Hajjaj Cartoon of the Day

A New Government. Yeah, so?

While the decision to dissolve the parliament about two weeks ago was met with pure joy and relief, the appointment of a new prime minister was met with either disappointment or most probably indifference. Sameer Rifai, the new prime minister is the third generation of a family of prime ministers, something that probably happens only in Jordan.

I like to think of the whole thing as a game. There's this circle of elitists, the ones allowed to play, all of whom at one point or another were ministers or CEOs and every couple of years one of them gets their turn as the top player. Now this top player would proceed to "reshuffle" the current players, or if he's looking for some change, add a couple of new ones. The field that each player is in charge of is truly irrelevant to their area of expertise. Now once the parliament is elected, the game of who destroys who first begins! Fun fun fun.

So I don't really think it matters who gets picked as the prime minister, the same cycle of events seems to repeat itself regardless of how optimistic we are of the new government. But not to be part of the blame culture, because we should take the blame as well. We should be part of a responsible, incorrupt election that would result in a parliament that speaks for the citizens rather than attack them, but hey that's just wishful thinking.

Once again, Emad Hajjaj depicts it best.

Stop Getting So Offended

Ah, just another boycott, this time against Alghad newspaper. I woke up today to find several invitations to a facebook group calling for the boycott of Alghad for publishing the Imad Hajjaj cartoon shown here.

[Cartoon shows Abu Mahjoob welcoming and baptizing Tony Blaire with filthy water in the baptism site, with the minister of water on the other side announcing that the contaminated waters did not affect the drinking water and were rerouted to the Jordan River.]

The cartoon spurred the catholic union to send a letter to Alghad's editor denouncing the cartoon because of the "hurtful insinuations it carries that offend not only Christians, but every good-willed citizen", also mentioning that this isn't the first time they've been offended by a Hajjaj cartoon.

This in turn caused Hajjaj to post a clarification on his website, that the caricature was not in any way a mockery of Christians or their traditions, but a sarcastic commentary of how the minister of water and irrigation announced that the water contaminated by Israel was disposed of in the Jordan river just a few days after the opening of the baptism center with Tony Blair attending the ceremony.

هذا الرسم لا يستهدف من قريب أو بعيد الإساءة للديانة المسيحية وأتباعها. ومن المهم هنا التأكيد على القضية الأساسية التي يبرزها الكاريكاتير وهو إعلان وزير المياه أن جميع المياه الملوثة قد تم التخلص منها في نهر الأردن بعد أيام من تدشين معمودية مغطس نهر الأردن بحضور السيد توني بلير. أي أن حل مشكلة التلوث كان بتلويث النهر المقدس الذي يتعمد فيه الحجاج المسيحيين من كل العالم، وهذا ما يرفضه رسام الكاريكاتير شكلا وموضوعا.

The cartoon was posted yesterday and already 3 groups have been created calling for boycotting the newspaper and Imad Hajjaj, created by people who, I'm sure, have no idea of the underlying meaning of the cartoon. The sensitivity of people when it comes to anything bordering religion is unbelievable. You do not object the fact that what you regard as a holy site is being pumped with sewage but a cartoon offends you? Seriously save your energy and outcries for bigger things, like oh I don't know, drinking sewage and radiation infested water.

[On a completely unrelated note, this is the 100th post on this blog!]

Are You Prepared?

Can't wait to hear radio stations refer to snow as الزائر الأبيض (the white visitor)

Or to watch JTV for that one time a year when your satellite dish has accumlated snow and doesn't receive any other channels.

Or to watch everything come to a halt regardless of whether it actually does snow. The anticipation of snow is enough to do that here.

Or to call the electric company 15 times a day to get them to send someone to fix that wire across the street.


I love this time of year!

20% of Women Face Domestic Violence, 19% Have No Problem With It

The stupidity of the human race never ceases to amaze me, really. A recent scan conducted by the Department of Statistics revealed that 20% of married women suffer from domestic violence, and that 19% of women believe it's a man's right to punish his wife. As in beat her whenever he damn chooses. So if we assume that those 19% are married, only 1% have a problem with having the crap beaten out of them.

Sometimes I think what's the point of feminism here if women are content with all the injustice they're facing. Then I think that maybe it's their way of dealing with such an awful reality.

But here's something to feel optimistic about. In 2005, statistics showed that 87% condone violence against women.

What's On My Mind This Week

• I'm pretty shocked that police in Jordan are actually setting traps to arrest alleged homosexuals. According to "sources", this crackdown is to prevent the increasing numbers of gays, whose number is approximately 600, from spreading STDs. Where they obtained such a number is beyond me. Now I'm not campaigning for LGBT over here, but i find this inhumane and stupid, especially when they put it under the excuse of "preventing STD spread". You want to prevent STDs? Make sex education a part of highschool curricula. The way I see it, this "campaign" is just to win easy points with the public.

• I can't believe Jordan is one of the four water-poorest countries in the world. We sure don't act like it. We use water like we have an infinite supply of it. Just observe the streams of soapy water running down the streets from people hosing down their cars every morning. It's ridiculous.

• 17 honor crimes have occurred to this day since the start of 2008. Four only this month.
  
  
• I love the cold weather. Despite the fact that people sort of freak out and the streets become crazy from the combination of stupid drivers and a practically non-existent drainage system. I love the rain, the jackets, the scarves, the blankets. It's all very cosy. I even don't mind being cold. But I don't understand why only my right hand gets cold, mostly when I'm working on the computer. I'm right-handed, so if anything, shouldn't it be my left hand that gets cold? So every 20 minutes or so i go to the kitchen and stand over the stove for a minute, till my hand gets warm, after which i resume my computer session.
  
  

• Cups and kilos is an awesome place. Even though I've been introduced to it fairly recently, like 2 months ago, I've been an addict ever since. I especially like any banana-flavoured drinks they have. Last week they had a concert featuring college students playing cover songs and jazz tunes, it was really nice. A friend of mine has been going to the same Cups and Kilos branch for 25 consecutive days now!
  

• I've been a terrible blogger and I know it. I'm feeling pretty guilty about it, and I've been kicking myself for it especially since toot added a new bunch of bloggers about a week ago. It's that i can't seem to get back to the blogger mode I was in when I first started this blog. That's when you automatically start writing posts in your head and start categorizing everything into bloggable or non-bloggable. Hmmmmph.
  

And now that my right-hand has become cold again, I'm going to go.

Bloody Murder

Is it me, or are murder stories in Jordan becoming more and more common? Everytime I open the newspaper there seems to be a new murder in the headlines, each one more violent and shocking than the next. 

So I took a look at the archives, and over the last 10 days the following took place: 

• A 61-year old shot his 17-year-old daughter to death in an "honor crime" in Al Balqa. Upon questioning, the father said his daughter allegedly confessed to having consensual sexual relations. A source said he saw the victim's family members congratulating each other after the murder.

• A 44-year-old man murdered his married 42-year-old sister by strangling her with a "dishdasheh" (the traditional robe), in yet another so-called "honor crime". The victim, who has been living alone for the past 5 years because her husband is in prison, was murdered because "she would often leave the house without her family's approval". The victim became the 15th person killed for an honor crime since the beginning of the year. You think we'll be able to reach our yearly average of 20? 2 more months to go!
  
  
• A body of a man in his thirties was found stabbed in the King Abdullah Gardens. The suspect, who confessed, reportedly killed his friend over 200 JDs. 
  
  
• The body of a newborn baby was found attached to a tree in Wadi Il Seer. I don't know what to say about this one. This is just beyond despicable and sick.

• A chopped up body turned up in Marka in Amman. The police apprehended the suspect, an Egyptian worker for the victim in his factory, who killed his boss for refusing to give him a raise, and them disassembled the body into four parts to facilitate moving it.

• A man was sentenced for 10 years in prison for poisoning his neighbor unintentionally. The man wanted to kill his father by poisoning his tea, but a number of neighbors happened to drop by and drink the tee. Ah the irony.
  

Not to mention the multitudes of car accidents and hit-and-run accidents which seem to have become everyday news by now. Are we becoming a more violent society?

Matrix Aborted!

Hilarious Hajjaj cartoon about the recent developments with the investment company Matrix.

Do You Find This Offensive?

Take a look at this cartoon by prominent cartoonist Emad Hajjaj. It shows a man talking to Mohannad from the hit show Noor, saying "The Arab woman is a fan. She's her own enemy in elections. She consents to beating and polygamy. She likes to have boys and not girls. She doesn't continue her education because of society's customs. She is of dark skin but with a blond complex. Modern in appearance but empty in substance." To which Mohannad replies, "Just what I needed! An Arab woman who is no match for the Turkish women! Just give her my photo and tell her much obliged."

The National Committee for Women in Jordan, represented by Asma Khader, whom I greatly admire, sent a letter to Alghad newspaper, where the cartoon was published, expressing resentment about the drawing, which according to them "portrays an unfair image about Arab women, and Jordanian women in particular, and that the negatives he mentioned are the exception and should not be generalized."

Now I agree, the drawing is overly generalizing, because of course it does not describe all Arab women, but then again, isn't exaggeration the point of most cartoons? That's how they convey their message. And let's face it, the negatives are not the exception. Most of what he said is sadly correct. Women are their own worst enemy, and I always say that. Last elections were the first time a woman won outside the designated women's quota. A step forward, without a doubt, but ONE woman. Out of 104 parliamentary seats, just one woman won. Also, many women are just looking to get married, and whether their husbands are already married, beat them, forbid them from working or continuing their education is besides the point, because society dictates they get married or else they're considered a source of shame for their families. And don't get me started on how in this day and age, people, including WOMEN, still prefer baby boys over baby girls. And the blond complex? How else could Fair and Lovely still be in business? Or the rest of Amman's hairdressers for that matter?

I disagree with Hajjaj in that not all those who watch the show are empty and superficial. I mean come on, it's just a TV show, even though I still do not understand the obsession. And half the poeple I know who watch the show are actually guys. I think maybe Hajjaj was lamenting how people became obsessed with a show and seemed to forget all the problems we have? I don't know. But I for one, refuse to attack Hajjaj. He is one of the very few openly speaking male feminists in our society and he deserves some credit for that.

Nude Protests: Finally!

After being issued a 30 JD ticket, a Jordanian bus driver began taking his clothes off in protest. The police officer insisted on giving him the ticket, despite the driver's promises that he had forgotten his licences at home.

The comments on the news piece were mostly sympathetic with the driver, seeing as life in Jordan is becoming more expensive by the second. My favorite comments:

معنا مجال هللأ نضحك على الخبر.. بس اخرتنا كلنا نخلع ملابسنا

لو إنو السائق بنت وعملت هيك,أكيد الحكومة مارح تخالفها 30 نيرة..كان أعطتها 70 نيرة !!! صح

منذ كنت طفلا اتذكر بانه كان هناك برنامجا اتابعه تدور احداثه في الغابة ويدعى(طرزان)حيث يروي قصة بطل يعيش داخل الغابة فكان دائما اقرب مايكون خالعا لملابسه حين يتجول في الغابة فلم يكن في وقته محروقات لاديزل ولا بنزين يعتمد عليها للانتقال من شجرة الى اخرى فكان يعتمد على الحبال الطويلة للوصول للمكان الذي يريد وبالتالي لم يكن هناك شرطيا يقف ليخالف (طرزان)لتجاوزه حدود السرعة او عدم اعطاء الاولوية للقرود و العصافيرالتي تملا الغابة فطرزان كان خالعا لملابسه دوما دون وجود هموم تدعوه لذلك