Saturday, August 18, 2012

Poem

















I have longed to express my love for you
You shine like white gold when dressed in blue
Dark chocolate eyes over lips so pristine
Your smile lit my heart that night at Eighteenth

To me there’s no need to question or ponder
Our courtship took time; rain follows thunder
And here comes the sun to shine all around
Hence passion was found one night in your house

From then our paths seemed to weave through their course
Time did not matter so ran like a horse
Cooking and kissing through nights filled with joy
Sleeping and waking the mornings adored

When I am with you the circuit completes
We float through the sky no need for our feet
Boredom knows not how to conquer our air
Silence is peaceful, caressing your hair

Running by rivers, nature's so pretty
Floating down creeks enjoying Her bounty
The winds from the ocean make us embrace
Moments and pictures; fine wine and first dates

To be gone for long or a quick minute?
Let Jove pull those strings; life is to live it
Just know you make my desert savanna
For Love is you my dearest Joanna


Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Interview: "Arab Spring Can Reverse Middle East's False Stigmas" Published 28th May 2011

Jamil Fahmy is currently doing an MBA at the George Washington School of Business. We asked him what he thinks the political and economical consequences of the Arab uprising will be, about the role of internet and social media, and what it’s like for him watching developments from the United States.

What do you think will be the impact of uprisings in the Arab world on the populations and governments in the Middle East?


I think the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, as well as the ones currently taking place in Libya, Syria and Yemen, were bound to happen. The boom of the Internet and social media has introduced a powerful new dimension of transparency to global politics from which no country, under any political system, is immune.

With regard to the people, the biggest impact so far has been a wave of public demand for government accountability and a fairer representation. It is definitely empowering, and has shifted the power scale towards the citizens, away from an opaque form of governance.

These days, if a government wants to remain relevant in the eyes of the people, particularly the youth, it needs a significant presence online. Washington DC is a good example: not only is it one of the most connected cities in the world, according to a recent study by The George Washington University School of Business , the White House is ranked among the largest users of social media. This speaks volumes to me. That is not to say that the American way is the best but they are opening new avenues of communication to allow their citizens’ voices to be heard.

People in the Arab world are seeing this development and yearning for the same liberties and freedom of expression. They express their desires on blogs and social media, where they find that other people think in the same way, and sooner or later a movement is born.

However, just because this change happened in some Arab states, it doesn’t mean it will happen in all of them. Some Arab governments are colluding for greater political continuity and the economic advantages it brings. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is the prime example of such a move towards monarchical solidarity.

For sure is that it is definitely an interesting time to be living in the Middle East!

And what do you think will be the business impact in the Middle East?

I would love to say that the Arab Spring will herald a new spring for Middle Eastern business, but that would just not be true. Despite moderate growth, global markets have been very shaky lately and the Arab world has been no exception. Overall, I am cautiously optimistic about business in the Middle East, and I think that the GCC is a very promising place to be.

I think it’s too soon to comment on a country like Egypt, which is undergoing constitutional and structural reform, with elections later on this year. I do believe that once the political and judicial landscape is in order, the economy will be on a much better footing to attract investment and spur growth. Egypt, like many dormant Arab countries, certainly has enormous potential to be an economic giant in the region.

How do you feel as an Arab watching it from afar?

I’m optimistic and uneasy at the same time. I’m thrilled the ‘dictatorship spell is broken’ in Egypt and Tunisia. I have close family living in Egypt, so the 11th of February will always be a memorable day for me. I think it’s great that Egypt has an opportunity to start with a clean state, with a new constitution and new legal enforcement practices that ensure fairness and justice.

But at the same time I’m worried that we might end up falling back into complacency, red tape, disagreements, and broken promises. In addition, there are other countries, whose people deserve to be heard, but whose leaders are holding on to power by all means necessary, even if it costs civilians’ lives.

It is time for the Arab youth to carry the torch for the Arab world from its predecessors, and reverse some false stigmas about the region. After February 11th, I genuinely felt that this dream was possible.

How is studying in the US as an Arab student, based on your experience?

Studying in the US has been a great experience so far. Being in a place like Washington DC helps you appreciate everything that is going on in the world because the city is truly international and it attracts very well educated people who understand what is going on in international affairs and business. This leads to highly engaging conversations about multiple areas of interest.

For example, after Mubarak stepped down there were many nationalities of people –not just Egyptians or Arabs – celebrating outside the Egyptian embassy.

Beyond DC, I have travelled to the West Coast and other parts of the East Coast for case competitions, vacations and other school-related events.

Based on my travels, experience and interactions with people, I can say I have thoroughly enjoyed living here. I am a firm believer that if history decides to turn its back on America and Britain, one thing it cannot deny is the quality of education they breed and export to the rest of the world. As an Arab Muslim, I hope this academic light spreads to the Middle East, improving the quality of life of more than 300 million Arabs.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Being Twenty Something


I got this as a chain email in 2003 aka 1 year BFB (Before FaceBook). It resonates with me more in retrospect than it does today.



"They call it the "Quarter-life Crisis." It is when you stop going
along with the crowd and start realizing that there are many things
about yourself that you didn't know and may not like. You start
feeling insecure and wonder where you will be in a year or two, but
then get scared because you barely know where you are now.

You start realizing that people are selfish and that, maybe, those
friends that you thought you were so close to aren't exactly the
greatest people you have ever met, and the people you have lost
touch with are some of the most important ones. What you don't
recognize is that they are realizing that too, and aren't really
cold, catty, mean or insincere, but that they are as confused as
you.

You look at your job... and it is not even close to what you thought
you would be doing, or maybe you are looking for a job and realizing
that you are going to have to start at the bottom and that scares
you.

Your opinions have gotten stronger. You see what others are doing
and find yourself judging more than usual because suddenly you
realize that you have certain boundaries in your life and are
constantly adding things to your list of what is acceptable and what
isn't. One minute, you are insecure and then the next, secure.

You laugh and cry with the greatest force of your life. You feel
alone and scared and confused. Suddenly, change is the enemy and you
try and cling on to the past with dear life, but soon realize that
the past is drifting further and further away, and there is nothing
to do but stay where you are or move forward.

You get your heart broken and wonder how someone you loved could do
such damage to you. Or you lie in bed and wonder why you can't meet
anyone decent enough that you want to get to know better. Or maybe
you love someone but love someone else too and cannot figure out why
you are doing this because you know that you aren't a bad person.

One night stands and random hook ups start to look cheap. Getting
wasted and acting like an idiot don't seem as fun. You go through
the same emotions and questions over and over, and talk with your
friends about the same topics because you cannot seem to make a
decision. You worry about loans, money, the future and making a life
for yourself... and while winning the race would be great, right now
you'd just like to be a contender.

What you may not realize is that everyone reading this relates to
it. We are in our best of times and our worst of times, trying as
hard as we can to figure this whole thing out."

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Thought for the Day (C) - Love and Music

You know you love someone when you dedicate a song to them and every lyrical word, every nuance of melody, every reason you cherish the song as a whole travels along with every infinite frequency of sound wave from your heart to their ears - all encompassed in that one dedication.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Thought for the day (B) - Adventure

A life of little or no adventure is not worth living at all.

Where f (adventure) = joy, pain, thrills, heart-break, uncertainty, victory, scared shitlessness and discovery

Monday, July 5, 2010

Fill your own void






Story-Teller: "And a Man sat alone, drenched deep in sadness. And all the animals drew near to him and said, "We do not like to see you so sad. Ask us for whatever you wish and you shall have it." The Man said, "I want to have good sight." The vulture replied, "You shall have mine." The Man said, "I want to be strong." The jaguar said, "You shall be strong like me." Then the Man said, "I long to know the secrets of the earth." The serpent replied, "I will show them to you." And so it went with all the animals. And when the Man had all the gifts that they could give, he left. Then the owl said to the other animals, "Now the Man knows much, he'll be able to do many things. Suddenly I am afraid." The deer said, "The Man has all that he needs. Now his sadness will stop." But the owl replied, "No. I saw a hole in the Man, deep like a hunger he will never fill. It is what makes him sad and what makes him want. He will go on taking and taking, until one day the World will say, 'I am no more and I have nothing left to give.'"

As Madonna once said (and this will be the only time I will ever quote Madonna), "happiness lies in your own hand."

Sunday, June 20, 2010

"As the Arabs see the Jews"




His Majesty King Abdullah of Jordan,
The American Magazine
November, 1947

This fascinating essay, written by King Hussein’’s grandfather King Abdullah, appeared in the United States six months before the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

"So many billions of words have been written about Palestine——perhaps more than on any other subject in history——that I hesitate to add to them. Yet I am compelled to do so, for I am reluctantly convinced that the world in general, and America in particular, knows almost nothing of the true case for the Arabs.

We Arabs follow, perhaps far more than you think, the press of America. We are frankly disturbed to find that for every word printed on the Arab side, a thousand are printed on the Zionist side.

There are many reasons for this. You have many millions of Jewish citizens interested in this question. They are highly vocal and wise in the ways of publicity. There are few Arab citizens in America, and we are as yet unskilled in the technique of modern propaganda.

The results have been alarming for us. In your press we see a horrible caricature and are told it is our true portrait. In all justice, we cannot let this pass by default.

Our case is quite simple: For nearly 2,000 years Palestine has been almost 100 per cent Arab. It is still preponderantly Arab today, in spite of enormous Jewish immigration. But if this immigration continues we shall soon be outnumbered——a minority in our home.

Palestine is a small and very poor country, about the size of your state of Vermont. Its Arab population is only about 1,200,000. Already we have had forced on us, against our will, some 600,000 Zionist Jews. We are threatened with many hundreds of thousands more.

Our position is so simple and natural that we are amazed it should even be questioned. It is exactly the same position you in America take in regard to the unhappy European Jews. You are sorry for them, but you do not want them in your country.

We do not want them in ours, either. Not because they are Jews, but because they are foreigners. We would not want hundreds of thousands of foreigners in our country, be they Englishmen or Norwegians or Brazilians or whatever.

Think for a moment: In the last 25 years we have had one third of our entire population forced upon us. In America that would be the equivalent of 45,000,000 complete strangers admitted to your country, over your violent protest, since 1921. How would you have reacted to that?

Because of our perfectly natural dislike of being overwhelmed in our own homeland, we are called blind nationalists and heartless anti-Semites. This charge would be ludicrous were it not so dangerous.

No people on earth have been less "anti-Semitic" than the Arabs. The persecution of the Jews has been confined almost entirely to the Christian nations of the West. Jews, themselves, will admit that never since the Great Dispersion did Jews develop so freely and reach such importance as in Spain when it was an Arab possession. With very minor exceptions, Jews have lived for many centuries in the Middle East, in complete peace and friendliness with their Arab neighbours.

Damascus, Baghdad, Beirut and other Arab centres have always contained large and prosperous Jewish colonies. Until the Zionist invasion of Palestine began, these Jews received the most generous treatment——far, far better than in Christian Europe. Now, unhappily, for the first time in history, these Jews are beginning to feel the effects of Arab resistance to the Zionist assault. Most of them are as anxious as Arabs to stop it. Most of these Jews who have found happy homes among us resent, as we do, the coming of these strangers.

I was puzzled for a long time about the odd belief which apparently persists in America that Palestine has somehow "always been a Jewish land." Recently an American I talked to cleared up this mystery. He pointed out that the only things most Americans know about Palestine are what they read in the Bible. It was a Jewish land in those days, they reason, and they assume it has always remained so.

Nothing could be farther from the truth. It is absurd to reach so far back into the mists of history to argue about who should have Palestine today, and I apologise for it. Yet the Jews do this, and I must reply to their "historic claim." I wonder if the world has ever seen a stranger sight than a group of people seriously pretending to claim a land because their ancestors lived there some 2,000 years ago!

If you suggest that I am biased, I invite you to read any sound history of the period and verify the facts.

Such fragmentary records as we have indicate that the Jews were wandering nomads from Iraq who moved to southern Turkey, came south to Palestine, stayed there a short time, and then passed to Egypt, where they remained about 400 years. About 1300 BC (according to your calendar) they left Egypt and gradually conquered most——but not all——of the inhabitants of Palestine.

It is significant that the Philistines——not the Jews——gave their name to the country: "Palestine" is merely the Greek form of "Philistia."

Only once, during the empire of David and Solomon, did the Jews ever control nearly——but not all——the land which is today Palestine. This empire lasted only 70 years, ending in 926 BC. Only 250 years later the Kingdom of Judah had shrunk to a small province around Jerusalem, barely a quarter of modern Palestine.

In 63 BC the Jews were conquered by Roman Pompey, and never again had even the vestige of independence. The Roman Emperor Hadrian finally wiped them out about 135 AD. He utterly destroyed Jerusalem, rebuilt under another name, and for hundreds of years no Jew was permitted to enter it. A handful of Jews remained in Palestine but the vast majority were killed or scattered to other countries, in the Diaspora, or the Great Dispersion. From that time Palestine ceased to be a Jewish country, in any conceivable sense.

This was 1,815 years ago, and yet the Jews solemnly pretend they still own Palestine! If such fantasy were allowed, how the map of the world would dance about!

Italians might claim England, which the Romans held so long. England might claim France, "homeland" of the conquering Normans. And the French Normans might claim Norway, where their ancestors originated. And incidentally, we Arabs might claim Spain, which we held for 700 years.

Many Mexicans might claim Spain, "homeland" of their forefathers. They might even claim Texas, which was Mexican until 100 years ago. And suppose the American Indians claimed the "homeland" of which they were the sole, native, and ancient occupants until only some 450 years ago!

I am not being facetious. All these claims are just as valid——or just as fantastic——as the Jewish "historic connection" with Palestine. Most are more valid.

In any event, the great Moslem expansion about 650 AD finally settled things. It dominated Palestine completely. From that day on, Palestine was solidly Arabic in population, language, and religion. When British armies entered the country during the last war, they found 500,000 Arabs and only 65,000 Jews.

If solid, uninterrupted Arab occupation for nearly 1,300 years does not make a country "Arab", what does?

The Jews say, and rightly, that Palestine is the home of their religion. It is likewise the birthplace of Christianity, but would any Christian nation claim it on that account? In passing, let me say that the Christian Arabs——and there are many hundreds of thousands of them in the Arab World——are in absolute agreement with all other Arabs in opposing the Zionist invasion of Palestine.

May I also point out that Jerusalem is, after Mecca and Medina, the holiest place in Islam. In fact, in the early days of our religion, Moslems prayed toward Jerusalem instead of Mecca.

The Jewish "religious claim" to Palestine is as absurd as the "historic claim." The Holy Places, sacred to three great religions, must be open to all, the monopoly of none. Let us not confuse religion and politics.

We are told that we are inhumane and heartless because do not accept with open arms the perhaps 200,000 Jews in Europe who suffered so frightfully under Nazi cruelty, and who even now——almost three years after war’’s end——still languish in cold, depressing camps.

Let me underline several facts. The unimaginable persecution of the Jews was not done by the Arabs: it was done by a Christian nation in the West. The war which ruined Europe and made it almost impossible for these Jews to rehabilitate themselves was fought by the Christian nations of the West. The rich and empty portions of the earth belong, not to the Arabs, but to the Christian nations of the West.

And yet, to ease their consciences, these Christian nations of the West are asking Palestine——a poor and tiny Moslem country of the East——to accept the entire burden. "We have hurt these people terribly," cries the West to the East. "Won’’t you please take care of them for us?"

We find neither logic nor justice in this. Are we therefore "cruel and heartless nationalists"?

We are a generous people: we are proud that "Arab hospitality" is a phrase famous throughout the world. We are a humane people: no one was shocked more than we by the Hitlerite terror. No one pities the present plight of the desperate European Jews more than we.

But we say that Palestine has already sheltered 600,000 refugees. We believe that is enough to expect of us——even too much. We believe it is now the turn of the rest of the world to accept some of them.

I will be entirely frank with you. There is one thing the Arab world simply cannot understand. Of all the nations of the earth, America is most insistent that something be done for these suffering Jews of Europe. This feeling does credit to the humanity for which America is famous, and to that glorious inscription on your Statue of Liberty.

And yet this same America——the richest, greatest, most powerful nation the world has ever known——refuses to accept more than a token handful of these same Jews herself!

I hope you will not think I am being bitter about this. I have tried hard to understand that mysterious paradox, and I confess I cannot. Nor can any other Arab.

Perhaps you have been informed that "the Jews in Europe want to go to no other place except Palestine."

This myth is one of the greatest propaganda triumphs of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, the organisation which promotes with fanatic zeal the emigration to Palestine. It is a subtle half-truth, thus doubly dangerous.

The astounding truth is that nobody on earth really knows where these unfortunate Jews really want to go!

You would think that in so grave a problem, the American, British, and other authorities responsible for the European Jews would have made a very careful survey, probably by vote, to find out where each Jew actually wants to go. Amazingly enough this has never been done! The Jewish Agency has prevented it.

Some time ago the American Military Governor in Germany was asked at a press conference how he was so certain that all Jews there wanted to go to Palestine. His answer was simple: "My Jewish advisors tell me so." He admitted no poll had ever been made. Preparations were indeed begun for one, but the Jewish Agency stepped in to stop it.

The truth is that the Jews in German camps are now subjected to a Zionist pressure campaign which learned much from the Nazi terror. It is dangerous for a Jew to say that he would rather go to some other country, not Palestine. Such dissenters have been severely beaten, and worse.

Not long ago, in Palestine, nearly 1,000 Austrian Jews informed the international refugee organisation that they would like to go back to Austria, and plans were made to repatriate them.

The Jewish Agency heard of this, and exerted enough political pressure to stop it. It would be bad propaganda for Zionism if Jews began leaving Palestine. The nearly 1,000 Austrian are still there, against their will.

The fact is that most of the European Jews are Western in culture and outlook, entirely urban in experience and habits. They cannot really have their hearts set on becoming pioneers in the barren, arid, cramped land which is Palestine.

One thing, however, is undoubtedly true. As matters stand now, most refugee Jews in Europe would, indeed, vote for Palestine, simply because they know no other country will have them.

If you or I were given a choice between a near-prison camp for the rest of our lives——or Palestine——we would both choose Palestine, too.

But open up any other alternative to them——give them any other choice, and see what happens!

No poll, however, will be worth anything unless the nations of the earth are willing to open their doors——just a little——to the Jews. In other words, if in such a poll a Jew says he wants to go to Sweden, Sweden must be willing to accept him. If he votes for America, you must let him come in.

Any other kind of poll would be a farce. For the desperate Jew, this is no idle testing of opinion: this is a grave matter of life or death. Unless he is absolutely sure that his vote means something, he will always vote for Palestine, so as not to risk his bird in the hand for one in the bush.

In any event, Palestine can accept no more. The 65,000 Jews in Palestine in 1918 have jumped to 600,000 today. We Arabs have increased, too, but not by immigration. The Jews were then a mere 11 per cent of our population. Today they are one third of it.

The rate of increase has been terrifying. In a few more years——unless stopped now——it will overwhelm us, and we shall be an important minority in our own home.

Surely the rest of the wide world is rich enough and generous enough to find a place for 200,000 Jews——about one third the number that tiny, poor Palestine has already sheltered. For the rest of the world, it is hardly a drop in the bucket. For us it means national suicide.

We are sometimes told that since the Jews came to Palestine, the Arab standard of living has improved. This is a most complicated question. But let us even assume, for the argument, that it is true. We would rather be a bit poorer, and masters of our own home. Is this unnatural?

The sorry story of the so-called "Balfour Declaration," which started Zionist immigration into Palestine, is too complicated to repeat here in detail. It is grounded in broken promises to the Arabs——promises made in cold print which admit no denying.

We utterly deny its validity. We utterly deny the right of Great Britain to give away Arab land for a "national home" for an entirely foreign people.

Even the League of Nations sanction does not alter this. At the time, not a single Arab state was a member of the League. We were not allowed to say a word in our own defense.

I must point out, again in friendly frankness, that America was nearly as responsible as Britain for this Balfour Declaration. President Wilson approved it before it was issued, and the American Congress adopted it word for word in a joint resolution on 30th June, 1922.

In the 1920s, Arabs were annoyed and insulted by Zionist immigration, but not alarmed by it. It was steady, but fairly small, as even the Zionist founders thought it would remain. Indeed for some years, more Jews left Palestine than entered it——in 1927 almost twice as many.

But two new factors, entirely unforeseen by Britain or the League or America or the most fervent Zionist, arose in the early thirties to raise the immigration to undreamed heights. One was the World Depression; the second the rise of Hitler.

In 1932, the year before Hitler came to power, only 9,500 Jews came to Palestine. We did not welcome them, but we were not afraid that, at that rate, our solid Arab majority would ever be in danger.

But the next year——the year of Hitler——it jumped to 30,000! In 1934 it was 42,000! In 1935 it reached 61,000!

It was no longer the orderly arrival of idealist Zionists. Rather, all Europe was pouring its frightened Jews upon us. Then, at last, we, too, became frightened. We knew that unless this enormous influx stopped, we were, as Arabs, doomed in our Palestine homeland. And we have not changed our minds.

I have the impression that many Americans believe the trouble in Palestine is very remote from them, that America had little to do with it, and that your only interest now is that of a humane bystander.

I believe that you do not realise how directly you are, as a nation, responsible in general for the whole Zionist move and specifically for the present terrorism. I call this to your attention because I am certain that if you realise your responsibility you will act fairly to admit it and assume it.

Quite aside from official American support for the "National Home" of the Balfour Declaration, the Zionist settlements in Palestine would have been almost impossible, on anything like the current scale, without American money. This was contributed by American Jewry in an idealistic effort to help their fellows.

The motive was worthy: the result were disastrous. The contributions were by private individuals, but they were almost entirely Americans, and, as a nation, only America can answer for it.

The present catastrophe may be laid almost entirely at your door. Your government, almost alone in the world, is insisting on the immediate admission of 100,000 more Jews into Palestine——to be followed by countless additional ones. This will have the most frightful consequences in bloody chaos beyond anything ever hinted at in Palestine before.

It is your press and political leadership, almost alone in the world, who press this demand. It is almost entirely American money which hires or buys the "refugee ships" that steam illegally toward Palestine: American money which pays their crews. The illegal immigration from Europe is arranged by the Jewish Agency, supported almost entirely by American funds. It is American dollars which support the terrorists, which buy the bullets and pistols that kill British soldiers——your allies——and Arab citizens——your friends.

We in the Arab world were stunned to hear that you permit open advertisements in newspapers asking for money to finance these terrorists, to arm them openly and deliberately for murder. We could not believe this could really happen in the modern world. Now we must believe it: we have seen the advertisements with our own eyes.

I point out these things because nothing less than complete frankness will be of use. The crisis is too stark for mere polite vagueness which means nothing.

I have the most complete confidence in the fair-mindedness and generosity of the American public. We Arabs ask no favours. We ask only that you know the full truth, not half of it. We ask only that when you judge the Palestine question, you put yourselves in our place.

What would your answer be if some outside agency told you that you must accept in America many millions of utter strangers in your midst——enough to dominate your country——merely because they insisted on going to America, and because their forefathers had once lived there some 2,000 years ago?

Our answer is the same.

And what would be your action if, in spite of your refusal, this outside agency began forcing them on you?

Ours will be the same. "