Links of interest for the week ending in November 14, 2009. Aaron Glantz: Fort Hood Shootings: Soldiers Often 'Racialize' to Cope A brief interview with an Arab American ex-Marine on the Fort Hood shootings within the context of anti-Arab and -Muslim racism in the U.S. military. Can you tell a Chicano apart from an Iranian? U.S. Moves to Seize 4 Mosques and Skyscraper Tied to Iran - NYTimes.com Sikh and Muslim women seek freedom to wear head coverings This sort of coalition building between Muslims and Sikhs in America is much needed, given the troubled times we live in. "It was one of countless incidents in which Lowder, now 33, was mistaken for being White. 'I've been pulled over with my boyfriends because I looked like a little teenage White girl in a car with a Black man,' says Lowder, who is the fairest of her siblings. The reaction she gets from White Americans who discover that she's Black and biracial ranges from intense anger to firecracker curiosity. 'I become the great interpreter,' says Lowder, who is flooded with questions. 'Why do Black people steal? Can Black people tan? Why are the bottoms of their hands and feet pink?' she's been asked. 'But if I tell a Black person about my White father, they don't ask me to explain White people to them.' " Iran, biggest Shariah-compliant market: The Banker "Iran is the largest market for Shariah-compliant assets, accounting for 35.6 percent of the global aggregate, The Banker magazine's "Top 500 Islamic Financial Institutions" ranking shows, reported ISNA news agency. Islamic banking assets continued with double-digit growth this year, even as conventional bank growth stagnated, The Banker''s survey said." Pedestrian » Blog Archive » Internet Users in Iran The following is a table of internet access in Iran in 2005. Note that by “access” we are talking about dial-up and by “user” we are referring to “at least one hour every month”. (So much for Iran's "Twitter revolution" ...) Tampa police: Marine reservist attacked Greek priest he mistook for terrorist - St. Petersburg Times TAMPA — Marine reservist Jasen Bruce was getting clothes out of the trunk of his car Monday evening when a bearded man in a robe approached him. It's not for nothing that General George Casey warned against an anti-Muslim backlash in the wake of the Fort Hood massacre. But a whole slew of childlike nimrods, spurred to action by Casey vowing that it would be "a shame if our diversity became a casualty," have taken the stage to decry such concerns as "political correctness." Michelle Malkin complained that this was worshiping "the false god of diversity." Pat Robertson demanded that Muslims be treated as "members of some fascist group." I don't like Roya Hakakian (the last article), but the first two are interesting; Wajeha al-Huwaider and Ali Hili are just as critical of Western imperialism as they are of domestic despotism and patriarchy. Donaldson Institute Study Details Struggles of Korean Adoptees - NYTimes.com This is the result when people like Angelina Jolie collect/steal babies from other countries. Brief overview of the socio-economic situation in Egypt, within the context of the NDP's annual conference last week. Diamond Walid, "Beirut: City of Projected Fantasies" "Many western journalists sum up Arab gay realities with sentences like: "Saudi Arabia: homosexuality punishable by death", "Iraq: gay men killed." Full stop. But gay men are also killed in "civilised" western countries. While homophobia is certainly a problem in Arab countries, like anywhere else, it never overshadows the thriving and lively local gay cultures. Yet no one talks about these cultures. "Cairo: bad", "Damascus: bad", we're told by Ricardo, the Spaniard in the article. Even Dubya and his "Axis of Evil" would envy such eloquence. How ironic that many Lebanese gay men, including myself, actually feel more comfortable in places like Damascus or Amman and go there often in order to escape the Beiruti agitation. There might be no Kylie Minogue nights there, but on the other hand there is a lot less snobbery and less fuss about homosexuality. My friend Ali recently went to Jordan to be wedded to his boyfriend by a Muslim cleric and then spent his honeymoon in Damascus. The advantage of such trips also comes in finding an anonymity one is denied at home." "ETA reveals the connection between people & places by creating media that resists displacement, gentrification, colonization, occupation, obstruction of movement, denial of the right to leave, and denial of the right to return. ETA is beyond borders, checkpoints, deportations, passports and dehumanizing immigration application processes. Our journey will begin here, online, and continue until we can all travel or stay where our hearts desire." "These are the kinds of questions we should be asking, not out of a desire to excuse, but to explain actions that seem beyond words. But I worry that the mood in the US is dimming and turning in a more sinister direction. The questions we will be hearing are: why are Muslims in the military? And, do Muslims even belong in the United States? The allegiances of America's Muslims, all of them and not just those in the military, will be called into question. Once again, we will be judged for an act we didn't commit or condone and have loudly denounced.\n\nAm I being irrational? I don't think so. Every year since 2001 the Washington Post-ABC News poll has asked Americans if they hold negative perceptions of Islam. When the latest poll was released in April 2009, the number was 48%, the highest yet recorded." Mixed Race Americans Picture A 'Blended Nation' : NPR "The 2000 U.S. census was the first to give Americans the option to check more than one box for race. Nearly 7 million people declared themselves to be multiracial that year, a number that's expected to shoot up in the 2010 count. As more of the nation's population identifies itself as being of mixed race, the authors of a new book say Americans' traditional ideas of racial identity are in for a challenge." Interview: Mourid Barghouti | Books | The Guardian "He grappled with 'the dilemma of Palestinian writers, that we're expected to address the needs of people denied self-expression under occupation, to express their pain. But this is a trap: you have to strike a balance, not sacrificing the aesthetics for your readership. I hate the terms 'resistance poetry' or 'exile poetry'. We're not one-theme poets. A moment of joy or misery is juxtaposed by its opposite. There's no one face; I see both. I question myself all the time; if you oversimplify, you'd better quit.'" LENIN'S TOMB: A ruined tea party, and a brewing inferno. "We are witnessing anew the way in which imperialism and nationalism can intersect to bloodily reconstruct the geography and political economy of whole regions." Afghanistan is falling apart under US/NATO occupation, and Pakistan is not far behind.
Islamic banking is not a solution to the ills of capitalism, but it does prevent some of the worst excesses of capitalism, such as the predatory lending practices that ultimately contributed to the global financial meltdown.
That man, a Greek Orthodox priest named Father Alexios Marakis, speaks little English and was lost, police said. He wanted directions.
What the priest got instead, police say, was a tire iron to the head. Then he was chased for three blocks and pinned to the ground — as the Marine kept a 911 operator on the phone, saying he had captured a terrorist.
Via Think Progress:
Alexios Marakis, a Greek Orthodox priest visiting the U.S., got lost in Tampa and tried to stop and ask directions from Marine reservist Jasen D. Bruce. But instead of offering help, "Bruce struck the priest on the head with a tire iron." The reservist believed Marakis, who spoke limited English, was an Arab terrorist. Bruce chased the priest for three blocks, "and even called 911 to say that an Arabic man tried to rob him."
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Sunday, November 15, 2009
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