Theodor Herzl and Abdul Rahman Al Kawakibi...by Jamil Shawwa

In English, and poetic lines in Arabic, below, the describes a conversation between Al Kawakibi and his book of Reform..


There was a time in the early 20th century when very few individuals inspired nations to build or rebuild their countries and nations, and to do good and not evil for humanity. The people of the State of Israel in the Middle East had Theodor Herzl, the Palestinians in the very same Middle East  and the very same timeframe did not have anybody. Israel grew and thrived, and the Palestinians are still trying to figure out how to dig tunnels in Sinai to smuggle “stuff”. In 1947, the UN granted two people, two states, one accepted and build a country and a nation, and the other blindly and arrogantly and ignorantly, refused- since then the palestinians have been bought and sold by their own. And since then, the Palestinians have been using the same  brand of hypocrisy but instead of the model of the 1947, every year, the same model, but different year attached to it and that model did not drive to a state. Syria also was inspired by a reformer  by the name of Abdul Rahman Al Kawakibi, from Aleppo, the battlefield city now of the final days of a tyrant named  Al Assad. Al Kawakibi called upon his people in the very early years of the  20th century to rise, and to do good for themselves, to kick the oppressors, their own Syrians, out of their minds and hearts, and to kick fear away and build a secular, democratic country. He was only one, and could not mobilize anyone. Herzl mobilized the world. Al Kawakibi could not, not out of deficiency in him, but out of deficiency in his people; contrary to Herzl. Here it is, in Arabic,...meanwhile, I have no doubt that in Heaven Herzl now is congratulating and shaking Al Kawakibi’s hands.....and Al kawakibi is returning the favor.. The poetic lines are about a conversation that I wrote between Al Kawakibi and his book, about a bid they both had that things will change and that the oppressors will disappear from Syria..the Title is “Al Kawakibi Smiles...”

الكواكبي يبتسم ......
بقلم جميل محمد الشوا

فجاة ظهر الكواكبي بعد طول غياب و ليس نسيان
وابتسم و فكر و نظر و مسك كتابة و كلم كتابة
وقال لكتابة اللي بصبر بينول
وانا صبرت, ازا بتتزكر الرهان اللي قبل مية سنة تراهنا علية


..كتابه رد علية وقال له, يا مصلح, انا بتزكر بس لسه القمر ما طلع و لا هل..
رد الكواكبي و قال,ما تتهرب يا كتاب
القمر قبل ما يكون قمر, بيكون هلال
اطلع فوق, الهلال نور و طلع,
و قول يا كتاب, هل ممكن يطلع قمر من غيرهلال....

جميل

A Contract with the House of Windsor...by Jamil Shawwa

In the US we  started to watch the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics few hours after the actual ceremony took place. NBC wanted as it did with the opening ceremony to have the events broadcasted in TV prime time in America, which translates to  8:00 PM-tons of commercials and business. A little background information. Great Britain decided as it did with the opening ceremony, to honor its history. And to honor the House of Windsor. In an era where the royals have become more and more irrelevant, the House of Windsor reinvents itself and now Britain cannot imagine its existence without the House of Windsor. In such a showcase of loyalty to history, the British today as they did seventeen days ago, have renewed the queen’s and the royal family contract with Britain. This London 2012 Olympics to the British was about an empire that was and has been, about a history that will never repeat itself except in James Bond movies and videos of John Lennon, and recordings of Winston Churchill. But it was also a contract for the future, the future of the royal family and what it means to them. The British in the London 2012 Olympics told the world that in every one of them, in their DNA, there is a sample from the House of windsor, an image that reminds them of who they are, and who they have been. The British, with all their old and new ethnic mosaic, feel that their identity, self respect, existence, is connected directly with these royals, with the future of the royal family, with William and Kate and Harry and even with Pippa..I mentioned before that England every now and then shines, but in all the occasions that it shined, those occasions were somehow connected with that sharp little old lady with the silver hair, that was escorted seventeen days ago from that old office in that old palace, in that old city, by that old loyal agent, James Bond, and was parachuted, or her substitute, it does not really matter, to the new olympic field, and appeared in her new designated box, and did not smile, but looked very seriously, to a world that her family built over centuries, passing by her, giving her one last hurrah..