More research from Mouzam!

Divestment Movement

Facts:
Divestment, or disinvestment, from Israel is a campaign conducted by religious and political entities which aims to use disinvestment to pressure the government of Israel to put “an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories captured during the 1967 military campaign.”  Divestment campaigns targeting Israel first received media attention in 2002, thanks largely to a high-profile divestment petition at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology early that year. This was followed later that same year by calls from South African anti-apartheid activist Desmond Tutu for the international community to treat Israel as it treated apartheid South Africa:

• Tutu said that the campaign against Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories and its continued settlement expansion should be modeled on the successful historical, but controversial, disinvestment campaign against South Africa’s apartheid system.

• Divestment from South Africa was first advocated in the 1960s, in protest of South Africa’s system of Apartheid, but was not implemented on a significant scale until the mid 1980s. The disinvestment campaign, after being realized in federal legislation enacted in 1986 by the United States, is credited as pressuring the South African Government to embark on negotiations ultimately leading to the dismantling of the apartheid system.  Disinvestment campaigns have been focused on high-profile organizations with large financial holdings such as heavily endowed universities or churches and municipalities managing large portfolios of retirement fund investments.

• This movement presses the question that didn’t complicate the fight against apartheid: At what point does opposition to Israeli policy become anti-Semitism?

Recent Events:

• On March 17, 2010 a UC Berkeley Student Senate resolution asked that the university divest itself of companies that conduct business with Israel, especialy targeting General Electric and United Technologies which supplies arms and technology to Israel, but it was vetoed on March 24 by the Student Body President who called it “a symbolic attack on a specific community”. On April 14, the Student Senate voted on whether to override the President’s decision in the packed and contentious senate meeting. Twelve voted in support of Israel divestment, with seven against and one abstained. Since a two−thirds majority vote of the senate is needed in order to override a presidential veto, the resolution to divest from Israel did not pass. Nevertheless, the vote was tabled again for April 21, but the president’s veto was not overturned then either. On April 28 the final decision to not divest was established.

• Latest Harvard University filings seemed to show total divestment of Israel Stocks (according to its 13-F forms filed on 8/15/2010). But the University soon reported that the sale of some of its investments in Israel was not politically motivated and it is not divesting from Israel. Harvard spokesman John Longbrake told Foreign Policy that the university sold $39 million in stocks in five Israeli companies because Israeli stocks could no longer be considered part of the emerging markets portfolio, where they previously had been held. “The university has not divested from Israel,” Longbrake said. “Israel was moved from the MSCI, our benchmark in emerging markets, to the EAFE index in May due to its successful growth. Our emerging markets holdings were rebalanced accordingly.” He said Harvard is still invested in Israel but declined to go into specifics.

Columbia University’s Statement on the Divestment Campaign (updated as of October 2002)

• Deeply concerned about the brutality of Israeli military rule over Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, a group of Columbia and Barnard faculty have decided that, like our colleagues at Princeton, Harvard, MIT, Tufts, University of California, and the University of Pennsylvania, we should not remain silent.

• The decision to launch a divestment campaign comes from our hope that moral pressure from the international community could be an effective means of encouraging political transformation. The anti-Apartheid campaigns of boycott and divestment played a critical role in dismantling the former South African regime. We believe that a similar, if more targeted, strategy of divestment vis-à-vis the Israeli state is called for at this historical juncture. In limiting our divestment campaign to companies that manufacture and sell arms to Israel, we have focused on a fundamental problem in the conflict today: the use of Israeli military force on a civilian population. We are convinced that pursuing a military solution to what is, at heart, a political problem, can only serve to escalate the conflict and create more human suffering for all. We urge members of the Columbia University community to join this campaign by signing the petition.

Columbia/Barnard Faculty Committee on Divestment

• Companies mentioned in the Columbia University divestiture campaign: Boeing, General Electric, Caterpillar, Lockheed Martin

Further reading:

Global BDS: Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions for Palestine

Divest from Israel

Divest this! (anti-divestment)

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Marie Dhumieres, for the Guardian.  7/20/2010

Religious phrases are scattered liberally throughout Arabic languages. The secret to translating is not to take them literally

I was recently watching the Spanish documentary To Shoot an Elephant, about the Israeli attacks on Gaza in January 2009. The documentary is good, but the subtitles in English struck me as strange: “For the sake of Allah”, “May Allah protect [your sons] for you”, “May Allah reward you” and other references to God are recurrent throughout the film.

I couldn’t help thinking that, when translated literally into English, these expressions make Arabs sound very religious – or even like fundamentalists – in the eyes of those who have a tendency to jump to quick conclusions. And no need to say there are many of these in the current context of Islamophobia as it has been shown before on Cif.

But that’s just the way Arabic people speak. Fundamentalist Muslims, devout Muslims, moderate Muslims, part-time Muslims, Christians, Atheists – no one has an entire conversation without saying at the very least “Inshallah”, which literally means “God willing” and comes from the idea that you never know what God’s plan is. It can be used as much as you want, even if you’re not really thinking about God’s plans at that very moment.

I remember absurd conversations around the word when I first arrived in Syria 18 months ago:

“Ok, so I’ll see you tomorrow Inshallah”
“Oh you’re not sure, should I call back later?”
“No it’s fine I’ll see you at 6.30.”
“Ok, see you tomorrow then.”
“Inshallah.”

No, no, it’s not about God’s will, I will see you tomorrow.

The same goes with “Praise be to God” (Alhamdulilah), which can mean “I am fine”, “Cool, the electricity is back” or “Ah, you finally managed to pronounce this word”, and so many other things.

When you come back from a trip people say “Praise God for your safety”, and you should answer “May He keep you safe.” But what it really means is “Welcome back” and “Thanks”. At the end of a meal at someone’s house, you should say “May God always provide you with food”, and they would answer “May He give you health.” But again, it means “Thanks, it was delicious” and “Really? Thank you, you’re adorable.”

If you have a shower or a haircut, if someone gives you something, if you’re sick, if you say something stupid, if you’re going to get married, if you’ve just had a baby, if you’re mean to someone, if you get new shoes, if you get jealous of my amazing new shoes, if you want to swear that really, no, my new shoes are not so amazing – in almost every single daily life situation, there is a specific expression and a corresponding answer, which would refer to God in some way.

In Lebanon, they even use “May God dress you” when seeing a hot girl wearing a skirt or a top, meaning I guess, “Please God, quickly cover this great body before I jump on it.”

The same goes with insults: May God destroy your house, May God burn your religion, May God infect you with disease… It all sounds very scary, but be reassured, they don’t really mean it. And I am pretty sure that if God were actually to destroy your house at the moment they say it, they would feel kind of bad. And, even if people sometimes obviously really mean what they say when referring to God, most of the time they don’t. When I leave my atheist communist friends’ houses in Damascus and they say, beer in hand, “May God be with you,” I laugh. But as one of them said to me “I don’t think about it, and of course I don’t mean it, it’s a reflex, a tic.”

I have been living in Syria for some time, and I have started using these phrases too. It truly becomes a reflex, and also limits the chances of being charged far too much for a taxi ride. But when I think about what I am actually saying, I smile to myself just imagining the face of a taxi driver in London if I were to say to him when entering the car, “May God give you strength.” Hem, ok, well thank you.

In fact, removing religious references from daily speech in Arabic is a challenge. Another of my friends was telling me about how he had been trying for the last few years. “It’s really hard,” he said, “and that’s why people often think I am a foreigner.” It’s not that foreigners refuse to use religious expressions by principle; it’s just really hard to remember them all. So like my friend, they simply say “thanks” (“shukran”), “hello” (“marhaba”), and “good-bye” (“yalla bye” – no, it’s not really an Arabic word).

But think about it. In English, we say “God damn it”, “God bless you”, “Jesus Christ”, which would sound very strange if they were to be translated literally into another language. So next time you hear in the news or in a movie an Arabic guy saying “Praise be to God,” remember he may just be saying “Great, the electricity is back.”

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Some awesome research from Mouzam—about the Djinn.  Lots of stuff to pull from and bounce off of here—-I’ve appended a few thoughts to her research

Facts:

• Supernatural creature which occupies a parallel world to that of mankind

• Together with humans and angels makes up the three sentient creations of God

• One of two creations that have free will: humans and jinn. The jinn will be judged for their actions on the last day of judgment (therefore the jinn do die)

• Was created from fire of hot wind and smokeless flame and then molded and shaped into something else (therefore they currently do not retain their fiery nature). Their final shape, however, is unknown.

• Created before mankind though nothing is mentioned on how long before; created in heaven and lived in paradise.

• There is debate on whether the jinn have bodies – one group of scholars believe that they exist independently of themselves (and do no inhabit other bodies) while another group believe they have bodies, either definite or subtle.

• Believed to be envious of humans and therefore prayers are required to be protected from their evil influence.

• Believed to assume human form to mislead and destroy humans.

• Abilities include: capacity to change form and appearance, invisible to humans, can travel large distances at extreme speeds

• Qualities that resemble humans: intellect, discrimination, freedom, and the power to choose between right and wrong, between true and false, as well as between good and bad. Therefore the jinn can be good or evil

• They have homes, live all over the world and could be present at any place where humans are present. However, there are special places that one may find them in abundance and on a regular basis: these are deserts, ruins, places of impurities (such as bathrooms) and graveyards. Some are believed to live among humans.

• Social organization of the jinn community resembles that of humans, e.g., they have males and females, offspring, different religions, systems of justice, marriage ceremonies, mourning rituals, domesticated animals, etc.

• Jinn are frequently mentioned in the Qur’an: Surah 72 (Sūrat al-Jinn) in the Qur’an is entirely about them.

• Prophets and messengers were also sent to the jinn from within the jinn community. And Prophet Muhammad was sent for all: mankind, jinn, and other creatures.

• Animals are believed to have the ability to see the jinn

• Iblis (Devil) is a jinn and not a fallen angel

• Ifrits are the eldest, strongest, and most harmful of jinns

A couple of thoughts here: first, its interesting that while Djinn are clearly social, rational beings that organize themselves in societies, we only encounter them in popular culture as solitary beings, imprisioned by Solomon or others.  They are clearly described as having the capacity for both Good and Evil, though rarely do we see the former in the Thousand Nights and One Night. 

I’ve also always been fascinated with the distinction of Free Will vs Pre-determined Choices: humans and Djinn have the chance to choose between right and wrong action, good and evil, and even belief and atheism (we hear about Djinn who do not believe in Allah at least once in Burton’s version of the Arabian Nights.  The idea that Muhammed was sent for both humanity and the Djinn is fascinating as well- more inclusive than most religions I can think of: humanity is not the only species with the capacity to come to God. 

Thanks so much, Mouzam, for your work!  Stay tuned for more from the cast!

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A warning on this: these transcripts can be very hard to read.  Take them at your own pace. 

A resource, something to launch off of for Dahna and Alan- a feeling for wandering through the destruction in NYC.  The transcripts are mostly first-hand accounts of people in the towers.  I’ve also included a few pictures, specifically of the destruction of the area, and one from below ground from the 1993 bombing.

Why is this here?  Each of us was alive in 2001.  We all probably have very specific memories, emotional ties and traumas, and more attatched to 9/11.  We were certainly inundated with images, video, stories, and more during the months and years after.  I was very conflicted about putting anything like this up here- again, if it isn’t something you want to read through or work with, please avoid it.  It’s very hard to write about this, to find pictures, or do any kind of research on the subject without feeling sensationalistic.  I hope this doesn’t come off that way.   

New York Times Transcripts: From the North Tower

What I keep coming across is the noting of the smoke and fire: nearly every transcript mentions being trapped in rooms by the smoke, or that fire has cut them off from the lower floors. 

New York Times Transcripts: From the South Tower

From the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center:

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