Image via Wikipedia

Eastern brings back Arabic

Foreign language classes help students learn about culture

By: Laura Butler

Posted: 9/4/08

In many other countries, children begin learning languages other than their native tongue when they enter kindergarten.

The United States is slightly behind that learning curve, and has earned a bad reputation for lacking in cultural diversity.

But now, students at Eastern can further open their minds to different dialects, cultures and peoples by taking two classes in the foreign language department, Introduction to Arabic and Islamic Culture and Civilization.

According to Ezra Engling, chair of the foreign language and humanities department, Introduction to Arabic was removed from the course lineup in 2006 due to faculty staffing issues within the department.

Engling said the classes have been brought back because of student requests.

"Students are becoming more and more aware of the need for foreign language study," Engling said.

The criminal justice and military science programs also made requests for the classes to be reinstated.

The department originally scheduled only one Introduction to Arabic class for this semester, but because of the large number of students who registered for the class, the department added another, which Engling said has filled just as quickly.

One of the e-mails Engling received requesting the class was from student who had served in Iraq who will receive a promotion if he studies beyond the dialect he picked up during his tour.

"The fact that occupations are offering incentives to their employees for studying Arabic shows a need for an increase in the understanding of the Islamic culture and Arabic language," Engling said.

Arabic is one of the six official languages of the United Nations, but the United States only had eight Arabic speakers at the highest levels of proficiency in 2004.

Since then, the Association of American Universities, under the direction of and through funding from the national government, has developed a plan to remedy the shortage of Arabic speakers.

The end result is an initiative known as The National Security Language Initiative, a plan designed to "dramatically increase the number of Americans learning critical need foreign languages such as Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Hindi [and] Farsi."

The plan, which is already being implemented in many schools around the country, begins foreign language instruction at the kindergarten level and continues through formal schooling.

According to the initiative, the ability to communicate in other languages in order to "engage foreign governments and peoples" is an important part of post-9/11 security as well as a necessary measure to convey respect for other cultures.

Engling shared similar thoughts concerning the importance of learning Arabic.

"We are able to know and learn new things about the rest of the world through languages," he said.

"We can't afford to not know everything we can about the world we live in."

"The Eastern Progress - Eastern brings back Arabic." 5 Sep. 2008 .

Controlled Substances in Alphabetical Order

Controlled Substances in Alphabetical Order

A Talk with Kurdish President, Massoud Barzani

01/09/2008

Interview by Ma'ad Fayad in Arbil

[Asharq Al-Awsat] Do you believe that the federal government in Baghdad considers you as its partners in government?

[Barzani] This is the main problem. During my recent visit to Baghdad, I emphasized this point. We asked them: Are we partners or not? If you consider us as your partners then this is one issue; if you do not then this is another issue. They stressed that we are partners. However, in real practice, I doubt this.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] Do you yourselves feel that you are partners in the federal government?

[Barzani] This is a coalition government and we are partners in it. But the actions of this government are weird. We are partners but we do not have a role in the government. We are not partners in security, economic, and military issues and we do not know anything about these institutions.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] Do you talk openly to them in Baghdad? What is happening is that during you meetings with the federal governments, optimistic reports are issued but later the opposite happens.

[Barzani] During our recent visit, we reached good agreements and mechanisms to implement these agreements. We have a program on which we are in agreement with the government in Baghdad. But when we returned to the Kurdistan region, everything we had agreed upon was ignored. The programs agreed upon are being marginalized. This state of affairs does not serve our coalition or Iraq or the future of Iraq. Performance should be based on the principle of partnership and agreement. This is the only way to build the new Iraq. The consequences of monopolizing authority are well known. This situation will not lead to any result in favor of Iraq.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] After five years in rule and prior to that many long years of joint political action in the opposition where the goals and mechanisms were agreed upon at the opposition's London conference in 2001, what does the federal government and where have you reached?

[Barzani] Indeed, this is a question that puzzles us. We do not wish for anything outside the constitution and we do not want anything more than what the constitution gives us. We do not want anything more than what we have agreed upon in the constitution. The constitution was agreed upon by the majority of the Iraqi people and it sets rights and duties. We in the Kurdistan district are accurately committed to the articles of the constitution. We are not asking for more than what the constitution gives us. This includes Article140 (pertaining to the issue of Kirkuk and the disputed regions). Commitment to the constitution is the guarantee for safeguarding the unity of Iraq. It guarantees security and stability in Iraq and the building of a prosperous future for the Iraqi people. Thus, the constitution is the judge. No abiding by the constitution means potential disaster.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] Do you think that the Kurds in Baghdad - I mean President Jalal Talabani, Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih, and even the Kurdish members of parliament - are capable of intervening in the political or security decision-making process?

[Barzani] President Talabani definitely plays a major role in the political process as Mr. Talabani. However, as president of the republic, he does not have many powers. We do not know how the powers are distributed. He constitutes the gathering point of many political factions and entities in Iraq. Furthermore, the presidency of the republic, the prime ministry, the speaker of the Chamber of Deputies (the Parliament), and the ministers have specific powers. However, these powers are very often ignored and sidestepped.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] Do you think that the government in Baghdad continues to behave with the logic of the strong brother and the weak brother?

[Barzani] Unfortunately, we seem to be still under the influence of a totalitarian regime. The one that takes over power thinks he has the last word in everything and that it is his right to make decisions without consulting others. He forgets the coalitions, the commitments, and the constitution.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] There are critical media reports inside and outside Iraq against the Kurds in Iraq. Are you aware of such reports?

[Barzani] This is very true. This is what we feel and it constitutes a grave danger. This is part of the injustice that we have suffered and that we continue to suffer from. The media is trying to distort the image of the Kurds and the Kurdish people. However, we are fair. The role played by the Kurds in safeguarding Iraq, the unity of Iraq, and the Arab-Kurdish brotherhood is much bigger than the roles played by others in this regard. The Kurdish role is well known and cannot be denied. Unfortunately, however, they do not wish to recognize this role; they want to distort this role. After the fall of the regime, everyone knows that we could have proclaimed something else. However, Brother Talabani and I went to Baghdad and tried with the brothers to fill the vacuum that resulted. We helped in the electoral process and in the elections and in drafting the constitution. We protected vast regions in Iraq from terrorism and the terrorists. We protected and continue to protect many Arab families that fled from their regions as a result of the terrorist operations and came to the Kurdistan region. During the uprising (of 1991), two Iraqi army corps (the First Corps and the Fifth Corps) surrendered in our regions, but not a single Iraqi soldier was harmed. In fact, we gave them the options of returning to their families or immigrating to another state or staying in Kurdistan although we were still bleeding from the effects of the Operation Al-Anfal and the chemical shelling by the Iraqi army. I say yes, this is unfortunately an unjust [media] campaign. We call on those that are fair like yourselves and through your fair newspaper to help us in conveying the true picture of what you see here. We do not ask anyone to polish or embellish our image. We ask the media to tell the truth about the Kurds and about Kurdistan for the sake of honesty.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] On the other hand, the Kurdish media is weak in conveying the true image of the Kurds and of the Kurdistan region and it ignores certain important issues that are taking place here.

[Barzani] This is true; I agree with you that the performance of the Kurdish media is unsuccessful. This is regrettable.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] Do you expect a confrontation to take place between you and the federal government or, shall we say, a Kurdish Arab government confrontation rather than a popular confrontation?

[Barzani] We oppose any escalation and any confrontation. We have to abort the chances of those that are lying in wait for democratic Iraq and its democratic experiment. There are wicked and ill-intentioned hands that are pushing night and day toward escalation and confrontation. However, we are exerting all our efforts to avoid such a situation. Matters have not reached this stage of escalation between the [Kurdistan] region and the federal government. However, there are misunderstandings, differences in viewpoints, and differences on many issues. Through dialogue and meetings, we shall try to agree on the common points. The points that unite us are more than those that separate us from one another. But we have to admit that there are points of agreement. There may be differences on the concepts of democracy and federalism but we hope that matters would never reach the point of confrontation.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] But the situation almost reached the point of confrontation in Khanaqin.

[Barzani] Yes, it is true that it almost reached the point of confrontation, but this was the result of a big mistake. Everyone should understand that the Iraqi army is our army and it includes many Kurdish forces. There was the peshmerga and they later joined the Iraqi army. In fact, our Kurdish forces were the nucleus that formed the new Iraqi army. We want the Iraqi army to be educated well. It should be given a patriotic education based on the principle of protecting the homeland rather than on the principle of killing the citizens. The incidents that took place in Khanaqin constituted a big mistake. First of all, the Kurdish forces that were deployed in the region contributed to the consolidation of security and stability in Khanaqin. They purged the area of the terrorists and gangs that tampered with the security and safety of the citizens there. Secondly, these Kurdish forces went to Khanaqin at the invitation and request of the federal government. When the government asked the Kurdish forces to withdraw, they actually withdrew. However, the military forces that replaced the Kurdish forces arrived to raise provocative slogans and acted exactly like the former army that had committed crimes against the Kurdish people in the past, including the crimes that were committed during Operation Al-Anfal. Unfortunately, these forces arrived with the same slogans, the same mentality, and acted in the same manner. Naturally, we do not consider this to be the army of new Iraq. We consider it as an extension of the dictatorial Baathist army that destroyed Kurdistan and destroyed Iraq. I reiterate that we are not opposed to the deployment of the Iraqi army. If we are subjected to any aggression we shall ask the Iraqi army for help and if the Iraqi army asks for our help we shall send our forces to wherever they wish. We did that on several important and dangerous occasions. We are the ones that founded the Iraqi army but the conduct of a specific commander in the region is raising problems and reminding us of the tragic past.

the full article is here:
http://aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=3&id=13920

The Voice of Mahmoud Darwish

2008-08-15
The Voice of Mahmoud Darwish
Wherever Mahmoud Darwish was, words in his hands were a magic lamp that set free the genie of the Arabic language. He knew the heart of the Palestinians. He knew that they had only one wish for the genie, one yearning request of their language – ‘home’, says Ibtisam Barakat.

---

COLUMBIA, Missouri – On Saturday August 9th in the afternoon, I was getting ready to give a talk about Palestinian olive trees to a gathering of authors and thinkers at Keystone College in Pennsylvania. For the title of the presentation, I cracked the word olive in two, and turned it into O’ Live! But death mocked me.

Shortly before I left my room for the talk, the phone rang. It was my friend, musician Saed Muhssin, calling me from San Francisco. His voice was deep like a valley, barely climbing up to speak: “Have you heard?” he asked. “This is hard news,” he warned. “Mahmoud Darwish died today.”

My mind cried. My heart ached with all of the unhealed Palestinian losses that are recalled with each new loss—losses Darwish made sure to record in his poetry. I belong there. I have many memories, Darwish wrote. Memories that he recorded in at least 30 books of poetry and prose, translated into at least 20 languages.

He was born in 1941, and published his first book of poetry before he turned 20 years old. For over four decades, Palestinian and Arab poets were inspired by him, referred to him, imitated him, debated over his poetry.

Saed and I belong to Generation M, an identity we invented several years ago. I grew up on the West Bank under Israeli occupation, Saed as an Israeli citizen. Both of us Palestinian, we had completely different lives. But underneath, we discovered we shared a similar deprivation, a hunger for freedom, for a more beautiful world. We filled our hunger with the poetry of Mahmoud Darwish, and we called ourselves Generation M.

In the absence of home, Darwish turned language into a spacious tent—for us and for all who needed a home. He turned yearning into a meeting place. Palestinians meet our mothers through his mother. Darwish gave her to us when he wailed:

I yearn for the bread my mother bakes

I ache for my mother’s coffee.

And her touch.

He used the Arabic word ahennu for yearn, which means a yearning filled with affection. It’s a word that wakes up a thousand feelings at once, with the hint of a desperate impatience.

In 1982, he wrote lasta wahdaka, you are not alone, for Arafat when the Palestinians were driven out of Beirut. Darwish said it also to everyone on Earth, anyone who was forced out into exile for the nth time.

And his question where are birds to fly after the last sky? made me invent an endless number of new skies, stacked like mattresses for the refugees of Earth.

Darwish, the name in Arabic meaning a pure, spiritual wandering man, was precisely that for us. He moved between skies and across borders—between Palestine, Israel, Russia, France, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and other countries. Wherever he was, words in his hands were a magic lamp that set free the genie of the Arabic language. He knew the heart of the Palestinians. He knew that they had only one wish for the genie, one yearning request of their language – “home.”

As seen in his language and poetry, Darwish had a vision and passion for achieving justice. He helped in writing Arafat’s famous address to the United National General Assembly in 1974 in which Arafat pleaded with the world by repeating three times La tusqeto al-ghusna al-akhdar min yadee, don’t let the green branch fall from my hands.

In 1988, Darwish drafted the Palestinian declaration of independence in which he said that peace is achievable with a two-state solution—one Palestinian, one Jewish. He wrote that peace is possible “on the land of love and peace.”

Inspired by the vision of reconciliation, he emphasised that Palestine would be a society that thrives on human rights, equality, democracy, representation, social responsibility, and complete respect for all, especially women and people of different faiths.

At one of Darwish's last performances, in July 2008, the audience in Ramallah received him as though they suspected that might be the last time they would see him. They stood up like the fragrant spruce trees he often plants in his poetry. Think of Others, he told them.

As you prepare your breakfast – think of others. Don’t forget to feed the pigeons. As you conduct your wars – think of others. Don’t forget those who want peace. As you pay your water bill – think of others. Think of those who only have clouds to drink from. As you go home, your own home – think of others – don’t forget those who live in tents. As you sleep and count the planets, think of others – there are people who have no place to sleep. As you liberate yourself with metaphors think of others – those who have lost their right to speak. And as you think of distant others – think of yourself and say “I wish I were a candle in the darkness.”

Speaking openly about death, he had confessed to Al-Hayat Arabic newspaper: “I am no longer afraid of death. I used to be afraid of it. But now I only fear the death of my ability to write and my ability to taste life.”

Continuing to wrestle with his art, he wrote that “I thought poetry could change everything, could change history and could humanise… Now I think that poetry changes only the poet.”

Dear Mahmoud Darwish, your poetry changed me.

Ibtisam Barakat is the author of Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007). She has taught language ethics at Stephens College, and is the founder of Write Your Life seminars. Ibtisam can be reached at www.ibtisambarakat.com. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service and can be accessed at GCNews.

Palestinians bury poet Darwish in West Bank

Palestinians bury poet Darwish in West Bank

Friday, 08.15.2008, 11:38am

Palestinians bade an emotional farewell on Wednesday to their national poet Mahmoud Darwish, who was laid to rest on a hilltop overlooking the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Darwish died Saturday in Houston at age 67 after complications from open-heart surgery.

He was the first Palestinian to receive a state funeral since Yasser Arafat in 2004.

Darwish's body was flown Wednesday from Jordan to Ramallah, where Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas received the flag-draped coffin.

Widely revered for giving voice to the Palestinians’ desire for independent statehood and their longing for the lands they lost to Israel, Darwish was seen off at his funeral by tens of thousands of political and cultural elite as well as ordinary Palestinians, who moved in a procession from a formal honor guard in the presidential compound to jostling crowds around his hillside gravesite.

"He was the master of the word and wisdom, the symbol who expressed our national feeling, our human constitution, our declaration of independence," said Abbas in a speech.

Darwish was born in the village of Birweh, which was razed in the wake of the 1948 Israeli-Arab war.

He spent years in exile in Cairo, Beirut, Paris and the US after being stripped of his Israeli-Arab citizenship for being active in the Israeli Communist Party and the Palestine Liberation Organization as a young man.

He returned to Palestine when Israel gave him permission in the late 1990s — even then only to the occupied West Bank and Gaza.

Darwish famously penned Arafat's speech to the United Nations in 1974 when the late Palestinian leader said, "I have come bearing an olive branch and a freedom fighter's gun. Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand."

He also wrote the largely symbolic 1988 Palestinian Declaration of Independence.

His work resonated across political and generational lines for his ability to express the Palestinian sense of loss, anger and defiance.

In later years, he became increasingly frustrated at the in-fighting between rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas. Last year he condemned the explosion of violence between the two groups in Gaza as "a public attempt at suicide in the streets."

IN MEMORIAM

I Come From There

I come from there and I have memories

Born as mortals are, I have a mother

And a house with many windows,

I have brothers, friends,

And a prison cell with a cold window.

Mine is the wave, snatched by sea-gulls,

I have my own view,

And an extra blade of grass.

Mine is the moon at the far edge of the words,

And the bounty of birds,

And the immortal olive tree.

I walked this land before the swords

Turned its living body into a laden table.

I come from there. I render the sky unto her mother

When the sky weeps for her mother.

And I weep to make myself known

To a returning cloud.

I learnt all the words worthy of the court of blood

So that I could break the rule.

I learnt all the words and broke them up

To make a single word: Homeland.....

My Mother

I long for my mother's bread

My mother's coffee

Her touch

Childhood memories grow up in me

Day after day

I must be worth my life

At the hour of my death

Worth the tears of my mother.

And if I come back one day

Take me as a veil to your eyelashes

Cover my bones with the grass

Blessed by your footsteps

Bind us together

With a lock of your hair

With a thread that trails from the back of your dress

I might become immortal

Become a God

If I touch the depths of your heart.

If I come back

Use me as wood to feed your fire

As the clothesline on the roof of your house

Without your blessing

I am too weak to stand.

I am old

Give me back the star maps of childhood

So that I

Along with the swallows

Can chart the path

Back to your waiting nest.

from: http://www.arabamericannews.com/news/index.php?mod=article&cat=Palestine&article=1363&page_order=1&act=print

Image via Wikipedia

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-fg-darwish14-2008aug14,0,5814485.story

From the Los Angeles Times

Palestinian poet and icon Darwish buried

More than 5,000 mourners attend the funeral in the West Bank for the poet revered for mirroring the Palestinian national experience.

By Ashraf Khalil
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

August 14, 2008

RAMALLAH, WEST BANK — During the six years he spent in an Israeli prison, Haidar Jaradat read one poem over and over: "My Mother," by Mahmoud Darwish.

"I long for my mother's bread," it begins. "My mother's coffee/Her touch."

"It brought me comfort and I thought about it a lot," said Jaradat, who was 16 when he was imprisoned by the Israelis over what he terms "a security issue."

Jaradat, now 24, recalled the solace Darwish's words had offered him as he waited Wednesday outside Ramallah's Palace of Culture for the coffin bearing the body of the Palestinian icon.

Amid pomp and circumstance just short of Yasser Arafat's 2004 state funeral, more than 5,000 mourners braved the midday August heat here to pay their respects to Darwish, the revered poet who died Saturday in Houston at age 67 following complications from open heart surgery.

Darwish's body was flown Wednesday from Jordan to Ramallah, where Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas received the flag-draped coffin.

"He was the master of the word and wisdom, the symbol who expressed our national feeling, our human constitution, our declaration of independence," Abbas said in a speech.

After eulogies at the Palestinian Authority's headquarters, a procession of thousands moved across town to the Palace of Culture, where thousands more waited near Darwish's burial plot.

"We loved him. He was a poet and true Palestinian patriot," said Abdel Rahman Zabin, a 50-year-old laborer.

Zabin said he and many other Palestinians identified so strongly with Darwish because the poet's life experiences, which he wrote about directly, mirrored much of the hardships of his people. His work resonated across political and generational lines for his ability to express the Palestinian sense of loss, anger and defiance.

Darwish's family fled their home village when Israel was founded in 1948, then later returned and settled as part of the Arab minority in the new Jewish state. His poem "Identity Card" recounted the frustrations of that minority status.

A communist activist in his youth, Darwish was repeatedly imprisoned by Israel before leaving the country in 1970.

His exile included time in Beirut, where he lived through the 1982 Israeli siege of the Lebanese capital -- an experience that inspired him to write "Ode to Beirut."

"He lived the whole Palestinian life from 1948 until now," Zabin said.

The crowd that flocked to attend Darwish's burial reflected the broad range of his appeal: The Palestinian political elite mingled with Communists who claim Darwish as one of their own and young hipsters wearing T-shirts bearing the poet's image.

Shirina Rantisi, a 19-year-old college sophomore, said the poet's status made him a kind of Palestinian Che Guevara: "He meant something to almost everyone."

ashraf.khalil@latimes.com