culture

Hummus, another cause for war in the Middle East

Team Observers — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 12:19:03 +0200

Published on Flickr on January 29, 2008 by hazy jenius.

Lebanon is accusing Israel of usurping its most precious culinary specialties. It intends to create a geographical label to identify ‘authentic’ Lebanese cuisine. To further stress its point, Lebanon also intends to beat the largest hummus dish world record, currently held by Israel…

Lebanon and Israel have officially been at war for 60 years. Over the past few months the neighbouring countries seem to have found a new subject to bicker about: food.

It all started on a local TV show last October when Lebanese industrialists complained about the commercialisation of star Lebanese dishes such as hummus under the label “Israeli cuisine” in western stores. The president of the Lebanese Industrialists Association, Fadi Abboud, filed a registration request for the creation of an EU label for authentic ‘Lebanese’ dishes.

Authentic hummus is a chickpea purée with sesame cream (tahini) seasoned with garlic, lemon and olive oil. It is one of the best-known and -loved Lebanese “mezze” (appetizers). Its popularity has spread to Israel, where the best hummus makers of Tel Aviv or Jerusalem reach movie-star fame.

Top hummus makers in Israel. Published on YouTube by elahnz , on April 8, 2009.

But hummus is also big business. Lebanese industrialists are mainly concerned about the loss of market share in the face of foreign produce, which they estimate at around one billion dollars a year.

In an increasingly competitive market, Israelis are coming up with ever-more-creative solutions. Paprika, onions, olives, basil and sun-dried tomatoes are among the new flavours which are added to the original recipe, much to the horror of hummus purists.

In 2007 Israeli scientists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem even published a study proving that hummus boosts physical growth, diminishes aggressiveness and is a good anti-depressant.

Israelis made the world’s largest plate of hummus in 2008: a 400 kg plate, four metres wide, at the Mahaneh Yehudat market in Jerusalem. Lebanese hummus makers intend to break that record on October 24 in Beirut’s Saifi marketplace. Originally published on The Hummus Blog.

Is Farouk Hosni worthy of leading UNESCO?

Sophie Team Observers — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 09:43:00 +0200

Posted on the Facebook group "Farouk Hosni NO for UNESCO"

UNESCO will choose its new general director this evening. It's Farouk Hosni, Egyptian Culture Minister since 1986, who looks set to succeed Koïchiro Matsuura at the head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation. But will the man who pledged to "burn" Israeli books really fit the bill?

Hosni's anti-Semitic accusations weigh heavily on his chances for the appointment. Last year for example, he responded to a query about Israeli books appearing in an Alexandria library by saying "Burn these books; if there are any there, I will burn them myself in front of you".

They are declarations which Hosni now regrets saying. Writing in French newspaper Le Monde on Wednesday, he expressed "solemn regret" but asked his critics to "focus on the 27 years of public service devoted to culture, (...) mankind, creation, The Book and books in general".

We asked our respective Egyptian and Israeli Observers if UNESCO should have looked elsewhere.

Japan’s new hit: "Mein Kampf", Manga-style

Team Observers — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 13:46:45 +0200

A Japanese publishing firm has re-edited a translation of Adolf Hitler’s ideological pamphlet, first published in 1924. But this edition has a new twist: it’s a manga-style comic. It’s made quite a splash in Japanese bookshops.

"Mein Kampf" is the latest publication in a collection of historical comic books called "Manga de Dokuha" ("Learn with mangas") edited by the publishing firm East Press. The collection already includes manga versions of Karl Marx’s "Capital" and Tolstoy’s "War and Peace". These revamped classics usually sell around 35,000 copies nationwide.

The publishing rights for “Mein Kampf” have until now been held by the German region of Bavaria, which decided which firms were authorised to publish new editions of the text. But the copyright will expire in 2015 and the pamphlet will enter the public domain.

East Press explains that the manga is a "tool to study Hitler’s personality", to "understand the thoughts that generated such a tragedy".

No library near you? Luis’s donkeys will bring one

Sophie Team Observers — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 16:33:33 +0200

Photo : Diana Arias. Posted on the blog elbiblioburro.

Luis Soriano, an unemployed Colombian schoolteacher, spreads knowledge and literature to places where no librarian has ever set foot. He brings his books by donkeys to Colombia’s poorest and most isolated provinces.

After loading his donkeys back with books, Luis Soriano criss-crosses the desolate Nabusimake Valley in Colombia’s Magdalena province. To achieve his goal of giving peasant families and their children something to read, he invented “Biblioburros” (Library-donkeys), mobile libraries carried on the steep and narrow paths in the region on sturdy donkeys. Luis’s territory is also that of armed rebel groups but, according to him, the media coverage his initiative has received has meant that he is relatively safe from attacks.

The idea occurred to Luis in 1998 when he lost his job as a school teacher in the city of La Gloria. Although he came from a poor family, he owned one of the largest private collections of books in the country. He decided to share his ‘wealth’ with those who had never had access to a book in their life. After buying his first donkey, Alpha, he set off on his country’s least-travelled paths.

With the help of several NGOs and private businesses, Luis expanded his travelling library to 22 “Biblioburros”, led by a team of volunteers. His initiative reaches well beyond his home province. His sudden fame notwithstanding, Luis continues to cover eight country schools near his hometown himself.

“Punk’s not dead, it’s just under police surveillance”

Sophie Team Observers — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 17:10:56 +0200

One of our Observers in Russia, blogger Sean Guillory, has made us aware of an unusual addition to the country's "extremist" list. The authorities have added none other than, punks, to their blacklist.

Sean Guillory, a graduate student at UCLA (California) is writing his dissertation on the Young Communist League in NEP Russia.

Russian authorities just keep stretching and stretching the meaning of extremism. Now the list of extremists will include a variety of youth subcultures extending from skinheads to fans of the iconic Soviet rock band Kino. This is according to a report released by the St. Petersburg Prosecutor's Office which places music fans under police surveillance. From the St. Petersburg Times:

The district's criminal police have identified and included on a register 88 people who attribute themselves to informal entities such as ‘Skinheads,' ‘Aggressive Football Fans,' ‘Punks,' ‘Emos,' ‘Black Metallers,' ‘Fans of Kino,' ‘Alternative Rock Fans,' ‘Anarchists' and others'. Kino was a local 1980s pop-rock band influenced by The Cure and Duran Duran, and is still popular with young people in Russia, though it split up when its front man and sole songwriter Viktor Tsoi died in a car crash in 1991. Plans to erect an official monument to Tsoi are underway in the city.

The report said that apart from the criminal police, "this work" is also conducted by neighbourhood police inspectors and juvenile police departments. Once exposed and registered, the music fans and members of the other "informal entities" are the subject of "preventive work" conducted by the district's police officers, the district's administration officials and educational institution staff to "prevent crimes, including those of an extremist nature.

Wonderful. But far from anything new. A list of ‘ideologically harmful' music was concocted by the Komsomol in the 1980s. It didn't work then and it sure as hell isn't going to work now. One would think the St. Petersburg police have better things to do with their time.

And they say punk is dead. Nah, it's just under police surveillance."

Good behaviour guide for U.S. soldiers

Ségolène Team Observers — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 11:12:44 +0100

American soldiers can now get closer to their Iraqi and Afghani neighbours before their feet hit the ground. With virtual teachers, soldiers learn the lingo and the local customs at the same time... in a virtual game..

When the US Army touched down in Afghanistan in 2002, they barely spoke anything but English. When villagers ran into the streets, the soldiers, unable to communicate, couldn't work out if they were friend or foe. It was as the situation unravelled that a Californian defence professor came up with the idea of launching a "tactical language" programme www.tacticallanguage.com. Now, soldiers are briefed by their virtual counterparts in Arabic, Pashto or Dari, and given a few hints on how to follow the local customs and avoid cultural boo-boos. Former soldiers in Iraq tell us why the training isn't to be laughed at.

Le Clézio's Nobel prize – so French culture isn't dead after all!

Sophie Team Observers — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:21:19 +0200

Le Clézio during a trip to Guadeloupe in October 2007. Posted on Flickr by "Le crédit voyage".

French writer Jean-Marie Le Clézio has just received the Nobel Prize for Literature. For blogger Guillaume Thouroude, the award is proof that despite "American sniggers", French culture is not dead after all.

"Phoque" or "fuck" - when it comes to culture, Canadians don’t speak the same language

Sophie Team Observers — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:44:01 +0200

Language gaps and cultural misunderstandings are an integral part of daily life for Canadians dealing with their fellow countrymen from the other side of the French - British divide. This rather amusing sketch about the issue is also a serious warning about the future of Canadian culture, which according to the clip, faces near-extinction.

Under Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the Canadian government has cut 45 million euros worth of funding for cultural programmes over the past six months. Around fifteen programmes, considered out-dated or misused, have been axed. The latest blow came on 8 August when it was announced that two major funds would be withdrawn, leaving the cultural scene in Canada looking fragile.

However, investing in culture is a lucrative business. At least that's the message a group of Canadian celebrities are trying to get across. Since singer Michel Rivard, comedian Benoit Brière and humorist Stéphane Rousseau posted this video on YouTube 19 September, its been watched almost a million times.

The film tackles the great linguistic divide in Canada, something that both sides, despite frustrations, find rather funny. The video is a massive online hit, and arrives in time for the 14 October national party elections. Our Canadian Observers react to the sketch.

Posted on YouTube on an account called "Culture en péril" (culture in peril), and translated by "Tupperfan".

The Buns and Guns café

Ségolène Team Observers — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 17:18:02 +0200

In Beirut, the restaurant "Buns and Guns" markets its sandwiches by giving them questionable names. Why don’t you try a Kalashnikov burger served on terrorist pita bread? In Lebanon, nobody seems to find the trend shocking or offensive.

This small fast food place opened early June in Dahiyeh, a suburb south of the Lebanese capital. The neighbourhood, heavily targeted during the 2006 war against Israel, is a stronghold of Islamic activity. The restaurant’s owner uses war and dark humour as marketing tools. After crossing a barricade of rice bags in front of the store, the customer sits in a camouflage-printed room and eats to the sound of dropping bombs. The menu, illustrated with photos of weapons, offers a wide array of choices, from a “B-52” to a “Magnum 357” (see video). The restaurant’s motto is “A sandwich to die for”. It’s a successful concept – the restaurant is always full – and Lebanese people don’t seem overly shocked by it.

Report aired on June 12 2008 by Hezbollah's television channel, Al Manar TV. It was transplated and posted on Memri TV, an organisation that depends on the American Middle Eastern Institute.

Chavez has a go at filmmaking

Julien — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:03:43 +0200

Written with help from our Observer in Argentina, Johana Kunin.

“Miranda regresa” (“Miranda Returns”) is the first major film produced by President Hugo Chavez’s state-run production company. A historical saga, it depicts the life of Francisco de Miranda, leader of Venezuela's independence struggle against Spanish colonialism at the turn of the nineteenth century. Miranda dreamed of creating a republic called Colombia that would have covered a large chunk of South America.

The motion picture was produced with a budget of 2.3 million dollars by the state-run cinema production company, which Chavez founded in 2006. Over 1,200 extras were hired for the film, shot in Venezuela, Cuba, and The Czech Republic. American actor Danny Glover, a supporter of Chavez, plays a minor part.

The movie’s title, “Miranda Returns”, is the subject of much discussion and interpretation at home. Many wonder whether Chavez is attempting to cast himself as a reincarnation of the Venezuelan hero. The president has depicted the project as an effort to counter Hollywood's global domination, slamming American blockbusters like Superman and Batman as “excrement” and a “source of counter-values”. "There is no revolution if we don't recover our culture, our own values. It is part of the fight against [US] imperial hegemony,” he declared.

The film’s premiere was held in a military fort. Among those present were Rafael Correa, Ecuador’s president and a key Chavez ally. The motion picture is screened in 40 mainstream cinemas throughout the country.