books
Brigitte Gabriel Makes Islamophobia Sexy
Gabriel asks, “where’s my honorarium?” A short New York Times interview with one of the anti-Arab native informants on the scene, Brigitte Gabriel, further demonstrates the potentially ludicrous market for Arab and or Muslim public figures who will tell the American conservatives and liberal pro-Israeli-types what they want to hear. She comes from a growing [...]
On Politics & Prose
Saree Makdisi, professor of English literature at UCLA, latest book “Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation” chronicles life under Israeli military rule. As a part of his book tour, he was invited to do a book signing and reading at Washington, DC area’s well-known bookstore “Politics & Prose”. But, given that it is a crime [...]
Should We Trust McClellan?
Now that former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan knows what it feels like, he apologized to former White House anti-(their)terrorism analyst Richard Clarke for the campaign against Clarke for publicly criticizing the Bush administration. McClellan reportedly ran into Clarke in a New York hotel lobby as they both prepared to publicize their books on [...]
Apartheid and Israel’s politics of verticality
I’d like to build off of Emily’s excellent recent post “The Beginning of Legal Apartheid?” where she tackled the New York Times’ weak attempts to address the structural racism in Israel/Palestine. It wasn’t important when Highway 443, a major access road to Jerusalem, became an Israeli-only road due to “security” concerns. It was only a [...]
KABook Review (Weekend Reading): Ambiguities of Domination by Lisa Wedeen
Upon learning that I was writing a graduate level paper about a book on the “Asad cult”, my father immediately halted conversation, and without further explanation, made me promise him that I would not write this paper. This reaction, this fear of the potential impact back in the “watan”, reified much of enigmatic power of [...]
The following quote alone has made this week’s 773 pages of assigned reading good times:
What we end up having [in Palestine] is the most unusual situation. The Israelis monopolize everything. They monopolize nuclear weapons, they monopolize tanks, planes, what else … They monopolize the land, they monopolize the water … what else … They even monopolize moral virtue … you know, democracy and freedom of speech, and they monopolize [...]
Subjective Atlas of Palestine
Sometimes, book publishers and authors solicit KABOBfest to write book reviews in exchange for a free book. Books — I don’t need to tell you — are always best when they’re free. Indeed, the best things in life always are. You receive a fun package in the mail, you get to reading, and if you’re [...]
Israel frees 250 Palestinian prisoners in time for Harry Potter launch
In a calculated move to harden the divide between Hamas and Fatah, Israel freed more than 250 of Fatah’s prisoners several hours before the seventh and final installment of the Harry Potter series went on sale. In a statement outside the Ketziot prison camp in the Negev, Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas said, “I am pleased [...]
REEL BAD ARABS: How Hollywood Vilifies a People
Based on Southern Illinois University professor Jack Shaheen’s book by the same name, the new documentary, Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People, discusses the treatment of Arabs in more than 900 films released between 1896 and 1999. Films included in the “worst” list (in alphabetical order): Back to the Future (1985), The Black [...]
Addicted to War
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZwyuHEN5h8] Though I this video does not fully explain the institutional engines driving American militarism, it offers an introduction to help the addict get past the classic stage of addiction: denial.
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