A good insight!!

I thought of posting the links to these articles as I found them of interest and great to share. They contain very valuable yet controversial points regarding the West and the Middle East, and there is a lot of links between them.

“It’s the Policy, Stupid: Political Islam and U.S. Foreign Policy” by John L. Espositohttp://hir.harvard.edu/articles/print.php?article=1453

This first one is my favorite; Esposito is a very renowned writer and addresses very important issues in this article regarding the foreign policies implemented in the US and their adverse affect.

The distinction he makes between moderate and extremist in Islam is a crucial point!! Many people in the US and the Western world in general, have this misconception that all Muslims are terrorists and conservatives and this is something I have witnessed myself. I party do not blame them, this is what is shown in the media, backed by the Bush administration, yet I think it is an individual’s responsibility to question what is shown and verify it. Islam is just like any other religion; you have your religious, fundamentalists, moderates and non believers. The fact that it is a religion practiced by a vast population of different nationalities and cultures by itself mirrors on that. Therefore, Esposito addresses this issue in a very concise and accurate manner. He also addresses many other problems rooted in the conflict between the two regions, explaining the reason for terrorist attacks, which are not always conducted with Islam in mind, which rather used to justify their actions.

Another highly shamed upon misconception I personally came across is the one presumption that all Arabs are Muslims. For this is not only wrong but highly ignorant, the Middle East is a region of great diversity, not all Arabs are Muslims and not all Muslims are Arabs, the countries in the Middle East are of diverse cultures, religions and ethnicities.

“Cursed by Oil” by Thomas Friedman http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/09/opinion/09FRIE.html?ex=1399435200&en=7220aba5860460cb&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND

This article is a WAKE UP CALL!!! Friedman here mainly attributes the lack of development in the Middle East to the presence of oil. A point that is somewhat valid I must say. It is interesting to see how he places “Dubai” within the list of countries with exception to this theory.

Friedman does go too harsh with his attitude and even though trying to be objective, does come out very biased. I have looked him up, he is a columnist in the NY times and has worked in the ME for quite long, yet many other scholars have also criticized him for his demeaning tone when talking about the Middle East. I found the two pictures below…very ironic I must say when put together :P

“Understanding the Roots of Muslim Rage” by Muqtedar Khan http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0110/S00044.htm

I couldn’t resist…I had to put this picture up!!! Completely coincides with the article :D

I would say this article adds to the points made by Esposito. In my opinion Khan’s argument of systematic repression is strongly linked to Esposito Democratic exceptionalism and the emphasis on the anger by Muslims being driven not from Islam, but rather from their lands being occupied.

Brian this reminded me of the article about US supplying weapons to the Lebanese forces, this is exactly what democratic exceptionalism is…they make sure that the party with their interests in mind is strong enough to fight the opposing parties, particularly Hizbollah,(not that I’m with them taking power), and Iran, so they won’t be a threat to Israel. This is similar to what Esposito says about the US democratic doctrine being undermined in the examples he gives of Algeria, Turkey etc. this only causes more tension between the parties in Lebanon and provokes the opposite one to carry out attacks on the US!

However, Khan’s does a mistake by saying that “Islamic activists try to rebuild civilizations” I’m sorry but the majority of the population in those Arab countries do not want to be held to a government with such regime or be ruled by one, which is exactly why these groups are repressed, and it is not like this group of people wants to get politically involved to advance and develop society, rather to make it an Islamic one.

The second point he says is that “Islam is what people make of it” which is actually the root of all the suicide attacks, only recently a wave of revival has been coming that is aware of the mistakes these clerics are doing. The problem lies in that these Islamic sheiks are with no education, yet educating the younger generation notions of Islam which are completely wrong and within their own interpretations. Today this problem has been addressed by many scholars and policy makers that are urging for an initiative to be taken to change this reoccurring cycle of generations.

I hope you find them as interesting..:p

God bless the beach and the sun!

After a long, busy week I decided that it was about time that I spared a weekend for the beach, and so Saturday it was! :)

Laying on the sand, with the view of the blue sparking beach, sound of the waves hitting the shore, the bright sun against my skin and a soft breeze, the world and I were one. The content and peace of mind I felt for the 6 hours I spent there were so overwhelmingly satisfying that I couldn't have asked for more. This made me think of the pleasure I reside on, enabling me to experience such God given gifts and with much pleasure, that I decided to make the following prayer, a prayer so often forgotten:

God Bless:

- The beach and the sun:)

- the human mind,(which invented the car that got me there, the mp3 player :) allowing my music to accompany me and the service sector (the hotel) “driven by capitalism” for giving me value for my money.

- and, God Bless the fact that I was born healthy and complete.

Desperately Crying

This morning I felt resentment, disgust and nuisance towards this country and its people like never before... I just exploded. When I live 15 minutes away from university, yet leave an hour before class just to make it there in an hour and a half, then this is NOT NORMAL!!

At the traffic light, in a two lane road, my car third in row. I’m surrounded in the middle, with two cars trying to either get into my lane or through my lane to the road next to me, I see the light turn green 3 times with the whole row in front of me still, not able to cross the light as the cars from the corresponding light at the left are blocking the way and finally "serve the people" police show up 45 minutes later; relaxed, taking their time, chit chatting, having finally decided that it was about time that they started their duty.

With my car still for 20 minutes, I sat there in the driver's seat, placed the gear on P and tears started swarming down my face...I was mad, frustrated, desperate, resentful, and felt held captive, I was utterly disgusted by the scene of the police and their unwilling efforts in directing the traffic. The carelessness and apathy of this country and its people regarding the infrastructure and traffic problems has reached its heights and they do not seem to care. Why should they… The private sector is run by an influx of expatriates and we are the ones having to deal with getting late to work and school.

I was going to miss my class for the third time now, and a quiz, because of this traffic..this is not deemed normal..how early am I supposed to get up, let alone be in university for a 9 o'clock class!! I hardly get sleep as it is, I cannot leave any earlier, for its only logical in this case that I just don't sleep!!

Having reached the class 40 minutes late, I find the class done with the quiz and the professor lecturing on the new material…I was infuriated…I asked the professor if I could have my quiz quietly at the back during his next class, which is in the same classroom, luckily and thankfully he agreed. I thanked him dearly and had a good quiz. If it wasn't for that I would have been on edge now!!

This daily traffic is definitely not deemed normal..and me sitting in the car crying desperately amid the traffic is not normal either!

It's all about the small gestures!!

Monday morning-translation class

Before taking attendance the Professor says" Rama..is she here?? Which caught me off guard as I thought I might’ve done something wrong!!? but it happened to be that he had a packet for me from one of his graduate students, Noura!!!


For a moment I could not recall who that was, but then remembered… ahh..Noura!!! :) How thoughtful…what could it be..I was anxious to see but thought it better to wait!

Noura is a very bright and kind girl I got to know last semester in my previous translation class. She is a graduate student and has offered at that time to give our class a lecture on “Translation in Media”, which is the course’s title. She did a good job!

Coincidentally, at that time, I was taking a mass communication course and my research paper was involving translation in media, specifically advertisements and movies. Hence, her presentation had rather valuable information and sources that I thought beneficial for my research paper. Having spoken to my professor I got in touch with her and she was very helpful indeed! I saw her around a couple of times before we left for summer.

Two weeks ago I happened to bump into her at my professor’s office with whom we both are again taking a course with!

And so it happens she had material on translation and interpreting amongst her notes that she remembered me with. Knowing that they would be of interest she has piled them together with a little gift and a note asking the professor to give to me in class :)


At that moment I thought at how rare yet nice it is when someone remembers you with something, that even though is small, comes out truly genuine. It was very thoughtful and kind of her to do what she did! And a much unexpected thing to receive early morning!


I think, at often times we tend to forget how meaningful and powerful small nice genuine gestures can make a big difference! It puts me at rest knowing that people like her still exist in this chaotic individualistic society we are living in! :)

Our Birdy for the dayl!! :)

So, I woke up Thursday morning to the least expected thing. My dad notices me upstairs and tells me to check out what is by the easel…I bend as much as I can to get an angle from where I’m standing…. to find a parrot!!! My dad said that the window was open and the parrot made its way through.

So I run downstairs to find an actual Grey parrot with a red tail standing there with eyes wide open. It was the most adorable thing!! And so quiet…I love animals and having them in the house. I started talking to it as I normally do, which reminded me of our doggie “ Scooby”! Although, as I was talking to it I got closer and almost jumped as it gave a sound! ;p

Everyone in the house got excited about the parrot, that I think we almost scared it :)unfortunately; we couldn’t keep it since it wasn’t ours. We asked the janitor if he knew who it belonged to, and sure thing it did belong to one of the neighbors.
So there you go… our parrot for the day!

Drumming with Dubai Drums!

So last month, the cultural events committee at university got the “Dubai Drums”, which consists of a team of drummers from all around the world drumming together on rhythm, each with their own traditional drum. What is amazing about this group is that they improvise on stage along with a conductor. The group also had two guitarists for the show :)

So I went with a bunch of friends, Razan and Bibo , as you can see from the picture the band was nice enough to get with them 101 drums for the audience!!! Excitement!! :D so during intermission Razan and I ran and grabbed ones!! It was amazing how they worked the whole crowd into the drumming…later on they told some people to come on stage and I was the first one up!!! It really is an amazing feeling when you play in an ensemble, it’s great music or rhythm through combined effort, and is always great fun. It is in these moments that music works its wonders by being a universal language. In that hall and on that stage, there were people from everywhere, yet that didn’t matter, the rhythm and beats of the drums stimulated a common enthusiasm.

Next, they had the kids come on stage with smaller percussion instruments, and there you had Razan and I urging Bibo to go on stage, until he finally did. That incident reminded me of my mother, often times she would push us to do what we enjoyed to overcome our shyness, and I’m grateful to her for that. It is these moments in life that you start noticing small things in yourself that contribute in many aspects to whom you are today, and thus makes you appreciate your parents! :)