Author Archives: Arab America

Keti: What is the main characteristic of Egyptian dance?

Farida: Egyptian dance aesthetics are bound by the Egyptian sense of beauty – often found in the arts. Egyptian Dance shares a lot of characteristics with a lot of other traditional Egyptian arts and life in general, dance is a part of Egyptian culture. The dance reflects the Egyptian temperament. The main characteristic is improvisation. Improvisation is the “state of the moment”. Improvisation is what gave the dance longevity; if the Egyptian dance forms were static they would have died out by now. Improvisation in dance is personal and it needs flexibility, not strict rules.

Keti: Has this element of improvisation in Egyptian dance resulted in new dance artforms?

Farida: Yes. Ethnologists seem to want to identify Egyptian dance arts as static, quantifiable forms – like museum pieces. But cultures, people and their arts, including dance, should be able to evolve as they wish. Egyptian dance has evolved greatly in the last century, and it continues to evolve today in modern society.
 
Keti: How did the Reda troupe work creatively with Egyptian Dance?

Farida: The first group of dances performed by the Troupe were largely inspired by inner-city Cairo (Fatimid Cairo, the heart of Cairo) and the rural societies closest to Cairo. This meant that the characters portrayed in the dances were more urban in nature. At the time the Reda Troupe was evolving, theatre design and costume design were happening concurrently – we created many new innovations in theatre dance, as well as field research throughout Egypt that resulted in dances inspired by indigenous arts. We aimed at designing new artforms to show main movements and to show the grace of those moves, without losing their characteristics. Dancing with the Milayah on stage, and the Muwashahat were theatrical innovations of the Reda Troupe.

Keti: Does Raqs Sharqi, or Egyptian bellydance share characteristics with indigenous Egyptian dance?

Farida: The core movements are similar for all – oscillation of the hips, stepping movements, the shimmy, the sway and often, colloquial gesture. The indigenous moves share basic characteristics of many core bellydance moves, because these original dances were the impetus for the development of urban dance, and many movements have been preserved through time, even though the dance itself has changed. Theatre dance, such as the dance we performed in the Reda troupe, was inspired by indigenous dance then adapted for stage – as stage has a completely different artistic aesthetic, including space and audience relationship. The European orchestra and music, as well as ballet and stagecraft, have also shaped Egyptian Raqs Sharqi.

Source: www.faridafahmy.com

The U.S. Census Bureau plans to test a new classification for people from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region for possible inclusion in the 2020 Census. This is a monumental achievement of a more than 20-year effort to address the exclusion of the MENA populations, which include Arab Americans, in federal data. Let the Bureau know that we need this change for the 2020 Census. Please sign this letter to send your message of support now.

Source: www.nnaac.org

The Church of England is investigating a Surrey vicar accused of actively promoting claims that Israel was behind the September 11 terrorist attacks.

The Rev Stephen Sizer, who has a long history of disputes with Jewish community leaders over blog postings voicing his strident views on Israel and Zionism, posted a link on Facebook to an article entitled “9/11 Israel did it” adding the comment that it “raises so many questions.”

Less than six months ago he infuriated the Board of Deputies of British Jews by taking part in a conference in Iran which was dubbed an “anti-Semitic hate-fest”.

Although he has removed the posting, he continues to defend it insisting that he was “encouraging debate” about “serious allegations” – insisting that he could not be sure Israel was not behind the 2001 atrocities in the US.

Speaking from Uganda, where he is travelling, he accused the Board of Deputies of “harassment” and said they had seized on “one little link” in order to “discredit” him.

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Nevertheless, here’s Negm’s Thursday email, in full:

From: Salah Negm
Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2015 4:43 PM
To: All Staff
Subject: To BE LEAKED

Dear all,

Another day and another leak from within, showing our vibrant editorial discussions inside the Al Jazeera newsroom. This latest leak follows a previous leaked email discussion about Charlie Hebdo and how our diverse newsroom of 50 nationalities were discussing how best to take the story forward.

I would like to state that our style guide and our editorial discussion is no secret, so these so-called “leaks” don’t, in my opinion, prove anything sinister within the newsrooms of Al Jazeera Media Network. We thrive in broadcasting to the world in its diversity.

Our editorial discussions are proof that we aspire to be as objective as possible in our coverage, language and tone.

I, as Director of News, advocate that we never leave a point of view out, while we also reach any editorial decisions which are editorially correct and not necessarily politically correct.

I, of course, believe that to be really objective we will not satisfy all, especially people who are parties in a conflict or hold diehard, ideologically driven views who are also our audiences, but a small part of the 220 million households we reach around the world.

Others may interpret these leaks as an attempt from one of the above mentioned to spread the false notion that we as Al Jazeera are creating fear or self-censorship amongst our journalists and journalism or try by these leaks to intimidate and create the self-censorship or fear among them.

Source: www.theblaze.com

In recent weeks, Western governments have begun subtly shifting their positions on Syria. The Obama administration seems to have quietly dropped its demand that President Bashar al-Assad resign as a precondition of peace talks. Instead, reports suggest it has embraced proposals that would allow Assad to be part of an interim deal. The new approach implies that the White House and its allies believe the Syrian president might be open to a compromise that could end his country’s four-year civil war.

I met with Assad on Jan. 20 in Damascus — his first interview by an American journalist since 2013. And if there was one clear takeaway from our talk, which you can read in full in Foreign Affairs, it was this: Such hopes are a fantasy. Superficially, Assad said many of the right things, appearing conciliatory and eager to involve Western governments in his struggle against Islamist terrorism. But underneath the pretty words, he remains as unrepentant and inflexible today as he was at the start of the Syrian civil war four years ago. Assad seems to have no idea how badly the war is going, how impractical his proposals sound and how meaningless his purported overtures are. Which means that, whatever Western leaders might wish, the fighting in Syria will end in one of only two ways. Either Assad will defeat the rebels. Or the rebels will defeat him — and string him up by his toes.

Source: www.washingtonpost.com

A Senate hearing opened this morning with Code Pink protesters trying to arrest former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger for “war crimes.”

The protesters, bearing signs reading “Kissinger War Criminal” and “Cambodia,” rushed up behind the 91-year-old diplomat at the witness table of the Senate Armed Services Committee, which was holding a hearing on global challenges and the U.S. national security strategy.

Also testifying were 94-year-old former Secretary of State George P. Shultz and 77-year-old former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) said he would call recess until Capitol Police removed Code Pink from the room.

“I’ve been a member of this committee for many years, and I have never seen anything as disgraceful and outrageous and despicable as the last demonstration that just took place,” McCain said, which led to shout-backs from the protesters.

“You know, you’re going to have to shut up, or I’m going to have you arrested. If we can’t get the Capital Hill Police in here immediately… Get out of here, you low-life scum,” McCain added.

“So Henry, I hope you will — Dr. Kissinger, I hope on behalf of all of the members of this committee on both sides of the aisle — in fact, from all of my colleagues, I’d like to apologize for allowing such disgraceful behavior towards a man who served his country with the greatest distinction. I apologize profusely.”

Later, when Kissinger began his opening statement, more protesters popped up in the room, screaming about Vietnam and rattling off his “war crimes.”

Source: pjmedia.com

Transparency and spatial ambiguity are the subjects of a series of large paintings whose title Bilqis is borrowed from the Arabic name of the queen of Sheba. According to the Qur’anic legend, upon entering the court of King Solomon, Bilqis mistaking its glass floor for a sheet of water lifted up her skirt to avoid getting it wet. Over the centuries, glass floors, fountains and ceramic walls alluding to glistening surfaces touched by water were combined to become the aesthetic hallmark of all palatial buildings in the Islamic world. In the process, symmetries and spatial ambiguity in visual perception was to foster the evolution of geometric abstraction in Islamic art.

The series composed of 15 geometrically abstract acrylic paintings on canvas, was conceived to be displayed in the form of 5 triptychs. In each triptych, vertical and diagonal lines intersect at variable angles to create a horizontal composition. The rhythmic sequence of forms is set in accordance with a geometric formula of proportions originally evolved in tenth century Baghdad. The transparent layers of free-flowing brushstrokes are sharply delineated by the precision of hard-edged painting. The contrasting combination recalls the words of Novalis, ‘Chaos in a work of art should shimmer through the veil of order.’ The issuing contrast of overlapping forms stirs a sense of movement punctuated by intermittent flashes of light. Contrary to a perspectival illusion of space, foreground and background become interchangeable. Seeming symmetries and refractions are perceived through the interweaving of polygons and triangles whose correspondence recalls ambiguities intrinsic to geometric arabesques.

Source: test.arabamerica.com

The political ramifications are clear: House Speaker John Boehner and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a colossal mistake by conspiring behind President Obama’s back, and the move has ricocheted on both of them.

The big, scary issue underlying the contretemps — how to deal with Iran’s nuclear program — is a more complicated story. I believe strongly that Obama’s approach, which requires the patience to give negotiations a chance, is the right one. To the extent that a case can be made for a more bellicose approach, Boehner and Netanyahu have undermined it.

Source: www.washingtonpost.com

The “Texas Muslim Capitol Day,” an event organized by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, was interrupted by protesters.

Source: www.cnn.com

“CCR, along with the Chicago civil rights law firm of Loevy & Loevy, is representing Professor Steven Salaita, whose appointment to a tenured faculty position at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign – for which he had resigned from another tenured teaching position and was preparing to move – was terminated following his public tweets criticizing the Israeli government’s recent actions in Gaza.  Salaita’s termination, which functions as a penalty for his speech on an issue of public concern, constitutes “viewpoint discrimination,” a violation of the First Amendment, and also threatens academic freedom by punishing a faculty member for speaking as a citizen on a critical issue.

Status

On January 29, 2015, CCR and Loevy & Loevy filed a complaint in federal court on behalf of Professor Salaita against the University and its officials for violations of his First Amendment right to free speech and other constitutional rights and breach of his employment contract.
Description

Professor Steven Salaita was a tenured English professor at Virginia Tech University, whose scholarship focused on colonialism, militarism and occupation and who had written well-regarded books studying Arab-American literature and criticizing Zionism.  It was on the basis of his excellent scholarly record that the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences offered Professor Salaita a tenured position in the University’s American Indian Studies department.  Based on the contract he had with the University of Illinois, Professor Salaita resigned his tenured position at Virginia Tech University and had prepared to move his family to Illinois.  Yet, one week before school was to start, Professor Salaita received a terse letter from University Chancellor Phyllis M. Wise, summarily informing him that his appointment was terminated.  It offered no reasons why.

It is clear, however, that Professor Salaita’s termination was a result of a number of posts on social media highly critical of Israeli government atrocities in Gaza in recent weeks.  The University received strong pressure from outside groups who, consistent with a broader strategy to silence Palestinian human rights activists, labeled Professor Salaita anti-semitic.  CCR has seen similar attempts to silence Palestinian activists on campuses all across the country.  Seven years of absolutely stellar teaching and scholarly evaluations for Professor Salaita totally belie claims that he would ever be “uncivil” to students in the classroom, as Chancellor Wise has since intimated.

The University’s action to repress or penalize Professor Salaita’s speech on a matter of public concern such as Israel/Palestine because of disagreement with its message is impermissible “viewpoint discrimination,” a serious First Amendment violation.  It is also no defense for the University to claim that his speech was offensive or aggressive, as the First Amendment also clearly protects the tone and manner of speech others find objectionable.  As CCR explained in our letter to Chancellor Wise, beyond the First Amendment violation committed in this instance, the University has “betrayed elementary principles of academic freedom which naturally extend protections to faculty members’ ability to ‘speak or write as citizens,’ and which must be free from ‘institutional censorship or discipline.’” 
 
The University’s betrayal of academic freedom has been met with harsh criticisms, from academic boycotts of the University, withering editorial commentary, to a petition garnering over 19,000 signatures.  A small sampling of statements in support of Professor Salaita and critical of the University of Illinois are below.
Statements of Support for Professor Salaita and Critical of University of Illinois’s Actions
Letters from Legal Organizations
Letter from Center for Constitutional Rights
Letter from Palestine Solidarity Legal Support, CAIR-Chicago and NLG-Chicago
Open Letters from Academic Organizations
Letter from American Anthropological Association (AAA)
Letter from American Association of University Professors (AAUP)
Letter from American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA)
Letter from American Historical Association (AHA)
Letter from American Political Science Association (APSA)
Letter from Arab American Studies Association (AASA)
Letter from California Scholars For Academic Freedom
Letter from Committee on Academic Freedom of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA)
Letter from Modern Language Association (MLA)
Statements from Academic Organizations
Statement by American Association of University Professors (AAUP)
Statement by American Studies Association (ASA)
Statement by the Executive Committee of the Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Statement by Cultural Studies Association (CSA)
Statement by Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA)
Statement by Society of American Law Teachers
Letters from Faculty
Letter from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign executive officers to incoming president Dr. Timothy Killeen
Letter from Constitutional Law and Free Speech Scholars
Letter from English and Literature Department Faculty
Letter from Scholars Committed to Advancing Critical and Open Perspectives on the Israel-Palestine Conflict
Letter from Scholars Who Have Traveled in Palestine
Letter from Bonnie Honig
Letter from Katherine Franke
University of Illinois Jewish Community Letter in Support of Our Professor Steven Salaita
Petitions and Academic Boycott Announcements
The US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI) Condemnation
Scholars Petition Boycotting University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
List of Over 5000 Scholars Boycotting the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign by Department
Public Petition Demanding Reinstatement
Media Commentary
Chicago Tribune: Steven Salaita: U. of I. destroyed my career
Mondoweiss: Salaita’s stellar teaching record exposes political motivation behind his firing
Inside Higher Ed: Fighting the Twitter Police
Academe Blog: Chancellor Phyllis Wise Explains the Firing of Steven Salaita
Inside Higher Ed: The Emails on Salaita
The News Gazette: UI precluded any honest debate
The Daily Illini: Termination of Salaita is Censorship
The News-Gazette: Salaita prompted donors’ fury
The Washington Post: Did the University of Illinois rescind Steven Salaita’s appointment to appease donors?

Source: www.ccrjustice.org

 Some neighbors are upset over a proposal to build a mosque at Phillips Boulevard and Yorba Avenue in Chino has upset neighbors, although the man behind the plan says they have no reason to worry.

Worshippers have been approved to use the small house on the property to pray in, but, according to Imam Mahmoud Harmoush, it’ll eventually be torn down in hopes of building a 7,000- square-foot mosque. It would be called the Al Nur Islamic Center.

“I told the man this morning, I said, ‘You’d be a welcome neighbor if you build a house there,’ ” Howard A. Forschler told KCAL9’s Crystal Cruz on Wednesday. ” ‘You build that mosque, and you’ll have hostile neighbors.’ ”

Source: losangeles.cbslocal.com

Sayed Bakr lived through a deadly missile bombardment in the darkest days of the war in Gaza.

But posing underneath a portrait of his closest brother, Mohammed, who he lost in that attack, proved too much. After volunteering to stand with the picture, the 12-year-old broke down and called for his mother.
Sayed and his friends were the target of one of the most harrowing episodes of last summer’s war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. While playing football on the beach, they came under fire from an Israeli pilot who apparently mistook them for militants.

Four boys from the Bakr family died in the missile strike and four were injured. In the immediate aftermath, Sayed was left paralysed with terror, unable to speak, writhing hysterically against a wall.

Today, more than six months later, he is one of hundreds of thousands of children in Gaza who need treatment for shell-shock.

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk