Wow, it seems that even t-shirts are now subject to censorship, as Debbie Almontaser has now learned. Worse still, is that mainstream media, such as the IHT article, seem to have bought into the thinking that there is something wrong with the word.
The dreaded "I" word: intifada. "Intifada" literally means "shaking up" - there is nothing "highly charged" about it. But there is another "I" word that is highly charged: Israel - a settler-colonial entity that privileges one group of people over another; an entity that has dispossessed millions; an entity that uses missiles and tanks against stateless, dispossessed refugees. That is the "highly charged" word, folks; not the "I" word that aims to "shake up" the status quo.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Using the "I" Word
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19 comments:
Do you hate all israelis `Honest Question
check out this story on the same topic: http://a-rab.net/intifada-usa-tshirt-who-is-afraid-of-arabic
maybe i should have linked it: http://a-rab.net/intifada-usa-tshirt-who-is-afraid-of-arabic. sorry.
The dreaded "I" word: intifada. "Intifada" literally means "shaking up"
It doesn't matter what you think it means. It matters what normal people think it means. Normal people think it means murder. If you aren't comfortable with that, then maybe you should hop into your time machine and tell Yassir Arafat not to use it that way, no?
there is nothing "highly charged" about it.
Oh, yeah, I can't think of a single reason why New Yorkers might object to a T-Shirt at an Arab school that says "Intifada NYC" - who the hell wouldn't want a Palestinian style Intifada in their neighborhood?
Maybe we should have the Western kids in the Arab world wear T-Shirts that say "Crusade in Cairo 2007" and such shit like that? Maybe we could put a nice bloody cross on it as well? After all, Crusade doesn't really mean slaughter of the heretics and infidels. It just means a "struggle" and stuff. I'm sure nobody would object to a little free speech.
And another thing. There is no "Freedom of Expression" right here. That is a public school, run by the government. Debbie Almontaser is (was) a government employee at that school.
And can somebody please tell me why Arabs are too good to send their kids to the same public schools that all the other kids go to? Why does there have to be a public school just for Arabs? Shouldn't that be a private school?
Point to me where all the public (and government funded)schools for Latino kids, black kids, Italian kids, Irish kids, Ukrainian kids, and all the other ethnic groups we have in the United States, are? Somebody?
In what way is this not racism? What would happen if somebody set up a school here where I live that as only for white kids? Isn't that called "segregation"?
What do you think about that, QuiQui?>
Yes, and jihad just means a peaceful, internal struggle.
Why don't you print up some Jihad-NYC shirts, Diana.
This post couldn't be more disingenuous if it tried.
The best part is that it starts with a "wow."
That's the point where hypocrisy morphs into insanity - the very first word.
Nice job, Diana.
Programmer Craig (i.e. - idiot),
There are other PUBLIC ethnic schools in New York. Among them is the well-knonw Shuang Wen Academy that teaches in both English and Mandarin.
Despite what your racist self might think, Arabs aren't asking to be the exception.
Oh, and just because Zio-trash may interpret "intifada" to mean "murder" - doesn't mean it does. After all, Zionists hardly constitute the majority of this world's "normal people." Far from it...
If you want to get technical, more people on this planet interpret "Israel" to mean "colonialism" and "ethnic cleansing".
But I guess the majority of these people live in the "developing world" - and are thus irrelevent. Right Programmer Craig?
Seriously - do you actually think things through before posting or are you just naturally an idiot?
Welcome back, Splinter.
Splinter,
http://www.insideschools.org/fs/school_profile.php?id=13
2004 REVIEW:The Shuang Wen Academy, opened in 1998, is a small experimental school designed to teach children to be fluent in both Chinese and English. It attracts both English-speaking families who want their children to learn Chinese and Chinese-speaking families who want to ensure that their children are literate in Chinese.
That's not an "ethnic school" - that is a school meant to teach young children to be fluent in Mandarin Chinese. That is the beginning and the end of it's purpose. Nothing "cultural" or "political". Nothing "ethnic".
By the way, the majority of Chinese immigrants to the United States do not speak Mandarin, they speak Cantonese. But Mandarin is the official language of China.
As for your bullshit assertions about what words *really* mean, who gives a fuck? The words have associations in the real world, nobody cares what they mean on paper. Except you. Why is it that you care so much about trying to convince people that words used to promote violent criminality can be interpreted to mean something else? Do you really think everyone else is so stupid?
Whether "intifada" means violence or not - there's nothing wrong with an intifada being violent if it's meant to overthrow a violent regime.
People who wear intifada t-shirts support this resistance. That's their right - whether in public school or not.
Roy, that's not the point. The point is that a government employee and school principal (of an Arab school in New York) is involved with an organization that is promoting an "Intifada" in New York City.
While at the same time she claims that the school is not involved in Arab political issues.
But to address the point you do raise:
That's their right - whether in public school or not.
I've seen a number of highly publicized cases of children being expelled (or suspended) from public schools for wearing t-shirts with offensive or controversial political or religious statements printed on them. You haven't?
That wasn't the real roy, either. It was Muhammad al-Roy, who occasionally posts under my name.
The shirt isn't "promoting an intifada in New York City" - it's showing pride in NYC residents' support for the intifada abroad. That's a major difference.
Yes, I've heard of students getting suspended for controversial t-shirts, but I don't condone that either. I want to live in an America that's free of censorship - in all its forms.
I'm not stealing a name. My name is roy too.
My name is also roy.
So is mine.
Mine is too.
Hey, me too!
http://i-randall.blogspot.com/2007/08/little-intifada-now-and-then-is-good.html
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