A Look at Sudanese Literature

Tayyib Salih is one of the most famous Sudanese writer. He was born in the North of Sudan in 1929. He studied at the University of Khartoum, before leaving for the University of London (UK). His works generally tackles socio-political issues, such as colonization and gender. Salih is also considered one of the best short story writers working in Arabic today.

Read Tayyib Salih's short novel, A Handful of Dates:

http://www.arabworldbooks.com/Readers2004/articles/handfulofdates.html

December 11, 2007: Terroristic attack in Algeria

Morituri by Yasmina Khadra

Yasmina Khadra is the pseudonym of Mohamed Moulessehoul.

Enrolled in the army at the age of nine, he starts writing novels using his real name until the regime begins to feel displeased. Following the advice of his wife he starts using the name Yasmina Khadra, the name of his wife.

"This remarkable roman policier introduces us to the formidable and yet very human detective-writer, Superintendent Llob and his devoted lieutenant Lino. It follows Llob in his search for the missing daughter of Ghoul Malek, one of the top power brokers in Algiers. In his search, Llob must traverse the fear-filled streets of Algiers, from the dens of the drug pushers to those of the cruel and fanatical Islamic fundamentalists. The poverty and constant terror and suspicion endemic to Algiers, torn apart by civil war, is set against contrasting glimpses of the corrupt and luxurious high society. The memory of the serene and beautiful Algiers that was makes the current situation all the more heartbreaking. More than just an outstanding mystery novel, with Morituri Khadra paints an unforgettable picture of the tragedy of modern Algeria, in language of breathtaking power and poetry."

Source: Barnes and Noble

Driss Chraibi: The Moroccan Novelist

"Chraïbi is considered to be the father of the modern Moroccan novel.

"Chraïbi's works draw heavily on his own life. Central theme in his novels is the clash between different cultures, the East and the West, Arab and French. Chraïbi's range of style changes from epic to comedy. He has been among the pioneers of Maghrebian writers to explore the oppression of women and children in an Islamic, patriarchal society.

"Driss Chraïbi was bon in El Jadida. His father was a tea merchant, who perceived Western education as a means to modern Morocco. Chraïbi attended Koranic school as a young boy. When the family moved to Casablanca, Chraïbi continued his studies at the French Lycée. At age of nineteen he went to France planning study chemical engineering and neuropsychiatry. After abandoning his studies, he traveled throughout Europe and Israel.

"Chraïbi settled in France with his first wife and children, and eventually devoted himself in 1952 to literature and journalism. [...]

"As a novelist Chraïbi made his debut with Le Passé simple (The Simple Past), which was published in 1954, two years before Morocco gained its independence. The book arose much controversy because of the inflammable political situation in the North Africa.

"Chraïbi was criticized as a traitor to the Arab world and French conservatives saw that the book revealed the reason for French presence in Morocco. The protagonist in the novel is a young man, Driss, who revolts against his tyrannical Moslem father. The father banishes Driss from the home and Driss begins his wandering on the streets. Finally he returns to home only to find that his mother has committed suicide in his absence. The novel ends with Driss's departure for France. Driss is an outsider in his own country, oppressed by his family and the feudal, religious traditions.

"Chraïbi was so disturbed by critics, that he publicly rejected the novel in 1957, but later regretted his action. The book was banned in Morocco until 1977. [...]"

Source: www.kirjasto.sci.fi/chraibi.htm

From Sudanese Refugee to International Supermodel

From Sudanese Refugee to International Supermodel
By Alek Wek

"Since the day she was scouted by a modeling agent while shopping at a London street fair when she was just nineteen, Alek Wek's life has been nothing short of a fantasy. [...]

"But nothing in her early years prepared her for the life of a model.

"Born in Wau, in the southern Sudan, Alek knew only a few years of peace with her family before they were caught up in a ruthless civil war that pitted outlaw militias, the Muslim-dominated government, and southern rebels against each other in a brutal conflict that killed nearly two million people. Here is her daring story of fleeing the war on foot and her escape to London, where her rise from young model to supermodel was all the more notable because of Alek's non-European looks.

"A probe into the Sudanese conflict and an inside look into the life of a most unique supermodel, Alek is a book that will inspire as well as inform."

Source: http://www.harpercollins.com/

Journalists arrested in Egypt

"RSF [Reporters Withou Borders] strongly condemns the arrest of journalist Hossam el-Hendy at Helwan University, south of Cairo, as 'an attempt to intimate all bloggers in Egypt' after officials there reported him to police for taking photos and sending messages about a demonstration on his mobile phone.

"El-Hendy, 22, who works for the daily paper "Al-Dustour" and the website Eshreen (http://www.20at.com/), was covering a 28 November 2007 protest that erupted when a speaker at a university conference on information technology said it was important to regulate online activity in Egypt.

"The press freedom organisation also deplored the suspension, on 21 November, of the YouTube account of journalist and blogger Wael Abbas, [See full soty on www.memriarabmovies.blogspot.com] who had posted scenes of police brutality. His Yahoo! e-mail account was also suspended on 29 November. [...]

"Egypt is on the RSF list of "enemies of Internet freedom." One blogger, Kareem Amer, 22, is in prison for posting material online and has become a symbol of repression towards the country's bloggers [...]"

Source: Reporters Without Borders

After 11 Years, Qatari "Al-Arab" Newspaper Resumes Publication

The Qatari daily Al-Arab resumed publication on November 18, after an 11-year hiatus following the death of its founder and owner Abdallah Hussein N'ameh.
The daily will have 60 pages, and will publish a weekly supplement devoted to Persian and Turkish literature, indicating cultural openness towards Iran and Turkey.

Source: Al-Hayat, London, November 18, 2007

Saudi woman writer Suad Jaber's book critical of Men

"The Saudi writer Suad Jaber dedicates her first novel, ‘Silence Written by Absence,’ (Samt Yaktabuhu al Ghiyab) to every woman who has endured deprivation. [...]

"Within the framework of this abnormal relation between man and woman, the game of collusion does not reveal conflict between two wills that struggle for one freedom; rather there is always the logic of the one who is capable of possessing and the one who is not.

"Man is conscious of his freedom, and he even builds it upon the wreckage of a woman's freedom. Also, in his relations with her, he does not look for natural ground that maintains the privacy of each party. He is an egoistic creature who does not regard love as an act of freedom but, from his point of view, as a mere framework for social luxury and satisfaction of the sexual urge. Therefore, when a woman fails to find love, man becomes a bitter opponent.

"Away from the boundaries of this relation, national patriotic concerns that are sometimes scattered across the narration are not expressed but rather appear as mumbles on the surface that does not live up to the level of striking conscious insofar as it is an attempt to demonstrate a sort of superficial excellence of female presence vis-à-vis male absence or weak presence until the female presence appears a certainty, whilst the latter retires to the shadow of this certainty.

"In this fashion, we encounter this cry of protest against man in a message… 'Draw the boundaries of the relationship you want…color them, shape them, write them, reject them, remove them … It does matter, because I will remain the woman who gave up her heartbeat to beat for you… I am the woman who gave the sweetest and finest of feelings. I am the woman who reached out to you, to hold you when you were overwhelmed by anxiety and boredom.'

"However, the powerful cry of the ego soon fades and becomes an elegy for the self and the other together when the spirit's resistance collapses versus physical concerns and pressures of reality. The rebellious discourse then follows another pattern, 'Today, I am not asking you to speak, but I call for your reading capability to read the pain and admonition in my eyes. Forgive me for today my words are unsure, unable to convey my meaning and my sentences are weak in expression and my lines bleed before your very eyes… I am not myself and my pen is not mine… A depressing feeling overwhelms me, and my desire for you stifles me.'

"The messages of the book proceed after this pattern. Man has no actual presence except through the narrator, i.e., the writer. He is no more than a recipient of her letter. 'All my feelings began to abandon me… My anger, my love… I do not threaten or make revolutionary statements… I do not condemn or denounce. How far I am from these emotional onslaughts and cries that evoke your loyalty… My national defeats hurt me more than my individual ones… Today I stand on the borderline between existence and non-existence… It is your own life; enjoy it your own way. Do as you like. Fill your heart with sincere love or false emotions… Heed only the voice of ego within you… For me it suffices to have lived the dream so affectionately.' [...]"

Source: Asharq Al Awsat (Saudi-owned, London-based), January 11, 2007

Book Against Corruption Released in Jordan

"Arab civil society has succeeded in promoting the transparency agenda despite legal impediments and smearing attacks, according to a book recently published by the Arab Archives Institute (AAI) in Jordan.

"The book, entitled “Against Corruption - The role of Arab Civil Society in Fighting Corruption”, analyses the activities carried out by civil society organizations (CSOs) in the Arab world with focus on Jordan, Bahrain and Morocco as representative countries of the Mashreq, Gulf and Maghreb regions.

"In the case of Jordan, the book analyses the role of CSOs in fighting corruption and their relationship with the government and the authorities in the kingdom.

"While the Jordanian government exposed an estimated two-billion-US dollar corruption cases (since the democratic process was reintroduced in Jordan in 1989 until 2007) civil society had magnificently succeeded in pushing for an anti-corruption legislation that saw the light less than a decade after initiating campaigning efforts.

"The book also shows how Arab civil society has succeeded in a short span of time to advance the issue of fighting corruption and placing it on the national, Arab and international agendas. Were it not for the NGOs, the number of corrupt people might have been double the number that is already there. [...]"

Source: Middle East Online, November 29, 2007

Jailed Islamists Revise Jihad Concept

"Egyptian Islamist Osama Ayyub, a political refugee in Germany and head of the Islamic Center in Munster, which advocates the Islamic Jihad ideology, has revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat that there have been a number of attempts to carry out [ideological] revisions by Islamic Jihad leaders in Egyptian prisons.

"He said that these attempts preceded the release of 'The Rationalization of Jihad in Egypt and the World Today,' which is a book written by Dr Fadl, who is also known as Sayyid Imam Abdulaziz al-Sharif. Dr Fadl is the founder of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad group and is Ayman al-Zawahiri's first mentor.

"Ayyub was born in 1966. He belongs to the Bani-Suwayf group and is the former religious head of Bayt al-Ansar in Peshawar. He described Islamic Jihad revision as 'a turning point on the road toward ideological revision, which the Islamic movement is pursuing today.'

"The revision document, which Al-Misri Al-Yawm is publishing, and of which Asharq Al-Awsat received a copy of its first part, stresses that 'the performance of jihad for the sake of God has included several Islamic Shariaa violations, foremost among which is the killing of people on the basis of nationality, color of skin and hair, and sect'.

"The document says that 'these violations lead to nothing but God's resentment and indignation.' It adds that 'when a Muslim sets a goal for himself that exceeds his ability or that does not suit his situation then it is impermissible in Islam to use any illicit means to achieve this goal even if the goal itself is legitimate'. [...]"

Source: Asharq Al -Awsat (Saudi-owned, London-based), November 26, 2007

"Calls to close Sudanese website for 'homo' blur"

"A renowned Islamist figure in Sudan has joined a campaign calling for shutting down one of the biggest Sudanese websites, following articles posted there describing Islamists of being homosexuals.

"Leader of the salafist group Ansar Al-Sunnah Al-Mohamadeya (Protectors of Prophet Muhammad's Teachings) Sheikh Abou-Zeid Mohamed dedicated his Friday sermon to condemning sudaneseonline.com, dubbing it as 'insulting faith and the prophet'. The sermon came in the wake of a campaign launched 10 days ago by the Sudanese daily Akher Lahza against the most popular website among Sudanese in exile.The paper's Deputy Editor-in-Chief Al-Hindi Ezz El-Din said the website, launched from the U.S., calls God 'a big illusion'.

"Ezz El-Din launched a severe campaign against U.S.-based engineer Bakri Abou-Bakr, the website's owner who, he said, 'knows nothing about journalism'. Ezz El-Din told AlArabiya.net that he received over 2800 emails from politicians and religious figures calling for closing the website. On his membership in Sudaneseonline, Ezz EL-Din said it was given to him by Abou-Bakr, insisting that he resigned two weeks later after he had found out that the website did not tackle serious issues. Ezz El-Din alleged that some of the website's members have ties with Israel, specifying acitivist Taragi Mustafa who established the Israeli Sudanese Fellowship Association: 'This website is supported by external bodies'.

"But in a phone interview with AlArabiya.net, Abou-Bakr said that his website is the meeting point of all Sudanese regardless of their political, ethnic, or religious background.'The website's 6,000 members include the most prominent Sudanese intellectuals, writers, musicians, media people, and scientists. They are all chosen carefully and in accordance with specific criteria'.

"Abou-Bakr called for Sudanese members of parliament to check the website and 'to find out how the accusations leveled against it are false'. He also said that the member who mentioned God was fired in 2005 for that reason: 'And they only brought that up now.' Abou-Bakr added that any offensive material is removed from the website and its writer is penalized. [...]

"The website receives between 165,000 and 170,000 visitors daily. The Sudan Telecommunications Public Corporation is currently studying the possibility of shutting down the controversial website."

Source: Al Arabiya (Saudi-owned, Dubai-based), November 23, 2007

5th Conference of Islamic States Culture Ministers in Tripoli

The culture ministers of 57 countries took part in 5th Conference of Islamic States Culture Ministers in Tripoli, which was held under the auspices of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). The gathering opened yesterday and run until November 23.

Iran and Libya to establish mutual cultural offices

"Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad-Hossein Saffar Harandi met with his Libyan counterpart during a meeting held on the sidelines of the 5th Conference of Islamic States’ Culture Ministers in Tripoli.

"Harandi made reference to the fact that both Iran and Libya have gone through revolutions and said that this common experience could help strengthen ties between the two countries.

"Harandi also stressed the need to establish cultural offices in both countries and proposed that Persian language courses be held in Libyan universities.

"Libya’s Minister of Culture Nouri al-Hamidi expressed his pleasure over the resumption of cultural activities between the two nations. [...]"

Source: Mehrnews (Iran), November 24, 2007