The Undistinguished Gentleman By Jamil Shawwa

During President Obama speech before the joint session of congress regarding the historic health care reform, a voice interrupted the class and the civility of the session by shouting you lie at the president. Joe Wilson, the South Carolina Representative who sent that shout could not be spontaneous as he declared later, the tone, the face and the anger, left me with no doubt that this man is a part of a very small group in this country that do not like Obama for the person and not for the what he stands. We have disagreed with presidents and we will continue to disagree and bravely voice our disagreements but what separate this great country from other nations is that we like to be civil when we disagree. Other presidents in the past were also hated for who they are and not for what they stand; John Kennedy, Catholic, Bill Clinton, defeated the republican revolution led by Ronald Reagan and in his case, he was also hated later because of his love scandals, but still these and other presidents were never interrupted while talking before the joint session of congress. To me this is a big No No; I like my country- America- for its civility and class. I am amazed at those in S. Cralonia that greeted Wilson as the Liberator; Wilson was rude and crude and this is how he should be looked at and remmebered.

Farouk Hosni and The UNISCO Battle

Farouk Hosni- the Egyptian minister of culture who lost the title of UNICCO chief to the Bulgarian candidate- went on the attack after his loss. He spoke of a cultural war between the south and the north and between the Arabs and Israel. He moreover went on a spree according to news agency- by stating that he will declare a cultural war against Israel who he blames for the loss of the position. This tone and attitude leave me with no doubts that Hosni does not deserve the position and that his loss is logical. Hosni - again, according to agencies- has said in the past that he would burn books from Israel if he found them in Cairo. Cultured and civilized people do not say that even if they were Politicians just saying rhetoric. My position against Farouk Hosni would have been the same if he said that he would burn Egyptians books; the issue is not which country, language or culture, the issue is the principle. Farouk Hosni also represents to say the least an autocratic regime, he has never been elected to any position and he has been a minister of culture in Egypt for the past twenty years. Before that, he ran the Egyptian Art Academy in Rome, Italy. Bulgaria on the other hand is an emerging democracy, its representative to the UNICCO position never insulted other cultures and never declared conspiracy theories against anyone; the choice was clear, Bulgaria wins. The Arabs are at a cross road, they must stop using Israel as a scapegoat for their own failures; Israel is not to blame. The Arabs must start treating Israel with civility and distinguish between political disputes and cultural cooperation and integration. If they- the Arabs- cannot separate until there is a solution for the Palestinian question- then the least they can do is not to use words like Burn when talking about Israel or its culture and books.