Category: Culture

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Culture freedom photography Yemen

A great picture

This came from the website of the Yemen Observer, one of the English language newspapers in Yemen.

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Her name is Boushra Almutawakel and she is a photographer in Yemen. Needless to say, a female photographer in Yemen is a rather unusual thing. You can read the article via the link above to read more about her. I want to say a few things about this picture.

There’s no way to know what she meant by it but I find it quite powerful. Many people in the US and Europe see the hijab as a repressive aspect of Arab culture. Of course those people have probably never asked one of those women why they cover up. Part of it is simply dressing appropriately in that culture. A woman here in the US might have a reason to go topless in the US, but she would have to think about it long and hard before she did so. It just isn’t done for the most part.

A more important part of the hijab is its religious importance for those women. By wearing the hijab, they reaffirm what they believe. Here in the US and in Europe, it is also a marker of her faith. Women who wear hijab here know that they are in some senses representing Islam so they better act accordingly. I wish more people that wore a cross would remember that as well.

The hijab is very powerful symbolism when taken in context of faith. Women are quite literally taking refuge under it and by extension Islam. That is why, in my opinion, wearing the American flag as hijab is so powerful. It is not just a religious statement, it is a political.

Of course, it is the kind of politics that I like. She is free to do this, the US constitution guarantees her freedom to not only make this statement but to be a Muslim as well. It is everything that makes this nation great.

She may have been making an “in your face” statement to Americans with it. She might have targeted those people that conflate Christianity and being American or it may have been some sort of statement about the so called War on Terror. I have no idea, but that’s one of the great things about art, the artist does their thing and we are left to makes sense of it. What I love about it is going to piss some others off. How an American acts will probably be different than someone living in the middle east. The many different responses that can come from this is what makes it a great work in my opinion.

You go girl!

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Culture politics Religion

Daily show funniness, but not 100% correct (cross posted with Life as I see it)

Here’s the Daily show’s take on the Mumbai mess (at the end, don’t know why there’s so much space…)I think that’s hilarious, I really do. John basically summed up my feelings when I was watching that on the news, I was yelling along too. There’s only one little problem, this violence was not about establishing a world wide caliphate. This was about Kashmir.

Usually, when something big like this happens, there are political motives rather than religious ones at play. The Kashmir issue is a political one although the parties involved are split along religious lines. The same could be true of the day to day demands and goals of Al-Queda. They want foreigners to leave the Saudi peninsula, they want the US to get out of Iraq and Afghanistan, etc. Those are all political issues. They use religion to attract and recruit people for political ends. We shouldn’t fall into the same trap.

There is indeed religious violence in the world. Men killing woman because they aren’t wearing hijab, wackos blowing up abortion clinics, etc. are all examples. Perhaps the attackers in Mumbai were indeed personally motivated by religious extremism, but the aim of the operation was to try to cause a conflict in Kashmir.

Here’s my bet. I bet that if these people were referred to as Kashmiri separatists instead of Islamic extremists, we in the US would not have heard nearly as much about it. We’re more willing to stomach political violence than religious violence. That’s why Hitler is so universally reviled while Stalin, Pol Pot, Kim Jong-il and Mao are not thought about in the slightest.

Whenever we hear the media trumpet religious violence, we should take a step back and ask ourselves if the aim of that violence is actually political in nature. Violence should always be decried of course, but let’s blame the right problems, shall we?

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Culture

Compassion fatigue (crossposted with Life as I see it)

I caught a bit of an interview on NPR today. Terri Gross was interviewing a former Episcopal minister (also a woman) and the ex-minister was talking about how she noticed “compassion fatigue” when she got out of the ministering business. It was a huge load off of her, and she didn’t even realize that she had it!

I identified with that. Not so much with compassion, but with some other things while I was in Yemen. It occurs to me that while I was there, I was always trying to be the model American and the model Christian. For many of the locals, I was the only one of either that they had ever met, and I might be the only one they ever meet. I was always conscious of having to set an example. I felt that if I did something to upset them or offend them they would most likely generalize that experience to include all Americans and Christians.

After a while, it became routine for me, but it was always there. When I got back, I knew I had to recuperate, but I couldn’t really put my finger on what I was recuperating from. I think a big part of it was getting used to not sticking out anymore. I’m just another guy here, I’m not the Christian, the American, I’m just another person… The anonymity is really nice, all the pressure is gone. I don’t think I realized what kind of strain that put on me until I got used to the idea that I wouldn’t have to be an example any more. It was a huge weight off of me, and I feel much better because of it.

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Culture Religion Yemen

Why are they so paranoid?

There have been several articles about Yemen dealing with other religions recently. They have arrested 9 Christians in Hodedia and now are talking about deporting 3 Ba’hais back to Iran where they will undoubtedly face some serious problems. All of these people have been arrested for proselytizing. What, exactly, is the big deal?

Yes, I understand that many muslims see people that try to convert people to other faiths as undermining the social fabric of Yemen. But come on… If people are strong in their faith, there’s no problem. If they aren’t… well, let me put it this way.. What’s worse, a bad muslim or a good Ba’hai or Christian?

On a more serious note, their desire to remove any competition from their culture is what makes it so weak, and so venerable to outside influence. It’s a bit of a catch 22, one that the powers that be don’t seem to get. They need to understand that no one can “force” someone to convert, that person has to decide. If they are on the brink, they are not going to be a good muslim, and they certainly are not going to be happy. Why is it so difficult for Yemenis (and muslims in Arab countries in general) to allow people to do what they like when it comes to religion? It smacks of desperation and fear, not things I would associate with people with a lot of faith…

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Culture Religion

Another child bride story

This one is from Saudi. Apparently, a 16 year old girl drank bleach in order to kill herself so that she wouldn’t be forced to marry a 75 year old guy. The father of the 16 year old was doing it so that the 75 year old would let him marry the 75 year old’s 13 year old daughter. You can read about it here.

There are several things wrong with this picture. Forcing girls to marry, the huge age discrepancies in age, and of course the desire to marry a 13 year old. I think it’s safe to assume that we’re dealing with a couple of first class creeps…

The comments on that article are pretty interesting as well. There are a ton of people that basically say, “See, Islam is a barbaric religion,” despite the fact that one of the first things said in the article is that forced marriages are haraam. So these guys are operating outside of accepted religious guidelines.

“But what about the marrying of a 13 year old? Isn’t that nasty? Shouldn’t Islam ban that?” Oh come on, like there has never been a 13 year old bride in the US. And please point out to me where in the Bible it says what a good age is to be married… Religion isn’t a cut and dried affair, and it always bows down to cultural norms in the mainstream.

To me, that is a more damning aspect of this. Many places in the middle east (and especially Saudi) are stuck in the 5th century when it comes to things like this. I can sort of, kind of understand the importance of marrying off a girl at 9 back then. Life was pretty different, and much harder in 500AD. Things are much different now, and so people that want to marry young girls really strike everyone as people trying to take advantage of “the law” for their own, creepy agenda.

So I’m not laying this at the feet of Islam, but I do wish that more Imams would take on some leadership roles when it comes to things like this. I wish they would say, “Yes, the prophet (PBUH) did marry a 9 year old, and yes, he waited until she was 12 before consummating the marriage HOWEVER, you are not him and there really isn’t a good reason to marry a girl that young any more.” Would that be so difficult?

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Culture politics Yemen

The fighting is over!

The president of Yemen has announced that the long standing fighting in the north has ended. Woo hoo! Now I can go back! Just kidding of course. I was talking with a friend of mine that I met in Yemen last night. I asked Dana if she missed Yemen. She said, “I did for a little while, but then I got over it. No really, I’m really over it…” I don’t think I’m there yet, but I can see that day approaching.

UPDATE

There is now a new press release (here) that says a couple of hours after the president made his declaration, the rebels seized a village where there has been sporadic fighting. I doubt that there will ever be a “neat” victory on either side, that part of the world doesn’t lend itself to that…

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Culture Yemen

I’ve decided…

I’m going to write a book about my time in Yemen. I’ve been thinking about this for a while, hell, I think that every westerner that goes there thinks about it. With a few encouraging words from members of my family I’ve decided to give it a go.

Now’s a good time to do this since there’s not really anything else to take up my time. The thing that has been holding me back is myself of course. Writing something as long as a book is an intimidating prospect. I’ve never tried anything this long before, of course I had never been that far out of the US before I went to Yemen, so what the hell. The only way I’ll know if I can do it is to start writing. Who knows what will become of this project. If nothing else, I hope that this will help me sort out what I learned over there. I’ve often approached creative works in the context of puzzle solving. I’ve found that taking pictures, sketching, and writing have helped me understand things better. Here’s hoping that this will do that as well.

Hey, it’ll keep me off the streets for a while:-)

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Culture teaching travel Yemen

Schools in Pakistan

I just finished reading a book called “Three Cups of Tea.” It’s about an American man named Greg Mortenson and his mission to build schools in impoverished Pakistan and Afghanistan. He has quite a story to tell and his accomplishments are really something. I never encountered danger like he did, of course he jumped right into that trouble with both feet while I have been more circumspect. Mortenson sounds like the guy we wish we all were, helping other people, facing insurmountable odds and making things happen in places that really need help. His Central Asia Institute (click here to go to the site) is one of the best charities I can think of. They do things the right way. Instead of swooping in and handing things out like so many charities do, he goes in, asks if they want a school, makes the village contribute to it, and also makes them provide sweat equity. That way the locals are invested in the project and he can be sure that everyone is on board with the goals.

The book isn’t great literature or anything, but it is a great story. I really identified with the urge to teach people in places like that a little about the world. He was dealing with much worse situations than I did, but the thought is the same… I also liked to see one of my theories in action, that is what we do makes a very large impression on people. Being in Yemen taught me a lot of things and I will always remember how grateful people were for me just being there. Having someone from the US actually come there and talk with them meant a lot to them and I like to think that their ideas about Americans moved in a more positive direction. They understood that Yemen was more than a little out of the way for us and they were very happy to share their culture with me.

It’s a good read, you should pick it up!

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Culture Yemen

Being at home weirdness #44563

I was sitting in the reception of my cousin’s wedding thinking to myself that I need to buy a suit. The last suit I got was for my mother’s second wedding, and that was a while ago. I have no idea if it fits, but I do know that I don’t like it. I also know that I need one for job interviews, etc.

My mind then drifted back to my last weeks in Sana’a. I remember hearing the shelling in the distance and wondering what would happen to that place. The bombardment had calmed down tremendously, but it was still ongoing… With all of the troubles the government has, with all of the problems the Yemenis have, I laid awake and listened and wondered.

Then my mind came back to the reception and I realized that I didn’t give a damn about the suit…

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Culture politics

Supreme court ruling

The Supreme Court ruled that the DC gun ban is unconstitutional today. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, DC essentially made it illegal to own handguns and it’s difficult to reconcile that with the second amendment without some pretzel-like contortions. What I don’t understand is all of the angst about this. This article seems pretty typical in its idiocy. He even entitled it “The Thugs won.” As he pointed out, the people who have been using handguns in DC will not be affected by the new ruling. But maybe the people that are afraid of the “thugs” will breathe a little easier now. I have read a half dozen articles saying that this decision will lead to shoot outs in the streets and that gun violence is bound to increase. None of them have mentioned the fact that the people causing the gun violence were (in many cases) in violation of the gun laws that were in place. The really restrictive gun laws didn’t save all of those people that were killed in DC since this law was in effect. If the police in DC, LA, Chicago, etc. weren’t going to save them (and they didn’t), why not let people defend themselves? It seems to me that the people who want to stop people from owning guns need to come up with a way of protecting people, the police are doing a pretty bad job of it.

I understand not liking guns, but there are some people (like the ones that brought the case against DC) that need them for protection. If you want more restrictive gun control you need to do two things. First, you need to get the second amendment repealed. The second thing you need to do is to find a way of protecting the people that are getting killed while waiting for the police. Good luck finding solutions to those things…

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