بريجيت غابرييل

للتو تعرفت على هل نمرة: بريجيت غابرييل. واحدة، شو بيعرفني، خرفانة، ما بتتكون هل نمر غير نتيجة الوضع المقرف يللي عايشينه الناس بلبنان، والتكوينة الغريبة يللي مكونها لبنان، ويللي بيسموها وبيضحكوا على حالن تعايش ووحدة وطنية

ما حا حط لينك لحتى ما زيد شعبيتها، ولا لح أكتب بالإنكليزي لحتى ما أشهرها برة. يللي بدو يتعرف عليها، يحط بريجيت غابرييل بالإنكليزي) على يو تيوب أو غوغل فيديو)

A bit less than depressed, a bit more than frustrated

I have no idea how to start writing this. But there is too much in my head and I need to write some of it down, get it off my head. I was watching a BBC talk show on the fourth anniversary of the war on Iraq. The program had so much diversity and every point of view. War opposers included British, Iraqis, the Syrian ambassador to the UK, a British soldier's mother, and many more. War pros included again British and US officials, western young people from the audience and Iraqis. They kept talking and talking and talking. Nobody could convince the other, nor the audience, because both parties have stories that seem convincing.

But this is the talking part for the British and Americans, after this show they're gonna go sleep, wake up early in the morning for a lot to do. Maybe think which country to invade, how to change polls to their favor, change the people's attitude towards different issues. Now what do we do? On our agenda for the next morning may be to discuss the situation in the region, discuss the problem with Lebanese politics, argue who did 9/11 and how jews were outside the towers when the planes hit, curse corruption, curse Bush, curse Sharon, Olmert, and every Israeli prime minister, etc. This is the majority of Arabs' agenda. Of course, a part of them, a second part, is working hard to make a difference, each in his own way, some writing, some working (not working as in having a job), etc. This is about 10% of the Arab world. The third part, the rest, are demonstarting about why Hasan Nasrallah cares about Iran, why Saad Hariri met with I dont know who, killing each other in demonstrations, shiites and sunnis killing each other, plannign revolutions, planning bombings in every country in the world for some "religious national" cause, etc.

I dont know which part I belong to, first or second, and this is what made me frustrated. But thinking that the third part is the one that is making our image worldwide, and shaping the future of our countries makes me want to kill myself. This makes me think that the US and Israel aren't the main source of threat for our existence. "We" are the only threat, and therefore we have to stop daydreaming about a better tomorrow.

Public Awareness Ads On British Channels

I really like those ads, they are a bit violent graphically, but they have very meaningful words. I think I will be collecting them in this post.

1- You don't have to be in a car to cause a crash. The moment you know they're driving. KILL the conversation.

Days in London - Part 1

A couple of days ago, I went to the British Museum, one of the definitely-must-see's in London. I am not going to talk about how the museum is run so efficiently and organised to make it as easy for visitors to reach their places of interest, it is simply run by British standards (although entry is free). The thing that I liked so much about the museum was the number of children visiting, either with their families or with school trips. I couldn't but stop and stare at a 6 year old drawing an Egyptian mummy, or a 10 year old taking notes about the Rosetta stone for his school project. I was happy, that the British are able to show our civilization and history to their future generations. In other words, I was grateful to the people who stole our ancient treasures, because they know its value and know how to publicize it and we don't.

Freedom For Kareem

We, as a community of Syrian bloggers, condemn the arrest and sentencing of Egyptian blogger Abdel Kareem Nabil Soliman for the peaceful expression of his dissenting views. We ask the Egyptian government to reconsider its decision to arrest and prosecute Abdel Kareem. The stated reasons for their action include the preservation of the public peace and state security, and the prevention of incitement against Islam. We contend that his arrest will achieve neither. Silencing such dissenting voices as Abdel Kareem’s, serves only to strengthen the hands of extremists who will not shy away from violence to achieve their goals. Moreover, we remind the Egyptian government that his arrest and prosecution violates at least two articles (see below) of the 1948 United Nations universal declaration of human rights to which Egypt was a signatory.

Relevant United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights articles:

Article 18. Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Article 19. Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Such rights for freedom of expression are also enshrined in the 1990 Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam and the 2003 Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the World's religions.

* Reposted from the Levantine Dreamhouse

Festive Season

A British friend asked me a few weeks ago whether we (muslims) celebrate Christmas in Syria? I said that Christmas and both Eids became social occasions for all Syrians. We all enjoy times when you see people happy, meeting with family and friends, and enjoying a good vacation. I personally enjoy wishing happy eids and merry christmas's, and don't feel doing this as part of my social obligation. This is not because Muslims and Christians tolerate each other in Syria, it is just our nature (till now) in which we dont care who's Muslim and who's Christian. This is one thing I really love about Syria (along with the million things I hate).

Today's events (and yesterday's and all the time's), prove that this is not the case in neighboring Lebanon. During the three years of my life that I was studying in Beirut, I learnt to categorize aquaintances into 4 according to religion and one of those was split into "ma3na" aw "dedna", so all in all, they were 5. (After February 14, 2005 things got messed up and 2 categories remained ma3na, but anyway). Still, I must honestly say that despite the fact that Lebanon is so much fractioned religiously, its people learnt to respect each other (of course this does not include war lords), and this is why they deserve respect.

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, Ad7a Moubarak, and a Happy New Year!

Photo: The National Gallery and the traditional Norwegian Christmas tree in Trafalgar Square, London.

Qana 2006

Qana, July 30, 2006: Israel killed 62 civilians, including 42 children.

Really nothing to say...

(Cartoon from Annahar: Qana 2006, Israel's list of suspected "terrorists")