The Articulate "Infidel"

[eumelia]

I just finished reading Nonie Darwish's book "Now They Call Me Infidel".

On the one hand, it's good to read about a feminist Arab who doesn't seek the total annihilation of Israel. On the other, she's very big on the "American way of life", which is okay I guess, being an immigrant from an oppressive culture and having the freedom to say and do as she likes.
She gives a fairly accurate over-view of the rise of Radical Islam in Egypt and the Middle-East, she reminds us (the readers) about the culpability of other Arab states who rejected the Palestinians as a people and have done very little (if anything) to help them with their plight.

It's a good book, she's incredibly articulate and has a lot of criticism towards Radical Islam, the racism, classism and oppression towards women in Arab countries, the anti-Semitic rhetoric within those Arab countries and how Arab countries deny the right of Israel to exist and the fact that they use Israel as a scapegoat for all their problems.

All in all, I recommend it. Some stuff I agree with, some I don't.

The scariest thing of all though, is how she describes the fact that her own people are willing to denounce her and kill her for her views.

In addition, the genocide in Darfur must be stopped.

וכמו כן, צריך לעצור את רצח העם בדרפור.

Comments

[talibah-nazahah.livejournal.com]

my company publishes that one... i saw it on the shelf, snarled and rolled my eyes. it's from our right-wing imprint. ugh. donald rumsfeld was in the office one day talking to the editors over there and then the ex-senator from some backward state Rick Santorum was here too... i chased him down in the lobby to say hello. hahahah!! my coworker was nervous i would say something rude but i was incredibly cordial. i just wanted to know if it was him.

anyways... i'll get my hands on a copy of this book and check it out... i'll read anything that moves ;)

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

Yeah, she's Republican, she still says some important things, which I think are important to remember, despite not agreeing with her politically on everything (I doubt we agree on everything :)

[talibah-nazahah.livejournal.com]

i find it frustrating that many people who read that book wont look at it critically and will only see what they want to see... islam = bad... muslims = jew-hating fanatics... what can you do?

i was out with some coworkers the other night and our boss leaned back at one point when we were talking about politics and said, "the world is an interesting place." so simple, but so profound. you know?

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

She's more critical of the fact that Muslim Scholars don't renounce the fanatical Imams and the anti-Semitic rhetoric found in Muslim countries.

The anti-Israel sentiment in the Muslim nations isn't anything to ignore, yes Israel Occupies the Territories, but there is Freedom of speech and expression in Israel which is very suppressed in other Middle-East countries.

One of my biggest problems, is that in the end I'm split in half, because I'm Israeli and this is my home and I'd rather see us live in co-existence with the Palestinians and the other neighboring nations than have them throw missiles at us and then go into stupid meaningless wars with them.

[antiepiphany.livejournal.com]

was rolling through after your post in free palestine, so i thought i'd leave a remark or two, some questions for you to ask yourself:

* who is the "they" you are talking about?
* nonie darwish came from a privileged family in egypt's elite. if she ever experienced this thing called "radical islam" (what is it?), it definitely was not while she was living with egypt's upper classes. and it definitely wasn't in the 60s and 70s.
* let's presume nonie's story is correct, and she really does feel this way. does that mean that her amateur analysis & diagnosis of everything is correct, useful, or productive?
* why does nonie darwish write in english instead of arabic, if her concern is to 'reform' the country she came from?

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

Thanks for commenting, I'll definitely consider what you wrote.