http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005-2007 by the authors Thu, 13 Apr 2006 16:33:31 EDT http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/ Phillip WinnSunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. 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Administration0@blogcritics.org Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/04/13/163331.php Gazelle[ Radio Darvish - Listen: DSL/Cable or Modem]For the people who inhabit this land, what is the point of searching, even at the cost of their own lives, for this thing whose possibility we have forgotten since the Renaissance and the great crisis of Christianity, a political spirituality.So observed Michel Foucault, the philosopher, in "What Are the Iranians Dreaming About" in October 1978. He visited Iran to watch a modern revolution already underway and published his views in a series of articles which were not well received. What they do capture as in the quote above are the spirit and idealism of revolutionary Iranians in their most modern dimension.The global repercussions of revolutionary change of such near-mythical dimensions were recognized early by Foucault and the Islamic world. The struggle between the King and the Saint, the State and the People, Injustice and the Imam said it all. The inspiring ideas associated with Khomeini or Shariati had been echoed earlier in writings of people, such as Maududi and Iqbal, two of the best known religious thinkers of the early part of the twentieth century writing in the face of what they saw as Muslim decline. Post-revolutionary Iran brought disappointment to Iranians who sympathised with the modern religious Islamic ideals. Afary and Anderson in "The Seductions of Islamism: Revisiting Foucault and the Iranian Revolution" place this in an intellectual context:A number of Middle Eastern intellectuals have been grappling with their own versions of the Enlightenment project over the past century. The questions in the Middle East are quite concrete. Should such societies, which are often dominated by secular or religious despotic orders, ignore the juridico-legal legacies of the West?Afary and Anderson describe how realities of power blunted the ideals of the revolution, in effect, re-establishing negative tendencies of authoritarian power structures. Twenty-eight years after the revolution in Iran, the US hostage crisis resolved at the expense of the Carter presidency, Iran-Contra affair resolved at the expense of Reagan's memory, and the Iran's Conservative-versus-Reformist wrangle resolved in favor of the popular Ahmedinijad, the country announces its own arrival into the club of nuclear states with a lump of uranium enriched enough to run power stations.In contrast with India, Pakistan, and Israel, Iran is a signatory to the Non-proliferation Treaty, NPT, and has stuck to its principles by reserving nuclear energy research for civilian use. Khamenei has decreed in a fatwa [IRNA 2005] that:the production, stockpiling and use of nuclear weapons are forbidden under Islam and that Iran shall never acquire these weapons. This is an important distinction, one that needs to be respected despite apprehensions of ambition and a covert military programme, and intimidation by Western states. The air needs to be cleared as do the suspicions through international mechanisms for monitoring of nuclear installations. Iran has also complied with IAEA regulations regarding inspections of its facilities, until referred to the UN Security Council on politicized suspicion based on intelligence [sic]. Iran has played by the international rules and treaties it has adhered to.Al-Baradei, head of IAEA the nuclear watchdog agency and Nobel Peace Prize winner declared in his current trip to Tehran that "the time is right for a political solution."The timing of Seymour Hersh's article "The Iran Plans" in the New Yorker, alleging the Pentagon's belligerence regarding attacks on Iran is not amiss. Meanwhile a number of US generals have expressed reservations about the strategic, operational and tactical competence of the Secretary of Defence, Rumsfeld, in dealing with military matters, in light of the experience and policies regarding Iraq. The frustration is captured in General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, discussing military planning for Iraq at a Pentagon briefing saying "We had then and have now every opportunity to speak our minds, and if we do not, shame on us."Regarding US political and military policy on Iran, Seymour Hersh quotes a diplomat "There are people in Washington who would be unhappy if we found a solution. They are still banking on isolation and regime change. This is wishful thinking... The window of opportunity is now"If anything Iran, despite Ahmedinejad's comments regarding Israel, does not seem to be at a loss for words, strategy or spirit. India has secured an agreement with the US for now. But Pakistan, North Korea, and Iran, now declared nuclear states want a deal too.[images: US Dept of Defense, IRNA, sarir209.com] Politics46339@blogcritics.org Thu, 13 Apr 2006 16:33:31 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/02/22/173242.php GazelleThe Askariya Shrine in Samarra, the mausoleum of the 10th and 11th Imams of the Shias was attacked by militants in the early morning on Wednesday, destroying its golden dome in a series of explosions. The place has the graves of two Imams, Ali al-Hadi and Hasan al-Askari. It is also the place of ascension of the last and 12th Imam, Mehdi, who is to return with the ascended prophet Jesus to establish justice before the Last Day. Three Imams being direct descendants of the Prophet Mohammad's family, the hurt and anger felt by the Shias especially may be beyond that felt after the attack on the World Trade Centre in New York. This is also the month of Muharram, the beginning of the mourning period for the slain 3rd Imam, Hussain, when historical persecution of Shias, and in particular the family of the prophet through many generations, is narrated with celebrations and enactments of grief.This attack is very bad news for everyone: the US, the Sunnis in Iraq and elsewhere and more so the Shias worldwide.Most likely it is the work of Wahabi Sunni elements like the Al-Qaeda who do not favor reverence for shrines and even have unmarked graves. This brand is also historically the worst enemy for Shias and other Sunni sub-sects, viewing them as heretics and non-Muslims.The attack is very bad news indeed. Even the mild Ayatollah Sistani has urged protest and seven days of mourning. He has also insisted that there be no violence or reprisals towards Sunnis and their mosques. President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd and Sunni, has appealed to avoid civil war and called the bombing a shameful crime. Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the prime minister, has declared three days of official mourning and contemplating motives behind the attack - to inflame sectarian division.The US Ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad, and the top US commander, Gen George Casey, said the US would contribute to the shrine's reconstruction.There already have been some reprisals as crowds have come out on the streets in protest.Claesk, an observer, notes that the al-Qaeda in Iraq have for a long time tried to start a war but so far the Shia has been kept calm by Ayatollah Sistani even as thousands have been killed. Of note are events: one when Moqtada al-Sadr was fighting the Americans, and Sistani's gesture on his return from London was all it took to resolve matters, and second, when Sistani urged Iraqis to go and vote peacefully despite constant attacks to inflame Sunni-Shia relations. Most Americans remain unaware how far the successes in Iraq, if we can call them that at all, revolved around the influence and poise of Ayatollah Sistani in dealing with political matters. His quietist influence, as opposed to the anti-Shah revolutionary fervor around Ayatollah Khomeini, may go some way in exerting a healthy influence in the successful governance of Iraq - a country with a mix of large minorities.The current attack is a severe test of the country's resolve for peace and security. Even Saddam Hussein - a secular and socialist Sunni, who had repressed Shias and Kurds during his rule as President - had not attempted such an attack. In the stark severity of its extreme resolve this event is definitely comparable to the attack on the United States on 9/11 - which probably points to the involvement of al-Qaeda. ++++ BBC article Guardian article AP ++++ Gazelle's blog: Truth Shall Veil Beauty Politics43983@blogcritics.org Wed, 22 Feb 2006 17:32:42 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/02/17/202417.php GazelleThe current chaos, the damaged Danish embassies, and the war of words is despicable. This includes condemnation of what started the riot, the decision to publish and test passions, the threats of violence, the actual violence, the suggestions of violence and the general crystallization of a non-issue into an issue. Unbelievably, we find pitted here, in a false confrontation, the passion for human freedom and the freedom of human passion. Which is more dear to us - freedom or passion? It is convenient for people who believe less or not at all in a religion to condemn the religious passion. In Europe, this rests on the polarization between the politics of state and the power of the church, and rests on a history of defamation of Muslims and Mohammed when the Muslim culture was in the ascendant looking down on Europe. Muslim societies, in their current distressing decay, look up to western societies - this is but natural - yet without having experienced the anti-church-like ethos that characterized the emergence of the republic in violent persecution of monarchy, aristocracy and ecclesiastical culture. Paradoxically the Muslim reaction today is only a little less violent than the butchers of the French revolution, and the public opinion and anger is but the voice of the masses, against the hegemonic republican-secular state institutions now ascendant in Europe. In the intervening periods, all Islamic societies in their own diversity have absorbed republicanism and democratic elections in moderate doses, as modern sources of legitimacy, if not so much in the interest and public opinion of their respective polities, then definitely in response to opinion of western friends, whose influence is but all-pervasive at the moment.Through all this, the passion and veneration for the teachings and character of Mohammed and what he achieved, even though it lasted for a very brief period, has survived intact. This fact has no relation to the hagiographic defamation that is presented to dispute the character of Mohammed. For Muslims in general, in all cases, the veneration and respect for Mohammed supersedes all other disputes which are either trivial or just plainly false. Such is the inspiration of the last prophet. The passion for Mohammed lives. The reaction of the Muslim world is testimony to this.Yet Mohammed himself would not have sanctioned this reaction. In Muslim accounts of him, we hear about a gentle soul, a herder of goats, a recluse, famed for the qualities of his word, distressed by those who would not listen, someone who would ignore personal insults and physical injury to himself, who would, in making contracts, give the benefit to the other, and in making judgments use a gentle intellect. Mohammad would also not have sanctioned much of the Muslim history and politics that followed. Yet the sublime ideas of the Quran that Gabriel brought down to him, in a final revelation in line with preceding prophets, became a uniquely rational religion that emphasizes restraint and moderation, and humanity above tribal custom.In the face of internal dissent, decline of societies, a colonial legacy, and oppressive governments hostage to hegemons, which have caused centuries of bitterness, such is the continuing legacy of Mohammad for ordinary Muslims - a rational passion for sublimity on earth. Freedom of expression is not under threat. Under threat from all sides is the passion for the sublime that inspired the freedom in the first place. The chaos needs to stop at any cost. An interesting discussion followed this article when it was first posted at Desicritics on February 06. It was among the Editors' Picks at Desicritics on 17 February 2006. Culture43769@blogcritics.org Fri, 17 Feb 2006 20:24:17 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/02/10/161158.php GazelleRevealing expressions in the heart of European media posted in response to Cartoon + Interpretation at post.thing.netThe Danish CartoonThis guy looks like a desi - South Asian - bouncer. That explains why he has a ferocious public profile. May be he's a low-ranking sepoy guarding the armament depot, and his headgear is part of the uniform along with other such British colonial curiosities. Can't think of a rebellious British Muslim ex-colony that has gone that way though?Anyway, the insignia on his turban is a fine piece of Arabic calligraphy of 'there is no god but god, Muhammad is his messenger' - the basic Muslim confession or 'kalma' - probably commissioned by a sultan who is keen on art. And trying to muster an army that will look good in his defence - king of kings, god's shadow on earth. That discounts the subject being a Sikh - who wouldn't wear that, even if he had to quit the army. So it's likely this guy's sultan has a tiny monolithic kingdom gone psychotic under threat - but that doesn't explain the art - aesthetics must have been the sultan's childhood passion - he's making a statement. Sultan Mehmet IIIt is doubtful if the subject is very independent-minded - and most likely values loyalty over practicality - which is why he is loaded with a lit bomb on his head and doesn't realize it. He's either a conned neocon, or he's gotta be a masochist spy who loves it - in Europe.The explanation that makes momentary sense, is that a ferocious looking Muslim, like a live bomb about to explode, looks good in Europe.But the final one has to be that Muhammad's aesthetic is about to ferociously explode in Europe.Oh how prescient - by about 1400 years. Tughra of Suleiman I+++[imgs: Jyllands-Posten, Topkapi Palace] gazelle at Truth Shall Veil Beauty Culture43451@blogcritics.org Fri, 10 Feb 2006 16:11:58 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/02/09/112620.php GazelleNow for some humorous violence from four artists. 1. Frederc Madre at post.thing.net who in his Interpretation of KW's drawing tells us what the artist really wants to say:This person . . . seems a bit pissed off that someone has planted a bomb into his hat. [click & scroll down] 2. 0f0003 | maschinenkunst on syndicate`They want to know whether Muslims are extremists or not`:There were security barriers too, without which, the Beatles would almost certainly have been crushed by the throng of screaming women. 3. Ghalib, writing in Urdu in 19th century India, with a comical resonance to the 'heaven' cartoon, says: ~ Aisi jannat ka kya karein Ghalib, ~ Jis mein lakhon baras ki hourein hein jannat: heaven ~ With a jannat like this, what would we do Ghalib, ~ Which has houris a million years old ! 4. Abhi's illustration on The Sepia Mutiny [click] author-itorially and self-consciously censors the cartoon by substituting text for the bomb - because 'I do not want to fuel the controversy but rather disscus it'. I suppose Abhi implies that the keyboard is mightier than the bomb - and not necessarily a better fuel - but I have my doubts. [click] Also, Abhi fails to mention in his conclusion about muslims idolizing Muhammad in cartoons, that we need better pictures please! These can perhaps be all color, which will then not have to be censored, making them censor-proof like this one here.Now does black stand for punk, modern, or itself? [imgs: AP & Smithsonian] Culture43381@blogcritics.org Thu, 9 Feb 2006 11:26:20 EST