The ongoing Political Musings of a former (now Stray) Yellar Dawg Dem.
***Warning***
This is a Feminist Blog, in the tradition of Susan B. Anthony.
"Just Tell Them...
I have worked 40 years to make the Women's Suffrage platform broad enough for Atheists and Agnostics to stand upon, and now if need be I will fight the next 40 to keep it Catholic enough to permit the straightest Orthodox religionist to speak or pray and count her beads upon."
Phyllis Chesler, whose Feminist bona fides cannot be questioned IMO, here laments how she has been relegated to the ranks of the ignorant by the New York Times (wherein she used to publish.)
As I asked a few days ago... isn't anyone interested in truth any more? Must Feminists play this game? Must we all be 100% "Liberal" on every count, in order to be considered Feminists at all? To be heard??
WHO IS MAKING UP THESE RULES FOR US???
Since when do we give (mostly male) editorial boards more power than we give the soldiers in our own ranks?
Please note that I am not taking sides in the Israel/ Palestine conflict. I am merely pointing out that a Feminist ought to be able to call it as she sees it. And not be censured by western media sources. Indeed, this tendency of our *supposedly* Feminist intelligensia, to disqualify dissenters has ... in many ways ... led to an untimely "Death of Feminism."
Oh, the lies we tell our daughters (and sons.) For shame!
I agree with Larry, that Israel is losing the global PR battle. And I am not exactly sure why. I don't see them as "bullies." But many do.
I will say, from observing my own kids, the Ivy Elite are decidedly anti-Israel at this time. So... here we come upon a new generation of graduates from these esteemed institutions who are indoctrinated about the "evils of Israel." That, in itself, goes a long way toward their losing the PR battle. In the U.S. at least.
The problem that I perceive is... when you indoctrinate a generation *against* something or someone ... and you don't indoctrinate them "for" something, a vacuum forms. Those same kids who "hate Israel" now seem to think Hamas and Hezbollah are just hunky dory. And that is SCARY AS SH**.
I'll just add...
There was a time, not long ago, when I was open to the pro-Palestine rhetoric surrounding the Rachel Corrie murder. I believed what I was hearing from the Harvard and Berkeley crowds. I, personally, began to side AGAINST Israel. BUT.... I started looking at the inevitable dilemna... if I am not siding with Israel, who would I be siding with?? Hamas? Hezbollah? Other Islamofacists in the Gaza region?
Fact is, there are no real sides to take in this matter. It is Israel against whom? Tribal terrorists who, in the wake of Israel's withdrawal from the region would turn on each other?? "Son of Hamas," Mosab Hassan Yousef, elaborates on the problem well. Read what he has to say ... and ...
Think about it.
Whose "side" can we take? Other than the people of Gaza's? And how on earth will we, in our ivy covered towers, know what is "best" for them??
H/T to Legal Insurrection for the video. And the well made point that not all Jews are white. Nor do all Jewish families hail from Poland and Germany. (As Helen Thomas seemed to believe during her little outburst.)
To say that this young woman has broken barriers in Middle Eastern Music would be gross understatement. Raquy Danziger is a prodigy that has thrilled listeners in the Mid-East, and in the U.S. A professional doumbek player in a world that is, not only male dominated ... but male defined and controlled. In that universe, some women dance. And a few play the tambourine. But, as a rule, women don't drum. Period.
The first time I ever heard of Raquy, someone sent me this youtube of her playing in the Egyptian style ... with Said Al Artist. (Note, the stage is full of his students, all men.)
When I saw Raquy LIVE, her music was somewhat Americanized (thanks to her band called the "Cavemen.") She sounded like this:
And she taught like this:
Over the past couple of years I had lost track of Raquy's studies and exploits... so I did another youtube search and found that she had been studying in Istanbul. Her latest teacher, Binyamin, appears to have been working her to death. She gives him credit in this new video:
One can only imagine what it must take for an Israeli-American women to earn the respect of the men who drum professionally in Egypt and Turkey. Quite frankly, it appears an anomaly that they will even teach her. Knowing that she could well surpass their level of skill must make that doubly daunting. In that sense, Raquy is more than remarkable. She has accomplished a bonafide Feminist feat!
Breaking the glass ceiling of middle eastern music? Ha! This young woman has rocketed through the ceiling and resides on another planet. If you ever get a chance to see her perform, I highly recommend that you do!
SYD
Disclaimer: SYD admits that she knows a thing or two about mid-east drumming. Her DH is a doumbek player with apparent bloodlines from Moroccan influenced France. The opinion that Raquy has accomplished a Feminist feat is based upon SYD's first hand impressions and experiences. It may have no basis in Egyptian or Turkish historical reality. If you are curious, take a look at the drumming coming out of those two countries... and decide for yourself just what a novelty a female, master doumbek player is. (Enjoy the drumming too! It is fantastique!!)
In "real life" Dawg is a mom, a nurse, a pet rescuer and a tireless advocate for animal rights.
Dawg is happily married for thirty years and has raised three awesome children. She holds an advanced degree in Family Science, wherein her research was focused on women's support circles during parturition. Her dedication to Women's Rights is directly affected by her belief that motherhood should not be a sentence to isolation and disenfranchisement.
Dawg is on hiatus from political bloggery d/t the intense demands of her engagement in the No Kill movement at this time. However, she remains influenced by PUMA politics and reads the blogs of her fellow PUMAs (at right) regularly.
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