Author: mara.ahmed

Anti-Zionism is celebrated on a New York Jewish stage, at Yivo panel on Bundism

Abba Solomon: The history of the Bund offers a contrast to the Zionist achievement of evicting Palestinians from their cities and villages, and indulging in Eretz Yisrael kitsch and fantasy.

“The Jewish Colonies in Palestine were Founded on the Catastrophe of the Arabs,” declared the title of a 1917 article by a Bundist writer in New York’s Forverts (Forward) newspaper — representing the Bund’s refusal from the start to ignore the rights of Arabs in Palestine who were in the way of the Zionist design.

The Bund’s history of fighting for workers’ rights, social equality and dignity, fostering Jewish autonomy and forming alliances, cruelly ended in the crucible of Bolshevik totalitarianism and Nazi predation of Poland.

Panel moderator Jack Jacobs said the Bund had a program that can be respected and replicated today, promoting a diaspora-oriented perspective as a nationally conscious group that is not nationalist, but rather Jewish and secular.

Instead of fixing on Palestine as the place of the Jewish future, the Bund approach was expressed in the slogan, “Where we are is our home.” More here.

let’s talk about class

so this is happening at 5pm today! Stevie Vargas, Ashley Gantt, Vincent Seravallo and Elisabetta Sanino D’Amanda are all on the panel. Johannes Bockwoldt will be introducing ‘i daniel blake’ and sharing a clip from an interview we did with Ken Loach himself, and i will be moderating throughout the evening. it’s an event that took one year to bring together. pls join us (all the details are on fb). hope to see u soon.

deconstructing ‘the niceties’

with my sister the brilliant (and stylish) Luticha A Doucette who led a discussion in my class today
she used dr edwin j. nichols’ ‘the philosophical aspects of cultural
difference’ to #deconstruct #theniceties a #play we saw together with my #students at Geva Theatre Center last week
it’s #empowering to offer students an alternative #lens to analyze and understand #difference and potential points of #conflict
here we are together (at the end of the class)
love u luticha jaan ?
St. John Fisher Honors Program

remembering aunty shazi

one thing about being an immigrant is how you get used to living in a state of suspension. i don’t know how else to describe it, but it’s the opposite of being settled. it’s a suspension of belief, rather than disbelief, so that what is sharply real (sometimes painfully so) in one’s home country acquires a diffused, haunted quality, and remains permanently extraneous and unresolved. my dad told me his youngest (and last living) sister, my aunty shazi, passed away the day before i drove 6-hours to philadelphia. although i was heartbroken, i couldn’t mourn with him. living so far away from pakistan, the rituals that mark someone’s passing are simply not accessible to us. we can’t attend funerals, meet with family, cry and remember our loved ones together. we call cousins and pray for the aunts or uncles we’ve lost, here, in our new home, but these efforts seem awkwardly disconnected, almost disembodied. 

i write about family members who are no longer with us because in my own small way i hope to record their departure, capture something of their essence (something that tied me to them), and formalize a loss that will leave a gap in our family. i hope to mourn. 

my aunty shazi was a college student when my parents married and for the short time that my dad’s family lived together under the same roof, i became her favorite. she liked to spoil me and fuss over me, in a way that only young aunties can do, and so i became obsessed with her – as well as with treats, sparkles and pretty dresses.

she married young, right out of college, but believed in education and when she had her own kids she made sure they excelled seriously in school. 

i remember that when we visited her (on our way from lahore to islamabad) she would make my dad’s favorite makai ki roti (unleavened corn bread/roti) and sarson ka saag (mustard greens with garlic, ginger and a unique blend of spices). the presentation was exquisite, with a large scoop of homemade butter melting just so, on top of the saag. the recipe called for precision, a substantial investment of time and energy (her kitchen was small and not very user-friendly in those days), the freshest ingredients, and innate talent. she had all of those in abundance. i will never forget the taste of that splendid meal, so full of flavor and texture. so full of love.

as i grew up, i didn’t see aunty shazi as much. but my parents found her lovely home in islamabad to be a place filled with warmth and generosity. they would visit from lahore for eid and always be feted and celebrated with panache, by both aunty shazi and uncle zafar. a rare gift in a host. or a sister. or a human being. 

to god we belong and to god we return. rest in peace aunty shazi. u will always be surrounded by the love u shared with others. and lots of pretty sparkles.

[my father’s siblings, most of whom have left us. aunty shazi is in the front row on the left]

thoughts about autumn

what a delicious day. radiant light, gentle yet fortifying, showing off fall colors at their fullest, most vivid. a warm wind swirling gold leaves and dotting the sky with shimmering confetti. pools of burnt orange and lustrous red at the feet of trees that shiver and sing with the wind. nature can be so generous with its beauty. sometimes i forget to breathe. grateful to live on seneca land and for the stewardship of indigenous people who understand this is our sustenance and only magic.

claudia pretelin visits my class

art #historian claudia pretelin visited my class today and talked about #alfonsocuaron’s film #roma from the perspective of a #mexico city native
she also discussed the work of art #collectives at the us-mexico #border – engaging with #artists and #activists across boundaries and resisting the violence unleashed by arbitrary divisions and #nation states

chris’ jazz cafe

last night: crab and spaghetti at @giuseppesons and then apple cobbler a la mode and jazz music by sharon sable and her band at @chrisjazzcafephilly #philadelphia