LGBT Communities in Jerusalem

Hello everybody. :)

In the minds of most people, Jerusalem is unequivocally linked to religion, whether it be Judaism, Christianity and Islam. And while I admit to being quite ignorant to what the Torah and the Qur'an say about homosexuality, I'd be willing to bet some money on it not being very supportive.  From my experiences growing up in a very conservative part of the country, I know that intolerance runs deep. I witnessed some pretty nasty, hateful things happen to my gay friends. One of my friend's entire family was asked to leave the church because of their son being gay (there was also quite of lot of "he's going to burn in hell" statements being thrown around). One of my best friends in high school got written out of his grandparents and his father's will within the week of his coming out and one of his cousins spray painted "FAG" on his car. One of my friends is a Lesbian, and her parents (who have no idea about her sexuality) are running an anti-gay campaign in their church. While it's true that this sort of behavior is becoming less and less prevalent in the United States, it doesn't look like the end is in sight any time soon (or . . . ever).

That being said, I cannot even imagine how it is in Jerusalem. I suppose one of the most telling things was the ultra-orthodox man attacking gay-pride marchers with a knife in the documentary City of Borders. I was curious about Jerusalem Open House so I did a little more research on it (that's to say, I went to Wikipedia). It receives no funding from the local or federal government or commercial sponsorship. I didn't find this very surprising, but I thought that it might receive some aid especially seeing as they provide health services such as HIV/AIDS testing and prevention. While there is not a very significant number of people with AIDS in Israel, the number of infections is on the rise (according to the World Health Organization) so it has the potential to become a major health concern for Israel. 

(Holy off-topic Batman!)  

Anyway, I can honestly say that  'Jerusalem' and 'active gay community' never really mixed in my mind, but I'm very glad it exists. It has received a lot of flak, especially from the religious community.  Other than the stabbing incident I mentioned above, radical Israeli right-wing activists declared a "holy war" on the parade, and many people held signs that said things like "Jerusalem is not San Francisco." That being said, I can understand that these people felt like their sacred place was being trampled on. I'm actually surprised that that is the worst that has happened.

This is a major conflict between the concept of Jerusalem being a "sacred space" versus it being a city where real, living, breathing people live. It is inevitable that some of these people have values and lifestyles that are at odds with the conservativeness of the city.

Reading Response- March 19th

Hello Everybody. :)

For me, one of the most striking things about the chapters from Sharon and My Mother-in-Law was how the authoress' life in Ramallah was a mix of ridiculously silly and ridiculously degrading.  For instance, Amiry's dog receiving a Jerusalem ID at the drop of a hat, whereas Palestinians can wait for decades without receiving one of their own. Or, on the day where the citizens of Ramallah were waiting for over eight hours to pick up their gas masks, and then were forced to stand in a straight line (as though they were in elementary schoolers about to come in from recess), and then in the end, not even receive their gas masks. Israelis, however, did. The value that the government placed on Israeli lives over Palestinian lives is obvious. Despite all of the 'second-class citizen-ness' and the nonsense it entailed, the individuals still managed to look at things with humor and get on with their lives, curfews notwithstanding. I also thought the book wasn't written from a "us verses them" point of view. The Palestinian vet  Dr. Hisham was an unpleasant bigot, and the Israeli veteran was relatively lovely person. I think that this was an important thing for Amiry to write about, as it would have been easy to turn  the book into a work with black-and-white morality.

The Hasan-Rokem work was quite a bit more abstract. It looked at Jerusalem in a way that would never have even occurred to me. Sure, Jerusalem is usually referred to in the feminine, but then again so are most cities, as well as things like ships and cars. I never questioned it, but now it seems obvious. Because it's something you cherish and possess and defend and take care of. It is an archaic tradition and in this light, it makes perfect sense.

Music

Hey Everybody. :)


 

<--- Der Holle Rache, from the Opera Die Zauberflote by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. This piece of music is my pride and joy. It's been a few years, but I can still remember most of it. I sang it in it's entirety in the shower last night. Three times. ( My poor, poor roommates) If you ask me to sing it for you, I will. Dramatically. Don't enable me.







 I spent my entire high school career defining myself as a singer. Almost entirely classical. I sang Vivaldi, and Mozart, and Handel (ugh) and Haydn  and Morley and Grieg. I did musical theater (state champion. nbd), competitive ensemble, and honor choirs (the soprano section of a high school honor choir is a scary scary place). I played piano and guitar for awhile when I was younger, but I was never very good. I blame my super un-dexterous fingers.

I don't only listen to classical music of course. I enjoy it, but it probably only makes up about 5% of my iTunes library. I like indie, and anti-folk (not that I can define what it actually is, but Regina Spektor does it, so it's good enough for me) and Sigur Ros (Icelandic ambient/post-rock aka the best studying/mood music EVER) and whatever Florence + the Machine is. I'm always listening to music. When I'm studying, or walking to class or trying to drown out the metal bands that are constantly blasting from my friends' laptops while we're playing cards. If I don't have my headphones in for an extended period of time, I'll probably start singing out loud. I can't help myself (my friends call it OSD - Obsessive Singing Disorder).

What role does music play in conflict? My initial reaction, was to think "does it even have a role?"  But then I got to thinking about it. Did music play a role in WWII? One could argue that the composer Wagner had an impact on Nazi ideology, or that music kept morale of the troops up. Did it play a role in the conflict between Tamer Nafar and Subliminal? Absolutely. The things they were saying in their music is what ended their friendship. Music contains a lot of power. It can't fire a gun, but it can start riots. It can't break up a fight, but it can calm people down. (((  I think it's time we stop, children, what's that sound? It can call for peace or war. It can be a form of protest  or support. It can encourage racist or sexist ideals or call for equality. It can offend people deeply, or be so beautiful it can bring them to tears. Music can influence or demonstrate public opinion. There's a lot of value to it.

Besides, everyone loves music. And they say it's the universal language. People from all corners of the earth can feel what emotions the music is trying to convey. Because of this, perhaps it's the best communication tool of all.

And lastly (and irrelevantly), for your listening pleasure: Feast your ears on Chanticleer's performance of Loch Lomond!

See you guys tomorrow!

Israeli/Palestinian Hip-Hop RR

Hey Everybody. :)

 Music is a mode of expression, and is therefore a microcosm of how people are feeling. It stands to reasons that it would change based on the major events that occur. Just look at how much more patriotic music became following 9/11. It's not surprising that music changed in Israel and Palestine after the second intifada. It's also not surprising that personal relationships were damaged during this time. A common phrase "If you want to keep your friends, don't talk about politics or religion" is brought to mine. But how can friends who are public figures who make their very living off of saying politically-charged things, not have it affect their relationship? It's as though their friendship was doomed from the start.

For me, one of the most interesting things  was how Israeli hip-hop artists adopted the thug-ish style of rappers in the United States, despite the fact that they come from completely different environments and generally have perspectives from the opposite ends of the spectrum. While rap in the United States is (typically) anti-authority and the rappers themselves are from marginalized populations, Israeli rap is quite pro-government and the rappers are usually middle class. I wonder why they adopted the style and look of African American rap on a superficial level. Is it because it's what the fans want? Does it just work with the style of music? Is it because there are no other role models? Perhaps, as stated in the Tablet article, this culture will start to change, because there is a previous generation of Israeli hop-hop artists to look too.

I guess Palestinian rap makes more sense to me. They too are part of a marginalized abused population, and, perhaps I'm being stereotypical, I can't help but think that rap is a response and reaction to oppression. I'm not saying that Israelis haven't been through more than their fair share of strife, but I can't help but think that it fits more with the Palestinian way of life. The men in DAM are  from one of the worst ghettos in Israel and they brought back the theme of protest to rap music. Maybe I'm biased (because I really like DAM's music), but the realities of Palestinian life matches up better with the themes of rap.

Then again, why should rap have a theme? Who decides what sort of content a type of music should cover? Is it a bastardization of rap or an innovation off of it? Your Mileage May Vary, I suppose.

"Separation Barrier" Reading Response

Hey everybody. :)

As per the usual, I began my research on Wikipedia.I didn't know enough about the separation barrier to start out with news or scholarly articles. And thus, armed with a broad (probably accurate) information, I set out on my search. Two of the articles I found were of particular interest to me.

"'Force to be Reckoned With:' Israel's Settlers Dig in Ahead of Obama's Visit" Posted on February 16, 2013 on NBC's World News Website.
            The article was mostly about how (as the title suggests) despite the continued dissent and condemnation from the United Nations and the threat of "Second-Term Obama" Israel keeps plowing (literally) ahead with it's settlements. Prime Minister Netanyahu consistently states that he is in support of a two-state solution, but his actions and policies generally imply the opposite. Interestingly, the article points out a shift in the political climate of Israel: January elections shifted power away from those who habitually support settlements towards the more moderate center. There was also an interesting quote from the current Deputy Prime Minister (who didn't get reelected) Dan Meridor, who stated

"I'm not saying we should stop construction in Jerusalem and in the settlement blocs, but we must not build beyond them, because by doing so we promote a very dangerous situation to Zionism, of one state from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River, which endangers us more than anything else," 

Perhaps the winds of change are blowing, but at the current moment, it looks like Israel is going to keep on keeping on. 

"New Outposts Occupy West Bank Land" Posted on February 6, 2013 on the Alternative News website.

            This article dealt with a specific West Bank Village: Jayyous. Since 2002 the people of Jayyous have non-violently protested the building of the Separation Barrier on their land. As of today, they are cut off from 75% of their agricultural land, which is now accessible only through two checkpoints. As a result, their crops often do not get the attention needed. In class on Tuesday, Sahar Vardi, told us of an old Ottoman-era law that dictates that if land goes uncultivated for 3 years, the state can seize it. This often comes into effect in these circumstances. The villagers continue with non-violent activism and legal measures (they've taken the fight to Israeli court) to get the wall removed to the "Green" Armistice Line. The court actually decided that the wall should be moved to return some (but not all) of the land in 2009, but it hasn't budged yet. 

This article was quite a bit more depressing. I can only imagine how frustrating and disheartening it would be to do everything peacefully, everything right, to go through the bureaucracy and even win in court, and still get nothing out of it. Still, it kind of warms my heart to see that, despite everything, people are still retaining their humanity and not resorting to violent means. 

See you guys tomorrow!

The Writing on the Wall - Response

Hello everybody. :)

Straight up, I've always just thought of graffiti as vandalism. I guess, at its shallowest level, that's what the people in this article were doing. And if it wasn't illegal it wouldn't have had the same impact. If there hadn't been any risk involved, it wouldn't have been as compelling, nor as admirable (to the Palestinians at least). And who knew something so simple could take on so many facets and meanings. They were political statements, dialogue, and guilt-trips, and they declared villains and martyrs.

When I thought about the Israeli soldiers (or beleaguered owners of whatever wall the graffiti was on) constant battle with the-night graffiti artists, I couldn't help but find it a little funny. It reminded me of a scene from a movie, and this seemed like the typical oppressor v. underdog struggle. It must have felt like a very Sisyphean task, painting over graffiti, knowing that a fresh batch would show up tomorrow. 

On another note, I was struck by the resilience of the Palestinians. I think it was sort of a nice look at humanity when it's under pressure. We can make something out of nothing. They took something as simple as a can of spray paint and turned it into so so much more. They subverted censorship and got everyone's attention. It was anonymous (assuming one didn't get caught of course) yet could still advertise the ideologies of a group.

See you guys!

Outline

My plan is to create and present a Prezi on the topic of territorial dispute.

I) Intro
       A) Give a brief overview
       B)Define a territorial dispute
II) Body
      A) Very briefly touch on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (I think we'll now plenty by the end of the class)
      B) Cover several other ongoing disputes (i.e India v.  Pakistan, Sudan v. South Sudan, North Korea v. South Korea etc. ) and past disputes (North Ireland, Sakhalin Island and maybe even the Ohio V. Michigan battle over Toledo).


And that's the tentative plan so far. I plan to use lots of pictures, and possibly video clips and I will try to make it as interesting as possible.