, continue to try to split the proverbial baby.... anyway, on this and other subjects, we have had some interesting talks. i think he will miss that. i probably will too.... it's always interesting what comes out in our conversations. in one on "democracy" in the arab world - or rather the lack thereof - he focused on how undemocratic jordan is. jordan, he explained, is embraced by the west as a paragon of virtue / democracy in the arab world because its king was european-educated (and speaks arabic as a second language, with an accent) and its queen is beautiful. they work well with westerners, they look the part, act the part, are glamorous, and are not bad people.... so no one in the western world bats an eye when the king reverts ownership of all public land in jordan to himself, rather than the state. besides, alaa pointed out, is the king's holding all the country's land in his own name really relevant when he essentially is the country? sure, there's a parliament in jordan. but it serves the lofty function of approving the king's government. the one time that the parliament did not approve the king's choices, the parliament was disbanded and many who opposed to him were thrown in prison.... some parliament. this actually came up in the course of something we were working on for a client. sometimes it just astonishes me how much money the locals are making, how truly outlandishly wealthy this region is.... it was a deal we were working on where a local "sponsor" - who does nothing except be qatari - was earning millions for doing nothing... this lead to a general discussion about the economics of the gulf. funny to think about how the use of all of this wealth is at the whim of a few extremely powerful and wealthy individuals.... for example, there is no "budget" for a city like dubai (also hailed by "the west" as an oasis of modernity in these backwards sands), or a country like qatar.... where money goes and how it is utilized is all entirely within the discretion of the emir.... so strange to realize. but even stranger and harder to realize that the people who support these unregulated economies, the imported south asian labourers, are essentially slaves. it breaks my heart. still, after nine months. that still breaks my heart.....
but enough on heartbreak, for there has been much that has been heartening of late. my trip to morocco was excellent - what a fascinating country! so many colours and noises and sounds, and such a landscape, and such people.... all a sort of beautiful chaos.....
a very different sort of beautiful chaos than that i found in berlin, when the international school of beijing class of 1996 reunited for a weekend of seeing how we've grown up, re-discovering how much we enjoy one another, and relishing in what we've shared and the unique place(s) we come from (in many senses).... we are an interesting bunch, and it was a fantastic weekend....
but life has been quieter here since i've been back... i've still been making it to the local we-all-wish-we-were-in-beirut club scene on fridays, which is much fun, even if i get a little tired of the hips-and-shoulders routine required for arabic dancing (i do so yearn for a hiphop hiatus just every once in awhile). but work is quiet, and classes are classes..... it's starting to get hot again, which is also an indication that my time here is coming to a close....
i realized i was about done with this town today during class. during our istiraha - 15 min break mid-way through class - i wandered over to the cabinets in the corner of the room.... this was new territory for me, for all of us really, because the cabinets are in a corner of the classroom off to the side and really there would be no reason to go there. but i braved it, and opened the cabinets. there was one vile glass that once contained some sort of coffee-esque substance and now could be a grade four science project, and a whole pile of disheveled papers. i picked up the papers, some of which were rather rumpled and which just seemed to be thrown in there haphazardly, and began leafing through. i was surprised when i came across my name, in my handwriting, and discovered an essay i had written first term. (i got 17.5 out of 20.) laughing, i started looking at the other names, and the other piles of paper on the other shelves.... here was our homework, our exams, our work from last term. some of it was graded, some not. i handed a few out to classmates. poor fariid had written 5 pages on our class trip to the museum (did i ever tell you about that??!!?? what an outing!), only to have it not be graded and thrown in the cabinet.... but what can you do but laugh? i really couldn't stop, especially when dr. abdullah inexplicably went over to the cabinet while we were supposed to be writing sentences using this rhetorical device he was teaching us (we were in "rhetoric" class, don't ask)..... anyway, made me feel a bit better about not doing my homework, and also made me realize i had about had it with this program.... when you've discovered the skeletons in the closet, even if they are just your homework, you're about done with a place.....
and so i am about done with doha. 15 days more and i'll be back in the land of the free and the home of the brave. people keep asking me how i feel about leaving, if i am sad, or excited, or ready, or something? but i'm not sure any of those really make much sense as adjectives. i am just leaving. i have always known the day would come when my time would be up, and it is nearly here.... for now, i am trying to make the most of what time i have left, though i am looking forward to seeing many of you soon. as for the here and now, i hope this finds you laughing!
no day but today,
mattie
ps - a correction: the explorer ibn battuta was moroccan, i incorrectly said he was egyptian in my previous email. haram!
sex, sunshine & videotape
so i am writing in the wee hours of the morning in the dubai airport. which is always a scene. this time passing through i actually visited the city - which is insanity. the 'arabian peninsula' lonely planet suggested the dubai museum, but everyone else i spoke to recommended shopping. i only had one afternoon, so like any good haliji, i hit the malls. the ibn batutta mall was as grand as expected - ibn batutta was an egyptian explorer who travelled all over the world a few centuries ago. today, arabic language students the world over somehow always read texts about his journey. the mall is based on his journey, and as you wander through all usual shops, you meander through egypt, india, tunisia, persia, china - all with vast halls ornately decorated in the style of the country. impressive really. malls are usually just malls. from there i went to the mall of the emirates, so i could swing by ski dubai and watch children penguin around the snow and skiiers go down the same hill repeatedly..... why would you build a ski slope in a mall? why not? dubai, if nothing else, is a city of vast dreams, imagination, and tremendous excess..... i finished my afternoon at burj al-arab, the 7 star hotel on the water which has become a symbol of dubai. it is so eexclusive that 'day guests' are not always welcome to come and gawk at the wonderous fountains and the underwater restaurant has been permanently closed to casual visitors because the camera flashes were scaring the fish. luckily, i was staying at an outrageous hotel myself, so after showing my own rather amazing high-tech key, i was permitted entrance, flaming torches and soaring fountains welcoming me. (aside - my own outrageous hotel is a rather amusing story, the friend i was meant to stay with in dubai was out of town, so i had asked a few friends to help with somewhere to stay.... i thought i was going to be sleeping on someone's cousin's couch & instead had an executive suite at the emirates towers - yowsa!) ... anyway, the burj al-arab was spectacular. i'm not sure i could accurately describe the building - kind of king triton's palace a-la the little mermaid meets old world redgold plush glam meets diamonds are forever bursting but casual luxury. it was a scene. i returned to take advantage of the free food and drink in the executive club lounge rather awed by dubai - especially because it is still growing.... (from my room i could see the islands for "the world" that is being built in the sea) i was too tired to make it out to one of the many nightclubs - it has been quite a week, and did my dancing for the weekend on thursday night in doha.....
it straight up rained during the daytime for a few days in doha last week. (not for long each day, mind, but even a little rain is a noteworthy event.) it has definitely given doha more of a rough edge, or at least it feels that way - a little wind, a little rain, and somehow it all feels a little less like sunshiney paradise and a little more tough.
as for tough, i found myself reading about some new scandalous t.v. show in america about polygamy - 'big love' or something like that..... the article was about the reactions of women who were currently or formerly in polygamous marriages watching the show together. i found it curious to be reading it in this context. a few months ago, i finally sat down with a qatari friend and asked about how it all works in qatar - how women felt about it, what the arrangements were, the reasons, etc. not surprisingly, the intracacies of actual experience are more nuanced and vibrant than any t.v. show or steretype could portray. i hadn't written about this, and subsequent conversations, earlier because i've thought about doing something with these stories. i may very well still do..... in any event, the stories were as varied as the women and men in them. (i could go into the reasons for a man's being permitted to have mulitple wives under islam, but will save that for another time. it's practice, rather than the theory, that i wanted to comment on.) a few stories. i was told of a woman who was married to her husband for 10 years without becoming pregnant, so encouraged him to take a second wife (being childless is one of the main reasons for taking another wife). shortly after the second wife arrived, the first wife conceived. as did the second wife. wife 1 considered wife 2 her good luck charm, they named their children after one another and are best friends. however, i have also heard of women who are bitterly competitive and filled with anger towards each other. because the husband must be able to provide for all of his wives equally, this competition is often manifest in materialistic ways. each wife must get the same fancy watch, same diamonds, etc.... (i found that strange, i kind of thought i would try to distinguish myself so that each wife would be spoiled in different ways - there'd be the diamonds wife, the chocolate and beauty spa treatment wife, the travel wife (that would be me)) .... as for living arrangements, each wife usually has her own wing of the house or her own house and yes, the man is meant to spend equal time with each - including in bed. the american women in the article i read objected to the show's portraying the husband as a viagra-popping poppy. but my qatari friend assured me that it is quite common, even if it would never be admitted.... ahh, love. speaking of love, the friend i mentioned last time who had found a "friend" managed to meet her egyptian for coffee. he brought her a diamond necklace (which she priced later and was pleased about). this proves he likes her, she said, and that he is not a typical egyptian (egyptians are apparently not as generous in the diamonds department)... i was impressed that she got diamonds just for having coffee... she was horrified i have only ever been given diamonds by my grandmother.... ahh, love. ;-)
speaking of love, my award for being the 'nicest' student was rather remarkable. the ceremony itself - for all high achieving students in the women's college - was truly bizarre but pleasant. all the more pleasant when i realized we were all being given gifts and the gift was a digital camera! yowsa. the two top-scoring students got laptops....
time is running out on this particular public laptop & i still have a small scattering of stories to share.... will have to save for later... maybe another rainy day? no, i think i'll be staying sunshiney for now - especially in morocco, where i am headed in about 30 min....
oh & the videotape reference is re: the BBC - if you watch the doha debates this weekend, you will see me, looking intently interested in a debate about iran's security threat to the region (my good friend edits the tape & told me i made the cut).... oohlala!
alright, all for now. am sending warm thoughts, sunshine, and some oppulent dubai love. xx
it straight up rained during the daytime for a few days in doha last week. (not for long each day, mind, but even a little rain is a noteworthy event.) it has definitely given doha more of a rough edge, or at least it feels that way - a little wind, a little rain, and somehow it all feels a little less like sunshiney paradise and a little more tough.
as for tough, i found myself reading about some new scandalous t.v. show in america about polygamy - 'big love' or something like that..... the article was about the reactions of women who were currently or formerly in polygamous marriages watching the show together. i found it curious to be reading it in this context. a few months ago, i finally sat down with a qatari friend and asked about how it all works in qatar - how women felt about it, what the arrangements were, the reasons, etc. not surprisingly, the intracacies of actual experience are more nuanced and vibrant than any t.v. show or steretype could portray. i hadn't written about this, and subsequent conversations, earlier because i've thought about doing something with these stories. i may very well still do..... in any event, the stories were as varied as the women and men in them. (i could go into the reasons for a man's being permitted to have mulitple wives under islam, but will save that for another time. it's practice, rather than the theory, that i wanted to comment on.) a few stories. i was told of a woman who was married to her husband for 10 years without becoming pregnant, so encouraged him to take a second wife (being childless is one of the main reasons for taking another wife). shortly after the second wife arrived, the first wife conceived. as did the second wife. wife 1 considered wife 2 her good luck charm, they named their children after one another and are best friends. however, i have also heard of women who are bitterly competitive and filled with anger towards each other. because the husband must be able to provide for all of his wives equally, this competition is often manifest in materialistic ways. each wife must get the same fancy watch, same diamonds, etc.... (i found that strange, i kind of thought i would try to distinguish myself so that each wife would be spoiled in different ways - there'd be the diamonds wife, the chocolate and beauty spa treatment wife, the travel wife (that would be me)) .... as for living arrangements, each wife usually has her own wing of the house or her own house and yes, the man is meant to spend equal time with each - including in bed. the american women in the article i read objected to the show's portraying the husband as a viagra-popping poppy. but my qatari friend assured me that it is quite common, even if it would never be admitted.... ahh, love. speaking of love, the friend i mentioned last time who had found a "friend" managed to meet her egyptian for coffee. he brought her a diamond necklace (which she priced later and was pleased about). this proves he likes her, she said, and that he is not a typical egyptian (egyptians are apparently not as generous in the diamonds department)... i was impressed that she got diamonds just for having coffee... she was horrified i have only ever been given diamonds by my grandmother.... ahh, love. ;-)
speaking of love, my award for being the 'nicest' student was rather remarkable. the ceremony itself - for all high achieving students in the women's college - was truly bizarre but pleasant. all the more pleasant when i realized we were all being given gifts and the gift was a digital camera! yowsa. the two top-scoring students got laptops....
time is running out on this particular public laptop & i still have a small scattering of stories to share.... will have to save for later... maybe another rainy day? no, i think i'll be staying sunshiney for now - especially in morocco, where i am headed in about 30 min....
oh & the videotape reference is re: the BBC - if you watch the doha debates this weekend, you will see me, looking intently interested in a debate about iran's security threat to the region (my good friend edits the tape & told me i made the cut).... oohlala!
alright, all for now. am sending warm thoughts, sunshine, and some oppulent dubai love. xx
glimpses
sometimes i feel as though my stories and thoughts gather slowly, drifting about aimlessly in my mind or more like in the air around me until i take the time to sit down and reach up to pull them down, collect them, and try to weave some something sensible out of them.... or something nonsensical, as the case may be. i suppose as i sift through the collection before me at the moment, it's a bit of both.... there's been both heaviness and lightness since i last wrote, and these gathered glimpses reflect that.
first, something light.... i have been corrupted. i spent friday night at a club dancing to arabic music all night long. i didn't know experiences like this could happen in doha! the crowd was mostly lebanese, but there were other nationalies as well. no qataris, that much was certain. but it was a haven of dim lighting, strong drinks, laughter, smoke, women giggling in tank-tops and men slapping each other on the back in that manly way.... quite a scene. there was a live singer - lebanese - who would occasionally leave his captain's position at the helm of the dancefloor and wander around with the microphone amid the seas of tables, serenading the waves of patrons. it was liberating and spectacular and so much fun and i felt very scandalous! there is a wild side to doha, you just have to look for it....
as for things wild, friday's merriment was maybe all the more more welcome after a week that was perhaps a bit heavier..... it was raining at night for a few days last week.... it was very strange - i never saw the rain, and whenever i woke up thinking i could hear it and excitedly rushed to my window, i wouldn't see it. but the evidence was there in the morning, and my car was splattered with sand-drops that indicate there was rain in the desert... i couldn't help but feel that it was symbolic or appropriate somehow. of what, i'm not certain, but the stealth of it, the subtlety, the fleetingness, the echo, seemed appropriate. it seemed to reflect so much of what happens in society here, so much that is secret and obscured, yet ubiquitous, subtle but glaring, invisible but bright as day... (and maybe i enjoyed the club so much because everything was open - elbows were revealed, couples touched, women smoked (women are banned from smoking in public in a lot of places, such as the unviersity), people spoke to loudly, and danced, and drank, and it didn't matter.)
or maybe i was just feeling that way about the secret night rain because i was having a bout of being disheartened or frustrated, or whatever the politically correct term is for my politically incorrect frustrations with this place....
i met with a qatari girlfriend for coffee in the middle of that week.... she wanted to tell me that she has a "friend" - not a boyfriend, but a "friend" - someone she talks on the phone with everyday. an egyptian (even though she was quick to remind me that she usually hates egyptians, he was an exception). she wanted to tell me because she is excited and all aflutter about this development in her life, and knew i wouldn't judge... this friend is married with children. and i don't judge. and this is not uncommon. not uncommon at all. she's married to a man 20 years older than she is. they see each other for less than three hours each day, between 5:00/6:00 - 8:00 pm, after he awakes from his nap and before he goes to his club to spend time with his friends and brothers, and is emotionally distant and closed when they are together. he returns home after midnight and has dinner then, when she is already asleep. she is awake and getting the children sorted for school and going to work herself before he is up in the morning. three of the children are step-children from his first marriage, two girls, 16 and 13, and a boy, 11. the youngest is her 4-year-old daughter. the fact that she only has one child, and a girl, is a source of constant trouble. her mother has been putting pressure on her since her daughter's birth to have another child. and there is good reason for her to put such pressure. under the inheritance laws, the son from the first marriage, 11-year-old muhammed, would inherit over her, the 30-year-old current wife and mother of his children. she must have a boy, and she must have at least 3 children to be equal to the first wife. my friend has not felt ready to have another child yet. shortly after her daughter was born she went to the US, a new mother and young wife, with her baby, to get her master's degree. and she wants to continue to develop her skills now that she has returned and is working before having another child. plus, she is just not ready. her mother convinced her husband she needed to have another child, so her husband has stopped providing her with birth control pills (and she can't get them on her own). she was all upset about the fact that she had stopped the pill just the same week when she met this new man..... when we got together later in the week, she was calling him "boyfriend." he is married too, but his wife and children are in egypt. they were planning to meet, which is not an easy thing in this society. she asked me for advice in planning a meeting. (though i explained i was hardly an expert in planning extramarital affairs in a repressive islamist state, i listened and tried to be as useful as i could.) this could ruin her if anyone found out. but she is not alone. she'll tell me how most of her friends are not happy in their marriages and nearly everyone has something on the side (though they don't talk about it to each other out of fear). and she acknowledges that her husband is better than many - he at least sees her each day, and doesn't stay out at the club or the majlis all night long like some, and she doesn't think he has any mistresses... she will also occasionally talk about how qatari women are on the whole also terribly sexually frustrated because in a marriage the wife's role is to please the husband. the wife's pleasure is not considered. and more than sex, she explained, she yearns for love of a sort that is deeper than the diamond watch he gave her for valentine's day. (it was a lota bling) this eyptian, she said, listens to her and talks and makes her feel cared for... they have met for coffee. i'm not sure more will happen than that. perhaps that is enough. and i don't judge. i especially don't judge because, like the rain, this is happening all the time, but we just don't see it. and the men are even worse. in addition to multiple wives, it is very en vogue to have at least two mistresses. or so i am told. and their behaviour suggests as much. i'm oogled and objectified in a different way. for qatari women it seems even stranger to me, maybe worse. i'll never forget being with a different qatari friend (in an amazingly loving and happy marriage) who when out fully covered (abaya, shailya, yashmeek, the works) and walking with her 10-month old son in a stroller was having qatari men pass her pieces of paper with their phone numbers, or yell the numbers at her. and that is not uncommon.
anyway, i don't have any grand conclusions - sensical or not so - but the more i see, the more i think that gender relations and relationships become truly warped under the strain of this society. (this same week, i learned that much as homosexual activity occurs among the young men, lesbianism is wide-spread among the women at qatar university (not unlike at any all women's institution) ... this is nature. but it is denied here.) i can't help but think of the trees in wuthering heights - warped to grow sideways by the strong winds, and the characters were warped like the trees. maybe it's not surprising that in this barren landscape, and with the winds of wahabi islam ceaselessly blowing, the people learn to keep the surfaces empty, but try to find ways to flourish beneath the surface....
(or maybe i'm thinking too much and this happens everywhere.)
tumbling on to something lighter.... two stories - one from school, one from work.
we sometimes have night meetings for work. (because of the split-shift working hours and the afternoon nap time, offices are open in the evenings.) at one recent meeting, i found myself sitting through the cultural ritual which i affectionately think of as the 'who's the most important sheikh?' game. the essence of the game is simple - the later you are, the longer you make other people wait, and the more you talk on your phone, or at least the more that it rings, the more important you are and the more likely you are to be the most important sheikh in the room. we were to meet with a number of important sheikhs who are starting an islamic investment bank together (just pulling together US$500 million from their personal pocket change to start the venture). the meeting was scheduled to begin at 8:00 pm in a meeting room in a hotel. everyone involved was in the building by 8:15. but everyone was downstairs on the phone conducting other important business or otherwise engaged being too important to come to the room and sit down (playing the game) until about 9:25, when the last guy - the most important sheikh! - made it. i couldn't help but smile into my fresh strawberry juice (i wasn't too bothered by waiting because at least there was fresh strawberry juice)..... i wasn't smiling quite as much when the meeting ended up lasting until 11:45, but as ever, it was a learning experience....
and apparently when it comes to learning, i am doing rather well. sort of. in class the other day one of my professors called me over during our break to tell me i was going to receive an 'outstanding student' award for my performance last semester and that i needed to be prepared to go to an awards ceremony on the 30th. we were both looking at the paper that explained all this which had the names of honored students and their scores. dr. ibtisam, the professor, is an honest woman, so even as she was looking at it, she kind of shook her head and said she wasn't sure how i got this, that i didn't deserve to be on the list. i said i agreed, i wasn't an outstanding student. (i'm really not!) i only had an 86% last semester, while the other students on the list all had scores in the 90s, plus many students work much harder than me. i said i didn't understand it either. she said that she thought it was all dr. abdullah's doing, that originally there were only two students selected and then they decided to add a third and he lobbied hard for me. ;-) i saw dr. abdullah a few days later when he gave me my certificate and reminded me that i need to be ready for the ceremony. so i asked him about it, explaining that i really didn't deserve it because i really wasn't an outstanding student and wasn't even formally in the program but was just auditting (which is how i justify my less than stellar performance). he basically agreed that i didn't have a terribly high score, but explained that he gave me the award because i was the nicest. he said i had the nicest spirit. so that was outstanding. very sweet of him.... reminded me of being in the first grade when, so i've been told, i came home and announced to my parents that i was the nicest kid in my class, so they were doing a good job and should keep up the good work..... ;-) being nice is still working for me even today. i just hope i don't have to give a speech at the ceremony because then i may be revealed as less than outstanding.
anyway, we have a holiday from school next week, so i am heading to dubai this weekend and then to morocco for 8 days (!!!), which is most outstanding and sure be an adventure.
that's about the weight of things of late - some heaviness, much light. and much sunlight.
first, something light.... i have been corrupted. i spent friday night at a club dancing to arabic music all night long. i didn't know experiences like this could happen in doha! the crowd was mostly lebanese, but there were other nationalies as well. no qataris, that much was certain. but it was a haven of dim lighting, strong drinks, laughter, smoke, women giggling in tank-tops and men slapping each other on the back in that manly way.... quite a scene. there was a live singer - lebanese - who would occasionally leave his captain's position at the helm of the dancefloor and wander around with the microphone amid the seas of tables, serenading the waves of patrons. it was liberating and spectacular and so much fun and i felt very scandalous! there is a wild side to doha, you just have to look for it....
as for things wild, friday's merriment was maybe all the more more welcome after a week that was perhaps a bit heavier..... it was raining at night for a few days last week.... it was very strange - i never saw the rain, and whenever i woke up thinking i could hear it and excitedly rushed to my window, i wouldn't see it. but the evidence was there in the morning, and my car was splattered with sand-drops that indicate there was rain in the desert... i couldn't help but feel that it was symbolic or appropriate somehow. of what, i'm not certain, but the stealth of it, the subtlety, the fleetingness, the echo, seemed appropriate. it seemed to reflect so much of what happens in society here, so much that is secret and obscured, yet ubiquitous, subtle but glaring, invisible but bright as day... (and maybe i enjoyed the club so much because everything was open - elbows were revealed, couples touched, women smoked (women are banned from smoking in public in a lot of places, such as the unviersity), people spoke to loudly, and danced, and drank, and it didn't matter.)
or maybe i was just feeling that way about the secret night rain because i was having a bout of being disheartened or frustrated, or whatever the politically correct term is for my politically incorrect frustrations with this place....
i met with a qatari girlfriend for coffee in the middle of that week.... she wanted to tell me that she has a "friend" - not a boyfriend, but a "friend" - someone she talks on the phone with everyday. an egyptian (even though she was quick to remind me that she usually hates egyptians, he was an exception). she wanted to tell me because she is excited and all aflutter about this development in her life, and knew i wouldn't judge... this friend is married with children. and i don't judge. and this is not uncommon. not uncommon at all. she's married to a man 20 years older than she is. they see each other for less than three hours each day, between 5:00/6:00 - 8:00 pm, after he awakes from his nap and before he goes to his club to spend time with his friends and brothers, and is emotionally distant and closed when they are together. he returns home after midnight and has dinner then, when she is already asleep. she is awake and getting the children sorted for school and going to work herself before he is up in the morning. three of the children are step-children from his first marriage, two girls, 16 and 13, and a boy, 11. the youngest is her 4-year-old daughter. the fact that she only has one child, and a girl, is a source of constant trouble. her mother has been putting pressure on her since her daughter's birth to have another child. and there is good reason for her to put such pressure. under the inheritance laws, the son from the first marriage, 11-year-old muhammed, would inherit over her, the 30-year-old current wife and mother of his children. she must have a boy, and she must have at least 3 children to be equal to the first wife. my friend has not felt ready to have another child yet. shortly after her daughter was born she went to the US, a new mother and young wife, with her baby, to get her master's degree. and she wants to continue to develop her skills now that she has returned and is working before having another child. plus, she is just not ready. her mother convinced her husband she needed to have another child, so her husband has stopped providing her with birth control pills (and she can't get them on her own). she was all upset about the fact that she had stopped the pill just the same week when she met this new man..... when we got together later in the week, she was calling him "boyfriend." he is married too, but his wife and children are in egypt. they were planning to meet, which is not an easy thing in this society. she asked me for advice in planning a meeting. (though i explained i was hardly an expert in planning extramarital affairs in a repressive islamist state, i listened and tried to be as useful as i could.) this could ruin her if anyone found out. but she is not alone. she'll tell me how most of her friends are not happy in their marriages and nearly everyone has something on the side (though they don't talk about it to each other out of fear). and she acknowledges that her husband is better than many - he at least sees her each day, and doesn't stay out at the club or the majlis all night long like some, and she doesn't think he has any mistresses... she will also occasionally talk about how qatari women are on the whole also terribly sexually frustrated because in a marriage the wife's role is to please the husband. the wife's pleasure is not considered. and more than sex, she explained, she yearns for love of a sort that is deeper than the diamond watch he gave her for valentine's day. (it was a lota bling) this eyptian, she said, listens to her and talks and makes her feel cared for... they have met for coffee. i'm not sure more will happen than that. perhaps that is enough. and i don't judge. i especially don't judge because, like the rain, this is happening all the time, but we just don't see it. and the men are even worse. in addition to multiple wives, it is very en vogue to have at least two mistresses. or so i am told. and their behaviour suggests as much. i'm oogled and objectified in a different way. for qatari women it seems even stranger to me, maybe worse. i'll never forget being with a different qatari friend (in an amazingly loving and happy marriage) who when out fully covered (abaya, shailya, yashmeek, the works) and walking with her 10-month old son in a stroller was having qatari men pass her pieces of paper with their phone numbers, or yell the numbers at her. and that is not uncommon.
anyway, i don't have any grand conclusions - sensical or not so - but the more i see, the more i think that gender relations and relationships become truly warped under the strain of this society. (this same week, i learned that much as homosexual activity occurs among the young men, lesbianism is wide-spread among the women at qatar university (not unlike at any all women's institution) ... this is nature. but it is denied here.) i can't help but think of the trees in wuthering heights - warped to grow sideways by the strong winds, and the characters were warped like the trees. maybe it's not surprising that in this barren landscape, and with the winds of wahabi islam ceaselessly blowing, the people learn to keep the surfaces empty, but try to find ways to flourish beneath the surface....
(or maybe i'm thinking too much and this happens everywhere.)
tumbling on to something lighter.... two stories - one from school, one from work.
we sometimes have night meetings for work. (because of the split-shift working hours and the afternoon nap time, offices are open in the evenings.) at one recent meeting, i found myself sitting through the cultural ritual which i affectionately think of as the 'who's the most important sheikh?' game. the essence of the game is simple - the later you are, the longer you make other people wait, and the more you talk on your phone, or at least the more that it rings, the more important you are and the more likely you are to be the most important sheikh in the room. we were to meet with a number of important sheikhs who are starting an islamic investment bank together (just pulling together US$500 million from their personal pocket change to start the venture). the meeting was scheduled to begin at 8:00 pm in a meeting room in a hotel. everyone involved was in the building by 8:15. but everyone was downstairs on the phone conducting other important business or otherwise engaged being too important to come to the room and sit down (playing the game) until about 9:25, when the last guy - the most important sheikh! - made it. i couldn't help but smile into my fresh strawberry juice (i wasn't too bothered by waiting because at least there was fresh strawberry juice)..... i wasn't smiling quite as much when the meeting ended up lasting until 11:45, but as ever, it was a learning experience....
and apparently when it comes to learning, i am doing rather well. sort of. in class the other day one of my professors called me over during our break to tell me i was going to receive an 'outstanding student' award for my performance last semester and that i needed to be prepared to go to an awards ceremony on the 30th. we were both looking at the paper that explained all this which had the names of honored students and their scores. dr. ibtisam, the professor, is an honest woman, so even as she was looking at it, she kind of shook her head and said she wasn't sure how i got this, that i didn't deserve to be on the list. i said i agreed, i wasn't an outstanding student. (i'm really not!) i only had an 86% last semester, while the other students on the list all had scores in the 90s, plus many students work much harder than me. i said i didn't understand it either. she said that she thought it was all dr. abdullah's doing, that originally there were only two students selected and then they decided to add a third and he lobbied hard for me. ;-) i saw dr. abdullah a few days later when he gave me my certificate and reminded me that i need to be ready for the ceremony. so i asked him about it, explaining that i really didn't deserve it because i really wasn't an outstanding student and wasn't even formally in the program but was just auditting (which is how i justify my less than stellar performance). he basically agreed that i didn't have a terribly high score, but explained that he gave me the award because i was the nicest. he said i had the nicest spirit. so that was outstanding. very sweet of him.... reminded me of being in the first grade when, so i've been told, i came home and announced to my parents that i was the nicest kid in my class, so they were doing a good job and should keep up the good work..... ;-) being nice is still working for me even today. i just hope i don't have to give a speech at the ceremony because then i may be revealed as less than outstanding.
anyway, we have a holiday from school next week, so i am heading to dubai this weekend and then to morocco for 8 days (!!!), which is most outstanding and sure be an adventure.
that's about the weight of things of late - some heaviness, much light. and much sunlight.
wafa sultan
so by now wafa sultan's story is all over the international news. and she deserves more than the passing reference in my last message.... a friend sent me the videoclip a few days ago, which i'm forwarding for any arabic speakers - it's powerful stuff. here is also a partial translation....
2/21/2006 Clip No. 1050
Arab-American Psychologist Wafa Sultan: There Is No Clash of Civilizations but a Clash between the Mentality of the Middle Ages and That of the 21st Century
Following are excerpts from an interview with Arab-American psychologist Wafa Sultan. The interview was aired on Al-Jazeera TV on February 21, 2006
.
Wafa Sultan: The clash we are witnessing around the world is not a clash of religions, or a clash of civilizations. It is a clash between two opposites, between two eras. It is a clash between a mentality that belongs to the Middle Ages and another mentality that belongs to the 21st century. It is a clash between civilization and backwardness, between the civilized and the primitive, between barbarity and rationality. It is a clash between freedom and oppression, between democracy and dictatorship. It is a clash between human rights, on the one hand, and the violation of these rights, on other hand. It is a clash between those who treat women like beasts, and those who treat them like human beings. What we see today is not a clash of civilizations. Civilizations do not clash, but compete.
[...]
Host: I understand from your words that what is happening today is a clash between the culture of the West, and the backwardness and ignorance of the Muslims?
Wafa Sultan: Yes, that is what I mean.
[...]
Host: Who came up with the concept of a clash of civilizations? Was it not Samuel Huntington? It was not Bin Laden. I would like to discuss this issue, if you don't mind...
Wafa Sultan: The Muslims are the ones who began using this expression. The Muslims are the ones who began the clash of civilizations. The Prophet of Islam said: "I was ordered to fight the people until they believe in Allah and His Messenger." When the Muslims divided the people into Muslims and non-Muslims, and called to fight the others until they believe in what they themselves believe, they started this clash, and began this war. In order to start this war, they must reexamine their Islamic books and curricula, which are full of calls for takfir and fighting the infidels.
My colleague has said that he never offends other people's beliefs. What civilization on the face of this earth allows him to call other people by names that they did not choose for themselves? Once, he calls them Ahl Al-Dhimma, another time he calls them the "People of the Book," and yet another time he compares them to apes and pigs, or he calls the Christians "those who incur Allah's wrath." Who told you that they are "People of the Book"? They are not the People of the Book, they are people of many books. All the useful scientific books that you have today are theirs, the fruit of their free and creative thinking. What gives you the right to call them "those who incur Allah's wrath," or "those who have gone astray," and then come here and say that your religion commands you to refrain from offending the beliefs of others?
I am not a Christian, a Muslim, or a Jew. I am a secular human being. I do not believe in the supernatural, but I respect others' right to believe in it.
Dr. Ibrahim Al-Khouli: Are you a heretic?
Wafa Sultan: You can say whatever you like. I am a secular human being who does not believe in the supernatural...
Dr. Ibrahim Al-Khouli: If you are a heretic, there is no point in rebuking you, since you have blasphemed against Islam, the Prophet, and the Koran...
Wafa Sultan: These are personal matters that do not concern you.
[...]
Wafa Sultan: Brother, you can believe in stones, as long as you don't throw them at me. You are free to worship whoever you want, but other people's beliefs are not your concern, whether they believe that the Messiah is God, son of Mary, or that Satan is God, son of Mary. Let people have their beliefs.
[...]
Wafa Sultan: The Jews have come from the tragedy (of the Holocaust), and forced the world to respect them, with their knowledge, not with their terror, with their work, not their crying and yelling. Humanity owes most of the discoveries and science of the 19th and 20th centuries to Jewish scientists. 15 million people, scattered throughout the world, united and won their rights through work and knowledge. We have not seen a single Jew blow himself up in a German restaurant. We have not seen a single Jew destroy a church. We have not seen a single Jew protest by killing people. The Muslims have turned three Buddha statues into rubble. We have not seen a single Buddhist burn down a Mosque, kill a Muslim, or burn down an embassy. Only the Muslims defend their beliefs by burning down churches, killing people, and destroying embassies. This path will not yield any results. The Muslims must ask themselves what they can do for humankind, before they demand that humankind respect them.
2/21/2006 Clip No. 1050
Arab-American Psychologist Wafa Sultan: There Is No Clash of Civilizations but a Clash between the Mentality of the Middle Ages and That of the 21st Century
Following are excerpts from an interview with Arab-American psychologist Wafa Sultan. The interview was aired on Al-Jazeera TV on February 21, 2006
.
Wafa Sultan: The clash we are witnessing around the world is not a clash of religions, or a clash of civilizations. It is a clash between two opposites, between two eras. It is a clash between a mentality that belongs to the Middle Ages and another mentality that belongs to the 21st century. It is a clash between civilization and backwardness, between the civilized and the primitive, between barbarity and rationality. It is a clash between freedom and oppression, between democracy and dictatorship. It is a clash between human rights, on the one hand, and the violation of these rights, on other hand. It is a clash between those who treat women like beasts, and those who treat them like human beings. What we see today is not a clash of civilizations. Civilizations do not clash, but compete.
[...]
Host: I understand from your words that what is happening today is a clash between the culture of the West, and the backwardness and ignorance of the Muslims?
Wafa Sultan: Yes, that is what I mean.
[...]
Host: Who came up with the concept of a clash of civilizations? Was it not Samuel Huntington? It was not Bin Laden. I would like to discuss this issue, if you don't mind...
Wafa Sultan: The Muslims are the ones who began using this expression. The Muslims are the ones who began the clash of civilizations. The Prophet of Islam said: "I was ordered to fight the people until they believe in Allah and His Messenger." When the Muslims divided the people into Muslims and non-Muslims, and called to fight the others until they believe in what they themselves believe, they started this clash, and began this war. In order to start this war, they must reexamine their Islamic books and curricula, which are full of calls for takfir and fighting the infidels.
My colleague has said that he never offends other people's beliefs. What civilization on the face of this earth allows him to call other people by names that they did not choose for themselves? Once, he calls them Ahl Al-Dhimma, another time he calls them the "People of the Book," and yet another time he compares them to apes and pigs, or he calls the Christians "those who incur Allah's wrath." Who told you that they are "People of the Book"? They are not the People of the Book, they are people of many books. All the useful scientific books that you have today are theirs, the fruit of their free and creative thinking. What gives you the right to call them "those who incur Allah's wrath," or "those who have gone astray," and then come here and say that your religion commands you to refrain from offending the beliefs of others?
I am not a Christian, a Muslim, or a Jew. I am a secular human being. I do not believe in the supernatural, but I respect others' right to believe in it.
Dr. Ibrahim Al-Khouli: Are you a heretic?
Wafa Sultan: You can say whatever you like. I am a secular human being who does not believe in the supernatural...
Dr. Ibrahim Al-Khouli: If you are a heretic, there is no point in rebuking you, since you have blasphemed against Islam, the Prophet, and the Koran...
Wafa Sultan: These are personal matters that do not concern you.
[...]
Wafa Sultan: Brother, you can believe in stones, as long as you don't throw them at me. You are free to worship whoever you want, but other people's beliefs are not your concern, whether they believe that the Messiah is God, son of Mary, or that Satan is God, son of Mary. Let people have their beliefs.
[...]
Wafa Sultan: The Jews have come from the tragedy (of the Holocaust), and forced the world to respect them, with their knowledge, not with their terror, with their work, not their crying and yelling. Humanity owes most of the discoveries and science of the 19th and 20th centuries to Jewish scientists. 15 million people, scattered throughout the world, united and won their rights through work and knowledge. We have not seen a single Jew blow himself up in a German restaurant. We have not seen a single Jew destroy a church. We have not seen a single Jew protest by killing people. The Muslims have turned three Buddha statues into rubble. We have not seen a single Buddhist burn down a Mosque, kill a Muslim, or burn down an embassy. Only the Muslims defend their beliefs by burning down churches, killing people, and destroying embassies. This path will not yield any results. The Muslims must ask themselves what they can do for humankind, before they demand that humankind respect them.
clashes
sometimes i wonder what the clashes that we confront each day in the news are really about.....
on the ports issue - was the issue really freedom of contract v. national security? or was it really xenophobia v. political gain pre-midterm elections? or racial profiling v. treating people as equals? ...
on the clash of civilizations - is the issue really islam v. the west? or is it really, as a syrian-american dared to say on al-jazeera recently, modernity v. the middle ages?
on the cartoons issue - is the issue really respect for religion v. freedom of speech?
and on any of these - who decides which are the clashes we focus on? which subtexts we acknowledge, and which we don't?
it again has been an interesting time to be here. qatar recently hosted a meeting of the 'alliance of civilizations' - a UN initiative that aims to "overcome prejudice, misconceptions, misperceptions, and polarization which potentially threaten world peace." the meeting here, which involved kofi annan as well as a number of regional and religious leaders, tried to find a resolution to the cartoons crisis. a valiant effort, but danish cheese is still conspicuously absent from my supermarket (all the more conspicuous because of the signs saying so and the way the dairy section has been rearranged). the crisis seems less explosive at least, and seems to be fizzling out.... or maybe that is just because there are new epic clashes to distract us... or maybe that's the best we can hope for - this is the way the world will end, this is the way the world will end, this is the way the world will end, not with a bang but a whimper.
the whimpers, and there were definitely some whimpers, about the dubai company and ports issue were quite an interesting topic in these parts. i found it especially interesting in light of the fact that qatar's security is entrusted to a private company - rudy guiliani's in fact. so here i am in country which is important american ally in the region that is secured by a bunch of former FBI hacks hired by the former mayor of new york who created a security firm after terrorists from this region attacked manhattan while my nation is in a whirlwind over a private company from a neighboring ally being contracted by the US government to secure strategic ports in america.... it's enough to make your head spin. and make you wonder what being secure means these days.... security - what kind of idea are you? it's unfortunate that the congressional republicans' willingness to stand up to the president for once only went as far as being xenophobic and didn't show much actually concern for 'security' (whatever that means) by not using this issue as an opportunity to - bang - address some of the very serious security threats at the ports in question in this controversy, regardless of what company is running them. oh well. whimper, whimper, whimper.
have also had some very compelling conversations on gender lately. i participated in a conference last weekend entitled 'arab women, past and present: participation and democratization.' [it was a curious week to attend the conference after i didn't wear my abaya to class one day (!!!). it feel amazing not to wear it. i felt like me, like my soul wasn't being strangled somehow.... and yes, that may sound dramatic, but this is me talking and my inner drama queen finds being here suppressive enough, her only outlet is writing.... ;-) ] anyway, i didn't participate in all of the sessions, but there were a few observations i thought worth sharing... one was from a lecture entitled 'religion as a matrix for participation' - the thought was "men and women feel safer when women are kept within bounds." the talk was not just about islam, but about christianity as well, and the speaker opened her discussion with this idea. i couldn't help but wonder if there is something to this idea.... especially in light of the more controversial exchanges that took place among the various women at the conference with their various identities. one such exchange was during a discussion on islam, sharia law, and women in the workplace while older muslim women feminists (non-qataris) who had spent their lifetimes working for women's rights in the workplace heard comments from young, qatari women students saying, 'islam is the greatest religion in the world because all women have to do is stay at home, drink tea, and get fat. why would we want to work? why are we talking about this?' needless to say, it was explosive. bang. it's safer to stay within bounds, safer not to challenge, not to ask the challenging questions.....
but asking questions seems to be all i do here. and i'm going to be doing so in a more formal way with a remarkable local woman friend of mine here. raised in europe but now living the qatari life, this friend and i often find ourselves lamenting the manner in which misunderstanding and miscommunication seems all that our world's contemporary clashes are capaable of producing. when in truth, there are many subtexts. in the course of coming to know her and her story, i have found myself wanting to share her narrative with others. the particulars of experience that drive any narrative, that create a story, are sometimes capable of resonating outside or across the clashes (or at least i hope so.)... and there is a certain healing power in narrative that doesn't exist in the realms of politics, economics, war, industry, religion, country, identity.... or really anywhere else. so with the help of this friend, and a few other willing qatari women, i will be asking questions. collecting the stories of some of the remarkable local women i have met. if for no other reason than they are worth collecting.... and in an effort to give a more nuanced faced to this region and these people than is being painted at the moment** ... in any event, if you have any questions, send them to me.
meanwhile, the beat goes on here. rather than ramble further, i'll leave you with an image from the remarkable experience of going to the doha camel souq.... the camel souq was amazing - 500 - 1,000 camels (really!). all sizes, colours, personalities (camels make some crazy noises). and the bedouin camel traders who run the souq were so friendly and curious and warm-hearted it was hard not to quit my job at the arab law bureau just to work there instead..... but they were shrewd businessmen. i tried to ask about the price of a camel, but a toothless old man with a gleam in his eye would only ask me questions in response - what kind of camel did i want? did i want a sudanese camel? did i want a camel with milk? ... when i explained that i didn't actually want to purchase a camel, but was just curious, he and his compatriots exchanged glances. but they still wouldn't give me a straight answer and just said it depended on the camel - whether it had milk, how big it was, where it was from, etc. they were wise, these camel traders, behind their smiling eyes. who knows - even if i'm just curious now, i may be a customer someday, and better not to say anything that could someday resurface and cause a clash.... we have enough of those.
** side note on this point - this year the fulbright program launched an 'islamic civilization initiative' which gave extra funding to certain grantees doing projects in the muslim world so that they could spend time when they returned to the US giving lectures and sharing their experiences with americans - to give a firsthand account of islamic civilization in an effort to foster cross-cultural understanding.... however, the bush administration has recently cancelled the program. not surprisingly, unfortunately. the administration wants to entirely control what americans think about islamic civilization and the muslim world.... to have unmonitored americans who had lived in the muslim world talking to americans and giving them an unedited picture of this part of the world and its peoples could be a serious threat to the security of this administration and its agenda... whimper. whimper, whimper.
on the ports issue - was the issue really freedom of contract v. national security? or was it really xenophobia v. political gain pre-midterm elections? or racial profiling v. treating people as equals? ...
on the clash of civilizations - is the issue really islam v. the west? or is it really, as a syrian-american dared to say on al-jazeera recently, modernity v. the middle ages?
on the cartoons issue - is the issue really respect for religion v. freedom of speech?
and on any of these - who decides which are the clashes we focus on? which subtexts we acknowledge, and which we don't?
it again has been an interesting time to be here. qatar recently hosted a meeting of the 'alliance of civilizations' - a UN initiative that aims to "overcome prejudice, misconceptions, misperceptions, and polarization which potentially threaten world peace." the meeting here, which involved kofi annan as well as a number of regional and religious leaders, tried to find a resolution to the cartoons crisis. a valiant effort, but danish cheese is still conspicuously absent from my supermarket (all the more conspicuous because of the signs saying so and the way the dairy section has been rearranged). the crisis seems less explosive at least, and seems to be fizzling out.... or maybe that is just because there are new epic clashes to distract us... or maybe that's the best we can hope for - this is the way the world will end, this is the way the world will end, this is the way the world will end, not with a bang but a whimper.
the whimpers, and there were definitely some whimpers, about the dubai company and ports issue were quite an interesting topic in these parts. i found it especially interesting in light of the fact that qatar's security is entrusted to a private company - rudy guiliani's in fact. so here i am in country which is important american ally in the region that is secured by a bunch of former FBI hacks hired by the former mayor of new york who created a security firm after terrorists from this region attacked manhattan while my nation is in a whirlwind over a private company from a neighboring ally being contracted by the US government to secure strategic ports in america.... it's enough to make your head spin. and make you wonder what being secure means these days.... security - what kind of idea are you? it's unfortunate that the congressional republicans' willingness to stand up to the president for once only went as far as being xenophobic and didn't show much actually concern for 'security' (whatever that means) by not using this issue as an opportunity to - bang - address some of the very serious security threats at the ports in question in this controversy, regardless of what company is running them. oh well. whimper, whimper, whimper.
have also had some very compelling conversations on gender lately. i participated in a conference last weekend entitled 'arab women, past and present: participation and democratization.' [it was a curious week to attend the conference after i didn't wear my abaya to class one day (!!!). it feel amazing not to wear it. i felt like me, like my soul wasn't being strangled somehow.... and yes, that may sound dramatic, but this is me talking and my inner drama queen finds being here suppressive enough, her only outlet is writing.... ;-) ] anyway, i didn't participate in all of the sessions, but there were a few observations i thought worth sharing... one was from a lecture entitled 'religion as a matrix for participation' - the thought was "men and women feel safer when women are kept within bounds." the talk was not just about islam, but about christianity as well, and the speaker opened her discussion with this idea. i couldn't help but wonder if there is something to this idea.... especially in light of the more controversial exchanges that took place among the various women at the conference with their various identities. one such exchange was during a discussion on islam, sharia law, and women in the workplace while older muslim women feminists (non-qataris) who had spent their lifetimes working for women's rights in the workplace heard comments from young, qatari women students saying, 'islam is the greatest religion in the world because all women have to do is stay at home, drink tea, and get fat. why would we want to work? why are we talking about this?' needless to say, it was explosive. bang. it's safer to stay within bounds, safer not to challenge, not to ask the challenging questions.....
but asking questions seems to be all i do here. and i'm going to be doing so in a more formal way with a remarkable local woman friend of mine here. raised in europe but now living the qatari life, this friend and i often find ourselves lamenting the manner in which misunderstanding and miscommunication seems all that our world's contemporary clashes are capaable of producing. when in truth, there are many subtexts. in the course of coming to know her and her story, i have found myself wanting to share her narrative with others. the particulars of experience that drive any narrative, that create a story, are sometimes capable of resonating outside or across the clashes (or at least i hope so.)... and there is a certain healing power in narrative that doesn't exist in the realms of politics, economics, war, industry, religion, country, identity.... or really anywhere else. so with the help of this friend, and a few other willing qatari women, i will be asking questions. collecting the stories of some of the remarkable local women i have met. if for no other reason than they are worth collecting.... and in an effort to give a more nuanced faced to this region and these people than is being painted at the moment** ... in any event, if you have any questions, send them to me.
meanwhile, the beat goes on here. rather than ramble further, i'll leave you with an image from the remarkable experience of going to the doha camel souq.... the camel souq was amazing - 500 - 1,000 camels (really!). all sizes, colours, personalities (camels make some crazy noises). and the bedouin camel traders who run the souq were so friendly and curious and warm-hearted it was hard not to quit my job at the arab law bureau just to work there instead..... but they were shrewd businessmen. i tried to ask about the price of a camel, but a toothless old man with a gleam in his eye would only ask me questions in response - what kind of camel did i want? did i want a sudanese camel? did i want a camel with milk? ... when i explained that i didn't actually want to purchase a camel, but was just curious, he and his compatriots exchanged glances. but they still wouldn't give me a straight answer and just said it depended on the camel - whether it had milk, how big it was, where it was from, etc. they were wise, these camel traders, behind their smiling eyes. who knows - even if i'm just curious now, i may be a customer someday, and better not to say anything that could someday resurface and cause a clash.... we have enough of those.
** side note on this point - this year the fulbright program launched an 'islamic civilization initiative' which gave extra funding to certain grantees doing projects in the muslim world so that they could spend time when they returned to the US giving lectures and sharing their experiences with americans - to give a firsthand account of islamic civilization in an effort to foster cross-cultural understanding.... however, the bush administration has recently cancelled the program. not surprisingly, unfortunately. the administration wants to entirely control what americans think about islamic civilization and the muslim world.... to have unmonitored americans who had lived in the muslim world talking to americans and giving them an unedited picture of this part of the world and its peoples could be a serious threat to the security of this administration and its agenda... whimper. whimper, whimper.
desert storms
it has been many storms since i have written - storms of many sorts.... the brewing controversy over the muhammed cartoons has tornadoed into a theatre-of-the-absurd situation without a positive or even practical denouement in sight. ... qatar had it's first major thunderstorm in years, which i was fortunate enough to experience in while camping in the desert. it was the first time i've seen rain here, let alone glorious sheets of daggering through an enormous silky sky. ... and i went to my first qatari wedding - a ladies-only affair of course and a perfect storm of ostentatious strutting, lavish barbie-pink and silver, too much food, too loud music, simply outrageous and outrageously risque dresses that defy description and make every oscar ensemble and prom disaster outfit ever seen look tame, gravity-defying hairdos and feature-transforming makeup, coffee being poured, chocolates being passed, money been thrown around (literally), laughter, dancing, and one very nervous, very white glittery spectacle of a bride on a throne.
it has been quite a few weeks.
the wedding was truly beyond description. i'm not sure that i can capture it in words. and sadly cameras and camera-phones are banned from the affair (bags are screened at the door). this came about because photos of young women at weddings, sans abayas and dolled up looking their finest in showy dresses, were being passed around to young men. so now no phones with cameras are allowed. instead, the eligible young ladies must rely on the old-fashioned way of making themselves noticed - dancing and strutting their stuff on a large catwalk that runs through the center of the room - so that other ladies observing will then comment to their sons / brothers / cousins / nephews that a particular girl is pretty, or dances well, or has a nice body, or nice hair. weddings are really one of the few opportunities for girls to be seen and noticed, so each affair is a big deal for everyone. though it is the biggest deal for the bride - this is the most important day of her life and all eyes will be on her - once she arrives, that is. the bride's entrance involved much fanfare and a "space odyssey 2001" kind of dah-dah-dah-daaaah musical intro. then a curtain was raised and she entered, in a voluminous white sparkly gown and veil with a 20-foot train, carefully making her way up the catwalk as the room watched her gingerly step towards the large throne on the stage at the front of the room where she would sit for the entire night. the groom and a few male family members in traditional formal dress did come for a time. prior to their arrival, there was much flurrying and scurrying as everyone covered the splendor of their dresses and hair and sparkles with black abayas, then they arrived up the catwalk, stood for some formal portraits - no smiling - until the other men left and just the groom was left sitting with his bride until they both left together about an hour later. this was not a marriage for love. but at least the bride knew the groom, and at least he was a good catch - good looking, educated, kind. they went to paris for the honeymoon. who knows, maybe they'll fall in love there....
speaking of falling in love, i recently went to oman and fell in love with muscat. i met my parents & my sister emmie there for three fantastic days. it's a truly stunning city - with mountains tumbling into the sea, lush oasis in the midst of the astringent and harsh omani desert-mountain terrain. staying in a hotel that was a converted palace was enchanting, as was the grand mosque, and as were the omanis themselves - very friendly, curious, and gracious people. it was a nice little adventure. so was having my family in doha.... we took a trip out to the desert to go tearing over the sand dunes in a 4x4 driven by a palestinian-qatari with a sense of adventure, run into camels wandering about, and camp in a bedouin tent. the desert is more beautiful than i had imagined. it is mysterious and vast, but also somehow at once gentle and unforgiving at the same time. a remarkable place. equally remarkable was the thunderstorm that broke above our little camel-hair tent at about 4:00 am. very rare, but beautiful to listen to, watch and live through.....
another storm that has been overwhelming to live through is the cartoons controversy. the boycott is still in effect here, and there are bumper-stickers about with various slogans - anti-danish, anti-west, pro-islam, etc.... i have had many conversations with diverse people. the wedding was remarkable in being the first dinner party i had been to in ages where the cartoons did not dominate the conversation... i'm sure you have all talked about it too much yourselves, but it's hard to escape here. i have a conversation class coming up this week where the cartoons are the topic and the question for discussion is whether this is "western terrorism." (you can only imagine how much i am looking forward to discussing this infuriating topic in my abaya....) i have had some surprising conversations, some less so.... some encouraging, many frustrating. i have had a hard time knowing the proper way to express myself on the subject, knowing how the walk the line between being honest and being respectful. or rather, knowing how to walk the line within myself. and of course all the while people are being killed over this, and more mutual damage is being done for "western" - islamic relations than ever, and more misinformation raining down hard on both sides. [i saw a CNN segment entitled "freedom v. sharia law" that (wrongly) claimed that it was "a strict interpretation of sharia law" that banned depictions of the prophet, not islam itself. many well-educated arabs still tell me this is all about the jews and rumors of quran-burning in europe are not uncommon.]
i recently came across a quote from a 2005 salman rushdie article that i thought worth sharing - "Democracy is not a tea party where people sit around making polite conversation. In democracies, people get extremely upset with each other. They argue vehemently against each other's positions. (But they don't shoot.)" so much of this whole controversy (at least here) seems to be about what freedom, or democracy, really means... and i think rushdie has it right here. just as he had it right in the satanic verses - "what kind of idea are you?" ... he asked that throughout the book. (and of course got himself a fatwa for it.) but sometimes we can only know what a free society is, and whether we want it, and if so what it should look like, and where the proverbial line in the sand between freedom and responsibility is drawn, by asking "what kind of idea are you?" what kind of idea are you freedom of speech? what kind of idea are you islam? christianity? secularism? multiculturalism? cultural relativism? is there a point in a free society where we ask all members of such society, immigrant or native, muslim or buddhist or christian, to accept certain values? a point where what we want our society to look like trumps cultural relativism? because is it really possible to have a free society when there are certain groups on the other side of communal values? certain groups protected more than others? is not offense and insult a daily part of life in diverse, democratic cultures? isn't the right to allow that offense and insult, and the dialogue and development and progress that is allowed by the freedom and imagination that also allow offense and insult, what the enlightenment was all about? i worry that the moment you say that any idea system is sacred, whether it's a belief system or a secular ideology, the moment you declare a set of ideas to be immune from criticism, satire, derision or contempt, freedom of thought becomes diminished..... freedom of thought - what kind of idea are you?
i also wonder if sometimes it is necessary to provoke in asking these questions. if provocation is in fact the only way to see where the line in the sand is actually being drawn, to understand what the line really is, what the sand really is - force the shades of grey grains of sand into starker colors.
and maybe provocation is wrong. but maybe it is not. maybe it is not when the london bombers were home-grown - british born and raised - and when honor killings are claiming the lives of young muslim germans in berlin, and when young belgian women are heading to iraq as suicide-bombers.... maybe provocation is not wrong when we are not sure exactly how cultural relativism and freedom and democracy are really working together. and we are concerned that they may in fact be working against each other sometimes. maybe that is the time to provoke, to throw too much sunlight on it all and see what we learn in the glare.....
what kind of idea are you?
it is a dangerous question. but it is perhaps more dangerous not to ask it.
more questions than answers, as usual. but that's usually what storms bring....
i hope that this finds you well, no matter what the forecast is where you are.
it has been quite a few weeks.
the wedding was truly beyond description. i'm not sure that i can capture it in words. and sadly cameras and camera-phones are banned from the affair (bags are screened at the door). this came about because photos of young women at weddings, sans abayas and dolled up looking their finest in showy dresses, were being passed around to young men. so now no phones with cameras are allowed. instead, the eligible young ladies must rely on the old-fashioned way of making themselves noticed - dancing and strutting their stuff on a large catwalk that runs through the center of the room - so that other ladies observing will then comment to their sons / brothers / cousins / nephews that a particular girl is pretty, or dances well, or has a nice body, or nice hair. weddings are really one of the few opportunities for girls to be seen and noticed, so each affair is a big deal for everyone. though it is the biggest deal for the bride - this is the most important day of her life and all eyes will be on her - once she arrives, that is. the bride's entrance involved much fanfare and a "space odyssey 2001" kind of dah-dah-dah-daaaah musical intro. then a curtain was raised and she entered, in a voluminous white sparkly gown and veil with a 20-foot train, carefully making her way up the catwalk as the room watched her gingerly step towards the large throne on the stage at the front of the room where she would sit for the entire night. the groom and a few male family members in traditional formal dress did come for a time. prior to their arrival, there was much flurrying and scurrying as everyone covered the splendor of their dresses and hair and sparkles with black abayas, then they arrived up the catwalk, stood for some formal portraits - no smiling - until the other men left and just the groom was left sitting with his bride until they both left together about an hour later. this was not a marriage for love. but at least the bride knew the groom, and at least he was a good catch - good looking, educated, kind. they went to paris for the honeymoon. who knows, maybe they'll fall in love there....
speaking of falling in love, i recently went to oman and fell in love with muscat. i met my parents & my sister emmie there for three fantastic days. it's a truly stunning city - with mountains tumbling into the sea, lush oasis in the midst of the astringent and harsh omani desert-mountain terrain. staying in a hotel that was a converted palace was enchanting, as was the grand mosque, and as were the omanis themselves - very friendly, curious, and gracious people. it was a nice little adventure. so was having my family in doha.... we took a trip out to the desert to go tearing over the sand dunes in a 4x4 driven by a palestinian-qatari with a sense of adventure, run into camels wandering about, and camp in a bedouin tent. the desert is more beautiful than i had imagined. it is mysterious and vast, but also somehow at once gentle and unforgiving at the same time. a remarkable place. equally remarkable was the thunderstorm that broke above our little camel-hair tent at about 4:00 am. very rare, but beautiful to listen to, watch and live through.....
another storm that has been overwhelming to live through is the cartoons controversy. the boycott is still in effect here, and there are bumper-stickers about with various slogans - anti-danish, anti-west, pro-islam, etc.... i have had many conversations with diverse people. the wedding was remarkable in being the first dinner party i had been to in ages where the cartoons did not dominate the conversation... i'm sure you have all talked about it too much yourselves, but it's hard to escape here. i have a conversation class coming up this week where the cartoons are the topic and the question for discussion is whether this is "western terrorism." (you can only imagine how much i am looking forward to discussing this infuriating topic in my abaya....) i have had some surprising conversations, some less so.... some encouraging, many frustrating. i have had a hard time knowing the proper way to express myself on the subject, knowing how the walk the line between being honest and being respectful. or rather, knowing how to walk the line within myself. and of course all the while people are being killed over this, and more mutual damage is being done for "western" - islamic relations than ever, and more misinformation raining down hard on both sides. [i saw a CNN segment entitled "freedom v. sharia law" that (wrongly) claimed that it was "a strict interpretation of sharia law" that banned depictions of the prophet, not islam itself. many well-educated arabs still tell me this is all about the jews and rumors of quran-burning in europe are not uncommon.]
i recently came across a quote from a 2005 salman rushdie article that i thought worth sharing - "Democracy is not a tea party where people sit around making polite conversation. In democracies, people get extremely upset with each other. They argue vehemently against each other's positions. (But they don't shoot.)" so much of this whole controversy (at least here) seems to be about what freedom, or democracy, really means... and i think rushdie has it right here. just as he had it right in the satanic verses - "what kind of idea are you?" ... he asked that throughout the book. (and of course got himself a fatwa for it.) but sometimes we can only know what a free society is, and whether we want it, and if so what it should look like, and where the proverbial line in the sand between freedom and responsibility is drawn, by asking "what kind of idea are you?" what kind of idea are you freedom of speech? what kind of idea are you islam? christianity? secularism? multiculturalism? cultural relativism? is there a point in a free society where we ask all members of such society, immigrant or native, muslim or buddhist or christian, to accept certain values? a point where what we want our society to look like trumps cultural relativism? because is it really possible to have a free society when there are certain groups on the other side of communal values? certain groups protected more than others? is not offense and insult a daily part of life in diverse, democratic cultures? isn't the right to allow that offense and insult, and the dialogue and development and progress that is allowed by the freedom and imagination that also allow offense and insult, what the enlightenment was all about? i worry that the moment you say that any idea system is sacred, whether it's a belief system or a secular ideology, the moment you declare a set of ideas to be immune from criticism, satire, derision or contempt, freedom of thought becomes diminished..... freedom of thought - what kind of idea are you?
i also wonder if sometimes it is necessary to provoke in asking these questions. if provocation is in fact the only way to see where the line in the sand is actually being drawn, to understand what the line really is, what the sand really is - force the shades of grey grains of sand into starker colors.
and maybe provocation is wrong. but maybe it is not. maybe it is not when the london bombers were home-grown - british born and raised - and when honor killings are claiming the lives of young muslim germans in berlin, and when young belgian women are heading to iraq as suicide-bombers.... maybe provocation is not wrong when we are not sure exactly how cultural relativism and freedom and democracy are really working together. and we are concerned that they may in fact be working against each other sometimes. maybe that is the time to provoke, to throw too much sunlight on it all and see what we learn in the glare.....
what kind of idea are you?
it is a dangerous question. but it is perhaps more dangerous not to ask it.
more questions than answers, as usual. but that's usually what storms bring....
i hope that this finds you well, no matter what the forecast is where you are.
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