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ARABSONG: Celebrations of Life

A journal of truth, humor and occasional beauty dedicated to the principle that every

human life --black, white, arab, jew, american, non-american-- is equally valuable.

Barbara Nimri Aziz

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'TAHRIR' on the web

For those of who may not yet be familiar with B. N. Aziz, she is the host of the long running radio show, formerly TAHRIR: Voices of the Arab World, presently (I think) TAHRIR: Voices of Arabs & Muslims, every Tuesday night at 7 pm, on WBAI, 99.5 fm, New York.  (Visit TAHRIR's website-in-progress at  http://www.radiotahrir.org/

Barbara Nimri Aziz --a journalist, radio talk show host, Arab activist, author, world traveler, etc) is also the founder of RAWI (Radius of Arab American Writers), a center of news and information for Arab writers.  (I will get you RAWI's address so that any interested parties can join us [I'm a member], query Aziz about the organization or ask for a copy of the RAWI newsletter.)

Aziz, who is also an anthropologist, is the author of the recently published Heir to a Silent Song: Two Rebel Women of Nepal.  (If you click on the book's title, it will take you directly to the spot on the Barnes & Noble website where you can buy the book.)  The book's covers, both front and back, are reproduced in the left hand column.  The photo below is from the book's back cover.  

That quietly astonishing book, which Aziz had spent some 20 years researching and writing, was published smack in the midst of the frenzy caused by the September 11 attacks, so it didn't get nearly as much attention as it deserved. 

Poet Parizat and the author

If you want a real sense of what Barbara Nimri Aziz is like as a person, you should check out Aziz's wonderful memoir, "Al-Daww'ara" (Arabic for wanderer or explorer) in the book Jo's Girls: Tomboy Tales of High Adventure, True Grit, and Real Life.  Aziz's story appears alongside pieces by Toni Morrison, Grace Paley, Virginia Woolf, Toni Cade Bambara, Maxine Hong Kingston, Carson McCullers, Simone DeBeauvoir, Alice Munro, Jamaica Kincaid, Collette -- and a dozen more of the most formidable writers of the 20th Century.  Bozo that I am, I was going to say "the most formidable female writers," but check out the Table of Contents in the left column (a click will enlarge the images) and you will see as formidable a collection of writers as have ever appeared in a single book.  (Click on the book cover itself to get an enlarged view of it.  Click on the book's title -- Jo's Girls -- beneath the cover to buy the book or get more details on Amazon.com.) Not only does Aziz's story appear alongside those writers, "Al-Daww'ara"  belongs in the company of great writers.

Aziz wrote a fine book on Iraq shortly after the 1990-91 Gulf Massacre (a war is an armed conflict between two relatively equal parties).  The book featured a dozen or so incredibly strong and resourceful Arab women, so it's not surprising that Aziz was unable to find a publisher for the book. 

So the indomitable Barbara Nimri Aziz has written a new book on Iraq, "Between Two Rivers," from which I have excerpted a chapter below.   (Dear publishers of America: stop being such braindead racists and publish this book NOW.)

It's an honor to give you a first look at two spectacular pieces by Barbara Nimri Aziz: 

<"You Iraqis are bloody intelligent bastards"  --Aziz's revelation that the UN resolution that ostensibly allows the inspection of Iraq, also allows the legalized kidnapping of Iraqi citizens.

<Chapter 5- FACING THE CHILDREN -- excerpted from B. N. Aziz's new book on Iraq.  It is impossible to read this piece from Aziz's new unpublished book on Iraq without wanting to do something about the situation Aziz describes.  The piece is written as if the author is using all of her powers to suppress a scream.  So when you read it, you want to scream for her.

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See also B.N. Aziz's "Bulletins Live From Iraq