On Olives and Sake

A lot of posts talked about the racism against Arabs in dictionaries, I’d like to mention
Sinan, Roba, Omar, Eman, MMM

I did feel fishy about all the Racism in Dictioneries posts… so I tried looking up the word “Jew” in 2 of those dicts.

one of em is the most famous Websters
http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definition/jew

…comber, booly; globegirdler, globetrotter; vagrant, hobo, night walker, sleep
walker; noctambulist, runabout, straphanger, swagman, swagsman; trecker,
trekker, zingano, zingaro

almost the same as Arab.. which rules out the Racism factor…

The American Heritage ® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition:
http://www.yourdictionary.com/ahd/j/j0037450.html

1.To bargain shrewdly or unfairly with. Often used with down.
2.To haggle so
as to reduce (a price). Often used with down.

I guess that rules out WATA’s arguments..??!

I rest my case…

[this wasn't a thorough search... a very quick and shallow one that lead to THESE results...]
I honestly this that this topic is over-rated…!!!

cheers

soo.. tomorrow August 8th…
My birthday… yeah, I’m a Leo..

I’ve been browsing through my pix… I’ve got an awful lot of pix from my early childhood… I got some flashbacks I wanna share..

-I was born in 8/8/1986, Mom has always been obsessed with Maradona [the Argentinian footballer], and she was like 8months pregnant [obviously with ME] when 1986World Cup kicked off… so [hearsay] they told me that my mom used to run all over the house whenever he’s on screen, cheering and screaming… with her belly all swollen, while my grandma’s job was to follow her everywhere making sure she doesn’t hurt herself..
-When I was about 1 or 2 years old, mom had to go work in Yemen [she's a doctor, btw], and Dad [well, I honestly donno where he was, he was playing hide and seek with Mukhabarat, and he actually won.. hehe.. way to go papa].. so I used to stay at my granpa’s house in Homs, and being the spoiled-lonely-kid-who’s-parents-arent’s-around, I HAD the time of my life… I was told that I NEVER EVER got to sleep until they lullabied with me for hours on the balcony or the roof.. with the moonlight.. I used to scream out “2amal… 2amal” = “2amar… 2amar”!!
-back when I was 4 my only fantasy was to be a Trrafic Policeman!!! my older cousin even printed a ticket book for me.. with my name on it!!! hehe
-I have a long history with setting up fires… when I was 6 I burnt all my uncle’s library [btw, that uncle is prof. Aaref Dalileh]… he used to keep it at my granpa’s here in Latakia.. me and my mom stayed there for a while, so…. it was an honest mistake… I SWEAR… but.., well… he never ever played chess with me again!!
-I burnt dad’s bathroom in his beirut flat…!!! I still don’t rememeber how… and I still believe that IT WASN’T my fault…!!!
-I once wanted to see if cotton actually catches on fire… when I think about it now.. I wish I had the brains to try it on a small piece of cotton.. instead of the setting on fire all the cotton packs mom used to keep under the bed [medic cotton]… conequently setting the WHOLE bedroom on fire!!!!!!!
-Dad told me that I always had somekinda trouble with god.. I mean I was like 7yrs old when I first drew god..!! and it wasn’t such a pleasant painting!!!!
-I was 7 too when I had my first cigarette… and thanx to that one I NEVER EVER smoked again [Not even nargile]…!!! Ironically papa was the one who gave it to me… When I think about it… I donno if I could take that chance with my son [I donno if I could have that amount of objectivness], anyways.. I threw up all day… and he didn’t even say “I told ya so!!!” hehe.. I do appreciate that cigarette!!!
-I once sang with Sami 7awwat [one of Ziad Rahbani's close gang, although I always thought that I sang with Ziad... but my dad corrected that thought 2 weeks ago], he was playing Aud in this Sahra in some friend’s house, I was like 6 and I jumped from my dad’s lap and I wanted to sing… I sang Marcel Khalife’s “Tout Tout 3abayrout”… soo he played Aud and I sang… now I know the secret behind that mysterious smile that dad gave me… Ziad and Marcel weren’t such a great friends at that time!!! but well.. “Tout tout 3abayrout” WAS way more catchy for me than Ziad’s “3ayshe wa7da balak”..
-I had my first strike when I was 10yrs old… I stayed 2 days without eating [honestly, I used to sneak at night and get a snack]… after 2hours negotiations I had to drop my demand for a mini-size-battery-car…!!! I still loooong for one… but I don’t think I could fit in any of em right now… so I lost my chance in driving that!!!! :(

5 months old… I totally love this pic.. u can notice SyrianTV behind me!!! hehe… btw, and the television itself is Syronics!!

One of the few family pix that my parents could save…

That’s me wandering in Yemen…!!! I stayed there about 3 months and mom couldn’t handle it… so she sent me back!!!

That’s my cousin May… we took this pic in my 3rd birthday… she’s my first crush… hehehe

My cousin prof. Hussam Dalileh, he’s the one I owe all my computer addiction to!! If i ever get to be sth, then he has much of the credit!!

Finally… my ever-lovely mommy!!!

yalla cheers,

This picture is what we call in latakia [Bet Al-Rabb - House of God]… Al-Rabb is a popular word referring to the Imam of the Murshdis…

Anyways,
Murshdis, are a bit closed sect. They were originally a part of the Alawites, until 1923 when a man [Sulman Al-Murshid] claimed himself to be the Hidden Imam [or Mehdi who is a shared tradition between Alawites and Shiits, which is the last Imam that will come at the end of time to save Alawites]… some sources say that he claimed that he was a God… but Murshdis nowadays deny that…
There’s a lot of confusion about the relationship between Sulman and the syrian inpendence movement… I tend to believe that he was a really pragmatic person, so I go with the opinion, that he worked with the french, and then when he saw the national movement taking the upper hand, he flip-flopped… which explains the last book about this subject [Ray Before Dawn - The Diaries of Ahmed Nihad Al-Sayyaf]…
Sulman was trialed for Great Treason and executed in 1946… and was succeeded by his son Mujeeb Al-Murshid who was also killed in 1952 by direct orders from Adeeb Al-Shishakly, then came Saji Al-Murshid until he died in 1998 without leaving a will…
Murshdis now largely consider Al-Murshid as a God, explaining the Villa’s name…
They suffered a lot of torture and repression until the late 60s… there was even a law that allows imprisonment for anyone who states publicly that he’s a Murshdi..
in the 70s, Murshdi leaders met with the late president Hafez Assad, and all these laws and opression were lifted off in return for their full support to the regime..
It is well known that they fulfilled that promise, for a huge part of the [Defence Brigades] were Murshdis… and when the huge crisis occured between the two brothers in the 80s, they stood steadily with Pres. Hafez Assad… and withdrew from the Defence Brigades… and that was a major factor in ending the crisis..

Their numbers are estimated in tens of thousands, most of em are still living in the countryside of Homs, Hama and Latakia…

The military coup in Muritania.. has intigued me into looking closely at our own history of military coups..
here’s a short list of those..

After several years of french-based democratic parliamentry practice (1946 – 1949) the first coup took place

-March 30,1949 Husni Al-Zaim… He only lasted 4 and a half months…
-August 14, 1949 Sami Al-Hennawi… He appointed Hashim Atassi as a President in December 14th.
-December 19, 1949 Adeeb Al-Shishakly… He kept H. Atassi as a President, while keeping the real power into his hands..
-December 2, 1951 Atassi resigns, the next day Shishakly appoints Fawzi Selow.
-August 10, 1953 Shishakly appoints himself president after a [Referendum].
-February 25, 1954 Restlessness inside the army forces Shishakly to flee syria.
-1958 A group of Baathi and Nassri army officers overstepped the government [Shukri Qouatly-President, Sabri Assali-PM, Khaled Azem-Defence Minister... had exactly no idea of this meeting] and went to egypt to have talks with Gamal Abdul Nasser for an instant full Unity..
-September 28, 1961 Abdul Karim Nahlawi leads a military coup that broke the United Arab Republic, and reannounced Syrian Arab Republic..
-March 28, 1962 A military coup that replaced the government…
-March 8, 1963 The most-famous coup that got Baath party into power unitl this day…
-July 18, 1963 A Failing coup by the Nassris [lead by Jasim Alwan] that resulted in a massacre, 30 high-ranked officers were executed.
-February 23, 1966 a military coup inside the Baathi military institution… that brought Baathi hardliners into power.
-September 8, 1966 A failing coup attempt by Salim Hatoum.
-November 16, 1970 Another coup lead by Hafez Assad [which was considered a moderate inside Baathists], resulted in appointing him a president a year later by a referendum.. he stayed as the president of the S.A.R. until his death in 2000.. and was succeeded by his sun, Dr. Baschar al-Assad…

The last one lasted through a lot of coup attempts, Muslim Brotherhood 1982, Rifaat Assad in the 80s…

After such a bloody history, one would think that the best period in Syria’s modern history was the French Mandate… unfortunatly!

So, Muritania’s having a coup…
sth that us syrians have a real history with..
bad memories coming back… no matter how bad a regime is, a coup is gonna be worse, that’s the lesson I’ve learned… blood only promotes blood..
military movements CAN NOT bring democracy…
War Lords Can not bring deocracy…
Generals can not build democracy..

it’s as simple as that…
Let’s just hope for the best… I truly wish that I’m deadly wrong on this particular thing…

Fingers crossed for the “New” Muritania

well, all I can say is… may he rest in peace…
cuz I can’t honestly give my condolences for his death… he was one of the BIG totalitarians, supported one of the world’s worst movements [Wahabism].. I simply can’t say that I’m very touched for his death… especially that he died normally after a VERY long life…

Let’s hope for the next saudi monarch to be a little more openminded…..