Roits in France viewed from Belgium

The suburbs burning of hopelessness, by Mohsin Mouedden

(published in Centrum Voor Islam In Europa)

"France's suburbs are burning of hatred, but above all of hopelessness... Revolt has never have so much support ... after more than 11 days of revolts, the French Government still seems to be absent and powerless...

We forget that the sparkle of these revolts is the atrocious death of two young minors carbonised by a central EDF. The arrogant ideas of Minister Sarkozy as well as the gassing of the mosque Bilal (without official apology from the government) have done nothing more than pouring oil over fire.

The populist politics of security of the Minister of Home Affairs, Nicolas Sarkozy, based on fear of the "young", of the "immigrant", of "islamist" and of "terrorist" has not helped, even though Sarkozy is not the only one responsible of this apartheid policy...

The Minister shows an almost-surreal realism on some points (about the file of double penalty, he boosts also the positive discrimination and a less dogmatic secularism, even though it was the catalyse of the ban on the veil.)

Since the 1980s' "Don't touch my buddy" and the anti-racist demonstration of the socialists, the French people of immigrant origin living in the suburbs have seen their already poor living standard conclusively shattered in pieces.

Ghettoïsation, discrimination in employment, racism, locative and social apartheid. The suburbs have become disconnected blocks within France and her chimeric ideals of equality, liberty and fraternity..." (read more, in French only)

P.S. The translation into English is unofficial, of my sole responsibility.

Categories: Discrimination, Europe, Inequity, Poverty, Race,

Riots in France

So Mr. Nicola Sarkozy, the French Minister of Home Affairs, has produced two solutions to save France from its current trouble - first is imposing a curfew, now second is "expeling the foreign trouble makers out of our terriotories". He said today:-

"J'ai demandé aux préfets que les étrangers, qui sont en situation régulière ou irrégulière, qui ont fait l'objet d'une condamnation, soient expulsés sans délai de notre territoire, y compris ceux qui ont un titre de séjour", a-t-il précisé. "Quand on a l'honneur d'avoir un titre de séjour, le moins que l'on puisse dire c'est que l'on n'a pas à se faire arrêter en train de provoquer des violences urbaines", extracts from M. Sarkozy demande l'expulsion des étrangers impliqués dans les violences" urbaines, 9 November 2005, Le Monde

His discourse of security is a perfect incarnation of the ideology of the current French government - elitist, discriminatory, racist, arrogant. For them, the best ways to tackle the violence caused by socio-economic marginalisation, non-integration and discrimination is more exclusion and counter-violence.

What road France is going down now is still to be seen. In Aljazeera.net, the article "The corrosive division in France" by Soumaya Ghannoushi is a succint summary of the trouble France is in now.

Below is the extracts of another excellent analysis "L'ÉTAT D'URGENCE VU D'ALGÉRIE. La France rattrapée par son passé", by Eric Glover published in Courrier International on 9 november

"Rattrapée par sa propre histoire, la France puise dans une législation qu'elle a mise en place dans l'urgence de la guerre de Libération pour affronter des événements qui la submergent un demi-siècle après", s'indigne le quotidien algérien Liberté. Le Quotidien d'Oran fait le même constat: "Le gouvernement français a fouillé dans ses cartons pour exhumer une loi qui sent la naphtaline et les relents de l'Algérie française."

"Face à la débandade d'un ordre républicain en déliquescence, Chirac a frappé fort. Aussi bien les imaginations que les esprits", estime l'éditorialiste du journal. "La violence urbaine, portée par des ados encagoulés, a donné lieu à une riposte qui semble disproportionnée. La loi de 1955 va donner plus de moyens à des maires dépassés – instaurer le couvre-feu dans leurs quartiers – et permettre à la police d'agir comme face à des criminels. Chirac, qui n'a pas opéré de transfert du pouvoir judiciaire vers l'armée comme lors de la guerre d'Algérie, a décidé de démontrer aux Français qu'on ne badine pas avec l'ordre républicain et la sécurité."

...

Le Quotidien d'Oran juge que "cette loi vise à donner à Villepin, Sarkozy et ses flics toute latitude pour agir contre des bandes de jeunes qui ont bouleversé la France et porté un sérieux coup à son image. Mais cette loi, exceptionnelle dans sa formulation, ne sera appliquée que douze jours. Chirac compte ramener le calme d'ici là dans les banlieues et dissuader la jeunesse frustrée d'étendre son action à d'autres villes de France." Liberté note d'ailleurs que "sentant toute la difficulté de rétablir l'ordre en douze jours, le président français réunira au début de la semaine prochaine un nouveau Conseil des ministres où sera présenté un projet de loi permettant la prorogation de l'état d'urgence". "Toutefois, cette fois-ci le gouvernement est tenu de passer par le Parlement pour pouvoir proroger l'état d'urgence", signale le journal.

"Face à la 'racaille', le gouvernement français veut montrer qu'il est déterminé. Même en mai 1968, il n'avait pas dégainé de loi aussi répressive", reprend Le Quotidien d'Oran. "Rien ne dit que ce coup de massue de l'exécutif, accueilli diversement par la classe politique française, va régler le fond du contentieux existant entre un Etat libéral et sécuritaire et une jeunesse dés?uvrée et rancunière. Comme un mauvais thérapeute, Chirac lutte contre un traumatisme en recourant à une décision traumatisante. L'adepte de la 'fracture sociale' qu'il est vient de perdre davantage que son flegme en décidant de sévir de manière spectaculaire, tout en sachant qu'on ne tire pas sur une mouche avec un bazooka."

Et c'est Liberté qui donne alors une touche très algérienne aux événements de France. "Ces jeunes des banlieues, Français faut-il le rappeler, expriment aussi dans leur colère toute la souffrance de leurs parents venus vendre leur jeunesse et leur énergie pour construire la France sans jamais recevoir en retour une quelconque reconnaissance." Pour le quotidien, "la France riche et bien-pensante, la France d'en haut, comme disent certains de ses politiciens, est rattrapée par son passé. Son passé peu glorieux de puissance d'occupation."

Et Liberté d'insister sur l'importance pour ces jeunes de "la loi du 23 février 2005, qui fait l'éloge de la destruction de leur pays d'origine par le colonialisme français". Cette loi adoptée par le Parlement français a provoqué une controverse – notamment en Algérie – car il lui est reproché de faire l'éloge de la colonisation et de rester muette sur les sévices et les crimes dont furent victimes les populations des territoires colonisés. "Spoliés de leur mémoire, stigmatisés par leur identité, exclus parce que descendants d'anciens colonisés, craints parce que différents de peau et de culte, ces jeunes que les ministres de la République française qualifient de 'voyous' et de 'racaille' ont répondu à la violence sournoise des lois et des codes sociaux par une violence dévastatrice et spectaculaire", continue Liberté.

Et de mettre en garde: "Ce n'est pas certes quelques millions d'euros qui vont éteindre le feu et effacer des décennies d'humiliation. Pourtant les pouvoirs publics avaient reçu plusieurs signaux d'alerte. L'activisme islamiste dans ces cités dites sensibles en faisait partie. Les islamistes radicaux ne recrutent, les pays musulmans ne le savent que trop, que dans les zones de non-droit et dans le sillage de l'injustice. Mais une vision à la limite du racisme a amalgamé islam et intégrisme pour éluder les difficultés réelles de ces Français pas tout à fait comme les autres."
Categories: Discrimination, Europe, Inequity, Poverty, Race,

El sol andaluz #7: Teterías

If China town means a street full of Chinese stores and restaurants, Granada has a Moroccan town full of teterías (Moorish tea rooms) and souvenir stores.

Probably because Granada was the last Muslim outpost in Spain lasting until 1492, this Arabic tea culture is much more visible there. You may find a tetería or two in other towns of Andalucia too, but you would really have to search for it.

Since the love for tea is something ancient and common as much for the Arabs as for us Chinese, the teterías street is one of my favourite hang-out place. Cuddled by the dim light, fragrance of the tea, shisha and incense, some Moroccan tunes or even with the company of a few musicians playing to amuse themselves if you got lucky ...

You may create a tea corner like this at home, but the ambiance of tetería is not replicable.

To read more on the teterías in Granada

Categories: Culture, Europe, Islam, History, Travel

Iran in diplomatic shit

Is Iran hardliner president Ahmadinejad's comments about "erasing Israel from the map" calculated diplomacy or simply ideologically driven? Kaveh L Afrasiabi said in his recent article Iran, Israel: The good, the bad and the ugly:

"Calculated or not (to protect Syria?), Iran is undermining itself in the battle for world public opinion with respect to its right to nuclear technology, by making official statements that kindle the images of another Holocaust."

Afrasiabi also discussed about Iran's foreign poliy position regarding Palestine and Israel in the past few decades. He also stressed Iran's complex, part-Islamic, part-pre Islamic and specifically "Persianist" history and identity.

Categories: Diplomacy, Iran, History, Palestine

El sol andaluz #6: Favourite meat

Jamón serrano (dried ham) is definitely one of my favourite food in Spain. Of course it is also very popular among the Spaniards.

Pock is the most popular meat in Southern Spain, while lamb and beef are more popular in the central and northern part of Spain.

So you think that the last five hundred years of catholic rule has managed to change the eating habit inculcated during eight hundred years of Muslim rule? Not exactly, it was even more "efficient" - it was probably changed completely within fifty years after the catholic kings took control of the peninsula.

Firstly, there was the expulsion of Muslims (Jews too) to northern Africa once the peninsula turned catholic.

Then those who stayed must convert to be catholic, who became what they called "Morisco". And in order to show that they have really renounced Islam and not practicing it secretly, they must eat pork.

Categories: Culture, Europe, History, Islam, Travel

El sol andaluz #5: Soul of Granada

The soul of Granada is undoubtedly Alhambra, which incarnates its eight full hundred years of Muslim past. Without Alhambra, Granada would not be Granada.

Alhambra is one of the best reserved monuments representing the peak period of Islamic architecture where arabesque, geometry and calligraphy were used most lavishly and masterly. It was the first Islamic architecture I visited since I started to learn Arabic. And I felt like everything around me was speaking to me aloud! Probably like how a mathematician feels when in Greece.

The most repeated verse was “There is no victor except God” - Wa lâ ghâlib illâ ‘allâh (I could not upload the photo but will try again later) But of course there were much more I could not decipher partly because of the calligraphy and partly simply because I still have way to go in my learning.

I first went to Alhambra last December with a Muslim friend who had grown up in Europe and had never practiced his religion. I cannot be sure whether Alhambra has made any profound change in him. Well, now he is doing Ramâdan for the first time in his life.

There are so much written about Alhambra, I just want to put names right here. Just the most important ones:

Alhambra (Al-hamrâ’) – The Red Palace.

Generalife (Jinnah al A’rif) – Garden (Heaven) of the Architect (God). It is absolutely unforgivable to pronounce it as “general life”.

Some links:

History, descriptions and pictures on Alhambra and Granada
http://www.alhambradegranada.org
http://www.granada360.com/index.html

Islamic art and architecture
http://www.islamicarchitecture.org/index.html
http://islamicart.com/index.html
http://www.islamic-council.org/redirect/mosques.htm

Categories: Culture, Europe, Islam, Travel

El sol andaluz #4: Arab baths

Every time I go to Andalusia, I never missed the Arab baths – be it the historical remnants or the new commercial establishments.

There was a saying in ancient Al-Andaluz that a beggar would rather spend his last cents on soap than on food. Contrary to the period before and after, people of the Muslim Spain loved hygiene. Rich families built elaborated baths at home, while common people frequented public baths which were very popular and numerous at that time.

My first encounter with the ancient Arab baths was in Alhambra. The natural light penetrating through the star-shaped holes at the ceiling captured me and brought me back through centuries to the time when the Nazari rulers relaxed sitting in the resting hall within his baths, with the company of his wives and his musicians playing his favourite melodies.

Another well-preserved ancient Arab baths I visited was in the Alcázar of Jerez de la Frontera. There we can see clearly marked the three bathrooms of a proper Arab bath at that time – starting with the hot-water hall, the temperate water hall, and the cold- water hall. I heard that the one in Jaen is also very well preserved.

But in my encounter with the modern Arab bath in Sevilla, I got to taste how it feels like to dip myself in icy cold water after a hot bath – feeling the omnipresence of every vein under my skin and the blood running through them – similar to but stronger than the dipping after a sauna. That establishment was a fancy one, apart from the traditional three- temperature baths, it was also equipped with separate rooms for the Japanese style jakuchi, Hammam, and aromatic bath after massage.

The Arab bath in Granada that I tried was less sophisticated, or you may say nearer to the original model. But still, Arab baths, massage, and a mint tea and a smoke afterwards have become a ritual of mine that I would never missed whenever there is a chance.

Categories: Culture, Europe, History, Travel

El sol andaluz #3: Omeya of Spain

After the revelation of the Qur'an to Mohammad and the four caliphs "rachidun" (well-guided successors of the Prophet), the Omeya dynasty ruled Arabia from Damascus for ninety years before it was dethroned by the Abassid. The whole royal family was massacred by the Abbasid rulers, except the young Abd-al-Rahman I, who escaped to the Iberia peninsula and established anew the Omeya rule there.

That is how I have learnt from my classes and books. But some pieces of the puzzles had been staying in my head for some time – how such a kid could have spared himself from the massacre? Even more amazing to me was how this kid could have brought back the Omeya to live and led the "Arab invasion" of Spain, as was claimed by the official discourse?

I still do not pretend to know a lot about this history, but I got some clues recently in Granada.

Firstly, this kid was indeed smart. While seeing his family being massacre, he hid himself under the dead bodies pretending to be dead as well. So when people disposed of the dead bodies out of the palace, he managed to escape. Afterwards, he led a bump’s life wondering from Damascus to North Africa.

At that time, the whole Andalusia was in big chaos inflicted by man-made and natural disasters under the rule of the Visigoths. After the death of the last Visigoth king, there were severe power struggles among his sons and the nobles. His sons then asked for military help from the Arab governor in Tunis. The Arab troops took over control easily and established the first Muslim empire called "Al-Andaluz", with a territory covering two-third of what is now Spain and Portugal.

There were a lot of Syrians living in the area around Sevilla and Cordoba then. Upon knowing that Abd-al-Rahman I was wondering around in North Africa, they actively search for this legitimate successor of the prophet from the Omeya lineage. It should be understood that at that time for the Muslims, blood lineage as descendants of the Prophet meant spiritual and political legitimacy to rule. This feeling of loyalty of the Syrians to Adu-al-Rahman was even more obvious because Damascus was the capital of the Omeya dynasty, thus Syria had always been a stronghold of the original Omeya dynasty (When the Abbasid came into power, they moved the capital to Baghdad). With the help of the Syrians, Abd-al-Rahman crossed the Mediterranean Sea and landed at Almuñeca along the coast of Andalucia. Very quickly, the Syrians rallied around him, who established the independent Emirat in Spain.

Categories: Culture, Europe, Islam, History