Friday, December 08, 2006

Fatfatism

Fatfatism (الفتفتية, al-fatfatiyyah) is a neologism coined by flamboyant professor As'ad Abu Khalil to mock and ridicule Lebanon's current minister of interior/home affairs Ahmad Fatfat, one of whose greatest accomplishments was to let the Internal Security Forces serve tea to Israeli occupation troops in Marj'uyun, Southern Lebanon in last August. It isn't clear yet if the Israeli occupation troops had their tea ma' sukkar aw bala sukkar (with or without sugar).
The fact is remembered by the protestors in downtown Beirut through the chant احمد فتفت يا قابدي واحد قهوة واثنان شاي(Ahmad Fatfat ya qabaday wahid qahwa wa ithnin shay, which translates as "Ahmad Fatfat, you tough guy, one coffee and two teas").

According to Abu Khalil,
[Fatfatism] requires no commitment to principles; it merely adjusts to the interests of the political status of Ahmad Fatfat. The ideology contains contradictions: it speaks of democracy and 'liberalism' and yet cultivates support among Bin Laden supporters in North Lebanon and serves as a client for Saudi Wahhabism; it speaks in favor of 'sovereignty' and 'independence' while it faithfully represented the interests of the tyrannical Syrian regime, and now represents the external patrons of Sanyurah. The ideology of Fatfatism believes that the most effective way for fighting foreign occupation is serving tea to the occupation soldiers. While it is widely believed that Fatfatism is a Lebanese phenomenon, it is now noticed that Fatfatism is spreading in countries in the Middle East and well beyond the Middle East.
Abu Khalil's satire was promptly rebounced on several Lebanese media and on Wikipedia, where an anonymous contributor in the mood for irony wrote an entry on Fatfatism. The page was speedily deleted after and subsequently locked. It is interesting to note the coincidence of the timing of this deletion with some comments left on Abu Khalil's blog by a Wikipedia user and administrator (or some vilain impersonating him). These comments (basically a list of anti-Arab ethnic slurs and Islamophobic rants and a few threats that people with different opinions will be banned and "expunged from Wikipedia") raise further concern over Wikipedia's alleged "neutral point of view" and reliability, especially if you ponder the strong pro-Israeli, anti-Islamic position that is clearly evident in many Middle East-related entries.

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