The last week of March saw over 100 young activists and Global Changemakers, from over 10 countries from the MENA region to meet in Beirut, Lebanon, for 4 days, for the second Arab Youth Advocacy and Awareness forum.

The Global Changemakers from each participating country have been working on separate campaigns that tackle issues that affect the youth in their country. The Changemakers ere interviewed on Zaven’s Sireh w Infatahet on Future TV.The participants also received a talk from popular news presenter of Al-Arabiya, Rima Maktabi.

Rima Maktabi of Al-Arabiya gives welcome note to changemakers

The forum was divided into two workshops. At the first workshop, the Changemakers were divided into three teams: visual, video, and social media. Each group worked and mixed with Changemakers from other countries, and learned many skills and tools that can be used as a means of online advocacy, which can help them with their campaigns.

The visuals group worked with facilitators from Tactical Technology Collective, who showcased and discussed past successful campaigns. They also looked at the various possible ways to reach your audience, and what to consider when you want to visually communicate information for your campaign. The group was then further divided into their country groups, and they designed a visual for their own respective campaigns, which they can use once they go home.

The video group looked at successful video campaigns, and used flip cameras to create one long inspirational video that would encourage youth participation

The social media group introduced the Changemakers to the world of online campaigning, and the mediums they could use to make sure that what the visual and video groups did, actually reaches the public.

Palestine at cultural night

The second part of the workshop was all about body, voice, and tone, and was conducted by John Martin. Here, the Changemakers learnt skills they can carry throughout their lives.

Overall, the participants really enjoyed the forum. One definite highlight was the cultural night; each country was offered a table to showcase the best of their country’s food, photos, ornaments, and souvenirs. Let’s not forget it also gave a chance for all of us to dress up

“Beyond King of the Mountain” is a documentary short about democratic governance outside of the “Western Liberal” model. Particularly poignant for those who are thinking of what democracy would mean in the Middle East, it features interviews with: Iraj Abedian, Nick Binedell, Gregory Dahl, Adam Habib, Michael Karlberg and Xolela Mangcu and appearances by Gordon Brown and Nelson Mandela.

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/8369687[/vimeo]

For more information, to buy the DVD, or to download the study guide visit beyond.doubletake.tv

The world premiere of The Taqwacores was on Sunday January 24th in Park City, with The Kominas, Al Thawra, Mike Knight, and many of us fans in the audience. We cheered wildly to the opening credits, as The Kominas song Sharia Law in the USA set the scene. From the start it was clear that this is about rebellion, but not without humor.

Eyad’s movie is based on a book of the same title, written by Michael Muhammad Knight. It tells a story of Yusuf, an engineering student, who moves off campus to live in a house, inhabited by people who are all Muslim, “from a certain point of view.” There is Amazing Ayyub, the Shi’a skinhead, Fasiq, the Indonesian skater boy, Rabeya, the Burqa clad riot grrrl, Umar, a straightedge punk, and Jehangir, a visionary mystic reminiscent of Dean Moriarty from Kerouac’s On the Road, a book that Taqwacores reminds me of so much because of its love of life, uninhibited by societal baggage. All of these characters are united by being outsiders, from a certain point of view, outsiders with a desire to belong, and to love Allah, in their own personal way.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1kDYlbQgOw[/youtube]

Eyad’s rendition of the book follows the original very closely, and the casting is just perfect. Dominic Rains as Jehangir and Volkan Eryaman as Amazing Ayyub got into those characters so deeply, that I have a hard time now thinking of Domic as Dominc, and not as Jehangir. Volkan gave such a beauty to Ayyub, an overgrown, passionate, wild child that I want to see the movie again just to see his quirks and silly shenanigans. The beauty of the movie is also in its cinematography, where color is toned down almost to the point of being black and white, emphasizing the gritty surroundings in which the punks live. The soundtrack of the movie of course features songs by The Kominas, Al Thawra, Secret Trial Five, and Sagg Taqwacore Syndicate, bands, that have been shaping the taqwa scene for a few years now.

The Kominas and Al Thawra, together with Filmstrip, played in Park City’s Star Bar on the 25th January to celebrate the premiere. Many of us agreed that Sundance was a life changing experience, and the Park City show, the best show ever. Of course this is personal, having met the people involved, and gaining some sense of understanding for their struggle. But these bands create such beautiful punk mosh pit mayhem that would be difficult to remain untouched by.

Filmstrip from Cleveland opened the show. Their drummer, Nick Riley, was also a production manager for The Taqwacores movie, and his Cleveland Tower 2012 punk house was used to shoot the movie. Filmstrip is a band to watch out for, with beautiful instrumentation and guitars that soothe the mind. Natalie Hammingson described their sound in her post Taqwacores Make Their Pilgrimage to Sundance as psychedelic punk, which I would like to borrow here. Yes to the psychedelic punk.

Filmstrip

Marwan Kamel and Micah Behzold

The Kominas have a more playful feel, they use a lot of humor and sarcasm to deal with issues such as Islamophobia, hypocrisy, or homophobia. The great thing about the Kominas is their openness. This is their second show that I was lucky to see, and in each of these shows, they slowly convert the show into a jam session, where everyone is welcome. At one point, The Kominas said that they needed some dancers on the stage, and so many of the fans, the movie cast, the director, climbed the stage, dragged Mike Knight on it too, and joined in the singing and moshing right there with the band. At these shows, one cannot remain a passive spectator, an involvement is inevitable because the bands will jump down and play right there in the middle of the moshing crowd. And I think this is the key.

The Kominas

There are probably as many definitions of taqwacore as there are people connected to taqwacore, and that is a great thing because to me, it is about an openness. It is somewhat ironic that taqwacore is becoming a label, just by the nature of it being a name assigned to a group of people, but at its essence, it is about removing labels. About being an outsider who belongs, and who creates something beautiful from this tension of being inbetween.

On October 24th, I was one of thousands of individuals in 181 different countries participating in events to commemorate the “International Day of Action”. I was in Cairo, supporting the 350 movement and participating in one of 5200 events worldwide.

Where were you on October 24th?

The brain behind the 350 movement, the organization that coordinated the global events, Bill McKibben, a respected activist and author, is adamant that a concrete goal such as the number 350 is the best way to build a “global community” to end the climate crisis. The numbers above deem him right.

Registered on the 350.org website were 14 actions in Egypt. The events, or actions, took place in Cairo, Aswan, Alexandria, Dahab, Farafra Oasis, and Demietta.

Young activists Sarah Rifaat and Hazem Saleh contacted Eco Options Egypt’s founder in September to organize the event ‘350 Climate Action Night‘ at the Rawabet Theater. The team spent numerous days organizing, talking, dreaming, drinking coffee and emailing other interested individuals and organizations such as HEPCA and Rawabet’s Outreach Program.

The outcome was a successful night in Rawabet’s theatre with over 100 guests.

The main feature was the screening of the award winning documentary “The Age of Stupid” and a discussion. Following the screening, three prominent scientists and professors in various fields of the environment- Dr. Moshira Hassan, Dr. Salah Arafa and Dr. Thomas Culhane, introduced to the avid audience the dire importance of immediate and significant actions to end the climate change crisis.

The event also featured Cairo’s own comedians Rami Boraie and Mo’ love who discussed how Egyptians treat their environment with recklessness, at the same time highlighting that the time for action and for cleaning up and protecting Egypt’s environment is RIGHT NOW. During the event, short films of relevance were screened after their submission through a contest put up by the organizers. Besides that, films from the 350.org website were screened as an explanation of the concept of 350.

Two interesting features were the participation of the Cairo Cyclers Club and Egypt Car Poolers. The former has already shown great dedication to the movement by participating in the Pyramids event earlier in the month.

Events by 350.org and many more global campaigns like Tck Tck Tck are tackling Climate Change with global communities as a preparation for the awaited Climate meetings in Copenhagen in December 2009. Similarly, on October 15th the Blog Action Day 09 was dedicated to Climate Change. In that, 13,598 blogs from 156 countries participated and were read by more than 18 million readers world wide.

Pictures from the previous event held at the Pyramids were added to the slideshow shown on Times Square in New York at 4:30 EST on the 25th of October.

Since millions were mobilized on a national and international level, Climate Change is unmistakably becoming an issue of concern to the public, the media and hopefully to the preliminary target: the world leaders.

Media Coverage

Local:- Al Doustor Newspaper, October 26th issue

Global:- BBC, CNN and Ashton Kutcher’s Twitter (!)

(Original post here)

Kurdish Festival will be a gathering to celebrate a heritage that has taken over 8000 years in making. During which many aspects of Kurdish life will be brought to light; from Kurdish film, literature, music, history, dance, and current events. The Festival will also include self-building workshops in leadership, fundraising and conflict management.

For the first time, Kurdish Festival will bring together education and entertainment and set a new standard. The festival will entertain with three evenings of music, dance and party; featuring popular Kurdish singers and musicians. In addition, it will conduct two full days of workshops and trainings.

In a segment titled Kurds Got Talent, Kurdish Festival will host the largest talent show across U.S. In which a variety of talents will compete. The competition is open to all. Many Kurdish singers will be invited to perform live and compete for the title of first Kurdish Singer of 2010 in US. Kurds Got Talent will be a display of many different aspects of Kurdish culture from its beautiful traditional clothes to variety of poetry and modern songs, acting, and comedy. The top three talents will be awarded accordingly. Please help us identify potential talents in your community by contacting us at kurdish.youth.club@gmail.com.

The educational component of the festival will include key figures in modern Kurdish politics, music, history and literature. Attendees will be able to hear from those that have influenced lives of Kurds either directly or indirectly. A different aspect of the festival will expand to include small sized workshops that will help the youth and attendees to better function, organize and plan back in their own local organizations. Self-building workshops will be about fundraising, conflict management and leadership. They will be followed by discussion groups on many aspect of Kurdish life such as history, current events, and literature.

During the three days of nonstop learning and fun, Kurdish Festival will start a tradition of celebration of Kurdish Heritage in the United States. We invite you’re your friends, and family to join us on this important event. We will be honored with your support and presence.

Kurdish festival is being organized by the members and friends of Kurdish Youth Club (KYC). A 501(c)3 non-profit and independent Kurdish youth organization dedicated to promoting Kurdish Culture and advocating for the youth. For more information please visit www.kurdishyouthclub.com

Most of the time, I leave the cinema hall feeling disappointed, offended and ripped-off. Here I am, after wasting nearly two hours of my precious life, feeling slightly older and bitter that my intellect wasn’t stimulated in any way.

The question we need to ask here is not why such pathetic attempts at film-making are still being made, it’s simply: why is the public still interested in such films?

After all, the supply of what Egypt Today, called “brainless comedies” reflects the demand for such films.

I have to admit, the Egyptian cinema was blessed in recent years with the production of films such as Sahr Al Layaly and Yacoubian building and even the recent controversial “Ehky ya Shahrezad”.

The aforementioned movies reflect Egypt’s bittersweet reality.

The divorce rates are increasing at an alarming rate, Sahr Al Layaly points out the reasons, it introduces us to the problems and challenges of marriage in modern day Egypt.

Yacoubian building takes us on a long rollercoaster-style journey into Egypt’s social ills, economic woes and the current politically-chaotic scene.

I’m writing this with poor Mona Zaki in mind, the media wasn’t particularly nice to her this summer. She delivered a memorable performance as a talk show host on a difficult mission to give a voice to voiceless Egyptian women. She gives them a voice and lets them take us hand in hand down an often painful memory lane.

Let’s go back to the other side of the wall. Egyptian comedy movies usually rely on the actor’s looks for “cheap laughs”. Maybe I’m naive, but I always thought comedy should depend on clever and witty writing. This is exactly what a lot of comedy flicks lack, good writing. Whether the movie features Mohammed Saad or Saad al Sagheer, the actors try to generate laughter based on their looks or their ability to play dumb. Al Limby, a popular movie, features Mohammed Saad, as a “mentally-challenged” person. Al Limby went on to become one of Egypt’s highest-grossing films.

It’s a shame that making fun of mentally-challenged, overweight, unattractive people makes a lot of people laugh, it doesn’t make me laugh.

Any Egyptian or non-Egyptian feminist or any woman interested in the portrayal of women in the cinema is surely mortified when she hears sexist jokes. Even good-old Adel Imam, one of the greatest actors in Egyptian history seems to be saying a lot of sexist jokes lately. Foul jokes about a women’s body are not funny, they are just foul, for lack of a more bitter word!

Then, there is the blatant racism, I cringe every time I hear “jokes” about dark people being dirty, ugly, or if there are women involved, then they are really ugly “prostitutes”.

In yet another Egyptian comedy, Ali Spicy, Hakem walks into a room only to find his friend in bed with a black woman. The racist epithets go on and on, until he scolds him by saying “they are not women, they are animals”. This was of course one of the many tasteless climaxes in the movie. I wasn’t as bothered by it as I was by the fact that it was one of the funniest scenes for most of the audience members. It was so funny, it deserved a round of applause.

It’s hard to think of contemporary Egyptian cinema without such nuisances coming to mind. I appreciate good films and I can name all the well-respected and talented Egyptian artists, but I just can’t be bothered to sit through another sad excuse for a movie.

My friends tell me the interest in such movies comes down to one thing:- economic problems. The Egyptian public wants to escape the difficult living conditions by laughing out loud. I reluctantly believe them….although I think the public deserves better.