Job Discussion Forums

[johnslat]

Dear scot47,

"Everyone should look at 'The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'."

I agree - as an example of how a racist, hate-filled forgery can attain such a tenacious survival despite its being complete rubbish.

"The forgery typically consists of 24 to 27 paragraphs or sections entitled "Protocols". It has been published and distributed in many forms: manuscript, periodical, booklet, book and via the internet. It was first edited and disseminated to the public in 1903 by Pavel Krushevan, the instigator of the Kishinev pogrom. It was re-published in 1906-1907 by the Union of the Russian People, a part of the pro-Tsarist antisemitic group The Black Hundreds, as a pamphlet entitled Enemies of the Human Race. The pamphlet was published specifically to blame the Jews for Russia's embarrassing defeat in the Russo-Japanese War. It was similarly used in opposition to the Russian Revolution of 1905, the October Revolution (1917), and the peace negotiations at the end of World War I, becoming known worldwide during the 1919-1920 period when it was widely circulated in the West.
It was first published in the English language in 1919 as two newspaper articles in the Philadelphia Public Ledger by journalist Carl W. Ackerman, but all references to Jews were replaced by references to Bolsheviks and Bolshevism.Its first publication in the United States in its original antisemitic form was in 1920 in "The Dearborn Independent", a newspaper owned and controlled by Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company.
]Maurice Joly
Elements of the text in the Protocols were plagiarizations from the 1864 book, Dialogue aux enfers entre Machiavel et Montesquieu (Dialogue in Hell Between Machiavelli and Montesquieu), written by the French satirist Maurice Joly. Joly's work attacks the political ambitions of Napoleon III using Machiavelli as a diabolical plotter in Hell as a stand-in for Napoleon's views. Joly himself appears to have borrowed material from a popular novel by Eug�ne Sue, The Mysteries of the People, in which the plotters were Jesuits. Jews do not appear in either work. Since it was illegal to criticize the monarchy, Joly had the pamphlet printed in Belgium, then tried to smuggle it back into France. The police confiscated as many copies as they could, and it was banned. After it was traced to Joly, he was tried on April 25, 1865, and sentenced to 15 months in prison at Sainte-Pelagie. Joly committed suicide in 1878."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Protocols_of_the_Elders_of_Zion#Origins_and_content

[Stephen Jones]

johnslat's irony detector needs servicing.

I'm not sure Friedman's rubbish is much better though.

[johnslat]

Dear Stephen,

"johnslat's irony detector needs servicing."

Yikes, you're right. Time for my 3000 post refill. But while I was sure scot47 was aware of what I posted, I was also worried that someone ELSE might "take him seriously."

Regards,
John

[kiefer]

Don't waste your rime and money on any of those "Behind the Veil" or "Under the Veil" stories as told to. . .rubbish.

Fiction--Amin Maalouf, a Levantine, and not a Muslim, but an Arab and a fine writer, a must ead--doesn't set his novels in the Khaleej though.

I agree-7 Pillars of Wisdom--like the way Lawrence dances around how there was no shame in tent buddies providing one another with a little comfort now and again.

Never one I would recommedn, but Mein Kampf does have its fans in these parts..

[Pikgitina]

Also have a look at Brian Whitaker's AL-BAB website. Lots of info, links and the like.

Alaa Al Aswany hasn't been mentioned yet (but may have been on the LP site). I received Chicago (his latest) as a gift but haven't read it yet.

An interesting, revealing and rewarding read is Edward Said's Orientalism (though not strictly about the Middle East as such). I can also recommend Covering Islam by the same author.

For something completely different - light entertainment, girly, but also insightful in its own peculiar way - is Rajaa Alsanea's Girls of Riyadh (Banat Al-Riyadh). Alsanea is Saudi and from Riyadh herself.

Brian Whitaker's Unspeakable Love is excellent.

[matthew156]

movie----
Lawrence of Arabia?
I like Zorba the Greek beter.

Regards.

Matt

[Pikgitina]

Fred Halliday's 100 Myths about the Middle East. Very refreshing. Excellent.

[basiltherat]

Hi
Just getting to the middle of The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism edited (not written !) by Andrew Bostom.

t's long, very long and the hardback is a bit of a burden but it's well-worth getting into.

Most of the material (at least so far) is taken from Muslim writers (e.g. Ibn Ishaq and Hisham), the hadith (Sunnah), the Quran itself and generally well-circulated texts in muslim communities.

It gives us a better understanding of reasons (or excuses; whichever you prefer) for the animosity that Muslims showed - and often still show - against the the kafir; particularly Jews.

best
basil

[mike99]

Robert Lacey 'Inside the Kingdom'. I'm surprised no one has mentioned this. It's very good. I really enjoyed Seven Pillars of Wisdom

[posh]

[scot47]

The Pentateuch and of course THE BOOK also know as the Glorious Koran.

[scot47]

"Alice in Wonderland" gives lorts of insights into life in the ME. I wonder if some brave soul has translated it into Arabic !

[jadoaus]

There is indeed such a brave, and slightly mad, soul -

http://waelalmahdi.com/jabberwocky-in-arabic/

هي قصيدة شعرية للكاتب لويس كارول الذي ألف رواية( آليس في بلاد العجائب). ظهرت هذه الأبيات الهزلية في رواية نُشرت في سنة 1872 وتميّزت بغرابة ألفاظها واختراع الكاتب لبعض كلماتها، وكان قصد الكاتب في ذلك السخرية من أساليب الشعر المتحجرة والنمطية المنتشرة في عهده. وفي القصة، عثرت آليس على كتاب مكتوب بلغة غريبة لم تستطيع قرائتها فأدركت أن الكتابة معكوسة لذا استخدمت مرآة للقراءة واكتشفت كلمات الملحمة الجبروقية.

بالإضافة إلى كلمات لويس الكارول الأصلية، فإن قصيدة الأصمعي (صوت صفير البلبل) كان لها الدور الأكبر في تشكيل هذه الترجمة