Hello everyone. It was a long trip home and I apparently don’t deal well with jetlag, but I will eventually start posting again. In the meantime, check out an oped I had published in The Palestine-Israel Journal at www.pij.org.
This, sadly, will be my final post from within the borders of Jordan as I will be returning to the States on Wednesday afternoon. With that said, after having an hour long conversation in broken Englarabic with a kind local barber about how amazing American steaks are, I am slightly anxious to return so I can in fact have a big American steak. Not to mention, watching a baseball game and even catching some of the Olympics in English just has a certain appeal right now. However, I do intend to keep up with Against Goliath, so I hope you will all still tune in to hear the incredibly insightful wisdom of Dave…
I want to sum up my trip by giving a final report, if you will, on Jordan and the Middle East as most of what I will have to say in the future will come solely from what I read as opposed to what I see, which in its own way might be beneficial as I’ve touched on the perceptions from the media several times. So, without further ado, this is Jordan.
Jordan, as has been mentioned, is a third world country just dying to bust out and assert itself into the international scene. This fact was well established yesterday when King Abdullah visited Iraq to become the first Arab leader to do since the 2003 invasion. However, political agenda aside, the country unfortunately has a fricking smorgasbord of problems obstructing its path out of international mediocrity.
For starters, the country has no water. To a country like the US where water is bountiful, this sounds like a rather mundane problem. But when you’re stuck in a hotel that has literally run out of water and you’ve just returned from the desert heat and want to shower, want a glass of water, want to use the toilet, this becomes a very apparent problem. And that, of course, is a very rich perspective. It doesn’t even touch on the villagers outside Amman that don’t have water delivered to their doorsteps. The country also faces electrical issues. However, admirably, the government has begun contracting with European nations to develop nuclear energy which it will use to power desalination plants, killing two very large birds with a very controversial stone.
More critically than water and electricity, though, is Jordan’s very unfortunate location on the map. The country is surrounded by Palestine, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Iraq and is a literal stone’s throw away (and by stone I mean missile) from nation’s such as Iran, Afghanistan, and the Central Asian countries like Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. These countries suddenly seem much closer when situations arise such as that of Russia and Georgia.
Because of the state’s locale, it has become the unofficial train station and boarding house for refugees running away from the region’s instabilities. Interestingly enough, with about 60 percent of the population Palestinian, thousands of Iraqi refugees, thousands of Saudi Arabians flaunting their high priced cars, and heaps of Lebanese, Syrians, Yemenis, and Emirate citizens running around, it is by no stretch of the imagination that Jordan is facing somewhat of an identity crisis. Indeed, one Jordanian even quipped that Jordan’s identity is that of a train station. Perhaps more than the financial issues, it is this identity crisis that has prevented Jordan from willingly accepting the Palestinian refugees officially into society. However, the former Prime Minister certainly countered this point when he spoke of a confederation between Jordan, Israel, and Palestine.
The problem between Israel and Palestine is still deeply felt in this country. The hatred felt for Israel is so palpable that I hesitate to even mention Israel when speaking with a local. It is not Israel; it’s Palestine, and they will be returning shortly. Comments like this are not comments to be lightly taken, and to me, even have a sinister outlook to them. While I will reserve my own beliefs on the refugee issue, they fully expect to return, and considering the ramifications for Israel on this issue, there is very little reason to believe a resolution of the conflict is coming despite what we might be reading in the papers.
Because of these issues and these feelings, there is a certain energy in this city that is so explosive and electric that the fireworks that go off every night to celebrate a wedding are almost symbolic of the situation sparking to life. While in the midst of acting a the peaceful mediator, Jordan will be at the forefront of almost any peace treaties to come in the future. Mix this in with a very young population and a complete clash of cultures as girls decide if they should wear the traditional scarves or bare it all and men decide if they should continue with school or reside to their predetermined destinations of smoking sheesha and driving taxis, and I can’t help but think that Jordan is going to have to make some sort of decisions in the future. I have a far easier time understanding completely traditional societies or completely liberal, but in a country like Jordan where there is literally no identity, something is bound to happen. I, for one, am incredibly excited to see what that something ends up being.
In terms of the wider Middle East in general, what a complete cluster-fuck of conflicting ideas, ideals, and emotions. Enough said.
I’ll write later, but for those who interested, here are some good articles…
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/10/opinion/10friedman1.html?_r=1&em&oref=slogin
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1010210.html
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=94924
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=94919
Where have all the old people gone? Seriously, I feel like I’m listening to that song by The Kingston Trio which asks where all the soldiers have gone.
I remember the first time I had to cross a freeway to get to a restaurant on the other side and thinking to myself, wow, I don’t think my grandma would be able to do this. I didn’t actually make the connection that apparently no one else’s grandma can do it either because it appears that none exist.
Do they just sit at home all day? Are they in some giant Jordanian retirement center? Is the average age of death just lower in this region? I’m not kidding. When I walk around town, I do not see anyone over the age of about 55. How can this be possible? Where the hell did all the old people go?
With that said, there is also an apparent baby boom in Amman. There are so many kids running around that I get the feeling the school system here would do well to include some sort of sex-ed course. And not only are there a lot of kids, they are loud kids. I know kids have a propensity to yell and do strange things, but it is literally the norm around here. I almost get a visual of these kids as seeing eye dogs: When the vest is on, the dog is in check. Maybe when the kids are at home, they have to behave, but once they hit the street, all shit hits the fan.
One kid in the mall was running around with his head down trying to tackle the seemingly impossible task of running full speed through a crowded location while trying to eat an ice cream cone and he ran face first into one of the glass displays of a shop. Besides the fact he was a little stunned, it didn’t even faze him. His dad came over, seemed wind up the switch again, and then set him loose. Seeing as the kid hit the glass about two feet in front of me, I was half-expecting everyone to blame me somehow, but I think everyone just wanted to return to the natural order of the controlled chaos of the children. The day I eat a meal without a kid screaming at the top of his lungs in the general vicinity will be one of the happier days of my life.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=17&article_id=94790
One of the things I noticed since I’ve been here is the attitude in which Palestinians and Israelis approach the conflict. I don’t want to make overarching generalizations and I certainly don’t want to point out anyone in particular, so let me just say that there are a couple of trends I’ve noticed from a majority of the people that I have met while being here.
Actually, I kind of want to focus on the Palestinians. Almost all of the Palestinians I have met here – whether Jordanian Palestinians, refugees, or citizens of Palestine – have expressed extreme dissatisfaction with normalizing relations with Israel. Now, I’m not passing judgment. Hell, if I thought I was being oppressed, I would probably walk around flipping everyone off that I viewed as my enemy. However, what gets me are the Palestinians who actually say they want to figure out a peaceful resolution, but have no interest in listening to criticism.
Anytime I have found myself in a discussion about the conflict in which a Palestinian is involved, someone will say something about Palestine, and a Palestinian will jump up with a finger pointed in the air and say, “That is not true!!” Of course, a lot of the time, the comments aren’t true, but what I’m trying to say is that the Palestinians I have met have had a much more difficult time dealing with criticism.
In contrast, I have only met one Israeli who has had problems dealing with criticism, and in fact, he was almost militant in his views of the situation. However, every other Israeli I have met has been more willing to sit down and listen to prospects of peace and in my view have been more accepting of having trade offs in order to come to a peaceful resolution. Again, maybe this is just because Israel is committing more crimes and is essentially saying, yeah, we’ll stop, but from what I’ve seen, they are far more willing to listen to someone telling them they are wrong.
In my opinion, no matter how many people I meet who say they are committed to peace, I am fairly convinced that both side have no interest in a resolution at this time. The sad fact to me is that while a majority of the people say they’d be willing to give something up for peace, both sides just want to see the other go away. They are both so committed to the past and in pointing fingers at one another that looking to the future is all but impossible.
What I also find amusing is that the Palestinians actually still result to violence to try to further their cause. They Palestinians are dealing with militarily superior enemy in every way, shape, and form, and have got to come to the realization that violence is not going to take care of the problem. If anything, the United States needs to step in and tell Israel to knock it off, but anything short of that, I think maybe it’s time to start looking for other options. The opportunity right now for civil disobedience is so ripe that I’m actually surprised a Gandhi-type figure has yet to emerge. Instead of throwing rocks or firing homemade rockets, and since a lot of them aren’t working anyway, why not take fifty thousand people and go march on one of the checkpoints? There are over 550 checkpoints in the West Bank. What would Israel do if all of Palestine suddenly marched on them in completely peaceful unison? Fire on the crowd? That would be about the most efficient way to actually lose American support.
I’m so sick of people in their position who actually think they can make a difference through half-assed violence. Gandhi and Martin Luther King are revered today because they brought down powerful institutions without firing a single shot. The day an Arab leader actually emerges and leads this kind of revolt against Israel and against the West in general is the day that I really think we should be afraid. Fortunately, I have seen nothing of the type emerge even within the thinking of the Arab population. Where was Allah when the world learned about peaceful protest?
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080807/D92DKUJG2.html
http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11900583
http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11895159
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2008/08/08/do0801.xml
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=at.u1aw0Pjy8&refer=worldwide
Ok, so I really don’t like repeating myself, but a couple of things bear repeating.
Let me say this in as clear of a way as possible: People here move so slowly that it’s like a bunch of sloths took human form, decided to go for a walk through Amman, and are perusing the ground for microscopic ants. And then, while they always move slow, the only time they come to a complete halt is in the middle of a doorway, or in front of an escalator, or when rummaging through the contents of their purses at the only ATM within walking distance. I am honestly coming to believe that there is a giant conspiracy against Americans taking place here. The conspiracy is an ingenious strategy of moving so slowly that any foreigner will go insane and leave and never come back, whilst they start tearing their skin off in frustration. A country-wide slow down, if you will.
I mean, honestly, don’t people have some sort of a sense of urgency? I am a believer in slowing down and enjoying life, but sometimes in order to enjoy life, you have to get to where you’re going. Actually, in a way it makes perfect sense. Very few people here drink, so instead they just walk slowly, thereby affording them the opportunity to just turn around and go back. I promise not to talk of this again unless of course I start tearing my skin off out of frustration.
Of course, usually, these sloth-like walkers walk in safety. Today, I think I witnessed a miracle. It’s Thursday night, which here is like Friday and Saturday night wrapped into one. So it is extremely busy out, and during rush hour, it’s a certifiable Bedlam. What this means is that when trying to cross one of the busier streets, it might take a solid five minutes to find an opening. But apparently one old woman had had enough. I watched a middle-aged woman walk into the middle of traffic on one of the busiest roads in town. As dozens (hundreds?) of cars screeched to a halt, she just kind of laughed and kept walking.
Now, I’m not religious, but this might have made a believer out of me. Not only did this woman make it to the other side of the street unscathed, but there was not a single fender bender. If you could have seen the chaos of the road, you might be able to appreciate the magnitude of this assertion. In any intervention outside of the grace of Allah, I most likely would have seen a solid fifty accidents. Seriously, I am sitting here shaking my head in disbelief. Five minutes later, I joined the woman on the other side of the street, and with a five minute head start, I saw her about fifty yards down the road.
One other thing that needs to be said is that one of the themes through a lot of my posts is the idea of dialogue. I am a believer in dialogue as a means to an end, but I want to clarify that I am not some tree-hugging liberal who is unrealistically idealistic and thinks the world will fix itself with a little bit of love and understanding. I like to think this is true, but I’m not stupid. What I’m trying to say is that while nothing bad can come out of dialogue, nothing good can come out of not talking.
Either George Bush or John McCain (not a knock on either, I just can’t remember who gave the speech) recently mocked a senator (and in turn Obama) from sixty years ago who said that if he had had the chance to talk to Hitler, he could have prevented World War II. Now, I don’t believe this. I think Hitler was on the war path and nothing could have stopped it except a strong military, but the point is is that we don’t know. The senator never got the chance to talk to him. Nothing bad would have come out of a dialogue with Hitler, and if anything, the senator would have left realizing Hitler was a madman and we would have entered the war sooner and saved millions of lives. The point is is that we don’t know. Dialogue with realistic expectations (perhaps with idealistic aspirations) is nothing to scoff at and certainly nothing to be ashamed of supporting.
PS: Global Majority (I’m going to periodically drop in Global Majority because I found out a few people are internet stalking and have Google hits with Global Majority, ahem, Lejla and Cameron, and this way, they have to read the whole post to know in which way I was talking about them, J).
I’d say that about a solid third of all of the cars on the road are cabs, at least in Amman. Now I’ve been wondering exactly how this whole system works. You see, while for the most part the majority of the cabs have very similar exteriors (yellow with green signs on the doors, however these tend to vary), none of the interiors are the same. I have yet to see a matching pair of car seats between two cabs. Just logistically, think about how difficult and peculiar that is. There are only so many seats that can be created, especially when the product is supposedly supposed to be the same.
And how about the stereos? From what I have seen, there is no standard stock radio. How can this possibly be possible?
I am dying to figure out how the whole system works. I know for a fact there is some sort of licensing involved because taxi drivers are required to have a certification posted on their windshields, which of course makes it sketchy as all hell when the driver does not have it posted. And all are legally supposed to utilize a meter to value the fare, but of course, most try to just value them themselves at about five times the going rate. And even the meters, though, are not the same! How is that possible? How is it possible for the drivers to have different meters? Is there a meter shop where they can go and pick out the coolest one, like picking out a gun?
At any rate, from what I have deduced, it appears there is supposedly an umbrella company that essentially franchises out the car. So I’m guessing each driver buys the car and then is free to drive as often as possible.
But then this raises the question: how safe are these taxis. This safety question was raised when two of my friends (girls) got in a cab, told the driver where to go, and he promptly picked up one of his friends and took them all on an hour long joyride to the airport! In so many words, they were in fact abducted, albeit for a short period of time and with their safety never apparently in any real danger. But come on, what happens if that one hour joyride turned into a very different kind of joyride?
Well, after asking around, I found out that actually it isn’t all that uncommon for – and this is secondhand storytelling, quite possibly rumors, but this has to at least be partially true – a driver to pick up a girl late at night and do what he wants with her.
As for me, my only real danger is getting screwed-over by assholes who think they can dupe the unwitting American. Fortunately, I’ve at least learned when I should to get screwed. For example, after midnight, just forget about it. If the ride is under five dinar you’re a much better arguer than I am. One guy actually had the nerve to pick me up, then proceed to pick up three or four others, drop them off for extremely cheap rides, and then try and charge me for the overall fare. It’s like, buddy, how stupid do you actually think I am? And honestly, it’s just getting annoying. Actually getting in a cab, having the guy know exactly where the destination is located, and then turning on the meter and proceeding exactly where directed is now a breath of fresh air. And while I know my life is not in danger (only my frickin wallet), every time a cab takes a turn that is unfamiliar to me or takes an alternate route, I get on edge.
Anyways, not trying to frighten people into not taking cabs; basically just venting that the entire city has painted a financial target on my chest.
http://www.metimes.com/Editorial/2008/08/06/one_hand_clapping/1794/
So, I’ve been here for a while. It’s approaching two months now. I honestly thought I could survive without getting a haircut for the entire summer, but honestly, people here are extremely clean cut. So, with already shaggy hair, my tendency to roll out of bed without showering and heading for a coffee shop drew a few more looks than I really felt comfortable with. Hence, I went looking a barber.
Much to my pleasure, I found a little hole in the wall shop literally one hundred yards from my front door. However, while this sounds convenient at first, let’s analyze the dynamics of this scenario. I was putting my life in the hands of a man who worked out of a hole in the wall, and, this is a guess, probably not a ton of regulation, so to speak. Again, falling back on my very unfounded stereotypes, I had to admit, I was slightly nervous. I was further agitated by the fact there was the minor language barrier we had to break through. Through our combined Englarabic proficiency, it is fair to assume he had no real clue what I really wanted. So I said, “To hell with it, just start hacking away.”
For about an hour I sat in that chair, and he gave me an entire hair cut using only scissors. This might not sound strange, but let’s not forget, I like my hair extremely short. And wow, I have never seen a man so reluctant to cut my hair short. About fifteen minutes in, I found myself with nice trimmed sides and a full on three inch comb over.
“Ahksar,” I said, not understanding if this translated as I hoped.
Finally, when my hair took the shape I had wanted, he reached into the cabinet and pulls out a straight blade. Forgive me if my heart skipped about six beats. The blade looked like it had about eighteen years worth of use, so I was slightly pleased to see him switching it out for a fresh razor. But then I thought to myself, “If he were going to kill me, would he use the rusty blade or a brand new one.”
Slightly relieved when I came to the conclusion that if I were to kill someone, I’d probably just go ahead and use the rusty blade (really, why waste a new blade?), I sat back and let him sculpt the edges of my hair to perfection, and let me just say, I look damn good.
Now, when he was done with the sculpting, his partner walks in, sticks some sage in front of my nose, and says (I think), “Good tea, you’ll like it.” So he goes to work making me tea. Admittedly, I don’t think the barber at Supercuts on Alvarado Street would make me tea. Now, once the tea got cooking, the guy turns a stereo on, and starts blasting Journey! For those of you who know me, you know, very little could have put a bigger smile on my face.
Except this.
To finish my hair off, the barber takes a pair of scissors and goes to work cutting out each of my white hairs, all the while grimacing while saying, “Abyad, abyad (white, white).” I was very pleased with his efforts until Lindsay was kind enough to point out that he missed a few hundred.
When he was finished, we had a cup of tea, smiled at each other as we both pretended to understand what one another was saying, paid him all of 4 dinar for his efforts (about $5.50) and I was on my way.
We had some interesting panels discussing the role of media in the conflicts of the Middle East. Perhaps the most interesting points discussed were the issues of normalization, the void filled by Al Jazeera, and the portrayal of Palestinians and Israelis after a violent incident. For example, when an Israeli girl dies, media – both western and Arab – will show intimate details of the girl, making her very human in our eyes. If a Palestinian dies, the media will show not intimate details of the person, both the massive protests where people are calling for the death of Israel. In both cases, the photos were in fact accurate, but the problem is in the presentation of the material: a poor innocent girl and an angry mob of masked protestors looking to incite violence.
This is supposed to be the void filled by Al Jazeera. In the 1991 Iraq War, the American government said no reporter could go into the field without a military escort for their protection. However, with the soldiers present, a lot of the necessary reporting was prevented. Al Jazeera came in and presented the other side of the story. It is not necessarily more objective reporting, but reporting on the other side of the story. Interestingly, Al Jazeera is the only Arab media outlet that will engage with Israelis.
This is where the point of normalization comes into play. Normalizing relations is now taken to mean any interaction with Israel in any shape or form. If a journalist speaks with an Israeli, his credibility is immediately damaged to the Arab world. This means that no Israeli perspective is portrayed in Arab press because the reporters are forced to cater to the popular opinion. I was actually impressed when one of the panelists said very bluntly that he had no interest in normalizing relations with Israel, but of course, he then said he was a very objective reporter.
I personally found all of this to be very interesting. Of course, if they were actually serious about their professions, they would say to hell with everyone and actually do their job properly, but, I suppose losing credibility is a tough task.
I also have to say that sometimes, there is simply no way around cultural clashing and looking like an idiot. I was at a bar with a bunch of friends and we had several tables. We were outside where all the tables are kind of crammed together, so to get to the other side, you have to walk around the entire bar. Or, you can just hop over one of the table because they are mainly little lounge type tables. So, I very politely asked a man and a woman if I could step over their table. They smiled and motion with their hand to go for it. Was I really supposed to realize they were being completely sarcastic?
So at any rate, I go for it. I step over up and I step over, and when I’m on the other side, the two of them are looking at me like I accidentally took a crap on the table as I stepped over.
“We’re sitting here, what the hell are you doing?” the woman asked me.
“I thought you said it was alright,” I said back.
“We were joking,” the guy said back to me.
Thank God I had a lot of friends who witnessed the whole thing and vouched for my decision. The guy very well might have gotten up and thrown me off the balcony otherwise. I maintain that I was right in my decision to step on their table.
I was going to take the first day of my return to my life of relative boredom in Amman now that the Global Majority conference has ended to discuss a very pressing topic, but that will have to wait until tomorrow because something of greater importance has emerged.
One of the nice things about the Global Majority seminar is that I met some people and had some old friends attend so I was really able to go out and enjoy Amman (instead of, you know, going to the mall and in addition to being the only white person, being the only person slightly pathetically eating dinner alone). So, since the seminar was ending, we all thought it would be fun for all of us to go out and have a big send off party. We agreed on a nice bar called Cannabi in the Third Circle area of Amman because several of us had been there previously and enjoyed it.
It should kind of go without saying that we were all once again having a good, extremely drunken time. However, after a few hours, my friend comes up to me and says, “Let’s go, we’re all leaving right now.” At that point, I was already feeling drunkenly happy enough to not care about much, so I in turn said, “Alright, let’s go raise hell elsewhere.” But then, I heard why we were leaving, and as I sit here righting this, I still almost feel like I must have the story wrong because it just doesn’t seem like this situation would actually occur.
To be perfectly blunt, and this is not a firsthand account, but a very quick second hand retelling, one of our friends could not get into a Jordanian bar because he was a Palestinian. There was no incident, there was no previous history, there was no other reasoning. There was only a stern finger and a, “Not him.”
A situation like this kind of makes a person actually question what exactly was going on there. Perhaps the man thought he recognized our friend and just said no. Maybe he was just enforcing a new policy by the restaurant that men with big eyebrows are not allowed to enter. Maybe he was just a racist asshole who is deeply devoted to the Israeli cause.
Regardless of the cause, I cannot help but shake my head and just throw my hands in the air. One would think there were already enough problems between Israelis and Palestinians, but apparently the people around here think Arabs attacking Arabs and Palestinians will make life better. I’m going to write about this subject in a greater detail in the next few days, but after spending a couple months in the Middle East, after hearing how everyone speaks about everyone else, and after seeing the inherent blind hatred and extreme unwillingness to work together, I simply cannot sit here and think these people actually want a better future. As Dr. Moussawi told us a few days ago, the Arabs just don’t want to come together. If they lobby, they lobby against one another.
There is deep concern in Jordan about Palestinian influence and national identity, but I’m not sure if I will ever understand what took place at Cannabi in Amman last night. You read about these things in history books, but to see two men from countries in good relations just hate one another for no apparent reason, and to see discrimination in its absolute truest form is almost beyond the realm of justice that the written word can provide. I know I will forever have a different perspective on the Middle East, and honestly, the fact that that perspective is tilted more towards pessimism now is perhaps the saddest thing of all for me.
