If Hillary can make it in Arabic, will Rousseau?

By Samar Farah | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

DAMASCUS, SYRIA – Nouri Bookstore, one of the main book dealers in Damascus, bulges and buckles with Arabic translations of Western texts – mostly books on computers, medicine, and cooking. On prominent display: a book by former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke with the very loosely translated title “My Awakening, the Jewish Control over USA”; a copy of Hillary Clinton’s autobiography, and other works on Sept. 11 and the Iraq war. Continue reading “If Hillary can make it in Arabic, will Rousseau?” →

For a more rational approach to peace and normalisation

As a 35-year-old Arab, I have learned not to put too much faith in my leaders’ ability to rise to my expectations, no matter how reasonable and modest they happen to be. I have also learned that any regional leader, Arab or Israeli, who thinks that a solution to the conflict can be accomplished by military means is an idiot, albeit a dangerous one.

Aside from anything that happens at the Beirut summit, there are many Arabs, of all classes and backgrounds, who sincerely want a more rational and compassionate approach to peace and normalisation. Continue reading “For a more rational approach to peace and normalisation” →

Manners and Customs of Modern Day Damascenes

Not sure where this article was eventually published, but it was written around 2002 as part of a travel guide of sorts.

To speak of the manners and customs of modern-day Damascenes is not an easy task, the people of Damascus are simply too varied to allow for making the necessary generalizations in this regard.

For in addition to the multiplicity of religions, sects and ethnic groups, and the multifarious levels of westernization prevalent everywhere, the Damascene stands as a staunch “rugged individualist” basking in, rather than hiding underneath, that amazing layer of traditions which he/she has to follow to keep the vestiges of a seven thousands years old culture going. Continue reading “Manners and Customs of Modern Day Damascenes” →

A Dialogue on the Middle East and Other Subjects

Anthropoetics 7, no. 2 (Fall 2001 / Winter 2002)

Ammar Abdulhamid (Author & Pro-Democracy Activist, Damascus, Syria) & Eric Gans (French & Francophone Studies UCLA, Los Angeles CA)

Editorial Note: This text was composed in September-October 2001 as an interview intended for publication in the Arabic-language webzine Maaber (www.maaber.com). In part because it clarifies my position on matters that have preoccupied us since September 11, I requested Mr. Abdulhamid’s permission to publish it in Anthropoetics. Taking advantage of what the French call l’esprit de l’escalier, I have appended some additional material in [brackets]. – EG (bio)

Maaber’s editorial team (here and here) have also taken advantage of the same esprit de l’escalier and have appended some commentaries in red. – Dimitri A. Continue reading “A Dialogue on the Middle East and Other Subjects” →