I'm greatly confused about how amidst the social (not religious) revolutions in the Arab world, some Western countries are calling for a debate about the place of Islam in their societies. U.S. Republican Congressman from New York, Peter King is hosting a public hearing on radical Islam this week, French President, Nicholas Sarkozy is calling for a "debat sur l'islam en France", and German interior minister is asking if Muslims can be true Germans because "Islam in Germany is not something substantiated by history at any point." This is not only a question of bad timing but also of poor judgment and a delusional obsession with Islam. As I said many times before, radical/violent Islam needs to be addressed and fought, but that fight will be far more successful by good police and intelligence work, away from the limelight of cameras and rowdy demagogues. We know that in France, Sarkozy is concerned about his reelection in 2012 and this debate is a desperate attempt to woe conservative anti-immigration voters who usually vote for the far-right party, Front National (FN). This becomes even clearer this morning as a controversial poll predicted FN's candidate Marine Le Pen would win the first round of the presidential elections in 2012 edging both the socialist candidate and current president Sarkozy. Marine Le Pen has successfully rejuvenated the party after she took over from her father and now seems poised to make Islam and immigration yet again the threat par excellence of anything French. The upcoming elections do not bode well for Muslims in France. In the US, some republicans seem motivated to make Islam a focal point in the 2012 elections. The hearings will drag us again in a tailspin of polarization and paranoia about whether Muslim Americans can be trusted in the same way we questioned their loyalty around the Park 51 controversy last year, which Pamela Geller, the woman behind that saga, is still calling this morning "Ground Zero Mosquestrosity". I hope the media have learned their lesson since that spectacle last year, but I'm afraid that as Arabs are living through their post-Islamist revolution, some Western leaders still need help dislodging that primal fear of Islam off their heads.
I have been following the news about film director Qasim Basir for a couple of years now and I haven't blogged about his latest work, Mooz-Lum, a feature film about the coming of age of a Muslim African American before, during, and after the tragic events of 9/11. I haven't seen the movie because it's playing only in select theaters, but the trailer and the reviews (here and here) I have read indicate this is certainly worth seeing. What a wonderful discussion this film could generate. Certai... Continue reading...
It was hard to watch Christiane Amanpour's interview this morning with two of Gadhafi's sons. With all the money the family has and the fact that Saif has a PhD from the London School of Economics, the least one can expect is a bit of decent English, not that they've ever said anything really smart in Arabic either. Much like his father, Saif is convinced the protests are led by a small bunch (5,000 to 10,000) of unruly hooligans in that ruffian part to the east of Tripoli, while Saadi, the s... Continue reading...
Here is an interesting article on the role religious groups played (or didn't play rather) in the Egyptian revolution. I've been following tele-Islamist Amr Khaled as he visited Tahrir Square at the height of the protests there and broke his silence on politics, something he clearly avoided in his television shows up till now. As this article shows, the revolution in Egypt has brought with it a new political culture in which religiously devout young Egyptians identified with religion differen... Continue reading...
The Libyan government has stooped to an abysmal low by allegedly paying young Africans (names of countries have not been released) up to $30k each to carry out the dirty work of hitting and killing protesters in the streets of cities like Benghazi. Al Jazeera English has also been reporting that a number of Libyan students in the US were allegedly called by their embassy in Washington and coerced to participate in pro-Gaddafi rallies in the US Students. Their scholarships would be called off ... Continue reading...
The New York Times had a fascinating article and an interactive timeline tracing the roots of the peaceful revolution in Tunisia and Egypt. The transnational dimension of these uprisings is just incredible as activists and protesters exchange idea, tactics and read up on resistance literature and activist initiatives in the history of the United States and more recently in Serbia. What's also fascinating is how the Web and social media have become mobilizing tools to brand these revolutionary... Continue reading...
I feel so proud of this young generation of Arabs. They have proven all the skeptics wrong and their heroism is remarkably infectious. What my generation has been unable to do, these young Arabs have done it effectively and peacefully. What a historic day. There is much excitement, but there's a lot of trepidation also about what's to come next. I don't want to focus on the trepidation for now. Egyptians deserve to enjoy this revolution and relish it for days to come. This was no small feat. ... Continue reading...
If you haven't seen Wael Ghonim's famous interview with Egyptian private television network Dream TV, here it is with English subtitles. Ghonim is the Google executive who spent 12 days in police custody and was released late last week. He was most certainly arrested by secret police as seen in this video because he created a Facebook page in June called, "We're all Khaled Said." Said was the young businessman allegedly attacked and killed by Egyptian police as he was filming a video of two p... Continue reading...
Ian Buruma published an opinion column on Al Jazeera English today about why the West should respect the results of elections in Egypt even if the Muslim Brotherhood wins them. Of course, I firmly believe that the MB will face much higher competition from other opposition (non-religious) groups if the elections are fair and transparent. It's Mubarak's heavy-handed rule which has popularized the MB in Egypt by forcing them to go underground and organize more organically in the Egyptian society... Continue reading...
I was born and raised in Morocco. My research focuses on the intersections between Islam, Arab popular culture and the media. I'm currently an assistant professor in the School of Journalism at the University of Colorado-Boulder.
I was born and raised in Morocco. My research focuses on the intersections between Islam, Arab popular culture and the media. I'm currently an assistant professor in the School of Journalism at the University of Colorado-Boulder.
