Women in musalsalat: “Bab al hara 5″ and “Abuab al ghraim”
This morning I jumped into this Emirates 24/7 article on Bab al hara 5 which states: “Syrian drama popular despite abuse of women”.
This is not the first time I`ve heard heavy critical statements on the way Bab al hara serial portrays women and their role in the society. The directors and many of the actors have tried many times -in public occasions- to “adjust” this belief. I met once Kamal al Murra, one of the writer of the musalsal, and, when asked this question (he must be tired of people asking why women are portrayed so badly) he answered very frankly that Bab al hara was not aiming at portraying the whole Syrian society. It was the story of just one little neighbourhood (hara) in Old Damascus and, despite the “hara” was an imagined one (iftiradiya) the social behaviour, the values and the lifestyle portrayed in it were exactly like in many others “harat sha`abiya ” at the time. He was referring to a low-class “hara” where you couldn`t expect to see elite behaviours or lifestyles, such as educated or “liberated” women.
In Bab al hara 5 episode broadcasted yesterday, the main topic was Hisam -the eldest son of the so madly popular Abu Hisam- desperately looking for a third wife. Hisam is already married twice but, as he points out: “I`ll have the first two wives taking care of the house and the children. I want to enjoy life with the third one”. In another scene his sister Bouran goes to visit their mother – that very same Souad who was divorced by the honourable Abu Hisam for having dared to express a different opinion from his- and asks her to mediate with her husband who wants their teenager daughter to get married. When Bouran tries to make him understand that she is “still playing”, he gets mad and screams that they are not supposed to pay forever in order to raise their daughter. In another episode, we see Bouran`s male son who goes to school -the “kuttab”- whereas his little sister stays home with mum and learn how to be a perfect housewife.
I don`t know in how many episodes -basically, every time somebody gets pregnant- all the men “order” their women to “deliver a boy”. Ironically enough, should this wish come true, al “hara” would be a male-only neighbourhood not able to reproduce itself without recurring to the “ghrarib” (the foreigner).
Almost at the same time slot Bab al hara 5 is broadcasted on MBC, its Pan Arab competitor Dubai TV broadcasts “Abuab al ghraim” (the doors of the cloud) directed by Syrian Hatem Ali. Despite the directors and many actors in the cast are Syrians, the spoken language of the musalsal is a very delicate kind of old fashioned Gulf dialect. The story is in fact inspired by Dubai ruler Sheikh al Maktoum`s poetry and set during the time when British occupation forced the local bedouin population to migrate.
The difference between “Abuab al ghraim”`s bedouins and “Bab al hara”`s urban population is enormous, particularly when it comes to women. Bedouin women are proud, fierce and bold. Their are very feminine but their attitude can be confrontational vis-a`-vis their men.
Watching this “bedouin drama” made me think to that”hara” in Damascus, the “oldest urban settlement in the world”, as all the Damascenes like to remind each foreigner.
The past is never “the Past” and everything we tell about “those times” is the result of a precise choice -being it intentional or unintentional- that we are making “right now”.
Precisely for this reason, the “hara” of the oldest city in the world can be much less “urban” than a bedouin camp.
Interestingly enough, both of them are “made in Syria”.
Me with some “Bab al hara” women at Bab al hara 5 shootings, May 2010, Damascus.
PHD School at Danish Institute in Damascus to focus on musalsalat and entertainment in the Arab media
Since Ramadan has become the “month of musalsalat”, this announcement will probably match with the general “mood”.
The Danish Institute in Damascus, together with Copenhagen University, will be hosting a PHD school entirely dedicated to the “Arab TV fiction and entertainment industries”. The school will be hosted by the Danish Institute in Damascus, a wonderful old Arab house in Old Damascus, from 25 to 30 November 2010. Everybody doing research on musalsalat or any topic related to entertainment is welcome to send a paper proposal. The full announcement can be found on the Danish Institute website or on Copenhagen university website. Deadline for paper proposal submission is 30 September.
The final day will host a seminar entirely dedicated to musalsalat, featuring Syrian and international experts.
Ramadan, the “month of musalsalat”, begins today
Ramadan kareem to everybody in the Muslim word. Today the holy month starts but, as a Syrian director friend of mine once said, this is “the month of musalsalat” for many people.
The National, the UAE online publication, published yesterday the “essential viewing this Ramadan“. Yahoo!Maktoob has also prepared a tailor made platform for Ramadan which includes a TV guide to find out which musalsalat are being broadcasted by whom. It might be not so easy to find out what you want to watch during Ramadan, as with more than 500 FTA channels -many of them broadcasting musalsalat of good and very low quality- it`s kind of difficult even to make your personal viewing schedule. I started watching TV extensively yesterday afternoon, when most of the channels were broadcasting overviews of their Ramadan grids. I was surprised to realize how many “Bedouin serials” are about to be broadcasted this year, I could see desert settings and hear much more Khaleji dialect than I remember from last Ramadan season. Dubai TV was a mix of glittering “Hollywood style” stars as Yousra and the Syrian Bassel al Khayat introducing their new musalsalat, plus very basic -and not funny for me..but maybe it`s because the dialect is harder – bedouin musalsalat, kind of “low cost” look. From time to time, the presentation of its Ramadan grid was interrupted to leave air space to English spoken features -like one on “Dubai as the best shopping place for gold”- clearly addressed to potential tourists.
Al Jazeera had a show called “Mata Ramadan?” (When is it Ramadan?) in order to find out when exactly the holy month should kick off.
Today is the official start of the fast together with the musalsalat “grand bouffe”. The afternoon was mostly “colonized” by sheikhs dealing with religious habits, fast, Ramadan enquiries from the audiences. Even MBC was silent on musalsalat side and focused on those “religious” programmes.
The only place where I was able to watch a musalsal this afternoon was Dubai TV, which was broadcasting the latest Syrian actor Bassam Kousa`s Tv drama, where he plays an Arab “Rain man” (do you remember Dustin Hoffman playing the autistic but brilliant main character together with Tom Cruise?). The musalsal is called Wara` as-shams (Behind the sun) and it is produced by well-known Syrian company Aj headed by Hani Arshi (who also appears in the role of consultant for the musalsal). It tells the story of a young and beautiful couple whose life will change since the announcement the child they are expecting is affected by the Down syndrome. From which I could see on the screen today, Bassam Kousa is very far from Dustin Hoffman`s performance in “Rain man”. He over-acts and over-reacts and makes you wonder why if you want to have any success during Ramadan (or even want to be just noticed) you have to tackle sort of “taboo” issues -but the kind of taboos that make your audience cry, like an handicap-. Sounds like the old Hollywood lesson: just perform the role of a marginalized, handicapped, etc and you will get your Oscar home. Despite I love Bassam and the way he acts, I have to say that this first episode of “Behind the sun” did not convince me at all.
Dubai TV is betting on Hatem Ali and Yousra`s works as “main dishes” this Ramadan. Hatem, who I have met in Damascus and chatted about his view on musalsalat industry, has wonderful insights, he is a talented director and a gifted intellectual. I loved his last film work “Al leil at-tawuil” (The long night) produced by Haitham Haqqi which I could only screen in Barcelona at Wocmes congress for the first time last July. I`m not a big fan of his Andalusian or Bedouin works, but I`ll definitely watch “Abuab al ghraim” (the gates of the cloud) tonight at 23 pm KSA which has been taken from Sheikh Al Maktoum`s (the ruler of Dubai) poetry. The Sheikh inspires more than one programme on Ramadan grid, it seems: just watched “Kawather ramadaniyya” (Ramadan thoughts) which also comes out from his pen.
Even if I have no idea about what the drama will be about, I`ll watch the latest Yousra`s of course, tonight at 00.00 KSA on Dubai. Yousra has been my favourite actress since the time she was acting with Youssef Chahine and, even if she is in a musalsal, for me it`s always the same blood- tempered girl of “Iskandria kaman wa kaman?“.
MBC will broadcast the “must follow” of the season, “Bab al hara 5″ and I`m very curious to see it on air, after I have attended the musalsal shootings in Damascus last May. No, of course I won`t tell in this blog if Abu Shehab or Abu Issam are coming back! Also curious to watch “Tash ma tash” in its 17th season, if I can make it to understand the Saudi accent. There are a number of Egyptian musalsalat on MBC that I will have a look at, knowing well that I will give up after a few episodes.
Future TV is broadcasting Najdat Anzour`s “Ma malakat aymanokom” (which I will not dare to translate: too many different translations are appearing on the Net, and the expression comes directly from the holy Quran, the women`s sura) which I have watched a bit in his office during the editing process, founding it beautifully done and extremely interesting. Najdat also has got “Zhakirat al jasad” (Memory of the flesh) on Abu Dhabi TV which is inspired by the life of Algerian writer Ahlam Mosteghanemi.
That`s already so much to watch and there`s even more to discover just by zapping with the remote control from channel to channel after the Iftar meal.
“Rights stuff”: how the World Cup is undermining Al Jazeera Sport popularity in the Arab world
Palestinians are switching off Al Jazeera and switching on Israeli TV. The incredible move has occurred for one reason only: football. As reported by AFP yesterday, more and more Palestinians are buying Israeli TV subscriptions to follow the Word Cup. A subscription to Israeli TV costs 25 dollars, against the 100 boxes asked by Al Jazeera Sport.
Many polemics arose all across the Arab world at the time when Al Jazeera announced to have bought exclusive rights for the World Cup and to be willing to “resell” the championship for 100 dollars to end-users. A very high fee to bear for low income viewers in many places in the Arab world -which is not made up only by the rich Gulf states-. Together with this, Al Jazeera Sports has been strongly fighting piracy or “rebroadcasting” practises that were quite enough tolerated all across the Arab world. The AFP reports that “Harun Abu Ara, the head of Al-Quds educational television, a local Ramallah station, had to stop showing the matches a few days ago when he was warned against doing so by lawyers from Al-Jazeera“.
“Since we stopped rebroadcasting the matches we have received dozens of calls a day from customers who were used to watching them on our channel,” he said. “If we are prohibited from rebroadcasting Al-Jazeera, the natural result is that the viewers, especially the poor, are going to turn to Israeli television, because it is cheaper.”
It seems that Israeli TV is winning over this copyright war amongst Arabs. There is also a “jamming” war happening over the Arab skies: Al Jazeera has denounced that its AJ Sport TV signal was deliberately jammed on Nilesat and Arabsat. Although the two major Arab satellite providers are declining the allegations, there is a very good chance for this story to be true. That wouldn`t be a surprise in the relations between Al Jazeera and the other Arab media players (and the governments backing them, i.e. mostly Egypt and Saudi Arabia). Politics have always played a major role in media relations in the Arab world, and this won`t be the first time, despite Nilesat (Egypt) and Arabsat (Saudi Arabia) deny accusations.
But this time the game is bigger, because Arab viewers are passionate football consumers. And because Israeli TV is taking advantage of an inter-Arab fight. Of course, not the first time this happens, too.
The whole “rights issue” related to the World Cup exclusivity to Al Jazeera Sport is something that looked so much promising at the beginning (in terms of profit and popularity) but now it is seriously risking to become a losing game for the Qatari station.
On Khaled Said and his effects on Egyptian bloggers and activists..
Those days my Twitter feed is only two things: the World Cup and Khaled Said.
I prefer to focus on the latter, which is an outrageous episode in Egyptian modern state history, while its consequences on social web and human rights activism are becoming huge among Egyptian online users. Huge mobilisations happened all across the country in the past days, some of them being organised and coordinated online. I liked Mona Elthawy`s piece on Huffington Post which I would like to re-post here below.
I have to say that we recently had a similar case to Khaled in Italy. Stefano Cucchi was arrested by Italian police on 16th October 2009 because he illegally carried 20 grams on marijuana. He died in prison 6 days later, his body bearing evidence of heavy torture. Trial is still open and his family still asking for justice. Torture is something that unfortunately happening everywhere, including the alleged “First world” (Italy still supposed to fall in this category?!).
At least, as I can read from my Twitter feed and from Mona`s article, Egyptian are very actively reacting on this even using social networks and protests are moving from electronic weblogs to the streets on the country.
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NEW YORK – When a young Egyptian died from what his family, activists and witnesses say was a savage police beating, many of his peers – the generation of Egyptians who have known no other leader than President Hosni Mubarak – protested and mourned in the way they know best: by going online.
Generation Mubarak is also Generation Facebook.
Two young Egyptian Facebook friends alerted me to Said’s death with a link to the page”I am Khaled Said” which was set up on June 11, five days after he died. It now has more than 225,000 fans.
Many Egyptians on Facebook changed their profile picture to one of Said alive – bright eyed, clean cut, looking barely old enough to shave despite his 28 years. Others switched to a picture of his corpse – teeth missing, lip torn, jaw broken and blood pouring from his head. His family has confirmed it is indeed his shattered body.
But Generation Facebook doesn’t just vent online. Facebook, Twitter andYouTube aren’t just for party pictures or flirting but have become slingshots aimed at a regime Generation Mubarak never imagined they could take on.
Social networking sites connect activists with ordinary people who are joining demonstrations in numbers unheard of in Egypt: a protest outside the Interior Ministry in Cairo was the largest jn living memory against police brutality.
In Alexandria, Said’s hometown, up to 8,000 Egyptians wearing black protested along the corniche; some recited verses of the Koran and Bible.
Generation Facebook moves to fill in the holes of mainstream media. Blogger and citizen journalist Mohamed Abdelfattah, recorded an on-camera interview with witnesses to Said’s death (it was picked up by an independent Egyptian daily) and filmed that Alexandria silent protest (it has gone viral).
Generation Facebook’s embrace of the social networking site has made Egypt its number one user in the Arab world and 23rd globally. Egypt has the highest number of blogs in the Arabic-speaking Middle East.
The Interior Ministry claims Said died after swallowing a pack of drugs. Activists say undercover police beat him to death after he posted an Internet video, which his family said showed police sharing the profits of a drug bust.
After the public outrage, including at his funeral in Alexandria which at least 1,000 people attended, a new autopsy was ordered but it just confirmed the ministry’s initial claim. Generation Facebook went into action: the Khaled Said Facebook page urged Egyptians to dress in black and to hold silent protests across the country.
Many Egyptians replaced their profile pictures with banners announcing the place and time of the protest they would be attending.
At anti-police brutality protests on June 12, activists held banners with a picture of Mubarak next to one of Said before and after his death. In power 29 years, Mubarak is the longest serving ruler in Egypt’s modern history. For every one of those years Egypt has been under a state of emergency that has turned it into a police state where torture is systematic and where there are an estimated 12,000 to 14,000 detained persons.
That juxtaposition of pictures of Said alive and dead chillingly brought home for Generation Mubarak what living under Emergency Law their entire lives has meant. If any thought arbitrary arrests and detention happened to others – political activists or the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood – they learned that Said was involved with neither.
If they imagined police brutality was confined to criminals or the poor, such as 13-year old Mohamed Abdel-Aziz whose battered body brought prosecutors to tears in 2007 as they examined his family’s allegations that he was beaten and electrocuted by police who arrested him for allegedly stealing four packs of tea, then Said’s shattered face was their wakeup call.
Occasionally a few officers are convicted of torture but they usually return to their jobs after cosmetic sentences. That won’t change as long as Emergency Law is in effect. A month before Khaled Said’s death it was extended for two more years.
Blogs and social networking didn’t invent courage – activists have been protesting against Mubarak for years – but have connected Egyptians and amplified their voices.
In 2007, two police officers were sentenced to three years in jail for sodomizing a bus driver with a stick. Evidence used against them included video the officers shot of the assault that blogger Wael Abbas posted to his site.
Dozens more videos exposing police brutality have gone online. There’s an anti-torture website with a hotline to report incidents. There’s another with advice on what to do if you’re tortured or beaten up by police.
Egyptians make another link – between Mubarak and successive U.S. administrations which for years have been his biggest ally and whose support has been vital for his 29-year political survival.
It’s not just U.S. administrations that have ignored Mubarak’s oppressive rule. U.S. media focus on Iranian demonstrators and online activists who deservedly garner headlines for their courage but those same media outlets largely ignore Egyptians because Mubarak is “our friend” and stands stalwartly against the kind of Muslim fundamentalists who run Iran.
“Khaled is our Neda,” Generation Facebook says, citing the young Iranian woman whose death in a post-election Tehran demonstration last year was captured by mobile phone.
If she was the everywoman whose on-camera demise shook our eyes open to the Iranian regime’s brutality, then Khaled Said’s shattered face could belong to any one of Generation Mubarak.
Follow Mona Eltahawy on Twitter: www.twitter.com/monaeltahawy
MBC on “Colloquial Arabic in Syrian TV Drama”
MBC has reported on the lecture “Colloquial Arabic in Syrian Tv Drama” that was given by Mr Wafiq al Zayim (“Abu Hatem” in Bab al hara) at the Danish Institute in Damascus.
You can find the original report here.
ps I love this picture of the Danish Institute`s Director HC Nielsen and “Abu Hatem” together!
(picture by Ferhad Hammy, MBC)
فاجأ طالب ياباني يدعى “تومي” الحضور في ندوة بدمشق بتقليد شخصية “أبو حاتم”؛ التي يجسدها النجم السوري وفيق الزعيم في مسلسل باب الحارة.
وطلب الزعيم -الذي كان يحاضر في الندوة حول اللهجة العامية وتطورها في الدراما السورية- من الشاب إعادة حركات التقليد أكثر من مرة، الأمر الذي أضفى بهجة على الندوة التي نظمها المعهد الثقافي الدنمركي.
وناقشت الجلسة -التي حضرها أكاديميون وطلاب أجانب يهتمون باللهجة العامية السورية- دور كتاب “طيب الكلام”، وهو قيد الإصدار لـ”أبو حاتم”، في مساعدة الأجانب الوافدين من الدول الأجنبية على تعلم اللهجة الشامية، لا سيما أنه يتضمن قاموسا للأمثال الشعبية والمفردات الدمشقية.
وقال الفنان السوري -في تصريحات خاصة لـmbc.net، في سياق تعقيبه على المحاضرة-: إن الدراما السورية في الوقت الراهن تحتل المرتبة التاسعة على مستوى الدراما العالمية، وذلك نتيجة غوصها العميق في الموضوعات.
واعتبر -في الوقت نفسه- أن مسلسل باب الحارة ليس الأفضل من بين الأعمال السورية، إلا أنه استطاع طرح مبادئ إنسانية وأخلاقية في قالب درامي جميل؛ ما جعله ينال الشهرة والانتشار على مستوى العربي و العالمي.
وأشار الزعيم إلى أنه على الرغم من تطور العصر وطغيان التكنولوجيا على الحياة اليومية، الذي أدى بدوره إلى تراجع العلاقات الاجتماعية والإنسانية، جاءت الدراما البيئية وعلى رأسها باب الحارة لتقديم وتصحيح الرؤية الأخلاقية، والعودة بالناس إلى القيم الاجتماعية الأصيلة.
وذكر أحد المواقف بهذا الصدد قائلا: “إن إحدى المواطنات الأمريكيات طلبت منه أثناء زيارته الأخيرة إلى أمريكا تقديم الشكر على لسانها إلى جميع العاملين في مسلسل باب الحارة، وذلك على خلفية تقديمه أفكارا تربوية مثالية تساعد الأهل على القيام بالتربية الجيدة لأولادهم”.
واعتبر الفنان السوري أن مقهى أبو حاتم يمثل المركز الثقافي لذلك العصر، حيث كان الجميع يتجمعون فيه لبحث ومناقشة الأمور والمشكلات التي تحيط بكل مواطن دمشقي، عبر المجلس التعاوني في ذلك الوقت، فضلاً عن تقديمه القصص والروايات القديمة عبر الحكواتي.
وفي السياق نفسه، قال هانس نيلسون مدير معهد الثقافي الدنمركي: إن الخطوة التي قام بها وفيق الزعيم بجمع المفردات والأمثال الشعبية في كتابه ستساعد الأجانب الوافدين على تعلم اللهجة الدمشقية.
وأشار إلى أنه متشوق جدا لرؤية الجزء الخامس من مسلسل باب الحارة بعد متابعته لأجزاء الأربعة السابقة، متمنيا تطوير لهجته العامية على اعتباره يعيش في سورية منذ فترة طويلة.
من جهتها وصفت الباحثة الإيطالية دونتيلا ديلارتا المشرفة على المحاضرة كتاب وفيق الزعيم بأنه مرجع حقيقي لكل الأجانب الذين يأتون إلى سورية لتعلم اللغة العربية العامية والفصحى، خاصة أنه فنان يعمل في الدراما الشامية ويتقن لهجتها بشكل جيد، مشيرة إلى أن دراسة اللغة من خلال الدراما التلفزيونية تعد مفتاحا لتقييم واقع المجتمعات العربية على حد قولها.
دوناتيلا تعد رسالة الدكتوراه حول صناعة الدراما السورية في جامعة كوبنهاجن، بالتعاون مع مركز الثقافي الدنمركي، حيث سبق لها إصدار كتاب حول المحطات الفضائية العربية، بحكم أنها تدرس واقع إعلام العربية من أكثر من عشر سنوات.
وفي السياق نفسه، أكدت الباحثة الأمريكية روبيكة جوبن التي تحضّر بدورها رسالة الدكتوراه حول المكانة الاجتماعية للمرأة في الدراما السورية، أن طريقة تقديم النساء في مسلسل باب الحارة ليست كما يظن البعض على أنها بنفس النمطية، بل إن لكل واحدة منها خصوصية معينة تختلف عن الأخرى.
وأضافت أن شخصية أم جوزيف خير دليل على التلاحم بين الديانتين النصرانية والإسلامية، وهو ما يدحض النظريات الغربية حول وجود صراع بين الديانتين في المنطقة العربية، موضحة أن أكثر ما يميز باب الحارة هو الالتزام بالعلاقات الاجتماعية من خلال الأعراف والتقاليد والعقيدة الدينية، دون اللجوء إلى القانون والشرطة للتدخل في حل مشاكل الناس.
ولفتت إلى أن طريقة تقديم حفظ القرآن الكريم للأولاد الصغار في باب الحارة تبين مدى مصداقية تلك الفترة، مؤكدة أنها ستقوم بجلب طلابها من أمريكا إلى موقع تصوير باب الحارة ليتفاعلوا مع ذلك المكان بحقيقته على أرض الواقع، وأنها بصدد لقاء طويل مع الفنان وفيق الزعيم لإطلاعها أكثر على خبايا باب الحارة.
من جهة ثانية، وعد الطالب الياباني “تومي”، الذي يدرس اللغة العربية بجامعة دمشق، وقلد وفيق الزعيم، ببذل قصارى جهده لترجمة كل المفردات والأمثال الشعبية التي وردت في كتاب الفنان وفيق الزعيم إلى اللغة اليابانية؛ ليطلع من خلاله المجتمع الياباني على الثقافة الدمشقية.
Colloquial Arabic in Syrian TV Drama
Tomorrow 8th June at 8pm the Danish Institute in Damascus (situated in the beautiful area of Suq as-souf in Old Damascus) is hosting a lecture on “Colloquial Arabic in Syrian TV Drama” (Arabic only). Mr Wafik al Zayim, the famous actor who plays “Abu Hatem” character in “Bab al hara” TV series, is also a TV drama writer specialized in “Damascene drama” type and he is currently working on the script of next Bassam al Malla`s (Bab al Hara creator and director) TV musalsal “Khan al Shukr” (shooting should start right after Ramadan).
Mr Wafik has been studying the relation between Syrian colloquial Arabic (3ammia suryia) and TV production. He has just completed a dictionary of old Damascene terms that will be soon be released on Panarb market.
On “Bab al hara”… and the culture of Arab journalism
DDR wa rijal al hara, picture courtesy of Hikmet Daoud
Actually I didn`t want to write about this topic now, since there are much more important things happening in the world (particularly in the Arab world, see Gaza and #Flotilla issue), but some people made me think that I should anyway write down some remarks about the following issue.
So I was lucky enough, thanks to director Mo`min al Malla and his team, to follow some shootings of “Bab al hara 5″ which are being held at Qaryia Shamyia, a “fake” Damascus that has been rebuilt out of the (real) chaotic and messy Damascus – a place where you basically can enjoy “Sham without Sham”, the beauty of its souqs, houses, squares, without having to bear with the noise, the dirtiness, the traffic, and all the “disadvantages” of a real big capital-. A “sanitized” version of the Syrian capital that has been built for the sake of tourists and grown bigger and bigger after the increasing success of “Bab al hara” (its headquarters studios are there).
“Bab al hara 5“`s shootings were a great experience from many points of view, both from sociological to strictly “TV production” perspective. It was extremely important for my PhD research and also for the great people I was able to meet there, actors, crew, and particularly Hikmet Daoud (the guy who designed all the costumes and created the “Bab al hara” look). More on my PhD thesis, inshallah..and actually I will present a paper on “Bab al Hara” at WOCMES conference next July which then I will publish here, too.
What I want to talk about now is the article that was published on MBC.net few days ago. The journalist interviewed me during the shootings and was very kind to me. Of course, misunderstandings happen all over the world, and usually the person who is interviewed is never happy to read his/her words once published cause he/she fells betrayed by the journalist.
I don`t feel this intentionally betrayed but I just want to underline some points that can look a bit “naif” on my side in the Arabic text (and it can be cultural or even language misunderstanding).
First of all, I`d like to point out that I didn`t get to “Bab al hara” because of the many articles I`ve read on Italian press as the MBC article says!
I`ve been studying Arab media for the past 10 years and more, I do read Arabic press, travel extensively around the Arab world, and for somebody who has studied the structure of Panarab media for a decade and published academic books about Al Jazeera (Al Jazeera. Media e societa` arabe nel nuovo millennio, Bruno Mondadori publisher,Milano, 2005), MBC, Orbit and ART (Media Oriente, edizioni Seam, Roma, 2000) it`s kind of natural at some point to start studying the content of media.
TV fiction (musalsalat) is an important part of this content, and I`ve been studying them (not only “Bab al hara” but the whole phenomena of Syrian drama) for a while now. Western press -not Italian!- mostly UK and US based has paid some attention of course to “Bab al hara” as a sociological phenomena. And in fact, what I was trying to convey to the journalist -and also to the crew of “Bab al hara“- is that myself as a Western researcher I`m interested to the financial, sociological (and linguistic) aspects of the drama, not to its characters or what did “fulan” or if Abu Shab is coming back or not:)
As for the specific of its linguistic aspects, I`ve been talking a lot about this issue particularly with Ustaz Wafiq al Zaiim who performs “Abu Hatem’. He is very much into “drama shamyia” and the use of Syrian dialect into musalsalat (next week we are hosting his conference on this very topic at the Danish Institute in Damascus). He recognizes that the dialect used by “Bab al hara” is a “standardized” one, who should be made understandable by everybody (and, I add this, particularly since its main audience is in the Gulf countries). We have been discussing a lot about the use of words like “3aghid”, etc. and its implications, linguistically and culturally speaking, and I`m grateful to him for his insights.
What the article doesn`t specify is why -as I said- most of the audience of “Bab al hara” -and the audience which counts- is in the Gulf, and not in Syria. In Old Damascus, where I do live, I`ve never ever found anybody who agrees with the version of “damascenity” that is promoted by “Bab al hara”. Not even a shop owner of Old Damascus -and I`m not talking about press or university professors, elite i3ani- agrees that lifestyle in Old Damascus has ever been as the one “Bab al hara” advertises. Different people I`ve spoken with in the Old City of Damascus -people who don`t know each other- quote as the best representation of Old Damascus the one done by an almost unknown musalsal called “Al hsrum al shami”. This musalsal shows a very different Old Damascus, an “hara” which is quite far from the “hara” depicted by “Bab al hara” and its values of unity, solidarity, etc. Some people would quote “Ayyam shamyia” , by “Bab al hara” creator , director Bassam al Malla (the “architect” of drama shamyia`s success). But I would guess -just guess, nobody has numbers in his hands, as we all know that Arab TV studies do lack independent audience data so far- that the majority of “Bab al hara” audience is in the Gulf, and it is the Gulf to be so attracted by this “sanitized” and nostalgic vision of the past, much more than the Damascene or Syrian people.
Having said that -and having again pointed out that my PhD is on the Syrian drama industry, and not only on “Bab al hara” which, by the way, is a very interesting “industry case”-, I think there are many good sociological and media related reasons to study “Bab al hara” and not to “snob” it, as many wrongly do. It is certainly a media phenomena that deserves to be analysed in-depth. Anyway, I have to remark that among Syrian journalists this “objective” and sociological approach is still far to be accepted, as they are still caught in the “it is art -or not art” problem which I think we European have passed through many years ago, and “put into archives” after the 68th cultural revolution and its relation between the alleged “low-pop culture” vs the alleged “high culture”.
But the most important remark I`d like to make in respect to this article is that I don`t think “Bab al hara” represents a “barrier” to the culture of globalization, or something that fiercely opposes to it. On the contrary, “Bab al hara” is the prototype of globalization and of how it has penetrated so deeply in the entire world -including the Arab world- with its consumption values (media consumption being probably of the strongest among those values).
“Bab al hara” is a consumption spectacle made for media audiences in the very era of globalization. In my view, the typology of “return to the past” and “its golden values” of vicinity, proximity, solidarity, etc. is a creation that suits perfectly in the era of globalization and global consumption rather than a quest for “authenticity” and “non-contradictory culture”. We all know that every period has got conflict and contradictions, but the Past is always much charmer than the future, cause it cannot come back and it is always depicted with “nostalgia” and idealized, the same as “Bab al hara” does -and Qariya Shamyia does , too, emptying the “real” Sham from its mess and contradictions of present time-.
Unfortunately -and that`s another misunderstanding in the article- Old Damascus is starting to become similar to “Bab al hara” and Qariya Shamyia, i.e. “sanitized”‘. More and more restaurants and hotels are appearing for the sake and consumption of tourists and TV audiences that come to Syria to see the “real” Bab al hara. So the “real” Old Damascus is starting day by day to look little by little like the “Old Damascus done for TV”. But I guess that this,too, is a typical phenomena of globalization and its consumption patterns.
These are just some thoughts, and a blog is not the right place where to start an academic discussion. For the moment, I`d just like to thank the people of “Bab al hara” for making this “participant observation” possible. And next time I`ll do an interview I`ll remember to ask for the final text before publishing just to make sure there are no misunderstandings.
What actually has surprised me the most is not even this misunderstanding on MBC, but the fact that immediately after I saw the same article published on many different websites (Discover Syria, Damas Post, etc) with my name and the same picture taken by my friend Daoud, with just a quick remind of the “m b c net” website from where it was taken, but without any link and copying exactly most of the content of the MBC article without quotation…but I guess this is part of the problem I`ve already underlined in the previous post about “copy and paste culture” so much widespread in the Arab world…
La flotta della vergogna
Ieri non riuscivo a credere alle foto, ai video, alle parole che arrivavano da Internet. Devo dire che, stando in Siria e non guardando televisione occidentale, il mio principale mezzo per informarmi e` il web, e da un paio di giorni sul mio Twitter feed leggevo solo di questa #Flotilla o #FreedomFlotilla che tentava l`”arrembaggio” sulle coste di Gaza per portare aiuti a gente che vive in un ghetto. Conosco personalmente alcuni di quelli che facevano parte della #Flotilla, come la giornalista Angela Lano, da anni impegnata a fianco della Palestina con Infopal, e Manolo Luppicchini, che conosco dai tempi dell`universita` e che, da Genova 2001 a Gaza2009, e` stato sempre in prima fila, telecamera alla mano, e sempre pieno di coraggio.
Ieri sera, da Damasco, ho passato ore d`angoscia con Lorenzo al telefono dalla manifestazione che c`e stata a Piazza Venezia, che mi aggiornava se si erano avute notizie di Angela e Manolo. Per ore i loro cellullari hanno squillato a vuoto, per ora abbiamo temuto il peggio. Per fortuna invece pare che stiano “bene”, l`ambasciatore li ha visti, sono trattenuti dalle autorita` ma in buone condizioni, pare. Hamdullilah, mi dico, meno male che Angela e Manolo ce l`hanno fatta. Ma la colpa di queste altre persone, morte in un`azione umanitaria, per portare aiuti a un popolo sotto assedio?
Non ci sono parole per quest`orrore e per l`arroganza con cui viene perpetrato da uno stato che ha ormai perso ogni parvenza di legittimita` e che mi pare duro chiamare “democrazia”.
Comunque..e` una cosa troppo grande, troppo grave quella che e` successa..e il mondo non sa che fare..il mondo arabo non sa che fare..Damasco ieri sera era sospesa in un`atmosfera ovattata fatta di televisori che vomitavano #Flottilla e bandiere del mondo intero, allineate in fila, pronte per la Coppa del Mondo di venerdi` 11 giugno che tutti aspettano con ansia e che questi nuovi eventi rischiano di “rovinare” in un Medio Oriente che non ha mai pace..
Guest blog post on Yalla Start up: “we need to produce not only to consume”
Last month my friend Habib Haddad co-founder of Yamli asked me to write a blog post on his Yalla Start up which I did with a lot of pleasure – I love the work Habib and his friends are doing and I think their way of thinking will impact a lot on Arab new generation of entrepreneurs-. For some reasons, I totally forgot to re-publish the post which I will do right now.
I think what I wrote few months ago is still very much valid, and the more I go in depth in researching issues in the Middle East, the more I find that fostering original creation is the only way for making the Arab world switching to a pro-active culture(s) that speak(s) for itself instead of being spoken by Others.
In the age of digital media, where the actual cost of content production (whether audio, video, texts, etc) has dramatically (and luckily) fallen, we cannot just complain that somebody else is “monopolizing” our image and telling our Story and stories, we have to switch to a proactive attitude.
I believe this is the right time for ideas like “Orientalism” to stop. We control the knowledge tools much better than in the past, so we have to use them in a the proper way. And when I say “we” I mean also the Arab world, and I mean also in a way myself as a part of the Arab world, as somebody living here, speaking the language and sharing the culture(s). Few days ago a friend of mine who wanted to introduce me somebody for my phd research told him on the phone “I want to introduce you a friend of mine, an Orientalist who`s studying Syrian drama”. His expression did struck me, since for me “orientalist” is a negative word, whereas he said that for him “had it not been for the Orientalists, much of our recent Arab history would never have been written“.
This situation can be changed and I strongly believe that digital media is the chance for Arabs to change it.
“We need to produce, not only to consume!”
Few weeks ago, I was running like a crazy from an interview to another in order to finish the first part of my field work for my PHD research about Syrian musalsalat.
An (Arab) friend of mine just looked at me as if I was totally weird and told me: “why are you doing all these crazy efforts?! You read Arabic, just translate those (pointing at few articles and couple of books dealing with drama) into English and khalas, it’s done!”.
While trying to explain him that a PHD research –generally speaking- is something quite serious in terms of getting a critical mass of sources, comparing them, quoting, elaborating, etc I just realised there was an “abyss” between us.
Few days later, I went to interview a smart guy who’s trying to collect different historical sources concerning drama and doing an “encyclopedia” type of project. When asking questions, I saw him being quite reluctant in answering.. he suddenly said: “sorry but you should pay for this”. “Pay?!” . I have to admit it was the first time in more than 10 years of research that I was hearing such an answer. “There is a value in what I do. And, if you are going to take it without giving anything back, at least you should pay”. My efforts in explaining that there is something called “quotation” in academia, something that acknowledges the original creator of a thought, were vain.
He simply concluded that, while the Western world has got “quotation”, the Arab world has only “copy and paste”.
That “abyss” of few days before finally had a name: “copy and paste” culture, thaqafat al nskh wal lsq. It seems that Arabs are so used to copy and paste others’ works that original creation is quickly dying in this part of the world. Creativity just disappears when there is no value attributed to cultural creation, no intention to acknowledge, no wishes to build upon somebody else’s work in order to create your own work.
The copy and paste culture is not a revenge against Western imperialism – the West which exploited and deprived the Arab world -, as somebody is nostalgically putting it.
The copy and paste culture is actually something the Arab world itself is paying a price for, by preventing original Arab thoughts to be exposed and debated, original Arab ideas to be investigated, original Arab research works to be published, etc. Cause if nobody attributes a value to a scientific article, a to a piece of information, to interviews and investigations that go into a PHD thesis, how do we expect to have an original Arab thought to be formed?
We always hear debates about the “XXI century Arab thought” etc, but where does its essence lay if not in original creation? And where this original creation can be expressed and exposed the most, if not on the Internet?
It’s precisely there, with all the digital easy access tools that new technology has provided us with, that a new Arab thought has to displayed, debated, re-elaborated, re-innovated.
When we celebrate the boom of the Internet in the Arab world, the increasing usage of social networks, etc, lots of this stuff is actually still about consumption and not creation.
- We need to write, not only to read.
- We need to film, not only to watch.
- We need to produce, not only to consume.
- We need to innovate, not only to preserve.
But, in order to create, we need to give a value to our creation. Then we need to respect this value. We need to trust. I personally see the challenge of Creative Commons organisation in the Arab world to be in this very challenge of creation, of giving a value, of facilitating trust.
Creative Commons was born in a Western world were copyright protection had become a chain, an obstacle to innovation. In the Arab world, copyright is almost unknown or disrespected, and original creation is disrespected, too, to the extent that it is totally neglected. In this context Creative Commons should be understood as a way of giving value to this neglected creation, of building trust and respect around it.
Would be this possible, the Arab world’s past and its history (like the history of its TV drama, just as an example) will finally have a value for Arabs too … the future won’t be made up of only Westerners investigating and writing this story, while Arabs just reading it.
