Escape from Saddam

Lewis Alsamari , at the age of seventeen, was taken in by Saddam Hussein’s army. The training was hard, and discipline by regular beatings was a part of a daily event. Lewis was one of the lucky ones, he made it through and, because of his fluent English, he was offered a post in Iraqi military intelligence. The job was going to make him powerful, and wealthy. But Lewis could not except, for he wanted no part of Saddam’s group and he knew what would happen if he turned this down. So his plane was to flee Iraq. His journey was defiantly not a walk in the park, the finally he made it to England, where he was granted political asylum. Once there he began building a life for himself. He even fell in love and got married. You would think at this point he was in the clear, but he was still haunted by thoughts of the loved ones he left behind in Iraq, he would hear his uncle’s words echoing in his ears, “we are sending you to freedom so that one day you may rescue us from this place.”

Then one day he finds his family paid a price for his escape. This mother and sister were interrogated, beaten, and thrown into prison. Soon after hearing this Lewis steals the thousands of dollars, to buy the release of his family, and the smuggles them out of Iraq, while his wife fallows him on his this journey.

WOMEN OF THE VEIL

WOMEN OF THE VEIL
by Hena Farooq

Her long, thick, shiny black hair
Fell against her back.
Her rich, copper skin
Gleamed in the sunlight.
Her slender figure outlined,
With her soft voluptuous curves.
But when she stepped outside,
She became a ghostly figure of the night.
Nothing more to the people
Than a dark, shadowy figure of oppression.
But she showed them.
As she walked down the street,
People made way,
Men lowered their gazes in utmost respect.
And others whispered,
As she held her head up high,
With pride in her belief
And showed them how oppressed she really was!
While they whistled at their women,
Looking them up and down as they were
pieces of meat to be inspected?
She pitied their savage ways.
As she walked into the arms of
her partner,
Her only love,
Her husband.
Where she was transformed,
Into her beautiful self,
For only his eyes to see.

Found this poem awhile back and it made me think of this class =)

Five Years of My Life: An Innocent Man in Guantanamo

In October 2001, nineteen-year-old Murat Kurnaz traveled to Pakistan to visit a madrassa. During a security check a few weeks after his arrival, he was arrested without explanation and for a bounty of $3,000, the Pakistani police sold him to U.S. forces. He was first taken to Kandahar, Afghanistan, where he was severely mistreated, and then two months later he was flown to Guantanamo as Prisoner #61. For more than 1,600 days, he was tortured and lived through hell. He was kept in a cage and endured daily interrogations, solitary confinement, and sleep deprivation. Finally, in August 2006, Kurnaz was released, with acknowledgment of his innocence. Told with lucidity, accuracy, and wisdom, Kurnaz's story is both sobering and poignant--an important testimony about our turbulent times when innocent people get caught in the crossfire of the war on terrorism.
www.amazon.com

Everyone should check out Murat Kurnaz website, http://www.amnestyusa.org/amnesty-magazine/spring-2008/five-years-of-my-life/page.do?id=1551002. This is one of the saddest stories I have ever heard

Hijab

Kavakci was a Turkish politician. On April 18, 1999 she was elected as a Virtue Party deputy (a person appointed to represent or act on behalf of others (Google Def). On May 2nd she went to the parliament to take an oath, just like any other politician must do, but sadly she was refused the right. When she walked into the parliament conference room that day, she was wearing her headscarf. The film showed footage of these and to be completely honest, I didn’t even notice the headscarf, this was probably because she was wearing it the whole time while running for the position, and I think I just got used to seeing it on her. It was the next part of the film that I was completely surprised by, soon after she walked in the room and sat down the Prime Minister raised his hand and pointed right in her direction, and screamed, “Put this woman in her place!” Then the other members in the room stood up and started clapping while yelling at her to get out of the building.
Kavakci paid a price for breaking the law. Soon after, things started to get real bad for her and her family. The media started terrorizing her by spreading hatred news all over the country. Her family was harassed. Even her two young daughters were bullied by other classmates. The worst was yet to come, 11 days after the incidence in parliament, her citizenship was provoked. Her and her family was forced to seek political asylum to another country.

"Beheading the Cat" and "Metallic Crocodile"

These two stories weren’t exactly my favorite. I had a really hard time understanding the Metallic Crocodile. Was this story supposed to tie in with religion? Bailey pointed out a part of the book that read “Logic prevents you from seeing reality”. After thinking about this for awhile Saralynn suggested that maybe the “logic” part is supposed to represent science and “reality” represents religion. If you really think about it science normally does go against religion. Another question I found myself asking.. was the black man supposed to represent a godly figure? IDK.
The Beheading the Cat was interesting, again not one of my favorites. I did like that the main character fell in love with the more independent, normal women. I liked how jenny put it in her blog “The main character chose a partner rather than a slave. Though the things he wished to do to the woman, like burn her and drink her may have been a little too much for me.” I would defiantly have to agree.

Waltzing with Bashir

This film starts out in a bar, where an old friend tells his doctor Ari about a recurring nightmare in which he is chased by 26 vicious dogs. The two men conclude that there's a connection to their Israeli Army mission in the first Lebanon War of the early eighties. Ari is surprised that he can't remember a thing anymore about that period of his life. Intrigued by this riddle, he decides to meet and interview old friends and comrades around the world. He needs to discover the truth about that time and about himself. As Ari delves deeper and deeper into the mystery, his memory begins to creep up in surreal images.
I found this film to be very interesting. It was unlike any other film we had seen I class and the message behind it was so powerful. Before this film I knew nothing about this massacre. I feel times it’s a film that everyone should see.

Two Women

Two women was released in 1999 in Iran. This film tells the story of women named Fereshteh and Royā who became friends, while studying architecture at a university in Tehran. Later in the film Roya’s path turns down a new path, one in which she never expedited to go. She marries a man she has very little feelings for, only to make her dad happy, for he blames everything that has ever gone wrong with his family on her life. The man she agrees to marry outs on a front at first but soon he true colors are shown, he becomes crazy obsessed. He won’t let her leave the house, use the phone, or even keep in touch with her old best friend. Later she becomes son, and is trapped in this world she never wanted. It’s not until her husband dies at the end the she feels free.

Arranged

This film is about two women named Nasira and Rochel. Both come from totally different background but in the end they become the best of friends. I felt after watching this film that Nasira had bit more say in what was going on in her life, opposed to Rochel who had to run away to her cousin to get away from the preachers of her parents. The principal in this film also really got under my skin. I hated that she held all these common misconception, and was trying to change the two women throughout the whole film. As for the differences between Rochel and Nasira , Rochel meets many men, but never showed much interested until the very end, where Nasira shows little interested as well but marries the 2nd man she meets. Rochels family was extremely rude to Nasira when she came to visit, but when Rochel goes to Nasira house, her parents are surprisingly welcoming. Although, both women come from different and com from different backgrounds, together the face western culture.

Does My Head Look Big in This?

This is a story of a teenage girl named Amal. She is sixteen year-old Australian, Palestinian, Muslim girl living in Melbourne with her mom and dad.These story is about Amal and her choice in deciding to wear the hijab. She is not the only one having to face hard facts, her friend’s travel somewhat of the same journey. For Simone, Eileen, Leila and Yasmeen each have problems of their own. Simone has serious body image problems and goes on ridiculous diets because of her mother. Being Japanese, Eileen puts up with some of racism for being different . Leila's parents care very little about her accomplishments in school and are only worried about finding her a suitor to marry, then lastly there is Yasmeen who is slight a shop-o-holic. Thought the book it deals problems such as, choice in religion and Muslim ideas in a westernized society. I feel this story also has a lot to do with finding ones true identity, how one sees themselve, and the sexual pressures placed on young girls.

This was one of my favorite books we read in class =) I didn’t want to put it done.

The Year of the Elephant

The Year of the Elephant was written by Leila Abouzeid's, it’s a novel full of short stories. One of which was about a female activist facing divorce in mid-life and her struggle to survive when her rights were already limited in a society that did not approve of her situation. Instead, it punished her for her failed marriage. Later I found that Abouzeid's story had some very similar issues.
Oufkir was a member of a high society, who went from the real world to prison, from being somebody to nobody. Abouzeid's heroine Zahra had a more ordinary life although her other life as an activist was extraordinary. She had to pick up even more courage after her divorce. Like Oufkir, she went from something big to nothing at all lossing family and friends. Zahra is divorced, illiterate and without money, but finds strength within her faith. This is story was about Morocco's struggle for independence, while being a working class woman, Trying to make a path to personal independence. Over all I really liked this book, and the different stories that came from it.