what makes us palestinian?

Posted on January 30, 2007 by loolt

How do the palestinians of the diaspora identify themselves as palestinian? It is something I have always taken for granted, that even though I have never been to Palestine, and that I am half english, I am still Palestinian.

This is actually a PhD topic of someone I know… I met them through their research, I was referred to them as a test subject 😀 We have met and talked about her research, and I found it very interesting. She asked about cultural aspects, and how we kept the palestinian culture alive. I realised that we collect Palestinian art, listen to Palestinian music, and cook Palestinian food quite often, my English mum is a deft hand at moulokhia, and her roast lamb is a treat! But really, is that all that Palestine means?

We talked some more, and I started telling her about the experiences of my Dad, when he was forced to flee his village in northern Lydd, and walk to Jerusalem. I gave her an almost first hand account of the pain and failure my Grandfather felt when seeing his 4 year old son (my dad) pick his way across Palestine. How pictures of Refugees in 1948 actually hurt me, as I feel ‘connected’ to them. I actually choked up when talking about my 2 aunts that died aged 2 and 4, from curable illnesses in the refugee camp, and how my 6 year old Dad survived the illness. She made an interesting comment: did I feel I needed to suffer to deserve to be Palestinian?

It shook me, especially as my narrative had been sparked by my observation that my children (should they ever materialise) would not have these first hand reports that I did. I remembered my cousin saying ‘we do not deserve to be Palestinian, look at the people suffering untold hardships, and tell me whether we deserve to call ourselves Palestinian’. Maybe we feel the need to suffer for Palestine to earn that badge of honour?

Then I thought of immigrant communities in Europe and USA, who integrate and their children lose the connection with their parents homeland. I never understood it, but now realise we are the odd ones out. We left our home at gunpoint, and our existence is at risk of being wiped out by the invaders. Maybe that is why we are driven to make the statement ‘we exist’. Maybe that is why I called this the Palestinian blog, not the british blog. Britain doesnt need me, Palestine does.

Note: an interesting compilation of interviews with Palestinian communities in the diaspora was recently published: http://www.civitas- online.org/ . Oxford collaboration headed by Karma Nabulsi.

Filed under: Palestine | 8 Comments »

funny thing

Posted on January 29, 2007 by loolt

doing a quick search on what muslim women wear to swim, I uncovered a plethora of hate sites and blogs. The Islamic dress code (for women, they neglected the male counterpart) is almost always seen as women being forced by men, that given half a chance we would all prance about in bikinis. They claim that because muslim women are expected to dress decently, this somehow means that muslim men are ‘uncontrollable savages, who believe that non-hija wearing women should be raped’, yes really, their moronic analyses extends that far!!!!

Reading through some of these, I got the impression that they (idiots of the web) felt that muslim women are viewed as ‘superior’. Since this is not a claim nor a characteristic of any muslim I have come across, does this mean that those who constantly feel the need to put down muslim women for what they wear, somehow feel inferior? It certainly smacks of it!

Not only that but when someone automatically assumes that a womens life choice is dictated to her by a man, does that not mean that that person is themsleves from a highly patriarchal society, in which men pull all the strings? How sad.

Filed under: Islam, tolerance/racism, women | 8 Comments »

beware the british muslim (rolling my eyes)

Posted on January 29, 2007 by loolt

1/3 of young british muslims wish to live under sharia law, and this according to David Cameron, makes them equivelant to the British Nationalst Party… has he any idea how ignorant that made him sound? This was reported on the BBC, which disclosed the results of new statitsics which also showed that the younger generation are more religous than their ancestors, and that more women wish to wear hijab -this last piece of information quoted while showing pictures of women in Niqab.

Islam, as is most religions, is anything BUT a racist religion, go to mecca and witness the racial/cultural melting pot that makes up the followers of this religion. Look into Islam itself, and nowhere will you find calls for segregation of race, nor for the vilification of mixed marriages and their offspring. All of which you will find after a short conversation with the BNP.

So some muslims were honest when answering whetever survey questions that were asked, maybe they were naive in assuming that sharia law could be applied in a country where only a minority are muslim…. esepcially since sharia law does not compel a non-muslim to abide by it, they get to choose whether they wish to live with it or not. Under British laws a group of people are not only allowed but encouraged to sort their civil differences among themselves before resorting  to the courts… this is the basis which the more structured Jewish courts are held, and the Islamic courts, both encompass civil disputes, marriages and non-criminal cases. But of course, that muslims apply it suddenly makes them equivelant to the BNP.

God Almighty, what are these politicians playing at?

Filed under: britain, Islam | 7 Comments »

The Durham Palestine Educational Trust

Posted on January 29, 2007 by loolt

Just wanted to share the latest email I recieved from everyclick. If you look at my side bar you will see an icon for the everyclick web search site, this link automatically selects the Durham Palestine Educational Trust (www.dpet.org.uk) as your chosen charity, and all the searches you make through this will result in everclick donating to the dpet.

In 2006 you helped us raise UK £1,280 from everyclick.com, the search engine that gives 50% of its turnover to charities. This is over 6% of our annual income.

Durham Palestine Educational Trust (Charity No. 1085097) aids Palestinian development through Masters scholarships at Durham University. More info. at http://www.dpet.org.uk

The Durham Palestine Educational trust pays for the tuition and living expenses for Palestinian students to do a masters in Durham University, one of top five universities in the United Kingdom. This Trust is a testement to what can be achieved by a small group of activists if they put their midn to it, and believe me it is a small group, Durham is one of the smallest cities in England 🙂 .

Filed under: Charity, Palestine | 2 Comments »

How un-racist is britain?

Posted on January 24, 2007 by loolt

This year’s Celebrity Big Brother program, where a bunch of celebreties are chucked into a house and warched by the public whoo votes one of them out every week, has caused quite the international stir this year.

The main character’s at the centre of this crisis are britain’s Jade Goody, contestant in a previous non-celebrity version of big brother, and india’s Shilpa Shetty, Bollywood actress. Ms. Shetty has been the victim of serious racial bullying within the house, having touched the food some housemates were disgusted, with one of them declaring ‘you have no idea where those hands have been’, when she disposed of the chicken soup down the toilet, a housemate suggested that ‘pick the bones out with her teeth’, when she applied hair bleach to her face, they declared that is was because white women are considered more attractive in india, and that she was a ‘dog’, her perfect english was ridiculed, and they just wanted her to go ‘home’.

Shilpa Shetty

Throughout this all, Shilpa remained very dignified, classy and respectable, calmly telling the pig ignorant housemates to ‘take some eloqution and manners classes’.

In protest, 40, 000 complaints were recieved regarding the show, one of the shows sponsers withdrew their sponsorship, and The Perfume Shop removed Jade Goody’s perfume from their shelves, and Gordon Brown apologies profusely to the Indian public… India is the 2nd largest investor in London, which may explain the politicians’ decency.

Jade was eventually voted out with an amazing 80% of the public voting to get her out.

So, why should I care? Well, the media declares that this is a window unto the british people, and that is worrying. Even though I dont believe it, I have not really experienced such vile animosity, except once from a pig ignorant BNP person, British society is far more varied than the media is giving it credit for. However, the rise of the fascists is gaining momentum, with even the prime minister paying his respect to them with such statements as ‘…and if they dont like it, they should go home’. So I would say the events at the Big Brother house, even though not representative of the real Britain, is certainly a mirror unto the future IF nothing is done about it.

Filed under: britain, philosophy, tolerance/racism | Leave a comment »

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