Islam is at the heart of an emerging global anti-hegemonic culture that combines diasporic and local cultural elements, and blends Arab, Islamic, black and Hispanic factors to generate "a revolutionary black, Asian and Hispanic globalization, with its own dynamic counter-modernity constructed in order to fight global imperialism. (say what!)
CNN host Rick Sanchez said he was "mystified" by a last minute decision by the McCain campaign to pull a Muslim grassroots organizer from appearing on his show.
The aide, Daniel Zubairi, had been scheduled to appear on Sanchez's mid-day program after he was caught on video talking down an anti-Muslim protester outside a McCain rally in Woodbridge, Virginia. But, even after telling the network that an interview was "good to go," the McCain shop pulled Zubairi at the last minute, leaving Sanchez in limbo on live TV.
"Wouldn't you think they would have wanted him to come on?" the CNN host would later tell the Huffington Post.
As I mentioned previously, the Murabitun take a pretty hardline stance against usury and the current system of paper money. So it shouldn't be surprising that their leader, Shaykh Dr. Abdalqadir as-Sufi has written a series of pieces on The Collapse of the Monetarist Society. Read Part 1 Read Part 2 Read Part 3
In the article An Exemplar of Reconciliation Salim Muwakkil shares his own thoughts on the passing of Imam W.D. Mohammed and the significance of his legacy. To provide a little bit of context, Muwakkil himself was a past member of the Nation of Islam (but his current religious beliefs are unclear).
I'm no economist but I've been thinking about the current crisis in the US credit markets along with the Wall Street bailout and have wondered how the situation could be viewed through an Islamic lens.
For example, many of the practices and approaches which are currently deemed responsible for the crisis (e.g. predatory lending) are clearly prohibited in Islam (see Islamic Perspective on Meltdown in American Markets by Liaquat Ali Khan).
This suggests that Shariah-compliant financial institutions could be insulated from some of the effects of the crisis and in fact, this seems to be supported empirically to some degree (see Asia's Islamic finance sector weathering storm well)
I also wonder if some of the more radical voices (like members of the Murabitun who hold that U.S. paper currency is based on usury and advocate bringing back the Islamic dinar) will also gain support in the wake of the crisis.
Is it just me or are more and more communities deciding to use "calculation" to determine the start and end of Ramadan? (See moonsighting.com for more articles)
This is how Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin described Barack Obama's win over Hillary Clinton to political colleagues in a restaurant a few days after Obama locked up the Democratic Party presidential nomination.
According to Lucille, the waitress serving her table at the time and who asked that her last name not be used, Gov. Palin was eating lunch with five or six people when the subject of the Democrat's primary battle came up. The governor, seemingly not caring that people at nearby tables would likely hear her, uttered the slur and then laughed loudly as her meal mates joined in appreciatively.
"It was kind of disgusting," Lucille, who is part Aboriginal, said in a phone interview after admitting that she is frightened of being discovered telling folks in the "lower 48" about life near the North Pole.
Then, almost with a sigh, she added, "But that's just Alaska."
Racial and ethnic slurs may be "just Alaska" and, clearly, they are common, everyday chatter for Palin.
Besides insulting Obama with a Step-N'-Fetch-It, "darkie musical" swipe, people who know her say she refers regularly to Alaska's Aboriginal people as "Arctic Arabs"—how efficient, lumping two apparently undesirable groups into one ugly description—as well as the more colourful "mukluks" along with the totally unimaginative "f**king Eskimo's," according to a number of Alaskans and Wasillians interviewed for this article.
Wow. I thought things were already pretty bad back in April when I did my post: mccain, racism and religious bigotry. But the right wing has been able to sink to new depths.
So why doesn't the multi-faceted, multi-actor McCain-Palin race/racism story get the same kind of sensationalistic coverage that the Rev. Wright story got?
From The Manrilla Blog, here is, Imâm W. D. Mohammed and The Third Resurrection, an article by Dr. Sherman Abd al-Hakim Jackson on the passing of Imam W.D. Mohammed. The piece discusses some of the distance and separation between Imam Mohammed's community and the rest of the Blackamerican Sunni community (along with the larger immigrant-dominated Sunni Muslim community in America)
Here is a collection of links on Imam W.D. Mohammed and his passing. The numbered links are borrowed shamelessly from Akram's Razor. But the first half-dozen or so are "extra".
Blogger and Middle East Affairs expert, Juan Cole has a couple of interesting sets of remarks on controversial Republican Vice-Presidential Candidate, Sarah Palin.
Eyewitness: "No Way it was Rhetorical." addresses Sarah Palin's repeated inquiries into removing "objectionable" books from the public library (along with a few other aspects of her administration in Alaska.
For a while now I've been thinking of trying to put together a post on the range of Islamic views regarding abortion (which is actually more liberal than the standard Catholic/Evangelical position). Until then, I'll just share what Juan Cole wrote:
The GOP vice-presidential pick holds that abortion should be illegal, even in cases of rape, incest or severe birth defects, making an exception only if the life of the mother is in danger. She calls abortion an "atrocity" and pledges to reshape the judiciary to fight it. Ironically, Palin's views on the matter are to the right of those in the Muslim country of Tunisia, which allows abortion in the first trimester for a wide range of reasons. Classical Muslim jurisprudents differed among one another on the issue of abortion, but many permitted it before the "quickening" of the fetus, i.e. until the end of the fourth month.
Thanks to Netflix I finally finished seeing the second season of Sleeper Cell (definitely less engaging and realistic than the first). The first season was kept going by the conflicting challenges faced by the protagonist (Darwyn) to do his job as an FBI agent and to hold on to his integrity as a Muslim all while not blowing his cover. In the second season, Darwyn's faith was de-emphasized and the pressure to maintain his cover was less intense (since he had established his credibility as a terrorist in the first season). So now, after simply doing his job, Darwyn seems primarily motivated by his affection for the two (white) women in his life, his handler and his girlfriend. As I said before, Traitor was a lot more interesting to watch.
Before I start this poem, I'd like to ask you to join me In a moment of silence In honour of those who died in the World Trade Center and the Pentagon last September 11th. I would also like to ask you To offer up a moment of silence For all of those who have been harassed, imprisoned, disappeared, tortured, raped, or killed in retaliation for those strikes, For the victims in both Afghanistan and the US
And if I could just add one more thing...
A full day of silence For the tens of thousands of Palestinians who have died at the hands of US-backed Israeli forces over decades of occupation. Six months of silence for the million and-a-half Iraqi people, mostly children, who have died of malnourishment or starvation as a result of an 11-year US embargo against the country.
Before I begin this poem,
Two months of silence for the Blacks under Apartheid in South Africa, Where homeland security made them aliens in their own country. Nine months of silence for the dead in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Where death rained down and peeled back every layer of concrete, steel, earth and skin And the survivors went on as if alive. A year of silence for the millions of dead in Vietnam - a people, not a war - for those who know a thing or two about the scent of burning fuel, their relatives' bones buried in it, their babies born of it. A year of silence for the dead in Cambodia and Laos, victims of a secret war .... ssssshhhhh.... Say nothing ... we don't want them to learn that they are dead. Two months of silence for the decades of dead in Colombia, Whose names, like the corpses they once represented, have piled up and slipped off our tongues.
Before I begin this poem.
An hour of silence for El Salvador ... An afternoon of silence for Nicaragua ... Two days of silence for the Guatemaltecos ... None of whom ever knew a moment of peace in their living years. 45 seconds of silence for the 45 dead at Acteal, Chiapas 25 years of silence for the hundred million Africans who found their graves far deeper in the ocean than any building could poke into the sky. There will be no DNA testing or dental records to identify their remains. And for those who were strung and swung from the heights of sycamore trees in the south, the north, the east, and the west...
100 years of silence...
For the hundreds of millions of indigenous peoples from this half of right here, Whose land and lives were stolen, In postcard-perfect plots like Pine Ridge, Wounded Knee, Sand Creek, Fallen Timbers, or the Trail of Tears. Names now reduced to innocuous magnetic poetry on the refrigerator of our consciousness ...
So you want a moment of silence? And we are all left speechless Our tongues snatched from our mouths Our eyes stapled shut A moment of silence And the poets have all been laid to rest The drums disintegrating into dust.
Before I begin this poem, You want a moment of silence You mourn now as if the world will never be the same And the rest of us hope to hell it won't be. Not like it always has been.
Because this is not a 9/11 poem. This is a 9/10 poem, It is a 9/9 poem, A 9/8 poem, A 9/7 poem This is a 1492 poem.
This is a poem about what causes poems like this to be written. And if this is a 9/11 poem, then: This is a September 11th poem for Chile, 1971. This is a September 12th poem for Steven Biko in South Africa, 1977. This is a September 13th poem for the brothers at Attica Prison, New York, 1971.
This is a September 14th poem for Somalia, 1992.
This is a poem for every date that falls to the ground in ashes This is a poem for the 110 stories that were never told The 110 stories that history chose not to write in textbooks The 110 stories that CNN, BBC, The New York Times, and Newsweek ignored. This is a poem for interrupting this program.
And still you want a moment of silence for your dead? We could give you lifetimes of empty: The unmarked graves The lost languages The uprooted trees and histories The dead stares on the faces of nameless children Before I start this poem we could be silent forever Or just long enough to hunger, For the dust to bury us And you would still ask us For more of our silence.
If you want a moment of silence Then stop the oil pumps Turn off the engines and the televisions Sink the cruise ships Crash the stock markets Unplug the marquee lights, Delete the instant messages, Derail the trains, the light rail transit.
If you want a moment of silence, put a brick through the window of Taco Bell, And pay the workers for wages lost. Tear down the liquor stores, The townhouses, the White Houses, the jailhouses, the Penthouses and the Playboys.
If you want a moment of silence, Then take it On Super Bowl Sunday, The Fourth of July During Dayton's 13 hour sale Or the next time your white guilt fills the room where my beautiful people have gathered.
You want a moment of silence Then take it NOW, Before this poem begins. Here, in the echo of my voice, In the pause between goosesteps of the second hand, In the space between bodies in embrace, Here is your silence. Take it. But take it all... Don't cut in line. Let your silence begin at the beginning of crime. But we, Tonight we will keep right on singing... For our dead.
Here's one of my favorite 9/11 poems. I've posted links to the text before but they have since expired. Here is a clip of an actual performance. To be honest, when I read the poem I imagine a more lively delivery in my head, but it is still powerful to see Suheir Hammad recite her own work. Here is "first writing since".
Associated Press: W.D. Mohammed dies; son of Nation of Islam founder 12 hours ago
CHICAGO (AP) — A nephew says Imam W.D. Mohammed, the son of Nation of Islam founder Elijah Muhammad, has died.
Sultan Muhammad says his uncle died Tuesday. He didn't immediately give further details but says the family will issue a statement.
W.D. Mohammed moved thousands of blacks into mainstream Islam after breaking with the group his father founded. He went by both Warith Deen Mohammed and Wallace Muhammad.
The Cook County Medical Examiner confirmed receiving the body of a 74-year-old Wallace Mohammed.
I caught part of the Republican Convention on Tuesday night and it reminded me of an old Boondocks strip:
Caesar [holding a newspaper]: Joe Lieberman say's he's the only Democrat who could beat George Bush. Huey: He's right - wait - did he say "beat" or "be"? Caesar: Beat. Huey: Oh, never mind. He's crazy
So today for the third week in a row I've unsuccessfully tried to see the local production of The Last Days of Judas Iscariot. (Once it was due to a misunderstanding about the date, but the other two times the show was canceled altogether). (Unfortunately today was the last potential show so I'm basically out of luck for now... maybe later on I'll write a reflection piece on the position of Judas in Islam)
Instead, this afternoon I went to a multiplex to catch Don Cheadle in Traitor. I don't want to give any spoilers but I will say that I mostly enjoyed the movie. In fact, except for the swearing and a few other bits, I might even recommend it as a great movie for Muslims to see in Ramadan. In many respects it covered some of the same ground as the television series Sleeper Cell... although Don Cheadle's performance was far superior to Michael Ealy's, and the other terrorist characters in Traitor (at least, those with lines) were more realistic and less cartoonish than those in Sleeper Cell.
Given the current political situation, I suspect that we have seen neither the last nor the best of such stories in tv and film. In fact, I think it would be amazing to see a film along the lines of No Way Out which had an African-American Muslim central character whose ultimate agenda wasn't as clear as the protagonists in the previous examples.
Wow, I don't feel ready. It will either start tomorrow or the day after. I think I need to do some thoughtful grocery shopping tonight along with some spiritual inventory-taking.
I should say that I still definitely plan on voting for Obama and I think that some of Heru's criticisms are a bit misdirected. On the other hand, I often think that the United States would be better off with with a parliament so that other voices (for example, like those represented by Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente) could have a voice in the government.
At the same time, it is a bit unclear to me how things would shake out after all the political dust settled under a parliament: There would be Greens and Socialists but there would also be Libertarians. The Democratic Party might clarify its status as a center-left labor party. But then Republicans would probably break-up into an economic and a social conservative group. And you'd also see a more vocal (possibly separate) role for anti-immigrant voices, the hawks, the theocrats and others. More later?
I don't believe that all those "Clinton supporters" are really defecting over to McCain... some of those have to be Republicans who are just trying to mess with the polls. After all, why wouldn't the angry progressive left-of-center women (other than Rosanne) go over to Cynthia McKinney & Rosa Clemente?
Shoot, if Hillary had gotten the nomination and I didn't feel cool about how it went down and I lived in a "safe" state, I would totally vote for them. An African-American woman for prez with an Afro-Latina for VP running on a totally progressive platform?
I just added a number of posts to Third Resurrection which you might like to check out (including the one below) and I'll probably put a few more up in a couple of days.
I recently discovered the blog Fire of Ashk which posted a clip of some Naqshbandi followers of Shaykh Nazim doing dhikr in a circle, where one excited brother starts to breakdance:
You may have heard of Jerome Corsi's Obama Nation which represent's his attempt to "Swiftboat" the Democratic presidential candidate. If so you might also be interested in checking out the pdf of Unfit for Publication which is a point-by-point rebuttal of many of the dishonest claims in Corsi's work. Corsi himself seems to be a pretty foul kind of bigot who compares Islam to a virus and makes a number of negative comments about "rag heads" and Catholics.
With the help of Netflix and the bargain bin at Blockbuster I've finally finished seeing the George Romero zombie oeuvre (Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead plus their remakes, along with the more recent Land of the Dead and Diary of the Dead).
In my opinion, the remake of Night of the Living Dead is the best of the lot, followed by Diary of the Dead. I think the original versions of Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead were better than their remakes. (The social commentary is more effectively delivered and I prefer the original "slow zombies" to the new "fast zombies").
Land of the Dead is somewhere in between. To be honest, it was a bit disappointing but mainly because I had hyped it up in my mind (it was the last Romero movie I had left to see and it was a bit hard to find) but still, it was an interesting allegory of the Bush administration (at least that was Romero's stated intention) and in some ways, quite Grenada-esque.
John Edwards isn't running for president and currently does not hold any public office while the media seems to be paying a lot of attention to this whole John Edwards adultery story (either that or I'm watching too much FOX) On the other hand, John McCain is running for president and does currently hold public office and yet there seems to be very little discussion of the character questions raised by McCain's treatment of his first wife.
And then on top of that you have Cindy McCain's own issues... I don't mean her drug addiction (which is basically a medical question) but stealing drugs from her own charity in order to get satisfy that addiction is a serious ethical lapse.
... but with all the news reports about Russia attacking Georgia, has anyone else been thinking about renting Red Dawn at the videostore? While we are on the subject, does anyone else remember the mini-series Amerika?
McCain: This is a clear choice that the American people have. I had the courage and the judgment to say I would rather lose a political campaign than lose a war. It seems to me that Obama would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign.
I was just thinking about this statement the other day. Even if we grant that McCain is willing to adopt unpopular stances regarding the Iraq Waq it definitely doesn't follow that he is making objective decisions based only on what is best for the United States. McCain is also a Vietnam veteran with a son currently in Iraq. So his emotional investment in the conflict is certainly sufficient to explain some of his positions as well.
1. After Obama'sFISA vote I'm finally starting to wish that McKinney had a chance of winning this election. Obama's still my choice but his vote took some of the shine off. Before this I basically viewed him as someone whose ideals I strongly agreed with, but who occasionally had to make some difficult pragmatic compromises with current political reality in order to get elected. Now I'm slightly less certain of where his real convictions lie.
2. This mantra that "the surge worked" seems really silly to me. From the perspective of anyone who opposed the Iraq War on philosophical or ideological grounds (e.g. because they are pacifists, because the conflict didn't satisfy their particular conditions for a just war, because they don't believe the US should be an empire, etc.) the surge's "success" just demonstrates our own technical proficiency in doing the wrong thing. It's like complimenting the DC sniper for his marksmanship.
I've previously mentioned Anida Yeou Esguerra on Planet Grenada (see the day after and anida esguerra. And also check out atomicshotgun.com). Here is a spoken word piece, "Morning Papers" from Marlon Unas Esguerra on Def Poetry Jam. I don't know about specific theologies but it is my understanding that both identify as Asian American and Muslim spoken word artists.
And, if you are in a time-and-zombie-killing mood, you might want to check out Sean T. Cooper's simple, but entertaining series of free online Boxhead Games.
Also, you may have seen some of the books in Open Court Publishing Company's series on Popular Culture and Philosophy which brings together a group of authors to philosophically unpack the content behind the Harry Potter novels, South Park and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I'm in the middle of checking out The Undead and Philosophy: Chicken Soup for the Soulless. (I'll probably do a review in part two of this blog entry once I'm done)
For some reason zombies and zombie movies have been more on my radar these days. Both Shaun of the Dead and the remake of Romero's Dawn of the Dead were on tv earlier today. And a few weeks back Land of the Dead (starring John Leguizamo) was on. And during the days in between I've been making ample use of the bargain DVD bins at Walmart and Blockbuster in order to further explore the genre.
To begin with, I would argue that George Romero's 1990 remake of his own Night of the Living Dead is actually one of the all-time greatest films (one of my favorites in any case). It is a well-crafted story centering around seven personalities who arrive at a farmhouse while being threatened by zombies all around them. In spite of the small cast (not counting the zombies of course) and minimal setting, Romero manages to pack a surprisingly rich set of interactions and relationships, invoking issues of race, gender, age, family into a story full of suspense, conflict, social commentary and irony.
Most subsequent zombie films are similar in the sense that they explore zombie outbreaks in the confines of a specific (even if large) area such as a shopping mall (Dawn of the Dead), an army base (Day of the Dead), in and around a graveyard/mortuary/medical warehouse (Return of the Living Dead) and an airplane (Flight of the Living Dead... which could have just as easily been called Zombies on a Plane).
An interesting exception is George Romero's Diary of the Dead. The somewhat self-referential movie follows a group of film students and their professor who were working on a horror picture out in the woods when they get news of the zombie outbreak. But since the group has at their disposal a Winnebago full of gasoline and video equipment, the characters are able to travel to different locations and settings sense of the impacts of the zombie phenomena. (a hospital, a militia headquarters, a middle-class home, an upper-class home, etc.) which gives a more varied and global sense of the scope of the zombie problem. In fact, unlike many zombie films which portray localized outbreaks caused by some mysterious virus or chemical spill, in the Diary of the Dead the cause leans more to the theological. The basic rules of life and death seemed to have changed all over the world simultaneously. As one of the characters in another Romero zombie film explains, "When there's no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth." In any case, Diary... contains a bit more social criticism and philosophical reflection than most of the other films in the genre, and I would argue that after Night... it is the second-best zombie film I've ever seen.
This isn't superdeep but it still weirded me out... I recently used Mapquest to get directions somewhere and on a whim clicked on "street view" to look at locations around my apartment. It turns out I could see a side view of my car online! It makes me wonder where the images are coming from. Black helicopters? Unmarked surveilance vehicles driving through my neighborhood Anyone know?
I just found out that they are making a film version of Dan Brown's angels and demons set for release next year. (It came up for me because an actress who plays one of the characters in Vanishing Point also has a role in Angels and Demons). In theological terms it probably won't be as controversial as The DaVinci Code, but apparently the Catholic Church has still refused to give permission for filming at the various historical Italian Churches which are part of the story's original setting.
I just finished watching the film Vantage Point last week. The central idea behind the film is how ones perception of reality radically depends on ones point of view. It demonstrates this idea by telling and retelling the story, from different perspectives, of a terrorist attack in Salamanca involving the President of the United States (POTUS).
The movie was good and generally entertaining. I just have a few comments and nits: 1. There was at least one discrepancy between the stories: During the iteration which follows Forrest Whitaker's character (an American tourist with marital problems back home), there are two secret service agents who appear at the end at a crucial moment but are absent from the corresponding scene in the final iteration of the story.
2. A second slight weakness in terms of the construction of the story: At a crucial point, the main terrorist leader who has clearly established his callous disregard for human life during the rest of the film, makes a surprise move actually swerves to avoid hitting a little girl.
3. Finally (and here is the "Grenada-esque" bit) maybe this is just as further example of how everything depends on perspective but the terrorists' motivations aren't made totally clear in the film. In one iteration, a member of the President's staff says that a group called Mujahideen Brigade with connections to Morocco is planning an attack on the President. But when we follow the terrorists, there are few, if any, clues to their ideology and all of them, even the sleeper agent, speak nothing but Spanish.
Over at Goatmilk, Wajahat Ali recently posted an in depth piece entitled: Fear of a Muslim Planet:Hip-Hop’s Hidden History by Naeem Mohaiemen on the historical connections between Islam and hip-hop. It made me want to do put together a sampling of Grenada posts on the same subject.
Thinking about Wanted for the last post reminded me of the following poem which gives a whole other spin to the superman myth:
Superman in the Nursing Home by Rusty Russell
It started with the flying. I just had to get away. I thought I was going crazy, hearing things – voices, sirens, water running behind walls, and the crying, someone always crying behind closed doors. It was that super hearing. I had it then. So some nights I'd fly out of the city until I couldn't hear them anymore, way out over the ocean where I could see the earth turning and the sun rising over the edge of the next day. Miraculous, made me feel like the only man on earth, but I wasn't a man. I was a freak. Then came all those years of changing clothes in dirty phone booths; chewing gum on the floor getting stuck in my pants, cigarette butts, and the smell of winos and urine. Sometimes the phone would ring while I was in there and it always gave me the creeps. Think about it – an anonymous telephone in the middle of the night on a deserted street and it's ringing for someone. Anyone. I never picked it up. I didn't want to hear it – lives pulled thin over a phone wire, stories of pockets with holes, bad breath whistling through bad teeth. What could I do? Someone sobbing and sloppy drunk in a bar somewhere picks up a phone, dials a number at random and gets Superman with his pants down in a phone booth. Believe it or not, this Superman thing started out modestly: no cape, no tights. Just lifting automobiles off trapped motorists, or catching falling babies before they hit the sidewalk. But it felt so good, the applause, the way the Earth girls looked at me, and it all got out of hand. I should have stopped after the first bank robbery. There would never be any cash reward in this for an indestructible guy like me. Just "Thanks, Superman," and the bankers smiling as I flew away. All the time they were thinking, "What a fucking tool," and they were right. Hell, it was all insured. If I'd quit then and done something with myself – forgotten this superhero thing and gotten a realtor's license or just a full time job with benefits, maybe I wouldn't be waiting for the TV hour here in the dayroom of the County Home. I never saved anyone from this. No one could. But in a way, it's true, what they say, that every moment lasts forever, because I still dream about those first nights when I was young, before it all started, flying out of Metropolis in my pajamas with the moon overhead and the silver ocean below, and the billboards left behind like a cry for help I can finally ignore.
While we are on the subject of graphic novels, I also recently read Wanted written by Mark Millar and which has also been adapted into a film staring James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman and Angelina Jolie.
I haven't yet seen the movie, but I have the definite impression that a large amount of the original story's significance has been lost in the transition from graphic novel to the film. The graphic novel takes place in a thinly-veiled analogue of the DC comic universe. The premise is that back in 1986 the various super villains came together and formed a unified army to decisively defeat the superheroes. In the present-day, super villains run the world with impunity through a secret society known as the Fraternity. (It is interesting to note that in a very small way, DC Comics moved in this direction when it made Lex Luthor president.) In the film, the secret society is made up of badass assassins who are still basically good but in the graphic novel, the organization is unambiguously evil. The main philosophical difference between the villains in the graphic novel lies in whether they are motivated by ruthless greed or a sadistic nihilism.
Professor Seltzer: Shouldn't that be every one's aspiration Mister Rictus? The loot without the leg breaking?
Mister Rictus: Personally I always saw the loot as just an added bonus, Professor Seltzer.
In addition to this basic moral vacuum, the other major element of the graphic novel which is presumably absent in the film is the rich relationship to the DC Comic Book mythos. One of the most interesting moments along these lines is an exchange between Wesley [the protagonist[ and Professor Seltzer [a clear Lex Luthor stand-in]:
Wesley: I don't understand how come this isn't in the history books? Even if there had been one superhero wouldn't that have been all over the news and stuff?
Professor Seltzer: Ah, but it wasn't enough just to beat them, Wesley. We had to strip them of their memories and make sure that even their greatest fans didn't remember them.
Such science might seem comical in this new world that we molded for you, but believe me when I saw that reality itself can be rewritten if we desire it, boy.
Seven dimensional imps [Mr. Mxyzptik] and alien super-computers [Brainiac] are among our ranks, you know. There's really nothing we can't do if we always stand united.
Now, your father's old nemesis [only referred to as "The Detective" but obviously Batman] is just a camp pudgy joke who signs autographs for money. The Warrior Princess [Wonder Woman] is a menopausal drunk who thinks she was a tv personality. And as for my own arch-foe [Superman]...
Well according to the newspapers, he needs someone to help him defecate now and spends his long dull days staring into space, trying to remember where it all went wrong. [the panel shows a man in a wheelchair sitting by a window, clearly recalling Christopher Reeve]
In other words, there is the strong suggestion (which is incredibly tragic when you stop to think about it) that Adam West, Christopher Reeve and Lynda Carter really are the defeated remnants of the heroes they portrayed on tv and film. (Along similar lines, the Vixen [a Catwoman stand-in] is definitely modelled on Halle Berry) So maybe the novel is meant to describe our own universe and we actually live in a world run by super villains?
In any case, based on the promotional material I've seen, the movie essentially ignores the comic book aspects of the novel. I wonder to what extent that was a freely-made creative decision and to what extent it was motivated by the likely legal hurdles due to copyright issues.
Basically, I expect that the movie will be an entertaining experience full of sci-fi/action candy but will be missing much of the mythological richness of the graphic novel.
I recently read Brian K. Vaughan's graphic novel Pride of Baghdad (art by Niko Henrichon) and was really impressed. The story is a political allegory with talking animals so it obviously screams to be compared to Animal Farm but it manages to give the Orwell classic a run for its money. The plot focuses on a group of lions (Zill, Safa, Noor and Ali) who escape from the Baghdad Zoo during a US bombing attack but from another perspective the novel is an engaging meditation on the meaning of freedom and autonomy in general, but especially in the context of modern-day Iraq. I definitely recommned.
I feel like I need a "reboot". I plan to work with Hamza Yusuf's booklet Agenda To Change Our Condition and see how it goes. There are some other texts I might want to add to that as well (Hanafi fiqh, Al-Ghazzali [1]) but this will be a good framework to start.
I've mentioned Umi before but after I found this piece and some of his photos online I thought it would be nice to revisit his work. As far as I can tell, he's currently a professor in California doing African-type studies.
Shades of Race in Contemporary Cuba by Umi Vaughan
As an African American man living in Cuba I am surprised and overwhelmed by the kaleidescope of names Cuban people use to describe race in their country, and I wonder what is to happen if and when American cultural influence fully invades Cuba again." I wrote this line in my field notes during a long stay on the island in 2002 and 2003 conducting anthropological research about popular music and Cuban society. Both Cuba and the U.S. are melting pots, where various racial and national sources feed the continual process of nation building and cultural production. In both places, because of the decimation of indigenous populations and the importance of African slave labor for European masters, the binary of European/African or black/white became key. In the struggle between these groups there was much pain, exchange, and creation. The contributions of other immigrant groups, while of great importance, only impact and destabilize but never displace the black/ white paradigm of race in America or Cuba. In Cuba's politics as well as its race matters I see a kinder, gentler take on the ways of an imperfect world, similar to our U.S. system, yet different. In these times of increased U.S. conservatism and international intervention, all with racial implications--some even predicting a U.S. invasion of Cuba--it is well to consider how people think and talk about race in Cuba with an eye to what it reveals about that nation. This also invites reflection about our own America.
Here in the U.S. African Americans understand color distinctions like blue black, red bone, high yellow, and honey brown, but our main distinction is between black and white. In Cuba these terms--blanco y negro--are joined by others like mulato, jabao, trigueZo, and moro, as well as a plethora of distinctions within and in-between these descriptions. Much more colorful and expressive than the quadroons and octoroons that live in the history of North American racial talk, revealing a mathematical conception of color and ethnicity, the Cuban terms rely on appearance, temperament, and intention (of the speaker) as well as express a clear hierarchy in which white is right and black...ya tú sabes/you know the rest. Nancy Morejón [1] asserts that "the Afro Cuban essence" exists and notes that the term "afrocubano" was coined by Fernando Ortiz [2] as part of a continuum balanced by "hispanocubano," referring to the predominance of African or Spanish elements in various aspects of Cuban culture. Ortiz elaborated the concept of transculturation in which two or more cultures come into contact, elements from each culture are lost, new forms are created, and a cultural product different from the ingredient parts is born. Cuban society and its race codes are interesting because they show great plurality and flexibility, underscoring the permeability of categories while at the same time reflecting origins in the institution of slavery, colonialism, and neocolonialism. Folks who would be considered simply black in the U.S. and subject to a monolithic racism, in Cuba fall into many shades of categorization in a society that has indisputably made great efforts toward equality on many levels. At the same time adelantar la raza, or to improve the race, does not refer to creating more cultural awareness or unified economic action on the part of people of color, but rather finding lighter-skinned partners to make lighter-skinned babies.
As in many other places in the world, there are many comely, dark chocolate to blue-black Africans in Cuba. Negro fino (refined), negro bonito (good looking), and negro serio (serious) are a few positive designations that acknowledge their clear African heritage and honor with respect the contributions of black Cubans like Antonio Maceo, Juan Gualberto Gomez, and Evaristo Estenoz to Cuban history. When negro fosforescente (coal black), negro bembón (big lipped black), negro fula (brother up to no good), negro verde (angry), mono (monkey), or negro palmao (broke black man) are used, negativity is being expressed in terms of undesirable, "ugly" African features, stereotypically black (mis)behavior, and social and economic underdevelopment. It is clear that Africa has permeated Cuban culture, in everything from the exquisite shades of skin, the rhythms of speech, and the nourishment from dance and music, cuisine, and worship; however, at the same time, elements that are too purely African, or that reveal the legacy of slavery (i.e., blacks' weaker economic position or shorter history of formal education) are rejected. It seems that positive evaluations of black are anomalies that disrupt the normal perception of black as bad, antisocial, inferior. Dynamic, talented blacks are sometimes referred to as blancos echados a perder (white folks gone to waste). Blacks, especially women, are said to be best suited for labor rather than love. Negrito is a common derogative diminutive. However, at the same time negro or negra is also a term of endearment regardless of your loved one's color.
There are also categories which fall in between and augment the main ones.
For example, very dark-skinned people with fine facial features (slim noses, pursed lips) and good hair are called moros--after the Moors who are present in Cuba's Spanish heritage. Sometimes in order to flatter someone, utilizing the subtle language of race, you might refer to them as moro when more accurately they should be described as negro. For example, one evening a gentleman approached me to sell several pairs of eyeglasses in very poor condition; in order to butter me up for this hard sell, he immediately began calling me moro. On another occasion I was being summoned by someone and did not realize they were talking to me because they kept calling me, "hey you, mulato!"
Mulato or mulata is a vague term that refers to a mixture between black and white, giving the offspring the best of both worlds, passion and soul, pelo bueno (good hair) and fine features. Fair-skinned mulatos are called mulato claro (light), mulato blanconazo (big white mulato), or adelantao (advanced/evolved) while the darker-skinned can be called mulato oscuro or mulato con trova (with soul, a little more of Africa). In the black/white continuum, the mulato or mulata are not simply median, but are said to be la combinación perfecta, with a mystique of sensuality and beauty that is evoked to represent Cuba itself. Cuba is known by many por sus habanos y sus mulatas (for its cigars and its women). There are ladies in La Habana drinking Mulata brand rum as they speak of this or that tremendo mulato (hunk/tenda). The main character in one of Cuba's most significant works of literature from the nineteenth century, Cirilo Villaverde's Cecilia Valdés, is a beautiful mulata. Mulatas and mulatos are said to be good for sex.
Jabao is another category. A kind of median, like the mulato, however stripped of the idyllic qualities of sensuality and beauty. Jabaos usually have fair skin with kinky hair and clear African facial features (wide noses, thick lips, etc.). Some have reddish or even blond hair and are said to be la candela, extremely mischievous and picaresque. It is said that los jabao no tienen raza (jabaos have no race) and that they do not mix well (genetically) with other races. Los jabaos son malos (jabaos are bad) is another often heard phrase.
In the barrios of Havana you will inevitably find someone who responds immediately to the nickname chino or china. The Chinese who started entering Cuba in 1847 as indentured servants to augment slave labor established long lasting communities and left their genetic legacy. During the slavery era Chinese men reproduced with free black women and mulatas because steps were taken to keep separate the Chinese laborers and the slaves. Anybody with slightly slanted eyes is likely to be called chino, identified with this early mixture or that which took place as the Chinese continued to migrate as business people, ambassadors, and students throughout the 1920s and 30s.
White folks in Cuba would not really be considered white by U.S. racial standards. They are slightly dark, tawny, marked by the influence of the Moors on their Spanish ancestors and by over 500 years of sharing the island of Cuba with descendants of Africa and more recently arrived Chinese. This phenotype is preferred by many when it comes to attractiveness and social acceptability, although it does imply the clumsiness and lack of grace/rhythm attributed to whites in the U.S. And yes, the O.J. Simpson complex does exist, in which success and true influence is marked by access to white partners. Whites are best for love and marriage. Still, the Afro-Cuban essence rules over Cuba. Most people there would agree that, in the words of Cuba's national poet Nicolas Guillén, Cubans are "todos mezclados" (all mixed up).
Umi Vaughan is an artist and experimental ethnographer who explores dance, creates photographs and performances, and writes about African Diaspora culture. [...] He studies popular music and performance in Cuba in relation to social transformation. He has made many visits to the island and resided there from June 2002 to October 2003, conducting research for his dissertation and forthcoming book ("Timba Brava: Maroon Music in Cuba").
1. Nancy Morejón, "Afro-Cuban Identity: Cuba and the Afro-Cuban Essence: A Metaphor?," in Cuba on the Verge, ed. Terry McCoy (New York: Bulfinch Press, 2003).
2. Fernando Ortiz, Cuban Counterpoint: Tobacco and Sugar (Durham: Duke University Press, 1995).
There is within the spiritual universe of Islam a dimension which may be called "Abrahamic Pythagoreanism" or a way of seeing numbers and figures as keys to the structure of the cosmos and as symbols of the archetypal world and also a world which is viewed as the creation of God in the sense of the Abrahamicmonotheisms. It is this possibility within the intellectual universe of Islam and not any external influences that enabled Islam to develop a philosophy of mathematics akin to the Pythagorean-Platonic tradition of antiquity [...]
-Seyyid Hossein Nasr, from the Forward of Islamic Patterns by Keith Critchlow
So I recently picked up the book Islamic Patterns. I've owned it for a while, what I'm saying is that I'm making another attempt to get through it. It contains some interesting discussions of the philosophical principles which lay behind much of the geometric artwork in the Islamic world. To be honest, it is taking some effort to get through. What I'm finding is that my own mathematical training makes it hard for me to really see where Critchlow is coming from. There is definitely a gap between the typical academic concept of what a number is or what geometry is about and the Pythagorean notion of the same.
Recently I've been thinking in general terms about different kinds of mathematics: partly with the hopes of developing an innovative curriculum for my students next year, partly for my curiosity and edification, partly with hopes of putting together some kind of article or document, and possibly in order to develop a career as not just a mathematician but a numerologist of sorts.
One route (exemplefied by the song "Mathematics") is to extract the mathematical content of our everyday lives with an eye towards social relevance. Another route would be to take a more metaphysical path (through the I Ching, sacred geometry, enneagrams, and similar constructions). We'll see how it goes.
[Mos Def] Booka-booka-booka-booka-booka-booka Ha hah You know the deal It's just me yo Beats by Su-Primo for all of my peoples, negroes and latinos and even the gringos
Yo, check it one for Charlie Hustle, two for Steady Rock Three for the fourth comin live, future shock It's five dimensions, six senses Seven firmaments of heaven to hell, 8 Million Stories to tell Nine planets faithfully keep in orbit with the probable tenth, the universe expands length The body of my text posess extra strength Power-liftin powerless up, out of this, towerin inferno My ink so hot it burn through the journal I'm blacker than midnight on Broadway and Myrtle Hip-Hop past all your tall social hurdles like the nationwide projects, prison-industry complex Broken glass wall better keep your alarm set Streets too loud to ever hear freedom sing Say evacuate your sleep, it's dangerous to dream but you chain cats get they CHA-POW, who dead now Killin fields need blood to graze the cash cow It's a number game, but shit don't add up somehow Like I got, sixteen to thirty-two bars to rock it but only 15% of profits, ever see my pockets like sixty-nine billion in the last twenty years spent on national defense but folks still live in fear like nearly half of America's largest cities is one-quarter black That's why they gave Ricky Ross all the crack Sixteen ounces to a pound, twenty more to a ki A five minute sentence hearing and you no longer free 40% of Americans own a cell phone so they can hear, everything that you say when you ain't home I guess, Michael Jackson was right, "You Are Not Alone" Rock your hardhat black cause you in the Terrordome full of hard niggaz, large niggaz, dice tumblers Young teens and prison greens facin life numbers Crack mothers, crack babies and AIDS patients Young bloods can't spell but they could rock you in PlayStation This new math is whippin motherfuckers ass You wanna know how to rhyme you better learn how to add It's mathematics
Chorus: scratched by DJ Premier (repeat 2X)
"The Mighty Mos Def.." "It's simple mathematics" -> Fat Joe "Check it out!" "I revolve around science.." "What are we talking about here?"
.. "Do your math" -> Erykah Badu (2X) .. .. "One.. t-t-two.. three, four" -> James Brown .. .. "What are we talking about here?" ..
[Mos Def] Yo, it's one universal law but two sides to every story Three strikes and you be in for life, manditory Four MC's murdered in the last four years I ain't tryin to be the fifth one, the millenium is here Yo it's 6 Million Ways to Die, from the seven deadly thrills Eight-year olds gettin found with 9 mill's It's 10 P.M., where your seeds at? What's the deal He on the hill puffin krill to keep they belly filled Light in the ass with heavy steel, sights on the pretty shit in life Young soldiers tryin to earn they next stripe When the average minimum wage is $5.15 You best believe you gotta find a new ground to get cream The white unemployment rate, is nearly more than triple for black so frontliners got they gun in your back Bubblin crack, jewel theft and robbery to combat poverty and end up in the global jail economy Stiffer stipulations attached to each sentence Budget cutbacks but increased police presence And even if you get out of prison still livin join the other five million under state supervision This is business, no faces just lines and statistics from your phone, your zip code, to S-S-I digits The system break man child and women into figures Two columns for who is, and who ain't niggaz Numbers is hardly real and they never have feelings but you push too hard, even numbers got limits Why did one straw break the camel's back? Here's the secret: the million other straws underneath it - it's all mathematics
As usual, Salim Muwakkil is on target (so to speak). It just makes me wonder what the Middle East would look like if all nations were looked at symmetrically in terms of their compliance to the various international agreements, treaties and declarations.
So I "went to dhikr" yesterday. I use quotes because in reality dhikr should be part of the basic punctuation of Muslim life so the idea of going to a specific location where dhikr can occur ir arguably rather odd. More specifically, I went to a gathering of the Shadhili tariqat [2] for group dhikr. The people were nice but I had to wrestle a bit with my "inner Taliban" since the people there were into "Sufism" but I wasn't sure if they were ready to say that they were "Muslim" or not. If I continue with them its just going to be something I'm going to have to work on somehow.
Coincidentally, I also discovered the following short film yesterday called Ms. Judgements. The people at dhikr were dressed like "gypsies" so I guess I'd identify most with the person right after:
This past Sunday, Obama gave a sermon on fatherhood at the Apostolic Church of God in Chicago. And can I say how deep it is to see a candidate actually give a sermon as opposed to merely pandering to Evangelicals? I'm also sure that Obama is absolutely relieved to be able to speak for himself in a church instead of having others speak on his behalf (and have the media assume he approves the message). In this sermon, Obama manages to strike a tone somewhere between government-responsibility and community-responsibility which I think works really well. I'm curious about how it will play among the "religious right" and the white "values voters"?
The clip from Audio Intefadeh seems to suggest Mark Gonzalez but that's not totally clear to me. In any case, he is a brilliant spoken word artist who is definitely in solidarity with the Palestinian cause and is trying to make a difference through his words and actions.
The Ghetto nerd came to America at age 6 with his impoverished Dominican family, like so many others before them, yearning to taste the “American Dream.” The Ghetto nerd suffered the brutal jabs and blows of the “American reality” as his family faced one epic tragedy after another. The Ghetto nerd immersed himself in literature, inhaling popular culture like air, snorting fantasy and science fiction like cerebral cocaine, and drowning himself in the wondrous, exaggerated worlds of comic books. ... A month before winning the Pulitzer, I sat with Junot Diaz, the Ghetto Nerd himself, for a revealing and candid discussion about the devastating “curse” and emotional scars of a tyrannical dictatorship – in this case that of Dominican Republic’s horrific General Trujillo – on an immigrant, American family; the mainstream “whitewashing” of “brown” experiences; the power of popular culture and comics books to express one’s personal narrative; the arrogance of “Whiteness”; and the emergence of a multicultural voice reflecting an ethnic, “All American” America.
This is an open letter to those white women who, despite their proclamations of progressivism, and supposedly because of their commitment to feminism, are threatening to withhold support from BarackObama in November. You know who you are.
I've linked to Wajahat Ali's blog before but I haven't checked him out in a while. It turns out I've missed a lot of good stuff. Here is an interview between Wajahat Ali and Islamic scholar Seyyid Hossein Nasr (who is also part of the Perennialist tradition we've discussed before here on Planet Grenada).
