Undulling for multiculturalists

All work and no play makes us dull.

Last weekend a suprise visit by my cousin from Canada hurled us out to Tate Britain to see the Picasso show.

Click on the links to see what I’m talking about below – gorgeous images online.

But there’s a hidden gem in the smaller Migrations exhibition – from Holbein to stunning contemporary pieces – showing the two-way impact of artists with overseas roots working in Britain.

Top billing for me were works by Francis Alÿs (Belgium), Rasheed Araeen (Pakistan) and Sonia Boyce (Caribbean).

The catalogue, in spite of typos, is full of detail on how ‘the arrival of newcomers continues to transform the urban geography, fuel the economy. and contribute to the cutltural life of Britain.’

Here’s my London list for undulling.

1.  Alighiero Boetti’s Game Plan at Tate Modern – for map geeks (who could also have a look at this) and anyone trying to make sense of the world (ends 27th May)
2.  Meetings in Marrakech: The paintings of Jassan El Glaoui and Winston Churchill at Leighton House Museum, ‘a tribute to the enduring and celebrated friendship between two extraordinary personalities, two  great families, two countries, united by a vast creative spirit.’ (ends 31st March)
3. Can We Talk About This? by Lloyd Newson at the National Theatre with DV8 – ‘From the 1989 book burnings of Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses, to the murder of filmmaker Theo Van Gogh and the controversy of the ‘Muhammad cartoons’ in 2005, DV8’s new production examines how these events have reflected and influenced multicultural policies, freedom of speech and censorship.’ Also described on last night’s BBC2 Review Show as polemic. (ends 28th March)
4. Mustafa by Naylah Ahmed at the Soho Theatre – ‘Mustafa is in prison for the death of a teenage boy during an exorcism .. Is Mustafa the evil killer of a teenager or a brave innocent man who risked his life to deliver the boy from a dangerous entity?’ (ends 24th March)

And I’ve yet to see Hockney at the Royal Academy and Hajj at the British Museum.  This afternoon I’m catching the last day of Lawrence Abu Hamdan’s Aural Contract: The Freedom of Speech Itself at Showroom.  Pity I missed their Right To Silence series.

Thanks Sue – a whirlwind visit which stirred us out of winter and away from desks and meetings :)

 

Syria

Time for some pictures of Syria from our trip.

There was a smallish rally in Trafalgar Square yesterday in support of peaceful protesters in what must be a terrifying place to be right now.

Old Town, Damascus, with decorations on sale - we were there between the Western churches' Christmas and the later date observed by the Eastern churches.

Sweets and spices in the Souq al-Hamidiyeh.

We crossed from Jordan into Syria by bus shortly after new year and queued at the border for our visas to be rubber stamped.  A little later, inspectors came aboard – and found the stamps hadn’t been moved around and were still showing the previous year.  The whole bus had to return to the border for our two visas to be re-stamped – what a drag for everyone else (all local people).

Madhat Pasha Street/Via Recta/Straight Street - or, as the New Testament has it (in a flash of humour), 'the street which is called Straight'. It has a couple of turns & must have had in Biblical times, too.

Damascus is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world and we stayed far longer than we’d planned.  The sweep of history makes itself felt in the architecture, the understanding of the people, the well-informed and wide-ranging discussions and the cuisine.

The man being carried on his friends' shoulders had just returned from Hajj - lots of bodhrán-style drums, singing, clapping and excitement to welcome him home.

Throughout North Africa and the Middle East you get the most delicious fresh bread.

I remember coffee with flamed cardamom, being looked after graciously by perfect strangers, leisurely chat over freshly roasted lemony almonds (they explode in your mouth), the hugely relaxed Omayyad Mosque (once a Roman temple, then a cathedral), heads and necks of camels hanging outside the butchers, looking for Fatima’s tomb and meeting a Dutch Shi’ite couple on honeymoon, lambs’ testicles for supper and, every day, lots of mint tea with fascinating conversations in English, bits of Arabic and French.

Slightly shaky photo of Hammam Nur ud-Din, Damascus - the oldest and for men. My son was shown the ropes and emerged gleaming and squeaky clean having been given the once-over with a black scouring mit. There's a sisterly atmosphere in the women's hammams. Presumably inherited from Roman times, there are cold, warm and (very) hot baths and steam rooms.

Krak des Chevaliers/Qal'at al-Hosn - a huge crusader castle overlooking the strategic 'Homs gap' near the Lebanese border. No National Trust health and safety considerations here, no railings and sheer drops everywhere, a nightmare for mothers of the adventurous but bliss for the sure-footed teenager himself.

The chapel built by the crusaders was converted to a mosque - you can see the minbar here. An inscription at the doorway in Arabic says, we were told, that the place is set aside for God, whatever religious tradition is followed.

We loved Syria and remember the people we met with great fondness.

So are you worried about the rapture?

. .  and more cartoons from Randall Munroe here.

Weddings :)

For anyone whose heart melted a little seeing Kate and William take their vows, here’s a bit more on weddings.

First, a lovely clip from a BBC programme on the Hasidic Jewish community in north London -

“You can feel it in the air, how much people are loving”, one of the guests says.

And something from Gillian Tett in the FT (now available online without £) – she was an anthropologist before getting into financial journalism.

She studied marriage rituals in Tajikistan during the Soviet era, where people had to blend or negotiate Muslim and communist values.

She says,

“weddings include rituals that force a society to state its core values.”

My son and I met Tajiks on the Damascus-Tehran train on their way home from Hajj – in their beautiful long, quilted, night-sky blue velvet coats, hand made by their families.

Licence to kill?

Links to others re my previous post on Osama bin Laden’s death -

The Moral Maze – this evening’s Radio 4 programme on The Killing of Osama Bin Laden.  Would a trial have provoked many more atrocities?  Comparisons with Nuremberg.  If it’s OK to kill bin Laden without trial, who else might warrant the same treatment?  Do two wrongs make a right?  With Michael Buerk, Claire Fox, Melanie Phillips, Michael Portillo and Matthew Taylor.

Channel 4 News online – Ed Fraser There would have been no attempt to capture bin Laden.  “The first US military flag officer to set foot in Afghanistan after 9/11 was a US Navy Seal. Their man-hunt is over.”

The Guardian – Gary Younge on Osama bin Laden’s death: The US patriot reflex.  “If you shoot a man twice in the head you do not find him guilty. You find him dead.”

Sydney Morning Herald – Geoffrey Robertson on Bin Laden’s summary execution maketh the man, martyr and myth.  “When the time came to consider the fate of men more steeped in wickedness than bin Laden – the Nazi leaders – the British government wanted them hanged within six hours of capture. The president Harry Truman demurred, citing the conclusion of Justice Robert Jackson that summary execution “would not sit easily on the American conscience or be remembered by our children with pride . . . the only course is to determine the innocence or guilt of the accused after a hearing as dispassionate as the times will permit and upon a record that will leave our reasons and motives clear”.

Bin Laden’s death

Two public statements today reflected my own unease on hearing of Osama bin Laden’s death in Pakistan – neither of them were Barack Obama’s.  I was glad bin Laden had been found, but sorry that there seemed to be no official regret that he was killed rather than captured.

“Justice has been done”, says Obama.  For me, justice involves a fair trial.  And this necessitates a sincere attempt at a live arrest.  We don’t always manage this in Britain – I was on the recent march against deaths in police custody after Smiley Culture’s death.

Perhaps the celebrations in the USA have something to do with the popularity of the death penalty there – and the presumption that any bin Laden trial would have led to execution.

In the end we always have to talk and sort conflicts out the hard way – and eventually we’ll need to do this with those who support Al-Qaeda.  It’s not easy – the process is still under way in Northern Ireland.  We need to “be the change we want to see”, as Gandhi said.

Am I just naïvely squeamish?  Would an expensive and security-intensive trial have been impossible?  Did Nuremberg only work because the defendants were the vanquished?

The trials of those accused of war crimes in the former Yugoslavia have not yet finished – Ratko Mladic is still at large.  I cannot imagine the victims or the victims’ families building a future there without the bedrock of a meticulous judicial system and for the stories to be told.  As Canon David Porter says in his blog, we need to tell our stories, our histories, to each other – and renegotiate them in the re-telling, generation by generation.

The Muslim Council of Britain released this statement.

Few will mourn the reported death of Osama bin Laden, least of all Muslims. Many Muslims will reflect on the ten years that have passed in which our faith and our community have been seen through the prism of terrorism and security. The Muslim Council of Britain has consistently stood firm against terrorism and violence, and will continue to do so. His extremism has been responsible for the deaths of many people, including many Muslims around the world. The actions of his movement which have no basis in the teachings of Islam have led to the pursuit of unjust wars and untold suffering.

Today our thoughts must be with the families of all those who suffered in the terrorist attacks around the world as well as of thousands of innocent lives lost in the wars against terrorism. It is unfortunate that his assassination has deprived them of the opportunity to see him brought to justice in the court of law.

Al-Qaeda’s ability to sow discord and mistrust between Muslims and others has caused untold damage. We must restore our belief in human dignity and peace by ensuring that we stand firm against all forms of hatred, injustices and violence.

The Vatican released this via Fr Federico Lombardi, Director of the Holy See Press Office.

Osama bin Laden – as we all know – was gravely responsible for promoting division and hatred between peoples, causing the end of countless innocent lives, and of exploiting religions to this end.

Faced with the death of a man, a Christian never rejoices, but reflects on the serious responsibility of each and every one of us before God and before man, and hopes and commits himself so that no event be an opportunity for further growth of hatred, but for peace.

Ameen and amen to both of these.

South London or Staten Island? Rolling in the deep

This is so South London – lovely stuff – but actually it’s Staten Island, New York.  PS22′s website says

This website is PS22′s effort to promote the benefits of keeping the arts an integral part of the school curriculum.

Yes!

Chief Imam of Ghana in London

Sheikh Osman Nuru Sharubutu, second left, at Al Khoei Foundation

I was at a co-production roadshow at University College London this morning when I received an e-invitation to meet the Chief Imam of Ghana and his delegation at the London Interfaith Centre at 4pm.

Why not?  When the conference ended I zipped up to Kilburn on my bike and joined an erudite audience of Muslim clerics (Sunni and Shi’a), Christian clergy and others.  Christian-Muslim relations were reported as good in Ghana, as were Sunni-Shi’a relations and even Muslim-Ahmadiyya relations.

Afterwards, we were invited around the corner to the Al Khoei Foundation (I popped in to see the beautiful mosque next door – Iranian-style tiling in white, turquoise and dark blue, exquisite calligraphy and glass chandeliers).  Here the  atmosphere was more informal, with quite a few Ghanaians and people from the Caribbean, as well as Maulana Shahid Raza OBE, Chair of the Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board, and leading clerics from the Al Khoei Foundation.

There was universal regret and frustration with the current situation in Bahrain from both Sunni and Shi’a clerics.  A powerful speech was made supporting freedom, human rights and democracy in the North African and Middle Eastern countries which have been in the news recently.

But the two thoughts in my mind as I cycled back to south London were -

• how unusual it was, and how refreshing, to see an old man (Sheikh Osman Nuru Sharubutu) treated with such sincerity, respect and good humour – his voice was frail but everyone waited on each word, and there was plenty of laughter amid the wisdom.  I struggled to recall an equivalent on TV – a Newsnight interview wouldn’t come near it.
• how frank some married Muslim women are (between women) about living with men – they love their husbands, and I’ve no doubt their husbands love them, and perhaps it’s this shared sense of commitment and security which seems to allow for a more relaxed approach.

It was a lovely evening and wholly appropriate for the Monday of Holy Week.

Libya II

Footprints in the desert.

Another part of the ancient oasis, Ghadames.

Tripoli - one of the largest mosques, converted from a cathedral.

Inside an Orthodox church, Tripoli, where there is an icon of St George and the Dragon. There is a carving of the same subject on the red castle at Green Square. We also visited a Roman Catholic Franciscan church.

Star of David on the front of a house in Tripoli's old town - we were told that this house previously belonged to a Jewish family. After the 1967 war between Israel and neighbouring countries, many Jews were forced to leave cities along the southern Mediterranean where they had lived for hundreds of years. We were told that none remained in Libya. However, we were shown a small synagogue (not in Tripoli) which was protected by local people who remembered their Jewish neighbours and considered it part of their local heritage.

Sports shop in Tripoli's old town - my son (then 13) was invited to play football wherever we went. In Tripoli he played at a football club near the centre of town.

Another view of Leptis Magna's theatre, looking north over the Mediterranean. Libya is not so far from Italy and the relationship goes back a long way.

Libya

It’s a good a time as any to post a few pictures from our west-east trip a few winters ago.

Al-Saraya Al-Hamra, Tripoli - the castle on the corner of Martyrs/Green Square from where Col Gaddafi made a speech yesterday. There are pictures of the leader on large signs and built into the landscape across the country.

The hotel where we stayed in Tripoli. Libya is not a poor country and there were plenty of shops, restaurants, internet cafés and bookshops in Tripoli. English was widely spoken.

A street in the old town, Tripoli.

All shutters and shop doors were painted green, the colour of the Libyan flag since Col Gaddafi's rise to power

Near the castle, a carriage and photo-spot for newly-married couples in Martyrs Square / Green Square, Tripoli.

Staff from a restaurant near the fresh fish market, Tripoli.

Roman theatre, with the Mediterranean beyond. Leptis Magna isn't far from Tripoli.

Many miles south from Tripoli, where the desert turns into dunes.

Seeded bread, baked the desert way, in hot sand (heated by charcoal) - delicious.

The ancient oasis and camel caravan trading stop of Ghadames in the Sahara. Gold, precious stones, dates, silver and ostrich plumes travelled north; pearls, linen & paper travelled south. Since the 1970s, people have moved out to modern homes, leaving behind an intricate communal life which ensured everyone had enough water and other essentials. Every part of the date-palm was used. This interdependent, co-operative way of life sustained Ghadames for centuries.

Wild flowers