The half-Palestinian, half-Egyptian Tamim al-Barghouthi, son of Palestinian poet Mourid al-Barghouthi has a long poem that he wrote after he was deported from Egypt in 2003 for taking part in an anti-Iraq war demo in which he talks about the conflicting feelings he has towards the country in which he grew up but that will always treat him as a foreigner (because his father is Palestinian, he cannot have Egyptian nationality, even though he was born there). I found to my surprise some of the things he said echoed what I felt – a kind of a love-hate relationship with this intense place, especially when he said while introducing the poem: when you are in it, you complain about it all the time, but when it is taken away from you, you suffer greatly. of course, his experience is a lot longer and more complicated, but I identified with this because can see myself appreciating certain things about this place that I complained about while I was in it all the time. He captures the conflicting feelings he has in simple but beautiful and articulate imagery.
The poem is called “They asked me: do you love Egypt, I replied I’m not sure”. Enjoy it, its really nice.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nCegZza3IM]
Related posts:
- Why I Love Egypt (part 1)
- In Memoriam: Egypt’s Constitution
- Egypt: Cheap Gas for Our Neighbors
- Egypt Torturing Blogger
- Why I Love Egypt (part 2)
because his father is Palestinian, he cannot have Egyptian nationality, even though he was born there
Apartheid.
Posted by Anonymous | May 27, 2008, 7:17 pmJust curious — would you describe your feelings about Israel in the same light? Conflicted, both love and hate?
Posted by Joe | May 27, 2008, 9:30 pma lot more hate, thank you. anyone should have the right to live anywhere they want, but not at the expense of who was living there before them.
Posted by sunbula | May 28, 2008, 1:24 amJoe will never stop trying to make people agree with him.
We are not you Joe. We will never see things as you do. You seem to want to project your ridiculousness on others and then seek confirmation that they agree. They don’t. We don’t.
Posted by safiyyah | May 28, 2008, 7:24 am“”a lot more hate, thank you. anyone should have the right to live anywhere they want, but not at the expense of who was living there before them.”"
First off: Can we agree that had the tables been turned, the Palestinians weren’t exactly keen on the Jews living with them, either? That essentially, either group would have treated the other poorly had they won, and the Israelis were the ones who happened to win, so here we are?
Not excusing anything bad that’s happened, just trying to put it in context, to calculate our balance of love versus hate.
Can’t you love Israel for *how* the Israelis live, when it’s not about Israel/Palestine?
Because long after the I/P issue gets solved, that will still be the issue — how the government in Israel lets people live, versus how governments like Egypt let people live.
In Israel, your right to demonstrate, your right to commit blasphemy, your right to unashamedly sleep with who you want to, when you want to, your right to speak out against the government, your right to hold a gay pride parade if you want to, your ability to fight back if you’re sexually harassed… all of these things are far more protected than in, say, Egypt.
Doesn’t that earn a pretty big hunk of love?
Isn’t part of the reason we feel for the Palestinians is that they’re not able to share in that lifestyle, suffering as they are?
Love for the way of life Israel allows for its own, sadness that so many more aren’t able to partake of it?
Posted by Joe | May 28, 2008, 12:17 pmWho cares about your feelings? YOU’RE NOT EVEN AN ARAB! What are you doing on this blog? Or are you an Arab trapped in an Indian’s body TOO? KABOBfestWATCH!
Posted by Programmer Buydatti | May 30, 2008, 12:28 pmi LOVE this. thanks for posting.
Posted by Hanaan | May 31, 2008, 7:40 pmthank you!
Posted by sunbula | May 31, 2008, 11:26 pm“First off: Can we agree that had the tables been turned, the Palestinians weren’t exactly keen on the Jews living with them, either? That essentially, either group would have treated the other poorly had they won, and the Israelis were the ones who happened to win, so here we are?”
No we can’t agree. Palestinians WERE living in peace with Jews until Zionists decided that wasn’t good enough and took over all of Palestine. Of course Palestinians weren’t keen on dividing up their land with a handful of Jews who were a minority and a foreign body as immigrants from Europe.
Tell me you’d willingly share the best part of your house with a stranger on the grounds that he lived there thousands of years ago and I’ll agree with you, but until then, get real.
Posted by ismellolives | June 3, 2008, 1:33 am“”Of course Palestinians weren’t keen on dividing up their land with a handful of Jews who were a minority and a foreign body as immigrants from Europe.”"
This is inherently contradictory. If they were immigrants, they weren’t a foreign body, just the same way that immigrants in America aren’t ‘foreign’, but rather, simply Americans.
“”Palestinians WERE living in peace with Jews until Zionists decided that wasn’t good enough and took over all of Palestine.”"
Uh… no?
Posted by Joe | June 3, 2008, 10:45 pm