[Xmca-l] Re: Sledgehammers in Mosul

[Helena Worthen]

Shirin, I put this link up on xmca because I trust this list, which is made up of people from all over the world who speak many languages, and who manage to understand each other in spite of that (or because of that, perhaps), to be able to interpret what it portrays. I would expect there to be many different responses to it, but that the sum of the responses would be as good as I could read anywhere.

It's like a whole lot of things that have happened in the last 15 (actually, 50 plus) years in that I am not up to interpreting it by myself.

H

Helena Worthen
helenaworthen@gmail.com

On Feb 28, 2015, at 10:16 AM, Shirin Vossoughi wrote:

> Helena,
> What is the message here? Does the link speak for itself and what does it
> say? I am thinking about the "cultural vandalism" of the west in Iraq and
> other parts of the region, and of the complex history (in which the US has
> played a central role) that has led to what is being depicted in this
> story. I do not mean to re-inscribe simplified west vs. middle east
> narratives, but I do want to question how we are being asked to interpret
> such acts. In this clip, as in so much media coverage of the region, such
> practices are rooted in the uniquely anti-democratic or anti-free speech
> tendencies of Islam. As Said famously argued, "we" are thereby exalted as
> all the more democratic and free.
> I wish the Western experts lamenting the destruction of artifacts in this
> clip had as loudly and boldly lamented the destruction of life in the
> brutal wars that led to this mess.
> Shirin
> 
> On Sat, Feb 28, 2015 at 10:38 AM, Helena Worthen <helenaworthen@gmail.com>
> wrote:
> 
>> http://bcove.me/1yo9t5x9
>> 
>> 
>> Helena Worthen
>> helenaworthen@gmail.com
>> 
>> 
>>