#Arabface

[vsthepomegranate]

"Ben-Tor posted the clip on October 19 to the Instagram account she runs with fellow Israeli artist and collaborator Miki Carmi. In the video, the artist delivers a sarcastic monologue while wearing a mask that many on social criticized as (is) a “racist caricature” of Arabs or Palestinians. Some critics used the term (this racist performance trope is called) “Arabface” in describing the artist’s performance... Past works by (Tamy) Ben-Tor show her caricaturing Arab people; in what appears to be the artist’s YouTube channel chronicling her performances, one video uploaded in 2012 shows Ben-Tor in the guise of a character she calls “Dr. Hammam, Middle East expert and civil rights activist” who makes anti-Jewish remarks. In another piece, from 2004, Ben-Tor appears to play the role of Hitler while wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh. In a 2005 video titled “Girls Beware,” Ben-Tor again dresses as an Arab man, this time delivering catcalls, then makes anti-Arab comments while playing the role of a sex worker."

[halalchampagnesocialist]

Somebody mentioned it in the tags but I also can’t believe I forgot to mention the tiktoks of Israelis dressing up in “Arabface” and mocking Palestinians + that one tiktok of the Israeli guy mocking Palestinians for not having access to water and electricity. There’s also the constant ‘Pallywood’ accusations I’ve seen floating around, that Palestinians are faking/exaggerating their suffering for more sympathy. The list is endless.

One thing I’ve picked up from my observations on social media in the last two months is how sadistic Zionists are. They will constantly tell you how barbaric Hamas are, but I’ve never seen so much justification but also glee towards videos and images of the IDF conquering and destroying Gaza. Not to mention, soldiers smiling happily on camera as they actively destroy the property of Gazans. For example, the video of an IDF soldier smashing globes in a shop in Jabalia refugee camp. Another example is the video of soldiers setting a truck full of aid on fire while Palestinians go without food and water. Whenever Palestinians in Gaza are killed or are crying out for help, Zionists dig up tweets to determine whether that person deserves it based on their response to Oct 7, and then they reply “fuck around and find out.” Israelis kill Palestinians first, then kill them again when they taunt them after their deaths. It’s mockery, plain and simple.

[vampish-glamour]

Wishing Trudeau a speedy shecovery from the blackface (or Arabface? Indianface?) scandal 😔✊🙏

[bacallanee2-blog]

Arabian Race Against Discrimination

Long white gowns, unshaved beards, a dialect with a strong unfamiliar accent; this guy is a terrorist coming from the Middle East. Arabs have sadly faced discrimination from their adherence of cultural norms from the Western world. The Arabic norm of living, which is evidently alien to the modern culture of the world, has wrongly made them isolated and frowned upon by the population. In addition to that, the Arabs have experienced hate also due to their mistaken belief of the society that their culture has become the inspiration of several terrorist attacks. With this extreme hatred against them, the Arabs have become nothing but insecure to their own identity.

Image Source:  Padgett, K. (2014, September 12) Arabface! - The history of racist Arab stereotypes. [Online Image]. Retrieved from: http://arabface.us/

Most Arabs, especially those living in the United States, have opted to ditch using their cultural fashion, such as the hijab, as it has been the subject of various hate crimes. An incident reported by Shimron (2016) for the USA Today, had a woman wearing a hijab been taunted by a stranger. The woman had been taunted “sending back where she came from” when Trump becomes the President and her son had been thrown wood chips as an act of violence. This act is one out of the few that Arabs have experienced. In a recent study of the FBI (2016), there had been almost 3,300 reported victims of hate crime against ethnicity for the entire year. Which means, there is almost around 9 people somewhere experiencing discrimination of some kind.

Image Source:  Discrimination vs. Coexistence. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://ifamericaknew.org/cur_sit/coexist.html

With this discrimination, the tourism in the Middle East has also taken a hit. In a study made by the UNTWO (2017), the Middle East has ranked the least visited area from 1990 to 2016. This has rendered the Middle East missing out on a probable huge income from tourism that could have somehow helped stabilize the economy within the developing countries in the region. 

Lastly, due to their mistaken and alleged ���terrorist” identity, the Arabs, in addition to the Muslims, have been subject to restricted access to opportunities. This has been clearly evident when the President of the United States of America, imposed a travel ban to Muslims, who most hail from Arab countries such as Yemen, Iraq, Syria, and the likes. For those from poor Arab countries who try to seek better opportunity in life in the United States now have to find other means to create better living for their families. This ban violates the rights of these people in finding better life amidst a terrible situation in their home countries.

Image Source:  Zakaria, F. (n.d.). Legal scholar on travel ban: Law favors Trump. [Online Image]. Retrieved from http://edition.cnn.com/videos/politics/2017/01/29/jonathan-turley-trump-immigrant-travel-ban-law-sot-gps.cnn

Despite undeniable differences in culture and belief, we must respect other cultures and races as much as we respect our own. The society must act as a medium to the rest of the uneducated, who continue the unacceptable act of racism, to teach them the absurdity of hate. Should the society accept the act of racism continuously until the future, we may find the extermination of a sacred race due to their insecurity and unacceptable violence.

References:

FBI Releases 2016 Hate Crime Statistics. (2017, November 13). Retrieved from https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/fbi-releases-2016-hate-crime-statistics

Shimron, Y. (2016, December 26). When wearing a hijab becomes too dangerous. USA Today. Retrieved from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2016/12/12/concerned-muslim-women-rethinking-hijab/95351734/

UNWTO Tourism Highlights - 2017 Edition. (2017, July). Retrieved from https://www.e-unwto.org/doi/pdf/10.18111/9789284419029

[aboriginalnewswire]

Introduction Arabface refers to the creation and propagation of racist Arab stereotypes and caricatures. The word Arab is primarily used to describe people from the Middle East. Despite the fact that the Middle East is comprised of different countries, with diverse cultures, beliefs and a variety of religions, the people are often characterized by one term, "Arabs." Many people think that all Arabs are Muslims and all Muslims are Arabs but the truth is that there are millions of Arabs who are not Muslims and millions of Muslims who are not Arabs. Iranians, for instance, are Persians, not Arabs. They do not speak Arabic, nor do they have Semitic origins. For many Americans the word Arab is convenient shorthand that references a relatively small number of stereotypical images. Racist Arab Stereotypes For centuries the Arab has played the role of villain, seducer, hustler and thief -- the barbarian lurking at the gates of civilization. In the late 20th Century new images emerged: the fanatical terrorist and the suicide bomber. Arabs have become the all-purpose villains or buffoons across all American media, including books, films, television, and computer games.

[transgirlichigokurosaki]

So someone commented “"Small white people" now imagine if someone had said "fat black people" 🤔“ on this one video and replied “Calm down Becky” and now I’m getting so many email notifications for the comment I regret saying anything ever.

I already have to keep seeing notifications for a video I called out for using racist clips of ppl in blackface and arabface and now this, youtube is awful.

[sugarhunnie]

DO NOT WATCH PONTYPOOL!

So I was finding horror/thriiler movies to watch with my boyfriend a couple weeks ago and came across Pontypool. It sounded like it would be entertaining but it soon turned into me wanting to punch every single white person in the movie in their throat.

There is so much racism in this movie it made me sick and I couldn’t watch it. In the beginning I thought I heard the “main” character say something about not liking Asians, but I couldn’t actually hear the words being said, it just sounded like it, you know like if you overhear a conversation and you thought the person said something when they said something completely different than what you thought? Yeah, that’s what I thought happened, but no, it got much worse.

I’m not sure how far into the movie it was but a group of white people Arabfacing walked in and I got into a rage. They had a white girl with brown paint on her face, a white man with bullets for a machine gun I guess around his shoulder, and they were singing about camels.

Are you fucking kidding me? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!?

Please do not watch this movie, it’s so vile. After I saw the Arabfacing, I had to turn it off and spark a blunt cause I fucking raged.

This stuff isn’t funny, making fun of people from a different race and/or culture is not something that should be acceptable. It saddens me that people have to deal with this shit daily. 

I wrote this quick so I apologize for any errors but I needed to tell you about this cause it’s heavy on my heart and people need to know that this bullshit isn’t okay.

[sarahsaraa]

SC: sara_gharbii 😴 #morningface #arabface #hijabi #muslim #tunisianhijabi . Ok bye

[gothhabiba]

not this white man in Arabface doing his racist little accent LMFAO

not Dustfinger abandoning Resa to her fate for reasons that I cannot discern and then waiting for his pet marten of all things...

there’s an Inkheart movie????? how did I not know this??

[lairofsentinel]

The media uses stereotypes as a shorthand method of defining characters in ways that are easy for people to identify and categorize. What these stereotypes all have in common is that they reduce to a one-sided, superficial and exaggerated depiction the real variety, depth and complexity of a people. The media today is more sensitive to issues of culture and gender than it once was, but the creation and perpetuation of common misconceptions about groups of people continues. Oversimplified and inaccurate portrayals have profoundly affected how we perceive one another, how we relate to one another and how we value ourselves.

[arabface-blog]

I come from there and I have memories Born as mortals are, I have a mother And a house with many windows, I have brothers, friends, And a prison cell with a cold window. Mine is the wave, snatched by sea-gulls, I have my own view, And an extra blade of grass. Mine is the moon at the far edge of the words, And the bounty of birds, And the immortal olive tree. I walked this land before the swords Turned its living body into a laden table. I come from there. I render the sky unto her mother When the sky weeps for her mother. And I weep to make myself known To a returning cloud. I learnt all the words worthy of the court of blood So that I could break the rule. I learnt all the words and broke them up To make a single word: Homeland.....

Mahmoud Darwish 

"I Come From There"

[decolonizebellydance-blog]

  A History of Arabface

[f-ckyeaharabs]

I hope you post a wider variety of images in the future to showcase the diversity of Arab people. So far, most of them are representing a very narrow view of Arabs, mainly light skin and a Hollywood idea of beauty. Best of luck.

my blog is fairly new and I'm trying to start of with old musicians/actors and go from there but thanks a lot for the feedback I'll sure take that into consideration. salam:)

[arabface-blog]

Oftentimes have I heard you speak of one who commits a wrong as though he were not one of you, but a stranger unto you and an intruder upon your world. But I say that even as the holy and the righteous cannot rise beyond the highest which is in each one of you, So the wicked and the weak cannot fall lower than the lowest which is in you also. And as a single leaf turns not yellow but with the silent knowledge of the whole tree, So the wrong-doer cannot do wrong without the hidden will of you all. Like a procession you walk together towards your god-self. You are the way and the wayfarers. And when one of you falls down he falls for those behind him, a caution against the stumbling stone.

-Kahlil Gibran

[arabface-blog]

[arabface-blog]

"Masha adopted the dance but had a different vision of interpreting it. She is a controversial figure because of her views of the maintenance and expression of this dance form. She feels that Middle Easterners are unfit for the job of caretakers of this dance. The culture is ashamed of the dance and abusive towards women. Also, the dance has been controlled by their government and disrespected by male club owners. She feels that American women have honored it more and deserve to adopt it."

Quote from this article describing the origins of American "Tribal" style Bellydance. This quote was removed several months ago, but before that it had remained on the website for years. 

The article contains MANY inaccuracies regarding the role of bellydance in Egyptian culture, but claims to be historical.

The article also uses the racial slur "gypsy" numerous times. 

The person who submitted this to Arabface wished to remain Anonymous. 

EDIT: The quote and article linked above were on the website of the group Fat Chance Bellydance, and the person who said it was one of the ACTUAL TEACHERS of this group for many years.