In one of the more creative Nakba commemorations, the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation held a multi-media arts competition. After receiving more than 300 pieces from 26 countries, a jury selected the most compelling works.
Selected pieces from the four categories of entries are available at an on-line gallery.
...the London Bookfair just passed last month and a number of interesting comments were made by attending Arab writers on what's up with Arabic literature these days. Although I don't fully appreciate the prominence given to Alaa al-Aswany, especially amongst the few translated into English and other European languages, just because he is suave, well-dressed and speaks English, French and Spanish. While I do agree with his point that a lot of modern Arabic literature has to be written in a way that is more accessible to the wider public (read "the masses") in the Arab world, which is not reading literature much in the past few years - I liked the quote of his where he said "Too many [Arabic] novels that start with lines like ‘I came home to find my wife having sex with a cockroach" - I think there are other examples of litterateurs who have done it better than him. Nizar Qabbani comes across as a prime example, as are Najuib Mahfouz's novels from his realist/bildungsroman phase (Cairo Trilogy, etc.). Umm Kalthoum is a great example of a cultural icon that is claimed as both "high" and "popular" culture at the same time. It's just annoying that the West has obsessed with "Muslims" and "Arabs" for so long now without ever appreciating the depth and variety of literary production in the modern period alone.
How does one a sense of the pulse of a city? Sentiments of a people? Hit to the New York City Subway to discover the sentiments of the inescapable "New York Street."
With the artful stroke of the sharpie, here are poetically depicted reactions to Islam and 9/11 on the subway station walls and on corporate in-train ads. the sentiments of the inescapable "New York Street."
The walls of the Columbus Circle stop on the 1, A,C, D, and B
A close up-zeroing in on a reaction to a reaction :
Written on top of "AN" is "Asshole" and to the left of "911" is "DREAM ON, FOOL" and there is a swastika to the bottom right of the "n" in "AN."
And finally, the ever sensitive and astute observation on Islam:
One question: Why did homeboy feel compelled to air out his grievances with God on a flower delivery ad on the 1 train???
[Tarboush tip: Shai]
Related:
VIDEO: "Islamo-Fashion: Keffiyeh infiltrates our nation's youth"
STORY: Modern Chronology of the Kaffiya Kraze
Sorry to use such a cliche title, but I did so in jest. Almost every publication about Arab women throws in the word veil.
A very nice profile of three female, Arab film directors appeared in today's Christian Science Monitor, the only somewhat worldly American newspaper. I am yet to see any of their work, but I will the first chance I get.
Kudos to the establishment newspaper for running an non-ideological review of DAM's album, "Dedication." DAM, for those who don't know, is the premier Palestinian hip-hop group.
LOST TRACKSDOWNLOAD THESE:"Da DAM" ("It's DAM"), "Mali Huriye" ("I Don't Have Freedom"), "Usset Hub" ("A Love Story")
Good CDs We Overlooked Last Year
Wednesday, January 9,
2008; C04
Washington
Post
DEDICATION
D.A.M.
Successful American rap artists squandered their political bully pulpit long ago. Now they're bullies, plain and simple. But abroad, hip-hop is still the voice of the oppressed, influencing politics and moving the masses.
From the Middle East comes D.A.M. (Da Arabic MCs), three Palestinian rappers and citizens of Israel who mock the widely accepted notion of equal rights for so-called "Israeli Arabs." In so doing, D.A.M. has become one of the most powerful and popular cultural voices for the global Palestinian diaspora. Its first single, 2001's "Min Irhabe?" ("Who's the Terrorist?"), was reportedly downloaded more than 1 million times from D.A.M.'s Web site.
Its follow-up track, "Born Here," was rapped in Hebrew in a direct appeal to Israeli youth. In 2007, D.A.M. visited the United States to support its first full album, "Dedication," a collection of political anthems rapped almost entirely in Arabic, but packaged cleverly for the English-speaking consumer with liner notes and translated lyrics.
D.A.M.'s cross-cultural approach is largely the work of its leader, Tamer Nafar, who began his career in the late 1990s as a member of a peacefully coexisting posse of Jewish and Palestinian rappers led by Israeli rapper Subliminal. When the Second Intifada ignited and negotiations withered, it also severed the friendship of Subliminal and Tamer, each taking a more polar, polemical stance in a public war of words.
D.A.M.'s rappers aren't demagogues. "Don't grab a gun, grab a pen and write," Mahmoud Jreri raps in Arabic on "Change Tomorrow." But their indictment of Israel is unflinching. So it's ironic that one of the most powerful songs on "Dedication" is "Usset Hub," literally "A Love Story," exploring the metaphorical minefield of young love within the confines of a closed and enclosed community. Even in Palestine,
politics need a break.
-- Dan Charnas
It is no surprise that Bethlehem gets a lot of press this time of year, even if it feels like a prison from what I hear. As it is the obvious, if important, story I appriciate it when other dimensions of the Palestinian-Christian community receive some attention. I recently came across two such examples. The first about Christians in Gaza, preparing for their first Christmas under Hamas rule and the second about the W. Bank Christian village of Taybeh and its Christmas concert:
...an unlikely group of fine musicians – including Christians, Jews and Muslims – ventured through the darkness and winter cold last Wednesday to converge on this hilltop town to perform a Christmas concert of baroque music against a backdrop of sadness and war – sadness because Christians are fleeing the Holy Land in disturbing numbers and war because this is the Middle East, where armed conflict seems as deeply embedded in the rocky soil as olive trees, religion and tombs.Although it may irk some, it is worth remembering that a lot of the renaissance music trotted out for Christmas easy listening has strong roots in the musical traditions of Arab-Andalusia. Of course, another reason Bethlehem has gotten a lot of attention is the "Santa's Ghetto" art show. Project like this are what Iraqi artist Qasim Sabti, might describe as "engaged art":But on this night there was song, and it was song that brought a Canadian visitor here, on a winding, starlit drive through deep canyons and over lofty ridges, past an Israeli military checkpoint and into Taybeh, an ancient community where Jesus once sought refuge from his enemies.
During the widespread looting in the wake of the invasion, "more than 5,000 books from the Academy of Fine Arts were stolen and destroyed," the former professor of the institute explained."I found many badly damaged books, partly burnt with their pages torn out, scattered throughout the neighborhood. I collected them up with a heavy heart and asked myself what I should do with them," he said.
"Then I got the idea to do this series of art works, using the bindings of the ruined books. They clearly show what has become of my city under American occupation; a place where culture has disappeared; a place where weapons and religion are everything."
For his homepage and examples of his wonderful art check out his website. While on the 
subject of art, it is worth noting the passing of one of the Muslim world's best, Amin Ismail Gulgee who was murdered in his home in Pakistan. Gulgee was a master of figurative, abstract and calligraphic art. I couldn't find one webpage that did him justice, but a few examples can be found, here.
Peep the lastest the a-Rab, the student-produced publication out of Berkeley. Great articles, and art. And donate some loot to them if you can.
