Middle East

Interesting story on grafitti art on NPR this morning. In Bethlehem, Israel’s security wall is being tagged by both international and local artists, in what can be seen as a display of defiance or, alternately, just an outlet for frustrated young people. You can listen to and read the story

A British grafitti artist (I suppose that is the proper term) is there, painting scenes such as a young girl frisking an Israeli soldier or a donkey having his ID card checked. Listening to the story I was a little irritated by this, because I didn’t care much for the idea of Banksy, as he is known, dropping in and showing the Palestinians the kind of art that meant something. Looking at the pictures, though, I had to concede they have, regardless of politics, a certain artistic merit. Even if you divorce the conflict and whatever your opinions are, the strangely neutral tone of the little girl in a pink dress frisking a soldier- and with both free of local iconography- presents a kind of fascinating dissonance.

(Eric Westervelt, NPR)

There are other paintings as well, many other paintings, including a escalator taking a bunch of sillouhetes over the wall and a giant bug knocking over a row of dominoes that could, but don’t have to, represent the security wall (kind of a Kafka-David Lynch-Abu Mazen mashup, if you will).

(Eric Westervelt, NPR)

My personal favorite, though, is this one, from an artist named “Sam 3″.

(Eric Westervelt, NPR)

That is, of course, Jake LaMotta preparing to take a punch from Sugar Ray Robinson. Robinson fought LaMotta six times (watch a clip of them fighting here, if you are a fan of the sweet science).

Why do I like this one so much? Because the bulk of the story is about Israel preventing suicide bombers, the economy of Palestine in general and Bethlehem specifically being choked (a source of frustration especially now, Christmas being the height of Bethlehem’s tourist season) and the usual Israel/Palestine storylines. And those do need to be talked about, of course, and are of dizzying importance. But it is nice to think that someone there, for whatever reason, decided to spend his or her (his) time immortalizing one of boxing’s great rivalries, for no reason other than the love of painting and the excitement he or she (he) feels about the sport. For me, that is a better Christmas message than any piety, real or show.

(caveat: CNN has a story today about tourism in Bethlehem being up this holiday season.)

Today’s Asharq Al-aswat has an interesting and disturbing article about al-Qaeda shifting its base to the Gulf, or, more precisely, Yemen.  It quotes an anonymous official saying he “believes that Yemen may replace Afghanistan as the incubator to breed, rally and train [terrorists]. In practice, Yemen could become the new Al Qaeda base- a label once reserved for Afghanistan.”  Most observers have tended to think the new base for The Base would be Pakistan, but it is good to remember the (possibly fake) hadith: “When disorder threatens, seek refuge in Yemen“.  

On a brighter note, the American University in Cairo has come out with its list of newly published books.   These range from ancient Egyptian history to a look at 19th-Century Egyptian Theatre to modern politics, with the latest in Arabic literature scattered in.  There also seems to be several books about the late Naguib Mafouz, including a series of conversations with him during his last hospital stay.  Worth checking out. 

Finally, the Boston Review has a long article by Abbas Milani about Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.   Milani explains how Ahmadinejad was shaped by the history of Iran in his lifetime- both its political and economic upheavals.  (with what is almost an aside about how the Shah’s modernization led to a massive influx into the cities- one of those little pieces of history that are massively important but often go unnoticed).   In doing so, he places Ahmadinejad squarely in the Iranian experience, and helps explains what he means for the country’s present and future.    On the subject, be sure to check out Ahmadinejad’s blog.   It isn’t as interesting as one would hope, though he does seem to be writing more, explaining “Since my last post on the blog, a few months have passed. But this doesn’t ‎mean that I have not been keeping my promise of spending fifteen minutes per week ‎on it”.    More instructive are the side-comments, with people either praising him or wishing that he would “die slowly”.