Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH)
October 18, 2005

The Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH) is distributing the enclosed articles to build bridges of understanding between the West and the Arab World and countries with predominately Muslim populations. Unless otherwise noted, all copyright permissions have been obtained and the articles may be reproduced by any news outlet or publication free of charge. If publishing, please acknowledge both the original source and CGNews, and notify us at cgnewspih@sfcg.org.

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ARTICLES IN THIS EDITION:

1. “Building Bridges With Americans” by Khaled Batarfi
Khaled Batarfi, Saudi journalist and managing editor of the Al Madina newspaper, considers how the media often highlights only the negative, thus influencing perceptions of entire countries. Writing about his experience studying in the United States and participating in a meeting with American visitors to Saudi Arabia, however, he finds similarities that enabled the participants to connect.
(Source: Arab News. October 2, 2005)

2. “The ‘Ugly American’ and the Arab Without a Nose” by Mona Eltahawy
Mona Eltahawy, a former correspondent for the Reuters News Agency in Cairo and Jerusalem and frequent contributor to opinion pages in the US and abroad counters the Arab caricature of the ugly American with the image of an Arab, out of spite, cutting off his nose in order not to look like an American. She agrees with Hughes’ deputy, Dina Habib Powell, that even a global superpower needs help, and that only when Americans and Arabs both pitch in will it be possible to meet the goals of both sides.
(Source: Asharq Alawsat, October 4, 2005)

3. “Nations, like houses, cannot be built on sand” by Amin Howeidi
Amin Howeidi, former Egyptian minister of defense and chief of general intelligence, looks to the United States, not as an example that should be imitated, but as a state that has grown into a successful nation and can serve as a model of processes that can help guide Egypt to shape national goals and develop the strategies necessary to get there.
(Source: Al Ahram, 6 - 12 October 2005)

4. “Beyond homesickness: Western wives in Egypt” by Sara Khorsid
Sara Khorshid, staff writer for IslamOnline.net, looks at what it means to be a foreign woman in Egypt. She gives an honest glimpse of the frustrations many Westerners face when they come to live in Egypt, as well as the parts of the culture, the country and the religion that the interviewed women appreciate the most. What is perhaps most striking, is that every Western woman has a different experience, demonstrating that – in both the West and the Arab world – individuals will live to the beat of their own drum, and not necessarily fulfill the dictates of stereotypes.
(Source: Middle East Times, October 14, 2005)

5. “Nazar: Stories in pictures from the Arab world” by Adla Massoud
Adla Massoud, a special contributor to the Daily Star from New York, identifies one way that Arabs are countering the broad stereotypes and overarching stories that play out in the media on a daily basis. This exhibition of photographs portrays the “small stories behind the 'breaking news' and acts as a mirror in which Arabs can see who they are today and decide who they want to be tomorrow. “
(Source: The Daily Star, October 10, 2005)

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ARTICLE 1
Building Bridges With Americans
Khaled Batarfi

JEDDAH — American visitors to Saudi Arabia come with their baggage of perceptions and get their first cultural shock on day one — especially those who come for the first time. Thanks to media and education, our image as backward, savage, and fundamentalist persists. Misperception leads to perception and if repeated enough times and long enough it becomes reality. Once in the news, you’re always in the news and it is difficult to remove the stigma once it sticks.

Some reporters and researchers write their reports during the long flight to Saudi Arabia, and come here to fill the gaps. They look around every corner for political tension, religious extremists, battered women and street wars. They do find, now and then, what they look for and jump on it. That would be fine if at the same time they report the other side of the story, which represents the norm more than the spicy stuff.

Just imagine if, after a visit to America, I write only about drugs, crimes and racial discrimination. While those problems exist in America as in any other society, they are not what America is about. The same is here. We have our share of social ills such as fundamentalism, extremism, marginalizing minorities, consumerism, drug abuse, abuse of women and foreigners. But we also have our bright spots. Look around you and you will see the inspired and inspiring people, young and old, men and women, liberal and conservative, Sunni and Shiite.

Such was the case with a visiting group of American intellectuals. We met in the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry last week. Our group, the International Relations Committee, is made of concerned citizens volunteering to build a bridge of communication and understanding with the rest of the civilized world. The chairman of the committee, Amr Khashoggi, is an intellectual businessman, educated in American universities, like most of us, father to two bright kids who have just graduated and returned home to serve their country. They were all present at the meeting and at another gathering with Karen Hughes, US undersecretary of state for public diplomacy.

Committee members come from different business, academic and government backgrounds. They include economist Dr. Nahed Taher, businessman Eng. Omar Khalifaty, journalist Ms. Maha Akeel, merchant Dr. Ghazi Binzagr, psychotherapist Assia Khashoggi, and political scientist, Ms. Ranya Bajsair.

Guests and hosts talked in a spirit of openness and friendship. Some were emotional, apologetic or frank. However, all expressed their sorrow, anger, disappointment, confusion, misunderstanding and criticism in a civilized way. At the end, we all felt like hugging each other. It was great group therapy.

Alta Schwartz, director of Outreach program in Georgia Middle East Studies Consortium touched my heart. She expressed her dilemma as a Jew trying to reach out to us. She told me about a recent visit to Gaza and her shock and dismay at the Israeli abuse of Palestinians. How could she dissociate herself from Israeli policies and actions? She wants to rescue her religion from the extremists who have hijacked Judaism in Israel and America. She spoke about that tense moment when she tells an Arab she is a Jew and how she got used to the frank discussion that follows and the friendship that results.

I told her of my experience in America when my best friend suddenly told me that he was a Jew as well as a Communist! I had that double-shock moment but it passed quickly. It really didn’t matter what his religion was as long as he treated me right. As it turned out, we ended up helping each other in school projects and learned a great deal about one another’s perspectives. After reviewing my dissertation about US media bias toward Israel, he thanked me for moderating his views about Middle East history. I thanked him for standing up for me. He, and other colleagues, advocated changing class schedules to accommodate my Ramadan fasting hours. Similar tense moments became easier, like when I found out that the wonderful doctor and nurse who took care of my newborn daughter were Jews. Alta liked my calling her a cousin. I explained to the rest that Jews and Arabs are Semite cousins. An American pointed out that we are all cousins. What stands between us can easily be torn down. The biased media, ignorant intellectuals, inconsiderate politicians, and geographic, cultural and political barriers can be overcome with a simple smile, hello and a handshake.

As soon as we talk and visit each other’s homes and meet with family members, we will discover how strikingly similar we all are. We all wake up every day worrying about school grades and job security, family well-being and neighborhood safety.

We go through our days striving for a better life, and a brighter future. And when we sleep, we get nightmares about losing the ones we care about, and confronting those we don’t. We dream about an environment of peace, love and prosperity.

If we just understand these basic facts about each other, it is the perfect win-win. Only the merchants of hate, war and misery lose out in this eventual battle of bridge-building for the sake of all humanity.

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* Khaled Batarfi is a Saudi journalist and managing editor of the Al Madina newspaper.
Source: Arab News, October 2, 2005
Visit the website at www.arabnews.com
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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ARTICLE 2
The “Ugly American” and the Arab Without a Nose
Mona Eltahawy

CAIRO — As Karen Hughes, the newly appointed head of U.S. public diplomacy, began her first visit to the Middle East last week, an Arab newspaper published a cartoon of the “Ugly American”. It showed President George Bush sitting in front of a mirror, with a thick layer of make up on his face. He turns to Hughes and asks her for more make up and a strong perfume.

The message was: America cannot hide its ugliness. Its arrogance and actions carried out without thought to consequence have made it so unattractive that nothing will turn an ugly face pretty.

If I was a political cartoonist I would have drawn a cartoon showing an Arab standing in front of a mirror cutting off his nose. I would label the mirror "America." The Arab is oblivious to the blood that flows from his nose and the disfigurement he is inflicting on himself. All he cares about is that he does not look like the image that the mirror "America" has reflected to him.

My message embodies the English saying "to cut off your nose to spite your face," which means to perform an action – usually to prove a point - that makes you suffer the most. In the case of my cartoon, it means we will do anything to stand up to America and prove a point to America, forgetting in the meantime that ultimately we’re hurting ourselves the most.

And nowhere is this more obvious than in the Arab world’s reaction to the bloodbath that is washing over Iraq.

More than two years have passed now since that invasion of Iraq but too many people –in the Arab world and in the United States – are still stuck arguing over whether the Bush administration was right or wrong to invade Iraq.

In the United States, the arguments often have little to do with Iraqis themselves. I rarely see Iraqis on American television speaking for themselves and I rarely read their opinions in U.S. papers. Instead, it is the supporters and opponents of Bush who argue.

The Americans have not even bothered to count how many Iraqis have died since the invasion.

But one thing is obvious: the United States needs help in Iraq.

Here in the Arab world, we don’t have the luxury to argue endlessly over whether Bush was right or wrong. Firstly, it is up to the Iraqi people themselves to decide if the invasion was good for them or not.

In America, there is a blind spot towards Iraqis. Here in the Arab world we have a blind spot of our own towards the Shia of Iraq. Muslim terrorists slaughter fellow Muslims in Iraq but the Arab world – where many of these terrorists come from - issues weak and meaningless condemnations because it is mostly Shia who are dying.

Terrorists drag Shiite teachers from their classrooms and shoot them dead. Terrorists sadistically lure poor Shia labourers looking for work and blow up 200 of them. Where is the outrage?

But this is what the Arab world forgets: while it stands by wanting the Americans to suffer defeat in Iraq, it is the Arab world that is being defeated by the terrorists who have turned their guns on the Shia of Iraq.

What the Arab world forgets is that those guns can just as easily be turned against the rest of us, just as the suicide bombings that were once used against Israel only are now being used against everyone, Muslim and non-Muslim.

Karen Hughes described her visit to the Middle East as a “listening tour”. It quickly turned into a “dialogue of the deaf” with neither side properly listening or talking to the other.

An Egyptian journalist told me an incident that gives me some hope. Of all the people that Hughes met in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, the least “intellectual” or elite of them were a group of Egyptian students attending the American University in Cairo on American scholarships. These students are not the stereotypical AUC students who are usually from wealthy or upper class families. Many of the students who met Hughes came from outside of Cairo.

They asked her why America, the world’s only superpower, stumbled so badly after Hurricane Katrina. Hughes – ever the loyal Bush aide – defended her boss but ended up losing the students by getting into the details of domestic American politics that didn’t interest them.

Hughes’ deputy Dina Habib Powell came to the rescue. Dina is an Egyptian American and she understood what the students were getting at. She told them that even the world’s only superpower needs help, that we must all help each other during disasters and that the United States appreciated very much the help that Arab countries sent. The Egyptian students loved hearing this and applauded heartily.

I didn’t read about this incident in any of the U.S. press coverage of the meeting.

Iraq is a bloodbath. America needs the help of the Arab world. The Arab world needs America too – how many people insist that America pressure their governments to reform? And ultimately, it is in no one’s interest to see Iraq fail.

So maybe the American isn’t so “ugly” when he asks for help. It is also useful when he or she looks a bit more like us and can make that cultural connection in the way Dina Habib Powell did.

And maybe the Arab will stop cutting off his nose when he realizes that his interests and those of America can actually intersect and that being anti-American for the sake of it is ridiculous and ultimately hurts him more than anyone else.

America and the Arab world need each other.

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* Mona Eltahawy was a correspondent for the Reuters News Agency in Cairo and Jerusalem and also wrote for the Guardian newspaper from the Middle East. Mona is also a frequent contributor to opinion pages in the US and abroad.
Source: Asharq Alawsat, October 4, 2005
Visit the website at www.asharqalawsat.com/english
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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ARTICLE 3
Nations, like houses, cannot be built on sand
Amin Howeidi

CAIRO— To build is a difficult activity. It requires sound planning and an ability to overcome obstacles. The whole process must be carefully timetabled, and attention focused from the moment the foundations are laid until the roof is finished. To pull down, on the other hand, is simple.

To establish a successful factory is hard. As well as the construction and equipping of the plant workers must be trained and markets for the final product explored and accessed. Compared to which selling a factory, even finding a single strategic purchaser, is a relatively simple procedure.

However difficult it is to erect a single building it is harder by far to build a nation. While nation building can never outstrip the developing country's capacity, the sum of its strength in various fields, it can all too easily fall behind these capacities. The mere existence of ability is no guarantee of success for that ability must be capitalised, and that requires a degree of creative flexibility.

But why speak of nation building now?

No issue could be more significant at a time when the Egyptian regime is creeping towards modernisation. Few would deny the seriousness of the difficulties in which we find ourselves. But to move beyond the problems requires that we take a long, hard look at the realities we face. As other nations advance they inspire our envy, forcing us to question why we are being left behind. Sadly, the political illiteracy displayed in the platforms of the majority of candidates in the recent presidential elections suggests that we have a vast amount of space to cover if we are to catch up.

In the context of nation building it might be useful to examine the experience of the United States. How did it manage, in just two centuries, to climb to the apex of the global system? There are certainly enough states that seek to emulate American success, coveting American democracy, the open American market and even American traditions and customs. We cannot object to their ambitions, as long as they don't set about achieving their goals by simplistic imitation.

Restricting the role of the state, unleashing market forces and allowing an unregulated private sector to dominate and drive the economy will not see developing nations advance far along the US path to success. To do so simply apes what America does now, without considering how it reached the point at which it can do the things it does. What stages did the US pass through to reach its present position? It did not simply jump to the top of the heap using economic liberalism as its springboard.

We must examine closely the ascent of America, the course it navigated through the shadows of 19th and early 20th century European dominance as it slowly climbed the ladder, exploiting both circumstance and its abilities to its own advantage.

Wise leaders are those who bring out the strengths of their peoples. Wise leaders build nations and they do so by learning from the experience of others and benefiting from their stumbles and falls.

After the war of independence the leaders of the nascent United States of America realised that the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans furnished the country its greatest security, which lay in its distance from the only potential threat, Europe. It exploited this geo- strategic advantage, pursuing a policy of isolationism as far as Europe and its wars were concerned. And wars there were plenty as Europe engaged in endless attempts to maintain a balance between its component states. Alliances, like that between Russia, Austria and Prussia, came and went, and the continent was torn apart by regular conflict, most notably during the Napoleonic wars.

America chose to distance itself from this policy of alliances and remained neutral towards Britain and France. France was lord of the land, due to the superiority of its army, while Britain ruled the sea thanks to the strength of its navy. America left the two to fight it out like roosters without allying itself to either. The strategy was successful, and America exploited its distance from the European threat to expand.

America annexed Florida, Texas, Mexico, Alaska and Louisiana, then all the land west of the Mississippi. It gained power without expending any -- which was convenient since it had little to begin with.

What is surprising is that it expanded its area without enlarging its army which, initially at least, was limited by Congress to 25,000 men and a small naval fleet. As late as 1890, America was in the 14th place in international league tables in terms of the size of its armed forces, and its navy was weaker than that of Italy. Yet its industrial production was 13 times that of Italy.

A policy of isolationism and limited expenditure on arms allowed America to focus on developing its productive base. By 1885 its industrial production had outstripped that of Britain, and by the end of the 19th century its consumption of oil had surpassed that of Germany, France, Austria, Russia, Japan, and Italy. Its population doubled thanks to immigration.

The newly born republic could not remain isolated forever and was soon ready to take on an international role. President Theodore Roosevelt declared that America had a voice in global politics. The time had come, he declared, to "view our national security from a global perspective."

"The breadth of the two oceans is not enough to hold back the reach of America. Life is a struggle for survival and the strongest and fittest win, as Darwin said. What a nation cannot protect through its own ability international forces cannot protect. It is better for our policy to be like that of Frederick the Great and Bismarck rather than that of Wilson. If I had to choose between a policy of milk and water and of steel and blood I would choose the latter."

America, then, came to believe in flexing its muscles only after it had developed them. Before that it had used isolationism to protect its domestic base so that it could strengthen it into a stable launching pad for its international ambitions.

Not that I am suggesting that in building our nation we opt for either isolation or the arrogance of force. Such a policy is no longer tenable in the face of globalisation. I am simply saying that as it faces the future Egypt must decide in what direction it wants to head and then formulate the strategies that will enable it to pursue that journey. Where does Egypt want to be? How does it intend to get there?

Once the goal has been identified it will be possible to build the kind of state institutions that allow that goal to be reached. We need to develop a realistic strategy and timetable to get us to where we want to be. Without identifying the destination, let alone the means that will allow us to reach it, we will expend all our energies reacting to developments on a daily basis.

What is our strategy up to 2010 or 2020? If there is one it should be made public. If there is not then one must be devised, and today rather than tomorrow. The world is moving fast, while we continue to crawl like a tortoise.

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* Amin Howeidi is former Egyptian minister of defence and chief of general intelligence.
Source: Al Ahram, 6 - 12 October 2005
Visit the website at www.ahram.org.eg/english
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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ARTICLE 4
Beyond homesickness: Western wives in Egypt
Sara Khorshid

CAIRO — With Karen's niqab (veil) covering up most of her face, you can still see bitterness in her eyes. You can hear resentment in her voice as she tells her story.

She refuses to have her real name and nationality published, but she claims to speak on behalf of many Western women living in Egypt, married to, or divorced from, Egyptians.

After converting to Islam, Karen moved to Egypt with a few other women who shared with her idealistic ideas about living in a Muslim-majority country. They were soon confronted with the reality about the people's "ignorance of Islam" and deviation from its teachings.

Her first year as a foreigner on her own in Cairo was the most difficult. "I have never felt as lonely as I felt here in this city with 16 million people," she says. "Being a woman as well as a foreigner put me in a double disadvantage. It's a men's country, [where] men don't take women seriously ... and tend to take advantage of them."

She decided she couldn't stay in Egypt unless married and she accepted a marriage offer by an Egyptian man, a decision that she regrets. "Marriage itself is difficult, cross-cultural marriage is more difficult, and when you don't understand the other's culture, you have a third degree of difficulty."

Cultural differences resulted in her divorce.

Egypt's culture, in Karen's opinion, is one of manipulation, not directness. "Egyptians are obsessed with covering their back. In the West we are direct because we have a system that covers us up." As a result, she says, "The [Egyptian] husband [of a Western woman] thinks, 'My wife is not respecting me' when all what she is doing is being direct."

Cultural differences made Karen feel "oppressed" in her marriage: "The Western woman enters the relationship on a 50-50 basis, whereas men in Egypt tend to be brought up to feel they are superior to the girls in the family.

"For example, she expects the husband to hold the baby while she cooks something, but men in Egypt don't accept that. They won't do what's qualified as 'women's work'."

"Yes they will," says Kris Johnson, speaking of her Egyptian husband, who gives her a hand when she needs assistance. They have lived in harmony for more than 11 years, proving that Karen's husband does not represent all Egyptian men.

"It's wrong to generalize," says Hawa Irfan, the head of the Cyber Counseling service of IslamOnline.net. "Within Egypt, the northern man differs from the southern man," then men differ from one city to another; and even inside Cairo, they differ from one area to another -- let alone personality differences apart from social environments.

Irfan, a foreigner living in Egypt herself, believes that a Western wife suffers when she sees herself "separate or different from the social system she has married into."

An American from Minnesota, Kris doesn't consider herself "foreign" in Egypt: "I have a dual personality. I am Egyptian here and American when I go to the States."

But she doesn't give up her own culture completely. "Inside, I am no longer American but I am not so Egyptian that I forget my country and my family.... Look at my kids: They are half and half."

The family live with two cultures in one house, taking pride in their ability to "combine the two cultures successfully."

To Kris, the key to a foreign woman's success in Egypt is conformity: "I have foreign friends in Egypt fighting against what they don't like; they end up feeling lost and frustrated. If you don't conform, you will be on the outside. If you don't go with the status quo in Egypt, you will be rejected." She points out that Egyptians refuse to cope with what's foreign, what they don't know.

The Western wife's success, says Irfan, depends, again, on "how she identifies with the social circle she has married into."

As strong family ties hold Egyptian society together, Western wives living in Egypt have to constantly deal with their in-laws. How the wife manages her relationship with her husband's family, shapes her marital life.

If she doesn't identify with the social circle of her husband, says Irfan, "she ends up not only alienating herself, but also forcing her husband to make choices between her and the social circle he belongs to."

Karen's husband made his choice: "His family came first," she says. "If you think I am going to put you before my family, you are out of your mind," he once told her.

The case is different for the Irish wife Aisha Fitzpatrick. She maintains warm ties with her in-laws, who live with her on the same building. "They are very good, kind people.... They appreciate my coming from Ireland to live with their son here in Egypt," she says.

Her Belgian friend, Sumaya Mommerency, has a normal relationship with her husband's family, but she finds difficulty in convincing them with her opinion. "They think they know everything better and that I don't know anything while I am only different from them," Sumaya says.

Aisha advises her, "You just have to be yourself but in a nice, polite way."

Their American friend Umm Mustafa (Mustafa's mother) is not close to her husband's parents after living with them for 15 years. "We don't really talk." Umm Mustafa and her in-laws speak different languages and share no interests to talk about in the first place. "We are not enemies, but not friends," she says.

This group of Western women in Egypt seek refuge in a weekly gathering that strengthens their friendship. "It's nice to meet foreigners like myself and speak with them in English," says Aisha.

Their Canadian friend Cathy Hanafy agrees: "It's an excellent group that provides an excellent support system." Having lived in Egypt with her husband for more than 13 years, she has never had a true friendship with an Egyptian. "With Egyptian women, there seems to be something missing. I don't know what it is, but it's difficult for me to have a solid relationship with an Egyptian woman," she says.

The circle of Western women friends provides a social-support mechanism that prevents them feeling isolated, "which, in turn, impacts [their] marriage," says Irfan.

It gives Sumaya another advantage: "You can speak your mind about Egypt," she says.

She hates Egypt's bureaucracy, hypocrisy, and intolerance of what's foreign and different. She likes its hospitality and slow pace.

Cathy likes the Egyptians' friendliness. She misses Canada's nature and cleanliness.

Karen, who chose to remain in Egypt after her divorce, likes the Egyptian people's kindness. "I have never had my car break on the road, for example, without finding someone coming to help."

"There are a lot of good people here, especially from the low and middle classes," she adds. She likes the religious basis that bounds them. "If there is any problem, you can always refer to Islam and remind people of Allah. Even those who are not religious will know exactly what you are saying." It was her decision to wear niqab -- uninfluenced by her ex-husband -- out of religion-related motives.

Karen also likes the "healthy family structure" in Egypt. She encourages her kids to socialize with their father's family. "It's a support system that prevents them from feeling alone."

As for Kris, she loves Egypt's unexpectedness. "Everyday in Egypt brings something different, undetermined. Everyday can be exciting. Life in Egypt is an adventure. America is boring" with a routine way of life, she says.

Yet, she holds on to a "one-year rule" that enables her to visit her country: "I can't stay more than one year in Egypt, or I will find myself baring my teeth on the street and getting mad at everybody."

"I think Egyptians will love this one-year rule too," she says with a laugh.

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* Sara Khorshid is a staff writer for IslamOnline.net.
Source: Middle East Times, October 14, 2005
Visit the website at wwwww.metimes.com
Dstributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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ARTICLE 5
Nazar: Stories in pictures from the Arab world
Adla Massoud

NEW YORK — Powerful, striking, heartbreaking, symbolic and most of all discreet are the images taken by 18 Arab contemporary photographers on show in "Nazar: Photographs of the Arab World" at the Aperture Foundation's gallery in New York. Images that reflect on everything from the political to the documentary to portraits - urban landscapes and cityscapes subtly mirror the elusive and traditional yet contradictory life of the Middle East for a Western audience.

Organized by the Noordlicht Foto Festival, "Nazar" (the Arabic word for "seeing" or "insight"), is the largest collection of Arab photographs that has ever been exhibited in the United States.

The show is as complex and fascinating as the region it covers. Through the lens, the photographs reveal the small stories behind the 'breaking news' in an area that comprises 22 countries all sharing Arabic as a common language.

Farida Hamak's photo essay "Traces of War - Dahesh Palace - Beirut" focuses on the desperate plight of a forgotten Shiite community living in the dilapidated Dahesh Palace. In one of the photographs, "Fatma in her room with Oum Khalil," the subject's despair is emphasized with a quotation: "Here we squat for free. We laugh on the outside but we are very tired on the inside." According to Hamak, an Algerian photojournalist, "although the Lebanese authorities would like their 'guests' to leave, the Shiites have no other place to go."

Greta Torossian takes us into a world of destruction and reconstruction with her series "Real Visions." Torossian photographed Beirut in 1999. Her images show how often the classic ruins are swallowed up in modern urban planning and how a city gets a new personality through the merging of the past and present.

"In these things," she says, "the soul, the personality of a city can be found."

The hope revealed in Torossian's images of reconstruction is undermined in Rawi Hage's "Developing and the Underdeveloped." Hage who left Lebanon at a very young age and currently lives in Canada, believes little has changed in Lebanon since the French Mandate in 1920: the colonial elite has been replaced by a national elite. Hage converted his critique into a series of photographs in which he had a number of wealthy Lebanese families pose with their household employees to underline existing class differences. "The one becomes an element in the household of the other - a symbol of stature, cleanliness and beauty" he says.

Palestinian photojournalist, Ahmad Jadallah displays a far more over political agenda. He has taken thousands of pictures of life in the Gaza Strip and sees it as his mission to have the world "share the despair of the Palestinian people." His powerful color photographs "Home Base Gaza" capture incredibly tender, painful, violent moments of bereaved children and women, wounded men and dead people. Jadallah, who nearly lost his legs from a tank shell, won in 2003 first prize in the Daily News category of the World Press Photo competition.

In Lalla Essaydi's strikingly large-scale prints collectively titled "Converging Territories," seven women fill the frame entirely. The women depicted in the photographs become pages and chapters in Essaydi's story. They mark a grinding rebellion. Essaydi uses henna in calligraphic writing, marking the subject's body with this sacred Islamic art that is usually inaccessible to women. The photographs were taken over a four year period in the house where women from her family were sometimes locked up for weeks if they had disobeyed or stepped outside the rules of Islam. "Through my photographs, I am able to suggest the complexity of Arab female identity, as I have known it, and the tension between hierarchy and fluidity that are at the heart of Arab culture" she says.

Ultimately "Nazar" is an exhibition that cuts to the core of the preconceived and perceived ideas of life in the Middle East. Explored by television, mapped by Polaroid, invaded by home videos, photographs surround our daily lives. They appear gratuitously in magazines, newspapers, reports, family albums - the list is endless.

Yet in this powerful exhibition's reflection of the world, "Nazar" forces us to face the true nature of and reality of living in the Middle East. As much as in any moment in our past, today the Arab world needs that mirror. By seeing who we, as Arabs, are today, we can decide who we want to be tomorrow.

"Nazar: Photographs of the Arab World" is currently showing at Aperture's new Gallery in Chelsea, New York City.

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* Adla Massoud is a special contributor to the Daily Star from New York.
Source: The Daily Star, October 10, 2005
Visit the website at www.dailystar.com.lb
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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Posted by Evelin at October 19, 2005 07:37 PM