history
In Commemoration of Land Day
Sunday is Yom al Ard, or Land Day, in Palestine and Israel. The activities held on the 30th of March each year mark the anniversary of protests in 1976 against the theft of Palestinian-owned land inside of Israel by the state. Six people were killed in the Galilee, and hundreds injured. To my knowledge, not [...]
Tony Judt on Evil
Tony Judt, the NYU academic, wrote a thought-provoking essay on Europe’s struggle to conceptualize evil in the post-war era, and the role of the Holocaust and Anti-Semitism in the public sphere. He argues that by presenting the Nazis’ extermination of the Jews as a “singular crime” and the ultimate case of evil manifest, it has [...]
Congress Declares October 28th “Fayyad’s Day”
The United States congress has passed a new law establishing a new holiday, “Fayyad’s Day.” The holiday will celebrate and commemorate the discovery of the Americas on Fayyad’s famed journey west on this day, in the year of our lord 1998. Shortly before midnight on October 27th, 1998, Fayyad left his hometown near Jenin, Palestine [...]
First Graffiti Art Found in Syria
French archaeologists in Syria found 11,000-year-old graffiti art in Northern Syria. They claim it is the oldest tagging in the world — and possibly in the universe. This offers more proof that Arabs invented hip-hop culture. The 2 by 2 meter painting may be an early attempt at a Syrian flag, with its use of [...]
Cholas in Middle Eastern History
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WySInuQb6tA] Classic Line: The Sphinx: “Why are you mad dogging me bitch? I got secrets of the pyramids to keep!” To understand the significance of such motifs like switchblade, the gatekeeper, and the trickster in chola culture; take a look at Askachola’s use of Joseph Campbell’s work on archetypes to explicate all this: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBXV6rm97yQ] Inspired [...]
Today In History
1953: US Overthrows Iran’s Government Of Democratically Elected Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh The 1953 Iranian coup d’état removed the nationalist cabinet of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh from power, supported by a covert operation, codenamed Operation Ajax (officially TP-AJAX) by the United Kingdom and the United States. The coup was performed in order to support [...]
Today In History
1964: South Africa banned from Olympics And more than four decades later, the IOC stands in far lower moral grounds: It seems uncritical of next years host’s, China, human rights record, and continues to allow an apartheid regime, Israel, to partake in the games. Humans lack of perspective and inability to learn from history is [...]
KUFFIYA KRAZE: You May Be ___ If Your Kuffiya Is
You may be Fatah, if your Kuffiya is black and white. Socialist/Marxist (PFLP/DFLP) if your Kuffiya is red. Hamas, if your Kuffiya is red. Yemeni, if your Kuffiya is blue or green. Shot by the Israelis, if your Kuffiya is blood-soaked. Annoying as hell, if your Kuffiya is yellow with smiley faces on it. Disoriented, [...]
Modern Chronology of the Keffiyah Kraze
By QuiQui 1906-1910 While conducting thesis fieldwork in Syria and Palestine, T.E. Lawrence discovers keffiyahs to be useful both for keeping out the cold and for keeping out the heat. 1921 Rudolph Valentino and his kuffiya star in silent film, The Sheik. 1926 Kufiya and Valentino reunited for The Son of the Sheik. Still no [...]
Rock The Citadel!
Last night, at an open air stadium in Damascus, 10,000 Syrians got a taste of some Latin loving. Son of Spanish songbird, husband of the most famous lowly ranked female tennis star, former mole-wearer, otherwise known as the bilingual pop star Enrique Iglesias, made history by performing to a sold out crowd in the Syrian [...]
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