La invitación del sur...

English version in the comments section

Ya estoy en el momento de decidir que voy a hacer después de Canadá. Mi contrato se acaba este verano y tengo que pasar a otra etapa de mi vida... Y como cada vez que tengo que decidir qué hacer, me vienen a la mente ideas muy mezcladas:

Entre ideas “racionales” que me dicen, regresa a Túnez, empieza una carrera fija y una vida como los demás, que tal vez es tiempo hijo !!!

Otras más exóticas, me gritan: Oye, por qué tienes que vivir como los demás!? Ya estás aprovechando el viajar, encontrar gente diferente, aprender de ellos y vivir... que tenemos sólo una vida y que hay que vivirla. Hay demasiado que ver en el mundo.

Que felicidad tener la oportunidad de viajar y vivir en países diferentes... y aunque lo he hecho tres veces, no quiero parar ahora. Y hoy siento que el sur me llama.

Tengo muchas ganas de vivir por un rato en América Latina, no puedo explicar exactamente por qué, pero es cierto, el sentimiento está aquí. Tal vez es el idioma (que me gusta muchísimo hablar), tal vez es la cultura o el alma latinoamericana... tal vez es sólo una fijación que tengo... pero es mi deseo más grande ahora.

Cómo hacerlo?! No sé... ya lo he hecho tres veces con AIESEC, y no pienso hacer una práctica otra vez... tengo que encontrar otras posibilidades...

Dicen globalización... son chorradas, una de las necesidades de un mercado libre y de competencia perfecta, es la movilidad de los agentes económicos... bullshit

Tengo muy buenas habilidades, experiencias y hablo cinco idiomas, eso teóricamente me permitiría encontrar un trabajo fácilmente donde yo quisiera... pero es sólo teoria... la realidad es que soy un prisonero del sistema.

Ya veremos...

Speechless

This is coming from representatives of a country that bans torture...

Latest photos of Iraqis tortured in Abu Gharib:
http://www.thememoryhole.org/war/iraqis_tortured/

Silence on tourne…

It looks like I am hooked on this blog thing… When I created it I was so lazy to write. I managed to write a post per month the first three months and then nothing until a couple of weeks ago. It’s your feedback and comments guys that give me a great motivation to write, thanks to y'all.

I have had this posting ready for more than a month, sitting on a piece of paper on my room table, it’s time to post it.

In a month time I watched three movies in the theatres about the Middle East: “paradise now”, “Munich” and “Syriana”.

Although I would recommend them all, I have a special mention for the first two:

Paradise now is a great movie about two confused Palestinian young men called to accomplish their fate as suicide bombers. You come to share their everyday life in the occupied territories, their struggle, their frustration and disillusion as it takes you through the process of radicalization of the two young men.

Munich is one of the best movies of the year, the story turns around a Mossad agent whose mission is to track and kill 11 Palestinians supposed to be linked to the “Black September” kidnapping of Israeli athletes during the 1972 Olympic games in Munich.

It is not another James Bond movie, but a deep movie about how violence leads to madness, to common destruction and killing every hope for peace.

It’s a story of a man who believed that killing and revenge is the absolute answer then found out that violence only brings more violence; he learned that it leads to destroy your soul.

Two scenes are absolutely outstanding: a conversation between the Mossad agent “Avner” and a Palestinian activist; their discussion perfectly summarizes the Palestinian and Israelis vision of the conflict and their relationship with THE land. The second scene is Avner’s obsessed vision of the kidnapping while making love to his wife, a very emotional sequence that gives you shivers thanks to a stunning vocal performance in the background.

Two very remarkable movies about how absurd violence is. It’s interesting though the different opinions people may have:

Munich:
http://movie-reviews.colossus.net/movies/m/munich.html
http://erlenda.blogspot.com/2006/01/munich-spielbergs-lies-and-cover-ups.html

Paradise Now:
http://www.rogelsview.com/in-the-news/paradise-now-is-it/
http://movie-reviews.colossus.net/movies/p/paradise_now.html

It is happening in the Middle East… Arabs you are under the spot lights, smile ;)

Rockin' in the free world*

I’ve been thinking a lot these days about a few issues that are troubling me… Lately I’ve been a confused young man. And I realize that the world is going the wrong way. Everywhere there are signs of unrest, troubles, wars, riots, hatred. Is it anytime soon that the human being will dig deep in his beautiful side and live in peace?

I am particularly worried about the radicalization in the Arab countries, the radicals are here and getting stronger and stronger. Since 9/11, the wound didn’t recover but it’s getting worse: Wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, unrest in the Middle East, the caricatures issue… all these events are being used by the radicals to set the fellow believers against the oppressor, the western countries.

To resist this growing phenomenon, Arab countries have to go through an inevitable reform. Education, culture and democracy will free people’s minds and spread values of understanding and compassion.

Instead, the stubborn dictatorial regimes are indirectly helping fundamentalist ideas widen, by oppressing free minds through a consistent political and cultural censorship. Propaganda and the one sided speech are eating peoples brains, there is no dialogue, no criticism at all, which creates an optimal ground for extremist ideas to grow like poisoned mushrooms.

The world start to realize that what happens in another part of the hemisphere might affect their prosperity and welfare as well. Now, is the US project of the big democratic Middle East feasible!? Of course it is, but the will shouldn’t come from the U.S.A… but from the people.

Instead, where is the world going!???? I don’t know…

*Neil Young - Rockin' in the free world
Pearl jam cover of this song is awesome

Stop the massacre...

It is sad, incredible and so shocking, all the buzz and regrettable events that surrounded the publishing of the Prophet Mahomet caricatures in the Danish newspaper “Jyllands-Posten”

This issue clearly emphasizes a clash between two civilizations: the ‘west’, secular and democratic where the freedom of speech is above everything; and the Muslim world, a conservative and religious society with no democratic traditions.

While the ‘west’ watches the reaction of the Muslim world with incredulity, the anger is growing. The Danish government refuses to apologize in the name of the Danish people for the newspaper’s actions asserting that in a democracy the press is free and do not depend on the government’s restrictions.

The requests coming from several governments to condemn the caricatures are seen as a call to oppress freedom of speech. And as a reaction a movement of support to the Danish newspaper and the banned newspapers and magazines starts: newspapers relaying the caricatures, blogs, forums… in the name of freedom of speech and Democracy.

The ‘west’ couldn’t understand how Muslims all around the world are making such a big deal of simple caricatures, while they feel free to criticize the church, and caricaturize the figure of Jesus.

Unfortunately, the spiral is tearing both sides apart; a strong anti-Muslim reaction on one side (http://michellemalkin.com/archives/004446.htm, http://face-of-muhammed.blogspot.com) and claims of Islamophobia coming from a humiliated crowd leading to violent demonstrations in the streets of Damascus, Bayreuth, Palestine, Jakarta…

The reactions from both sides are escalating and the deep gap between the two societies is getting clearer and clearer.

The official calls asking the governments of Denmark and Norway to condemn the caricatures are not justified. Nor the violent demonstrations against the countries that had newspapers relaying the caricatures. How can you condemn a whole country because of a newspaper’s decision !? Radicals definitely are taking advantage of the situation to set the Muslim crowd on fire.

All this because of a gaffe in the first place, Jyllands-Posten should have examined the sensitivity of Muslims when it comes to touching the image of the Prophet Mohammed, a very strong sacred personality in Islam in which every Muslim person identifies himself.

There is a very thin line between a comment and an offense, like the width of a thread from a spider's web*. Every society has its symbols and taboos, and while the ‘west’ is losing its restrictions, they are still present everywhere else. Then we should question whether it is acceptable to infringe on the comfort zones of ‘non-western’ societies in an effort to protect the ‘West’s’ so-called right to freedom of speech?

* Katie Melua - Spider's web a song that summarizes it all.