Flag burning, calling for cutting off relations - ie communication, and sporadic protesting without true activism is useless to everyone. Jordanian officials and any Arab official who care about the Palestinians and peace in general need to truly get their act together and step up, stand for something and sincerely and diligently take action towards it.... every waking moment of their life until resolution is achieved.
The burning of the Israeli flag in our parliament achieves nothing other than an outburst of emotion. What a farce this kind of action is. Calling to cancel the Jordanian-Israeli peace agreement is an even bigger joke. Wanting to expel the Israeli ambassador solves nothing. That is not diplomacy, and it's certainly not a conversation for peace. Then what? Does anyone calling for such ridicule ever ask that? Do they stop to imagine what's next after they kick up a seasonal tantrum?
Perhaps using our best strategic minds and communicators to find new solutions to this old problem would serve the Palestinians, and humanity, better. Perhaps an active and continuous commitment towards effective negotiation and creative forward looking plans would serve better.
It's time to wake up from this slumber. Time to remain alert and active every moment of every day until a Palestinian/Israeli solution is established. It's time to stop the anesthetic in our air and the delusion in our water.
Compassion is a way of life rather than a momentary fad.
The woes of our world today require minds, words and a whole new conversation for effective achievements. Until then, the blood will continue to flood the streets.
12/29/2008
While Gaza is being annihilated....stop the charade and get to work
12/28/2008
Collecting for Gaza in Jordan this week
7iber and the Action Committee are organizing an emergency clothes and food drive in Amman for the people in Gaza. It’ll be a 48-hour campaign starting tomorrow morning, with the goods being delivered to Gaza by coming weekend. Find out how to contribute. Join forces with civil society movements in your neighborhood and make a difference.
Feel free to browse these pix, read this and this, and this, watch this, or simply Google Gaza, if you're looking for a reason.
12/23/2008
Just what the economist ordered
It's enlightening when economists talk creativity, and dialog ideas and innovation into business speak, and when creative industries are highlighted for their unique strengths and economic potential.
That's what Jordan's leading economist Yusuf Mansur does as he positions Jordan as a creative economy in this interesting piece in today's Jordan Times. He starts off by asking,
Can Jordan become a creative economy where young people’s ideas, those with the most creative minds in the world, can be translated into a powerful industry worth billions of dollars?This economy is about the convergence of creativity, innovation and business, and his response is optimistic and attainable,
The answer is a qualified yes. Some work, however, needs to be done.He reminds us that the
....wealth of a nation, and thus its competitiveness, derives from the stock of the following seven types of capital: natural, financial and man-made resources, institutional, human, knowledge and cultural capital. The last four make up the core of a creative economy, the environment where ideas acquire an economic content (i.e., have value).and why creative workers are needed as important contributions to the workplace,
and like any good economist, he shows us the way,A creative worker turns an event and its logistics into a holistic experience. He/she turns a monolog into an evolving dialog that rhymes with and resonates in the hearts and minds of others. A producer finds synergy among some of the most unlikely components and delivers an audiovisual output that sells and creates economies of scale and scope where there was none. The R&D worker designs the next patent or solution for an environmental challenge and benefits not only the economy of today but also that of the future.
Creative economy empowers the jewellery worker in a social development program to think in an entrepreneurial way about starting her or his own design line. A curator transforms buildings erected in the name of culture into a year-round dynamic and buzzing home for artists, audiences and the community at large, thus making culture, molding with creativity rigid mortar and structures into a working social and economic capital.
Urgently needed is the use of language and understanding of: creative economy, creative industries, creative workers; legal awareness and environment - legislation and intellectual property rights; restructuring and funding public plans to enhance capacity building of creative people; positioning and pitching Jordan as an investor in the creative economy; inviting local and foreign investment in the portfolios of specific industries with the aim of enhancing creativity; conducting economic evaluations of the impact of creative workers on Jordanian industries and categorizing them with Creative Economy global metrics; documenting stories of successes with facts and proofs; delineating potential growth trends, challenges, opportunities and strategies; transforming attitudes towards what we have and should do in order to create an urgent sense of commitment towards nurturing the potential of a creative Jordanian economy.
Jordan can deliver world-class creative work. The solution lies in cooperation between business and government to enhance, not harness, this creativity. Give creativity a chance and it will manifest itself. Better still, give it a platform and it will dazzle. Let it have centre stage and it will win the day and achieve for Jordan that competitiveness that has for long eluded it. read full article
Is creativity what we need to drive our new economy? Are these the industries that will help generate the jobs needed and the environment we desire?
This UNCTAD 2008 report on the Creative Economy provides an interesting overview from the world and delves into the components of this economy to help guide more informed policy making. On Facebook, Ramsey reminded me of Richard Florida's book The Rise of the Creative Class, and the importance of and impact on place. Something CSBE's architectural historian Mohammad al-Asad writes about thru his many soulful Amman and Arab city journeys. Among many others, a must read is his piece from last summer, The City's Creative Energies.
As we look towards a new year, yearn for creative and cultural richness, and search for economic optimism, an investment in Jordan's creative economy could offer that boost we deserve.
Related on this blog
12/22/2008
60 years of history matter
CHRONICLES OF A REFUGEE is a 6-part documentary looking at the global Palestinian refugee experience over the last 60 years. Filmed in over 15 countries, includes more than 250 interviews of Palestinian refugees living in over 25 countries.
CHRONICLES OF A REFUGEE is an independently produced film made by Adam Shapiro, Perla Issa and Aseel Mansour, with a musical score by Tarik "Excentrik" Kazaleh.
Learn more. See the faces, know the voices, visit the stories. Get a whole new conversation going.
Arabic
English
I appreciate this kind of historical documentation with straight forward conversations by diverse people.
12/16/2008
Shoo?
شو الفرق بين الكندرة والصرماي؟
ADI MIZBAN/The Associated Press
That guy totally threw a shoe at President Bush - the game.
Not shoe trained.
Reaction to shoe attack.
The Associated Press
The Associated Press
Flying shoe thread
In AngryArab's shoes
Shoes and more.
Missed Opportunity.
Shoe flinging - contempt in Adelaide, Australia.
WikiShoeThrower
12/10/2008
Adopted 60 years ago today
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights preamble includes:
..... Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,..... full textAnd article 27. 1 reads:
Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
12/07/2008
Stand for something
You can't please everyone.
You can't get it your way every time.
You can't do it all.
You can't reach everywhere.
You can't say the right things to everyone.
Choose.
Define what you don't want.
Select what you do want.
Live it. Work it. Breathe it.
Do it all the way.
Some people won't like it.
Some situations will get uncomfortable.
It will get lonely at times.
Choose your principles and live by them.
Make your voice heard about that which you believe.
Move everything you do in the direction of what you stand for.
Ignore the lure of the popularity contest.
Have faith in your choice.
Whoever you are, whatever you do, now more than ever, Jordan needs us each to stand for something.
Reflect. Listen. Observe. Choose. Contribute.
12/05/2008
Must do from above
I never tire from doing Wadi Rum floating snug in a basket to the hush of a balloon. I've been up a few times and it's a breathtaking journey over what I find to be one of the most magical places on earth.
The Royal Aero Sports Club reopens this weekend, so if you're into skydiving, microlights, tandem jumps and flying high, this club's for you. The south of Jordan from above is spectacular. Unless you have vertigo I suppose! A trip that clears your head and imposes an incredible feeling of awe. You can imagine the water that once covered everything, hang out with the creatures of once upon a time, and explore your favorite camping spot in a whole new light. From above, Wadi Rum is a sight to experience!
12/04/2008
For a good time, engage creators
"No one has ever changed the world by consulting", blogs Matt on triiibes.
It got me thinking about the long list of initiatives and issues and institutes in Jordan that have been choking for years and counting because they have not been delivered on. So much is piled up in files and has not been created into reality, not much got to the finish line, and so much is ailing and aching as a result of. We are in danger of continuing this downward spiral of non-delivery if our attitude and sense of accountability doesn't shift, fast.
Creators are obsessed with making things. The work of a creator is nothing without that which is created. An output (physical or non, experience or movement). A creation. A product of the intellect.
Usually that creation has a function, an effect or use that impacts people in some way. And usually, creators feed off that use. They need to know that what they created has been used by their target in ways it was intended. Creators are curious.... they can't wait to see how things manifest.
An artist needs his audience to react/interact with his art so that he gauges how they received it. He wants immersion for the other to find out how they are moved - reactions he may like or not, but he wants them.
A leader needs her team to engage in the plan that is created so that she knows how better to lead and inspire, and how to illuminate opportunities for the innovative to shine. She also needs to evaluate how the created plan works with the target market so as to evolve and grow and do well and do good.
Consultants are generally satisfied with delivering a plan. They are not curious to know how well it's implemented and how people use/react/interact with the plan. They believe their job is done with a big document, or sexy presentation, or an award winning proposal, or a bigger title on the business card. They are usually not makers. They are satisfied with the photo op and press release and growing the resume.
You can tell people what to do.... sure someone has to. And you can also be part of the making, stick around and participate in the fine tuning of the work so that people benefit for real. That benefit may be entertainment, or an event, an ad campaign, an invention, art, a movie, jewelery, a game, a book, a kids classroom, a software solution for the health care industry, a workspace for the physically handicapped, a public space for everyone, music, a movement....
Last night I went to the Amman Stand Up Comedy Festival and enjoyed the talent lined up for the themed Arabian Nights. And I would've have been blown away had the overall environment/atmosphere/event been created with care for audience experience. The show started twenty minutes late which got intolerable by the minute not because of idle time, but because of how that time was filled. Blaring Arabic pop music was louder than a night out clubbing, causing throbbing headaches and a bit of nausea for that mere one third of an hour wait which seemed like a whole day of loud. Some in the audience signed to the closest usher to lower the volume a tad only to receive a shrug miming back, "the show will start soon". The mic level of the performers remained as loud throughout the show! The first three check points from the street to the theatre where guests were required to show their tickets were manned by police officers in uniform who continued to roam the inside of the theatre during the show. The lighting on the stage included a blaring white spotlight aimed at the audience, and remained glaring throughout the entire show, and no the invite did not say 'bring your dark sunglasses'. The outdoor ad campaign was formulaic in style, tired, ineffective in design and positioning, and tasteless for trashing the streets, unnecessarily. All I could think of whenever passing a fallen poster was 'where is the social responsibility of the sponsors towards culture and communication, and where is the GAM's social responsibility towards this city's public spaces?
Were the comedians good? Yes they were.
Were the event logistics handled well? Yes they were.
Then why did I not enjoy the overall experience? Because nobody had created the event for the audience.
It seemed like the deaf dudette got the sound gig, the blind dude got the lighting gig.... and the experience producer just didn't get the memo. The night seemed like it was put together by a bunch of consultants that did not include experience creators. A cold list of tasks delivered without atmosphere crafting. Logistics experts and not makers of a movement.
There's so much talent out there. There's so much need and desire and following for that talent. There's so much consultancy work that's shelved and boxed and pickled in this country while people wait and wait and wait. It's not enough to service anymore. Isn't it time for those paying the bills to engage creators?
