Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, February 28, 2011,
I have been following the news about film director Qasim Basir for a couple of years now and I haven't blogged about his latest work, Mooz-Lum, a feature film about the coming of age of a Muslim African American before, during, and after the tragic events of 9/11. I haven't seen the movie because it's playing only in select theaters, but the trailer and the reviews (here and here) I have read indicate this is certainly worth seeing. What a wonderful discussion this film could generate. Certai... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, February 28, 2011,
It was hard to watch Christiane Amanpour's interview this morning with two of Gadhafi's sons. With all the money the family has and the fact that Saif has a PhD from the London School of Economics, the least one can expect is a bit of decent English, not that they've ever said anything really smart in Arabic either. Much like his father, Saif is convinced the protests are led by a small bunch (5,000 to 10,000) of unruly hooligans in that ruffian part to the east of Tripoli, while Saadi, the s... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Wednesday, February 23, 2011,
Here is an interesting article on the role religious groups played (or didn't play rather) in the Egyptian revolution. I've been following tele-Islamist Amr Khaled as he visited Tahrir Square at the height of the protests there and broke his silence on politics, something he clearly avoided in his television shows up till now. As this article shows, the revolution in Egypt has brought with it a new political culture in which religiously devout young Egyptians identified with religion differen... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Sunday, February 20, 2011,
The Libyan government has stooped to an abysmal low by allegedly paying young Africans (names of countries have not been released) up to $30k each to carry out the dirty work of hitting and killing protesters in the streets of cities like Benghazi. Al Jazeera English has also been reporting that a number of Libyan students in the US were allegedly called by their embassy in Washington and coerced to participate in pro-Gaddafi rallies in the US Students. Their scholarships would be called off ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, February 14, 2011,
The New York Times had a fascinating article and an interactive timeline tracing the roots of the peaceful revolution in Tunisia and Egypt. The transnational dimension of these uprisings is just incredible as activists and protesters exchange idea, tactics and read up on resistance literature and activist initiatives in the history of the United States and more recently in Serbia. What's also fascinating is how the Web and social media have become mobilizing tools to brand these revolutionary... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Saturday, February 12, 2011,
I feel so proud of this young generation of Arabs. They have proven all the skeptics wrong and their heroism is remarkably infectious. What my generation has been unable to do, these young Arabs have done it effectively and peacefully. What a historic day. There is much excitement, but there's a lot of trepidation also about what's to come next. I don't want to focus on the trepidation for now. Egyptians deserve to enjoy this revolution and relish it for days to come. This was no small feat. ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Wednesday, February 9, 2011,
If you haven't seen Wael Ghonim's famous interview with Egyptian private television network Dream TV, here it is with English subtitles. Ghonim is the Google executive who spent 12 days in police custody and was released late last week. He was most certainly arrested by secret police as seen in this video because he created a Facebook page in June called, "We're all Khaled Said." Said was the young businessman allegedly attacked and killed by Egyptian police as he was filming a video of two p... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Wednesday, February 9, 2011,
Ian Buruma published an opinion column on Al Jazeera English today about why the West should respect the results of elections in Egypt even if the Muslim Brotherhood wins them. Of course, I firmly believe that the MB will face much higher competition from other opposition (non-religious) groups if the elections are fair and transparent. It's Mubarak's heavy-handed rule which has popularized the MB in Egypt by forcing them to go underground and organize more organically in the Egyptian society... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Saturday, February 5, 2011,
If this is not a people's revolution, I don't what is. How much more evidence is really needed to be convinced Egyptians have a visceral hate for their president?
Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Saturday, February 5, 2011,
Where else would you really see these two men on television? Excellent interview and insightful observations from both about what's happening in Egypt. Really worth your time.
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Thursday, February 3, 2011,
Dr. Moosa, an associate professor of Islamic Studies at Duke University will give a presentation entitled: “Re-Thinking Modern Muslim Discursivities: Counterpoints, Dilemmas and Politics,”today at 5:00pm in Hale 270. Dr. Moosa is well known for his important work to modernize Islamic classic thought. Here is more on Dr. Moosa from the website of the department of religious studies at CU which is organizing this event.
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Wednesday, February 2, 2011,
The Center
for Asian Studies at the University of Colorado is organizing an interesting
event this afternoon on the Boulder campus entitled: Halal Muslim Love
Online: Finding a good Muslim Man in Colorado.
This is a presentation by Asma Hasan, a Pakistani-American award-winning author
of Red, White, and Muslim: My Story of Belief and American Muslims: The
New Generation.
Here's more from the flyer:
Wednesday, February 2 at 4:00p.m. Old Main Chapel, followed by a recepti...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Tuesday, February 1, 2011,
Here is one of the best commentaries on the events of Tunisia of Egypt by Asef Bayat who first wrote about post-Islamism in Arab countries. He makes some interesting observations about a new Arab street that is not animated by political or religious ideologies but mostly by requests for democracy and human dignity. Here is one good argument from this article that will be tested in the next few days, months and years to come:
"The ‘middle class poor' are the new proletariat of the Middle Ea... Continue reading ...
I was born and raised in Morocco. My research focuses on the intersections between Islam, Arab popular culture and the media. I'm currently an assistant professor in the School of Journalism at the University of Colorado-Boulder.
I was born and raised in Morocco. My research focuses on the intersections between Islam, Arab popular culture and the media. I'm currently an assistant professor in the School of Journalism at the University of Colorado-Boulder.
