40° 24' N , 3° 42' E

Skateboards. Girls. Madrid

2010-10-09T18:24:00.002+02:00

Longboard Girls Crew from Juan Rayos on Vimeo.

Al-Jazeera: Class of 1990 Kuwait

2010-08-04T00:21:00.003+02:00

Documentary did a documentary piece on a group of reunited classmates at an international school in Kuwait and the war that would both divide and forever unite them. Very interesting.

NYTimes Lambasts Kuwait on Treatment of Domestic Maids

2010-08-04T00:06:00.003+02:00

In a groundbreaking article (and slideshow), newspaper powerhouse The New York Times, wrote a piece published yesterday on the labor situation in Kuwait, focusing on abuse of domestic female servents. The article also mentions that the US 2010 Department of State report put Kuwait, along with 12 other countries in low ranking for failing to do enough to prevent human trafficking. Furthermore, the article mentions the increased pressure that maids face during Ramadan, when they are expected to work longer hours.

The fact that the New York Times has taken on this topic is a big achievement for advocacy groups on human rights of domestic servents in Kuwait. Rarely does such an international journal touch on the subject with specific reference to Kuwait, and, as an indicator, the last time the NYT did have past coverage on this issue was in 1993.

Coverage on maid abuse, once relegated to the crime and law sections of local newspapers, is beginning to make headlines-not only in national newspapers in the Gulf, but abroad apparently as well. International outcry on the running over by car of a tortured Filipina maid by a Kuwaiti couple has flagged attention in the media. Here is a selection of the article by Kareem Farim, but you may access the full text here.

KUWAIT — With nowhere else to go, dozens of Nepalese maids who fled from their employers now sleep on the floor in the lobby of their embassy here, next to the visitors’ chairs.

In the Philippines Embassy, more than 200 women are packed in a sweltering room, where they sleep on their luggage and pass the time singing along to Filipino crooners on television. So many runaways are sheltering in the Indonesian Embassy that some have left a packed basement and taken over a prayer room.

And in the coming weeks, when Ramadan starts, the number of maids seeking protection is expected to grow, perhaps by the hundreds, straining the capacity of the improvised shelters, embassy officials say. With Kuwaiti families staying up into the early hours of the morning, some maids say they cook more, work longer hours and sleep less.

Rosflor Armada, who is staying in the Philippines Embassy, said that last year during Ramadan, she cooked all day for the evening meal and was allowed to sleep only about two hours a night.

“They said, ‘You will work. You will work.’ ” She said that she left after her employers demanded that she wash the windows at 3 a.m.

The existence of the shelters reflects a hard reality here: With few legal protections against employers who choose not to pay servants, who push them too hard, or who abuse them, sometimes there is nothing left to do but run. The laws that do exist tend to err on the side of protecting employers, who often pay more than $2,000 upfront to hire the maids from the agencies that bring the women here.

Gaza Kids Best Week Ever: Youtube Viral Chart

2010-08-01T21:50:00.004+02:00

The past week or so has been a great week for Gaza's kids. They beat their own Guinness record for the most amount of kites flown simultaneously, they set another record for the most amount of basketballs dribbled simultaneously and they also met MATT. Matt is one of youtube's earliest celebrity globe trotters. He basically became known for a compilation video he did of himself dancing in different locations around the world. UNRWA (The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East), which places a huge amount of its work emphasis on the youth of Gaza, has coordinated all these activites. You can see a video of the kites, basketballs and Matt's cameo.

Human Rights Watch Video on Domestic Workers

2010-07-23T00:29:00.002+02:00

Please take the time to watch this video on the alarming situation of female domestic migrant workers around the world. Although it is meant to give a global perspective on the situation, and although abuses occur in all countries, rich and poor alike, much of the quick video highlights on abuse in the Middle East, particularly in Lebanon and Saudi Arabia. I can't post it directly to this blog, but I suggest you take a look. Here is the description from the HRW website:

Millions of women and girls around the world turn to domestic work in order to provide for themselves and their families. Instead of guaranteeing their ability to work with dignity and free of violence, governments have systematically denied them key labor protections extended to other workers. Domestic workers, often making extraordinary sacrifices to support their families, are among the most exploited and abused workers in the world.

Flamenco and Kathak

2010-07-20T23:48:00.003+02:00

I went to my first flamenco show since I arrived in Spain, called "Algo más que flamenco", playing at El Teatro Arlequín. The spectacle is meant to showcase the different regional dances of Spain, focusing on flamenco primarily but also giving us glimpses of the Zarzuela, Muñeira, Aurresku, etc.

While watching the dancers I couldn´t help be reminded to Indian Kathak dance. Some of the turns, hand movements and the use of feet for rythym are so strikingly similiar. Actually, flamenco has Indian origins as the gypsies, or Rom people, are said to have originated from what is now Rajasthan. Of course, then flamenco received a melting pot of influences from all the different cultures that inhabited Spain. Speaking of which, today Madrid´s summer event series "verano en la calle" had a group called Musafir, gitanos de Rajasthan that played in the park. Sad I missed it. Here you have some clips of Flamenco and Kathak. I love the last video in particular.

COUPLES FLAMENCO VERSUS KATHAK

GYPSY DANCE YOUNG BOY SINGING-WOMAN DANCING

A Tale of Two Abuses This Week in the State of Kuwait

2010-07-19T13:42:00.005+02:00

I am including links to two articles from the Kuwait Times this week on different incidences of abuse against domestic workers in Kuwait. In other news, a proposal to Parliament to pay vulnerable domestic workers, whose salaries are often denied, directly into their bank accounts. This would serve as a positive step to further regulate wages and ensure compliance with salary payments. Let us hope it passes, enforcement is another issue.

Man murders 'missing' wife in salon, July 18, 2010 by Hanan Al Saadoun

KUWAIT: An Egyptian man killed his Filipina wife in a salon in Jabriya yesterday, after she allegedly did not return home for the past four days. The killer came to the women's salon where the victim worked and killed her by stabbing her in the heart. He then ran away, leaving his shoe behind. Police are hunting for the killer.

Separately, detectives apprehended the torturers and killers of a Filipina whose body was found near farm buildings in Kabd - a Kuwaiti husband and wife who employed her as a domestic worker. The wife admitted during questioning that she tortured the woman daily with her husband's full knowledge and agreement. When the woman fell unconscious after yet more abuse, the couple panicked and, rather than taking her to hospital, they took her to Kabd, threw her out of their car and ran over her before fleeing the scene.

Domestic worker 'enslaved' in Kuwait for 13 years, July 15, 2010, Ben Garcia

KUWAIT: She only dreamt of buying a new home for her mother. However, it remained just that - a dream. Instead of earning a cozy job, good salary and savings she fell into the clutches of a cruel and merciless employer for over 13 years without pay. Fifty seven year old Kamalawathie Katawala has been working for her sponsor since 1997. (Kuwait Times had reported yesterday that she worked for 17 years. However, the Colombo government's records show a 13 year time period). She landed a job in Kuwait befo
re the Gulf War in 1990 - at first working for an Egyptian family. During the war, however, she ran away with her Egyptian sponsor to Jordan. At the peak of the war, she was told to go back with her family to Sri Lanka and wait there until the war is over. She did return to Sri Lanka, but the promise of Egyptian sponsor who would take her back to Kuwait, never materialized.

Struggling to accomplish her dream of buying a house, she embarked on another overseas challenge. She obtained a new visa for Kuwait job. This time, she ended up working for whom she calls 'merciless employers' in Jahra. Between stifled sobs, Kamala narrated her ordeal to the Kuwait Times through an interpreter as she could only communicate in Arabic and her native Sinhala language.

Three days after arriving from Sri Lanka, I almost gave up. They beat me; I sustained bruises, my head was also hit. They told me to continue working with them. I cried hard every day but nobody listened. I stopped crying and accepted my fate," Kamala narrated her story.

She asked for her salary, a month after her arrival, "They asked me why I needed money. For what? I told them because I was working to earn money. But they mocked me," she said. "From then on, the same story was repeated every month. I would ask for my salary but I would never get any. They said they have no money. I really believed that since they did not have any air-conditioning facilities installed at home. I would sleep on the floor at night. I would place wet towel on their beds for cooling. I did the same to the place where I would sleep," she said. These living conditions changed after a few years, she recalled.

After two years, I tried to escape. I went out, hid in the car with my bag. But when I tried to cross the street, they saw me run. They quickly grabbed me, beat me up again and locked me inside the room for one day. They warned me against trying to escape again. They said they would kill me. So from then on, I didn't even try to escape anymore," she sobbed.

She explained that she was forced to obey strict orders. "I also stopped asking for money because I was really afraid," she said. Kamala is not aware of the number of years that have elapsed since being 'employed' with her sponsor. She has lost count of days and months and remembers having tried to place an unsuccessful phone call to an acquaintance in her home town of Avissawela. Kamala is partially literate, she can count and read numbers.

A few months ago, a compatriot named Guita arrived at her sponsor's home to work as a domestic helper. She suffered under the same appalling conditions. Also, whenever Guita inquired about Kamala not being allowed to leave on vacation, the sponsor would lie, "They told Guita that I don't like to leave their home. They told her that I was sent to the airport many times but I would refuse to board a plane. But those are lies. I was never allowed to go to the airport; not even once," she told Kuwait Times. So when Guita planned to escape, I asked her not to leave me alone," she said.

They finally snatched a life-changing opportunity on June 26, "We walked out and hid between passing cars so as to avoid being caught by our sponsor. When we reached a co-operative society, Guita asked me to hide behind a bush. The plan was to hire a taxi that would take us to the embassy. I waited for long until I gave up and hired one on my own. I thought that our employer had caught her," she said.

But an hour later, Guita arrived at the Sri Lankan embassy, pleading with authorities to help Kamala. She was oblivious to the fact that Kamala was already there. Both were reunited at the embassy's premises. At the time of writing this, Kamala is still unaware of the fact that her mother whom she loved dearly had passed away almost a year ago. The information was relayed to Kuwait Times by a Sri Lankan embassy official who had contacted Kamala's family. She looks forward to returning to her family - to be with her mother, two brothers and two sisters. She acknowledged that her dream to build a home for her mother was never fulfilled. The Sri Lankan Ambassador to Kuwait Sarath Dissanayake has promised to resort to proper legal channels to resolve Kamala's issue.

World Cup Final Interpreted by Legomen

2010-07-15T18:13:00.002+02:00

Madrid Wants Paul, according to The Guardian

2010-07-15T18:07:00.003+02:00

Paul the octopus set for sensational transfer to Madrid aquarium

Spanish zoo prepared to meet 'any demands' to sign German cephalopod that predicted team's World Cup final victory

In what may prove to be the biggest transfer story this summer, negotiations have begun to bring Paul the psychic octopus to Madrid after he correctly predicted Spain's World Cup final victory.

Madrid's Zoo Aquarium says it is prepared to trump any other offer Germany's Oberhausen Sea Life Centre receives for Paul, certain that the world's most famous cephalopod will attract thousands of visitors.

At present no cash is on the table, and the zoo says it is trying to negotiate an exchange of animals.

Sounding more like the president of Real Madrid than a zookeeper, a spokesman said he was confident that Paul would be in Madrid within a few days. Madrid was prepared to offer Oberhausen "whatever they demand" to complete the deal — suggesting that this will be a cash-plus-animal transfer.

He added that Paul, named after a German children's book by Boy Lornsen, would be treated "with tender loving care" because of his national treasure status in Spain.

Paul correctly predicted the outcome of all seven of Germany's World Cup matches, as well as the final between Spain and Holland. This was an improvement on his record for the 2008 Eurocopa, in which he correctly predicted four out of six of Germany's games.

During the World Cup, Paul became a media phenomenon, with his final predictions screened live on television. He also became the world's third most popular Twitter trend during the competition, out-doing both Shakira and Cristiano Ronaldo with 141 hours of trending.

A Brazilian company has developed an iPhone app based on Paul's performance, allowing users to consult the octopus to help them make decisions. The Ask the Octopus app lets users ask 50-50 questions, to which a cartoon of Paul chooses an answer.

(for link, click here)

Racism at Pool in Lebanon: Caught on Tape

2010-07-14T01:07:00.003+02:00

Activists of the Anti-Racism Movement in Lebanon took this video. ARM is a campaign initiated by IndyACT aiming at exposing, shaming and blaming all wrongs perpetrated against Migrant Domestic Workers (MDWs) in Lebanon.

Pulpo Paul

2010-07-14T00:17:00.007+02:00

Being in Madrid has been exhilarating these past days, to say the least. The one thing that has been the most enjoyable has been seeing the hysteria of veneration for Paul "The Oracle" Octopus, known in Spain as "Pulpo Paul". Cow is to India what Octopus is to Spain now.

The Guardian: "World Cup 2010: Spain's success puts nationalists in the shade"

2010-07-11T17:03:00.001+02:00

For full article, click here:

They call it "the red effect". It has spread down Spanish streets on the torsos of hundreds of thousands of fans wearing the shirt of the national soccer team, La Roja or "The Red", and threatens to over-run even the most obdurately separatist corners of the country. On nights when the team notches up another World Cup victory it turns into a musical chant: "I am Spanish! Spanish! Spanish!" they shout joyfully. "I am Spanish! Spanish! Spanish!"

Spaniards cannot recall an outpouring of national pride similar to that provoked by the country's first-ever appearance in the World Cup final today. "Not since the Spanish civil war have there been so many flags in the streets," El País newspaper reported as Madrid prepared for an all-night party if La Roja beat Holland in South Africa this evening.

Indeed, Spain's red and gold flag still reminds some people of the civil war of the 1930s, more particularly, of the 36-year dictatorship of Francisco Franco, leader of the pro-fascist Nationalists, that followed it. Few countries in Europe, except Germany, have such an instinctive mistrust of patriotism.

Such an outpouring of national pride also raises challenging questions about Spain's vision of itself. This is a "nation of nations" according to some, who see Catalonia and the Basque country as unrecognised nations which, like Scotland, deserve their own football teams. Spain oppresses other nations, according to separatists, including to the Basque terror group Eta – which exacts its revenge in blood. The country's constitutional court disagrees. "Our constitution recognises no nation but Spain," it affirmed on Friday in a stern rebuke to Catalans who hoped a new autonomy statute might formally allow them to be known as a nation within Spain.

Maggots on a Plane!!

2010-07-05T00:10:00.002+02:00

Every now and then, a golden nugget of a freak article somehow manages to get published by BBC News. Scouting these news of the weird is like finding the toy in the cereal box for me. Behold one of the examples of beautiful journalism from last week.

Maggots falling from an overhead luggage locker have forced a US Airways flight to return to the gate at Atlanta airport.

"Bugs just began to fall out of the overhead compartment" causing panic on board, passenger Desiree Harrell was quoted as saying by Associated Press.

All the passengers were then asked to get off so crews could clean the plane.

The airline said a container of spoiled meat brought on by a passenger caused the delay of the flight to Charlotte.

Donna Adamo, a passenger on board flight 1537, said she first noticed a couple of flies when she got to her seat on Monday but did not pay much attention to that.

As the plane was taxiing, she said she heard a passenger behind her causing a commotion and refusing to take her seat.

"Then I heard the word 'maggot' and that kind of got everybody creeped out," Ms Adamo told AP.

Passengers were asked to get off because of a "minor emergency"

"All of a sudden, I felt somebody flick the back of my hair and on the front of me came a maggot, which I flicked off me.

But she said she "felt like they were crawling all over me because it only takes one maggot to upset your world".

"And as they're telling us to stay calm and seated, I see a maggot looking back at me and I'm thinking, 'These are anaerobic, flesh-eating larvae that the flight attendants don't have to sit with.'"

Ms Adamo said the pilot then announced that he had to return to the gate because of a "minor emergency on board".

The plane was cleaned and then continued on to Charlotte.

However, the unnamed passenger who brought the spoiled meat in a carry-on bag was put on another flight, US Airways spokesman Todd Lehmacher said.

It was not immediately clear how the passenger managed to take the meat on board.

Mystery Kuwaiti Disco Dancer

2010-07-02T00:54:00.002+02:00

Who is this woman with an afinity for musical instruments? What is she singing about? Any leads?

Capitalism: A love story

2010-06-27T20:53:00.005+02:00

I just finished watching Michael Moore's latest documentary and his commentary on the 2008 Financial Crisis. What Moore does best, in my opinion is not in his deep fact research or his witty megaphone antics outside headquarters, but rather, in the way he is able to narrate a story and string together biographies or normal, average, American families just trying to get by. He is able to adapt himself and weave his life story in order to get more "street cred".

In Capitalism: A love story his starting point begins in his hometown (perhaps his greatest muse) of Flint, Michigan, a city greatly affected by foreclosures and decaying industry, as his father, an assembly worker at General Motors for thirty years, has been witness to in his town. Some of the points of the movie are both heartbreaking and inspiring. One of the most difficult moments to watch in the movie, and a phenomenon I had been completely unaware of before, was the practice of companies taking out life insurance policies for their employees, without alerting neither their workers nor their relatives...in short, profiting from their employees' deaths.

The strength of community "people power", an electric current that seemed to build up in the time period between the Financial Crisis in late 2008 and the swearing into office of Obama in 2009 included some wonderful moments. A more detailed understanding of the Chicago sit-in, as a result of a company laying off workers, with three days notice and without giving them due pay, was just one of the examples gaining wind in the country. People at the bottom of had always been told what to do, taking power in their own hands when they began to get fed up with how much they were being pushed around for the benefit of corporations.

A neighborhood taking back a house on the street to give to a displaced family after it had been claimed by a bank after going into forclosure were also equally inspiring. Suddenly it seemed many people in the country were questioning what was wrong and right and they structure of the system that could create unjust rules. People were choosing civil disobedience and a new wave of activism in communities was being born. It is all very powerful.

Moore also questions the attachments often made between Capitalism as being fundamentally American, therefore wholesome and even holy. His main argument is that capitalism as a system has actually proven to be at odds with our democratic political system.

I could go on forever, but PLEASE watch this video. In I believe his last state of the union, my favorite president, FDR, opted for a radio speech rather than one in person on a podium due to his ailing health (he would die later in the year). Nonetheless, he invited press to his home to make it a point that they filmed a very special announcement that he had to make. Somehow, this monumental footage was lost until Moore began doing research for his film.

Well, here it is, and it is amazing that the conversation and urgency FDR sees for having a second bill of rights to focus on economic rights as a realization of stability, security and happiness has taken so long to come back into dialogue. It saddens me to think that not so much progress has been made since this video was filmed by FDR. This 2nd bill would have made so that many of the problems people in America faced following the crisis, homelessness, joblessness, lack of healthcare, etc, could have been seen as denied rights.

Which one do you believe?

2010-06-25T00:36:00.003+02:00

BP has a way with words. Check out one of its new youtube press releases, followed by a turtle rescue team member who claims BP is burning the animals alive.

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

"Burka Ban" Approved by Spain Senate

2010-06-23T20:01:00.004+02:00

Spain's senate has narrowly passed the "burka ban" in public spaces, a topic that has united party lines. While, no, I am not in favor of the burka, I do find the fact that this is occupying such an exhaustive amount of public time ridiculous. Like I said before, there are a whole host of more substantive public policy agenda items that would be a better use of time to work towards female empowerment of migrant Muslim women.

Some of the text from the act that was approved reads as follows, taken from an article today in El País:

"El Senado insta al Gobierno a realizar las reformas legales y reglamentarias necesarias para prohibir el uso, en espacios públicos o acontecimientos públicos que no tengan una finalidad estrictamente religiosa, de vestimentas o accesorios en el atuendo que provoquen que el rostro quede completamente cubierto y dificulten así la identificación y la comunicación visual, al suponer esa práctica una discriminación contraria a la dignidad de las personas y lesionar la igualad real y efectiva de los hombres y las mujeres".

Rough translation: the Senate asks the government to make the legal reforms necessary to outlaw the use in public spaces that do not have a religious purpose, of clothing and accessories that cover the face completely or make it difficult to be identified or impede visual communication, assuming that this practice is a discrimination contrary to the dignity of people and to the fulfillment of true and effect equality between men and women.

Interestingly, I had found an earlier article in the Sunday edition of El País by Ferran Balsells entitled "El problema no es el burka", where the the reporter interviewed several people in Tarragona, Reus, El Vendrell, smaller cities of Cataluña. One of the stories caught my eye. The reporter interviewed a social worker in Reus named Sergi who has been giving Spanish classes to muslim women in the area for ten years now and who said that the the isolation of these women who use the burka doesn´t get solved by throwing out the cloth, so to speak.

He notes that teaching in the class is quite difficult, that there are some women who have been living in the region for 11 years and are still unable to recognize their names to fill out a document form. He says that the problem is that they do not know how to read even in their own language-a cultural, more than a religious problem. In class, they identify themselves by the silhouette of animals that have been assigned to them at the beginning of the course. He asks "what use will it be that these women come without the burka? What will it serve?"

Sergi asks a very interesting point...what is the end goal of the banning of the burka? It should be a starting point to address a great many challenges that migrant Muslim women face coming to Spain, many of whom come from North Africa. To give you some figures from the CIA World Fact Book, the female literacy rates are as follows: Morocco 40% (2004 est.), Algeria 60%, (2002 est.), Tunisia (65%), Libya (72%), Egypt (60%). The average gap in the difference between male literacy and female literacy rates in these five countries is more than a 20% gap. Among low-income women, this rate must be even higher. What are our priorities?

Guardian Article on Pillaged Kuwaiti Treasures from Iraq War

2010-06-22T22:33:00.003+02:00

The Guardian put out an article describing the many important pieces of artwork and historic treasures that were scavenged during the Gulf War. The first part of Martin Chulov's article is below:

In a spacious but frugal office in Kuwait, a glossy catalogue lists the dozens of reasons why Kuwait and Iraq are still at daggers drawn after all these years.

Sheikha Hussa Salem al-Sabah thumbs through the pages of the booklet, pointing out the most egregious cases – page upon page of priceless treasures looted by Saddam Hussein's invading army 20 years ago and still missing: a dazzling 234-carat emerald the size of a paperweight; a slightly smaller gem inscribed with exquisite Arabic calligraphy; Mughal-era ruby beads.

"The Iraqis still don't understand the damage they did to us, not just financially, but for our souls," says the daughter-in-law of Kuwait's emir Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, who maintains the dynasty's heirlooms. "It was emotionally wrenching and still is."

Though many of the priceless treasures have been returned to the collection in the bitter decades since, up to 57 remain missing – perhaps lost for ever. At the National Museum across town, they report that the whereabouts of another 487 treasures remain unknown.

Many of the pieces, Kuwaitis believe, now form the core of private collections in post-Saddam Iraq and around the Arab world. To the victims of the 1990 invasion they remain the central reason of a failure to close the unfinished business of the first Gulf war – just as the second one is beginning to wind down.

In the seven years since Saddam was ousted, Iraq has been obliged to settle United Nations-prescribed debts of $43bn (£29bn), and compensations to private families totalling several hundred million dollars more, before being welcomed as a fully-fledged member of the so-called community of nations.

It is a burden that has proven difficult to bear for a brittle state still ravaged by war and chaos and deeply resentful of the fact that Kuwait was not invaded in the name of the current regime in Iraq.

To Iraq's wealthy southern neighbour though, neither 20 years nor the time after Saddam has diminished the desire to reclaim what was lost.

With a higher per capita income than most other Gulf petro-states, Kuwaitis remain sensitive to the claim that their residual hostility is all about getting even richer. "This is about principle," says Sheikha Hussa. "It remains a huge dilemma for us. The people here have a say in everything we do and the parliament does also. This is part of Kuwait's rights and we will continue to press them."

Locals vs. Tourists!

2010-06-19T19:33:00.003+02:00

A very interesting study by Eric Fisher (link to the flickr album here) maps out visually an aggregation of snapshots to locations where tourists take pictures and where locals take pictures. Tourist "zones" come out as red hotspots whereas locals are transcribed in blue. There are several cities in the collection to take a look at, both in Europe, US and around the world.

Epcot and Disneyworld in Orlando is also part of the collection, curiously. It is not a surprise that Rio de Janeiro's hotspots tend to be concentrated littorally, rather than in the mountain areas that are where many of the favelas are located. I was curious to see if the famous Rocinha favela might be in red, since it is where most of the "slum tours" are run, but it isn't labelled on the map. Rome and Las Vegas are apparently completely overrun by tourists, with hardly any blue sections, while less popular destinations such as Milwaukee only have isolated red dots. I would have liked to see some cities from Africa or South Asia represented.

WASHINGTON, DC

PARIS

CaixaForum Madrid: Comercio Justo. Un producto, una historia

2010-06-17T21:37:00.003+02:00

CaixaForum Madrid will be hosting an exhibition on free trade entitled "Comercio Justo. un producto, una historia" until August 28th. It will be accompanied by some interesting film screenings of related documentaries. Each starts at 7 pm. I am accompanying each with a link to its trailer. You can read the official press release, in Spanish, here.

22 de junio, China blue

29 de junio, En el mundo a cada rato

6 de julio, La pesadilla de Darwin

13 de julio, Oro negro

El comercio justo:

El comercio justo beneficia tanto a productores como a consumidores. A los pequeños productores de zonas empobrecidas, les ofrece la posibilidad de vivir dignamente de su trabajo. A los consumidores, les proporciona productos de calidad y la garantía del respeto a los derechos de los trabajadores y al medio ambiente. Comercio justo significa:

- Salarios y condiciones de trabajo dignos.
- Igualdad entre hombres y mujeres.
- Ausencia de explotación infantil.
- Respeto al medio ambiente y apuesta por la producción ecológica.
- Beneficios destinados a mejoras sociales de las comunidades locales.

El comercio justo apoya a miles de familias campesinas de los países en desarrollo, a la vez que da a conocer al público de los países ricos la realidad, muchas veces desigual, del comercio internacional.

Poem for the Airplane Window Gazers

2010-06-15T23:19:00.006+02:00

I have been trying to discover some of the blogs on The Guardian, one of my favorite newspapers. They have a ¨Books Blog¨ apparently runs a ¨poem of the week¨segment. Today´s choice is wonderful for those of us who try to get inspired inside air cabins trying to juxtapose the serene beautiful outside the window (gazing at the landmasses below, the seldem top-down views of cloud formations) with the banal (plastic-wrapped silverware and bathroom queues). Cheers.

"Descent" by Frances Williams

The wing can hold the curve of the earth
Tucked like a pillow under its hard arm.

Australia is passing me her endless
Biscuit prairie, patch scrub trimming off

To curly beach. Peninsulas are sharp
As holly. And then a rash of salt lakes,

A strange pox, turquoise then urine.
At such altitudes, reassurance arrives

In the small white intimacy of plastic
Meals. My cheese cracker is bigger

Than Kangaroo Island. I measure the gap
Between hand and mouth as Melbourne

Fades to Adelaide. Between safety and
Danger, a continent surrenders its widest

Plan. Its dust is the colour of strong char.
Lower, and roads criss cross in grids, run

Straight and true, hold too fast to purpose,
Are thin experiments in meaning. Out through

The bushy tail of history, my travels blow
Sky high. Wherever you go, you're only

Ever you, my mother warned me. But
There again, perhaps she had an interest

In the retardation of the coming new.
The chord at my tail frays in wispy spray,

Slowly dissolves in the long white sun
Which laces the window with its ice.

At Perth the runway beckons as the future
Swiftly rises from the past. Local time

Greets me with a roar, my head held tight
In the playful bite of the world as carnivore.

2010 Global Peace Index

2010-06-13T22:57:00.003+02:00

The 2010 Global Peace Index by Vision of Humanity is out, which surveyed 149 countries according to 23 indicators: perceived criminality in society, security officers and police, number of homicides, jailed population, access to weapons, level of organized conflict, violent demonstrations, level of violent crime, political instability, respect for human rights, weapons imports, potential for terrorist acts, deaths from conflict (internal), military expenditure, armed services personnel, UN peacekeeping funding, number of heavy weapons, weapons exports, military capability/sophistication, number of displaced people, neighboring country relations, number of conflicts fought, deaths from conflicts (external).

Seems that these indicators might provide for a bit of conflation between countries that often serve and provide resources as external peacekeepers and those that suffer from internal conflict, however it is an important study and an excellent resource. Some of the findings include the following:

Top ten countries (respectively): New Zealand, Iceland, Japan, Austria, Norway, Ireland, Denmark, Luxemburg, Finland, Sweden,

Bottom ten countries (respectively): Iraq, Somalia, Afghanistan, Sudan, Pakistan, Israel (Palestine not mentioned), Russia, Georgia, Chad, DRC

Top five risers: Ethiopia, Mauritania, Hungary, Lebanon, Haiti (which I assume is pre-earthquake)

Top 5 fallers: Cyprus, Russia, Philippines, Georgia, and Syria

The most peaceful countries had characteristics of:

• Well functioning government

• Sound business environment

• Respectful of human rights and tolerance

• Good relations with neighbouring states

• High levels of freedom of information

• Acceptance of others

• High participation rates in primary and secondary

education

• Low levels of corruption

• Equitable sharing of resources.

Overall, the World has decreased in its peace (although the United States has increased from 2007 to 2010), with 62% of the countries surveyed worsening in their GPI score. The only regions to increase on average were the Middle East and North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa.

From the GCC, Qatar ranks highest at 15/149, followed by Oman at 23rd place and Kuwait at 39th spot. It shouldn't come as a surprise that Saudi Arabia ranks lowest at 107th place, not far from its neighbor Yemen at 129th. The only GCC countries to increase in their GPI since 2007 were Kuwait and Qatar.

Ever-increasingly xenophobic and evermore in economic crisis Europe, particularly many of the "Alliance of Civilizations" countries did not fair so much better in its improvements. Spain dropped from 21st place in 2007 to 25th in 2010, Italy from 33rd to 40th, Switzerland from 14th to 18th, Greece from 44th to 62nd, Turkey from 92nd to 126th (putting it in red), Germany from 12th to 16, although the United Kingdom (49 to 34) and France both improved (34 to 32). The Balkan countries also saw an increase in GPI.

For the full view of the country map, click here

World Cup-Themed Abayas

2010-06-10T12:45:00.002+02:00

Some Saudi designers have taken to creating abayas that reflect the flags of the participating countries in the 2010 World Cup. This move, of course, has been met with contraversary, as the colorful abayas are considered inappropriate for the norms of the society. Nonetheless, I believe the issue underscores an important note.

The motive for buying these abayas is to support a team, and there are several female fans of football, and in general, overall sports in Saudi Arabia, a country that makes it very difficult for girls to participate in sports. I am including the original source for this post, coming from Arabnews.com entitled "Abayas that mirror World Cup frenzy" by Diana Al-Jassem.

Speaking of the notion of religion, girls and sports, I am also including a youtube video for a movie trailer that I had meant to talk about earlier. It is about a group of young girls in Iran who dress up as boys in order to watch the World Cup qualifying match. The movie has been banned in Iran. FIFA had not made it easier this year by banning the Iranian girls soccer team from playing in August's inaugural Youth Olympics due to the issue of the headscarf. In May, to the happiness of the girls, who would otherwise not be allowed to play due to their country government's stance, were allowed to wear the hijaab as part of their uniform.

Kuwait, as I have written about earlier, also has been having debates on whether girls should participate in sports. Sports not only helps with instilling good a physical fitness regimen, but it also teaches youth about being team players, discipline and working towards a goal. What is wrong with that?

MTV True Life | Resist the Power! Saudi Arabia

2010-05-30T20:18:00.001+02:00

Click on the link below to watch the lives of several youth in Jeddah. The people followed include a young woman out to make multicolored abayas, a young lad in love with a girl he met on the internet who he is desperate to meet, a group of heavy metal rockers who can't get a gig in Saudi Arabia because they are deemed "satanic" by the religious authorities and (my favorite), a young man who is Political Science graduate and wants to help women get a voice in the local council.

True Life | Resist the Power! Saudi Arabia: "Meet four young people fighting for freedom and rebelling against their government."

Superman of Malegaon: It takes a village to make a superhero

2010-05-28T20:00:00.005+02:00

I just got back from Sala Triangulo in Lavapies, a small theatre that is one of the venues for the Imagine India Festival. I went to see Superman of Malegaon by Faiza Ahmed Khan, a documentary about a small village some hundred-something kilometers outside of Mumbai. You would think this would be a normal, textile-industry dominated town, or gaanv, but, like all small villages, there are town personalities and legends at every doorstep. While this sleepy town may be close to the heart of Bollywood, it couldn't be further away from the escapist dreams the industry produces. Malegaon reminds us of another time, a lost Gandhi-era village.

One man is determined to put Malegaon on the map. His dream: cinematographer. His weapon: a camcorder. His crew: the village. His mission: to make a Superman movie that boldly goes where none have gone before...into Malegaon. Although recognizing that he is essentially "copying" Superman, he makes sure to let the viewer realize that Superman itself has been retold time and time again, and that in essence, all movies are the same plot...the hero, the villain, the heroine sandwhich. What he says is that his goal is to make an "indianization" or more aptly put, a "malegaonization" of Superman to put it into local context. One of his team of crew labels the movie "a technical comedy parody", whatever that means.

Supermalegaon, as I will christen this unlikely superhero, is no man of steel. A skinny man of matchstick limbs, meek eyes and a great Shahrukh Khan haircut, his body mass index falls terribly short of matching up to the Superman we've come to imagine in pop culture. His anatomy alone is a large part of the comedic relief. However, there is something so beautiful in the sacrifices the actor makes to meet the village director's demands and his level of motivation. He floats on an inflatable tube in a river full of cows, he gets flung by a truck into a trench of gutter water at the side of the road (blegh!), he endures hours of lying on a plank in front of a homemade green screen...all without complaining and yes, all in a ridiculous Superman costume. He's even willing to take leave from work to do this movie.

In the end, what you start to realize as the viewer is that the crew, the actors and extras, the audience, and even the main red-cloaked protagonist himself, these are all the village. The village will be the spectator, it is the character and it is the creator of the movie...made for the people by the people in a most literal fashion. All along the way, like a bee jumping from flower to flower, the documentary grazes over different important themes being debated in India: the role of women in the house and in work, religious tolerance (Supermalegaon "loves Hindus, Muslims, Christians and Sikhs, he loves them all"), and economic livelihoods of India's lower-middle income class.

However, one of the greatest feats that perhaps is the essence of movie is how innovation and motivation coincide at the crossroads of Malegaon. Krypton is substituted for a grazing area in the wilderness, an infloatable tube becomes a space capsule, a cell phone out of a child-toy imitation, junkyard finds are collected to make use of for props on the set. What is more, is how the film production team is able to create a feature using what looks to be Windows 98, a small camera (that gets dropped several times) and use replicate special effects on a low budget. If anyone has seen Be Kind, Rewind by Michel Gondry you will know what "sweded" means. Thats the closest thing that I can think of to describe this ingenuity.

There were three moving points in the movie for me. At one part in the film, light is shed (no pun intended) on the several electricity cuts that the villagers must face on a regular basis, affecting their livelihoods as these spells basically shut down businesses. During this time, a poem by one of the villagers is read. I wish I could get a copy of these words because they were truly moving, the voice of the village. During the recitation of this poetry, imagery was shown of a fire in the absence of electric light, and you could almost imagine the words flickering out with the cinders upon being said.

Another poignant moment came at the beginning when the film director of the movie (not to be confused with the documentary), took out all the old posters he had collected during his time as a cinema house owner. An odd mix, from Rambo, to Sholay to Charlie Chaplin, to Jason and the Argonauts, but beautifully hand-painted in the style that has made Bollywood posters world-famous and appreciated as its own genre of art. His whole life seemed to be defined by memories of watching these movies, and similar to how someone whould show us a photo album, these seemed to be his life moments best captured.

Who stole the show for me? None other than the villager that plays Lex Luther...definately the highlight of the movie. The way the documentary filmmaker captured the actress who plays the heroine in the movie, dressed in a Barbie pink salwar kameez and relishing in her role as " the movie actress diva" was also unintentionally hilarious. If the movie sirens are like this from a nearby neighboring village, one can only imagine how they must be off-set in Bollywoodland. Also, not to be missed is the closing credit music remix sequence, a hit that had me thumping my toe. Makes me want to see the final movie result, although at the end of the documentary, clips of the actual film are shown. One of my favorite movies from now on for sure. Below you can find the brief trailer and a program from Al Jazeera about the film that shows one of my favorite shooting moments, the green screen!

Mugabe Sends North Korea "Noah's Ark" as Gift, Conservationists Aghast

2010-05-13T21:17:00.002+02:00

Poor animals, pawns by one megalomaniac dictator to stroke another dictator's ego with an absurdly extravagant gift. Unfortunately many of the animals on-board are endangered species or susceptible to being harmed by the grueling flight and quarantine that would accompany it...not to mention whether the caretakers in North Korea will actually know how to properly care for the animals indigenous to Africa. This article, from The Guardian by David Smith, gives more a more detailed account of the problems that arise from such a half-baked idea.

Conservationists protest as Robert Mugabe sends 'ark' of animals to North Korea

Zimbabwean president sending giraffes, zebras, baby elephants and other wild animals taken from a national park to zoo in communist state, conservation groups say

Two by two, they were caught and lined up as an extravagant gift from one despotic regime to another.

According to conservationists, the Zimbabwean president, Robert Mugabe, will send a modern-day ark – containing pairs of giraffes, zebras, baby elephants and other wild animals taken from a national park – to a zoo in North Korea.

The experts warned that not every creature would survive the journey to be greeted by Mugabe's ally Kim Jong-il, the North Korean leader.

There are particular fears that a pair of 18-month-old elephants could die during the long airlift.

Johnny Rodrigues, the head of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, said elephant experts did not believe the calves would survive the journey separated from their mothers.

Rodrigues, whose task force is an alliance of conservation groups, said all the animals were captured on Mugabe's orders to be given to North Korea. He cited witnesses and officials in the western Hwange National Park. Witnesses reported seeing capture and spotting teams, government vehicles towing cages, and armed men at key watering holes with radios to call in the capture teams.

The animals were being kept in quarantine in holding pens at Umtshibi camp in the park, he said.

Rodrigues added that officials opposed to the captures had leaked details to conservationists.

They reported that some areas of the 5,500 square mile park, the biggest in Zimbabwe, were being closed to tourists and photographic safari groups.

"We fear a pair of endangered rhino in Hwange will also be included," he told the Associated Press.

He said conservation groups were trying to find out from civil aviation authorities when the airlift would begin, and were lobbying for support from international animal welfare groups to stop it.

Zoo conditions in North Korea, which is isolated by most world nations, did not meet international standards, he said. Two rhinos, a male called Zimbo and a female called Zimba, given to Kim by Mugabe in the 80s, died only a few months after their relocation.

At the same time, other rhinos given to Belgrade zoo in the former Yugoslavia died after contracting footrot in damp and snowy winter conditions.

Rodrigues said: "This new exercise has to be stopped. People under orders to do it are too scared to speak out."

North Korea has a long association with Mugabe, and trained a Zimbabwe army brigade responsible for the massacre of at least 20,000 people in the 80s.

Last month Zimbabwe announced that the North Korean football team was bound for a training camp in the country ahead of the World Cup in neighbouring South Africa. Opposition groups pledged to demonstrate against their presence.

Conservation efforts in Zimbabwe have suffered major setbacks in recent years as the country's economy has gone into meltdown. Reports say rhino poaching, driven by Chinese black market demand for the animals' horns, has soared.

Zimbabwe's Parks and Wildlife Management Authority did not respond to requests for comment.

Fox News Gets Served on Religion and State

2010-05-12T11:21:00.004+02:00

I admire this guest for not letting the Fox News reporter depict him as a monster. He would not be pidgeon-holed and, rather, eloquently defended how religious rights are better protected with a secular state. He also called out the reporter on his mix-up of some basic facts.

Unveiling Moderation

2010-05-12T10:43:00.002+02:00

I have been curiously following op-ed articles from Kuwaiti and Spanish newspaper journals to get a greater understanding of the debate on the wearing of the veil in Europe. My time abroad in the Middle East has led me to believe more in "live and let live" than to strict credence of "Liberté, égalité, fraternité" but render to Ceasar...

Nonetheless, what is quite apparent to me is that the debate has been extremely narrow, and each side seems to be ratcheting up their narrow-mindedness. European male, pale and stale political members seem to have a superficial obsession with the appearance of Muslim women immigrants...fixated on clothing rather than amplifying the political debate on how immigrant women can be offered better public services for employment, education and opportunities for intergenerational mobility of their children.

Secondly, the lack of presence of Muslim women in the debate itself, be it in consultation in these political dialogues or through interviews in the media and press, has been starkly absent.

The pre-ocupation with the millimeter-thick veil as the centerpoint of the entire debate on women's rights in the Muslim-migrant community symbolically demonstrates that although the lake might be wide, its actually quite shallow.

Lastly, lets not forget that this grabbing of the hijaab issue is a calculated move on the behalf of the wider anti-immigrant xenophobic agenda of many conservative parties in Europe. On the other hand, the aforementioned parties' opponents (often male, pale and stale themselves, but on the liberal end) often approach the topic naively, clouded by feelings of colonial guilt and an overall identity crisis on the dimensions of how to reconcile women's rights with the right to freedom of religion.

However, when 26-year old Mamel Marmouri became the first woman in Italy to be fined for wearing a burqa in public, my sympathies were truly tested-as soon as her husband opened his mouth. Her golden nugget of a sppouse, Ben Salah Braim, 36, was quoted as saying:

"I just don't know where we are going to get 500 euros to pay the fine. We thought as she was going to the mosque she was OK to wear the burka. We knew about the law and I know that (the law) is not against my religion but now Amel will have to stay indoors. I can't have other men looking at her. If the law says she can't wear one then she will have to stay inside night and day. There is nothing I can do".

These statements make things difficult for those of us more moderate on the issue about whether or not a woman can wear a burka or veil. Lots of politicians in Arab countries are piggybacking on the minaret and burka debates to denounce Europe for personal gain.

Libyan leader Qaddafi declared a jihad against Switzerland, a country that has irked him ever since his son was arrested for abusing a maid. The op-ed articles I heard from many Gulf newspapers were ludicrous and only served to fit the baffoonish, belligerent stereotype that the conservative political movement on immigration in Europe would like to set as the norm. Notions of Islam conquering Europe like an unstoppable wave (the topic of one op-ed in Kuwait, seriously). And I strongly believe that many countries, such as Saudi Arabia and even Kuwait, need to seriously examine how they treat DIVERSITY OF RELIGION in their own borders before they go ranting on the rights of others abroad.

I don't identify with either movement. So where is the space for those of us who would like to examine the question with understanding, tolerance and moderation among these two caricatures on the spectrum of political discourse? I was happy to read yesterday in an op-ed article from Al-Watan Daily a stance that I viewed more balanced, coming from Dr. Shamlan Yousef AlـEissa. I am putting the link to it here, but copying it below as well.

At an opportune time when civilized nations are seeking to spread the concept of peace and peaceful coexistence with each other, we find some of our own MPs are indulging in projecting a negative image in their dealings with each other. The Ummah Tenets Party''s Secretary General MP Mohammed Hayef had earlier announced a move concerning the stance of the GCC, Arab and Islamic parliaments in initiating action against France. One of the initiatives called for not signing any agreements with France simply because that country went ahead with its ban on the veil. The honorable MP has forgotten an important issue which is that the French measures were taken and applied to enable French citizens to enjoy their religious freedom which the Arabs cannot even dream of guaranteeing in their own countries of origin.

MPs belonging to the political Islamic school of thought know very well that it is better for a man to be a Muslim living in Paris, London and Washington than to be a Christian living in Kuwait, Riyadh or Sudan. Kuwaiti MPs always seem to be the last of the lot where speaking about religious or personal freedoms is concerned. MP Khalid AlـSultan, slammed the French position over wearing veils, and considered it as a downright restriction of personal freedoms while his comrades in Parliament enacted a law in 1980 that bans granting the Kuwaiti citizenship for our fellow Christians. Isn''t such a law a stain on the face of Kuwaiti democracy?

French measures have been initiated for several national and security reasons, mainly involving religion in the daily lives of citizens. France is generally a secular nation which rejects any kind of religious insignia in its schools and official institutions, and this resolution is applied to one and all ـ not just Muslims. The decision was taken purely for security reasons that are in no way related to religion.

Islam in France and other Western countries including the United States spreads rapidly due to the migration of Muslims to these countries in huge numbers. If Muslims, at any given point of time, harbored this feeling that they would be persecuted and unable to practice their religion freely in those counties, why would they leave their countries of origin to live in those countries in the first place?

Frankly, the interference of MPs in the internal issues of France and defending wearing the niqab is not surprising to us at all. It is not surprising despite the fact that niqab has nothing to do with religion as it is a dress code that has spread among the Muslim communities in the Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula and has even moved further to some Arab countries. The Grand Sheikh of AlـAzhar has banned wearing the niqab in AlـAzhar universities while the Egyptian education minister banned it in universities after which Tunisia also followed suit. It is only natural then, that our representatives are required to take action against some of our own Arab countries before going a step further and boycotting France.

Curso de Verano en la Universidad Politecnica de Madrid sobre el Programa Habitat de la ONU

2010-05-12T10:40:00.002+02:00

06 - Buenas prácticas para mejorar las condiciones de vida. Programa Hábitat de Naciones Unidas

Fecha: Del 05 al 06 de julio de 2010

Director/a: Justo García Navarro

Doctor Arquitecto - UPM; Vocal del Comité Hábitat Español

Secretario/a: Ana de Guzmán Báez

Arquitecto - UPM; Grupo de investigación sostenibilidad en la construcción y en la industrial

Para mayor informacion, aqui

BBC World: " 'Ugly Beirut' struggles to survive peace" by By Natalia Antelava

2010-05-11T22:37:00.002+02:00

Having been to Beirut several times, several things jump out from the perspective of those of us who are interested in urban issues and liveable cities. First, no parks, no trees, not even weeds growing through the cracks of the pavement. Second, a whole lot of new construction that rather than aimed at preservation seems to be following the Dubai-model, especially along the waterfront. Third, lots of beautiful, decaying but decadent houses whose window shutters seem to fluttering their eyelashes at us begging for us to restore these buildings.

This article (click on this link for the full text or read below for the first lines that I have copied) by Natalia Antelava poignantly sums up the street-level experience of citizens who have seen their city transformed in the post-war era beyond recognition, and the concerned inner circle of urban activists who are trying to mainstream preservation and cities for the public good into the political discourse. The image I am including is of a destroyed egg-shape movie theater from Beirut's bygone urban eras that has always caught my attention. It lays fallow in a plot that is so close to the new glitzy downtown area around Place d'Etoiles, so close to Hariri's tomb, and surrounded by a bunch of construction area that seems perpetually incomplete.

"Beirut is an ugly city."

This statement would infuriate plenty of proud residents of the Lebanese capital, but veteran architect Assem Salaam stands by his words.

He points to the evidence: a jungle of grey concrete that towers over his garden, hiding what used to be a spectacular sea view.

Of course all cities change, but change does not have to be so aggressive and so inhuman

Assem Salaam
Architect

It is not the loss of the sea view that Mr Salam mourns.

And, he says, it is not the commonplace nostalgia for the old and familiar that drives his bitterness about an extraordinary pace of construction in his city.

"Of course all cities change, but change does not have to be so aggressive and so inhuman," he says.

"Take London, for example. It has changed immensely since I first visited in 1942, but I can still take the same bus route as I did then, or walk the same streets.

"Beirut, on the other hand, has changed beyond recognition," he says.

English Writing Contest: concurso de escritura en ingles para jovenes

2010-05-11T20:42:00.003+02:00

Patrocinado por el Instituto Internacional:

Concurso de Escritura en Inglés - Spring Writing Contest (de 8 a 16 años)

Escribir en lengua inglesa no debería asustar o intimidar a ningún estudiante. Esta afirmación es

especialmente cierta para quienes participen en el Spring Writing Contest - Concurso de

Primavera de Escritura del Instituto Internacional, pensado para animar y premiar a los

estudiantes en su esfuerzo por lanzarse a escribir en inglés.

• Los participantes solo competirán con otros estudiantes de su misma edad.

• Los ganadores serán premiados con un libro en inglés y todos los participantes

recibirán un certificado de participación expedido por el Instituto Internacional.

• Los autores pueden elegir la modalidad - poema, párrafo descriptivo, ensayo corto (de

una página), etc.

• Plazo de presentación de los originales: hasta el 7 de junio .

Los premios se entregarán en el transcurso de The Annual Talent Show del Instituto

Internacional a finales de junio.

¡Participa de la actividad y Anima a los jóvenes a escribir!

Contactos:

Mary Barker (mbarker@iie.es)

Maria Hegarty (mhegarty@iie.es)

Spain Sets Eyes on Kuwait Metro Project

2010-05-11T13:46:00.002+02:00

The blog re:kuwait has written signficantly about the Kuwait Metro Project, a topic that picked up steam after the inauguration of the Dubai Metro system in the UAE rival city last year. Al-Watan Daily is reporting that Spanish companies show keen interest in the project (the design of the metro plan itself was done by a Spanish firm). The metro network would be part of an overall GCC railway linkage project. A Spanish-language report by INESCO TIFSA dating back to October 2007 also details the project. You can read it by click on this link.

Newest Poll from Kuwait Times

2010-05-11T13:39:00.001+02:00

KUWAIT TIMES POLL

Will the enforcement of income tax improve public services?

Yes
22%
No
77%

Sports and Racism in Spain

2010-05-10T18:29:00.014+02:00

Coming now into my fourth week of living in Madrid, I have already had the opportunity to watch several football matches in bars around the city, one of which included a Real Madrid game. One of the cultural shocks that I should have known to brace for is the passion Spaniards have for their football, a tradition that is amusing and even endearing...up to a certain point.

Recently, however, I was watching a match in a bar and behind me were to raging individuals against the Real Madrid who kept namecalling Portuguese football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo "gitano", which in English translates to "gypsy". The goal of this blog entry isn't to go into detail on the continued discrimination of the Roma community in Spain, or in Europe for that matter, but rather, the slurs brought my attention once again to the complacency of racist imagery and prejorative words during sports events in Spain.

You can hear it in the bars, like I did. You can see it in the hooliganists' antics on the bleachers as was the case in early 2008 when spectators donned in blackface at the Formula One Grand Prix in Barcelona and taunted British racer Lewis Hamilton with offensive banners and jeers or when they made monkey screeches for French football player Thierry Henry, along with other black players as they was on the field during a friendly game in Madrid in 2004.

You can, however, and most problematically at that, see racism at higher levels of authority-the exact positions who should be the first to dissuage these tense situations instigated by deep rifts of understanding about what constitutes even the thinnest veneer of political correctness.

For example, in 2004 Spanish national soccer coach Luis Aragones called French star Thierry Henry "that black shit" and was subsequently fined by his national federation, although Henry was left offended by the gravity of the retaliation, in the form of a 3,000 euro fine that the agrieved football player found "laughable".

One of the most notorious cases came up in 2008 during the Beijing Olympic Summer Games, during which the Spanish Basketball Team took a group photo where they all made slit-eye gestures with their fingers. What really exponentially increases the shameful, comedy-of-errors of the situation is that the picture was part of an advertisement for a courier company that was the official sponsor for the Spanish Basketball Federation.

At no levels, both from the team management and the company's corporate team, did anyone question the appropriateness of the idea or how it would be perceived outside of Spain, despite past racism accusations. What's more, despite international outcry, days later Olympic athletes from the Spanish Tennis Federation were caught making the same gestures in a photograph.

In response to the negative attention following the circulation of the picture in international media, one of the basketball players, Jose Manuel Calderon wrote on his website that the photo had been "interpreted incorrectly" and that the players were asked to "pose with a wink" so they made an "oriental expression" as they thought it would be interpreted as "loving".

Insert foot in mouth.

Unfortunately, as the aforementioned example shows, when internationally shamed or called out, the culprits often use the classic Berlusconi "get-out-of-jail" free card with the "we were only trying to be cute/funny/friendly" response. Spain is left alone in a corner asking "what? what? why so serious" like that oblivious, obnoxious co-worker who always clowns around and never gets the memo about his/her uncomfortable jokes despite obvious hints by others and repeated subliminal messages.

Not only does this come across as grossly ignorant making it only more blatant that Spain has a systemic, institutional problem in sensitizing its citizens on cultural diversity awareness, but it is also a flippant, irrepentent reply that moves a disgraceful PR crisis from bad to worse.

Defendents might claim that rather than jumping to interpret incidents racism, they should be treated as acts of stupidity or gaffe. Nevertheless, the rise in the number of acts, the repeated mistakes and the continued irremorsefulness and lack of acknowledgement of wrongdoing on behalf of perpetrators raises legitimate concerns about Spain's self-awareness of their racist ways.

These setbacks are threatening to cost not only Spain's public image abroad and its overall dignity, but also Spain's status in sporting events themselves, through fines and threats to pull Spanish teams out of international federations or events. Both FIFA and the Formula One organizers have taken measures in the past to castigate such unruly behavior and send the message that racism has no place in good sportsmanship.

Regardless of whether Spain really recognizes or cares that there are problems with racism and overall sensitivity to diversity in its sports, one has to value reputation. Google image "Spain basketball" and many of the results you get are of this photograph from Beijing...coming up prior to even their official team photo.

For more on this issue, I also encourage you to read a wonderful article on the subject entitled "Racism, what racism? Asks Spain" from The Guardian by Paul Hamilos.

Imagine India Festival IX

2010-05-09T22:10:00.002+02:00

From May 18-29, 2010 Madrid will benefit from a cultural festival dealing primarily with film, but including several cultural acts as well. You can see the full programme here and see the official website as well.

Trailer Imagineindia 2010 from Imagineindia Film Festival on Vimeo.

Rain in Spain Series 1

2010-04-15T10:00:00.007+02:00

Galileo Galilei and me were born on the same day, of the same rock

you coming in, you the Sun Kings.

the kind who would deliver a briefcase full of self-help books and power bars

Fur of a lion cub linted on your coat.

the natural instinct to make a promise without knowing how to meet it...

and impose, like a proud beast

you of heliolight and conquest, of bellicose brow and golden tongue

you suns around whom you know all revolves.

your welcoming, though ceding: a Roman welcome in peripheral lands

the spite spilt dries on the rocks.

The Kuwait Confession Box Effect

2010-04-11T13:08:00.005+02:00

Recently, a new blog came to my attention: Kuwait Confession Box. I have to admit I am addicted, and I am glad to see that people are respecting the nature of the blog by writing seriously and not "pranking" the site with false anecdotes.

What strikes me the most so far about all the "confessions", is that for most of the anonymous entries, the writers tend to describe the same frustration: feeling of hypocrisy and self-hate for having to live a "double identity".

Many of the entries describe feelings of having to hide who they really are, feeling that they can't be true to themselves and still be loved and supported by their family, feeling that they have to live like liers, but all insisting that they are good people and even good Muslims.

To be honest, I feel sorry for these people. No one should have a society with such strict rules imposed that in order to comply by them, you have to live a double life. When you try to make a country so conservative, naturally what results is a Jeckyl and Hyde citizenry.

Good, average people trying to live their lives shouldn't be made to feel like they are criminals!

Death Penalty for Jahra Arsonist

2010-04-01T08:16:00.003+02:00

The arsonist responsible for the Jahra wedding fire has been condemned to hanging, in a ruling presided over by Chancellor Adel Al-Saqer. If so, Nasra Yussef Mohammed Al-Enezi, aged 23, will be the first-ever Kuwaiti woman to be executed.

Nasra, the second wife of a man who was to be married, set fire by pouring gasoline and lighting to the women's wedding celebration tent on August 15 (ferragosto), leading to the deaths of 57 women and children. The couple shares two children, both of whom are mentally handicapped.

Al-Watan Daily had an interview with sociologist at Kuwait University, Dr. Ali Al-Tarrah, who eloquently weighed in the justice of capital punishment. Here are excerpts from the interview conducted by Shireen Sabri.

Are you in favor of death sentence as a deterrent to some crimes?
AlـTarrah: The idea of punishment is to deter society from wrongdoing; punishment is used to protect the rights of others. But recent studies have shown that death penalty has no real effect in the form of deterrence as statistics indicate the number of major crimes such rape and murder have not declined despite the fact that death penalty is practiced by the law in many nations across the world. So if the criminal is aware of the punishment and yet does not hesitate to commit these dreadful crimes, then obviously the deterrent is not effective. It is obvious that rapists do not really think rationally when they commit these crimes because they are usually overpowered by their sexual desire.

But many people believe in death penalty. What is your opinion on that?
AlـTarrah: Those who support death penalty think that it would deter criminals and rapists from committing crimes. So obviously we need to study the matter seriously and find out new deterrents that are effective. It is obvious that the large majority of people entertain the idea that serious crime should receive harsh punishment.

Others believe that stringent measures such death penalty should be applied because it would be the only way to appease the victim and his or her family. In some countries, more than 24 articles deal with death penalty which suggests that some countries have extended their definition of punishment and penal code. What was once introduced to curtail social irregularities is now used against those who reject political systems.

Many political activists have been executed not on grounds of rape or for a crime they commit but for disagreeing with the political system. So this means that those who support the idea of using death penalty are really saying that politically radical activists should be executed because society in not in need of them.

I believe that culture plays a pivotal role in this because we tend to seek revenge at all accounts. Meanwhile, many legislators have appreciated the motives behind honor killing and reduce the punishment from death penalty to serving years in prison. We all agree that when a person does an honor killing, he is killing another person. Just like in a homicide, when a person kills another person. And yet, the punishment for one crime is strict and for the other, it is not. The reason is the circumstances and motives behind each. It is clear that the matter is viewed from cultural point of view rather than criminal one.

But how do you explain that certain expats face death penalty?
AlـTarrah: We need to consider the type of workers coming to the country. Some resort to theft and robbery probably due to abject poverty. People on the street are terrified by criminals and therefore they demand to see the execution of the criminal publicly especially if victims are children. Some go as far as asking for chopping the criminal to pieces. Governments should not be acting like this manner. Therefore, I would say public execution is barbaric because it is not civilized or humane. I agree that it would have stronger impact as a deterrent but the criminal is doubly punished as he is psychologically tortured by the fact that he is presented before masses that see how he breathes his last breath.

(To view original article, click here)

Old Song

2010-03-30T18:16:00.003+02:00

My student showed me this video. Does anyone know what it is talking about?

Criminalization of Dual Citizenship

2010-03-30T11:52:00.002+02:00

KUWAIT TIMES POLL

Should dual nationality holders be stripped of Kuwait citizenship?

Yes
41%
No
58%

Family Bookshop Salmiya

2010-03-30T11:35:00.001+02:00

It's really a shame they are so bent on demolishing Old Salmiya. I went today to buy a book in Family Bookshop and let me tell you the variety as well as the price is much better than any mega-store like Virgin.

India-Pakistan Border Stomp Romp

2010-03-28T23:06:00.001+02:00

Arabian Business: "Labourers living in homes 'not fit for cats and dogs'"

2010-03-28T21:03:00.001+02:00

Gulf states are seeking to buy people’s silence through state hand-outs while unskilled foreign workers are living in conditions “unacceptable to cats and dogs”, according to a leading Bahraini newspaper editor.

Dr Mansoor Al-Jamri, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Bahrain’s daily Alwasat newspaper, drew loud applause at Qatar’s BBC televised Doha Debates with his comments.

He said: “The governments have a philosophy based on oil wealth, but instead of letting it trickle down to the people they use it to silence the elite or to by-pass their citizens.”

He added that in Bahrain the average salary in the private sector had dropped by 15 per cent in recent years and more than half the population had been waiting to be housed since 1992.

Speaking of the wretched housing which so many foreign workers from the Indian sub-continent endure in Gulf states, Al-Jamri said they had to live in conditions “that cats and dogs would not accept.”

He warned that if these workers, who make up the vast proportion of unskilled labour, continued to be treated like third class citizens, their inability to share in the decision-making process or have a right of domicile would ultimately lead to the intervention of international bodies in the affairs of Gulf states.

Al-Jamri was speaking at the latest Doha Debate, a unique public debating forum in the Middle East, whose 350-strong audience voted 75 per cent to 25 per cent in favour of a motion that “Gulf Arabs Value Profit over People.”

He told the mainly Arab audience attending the debate, to be broadcast on BBC World News on November 22-23, that token trade unions existed in Bahrain and Kuwait but that they were deprived of powers of collective bargaining and the protection of international labour organisations.

“I am always hearing in the media and from officials how this is not the right time for the participation of the people. They say: we will give you free education and free housing, but just shut up and don’t criticise.”

His colleague on the panel, Dr Najeeb Al-Nauimi, a former Qatari Justice Minister and later lead counsel defending Saddam Hussein in Iraq, condemned governments which summarily deport not just unskilled, foreign labour but teachers and sometimes doctors.

Al-Nauimi decried the lack of compassion towards a labour force which builds extravagant construction projects on meagre salaries with minimal social benefits.

“Oil prices and cheap labour are the basis of our economies,” which depend in turn “on the silence of our citizens,” he said.

Al-Nauimi warned that the Indian sub-continent was forging ahead by opening up its societies to a working, middle and upper class with rights. “We are (just) citizens of the Gulf and represent a marginal class, marginalised by the political process.” (for full article click here)

BrasiBolly

2010-03-28T15:32:00.002+02:00

This is what happens when a Brazilian soap opera attempts to imitate an Indian drama...A strange lovechild indeed.

Book: Leaving Tangier by Tahar Ben Jelloun

2010-03-28T12:15:00.002+02:00

Picked this book up at the Virgin Store in the Beirut airport while I was waiting for a connection flight. It is an easy read and I got through the entire book on my long flight.

It deals with a brother and sister who emigrate from Morocco to Barcelona. The brother basically catches the eye of a gay Spaniard named Miguel who goes to Morocco often for leisure and business. He creates a pseudo-job for the brother, who I think is called Azel (?), provided he live with him in Barcelona, be his lover and basically be at his beck and call.

Meanwhile, the brother convinces Miguel to marry his sister so that she may also come to Spain, which Miguel does, although there are no romantic feelings between the sister and the Spaniard. In the end, what the story highlights on are how different people deal with emigration into a foreign land, who ruins themselves in the process and who paves out opportunities for themselves. I wished that the story had created more dialogue between the three characters to show their interaction in greater depth, but in the end it was a page turner.

United Nations 2012 World Urban Forum to Be Held in Bahrain

2010-03-27T23:07:00.003+01:00

Why is this most important? Besides the obvious factors for the Gulf, one of the biggest benefits is that this will give a chance for Gulf Youth to participate and be active. For each World Urban Forum, there is a World Urban Youth Assembly that precedes it. Here is the UN HABITAT press release, closing the 2010 World Urban Forum.

The Fifth Session of the World Urban Forum drew to a close in Rio de Janeiro on Friday with speakers hailing it as the most successful one ever staged.

According to available statistics, some 13,718 participants from 150 countries around the world attended the Session. Secretary of State Mrs. Hilary Clinton of the United States was full of praises for the Forum saying it was a unique venue where people from different backgrounds shared ideas on how to cope with the challenges of urbanization.

Mrs. Clinton who addressed the closing ceremony via a video message said the work of UN-HABITAT in addressing urbanization challenges was crucial adding that there was a greater need to foster private public partnerships in addressing those challenges.

In her speech, UN-HABITAT Executive Director Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka challenged the Forum participants to think long and hard on the kind of future they wanted to leave behind for the generations to come.

“How will our world look in just two generations to come when it is projected that 70 percent of humanity will be living in towns and cities? What percentage will continue to live in abject poverty? How much dirtier will cities make our planet? As we also learned this week, the means to bridge the urban divide are not lacking. We must, however, muster the political will to make our cities fit for our children, and the time to act is now!,” she said.

Mrs. Tibaijuka who leaves UN-HABITAT later this year at the end of a her second term at the helm, said she was walking away with her head high having managed to give the agency a footing, as requested of her by the former UN Secretary General Mr. Kofi Annan when he first appointed her to the post.
In his address, Brazil’s Minister for Cities Mr. Marcio Fortes said the success of the meeting could be gauged in the fact that most of the time, the meeting rooms were turning away some participants because of being fully packed.

During the occasion, the government of Bahrain, the hosts of the Sixth Session of the World Urban Forum in 2012, gave a presentation highlighting what delegates at the meeting are to be offered.

Staring Night Series: Annual Birthday Poem

2010-03-27T22:54:00.007+01:00

Posting a little late

A 14 February heart
a pulse into the 15th
propeller of birthdays

mechanism inducing age
push slinky "what
walks downstairs
alone or in pairs"
momentum of the years

collapse, coil,
collect deep at 11:59 pm
& expand out at 12:00 am

the birthday compression between
the force and the flick of the hands

Floating Down

2010-03-27T22:38:00.003+01:00

Hi everyone, sorry for the long winter of silence, but I have been around the Middle East, and in an undisclosed country in South America, yes its true. I have a big announcement to make soon, in seven days. In the meantime, I just found out that one of my favorite artists M.I.A., will be coming out with a new album in summer 2010. Check out a potential song here. Lets all turn off the lights and celebrate Earth Hour.

Op-Ed Reaction to Khalil Ali Haider: "The Spaniards Do Not Want to Learn Arabic"

2010-02-23T20:23:00.005+01:00

As a person teaching Spanish to some of the most diligent, interested Kuwaiti students of the language, I couldn't help but being intrigued by this op-ed. I agree with Mr. Khalil on many points. Spaniards are very lazy at learning languages, and can't seem to be bothered. Arabic, unfortunately, is just another victim to this. More critically, however, the Spaniards don't want to learn English either. Spain has one of the lowest rates of English fluency in the entire European Union. Its really a national embarrassment for me. To be honest with you, before promoting any other second language, English needs to be invested in heavily in Spain to bring the country's citizens to international standards regarding understanding of the English language, perhaps then we can focus on other foreign languages, such as the author writes, Arabic or Chinese.

Spain also has an integration problem. In comparison to other European countries, Spain has only recently had waves of migration into the country, and its immigrant population is still relatively new. How Spain is able to integrate the children of these first-generation citizens, will depend on how well Spain can educate its people on multiculturalism, tolerance for diversity and battling of racism--which is, unfortunately, notoriously horrible in Spain, as many national public embarrassments during several international sporting competitions can attest. For a long time, Spain was an immigrant-exporting country, and the people must never forget this fact in their discussion of integration and migration in the present day.

Now, regarding the promotion of the Arabic language, something that perhaps the promoters could learn from. Spain has what we might call soft or cultural diplomacy, in the form of El Instituto Cervantes, a center for Spanish cultural promotion and language abroad. They have offices all over the world. This is similiar to perhaps the British Council. Why not begin one focused on the Arabic language?

Last month, a Spanish citizen poured icy cold water on the Arab-Spanish cultural relations and at the same time offered it a beautiful rose. On Jan. 1, 2010 Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper reported that the local government in Andalusia Province's latest bill to teach the Arabic language as a second foreign language in educational institutions was met with strong oppositions.

The newspaper's correspondent Subaih Sadiq said that the bill aims at integrating Arab and Roman immigrants into the Spanish society. The concerned committee suggested allocating 25 million euro until 2013 to implement the proposal. The bill suggests teaching Arabic as a second foreign language in the Andalusia Province and urging educational institutions to open Arabic departments. 400 opponents commented on the bill through an electronic newspaper.

Some said that: "Teaching Arabic will not benefit them. The government should encourage studying Spanish instead." Others said: "We have always been studying English and French and now they want to teach us Arabic?" Others said: "There is no doubt that studying languages is important but what is the point of studying Arabic? All those who come to our country should study our language instead of teaching us their language." An extremist said: "I hope that Catholic rulers could be in power to dismiss them again."

Two days later, there were several calls to cancel the Official holiday of Granada on Jan. 2 which was the day when the last Arab kingdom in Andalusia fell in 1492. Granada celebrates the occasion at official and public levels. The Granada Society has announced that it would organize a celebration for dialogue among civilizations and against the fall of Granada as well as to honor the Gypsies, Jews and Arabs who were dismissed from Andalusia.

The Andalusia People's Society issued a statement in which it said: "We want to express our rejection of celebrating the fall of Granada and we call for cancelling this celebration and to replace it by June 26 as the National Day of Granada, which was the day when Maryana Beneida (1804-1831) was executed. Maryana was known for her opposition to oppression and autocracy in Madrid. (Al-Sharq Al-Awsat 3/1/2010).

If there was a proposal to teach the Chinese language in Spain, would the responses of Spanish authorities be the same? I don't know. Many schools in the US, and perhaps in Europe, encourage teaching Arabic. It is said that the annual salary of a translator working for the US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan is more than 180,000 US dollars. In the past we used to fear the Europeans who studied Arabic. Nowadays, the new generations in Europe have no interest in learning Arabic. (link here)

Olympics

2010-02-14T19:26:00.002+01:00

I am a diehard fan of the Olympic Games, although the time zone difference is costing me my loyalty to these Vancouver games. I am sharing with you a part of the opening ceremony for the Athens Games in 2004, not only one of the best opening ceremonies that I have ever seen, but I think also up there in the top 5 visual experiences of my entire life. It truly blew my mind, and I was lucky enough to see it live on the television in 2004. This is amazing, just try not to cringe from the commentary delivery.

Love

2010-02-14T18:54:00.002+01:00

I hate to get preachy, but being the day of love, love yourselves, love your neighbour, love your earth.

Sarah Palin and the Hillbilly Palm Pilot

2010-02-09T09:01:00.005+01:00

Sarah Palin wrote her notes on her hand during the recent Tea Party Convention in Tennessee. You can see written that it says:

Energy

Budget (crossed out and replaced with "tax") cuts

Lift American Spirits

Source (Huffington Post)

Get Out of Bribes Free

2010-02-08T20:45:00.002+01:00

Excellent rupee "no-corruption zone" note to pass to officials attempting to get a bribe out of you. Click on the image to see the full size.

New Indian Show on 98.4 Mix FM

2010-02-04T10:29:00.005+01:00

Just read in the news that Kuwait 98.4 FM is going to have a new show dedicated to Indian film music and entertainment news, 6 pm on Friday. I am so excited!!

फिर भी दिल है हिन्दुस्तानी!

BBC: "France refuses a citizenship over full Islamic veil"

2010-02-03T07:59:00.006+01:00

The French government has refused to grant citizenship to a foreign national on the grounds that he forced his wife to wear the full Islamic veil.

The man, whose current nationality was not given, needed citizenship to settle in the country with his French wife.

But Immigration Minister Eric Besson said this was being refused because he was depriving his wife of the liberty to come and go with her face uncovered.

Last week, a parliamentary committee proposed a partial ban on full veils.

It also recommended that anyone showing visible signs of "radical religious practice" be refused residence permits and citizenship. (link to article here)

'Integration'

In a statement, Mr Besson said he had signed a decree on Tuesday rejecting a man's citizenship application after it emerged that he had ordered his wife to cover herself with a head-to-toe veil.

"It became apparent during the regulation investigation and the prior interview that this person was compelling his wife to wear the all-covering veil, depriving her of the freedom to come and go with her face uncovered, and rejected the principles of secularism and equality between men and women," he said.

Later, the minister stressed that French law required anyone seeking naturalisation to demonstrate their desire for integration.

Mr Besson's decree has now been sent to Prime Minister Francois Fillon for approval.

The interior ministry says only 1,900 women wear full veils in France, home to Europe's biggest Muslim minority.

In 2008, a French court denied citizenship to a Moroccan woman on the grounds that her "radical" practice of Islam was incompatible with French values.

Wednesday's Picasso

2010-02-03T07:51:00.002+01:00

How to Measure the Urban Kindness of Strangers

2010-02-02T09:58:00.003+01:00

This man got strangers to physically carry him on his back up 9.4 miles of the grand Manhattan Isle. He wanted to debunk the myth that New Yorkers are unfriendly. Well, I wish they would do this experiment in Paris, where I found myself once lugging 50 kilos of luggage up and down the Paris metro stairs for several hours to get from one side of the city to the next, with no elevator or escalator in sight. I fell two times and no one stopped to help me except for immigrant women. It would be an interesting experiment for Kuwait? Who wants to place bets on how far someone could get?

Op-Ed by Hamad Al Sanan at Al-Watan Daily: "Taking Pride in Being Muslim"

2010-01-27T18:02:00.004+01:00

I understand the author's concern with ensuring unity and not creating secterianism, although I think, on a theoretical level at least, that a country's diversity can be its strength, not its weakness, and that unity must not equate conformity or denying ones' identity--and identity has many rungs of allegiance, not necesarily mutually exlusive. A person defines themselves in different ways relative to their context. In my home region I define myself by my town, in my home country, by my region, in the world by my nationality. We define ourselves as many things: mothers, sons, bosses, Hindus, conservatives, A positive, students, Kuwaitis, Failakers, men, women, citizens, brothers, sisters. We are all these, all at the same time.

Nonetheless, reading this article got me seriously reflecting on the meaning of "pride". Does pride infer superiority, or a belief that you are "better" than others? This never factored into my definition, and I began to start double-guessing myself. Read the op-ed and find below the dictionary answer of "pride". Also, the magnefying glass of scrutiny that has been given to the female MPs has been astounding, belittling and targeting their personal lives in a way that flabbergasts me and is utterly devoid of any sort of reflection on what they should be judged for: their policy and performance.

When a Muslim says that he is proud of being a Muslim, it means that he believes that his religion distinguishes him from the followers of other religions. It is also normal for a man to say that he is proud to be a Kuwait or Emirati because he believes that his country is distinguished from other countries on certain issues. But I cannot understand how a female MP could dare say: "I''m proud of being Shiite" while she holds a PhD degree and represents her people who elected her because she doesn''t support sectarianism.

This statement means that the MP actually meant to say that she belongs to a sect which is better all other sects. Some people resort to flattery to hide a certain fact for a while but soon the facts appear on the surface. This fact shocked colleague Fuad AlـHashem who wants Kuwaiti citizens to be just Kuwaitis without any sectarian or tribal affiliations. I think that AlـHashem also wonders how a graduate from the Colorado University who has specialized in political science can issue such a statement. What sort of reactions can we expect from the general public? Has this statement got anything to do with patriotism?

This female Shiite MP might have the right of being proud of being Shiite but I think that announcing this in public only strengthens sectarianism. A friend of mine has told me that his son''s classmate in the second grade asked him: "Where do you place your hands when you perform prayers?" I wonder how such an innocent child can ask this question. Ali AlـMatouk has published a statistical report which shows that there are 700 million Shiites in the Islamic world. He had earlier published a study indicating that Shiites represent 60 percent of the Kuwaiti population. I don''t actually care about such inaccurate statistics, but the question is: "What is the aim behind publishing such statistics at such a volatile time?"

When a certain community introduces exaggerated statistics they aim at proving that they are not a minority and thus demand more rights or even selfـgovernance as the case of the Chinese community in Malaysia. I don''t think that Ali AlـMatouk considers himself belonging to one of such communities. This talk also strengthens sectarianism.

I''m not calling for Shiites to become Sunnis or vice versa but I''m calling for an end to the conflict existing between the two doctrines because such conflicts weaken Islam. Let us all agree on how to differ but not how to fight each other. We should strengthen our sense of belonging to this land. Let us be proud of being Kuwaitis and not for belonging to the Sunni or Shiite sects.

Superiority is a corrupted form of pride, just as opportunism is a corrupted form of assertiveness perhaps, but to turn to Merriam-Webster:

PROUD

1 : feeling or showing pride: as a : having or displaying excessive self-esteem b : much pleased : exultant c : having proper self-respect
2 a : marked by stateliness : magnificent b : giving reason for pride : glorious est moment in her life>
3 : vigorous, spirited
4 chiefly British : raised above a surrounding area

I like the idea that proud just means a proper self-respect. And remember, its only until you respect yourself that you can get respect from others.

Message from Oxfam: Where Does the Oil $ Go?

2010-01-25T20:55:00.002+01:00

Bidoon of Bidoon: Stateles of Stateless

2010-01-25T19:41:00.004+01:00

Really, this is an excellent article by Ahmed Saeid entitled "Bedoons in Predicament" on the Bedoon issue, taking a careful look at the many legal loopholes, citizenship scams and overall endless bush maze of barriers that people with Bidoon status trying to seek something better for themselves face. I myself have heard similar personal accounts to corroborate the anecdotes in this article by the various people interviewed. Normally, I only quote the first couple paragraphs of a long story and allow the reader to click on the link to read the entire article, but I am including it all here. It is wonderful that the legal hitches are looked at through an angle emphasizing the human cost of these traps.

KUWAIT: While discussion on the bedoon's civil rights draft law in the National Assembly was postponed yesterday due to lack of quorum (for the second time in a row) nearly 100,000 bedoons (stateless persons) continue to fight a 'paper war' in a bid to reflect their physical existence on legal dossiers. Some bedoons think that the government and the National Assembly have been deferring this issue for decades now, and that this 'intentional' policy has pushed some toward facing perpetual hardship.

While many bedoons continue to face the 'regular' difficulties that accompany statelessness, others face a unique situation - they are neither considered to be stateless nor citizens of any country in the world!

The problems of this segment of people begin with being stateless or not belonging to any country. Khalifa Al-Utaibi, Spokesman of the Gathering of Kuwaiti Bedoons, said the Kuwaiti government had founded the Executive Committee for Illegal Residents (ECIR) to naturalize the stateless. This was done so that the government could later claim that they are not stateless but 'illegal residents' who conceal their true nationality.

We have to seek the committee's approval to do any paper work," Al-Utaibi said. "And when we go there, they give us an approval letter stating the citizenship they have conferred on us. In order to receive the approval, you have to sign an pledge stating that you are a holder of a particular nationality. Otherwise they will not allow it," he said.

Al-Utaibi adds that he had once approached the ECIR to seek approval. He was told that he was of a Saudi origin. "I told them okay, I agree. I'll be proud to admit that I am Saudi. Where is my Saudi passport? Can you please give it to me so I can at least obtain a birth certificate for my daughter? They told me "that's your job to find out, not ours." These are the kind of procedures they impose on us," he laments.

According to Al-Utaibi, Kuwaiti government has been imposing pressure on the stateless people since 1986. "We face such restrictions every day," Al-Utaibi said. "We have to struggle to register marriages, register the birth of a child, issue a death certificate. Any kind of interaction where paperwork is involved is a painful experience for us," he explains.

Al-Utaibi took the point further arguing that the only way bedoons can contract marriages is through the help of court orders. The groom files a suit claiming to have had illegal relations with the bride. The judge then issues an order legalizing their marriage contract.

Supporters of these measures argue that they are rewarding. A large number of bedoons have 'adjusted' to their situations and 'recovered' their original passports. The consequences of these restrictions are showing up in far more complicated, inhumane situations.

As one of the aftereffects of this policy, a group of people have now been rendered non-bedoon. They are not citizens of any other country in the world. There are no definitions to describe them; they are simply 'nameless.' They are widely referred to as 'stateless of stateless' or bedoon of bedoon and face dead ends. In addition, they face the misfortune of having to 'come up' with a passport in order to survive.

Abu Abdlallah, a father of six children in his forties, is a former bedoon. Owing to a number of complications, including difficulties related to issuing birth certificates for his two youngest daughters, he had to buy a Syrian passport from a company that had placed an advertisement in local newspapers in 2001. He said that he paid KD 6,000 for the passport, which he then submitted to the ECIR. After doing so, he was able to obtain residence permits for himself and family members. He also obtained other forms of identification and a driving license.

The problem began when my passport expired in 2007," he said. "I went to the Syrian embassy to renew it and they said that they need to consult the Syrian ministry of interior before issuing a new passport to me. After some time, embassy officials told me that the Syrian government does not have any record of our details, and that it does not consider us to be citizens of Syria at all. They took our passports and gave me a paper stating that we are not Syrian citizens," he added.

Abu Abdallah' s life has since, turned tragic. He is unable to obtain a residence permit because he doesn't have a passport. He can't also go back into living like a stateless individual. "I didn't know what to do," he said. "I went back to the ECIR so that I could receive an identification card. They told me that they can't process any documents any more. I was asked to go to the Ministry of Interior. I went there with a group of people who faced similar circumstances. They could offer no assistance and we were told that our situation needs be resolved politically.

He explained that due to their situation, his family or he cannot receive medical care at government hospitals. His sons don't possess any kind of identity card and are vulnerable to police arrests any time. He added that his situation has also inflicted psychological damage on his children. "My 19-year-old daughter has been engaged for almost a year now. She can't get married because she doesn't have any legal documents whatsoever.

Adel is another individual who has been trapped in a similar situation. Apparently, the secretary of the ECIR informed him that his file had been 'closed' and that he should submit his 'original passport' in order to be able to process any paper work related to the government. "I searched for the cheapest passport available," he said. "The Somali passport could be bought for KD 150 then," he added. He explained that it wasn't too difficult to buy one. "The advertisements placed by passport selling agencies were common in many newspapers back then. Several notices were placed inside the ECIR premises itself," he claimed.

Adel said that after he submitted the Somali passport to the ECIR, before a civil ID with a valid Kuwaiti residency as a Somali citizen was issued to him, a government official in Somalia declared that the passports issued in Kuwait were illegal. The Somali government had taken measures to change passports to prevent forgery. "It was then that I stopped. But now I'm registered with the ECIR as a Somali citizen. It's not only me, all my brothers and sister, and their sons and daughters face the same situation," he said. He argued that the ploy was part of the of the ECIR's strategy to trap bedoons. This is because as soon as anyone buys a passport the nationality is applied on all the relatives in government records.

Abu Ghazi, another bedoon, says that had he known he would have had to face such a situation, he would've left Kuwait a long time ago. "Why didn't they tell us that they don't want us, back in the '60s? We would've managed to fit into another country in the region while it was possible. Why did they wait for forty years to tell us that they don't want us?" he questioned.

Local Coverage of Human Rights Watch Report Omits HRW's Focus on LGBT Issues Brought Up in Report

2010-01-25T19:37:00.002+01:00

Just after reading an article by The Kuwait Times entitled "HRW Slams Treatment of Labourers, Bedoons", I am realizing that they have neglected the fact that the report also spoke of the countless harassment and discrimination against the LGBT community!

Human Rights Watch 2010 World Report Now Available

2010-01-24T08:39:00.006+01:00

You may access the pdf version of the entire report, which gives a summary of the status of human rights in each country, by clicking here. Regarding Kuwait in particular, here are some highlights of the findings:

-Kuwait has made improvements in women's political rights, particularly with the election of four women in Parliament, although women still face significant discrimination in all aspects of daily life. These legal forms of discrimination include: the right to pass on nationality to children, access to low-interest housing loans, and divorce settlements. Perpetrators who commit violence against women are rarely arrested.

-Kuwait hosts several stateless people, known as Bidoun, who amount to around 120,000 of the population in Kuwait. A 2007 draft law would grant the Bidun civil rights, but not nationality, although this has not yet passed. Children of Bidoun are also exempt from being able to have any eligibility for nationality. The Bidoun face several travel restrictions, legal loopholes and civil rights discrimination limiting their access to services and employment.

-Kuwait freedom of expression in the media is often thwarted by fines and bans for slandering the government. In one case in October 2009, two Kuwaiti members of parliament were fined for criticizing the Interior Ministry's treatment of the Bidoun.

-Kuwait continues to discriminate against the gay, lesbian and transgender community. Homosexual conduct is a criminal act in Kuwait under Article 193 of Kuwait's penal code. Men who engage in consensual sexual intercourse between men over age 21 are sentenced for up to seven years imprisonment. If the conduct involves persons under the age of 21, the sentence is increased to 10 years. Transgender people are often sent to prison or fined for "imitating the appearance of a member of the opposite sex." They are also subject to harassment.

-About 80% of the country is comprised of expatriots, many of whom face high residency fees leading to unpayable debt, and whose rights are not adequately covered by the existing labor law. Due to the abuse of several domestic workers and unskilled labor, several embassies have placed bans on the entrance of their citizens to Kuwait for employment. The source of the problem lies in the current sponsorship system (kafala), which trap workers in averse situations and keeps abusive sponsors out of the gamma of law enforcement.

Whassup with Adidas and Authoritarian Regimes?

2010-01-20T20:03:00.002+01:00

Some time ago, I noticed Fidel Castro's odd golden years fashion choice of Adidas track suits, complete with his printed name and everything. Suddenly, yesterday I saw pictures on Mideast Youth of Iran's president Ahmadinejad during Clean Air Day...whose turn is it next to get the Adidas sponsorship?

Afghanis Pay 1/4 of their GDP in Bribes, Says BBC Quoting UN Report

2010-01-19T18:59:00.003+01:00

For full BBC article, entitled "UN Afghanistan Survey Points to Huge Scale of Bribery", click here.

Afghans paid $2.5bn (£1.5bn) in bribes over the past 12 months, or the equivalent of almost one quarter of legitimate GDP, a UN report suggests.

Surveying 7,600 people, it found nearly 60% more concerned about corruption than insecurity or unemployment.

More than half the population had to pay at least one bribe to a public official last year, the report adds.

The findings contrast sharply with a recent BBC survey in which the economy appeared to top Afghan concerns.

The survey commissioned by the BBC and other broadcasters in December suggested that fewer Afghans (14%) saw corruption as the biggest problem than the economy (34%) and security situation (32%).

According to the UN survey, bribes averaged $160 (£98) in contrast to an average Afghan annual income of $425.

Bribes were most often paid to police, judges and politicians but members of international organisations and NGOs were also seen as corrupt, the survey said.

Trip to Bahrain

2010-01-19T18:17:00.005+01:00

I left for Bahrain and flew back this evening. I wanted to comment on a tour I took of various old houses in Muharraq, Bahrain's second largest city, located on the same island as the airport. It actually used to be the capital of Bahrain until 1923. We went to see various old houses, cultural institutions and restored buildings that have been turned into a variety of functions: theatre halls, children's libraries, art galleries, handicraft houses, cafes...really it was the best restored job I have seen so far in the Gulf (although I have many places yet to see in the region). I will put of photographs later when I receive them so you get the idea.

Most of these institutions, located in old houses, are under the organizing umbrella of the ShaikhEbrahim Bin Mohammed Al-Khalifa Center for Culture and Research, a commendable institution that other Gulf countries should really take a closer look at and try to learn from.

Why was this experience so amazing? Because these various heritage houses were connected together into a neighborhood, a street, where maintaining the outdoor space was just as important in the renovation. For example, in the streets there were various painted murals, the brick roads were in good condition and one could tell that the street space was pro-actively utilized. There were many pedestrians, they were child-friendly streets as we saw many kids walking around on their own, and they even had artwork by children as well. Because in between these different cultural spaces there were also residential areas where people lived, allowing for mixed use in the urban dynamic.

Because within these renovated buildings there was a fine-tuned, elegant combination of the old and the new to a degree I have not seen in the Gulf. Because the people who worked on the renovation were able to see value in deteriorated buildings that in many other countries would simply have gotten demolished, and turned it into something beautiful. Because these restored areas were not simply museum or heritage pieces, but continued to live in the present and have an active function: art galleries, workshops, lectures, music events, films, etc. I could go on forever, but please learn for yourself by visiting their website. If you go to Bahrain and do not stop by this area, you are really missing out.

For anyone who thinks this kind of thing simply could never happen in Kuwait, think again. There are PLENTY of old houses that can be restored. Nothing is impossible. I saw some before/after photographs of the houses they chose for renovation and I was in shock. At first glance these houses seemed so similar to the type of beautiful, but derelict buildings you see in Kuwait all the time. Bahrainis have reason to be proud of their history and how they have managed to see that modernity does not have to displace it.

The Washington Post: "Work begins on first planned Palestinian city" by Ben Hubbard

2010-01-12T17:10:00.002+01:00

ATARA, West Bank -- Work crews have broken ground on what they hope will be the first modern, planned Palestinian city - a step officials say will help build an independent state in spite of the current deadlock in the peace process with Israel.

But without Israeli approval of a short stretch of road, the $500-million project may never get off the ground.

"We could build the whole city, but the question is, would people live in a city that doesn't have an access road?" said Bashar Masri, managing director of the company behind the project.

"Obviously, the answer is no."

Since last week, machine operators have been hard at work, taking chunks out of a rocky hillside near this West Bank village. If the project goes according to plan, it will provide 40,000 Palestinians with homes in an American-style development.

Palestinians say Israel has not responded to their requests about the access road. The Israeli Defense Ministry, which is in charge of the area, did not return calls from The Associated Press about the issue.

Israel's stated policy is to promote economic development in the West Bank, and construction of the new town would appear to fall within that goal. But two miles (three kilometers) of the road would have to be built through a part of the West Bank that Israel controls, within view of a Jewish settlement, raising possible complications.

(For full link, click here)

Event: Pecha Kucha Night #4

2010-01-12T17:04:00.007+01:00

Host:	Pecha Kucha KUWAIT
Type:	Music/Arts - Performance
Network:	Global

Date:	Thursday, January 14, 2010
Time:	7:30pm - 9:30pm
Location:	Scientific Center

Ahmad Al-Majed & Rabaa Al-Hajri
Alia Al-Ghunaim
Maryam Al Hamad
Barrak Al-Babtain
Reham Al Sharif
Roa Al-Shaheen
Valerie Buchheit
Zed Alrefa

Event: A Night for Architecture

2010-01-12T17:00:00.003+01:00

Host:	TSquare Magazine
Type:	Education - Lecture
Network:	Global

Date:	Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Time:	6:00pm - 9:00pm
Location:	The Americani Cultural Center, (on Gulf Road, next to the parliament)

"A Night for Architecture"
The night will consist of three events:

T-Square Magazine will host various Architects and professionals of the design field to discuss the theme of the upcoming 8th issue:

"Why Design? Cause and Effect"

KASA will present a mini-exhibition showcasing a sample of this academic yearʼs design work

AIAS will showcase a timeline of Kuwait Universityʼs Department of Architecture

Al-Watan Daily: "Saudi ''morality police'' head causes theological uproar" by Ahmad Zakariya

2010-01-12T16:54:00.004+01:00

A number of Kuwaiti religious scholars have severely condemned a statement made by the Saudi Arabian director of the Committee for Protection of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Mecca, Dr. Ahmad AlـGhamidi, who said that the hijab (head scarf) was only meant for the wives of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) and is not applicable to other women.

His statement has come as a blow, he being one of the top officials of Saudi Arabia''s so called "morality police," and having already stated that men and women can mingle together and therefore segregation is not a necessity.

The Head of the Kuwaiti organization Human Rights Essentials, Dr. Adel AlـDamkhi, responded immediately to the statement, saying that AlـGhamidi is not a religious scholar and therefore is not in the position to pass religious judgment of this nature or otherwise.

"He is not even a student of Islamic jurisprudence, and therefore he is not entitled to delve into such matters. What AlـGhamidi is stating has a resonance in the writings of orientalists who have long raised their doubts over the hijab," he said to Al Watan, adding that the hijab is a wellـestablished tradition in Islam.

Similarly, Islamic Sharia Law Professor at Kuwait University Saud AlـRabia said AlـGhamidi''s views are very much contradicted by what Muslim scholars have been saying for so long. "There is no doubt that his argument is utterly illogical," he stressed, adding that the number of Quranic verses as well as Prophetic sayings regarding this particular point are too numerous to simply brush them off in such manner.

Another Muslim preacher, Hay AlـHay, condemned AlـGhamidi''s statement that there is no need for gender segregation. " AlـGhamidi''s statement causes sedition within the Islamic nation, and his evidence is nonsensical," he remarked. AlـHay further added that it would have been much better on the part of AlـGhamidi to remain silent over this issue. He urged scholars to double check and investigate matters before discussing them and passing their own legal opinions publicly.

AlـHay admitted, however, that AlـGhamidi''s statement could have an unpleasant impact "because he is one of the leading figures in the field of Islamic propagation in Saudi Arabia. Indeed, when I read his statement, I was totally shocked."

For his part, member of the World Islamic Union Dr. Ahmad Hussein said that all Muslim schools of thought agree that the hijab is an Islamic duty, but significantly added that for the two genders to mingle with one another is permissible as long as the motive to be promiscuous does not exist.

Good Song and Definately Amazing Bicycle Skills

2010-01-12T16:53:00.001+01:00

UAE Commits An Insult to Humanity

2010-01-11T20:09:00.005+01:00

A couple months back, I posted a torture video that got leaked clearly showing a member of the UAE ruling family, Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al-Nahyan (or SIN for short), committing heinous psychological and physical brutality to a poor Afghani merchant who he accused of stealing from him a measly 5,000 USD. These acts including firing bullets at his feet, RUNNING him over with a car, and beating him with a spiked stick. Now he claims he was drugged and thus he can't be held at fault for his actions, according to an article by the BBC. WTF!!

Please tell me what drug causes people to become sadistic monsters? The UAE considers this a symbolic gesture, as his trial demonstrates that no one is above the law. All that this insult to justice proves is that courts are a mere farcical veneer of legality, justice and accountability and that if you are poor, you will get trampled on...literally. I wish the European Union would place a travel ban on him. In the words of Spiderman: with great power comes great responsibility.

A member of the ruling family of the United Arab Emirates has been cleared of the torture of a business associate.

Lawyers for Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the president's brother, said the court ruled he had been drugged and so was "unaware of his actions".

The incident came to light when a videotape was circulated showing the violent beating, said to have taken place in 2004.

It was the first reported investigation of a UAE ruling family member.

His lawyer, Habib al-Mulla, said the ruling had "clarified Sheikh Issa's position that he was a victim of conspiracy" over the torture of Mohammed Shah Poor.

"At the same time, it's proven justice to Mohammed Shahpoor and it showed who were the actual people who were behind whole saga," Reuters quoted Mr al-Mulla as saying.

He said the court had "accepted our defence that the sheikh was under the influence of drugs that left him unaware of his actions," the AFP news agency reported.

The defence had previously claimed Sheikk Issa had been drugged by two men - American-Lebanese brothers Ghassan and Bassam Nabulsi - who recorded the beating in order to blackmail him.

The video showed a man shooting the ground near the sitting victim

The Nabulsi brothers were sentenced in their absence to five years in prison for drugging Sheikh Hassan and fined 10,000 dirham ($2,723:£1,700).

Three other men were sentenced to between one and three years for their role in the torture.

'Equality sign'

The video, circulated last year, shows Sheikh Issa repeatedly beating Mr Poor, a grain merchant of Afghan origin, and running him over with a car.

Several other men assist in the tape, including one in a uniform of the security forces. The incident came to light after US television network ABC broadcast clips of the tape, which was smuggled out of the UAE by a former business associate of Issa bin Zayed al-Nahyan.

Reports say the merchant had lost a consignment of grain belonging to Sheikh Issa worth $5,000 (£3,300). He survived the abuse, but needed extensive hospital treatment.

Mr al-Mulla said the fact the trial had taken place was "a sign that the UAE is showing that everyone in this country can be put in front of law and judged".

The BBC's Christian Fraser in the region says the verdict will do little to satisfy those who have long criticised the Emirates abject human rights record.

They will argue it proves once again that the extended royal family and those Emiratis in positions of power are often above the rule of law, says our correspondent.

The UAE is a federation of seven wealthy emirates with substantial oil reserves and a large expatriate population. Each emirate is run by a ruling family and citizens are granted few political rights.

Depinkification

2010-01-11T20:01:00.003+01:00

A new taxi service will begin operating, made by women for women. The taxi service will have female drivers and will pick up only female passengers. While I think this is a valiant gesture to ensure more safety for female taxi passengers, who are often victims of abuse or even kidnappings, I do not think the color pink does them much of a service.

First, why pink? Just because they are women? I find this insulting. Secondly, it makes these taxi cabs vulnerable to harassment from other cars. Then, why can't female taxi drivers exist who can service people regardless of their sex? When I lived in Central America, my taxi driver was a woman, and she had all sorts of clients. She was valued for her service, regardless of whether she had ovaries.

Do the new force of policewomen not attend to their duty if it concerns men? I am FOR promoting women's safety, but AGAINST reinforcing even more segregated spheres for the sexes.

Israel/Lebanon Dish it Out for the Silliest Battle Ever: Hummus Wars Continue Strong

2010-01-09T13:32:00.002+01:00

From the Foreign Policy Blog:

A giant serving of hummus weighting 4,087.5 kilos (8992.5 pounds) is seen resting on a six-meters (20 foot) satellite dish while attempting to break a new world record in the Arab Israeli village of Abu Gosh on January 8, 2010. Fifty chefs in the Arab-Israeli village of Abu Ghosh mashed up over four tonnes of hummus, beating the Guinness World Record set in Lebanon just months ago. The weight is about twice as much as the previous record set in October in neighbouring Lebanon, Israel's political and culinary rival.

156 Countries Sing Beatles Love for Africa AIDS Love

2010-01-08T11:18:00.002+01:00

If only it weren't Starbucks....! Don't miss the Qatari dude rocking the oud. For those of you unfamiliar with the song "All You Need is Love" (are those of you out there?) then here is the original Beatles version below.

Indonesia Lifting Ban on Workers in Kuwait: Bad Idea

2010-01-06T18:33:00.005+01:00

I just read an article in The Kuwait Times about Indonesia and Kuwait being in the talks on lifting a ban to allow domestic workers to come back into the country...what has happened in Kuwait to send positive signals that the climate for domestic workers has improved?! Zilch. Rather it has gotten worse (thanks to Ben Garcia for his IN-DEPTH and POIGNANT reporting and interview with two maids hospitalized after falling from buildings). More alarming is the nature of reaching agreement that they would seal the deal-a memo of understanding:

The memorandum could include the introduction of a mandatory monthly minimum wage and weekly day's holiday for Indonesian workers and an end to employers being allowed to retain their passports.

How would this become "mandatory" when wages and holiday leave allowance are largely dictated by the decision of the families themselves? To what authority would the maid be able to report to if these allowances have been denied to her by her employer? The embassy?! This is not the duty of an embassy and and "MoU" shows no real commitment to enforcement, in fact its absurd. Indonesia should only lift the ban upon legal reforms and demonstrated trial of success in the implementation of these legal changes in the sponsorship system.

Rock and Roll Afghanistan

2010-01-05T20:34:00.003+01:00

Who knew? If there can be indie music in Afghanistan, why not Kuwait? Meet Kabul Dreams, kind of a Kabul version of the Strokes. The band consists of 19-year old vocalist Sulaymon Qardash, bass player Siddique Ahmad and drummer Mujtaba Habibi, all of whom come from different parts of Afghanistan. Here is the article from the BBC by Moska Najib that caught my attention about this, and below is a clip from their youtube page.

Indie rock - but not from Britain or America.

This is music from Afghanistan, of a kind seldom heard before, but now produced by a trio of young men.

The band, Kabul Dreams, is made up of vocalist Sulaymon Qardash, bass player Siddique Ahmad and drummer Mujtaba Habibi, who claim to be the country's first and only rock and roll group.

"One year ago in December we decided to create this band and since it was happening in Kabul, we thought Kabul Dreams is a good name," says the 19-year-old vocalist, who bears a distinct resemblance to Liam Gallagher of the British band Oasis.

"It's a real dream to play indie rock music in Afghanistan."

Catching on fast

I caught up with the three-piece in Delhi, where they took part in the South Asian Bands Festival, which seeks to promote regional cultural ties.

Qardash - who likes indie fashion - grew up listening to Britpop bands like Radiohead and Travis.

With the political turmoil which gripped Afghanistan in the 1990s, all three members sought refuge in the neighbouring countries of Uzbekistan, Pakistan and Iran, where they were influenced by the Western music they heard.

"During the years of the Taliban, we were away and one positive thing for all of us was that we had an opportunity to learn music and have good facilities where we could practise," says Ahmad, who lived in Pakistan for 10 years and played with bands producing new music.

While original Afghan music is closely associated with traditional instruments like the rubab and dombura, indie rock is still a new genre - but it is catching on fast among Afghan youth.

Exposure

"Lots of young people are listening to rock music," says Ahmad.

"Because we don't have any rock music, they listen to international bands and music from neighbouring countries like India and Pakistan.

"We thought it was about time for Afghanistan to have its own rock band."

The group mixes Afghan rhythmic patterns with rock and roll music.

And what's more unusual, they sing in English.

"Since the three of us come from three different parts of Afghanistan and speak in three different languages - Pashto, Dari and Uzbek - we thought it would be a good idea to sing in English," says Ahmad.

Habibi, on drums, feels they will also get more international exposure with a language that is spoken widely.

But first things first: the band has yet to release an album.

So far the trio have only performed for a niche group of expats, non-governmental organisation workers and educated young Afghans familiar with the new genre.

But the continuing security threats in the country have placed restrictions on public gatherings and their performances.

And in the absence of an organised music industry, new bands like Kabul Dreams face difficulties in financing and producing their music.

"Other bands around the world have lots of opportunities and facilities, but we have to do everything ourselves," says Ahmad.

"We have a video shoot, we have to take care of everything. There is no production house that we could go to."

Provocative

The 27-year-old studies during the day and works with Habibi in a recording studio.

Qardash is a presenter with a private TV and radio station. Much of their salaries is invested in Kabul Dreams.

"Playing rock music is a risk but we want to play in Afghanistan," says Qardash, as he tunes his guitar.Despite the challenges, the trio want to bring a musical revolution to the Islamic country, where playing rock music is considered too Western and provocative.

"We love our country and we want to change our young generation, we want to make something new."

Ahmad points out that Kabul Dreams is truly multi-ethnic, consisting as it does of an Uzbek, Pashtun and Tajik.

"The reason we formed this band was to give a message to the Afghan youth, a message that they can live together," he says.

"Because Afghanistan has always been a country with different ethnic groups, different people who speak in different languages and even have different cultures, our message is that it is possible to be together because we have examples all over the world."

Ahmad feels the younger generation of Afghans has learned from the mistakes of war and is now indifferent to the issue of ethnicity.

"One Afghan," he reiterates. "That's it."

Event: Tabouq by Deema AlـGhanim

2010-01-04T07:30:00.003+01:00

Here is the description from Al-Watan Daily. This artist did a similiar exhibit in December that I was saddened to not be able to attend as I was out of town, so I am happy to find that it will be shown again in the Sultan Gallery.

After a successful twoـday exhibition in early December held in Derwazat Abdulrazzaq pedestrian ramp and Safat Square, Deema AlـGhanim is holding more events under the name of Taebooq (bricks). Taebooq is made up of phases that are part of a greater architectural study on placement, displacement. The study evaluates patterns of the 1960s buildings in Kuwait and anticipates visions on urban planning.

The upcoming exhibition will be held at Sultan Gallery on Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2010 and will showcase the photographs AlـGhunaim has previously displayed along with videos and images of the twoـday city exhibition experience.

AlـGhunaim is an architect, graduated from Kuwait University in 2008. She''s currently studying the architectural and linguistic morphology in Kuwait City by looking at facades of buildings and the layout of the land. Her focus is on the spatial and visual elements of buildings that are under the threat of demolition and she takes into consideration the history of those buildings as well as people who shaped them.

Sad Camels/Happy Camels

2010-01-03T19:57:00.006+01:00

Took a drive towards Wafra and came across two opposite scenarios. In one, there were white, weak and unhealthy camels gated in an abandoned area with littered cars and rust, covered with flies over all their skin and eyes. In another, happy, handsome brown camels with a docile curiousity and an eagerness to be pet. If anyone recognized the scene of the sad camels, please let me know.

Forbes Friendliest Countries: Bahrain Number 1

2009-12-27T08:39:00.003+01:00

Forbes conducted a survey study of the "world's friendliest countries" using indicators: 1) making friends 2) making local friends 3) joining community groups 4) organizing school for my children 5) organizing my finances 6) organizing my health care 7) finding somewhere to live 8) setting up utilities. Bahrain came out number one, and was strongest on making local friends. Spain also came out on the list at number 9, and oddly enough United States came next, ranking highest on organizing my health care. Hat tip to SOME Contrast. I am dying to know where Kuwait ranks, but I can't access the full story.

The rankings are as follows:

Rank	Country	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
1	Bahrain	5	20	1	5	3	1	2	4
2	Canada	11	2	3	6	7	8	5	2
3	Australia	10	6	9	7	1	7	11	5
4	Thailand	1	16	18	4	11	2	1	9
5	Malaysia	4	14	19	1	3	3	4	13
6	South Africa	6	2	8	3	14	6	3	14
7	Hong Kong	3	17	12	17	2	5	8	3
8	Singapore	7	18	24	13	6	4	13	1
9	Spain	12	8	13	18	10	9	7	8
10	United States	15	7	4	12	20	24	10	7

Back to Beirut

2009-12-27T08:36:00.001+01:00

Flying to Beirut later today. Will be in touch.

Postcard from Naples: Cheeky Humour in Nativity Scenes

2009-12-23T17:07:00.004+01:00

I have some family members living in Naples (one of the most chaotic places in th European Union) and they sent me some images of the Christmas fair there, which makes a big amount of money off of the figurines for the nativity scenes-locally known as "il presepe." Often these dolls poke fun at celebrities, world leaders or current events. Here are two pictures that had me cracking up.