Beyond Occident

After winning the first match against Algeria, Cairenes took to the streets.

It’s that time of the season. World Cup qualifying matches! And so on November 14th, Algeria found itself playing in Cairo against Egypt to decide who would be representing their group in the World Cup. From what I understand, this match was kind of like the last regular season game for both teams. In order for Egypt to advance to the World Cup, they had to win 3-0. To force a playoff in Sudan, they needed to win 2-0. Any less and Algeria was World Cup-bound.

Tensions ran high leading up to the match, to say the least. Apparently, a few decades ago some Algerian player gouged out the then Egyptian’s team doctor on the pitch after Algeria lost. The day before the match, Algerians accused an Egyptian mob of throwing stones and injuring several players as their bus left the Cairo airport. The Egyptian press, which had nicely whipped Egyptians into a frenzy about the game in the months before the match, claimed that Algerians faked the attack on the bus. It was getting strange already.

I was heading to Maadi, a sort of upper class part of town where all the expats live, to watch it with a friend in a coffeeshop. I left Zamalek a couple hours early in case of delays, and so I could pick up dinner along the way. Along the way, I walked past the Algerian embassy, where demonstrations were already beginning, and numerous mini parades of Egyptians. Most cars, businesses and homes had Egyptian flags displayed. I walked downtown, got onto the metro and headed to Maadi.

Upon arrival in Maadi, I stopped at Lucille’s for the first time. Lucille’s is an American style diner that I had heard great things about, and since I hadn’t eaten a good American meal in awhile, I decided to stop in. This was a fantastic decision. For one, they have the best coffee I have had in Cairo. And second? Cornbread. Wow. It was so delicious. They had a south of the border selection (and I missed some good Mexican more than I missed a good cheeseburger), and so I also devoured some enchiladas, a basket of chips and salsa and Mexican rice. Completely satisfied, I met my friend and headed to the coffeeshop.

We somehow snagged a seat pretty close to the television and ordered tea and shisha. Soon the place was completely packed and the employees found drums and flags and everyone was involved in a rousing chant of “Misr, Misr, Misr!” (Egypt, Egypt, Egypt). The game started, and Egypt scored almost immediately. Excitement ensued. The place went wild, chairs were knocked over and more chanting started. Egypt only needed one more goal to force the playoff, but at this pace, it didn’t even look necessary. The game stretched on, but no more goals materialized. As the game approached the end, I began to fear my trip back to Zamalek. A loss in Cairo wouldn’t be pretty. Then, in the 5th minute of extra time (I think there was 1 minute left before the end of the game), Egypt got a shot on the goal. Miss! Another shot. Miss! And someone kicked it back into the box, and another shot and…

The world kind of just exploded into a mass of red, black and noise. I have never witnessed anything like that in my life. The screaming (of the joy variety) went on for several minutes. The guy next to the tv actually stood up, embraced it and began kissing the screen. The game ended, 2-0 Egypt, and everyone took to the streets. People were on top of cars, yelling Misr!, the sound of blaring horns filled the air, and of course there was fire. I was kind of awestruck by all this. After all, if Egypt was this excited after winning a match to force a game to decide to go to the world cup, what would happen if say, they won the world cup? I can’t even imagine. Here’s a brief video I took as we walked around on the streets.

The playoff took place on later that week. I stayed and watched it in the dorms that night, and there was  a rather large crowd gathered there. Algeria went up 1-0, and Egypt had countless opportunities but was unable to convert. The match ended, and I didn’t even realize it at first. There was just silence as people stood and silently left. Outside, the streets were also in stunned silence. I headed upstairs, did some homework and fell asleep thinking that was the end of the football madness.

The next day, Egyptian media (and people on sites such as Facebook) reported that Egyptian fans in Sudan had been attacked and killed by Algerians, and Egyptian businesses were burned down in Algeria, while attacking Egyptians with swords. These were all pretty much blown out of proportion, and Cairo rapidly became a very angry town. My roommate and I were walking back from some Ultimate and passed by the Algerian embassy around midnight in order to get to the dorms. The taxi driver actually dropped us off on one side of the island because he didn’t want to drive near the embassy. I’m not sure how many people were gathered there, but I would guess somewhere in the low thousands. It was not a happy gathering. They were mostly chanting something about attacking Algeria and standing there, so we quickly hustled by. We went by at midnight, and later read that the riot had turned ugly between midnight and 230 am. Rioters attacked the riot police with stones and firebombs, and the police responded.

Needless to say, Zamalek remained in lockdown mode for the next few days. It’s settled down now, but I really found the whole thing to be rather unnecessary and stupid. My friend Luke posted this article on my facebook wall, and I definitely agree that the political leadership seized on this opportunity to improve their waning reputations. Nick Rowlands had this tweet that pretty much sums up the riots:

Perfect 4 Egyptian gov: years of pent up anger & humiliation reg domestic issues channeled into violent, racist nationalism

This is a clip of Suheir Hammad, a Palestinian-American poet/actress, on Def Poetry. It’s her reaction to 9/11. Someone played it in my Palestinian seminar a few days ago, and I found it very moving. It might be as relevant as ever after Fort Hood.

To Feel the Humiliation

Today I have seen of war
all I want to see.

A row of men with blindfolded eyes
and surrendered hands
squat, backs hunched,
before a stone wall.

A young boy stays home
for five days, alone,
with the corpses of his family.

A man gestures, with loathing,
about how a soldier had defecated
on his bed. An old woman flails
her arms in despair, begging
the distant heavens.

To feel the humiliation
to touch the grief of each
I would have to become a monster
with many hearts.

- Sharif S. Elmusa, in Flawed Landscape

Although entirely relevant to the video, I wanted to mention Israel/Palestine. Israel/Palestine is not an issue easily avoided here. I had a conversation with an Egyptian at AUC who asked me why Americans support Israel completely, a position that confused him (and many throughout the Middle East). I think that the for many Americans, their image of Palestinians is of the terrorist, which is the only facet revealed by US media and spreads feelings of disgust/fear towards the West Bank and Gaza. We deny humanity to Palestinians. We do not try to expand our very narrow understanding of these people and make it all too easy to mark their suffering as irrelevant, their oppression as necessary for the safety of Israel, the United States and the ‘free world’.

This is not a characteristic that is limited to Americans or the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. It seems humans are too quick to reduce the “other” to the status of evil and a threat. If we do not have the willingness or curiosity to understand the context of phenomena (for example, Islamic ‘terrorism’), empathy to understand the condition of others, and the ability to critique our own words and actions, then we will continue to march to war with our bombs, drone missiles and ‘collateral damage’, no problem will be solved and our world will remain divided and unequal.

In other news, I got back from Siwa today. I should have a full report up sometime this week. I hope everyone had a splendid Thanksgiving/Eid al Adha!

Some of you may have seen the Muslim Demographics video that has been circulating on Youtube and through email. The message of the video is basically that the birth rates of the Western European nations are in decline and are no longer high enough to sustain their culture. At the same time Muslim birthrates in Europe, who are entering due to immigration, are skyrocketing. The video then boldly states that during this century, Western Europe will transition to Muslim nations, including Islamic republics.

The information that the video uses to support its claims are birthrates and immigration numbers of Europe, Canada and the United States. The figures quoted are shocking and, as it turns out, often either made up or grossly exaggerated. The BBC put together a video which examines the numbers of the Muslim Demographics video and displays the inaccuracies and fabrications of the video. You can watch it on the BBC website.

It is true that Muslim population numbers are increasing throughout Western Europe. However, the results won’t be as dramatic as the Muslim Demographics video suggests. Since Western European nations are giving citizenship to many Muslims who immigrated into Europe, the most tangible impact may be that Europe may begin to reevaluate and shift its position on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict due to the influence of the Muslim voters.

But back to birth rates. This video, and some other articles, imply that Muslims in particular have high birth rates compared to other groups. Afghanistan, Niger and Yemen are often listed as examples of Muslim majority countries that have extremely high birth rates. According to 2006 World Health Organization (WHO) statistics, these three countries have total fertility rates (per woman) of 7.2, 7.3 and 5.6 respectively. However, this argument denies the variance and downward trend found throughout “Muslim majority” nations. Here are some total fertility rates for some other nations: Egypt (3.0), Iran (2.0), Syria (3.2), Morocco (2.4) and Libya (2.8).  The birth rates throughout Muslim majority countries have also been in decline for some time. According to WHO, in 1990 the total fertility rate for Iran was 5.0, Egypt 4.4, Yemen 8.1, Morocco 4.0, Afghanistan 8.0 and Libya 4.8.

Birth rates are tricky to project into the future. Traditionally, birth rates have been very high in developing and the poorest nations. At the same time, once a nation is ‘developed’, the birth rate falls. I think this is the idea behind the Muslim Demographics video. However, when people immigrate from a poor country to a richer country, they tend to trend towards the national birth rate of their new home. High birth rates are probably a strategy of survival in developing nations, where the life expectancy is low (42.0 in Afghanistan for example) and many children due not survive to adulthood because of war/disease/malnutrition. WHO statistics show that the under 5 mortality rate (probability of dying by age 5 per 1000 live births) is very high for developing nations (example: Niger 253, compared to USA at 8.0).

The newest data shows that birth rates for developed nations is rising while developing nations is actually shrinking, with the exception of sub-Saharan Africa. Interestingly, the population of both Christians and Muslims in sub-Saharan will increase sharply. As this article points out, the stress of huge population increases on local environmental systems will possibly lead to future Rwanda and Darfur-like conflicts since these nations do not have the infrastructure and institutions in place to handle their current population numbers, so how will they support such an increase?

Contrary to some views, there is no cultural or religious significance for Muslims to have high fertility rates. Birth rates are a result of historical, social and economic patterns and are in a constant state of flux. There is a great deal of variance in projections of population growth and birth rates (as the BBC video states, it is an “inexact science”), and anyone can take demographic numbers, twist them and come out with a conclusion for the future that supports their narrative.

Charging into battle with Patrick Rothfuss (L to R, Myself, Patrick and List)

I was sitting in Altiora, a Spring Cricket in hand, diligently unraveling the mysteries of the universe. Then my pocket began vibrating. List came a-callin’.

Backstory: Last week List realized that Patrick Rothfuss, author of “The Name of the Wind”, would be book signing at the Indianapolis Public Library. This was one day before the legendary Gen-Con would begin.  The plan would be to head up that afternoon, stop at some fair for special fortune cookies, go to the book signing, spend the night somewhere and then head back to NKY the next day. Unfortunately, due to money and work related issues, most of us could not attend (including myself) and so the plan was cancelled.

Back to Altiora: It was 4 pm. T-minus 3 hours till book signing. List realized that if we cut out the fortune cookies (or so we thought…) and bust-a-move to Indianapolis, we could make it in time to be in the presence of one Mr. Rothfuss.

I teleported home and grabbed my copy of “The Name of the Wind” and met List for the dash to Indy, within legal limits of course. List drove. We made it to Indy in around two hours, just under the Mapquest time.

When I stepped into the Indianapolis Public Library, my breath was stricken from my body. It was a library, especially the fiction wing, that perfected the art of badass-ery. It mixed new and old styles of architecture rather swimmingly. And it had four floors. The fantasy/science fiction section alone was the size of my hometown library.

Entrance to the fiction section

After walking through part of the library, we headed to the auditorium where everything was going down. I was happy to learn that there would be a costume contest, and following that, Patrick Rothfuss himself would speak to us mere mortals. There was not many people in the costume contest, but three of the contestants in the fantasy category were the Bennets from Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. This itself was thrilling.

Then Patrick began speaking. He first showcased a chunk of a “Not-for-Childrens” childrens book that will hopefully be released sometime soon. This was fantastic. The current title is “The Princess and the Thing”, but Rothfuss assured us that that would change. At first blush, after looking at the sweet art and the innocent beginning of the story, one might assume that it was just another picture book for the kiddies. But horrifying things would begin happening at the marzipan castle. We’ll leave it at that. Also read was an excerpt to “The Wise Man’s Fear”, the sequel to “The Name of the Wind”. Apparently, “The Wise Man’s Fear” is 75% awesome. We were assured it would have to be 96% awesome before being published. And I would remiss to not mention the story of the Ultimate Chalupa at Taco Bell, which turned out to only be merely the penultimate chalupa.

Once that ended, book signing began. We were given a sticky note on which to write our name and the message we wanted Patrick to write onto our book. This was a surprise. I had minutes to come up with some witty/clever/strange line for him to immortalize on the pages of my book. In the end, I had Mr. Rothfuss write probably the dumbest thing he has ever written on a piece of paper:

Todós los días los osos comen todás las populacíon.

He said it was a first. I would imagine.

Important: This phrase finds its origins from Spanish class my freshman year of college. I don’t really remember how it came about. But I feel smart and bilingual when I say it.

List and I also got our picture taken with Patrick, but it was not our camera so I am waiting for the kind sir who took the pic to email it to me. I will post it after that. Rothfuss was also giving out custom fortune cookies from the same place List wanted to visit. I got an orange flavored one. I am delighted to report that I recieved my first ever fortune from the cookie, as normally I receive advice and lucky numbers.

When the flowers bloom and birds sing you’ll find a dead body in the cellar.

Just thought I’d let everyone know about Science Debate 2008. They are trying to organize a debate for all the candidates based on science and technology, all rather important topics for our country’s future. They need your help: If you support the debate, sign the petition on their site! And tell your friends too.

Good news everyone. I finished part 1 of 3 on my Legend of Zelda resolution. On Friday, I beat Ocarina of Time. I must say, the ending was such a buzzkill. And the final boss was so easy.

Ah well, it’s still one of the greatest games ever in my opinion.

I previously had this posted to my ‘2008′ goals

3. Became a master Photoshop ninja (and by Photoshop, I mean Gimp, because ya know, I can’t afford Photoshop).

I changed my mind. I decided I am happy enough being a Photoshop peon. Maybe I’ll change it to be a intermediate Arabic speaking ninja. Speaking of Arabic, I got the text book today and it is awesome. It goes back cover to front cover like a real book of the Arabic origin. How neat-o.

And now that I’ve gone wildly off topic, I realized that every school year (or now school semester, since classes change every .5 year in college) I have one class that I really dread going to. Last semester it was Spanish. My senior year of high school it was every class except Visual Arts. This semester I have a feeling it’s going to be communications.

I’ll keep you posted.

Funny thing happaned today. I got on my Xbox and realized that a few months ago, I had downloaded Carcassonne for free from the Xbox Live Arcade. At the time, I really knew nothing about it. I never actually played it. Fast forward a few months and my brother recieved it for Christmas. I played it and thought “Wow, what a neat game!”. Well, it was quite the surprise when I realized I owned it already. It translates quite nicely into Xbox-land too.

Fantastical news. 2008 starts off fantastic as I finally got my flickr feed to work on the right sidebar. So everyone can check out my pictures from my new z1275. Rejoice!

It’s that time of year! Now is when we all make a big list of things we want to do, tell everyone about them and then fail in spectacular fashion a month or two after New Years. But hey, who am I to hate on tradition?

1. Beat every Zelda game I own for the Gamecube. That would be Ocarina of Time, Windwaker and Twilight Princess. Somehow, I haven’t beaten any of these yet I’ve played them millions of times. How sad.

2. Make a fantastical website. Domain was purchased. Now we just have to build a sweet looking blog.

3. Became a master Photoshop ninja (and by Photoshop, I mean Gimp, because ya know, I can’t afford Photoshop).