Have We Allowed Nationalism To Put Borders On Our Empathy?
Have we allowed nationalism to put borders on our empathy?
November 22, 2011
Dodo
Morocco Day 11: Kazem Alsahir + Asmaa Limnawar
Day 11 was extremely interesting, on an extremely personal level. My twitter followers will know what I’m talking about 
Anywho, people will do anything to get that “perfect shot” haha
The first event of the day was at Bat’ha as always. The performers were the Syubbanul Ensemble, the Hajir Marawis of Cirebon.
They were brilliant. We refused to see them leave, and the performance was extended for a few additional songs.
Their Arabic was impressive.
After, 7amza and I took a stroll through the roads of the Bat’ha. I wonder how that guy gets into his baqala… hmmm:
I don’t know if those were for sale or rent:
And at night, back at Bab Al-Makina, was the Asmaa Limnawar and Kazem Alsahir concert. I thought it was a flop. I hate Asmaa. She looks pregnant. Is she married?
The crowd that night was something else. Not only were the seats completely sold out, but more people were being let into the venue, and left to stand all over the sidelines and in the aisles and up in front of the stage. It was a mess:
And Kazem’s choice of songs was garbage:
One, maybe two, more Morocco posts coming soon.
What?
There’s a lot of things I don’t “get” about society as a whole. And there’s some things about Kuwaiti society, in particular, that perplex.
One of these things is how “unnatural” everthing is, especially our “codes of civilized conduct”. I find it fascinating that, for women, it’s okay to be outdoors, in your car. But for you to take a stroll, معاذ الله. Especially if this stroll is at night, but it could be any time of day.
A few months back, I took a walk from grandma’s house in Khaldiya, to the co-op. It was a 10 minute walk. During those 10 minutes, I could swear to you, cars drove by with the people inside whipping their heads back to look at me.
It’s not that it’s unsafe for a woman to walk outside in Kuwait, be it during the night or during the day. Nor is it considered immoral for a woman to be “strutting her sex” down the street. It’s just that it’s so unheard of and abnormal, that you’d be breaking a cultural taboo, that makes the simple, basic task of walking, an act of social, cultural rebellion and defiance. No body walks.
I find it interesting, that for one to cease being an uncivilized barbarian, and become a civilized, cultured man/woman of this century, you have to defy all laws of nature, strip yourself of the last shred of human-ness, deny all emotion and individuality, keep yourself “in check”, and basically, look at things as simple as “walking” as an abomination which must be eradicated.
It’s unnatural.
The River
Wouldn’t it be beautiful
If we could all be naked
And float downstream
Down a river
With the sun’s rays caressing our skin
In crystal blue waters
In lush green woods
And tree’s blooms and blossoms
Pink and white
Dangling in our hair
Floating down with us
The Doctrine of Noha
I believe in absolute freedom, absolutely.
I also believe that no one is inherently evil.
I’m an advocate of anarchist-communist-individualism.
I do not condone nor approve of democracy. Nor republicanism. Nor patriotism.
I do not condone nor approve of the monetary system. Or money for that matter.
Why does one feel the need to be better, richer, stronger, bigger, faster, more successful, more powerful, more whatever than the next person? Do you really care what the other person has, as long as you have the exact same thing as they do?
You wanted a fancy boat. Why does your fancy boat have to be fancier than the other guy’s fancy boat?
Why do we teach children division, categorization, alienation, from each other, by means of the grading system?
Imagine a planet that, geographically, looks exactly like ours. This world isn’t split up into countries and borders and visas and defamiliarization. Imagine a world with no countries.
Everyone is a citizen of the same place – planet earth.1. Planet earth.1 is anarchist-communist-individualist. On this planet, people are not segregated by accomplishment. In other words, the education system on planet earth.1 does not differentiate between children depending on their academic performance.
Everyone on planet earth.1 graduates from school. After graduation, everyone is allowed to enter university – if they choose to do so. Upon graduation, citizens of planet earth.1 enter any work force they choose, any time they want. It does not matter if they want to be a street cleaner or a brain surgeon. Academic performance does not determine whether one is of street-cleaner-level-performance, or whether one’s academic performance is best suited to a brain surgeon. Everyone freely chooses the education and the profession they would like to pursue.
One’s profession also does not determine one’s wages. There are no wages on planet earth.1. That’s because the monetary system, banks, money, financial institutions and establishment, do not exist.
Our earth simply suffers from a serious case of mismanagement. Poverty, hunger, illness, unemployment, lack of housing, etc, would all be abolished if we knew how to manage our resources properly.
Let’s start from the very beginning. The basic necessities required for any human being to exist boil down to two things: food and shelter.
The amount of land needed, that is suitable for farming and agriculture, is amply available on our planet.
Shelter. Build each individual the home of his dreams.
How do we go about giving everyone the home of their dreams? How do we go about farming enough land to provide enough food for the entire population of the world?
Easy. From childhood, teach children to pursue their personal goals and interest. Teach them to pursue the education they want, to achieve the career they want, because they have a passion and genuine interest in that specific field. Not because a specific career generate a higher income than another career.
So people will choose to be farmers because they genuinely enjoy farming. People will choose to be builders and engineers and architects and designers because they have a genuine interest in these things.
Each neighborhood, village, community, suburb, town, will have its fair share of doctors, builders, engineers, farmers, teachers, plumbers, cooks, handymen, barbers, whatever, because people freely chose their professions without monetary considerations to make. All professions are equal, communist, in the sense that, no profession is more financially lucrative than another profession. Every job is done out of genuine love for the job. The reward is of sentimental value. The reward is the pleasure of engaging in an activity that one enjoys. And when one performs out of pleasure and love, their performance, or output, is always stellar. Whether one is a plumber fixing blocked kitchen sinks and fishing out the engagement ring you dropped in there, or if it’s a cardiac surgeon putting a ticker in your chest, all jobs will be executed to perfection. There’s no financial reward, only the reward of ego satisfaction through a job well done.
Boat makers will make beautiful, fancy boats for all who want beautiful, fancy boats.
Ferrari’s will be made in abundance for the asking.
No one will starve. No one will be unemployed. No one will have less or be worse-off than anyone else. No one will be looked down upon or looked up at because of whatever career they hold.
No one’s dreams or ambitions will be killed due to lack of funds or sponsorship. If someone has a brilliant idea for a car, they are free to easily access the tools and materials required to build that car. The car is then freely advertised as being successful in whatever it was trying to achieve. All those who are interested in the car are able to freely attain this car. There is no fear of competition. People’s interest in the car is not to attain more stuff useless stuff than other people. If you like it- here, take it. If you don’t, go grab a Ferrari. Take what you want and need, and leave what you dont want nor need. Everyone is free to grab whatever they truly want, it’s there for the taking. When things are readily available in that sense, people will truly start to take only what they really want, without wanting something just to be better, and have more, than anyone else.
All companies will strive to produce the best product, the best service, not to compete with other companies in order to receive a higher share of consumer money, but rather, simply to produce to the best of their ability for the sheer pleasure of the process.
The land is available, and accessible, to all.
Food and water is available and accessible to all.
Education is available and accessible to all.
Employment is available and accessible to all.
Money does not exist.
Leadership does not exist.
Government does not exist.
Politics do not exist.
Leaders do not exist.
There’s no ruler, and no one to rule.
People will be governed by their own, individual inherently-good-judgment.
No one’s interests or voice or choices will be restricted limited or defined or chosen or denied by the majority.
Everyone has a choice and opinion. Their voice will be heard, and their needs catered to.
Freedom will be a reality only when we see each other as equals, instead of seeing a worth, or price tag, or potential, attached to our identities.
Ego will be stripped of its superiority complex.
Ego will no longer be the need of bettering one’s self at the expense of others.
Ego will no longer be the need of bettering a select group of individuals at the expense of others.
Ego will be the strive to be the best one can be, while still allowing, and encouraging, and embracing, the next person’s strive to do the exact same.
Anarchist-communist-individualism. That is the Doctrine of Noha. And how do we achieve it?
Stop.
Participating.
Other people’s lives are not joint-effortly decided.
Determine YOUR OWN path.
NOT anyone else’s.
Side note: wasn’t it a richer, more beautiful world when no one knew about anyone else, and everyone left everyone alone? Before technology, before imperialism, before globalization? Simple. Peaceful.
Morocco Day 10
High energy performance by Senegalese Doudou Ndiaye Rose and his (90?) sons. Doudou is a UNESCO designated living treasure:
The Catholic chorale from Dakar:
At Bab Al-Makina, Farid Ayyaz and co. of Pakistan:
Kawali (Qawwali):
The Arabo-Andalous Orchestra of Fez, directed by Mohammed Briouel:
The dancing backup singers were going wild. Total trance:
This guy in the audience went wild. I don’t think he sat down from start til finish of the concert:
Pakistan and Morocco united:
I stopped going to Dar Tazi and the Sufi Nights. Quite frankly, the crowd ruined the entire experience for me. Very disorganized and not worth the trouble and headache I would’ve landed myself into if I’d kept going.
Few more Morocco trip posts, coming soon.
Morocco Day 9: Youssou Ndour
Back to the music festival, starting with the Bat’ha. Another baroque ensemble, the Concerto di Arianna from Italy. They were cold, frigid, didn’t communicate well with the audience, and I got to spend around two hours catching up on some sleep:
They were playing Vivaldi. I’m sorry, I’m not big on classical music. Snooooooooze:
At Bab Al-Makina, the legendary Youssou Ndour:
Collaborating with the sufi Tijāniyyah Brotherhood of Morocco:
Some African (Senegalese?) dancer:
At the Dar Tazi, the Sufi Nights continued. The Medina Group of Russia:
These chicks were God awful. Not only were they singing along to recorded music, but they were singing in ARABIC. Awful.
Thank God they weren’t the highlight, and with good reason! Next up were the Khalwatiyya Brotherhood of Meknes, directed by Abdellah El Makhtoubi:
They were AMAZING. Their voices, their performance, their energy. But I left halfway through, thanks to the bastard audience. They would not shut the fuck up, even when I shouted at a few idiots, gave some idiots evil stares, nothing worked, nothing. By the time I left people were Moroccan-dabka dancing (what do you call a Moroccan dabka? Madry…)… I was scared for my life honestly. It was a stampede. You can hear how annoying it was in the video:
More Morocco trip posts coming soon.
Morocco Day 9: Sefrou Treasure Hunt
I wanted to go see a voodoo/black magic/white magic/whatever shop to take some pictures coz I’d read somewhere that they were a real photographic treat. Hassan said there was one in Sefrou, so we took the long, scenic route out there:
Finally at Sefrou, we went to see a synagogue:
Inscription on the light thing. If anyone knows Hebrew, lemme know what it says:
Jewish architecture. Balconies and big windows:
We didn’t find the place I had in mind (Hassan probably did it on purpose to stop me from going there. People have a real, intense fear of those places), but we did end up having some good grub:
Rest of my Morocco trip posts up and coming.
