Using the weapons of Non-Violence to break stereotypes

The Middle East?

My favorite class thus far is called the Arab Spring - a political science class in which we look at the various political and social roots of the events that that took place in the Middle East this past year. We each have to choose a research project topic for the semester. While I have not fully formed my paper title, I would like to focus on the application of strategic nonviolent action in the recent uprisings. The vast majority of the theorists that we read the past week either overtly stated r more subtly implied that revolutionary violence is a necessary prerequisite to breaking with repressive past and creating a peaceful future. In Revolutions and War Stephen Walt said that “mass revolutions are almost always bloody and destructive” – making the nonviolent component of the recent civil insurrections especially interesting to me because they seem to dispel this notion.

I also find this a good way to challenge stereotypes of Arabs/Muslims. I remember reading in James Zogby’s Arab Voices: What TheyAre Saying to Us, and Why it Matters that one of the big “supermyths” that Americans hold about Arabs is that they’re passive followers or autocratic leaders on one extreme or crazed terrorists. This, plus the image of the Arab as an irrational “bad guy” perpetrated by popular culture and the media (I watched the documentary Reel Bad Arabs which explores how Hollywood has consistently villafied Arabs) stands to be refuted by these strategic, nonviolent movements. On a side note, I wonder if a shifting American cultural perception of Arabs as more than just the “one-dimensional terrorist” but rather a young revolutionary capable of using modern technology (Facebook) to organize a non-violent movement will shape in any way U.S policy towards these nascent Middle Eastern states?

Bagpipes in Jordan ?

Roman ruins, the remnants of an ancient civilization in the heart of the Middle East….bagpipe music? Apparently the British introduced the instrument to the Jordanian soldiers who fought with them during the second world war….our tour guide said that despite our shock at seeing an Arab man in a kilt – it’s not uncommon for festivals and cultural events here…glad to see there are some more lighthearted lasting effects of western imperialism..

Jerash

Entering the ancient Roman city of Jerash

Relaxing Day at the Dead Sea

This weekend we rented a van and drove to the dead sea spa resort for some much needed R&R and a break from studying epic piles of arabic flashcards and dense articles from revolutionary theorists...

Hey, It's full of nutrients!

 

This past July I hiked up Masada mountain in Israel (at an ungodly hour) and watched the sun rise over the Dead Sea - now I've seen it set from the Jordanian side :)

Call to Prayer

If the American chain restaurants and sprawling malls have you forgetting your studying in the Middle East – the call to prayer, played over a loudspeaker throughout the city five times a day, is a sure reminder. My relationship with the call to prayer is rather shaky at the moment seeing as its woken me up each morning religiously at 4:30 a.m.

Some would say that this is evidence in prime that religion is still the main driving factor in the social and political life in Jordan. Perhaps true, but I wonder how different is the fact that I grew up pledging “allegiance to the flag….one nation under GOD” or that when I was just in London it was hard to find stores open on Sunday (the holy day in the Christian religion.) Maybe religion still permeates all of our cultures in different ways, yet it is definitely more noticeable for a foreigner to pick up on in Jordan.

For now, at least I’m saving my JD’s on an alarm clock…

Being a Woman in Jordan

No you don’t have to cover completely or wear a burka but this is definitely a fairly conservative culture when it comes to gender relations. Girls dress pretty modestly but are still fashionable – its all about the cute patterns on the headscarves, and jewelry, and SHOES. Jordanian woman love their heels and are also perfectly groomed (you can get a mani/pedi for 15 JD which is like $17 and eyebrows done for 3JD.) I also really need to make some Jordanian girl friends who can teach me how to do eye makeup with the heavy black kohl liner.

Beauty aside…

You could see the huge Zara on Wakalat street or the huge shopping malls that are nicer than most I’ve been to in the states and assume that this is a pretty modern culture. However when it comes to women it seems very traditional. For instance girls always ride in the backseat in Taxis  - but quiet your Rosa Parks impulses for a second ladies because this is actually a sign of respect, like a wealthy Jordanian man will ride in the backseat if he has a driver.

98% of Jordanian woman wait until marriage to have sex and it is a very taboo topic. In fact, girls don’t really go out at night socially unless it’s with their male family members or a group of girls. Dating is uncommon unless your engaged.

The harrassment issue as a Western woman isn’t unbearable, but it is pretty bad. You get cat calls walking on the street and definitely stares in the supermaket. If you dress modestly it’s not bad and I pretty much just tune it out. These guys are coming from an extremely sexually repressed culture and value base so I try to look at it from that perspective – they’re not horrible or dirty people but their concept of Western women is constructed from what they see on Friends and Grey’s Anatomy and, lets face it, American t.v shows don’t exactly give us a great rep. (thanks Meredith Grey!!)

What this basically means is you shouldn’t travel alone after dark or take a taxi home after 12. If you go into a café or restaurant and there are all men smoking Shisha LEAVE because they will assume you are a loose woman at best and at worst, ummm very nice how much?

Entering Ancient Ruins

Photo Cred: my rajul Daniel 

Ahlan wa Sahlan to Amman!

Almost a week down and the reality of my being here and the fact that I’m going to be living in the Middle East for the next four months is finally starting to set in. There are seventeen of us American students on the program and we’ll be taking Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies classes at Amideast’s facilities in West Amman (the nicer, more westernized side of the city). We’ve all been staying at a hotel near Amideast until we move-in to our various accommodations for the semester – apartments for some of us and host Jordanian families for others.

I’m living in an apartment with two other American students (both from New York so we’ll undoubtedly be having an ongoing WestCoast/East Coast debates..)

The week has been a whirlwind of jet-lag and adjusting to the dry heat and hearing Arabic spoken everywhere and learning to BREATH amidst the hazardous concoction of high altitude, car exhaust fumes, cigarette smoke, shisha smoke, cigar smoke, smoke…

Amideast 2012

Having traveled to many places in my life I can say with absolute certainty that I have never been to a place like Amman. The city is the chaotic, loud, dusty result of overlapping forces – you have ancient ruins like the Roman amptheatre and the surreal crumbling pillars of the Citadel alongside distinctly Arab stone houses cascading down the hills into the distance. There are the distinct signs of globalization infiltrating the traditional society (McDonalds, Starbucks, Popeyes) next to cafes overflowing with bearded men and hijab-wearing woman sipping coffee and smoking Hookah. Sometimes I feel like I could be walking down the street in San Francisco (Rainbow Street is the hip, cultural epicenter of Amman and has lots of artsy stores and bookshops as well as a fat-free fro yo store and an independent movie theatre) and other times I feel completely out of place in a strange and foreign world. Some observations I’ve made so far are:

- Far from a Mubarak or Gaddafi character, Jordanians LOVE their King…you can actually be arrested for slandering King Abdullah’s name. It’s the Parliament and the prime minister that many Jordanians blame for high inflation and unemployment alongside the high cost of living here. When it comes to the royal family though – celebrity status – you can’t really go anywhere without Abdullah’s grinning picture present.

-Jordan can be confusing because on the one hand it can seem very modern – most all young people speak English perfectly and you can get pretty much any food from sushi to Chinese take-out to nice oven-baked Italian pizza – but then you can’t forget the conservative bedrock of society. It took us thirty minutes and lots of failed attempts walking into restaurants and checking menus before we could find a single place that served alcohol around our hotel!

-Arab time is a real thing….let’s meet up at 8 can turn into 9 can turn into 10…promptness is definitely not valued like in the U.S

-I would NOT get behind the wheel here – the city is organized in a linear progression of numbered circles (for ex. our apartment is near seventh circle and Rainbow street is by the first circle) and that’s basically how people orient. Rather than street names, people mostly give directions by describing nearby landmarks. The fast and reckless driving, especially around the roundabout circles, makes crossing the street, especially for somewhat of a space cadet like me, a bit of an issue. Also, on cars, CRAZY expensive here – apparently there’s a 100% sales tax.

-Jordanians are very centered around TRADITION and FAMILY, which our program diretor explains, is why the culture is having such a hard time grappling with the Arab Spring. They don’t take well to change and, as you can see by the construction going on almost everywhere, Amman is undergoing a lot of growth and progressive changes lately that are shaking up society a bit. I guess they only got their first McDonalds in 1996!

Map of الأردن

For geographically challenged people like me - this is where I'll be spending the next four months! Flying to Amman from Heathrow Airport in London tonight :)

"Protests likely across the Middle East in run-up to September 20 UN vote on Palestinian statehood. Violence possible."

Just received an e-mail with this heading...no worries, right?
On September 20th Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority, will address the UN General Assembly and make a bid for Palestinian statehood.


As the e-mail said, leading up to the vote there are probably going to be pro-Palestinian demonstrations throughout the Middle East - especially in countries with large Palestinian populations...


WELL
according to the U.S State Department's website, there are about 1.9 million Palestinian refugees living in JORDAN today and some estimates say that HALF of Jordan's people are of Palestinian origin!


Hopefully the rallies will remain peaceful and help to further the Palestinian cause - hopefully the Jordanian government won't respond to demonstrators in a Syria-like, abuse of power, BS way! As Arabs would say, In Shah Allah ( meaning if God willing or hopefully for us more secular peeps) everything goes well with the protests that they're expecting in the Greater Amman Municipality Square and the Israeli Embassy in downtown Amman, as well as the northern and western border areas with Israel
Definitely will be interesting to follow the events of the upcoming month...from my new apartment in AMMAN (which i move into next week!!!)


Good article about Palestinians' plan to enhance their likelihood of getting the results they want on Sep. 20th
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/10/palestinian-protest-plan-_n_923688.html