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San Francisco Chronicle – Sept. 20, 2004 SF Arab festival celebrates both culture and politics By Carrie Sturrock Sunday's Arab Cultural Festival in San Francisco had all the trappings of a celebration: a pastry called kadayif, an Egyptian cane dance and a CD recitation of the Quran for sale. But a good number of booths had political themes as well, underscoring the tension many participants are feeling about their world these days. Just inside the doors of the county fair building in Golden Gate Park, the American-Arab Anti Discrimination Committee had a booth with T-shirts for sale that read "No War on Iraq" and "Free Palestine." There was a voter registration drive in Arabic and brochures on what to do if the FBI contacts you for an interview. "The climate is real difficult and problematic for the entire Arab community in the Bay Area with the anniversary of 9/11 and the recent increase in FBI surveillance of our community and hate crimes that continue," said Jess Ghannam, president of the committee and vice president of the Arab Cultural and Community Center, which sponsored the festival. "We try to use the festival to bring our community together to celebrate our history and culture and language." Visitors could purchase embroidered dresses sewn by Palestinian refugees. Outside, children could complete a magnetic puzzle of the Arab world from Morocco to Oman or learn to spell their names in Arabic. Crowds later gathered to listen to Palestinian poetry and North African music and to watch dancing traditional to the Palestinians, Lebanon and Jordan. The Arab community is 120,000 strong in San Francisco, San Mateo, Alameda, Contra Costa and Santa Clara counties, making it the fifth largest nationwide, according to the cultural center. Organizers estimate the festival draws 3,000 to 4,000 people, more than double what it did when it started 10 years ago. It's been canceled just once -- after Sept. 11, 2001. Evan Elias of San Francisco said she wanted to learn more about a culture she doesn't know much about. She picked up a pamphlet on Syria and saw a beautiful portrait of Lebanon covered in snow -- an image she had never imagined…. Nadia Husari of San Francisco was selling several Palestinian thoub, or dresses, made by refugees. Born in Ramallah in the West Bank, she said her family still lives there. They can't travel or enter Jerusalem. She pointed to another booth run by the Palestinian American Congress. It is fighting to tear down a wall Israel is building along the West Bank… At another booth, the evangelical Central Peninsula Church in Foster City displayed Arabic versions of the Bible. As people passed out political literature and explained different aspects of Arab culture, music filtered in from a nearby room with a stage where 16-year-old Saja Parvizian of Danville prepared to perform his hip-hop lyrics, which he said gets the music back to its positive origins. He is Muslim, but his music is universal…. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/09/20/FESTIVAL.TMP |