open Democracy News Analysis - We need to be proud of Arab authoritative voices all over the world, - Comments

batman on "We need to be proud of Arab authoritative voices all over the world"

batman — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 14:17:07 +0000

abdul You don't even know what a palestinian is and you claim to be one. The fake palestinian nation is a good place to start when looking into the fake arab history.

abdulksaida on "We need to be proud of Arab authoritative voices all over the world"

abdulksaida — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 07:56:18 +0000

cole 1- From where you coute your informaiton. That is illusion, so can you give us definition of the real arab mr cole.

Cole_2233 on "We need to be proud of Arab authoritative voices all over the world"

Cole_2233 — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 01:21:10 +0000

The question is who is Arab? 80% of those who call themselves Arab - are not. And this is where the problem lies for many in the Islamic world, their history is almost fairy-tale like, where most of a country's actual history is wiped out, and replaced with an ARAB/Islamic history, covering up atrocities, and much of the real and easily accessible historical events. For example, it does not take much effort to see that it was Syrian invaders who took the North African and Spanish regions in the 700's, but proudly the North Africans proclaim that they were taken over by Arabs (the people of Arabia), and call themselves Arabs, when maps of the time showed that they lived under the Syrian Caliphate, and that these Rulers/Invaders/Colonizers, controlled North Africa for no more than 150 yrs. Ignorance in the Islamic world means that there is a gap between, the fanciful teachings of Islamic history and the history reported in most of the Encyclopedias of the world. Let us not venture into the mass slaughters and even genocides, which were performed in the name of Islam, throughout the Near East and Asia, in order to convert those populations. Let Muslims put aside Peace for one moment and concentrate on Truth and the Reality of how most of the Muslim world became Islamic. In Islam, if a discussion doesn't contain a dose of fantasy, it does not seem to be allowed. Here's to the end of the Arab illusion !!

batman on "We need to be proud of Arab authoritative voices all over the world"

batman — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 01:40:45 +0000

'We need to be proud of Arab authoritative voices' Agreed. http://www.arabsforisrael.com

blair on "We need to be proud of Arab authoritative voices all over the world"

blair — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 01:28:11 +0000

i am forever amazed by the educated and succinct way people have of portaying the west east divide,the simple facts are that if you do not comply or agree with the muslim faith you are an outcast in their eyes,even a mild mannered criticism can bring a threat of death,its all a bit communism,if you do not appear to be offended as a muslim by any opposing opinion you risk alienation or even harm from your fellow muslims who in the main are quietly decent peaceful human beings,in truth they are torn between normal feelings and extreme veiws,it is safer to adopt outrage and reaction than any other,it is a fearful religion that does not bend to the individual,hence the lack of integration hostility and distance between the west and east which can only increase,such is the nature of this all consuming religion,peace is beyond the reach of most muslims,the only chance for peace is to get the main mullahs to interpret the quoran correctly as a peaceful religion which it should be,if it has no leeway then we should make an effort now to live separate lives on opposite sides of the world before we decend into the abbis of civil war on the streets of the uk,i feel i am honest and do not reach for flowery and confused ideas,these will never achieve anything exept used energy,i would honestly like your veiws on my simplification,blair

We need to be proud of Arab authoritative voices all over the world,

sonja.hegasy@rz.hu-berlin.de — Fri, 24 Oct 2003 10:00:04 +0000

After reading Mona Abazas sharply argued response to my article, 'Fear and Loathing, Arab Cultures Need a Strategy of Resistance', I feel the need to clarify three points in my text: Firstly, I do not regard Hetata & Mernissi as belonging to one group and Soueif & Said as belonging to the other. On the contrary, I think they exemplify four very different trajectories. Indeed, they might almost stand as ideal types, all of which I regard as pure Arab intellectuals not in exile, not in between and not out of place. In other words, I would argue in favour of breaking up the artificial dichotomy between, for example, Hetatas literature (local) and Soueifs (translocal) writing. Furthermore, I regard Mernissis call Why I will not go to the West as a courageous, exemplary proposal for a strategy of resistance against Westernized globalization. I did not in the least mean to say that it was isolationist, far from it I just worded this badly. Secondly, if there is a double standard, it is not, in my view, the "simplistic dichotomy of the North-South divide" as Mona Abaza put it. It is rather the gap between the radical, critical position Hetata takes against the processes of globalization on the one hand and the personal use to which he puts these same processes on the other. Far from admitting this, he even criticises others for profiting from the same thing. Thirdly: Yes, I agree with Mona Abaza that we all need strategies of resistance but a) we need to know what we want to defend (and I personally think that Arab literature published by French publishing houses is worth defending and should not be defamed) and b) this is done in the West, as I tried to argue with my example on French radio stations. So, I personally do not need to stand up for Western cultural products. My intention was to show that Arab voices have become authoritative even in times of the expanding hegemon and its racist propaganda. Here and there Arab cultural production has become a benchmark. One latest development: the energetic combination of Raï and Salsa by Raï-X. Another example on the political level: the freeing of the Moroccan Journalist Ali Lmrabet which would not have been possible without swift action on the part of the international community. In short, even on the level of human rights, Arab societies gain from processes which are at the heart of globalization, as Sherif Hetata experienced himself. In short, I could have called my article 'Let us be proud of cultural and political successes, the Arab world would not have achieved with appropriating processes of political and cultural globalization.' Sonja Hegasy