A Refreshing Encounter of Passport Renewal in Amman

Rami Khoury writes in the Daily Star about the joyful surprise he was in for when he had to renew his passport in Amman.

I came face-to-face with Arab modernity in Amman, Jordan, last week, and what a refreshing encounter it was. I renewed my passport in 25 minutes. Not a big deal, you may be saying to yourself. Well, it is a big deal. It is a striking if small demonstration of precisely how the antiquated political-administrative systems of the Arab world can change when there is the political will to modernize.

Read on to feel the surge of positivity and serenity as he describes how smooth the entire process was.

We all go through experiences where the mediocrity surrounding every procedure or process we need to complete is totally frustrating. I’m sure that most people university age and older must’ve come face to face not only with suffocating bureaucracy in official institutions, but with some stupid fella who comes to work everyday with a baggage of dissatisfaction or general grumpiness, hating the job he does, and taking it out on the public… enjoying the exercise of authority he gets because those people in front of his need his help. How many times did you just have to take a deep breath, a deeeeep breath, in order to remain calm while your blood pressure was rising and you had a nagging desire to yell at the top of your lungs?!

Obviously, the mediocrity is not beyond repair. If they managed to do it in the passports department they should be able to expand this efficiency and modernity everywhere else. As Khoury opts to conclude his article:

Arab citizens who are treated decently behave decently. If we can do passports with dignity, shouldn’t we also be able to do politics the same way? I hereby nominate the man or woman who transformed the passport department to be the next prime minister of Jordan.

Theatre, Films and Music in Amman this Week

Why on earth is EVERYONE blogging Amman’s first charity rock concert?!! I’m not complaining but I found it a bit weird when I read that post on five different blogs ;p

Well, if you’re into Metallica and stuff, and would like to support a good cause, then check it out. But if you’re like me and heavy metal is not your cup of tea, here are some other interesting happenings around town in the coming week:

Philadelphia’s 6th Arab University Theatre Festival starts tomorrow at the Hussein Cultural Center at 7:00 PM, with different plays, performances, and discussions until the 4th of May. I don’t have the full schedule yet but will update you with it as soon as I can. It’s very interesting what Philadelphia University are doing this year, hosting students from different Arab universities to participate in the theatre festival.

On a side note, I read in today’s Al-Ghad about a “Cinema Critique Festival” that started in Al-Isra’ University yesterday. Word has it there was a large audience of students from different universities. It’s really refreshing to see universities being more active in the arts and culture. (But I wish I could hear about such things before they happen!! Oh well..)

So back to events this week:

Nomads in Music

Amsterdam-based band Tahrana will perform live in a series of concerts offering a unique blend of traditional Balkan and Oriental flavors with Afro-Anatolian grooves and Ottoman sounds, digital sufi grooves, Gypsy melodies, North African rhythms and more. Saturday April 39th at Zara Expo (entry free of charge), and on the 1st of May at Fez.

Also on Sunday April 30th, world renowned pianist and composer Khalid As’ad is performing at the Union Bank’s Auditorium at 8:00 PM. Ticket is for 10 JDs (call spotalent 06 465 8209)

Ongoing until May 13th, Mission Possible: From the Lowest Point on Earth to the Highest — A photo exhibition and film screening to raise funds for Mostafa Salameh’s expedition to climb Mount Everest. At Wild Jordan Cafe. Tel.: 562 2170

It’s Tunisian Films this month at the Shoman Cinema Forum. Every Tuesday at 6:30 PM. Check out the full list here.

The National Music Conservatory’s special events for Mozart’s 250’s anniversary last week were pretty good. Thanks to Rania I attended two of the concerts. It’s nice when you see the Orchestra playing to a full house in Amman. (And it’s awesome when you go with Hal and run into Bilotee)

Ok speaking of arts and culture in the city, here is something I would love to see in the streets of Amman; Creative and original Graffiti. (Thank you Beti for drawing my attention to it!) Can someone pass the idea to the municipality? This would be a great project for university art students to do with school children in different neighborhoods.

Across the Jordan

The Jordan doesn’t just refer to the river Jordan, but to the country, Al-Urdun, “The Jordan”. Jordan sits at the center of the Middle East, giving it a good perspective on a lot of its neighbors.

This is a new blog that I really think you should keep an eye on if you’re interested in news, views, and commentary on the Middle East. Jason works with the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), based in Amman. In his words “I’ve spent most of my adult life studying, working and living issues related to the Middle East. If I say something half-baked sometimes, don’t hold it against me, argue with me. “

One of his recent posts is about the impact of cutting international aid from the Palestinian Authority, and I’d just like to quote this:

If you want democracy in the Middle East, this is what you’re going to get, at least in the short term. It will take years for a credible secular political opposition to develop, and in the meantime people will have to learn what political Islam really means for them. But this has to happen through the policy failures of their elected leaders, not destructive outside intervention.

If the US and Israel cause Hamas’ failure, Hamas can continue to sit back and say “Islam is the solution”, only the West won’t let us solve our problems.

A Question to Ponder

The comments on the previous post were very interesting, and it looks like part II of that post will be coming sooner than I thought… less cynical and more positive, mind you! I want to tell you all about MERYAN (Middle East Regional Youth Action Network) and a couple of other Arab Youth initiatives that I find very inspiring. Soon, I promise.

Meanwhile, I’d like to republish a comment by ZD, and hope that you would take the time to share your thoughts regarding the question posed:

Here is a question for you (and I ask this with sincererity and pure curiosity, and I hope you don’t mind that I have used your comments section for this in the first place): What makes an Arab an Arab in your opinion? I mean, is it a specific race, religion, culture?… what exactly? I think so far the two things that I have come up with, and very loosely mind you, have been language, and even that can be a grey area in itself. Different regions have different syntax, and accents. Colloquial can be hard to grasp from one Arab country to another Arab country even. The other thing, in my opinion, that defines one as Arab, is to be born in an Arab country by parents that were born in an Arab territory also. Please enlighten me. Because race, religion, and culture in my opinion have certain commonalities between different countries, but yet they are not diffinitive. I hope I have not ruffled any feathers or upset anyone with my question, I have been personally struggeling to answer this question for quite sometime. The more I ask the more I learn.

Breaking the Silence!

I am high on caffeine – from decent Brazilian coffee and not some brown liquid that does not bear any resemblance to the real thing. I just feel it would be a shame to waste this opportunity and not write, especially that I have been blog-silent for over a week.

It’s 5:00 PM right now, hard to imagine that I woke up 12 hours ago. This morning, I took my regular tour of the daily papers, Jordan Planet, and Toot. And then I sat in front of the pc for an hour and a half trying to put into words what has been in my mind all week – a post that was entitled “an un-thought-out stream of thoughts”, but it didn’t work. Disturbed by the Hamas/Jordan controversy (angry is more like it), depressed by the Dahab bombings, and generally just trying to make sense of all the senselessness surrounding us… I ended up staring at the screen until 7:00 AM… time to get ready for work.

I have no idea how the day went by so quickly (and with much more coffee than usual). I’ve been thinking about Tololy’s latest posts asking about Arab Unity. The truth is, when I first read her post, I just moved past the question quickly and didn’t even bother to think twice. Arab Unity is a term that has long ago stopped instigating any strong opinions or feelings in me. I guess my generation is one that grew up in school believing that Arabs are the victims of a huge American/Zionist conspiracy and that Arab Unity is the ultimate goal and dream that will solve all of our problems. Why? Is it because the generation of our parents and teachers is one that grew up with the painful defeats, the Nasserite era, and the turmoil of the 1970’s and 80’s??

Actually, I look at the generation of our parents, the generation that was our age at the time of the 1967 defeat, the failed Syrian-Egyptian unity, the so-called victory of 1973 (that’s what they fed us in tenth grade history), the Lebanese Civil War, the Iraq-Iran war… the excuse of war to overlook civil liberties in our countries and impose martial laws (remember that it wasn’t until 1989 that parliamentary elections were back in Jordan)… think of that generation, and try to imagine how all of this, and all of the fading hopes have played into the psyche of the Arab man.

I do believe that there is so much in common between Arab countries, the language, culture, a lot of the social values and norms, and history. More than that, a thing in common is this dire and urgent need for change, for radical change and enlightenment (I don’t want to say reform because that word comes with an unnecessary baggage these days). Yet I don’t think Arab unity is the way to solve any problem or realize this change. Arab unity!! What exactly are we talking about?? Opening up the borders?? Having one common constitution, one currency, one parliament?? Can you imagine doing it like the EU and having a rotation of presidency?? Haha! That thought makes me laugh!! I think the only reason people follow the Arab summit news is to be amused by what Qaddafi might have to say! Ok seriously now, what I’m trying to say is… there is so much that needs to be fixed internally, in each country, before we start thinking of creating some kind of synergy. You don’t move to interdependence from dependence, you move to it when you’ve achieved a certain level of independence. I mean, seriously, let’s not compare ourselves with the EU (regardless of whether that project is working well or not) because we’re no where near what each of those states was before proposing to have a union. The union was not a solution to their problems, it was a step forward to make things even better for their citizens and to play a more effective role on the international front.

I, as a young Arab, am angry at all the crap that we were taught at school, at the pathetic education of history, at the meaningless emotional poems in Arabic class that talked about the glorious past and the coming victory and unity and did nothing but tap into emotions and end up making us feel more defeated, more victimized, and more helpless.

I remember in seventh grade, when we didn’t feel like taking class we’d ask our teacher to have a “discussion class” (7isset munaqasheh, ya miss ya miss). Once or twice, she let us have it, but it usually got out of control with no logic whatsoever being presented and with nobody listening to what the other was saying and everyone talking at the same time. Our teacher would just sigh and say “we Arabs don’t know how to have a civilized dialogue!” See… that’s the kind of attitude that is so damaging, and that does NOT serve the purpose of school in bringing up an empowered generation. But then again, and correct me if I’m wrong, young people here don’t have a sufficiently strong base of history, culture, and general knowledge to enable them to hold civilized and logical debates. They’re not encouraged to develop their own opinions based on analysis of different sides of the story. That’s why you get a generation that relies mostly on emotional illogical arguments, if they care to argue at all.

I have to wrap this up now, and although I still have a lot of thoughts and energy to rant on this issue, I will post it now. Because I know myself, I’ve written half a dozen pieces this week and left them saved as uncompleted drafts. I will not even reread what I wrote. I will just conclude with this note:

I feel so Arab in terms of collective culture, heart and soul. I’m going back to reading modern Arabic literature these days, and listening to beautiful Arabic music. When Morocco played in the World Cup I felt Moroccan heart and soul, when terror struck in Egypt it was like it’s striking at home. It depresses me whenever I think of what Baghdad was, a cultural and political capital of the Islamic empire, a modern arab country with amazing educated people, and what’s happening there now. It makes my blood boil with anger when I think of the injustices the Palestinians have been suffering for so long. But you know what, lamenting over Arab unity is not the answer. I don’t want to listen to the song “el 7ilm el 3arabi” (the Arab dream) again, I don’t want it to give me goose bumps and to play with my emotions… because that is not going to lead us anywhere!

Ok, allow me to quote Sandmonkey; if you’ve read so far, wow! Thank you! Please leave a comment just so that I know I haven’t been ranting in a vacuum.

TO be continued… one day

Colors

Faces: Waleed with his Lamb

10-year-old Waleed lives in the beautiful mountains of Jilead. He goes to school sunday through thursday, and fills in for his dad as sheperd on friday and saturday.

Flamenco, Mozart, Flea Market, Cinema Caravan… and More!

I love April. There’s something about this month that fills me with energy and optimism, despite the looming work deadlines, and my dreadful spring allergy. I’m actually enjoying Jordan’s new weather trend of “all four seasons in one week”. Personally, my favorite seasons are autumn are spring, and my favorite months are September and April; the ‘transition’ months

Another reason to be jolly is the buzz of cultural and musical events that seem to be picking up momentum in Amman with the approach of summer. I still remember last year’s amazing Flamenco performance, which makes me really look forward to the ones coming up.

Without further ado, I present to you some of what’s taking place in Amman these coming weeks…

The JARA Flea Market is now back, every Friday at Fawzi Maalouf street (go down Rainbow street from First Circle and it’s one of those springing out on your left side), with local Jordanian crafts, products, food, music, and entertainment. By the way, JARA stands for Jabal Amman Residents Association, yet another reason to admire and adore Jabal Amman.

Tonight, Malaje group performing Flamenco music and Circus art, at the Royal Cultural Center at 8:00 PM, organized by the Cervantes Institute.

Thursday April 20th

Cine-Mix: Black and White films mixed with contemporary music, at 8:30 PM at the Balad Theatre. Organized by the French Cultural Center, tickets are for 3 JDS.

Sunday April 23rd

Enrique Morente; Flamenco concert, at the Hussein Cultural Center at 8:00 PM.

Monday April 24th

Outlook on French Cinema, screening “Sans Huit”, at Century Cinema, at 9:00 PM.

More than half a dozen special events and diverse concerts in celebration of Mozart’s 250th anniversary, until the end of April, organized by the National Music Conservatory. Check out the complete list on Hala’s blog.

Speaking of Hala, or RamblingHal, if you haven’t checked out her blog, go do so right now. She has tons of energy, great wit, and is very opinionated. Her blog sure is an interesting and quality addition to the Jordanian Blogosphere.

Update:

From April 15th until April 20th: The Hussein Cultural Center at Ras El Ein will be hosting the International Cinema Caravan organized by Pioneers Production Company. There will be screenings at 6:00 PM in the small theatre, and screenings at 8:00 PM in the main theatre. Participating countries include Jordan, Egypt, England, Tunisia, Germany, France, Belgium, and Palestine. I will post the full schedule later today.

Abu Ali and the Culture Shack

Did I ever mention how much I love Abu Ali and his little “Arab Culture Shack” in the heart of downtown (right on the corner of the alley where you find Habibah’s yummy Knafeh)? He is one of those people with whom you can have the most interesting cultural, social, or political conversations. He sits there surrounded by stacks and stacks of books, reading, while customers and passers-by browse the collection on display, on the shelves and the pavement. I have never gone there and left empty-handed, and what I love about him is that you ask him about one book, and he recommends another dozen that suit your taste or particular quest. He knows what he’s talking about. He is amazingly well-read and cultured.

(picture scanned from JO, August 2004 issue)

In a very interesting post, Dr Marcy Newman links to an article about him in the New York Times last year. Luckily the full article is available on the blog “Kumbaya Dammit”, since you now have to pay in order to read it in the Times.

“Only the mind can conquer the Kalashnikov,” he says…

Abu Ali is in the business of open minds. For the past 33 years, he has held court in his bookshop, which he calls a shrine to Arab pen and culture. Distinct from the other newspaper kiosks that line the street above and below his, Abu Ali’s Culture Shack is a bookstore first and an open forum second, a brave meeting ground for Amman’s intelligentsia who grew up alongside Abu Ali in the heady days of Arab nationalism.

This 64-year-old man was forced to leave school in 5th grade, and started selling newspapers on the streets. This was upgraded to a small ‘carpet’ on the pavement for magazines and newspapers, and then, in 1970, his dream was realized when he got a lease from the Press Union for a 9-foot by 9-foot shack. He’s been there ever since. And he loves what he does.

JO magazine did an interview with him some year and half ago, and quoting from there:

Whereas most people do what they have to do in order to make a living, Abu Ali feels privileged because he does what he wants to do. The serenity that characterizes Abu Ali’s disposition rises from the fact that he considers being a literary medium his true destiny. The fact that the kiosk is not exactly a financial goldmine does not seem to bother him, “this is very important to me, I wish to be nowhere else.”

He made sure that all of his 9 children get a college education. None of them work with him, and he’s not bothered with leaving them a financial legacy, because he believes education is the most important thing.

The other day I told him that I have an American friend who is learning Arabic, and who is looking for some Arabic books which have been translated into English. I mentioned that some people recommended Ghassan Kanafani because it is not as difficult for a learner as, say, Naguib Mahfouz or Ahlam Mustaghanmi, and he gave me a happy approving look and went to get me the best of Kanafani. He brought them along with a bunch of other books, and then on top of it, he included a book titled “Arabic for English Speakers”, which he insisted is “a present from me to your friend who is learning Arabic. Bring her here next time to enjoy more Arabic books.”

Nancy, I don’t know if anyone can possibly turn down an invitation from Abu Ali

Anyways folks, do read the New York Times piece, it is very interesting. And to wrap up this post, I quote from JO again:

“I do not sell books, magazines, and newspapers,” states Abu Ali firmly; “I provide books, magazines, and newspapers because I am a link in a long chain of support for readership and learning.” In the nucleus of Amman, the balad, Abu Ali settles back into his chair reading Edward Said’s memoirs as a young women flips through a stack of magazines. In their own subtle way, Abu Ali and his shack are monuments of optimism and determination; making a difference one book at a time.

Amazing View

The pictures don’t do it justice! Excuse my photography attempts.