The Thief and the Orphan

A British observer, a Mr. C. C. Lewis, tells us two stories from Arabia in the early 1930s, a few years after Ibn Saud conquered the Holy Cities Mecca and Medina. The two stories are supposed to be examples of “punishments ferocious to European eyes”:

“Not long ago a wretched Hadhrami stole a piece of the black stone from the Ka’ba in Mecca, because he thought that it would be lucky, but he discovered that any luck coming his way would have to be in Paradise, as his head was chopped off.”

“A Hejâzi who murdered his father and mother and then appealed to the King [Ibn Saud] for clemency on the ground that he was an orphan, was executed at the same time.”

[Source: "Ibn Sa'ûd and the Future of Arabia", an article by C. C. Lewis, July 1933]

الكتاب الأخضر – The Green Book

Since I first heard of Muammar al-Qaddafi’s Green Book I’ve wanted to read it, but it is not the easiest book to get hold of. A few days ago, however, I discovered that the entire English version of the book is available online here.

In his controversial book Qaddafi outlines his views on and version of democracy and discuss his political philosophy. Mixed with Qaddafi’s colourful personality, I think this could be an interesting read. Here is a small quote:

“A sound rule is that each nation should have a religion. For it to be otherwise is abnormal. Such an abnormality creates an unsound situation which becomes a real cause for disputes within one national group. There is no other solution but to be harmonious with the natural rule, i.e., each nation has a single religion. When the social factor is compatible with the religious factor, harmony prevails and the life of communities becomes stable, strong, and develops soundly.”

Just as Mao had his little red book, Qaddafi has his little green book. Last, but not least, is Ruhnama (The Book of the Soul), written by Saparmurat Niyazov, late president-for-life of Turkmenistan. The latter is a really weird book and is translated into several languages by companies who wanted to invest in Turkmenistan. If you want to read this wonderful book, which have its own statue, you’ll find the whole english text here.

Muammar has also written another book called Escape to Hell and Other Stories, which was published in 1998. A favourable review called it “a lump of uneven, partially digested literary cud”, but added that “ it’s still a valuable book.” A critical review stated that “It’s tempting to conclude that the man is hopelessly cracked-but often enough there’s method in his seeming madness”.  Here is a small story from the book:

“The Blessed Herb and the Cursed Tree”:

Good news for the mentally disturbed, whether male or female. A herb has been discovered in the plains of Benghazi, and it is now sold at Hajj Hasan’s shop. In a television interview I personally conducted with him, and which was seen by more than three million people, Hajj Hasan said that the herb was a cure for the mentally disturbed. As for those who have not yet become mentally disturbed, Hajj Hasan said nothing about them…There is also anti-dizziness medicine. If you should feel light-headed or dizzy for any reason, for example if you get dizzy after shopping for a shirt for your son that costs one dinar at the state-owned store, then finding it at a private store for 20 dinars, returning to the state-owned store to find it gone, then back to the private store only to find that its price had risen to 25 dinars while you were gone only for five minutes, then Hajj Hasan can assure you that he has the right medicine for you…

Colonial Racism

The racist attitude among many of Britain’s colonialists towards “natives”  is well-known. I recently found another example in a quote from the British Consulate in French Syria dated 5th of September 1924. Syria was at the time not so fond of the Britain, especially if you believe the Syrian newspapers. The Consulate, who represented the merchants from Nejd in Arabia at the time, was frustrated by this anti-British attitude and it’s influence on Nejdian merchants:

“The local Newspapers, in common with others in the Near East, are filled with artilces [sic] that are anti-British, either openly or by insinuation and poison the minds of unthinking simple folk like Nejdians, and in fact most Arabs” and “the erroneous news is widely accepted as the truth.”

Representing the Sultanate of Nejd in Syria was apparently not the easiest task in the world. According to the Consulate:

“the Oriental is always on the look out for verbal traps, and it is not easy to convince him that none are intended.”

This attitude might not be so strange considering Britain’s diplomatic history of verbal traps.

Source: FO 684/1

Israel har stengt ambassaden i Mauritania

Mauritania er eitt av berre tre land i den arabiske liga som har anerkjend og oppretta diplomatiske relasjonar med staten Israel. Dei to andre er Egypt og Jordan. Den mauritanske regjeringa har  derimot no bedt Israel om å pakke sakene sine og dra. Mauritania fraus relasjonane til Israel i januar som protest mot krigen i Gaza og sendte heim den mauritanske ambassadøren i Israel. Israel fekk 48 timar på å pakke saman og har no stengt ambassaden.

Dette fann stad nokre dagar før Muammar Gadafi av Libya kjem på statsbesøk til Mauritania. Gadafi har tidlegare bedt om kutte dei diplomatiske relasjonanen til Israel. Mauritania gjekk mellom anna gjennom eit militærkupp i august i fjor.

Elles har Marokko brote relasjonane med Iran grunna noko ein tidlegare iransk innanriksminister har sagt om Bahrain, som han har hevda har vore Iran sin 14. provins og at dei hat eit sete i det iranske parlamentet.

Irak eller Iraq? Ein fem år lang krangel

Før den moderne staten Irak vart oppretta etter fyrste verdskrig var området betre kjend som Mesopotamia. Dette var òg det offisielle namnet britane brukte om området. Då britane skulle lage ei statseining av dei tidlegare osmanske provinsane Basra og Bagdad (Mosul-provinsen vart lagt til seinare), ynskte dei eit nytt namn. Den britiske høgkommisæren i Irak på denne tida, Percy Cox, ba 13. august 1921 koloniminister Winston Churchill om at ein frå då av skulle bruke namnet Iraq i staden for Mesopotamia. Churchill godtok dette etter å ha rådført seg med Hubert Young, ein tenestemann i Midtaustenavdelinga av Kolonidepartementet. Bruken av namnet Mesopotamia forsvann dimed raskt frå offisiell britisk bruk.

Dette var vel og bra, hadde det ikkje vore for ein viss Eyre Crowe, den permanente undersekretæren for utanlandssaker i det britiske utanriksdepartementet. Utanriksdepartementet meinte at ein heller burde skrive Irak med k, ikkje med q, i offisiell bruk. Dette gjekk naturlegvis ikkje kolonidepartementet og Hubert Young med på. Dimed var krangelen i full gang og i fem år, frå januar 1922 til juni 1926, krangla britisk UD og KD om ein skulle skrive Irak eller Iraq.

Før Crowe døydde i april 1925 hadde han dette å seie om spørsmålet:

When we read of the battle of Kut or the heroics of Kut, we know where we are. The Colonial Office want to insist on our writing Qut! We are familiar for generations with the Turkish dignitary called the Kaimakam. The Colonial Office protests that we must write Qaimaqam!

I call it lunacy!

Utanriksdepartementet stod fast på sitt og nekta konsekvent å bøye seg før William Tyrrell, som tok over for Crowe, gav etter i juni 1926 og ba sine underordna om å bruke q.

No kan debatten om k vs. q verke ein smule artig og tøysete, noko den sikkert var, men mykje av det som låg under argumenta var alvorleg. Debatten gjekk nemleg ut på korleis ein på ein korrekt måte skulle transliterere arabiske namn om til engelsk og gjere det brukande innanfor offisiell språkbruk. Kolonidepartementet stod for ein lettversjon av translitererte namn, slik sitatet over viser, medan utanriksdepartementet stod for ein meir inkonsekvent bruk av namn basert på kva ein til då hadde skrive og dimed var vande med. Etter fyrste verdskrig fekk Storbritannia eit behov for meir nøyaktig geografisk kunnskap om den ikkje-vestlege verda og med det eit anerkjend system for transliterasjon av utanlandske geografiske namn. Difor var PCGN, Permanent Committee on Geographical Names for British Official Use, etablert i mai 1919, og krangelen om k vs. q må difor sjåast i lys av dette.

På arabisk skrivast forresten Irak slik: العراق , og blir transliterert slik: Al-ʾIrāq

For dei som er interesserte i ei mykje lengre utgreiing om denne debatten kan sjå artikkelen eg henta historia frå, Irak or Iraq? The Problem of Geographical Nomenclature in British Official Use av Jeffery A. Rudd.