Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

 George Lakoff and Mark Johnson: The people who get to impose their metaphors on the culture get to define what we consider to be true.

By Sargon Boulus

In fact the mask fell long time ago ...

A passenger on the bus says… Nothing impresses me. Not the radio, the morning newspapers, Or the fortresses on hills. I long for a weep. The bus driver says: Wait until we reach the station,  And weep alone as you can. A lady says: Me too. Nothing impresses me. I spoiled my son upon my grave, He enjoyed it and slept without saying goodbye. A university student says: Me neither. Nothing impresses me. I studied archeology without finding An identity in stones. Am I really me? A solider says: Me too.  Nothing impresses me. I guard a ghost that always haunts me. The angry driver replies:  We are close to our last stop,  Get ready to leave. They scream:  We want what is beyond the station, so go. As for me, I say: Drop me here.  I am like them, nothing impresses me. But I am tired from traveling.  —Mahmoud Darwish

Sorrows of the Black City By Mohammed Elfitory

Passport by Mahmoud Darwish

The Silence الصمت

A Poem by Dareen Tartour

John Berger contemplates life and death at the graveside of Mahmoud Darwish

Mahmoud Darwish: Mural

Here we shall remain, a wall upon your chests, And in your throats A sliver of glass, a cactus thorn; In your eyes A fiery storm (…) We will guard the shade of our fig and olive trees, Implant thoughts that will grow like yeast in dough. (…) A burning hell rages in our hearts, The walls of the tank: on Palestinian resistance

Sullenly clenching His embalmed fists, He peered through a crack, Just pretending to be dead. He wanted to remember all those Who carried him out. I turn to our government with a plea: To double, And triple the guard at the grave site So Stalin does not rise again, And with Stalin, the past. And later, the main point of the poem: We removed Him From the mausoleum. But how do we remove Stalin From Stalin’s heirs? — Yevgeny Yevtushenko

The erasure of Islam from the poetry of Rumi

“I unhesitatingly identify myself with the just cause and the pain of those whom the state of Israel (and cousins of mine) are afflicting to a degree that is tragically totalitarian.” —  writer and art critic John Berger A story-teller and a friend of Palestine

Did Medieval Muslims Invent Secularism?

Sunday between noon and 1pm (GMT) 104.4 FM (London) or http://www.resonancefm.com/ worldwide In The Myths of Zionism John Rose shows how "Zionism, a powerful political force, is based in mythology; ancient, medieval and modern. Rose argues that, as Zionism is a living political force, these myths have been used to justify very real and political ends – namely, the expulsion and continuing persecution of the Palestinians." Pakistan - "unravelling of the democratic farce." Mai Ghossoub (1952-2007): Anti-establishment, anti-war, ardently feminist and a lover of literature, art, jazz and belly dancing, she became an internationally acc­laimed writer, playwright, poet and sculptress.