Click link to see video.
Footage from Rachel’s interview conducted by Middle East Broadcasting Company on March 14th, 2003, two days before she was murdered by the Israeli Defense Forces.
http://zainhd.com/2010/06/video-rachel-corrie-two-days-before-she-was-murdered/
My granduncle, here with me in London now, asked me to search for a specific Maulid book. I was told that this can be found in a few places here (not too near though). An aunt suggested the internet which I had doubts for. To my surprise, less than three minutes after getting to Google, I found it in text and audio (scroll down at link).
Or maybe I’m just that unaware.
*I suppose it’s just refreshing to see a different sort of content on the internet.
.
On the last Thursday of the month of Rabi’ al-Awwal every year, Mawlid u’n Nabi Sallallahu ‘alaihi wa Sallam is ceremonially recited in five places: in Hadhramaut (Arabia); on the island of Java (in Indonesia); and in the towns of Lamu, Mambrui and Mombasa (in Kenya). The kitab(book) that is recited is Simtud-Durar (A Necklace of Pearls) by Sayyidina al-Habib ‘Ali bin Muhammad al-Habshi, may we continue to benefit from his baraka (blessings), Aameen.
-http://ZainHD.com/2010/06/thank-multimedia-and-internet/
8 Ads by Leo Burnett Cairo developed for Egypt for African cup of nations 2010. Men act like women when they watch football, didn’t anyone notice?
Click on link to see video. – http://ZainHD.com/2010/06/non-alco-beer-transforms-mid-east-men
See below. The article is a tad bit long. And I do think it does not include some points on the continuity of the tables now turned, and the ability of the Palestinian people themselves and a possibly change of approach by them following the flotilla. In short it is indeed a little one-sided, but at the same time to include all those points would make it an extremely long piece.
Additionally I’d like to add here that many should note that Netanyahu is the leader of Israel by virtue of the right-wing coalition party that put him there. International pressures and views clearly do not reflect the right-wing and ultra right wing stance. Hence is caught in the middle, assuming he is (regardless of his personal views). If he acts according to his party views, the world is not with him. If he succumbs to international pressure, coalition may break and he loses his job completely. -Z
.
Orthodox Jews in London protesting against Israel action on Flotilla
.
By George Friedman
On Sunday, Israeli naval forces intercepted the ships of a Turkish nongovernmental organization (NGO) delivering humanitarian supplies to Gaza. Israel had demanded that the vessels not go directly to Gaza but instead dock in Israeli ports, where the supplies would be offloaded and delivered to Gaza. The Turkish NGO refused, insisting on going directly to Gaza. Gunfire ensued when Israeli naval personnel boarded one of the vessels, and a significant number of the passengers and crew on the ship were killed or wounded.
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon charged that the mission was simply an attempt toprovoke the Israelis. That was certainly the case. The mission was designed to demonstrate that the Israelis were unreasonable and brutal. The hope was that Israel would be provoked to extreme action, further alienating Israel from the global community and possibly driving a wedge between Israel and the United States. The operation’s planners also hoped this would trigger a political crisis in Israel.
A logical Israeli response would have been avoiding falling into the provocation trap and suffering the political repercussions the Turkish NGO was trying to trigger. Instead, the Israelis decided to make a show of force. The Israelis appear to have reasoned that backing down would demonstrate weakness and encourage further flotillas to Gaza, unraveling the Israeli position vis-à-vis Hamas. In this thinking, a violent interception was a superior strategy to accommodation regardless of political consequences. Thus, the Israelis accepted the bait and were provoked.
.
In the 1950s, an author named Leon Uris published a book called “Exodus.” Later made into a major motion picture, Exodus told the story of a Zionist provocation against the British. In the wake of World War II, the British — who controlled Palestine, as it was then known — maintained limits on Jewish immigration there. Would-be immigrants captured trying to run the blockade were detained in camps in Cyprus. In the book and movie, Zionists planned a propaganda exercise involving a breakout of Jews — mostly children — from the camp, who would then board a ship renamed the Exodus. When the Royal Navy intercepted the ship, the passengers would mount a hunger strike. The goal was to portray the British as brutes finishing the work of the Nazis. The image of children potentially dying of hunger would force the British to permit the ship to go to Palestine, to reconsider British policy on immigration, and ultimately to decide to abandon Palestine and turn the matter over to the United Nations.
There was in fact a ship called Exodus, but the affair did not play out precisely as portrayed by Uris, who used an amalgam of incidents to display the propaganda war waged by the Jews. Those carrying out this war had two goals. The first was to create sympathy in Britain and throughout the world for Jews who, just a couple of years after German concentration camps, were now being held in British camps. Second, they sought to portray their struggle as being against the British. The British were portrayed as continuing Nazi policies toward the Jews in order to maintain their empire. The Jews were portrayed as anti-imperialists, fighting the British much as the Americans had.
It was a brilliant strategy. By focusing on Jewish victimhood and on the British, the Zionists defined the battle as being against the British, with the Arabs playing the role of people trying to create the second phase of the Holocaust. The British were portrayed as pro-Arab for economic and imperial reasons, indifferent at best to the survivors of the Holocaust. Rather than restraining the Arabs, the British were arming them. The goal was not to vilify the Arabs but to villify the British, and to position the Jews with other nationalist groups whether in India or Egypt rising against the British.
The precise truth or falsehood of this portrayal didn’t particularly matter. For most of the world, the Palestine issue was poorly understood and not a matter of immediate concern. The Zionists intended to shape the perceptions of a global public with limited interest in or understanding of the issues, filling in the blanks with their own narrative. And they succeeded.
The success was rooted in a political reality. Where knowledge is limited, and the desire to learn the complex reality doesn’t exist, public opinion can be shaped by whoever generates the most powerful symbols. And on a matter of only tangential interest, governments tend to follow their publics’ wishes, however they originate. There is little to be gained for governments in resisting public opinion and much to be gained by giving in. By shaping the battlefield of public perception, it is thus possible to get governments to change positions.
In this way, the Zionists’ ability to shape global public perceptions of what was happening in Palestine — to demonize the British and turn the question of Palestine into a Jewish-British issue — shaped the political decisions of a range of governments. It was not the truth or falsehood of the narrative that mattered. What mattered was the ability to identify the victim and victimizer such that global opinion caused both London and governments not directly involved in the issue to adopt political stances advantageous to the Zionists. It is in this context that we need to view the Turkish flotilla.
.
The Palestinians have long argued that they are the victims of Israel, an invention of British and American imperialism. Since 1967, they have focused not so much on the existence of the state of Israel (at least in messages geared toward the West) as on the oppression of Palestinians in the occupied territories. Since the split between Hamas and Fatah and the Gaza War, the focus has been on the plight of the citizens of Gaza, who have been portrayed as the dispossessed victims of Israeli violence.
The bid to shape global perceptions by portraying the Palestinians as victims of Israel was the first prong of a longtime two-part campaign. The second part of this campaign involved armed resistance against the Israelis. The way this resistance was carried out, from airplane hijackings to stone-throwing children to suicide bombers, interfered with the first part of the campaign, however. The Israelis could point to suicide bombings or the use of children against soldiers as symbols of Palestinian inhumanity. This in turn was used to justify conditions in Gaza. While the Palestinians had made significant inroads in placing Israel on the defensive in global public opinion, they thus consistently gave the Israelis the opportunity to turn the tables. And this is where the flotilla comes in.
The Turkish flotilla aimed to replicate the Exodus story or, more precisely, to define the global image of Israel in the same way the Zionists defined the image that they wanted to project. As with the Zionist portrayal of the situation in 1947, the Gaza situation is far more complicated than as portrayed by the Palestinians. The moral question is also far more ambiguous. But as in 1947, when the Zionist portrayal was not intended to be a scholarly analysis of the situation but a political weapon designed to define perceptions, the Turkish flotilla was not designed to carry out a moral inquest.
Instead, the flotilla was designed to achieve two ends. The first is to divide Israel and Western governments by shifting public opinion against Israel. The second is to create a political crisis inside Israel between those who feel that Israel’s increasing isolation over the Gaza issue is dangerous versus those who think any weakening of resolve is dangerous.
.
It is vital that the Israelis succeed in portraying the flotilla as an extremist plot. Whether extremist or not, the plot has generated an image of Israel quite damaging to Israeli political interests. Israel is increasingly isolated internationally, with heavy pressure on its relationship with Europe and the United States.
In all of these countries, politicians are extremely sensitive to public opinion. It is difficult to imagine circumstances under which public opinion will see Israel as the victim. The general response in the Western public is likely to be that the Israelis probably should have allowed the ships to go to Gaza and offload rather than to precipitate bloodshed. Israel’s enemies will fan these flames by arguing that the Israelis prefer bloodshed to reasonable accommodation. And as Western public opinion shifts against Israel, Western political leaders will track with this shift.
The incident also wrecks Israeli relations with Turkey, historically an Israeli ally in the Muslim world with longstanding military cooperation with Israel. The Turkish government undoubtedly has wanted to move away from this relationship, but it faced resistance within the Turkish military and among secularists. The new Israeli action makes a break with Israel easy, and indeed almost necessary for Ankara.
With roughly the population of Houston, Texas, Israel is just not large enough to withstand extended isolation, meaning this event has profound geopolitical implications.
Public opinion matters where issues are not of fundamental interest to a nation. Israel is not a fundamental interest to other nations. The ability to generate public antipathy to Israel can therefore reshape Israeli relations with countries critical to Israel. For example, a redefinition of U.S.-Israeli relations will have much less effect on the United States than on Israel. The Obama administration, already irritated by the Israelis, might now see a shift in U.S. public opinion that will open the way to a new U.S.-Israeli relationship disadvantageous to Israel.
The Israelis will argue that this is all unfair, as they were provoked. Like the British, they seem to think that the issue is whose logic is correct. But the issue actually is, whose logic will be heard? As with a tank battle or an airstrike, this sort of warfare has nothing to do with fairness. It has to do with controlling public perception and using that public perception to shape foreign policy around the world. In this case, the issue will be whether the deaths were necessary. The Israeli argument of provocation will have limited traction.
Internationally, there is little doubt that the incident will generate a firestorm. Certainly, Turkey will break cooperation with Israel. Opinion in Europe will likely harden. And public opinion in the United States — by far the most important in the equation — might shift to a “plague-on-both-your-houses” position.
While the international reaction is predictable, the interesting question is whether this evolution will cause a political crisis in Israel. Those in Israel who feel that international isolation is preferable to accommodation with the Palestinians are in control now. Many in the opposition see Israel’s isolation as a strategic threat. Economically and militarily, they argue, Israel cannot survive in isolation. The current regime will respond that there will be no isolation. The flotilla aimed to generate what the government has said would not happen.
The tougher Israel is, the more the flotilla’s narrative takes hold. As the Zionists knew in 1947 and the Palestinians are learning, controlling public opinion requires subtlety, a selective narrative and cynicism. As they also knew, losing the battle can be catastrophic. It cost Britain the Mandate and allowed Israel to survive. Israel’s enemies are now turning the tables. This maneuver was far more effective than suicide bombings or the Intifada in challenging Israel’s public perception and therefore its geopolitical position (though if the Palestinians return to some of their more distasteful tactics like suicide bombing, the Turkish strategy of portraying Israel as the instigator of violence will be undermined).
Israel is now in uncharted waters. It does not know how to respond. It is not clear that the Palestinians know how to take full advantage of the situation, either. But even so, this places the battle on a new field, far more fluid and uncontrollable than what went before. The next steps will involve calls for sanctions against Israel. The Israeli threats against Iran will be seen in a different context, and Israeli portrayal of Iran will hold less sway over the world.
And this will cause a political crisis in Israel. If this government survives, then Israel is locked into a course that gives it freedom of action but international isolation. If the government falls, then Israel enters a period of domestic uncertainty. In either case, the flotilla achieved its strategic mission. It got Israel to take violent action against it. In doing so, Israel ran into its own fist.
.
*Read article from source here.
-http://ZainHD.com/2010/06/brilliant-analysis-on-flotilla/
-Click to see video-
Rowan Atkinson tells the Gospel of John in ‘We are most amused’, broadcast on ITV on November 15th marking Prince Charles’s 60th birthday.
- http://ZainHD.com/2010/06/rowan-atkinson-tells-the-gospel-of-john
.
*The article she is referring to, is below. It is not on the Pillow Fight event per se, but my personal views as well as the direction and background of RA. Please note, some info inserted are inaccurate but the gist of it is there if your intelligence is there too, to get it.
.
Who says a call for unity needs to be all solemn, serious and snooze-worthy. A non-profit organisation is proving otherwise; that unity can be developed by just being all embroiled in a pillow fight!
By Foong Li Mei
Pictures by Roya Astani, Foong Li Mei and Random Alphabets
On a recent Saturday evening, four groups of young people were looking for a fight.
Sporting headbands of different colours, the youths had ganged up at the futsal field of Padang @ One Utama all geared up to do battle complete with sideway glances, even outright menacing looks – flung from one end to the other.
And all were well armed.
Their weapons? Pillows mostly…of all shapes, sizes and smells, and a handful of soft toys and bolsters. Indeed, these youths were ready for the fight of their lives as they prepared themselves to mark World Pillow Fight Day!
As the shrill sound of the whistle – signifying the start of this “war” – cut through the excited chatter of a crowd that had suddenly gathered, all hell and cotton fillings broke loose.
In fast, furious, frantic motions, Malaysian and non-Malaysian youths chased each other with pillows in hand. Shrieks of laughter and nervous cackles pierced the air: Whack, wallop and wail – it was chaotic fun at its best. It made any onlooker just itch to let go and join in the frolic.
And that was the point.
Through bizarre, simple and fun events like these, people are able to set their differences aside – be it just for a moment – and do things together, while forging closer ties and understanding. And this is what Random Alphabets, a non-profit organiser is always working towards.
So far, so good.
Since its first Free Hugs event in 2008 (basically, people offering hugs to any passerby who would be game for it), RA has successfully organised a score of other flash mob projects. Basically, flash mob refers to a large group of people gathering unexpectedly at a place, perform something bizarre and then quickly dispersing. These gatherings are organised via social media, text messages and viral emails.
KL Freeze in Unison 2008 was another of RA’s more prominent projects, which got about 1,000 people assembling in the Pavilion shopping complex and freezing simultaneously for four minutes.
Most recently, RA’s Glee Flash Mob Dance also saw about 500 “Gleeks” (fans of the musical TV series Glee) breaking into a dance in The Gardens, Mid Valley, bewildering shoppers. This flash mob dance has been organised by other Gleeks in various cities worldwide, including Seattle, Tel Aviv, Rome, Madrid and Dublin.
Last year, RA members boarded crowded monorail trains on August 31, for the Merdeka Train Party. Having decorated the train’s interior with balloons, ribbons and flags, they went on to throw a party with the amused commuters by singing together, taking pictures and giving out balloons.
Yet another project that managed to unify Malaysians with minimum fanfare and pre-publicity was group’s Tali Tenang project. Organised 10 days after the arson attacks on churches earlier this year, the event was meant to show that the people were still united despite the chaos.
Participants gathered at the Bangsar Putra LRT station with a piece of string they brought from home. The different strings were then joined together as the participants held their portions while marching in a line from the LRT station to Bangsar Sports Complex. Passersby waved to them, and they returned the gesture.
Other noteworthy events include the Read While Waiting flash mob, which had 200 people reading a piece of literature of their choice in KL Sentral.
But how would casual, bizarre acts like these bring people together? The issue of unity has been much explored by politicians and scholars. Various policies have been drawn out, passionate and intelligent opinions (not always the same thing) have been voiced, and our catchy national brand to promote one-ness has become a cliché. Much has been done, yet the result leaves much to be desired. Some ideas, thought clever or innovative, have even backfired.
Unity seems like a complicated issue, and complicated issues are not supposed to be taken lightly. Or should they be?
In randomness we unite
“There has been a lot of talk out there about unity, whether in the media or in cyberspace. Now I’m not saying that we should ignore these talks. I am one of those who have voiced a lot of opinion on the web. But there is already sufficient talk; the topic has become heavy. So, I thought, why not try something light instead?” said the founder of RA, who only wants to be known as Zain HD.
Zain added that the discourse on unity within this country has become somewhat distorted – it seems to be confined to the Malaysian context.
“We go as far as telling the world not to be racist yet we seem to even discriminate refugees, migrant workers, or foreign students. Is it okay to be racist to, say, Indonesians just because they are not from this country? It doesn’t make sense,” said the 26-year-old, shaking his head.
It is things like these that prompted Zain to do what he does. As a young law graduate Zain put together KL Freeze in Unison with his mates. It was a seemingly pointless act – to get a group of people to stop moving in Pavilion for four minutes. However, the spirit and message of the project was actually to suspend unnecessary and possibly divisive talk.
It was, as stated in the RA website, an event “where human beings get together to do something in unison, without speech or reference to their age, colour, sex, beliefs and background.”
Just by having a post on Facebook, the flash mob drew 1,000 people who turned up and froze simultaneously, making it a perplexing and memorable scene for the weekend shopping crowd.
Through these shocking yet attractive activities, RA hopes to spread its message of unity – it is possible for people from diverse background to unite and have fun together.
“Bizarre acts are useful because, while it can be very short, it is able to remain in people’s minds for a long time. For example, if someone were to come in now and dance naked for five seconds, people who saw it would still be trying to figure out what just happened for another one minute or even longer,” explained Zain.
The expressive lad stressed that unity does not have to be championed with serious and heavy dialogues. Alternative, wacky and most of all, achievable acts like freezing in public, pillow-fights and throwing Merdeka parties in monorail trains can draw people out from their little social cocoons to work towards a common goal.
“The thing is, unity is actually very much like swimming; you can read and believe all you want about the subject but at the end of the day, to learn how to swim, you need to go into the water. Similarly, to unite people, you have to come in contact with them and get to know them,” Zain pointed out.
Malaysians – ready for randomness?
When Zain first got started with RA two years ago, he was not fuelled by any passion to become a social activist to change the world for the better. He was just infuriated.
“Flash mob is not a new concept – it has long been popular in many other countries. However, when I told people that I wanted to do the same here, everyone’s reaction was ‘aiya, in Malaysia cannot wan lah.’
“But when I asked them why not, none of them could really give me an answer. That was incredibly annoying,” Zain recalled.
So, Zain did some research on the Malaysian Constitution. After ensuring that organising flash mobs would not be breaking any laws, he went ahead with Free Hugs and KL Freeze in Unison.
“Malaysians seem to have a very low expectation on our country, which says a lot about the level of expectation we have on ourselves. When we see something cool happening in other countries, our mind seems to shut down to any possibility that it will happen here.
“RA wants to challenge this mindset, because if we do not do something about our low expectations, then that expectation will become a reality,” said Zain.
To his joy, people can’t seem to get enough of flash mobs. Requests for more events have grown, and so has RA. From a personal blog site, RA is now a team website (www.randomalphabets.com) with its own regular writers, webmaster, designers, and helpers. The group now puts together about four to five events per year.
Zain attributed RA’s attraction to how it gives people a sense of belonging and a chance to be part of something big.
“In the events, everyone is doing something fun together. You are not an observer; you are a participant. People feel like ‘hey, this is my event too’. For example, after the World Pillow Fight Day, some participants actually cleaned up the mess without me telling them to do so,” recalled Zain, who has gained a chunk of his event managing experience from – lo and behold – the religious classes with scholars that his father often hosted in his home.
Of course, while RA’s support base is roaring strong (its Facebook profile records 2, 036 friends at press time), others may deem the youth collective as pointless and frivolous. One may even wonder how many of RA fans are actually concerned with unity. Are they just joining for the crazy fun?
When asked, Zain gave a shrug. He does not think that RA participants have to be conscious about unity all the time for its events to be a success.
“As you would have seen during the World Pillow Fight Day, we did not go Oprah Winfrey on the participants and preach about how the event is good for society, good for the country and so on. All we want is for people to come, have fun, and make what you want out of it,” said Zain, smiling.
He also does not really care whether people think RA is pointless or not.
Zain explained that having a point or not is really subjective. To him, some actions do not have immediate or clear-cut effects, and people are so focused on seeing a certain outcome that they brush that action off as pointless.
He likened it as going to the gym – one can’t see results immediately; the effort has to be regular. You also cannot only rely on gym workout to keep you slim and fit because your diet and the lifestyle you live matter too. However, it does not mean that the exercise is futile.
He opined that in order to create a mentality of one-ness among people, the message of unity has to be consistently instilled.
“We do not expect people to come for one RA event and immediately unite. In fact, RA acts more like a supplement to the unity drives and messages that are already out there.
“If those initiatives speak to people consciously, then RA works subconsciously to encourage togetherness through activities. After all, we as the organisers are not mindful about promoting unity all the time. Sometimes, we just see something fun and say ‘let’s do it!’” Zain clarified.
Randomness with a Cost
A departure from the usual non-profit organisation, RA does not accept sponsorship for its events. This is to encourage its members to be resourceful.
However, to keep their projects free for participants, RA raise funds by selling “I Love KL” statement t-shirts – the “love” is a heart-shape filled with funky cause-related motifs.
The t-shirt project, dubbed the RA+d, is a collaboration between RA and the Delicious group. Currently, there are two designs – one supports the Federal Territory Amateur Gymnastics Association Kuala Lumpur (FTAGA) and the other supports the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty against Animals Selangor (SPCA Selangor).
For every t-shirt sold at RM25, the money will fund RA’s initiative, while Delicious pledges to contribute RM5 to the respective associations that the t-shirt supports.
To bring in more resources for RA, as well as to feed himself and the RA team, Zain set up Wago – an event management company that carries out projects similar to RA, but for corporate purposes. Simply put, RA is not-for-profit, while Wago is the opposite.
“Wago is set up to help RA keep doing its events for free. Therefore, some of Wago’s profit will be channelled into RA, but whatever is in RA’s funds will never be used for Wago,” said Zain, firmly.
Stretched for a budget, RA tries to promote its events with minimal cost. Postings via Facebook, Twitter and the RA website is a big help, but one of their simplest tactics to create interest is to keep the location of the event a secret, and only announce the gathering point for participants on the day before.
“The suspense keeps people tuned in. It makes them feel like they are all in it together,” explained Zain.
He added that keeping the location secret also helps RA to create as much “shock” as they can among people who do not expect it.
“If we let participants know the venue beforehand, they may ask their friends to come and watch. Soon, you will be surrounded by spectators who already know what you are going to do, and that just defeats our purpose of using bizarre methods to create an impact,” said Zain.
Unity may not be as simple as ABC, but who is to say Random Alphabets’ light-hearted approach is not the path that leads to better peace? Fun, crazy and easy – they sound like all the right ingredients to bring people together and enjoy a good laugh. Perhaps unity is really that simple – all of us just need to take things, including ourselves, less seriously.
Look out for upcoming flash mobs and join in the random fun at www.randomalphabets.com.
*Read full article from source here.
- http://ZainHD.com/2010/06/malaysian-today-article-on-randomalphabets
*See video.
A flotilla of aid ships left a port in Cyprus on Sunday afternoon bound for the Gaza Strip.
A total of six ships were expected to set sail carrying hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists destined for Gaza in defiance of an Israeli embargo on the Palestinian territory.
The flotilla from Turkey, the UK, Ireland, Sweden, Greece, Kuwait and Algeria is carrying roughly 10,000 tonnes of aid, including cement, water-purification systems and wheelchairs.
Al Jazeera’s Jamal El-shayyal spent 24 hours on board the Mavi Marmara – the lead ship in the Freedom Flotilla.
In this video blog, he looks at what is on board and how the 600 passengers are coping with what is already proving to be a difficult mission. (30 May 2010)
- AlJazeera
*Click on link to watch video
(Zain, you) must watch. it will make you forget all the stupid people in the world.
Juria Toramae
.
http://ZainHD.com/2010/05/sleepwalking-dog/
“Hmm. I don’t know what else to show you. So far you don’t seem to be impressed with anything.”
When going places, often it is the basic observation and experiences that strikes me. One example, the simply pragmatic preparation and arrangement of the breakfast I had. Nothing sophisticated or elaborate. Neither draped in history and art, nor science and technology. Just is.
.
*Thank you Yasmin and Yorkshire for the time given by you, much needed by me.
http://ZainHD.com/2010/05/simple-pragmatism/
Lucia Restaurant, York.
.
