Hijacking Mesopotamian Heritage

The last time I attended Babylon International Festival was in 2000. Then, it was a celebration of the world’s arts and culture and a revival of a civilization’s history. There performed various Arab, Asian, European, American and African artists, dancing and playing traditional and contemporary music, leaving Iraqis enjoy precious times as they endured the hardships of the Iran-Iraq war and the 12-year international sanctions.

But today, seven years after it was canceled due to the US-led invasion, the festival opened with failure and disastrous atmosphere. No dancing, no singing! Nothing but two badly-performed plays on globalization and hating the United States. The reasons, according to The New York Times, were religion and politics!

The Times reported that the deputy governor of the Babil province, Sadiq al-Muhanna, “declared the ban on music and dance… which he called offensive to Muslims during religious ceremonies for Imam Sadiq.”

This news came in like a lightning strike to me. It is really sad that religion hijacked the entire Iraqi society, whose culture and art battled and survived dictators, wars, barbarians and invasions throughout history.

Iraq was a country where culture and arts met and flourished. It was a country that gave birth to great artists whose imprints were recorded for thousands of years across the globe. But today it’s a country marked by religion and only religion. Instead of reviving our glorious history, the leaders of the new Iraq are forcing that form of submission. They coat Imams’ graves with pure gold; they block streets for weeks in celebration of death or birth anniversaries of those Imams and now they cancel the entire basis of the Mesopotamian civilization: appreciation of art and culture.

We have become worse than the most conservative countries in the Middle East. Even in Saudi Arabia, where men and women are flogged if found mingling with each other, people celebrate their culture by dancing and performing in national festivals, and they don’t even have Mesopotamian heritage to revive.

My heart breaks for Iraq. It makes me gravely sad to see how religion has become the winner in the former secular country that I remember.

I dream of going back. Every day. But the Mullahs hijacked my country and turned it into a bigger mosque, where people cannot do anything but pray to deaf ears. I’m afraid the dream is shattering. I’m collecting the pieces but not sure how long this will last.

Light at the End of the Tunnel

Nothing in this world is better than seeing my beautiful Baghdad comes back to life after years of horrific occupation and terrorism. The bad news is still flowing everyday from Baghdad but some good news is flowing as well.

Lately, I have been fond of reading a blog by a fellow Iraqi blogger called "Sami" whose blog posts prove that his love to Baghdad and all of Iraq is bigger than anyone can imagine.

One of Sami's posts that moved me the most is titled "Lightening." In it, he expresses the positive attitude that he took in thinking about the future of Iraq. He took a walk in Al-Mutanabi Street, one of Baghdad's oldest neighborhoods where arts and culture always meet. The things he saw were tangible. He saw a revival of life, a definace of the violence that crippled the very same culture for years.

My eyes became tearful as I saw the pictures he took. It reminded me that hope still exists and that some day homecoming may happen. Thank you, Sami for those great posts.

Muslim Americans Serving in the U.S. Government

From the White House YouTube page:

The United States government reflects the rich diversity of the American population. Meet three Muslim Americans who freely retain and express their own faith identities while serving their nation.

Arabesque

Last night, I attended a concert performed by Iraq’s Maqam singer, Farida. The concert was part of Arabesque Festival: Arts of the Arab World which is organized by the John F. Kennedy Center from February 23 to March 15, 2009.

The below video was taken by my friend Omar.



blog.bassamsebti@gmail.com

Atlantis the Palm Opening in Dubai

Amazing!

Massacring Muslims Online!

Muslim Massacre is a website dedicated to a new electronic hate game that promotes killing the Muslims, their prophet and even God wherever they are. It can be downloaded for free online.

The website tells surfers that it's a game of "modern religious genocide." They are urged "not be a liberal pussy, download this now".

Reaction against that hate game was first published in the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar and was translated and republished by Menassat.

blog.bassamsebti@gmail.com

Respecting Cultures Isn’t Hard

Freedom has limits. It definitely should not disrespect other cultures. Is it that hard to respect other people's culture? I guess not.

Well, I have been following the news of arresting western tourists in the United Arab Emirates for breaking the law by disrespecting the Muslim country's traditions. Earlier this month a British businesswoman was caught having sex in public on Jumeirah Beach in Dubai, hurting the feelings of the Arab and Muslim visitors. When I read the news I felt disgusted. In our culture and tradition, having sex in public is disrespecting privacy, religion, and Arab manners. It is not close-mindedness. It is culture.

When I read the story of the British businesswoman, I thought to myself, C'mon now, Are there no other private places in the entire city where you could have had sex without hurting other people's feelings? Although the city is liberal, which is a good thing, there are still things to consider: culture is one of them. It is still a Muslim country after all, and public sex is condemned because it comes against our traditions and religion. Was it that hard to perceive?

Respecting cultures comes from people's education. Before I came to the U.S. I learned as much information as I could about the American culture and how to respect people's traditions. If I hadn't done that, I could have easily disrespected people here and be condemned and spelled out of the society. It would be like me using the "N" word against the African Americans or extend my arm like Hitler did to salute the Jews. Instead, I learned how to respect other people's cultures, not only the American, but also the Indian, the Chinese, the Korean, and even fellow Muslims who sometimes differ in their traditions.

A few weeks ago I watched stand-up show on Bravo by the ill-reputed Kathy Griffin. I kind of laughed at the beginning until I noticed she was going far beyond humor. She talked about her visit to Kabul where she was embedded with the American military. I have been a huge fan of the American humor. I still am. I kind of understand how it works, especially if it goes beyond humor.

In the show, Kathy portrayed Muslims in Kabul as dirty, filthy, unworthy to speak to Muslims. She proudly described a young American soldier, describing an Afghani man's hand dirty with his crap. As if "he crapped in his own hands and did not clean it up afterwards." O.K. now, it is known in Islam that when people go to the restrooms, they MUST clean themselves up with water, something some other cultures do not preach. So describing that man with crap in his hand makes no sense, unless he was retarded, which was not the case because she described him as a sane man who wanted to shake her hands and take a picture with her.

That was not funny. It was disrespectful.

The second thing is that she forced a religious Muslim man to look into her eyes, yelling at him that she is a woman and he has to look into her eyes. I do not support those men who do not look women in the eyes, but it's not something I can control or make fun of. It's this man's culture and adherence to his religion that made him do this. It would be disrespectful to force him do what he does not believe in. It would be like forcing a Buddhist worship Jesus or Mohammed or even God. You cannot disrespect people who adhere to their religions. You can disagree, but not make fun of.

So, a little advice here: make sure you know the cultures of the countries you are visiting and try to respect them. When you respect others, you are respected.

blog.bassamsebti@gmail.com