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Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, August 2008, pages 42-43 Northern California Chronicle Arab Cultural and Community Center Honors Alice Nashashibi on Her 80th BirthdayBy Elaine Pasquini
FAMILY, FRIENDS and community leaders gathered at San Francisco’s Medjool restaurant April 20 to honor Alice Nashashibi on her 80th birthday. The celebration to pay tribute to the former president of the Arab Cultural and Community Center was the centerpiece of the ACCC’s Spring Awards Luncheon. A longtime icon in the Bay Area Arab-American community, Alice supports many organizations, including the Arab Film Festival, Institute for Middle East Understanding, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, U.S. OMEN and Link TV’s MOSAIC. Praising the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs as “the best source of information on what is going on in the Arab world,” Alice has been a member of AET’s Choir of Angels for years, and at the awards luncheon urged everyone to subscribe to the magazine. Ever the activist—even at a celebration in her honor—Alice blasted the mainstream media for reporting only the negative news about Arabs and failing to recognize their contributions to the world of art, culture and literature. “We want to hear the words Arab filmmaker, Arab poet, Arab musician,” she enthused. As in past years, the ACCC bestowed Community Service Awards on deserving community members. Current President Dr. Jess Ghannam presented this year’s awards to Loubna Qutami and Desiree Dahdah for their outstanding services to the cultural center. Shamsan Hadwan and Kaid Alameri received $1,000 educational scholarships. The festivities concluded with musical entertainment provided by the popular Georges Lammam Ensemble. The ACCC may be reached at (415) 664-2200; via e-mail at <info@arabculturalcenter.org>; or via its Web site, <www.arabculturalcenter.org>. Michel Shehadeh Brings Passion, Expertise to Arab Film Festival
“I’m definitely going to put everything I can into this project,” Michel Shehadeh told the Washington Report in a recent interview. “I want to make the Arab Film Festival not just an Arab-American cultural event, but an American cultural event and an integral part of the art and culture scene as seen through Arab lenses and eyes.” Sitting in the film festival’s office in San Francisco’s hip South Park district, the new AFF executive director spoke excitedly about his goals and ideas for the United States’ oldest independent Arab film festival. “I want to institutionalize and stabilize the film festival in terms of revenue and financial resources and make it the focal point of Arab films,” he explained. “It is our job to bring quality and award-winning films to American audiences, and we need more than the Arab-American community to attend. Our aim is to reach the general public.” Shehadeh served six years as the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee’s western regional director, but the Palestinian from the West Bank town of Birzeit is perhaps best known for his 20-year persecution by the U.S. government which ended last year, when the Board of Immigration Appeals dismissed all charges against him (see Jan./Feb. 2008 Washington Report, p. 45). More than 100 films from Arab countries, as well as Europe, the United States and Canada, have been submitted for the 12th annual festival, which will run Oct. 16-31 in San Francisco, Berkeley, San Jose and Los Angeles. “This overwhelming response from so many countries contributes to the diversity of the festival,” Shehadeh noted. “There is a renaissance in Arab filmmaking with the first independent Jordanian film, first Saudi and first Bahraini. People are becoming more interested in seeing films and stories coming from the Arab world made by Arabs in both the U.S. and Europe. It’s happening and it is an exciting time for us.” Mysterious Statue Stymies Small Town’s Officials
Mystery surrounds an Egyptian statue nestled amid a garden of Scotch broom on the lower slopes of Marin County’s Mount Tamalpais. The 45-inch cast cement likeness of ancient Egypt’s sky-god Horus faces due west and gazes directly at the 2,471-foot mountain’s peak. Accidentally discovered by a crew from the Mill Valley Fire Department during a routine brush-clearing project on the protected public property, city officials are mystified as to the statue’s origin, who placed it in the remote location inaccessible by automobile, how the estimated 1,200 pound object was transported, and—most importantly—why. The Mill Valley Police Department contacted Phil Pasquini [this reporter’s husband] for assistance in solving the conundrum after reading an article on the Internet about his technique of creating reproductions of Egyptian artifacts (see Jan./Feb. 2003 Washington Report, p. 59). After bushwhacking our way through an overabundance of coastal scrub, chaparral, poison oak, bush monkey flower, and various species of grasses and forbs, we examined and photographed the mystic sculpture. Concerned that the statue might have been stolen from a local collection, Pasquini contacted Bay Area museums, including San Jose’s Rosicrucian, about possible missing pieces, but was told all of their exhibits were intact. Unless and until further clues develop, the falcon deity remains another ancient Egyptian enigma and adds to the folklore surrounding Marin’s famous mountain. Free Palestine Peace and Solidarity Festival
Promoting a message of peace and justice, not only in Palestine, but worldwide, was the main goal of the Nakba-60 Free Palestine Peace and Solidarity Festival held May 10 at San Francisco’s Civic Center Plaza. The daylong event commemorated the 60 years since the Palestinian Nakba (catastrophe) when the state of Israel was created by displacing 750,000 indigenous Palestinian Arabs and destroying 531 Arab villages (see May/June 2008 Washington Report, pp. 16-43). In addition, the festival showcased the success and musical talent of young Palestinian musicians, dancers and artists and featured the largest number of Palestinian hip-hop performers to ever appear together in San Francisco. Performers included Politikal Heat, DJ Emancipation, Boots Riley, NaR, Mamaz, Patriarch, Dam, Omar Offendum, Shadia Mansour, Fred Wreck, Ras Ceylon, Arab Summit, and others. Around the periphery of the plaza, informational tents displayed photographs of Palestine prior to 1948, solidarity art and resistance cartoons. The Local Nakba Committee and Palestine Right to Return Coalition, an ad hoc group of Bay Area Palestinians, organized the event. Yemeni Unification Day Celebration
On May 22, in celebration of Yemeni Unification Day, the parlor of San Francisco’s Arab Cultural and Community Center was transformed into a souq featuring colorful displays of jewelry, clothing, art and an authentic silver dagger (jambia). Following a traditional Middle Eastern meal, Honorary Consul of Yemen Mansoor Ismael addressed the 50 guests on the importance and benefits of the unification 18 years ago of north and south Yemen—the former Yemen Arab Republic and People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen, respectively—and the current Republic of Yemen’s political, cultural and economic status. Some 7,000 Yemenis reside in the San Francisco Bay Area. Elaine Pasquini is a free-lance journalist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. |
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