The Replacement Negroes: Abu Ghraib and the New Generation Plantation



The image from Abu Ghraib forced me to remember a time when I was 12 years old, visiting my grandmother in the Bronx.

Why I Burned My Israeli Military Papers



I decided to burn my military deferral papers, the closest equivalent I have to a draft card, to protest the policies of the government of Israel and to declare my intention never to serve in an army of occupation and oppression.

Suffering for the Horrendous Acts of a Few



When U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft warned people to report suspicious activities to the police, his words encouraged the public to scrutinize Middle Eastern and Muslim families. At the time, I didn’t realize his words could affect my life.

Of Rainbows and Death



How cruel is it that the image of the rainbow and all that it symbolizes are now connected with murder and wanton destruction of the Palestinian people, homes, and lands?

“How are you? Do you have a weapon?”: Dispatches from Israel/Palestine



Occasionally these security guards will stop and ask you a random question. “How are you? Do you have a weapon?” My friend thinks that half the time these guards are calculating your response, while the other half they are just trying to talk to women.

The Shia Rise Up



The decision to go after Al-Sadr and his followers, while ill-timed, was a sign that the occupation authority was beginning to realize that a growing segment of the Shia posed a threat to the occupation and that Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani and the other Shia leaders they’ve been dealing with couldn’t and possibly wouldn’t do anything to keep them in check.

Homes Destroyed, Death Toll Mounts; Where’s Kerry?



Democratic Senator John Kerry has been virtually silent regarding the rising violence in the West Bank, where the United Nations Relief and Works Agency has estimated over 1,100 Palestinians have been left homeless due to Israel’s latest armored rampage.

Books and Everything But: Tehran's Book Fair Alternates as City's "Meat Market"



The building dedicated to books in foreign languages has booths from American and European publishing houses. The range of books being offered is very obviously filtered. I only pick up a copy of Post-Kant Critical Theory and head out to discover other chapters of this story.

Driving While Arab and Muslim



I pulled over to the side of the road and was wondering why he was stopping me of all the people that were traveling on the freeway, some going quite a bit faster than I was.

Philadelphia Jews and Muslims Walk for Peace



They pleaded for an end to war, and to stop bloodshed and violence. They told us to live in peace and harmony, the way God intended for us all. These proclamations were the ‘common ground’ that indeed, helped develop this interfaith effort. It was what this assembly of Muslims, Jews, and Christians undertook by playing a proactive role in our commitment to peace.

The Abu Ghraib Photos: A Mirror for the Age We Live in



From the drawing and quartering of pirates to the beheading of dissenters in London and Paris, the torture and mutilation of prisoners and enemies of the state was something that the feudal monarchs did in the open, as a vivid and public attestation to their power and ability to exercise it.

Wandering



We will Watch the stars mirror our souls Twisted, faceted, demented, star-struck Phantom winds whispering false promises Longing, seeking star to star For the one to reveal a true face

White, Weird and Wonderful



‘I believe in one God, Allah, and that the rest of my life will be devoted to being less of an idiot than I am now’. That pretty much sums up my path to Islam.

Regarding Bush, Boston and the Ramadan Song: A conversation with Tissa Hami, the country’s first female Muslim standup



By Sadik H. Kassim MWU is featuring Muslim stand-up comics this month. This is our second feature in the series. Meet Tissa Hami. Born in Iran and raised in Boston, the ivy-league educated Harvard Kennedy School of Government admissions...

The Ending to a Failed Novel



It’s not easy to look at a big slab of white paper, a hundred thousand words and ten months or whatever and realize that you’re not doing anything with it, that it was meant for your shelf and your shelf alone, but maybe some of Ben Majnun could be salvaged.

Sweetness of Life: Review of Clay Bird



The Clay Bird is a beautiful and sophisticated film about a village in rural East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) during the turbulent years of the late 1960's, a time riddled with the rhetoric of war and political instability.

A Comic Apology



Most Americans are kept in the dark, unaware of the actual, the real America – the only kind seen by much of the rest of the world.

I Missed and Hugged a Queer Muslim Instead



Whether you agree or disagree with the positions that al-Fatiha takes, understand that it provides a safe space for those Muslims who identify as queer, and that is a lot more than one can say about the mainstream Muslim community.

Bad Show: Bush’s Appearance on Arab TV



Bush started out by trying to convey the horror and shock he and all Americans felt by the pictures. He admitted that they were real and not “alleged” (that the pictures didn’t lie). So far so good. It was downhill from there.

Abuse of Iraqi Prisoners: Part of the Dehumanizing Pattern



The irony is inescapable: The American and British soldiers who are in Iraq—so we are told—to “liberate” the country and bring “Freedom” and “democracy” to the country are humiliating, violating, torturing Iraqis.

Iraqi Prisoner Abuse: Part of a Pattern of US Human Rights Violations?



More chilling new evidence of the torture and sexual abuse of Iraqi prisoners by American soldiers emerged this week in a secret report accusing the US army leadership of failings at the highest levels.

Ten More Trees



By Ayman Nabtiti View full drawing (new window) Ayman's drawing was one of the winning entries in the Palestine Children's Welfare Fund's "Why I Love Palestine" contest for children ages 6 through 14 from the Dhesheh, Rafah and Aida...

Ahmed Ahmed: From Helwan to Hollywood



“Look,” he says, “Jews and Muslims have more in common than any religion ever, if you think about it. Both Jews and Muslims don’t eat pork. We don’t celebrate Christmas. We both use ‘ccchhh’ in our pronunciation. And we’re both hairy creatures of God.”