Checkout Eid Is Cancelled This Year by the second best blogger in the Sudanese blogosphere, the one and only, Sudanese Optimist.

Also, kudos to Charles Johnson over at LGF for his outspoken rightful opposition to this whole “Ground-Zero Mosque” business, and to the big stinking pile of shit the GOP has sadly become in the last year.

What a shame. Aren’t there any decent prominent Republican politicians anymore? Seriously, what a shame. What we now have instead is people like Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, and the increasingly entertaining Glenn Beck shaping the conversation on the right.

Now on a not-so-related note, I’ve also officially had it with Israel’s policies thanks to its wonderful right-wing government under the leadership of Netanyahu and the ongoing despicable blockade of Gaza.

Heck, screw Arab opinion of the situation. One only needs to check the sentiments on the Israeli left to start getting a decent grasp of the Israeli government’s worsening stances.

Oh, and about those potential peace talks, gosh, I’m sooo optimistic.

Enough said for now.

Peace, Ramadan Kareem, and Happy Eid in advance, but just be sure that you celebrate it in October, and not September. Wait, no. October might be too close, how about January next year?

And FYI, commenting on this post is disabled. We’re taking the party over to Sudanese Optimist’s side here instead.

See you there.

Cheers!

While a lot of what An-Na’im says may seem like the “la la land, let’s get together and sing kumbaya” sort of message, I do believe it has its important place in the grand scheme of things, but it’s not so simple or straight forward as he makes it seem.

The gutsy part is when he goes on a rant about how all political parties responsible for screwing up Sudan should be put on trial. Very ballsy of him to say such a thing so openly like that on Sudanese TV. I doubt he got in trouble, since there was tolerance of such views before the “monumental” elections took place. Now that the elections are over, tight scrutiny is back again however and there’s less freedom of speech.

But yeah, keep dreaming Uncle Frustrated. Inta bita7lam ya 3ammo.

Anyway, I just found the video super hilarious and watched it like ten times already. If you’re Sudanese, you probably will too.

Fun.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to build that snowman I’ve been wishing to build since childhood.

Next time.

Also, my brother recently got married. The wedding celebration in Khartoum has now been over for a while. Phew, please don’t ask me about the ridiculous summer heat.

Blogging to resume shortly. Meanwhile, check out this cool personality test The LA Times is offering. I’m a Live Wire, and I must say, unlike many of those dumb personality quizzes you find online, this one is actually pretty accurate. It’s sooo me.

Here are the result details.

You’re a Live Wire

You like to be stimulated emotionally and intellectually. It’s all about striking the right balance! You have quite traditional values and believe in working hard to achieve your goals. And, when the work day is over, it’s time to kick back, relax and enjoy your downtime, hanging with friends, relaxing with the kids or enjoying one of your favorite interests, whether that’s on the sports pitch, at the mall or in a theater… Committed and loyal, family is really important to you. You’re successful and empowered by the opportunity you have to live the life that you want. You value your health and financial security and enjoy being able to create a happy home.

You appreciate intelligent conversation and enjoy the opportunity to express yourself and share your views with your friends and family. You’re a bit of a bookworm at heart. You probably have a good pile of books by the bed and maybe even a few on-the-go at once! Success is a real enabler for you. You reap the benefits by enjoying some really magical vacations that broaden your horizons and leave you feeling refreshed and invigorated.

Take the test here, and tell me what you get.

Also, if you haven’t taken time to read this article before on the esoteric Vs exoteric aspects of religion, please do. If you enjoyed my posts on faith and reason, you’ll like this article.

… as prevalent as genuine mysticism is in all these traditions, many people in today’s world go their entire lives without ever hearing about these aspects of religious experience.

… They often do not even recognize the rich legacy of esoteric spirituality that exists in their own tradition, hiding right in plain sight—simply because we are too close to our own cultural preconceptions, too burnt out on the mythic dogma of our childhood, and too alone in the dark without anyone pointing us in the right direction.

In fact, once we have tasted the esoteric waters in another spiritual tradition, we usually intuit that this very same esoteric core is shared by all religions, that it is the cornerstone of spiritual experience for every mystic in history (though expressed very differently from culture to culture).

… The central problem of religion today is not the unavailability of esoteric teachings—they are just as accessible today as they have ever been, perhaps even more so—but that our exoteric religions have become damaged, painfully decoupled from history’s ceaseless march toward more novelty and more complexity. Our religions are fully capable of keeping pace with our progress, growing from magic forms of religion to mythic forms, rational forms, pluralistic forms, integral forms, and beyond. And the esoteric teachings and practices are alive in all these forms, though will certainly be interpreted very differently at each level

Me loves and agrees! I think what the article discusses can easily be applied to Islam as well. In fact, I have applied it, and it has helped me see Islam in a new unique light which in turn enabled me to reconcile many previously troubling things in my head.

Yay to integral theory and epistemology. And yay to Ken Wilber. Reading his work, especially his book The Marriage of Sense and Soul, has been super life-changing and very healing.

More later.

Talk soon!

- Drima

Listen to the audio interview here.

Democracy isn’t just “the rule of the majority.” It is the rule of the majority without infringing on the rights of the minority. One of  these rights is religious freedom.

Lovely.

Gosh, makes me so hopeful about this country’s future.

These guys ought to read Abdullahi An-Na’im’s book Islam and the Secular State: Negotiating the Future of Sharia.

Me: So, dude, who are you voting for? Obama or McCain?

Friend: Man, I ain’t voting for nobody. F*ck that shit!

Me: Erm, why?

Friend: Man, they’re all full of shit anyway!

Me: So you’re willing to risk your life and fight for your country, but you’re not bothered to vote? Enlighten me please!

Friend: Like I said, they’re all full of shit anyway. What difference will it make?

If I had a magic crystal ball back then, I would have replied, “for a start, health care!” I should have added “withdrawing from Iraq” and a bunch of other foreign policy things that impact the world.

But that was America, and now that it’s Sudan’s turn, I am beginning to relate to my friend’s attitude. It’s funny really, because I didn’t expect myself to wind up here, especially after blogging so much about Sudan from 2006 to 2008.

I won’t vote in the Sudanese elections.

I won’t vote because:

1. I missed the voter registration date and hardly regretted it since I’ve never really believed in the predicted “change-bringing” effects of the expected elections. Hence, I can’t vote anyway even if I change my mind and wanted to.

2. Positive alternatives to Al-Bashir with an actual chance of winning are nil.

3. Assuming I registered, given that Al-Bashir is going to win any way, I would rather abstain from voting than vote for him.

4. Regardless of the “confidence” in the election process expressed by the US envoy to Sudan, the elections aren’t going to be fair or transparent.

5. Even if I’m wrong and the election process achieves some decent level of transparency and fairness, it still takes lots of money for parties and candidates to win, something that Al-Bashir and his NCP have a lot of, while the opposition is relatively broke, with the exception of the SPLM which is too corrupt and divided to even run itself properly anyway.

6. Quite frankly, I just don’t care about the political process anymore at the moment. It’s hopeless. I’ve been so disconnected and apathetic towards what’s happening, I no longer feel its relevance. Given the current circumstances, Sudan is a country in waiting with too many question marks ahead.

Now, I don’t want to put down the hopes of Sudanese who have passionately rallied their fellow citizens to vote and get involved in the election process. I admire them for that, but electing a new Sudanese president is a losing battle, which is why I find it hilarious when well-meaning but naive Westerners like Simon Tisdall express such a rosy view.

Don’t get me wrong, the elections as a milestone for Sudan are a very great thing! However, the election process itself as a means of electing a new government is a joke. So why do the US envoy to Sudan and Jimmy Carter seem to express a rather optimistic, albeit cautious views about the event? Well, to answer that, one first needs to notice that the US administration took a position contrary to that of the opposition parties in Sudan.

While many in the opposition wanted the elections to be postponed, the US pressed that they should continue on time, regardless of boycotts and threats of more boycotts by the opposition. This is because America views the historic event within the bigger and more important context in which it is happening: the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, which has milestones and a timeline designed to lead to the Southern Sudan referendum in January 2011.

Therefore, this shouldn’t surprise anyone.

April 10, 2010 (JUBA) – The US Special Envoy to Sudan, Scott Gration, has welcomed the decision confirmed by the leadership of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) that it will participate in the elections in Northern Sudan states, saying it was important for the prioritized upcoming referendum in the South.

… Gration, who seemed to express satisfaction with the SPLM’s strategic political priorities, said his office was ready to assist in the contentious issues between the two peace-partners [NCP and SPLM] so that referendum on independence of Southern Sudan would be conducted as scheduled for January 2011.

Oh well, I wonder what it would have been like if John Garang was still around. Too bad he isn’t. And too bad Sudan doesn’t seem to have the strong necessary leadership in the opposition that’s capable of running a well-organized political party, let alone an entire fragile country that can disintegrate into another Somalia if it isn’t held together firmly.

Meanwhile, let the games begin! It’s time for those much-awaited and talked about elections! I will be keeping track of the news every now and then. And when 2011 has come and gone, let me know. I might get back to my former days of high engagement and interest.

Sudanese in the house, drop your comments and links to your blog posts below, if you have any please. A Global Voices round up is in the works.

I would love to hear your point of view.

Yalla, salam.

- Drima

For the first time ever, I am actually getting a taste of the nasty ordeals some friends have described to me in dealing with US Embassies or attempting to travel to America.

Given that I’ve only had the best experiences when traveling to the United States, and I’m used to receiving my visa within TWO WEEKS ONLY, I used to brush aside my friends’ complaints as isolated incidents.

Well, no more!

I applied on the 26th of January for my damn visa. 26th of JANUARY! Isn’t there like maximum waiting period of 60 days until you hear back or something? Apparently not.

Listen US State Department, I understand you have to do your security checks. Fine. I understand that sometimes the number of applications peaks and it takes time to sort things out. No problem. What I cannot and will not understand is how you keep people waiting indefinitely. That’s just complete and utter bullshit. At least give me a deadline damn it!

The meetings I had to go for. Delayed. The conference I was supposed to attend. Bye bye. Visiting my brother in Chicago. Whops, ain’t gonna happen. Traveling in California to meet friends who would have included some GlobalVoices folks. Sorry, forget it.

WORKING ON MY DAMN BOOK! Meh, too bad.

Seriously, WTF?

This needs to get resolved asap!

Like, resolved yesterday:

Since President Obama scolded the agencies for overlooking warning flags against Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian charged with trying to blow up an Amsterdam-to-Detroit flight on Christmas Day, the checks have been reinforced and the lists have grown. With that comes a higher likelihood of “administrative processing” for visa applicants whose names may resemble those of terrorist suspects but who are “guilty” of nothing more than having Muslim parents.

… Said Mahrane, a French national born in Algeria and brought up in France, applied for a journalist’s visa to accompany President Nicolas Sarkozy to Washington this week as a correspondent for the weekly newsmagazine Le Point. His colleagues from other publications — with traditional French names — got their visas in a couple of days. But Mahrane’s never came through.

… Mami said at first he reasoned that the delay would not be a problem because orientation classes at Berkeley were to begin March 22. But when the visa had still not arrived by Feb. 15, he sent a registered letter to the embassy inquiring about the delay. The next day, a woman called and said such delays were common and could last weeks or even months, he said.

Muhammad, Jesus, Marry and Joseph! Weeks or even months? Are you freaking kidding me?

Read the whole thing here.

Thank you Washington Post for writing about this! Let’s hope somebody is listening, and is going to do something about it.

UPDATE: So, today, exactly one day after publishing this post, I received a call from the US Embassy informing me that I need to come and collect my visa. Coincidence?

Naaa, somebody in the White House probably read my post, asked the CIA to investigate my real identity, and then called up the US State Department and scolded them for keeping the one and only Drima waiting this long.

Blog Power baby! Right.

Pffffffffffft, okay, finally! At last, phew! I have my damn US visa. Next time if I have to travel, I am going to be sure to apply like two or three months in advance!

The honorable Drima looks forward to blessing the United States with his arrival soon. There better be red carpets waiting at the airport.

I am not a fan of post-modernism’s relativism. Morality can be and indeed is objective. Just because there are moral issues that are complex, does not mean there is no objective difference between right and wrong.

How do we achieve such objectivity if morality does not come from holy books? Well, for a start, religion’s esoteric aspects and mysticism have a lot to teach us about human psychological well-being. On top of that, we have the insights offered by perenial philosohpy. Both have a great deal to teach us.

But today though, we have Sam Harris discussing his approach to this issue in a brilliant TED Talk that probably made many politically-correct liberals in the audience cringe uncomfortably, thanks to their postmodernist leanings.

Be sure to watch it.

While Sam makes one hell of a compelling argument, I do disdain his portrayal of burka-wearing women and the Taliban’s nuttiness in a way that attempts to make them seem representative of Muslims. There was also no effort on his part to clarify that the practice of honor killings is mostly cultural, and has no basis in virtually all Islamic interpretations, even the most traditionalist.

Dear Sam, I know you hate religion, but applying some nuance and taking into account differences in interpretation and how the faithful practice their faiths, will make more in your audience more receptive to your ideas.

Other than that, awesome stimulating talk. Thumbs up.

Related:

• Defining Open-Mindedness: A Story About a 14 Year Old Kid and the Torture of the Grave
• 7 Categories of Faith, Explained
• The Ultimate Proof of How Patriarchal Muslim Societies Oppress Women