My favorite part of this New York Times (“Muslim Rebel Sisters: At Odds With Islam and Each Other“) article about Irshad Manji and Ayaan Hirsi is that it quites only one Muslim thinker — Irshad Manji — and that all the supposed authorities on Muslim “reformers” and modern Islam are non-Muslims closely affiliated with the [...]
Archive for April, 2008
NYT on Manji and Hirsi Ali
Posted in Arabs, Islamism, Muslims, Western Muslims, books, culture, reform, religion on 29 April, 2008 | 2 Comments »
On Islamic terrorism
Posted in American Muslims, Arab Americans, Grand Strategy, Muslims, US, bigotry, language, politics, realism, religion, terrorism on 22 April, 2008 | 22 Comments »
A coalition of American Muslim groups is demanding that Sen. John McCain stop using the adjective “Islamic” to describe terrorists and extremist enemies of the United States.
Muneer Fareed, who heads the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), told The Washington Times that his group is beginning a campaign to persuade Mr. McCain to rephrase his [...]
Min houbbi had el ghazala
Posted in Africa, Algeria, Arabs, Jews, culture, music, poetry on 19 April, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I would post this video of Abdelkrim Dali and friends within the post, but WordPress is being rather fickle about that today. Enjoy!
Also, enjoy these two versions of “Ya Saqi Baqi,” by Samy Elmaghribi, and Khelifa Belkacem. Notice the yarmulke in Elmaghribi’s.
Ait Ahmed, Mohand Oulhadj, 1963
Posted in Africa, Algeria, Imazighen, Kabyle, Maghreb, Third World, history, nationalism, politics on 19 April, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Beihdja Rahal
Posted in Africa, Algeria, music on 18 April, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Does anybody know the name of this song by Beihdha Rahal?
A day in the life
Posted in Uncategorized on 16 April, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Another day in France.
A sensational cartoon
Posted in Arabs, Grand Strategy, Islamism, Muslims, US, balance of power, bigotry, history, nationalism, politics, religion, terrorism on 14 April, 2008 | 8 Comments »
As much as I respect Professor Lewis’s historical works, their quality has been on the decline as he has become increasingly engaged in the political process (his analysis of modern terrorist networks and movements is also rather medieval). This video clip illustrates the manner in which his relations with the political right have degraded the [...]
Yal Menfi
Posted in Africa, Algeria on 14 April, 2008 | 11 Comments »
Here are three versions of Yal Menfi (Oh, [the] Exile/Outlaw) an Algerian dialect song of the Algerian struggle against French colonialism. It discusses a captured rebel’s experience being tortured in French custody. The refrain runs thusly “[t]ell my mother not to cry [. . .] God will not abandon your son.”
Boumediene and the Arabic language
Posted in Africa, Algeria, Imazighen, history on 12 April, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Boumediene on zeal
Posted in Africa, Algeria, history on 12 April, 2008 | 8 Comments »
An ambiguous profile at the BBC
Posted in Africa, Algeria, Chaouia, Imazighen, Kabyle, Maghreb, Third World, UK, culture, language on 11 April, 2008 | 9 Comments »
In 2001 the government agreed to a series of demands by the minority Berbers, including official recognition of their language, after months of unrest involving Berber youths demanding greater cultural and political recognition.
From “Country Profiles: Algeria,” from the BBC.
At one level, this is as false as false can be. On another it is true. In [...]
There are some things money cannot buy
Posted in Africa, Algeria, Grand Strategy, Maghreb, Morocco, Third World, US, realism, tech on 10 April, 2008 | 2 Comments »
From 1 April:
“All the old certainties have gone,” said Andrew Brookes, an aerospace expert at Britain’s International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).
“The Algerians are learning, like everyone else, that if they’ve got money why should they get … stuff that’s inappropriate when they can get good stuff from French, Europeans, British, Americans and Chinese?”
I would [...]
Sectarian youth violence in Algeria?
Posted in Africa, Algeria, Arabs, Berriane, Maghreb, Recently in Algeria, Third World, bigotry on 10 April, 2008 | 26 Comments »
This past few weeks have seen the outbreak of inter-communal violence in the Algerian town of Berriane, in Ghardaia province. Berriane is located in the predominantly Berber [Tumbazit]-speaking region of the Mzab valley, known for its distinctive architecture and socio-political organization and Ibadite Muslim population. The Mzab region is made up of a confederation of [...]
The glories of times gone by
Posted in Africa, Arabs, Egypt, Iraq, Third World, culture, history on 9 April, 2008 | 13 Comments »
Nostalgia for colonial times: Ryan Crocker. One of the precious pearls today in the testimony of Ryan Crocker was his crocodile tears over the “sufferings” of Iraqis. He said that the Iraqi people suffered even before Saddam: since 1958, he added. All was well under colonialism, he wanted to say. [ From As'ad ]
This attitude [...]
“Middle Class” discontent
Posted in Africa, Arabs, Egypt on 8 April, 2008 | 4 Comments »
“As Egyptians go to the polls, middle class discontent on the rise”
What Egyptian middle class? In Egypt, like most Arab societies, there is no “middle class,” only the super rich and powerful and the super poor, with a puny layer of middlings, hardly constituting a class on their own. That is a major part of [...]
Another day
Posted in Africa, Arabs, Europe, Gulf, Levant, Maghreb, Sahel, Third World, history, terrorism on 7 April, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Today’s events across the Middle East should remind [specifically Middle/Near Eastern] Area Studies students as to why their field is so relevant. Today’s notable happenings include:
The Battle of Tavregh Zeina
Posted in Africa, Arabs, France, Islamism, Maghreb, Mauritania, Sahel, Third World, balance of power, politics, terrorism on 7 April, 2008 | 7 Comments »
More news from Mauritania. Word on the street is that two people have died and fifteen people have been hospitalized in a massive fire-fight in the chic Tavregh Zeina neighborhood of the Mauritanian capital of Nouakchott today. The fighting is linked to the massive manhunt going on in search of the escaped Islamist accused of [...]
Algerians and diplomats are “crusader unbelievers”
Posted in Africa, Algeria, Islamism, terrorism on 7 April, 2008 | 3 Comments »
Al-Qaeda recently delivered a message to the people of Algeria:
On Barack Obama, Arabs, and Muslims
Posted in American Muslims, Arab Americans, Arabs, Clinton, Muslims, Third World, bigotry, black people, culture, idealism, politics, realism, religion, truth on 7 April, 2008 | 7 Comments »
Things that have proved tricky for Mr Obama at home are a boon for him in parts of the Middle East. That his middle name, Hussein, is reckoned to be something of a liability in America is in turn seen in parts of the Middle East as evidence of American Islamophobia. Mr Obama’s first name [...]
Another day in Europe
Posted in Arabs, Europe, France, Muslims, Western Muslims, bigotry, nationalism on 7 April, 2008 | 6 Comments »
Another day in France.
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