More mud slung at Almontaser

I was sad to see her opponents have stooped to a new low. It's really disheartening to see people so bound and determined to ruin a person. And what could possibly be the end result they are seeking? They have already forced her from her job and helped derail the school. What's the goal here, really?

Salaam.

Ibn Arabi in Istanbul

I am just curious if anyone else out there plans to attend the Ibn Arabi conference in Istanbul next weekend (May 23-25). It is organized by the Istanbul branch of the Turkish Women's Cultural Association (TURKKAD). There's no fee to attend and the speakers will include scholars from around the world. You can download the program here. See you there.

Salaam.

Spring has sprung

Despite the fact that we're closing in on June, it still feels like early spring here. The weather has been cool and lovely and things seem to still be hatching. Speaking of which, I have my very own Discovery Channel special unfolding across the sokak. A pair of seagull chicks are out of the nest on the roof across from my window. They and their folks are providing me with endless entertainment. I suspect I am one of a small few for who watching a bird regurgitate a fish is a beautiful thing.

Salaam.

Smoking gun or just more smoke?

I'm not sure what to make of this story in the New York Times claiming that Hezbollah is training Iraqi militants in Iran, but it is unsettling given recent developments. I stand by my belief that Cheney, Bush & Co. still have something up their sleeve. And, no, you cannot use logic to predict the actions of people for who logic is meaningless.

A dear friend of mine just left to return home to Tehran after a visit. She said the increased sanctions, including enhanced financial sanctions are hurting Iranians. One family member had a large sum of money seized in a wire transfer to the U.S. The reason for the transfer? To pay down the mortgage on their home in California, which they may now lose. I know I feel safer.

Salaam.

Decisions

I've now lived in Istanbul for almost eight months, long enough to feel like a local in many ways, especially as a foreigner. This is a remarkable city in many ways. It is constantly moving; there is always something happening, even in the earliest hours of the morning. It is one of the most beautifully situated cities in the world, rolling over the hills to the shores of the Bosphorus and Marmara. The city's long history stares you in the face; everywhere you look you turn the page on another chapter, another footnote. It is artistic, energetic, challenging, noisy, surprising...I love it here, however, some things are missing and some things just don't feel right. Therefore, I've decided to return to the Middle East later this year. I just feel that, for several reasons, that's where I'm meant to be. The Jordan trip started all this. In talking with people, speaking Arabic again, I realized I miss the language, the culture, the people. There are other things, about me, Turkey, the Middle East. But for now, just know a choice has been made.

So, where to now? At the moment I am gearing up to lead photo tours of the city for a gallery and school on Istiklal. Hopefully we'll get the word out and people will sign up. I'll spend the summer working on that and laying plans. Ramadan falls in September this year, which could put a kink in travel plans, or maybe not. I would like to travel a bit after summer: to take the train from Istanbul to Tehran to visit friends there, to see the contenders for the title of "home". Friends have suggested the obvious: Cairo, Ramallah and Beirut. I'd also like to revisit Amman. It'll have to be someplace where I might have the possibility of working in one of my fields: journalism, photography, teaching and NGOs and nonprofits. So, if anyone out there wants to help a sister out, let me know. I am looking for a place I can be of service, deepen my spirituality, support myself, enjoy the things I do and grow.

Salaam.

Mayday!

Update (12:55pm): eventually a group made it to my sokak and up onto Cumhuriyet. According to the a friend they were only allowed to get to Pangalti this morning. The crowd here just drifted towards Taksim and away a few times before being chased by riot police firing tear gas. Not bad here, but I did have to close the windows. It's provided quite a show for me and the neighbors...Spoke to soon....they just gassed our street.

It's May 1, or May Day, International Labor Day and in Istanbul the police have been out crushing plans by labor unions to march on the city's central Taksim Square. Şişli is very near where I live and is where I used to work. It's never comfortable to watch television coverage of police rounding people up, firing tear gas canisters and using water cannons on crowds and especially so when you know exactly where they're doing it - in front of shops you frequent, on streets you walk. Protests in Taksim have been banned since 1977, when unidentified gunmen fired into a crowd of May Day protesters in Taksim, leading to the deaths of some 40 people. The gunmen were never identified, but accusations included collusion with the police and agents of the "deep state". Every year brings some level of unrest and violence. Last year the were small barricades erected and burned in Taksim by so-called anarchists and plenty of people beaten by police. A Turkish friend who planned to march said people were meeting at three locations to march on the square. The unionists said they would come bearing carnations to present to the police. All this week the police and city and national government warned of threats received from unnamed "provocateurs," including Molotov cocktails and other weapons. The claimed they were unable to mobilize to protect protesters in a space as open as Taksim, however they seem to be able to mobilize to shut down and cordon off the square today and crush the beginnings of the march in Şişli. I'm sure some Turkish friends will claim I don't understand because I'm not Turkish, a familiar way to shut down discussion on many topics. A friend working on Istiklal reported that police are mobilizing at Odakule, towards the Tunel end of the street. So, I am listening to a helicopter buzz the nearby neighborhood, chatting online with a friend who lives nearby who reported rioting on her tiny sokak, as the Şişli protesters scattered and tried to regroup, and watching images from this morning in Şişli on television: union officials grabbed from head offices and arrested by throngs of police dressed in stormtrooper-like protective gear, people crouching in the streets to stay in position under water cannon blasts, police shaking batons over their heads and firing many rounds of gas canisters after fleeing protesters. Oddly, my neighborhood, along Cumhuriyet, is rather quiet and it's a normal, lovely spring day - cars on the street, people going about their business, the sounds of daily routine can be heard. You would never know what's going on less than half a kilometer away. Seems like the plan was to end it before it even began. The police helicopter is now buzzing over Dolapdere and just made a low pass overhead. We'll see if anybody makes it to Taksim.

Salaam.

The "Case" against Debbie Almontaser

The campaigns of character assassination waged against Ms. Almontaser and against the school that was her dream, the Khalil Gibran International School, are beyond disturbing and show just how low some in the U.S. have stooped in dishonoring the principles the country was founded on. I've already written about the sad story of the Khalil Gibran school, but reading this story left me outraged. Read this very carefully. We should all me standing up and speaking out about this case.

Salaam.

The Latest from Turkey

Here's my latest piece to be published in the paper. May be my last, as I have quit my job as a copy editor there, but who knows. Both pieces were very well-received. If any of you read it let me know your opinions. Be brutal.

Salaam.

Apologies and a first in Turkey

The tulips are dropping their boldly colored petals, I've been able to put away my winter clothes, and the days are now extending into the eight o'clock hour...summer's coming. It's another beautiful day here and I am on the 12 floor of an ugly, poorly ventilated high rise in the highly unattractive industrial section of town.

Sorry I've been negligent. I took a full-time copy editing job at the major English daily newspaper here. Of course, "full-time" in Turkey means 60 hours a week, six days a week. We'll see how long I last. The upside of this job is that I got to write a small piece for an expats column, my first piece published in Turkey. It was well-received and they want another for this Friday. Ok, all things considered, I might prefer a full weekend to getting published. Really. I am working on some deep ruminations to post here about decisions I've made about life, the world, and such. I ridiculously hope somebody out there will respond to them.

Anyway, I have to get back to defending the English language.
Salaam.

You don't know Sharia

This is an interesting piece about Sharia from the NY Times Sunday magazine from a few weeks back. Find out for yourself.

Salaam.

Democracy?

At work, so no analysis yet, but the Turkish Constitutional Court just decided to hear a case calling for the closure of the ruling AK Party, who won 47% of the vote in last year's election, on the grounds that party actions go against the ideals of the Republic. The newsroom here is buzzing about it. I'll write more later...

Five Years On...

It all started today, five years ago. The waning of public sentiment in the U.S.'s favor, no more will you here people utter the phrase, "We are all Americans," so common after September 11th. The cracking of ancient fissures in the Middle East. The body counts, separate tallies for Americans and Iraqis, when anyone bothered to count the Iraqis at all. The shock and awe of watching a "preemptive war" unfold on the television while pondering the meaning and implications of the phrase. Isn't it simply a polite euphemism for "invasion", I wondered. Five years on and my shock and awe at the penetration of misinformation into people's minds, the fears that linger with people, buried just beneath the surface, seven years after those planes hit, my soul-shaking disappointment in my country, which I do still love, contrary to the beliefs of the false patriots, continue. Five years on and still we wait to hear a plan, a concrete plan for fixing what we helped break so irrevocably. Five years on and, in some ways, the lucky ones come home in body bags, the "living" suffering from neglectful, almost criminal levels of care for life-long physical and psychological wounds. Serve your country and come home to suicide, homelessness, unemployment, and a government that is happy to use you to recruit the next round, but not so pleased to pay to heal you. Five years on and still people sleep, missing the details that should provoke electric anger. Five years on and the lies have been confirmed and yet, still, the public loses interest and the story fades from view. Five years on and I still cannot answer the questions from people on this side of the world: "How did he get re-elected?", "Why do people in your country not care?", "You have the freedom, so why are people in your country not marching in the streets?"

Five years on an I am thinking of the middle-aged Iraqi man sitting next to me in a cafe in Damascus near the end of 2006. "Do you mind if I smoke?" he asked gently in Arabic, leaning towards me. "We Iraqis only smoke when we are sad," he said, weary smile stretching across his face beneath his moustache. "And we have so many things to be sad about these days."

Five years on and I am left to wonder what the next five years will bring.
Salaam, inshallah.

Shaky Ground

A small to moderate earthquake struck near Istanbul tonight. The lights flickered at school, but then they do a lot due to construction in the building. My students and I didn't feel a thing and didn't realize until another student stuck her head in to ask if we'd felt it. It was strong enough to scare my roommate, however. Being from south Florida, I'll take a hurricane over an earthquake any day.

Salaam.

How Will They Spin It Now?

In news shocking to almost no one with any intelligence, a US military-backed report (download and read the report for yourself) released yesterday found no pre-war link between former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and Al-Qaeda. No bulletproof evidence. No sinister nexus. No aid and comfort. Nothing.

According to the Washington Post this is the first study to examine Hussein's links to terrorist organizations, including those other than Al-Qaeda, using solely Iraqi documentation. Also according to the Post, while the study is said to have found non-operational links with other groups considered terrorist in nature, these links are said to have been of a nature to bolster his image as a leader in the region.

So, the count so far is no WMD, no link with Al-Qaeda, and almost how many dead as of today on both sides? I am no fan of Hussein's and I am somebody who wrestles with questions about what role other countries can and should play in ending dictatorships. And having one friend in the military, I am well aware there are good men and women trying to do good things in Iraq, who believe they can help. The lies and spin are an insult to them. The issue here is that time and time again, this administration lied again and again to bolster their plans. Time and again VP Cheney stood in front of the media and repeated the lie that there was a link, the words for years like a somber drumbeat. Certainly the uncritical, overly accepting public and media also had a role in the relationship. And now, several years into a war based on lies that has left a country in tatters with no end in sight we wait to hear any sort of coherent plan from candidates and leaders as to how to get out of this filthy mess.

Salaam.

Gulf War Syndrome Is Declared Real...Nearly 20 Years AFTER The War

It took more than 15 years, but it appears all those members of the coalition forces from the 1991 Gulf War weren't making up the health problems that came to be known as Gulf War Syndrome according to a study released today. Not surprisingly, it looks like the chemicals that sickened them were doled out by the the military, in the form of bromide pills intended to protect against nerve agents and a variety of pesticides used around military bases. Even more disturbing, according to this article, is that those same pesticides that caused chronic problems such as memory problems, difficulty sleeping, muscle or joint pain, fatigue, rashes and breathing problems are still being used in homes and businesses around the world today.

"Furthermore, the same chemicals affecting Gulf War veterans may be involved in similar cases of unexplained, multi-symptom health problems in the general population," said study author Beatrice Golomb of the University of California San Diego's school of medicine.

Hopefully, people will now take sufferers seriously and work towards some effective treatments, preferably NOT at a Veteran's Administration facility. Of course with record high suicide rates among those returning from the current war, not to mention the large number of veterans having to live on the streets, these veterans may get shunted to the back of the line.

Salaam.