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What infuriates me the most when I think about discrimination against women is the fact that oftentimes in our society women themselves subscribe to it, defend it, and pass it on to their children.Here’s a story in today’s al-Ghad: a woman who was found guilty of murder was sentenced to just one year in prison, because the murder she committed was associated with “reduced legal motive” (or something, I don’t know how to translate legal terms well!). So get this… this woman’s daughter, who had been divorced for seven years, used to spend a lot of time outside the house and sleep-over at her friends’ sometimes. The mother found out that her daughter was pregnant, so she took her other daughter, got some heavy sharp object (cutter), and confronted her pregnant daughter before hitting her on the head, neck, and different parts of her body until she killed her.On one hand, it’s interesting that a mother got a reduced sentence just like a father or brother would have. However, this still sounds to me like COLD-BLOODED MURDER!! I just don’t get where a reduced sentence comes in!!!Here’s another interesting bit… there was no mention of the word “honor” anywhere in the news article. It interests me because usually, while women are "the honor" of the family, it is the men’s duty to watch over this “honor” and spill blood when need be to “cleanse the shame”. Can I guess that the mother’s reduced sentence would not be because she was “cleansing the honor of the family”, but because it was “in a fit of anger”??Whatever it is… it’s just very disturbing.(Oh wait… am I in contempt of the court? Is what I’m writing illegal?)
There have been lots of cultural events taking place around town these past two weeks, mostly foreign film screenings, but also classical music concerts… and perhaps it’s just me, but I haven’t been super interested. Now finally there’s a “Ammani” event that I’m really looking forward to!
From thyme-flavored rearrangements of great Jazz standards, to classical Arabic music fused with Jazz, plus some unique original music that’s just hard to label into any category… come to Blue Fig Sunday evening and enjoy a live performance from Sign of Thyme (a.k.a Zaman el Za3tar).
With Yacoub Abu Ghosh on Bass Guitar, Ahmad Barakat on Oud, Nasser Salameh on Percussions, and Nabih Boulos on Violin, they will be playing music from the band’s second album “Zad”, as well as some new songs.
Sign of Thyme are currently in the process of recording their third album, which will include eight original tracks. They’ve already recorded drums in Egypt with Ahmed Hesham (who plays with the Egyptian band Sahra, I only managed to find one video on YouTube and it doesn’t do him justice, but you can still check it out.) While in Egypt, Sign of Thyme had a very successful little gig at the Cairo Jazz Club – one of Cairo’s hottest venues for regular live music (the type of which Amman unfortunately still lacks!)
Anyways, remember… the gig is this Sunday March 23rd, 9:00 pm. Call 06 5928800 for reservations.
A number of journalists have been sentenced to three months in prison for charges related to “insulting the judiciary system and commenting on its rulings”. The motion was filed by the Higher Judiciary Council – the head of judiciary authority in the country.
So it's against the law for the press to debate court rulings. But I'm a bit confused as to what this exactly entails. Don’t we criticize reduced sentences in so-called honor crimes all the time? Is that against the law?
Of course, we all want to be living in a country where no one is above the law, but that doesn’t mean the law is perfect the way it is and cannot be scrutinized. Commenting on the law or criticizing it, and abiding by it are not mutually exclusive.
According to the Jordan Times:
In 2006, the two papers carried a news item about a citizen who filed a motion with the Higher Judicial Council against the judges of the Higher Court of Justice, who had upheld a decision by the Civil Status and Passport Department depriving the plaintiff from his citizenship. The two papers were sued accordingly.
It’s not quite clear to me what happened. If I may rephrase what is written above… the newspapers were sued because they ran a news item about a citizen who contested a court ruling. It’s interesting that Al-Ghad does not mention anything about the details of the case, and Addustour and Al-Arab Al-Yawm have nothing about the whole thing, for obvious (!!) reasons (they were the two papers involved).
Al-Ghad also reported that columnist Abdul-Hadi Raji al-Majali has been sentenced to three months in prison for defamation in an article he had posted and circulated on the internet. The motion was filed by the previous head of the Jordan Media Center – another government entity. The report says this is the first time in Jordan that someone is sentenced to jail because of an article published online.
Speaking of the internet, today will be the first hearing in the court case against AmmanNet. It will be interesting to see how that unfolds, because this time it’s about a reader’s comment online. AmmanNet has a regular program on the air on which comments from readers are read to reflect the pulse of the street on certain issues. One of the comments read by the presenter included an insult against the Parliament. MPs complained to the Audio Visual Commission, who in turn verified the archive and found that the comment had been read during the radio show, and so they proceeded to file a motion. Now the question is, if the comment stayed online and was not repeated on the airwaves, would it have been ok? Or would it still be a violation of the law? To what extent can the internet be regulated and controlled? And what’s the code that should be applied to it? The Penal Code?
Questions that cannot be ignored for long. But can we trust our Parliament to find the answers?
I think the one thing that’s been keeping me sane lately is running early every morning. I’ve finally gotten back into the habit after a long interruption, and let me tell you, it feels awesome.
The forest track at Sports City is a wonderful place to run. It’s one of few places in Amman that represent a true public space… you find people of different styles and backgrounds there as early as 6:00 am; young men with long beards, professional athletes in tights, veiled women in long black Abayas with adidas shoes underneath, old retired men taking a stroll and talking about inflation and corruption and your typical Jordanian rant. You see couples. You see kids (well only on Friday), you see people cycling, or playing football, or doing some Yoga, or simply running…
It feels a lot more natural than being in a gym, and well, I should add, a lot less pretentious than most gyms.
So, with the weather warming up, this is a perfect place to train for the upcoming Dead Sea Ultra Marathon which will take place on the 11th of April. You have one month, so if all else fails, you can participate in the 10K fun run. You can do it at your own pace, it just feels great to be part of the event. Every year the number of people participating increases, and I admire the Society for Care of Neurological Patients for the wonderful job they do at planning it, promoting it, and taking it to new levels.
Registration is now open, so give them a call at (+962 6 5677660), check out their website, or pay them a visit (Shmeisani, go to Culture Street (Share3 el Thaqafeh), then take a right exactly before Fun Directory).
For more options of places to run outdoors, you might want to try the Hussein Park next to the King Hussein Medical Center, or Ghamadan Park at the beginning of Airport Road. Anyone know other runner-friendly venues?
Related:
Run On, Jordan (2006)
Fun Run at the Dead Sea Marathon (2007)
I was attending a workshop at the Higher Media Council a few months ago when I saw these old local newspaper pages framed on the walls of the training center. I took some shots with the intention of blogging them, and uploaded them on flickr, but then forgot all about them - until today...I got an email from someone who is co-owner of the Ramallah Distillery. They have been manufacturing Arak Ramallah since 1919. He said he found this photo accidentally while doing a Google search, and was wondering what newspaper it was from. The internet never seizes to fascinate me :)
The reason this particular part of the newspaper had caught my attention is because it was on the front page, and I was thinking to myself that you couldn't possibly find an advertisement for an alcoholic beverage on the front page of a local newspaper in our day and time. What's interesting about this change is that, while you see more social openness in certain parts of Amman, those who do not subscribe to that have become more judgmental and less capable of accepting the existence of diverse lifestyles. I wasn't around in the 60's and 70's to witness the difference, but available evidence shows that Amman was definitely a more tolerant and more liberal place 30 years ago! (read Roba's post on the "Valley of the Heretics")
There might be more going on, but this is what I managed to find out about :)
Sunday March 2: CulTalent
The Jordanian Romanian Forum for Culture is organizing a talent show; music, theatre, dance, folkoric fashion show, and a small book exhibition.
Time: 6:00pm – 9:00pm
Place: Royal Cultural Center
Monday March 3:
Amman Arab Music Ensemble and Arabic Choir playing Um Kulthoum Music
Place: Hussein Cultural Center – Ras Al Ein
Time : 7 :30pm
Ticket price : JD5
Tuesday March 4:
Opening of Exhibition : Art Now in Lebanon
Place: Darat Al-Funoun
Time: 6:00 pm
Film Screening: Dancer in the Dark
Place: Shoman Foundation (between 1st and 2nd circles)
Time: 6:30 pm
Read more about the film here
Wednesday March 5:
Screening of Award-winning Documentary: The Futrue of Food
Place: Al-Balad Theatre
Time: 7:30 pm
Check map here
