Culture

I’m talking about a unique group of Palestinian women who oppose the Israeli occupation.

We are Palestinians living under occupation by Israel. The political situation is deteriorating as time passes by, and women’s rights is pushed further back on the political and social agenda. Anytime a woman tries to speak up, she is faced with fierce reactions from her surroundings. We have been under occupation since 1948. Being a Palestinian in this country means limited control over your life; everything is in the hand of the occupier. You are limited in moving around since most of the time you are not able to, because of curfews, closures, checkpoints and the wall that the Israeli government started to build since 2002 around the West Bank. You are focusing all of your energy on being able to provide for your family and basicaly in most cases just being able to survive.

Sounds lovely so far right? They deserve our full Muslim support right? Okay, I guess you’re probably still wondering what’s so unique about them… Here, ehm ehm (drumroll).

We are Gay in a society that has no mercy for sexual diversity. Coming out is not even an option because the consequences can be very severe. The options that are open to us are very slim; we either live a double life in order to survive, and still maintain good relations with the family, or run away to Israel where we can be forced into a hard life; prostitution, drugs..etc.

We have decided that the time has come to defy the norms of our society, and make them hear our voices for a change.

Yup, first it was Saudi lesbians and now it’s Palestinian lesbians aka ASWAT! Yaaay, woohoooo!! LOL!

(hat tip: Nizo)

Here and here. Enjoy! And now me must go to bed. I’m so busy nowadays, you have no idea. I’m not complaining but I’m just letting you know. I might be away for 3 or 4 days. Please forgive me and stick around until I’m back. By the way, I haven’t forgotten my promises. Meanwhile, ya’ll take care. Peace & love. Sincerely, the one and only “Dreamy” Drima.

They occupied us and stole our resources. That’s how they became rich. European colonialism is the reason why Westerners are wealthy. That’s why we’re still struggling. Excuses excuses excuses… Bla bla bla… *Yawn*… It’s been many years since colonialism. Correct me if I’m wrong but has Finland colonized any countries? Denmark anyone? (Drima praying: please don’t mention the cartoons and overlook my main point). What about Sweden or Norway? Ah, let’s forget Europeans for a second. Japan was freaking nuked, 50 years later, they’re the world’s second biggest economy. You know what, forget what I said. Instead let’s see what al-Qaradhawi himself has said:

How come the Zionist gang has managed to be superior to us, despite being so few? It has become superior through knowledge, through technology, and through strength. It has become superior to us through work. We had the desert before our eyes but we didn’t do anything with it. When they took over, they turned it into a green oasis. How can a nation that does not work progress? How can it grow?

We’re the victims only because we choose to be. Some people I know never want to look in the mirror.

Oh, it’s so GOOD! By the way, I’m loving his banner. Hmmmm… I’m jealous!

Interesting:

A while back I noticed the most bizarre thing while watching an American movie on an Arabic channel (I think it may have been MBC or Dubai One)… the words “lesbian” and “Jew” were not translated in the Arabic subtitles! And today, while watching the Sopranos the word c**t was not censored!! The broadcasting channel was Dubai One and it was around 4pm Dubai time so it was before the watershed hours… come to think of it… do watershed hours even exist on Arabic channels??

The censorship standard seems to be censor whatever may not be culturally acceptable… but if it’s not culturally acceptable why show it in the first place? I mean if you want to censor something because it’s deemed to be culturally inappropriate then simply don’t show it at all instead of showing it and doing a partial censor. Plus, as much as we like to deny their existence, homosexuals do exist in the Arab world and have been around for forever, and they have not occurred as a result of Western brainwashing attempts as conspiracy theorists would like to believe. This means that censoring “lesbian” in Arabic subtitles won’t stop nor reduce the occurrence of homosexuality in the Arab world (and it wasn’t even a complete censorship since you heard it in English!). Now we come to the word Jew… yup, things aren’t great with Israel but since when did Jew become a word worthy of censorship?? Isn’t censorship applied to things we deem inappropriate… so how is a faith inappropriate? If we start censoring “Jew” in subtitles should we apply it on a wider scale and start removing it from holy scripture???… No, I didn’t think that would be sensible either, so why censor it at all?! Was the censor hoping that by doing so he would have liberated Palestine??!

Read it all. Go girl!

Me: so how was Sudan? Tell me the good stuff first.

Lil sis: The first few days were damn boring but after big bro arrived from US it became really fun. He took me out to many nice places.

Me: Really? Cool. Which passport did he use this time?

Lil sis: his American passport so that when he leaves they won’t force him to pay the Zakat payments like they force many of the others to.

Me: hmmm… seems like things are still the same. Give us the Zakat. It’s your duty to pay it as a Sudanese Muslim bla bla bla. Too bad most of the Zakat money never even makes it to the poor people who deserve it. (My uncle had a big headache when he wanted to return to Saudi after his holiday. They made him pay a lot of money.) Oh well… tell me more

Lil sis: We also went for many wedding parties and met many old friends. The weather was good too. Oh ya and check out my henna. Nice right? Bla bla bla…

Me: Okay, now tell me the bad stuff.

Lil sis: (Lots of bla bla bla)… Oh ya and we had to go to this market place called Sa’ad Gishra and aunty told me I had to wear a hijab or else some people there would verbally start harassing me for not being dressed decently enough.

Me: thinking WTFish?! I mean seriously… add some chili and spices to it… now let’s try it again… WTFish????!!!!!! *Disgusted*. I thought Turabi wasn’t ruling Sudan with al-Bashir anymore. It’s none of those people’s damn freaking business if you wear a hijab or not.

Lil sis: I know!

Excellent post at Nah.det Masr. Me completely agrees!!
(Hat tip: Freedom’s Zone)

Traditional designs are mostly of roses and flowers. They’re very popular and mostly done on the hands and feet. I find them boring but I’ve seen really cool new styles of Henna designs during my last holiday in Sudan. Some of them include fire dragons, lions and ancient Egyptian/Nubian designs. They’re not common yet though but I hope more and more girls start getting them. It’s a good thing Henna isn’t considered haram in Islam. I’d like to get some Henna designs done on the back of my neck and I think a Henna tattoo of a python with the head of a lion looking like it’s wrapped around a girl’s leg from her thigh all the way down to her foot will look DAMN HOT! The cool thing about Henna is that it’s not permenant. It fades away after about 2 to 3 weeks and hence you can get a new design in the place of the older one. Cool right?

WTFishhhh????!!! (via LGF)

Who is responsible for the situation?

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one of the most important reasons why these crises and problems continue to simmer. The day when Israel was founded created the basis for our problems. The West should finally come to understand this. Everything would be much calmer if the Palestinians were given their rights.

Do you mean to say that if Israel did not exist, there would suddenly be democracy in Egypt, that the schools in Morocco would be better, that the public clinics in Jordan would function better?

I think so.

Can you please explain to me what the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has to do with these problems?

The Palestinian cause is central for Arab thinking.

In the end, is it a matter of feelings of self-esteem?

Exactly. It’s because we always lose to Israel. It gnaws at the people in the Middle East that such a small country as Israel, with only about 7 million inhabitants, can defeat the Arab nation with its 350 million. That hurts our collective ego. The Palestinian problem is in the genes of every Arab. The West’s problem is that it does not understand this.

Holy Mohammed, Jesus, Marry & Joseph, I’m in absolute shock!!! What kind of idiotic retard says this kind of crap??! Him apparently. I swear to the Lord, this man represents all that is wrong with our region and its people. Gee and his network does business with Israel at the same time. I mean seriously how retarded can this guy be? Sandmonkey puts it nicely.

Get it? We don’t have democracy or advancment because we have low self-esteem and our egos are hurt because of Israel. It’s all the Jooz’s fault, not our own. I mean, how can we advance or succeed when our egos are hurt? That’s the insight of the man who controlls the news in the region top news-source: We are immature cry-babies! Oh, and the west should treat us as such! Get that, West?

Read the whole interview. It’s super revealing and takes you into the retarded mind of Al-Jazeera’s editor in Chief.

UPDATE: There’s a really good debate going on here in the comments section about the Sudanese refugees who fled Darfur and ended up in Israel.

Today, I was chilling with a Sudanese friend of mine. He lived in Germany and told me the funniest crap I’ve ever heard in a long long time. Damn, it’s so freaking funny. I kept laughing for half an hour. Now, no offense to my dear German readers. Arabic has some heavy letters to pronounce too.

My Sudanese friend told me he liked his one year stay in Germany but really hated one thing about the country. The thing he hated? German language. He thinks German pronounciation is very messed up.

Apparently if you want to say “I love you” to a girl in German, you have to say “ish liber dish”. Hehehehe ish liber dish?!! WTFish??! That sounds like a freaking curse word. At least in Arabic it’s “ana bahibik”. But ish liber dish?!! That just doesn’t sound right to my ears.

Oh well, then my friend said the following:

Speak in English

Dance in Spanish

Love in French

And vomit in German

LOOOL :D, now seriously people this Drima doesn’t mean to offend you and if he did then he apologizes in advance but the whole thing my friend said today is just too damn funny.

And some people still wonder why I’ve always supported the war in Afghanistan 100% since day 1. Its’ really hard not to hate filthy criminals like the Taliban. Oh it’s just so hard not to hate them and I mean really passionately hate them for the vicious ignorant bloody butchers they are. “Defenders of Islam” my foot.

I don’t even know how people who do this can live with themselves. Don’t they even have a conscience?

Fatma gently unwraps the bright, pink folds of her shawl, to reveal her baby girl

By Ishbel Matheson

Nov 24, 2006 — The sickly, three-month-old child, named Hawa, is the result of terrible atrocity.

When Arab militia, known as Janjaweed, came to Fatma’s home in January, they threatened to kill her father.

Fatma intervened but the gunmen turned on her.

“They said to me: ’You are a prostitute’,” she says.

“They pinned me down, one on my hands and one on my legs. The others took turns.”

Fatma was held for four hours and raped repeatedly.

They left her alive, but injured so badly, that she could not walk.

When her family eventually found her, they had to carry her home.

Marked for life

Two months later, Fatma realised that she was pregnant. She is just 15 years old.

“At first my father wanted to throw me out. But others pleaded with him.”

Her family moved to a refugee camp in the town of Kass, along with other survivors from her village.

But in this traditional society, Fatma and her baby are marked for life. The young mum tells how neighbours whisper about her.

“They say I’m a bad girl - that I had this Janjaweed baby. They say that I should be sent away,” she says.

As she speaks, baby Hawa frets and cries. She is malnourished and light as a feather.

Her mother presses her to her breast, but she has no milk.

We ask an older woman who is present, to try to help us soothe the baby.

She refuses, cursing the child as if she were a bad omen.

“She is calling the baby ‘a dirty girl’,” says Unicef’s Eman el-Tigani.

“Fatma has no future here. Islam does not allow for a baby to be killed. Otherwise this baby would be dead.”

Rape ’commonplace’

Fatma and her baby are victims of a brutal scorched-earth campaign in this remote region in western Sudan.

More than two million people have been driven from their lands, in what the UN has called it the “worst humanitarian crisis in the world”. Human rights groups say Arab militia backed by the Sudanese government are seizing the land from Africans in Darfur.

The Sudanese government says it has been fighting a rebellion. It denies funding and arming the militia.

Whatever the politics of the conflict, the crime of rape is disturbingly prevalent.

Every day, aid workers hear reports of women and girls from African tribes being abducted and gang-raped.

Shame amid love

Fatma is not the only one to be bearing the baby of a enemy fighter.

As she tells her story, other heavily pregnant women listen.

Hawa Seliman Mohammed, 24, is due to deliver any day now. She was grabbed by the Janjaweed militia, while taking a shower on the outskirts of her besieged village.

Like many victims, she believes rape is being used as a deliberate weapon in this war.

“They want to destroy everything,” she says. “By violating us, they want to make our men ashamed and to demoralise them.”

There is one report of a Darfuri woman who has tried to abandon her Janjaweed baby.

But Fatma loves her child. She rocks her, murmuring her name.

“I feel ashamed, because she is the child of a Janjaweed - and they are the ones who are carrying out this war against us. But I will keep her. I want my baby.”

And this is what the UN Human Rights Council has to say. We live in such a wonderful world!

Cool. Al-Azhar organized a rally with the help of a German activist aimed at opposing the stupid practice of FGM. BTW in case you didn’t know, FGM has no place in Islam. It’s a stupid cultural practice. (hat tip: Nominally Challenged)

Precious: Living the MATRIX

Halalhippie: All ye ladies out there

Hipster: Misery Churns in Eastern Sudan, Away from the Spotlight

Isis: Rejecting My Virginity

BTW can you all do me a favor and tell me what browser you’re using and if the blog is loading properly. Can you see the moving message above? I’ve been having some problems viewing the blog with Internet Explorer but I get no problems at all when I use Firefox.

UPDATE: Hey guys thanks for the feedback. It seems only one of you so far has the same problem I have when viewing with Internet Explorer. I just wanted to be sure ya’ll are able to view things properly. BTW is this Kucinich guy retarded??! No seriously WTFish is wrong with this dude. No offense to all the Donkeys in the house but do you all realize the consequences of what some in your party are suggesting? Maybe you should read what she’s saying. This is unbelievable!! No wonder the Elephants are so pissed off and depressed.