philosophy

‘Martyr’ Doesn’t Really Capture it…

~Zulfikar~

For as long as I can remember, and back from when I was a young child still living in Lebanon, I would hear the word “Shaheed” and “Martyr”. And though I have not stopped hearing those words throughout my whole life, there have certainly been times where I’ve heard them used a lot more. Specifically, social media outlets in the West have a need to sensationalize the word “Martyr” and how it relates to Arabs, and specifically Muslims.

In this post I want to delve a little bit into both the meaning and the translation of the word “Shaheed”, most commonly used and understood in the West as “Martyr”. My hope is that critical analysis of these terms helps to expose the biases and discriminations that arise from misusing them. read more

Hope and Creation…

~Zulfikar~

A long time ago I wrote my Master’s Philosophy thesis on “Aesthetics, Human Freedom, and Technological Rationality”. Thinking back on it now I probably should have come up with a more simple title like “Art, Freedom, and Capitalism”.

I examined the work of two philosophers Friedrich Schiller’s “Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man”, and Herbert Marcuse’s “One Dimensional Man”. In short, I was interested in looking at the creative capacities of human beings and how Capitalism basically squashes those capacities. read more

Fight, Flight, or Freeze. What About Grief?

~Zulfikar~

It has been seven months since Israel and the United States have been massacring Palestinians in Gaza. At the same time Israel has been maintaining its occupation in the West Bank and expanding its settlements there. As a matter of fact on March 22, 2024 Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s current finance minister announced that they have seized about 3.8 square miles of Palestinian territory in the West Bank. This land seizure by Israel is the largest one since the 1993 Oslo accords, according to a settlement watchdog group called Peace Now. read more

Thoughts on the U.S. and Israel’s Settler Colonialist Project in the Levant

~Zulfikar~

I’m Lebanese-Syrian. I was born in Beirut, Lebanon in 1980. My mother is Syrian and my father is Lebanese. My family and I have lived through and survived Israel’s war on Lebanon, and the Lebanese civil war, not to mention the wars on and in Syria. I would like to say that I’m no stranger to the politics in my two countries and that whole region, but with how much history there is I always felt like I didn’t know enough.

I grew up in Burj-al-Barajneh, a refugee camp that was set up for Palestinians who were driven out of Palestine by Israel. Palestinians are like family to me, there isn’t much distinction, we lived and grew up together. And though I have never been to Palestine, my love for it is born from the love for my Palestinian friends and family. I unequivocally stand in solidarity with them. read more

“I would (insert hyperbole) for you”

~Zulfikar~

How often do we hear people saying some over the top thing they would do to prove their love or commitment or whatever, towards someone else? I’ve heard people say things like “I would die for you”, “I would jump in front of a car for you”, “I would take a bullet…”, “I would fight anyone…”, “I would do whatever it takes…”. All this said in an effort to show the extremes that someone would go to show how much they care. But do they…? read more

MEAL PREP AND SABOTAGE

~Zulfikar~

A few years back I was up late at on a sunday night, prepping food for the week. I was making a big, delicious pot of chilli. I’m not sure of the exact date, but I do remember it was in the winter. I know this because I make chilli mostly in the winter. And I remember thinking about how much I would rather be sleeping because I had to be up early.

So around 10:30pm I was prepping the ingredients and gathering spices to make an awesome meal to last the week. And I began talking to myself. I told myself “It’s ok, my future self will thank me”. I didn’t know that this thought would unfold into an entire way of life for me. The first part is a bit thick, but stick with me I’m going somewhere good with this. read more