Outdoor Politics

Fabulous, Feel-Good, and Fatwa-Free

When a Muslim and a Jew walk into a bar, it’s a joke. When a Muslim discovers he was born Jewish, it’s a movie. The Infidel, shown as part of the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival, is the story of Mahmud Nasir (Omid Djalili), a middle-aged Muslim man from London’s East End, who discovers after his mother’s death that he was adopted as a baby. Not only was he adopted, but his birth parents were Jews. Jews who named him Solomon (Solly) Shimshillewitz, or as his new friend Leonard Goldberg (Richard Schiff) suggests: Jewy-Jew-JewJewawtiz.

While Nasir is trying to cope with his new identity, he also must deal with the impending marriage of his son to the stepdaughter of one of Egypt’s most radical imams, Arshad El Masri (Yigal Naor). The movie takes off when Nasir discovers that his alleged birth father is dying in a nursing home, but can’t see him until Nasir learns what it means to be Jewish. (For the Rabbi is guarding the door, this means Nasir must know how to say the names of the five books of the Torah in Yiddish or recite the Shema). Desperate, he turns to his caustic neighbor Goldberg who instead, teaches him the truly important aspects of Judaism: how to say “oy” with the right inflection and knowing how to dance the Kazatsky (certainly a critical skill in my family!).

If you’re looking for a light-hearted send-up of Jewish and Muslim stereotypes, this may be the movie for you. The writer (David Baddiel) was not afraid to openly mock both sides with often pointed humor. And watching on-screen chemistry between Djalili and Schiff is definitely worth the price of admission. Beneath the laughs however, the film did try to address some larger issues–religious conflict, death of a parent, loss of identity–which is where it fell flat.

To take on these topics with a comedic touch, as Baddiel did, is admirable but he didn’t trust his writing skills to take his set-up to the next level. For example, towards the end of the movie we see Nasir sitting down with the Torah and the Koran on the table in front of him. Both books are leather-bound with ornate decorations on the covers. He opens each book to the first page and begins to read. Suddenly, he realizes how fundamentally similar these two books are, despite his pre-conceptions and he begins to reconcile his seemingly disparate identities. But instead of letting the message sink in both for the character and for the audience, the camera quickly shows him grabbing a cup that reads, “#1 Mutt.” Sure it’s funny. But it was defensive humor, almost as if Baddiel was afraid that one serious moment would detract from the overall humorous tone of the movie.

Similarly, in making this a film about a man torn between religious identity: Judaism vs. Islam, moderate vs. radical Islam, Baddiel primed us for a deeper conflict that never happened. Comedy gives us permission to explore even the most contentious of situations and has the confidence that audiences will follow. I wanted him to take advantage of this loop-hole and go deeper–to take on the simmering tensions that right now are only accessible through humor. Instead, he came up short–offering only watered-down hostility instead of full-blown craziness.

During the Q and A, Baddiel and Josh Appignanesi (the director) mentioned they had been a little nervous about the film’s reception by Britain’s Jewish and Muslim communities. They were pleased to report however, that after its release no one was burning them in effigy or calling them anti-Semites. Which, considering the topic, is no easy feat. Despite its flaws, the success of the movie proves that Jews and Muslims can agree on at least one thing. Can a comedy about AIPAC and JStreet be far behind?

Halal for All

In a year that has seen contentious debates over French national identity and religion--much of it swirling around the French-Muslim community--it's nice to finally read some positive developments in French-Muslim relations.

The Deutsche Welle reports today that the French food industry is finally reaching out the previously unexplored French Muslim market. (Only took them 50 years or so). According to the article, French supermarkets including Casino, France's second-largest supermarket chain, will start carrying halal food and perhaps even the newest product on the market, Night Orient, a non-alcoholic sparkling wine.

Previously, "mainstream brands didn't want to be associates with halal because it was considered low-brow and because French Muslims had little money and unenviable social positions," suggests Antoine Bonnel, the founder of an annual halal trade show in Paris. "So the global image was a cheap image."

While it's debatable whether their social position has changed much, the visibility of this community certainly has grown in recent years as has its buying power. As Abbas Bendali, the head of Solis, a market research firm that specializes in ethnic niches points out, "Five and a half billion euros are going to be spent on these kinds of products this year in France. There are five million potential customers. This is a real consumer segment."

So the next time I'm in Paris and I get a craving for mock ham or halal pate, I'll head for the nearest Casino or Franprix. The non-alcoholic wine though is another story.

Links of Interest

Here are some links I've been meaning to post, but have been to lazy to get to!

A feminist Muslim group in France, Ni Putes ni Soumises (Neither Promiscuous nor Submissive) protests against the burka in Paris: http://tinyurl.com/yzfjd9x


A discussion of why reform Judaism hasn't caught on in France: http://tinyurl.com/yky23uz


Anti-Islam sentiment is gaining political ground in Europe: http://tinyurl.com/ygr7s8k


Fatih Akin, German-Turkish director of Edge of Heaven and In July, comments on the national identity debate in France: http://tinyurl.com/ykum4bj

News Links Round-Up

Headlines from around the world:

Berlin is going the way of Hungary with its new park to "disgraced monuments." That's now at the top of my list of things to do in Germany.

German Holocaust survivors use hip-hop to tell their story.

A new ruling from the European Court on Human Rights forces Bosnia and Hertzagovina to change their laws about who can run for high office.

And more on difficulties facing Muslims in Germany.

Unveiling The Veil

Here is an excellent op-ed, for the most part, about the French debate over the veil and the debate over national identity. The author, Raphael Liogier, attempts to deconstruct the French reaction to the veil and to address the debate on a human rather than on a political level. By taking this approach, he confronts his discomfort with the veil while at the same time acknowledging that this discomfort has more to do with him and his preconceptions than it has to do with those who chose to wear the veil.

"Je comprends l'angoisse, la peur de l'autre, et j'ajoute même que je peux parfois moi aussi l'éprouver, et être choqué par ces femmes qui s'obstinent à couvrir totalement leur corps en public, tout simplement parce que ce n'est pas ma culture, pas mon environnement, pas ma vie."

He goes on to express legitimate concern that should a law pass that bans the burqa, France would only be giving into anti-Republican impulses and would only serve those who support a fundamentalist ideology.

The part where he loses me, however, is his contradictory statement half way down the page. All of the sudden --despite his previous assertions that it is he who must confront his prejudices regarding the veil and the women who wear them and that France has no business forcing people to wear (or not wear in this case) in public--he reverts to stereotypes. As long as women don't seek to impose the veil on others, he asserts, or they aren't pressured into wearing it, then he doesn't have a problem with the veil.

First of all, I would be curious to know how many accounts there are of women physically going around trying to force non-Muslims to wear the veil. If he means in a more abstract sense (i.e. wearing the veil at all is a form of evangelizing) then the women are in a no-win situation. If they don't wear it, they will be rejecting an important part of their religious life and if they do wear it, they will be accused of forcing people to be like them. Both of which Liogier says he is opposed to and smacks of anti-democratic behavior.

Secondly, how will the average French citizen decide that women are being forced to wear the veil by their families? Will they go up and ask? Will they wait for the women to report this form of abuse to the police? If one women reports that she is being forced to wear the veil, will this mean reconsidering the ban?

I applaud Liogier's efforts to analyze the situation, as well as his own self-analysis, but hope that he can understand the contradictory nature of his opinions and figure out how to reconcile the two.

Hopefully he'll go for the more tolerant approach.

Quick Links

For more background on Muslim assimilation in Europe, I would highly recommend the Council on Foreign Relations report, Europe: Integrating Islam by Toni Johnson.


Switzerland is apparently the gift that just keeps giving. Yesterday, JTA reported to that a mainstream political leader is calling for a ban on separate cemeteries for Muslims and Jews.

For some levity, Jon Stewart comments on the minaret ban in Switzerland.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Oliver's Travels - Switzerland
http://www.thedailyshow.com/
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Canadians to the Rescue!

I came across an interesting clip from CBC tonight saying that Israel recently optioned the rights to Little Mosque on the Prairie, a Canadian television sitcom that follows the ups and downs of a small Muslim community in Canada previously mentioned here.

CBC tries a little too hard to create a link between the positive reception to LMOP and a possible thawing of relations between Jews and Muslims in Israel. Plus, it is, of course, much easier to feel at ease with humorous characters of any religious background on TV than to confront generations-old battles in your own backyard.


The show succeeds because it humanizes its subject with warmth and humor, and most importantly a light touch, as it simultaneously tries to address heavier issues of integration, prejudice, assimilation, etc. In a country as tough and hardbitten as Israel, some of LMOP's plots may come across as fluffy or even worse, unfunny. But even light comedy, smartly done, can affect change where much else has failed and a feel-good Canadian sitcom may be as good a place to start as any.