Planet of The Arabs

November 2nd, 2007 link to (permalink)

Planet of the Arabs is a very powerful 9 minute collage of racist stereotyping of Arabs in movies. What’s not at issue for me is the idea that an Arab volunteer from non-Arab Afghanistan might be portrayed (by an Indian) as Kalashnikov wielding, guerrilla fighter, opium trader, rather than a lefty apologist’s flower-growing, freedom fighter. What’s unnerving is the tone and the pattern of racist tradition, i.e. the number of appearances of unattractive, gormless, hook-nosed, brown people with twisted, toothy grins and bar-joke accents. All ominously reminiscent of historic, racist depictions, such as Dickens’ Fagin.

The utterly depressing thing about this film, however, is the context in which it has been received, as a conduit for those who foster both anti-semitism and anti-arabism.

The easiest way to recognize the veracity of a racist claim is to imagine the purported victim belonging to any other group of people and to not confuse equality with similarity or differentiation with prejudice. That thought experiment leads me to think the claim of racism against Arabs may have merit.
Link

tags: politics society world

5 responses so far »

AP : Nov 2, 2007 at 4:43 pm

“The easiest way to recognize the veracity of a racist claim is to imagine the purported victim belonging to any other group of people and to not confuse equality with similarity or differentiation with prejudice.”

Well said. Brillant!
David M : Nov 28, 2007 at 1:56 am

Hi David.
is there a way to contact you? i cant find your email here.
I upload a lot of documentaries online. sometimes i come across really good ones but they are not very relevant to my blog.
most British production companies don’t care if their docs became available online, or at least that is the case for the ones i have. Im talking about good shows ( bbc, c4..etc) I’m willing to upload them for you if you find any of them to be interesting, please contact me at my blog if you wish.
Cheers,
David M : Nov 28, 2007 at 2:04 am

atheistmedia@gmail
David M : Nov 28, 2007 at 2:04 am

Please delete my messages after you read them, thank you.
Sarah : Jan 5, 2008 at 4:48 am

This is a clever clip. Clever as in, what it aims to portray. Put it this way…. for any one else who wants to make their own version for a different topic follow simple these steps…

1. Gain access to a wide range of movies, from well-known ones to less successful ones, ideally dating back 10-20.

2. Set a time frame work for the aims of your research. Specify how long your clip will run for - (e.g. 5mins / 7mins etc).

3. Choose and define a topic of your choice, e.g. with this clip –
“Asian people being portrayed or potentially being portrayed negatively, barbaric (etc etc etc), with a distinct racist under tone”

4. Chill the fuck out and watch a world of movies, specifically watch out for footage that fits your definition and document it.

5. A long time of research (chilling) later, gather all your research spanning 10-15 years worth of films with footage of your definition.

6. Select only the most extreme ones that add weight to the point of your clip.

6. Neatly edit the clips and arranging them in a manner that convincingly confirms your clip’s intention.

Tadaaa!

Ones I would like to see happen –

Banana’s are constantly, and wrongly, subjected to bad PR due to them being portrayed as being a very real threat to falling over if stoop upon. This bananaist attitude can only be extinguished and understood by raising awareness. Help re-write history, help the banana (??!!)