مسلسل جن

مسلسل جن

مثل كثير من الأردنيين وجدت نفسي في وسط عاصفة شعواء على مواقع التواصل الاجتماعي وسببها جن! في البداية احتجت لبعض الوقت لأفهم ان جن هو مسلسل أردني من انتاج نتفليكس، وأن سبب غضب الشعب الأردني هو ما اشتمل عليه المسلسل من انحلال خلقي سواء من ألفاظ نابية أو مشاهد ساخنة.
ومثل الكثير من الأردنيين وجدت نفسي اتحدث عنه، ودون ان اشاهده.
التساؤلات التي وجدت نفسي أحاول الاجابة عنها هي في تفسير غضب الشارع الاردني من المسلسل، فلماذا الاردنيون غاضبون؟
هل لأن المسلسل يحتوي ألفاظ نابية؟
هل لأن المسلسل يحتوي مشاهد إيحائية ومثيرة جنسياً؟
طبعاً السؤالان جوابهما لا. فمسلسلات رمضان هذا العام (كمثال)، والأفلام العربية والبرامج الاجنبية، وغالب ما تبثه القنوات العربية (اكثر من ٥٠٠ قناة) يعج بالجنس والاغراء.
إذا مشكلتنا ان المسلسل اردني، انتاج أردني، فيعني "الفسق" و "الفجور" محلي وليس مستورد. طبعاً كلنا يعرف ان ما عُرض في المسلسل موجود في الأردن (عدا عن الجن) هذا جعلني اتسائل: هل الإقرار بوجود هذا الكلام والتصرفات هو المشكلة ام عرضها هو المشكلة؟

أنا متأكد ان كثير من الناس لا يعترفون ان شيء كهذا موجود في بلدنا، وهذا دائما يجعلني استغرب مقدار الانفصام الذي يعيشه المجتمع الأردني.
أذكر أنني زرت مسبح نادي السيارات الملكي في صيف عام ١٩٩١، وكشاب يافع و مسحوق لم يتسنى له يوما التجول خارج حدود الدوار الثالث، شعرت أنني خرجت من المملكة وسقطت في مشهد في فيلم من أفلام هوليوود.
هذا كان في عام ١٩٩١، أدركت حينها ان هناك طبقات من المجتمع الأردني تعيش حياتها بطريقة مختلفة تماماً عن باقي المجتمع.
الآن، وفي كل زيارة لي للأردن ألاحظ ان تلك الطبقة لا زالت تعيش خارج نطاق البلد، ولكني اشاهد الكثير من فئات المجتمع تحاول تقليد هذه الطبقة. فعدد المدارس الخاصة المختلطة، المسابح، الحفلات العامة واستضافة الفنانين، الأندية الليلة بمفاهيمها المختلفة، وأشياء أخرى..

أنا لا ولن أدافع (أو أهاجم) مسلسل جن، فأنا لم أشاهده، لأني بصراحه لا أحب المسلسلات عموماً، ولا الأعمال الفنية العربية.
لكني، مثل الكثير من الطيبين من أهل بلدنا الطيب، اتسائل : هل مسلسل جن هو المشكلة، ام هو عرض للمشكلة؟ وهل سيتم تحويل ملف المسلسل إلى هيئة مكافحة الفساد; عشان نطمن على مستقبله...

ربنا ع الظالم

عند ربنا ما بضيع اشي..
عبارات اسمعها كثيراً ، اعرف معناها ولكن حقيقة ما اسمع هو: لنقبل بالظلم، فليس باليد حيلة.
لو سألت سؤال ، وارجو ان لا أُخرج من الملة ويُقام عليّ الحد: ماذا لو لم يكن هناك يوم قيامة، ماذا سنفعل؟ هل نقبل بالظلم، هل نستسلم؟ لأننا لن نؤجل القصاص، لن نؤخر العدل إلى يوم القيامة...

بعد موت مرسي كل من يعزي به يقول ان ربنا سينصفه، سيقتص له ممن ظلموه وسجنوه وتسببوا لموته. وهذا كلام هدفه تعزية انفسنا وتسليتها كما قال لبيد:
أكذّب النفس اذا حدثتها  فإن صدق النفس يزري بالأمل
ومعلوم ان من سجن مرسي وقتل الشباب في رابعة وسجن الناس واعدم الكثيرين لم يخطر بباله يوما لا حساب ولا عذاب، وها هم يعيشون في القصور ومرسي مات في الانفرادي.
هل اذا انا كافر؟ لا، لكني اكره التسويف والتأجيل ومواساة الفاشل بالأمل.
عند ربنا ما بضيع اشي، نعم، لكن ما بين هذه اللحظة ويوم القيامة مهمتنا ان نبحث عن العدل، ان نقيم العدل، ان ننصر العدل، لا ان نن

تظر..

What is Nursing?

The Guinness World Records refused to grant Jessica Anderson (a Barts Health nurse) the World Record as the fastest London Marathon runner in a nurse’s uniform this April, later and after much campaigning their accepted the record. The reason they initially gave to deny her the record was that she did not meet their criteria of “nurse’s uniform”, which -after reading the criteria- is only a nurse you would see in a period drama or a porn movie.

This is not unique in the perception of nursing and nurses; recently there has been some blogs about scrapping nursing degrees and “bringing back the old nursing”. It is an image that many people like to believe as what nursing is about. The Labour government reintroduced “matrons” as a job in the NHS to meet such perception, and this role has been thriving since.

On a Twitter post few days ago a nurse educator posted a question about what aspects of nursing are essential to the provision  of excellent care; most answers focused on compassion, kindness, empathy, and respect. Which are very important aspects, but are these the most essential? This is not a new problem in nursing, people have always struggled to define nursing, Florence Nightingale wrote in 1859: “The elements of nursing are all but unknown.”

It seems to me that the perception of nursing among the general public and many of healthcare professionals has not changed over the past few decades. This perception does not see nursing as a profession, but rather a job that can be fulfilled by some vocational training. I am sure that most of those people will disagree with this statement, but repeatedly they express views that show they do not fully understand what is nursing now. In my short life as a nurse (nearly 25 years) I have witnessed huge changing in the healthcare service, the health needs of the society and the funding and training of healthcare professions. Along these changes a steady move towards more professionalization of nursing has been happening. However, one of the most issues that nursing has struggled with is how it defines itself as a profession, a definition that is immune to changes in politics and public demands, but rather driven by the needs of the patients as individuals and the purpose of the profession.

In early 2000 I attempted to conduct a qualitative study on the definition of nursing, but due to lack of funding and engaging in other projects I abounded that endeavour.   However, I managed to collect over 100 responses from nursing students and the main themes in those responses were: science, art and empathy. This came from university students, were their passion about their chosen profession was not diluted by the workplace pressures, shortages, various demands and lack of resources.

I feel very strongly about balancing the art of caring with the science of nursing. The example I often use is that holding someone’s hand and giving them the compassionate care they want but failing to act on their sepsis metrics: is bad nursing. Acting on their sepsis metric but ignoring their autonomy and individualism is also bad nursing.

For most of the general public, nursing is attending the patient’s basic needs; until they are in a specialist clinic, a hospital bed, or suffering a long term illness, then they see more to nursing than the historical image.

On the professional side, the image projected about nurses is often subordinate to either the doctors or the senior managers, which contributes to the negative attitude towards nursing from other professions and management. The profession will not be accepted and viewed as a profession  as long as nurses’ leadership is not strong because leadership is the key to professionalization.

Nursing for me is not a career, it is an identity, and it is part of who I am. Unlucky for me this identity is often belittled and disparaged, often unintentionally by people thinking they are showing appreciation and calling for change, a change to the past.

Ahmad Baker, RN, BSc, PGDip, PGCert (i never use and abbreviations after my name, only if I have to : RN, because I am proud of profession as a nurse)

How should I feel about Israel?

I am from a village called Beit Nuba in Palestine.

 

 

Beit Nuba is (was) a village located about 14 miles north west of Jerusalem. It is mentioned that King Richard the lion heart camped in Beit Nuba during his crusade, and so did Saladin, that’s almost a millennium ago. On a sunny June morning, Israeli army showed up on the village, ordered everyone to leave and demolished the entire village, the 1000 years history levelled to the ground, and nearly 2000 people in an instant became refugees.

Everyone I know in my extended family, from both my parents sides is a refugee. Being a refugee means that you are always treated as a second class citizen in every country you reside. It also means that you are in an internal conflict in belonging: to the country you live in and the country you call your homeland, and because of this duality your loyalty is often questioned.

 

 

All we have of Beit Nuba is a punch of keys for houses that no longer there, stories and memories for places that we cannot see, visit or call home. Every Palestinian home has a key for a house they cannot return to, memories of places that they are forbidden from visiting. Every Palestinian home has a child named after a town, named after a right to struggle and resist, named after a hope of return.

 

This is my life and the life of millions of Palestinians like me; belonging to a place that no longer exists on the maps, have no rights to return to my homeland, and the cause, the reason, and the source of this suffering is Israel. So do we, refugees, children of refugees, parents to more refugees, have the right to hate Israel?

 

Despite my family suffering, I find myself in fear of expressing my feelings about Israel, because I might be labelled as antisemitc! I cannot emphasise enough how dangerous  and scary anti-Semitism is, millions of Jews lost their lives because of antisemitc 1930s Europe, and for many centuries before that they have been repeatedly abused and persecuted. I have always rejected any form of racism, and I have a personal interest in doing so as I am a person of colour and a Muslim living in Europe. I have advocated that Muslims should work with other minorities; Jews, LGBTQ+, Black Lives matter and any other minority group to fight racism.

 

The past few weeks I have seen a rise in American and British “whites” defending Israel and accusing anyone criticising its actions as antisemitc. I could easily question their motives and intentions, especially knowing that the most recent antisemitc terrorist attacks were carried out by “White Nationalists” who Trump refers to as “very fine people” and none of those pro-Israel groups are actually calling them out.

 

 

Conflicting Zionism and Israel policies with anti-Semitism is a very dangerous matter. Jews deserve to be protected and should not be subjected to any form of racism, that protection should not give Israel the immunity from criticism. Israel is a state, not a religion, ethnicity or a sexual orientation, many parties compete in elections to rule, with different visions and policies, some of which are plainly racists, some of the actions of this state violates Human Rights convections, like for example demolishing Beit Nuba. Where do I stand on that, if I criticise Israel am I antisemitc? If I dislike or hate Israel because of what it did to my family, am I antisemitc?

 

 

I am one of the lucky ones, I live in the UK, enjoy my rights as a British citizen, and very rarely someone would say to me: go back home! Million other Palestinians aren’t this lucky,  still living in refugees camps, denied many of their basic rights as humans, and of course no right of return.

For all the Palestinians, in or out of refugees camps, under the occupation or in other countries, the cause of their prolonged suffering is the state of Israel! Hating it, is an understatement.

 
I know many people will be uncomfortable with the idea of “hate”, do not expect me to apologise. If people living in refugees camps, restrictions on every aspects of their lives, and have suffered for generation, if such things do not make you uncomfortable but their right to express their feelings makes you cringe, then you have no feelings and for that only: I am sorry.

The right to return

Palestine, not just a dream

When I was a 5 years old boy, I was always worried that my father and his friends will free Palestine! Though it was a wonderful thought but I wanted to be the man who freed Palestine. I remember spending hours imagining how as a victorious man I will enter Jerusalem and deliver my speech declaring: a free Palestine, for all.

I used to imagine myself visiting the old towns and villages, that demolished and erased from maps and reality but remained in people's minds and hearts, in the stories we heard thousands of times : my mother only carried us, a small bag of clothes and a key to a house that no longer exists. Every Palestinian home has a key for a house they cannot return to, memories of places that they are forbidden from visiting. Every Palestinian home has a child named after a town, named after a right to struggle and resist, named after a hope of return.

My dream was not unique, many Palestinian children born in refugees camps around the region had a similar dream, they, like me, grew older and their dream, like mine, is still a dream.

Today, I stand 71 years away from a memory, that many people will say: move on! People who have a homeland, who can live in the town that their parents were born in, work in the city that their great grandparents lived in. To those people, to all people, to my children, and to myself I say: we will return to Palestine, because it is not just a dream..

“You Saved her life”

 (about life and death, and a moment in between)

It is a big statement to hear, felt like a burden but also like a badge of honour, and I should be used to it, as my son said to me: you are a nurse, you always save people’s lives! So it should be just another day! But it is not.

She was standing on the ledge, holding on the metal bars for dear life. Whenever I hear about someone committed suicide I try to imagine a conversation with them just before they did it: why? what about the others? what about the future? is it really that bad? and many more questions where I would listen patiently and hope that I could get them to change their mind. This time it was real, no imagination, and no time for anything but help.

In the dark, the shy light in the distance was enough to show how lonely it was. She was standing on the other side of the wall, holding on it because clearly she did not want to die, or that was what I wanted to believe. I hesitated for a second as I questioned myself if it was real or not, I ran towards her and held on her arms, as tight as I could, questions and ideas bubbling inside my head but all I could say: are you alright? Mixed with tears her answer came back: no, I want to die!

I wanted to say look how beautiful life could be; the new moon in the dark sky, the spring breeze, the smell of coffee in the morning, smile on strangers faces, the many things we live through everyday  but we do not notice. I wanted to say so much about how wonderful life could be, but I knew I would be lying, because I know life is tough, also remembered how awful humans could be to each other, how horrible we are to ourselves and fellow humans, today, everyday, throughout history and everywhere on earth.

She said: I had enough, I have been thinking about this for some time and I just want to die, no one is helping me. While holding her arms I instantly said: I am helping you! I could hear the echo of my words in my head and wondered if I really was helping!

I did help, eventually with the help of many others we saved her, and as people learnt about what happened they said to me: well done, you saved her life.

Did I? I wondered. Did she want her life to be saved? Was that the right thing? Maybe the burden of living is bigger for some than the pain of dying, hopelessness overtakes any drive to live and any fear of death, and maybe they have the right to do so.

After we got her off the wall, I walked away and she was taken with the police to a place of safety. Our paths might never cross again, I would like to believe that I did a heroic thing, and I am proud of it, but inside me, I keep wondering if she did manage to do it again (and succeeded), or if she is grateful for my actions. Because if she was not then I know it was not heroic, it was selfish.

Ahmad Baker

London

07.03.2019

Teaching about LGBT

There has been a lot of pressure, campaigning and activism to stop some schools from teaching Relationships and sex education, primarily in the Muslim community and mainly Birmingham.

Few friends forwarded to me an online petition about the matter and I was surprised by their attitude and ignorance! When I challenged their motives, they would argue that the age is not appropriate! Asking them how old is appropriate and how old were they when they started hearing and learning about sex from other kids? "it is now different" is usually the answer I get. And it is different, porn is very accessible and god knows what kids are watching on their iPads most of the time.


Last Friday I lead the prayer in my local mosque and despite the tragedy that took place in New Zealand I couldn't avoid talking about this issue as well. I asked the congregation if any of them didn't know about same sex relationship and if they rather their children hear and learn about it from the other kids on the road (like we did) or in a more proper and structured way? I also asked people to acknowledge that we are a minority in this society and we witness a lot of prejudice and discrimination, so do we want other minorities to be subjected to the same? do we support freedom for ourselves but deny it to others? Should we not work with other minority groups rather than against them?
I could not understand what the Muslim community in Birmingham (and in the UK) priorities are: four mosques attacked during the last week in Birmingham, 50 Muslims killed in a terrorist attack in New Zealand, and the thing that got people on the street is sex education!

It reminded me of a friend who told me that her parents in law did not eat meat for 15 years because there was no Halal butchers in the area , still they didn't pray (which is one of the five pillars of Islam)!


Ahmad Baker
London
23.03.2019

Ps: Outsiders is more than just "sex education" but even if it was, this is my response. 

Terror on Friday..

New Zealand


I am sad, scared and scarred.

I am sad, when I heard the news I imagined myself being there, among the dead and injured, and I felt sad. In a place of safety, peace and worship, people were killed. Not because of something they did, or did not, but because of how they were perceived, how they are portrayed, and for being different.

And yesterday I was scared, when I attended the Friday prayer, when I walked to my car in the car park, and every moment I thought about the future, I was scared.

Today I woke up pierced with pain, I felt my face and body for the scars of the bullets, and I could feel them on me, felt them many times before in the hatred and vile speeches and headlines that filled our papers, media and Internet.

I do not want to die, or at least not be killed. Not because I love life but because I deserve a chance to life, like everyone else.

People will say do not be defeatist, do let the terrorists win! Save me the rhetoric, they have won, and have been winning all the time, let's accept that to know how to move on.

We allowed this to happen, all of us, and it will happen again. There are 7 billion people on earth, thousands of religions, languages, cultures, ways of life and through out history we have always looked down at some of our fellow humans because they are different, because we are different, because we are right and they are wrong, because we are better. Century or two later and the right became wrong, the better worse, and another group of fellow humans becomes subject to vilification and humiliation and the circle of violence never stops. Maybe now more than any other time we should accept that " humans are one of two, your brothers in faith or equal in humanity".

Life is not beautiful, it is terrible and full of pain and suffering wherever you look. It becomes beautiful when your purpose of being is to help others, I know that sounds like preaching and its boring. So let me try this, don't be an asshole, be nice, do not support, elect, share, watch, read or buy what assholes produce, and be nice, especially to the ones who are "different"..

Ahmad Baker
London 16.03.2019