Bougainvillea & Jasmine: Inspirations of Colorful Voices

By: Mehrunisa Qayyum

Like most nations’ capitols, Washington, DC screams politics and often “out-shouts” other voices. Art has a voice—but sometimes it amounts to only a whisper because artists do not always receive the support and credit due to them. However, the Jerusalem Fund opened its two-way doors of culture by hosting a Tunisian artist’s exhibit shortly after Tunisia’s “Jasmine Revolution”. If it were not for cultural centers and organizations, this writer would be limited to the political side of Tunisia and miss the other historical, cultural, and humanistic depictions of Tunisia. Attending the Jerusalem Fund’s art exhibit of Ms. Zohra Benhamida (Facebook) afforded an opportunity for non-Tunisians to view Tunisia as a myriad of cultures and voices that protested for human dignity in mid-January —not just the shouts. read

Hyperventilating Over Hypernova

So I’m really sick of the western media’s over glorification of Arab and Muslim bands just because they are such and play heavy metal or hard rock, especially that they usually suck at it. Somehow playing lousy head banging musing is akin to the resurgence of civilization in this savage world. So I almost tuned away when NPR had another report about the Iranian rock band Hypernova… I hesitated because the alternative is some Jesus channel, only to find out that these guys are not bad, and I’m usually not a fan of the devil’s music.

Ugly Christmas Sweaters

Seen around this joyful weekend… You think you can do better, try your hands at it, and email it to KABOBfest if you think you can impress the force. [Traboush Tip: QuiQui, the Sweater Fairy ]

Idiotic Right-Wing Poster Designed by a Palestinian-American?

The new right-wing icon that represents their fear and animosity towards President Obama is a poster of the president wearing the clown makeup of the Joker character in the last Batman film. The vicious, sadistic character unleashes public disorder by undermining the government and overturning the basic mores of society. For right-wingers, that is socialism.

The analogy is a flawed one since they also accuse him of centralizing government, of creating a big order. This is something the Joker had no interest in. He preferred the dystopian vision of anarchy, the one that has protesters at town hall meetings armed with hand guns, and using them.

People Not Places: Greatest Hip-Hop Song for Palestine Ever

One word: INCREDIBLE. Invincible, a Detroit-based MC and activist, really hits home with this track, which is artfully weaved into an artistic muso-mentary by Iqaa The Olivetone. Suhell Nafar from Dam, and Abeer (aka Sabrina Da Witch), bring their skills to bear on the project.

I heard Invincible perform these lyrics before and the destroyed me then. They were a long time in the writing but as you can see, the finished project is an intelligent and undeniably powerful hip-hop polemic. If there are any Zionist hip-hop heads out there, they won’t be standing after they hear this one.

Iranian Caricatures of Candidates Go Viral

Colorful cartoons of the four candidates in Iran’s stormy presidential elections have gone viral. The cartoons by an anonymous artist are all over the Iranian blogosphere and via email, and poke fun at the hardline incumbent, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

How to Tell the Difference Between an Israeli and a Palestinian

Swiss artist Olivier Suter, as part of his project ‘Enemies’, put side-by-side a Palestinian boy and Israeli girl who have the same haircut, I mean are supposed to look alike. His project focused on the absurd ways people identify “the other.” The Israeli girl’s father, a long-time supporter of a two-state solution, said “[David] Ben-Gurion [...]

#25 Photographing Syrian Graffiti

I loved Hanitizer’s list of 23 fun things to do in Syria so much that I had to add a new favorite. I’ve been working on a post on my recent trip to Syria for awhile, but in the meantime I’ll share with you one of the most enjoyable activities in which I partook in [...]

Scottish Film Festival Joins the Israel Boycott Fun

A week ago, the Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) released its program listing the Embassy of Israel as a “Programme Supporter.” The festival had received a 300 pound grant from the Israeli Embassy to pay for Israeli filmmaker Tali Shalom Ezer’s travel to attend the festival. Thanks to the efforts of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity [...]

Sketching Israeli Apartheid

A new four page comic shows the basic commonalities between South African and Israeli apartheid systems — the discriminatory control, collective punishment and denial of rights that privileges one group of people over another. As reported by The Arabist, Ethan Heitner, a comic artist, drew inspiration from Desmond Tutu and Ian Urbina’s classic 2002 article [...]