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Israel: Palestinian Youth Orchestra Disbanded for Israeli Performance

Maya Norton · 23:59 · Middle East & North Africa

lingua → es

In honor of Good Deeds Day in Israel, a Palestinian youth orchestra performed for a group of Holocaust survivors. Known as the “Strings of Freedom,” the group was composed of 13 children, ages 11 to 18, from the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank.

CK of Jewlicious relays:

The 13 member orchestra performed an Arabic song, “We sing for peace,” followed by two musical pieces with violins and Arabic drums. Sweet, right?

But not so fast. Upon learning of the event, Jenin officials immediately disbanded the orchestra, and banned its leader and the event organizer from the city. Adnan Hindi (alternately identified as Adnan al-Hinda), director of the Popular Committee for Services in Jenin, called the orchestra's performance:

[A] “dangerous matter” with “suspicious elements… seeking to impact the national culture of the young generation and cast doubt about the heroism and resistance of the residents of the camp during the Israeli invasion in April 2002.”

Simply Jews reflects:

“So what is the crime perpetrated by the youngsters? It appears that the presence of a few Holocaust survivors in the audience was interpreted as a ‘political event.”

Concluding:

“”Yeah… if you feel the peace in the Middle East in your waters, better send your waters in for an analysis. Sad.”

News sources are now reporting that both the audience and their young performers had a degree of ignorance about the event. Jenin parents only knew that their children were performing in Israel; the youth did not know who comprised their audience; and the Israeli audience did not know their performers were from Jenin.

According to the Jerusalem Post:

“The youths said their conductor, Wafa Younis, 50, of the Arab village of Ara in the Triangle, tried to explain to them who the elderly people at the event were, but chaos on the bus prevented them from listening.”

Jenin parents said that if they had known about their children's destination– the Holocaust Survivor's Center in the city of Holon– they would not have granted permission for them to participate.

Jenin activist Ramzi Fayad condemned the event, declaring:

“There can be no normalization while Israel is continuing to perpetrate massacres against our people.”

Dion Nissenbaum of Checkpoint Jerusalem sheds light on the situation for those unfamiliar with regional intricacies. He elaborates :

“Jenin… was the scene of one of the most politically-explosive Israeli military operations of the second Palestinian uprising.”

Adnan Hindi emphasizes:

“The Holocaust happened, but we are facing a similar massacre by the Jews themselves… We lost our land, and we were forced to flee and we've lived in refugee camps for the past 50 years.”

Perhaps the most interesting figure in this story is not the young Palestinian musicians with their peace music, nor the audience of Israeli Jewish Holocaust survivors, but the orchestra conductor herself, Ms. Wafa Younis. Younis, whose Jenin apartment is now boarded and barred from entrance, asserts:

“They want to destroy this group… It's a shame, it's a tragedy. What did these poor, elderly people do wrong? What did these children do wrong?”

Good Deeds Day, the context of this conflict, was founded by Israeli billionairess Shari Arison in partnership with the nonprofit organization Ruach Tova in order to encourage Israelis to volunteer their time and energies toward helping the community. CEO Rafi Elul explains:

“The idea is that any one can get up in the morning and ask himself ‘what can I do for my neighbor, to help a new immigrant, to help Israeli society as a whole?’… We aim to increase the national level of volunteering, and to show that not only those with means can help others.”

Elul adds:

“Every one of you can be a part of a day that is all good, a day when thousands of people will open up their hearts to the needs of others and will try to help them even just a little bit.”

One has to wonder what would have happened if everyone involved had had informed consent? What could have gone differently to enable a successful interaction? Readers, let's hear your thoughts.

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Global Voices Managing Director forced into hiding after April Fool's iPhone prank

Allen Smithee · 22:24, April 1st, 2009 · Announcements

lingua → es · bn

For Georgia “GAP” Popplewell, Managing Director of international blogging project Global Voices, the e-mail she sent to the community mailing list announcing that free iPhones would be given to all contributors seemed like a harmless enough April Fool's prank. Certain members of the community, however, failed to see the humour, calling the prank, “lame”, “heartless” and “something only a person with a sick, warped sense of humour would do.”

The offending e-mail. "These characters actually think I know Steve Jobs??" said Popplewell. "Incredible."

“It's a cruel joke,” said one contributor, who admitted to being so excited by the e-mail that she tossed her 3-year old Nokia into a nearby lake before reading the critical second paragraph.

“I always knew GAP was an evil person,” said another, “and this heinous act confirms it. Now what I am supposed to do with this expensive calfskin iPhone case and Bluetooth headset I ran out and purchased?”

Another contributor said he knew deep down that the message was a fake, but a medical condition that renders him powerless in the face of e-mails offering free merchandise prevented him from seeing the truth. Several other contributors admitted to being afflicted with a similar ailment, including one person who commissioned 250 iPhone cases from a collective of indigenous weavers in his community that he planned on selling to his colleagues. “I would have made 1300% profit on those cases,” said the contributor. “GAP owes me big time.”

One enterprising Global Voices contributor commissioned 250 of these iPhone cases from indigenous weavers in his community. They're now available for purchase on eBay and Etsy

Yet none of the GV contributors we talked to claimed to know the identity of the community member who issued the death threat that forced GAP to leave her Trinidad and Tobago residence and seek refuge in an undisclosed location by noon on April Fool's day, though one person said that it “sounds like something somebody on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) team would do—but don't tell anybody I said that!”

When interviewed on the matter, MENA editor Amira Al-Hussaini said “I don't wish to point fingers, but if I did, I'd point them in the direction of South Asia.” In a statement issued on the forum of the newly established web site www.serves_gap_right.org, the South Asia team formally denied any involvement with the threat, hinting that it was most likely to have originated somewhere closer to GAP's home base, “like perhaps Latin America or—*cough*—the Caribbean.”

Some Global Voices contributors believe Popplewell has taken refuge at a location resembling this

Contributors from the Global Voices regional and language teams yet to be accused of being involved in the threat have since set up another web site (www.we_didnt_do_it.org) in addition to a fund to help GAP cover the cost of her stay at the luxury resort where she is rumoured to have taken refuge. The fund, however, was disbanded after it was discovered that payments were being funneled into someone's private PayPal account.

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The first Brunei Postgraduate Symposium

Noor Hidayah · 20:48 · East Asia

On Saturday, 21st March 2009, the first Bruneian Postgraduate Symposium (BPS) was held at the Brunei Gallery, School of Oriental African Studies (SOAS), London. Ranoadidas elaborated on the aim of the symposium:

This academic event aimed at facilitating research discussions between different academic fields and how students feel their research will contribute to our nation’s development.

Photo from Wani Ariffin's Facebook

Also featured during the symposium were the three keynote speakers who were flown from Brunei to attend this event. They comprised of the top university officials in Brunei, namely Dr Haji Zulkarnain bin Haji Hanafi (Vice-Chancellor of University of Brunei Darussalam), Dr Hj Mohd Yusop bin Hj Awg Damit (Deputy Rector of the Sultan Sharif Ali Islamic University) and Dr Hj Supry bin Hj Awg Ladi (Head of Research at the Institue of Brunei Technology)

Ranoadidas also reported:

The keynote speakers delivered impressive speeches in highlighting the importance of research and their current efforts to improve the quality of research in their respective institutions. They were also engaged in a very interesting and stimulating dialogue with members of the audience where significant issues such as data accessibility in Brunei were raised.

Photo from Turquoise and Roses

There were 3 separate panels on that day - education, national identity and public policy. Below are the list of papers presented under each panel:

Education Panel:

Achieving a 30% participation rate to higher education in Brunei Darussalam by 2018: Are there presence of barriers to participate as perceived by Year 11 students? - Julaihi bin Mohamad, MA Policy Studies in Education, University of London

Writing in Brunei primary schools: Literacy in English in relation to cultural capital - Malai Zeiti Bte Sheikh Abdul Hamid, PhD in Education, University of Bath

Inclusive education and educational diversity: a reflection on research in Brunei - Hajah Huraini Bte POKSJDP Haji Hurairah, PhD in Education, University of Oxford

National Identity Panel:

Islam and Democracy: Paradox? - Hazwan Md Jaya, Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy, SOAS

Feels like home - Dayangku Laila Widari bte Pengiran Bahrin, Diploma School (RIBA Part II), Architectural Association, London.

Understanding the values of art history from a Bruneian perspective - Nuruljannah Binti Hj Mohd Yussof, MA in Art History, University of Wales, Aberystwyth.

Public Policy Panel:

Studies in transport geography - Sabrina Hj Mohd Daud, Dept. of Geography & Environment, LSE.

Evaluation of obesity management in primary care in England using existing survey and GP data, and identifying lessons learnt for the health care system in Brunei Darussalam - Nik Ani Afiqah Hj Mohd Tuah, Dept. of Primary Care & Social Medicine, Diversion of EPHPC, Imperial College of London

The pragmatics and neurotics of moving towards e-public sector - Farihah Hj Mohd Said, MSc Analysis, Design & Management of Information Systems, LSE

Increasing compliance at the workplace with behavioural principles - Noor Hidayah Binti Hj Osman, MSc Behaviour Analysis, Swansea University.

Source: 2009 Bruneian Postgraduate Symposium

A student who offered to report on the event for Brunei Times (one of the local newspaper) recorded the views of some of the participants.

The symposium was an eye-opener for Siti Munawwarah Awang Tarif, who said getting a glimpse of other students' research work was informative and thought-provoking.

“Seeing other people's work and perspectives in various disciplines opened up ideas for me,” said the Masters in International Health student, and hoped that the symposium would become a regular event.

Hazwan Azri, a PhD student in Chemical Engineering, agreed, but hoped future symposiums would also include research on science and technology.

The symposium provided an oppprtunity for the Bruneian postgraduates to exchange ideas, opinions and concerns amongst eachother. Some of the frequently raised topics of discussion were on difficulties of accessing resources and data on Brunei for academic research. Turquoise and Roses wrote on the overall turn out of the event, and conveyed a message from the organising committee:

Overall, the event turned out to be a great success. It received amazing support from the keynote speakers as well as members of the general audience. This collective act of academic exploration highlighted Brunei’s burgeoning intellectual capital and this will be a worthy asset in the course of our nation’s development.

The committee would once again like to thank those who came to support the event and the hope is that next year, the symposium will be bigger and cover a wider range of academic fields.

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Causes and Consequences of the Coup in Madagascar

Lova Rakotomalala · 14:01, April 1st, 2009 · Sub-Saharan Africa , East Asia

lingua → fr · es · zht · zhs · mg

After the power transfer that took place on March 17th in Madagascar, unrest is still growing strong in the island nation. 15,000 protested against the coup Saturday for the sixth consecutive day and have been tear-gassed by armed forces for three days straight. Sunday, On March 28th, civil protesters were shot at and wounded by police forces, resulting in 34 wounded and a few unaccounted for. (more…)

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