what is happening in the arab world at the moment?

[xibalba]

Hi all

 

This is a rather urgent question I am asking.

The situation is quite confusing, but the tunisian and egyption people are truly manifesting their deep needs of freedom

I don´t know what sort of spiritual process is going on but it is huge.

 

[kelamuni]

Maher is overreacting. And you can't baste the entire muslim world-kebab with the same basting brush.

[kelamuni]

 Suleiman's FBI-grilled kebabs:  

http://www.pacificfreepress.com/news/1/8037-fbi-trained-suleimans-t...

 

kelamuni said:

Got tired of eating American style Mchamburger kebabs. hahaha.

 

[kelamuni]

..or perhaps we are witnessing the unfolding of Fukuyama's great Teleo-kebab. haha.

[kelamuni]

... "ah, but to what extent is the wikileak-kebab yet but one link in the the Great Teleo-kebab??" jhahaha

[Mary W.]

Thank you so much for your perspective, Asma Mahmood!

Many of us in the West, including myself, know very little about the complexities of the Arab and the Muslim world.

I was heartened earlier in this year, when I heard that thousands of Egyptian Muslims showed up at Coptic Christian churches during Christmas services -- to serve as human shields against potential Islamist extremist attacks. It seems something beautiful is afoot in Egypt .... back in January and, I pray, today during its liberation!

Asma Mahmood said:

As a Muslim, i can tell you that for the first time , I am noticing  a big change  in the way Muslims are looking at the revolution. Iranian revolution , unfortunately constantly, reminds us of religious fervor gone sour.. However if you look at  even Iran, basically it is the west that has disowned Iran under pressure of Arabs. Iran is very much a well educated , bright independent lot  which is facing discrimination of Arab insecurities via western embargoes.

Egypt and Tunisia are not your typical Arab countries. they have poverty but they do have relative freedom of expression  as well. Women have more freedom then countries like Saudia etc. Given this scenario, it is not very surprising that one day the young ones got out of the university and stood on the road..These young ones are  the life blood of any revolution..Remember during Vietnam war, USA was over flowing with young people who walked the anti war marches.. Arab world is full of young people..it was expected..only doubt was  when.

It is a sorry state of affair in the west though where media harps the perpetual  horn of fear that Islamists are coming. So what..Has any Islamist regime survived before that that  it would now? If Kingdoms like Saudi are there, it is also thanks to the western interest.

Stop getting scared of the religious extremests and they would stop being so important. Celebrate and support the revolution and more will follow. nations live to see such a day..

 

[Christophe]

Let's hope that the Tahrir Square will have a different ending than the Tiannanmen Square in 1989. Allah is great!

 

It's encouraging how the Egyptian Protesters fight the good fight. Still I feel somehow detached from the events. Maybe it's  b/c I feel this is basically not our cup of tea, like hearing your neighbors have a dispute, you feel sorry, but...

The muslim revolution is an inside job, as I wrote elsewhere, and let's hope Allah will punish every arrogant humans who dare to butt into the behind-closed-doors events, be it FBI, CIA, Mossad or whoever...

 

Concerning Foucault, I think he is highly respected in American Academia, just not understood so well. BTW it was Zizek who said that Foucault's best political move was to publicly support the Iranian revolution in 1979 (before it turned into the mess it is today) and I tend to agree. The problem with revolutions is that they seldom come out the way they were intended, our friend xibalbla could tell us some stories about this prolly... but as Sam Beckett wrote somewhere "fail again.... fail better". hmm

 

best,

[xibalba]

Sartre tried to explain why revolutionary spirit never last or why it is so often stolen by a clique. He  wrote  that this  phenomenoncan can be seen as an effect of what he qualified to be the practico-inert field in his book "critique of dialectical reason". After every social turmoil  or dramatic event, the majority of human beings go back to seriality. It is a kind of collective behaviour similar to when people lost in their own reveries are waiting for a bus.

Christophe said:

Let's hope that the Tahrir Square will have a different ending than the Tiannanmen Square in 1989. Allah is great!

 

It's encouraging how the Egyptian Protesters fight the good fight. Still I feel somehow detached from the events. Maybe it's  b/c I feel this is basically not our cup of tea, like hearing your neighbors have a dispute, you feel sorry, but...

The muslim revolution is an inside job, as I wrote elsewhere, and let's hope Allah will punish every arrogant humans who dare to butt into the behind-closed-doors events, be it FBI, CIA, Mossad or whoever...

 

Concerning Foucault, I think he is highly respected in American Academia, just not understood so well. BTW it was Zizek who said that Foucault's best political move was to publicly support the Iranian revolution in 1979 (before it turned into the mess it is today) and I tend to agree. The problem with revolutions is that they seldom come out the way they were intended, our friend xibalbla could tell us some stories about this prolly... but as Sam Beckett wrote somewhere "fail again.... fail better". hmm

 

best,

[xibalba]

hahahhaha ciao kelito

cool to hear from you man

kelamuni said:

Got tired of eating American style Mchamburger kebabs. hahaha.

[xibalba]

Now the corrupted Mubarak and ben Ali  are gone,

who is next on the list?

this is huge actually

 

Is this the effect of a huge 2nd tier memetic wave pouring on the shores of consciousness?

KW said something quite illuminating. about that. At the end of the fifties, people could never imagine a moment the green meme wave washing away puritan America. Perhaps it is something in this style but people at the moment can´t relate to that newness. In the West, many get anxious, they actually live in a trancelike state, forgetting themselves in consumerism, believing it is fundamentalistic islam winning terrain.

I dont´t think so.

anyone

[e]

A second tier spiritual person will quite naturally desire to have good relations with their neighbor. Neither religion nor national pride will stand in the way.

[Christophe]

e said: A second tier spiritual person will quite naturally desire to have good relations with their neighbor. Neither religion nor national pride will stand in their way

 

ah yeah. of course. nothing like a moral paragon to look up to. Like the Jedi Knights. Or the Pope. Or Ken Wilber. Or... Mick Jagger. No wait, that last one didn't count. ah, anywayz...zzz.......zzzzzzz

good night, neighbors, good night, sweet neighbors, good night, good night.

[xibalba]

Yeahh let the farmer nuts create that insane messianic delusion of "Grand Israel" without bothering spoiling the poor  neighbour who is just seen as a nuisance in that delirium. The other part, the rocket lovers of Hamas are of the same caliber. Sort of depressing.

 

the message of the recent upheavals in Cairo and Tunis can bring another solution: people to people bypassing the corrupted clercs of politics.