Listen to Sign of Thyme on AmmanNet Today

Jordanian singer Macadi Nahhas hosts a very interesting radio show on AmmanNet radio every Monday at 7:00 pm called "Music with Macadi", where she features a local musician or band.

The guests on today's show are Sign of Thyme band members; Yacoub Abu Ghosh (Bass guitar), Ahmad Barakat (Oud), and Nasser Salameh (percussions). They will talk about their musical journey and their latest album "Zad" (which you can get at Prime Mega Store and Books@ Cafe).

Remember, this evening, at 7:00 pm, either on 92.4 FM, or on the internet (www.ammannet.net).

Election Day in Madaba

I haven't had the chance to sit back and write my post-elections thoughts, but I thought I'd share some of the videos I took just outside a voting station in Madaba. I spent the entire day there, and have made tons of mental notes to blog, but that will have to wait until I get my work deadlines out of the way.

One DVD store on the street corner was blasting Omar Abdallat and Mit3eb Al Saggar songs in full volume all day long. Inside the voting station things were quiet, efficient, and organized, but outside the crowd seemed more fitting of a football match. Heck, they even played the popular football cheering song that says "lid lid chaif inno, chaif akhad el tabeh minno" (which roughly translates into: look look how he took the ball from him). I heard one guy say "Wouldn't it be great if elections lasted a whole week instead of just one day? we're having fun here."

More later...

This just in: Black Iris down for till Monday!

Have you been trying to access the Black Iris these past two days and panicking when, instead of your daily dose of interesting thoughts and good writing, you get the below web page??

Well, it seems there are some technical difficulties with the web hosting service, and they can't be solved till Monday because it's Thanksgiving holiday in the US.

Must be part of the American/Zionist conspiracy! (Or the kind of conspiracies that are carried out when the public is too busy with some hype like the post-election fiasco ;) who knows!)

Naseem, you're going to have a lot of blogging to make up for come Monday :)

Tonight's Debate between Jamil Nimri and Nahed Hattar Canceled

I just got a message telling me that tonight's debate titled "Parliamentary Elections - despite its shortcomings voting is a duty", organized by the Free Thought Forum, has been canceled last minute. Apparently the government decided it's not such a good idea to let people debate whether or not there's a point to voting. After all, the country is celebrating a "Democratic Wedding"... free thought might spoil the party!

Debates, Dance, Music and Films: Amman this Week!

A lot to do this week in Amman… make your choices and mark your agendas:

Today Sunday November 11th:

Meeting Points 5:
- Contemporary dance performance, 8:30 pm at the Terra Sancta Theatre


- Cargo Sofia, a documentary screened while you're riding with 30 people in a special truck (read Naseem’s very interesting description of the experience) today is the last chance to go, from 7:00 pm till 9:00 pm, taking off in front of the Orthodox Club in Abdoun. (Call 079 644 4460)

- Palestinian Documentary Screening “Keys” at Al Hannouneh Society for Popular Culture, at 8:00 pm (for info click here or call 078 593 0930)


Monday November 12th:
(I blogged this one before, but here’s a reminder)
Chicago Trio and Friends in Concert, at the Hussein Cultural Center in Ras Al Ein at 8:00pm

Click here for more on the program and the group background.

Tuesday November 13th:
The Free Thought Forum is organizing a debate between writer and political analyst Nahed Hattar (who is calling for a boycott of the upcoming Parliamentary elections), and writer and columnist Jamil Nimri, head of the National Commission for a Democratic Culture.

It will take place at the Radisson SAS hotel, the Ambassador Hall, between 6:30 and 8:00 pm.

When you’re done with the debate, you can head on to Canvas in Jebal Luweibdeh and enjoy a nice dinner or drink while listening to Yazan Roussan singing live.


Also on Tuesday, the Cinema Forum of the Shoman Foundation is screening the Russian Film “Mother and Son”. It starts at 6:30 pm, and entrance is free.


Wednesday November 14th:

After last week’s debate between four candidates of Amman’s third district, the Young Entrepreneur’s Association is holding another debate and hosting seven more candidates (from the same district).

It was very interesting to see the 300-seat theatre completely full last time, with people standing up on the sides and the back of the hall as well. The first part of the debate comprised of questions prepared by the YEA, asked by moderator Rana Sabbagh to each candidate. The focus was economic issues, taxes, subsidies, but then afterwards the floor was given to the audience to ask questions to any candidate they chose. That was when chaos erupted; Odeh Qawwas had some of his supporters there, but also people who obviously did not like him. Certain questions cornered him in a defensive position, but then some people kept interrupting him while he was answering, and a woman somehow related to him went bananas yelling at his opponents. It took some time and effort to restore order and move on. Supporters of candidate Tareq Khoury (who owns the Wahdat football club) had some moments of cheering and clapping as though they were in a football match.

All in all, the event was interesting, and I definitely want to go to this second one. Candidates confirmed for this time are Aroub Suboh, Samar Haj Hassan (who couldn’t make it last time), Dr Sari Nasser, Ghazi Musharbash (the first candidate to set up a facebook group months before everyone else caught on), IAF candidate Ruhayyel Gharaibeh, Theodore Al-Dair, and Marwan Sultan.

It will take place at the theatre of the Jordan Kuwaiti Bank in Abdali, at 6:30pm


Thursday night, enjoy listening to Sign of Thyme live with their beautiful music of oriental jazz fusion, while you treat yourself to a nice dinner at Fame (between 5th and 6th circles). For reservations call 06 5923263.

Read this!

The Arab Observer commenting on Ammon's article about Homosexuals in Jordan


I first read the article in question on Ammon News a while ago, and have been pondering a post in my head on the issue. Ammon often quotes from a newspaper and website called “Fact International”, which claims to provide “alternative analytical media with an Arab and Islamic perspective”.

People are entitled to their opinions and beliefs and I totally respect that. What I cannot respect is the total absence of journalism standards in something they label as “investigative journalistic report”. Their obvious bias, lack of proper sourcing, misrepresentation, one-sided views, and poor research are aggravating. If this were acceptable in an op-ed column, it is NOT acceptable in a news report, or an “investigative” feature.

I have a lot more that I want to say about that specific article, but for now, I will link you to the Observer's post, and another well-written post by Pheras.

Pondering the (Unconstitutional) Election Law

The more I think of the current election law, the more shocked and confused I get about how outright unconstitutional it is.

In Jordan’s constitution of 1952, article (6) of Chapter two states that:

(i) Jordanians shall be equal before the law. There shall be no discrimination between them as regards to their rights and duties on grounds of race, language or religion.

Now take the election law. The lower house of Parliament has 110 members, elected by the public. Jordan is divided into 45 electoral districts, in 12 governorates plus three closed districts for the Badia (Northern, Central, and Southern). Closed district means that no one from outside it can register in it, whether candidate or voter, and no one from within it can register to run or vote anywhere else. Districts have different numbers of seats allocated to them, and candidates compete for the seats in the district where they registered.

There are 27 Quota seats out of the 110:

- 9 seats for the bedu, 3 in each of their districts
- 9 seats for Christians, distributed as follows:

One in the 3rd district of Amman
One in Madaba
One in Ajloun
Two in Kerak
Two in Balqa
One in Irbid
One in Zarqa

- 3 seats for Circassians/Chechens

One in Amman/5th district
One in Amman/6th district
One in Zarqa/1st district

- Six seats for women (this was not a permanent amendment to the election law, but an exceptional decision issued in 2003 and extended for these elections)

The interesting thing about the women’s quota is that it doesn’t specify religion or ethnicity or anything, meaning that a woman can be Christian, Circassian, Chechen, or from the Badia. So for example, if a Circassian woman wins on the women’s quota, there would be four Circassians/Chechens in Parliament.

HOWEVER, a woman from one of these groups CANNOT run in a district that does not have one of those minority quota seats allocated to it. For example, in 2003, the candidacy application of Fawzia Irda’a was rejected because there was no Circassian/Chechen seat in her district. A similar thing happened to two other women: Zinat Hariri is from the central Badia and ran in Al-Balqa, and Wisaf Abu Tayeh is from the central Badia as well and ran in Zarqa… both of their applications were rejected.

Interesting, isn’t it? Since the 6 women quota seats are not assigned per district or according to other minority or religious considerations, you would think that any Jordanian woman (who fulfills the candidacy requirements) should be able to able to compete. At leas that’s what I would’ve thought.

Here’s another question that’s been on my mind. While my personal ID card states that I am Christian, there is nothing in the law that prevents me from changing my religion, right? So suppose, hypothetically, that I converted to say Hinduism, or Buddhism, and suppose then that I went and officially changed the Religion on my ID card at the Civil Status and Passports Department.

If I want to run for Parliament, I won’t be able to. Even if I were to get more votes than all other candidates in my district, I wouldn’t be able to get a seat in Parliament. Why? Because in the allocation of seats for districts, apart from the nine seats for Christians, it is stated clearly that all other seats are for Muslims.

This is another indication that all Jordanians are NOT equal before the law, and that I can’t exercise my rights and duties simply based on the fact that I am a Jordanian citizen.

Or am I mistaken?

Culture Buzz and More: Things to do in Amman these Two Weeks

Most of you probably know that Fairuz is in town and will be performing in the play “Sa7 El Nom” tomorrow Friday the 2nd and Saturday the 3rd, at the Arena Theater at 8:00 pm. Tickets are for 70 JDs.

Luckily, Amman’s cultural events are not all this expensive, and there are some cool freebees happening :)

Starting Sunday November 4th, Meeting Points 5 will kick off. This is an international art festival which takes place from 22 November until 01 December in nine Arabic cities: Rabat, Alexandria, Cairo, Amman, Tunis, Minia, Damascus, Beirut, Ramallah, as well as in Brussels and Berlin. MP5 is dedicated to contemporary art and presents projects from the field of theatre, dance, fine arts, film, video and music.

Check out the Amman schedule and more details on the website of Makan House.

On Friday the 2nd, Vlasca — The Romanian Folkloric Group will be performing at Al Hussein Cultural Centre - Ras Al Ain at 20:00pm.

On Monday November 5th, a concert of classical Arabic music will take place (most probably at the Hussein Cultural Center but I need to double check) at 7:30 pm

Every Tuesday at 6:30pm, screenings of International Films at the Shoman Foundation (between 1st and 2nd circles), check out the schedule for November here

On Monday November 12th, an evening of American music by the Chicago Trio and Friends, at 8:00 pm at the Hussein Cultural Center…



Not very free but cool things to do…

Every Thursday you can hear Sign of Thyme play at Fame, starting 9:00pm (no cover charge but you need to order dinner)



Every Tuesday in November, Yazan Roussan will be singing at Canvas, starting 9:00pm…

Elections Mania

It’s not all empty slogans filling up the streets for the November 20th Elections. Thankfully some people are trying to look at it differently and get the candidates to say something more practical and useful:

Sunday November 4th, from 6:00 pm till 10:00 pm, the Young Entrepreneurs Association and Sawtouna are holding a debate for candidates of the 3rd district, to get to know their economic agenda and views on issues concerning the business sector. It will take place at the auditorium of the Jordan Kuwaiti Bank in Abdali, and will be broadcast on Amman Net 92.4 fm. Five candidates will be present: Dr Mamdouh Abbadi, Samar Haj Hassan, Odeh Qawwas, Tareq Khouri, and Adbel Raheem Biqa3i.

You need to confirm your attendance through facebook or by email (admin@yea.com.jo)