1. Documentary Film "The Other
Arabs"
The plan is to produce this
documentary in a two-part series; Episode I is to focus on Jewish
Arabs, Episode II is to highlight the Druze
Arabs. It is scheduled for release in late
2008.
Here is a 12-minute promotional clip
from part one of the three-series of "The Other Arabs" :
http://www.iraqsnuclearmirage.com/Media/TheOtherArabs.wmv
After the above promotional clip was
produced, six additional Iraqi Jews (living in NY, Philadelphia
and London), two Palestinians (born and raised in Palestine, currently living
in Connecticut) and two non-Jewish Iraqis (living in Jordan) have been
interviewed for part I of the series.
Episode I focuses
on the culture, accomplishments and struggle of Jewish Arabs tracing their
lives in two and perhaps three different countries; their (or their
parents) birth country (Iraq) and the countries to which they migrated and lived
in for the rest of their lives (mainly the USA, UK and Israel). Not all Iraqi
Jews have migrated to Israel. Many left to the UK and USA between 1951
and 1967. Episodes II on Druze will follow the same theme.
The cultural and ethnic identity of
Jewish Arabs suffered tremendously after the establishment of Israel. This
documentary addresses these issues. Anecdotes about their experiences as
children and as adults, on language and cultural identity, about career
decisions and their narrative on social interaction and political activism are among the
topics covered in this documentary.
We need to raise $50,000
by November, 2008 to cover the editing cost of the
two-part series. We appreciate your support in funding this unprecedented
documentary film about the cultural and religious segments of the Arab world
that have been unknown or forgotten worldwide (including in the Middle East).
Additionally your help in providing related footage will be greatly
appreciated.
For further information and/or to
make a donation, please contact us at INEAS_1994@yahoo.com
and INEAS@aol.com or at P.O. Box 425125 Cambridge, MA. 02142 USA.
Your donations are tax-deductible.
INEAS is a 501 C 3 independent and educational organization.
|
Donation Rates for "The Other Arabs"
|
| A donation of $50 or more will credit
your name in the documentary film |
$50 |
A donation of $100 or more will credit
your name in the documentary film and allow you to select one
INEAS product.
See our products page. |
$100 |
A donation of $250 or more will credit
your name in the documentary film and will allow you to receive
two (2) INEAS products. |
$250 |
A donation of $500 or more
will entitle you to all of the above
plus credits in the printed publicity and programs. |
$500 |
| A donation of $1000 or more
will entitle you to all of the above plus an invitation to a special
reception for patrons who live in the United States. |
$1000 |
|
|
2. INEAS
Project: Documenting Arab & African Women's Activism & Boycott
Please
Forward
Please Post
the Announcement Below and Provide us with an Internet Link of the Posted
Material
Please
also forward to people in Algeria, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia
**********************************************************************
"
I touch the future. I teach" Christa McAuliffe,
Arab-American
Astronaut who boarded the space
shuttle,
Challenger.
"Nothing
in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood."
Scientist
Marie Currie
[Read Rumi's quote on women at the end of
this article below]
__________________________________________________
Documenting Women's
Activism and Boycott
We live in a world of imbalance and
injustice whereby men have nearly all the say and women, by force or sometimes
by choice, have a little or no say. As
a result, women have not been effective in changing the status quo.
Despite the ineffectiveness, three major
events had taken place since the 1960s whereby women have challenged and/or
changed the status quo by directly protesting against or interfering with
men's action and monopoly. However
we do not read about these events in HIStory pages.
Heroism seems to be a term only associated with men's actions.
In this age of utmost conflicts, wars and
men's tyranny, it is important to acknowledge and record such incidents, which
will expose women to ideas and role models whom they never thought possible or
existing. The process of
researching, writing about and publishing these incidents, we believe, will
help inspire and energize women worldwide into taking action and into becoming
innovative and independent of men's activism, politics and monopoly.
It will help increase the desire to, at least shake, if not relatively
change the status quo. Those
events were:
- Algerian
women's action to stop a civil war in 1963
immediately following the end of the French occupation by acting as
shields.
- Saudi
Arabian women's boycott of American businesses and products, a boycott
which has been going on for a couple of years, following the Palestinian
uprisings and has gained momentum in the Arab world after the wave of hate
crimes against Arabs and Moslems that followed the US's September events
and especially during the war on Afghanistan.
- Nigerian
women's protest against the Exxon oil franchises in 2002:
Although it was documented in the media, the women's names that
took part in it were never acknowledged nor were the details of the
planning and execution of the Exxon raiding.
In
event one: Algerian
women, in an area said to be near the capital of Algiers, acted as human
shields between two teams of men in conflict who were carrying guns and
heading to fight. Had this
conflict not been interfered with, a definite civil war would have erupted.
Those women were family members, relatives, neighbors and friends of the Men
in Conflict (MIC) and said to be numbering about two hundred.
In 2002, direct contacts with Algerians and non-Algerian Arabs were
made asking about this historic event, but sadly they had no knowledge of it.
Any information you provide about this event will be greatly
appreciated. You will be
credited. Your help can be in
any of the following ways:
- Providing
information about the Algerian women who were involved in this forgotten
incident: Their names,
location, relation to the Men in Conflict (MIC).
Do you know of a woman who was involved in this event and do you
have her contact information? Are
you one of those courageous women who participated in it?
Do you know or have heard of any eyewitness be that a journalist or
a passerby who witnessed the event? It
will be ideal for those alive and who have participated in this event to
be interviewed. The MIC's can
also be a valuable source in providing us with information about that
occurrence.
- Was
there any documentation/coverage done about this Algerian women's event on
radio, newspapers and/or TV? Do
you have or know of any photographs taken on that day(s).
Did the Algerian government document this event in anyway?
- Sources
that will help us: Books, journals and websites, which mentioned this
occurrence.
In
event two: Saudi Arabian women have been the leading force behind a
boycott against American businesses and products. It has significantly challenged the American businesses and
caused them considerable losses; about 35% in 2002. The Saudi government has
done no publicity about this boycott, and the Arab world's media never
portrays it as a boycott by women, rather reports about it as part of an Arab
boycott (from various Arab countries) against American/Israeli products.
This Saudi women's boycott has been relatively unknown and has not been
covered in world's media. Here
are the facts:
- Saudi
women with higher education are nearly double the number of Saudi men.
- Saudi
women as consumers have a higher spending power than men, which therefore
made the boycott more effective and caused American businesses
considerable losses.
- Men
(worldwide) consider events achieved by women (especially when challenging
men) are not as important, if at all, and so they do not document them and
if they do so, it is done superficially.
Here is how you can help us:
- Put
us in touch with some of these Saudi women via email, fax, tel. or mail to
interview them and to update the status of the boycott.
- Provide
us with any sources; books, journals, websites, etc.. to document this
particular boycott.
- Refer
to us those who have researched and written about or witnessed the Saudi
boycott in any way.
In
event three: Unarmed
Nigerian village women stormed five Chevron Texaco pipeline stations, as
protests against the oil giant spread in southeastern Nigeria on July 17,
2002. The 10-day takeover trapped 700 US, Canadian, British and Nigerian
oil workers inside the terminal.
Although the Boston Globe, The Washington
Post, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and other world media
outlets published/covered the news about this event between July and August,
2002, none of them mentioned how the planning for this boycott/riots were
conceived by the Nigerian women and none acknowledged at least its leadership
and planners. In a Christian Science Monitor article dated August 12, 2002
p07. The article stated:
"The Escravos women, who ranged in age between 30
to 90, used a potent tactic: they threatened to take their clothes
off Public nudity would have embarrassed the
expatriates among the terminal's more than 1,000 workers and caused a deeper
sense of shame for many Nigerian employees.
"By the time the women bare their chests and go around, people are
really in trouble," says Bolanle Awe, one of the founders of the Women's
Research and Documentation Center at Nigeria's University of Ibadan.
"It's a curse on whoever the ruler is."
The tactics and determination of the Escravos women helped persuade
Chevron to send senior executives to negotiate concessions. The company agreed
to employ more local people, invest in electricity supply and other
infrastructure projects, and assist the villagers in setting up poultry and
fish farms to supply the terminal's cafeteria. The social gains apparently
secured by the Escravos women contrast with the frequent violent and fruitless
clashes that have taken place between young men and the police and army."
We hope to publish findings, conduct
interviews with the women involved in these events, acknowledge them and
document their planning prior to any of these events, and what made them
successful. Crediting their
struggle and boycott is important in this age of wars, globalization and men's
monopoly. We are also looking for;
- Independent
writers/journalists (men and preferably women) who have written about
any of the three above mentioned incidents.
- Publishing
Companies to publish the details of these incidents.
- Funding
and/or cosponsoring.
To rely on media outlets anywhere in the
world, being owned and controlled by men, is doing no justice to the recording
of women's actions and achievements! It
is time women and women organizations document women's heroism and enlist it
in HERstory pages.
Copyright Wafaa'
Al-Natheema, 2003
Institute of Near Eastern & African Studies (INEAS)
P.O. Box 425125
Cambridge, MA 02142
USA
Fax: (617) 864-6328
Website: http://www.INEAS.org
(*_*)***************************(*_*)
Mathnawi
quoting Jalaluddine Rumi on women
"Woman is creation in action, in
process, in constant flow. Woman
is not created, but a subject of immense creative power.
If you are a woman, live up to your uniqueness, your
individuality, and stand alone against all mankind's past desire to make you
into an object. If you are a man, discover the feminine
state of consciousness, the constant becoming, and balance your goal-oriented
ways with more receptivity.
In front of God, we are all women and lovers: open, like flowers,
waiting to be impregnated by the divine."
[Jalalu~ddine Rumi was
born in 1207 EC in Balkh, Afghanistan, to an Arab father, Mohammed bin
al-Hussein al-Khatibi, and a Persian mother]
3. IRAQ's Stolen
Arts & Project
The Forgotten Era
Reported by Nada Shabout
The destruction of Iraq's cultural heritage is a subject which is rarely
mentioned in American and other western media. The occasional mention in academic
circles of the wanton destruction, lack of protection and neglect of Iraq's
archaeological sites and museum collections, has always glossed over the destruction
of the modern cultural heritage of a country which was a leader in the development
of a regional and an Arab response to the changes of modalities of the twentieth
century. The world seems to forget that the "cradle of civilization"
is the land of a contemporary country with a thriving culture.
Since the middle of the twentieth century, Iraq had hosted many important
regional and international cultural events. The cultural efflorescence that
resulted from these interactions produced invaluable works of art which became
the permanent collection of the Iraqi Museum of Modern Art, formally known
as the Saddam Center for the Arts. This unique collection represented the
development and evolution of modern Iraqi art in its various movements and
stages. Iraqi artists were leading the Arab world in successfully forging
a modern national style and provided a model for other Arab artists to follow
in forming their own visual identity. The collection included several experiments
by Iraqi women artists who introduced unique visual styles in their negotiations
of national identities. The work of Madiha Omar of the 1940s was the precursor
to the popular trend of modern visual manipulations of the Arabic letter.
Suad Al-Attar's work introduced an introspective dimension to visual folkloric
investigations partaken by her male colleagues. In addition to Iraqi and other
important regional works of art, the museum also held a collection of very
valuable works by Picasso, Mirs and other modern European masters. All of
the museums' collection was destroyed, looted or lost.
The Iraqi Museum of Modern Art was one of the buildings severely damaged
during the US bombing raids over Baghdad. The museums' collection of over
7,000 works of art was viciously looted as the Baath regime collapsed and
the occupying power was lax in providing security to protect Iraq's important
cultural institutions. Based on my investigation and on the information I
collected, a number of the works were smuggled outside the country while others
are still being traded on the black market in Baghdad. Many have petitioned
the various offices of the Coalition Provisional Authority and the US State
departments for help in stopping the pillaging of the museums and the recovery
of the stolen works of art, but the official position of the occupying power
has always been insistent on the voluntary return of the stolen works and,
thus, nothing was done. Only recently did the new Iraqi government authorize
the repossession of the works by force through the aid of the recently formed
Iraqi police. About 1,700 works have been recovered and are in the custody
of the Ministry of Culture. The majority of these works are severely damaged
and are in desperate need of restoration. Furthermore, it is not certain whether
they will succeed or fail to retrieve the majority of the stolen works. Luckily,
however, a number of successful individual efforts were taken by concerned
Iraqi citizens and are helping in locating, acquiring and protecting the missing
pieces
Successful examples, limited as they may be, abound. Almost immediately after
the looting of museums, some works were purchased at personal cost by Iraqi
gallery owners with the publicly stated intension of preserving them until
they could be returned to a new Iraqi Art Museum. A wider and more efficient
effort was organized by the renowned Iraqi sculptor Mohammed Ghani. Returning
to Baghdad weeks after the collapse of the former regime, Ghani found the
Iraqi Museum of Modern Arts in ruins with mounds of shattered sculptures and
broken or empty frames where canvases were hastily cut out. With the help
of his colleagues and students, he initiated and funded a campaign of buying
back some of the stolen works in the neighborhood surrounding the museum.
They were able to recover important works by renowned artists, such Jawad
Salim's wooden statue of "Motherhood," for the mere price of $100.
Failing to secure any aid from the CPA, Ghani approached and solicited funds
from friends, personal acquaintances, and other concerned individuals within
the Iraqi community. His plan was simple. His eager students were to locate
and purchase the stolen works. The individuals who donated the funds for the
effort signed an agreement, retained by Ghani, establishing them as the temporary
custodians of the specific works purchased with their money until the Museum
is re-instituted. In return, these individuals will be publicly acknowledged
as donors for the arts. He has been able to retrieve a considerable number
of works in various conditions and they are currently stored in private Iraqi
houses. Mr. Ghani's effort persist, but, unfortunately, the price of the stolen
works continues to rise while his limited funds are being depleted, making
his task slower and much harder to complete.
But time is very critical. With the longer lapse of time most of the works
will vanish into private collections and the visual history of modern Iraq
and the transformation of its aesthetics would be lost forever. Even with
good intentions, many of the works have either been already damaged beyond
recovery or face the risk of severe damage due to the lack of the controlled
environment required to preserve them under the current conditions of a destroyed
infrastructure and shortage of resources. During the hot temperatures of summer,
most households and establishments would only have electricity for few hours
everyday.
Dr. Abbas Jawar is the new director for the planned Museum of Modern Art.
His is operating under the administration of the Institute of National Heritage,
but no funds have been allocated to retrieve, restore or document the works
previously held at the museum or that have been recovered so far by the government
or by individuals. Furthermore, while the Museum of Modern Art has been a
government institution and administered by the Ministry of Information and
Culture since its inception, there is a discussion of converting it into a
self-sufficient private institute, and thus eliminating the much needed government
funding altogether.
There are controversial reasons for the government's abandonment of the Iraq's
works of modern art. Art works of the last twenty years might be perceived
by the authorities as problematic because of concern about the political identity
of patronage of the artist. In other words, the fear is that the policy of
de-baathification might be applied in determining the value and worth of a
visual work of art.
To my knowledge there exists no official or comprehensive catalogue of the
Museum's collection since its archives were destroyed with the building. One
of the consequences of this is the inability of the authorities, including
the Interpol, to track the stolen works. When I relayed the information I
received about attempts to sell specific stolen works by the artist Faiq Hassan
in Amman, Jordan to the Interpol, I was told that unless concise and authenticated
full information and images are provided, they cannot even add the stolen
items to their database of stolen works of art which is published on their
website. At this level of complacency, many valuable pieces will disappear
without even documentation.
In addition to the Museum of Modern Art, there are a considerable number
of artworks that were housed in other structures. At the moment, their fate
is unknown. The following is a partial list:
1. Saddam International Airport contains 50 artworks, mostly murals executed
by prominent Iraqi artists in early 1980's.
2. The Al-Rashid Hotel in Baghdad contains over 20 monumental works (painting
and sculpture) and some 900 original prints distributed in the luxurious bedrooms
and suites of that hotel.
3. The Republic Palace (Saddam's Residence) contains a museum with unknown
numbers of artworks, craft, gifts, and documents. It is a well known fact
among Iraqi artists that a special joint committee from the ministry of information
and the palace used to acquire artworks from major exhibitions in Baghdad
for that museum. This tradition continued for many years (1980-1990). There
is no published official record for the art collection at the palace, but
it is a sizable one.
4. Conference Palace, Baghdad with uncertain number of artworks.
5. Public Monuments: Among the most known ones in Baghdad are Jawad Salim's
monument and Faiq Hassan's mosaic mural in al-Tahrir Plaza in Baghdad, the
"Shaheed Monument" of Isma`il al-Turk and "Unknown Soldier"
and "Victory Monument" of Khalid al-Rahhal.
Your contribution to this project is being collected by the Institute of
Near Eastern & African Studies (INEAS), an independent, tax-exempt organization
in Cambridge, MA.
Please make your check payable to I.N.E.A.S.
and mail it to:
P.O. Box 425125 Cambridge, MA. 02142 USA
This is a collective voluntary effort and we need your support. It is crucial
that the project connect with professionals in the field working in Europe,
Arab countries, Iraq, and other parts of the world that might produce significant
support to this subject. Also please forward this message to any and all concerned
individuals, artists, and intellectuals who might be of help. Please address
all inquiries and suggestions to me.
Nada Shabout, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Art History
University of North Texas
P.O. Box 305100
Denton, TX 76203
USA
(940) 565-4027 shabout@unt.edu
(*_*)**(*_*)
Project Update as of February 2006
Due to the absence of official institutions in IRAQ that handle the
retrieval of stolen work, we've decided to use the money toward the
purchasing of educational DVDs for the Institute of Fine Arts in Baghdad.
Dr. Nada Shabout, initiator of the project, has received the funds to purchase the DVDs and make them
available to Baghdad's Art Institute during her visit to Baghdad
this June.
4.Translators/Interpreters
for Hospitals and Law Firms TIHOLAF
Project’s Effective Date: February 1, 2005
The Institute of Near Eastern & African Studies (INEAS) is pleased to
announce the launching of the project of Special Privileged Members (SPM)
for hospitals/clinics and law firms in the States of Massachusetts and Rhode
Island.
Hospitals, clinics and law firms will benefit from this project by becoming
Special Privileged Members of INEAS. The annual dues will guarantee SPMs the
following benefits:
- The ability to hire translators/interpreters in the following Asian and
African languages: Arabic, Armenian, Bosnian*, Chinese, Dari, Hindi, Japanese,
Korean, Kurdish, Persian, Swahili, Turkish & Urdu.
- Medical and legal interpreters are paid on hourly basis for a minimum
of three hours per assignment with a requirement of 24-hr notice for medical
interpreters and 48-hr notice for legal interpreters. Interpreting hourly
rates are reasonable.
- The in-need-of-interpreters departments or staff at hospitals/clinics
and law firms get yearly (in house) orientations of up to three hours, which
will include signing-up, renewal and cancellation policies, instructions
about the project and how best to utilize the interpreters pool and other
related information.
- The medical/legal providers are able to call INEAS once a week to get
information and advice pertaining the patients’ and legal clients’
cultural needs. This may or may not be related to an interpreting session.
- Written translation rates are more reasonable than for-profit companies’
rates. An advanced notice of at least five business days is required.
- SPMs are able to teach their staff/providers some necessary terminology
and expressions in any of the languages offered by INEAS for a reasonable
hourly rate. This will be useful in the regular communications between SPMs
and their clients and patients.
- The Institute of Near Eastern & African Studies (INEAS) will interview
and evaluate translators’/interpreters’ experience, efficiency
and professionalism.
- Due to the educational nature of the project, members will be receiving
email information about Asia and Africa to better enhance their understanding
in dealing with clients and patients.
The TIHOLAF project is, in general, flexible: SPMs are free to make suggestions
and participate in implementing some new sub programs or special workshops
for improvement.
* Bosnian is neither Asian nor African. It is an Eastern European language.
Membership Application For Hospitals and Law Firms
Please check one of the following choices:
_____ Hospital _____ Clinic _____ Law Firm
In which State? ____ MA. Or ____ RI
Name of hospital / Law firm ____________________________________
Street Address ________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
Mailing Address (if different from above) __________________________
____________________________________________________________
Name of Department/Person Responsible ___________________________
Tel. # _______________________ Fax # __________________________
Email _________________________________
What are the most needed languages in your firm / hospital ?
Annual Dues: $250 Make check payable to I.N.E.A.S and mail it
to: P.O. Box 425125 Cambridge, MA 02142
If planning to pay by Visa or Master Card, please fax your application first
to
(617) 864-6328.
Membership Form for Translators/Interpreters
In which State? ____ MA. Or ____ RI
Name _______________________________________
Mailing Address ______________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
Tel. # _______________________ Fax # __________________________
Email address ______________________________
Circle one main/native language that you have at least three years of experience
translating from and to
Arabic, Armenian, Bosnian, Chinese, Dari, Hindi, Japanese,
Korean, Kurdish, Persian, Swahili, Turkish & Urdu
[Examples of translations from and to the main/native language along with
references must be included with this form]
I include my resume, which has been updated ____ this month,
____ within three months ____ within six months
I am also fluent and have done three years of translation
experience in sub/not native __________ language
[ DO NOT PROVIDE MORE THAN TWO LANGUAGES ]
[Examples of translations from and to the sub/not native language along with
references must be included with this form as well]
Annual Dues: $25 Make check payable to I.N.E.A.S
This form along with a resume, translation examples, references and $25
___ check ____ money order are to be mailed (and not emailed) to
P.O. Box 425125 Cambridge, MA 02142
Translators/Interpreters are to be compensated directly by the hospital/law
firm.
The Institute of Near Eastern & African Studies (INEAS) will negotiate
the hourly rate for the translator/interpreter and ensures a three-hour minimum
per assignment.
