On looking for Love in all the wrong places in the Middle East

I'm finishing a book I started reading last February titled: "The Case for Islamo-Christian Civilization" by Richard W. Bulliet. 

It is a very good read for anyone who's trying to understand the modern history and possibly the future of the US/Muslim world relations from an honest western/American/non-Muslim perspective.

The author challenged several classical western principals that are commonly used while dealing with the Middle East whether in the academic arena of Middle Eastern studies or in policy making.

He's refuting concepts such as "Clash of civilization", "What went wrong" and "Why do they hate us" and I was really glad to see this coming from someone in the west.

I found some useful arguments that reminded me of my personal struggle to explain myself and where I'm coming from as a Middle Easterner to the rest of the world. I will share some quotes from the book's Amazon page and then discuss my own reflections from the chapter I especially liked: "Looking for Love in all the wrong places in the Middle East".

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1- On "what went wrong":

"The idea that people in the Middle East once embraced the goal of becoming like Europe and hoped that by adopting European ideas and institutions they would someday experience all of the liberal values we recognize in the Europe of today is nonsense. It assumes a historical outcome for Europe itself that no one even in Europe could have predicted."

2- On "why do they hate us":

"Those who advanced the Japanese occupation as a model for postwar Iraq seem to have baseball, Hello Kitty, and Elvis impersonators in the back of their minds rather than headscarves and turbaned mullahs. 

Like latter day missionaries, we want the Muslims to love us, not just for what we can offer in the way of a technological society but for who we are -for our values. But we refuse to countenance the thought of loving them for their values."

3- On "Middle East studies":

"The founders of Middle East studies ignored recommendations that they focus on contemporary Islam and focused instead on Middle Easterners trying to act like westerners. There weren't a lot of these, just as there hadn't been a lot of converts, but the conviction was strong that those few would be pioneers in bringing western modernity to the region. The people we supported as agents of modernity became tyrants."

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While observing the Middle Eastern peoples and cultures, "Looking for love in all the wrong places" is another orientalist pattern that appears in the attitudes of the American observers to this complicated region.

What does it mean?

It means that instead of trying to learn about the region and love/hate it the way it is, these observers look for Middle Easterners they can love, and a Middle East they can relate to while overlooking everything else, intentionally and sometimes unintentionally. 

The author argued that the Middle East they're willing to love is ready for an American version of modernization, and ready to absorb American values with little resistance.

The Middle Easterners they're willing to love are English speaking professionals who've received a reasonable amount of western education. The exotic folkloric traditional folks are also lovable but they're not intellectually competent enough to work with them.

This pattern was describing the majority of contemporary American policy makers, diplomats, and researchers on the Middle East.

I found that this phenomena appears also in the attitudes of people who're interested in the Middle East or watching it outside of academia and policy circles.

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Case 1:

"I'm a liberal educated non-religious woman from the Middle East ready to absorb western/American values.
I'm not bearded or dressed up all in black, does that make me more lovable than fellow Middle Easterners who fit into your preconceived ideas and stereotypes?" 

Case 2:

"I'm not too assimilated with the western culture but I'm educated according to your perception, I do speak English and I can totally fit in. I'm also not dressed up all in black or have a beard but is my headscarf an issue? Does it make me more palatable than a Niqabi? Or less acceptable than a seemingly liberal Middle Easterner? 

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I encounter this all the time while dealing with people who're interested in "us". And for those of us who're standing on the fence between the two worlds because they happened to have some "access" it is a very problematic issue. 

For those of you who're interested in us, you probably have one perception of the Middle East in your mind based on your personal experience. For me it is the Middle East I live in and read about in my own literature and version of history, the Middle East I read about in your western orientalist literature and media, and most importantly it is the Middle Easterner I'm being. 

Which one do you have in mind when you're talking to me? 

Am I supposed to censor myself about myself in order to be sensitive with your ignorance or the fact you're not doing your part in learning about us just like we're learning about you?

It's always a hard job to figure out which version people have in their mind while talking to me. It is so difficult because we are the case study, the educators and the refuters of the misconceptions all at the same time. 

In order to make it easy on both of us you need realize that you are not going to learn if you are just looking for "Middle East and Middle Easterners I can love".

Instead, I suggest you put your personal feelings and judgments aside and then begin to learn/relearn/unlearn about other people/societies/cultures the way they are. 

Of course you will find that there are many not so nice things -from your perspective- about this part of the world and about these people. However, it is not necessarily the same stuff you see on media or hear in that Near East /Middle East / Islamic studies class you attend.

As Bulliet clearly discussed it you must consider the fact the same exact thing applies to your nationality, cultural background, and heritage when people from elsewhere look at it.

Observing a transitional time

December 13th, 2012

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 No time for grief on the deaths, no time for sadness..

Husseiny's phone number is still on my cell and it feels weird every time I scroll my contact list and see names of people who died.

I love how my mom is becoming this international citizen of the world and how I saw her cooking food, eating, smiling and laughing with international peace and social justice activists in our house in Cairo.

 

The intellectual and social transformation process I see my entire family going through is breathtaking.

All what's going on around me is hard to process.

I'm not out in the streets as a typical participant anymore, more like an observer. 

 

I found myself going to Tahrir to meet a friend and while I was standing next to one of the many posters and pictures of people I know on the wall I started crying silently. 

 

People continued to smile and show the victory sign while their friends, fiances or kids were taking pictures of them next to the paintings on the walls. 

Some people from here and there understand tiny bits, but nobody gets what's going on with me and I always feel that I probably lost the ability to explain myself.

I'm sure it's not just me, maybe I'm too sensitive, maybe I'm self centered, and maybe I just have more time to sit down and reflect on my internal struggles, my psychological and emotional state.

Hamza e i significati del Corano

Hamza e i 
significati del Corano حمزة... و معاني القرآن from Domino Film on Vimeo.

Riflessioni, dubbi, paura e fede: questa è la storia di Hamza Roberto Piccardo, un musulmano italiano alla ricerca dei significati della religione.

Studiando le traduzioni del Corano redatte da studiosi cristiani e altri orientalisti, Hamza ha scoperto inesattezze con gli originali significati del testo ; per questo egli ha ritenuto necessario cimentarsi in un delicato lavoro di studio e traduzione che, nel rispetto dei significati originali del Corano, fosse accessibile ai lettori di lingua italiana.

Hamza Roberto Piccardo 

Hamza Roberto Piccardo è nato a Imperia, entra nell’Islàm nel 1975, nel corso di un lungo viaggio in Africa occidentale.

Nel 1988 realizza l'edizione italiana de "Al Minhaj al Muslim (La via del musulmano) " dello shaykh Abu Bakr al Djazayri, la prima opera di giurisprudenza cultuale ad uso dei musulmani italofoni.

Nel 1990 è tra i fondatori dell'Unione delle Comunità ed Organizzazioni islamiche in Italia. (UCOII) e viene eletto membro della direzione nazionale.

Elabora la Bozza d'intesa, il documento sulla quale si dovrebbero stabilire i rapporti tra la comunità islamica e lo Stato .

Nel 1992 viene rieletto nella direzione nazionaleU COII , in quell'anno da vita alla Comunità dei Musulmani del Ponente Ligure, promuovendo l'apertura della Moschea di Imperia; seguiranno nel 1994 quella di Albenga (SV), quella di Sanremo (IM) nel 1996, Savona e Cengio (SV) nel 1998.

Nel 1993 fonda la casa editrice "Al Hikma" e pubblica e dirige il mensile "Il Musulmano". Si tratta di una rivista multilingue, fondamentalmente italiano-arabo ma con apporti in bosniaco, turco, somalo. "Il musulmano" uscirà fino a tutto il 1994 quando è costretto a sospendere le pubblicazioni per ragioni economiche.

Al termine del 1994, dopo cinque anni di lavoro pubblica la prima edizione del "Saggio di Traduzione Interpretativa del Santo Corano inimitabile". 

Si tratta della prima traduzione integrale e commentata ( vi sono oltre 2500 note e un ricco apparato di appendici, indici tematici e dei nomi) pensata e realizzata dai musulmani in Italia per gli italiani e gli italofoni.

Nel 1996 assume la carica di segretario nazionale che mantiene fino all’aprile 2005

Nell'estate `96 esce la prima edizione economica della traduzione del Corano In 8 mesi tutta la tiratura di 25000 copie è esaurita. A tutt’oggi sono state pubblicate 9 edizioni per un totale di oltre 160.000 copie distribuite e vendute.Realizza e tutt’ora dirige un portale islamico in lingua italiana: www.islam-online.it, attualmente il più visitato dei siti islamici in italiano.

Prosegue l’attività editoriale e da alle stampe “Anéla il petto”, un libro di poesie sui 99 bellissimi Nomi di Dio che saranno poi illustrate dalla pittrice Nadia Valentini con altrettanti quadri.

Nel 2003 sito www.libreriaislamica.it

Nel 2005 è portavoce del European Muslim Network, presieduto da Tariq Ramadan.

Nel maggio dello stesso anno pubblica “Il Puzzle del Derviscio”, il suo primo romanzo.

Nel 2006 “Luci prima della Luce” una raccolta di 140 invocazioni.

Nel aprile 2007, “Ode alla Rossa” una raccolta di poesie ispirate dal Marocco e in particolare aiMarrakech.

Nel 2008 Miracolo a Baghad, il secondo romanzo politico/poetico.

Nel nel mese di Dhul Hijja 1430 H / novembre 2009 completa, con i sapienti del Complesso di Re Fahd per la stampa del Generoso Corano, i lavori preparatori per l'edizione arabo/italiano del Libro di Allah.

Nell'Aprile 2010 viene eletto un'altra volta nella direzione UCOII

www.islam-online.it

www.libreriaislamica.it

Il Facebook page di fratello Hamza:

https://www.facebook.com/HamzaRobertoPiccardo

Srebrenica: A story of a Muslim Genocide

The Srebrenica Massacre

11 July 1995

I was five when the Srebrenica genocide happened but I remember. Yes, don't laugh please. Kids here in this part of the world remember things like this. 
My 14 years old cousin Omar remembers his 2 years old memories of the Iraq war. 
I was too young so, I have such vague memories of it, I was a first grade kid in primary school and somehow I still remember a few things.

I still recall the Arabic songs/Nasheed my aunts used to play from an album called "The wounds of Sarajevo".
 A collection of Arabic poems in the form of songs talking about the massacres, about places called Sarajevo, Srebrenica, Bosnia and all these hard to pronounce Slavic names.

Later I found these poems and songs online after years of research and I still love to listen to them often.

I remember she had a bumper-sticker about Bosnia on her radio/cassette device where we used to play these songs. 

I remember a lot of the Modern Standard Arabic vocabulary I picked up and the concepts I learned about through this . I remember asking her as we were watching black and white TV reports and I was having such a hard time understanding why they are killing kids somewhere in the world called Bosnia.

It's so strange how I could clearly remember these details but it also shows what kind of childhood some of us have experienced in Egypt even though we were too far away from these conflicts since the post Camp David era.
 Still none of my peers in school and all the way up to college would relate to these stories or know of them.

"European Muslims", "Non-Arabic speaking people who believe in the same God and book I believe in", Yugoslavia", "Serb and Bosnian" and of course the "Hate/ discrimination crimes" all were things you don't get exposed to if you're a regular Egyptian who grew up in culturally Muslim households in a secular educational system.

As I grew up and while I was exploring my identity I felt a strong connection with these people though, more than just sympathy. I was so curious and wanted to know more about this part of the world and why these white Europeans who don't look like us are Muslim and why they were massacred like that.

When I was introduced to the internet finally in 2003 I did an intensive research on the issue in Arabic ( There wasn't much out there at all back then) and eventually had to do more in English. This was one of the topics that made me want to start blogging when I was 17 or so.
 I didn't think anybody else around me knew or cared and that was hard to understand. 

Later in 2008 I wrote 2 articles on the Bosnian Genocide and until today I still get visits from people searching it in Arabic.

http://so-called-human.blogspot.com/2008/07/blog-post_11.html

http://so-called-human.blogspot.com/2008/07/blog-post_9372.html

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Until today I still listen to all the beautiful poetry they wrote about the war/genocide that I memorized growing up in Arabic. 

The wounds of Sarajevo, an album cover 

I can't miss July the 11th without thinking about it and recalling all the Aljazeera documentaries and all the articles and pictures I have in the back of my mind about this horrific event.

I still feel the words on alienation, estrangement, and that Bosnian guy singing about growing up in a non-Muslim country missing the warmth of home, the mosques, the call to prayer, the family and friends, and everything he left behind after becoming a refugee knowing that he can't be back. Ever.

Before the uprising Egypt was pushing me further away more and more and at that time I started to be an advocate of such unpopular/ unknown causes that nobody here cares to learn about.

I started an online educational/awareness campaign on the online forums I used to participate in about this part of the world, the Balkan and central Asia, its history and present, the early Islamophobia in the 1990s.

Nobody I know really cared at that time, but I was happy I got some people excited about the idea online.

I couldn't understand why nobody else was wondering as I did for so long.

How come 8,000 people were killed in 4 days for being males and Muslims and how come women and girls got raped for being Muslims and females?

How come people were kept in concentration camps starving to death and getting tortured like this?

Why didn't anybody talk about it as much as they talked about other events while it was the most outrageous mass killing in Europe after WW2?

Why do you need to be a Muslim to speak about it and why don't fellow Muslims know about it at first place?

90% of all the mosques, schools and old architecture were destroyed , more than 700 hundred mosques and more than 850 public library.

Only (yesterday) around 500 newly discovered bodies where buried.

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"How can these army generals do it and get away with it?" that was one naive question I had as a first year college student until I saw other army generals doing similar things in my own country.

Looking at the destroyed buildings and the coffins piling up in Syria reminded me so much of these pictures showing green coffins and veiled women crying over them. For some reason it wasn't like Palestine or Iraq's scenes at all, it was more like Bosnia.

Now Syrians have more means to talk about what's going on there. Will that change people's perception to mass killings?
Does it mean that no more massacres will continue to happen, that no more innocent people will continue to die in vain and life will go on like this.

Does it make a difference to educate ourselves about history mistakes and educate those around us in order to avoid it?

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The Bosnian genocide and the way the world responded to it all taught me so many lessons about our world and the reality of things. The racial and religious dynamics in the whole thing have hundreds of lessons on how our world is operating. 

I don't know what could be done to stop the bloodshed around the corner from my house in Egypt to be thinking about solving these issues in other countries.

I just know that this specific event has certainly shaped the political and religious consciousness of so many young Muslims in the world as it did with me. More people should learn about this massacre in this context. 

The least I can do about it is talking and honoring these victims by letting more people learn about what happened to them.

For those of you who still don't know much about it, you can easily google: Srebrenica + Genocide + 1995 and you will find plenty of documentaries and articles. 

These are some of the tweets people posted today on twitter to commemorate Srebrenica Massacre, you still can follow the hashtag #Srebrenica to get updates on it:

Stay Human ‏@Stay_Human1

Imagine whats going through families who only just buried their beloveds today after 17 years ... bodies still being identified‪#Srebrenica

Zbigniew G ‏@Zbigniew_G

In many cases, body parts of one individual have been found in several different mass graves ‪#Srebrenica

Kaya Dee ‏@Kaya_Dee

To this day i remember Bosnians telling me about the pain they suffered at the hands of their neighbours ‪#Srebrenica ‪#Islamophobia@MPACUK

Taji Mustafa ‏@tajimustafa

#Srebrenica massacre: I remember how UN arms embargo

left Bosnian Muslims largely unarmed while Serbia inherited Yugoslav Army's arsenal

Radeyah Why? ‏@TryUmphNow

After the ‪#Holocaust we dealt with ‪#antisemitism After the ‪#civilrightsmovement we death with ‪#racism But we never deal with‪#Islamophobia

MPACUK ‏@MPACUK

‪#Srebrenica, where nearly 9000 Muslims were murdered. They are still finding more bodies 17 years on! We will never forget!

MPACUK ‏@MPACUK

Rape was as much a weapon as bullets & bombs. Women raped in front of their parents, children. Fathers forced to rape daughters‪ #Srebrenica

MPACUK ‏@MPACUK

An estimated 200,000 Muslims murdered, 12,000 children & 50,000 women raped at the end of the genocide. How can we not forget?#Srebrenica

Cosa dice l'Islam sul terrorismo?

L'Islam è una religione di misericordia e non consente il terrorismo.

Dio disse nel Corano:
((Dio non vi proibisce di essere buoni e giusti nei confronti di coloro che non vi hanno combattuto per la vostra religione e che non vi hanno scacciato dalle vostre case. Dio ama coloro che si comportano con equità.)) (Corano, 60:8)

Il profeta Mohammed proibiva ai soldati di uccidere donne e bambini e li avvisava:

{Non tradire, non essere eccessivo, non uccidere un neonato.}

Disse anche: {Chiunque abbia ucciso una persona che ha un contratto con i musulmani non profumerà come il Paradiso, sebbene la sua fraganza si sentirà per un periodo di quarant'anni.}

Il profeta Mohammed aveva anche proibito la punizione con il fuoco.

Egli elencograve; l'omicidio come il secondo di tutti i peccati e avvisava anche che nel giorno del giudizio, {I primi casi a essere giudicati tra persone nel giorno del giudizio saranno quelli di spargimento di sangue}.

I musulmani sono anche incoraggiati a essere gentili con gli animali ed è proibito maltrattarli. Una volta il profeta Mohammed disse:

{Una donna fu punita perchè imprigionò un gatto finché morì. Per questo motivo, fu condannata all'Inferno. Quando il gatto era imprigionato, essa non gli diede né cibo né acqua e non lo lasciò libero di nutrirsi degli insetti della terra.}

Disse anche che un uomo diede da bere a un cane, così Dio dimenticò i suoi peccati a causa di questa buona azione. Fu chiesto al profeta:

“Messaggero di Dio, saremo ricompensati per la gentilezza verso gli animali?” Egli disse: {Esiste una ricompensa per la gentilezza verso ogni forma di vita, animale o umana.}

In aggiunta, quando i musulmani macellano gli animali è loro imposto di farli spaventare e soffrire il meno possibile. Il profeta Mohammed disse: {Quando macellate un animale, fatelo nel modo migliore. Uno affili il suo coltello per ridurre la sofferenza dell'animale.}

Alla luce di questi e altri testi islamici, l'atto di incitare al terrore nei cuori dei civili senza difese, la distruzione completa di edifici e proprietà, il bombardamento e lo storpiare uomini innocenti, donne e bambini sono atti proibiti e detestabili secondo l'Islam e i musulamni.

I musulmani seguono una religione di pace, misericordia e perdono e la maggior parte non ha nulla a che vedere con i violenti eventi che sono associati ai musulmani.

Se un musulmano commette un atto di terrorismo, questa persona sarà colpevole di violare le leggi dell'Islam.

http://www.islam-guide.com/it

Norman Finkelstein: Arab dignity will bring peace to the Middle East

This  important and highly recommended statement by Dr. Norman Finkelstein was supposed to be published earlier but I totally forgot about it due to the unusual circumstances we are going through right now in Egypt.
Last May I attended his lecture in the American university of Cairo and that was one of the most informative and important lectures about Israeli/Arab conflict I've ever attended. 

If you are a westerner and interested in getting to know about this conflict from a perspective of a Jewish American who's parents died in the Holocaust you have to know more about this man.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Finkelstein


The article as found in his official site.
http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/stop-the-presses-an-article-thats-actually-accurate/
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In a lecture that linked Egypt’s revolution to the balance of power in the region, the renowned American academic Norman Finkelstein painted the clear fear change will induce in Israel

Osman El Sharnoubi, Wednesday 18 May 2011

The American political scientist and author Professor Norman Finkelstein, an outspoken critic of Israel, gave a lecture Monday night to a packed auditorium at the American University in Cairo, a day after he demonstrated with Egyptians in front of the Israeli embassy in Giza on the 63rd anniversary of the Nakba.
Finkelstein, the author of The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering, started the lecture by speaking about Israeli aggression towards its neighbours in the last five years, starting from Hezbollah’s victory against Israel.

Finkelstein moved from this defeat to tell a narrative of Israel’s belligerency in reaction to this defeat, using the Israeli invasion of Gaza in 2008, the ensuing blockade and finally the attack on the freedom flotilla, the Mavi Marmara as illustration.
Through such accounts, Finkelstein presented to the audience why he views Israel as a rogue state.
Presenting facts and testimonies, Finkelstein refused to label what happened to Gaza in 2008 as a “war,” insisting that what took place there was a “massacre.” Presenting Israel’s excuse for this massacre as false, for Hamas did not provoke this response from Israel, he moved on to the real reason for the operation against Gaza. Israel, smarting from its humiliating defeat in Lebanon in 2006, wanted to display its military might.


In the same way, the professor undermined the reasons for the Israeli blockade on Gaza, saying that preventing weapons from entering Gaza did not necessitate banning chocolates, potato chips and baby chicks from entering.
He sees the blockade as a form of collective punishment on the Gazans for choosing the wrong leaders in the 2007 elections – Hamas.

pictures from Gaza after IDF attacks in Dec 2008

The final, and most important, part of the lecture covered the Egyptian revolution and its impact on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Posing as a starting point the question of whether or not the revolution would threaten Israeli security, Finkelstein delved into Egypt’s history with Israel since 1952, shortly after the occupation of Palestine, following the free officers’ coup and the revolution that immediately followed.

Finkelstein, again, tried to show that Nasser and other leaders were in fact hoping to avoid a confrontation with Israel, preferring to focus instead on modernising. It was Israel that wanted a war.

Through citing events from 1954 to 1967, the lecture presented the view that an unthreatened Israel carried out the 1967 attack on Egypt in its effort (with the grace of the United States) to destroy “radical Arab nationalism” and eliminate the chances of Egypt becoming a force to reckon with in the future. Instead, with Mubarak in power, it became a country that could “be pushed around.”

From here, the lecture became more inward looking, touching upon issues hotly debated in Egypt since the ousting of Mubarak. Among these is the Camp David peace treaty with Israel.

The treaty, he explained, came about as a consequence of Israel’s desire to remove Egypt from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The concern stemmed from Egypt’s military performance in the 1973 war that temporarily saw Israel pushed back in Sinai.

Sadat unilaterally agreed to peace in return for the Sinai Peninsula, which, according to Finkelstein, “freed Israeli’s military hand” to attack on other fronts. The 1982 invasion of Lebanon and the occupation of Gaza and the West Bank followed.

Finkelstein asserted that under Mubarak, Israel was guaranteed a calm southern front, and it pursued its attempts at cornering Iran with sanctions and mobilising for war against it.

This, the professor stated, is no longer the case. The first thing Israel said after Mubarak was ousted from power is that the attack on Iran is off.

Another consequence of Mubarak’s toppling, believes Finkelstein, is that the popularly rejected Camp David treaty may be renegotiated, although he doubts it will be renounced due to the reciprocal obligations a treaty entails, i.e. Israel left Sinai in exchange for Egypt making peace with it. Israel, Finkelstein said, trembles at the possibility of having to renegotiate with Egypt.

The revolution has brought Israel to face a fear it hasn’t had to contemplate since signing the treaty with Egypt. Israel is “afraid that the dignity of the Arab World, in particular Egypt, will be restored, that’s their problem,” declared Finkelstein. War, on the contrary, fills it with no fear since it has the upper hand militarily.

It was then the turn of Arab leaders to come under Finkelstein’s caustic analysis. Despite knowledge being a crucial asset for leading a country, Arabs – citing Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah – don’t generally read, especially their leaders. “The complete guide to chewing grass” he cited as the only book Mubarak had ever read.

For this reason, Finkelstein explained, the Israelis weren’t afraid of Mubarak, but, in contrast, “they know ElBaradei reads,” to which the audience applauded.

His reference to the Nobel Prize winner and presidential hopeful Mohammad ElBaradei lead to him admitting his preference to see him become president because he “wants to restore the dignity and the pride of Egypt.”

It is precisely the prospect of Arab countries rising as powers and modernising, which destroys Israel’s war option, preventing it from having a free military hand in the region to use under the pretext that Arabs only understand the language of force. This, Finkelstein said, is the greatest threat to Israel.

The nullifying of the military option would create a climate in which the prospects for peace between Israel and Palestine have never been better.

Arabs and Muslims: The bad guys in Hollywood

"Reel Bad Arabs": How Hollywood vilifies a people.

I found this outstanding documentary on July 2010 and was impressed by the effort done and the huge amount of information documented in it. It was originally a book by the same author: Dr. Jack Shaheen that I so much admire and respect.

I thought of sharing this movie earlier but it never happened but now is definitely the best time to share such a masterpiece of work for many reasons. 

First of all to remind Arabs of the way we have always been considered and portrayed in the western media and consequently on the western mentality _and may be still are_ in order to work on changing this by clearing these misconceptions up.

I'm afraid the subconsciousness of us is being fed all the time by nonsense that become facts later on in a gradual process. 

(Advice number 1: Watch out for messages sent to you throughout media. All the time)

Secondly, when the map of the Middle East is being redrawn literally, policies towards the Middle East should be reconsidered again as well. This is the role of the educated open-minded westerners who are willing to co-operate.

Although seeing Americans jumping like crazy and chanting CIA in front of the red house oh, sorry I mean the white house made me think twice before talking about rationality and the definition of triumph I still have faith in the smart minority out there.

(Advice number 2: Power comes from people for people who are the makers of their fate, if they neglected this fact they should blame no-one but themselves.)

I'm not going to write much and will just quote from the official site of the movie that you might find here:

http://www.reelbadarabs.com/

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"This groundbreaking documentary dissects a slanderous aspect of cinematic history that has run virtually unchallenged from the earliest days of silent film to today's biggest Hollywood blockbusters. Featuring acclaimed author Dr. Jack Shaheen, the film explores a long line of degrading images of Arabs--from Bedouin bandits and submissive maidens to sinister sheikhs and gun-wielding "terrorists"--along the way offering devastating insights into the origin of these stereotypic images, their development at key points in US history, and why they matter so much today. "

"Shaheen shows how the persistence of these images over time has served to naturalize prejudicial attitudes toward Arabs and Arab culture, in the process reinforcing a narrow view of individual Arabs and the effects of specific US domestic and international policies on their lives.

By inspiring critical thinking about the social, political, and basic human consequences of leaving these Hollywood caricatures unexamined, the film challenges viewers to recognize the urgent need for counter-narratives that do justice to the diversity and humanity of Arab people and the reality and richness of Arab history and culture."

About Dr.Jack Shaheen:

Dr. Jack Shaheen (born 1935) is Professor Emeritus of Mass Communication at Southern Illinois University. He was also a consultant on Middle East affairs for CBS News.

He studies portrayals of Arabs and Islam in American media. Being a committed internationalist and humanist, Dr. Shaheen addresses stereotypical images of racial and ethnic groups. His presentations illustrate that stereotypes do not exist in a vacuum, that hurtful caricatures of Asians, blacks, Latinos and others, impact innocents. He explains why such portraits persist, and provides viable solutions to help shatter misperceptions.

Among Dr. Shaheen's awards recognizing his "outstanding contribution towards a better understanding of our global community" are the University of Pennsylvania's Janet Lee Stevens Award, and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee's Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition for "his lifelong commitment to bring a better understanding towards peace for all mankind."

Shaheen, a recipient of two Fulbright teaching awards, holds degrees from the Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pennsylvania State University and the University of Missouri. 

He regularly appears on national programs such as Nightline, Good Morning America, 48 Hours, and The Today Show. Also, he has worked with several television series: The Lucy Show, Twelve O'Clock High and The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau.

To watch the full movie on Top Documentary Films:

http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/reel-bad-arabs/