Kaffiya and Local Meaning
The kaffiya, a traditional Arab headcloth, is rife with symbolism — most prominently in the western media, it is used to conceal the faces of resistance fighters. In the Arab world, it is ubiquitous, from a factional display of identification, a symbol of the Palestinian struggle, or a neat souvenir from the holy land. Farmers use is to protect from the sun; Arafat used it to represent the shape of Palestine on his chest; cutting edge fashion designers are weaving them into different, sometimes suggestive, garments (I’ve seen kaffiya-patterned hats, shirts, and ties). Everyone from western activists to American soldiers are wearing them as well, probably because they’re cool.
Two recent items I was forwarded indicate how powerful a symbol it is in different cultural settings outside of the Arab world.
It is being marketed as “Early Spring” chic by Urban Outfitters, the consummate re-marketer of quasi-ethnic wears, offensive products ,and occasionally racist garbs. You can buy on-line various shades of the kaffiya, from Hamas Green to Fatah black, to Hashemite/PFLP red. Of course, that kind of sales approach wouldn’t work well in the States even given its clear ploy at controversy-inducing to boost sales. So UO is calling it an “Anti-War Woven Scarf.” Bush knows he screwed when UO is selling “Anti-War” stuff, even if the company’s CEO is a contributor to the Republican Party.
On a more depressing note, one of my favorite MC’s, Detroit-based Invincible, talks about the drama she faced while on tour in East Germany over her kaffiya. There, the neo-Nazi movement adopted the symbol, as well as Palestinian solidarity, as a way to forward its anti-Jewish agenda. This puts progressive people between a rock and Israel, there. The issue came up when local folks saw her expressions of support for the Palestinian people on her myspace page. She came to the show prepared to show a PSA on Israel’s thrashing of Lebanon, and wearing a kaffiya — which, it turns out, was banned by the venue she was performing at as part of its anti-fascist, anti-racist policies.
Invincible spent some good time arguing with the promoter — with the tour manager translating — over what she could wear and/or present to the crowd. The promoter tried to make his case by showing her the preview of Jackie Salloum’s film, Slingshot Hip-Hop, as an example of what he feared she would reference(!). In the end, she wore the kaffiya and told the crowd how being against hatred and racism means being against Zionism, and how Neo-Nazi’s have no right co-opting progressive symbols to further their insidious cause. She talked to one fan who thanked her for her words and found that the Neo-Nazi’s and the response against them left little room for open discussion.
With Germany’s history, I can appreciate the sensitivity of this. The Neo-Nazi ploy is unsurprisingly desperate and destructive. I applaud Invincible for taking this head on.
Invincible at the German Holocaust Memorial in Berlin.
[hat tips: Rula, Muna, Samantha]
