Hezbollah: de Libanese kameleon

woensdag 4 juni om 20.00 uur in de levante, amsterdam

Hoe Hezbollah minder sjietisch en meer nationalistisch werd.

EEN LEZING DOOR JOSEPH ALAGHA

Begin juli 2006 ontvoerde Hezbollah twee Israëlische soldaten met het doel deze in te ruilen tegen Libanese gevangen die in Israël werden vastgehouden. Israël trok fel ten strijde tegen haar oude vijand Hezbollah in de hoop de organisatie zowel militair als politiek ongevaarlijk te maken. Israël gokte erop dat als de hele Libanese bevolking zou lijden onder de oorlog en de bombardementen, Hezbollah en haar leider Hassan Nasrallah de schuld zou krijgen en dat de bevolking zich tegen de ‘Partij van God’ zou keren.

Het liep anders. Ook toen Hezbollah zich de afgelopen maand gewelddadig roerde in de straten van Beiroet, werkte dit uiteindelijk minder nadelig uit voor de sjiietische partij dan door menigeen gedacht. In een boeiend betoog legt Hezbollah-deskundige Joseph Alagha uit hoe Hezbollah begon als een protestbeweging met een sji’itisch en militant gedachtegoed, en zich geleidelijk ontwikkelde tot een brede partij met een eigen politiek programma.

Joseph Alagha

Alagha doceert Islamic Studies aan de American University of Beirut en woonde ten tijde van de laatste oorlog in Libanon. Alagha, zelf Libanees en christen, promoveerde een half jaar voor de oorlog uitbrak op onderzoek naar Hezbollah aan de Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam.

Locatie De Levante, Hobbemastraat 28, 1071 ZC Amsterdam
Datum / tijd woensdag 4 juni 2008 / van 20.00 tot 21.30 uur.
Voertaal Engels
Entree HEUR 2.00, NAK-leden gratis op vertoon van lidmaatschapkaart
Reserveren verplicht i.v.m. de beperkte ruimte.

Reserveringen & info

sharida mohamedjoesoef / 06–481 84 228 – www.nederlandsarabischekring.nl

de levante info@delevante.org / 020 - 671 5485 – www.delevante.org

Bereikbaarheid

De Levante is te bereiken via trams 2 en 5, halte Hobbemastraat, langs het Rijksmuseum tot het water (Hobbemakade), op de hoek rechts naast het Zuiderbad.

Chill with Will

Wee uw gebeente als u een onvoldoende haalt...

To study or not to study the bloody reader, handout and this long, long post, that my dears, is the question ...

1. Vooral de beginperiode van Elizabeth I kenmerkte zich door veel geweld dat religieus gekleurd was. Denk hierbij Henry VIII, de vader van Elizabeth, die brak met de moederkerk in Rome om te kunnen scheiden van zijn eerste vrouw Catherine of Aragon. Catherine schonk hem namelijk maar geen mannelijke troonopvolger.
   
   En dus wilde Henry hertrouwen en wel met vrouw nummer 2, ofwel Anna Boleyn. Rome weigerde in te stemmen met een scheiding, waarop Henry besloot te breken met de Paus en Rome en zijn eigen Protestantse kerk op te richten, The Church of England. Hij ruimde veel van zijn politieke tegenstanders uit de weg, inclusief een aantal van zijn zes vrouwen. Hij liet ook veel van de Rooms Katholieke geestelijken uit de weg ruimen en maakte kloosters met de grond gelijk.
   
   Toen de dochter van Henry en Catherine, Mary Tudor, op de troon kwam, deed zij het omgekeerde en liet juist veel protestanten om het leven brengen door verbranding. Vooral de vorm van executie – de brandstapel – leverde haar de bijnaam Maria de Bloedige, ofwel Bloody Mary op. Dan te bedenken dat haar vader Henry en haar protestantse halfzus Elizabeth I eigenlijk veel meer doden op hun geweten hadden, maar in tegenstelling tot Mary’s voorkeur voor de brandstapel kozen Henry en Elizabeth voor dood door onthoofding.
   
   De mensen in die tijd hadden weinig kaas gegeten van een goed dieet en hygiëne. Zelfs de koningin ging tenslotte maar een keer in de zoveel weken in bad. Door dit gebrek aan hygiëne heersten er allerlei ziektes. De beruchtste being the Plague ofwel de Pest die vooral door ratten werd verspreid; (pagina 5 van de Reader).

3. Veel executies hadden het karakter van volksvermaak. Gelukkig waren er ook nog normalere vormen van vermaak, zoals toneelstukken. Deze werden vaak opgevoerd in kroegen, op marktpleinen, en pas later de speelhuizen (pagina 8, Reader). In die zin was het theater dus heel toegankelijk. Ook het taalgebruik was aangepast. Voor het gewone volk werd vaak platvloerse proza gebruikt en om de aristocratie te bedienen, werd vaak in vers geschreven. (pagina 17 van de Reader). De onderwerpen varieerden van het religieuze verhalen tot volksvermaak en historische vertellingen.
   
   
4. Het beroep van acteur genoot weinig aanzien. Acteurs werden gezien als nietsnutten. Landlopers. Ze werden uitgejouwd, weggejaagd en waren beslist niet altijd hun leven zeker. Om het beroep toch met enig fatsoen uit te oefenen werd vaak de bescherming gezocht van een edelman, de patron. Deze vorm van adoptie van een toneelgezelschap heette ‘patronage’. Shakespeare's toneelgezelschap had zelfs de bescherming - patronage - van niemand minster dan de eerste hofmeester van Elizabeth I, Lord Chamberlain (pagina 8, Reader).
   
   
5. Ten tijde van Shakespeare werd het land geregeerd door Elizabeth I, de dochter van Henry VIII en Anna Boleyn. Elizabeth I bleef haar hele leven ongehuwd en kreeg de bijnaam Virgin Queen, vanwege de maagdelijkheidscultus die zijzelf had helpen mee ontwikkelen. Voor een monarch was het immers een plicht om te trouwen, enerzijds om voor een mannelijke opvolger te zorgen en anderzijds om invloed te kunnen uitoefenen op potentiële bondgenoten. Vanuit het parlement werd sterke druk op haar uitgeoefend om hoe dan ook te trouwen en de opvolging te verzekeren, maar die weerstond zij. Ze zag zichzelf getrouwd met Engeland. Wat ongetwijfeld mee zal hebben gespeeld in haar besluit om niet te trouwen is de patriarchale samenleving waarin ze leefde. De man was de baas. Trouwen zou betekenen dat ze haar macht, haar autoriteit zou verliezen. (pagina 26 tot en met 33 van de Reader).
   Door te kiezen voor een superimago van de heilige maagd, hoopte Elizabeth niet alleen een deel van katholiek Engeland aan zich te binden, maar zette ze zichzelf op een enorm voetstuk, waarmee haar onschendbaarheid toenam. Ze ontnam zichzelf als het ware haar seksualiteit, haar vrouw-zijn, wederom met als doel niet langer partij te zijn voor allerlei huwelijkskandidaten. Daarnaast zal ze behoorlijk ontnuchterd zijn door het idee van huwelijk na alle huwelijken van haar vader Hendrik VIII.
   Elizabeth heeft altijd volgehouden maagd te zijn (aan het woord van een koningin werd niet getwijfeld), wordt toch wel vermoed dat zij een heftige relatie had met Robert Dudley, graaf van Leicester; (zie handout over Elizabeth).
   
   
6. Een dochter had in die tijd weinig te zeggen bij de partnerkeuze. Het was een zaak die de ouders – veelal de vader – voor haar beslisten. De vrouw moest eerst de gehoorzame dochter zijn en in het huwelijk de gehoorzame bescheiden vrouw (zie wederom Reader pagina 26 tot en met 33). Denk in dit opzicht ook aan opdrachten 1 en 2 en krantenartikel 60 Second Star: the scene from Romeo and Juliet. Paris dingt naar de hand van een nog hele jonge Julia bij haar vader. Die vindt haar nog een beetje te jong. Toch was dit in die tijd heel normaal om jong te trouwen en gewoon blindelings te doen wat je vader zei. Liefde was vaak een ondergeschikt gegeven. Het ging om verstandshuwelijken. In die zin was Julia’s besluit om de weg van haar hart te volgen heel tegendraads, rebels.
   
   
7. Mensen van de adel hadden vaak een enorme fascinatie met het toneel vanwege het herkenbare theatrale karakter. Daarbij kwam dat men op deze manier toch goed op de hoogte bleef van alle spanningen en tegenstellingen in de maatschappij. Er bestonden in die tijd immers nog geen kranten of tv. (Reader pagina 8)
   
   
   
8. Shakespeare werd op 23 april 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon geboren. Hij stierf op 23 april 1616. Moest op jonge leeftijd trouwen met Anne Hathaway omdat ze in verwachting was geraakt. Hij schreef 36 toneelstukken en 154 sonnetten.
9. Shakespeare genoot in zijn eigen tijd weinig aanzien, omdat zijn werk door de critici uit zijn tijd vooral werd gezien als populistische schunnige pulp, dat als a-moreel, onfatsoenlijk werd beschouwd. Hij lapte de klassieke toneelregels – eenheid van tijd en plaats aan zijn laars. Hij wordt om al deze redenen zelfs wel eens Shockspeare genoemd.
   
   
   
10. Toch wordt de man nu mega-bejubeld vanwege drie factoren: a) wereldberoemde stijlfiguren (pagina 41 van de Reader) b) psychologische achtergrond van de karakters met gevoelens zoals wraak, lust, trots, jaloezie, liefde, haat – Macbeth - maar ook de uitgebreide vocabulaire, c) hij voegde 3000 woorden toe aan de taal, veel ervan worden nu nog gebruikt.)
    
    
11. Leer pagina 41. Hier staan alle stijlfiguren op een rijtje.Tearing off tights with my teeth - alliteration. No release, no peace (assonance: ea, ea and consonance: se, ce.)
    
    Hoe kon William Shakespeare die in Stratford-upon-Avon de plaatselijke dorpsschool had bezocht zo’n fabelachtige kennis hebben van het Frans, Italiaans, Latijn en Grieks? Hoe kwam hij aan alle kennis van retoriek, poëzie, schilderkunst en wetenschap? Vanwege dit soort vragen doen er allerlei theorieën de ronde dat andere mensen verantwoordelijk zijn voor de werken van Shakespeare, zie pagina’s 21 – 22, plus 49 en 50. Mensen als Sigmund Freud, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Friedrich Nietzche en Henry James hadden zo hun twijfels. Er zouden andere mannen verantwoordelijk zijn voor de werken van Shakespeare:
    
    

12. Christopher Marlowe (1564 – 1593) = Shakespeare
    Bewijzen: Hetzelfde geboortejaar. Dezelfde rijmtechniek: jambisch pentameter. Geleerd. Fysieke gelijkenis met Shakespeare. Toen Marlowe stierf – hij zou zijn vermoord, omdat hij een spion was en een ketter, maar daarover bestaan veel twijfels - begon Shakespeare’s ster juist te rijzen. Toeval????
    Marlowe was een jonge dichter en toneelschrijver die tijdens zijn studie aan Cambridge Universiteit furore maakte met zijn literaire inspanningen. Zijn dood wordt omgeven met veel geheimzinnigheid. Is hij vermoord? Heeft hij zijn eigen dood in scene gezet? Reader weblink for more info.
    
    

13. Sir Francis Bacon (1561 – 1626) = Shakespeare
    Bewijzen: Zeer geleerd. Vergelijkbare thema’s over manners and morals in de toneelstukken. Veel overeenkomsten met het leven van Bacon in de toneelstukken. Er is geen bewijs van Shakespeare's vroege werken, terwijl Bacon al op jonge leeftijd toneelstukken schreef. Bacon was een excellente wetenschapper en vooraanstaande academicus die rechten aan Cambridge studeerde. Zijn familie had nauwe banden met het hof. Zijn vader was zelfs Minister van Financiën. Ook Bacon kreeg later deze post. Bacon werd geroemd om zijn kennis en sublieme taalgebruik. Reader weblink for more info.
    
    
    Edward de Vere, de 17^e graaf van Oxford (1550 – 1604) = Shakespeare
    Bewijzen: Diens enorme kennis van de adel, het leger en recht. Veel overeenkomsten tussen zijn leven en de toneelstukken. Hij moest onder een pseudoniem schrijven omdat het tenslotte not done was voor een aristocraat om zich te verlagen tot het schrijven van toneelstukken. De Vere was naast dichter en toneelschrijver ook de beschermheer van maar liefst tachtig toneelgezelschappen. Zeer geleerd en een man die wat van het leven had gezien. Zo werd zijn schip eens gekaapt door piraten en zat hij zelfs kort gevangen in de Tower. Reader weblink for more info.
    
    
    William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616) = William Shakespeare
    Stel je voor dat we twee, bijna drie weken lang van alles en nog wat over Shakespeare hebben geleerd en het blijkt misschien de grootste literaire leugen ooit. Do not cry your hearts out, for there is plenty of proof that the man actually lived and wrote wonderful plays and sonnets. (Reader, page 49/50)!!!
    
    Bewijs 1: het is het een gedocumenteerd feit dat ene acteur William Shakespeare bescherming – patronage - genoot van Lord Chamberlain, de belangrijkste hofheer van koningin Elizabeth I. Een dergelijke prominente bescherming zal uiteraard niet onopgemerkt de geschiedenisboekjes zijn ingegaan. Door deze bescherming kreeg het toneelgezelschap de naam The Lord Chamberlain’s Men (zie ook pagina 8 van de Reader waar Patronage wordt uitgelegd).
    
    Bewijs 2: Shakespeare heeft bestaan en was een man van aanzien. Zo wilde de vader van Shakespeare heel graag een familiewapen hebben. Dat werd hem aanvankelijk geweigerd, maar toen zoon Will beroemd werd, vroeg pa het nog eens aan en ja hoor, de familie mocht voortaan ‘gentleman’ achter de naam zetten en kreeg het felbegeerde familiewapen.
    
    Bewijs 3: Shakespeare schreef wel degelijk zijn naam op zijn gedichten en toneelstukken. Vóór 1600 was het niet gebruikelijk dat dit gebeurde, omdat toneelstukken uit die tijd niet als literatuur werden beschouwd. Hierdoor stonden mensen nauwelijks stil bij het auteurschap, laat staan de autenciteit. Bovendien weet je ook dat het beroep van acteur weinig aanzien genoot. Ze werden uitgejouwd en weggejaagd. Dat was ook vaak de reden dat ze bescherming bij de adel zochten - patronage, weet u nog.
    Veel anti-Shakespeare-mensen voeren dit als bewijs aan Shakespeare niet heeft bestaan en dat er iemand anders verantwoordelijk was voor de gedichten en toneelstukken.
    

And for Shakespeare diehards: Sonnet 18 on youtube, sung by David Gilmour. Some think it is way too cheezy. Others think it is absolutely brilliant. You judge for yourselves. Of deze, met Hugh Laurie (van House) en Rowan Atkinson.

AND DO STUDY THE READER!!!

Cold feet in New Delhi

With 29 degrees Celsius it is actually cold in India's capital, that is when compared to some ten days ago when it was over 40 degrees.

Political temperatures have also dropped in Beirut. So Eva, Samira, my twins they are all safe... for the time being.

At school temperatures are rising, however, as the final exams have just started. My own classes are supposedly slaving their spare time away learning everything about the Great Bard a.k.a. Shakespeare. Well, for their sake I hope they've hit the books, particularly their reader 'Chill with Will'. In the meantime, my fourth graders are having a hard time dealing with the passive. Go for it.

Good morning Samira, Eva, Hassan and Hussain!

Or is it? While I slept soundly in the saftey and comfort of my house here in Hilversum, you guys you were faced with the rattle of gunfire and the thump of exploding rocket-propelled grenades. So far the violence in the city I love so very much has left dozens of people dead.

Yet I can't say I am really surprised. After all, we are talking about a country that has faced a brutal and bloody civil war fought along sectarian lines.

The war stopped almost overnight, leaving the country traumatised. But hey this is Lebanon. No fingerpointing. No guilt question. Just pick up the pieces and get on with it. But get on with what? The country has again become a ticking timebomb, with many parties - in and outside Lebanon - vying for power.

So far it seems Hezbollah came in first. The Hezbollah drums of victory could be very shortlived though, for even though the party still has a lot of support resounding through all walks of life in Lebanon, the group might very well be on the verge of overplaying its hand.

It flexed its muscles thereby using its magical and favourite word 'resistance', but what happened in the streets of Beirut these last few days brings back haunting memories of old-fashioned militia fighting in the days of the civil war rather than images of Super Nas (Hezbollah's charismatic leader Hassan Nasrallah) doing his so-called bit for God and country.

And now we are getting closer to the real root of all evil in Lubnan. As BBC journalist Roger Hardy pointed out in one of his articles: Is Lebanon an Arab or a non-Arab state? Should it look to the East or to the West? How should its mosaic of Muslim and Christian communities - officially 18 in all -share power?

In 1943 the political elite attempted to solve this power-sharing problem through the National Pact which stated that the president would be a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim and the speaker of parliament a Shia Muslim.

Over time, however, the consensus that underpinned this power structure has eroded because of the changing demographic make-up of the country. The Christians, originally a majority, became a minority due to migration factors. The dominant Maronite-Sunni alliance came under challenge from the historically marginalised Shia - the largest minority in a nation of minorities.

Throw in the Palestinian element in the delicate religious equation and you have all the ingredients that - in 1975 - eventually led to an all out civil war. It is estimated that more than 100,000 were killed, another 100,000 maimed, and approximately 17,000-20,000 people are still unaccounted for.


Eighty per cent of the killed, injured, and missing were civilians with no militia affiliation. During sixteen years of war, both Christian and Muslim militias killed thousands in massacres, usually in retaliation for attacks carried out by the opposing side.

So where does that leave my friends in Lebanon- Christians and Muslims? I have no idea. For the time being they are all A-okay. I know because I spoke to Samira earlier. That said, this is still Lebanon we are talking about. The tables can be turned at the speed of light. So, please be safe Samira, your mother, Eva, Ahmad, H&H, Rose, the singing colleague...

Vikram Seth’s A Suitable Boy ...

... finally in available in a Dutch translation

‘You too will marry a boy I choose,’ said Mrs Rupa firmly to her younger daughter.

This is the opening sentence of Vikram Seth’s brilliant novel A Suitable Boy, first published in 1993 and instantly becoming a world bestseller. Now, 15 years later, the book will finally appear in a Dutch translation - De Geschikte Jongen - that is slated for release in Amsterdam on Friday 25^th April.

It took Seth some ten years to finish his magnus opus, and with over 1400 pages Seth’s magnus opus does not exactly qualify as a short story ;-)

Vikram Seth himself will be in the Netherlands to celebrate the occasion. On Thursday 24th April he will do a reading and signing session at De Duif, Prinsengracht 756 in Amsterdam. He will be interviewed by renown Dutch journalist Jeroen van Kan. It all starts at 20.00 hrs. Want to be there? Please order your tickets through www.aub.nl

If 24th April does not suit your schedule, you get a second chance on Friday 25th April. At nine o'clock in th evening, Seth will give a lecture in the Public Library of Amsterdam as part of the International Literature Festival. And no, it is not for free. You do have to pay € 7,50.

So who is Vikram Seth?

Vikram Seth was born in Calcutta (now Kolkata) in 1952. He took his A-levels in the UK and was trained as an economist at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Seth presently lives near Salisbury, England.

Dad Seth, was an executive of the Bata India Limited shoe company who migrated to post-Partition India from West Punjab in Pakistan. Mum-dear Leila was the first woman judge on the Delhi High Court as well as the first woman to become Chief Justice of a state High Court, at Simla.

His younger sister, Aradhana, is a film-maker married to an Austrian diplomat, and has worked on Deepa Mehta's controversial movies Earth and Fire (yes the one with Shabana and Nandita).

Seth has always been candid in acknowledging that many of his fictional characters are drawn from life; he has said that only the dog Cuddles in A Suitable Boy has his real name — "Because he can't sue". Justice Leila Seth has said in her memoir On Balance that other characters in A Suitable Boy are composites but Haresh is a portrait of her husband Prem.)

A Suitable Boy

A Suitable Boy centres on Mrs. Rupa Mehra’s efforts to arrange the marriage of her younger daughter, Lata, with a “suitable boy”. At the heart of the novel it is a love story, set in a young, newly independent India. The fictional town, Brahmpur, along with Calcutta, Delhi, Kanpur and other Indian cities, forms a colourful backdrop for the emerging stories.

Lata is a 19-year-old college girl, vulnerable, yet determined to have her own way, and not be influenced by her strong mother and opinionated brother, Arun. Her story revolves around the choice she is forced to make between her suitors, Kabir, Haresh and Amit.

The novel is not simply based on one story. This epic novel covers the various issues faced by post-independence India, including Hindu-Muslim strife, the abolition of the Zamindari system, land reforms and the empowerment of Muslim women.

PS Rumour has it that the book is being made into a film ...

Magic

photo credits: Peter Adams

Some call it fusion. Some call it lounge. I call it magic, for what else can it be when you are listening to Prem Joshua's music on a bright blue cold April morning in Hilversum, Holland, with temperatures slightly below zero and only being able to think of India, a country I have never been to. If that ain't magic, then what is?

Through tracks like 'Water Down The Ganges' and Nisha I feel India running through my veins faster and faster, both its beauty and its ugliness, from the Taj Mahal, the Ganges, the temples, the mosques to the sorrows of the downtrodden in Indian society and the courage of ladies like Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das who defy Bollywood kitsch to give voice to these people. I know Das lives in New Delhi and everytime someone from New Delhi visits this blog I think of this actress.

Asha Miro, a Catalan Daughter of the Ganges

photo credits Ganges pic: Anthony Plummer
photo credits Asha pic: Spanish literary magazine
Just finished reading Traces of Sandalwood (Sporen van Sandelhout), a book by Asha Miro and her literary agent Anna Soler-Pont. It is actually Miro's third book dealing with her own adoption and migration, her first two books being Daughter of the Ganges and The Other Face of the Moon.

Asha Miró was born in a little Indian town called Shaha, not far from the holy city of Nasik, at the bank of the Godavari river. She spent the first seven years of her life between Nasik and Mumbai. In 1974 she was adopted by Joseph Miró and Electa Vega in 1974 and became a citizen of Barcelona.

Asha finished her studies in Educational Sciences in the Blanquerna University of Barcelona and studied music and piano in the Municipal Conservatory of Barcelona. From 1989 until 2001 she worked as a music teacher, mainly in the Escola Brasil of Barcelona. Her interest in the world of cooperation led her to work as a volunteer in work-camps in India, Rwanda and Chiapas. She has collaborated in the organization of many solidarity events, peace concerts and conferences with young people from all over the world.

Concerning the international adoption, she has become a leading figure and her presence has been required in congresses, debates, television programmes and courses to train future adoptive parents.

From the year 2000 onwards, she has presented many public events, she has collaborated in many radio programmes and she has been the presenter of AD, a television programme about the advertisiong world from Canal 33, of Líneas in Via Digital Channel and of the weekly programme Filmets which she still presents today.

She also works in the Communication and Promotion department of the Universal Forum of Cultures Barcelona 2004, while she continuosly promotes her first book Daughter of the Ganges. On the last Day Saint George Day, the International Day of the Book, it was the best-selling book in Catalan, and was also a success in Spanish. Daughter of the Ganges has been translated into Dutch, French and Italian. A documentary based on the book has been filmed, and a cartoon TV series which will be called Asha has been inspired by the book.

An absolute must see: the work of Tarek Atrissi

Exhibition at De Levante, Amsterdam: 2 May - 22 June

His work has been on display at the Guggenheim Museum in New York and is in the permanent Design collection of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in the Affiche Museum Holland and in the Design collection of the University of Amsterdam .

That said, the work of Beirut-born Tarek Atrissi has remained one the biggest secrets in the Dutch arts scene. Chances are that this is about to change, for De Levante Foundation in Amsterdam will exhibit the Graphic and Typographic Design work of this leading Lebanese-Dutch designer.

The exhibition will feature a varied selection of Tarek Atrissi's work developed over the last ten years in Lebanon, New York, Dubai, Qatar and The Netherlands- for commercial and non-commercial projects & commissions around the world.

The Graphic Design work displayed will include Posters, Visual Identities, Typographic and Calligraphic Work as well as interactive design work; a selection of work which is often distinguished by a strong cross-cultural flavour and often described as a modern Arabic Graphic Design Language.

Feel free to drop by and view Atrissi’s work which will be on display from May 2nd 2008 until the 22nd of June 2008.

The artist
Atrissi has worked and studied in Lebanon, the Netherlands and the United States. He holds a BA in Graphic Design with distinction from the American University of Beirut; a Masters of Arts in Interactive Multimedia from the Utrecht School of the Arts in Holland and an MFA in Design from the School of Visual Arts in New York- where he studied under people like Steven Heller, Paula Scher and Stefan Sagmeister.

His projects were featured in major international design magazines and books in Korea, Germany, France, Russia, Australia, China, Japan, Holland, the United States, England,Canada and the Arab world. He is the principal of his own design studio, Tarek Atrissi Design, based in the Netherlands and serving a variety of clients, big and small, in Europe, the Middle East and the United States.

Prem Joshua: the bestselling World Music artist in India

Prem who? Prem Joshua, that sitar player and flautist who perfectly blends the magic of Eastern music with modern Western sounds.

Born to a musical family in Germany, Joshua began learning the flute at the age of five, becoming a fine flautist while still a child. He vividly remembers hearing Indian music for the first time, age 16 - a crackly vinyl record of a sitar performance by Ravi Shankar: “I had never heard anything like this before,” Joshua recalls.

This experience changed his way of perceiving music completely. And so, in the late seventies, at the age of 18, he left home, high school, abandoned all career plans, and travelled to India instead, visiting Greece,Turkey,Iran,Afghanistan, Pakistan in between.

When he finally reached India it was like coming home! He started playing with musicians from all over the world and learning from some of India's finest teachers, among them Maestro Ustad Usman Khan, who became his sitar mentor.

Years later, in the early nineties Joshua returned to the West after many years of study in India. He and his music had totally changed - it was time to share the overflow and time for his music to really blossom.

Until today he has released 14 albums under his name and played on countless studio recordings. Joshua is now the number one bestselling World Music artist in and the daily newspaper "The Times of India" has lauded him as the new "Guru of Fusion". In 2003, the BBC nominated him for its prestigious “World Music Listeners Award”.

In early 2005 the music channel "MTV" invited Joshua and his band to give a half-hour live performance during one of their regular MTV live shows in Bombay. His performance was broadcast on TV several times - a rare opportunity for a musician of his genre to be featured on a TV music channel that otherwise concentrates mainly on mainstream music.

In 2007 Joshua received the award "Best Film Music on Indian TV" at the Indian TV Awards in Mumbai.

Islamic heritage under threat ... by Muslims

The Satanic Verses. Submission.The Danish cartoons. Fitna. In order to voice their discontent Muslims haven taken to book burning, murder, street protests and, in a best-case scenario, dragged people to court.

Yet there is an almost deafening silence when Saudi radicals – in line with the doctrines and habits of Wahhabism, demolish Muslim and Arab cultural heritage and erect Manhattan-like skyscrapers around the Kaaba instead.

Again lips are sealed when it comes to the attacks on holy Shia shrines carried out by Saudi-incited Sunni terrorists. Islamic heritage is literally bulldozed off the face of the earth under the pretext that it is shirk.

Someone who refuses to keep quiet is Dr. Irfan al-Alawi, a leading Islamic scholar on the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. He is also the co-chairman of the Islamic Heritage Foundation and director of the Centre for Islamic Pluralism. He's a university lecturer and barrister of Law.

Al Alawi has written extensively on the subject for renown British newspapers such as The Guardian and The Independent, drawing attention to the outrageous decadence displayed by the Saudi royalities, like the diamond studded Mercedes of Prince Al-Walid.

While visiting me in Hilversum, Irfan showed me loads of pictures of the unbridled destruction spree of the Wahabis, such as the grave of Muhammad's mother, Amina bint Wahb, that has been bulldozed. And let's not forget about the house of Abu Bakr Siddiq, the closest companion of Muhammad, that has been replaced by the Mecca Hilton Hotel.

Another holy place that was sent into oblivion was the house of Khadija, the prophet’s first wife. Its presence was concealed by sand and to make things worse, public toilets were erected on the spot where Muhammad had slept. The aim, once again, was to discourage prayer at the site.

And we worry about the Danish cartoons or Fitna … In my book that is called double standards. Irfan is presently in Leiden, Hotel De Doelen, and will only be here for two more days before going back to the UK.

Post scriptum
One latest example of these ‘pious’ Muslims with their petrodollars: The crown prince of the United Arab Emirates of Dubai who bought a female camel yesterday for a record sum of 2.72 million dollars at a camel beauty pageant.

Salva Mea

Eclectic as I am when it comes to music, it should come as no surprise that I am a great fan of the British band Faithless, or rather the leading vocalist and rapper Maxi Jazz.

I only found out recently that Mr Jazz is a Soka Gakkai Buddhist, a particular form of Nichiren Buddhism, based on the teachings of the 13th century Japanese monk Nichiren (1222–1282).

Now, if Maxi Jazz is such a strong believer, why then choose a name like Faithless. The story goes that this all happened when writing the song Salva Mea (Save me). Maxi was asked to write a song about frustration, something he knew a good deal about having been through a great number of frustrating situations in his life he didn't ever believe he could get through. What Maxi was writing about was about those that have no faith, no confidence and so the name Faithless was born.

In 2006 Maxi Jazz provided the vocals for the hit Tiësto track, Dance 4 Life. It was one of the biggest club hits of the year for Tiësto and the trance community.

He currently lives in West Norwood, in the London Borough of Lambeth.

Fusion

In your light I learn how to love.
In your beauty, how to make poems.
You dance inside my chest,
Where no one sees you,
But sometimes I do,
And that sight becomes this art.

Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi
(Afghan poet 1202 - 1273)

I know there are some people who only visit my blog because of the music. Hope you are not too dissapointed with the reshuffle of my playlist.

No Fitna, just music

Just found out about this cd last night. Pulsating Arab rhythms fused with fiery Andalusian flamenco. The album is called Flamenco Arabe and is the very successful cooperation of Jose Luis Monton and Hossam Ramzy. I already had a cd by Hossam Ramzy.

The album takes you back to the old silk and spice routes to find the origins of Arabian, North African and Flamenco Music. It reaches deep into history to find the incredible journey of these nomadic tribes that caused the conception and birth of such magnificent styles of musical compostion.

A house divided cannot stand

'The Syrians did it.'
'Hell no, it was the Israelis.'
'What are you saying, can't you see this assassination has 'CIA' written all over it?'

Think again mates. Last week a UN-investigation unit stated that the murder of former Lebanese PM Rafiq Hariri on 14th February 2005 was masterminded by some criminal network. So where does that leave Walid Jumblatt, Saad Hariri and so many others for that matter, who are still dead certain that the Syrian government was behind this horrific murder.

It is corny, but time will tell and somehow I think Lebanon will be in for a hot summer. Still no president and so many parties vying for power - not just inside Lebanon.

Fitna
Oh, and why did I not say anything about Fitna... because IMHO it proved a storm in a teacup. Wilders lived up to his promise that he was going to make a film that portrays the Koran as a fascist book that can be used by fanatics to incite violence and which preaches the oppression of women and homosexuals.

What really worries me is the other anti Koran film by Ehsan Jami. Yes, that photomodel like politician in his early twenties who is of Iranian origin. Jami rose to public fame when he launched his Committee for Ex Muslims last year. His film, slated for release later this month, is bound to hammer home his immense frustration towards Iran, Islam and the prophet.

India's finest back from Mauritius?

True, I may have started working as a teacher, but that doesn't mean I forgot all about my dream interview with none other than Shabana-ji. Quite the contrary.

When I called her Mumbai office last month I was told that Mrs Azmi (57) was in Mauritius doing some film shoot.


Since she was supposed to have returned to India today, yours truly contacted her office again today ... by email.

So do keep them fingers crossed that she is still willing to talk to me about a variety of topics, from Muslim fundamentalism to the future of mainstream Indian cinema and everything that lies in between, such as gender issues and racism.

Breaking news ...

The Dutch Muslim Broadcasting Corporation – Nederlandse Moslim Omroep (NMO) – is actually considering broadcasting ‘Fitna’, the anti-Koran film of Dutch politician Geert Wilders, which is scheduled for release this coming week. The 10 to 15 minute film is said to depict the Koran as the inspiration for terrorist attacks and other violence.

NMO is presently looking into the legal pitfalls and in the midst of talks with all the board members. If they press ahead, this would indeed be a remarkble move, if only because all other Dutch television networks have already refused to broadcast Wilders’ film. The move does fit in NMO’s liberal tradition to invite criticasters of Islam.

Friend and former De Pers colleague Ana Karadarevic wrote the following article today.

De Nederlandse Moslim Omroep (NMO) overweegt serieus om Geert Wilders’ anti-Koranfilm Fitna integraal uit te zenden. De NMO zou daarmee de enige publieke omroep zijn die dit aanbod doet. Het aanbod om Fitna uit te zenden, is volgens Alfred Broer, programmamaker televisie bij de NMO, niet zo opmerkelijk als het lijkt. ‘Dit past in de traditie van de omroep om ook islamcritici aan het woord te laten. Hirsi Ali is bij ons te gast geweest, evenals Theo van Gogh. Geert Wilders hebben we de afgelopen jaren meermalen uitgenodigd, tevergeefs.’

De redactie van de NMO heeft voorgesteld om Fitna uit te zenden. De redactie wil dat Wilders na uitzending van de film met voor- en tegenstanders in discussie gaat. Vrijdagavond heeft directeur Abderrahman Farsi hierover gepraat met de Nederlandse Moslim Raad, de zendgemachtigde.

Voorzitter Abdulmajid Khairoun van de NMR staat positief tegenover het idee. Hij polste al twee juristen om advies te vragen. Er zijn nog twee voorwaarden: een aantal bestuursleden moet nog worden bereikt om hun mening te polsen en de NMR gaat niet akkoord als Fitna strafbare uitingen bevat ‘We zullen de film dan ook wel eerst moeten bekijken’, aldus Khairoun.

Dit weekend overleggen de betrokkenen met elkaar, met de bedoeling een dezer dagen de knoop door te hakken. Als de meerderheid voor uitzending is, wil de NMR gaan praten met Wilders.

Wilders maakte onlangs bekend dat hij geen omroep had kunnen vinden die de vijftien minuten durende film in zijn geheel wilde uitzenden. Hij is daarom van plan om de film op internet te zetten. Dat zou gebeuren vóór 1 april. Maar Wilders heeft steeds gezegd: ‘Als zich vandaag een omroep bij mij meldt, kan de film vanavond nog op tv.’

Ding dong ...the witch is dead.

All over the world Christians are getting ready for Easter and the resurrection of Christ. The victorious battle of good over evil. While Christians have Easter, Hindus have Holi and guess what ... it was today.

Holi celebrates the survival of Prince Prahlada who, in defiance of his father, worshipped Lord Vishnu. To kill the prince, the old king plotted with his evil, bitchy, witchy sister Holika, who claimed to be immune from burning.

He sent his pious son to sit with her in a bonfire. Good guy Prahlada survived while Holika was incinerated. With the traditional Holi bonfires, evil is banished at the same time heralding springtime , a new season bursting with life. Party time. Subh holi.

Picture: courtesy Times of India

International Women's Day. What better moment to pay my respect to ...

The Widows of Vindravan

Despite India's rapid transformation into an economic superpower, there are still some horrific spectres in the closet from time to time rearing their ugly heads.

Say "Taj Mahal" and everyone goes gaga. Say "Vindravan" and everyone goes quiet, foreign tourists that is, for in Vindravan it is devout local tourists that set the tone. They visit the town because it was here that the Hindu God Krishna in his teenage years flirted with his gopis in the forest next to the riverbank. Yet it is not just local pilgrims visiting Vindravan. The town is also home to thousands and thousands of Hindu widows,women who are seen as social outcasts once their husbands are dead.

They flock to the tempels of Vindravan and stay in these so-called widow houses, where they dress in white, chant bhajans (devotional songs) for sustenance, and pray for salvation (Moksha).

Dutch photo journalist Karijn Kakebeeke put it as follows: "India's modern answer to sati, the funeral pyre on which widows were thrown in former times." Studies show that more than of the Vindravan widows were married off at the age of twelve.

Vindravan - only three hours away from New Delhi by car and probably three days away by cow- is now home to no less than 16,000 Hindu widows.

It is this very plight of Hindu widows that catapulted Indian-Canadian Deepa Mehta into action in 1999/2000 to make the highly controversial "Water", a film about Chuyia, an 8-year-old widow in the India of 1938. She has barely met her husband but is banished by her parents to a widows' house on the edge of the Ganges. Chuyia is left there sobbing, in one of the most heart-wrenching scenes in the film, but she insists her parents will soon return for her.

The original cast of the film starred Shabana Azmi as one of Chuyia's protectors. But alas, it was not meant to be. Hindu nationalists protested that the film was anti-Hindu.
Some 500 demonstrators took to the streets, ransacked the set and burned Mehta in effigy. She appealed to the state government for help, but fearing more violence, local officials asked the film crew to leave. In 2005 Mehta went ahead anyway. This time with a new cast. The film was shot in Sri Lanka. An absolute must-see!!!

Check out Fazal Sheikh's superb black and white photobook Moksha on the subject. They don't come any better than this. The B/W picture in this posting is one of Sheikh's pictures.

The colour pics are stills from the film Water by Deepa Metha

School is out and I'm still standing

I am still very much alive & kicking, and what's more, still laughing. The first school week is now behind me. On the whole it went much better than expected. No real troublemakers, simply teens. Some serious, some clowns, some noisy, some sweet. And yes, some genuinly interested in what I have to say. Some even went so far as to ask me about my ethnic background. For those interested, they call me ''Juf" I guess "Sharida" is still a bridge too far.

This interest was probably brought on by my lesson about Victorian Britain and its colonial jewel in the crown: India. We moved back and forth from Jane Austen's classic novel Pride and Prejudice to the Anglo-Indian film Bride and Prejudice.

As said in a previous post, of course I am most definitely Indian. I have all the genetic features. I eat Indian food. I listen to Indian music. I have certain Indian values. But that's about as far as it goes, for I was born and bred in the Netherlands, with family roots in Surinam, a former Dutch colony in South America.

Perhaps this year will be the year in which I shall actually visit the Motherland, if only to interview Shabana Azmi. Can you imagine me finally going to a country which I only know from books, documentaries and Indian cinema? Me joining 1.2 BILLION countrymen. Me who comes from a single-parent family. Me who has no brothers and sisters. Me joining a sea of people who look like ... me.

If you can read this, thank a teacher!

Got a number of text messages from my former De Pers colleagues and friends this morning who were wondering how I had weathered my first working day at school. Was I perhaps ranting and raving like a madman when I left the school building? The answer: no!

It went just fine. Not spectacularly good or bad, just fine. I am still in the saddle. My head is crammed though with students' faces and all new rules and regulations that are part of a new job. Fun and tiring at the same time. Let's see what tomorrow brings.