Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,


Bab El Oued as viewed from the Casbah of Algiers. Bab El Oued became a bastion of the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) in the run-up to the Algerian Civil War: https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2001697800/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bab_El_Oued

42 years ago, in 1982, both conservatives and leftists agreed that Iran’s Islamic-fascism was a bad thing. They used to agree that all Islamic extremism and terrorism was bad, too. Now a shocking number, especially on the left, support Iran-backed Hamas Islamic terrorists in Gaza.

Rock the Casbah (1982) by the Clash: https://youtu.be/bJ9r8LMU9bQ
“The events depicted in the song are similar to an actual ban on Western music, including rock music, enforced in Iran since the Iranian Revolution. Though classical music and public concerts were briefly permitted in the 1980s and 1990s, the ban was reinstated in 2005, and has remained in force ever since…” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_the_Casbah

Similarly, Algeria’s Islamic Salvation Front (Front islamique du salut FIS) banned music, such as Rai, where FIS took control in Algeria. FIS was the same generation offspring of the Muslim Brotherhood as Hamas.

From 2009: “Human Rights groups say Hamas is gradually imposing a strict Islamic code on the 1.5 million Palestinians of Gaza”. OCTOBER 8, 2009 “Hamas bans women on motorcycles in Gaza Strip” https://web.archive.org/web/20170801035250/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-palestinians-hamas-motorcycles-sb-idUSTRE5971TX20091008

“Rock El Casbah” by Oran born Algerian Rachid Taha: https://youtu.be/02Sg9H2T_TQ

“Taha believed his early recordings helped to inspire The Clash to create the song “Rock the Casbah”.[5] A New York Times music reporter wrote of Taha’s cover version of the Clash’s hit song probably influenced by his earlier work:
Is “Rock El Casbah”, with its images of sheiks gusting through the desert in Cadillacs and cracking down on ‘degenerate’ disco dancers, an indictment of the oil-choked, religiously fanatical Arab world, or a wry comment on the West’s cartoonish vision of the region? No listener to the recording can doubt that it is both, or that in Mr. Taha, a rumpled North African with a buzz saw voice, the Clash has an unlikely heir. – Jody Rosen, 2005[5] “ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachid_Taha

“When talk turns to politics, Mr. Taha, who has no love for the Bush administration, shocks everyone by announcing that an American bombing raid on Iranian nuclear sites wouldn’t be such a bad thing. “Believe me, Arabs don’t care at all about Iran,” he says. “Besides, Iran shouldn’t be allowed to have nukes.”
(…) “Dima” (“Always”), a jittery, electronica-streaked ballad that Mr. Taha wrote with Mr. Hillage and Brian Eno, cries out from the diaspora to Arabs suffering under repressive regimes: “If you sang what I sang, they’d chase you/If you wrote what I have written, they’d burn you.” Read: “Shock the Casbah, Rock the French (and Vice Versa)” By Jody Rosen March 13, 2005 https://web.archive.org/web/20230226113954/https://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/13/arts/music/shock-the-casbah-rock-the-french-and-vice-versa.html

“Rock the Casbah: Algeria’s deep Jewish connection: Don’t expect flights from Tel Aviv to Algiers opening up any time soon – there are no Jewish communities left in the country. But what a glorious Jewish past!” JUL 22, 2022, 6:06 PM https://web.archive.org/web/20220806152401/https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/rock-the-casbah-algerias-deep-jewish-connection/ While not discussed in the article, Jews were in Algeria from Roman times, and maybe before.