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Re: Under Andalusian skies by Andre Gunder Frank 12 May 2002 16:35 UTC |
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In the mid 90s there was a more than excellent film - alas at the moment i cannot remember the title, but i hope this note will jarr someone else's memory - about christian/muslim/jewish good community relations in a Tunisian town, which then detriorated as a result of,if i remember rightly, the 1956 war. gunder frank On Wed, 8 May 2002, Louis Proyect wrote: > Date: Wed, 08 May 2002 13:21:37 -0400 > From: Louis Proyect <lnp3@panix.com> > To: marxism@lists.panix.com, pen-l@galaxy.csuchico.edu, wsn@csf.colorado.edu, > psn@csf.colorado.edu > Subject: Under Andalusian skies > > On April 11th a gasoline truck exploded in front of an ancient synagogue on > the resort island of Djerba, which is part of Tunisia. At first considered > an accident, it was subsequently revealed to be a terrorist act. This > event--along with synagogue desecrations in Europe attributed to Arab or > North African immigrants--have given ammunition to Zionist commentators who > view anti-Semitism in essentialist terms. They are trying to reduce Islamic > peoples to eternal foes of the Jews, just as Daniel Goldhagen did for the > Germans. > > A careful reading of press coverage reveals a different reality. In the > April 15th NY Times, Donald G. McNeil Jr. reports that the Jewish district > in Djerba, called a 'hara', was never a ghetto: > > >>Tunisia's Jews have never been walled in. Police cars have been > constantly present for years, but are there to protect this island's tiny > Jewish enclaves. > > Tunisia, a center of Jewish life since the Roman Empire, was a refuge for > those fleeing the Spanish Inquisition, Greek persecution and Sicilian raids > on Libya. > > "We're the shop window," said Rene Trabelsi, a tour operator whose father > is president of the Ghriba Synagogue. "We prove to the world that there's > religious freedom and tolerance in Tunisia. We're the favorite minority, > like a girl in a family of seven boys."<< > > We also learn from McNeil that Jewish life in Tunisia absorbed Islamic > culture: > > "Boys do not expect a bar mitzvah, party because religious law does not > call for it, the rabbi said. Young men wear blue jeans and skullcaps, but > older men often wear baggy-bottomed Turkish shorts, slippers and a sort of > mashed red fez called a kabous." > > Describing the relationship of his community to Tunisian society, the rabbi > of the Djerba synagogue said the community felt "integrated, not assimilated." > > One of the greatest tragedies of the Zionist project was the destruction of > this historic amity between two peoples with so much in common. In an > important article titled " Arabs and Jews Can Live in Peace" that appeared > in Socialist Worker, John Rose wrote: > > >>Last month I was in Egypt, where I had the good fortune to spend a > morning with the truly remarkable Youssef Darwish, a 91 year old Jewish > Communist veteran of the post-war workers' struggles that formed the > backcloth to Nasser's coup in 1952. > > Youssef, all faculties intact and chomping away at cigars, waxed lyrical on > many issues, not least the rich texture of Jewish life in Egypt in the > early part of the 20th century. It's standard in these sort of discussions > to debate the prominent role Jews played in the Communist movement > throughout the Arab world. And of course we did. > > But what struck me more was something else. It was the long historical > Jewish attachment to and involvement in Egypt--one of its greatest medieval > synagogues still stands--and the way this blossomed in the early 20th > century, with now forgotten cultural expressions in painting, books and > later film. > > As Youssef says, the banner of independence was being raised, and the idea > of achieving equality among the different social groups was vigorously > pursued. Later Zionism sucked nearly all the Jews out of Egypt and told > them they were coming "home". > > It told the same nonsense to Jews from all over the Arab world, and helped > them to forget their long history as it recruited them to build the Iron > Wall against their new Palestinian Arab neighbours. Recovering that history > someday soon will be an important part of showing just how Arabs and Jews > can live together in peace.<< > > (http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/1795/sw179512.htm) > > Not only were Jews sucked out of Egypt, they were also sucked out of > Tunisia. Only about 2,000 Jews remain there, down from more than 100,000 in > 1948 -- and about 1,100 of them live in Djerba. They were ripped out of a > society that valued them and placed into one that now suffers permanent > warfare while visiting atrocities on the Palestinians. > > I had already begun thinking about these questions, but after attending > back-to-back concerts in New York City featuring the Lebanese Marcel > Khalife and the Moroccan Jew Emil Zrihan I was convinced to examine the > ties between Arabs and Sephardic Jews more closely. The World Music > Institute, one of New York's most important cultural institutions, produced > both concerts. (http://www.worldmusicinstitute.org) > > Khalife (http://www.marcelkhalife.com) opened his April 27th Saturday > evening performance with an instrumental from his new album titled > "Concerto Al Andalus." All proceeds go to support humanitarian aid to the > Palestinian people. "Al Andalus" is also called Andalusia. It was the most > prosperous and culturally advanced province in Spain, when it was under > Islamic rule. He preceded his instrumental with remarks to the effect that > this was when we were at our best. > > By the same token, Andalusia is an important symbol for Zrihan as well. > (Zrihan was sucked out of Morocco at the age of nine into Israel.) The > program notes for his Sunday, April 28th concert state: > > "For more than a thousand years the musical style of the Arabs and Jews > have flourished and intermingled in the western Mediterranean region of > southern Spain and North Africa. For nearly seven centuries at the Muslim > courts of Cordoba, Sevilla and Granada in southern Spain the arts of > poetry, music and architecture flourished. the music known as "al 'Ala > l-Andalusia" was born in this environment and can be traced to the early > 9th century A.D. with the arrival of the Persian musician Ziryab at the > court of 'Abd er-Rahman II in Cordoba. At his courts and those of > subsequent Sultans throughout Andalusia music played an increasingly > important role; Arab, Jewish and Christian musicians and poets were > employed and played together." > > Zrihan performs in virtually the same style that existed 1000 years ago in > Tunisia, Morocco and most of Spain. He mixes elements of the Jewish > cantorial tradition with Arab-Andalusian song that evening, with backing > from musicians in the same ecumenical spirit. The violinist was a Moroccan > Jew, the pianist a Lebanese Christian, the oud player and percussionist > Lebanese Muslims. He impressed the audience with his mastery of the > 'mawwal', a virtuosic and highly ornamented improvisational style that can > be found throughout the Arab and Islamic world. The Egyptian Om Kalthoum > was considered the greatest practitioner of this style during her lifetime. > > The term Sephardic is derived from the Ladino word "Sepharad", which meant > Spain. Ladino was the language of the Jews who lived in the vast Muslim > empire that included most of Spain, North Africa, the Arab world and Turkey > just as Yiddish was the language associated with the Ashkenazi or European > Jews. Ladino is still spoken today in certain enclaves, while it remains > the liturgical language for virtually all Sephardim. > > Despite Zionist attempts to paint Muslim and Jew as eternal enemies, there > is an important trend *within* Jewish scholarship that depicts Muslim Spain > and North Africa as a Golden Age for Jews from 950 to 1150 AD. Three names > stand out: Heinrich Graetz, a nineteenth century trailblazer from Germany; > a contemporary Princeton scholar named S.D. Goitein; and Eliyahu Ashtor, an > Israeli and also a contemporary. > > Goitein is the author of a two-thousand-page study titled "Mediterranean > Society" that is based on so-called 'genizah' (storeroom) archives > retrieved from a synagogue in medieval Cairo. Observant Jews were > prohibited from destroying documents with God's name on them, so they ended > up in such archives. They include personal correspondence, commercial > contracts, tax records, etc. > > For the casual reader, Goitein's "Jews and Arabs: Their Contacts Through > the Ages" makes more sense even though it is out of print. In a chapter > dealing with Jewish culture under Islam, Goitein writes: > > "The basic fact about Jewish-Arabic thought is that Greek science and Greek > methods of thinking made their entrance into Jewish life mainly through the > gates of Arab-Muslim literature. With the Arabic-writing Jewish doctors, > mathematicians, astronomers and philosophers of the ninth and tenth > centuries, science, in the Greek sense of the word, for the first time > became known and practiced among the bulk of the Jewish community. All > genuine Jewish reasoning before that time consisted either of simple, > practical observations and conclusions, or of mythological conceptions, no > matter how profound." > > Liberated from the heavy hand of orthodoxy, the Jewish denizens of Spain > could now rise to the highest levels of the professions and the arts. The > concluding paragraphs of V.1 of Eliyahu Ashtor's "The Jews of Moslem Spain" > evoke the warm and supportive environment Jews found themselves in. It is > part of a lengthy account of a reading by famed Jewish poet Ibn Khalfon. It > is important also to consider that Jewish poetry was strongly influenced by > the Arab style. Ashtor writes: > > >>At last the host gestured to the poet to declaim his verse, and Ibn > Khalfon recited a florid poem in which he proclaimed all the qualities of > the new officeholder, his deeds in behalf of his coreligionists, the alms > he gave to the poor, and the merits of his forefathers, who were nobles in > Israel. Not all those present understood the beautiful biblical Hebrew, but > all listened intently; not a sound was heard. When the poet had finished he > bowed to the host, who drew forth from the folds of his coat a purse full > of gold pieces and handed them to Ibn Khalfon. All his friends voiced cries > of enthusiasm over the beauty of the poem and the generosity of the noble > lord. A few arose from their places to stroll in the corners of the > courtyard, where tall trees stood; others remained seated and engaged in > spiritual but friendly conversation. > > It was a warm and pleasant night, the skies were strewn with innumerable > stars, and the moon shone with a brilliant light. From a distance could be > heard a monotonous voice, yet pleasant to the ear: "There is no God but > Allah, and Mohammed is the prophet of Allah. Life to those who pray to Him, > life to those who serve Him." Again and again the voice repeated its cry > saturated with yearnings. This was the muezzin calling the Moslem to > prayer, for this was the month of Ramadan, when the call to prayer is > sounded before dawn. East and West had met under Andalusian skies.<< > > Louis Proyect > Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ANDRE GUNDER FRANK Senior Fellow Residence World History Center One Longfellow Place Northeastern University Apt. 3411 270 Holmes Hall Boston, MA 02114 USA Boston, MA 02115 USA Tel: 617-948 2315 Tel: 617 - 373 4060 Fax: 617-948 2316 Web-page:csf.colorado.edu/agfrank/ e-mail:franka@fiu.edu ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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