ktravula – a travelogue!

Next, Bahrain!

It cannot be emphasized enough how horrible it is that agents of state in places where citizens are peacefully protesting against misrule are opening fire on them. This is totally heartbreaking, and no words can condemn it enough. I have just seen a few Youtube videos in which totally harmless protesters walking on the streets of the country are shot at with live bullets. Are these soldiers mad? Have governments gone totally demented now? Whose interests are these shooters protecting? What are they trying to say? That protest is illegal and people should merely shut up and comply like goats? The underlying justification for citizen’s protests and revolt becomes even clearer when a simple thing as a peaceful march is met with merciless sadistic force. We should be outraged.

Since Egyptians toppled Mubarak through that sustained popular revolt, the world has once again directed its attention to the prospects of non-violent revolution. Unfortunately, not all governments got the memo. Bahrain is a small country on the Persian Gulf with a population of just over a million people, lying close to Saudi Arabia. It is ruled by a royal family that now seems threatened by a demand for a better way of life. These killings are unacceptable, and will only bring more pain and suffering, not to mention strengthen the citizens’ resolve. Here’s one more dictatorship to go, and as soon as possible. I call on the citizens and governments of the world to stand firmer on core values of human rights, more so now in the face of blatant disregard of the government for dissidence. Same for Libya, and Yemen. Compared to the ruling princes of Bahrain, Hosni Mubarak’s autocratic rule now looks like heaven in hindsight.

Next, Bahrain! was published on February 18th, 2011, with the tags , , under the Uncategorized category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

MidEast in the MidWest

What does Iran have in common with Egypt and Morocco? A lot more than you think, and a lot less depending on where you look. The language of Iran, Farsi (or Persian as it’s also often called), is written with the Arabic script. Arabic, the language, however is spoken in Morocco and Egypt as official languages. Language and cultural attitudes is also quite different. More women in Egypt still favour the traditional, conservative way of life and dressing as opposed to their counterparts in Iran who show a marked rebellion against what its Islamic government stipulates: head covering, public separation of the genders etc.

This month in the United States is the Discover Languages Month. One of such activities at my department includes inviting students from different countries and cultures to speak to us about what is important to them, and what we may want to know about their culture and languages. Mohamed spoke about Morocco, its linguistic diversity and cultural influences while Reham spoke about Egypt giving us a view into the everyday life of its citizens. Yesterday, Mojdeh Faraji came to speak about Iran, dedicating a large part of her talk to the artistic contributions of Iranian film makers some of whom are now serving prison terms in the country for speaking out against the government. The Iranian director of the movie Offside was one case in point.

If I do find myself in the Middle East someday – maybe as a teacher of English, where would I rather be? For the food, it might be Morocco. For the view, it will be Egypt. For the weather, the culture and the language, It might be Iran – a freer one of course.

MidEast in the MidWest was published on February 18th, 2011, with the tags , , under the Observations category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

Camera Shy

A bright day on a Midwestern campus. Brightness: erratic coming outs of a reclusive sun delights, and occasionally surprises. The campus yard fills up with half naked men and women doing the Naked Mile. The small Canon camera creaks now, almost packed up – a cat with seven lives. One often wonders about the resilience of the poor little thing.  A few months ago, it fell down and lost its digital viewfinder so one has to look through the old viewfinder to take pictures. A few weeks ago, it fell down again and the digital viewfinder came back to life. Then went off again after a few days.

Until it finally succumbs to the inevitable laws of nature, one hears the creaking trudging of a new tool of the modern age. Switch, view, click. One more day in the life of the Canon explorer.

Camera Shy was published on February 18th, 2011, with the tags , , , , under the Uncategorized category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

Twitter in Yoruba…

is not here yet, but it will be soon enough if any thing in this good news in collaborative translation is anything to go by. Click on the link to go to the translation centre and request for Yoruba as one of the new desirable languages. Right now they only have French, Italian, German, Japanese, Korean and Spanish. Later we’ll worry about who wants to use it.

Twitter in Yoruba… was published on February 15th, 2011, with the tags , , , , , under the Literature, Travelling category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

To Love

Campus, December 2009

“To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never, to forget.”

– Arundhati Roy.

To Love was published on February 14th, 2011, with the tags , , , , under the Observations category. There are currently 2 comments on this article so far.