- Latest bulletin from Mazin Qumsiyeh Archived Message
Posted by scrabb
on August 21, 2019, 6:24 pm
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I am back safely in Palestine after 24 days in the UK where I met and spoke to over 1400 people. For those new subscribers and others on my email distribution (about 50,000) who have not seen it, here is a link to short video that explains what we do: The Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability (PIBS) includes the Palestine Museum of Natural History (PMNH) and botanical gardens. The vision is sustainable human and natural communities. The mission to research, educate about, and conserve our natural world, culture and heritage and use knowledge to promote responsible empowered human interactions with all components of our environment. Thousands of people benefited directly and any more indirectly from these activities Our next stage of expansion is a green building and offering diplomas, bachelors, and higher degrees in biodiversity and sustainability. See palestinenature.org (volunteer, donate etc) There is a global assault on truth to benefit elites who are profiting out of misery of over 2 billion people. Imperialism and Zionism and reactionary forces of greed are still dominant. Whether in the US or in the UK (where I just toured giving talks to hundreds of people), the assault is relentless. As a last card of racists who promote Zionism and imperialism, they use the "anti-semitism" as a last charge in their arsenal to suppress any discussion of human rights. Over the nearly six decades since I learned to read in my childhood, I have been fond of reading. In my 20s I became obsessed with acquiring books and have accumulated thouysands although when I came back to Palestine under occupation in 2008, I had to give up 90% of my collection. I acquired another three dozen books in my trip to the UK and being addicted to reading, read quite a bit of those. But even learned of other books existence which I did not yet get but was able to read much of them and about them on the internet. An example of the latter category is The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World By Iain McGilchrist see for reviews/interview http://frontierpsychiatrist.co.uk/interview-with-iain-mcgilchrist/ But here are notes on two less well known books acquired at an Antiquariat Bookshop last week and read on the way. Jerusalem Journey: Pilgrimage to the Holy Land in the Fifteenth Century by H.F.M Prescott published in 1954. The book draws on narrative given by many travelers of that era (when Genoa and Venice where at their zenith of dispatching travelers from Europe) to draw a meticulous and detailed reconstruction. One is struck actually not by the strangeness of the pilgrims’ experiences of that era but of the similarity to our own era (I teach tourism students at Bethlehem University). Syria: The Desert and the Sown by Gertrude Lowthian Bell published 1908. A remarkable and overlooked book I love to read these travel books in our region published in the 19th and early 20th century and we did publish two research papers one dealing with Tristram’s and the other of Goupil’s travels. But of all these books done by male travelers, I never encountered a less orientalist take than this one (exceptionally done by a female traveler which could explain it). Her observation on people draw attention. How the Druze and the Arab Bedouin in Southern Syria (Jordan and Palestine) thought and functioned is remarkable. I also was mesmerized by a book given to me by a friend published in 1938 “Red Star Over China” by Edgar Snow which includes the earliest detailed insights and interviews by leaders of the communist revolution that changed Asia’s and arguably the world history permanently. It was a remarkable read showing how a small group of people emphasized knowledge and reading were able to take on the combined power of the Japanese empire which occupied about a third of china and the reactionary right wing power of Chiang Kai Check which ruled the other two thirds of China with help of western powers. I and a few friends are thinking of starting a book club meeting every Saturday at our Palestine Museum of Natural History ( palestinenature.org/visit). If you are in Palestine and is interested, do let me know. One day, when picketing the White House in opposition to the Vietnam war, a journalist asked A.J. Muste: "Why do you demonstrate in the rain? Do you think you will change the country this way?" "No," replied Muste, "I don't do this to change the country. I do this so the country doesn't change me." Stay Human and come visit us in Palestine Mazin Qumsiyeh A bedouin in cyberspace, a villager at home Professor, Founder, and (volunteer) Director Palestine Museum of Natural History Palestine Institute of Biodiversity and Sustainability Bethlehem University Occupied Palestine http://qumsiyeh.org http://palestinenature.org facebook pages Personal https://www.facebook.com/mazin.qumsiyeh.9 Museum |
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