Global Voices Online » 2007 » November

Stories

Egypt: Those People

Gr33nData · 23:09

lingua → zht · zhs · es

The Egyptian blogger Ohod writes here some short stories about people whom he have met in his childhood and how life changed them when they grew up.

He starts with Akram:

كان أكرم هو أول ملحد تراه عيني ، فبينما كنت في الصف الثاني الإعدادي زاملني في الفصل ، أظنني حينها كنت في الثانية عشرة ، و كان يكبرني بعام ، زرت بيتهم مرة ، و وجدت لديه مكتبة كبيرة ، كانت تخص أباه الذي لم أدرك مهنته ، و أعطاني رواية لاحسان عبد القدوس . كنا لا نقرأ سوى الروايات حينها. و أطعمني جبنا أبيضا من دمياط بلده الأصلي ، و خبزا ساخناً.
بعد أسبوع كنا في المدرسة في حصة الألعاب ، وجدت زحاما حول مكرم ، عدوت نحو الزحام لأشاهد ، وجدته يلعب الكرة ، و لكنه استخدم مصحفا صغيرا جلديا من النوع الذي يغلق بسَحّاب.
كان يقوم بذلك مع صديق له آخر ، كان الأولاد و البنات يشاهدون في فتور ، أو ضحك مكتوم ، أما أنا فقد كنت لازلت ذلك الفتى الذي ورد حديثا من بلاد النفط ، فثرت و اغتظت و ثارت حميتي الدينية ، قطعت علاقتي بأكرم . ترفعت تماما عن محادثته بكثير من الفوقية ، و لم نتكلم لعام حتى تركت أنا المدرسة.
علمت السنة الماضية من صديق قديم قابلته صدفة أن أكرم قد أطال لحيته منذ أعوام ، و أن له نشاط و تحركات مع اتجاه اسلامي ما ، و أنه تنازل عن مكتبته كلها لصديق قديم بعد وفاة أبيه

Akram was the first atheist I saw in my life as he was in the same class with me in preparatory school. I guess I was 12 years old then, and he was about one year older. I went to visit him at home once, where I found many books, which were owned by his father, whose profession I didn't know. He then gave me a novel written by Ehsan Abdel Quddos. We then used to read nothing but novels. We ate Damyetan white cheese, as he was originally from Damietta, and bread.
A week later, we were in school where I found a big crowd gathering around Akram. I went to see what's going on, and I found him playing football with another boy, but he was using The Quraan instead of the ball. The other students where just watching or even laughing. But I was just back from the Land of Petroleum (Gulf Countries), so I went mad and ended my relationship with him. I didn't talk to him any more till both of us left the school.
Last year I heard from an old friend, that Akram had grown a beard some years ago and that he is an active member in some Islamic Movement, and that he gave all his father books to a friend of his after his father died.

He then introduces us to a girl called Rehab.

كانت من فلسطين ، تسير في المدرسة بالحطة التقليدية على كتفها طوال الوقت ، كانت شديدة الفتنة و النضج ، طويلة ممشوقة كعارضة، ليست طفلة مثل الزميلات الأخريات. لم أعرف سنها ، فلم تكن لتحادثني أبدا.
كنت كثيرا ما أستمع من العديدين حول سلوكها الإباحي ، و ألفاظها الخارجة ، و علاقاتها المتعددة مع شباب المدرسة الأكبر.
حتى أتى اليوم الذي كنت ألعب الكرة في حوش المدرسة ، و طارت الكرة بعيدا لتسقط في مكان قصي في المدرسة ، جريت خلف الكرة ، و التقطتها ، و بينما أدور عائدا للعب شاهدت لأول مرة رحاب - في ذلك المكان القصي – جاثمة على ركبتيها و هي تلعق قضيب “صادق” ، أحد الزملاء.
و كانت هذه هي أول معرفتي بهذا التقليد الجنسي ، و أنا بعد ابن ١١ عاما ممسكا بكرة مهترئة ، و أتصبب عرقا.
شاهداني ، رفعت رأسها و نظرت نحوي .. ارتبكت أنا بشدة - كان فمها مبللا و شفتاها منفرجتان - عدوت نحو الحوش و أكملت اللعب ، و لم أخبر أحدا بما رأيت.
بعد سنوات كثر ، سمعت عن رحاب قصتين ، و كلاهما مؤكدتان بشدة ممن شاركوا فيهما، و تنتهيان نفس النهاية ، الأولى أنها عرفت طريق الفضيلة و ارتدت الحجاب ، و أخذت في نصح فتيات المدرسة لارتدائه ، و أصبحت من أشهر فتيات المدرسة خلقا و علما ، ثم رحلت عن مصر بعد عام لأهلها في الضفة.
أما الثانية ، فإنها لم تترك طريق الإنحلال ، و كانت لها علاقات مع فتيان و فتيات ، و أنها لم تكن تتحرج من إقامة علاقات ثنائية و ثلاثية في الفراش ، إلى أن ذاعت شهرتها بشدة ، و احتجزت لليلة في القسم ، فآثرت الرحيل عن مصر بعد عام لأهلها في الضفة.

She was from Palestine, and used to put on the traditional Palestinian scarf while in school. She was so attractive and mature, tall like models and not childish like my other school mates. I never knew her real age as she never talked to me.
I used to hear many rumours about her erotic behaviour, impolite words, and her relations with many older boy students in the school. One day, while I was playing football in the playground, and the ball bounced away. I ran after the ball to get it, and while I was turning to get back, I saw her kneeling on her knees licking Sadek's (a school boy) privates. It was the first time to learn about oral sex - an 11 year old holding a football in his hands and sweating.
They saw me, and she gave me that look that confused me so much - her mouth was still wet and her lips were wide open - I ran back towards the playground and continued playing and never told any body about what I saw.
Many years later I heard two stories about her, and both of them were confirmed by the ones who told them to me, and they both had the same end. The first story was that she became virtuous, put on the Islamic veil (Hijab) and started preaching other school girls. She became one of the most well known students by her virtue and chastity, and one year later she left Egypt back to her motherland in Palestine. However, the other story was that she never quit her deviated and immoral life, and she continued having relations with other boys and girls. Her reputation was tarnished and was put in jail for one night and then she decided to leave Egypt back and return to her family in West Bank in Palestine.

And the final story here is about Derendawy.

عندما أقرأ عن عبقرية موتسارت ، لا أتعجب كثيرا ، فلقد عرفت في طفولتي و مراهقتي معجزة مشابهة ، كان الدرناوي ، طفل من أسرة راقية في هليوبوليس ، يعزف ستة آلات باحتراف ، و صاحب أفضل قدرة علي التحليل الموسيقي شاهدتها ، و لم يدرس الموسيقى أبدا ، علم نفسه القراءة الصولفائية و التدوين و الهرمنة ، و هو ابن ١٣ عاما ، بلا كمبيوتر أو انترنت ، فقط كتب عديدة مصورة من مكتبة السفارة الامريكية ، كان ذو قدرة مدهشة على عزف أية أغنية يسمعها بكافة تآلفاتها الهارمونية ، أي تتابع الدوائر في التوزيع و خطوط الآلات ، و ليس اللحن الاساسي فقط.
و أذكر أنه كان يعزف كافة خطوط مقدمة أغنية “سپانش كراڤان” للدورز و كأنه فرقة كاملة ، علما بصعوبة المحتوى الكونرابنطي و الهارموني لها بالنسبة لطفل (أو بالغ) . و ربما يكون المواطن الوحيد الذي كان يحفظ مؤلفات باخ سماعيا ، و يؤديها كعازف بيانو عتيد.
درناوي كان ضحية أزمة عائلية و انفصال في الاسرة ، و رغم ظروفه المادية المتيسرة إلا أنه راح عرضة لاكتئاب شديد ، و قضى أشهرا يعزف الموسيقى وحيدا في غرفته المظلمة ، حتى أقنعته بالخروج ، و الانضمام للاصدقاء. و لكنه لم يستمر كثيرا.
أسر لي بعد عام أنه يحب فتاة ما ، كنت أعرفها ، و أعرف أنها تحب شخصا آخر .
أخبرته ، فازداد سوداوية ، و عندما اشرف على الخامسة عشرة كان مدخنا محترفا لكافة أنواع المخدرات.
و كان يدخن المخدرات منذ بداية يومه بلا انقطاع.
قابلته بعد ٤ سنوات ، لاحظت تركيزه قد ضعف جدا ، و أن يده ترتعش، بدون أن أسأل عرفت أنه هجر الموسيقى.
أما الفتاة التي أحبها سِرّا لسنوات ، تركت حبيبها الكلاسيكي لاحقاً – ذلك الذي حسده برماوي لسنوات - ، ثم تزوجت شابا اسطوريا في غضون أشهر ، و لم تصبح أي شيء يذكر .
هو قد سألني عنها في لقائنا الأخير.
أخبرته أنها تنتظر مولودا.

When I used to hear about Mozart as a genius, I was never astonished, and I met a similar miracle in my childhood. Derendawy was from a classy family in Heliopolis. He used to play six musical instruments professionally. He had the best ability in analysing music I have ever seen. He didn't study music, but he self-taught himself music notes and harmony, while he was still 13 years old and without access to the computer or Internet and just by reading a few books from the American Embassy library. He had incredible abilities to play any music he listens to.
Derendawy was a victim of his parents' divorce, and despite his luxurious life he had severe depression and spent many months just playing music alone in a dark room. I then convinced him to go out and join our friends but it didn't last for a long time.
He once told me that he used to love some girl, whom I knew, and I knew that she was in love with someone else.
And when I told him about this, he became more desperate, and by the age of 15 years he was used to smoking the different kinds of drugs continuously.
I met him FOUR years later, but his concentration was so distracted, and his hands were shaking and I knew that he quit playing music even without the need to ask him.
And the girl he used to love, has left her old lover later on - the one whom Derendawy used to envy so much - and married another gigolo guy after few months.
He asked me about her when we met lately, and I told him that she is expecting a baby.

Ohod then comments on those stories. He notes:

أتعجب كيف تعكس قصصا بسيطة كهذه ، عوالم كاملة قي تغيرت لغير رجعة.

I wonder how such simple stories as these can change our entire world totally.

0 comments · »»

Iran: Arrest and Destruction

Hamid Tehrani · 22:51

lingua → jp · ar · es · zhs · zht

Martyam Hosseinkhah The Iranian government has continued its policy of repression against women's rights activists and Sufi Muslims in recent weeks. Maryam Hosseinkhah, a women’s rights activist and journalist was arrested a few days ago, and a Sufi Muslims’ Center was destroyed by security forces about one week ago.

Target: Women’s rights activists

Maryam Hossienkhah is a member of the Women’s Cultural Center. She is an active member of the One Million Signatures Campaign. She was arrested only a few days after the website of the Women's Cultural Center was shut down on the order of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance and the Judiciary.

Change for Equality writes on November 17:

“She was interrogated for over 2 hours on Saturday and told that she is charged with disruption of public opinion, propaganda against the state, and publication of lies through the publication of untrue news items on the site of the Women’s Cultural Center and the One Million Signatures signature campaign.

Change for Equality says the arrest of Maryam Hosseinkhah marks the continuation of increased harassment of women’s rights activists by Iranian security forces. To date, over 40 individuals have been arrested in relation to their peaceful activities in support of the Campaign

Negarka says [Fa]: “Free Maryam Hosseinkhah, she is a brave girl who just wrote for the freedom, justice and glory of her country.”

Farideh Gheyrat, a jurist, argues [Fa] that her arrest is illegal. Shirin Ebadi, a Noble Peace laureate, is one of her lawyers.

Islamic Republic vs Sufi Muslims

Women's rights activists are not the only recent target of government. Sufi Muslims (Dervishes) had a Center attacked and destroyed last week.

Mohammad Ali Abtahi, former reformist Iranian vice president, says [fa]:

In the difficult political, economic and international situation the country is experiencing, there was a row with Sufis in Boroojerd and their house of worship was destroyed. Sufis trying to defend their house of worship started fighting back as well. Meanwhile the house of worship was destroyed. A similar event occurred in Qom.

Azad Nevis says[Fa] the government’s reason to repress Sufism is not related to their ideology or religion. The blogger says the Iranian government represses whenever a group of people can organize themselves and have a leader.

6 comments · »»

Colombia: Pictures of Senator with FARC Leaders

Juliana Rincón Parra · 21:22

lingua → es · pt · zht · zhs

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez is meeting with members of the FARC and Colombian envoys to arrange a humanitarian exchange, where Colombian hostages like former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and Clara Rojas who have been captive for more than 10 years would be released in exchange of certain actions the Colombian government would have to take. Some pictures taken during the humanitarian exchange discussions stuck like a thorn in many bloggers' sides.

A photo gallery of the pictures in question can be found at the Bolivarian Press Agency's site.

For a bit of background, Kate, in A Colombo-Americana´s perspective, writes:

The humanitarian exchange [is] to be realized between the Colombian government and the FARC terrorists. Colombians have been divided on this topic; some feel that the negotiation is good, in that FARC will have a chance to prove itself to be trustworthy, with a more long-term goal being that they will become a formal political actor; others have condemned this mediation as a way in which the FARC will make lofty promises without fulfilling their end of the bargain, as their past track record, coupled with the way they have viciously affected thousands of Colombian families, leaves much to be desired.

One of the mediators, chosen by Colombia's president Álvaro Uribe Velez, is the opposition´s Senator Piedad Córdoba, and the polemic pictures from APB (Bolivarian Press Agency) have leaders of the terrorist group FARC arm in arm with Senator Córdoba, who is wearing a matching beret and holding a flower bouquet with a slight smile in her face.

El Observador Solitario [es], in his post titled “Keep your friends close and your enemies even closer” writes about how this decision to have Piedad Córdoba from the opposition sent to discuss the humanitarian exchange, is futile. He supports his theory with two points, mentioning that not only are the FARC´s conditions for the exchange ludicrously high at this point, but that the FARC is currently divided. This agreement would only take place with a fraction of the insurgent organization, and that currently the FARC has the upper hand now that they've expanded into Venezuela and have found a safe haven there.

According to blogger Víctor Solano, Piedad Córdoba has mentioned that the pictures were taken out of context, [es] that she had just snatched the beret from one of them as a joke and that she was surprised with the bouquet between her hands.

Ricardo Buitrago [es] writes sharply in his post “Piedad's offensive hug”:

La foto del emotivo abrazo de la senadora Piedad Córdoba con los jefes de las FARC, en su reciente reunión en el palacio Miraflores constituye una nueva bofetada del grupo insurgente, que con la indolencia y permisividad de quienes se proclaman defensores del pueblo, han hecho del dolor de los familiares de la victimas del conflicto y del pueblo colombiano, rey de burlas. No se le podía olvidar a quien abraza efusivamente a los subversivos, que estos fueron los que cometieron el atroz crimen de los 11 diputados, los mismos que han efectuado cualquier cantidad de atentados con numerosas victimas en el país, los que trafican con drogas y los que tienen a numerosas personas retenidas en condiciones de cautiverio infrahumanas.

The photographs of the emotive hug between Senator Piedad Córdoba and the FARC leaders, in their recent meeting in the Miraflores palace [in Venezuela] represents the newest slap in the face from the insurgent group, which with the indolence and permissiveness of those who proclaim themselves defenders of the people, have made the pain of the families of all the victims of the conflict and the Colombian people in general, a laughing matter. She shouldn't have forgotten that she was effusively hugging the subversives, those are the ones who committed the heinous crime of the 11 deputies, the same who have orchestrated countless attacks with numerous victims in the country, those who traffick in drugs and who have held numerous people as hostages in inhumane conditions.

Puerto Rican Nelson del Castillo in ABP defended the pictures and the gesture they portray in an article titled: Piedad Cordoba´s smile is an antidote to despair. [es]

¡Vaya error de Piedad Córdoba! Sonreír en medio de conversaciones conducentes, esperamos, a la liberación de prisioneros y, además, colocar en su cabeza una boina que posiblemente simboliza la siembra de confianza.

What a mistake for Piedad Córdoba! Smile in the midst of conducive conversations, or so we hope, for the liberation of prisioners, and besides, placing a beret on her head may possibly symbolize the sowing of trust.

Some, like Víctor Solano in Desnudos (untying knots) [es] stand on a wary middle ground, waiting to see what happens, and hoping it´ll all be worth it in the end. He writes that the pictures raise his suspicions of Cordoba's work with Venezuela's president Hugo Chávez and the FARC. Nevertheless, they are the only concrete actions that have been taken to reach the humanitarian exchange which would allow hostages to return to their homes and it is up to Senator Piedad Córdoba to prove that all this fraternization with Chavez and las FARC will be conducive to firm actions.Víctor closes his separate article in ¿Comunicación? [es] with the following phrase:

Si Córdoba quiere fortalecer su gestión debe tener claro que comunica tanto lo que dice como lo que no dice; lo que muestra como lo que esconde.

If Córdoba wishes to strengthen her mission she must be clear in what she is communicating, both in what she says and doesn't say, what she shows and what she hides.

4 comments · »»

Caribbean: Blogalization

Janine Mendes-Franco · 15:03

lingua → es

In December 2005, Georgia Popplewell had a conversation with Creolese blogger Guyana-Gyal. When asked what role blogs and blogging could play in the Caribbean region, Guyana-Gyal referred to the term “blogalization”, saying:

I don't know who coined it…I first used it in June, then found others have been using it before. In some small way, can blogging for the Caribbean be like globalization? I know globalization has some folks out there who knock it, and I won't get into that. But I think that blogalization can do wonders. What I'm trying to say is that maybe blogalization can be like the positive aspects of globalization. But blogging has helped me in other ways as well. It's given me confidence to express myself, given me a voice…I think eventually, voices that usually go unheard might get heard thanks to blogging.

I thought it might be interesting to get other regional perspectives on the term and three Caribbean bloggers stepped up to the plate: Gallimaufry and Pull! Push! from Barbados and Now Is Wow from Trinidad…

Pull! Push! thinks “blogalization is a big, clumsy, mouthful of a word”:

Globalization has different meanings for different people, so I do not like to compare it to Blogalization, although there may be one or two similarities.
I think that Blogalization is something completely different, but what it is exactly, I don't know. All I can say is that by me writing this and you (hopefully) reading it on a blog somewhere and leaving a comment, or not leaving a comment, we're both taking part in Blogalization. Maybe it's as simple as that? The Internet, and the Web in particular, have allowed us all, or the vast majority of us, to communicate freely, anytime and anywhere.

Elspeth at Now Is Wow agrees:

Through blogalization, the world becomes smaller as people connect intangibly (and sometimes, eventually tangibly) with distant others who share similarities.

She also thinks it has become somewhat of a lifestyle…

I think ‘Blogalization' refers to the wave of people who now write and read blogs regularly and see it as a part of their day (akin to drinking coffee, reading papers or checking e-mail).

…while Gallimaufry is excited about the opportunities it presents:

As the Caribbean blogosphere grows, the opportunities it offers are becoming more apparent. The whole phenomenon of blogging provides outlets for expression that we didn't have before, and outlets for imagination. That's very important because it removes some of the aura of exclusivity or remoteness from the literary and visual arts, and encourages people to explore and exhibit
their creativity in ways that might not have occurred to them before. I've seen people move from having photoblogs, or from posting a few poems or essays, to self-publishing a coffee table book or an anthology, so I think blogging is an important gateway…

Through blogging, she says, people are more willing to “put their art or opinions out there” - they realise they have something to say and finally believe that it is worthy of an audience. Amit at Pull! Push! agrees:

What makes us think that the world is interested in what the Caribbean has to say? I'd like to think that they are interested and are listening. I'm not an expert on sociology, but I believe humans are social animals, and are curious as well. We feel a need to communicate and to share our experiences with others. We also want to learn about and from others.

At first, Elspeth wasn't convinced that blogalization had any particular relevance to the Caribbean as opposed to anywhere else in the world:

Blogging is blogging and it connects people wherever they are. But I suppose one thing it does is to show a new face for the Caribbean…especially where, even in this day and age, there are (still) those who think that Caribbean people live in trees and are primitive and backward. Blogalization must have changed that perspective to a large degree.

Amit adds:

We are active participants in the global economy and suffer and/or benefit from things like globalization. There is also the knowledge the rest of the world gains from reading Caribbean blogs/sites. It lets them know that we are here, so tread lightly because what you ‘big boys' say and do, has a way of affecting us sooner or later. We are not a lesser people, we have rights, feelings, thoughts and most importantly, we have our own voice!

Gallimaufry also believes that blogging has done a lot for transparency in the region:

As the popularity of Barbados Free Press attests, I think blogs can also serve as a medium for activism and agitation, a way to bring issues to light that would otherwise have languished in darkness. At every family gathering I've been to this year, someone has mentioned something from BFP (it helps that it's an election year, of course, so people are in the politics-talking mood anyway); it's even come up at meetings - so I think that the blog as an avenue for comment and critique and analysis and discussion could also be a big thing in the region, politically and socially.

It has also given her more of a world view:

Since I began reading blogs from the Bahamas and Jamaica and Trinidad and Guyana and St. Kitts and Grenada and St. Vincent and Aruba and Cuba and the Caribbean diaspora in the US and Canada and the UK, I think of myself more as not just a Barbadian, but a Caribbean person. Blogging gives me a chance to connect in a way I couldn't before, with other Caribbean people and
their day-to-day lives and to discover commonalities and debate differences.

Gallimaufry hopes that Caribbean people will “start moving towards more networking, more collective pan-Caribbean blogging” and is “really looking forward to the things that are to come…there's the potential for so much more”:

I think the best thing about blogalization is that it involves using technology (which used to be perceived as something maybe sort of dehumanising and impersonal) to make things more personal and make people more connected - to make us all more human to each other, which draws us closer together.

Pull! Push! sums it up rather well:

‘Blogalization?' I think it's just a new word for something that people have been doing since time immemorial, and that is: People telling stories, people listening and people conversing. The Internet and the Web have just made these things available to everyone and anyone, no matter where you are.

1 comment · »»

Tajikistan: Blast in the Dushanbe - Plot or Not?

Vadim Sadonshoev · 07:15

Last week the bomb explosion frightened the whole population of Tajikistan, killing one person. As Josh Foust of Registan reports, early in the morning - at around 8 a.m., Dushanbe time, a poor street cleaner picked up a plastic bag, which exploded in his hands. It happened near the administrative venue “Kohi Vahdat”, not far from the Presidential Palace. “Kohi Vahdat” is a popular place for holding big conferences, including international ones. It is also close to the Uzbek embassy, commercial First MicroFinance Bank, prestigious Hotel Avesto and some other important buildings, but the people's attention was focused solely on the President's Palace.

As usually, the person killed by the blast supposed to have no links to the bomb itself. If it happened one hour later, the number of victims would have been higher, mostly comprised by the participants of the Regional Meeting for Environmental Risk Reduction in Central Asia, organized by the European Commission. The event was moved to another venue, but already in the afternoon the participants - representatives of international organizations and higher state officials - got back to “Kohi Vahdat” after the police finished the on-site investigation. Some experts assume that the bomb could have been addressed to the governmental officials and, more likely, to Prime Minister Okil Okilov. (more…)

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