Party Like It’s Saudi

Posted on April 2, 2012 by Audrey

I first saw M.I.A.’s Bad Girls video (directed by Romain Gavras) a couple months ago, and have been stewing since then to try to figure out why, exactly, I am so fascinated with it.

Sure, on the surface, it is visually enrapturing and musically infectious. It also has deeper layers: it hints at another side to the Middle East, beyond our stereotypical, media-fed images of women in burqas who aren’t allowed to drive. The music video is steeped in sexually charged dancing, beautiful women, fast cars; it’s like The Fast & the Furious, Persian Gulf edition.

From M.I.A.'s "Bad Girls" Video, 2012.

But aside from its sheer (and vast) entertainment value, why I am so enamored with this piece of pop culture? I finally figured it out: Bad Girls reflects my own relationship, as I imagine it, with the Middle East. A windy desert, fast cars, beautiful women, a carefree rockstar attitude that is surprisingly applicable across the region combined with a laissez-faire attitude towards money (assuming one has it), a whirlwind of adventuresomeness and an unmatched esprit de corps. Gavras captures this vibe and my fantastical memories perfectly, and makes me want to party like it’s Saudi.

When I watch it, I am reminded of nights partying at clubs in Amman, learning to belly dance from Arab women, both strangers and friends, outdoor neighborhood weddings with raucous music and highly charged and energetic dancing, bonfires on the beach with guitars and ritualized dances around fires in the middle of the desert, midnights on the Sinai with hashish and Stella, driving for hours across the Jordanian desert on a whim and starry nights filled with hookah smoke. Bad Girls captures the passion for aesthetics, for art and music, for glamour and image, for passion itself.

What Bad Girls show us is that the Middle East is, for all its problems and in a bizarre twist of fate, a place of absolute freedom; where devastatingly beautiful women can dance on hoods of cars and men can drag race through the desert in souped up European sports cars, at least metaphorically.

This is how I do, and how I want, to remember the Middle East. Go for the seduction, stay for the beauty, come back for that piece of yourself you left somewhere on the side of the road. Though we might read it as Orientalism, the Bad Girls video embodies at an erotic, mysterious, seductive truth about my Middle East. We can drape these truths in accusations of conservativeness, backwardness, primitiveness, or whatever is designated for “the Orient,” but as in Bad Girls, the Middle East I know is beautiful and irresistible. The video and my Middle East are an embodiment of everything prohibited by our own puritanical fears of the unknown, of desire, and of temptation. This is, I believe, fundamentally what Bad Girls is all about: it challenges us to find the freedom and the perfection in such an unfamiliar place.

Happy International Women’s Day!

Posted on March 8, 2012 by Ariel

Happy International Women’s Day everyone! In honor of this most special of days I’d like to spotlight a very special organization I came across recently called Global Girlfriend. Similar to microfinance and artisan-partnership organizations like Kiva and Indego Africa, Global Girlfriend partners with women around the world who are making beautiful products and sells those products in the U.S. and online. All of their products are fair trade, eco-friendly, and made by women.

It is accepted wisdom that the path to economic advancement is paved by women. When women make money, they invest it in their families, their children, and their communities. When men make money, well, sometimes they don’t. Empowering women means empowering societies. I don’t mean to sound all first-world paternalistic (or maternalistic in this case) but it’s true. Women are just that awesome.

Speaking of awesome women, I’m dedicating this post to the awesomest woman I know: my mother, who bought a Global Girlfriends scarf last month and sent me an email about it. Here she is looking adorable:

The other dedication goes to the same women as last year: the brave and empowered Bedouin women of the Naqab who, in the face of home demolitions and political and economic obstacles, have formed organizations that support the community and create beautiful woven and embroidered products in the tradition of their ancestors. Rock on, ladies!

Forgotten

Posted on March 4, 2012 by Audrey

In a Middle East overwhelmed by war, politics, destruction, and conflict, it is easy to forget that it is, like any other, just a place where life goes on; people live, people grow, people die. Communities flourish and decline. People come and people go. Mired in the hellfire of media and politics, it is easy to overlook the simple truths about life in the Middle East.

: That there was civilization here before the advent of modern politics. Near Petra, Jordan.

: There is a long history here: the legacy of the Romans, and its permanence. Outsiders before modern times. Roman Amphitheater, Amman, Jordan.

: Even in modern cities, there was something here first. Original Haifa architecture, damaged and dwarfed by pervasive modernization. Wadi Salib, Haifa.

: That there are pilgrims who travel from every corner of the world to touch the history in these stones. Old City, Jerusalem.

: Those whose communities and families are torn between two warring nations. The Golan Heights.

: Those who, despite a life of faith, must always walk behind. Women's Balcony, Western Wall Cave, Jerusalem.

: That there are those who would put themselves in harm's way to defend a homeland they know of only from their dreams. Nabi Saleh.

: Those for whom modern boundaries mean little. Eastern Jordanian desert, between Amman and Baghdad.

: and that fruit still blooms in the desert. Irbid, Jordan.

: Those whose playground is composed of ancient alleys. Old City, Jerusalem.

: Those children who play in the winds of change. Bar Hai, Carmel, Haifa.

: That there are children whose homes are destroyed, victims of politics in which they have no part. Al-Araqib, Naqab.

: That soldiers are still children. Israel Train.

: and that such childhood is short-lived. Wadi Nisnas, Haifa.

: There are those who carry on the craftsmanship of their ancestors. Naqab.

: Those who keep alive the music and the culture of their ancestors. Terez Sliman concert, Akka.

: That poetry exists even in dark places. Haifa.

: That art is hidden in plain sight. Rainbow Street, Amman, Jordan.

: There are those who rap in protest, and those who listen in solidarity. DAM Concert, Fattoush, Ben Gurion St., Haifa.

: That despite everything, this day is just like any other day. Haifa.

: Against a backdrop of never-ending political gaming and war, life goes on as usual. A restaurant kitchen, Haifa.

: And that, inevitably, the end comes. Here, a moment of forgotten history. British WWI Cemetary, Haifa.

: There is a past, a present, and a future. Old City, Jerusalem.

The Power of Water

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Audrey

A comment on this blog recently suggested we discuss water issues: a loaded topic, to be sure. But I had been wanting to do a photo essay for some time, and this presented a wonderful opportunity.

So much of the Middle East’s regional identity, at least as an outsider, seems to be crafted or defined by the lack of water in its vast deserts. In media, pop culture, and history lessons, we hear far more about the significance of the desert than anything else. But all that the desert is for the Middle East, water is just as powerful of a socio-political and historical force.

I recall an evening in a popular café in downtown Amman—a city filled with Palestinian refugees and the children of Palestinian refugees and their children—when a group of elderly musicians struck up a set list of traditional Palestinian folk songs and ballads (for lack of a better description). They recalled a life next to the water, a life of fishing, exploration, and freedom. It was a life most of the audience had never known. The entire room was in or close to tears: not just for the turbulent national history it recalled, though that was certainly part of it, but also in mourning for the lost traditions of a life alongside the water.

As much as identity in the Middle East is defined by aridity, harshness, and desertification, as much as the harsh natural climate reflects the turbulent political climate, there is a distinct cultural calmness that reflects a deep abiding connection to water. Water everywhere exists just outside the conventional space-time continuum: water, at least in the Middle East, suggests promises of a better future, and it teases us with a better alternate reality.

People’s relationships with the water, and its role in crafting individual identities, is as varied as the presence of the scarce resource itself. Water is sustenance, a requirement of life, but it is also revenue and recreation. From surfing in Haifa to scuba-diving and snorkeling on the Sinai Peninsula, from both sides of the Jordan river to the Yarmouk River to the ever-dwindling Red Sea, the Tigris and Euphrates and the Nile delta, from sustenance to escapism, the Middle East is as much a story of water as it is of deserts.

: In Jordan, a small piece of land sits alongside a moment of water, whose importance was cemented many many years ago, here preserved in perpetuity or infinity, along the lines of contested territory. The golden sheen masks the torment around, thanks to the moment of water which has long since passed, and has protected this hallowed ground.

: Government buildings in Haifa are a tribute to geo-history: the sail-shaped building in the background houses the Ministry of Interior and other government agencies. Not visible, but sitting below it in the shape of a boat, are the Haifa District Courts. Built from near nothing in the 20th century, Haifa's architecture reflects the rich seafaring history of the region.

: In Sinai, the simple fact that architecture exists is thanks to the water. An impossible landscape is converted to a false oasis, a golden calf of financial gain or brief psychological respite from the harsher external realities: not a building off the shoreline is completed and lies in waste, a kilometer away people are living in tents, this land is bullet-ridden and blood-stained. Hiding behind the trellises and ornate lampposts is a truth, but perhaps one we'd rather not consider.

: A view of the Mediterranean from Haifa's Carmel offers serenity, peacefulness, fabricated elegance and modernity against a backdrop of gritty industrialism and hidden truths as the coast curves towards Akka and history lays itself bare.

: In Syria, water is an opportunity for industrialization and a necessary resource. People have been harnessing its power and potential for centuries through these water wheels. Now a tourist attraction, we are reminded that much of the Middle East has a long and fruitful relationship with water, and ought not in our collective mindset be relegated to the role of backdrop of "Lawrence of Arabia." (Photo: Ariel Azoff)

: In the Middle East, boundaries, though strict, are fluid and often unenforced. The draw of the water, or perhaps in defiance of a seemingly absurd "closed military area," their arbitrary and meaningless nature seems entirely political and completely impractical.

: Here is the heavy artillery for which the Middle East is renowned, by sea and not by sand. The foreward gun points towards the Lebanese border, soldiers on deck enjoy the sunset, and for the gulls life goes on around the chaos and volatility. A modern-day Pompeii.

: Along the Israeli-Lebanese border, we feel a hesitant comfort, or complacency, against a backdrop of militarized zones. A wonder of nature is dominated by barbed wire barricades and heavy artillery. The curve of the sea suggests there is more to be found on the other side, but human differences have trapped us here.

: Throughout the Middle East, restrictions are farcical and subject to change. Secularism and religiosity, tradition and modernity abut. A sign denoting a swimming area is dwarfed by the infinite scope of the sea and sky surrounding it. Its meager attempt to control land and water is laughable: don't swim in the swimming area, obviously.

: Modernity and tradition necessarily coexist, taking advantage of the same limited resources. Sometimes, they are at peace. Oftentimes not, as the balance tips, as it often will in the Middle East.

: On the ancient ramparts of Jaffa, the men in black consort with the beach bum. Surrounded by history and confronted by the future, there is no simpler or more difficult option than to coexist.

: Along the water, traditions jibe into and against each other. Separate in water and on land; anthropological customs extend into the uncontrollable, attempting to override the inevitable, or the delay the unavoidable. As the fence dividing the men's and women's swim areas in Akka collapses from the pressure of the waves, the minarets and steeples play together in the sunset along the land.

: Even when scarce, water is critically important: more than just basic needs or sustenance, it is a fundamental connection to something bigger than oneself or one's circumstances.

: Still, sometimes water is just a simple toy to take one's mind off impossibly difficult times, or an air conditioner of the most simple construction. Despite its rarity, it is an indulgence.

: The water provides so much: practical needs, religious ceremonies, enjoyment, sustenance, a combination of all of these. Fishing is about not just sustenance, but joy, in this simple pleasure, man's connectedness to nature is established: or perhaps here it is a resilience or a determination to make the best of what one can grab, what life puts in one's path.

: Water is an escape. Sailing on the Nile allows one a personal respite from the hustle and bustle and dingy smog of Cairo. (Photo: Ariel Azoff)

: Sinai's Red Sea is a vacation from reality, from the dirty, turbulent metropolis, into the unimaginably pristine wilderness of nearly-infinite flotation. Playtime is a complete baring of the soul, a complete release of inhibition, of concerns of "real life."

: In Haifa, an afternoon's entertainment takes place among the rocks. Enjoying what one can in a precarious situation, this is the Middle East: dodging bullets and landmines and half-covered rocks.

: In Akka, where land and homes are constantly contested, the water is cushion, a deviation from the norm. It is a way to make one's dreams come true, or pretend they are already real, when dreams might be but impossible tortures.

: Water, like the course of life itself, is both a plaything and a force to be reckoned with. Land wrong and you could lose your life without a second thought, but in the grander scheme this is not a fear worth having so you take your chances. What is there to lose?

: The nature of water itself is comforting and hallowing. It requires a lifeline, something to hold on to: faith in something simple. The love of a father, perhaps. Or that the future will bring something better than the past.

Human interaction with water in the Middle East is not unique: around the world it is sustaining and recreational at the same time. But in the Middle East, its promise of freedom and the future, its potential as an escape from the everyday, makes it perhaps a perfect identity for the Middle East.

(Photography: Audrey Farber, unless otherwise noted.)

New discriminatory law: Marriage and Family Reunification

Posted on January 12, 2012 by Audrey

According to The Daily Star:

Israel’s Supreme Court upheld a law preventing Palestinians married to Israeli Arabs from obtaining Israeli citizenship, a judicial official said on Wednesday. … In their ruling, the judges emphasised that they “recognise the right to family reunification, which respects human rights” but added that “this right must be limited to Israel.”

A Palestinian who is not a citizen of Israel, who is married to a Palestinian who is a citizen of Israel, will not be eligible for Israeli citizenship. It is not a far stretch, then, to assume that any non-Jewish spouses of non-Jewish Israelis (or perhaps even non-Jewish spouses of Jewish Israelis) will be denied Israeli citizenship. It is unsurprising, given the current trend in Israeli legislation and judicial rulings, that Jewish citizens are given more rights and preferences than non-Jewish citizens.

Insightful

Posted on January 3, 2012 by Audrey

“No skin off my pecker if New York’s more Jewish than Jerusalem. I’m not ready for Armageddon. I got bills to pay.”

Tom Robbins, Skinny Legs and All

A National Ad Campaign

Posted on December 13, 2011 by Shiri

A couple weeks ago, the Israeli Ministry of the Interior released a series of advertisements and billboards in American communities with large Israeli ex-pat populations. The ads touted taglines that included, “You will always be Israeli, but your children won’t.” Or “Before “aba” becomes Daddy, bring him back.” One ad portrays an American-Jewish man, with an Israeli woman coming home together. When they walk in to their apartment candles are lit but she seems sad and solemn. Her boyfriend/husband mistakenly thinks that she is setting the mood for a romantic night in, when in reality she is commemorating Israel’s memorial day. “They will always be Israeli, but their (foreign) partners won’t understand. Help to bring them back,” says the deep, voice over.
Continue reading →

One Small Step Forward for the Naqab Bedouin

Posted on December 6, 2011 by Ariel

The issue of the unrecognized Bedouin villages in the Naqab desert of Israel is one that I’ve written a lot about, and one that dates back to Ottoman times. Recent developments have pushed the situation to the brink, with the Israeli government’s passage of a plan to forcibly urbanize some 30-40,000 Bedouin citizens. The plan will force them off of their ancestral lands (or lands to which the Israeli army forcibly moved them in 1952) and into overcrowded towns with no jobs or infrastructure or pastural land.

The Bedouin have been fighting in the courts for their land rights for decades, with minimum progress and maximum frustration. In the last several years, the government has increased the pace of home demolitions, in some case razing entire villages to the ground.

But today, finally, some good news. A judge in southern Israel ruled Continue reading →

Monopoly

Posted on December 3, 2011 by Audrey

Syria blocks iPhones, so it’s a good thing the judge ruled on Samsung’s side. Androids are better, anyway.

Traditionally Sustainable

Posted on November 25, 2011 by Ariel

Cross-posted from www.heartsleevesblog.com, where I write about sustainable fashion.

Our Harvest be gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together, after we had gathered the fruits of our labors; they four in one day killed as much fowl, as with a little help beside, served the Company almost a week, at which time amongst other Recreations, we exercised our Arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and amongst the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted…” ~Edward Winslow, Plymouth, 1621

That’s all very well and good, but we all know how it ended for the Indians. So I’d like to dedicate this Black Friday post to indigenous peoples everywhere. Continue reading →

midthought

It's Complicated