The *FREE ARAB VOICE*
July 3, 1998

This entire issue of the Free Arab Voice is dedicated to ARAB
CONTRIBUTIONS TO HUMAN CIVILIZATION. We have made available on our
website the largest collection of material detailing such contributions
for easy reference and use by all. Finally, the titanic technical
efforts of FAV's webmaster Tawfic Abdul-Fattah made this feat possible
(See links below). Enjoy, and BE PROUD of your heritage!!

Background:

Perhaps one of the most common oversights in Western versions of human
progress is that strange cultural quantum leap from ancient Greece and
Rome to the Renaissance and the Age of the Enlightenment in Europe.
Rarely are the accomplishments of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia
mentioned, even though they provided the foundations for the subsequent 
civilizations of Greece and Rome.  But even more significantly, Arab 
contributions to civilization after the advent of Islam are more 
thoroughly blocked out.  Who carried the torch of science and knowledge 
while Europe wallowed and groveled in the middle ages?  Who made the 
present possible?  That's the huge black hole that holds in its agitated 
womb the great cultural and political complex of European 
ethnocentricity, a precursor of modern racism.

The issue is not merely historical however.  It is political as well 
because Western attitudes towards the rape of Palestine, the mass murder 
of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children, the discrimination practiced 
against Arabs in America when they are thrown in jail on secret evidence 
or when they undergo "passenger profiling", and Western attitudes 
towards injustices done to us in a thousand lesser ways, would not be so 
criminally tolerant if a process of dehumanizing Arabs and Muslims did 
not at first culturally take hold.  Diminishing the worth of the other 
is a prerequisite of dehumanizing the other, then stereotyping the 
other.  Ignoring our contributions is in part quintessential ignorance, 
and in part intended to make us feel smaller, and thus render us easier 
to crush.  But we should resist such racism with THE POSITIVE WORD: our 
contributions, our lives, our humanity, and our pride.  

Frequently we circulate action alerts to circumvent emergencies in 
Palestine, Iraq, or the U.S.  This time we put our best foot forward as 
we try NOT to be in a reactive mode.  So read the material below.  Learn 
it. Teach it to your kids or little siblings.  Mention it to friends. 
Bookmark it.  Cite it in school papers and letters to editors.  Link it 
to your website.  Make castles of hope out it.  Do what you want with 
it.  But no matter what, remember that you should be proud of it. 
Always!!

                                    Editor/ The Free Arab Voice

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Links
= = = 

If you're interested in the            Click on
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -            - - - - -
*(Main entry) 
ARAB CIVILIZATION: http://www.freearabvoice.org/arabCivilMain.htm

*INTRODUCTION:     http://www.freearabvoice.org/ac2.html

*ISLAM:            http://www.freearabvoice.org/ac3.html

*ARABIC LANGUAGE:  http://www.freearabvoice.org/acArabicLang1.html

*ARABIC WRITING & CALLIAGRAPHY:
http://www.freearabvoice.org/acArabicWritAndCall_1.html

*EDUCATION:        http://www.freearabvoice.org/acEducation_1.html

*CHEMISTRY:        http://www.freearabvoice.org/acChemistry.html

*MUSIC:            http://www.freearabvoice.org/acMusic_1.html

*LITERATURE:       http://www.freearabvoice.org/acLiterature_1.html

*MATHEMATICS & ASTRONOMY:
                   http://www.freearabvoice.org/acMath_1.html

*PHYSICS:          http://www.freearabvoice.org/acPhysics_1.html

*MEDICINE:         http://www.freearabvoice.org/acMedicine_1.html

*ARCHITECTURE:     http://www.freearabvoice.org/acArchitect_1.html

*(An image of the)ARABIC ALPHABET:
                   http://www.freearabvoice.org/acArabicAlphabet.html

Remember: Keep those links handy for future use.
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**CANAAN (In Arabic):

A progressive bimonthly intellectual cultural publication that comes out 
of Ramallah, Palestine.  Topics range from the political economy of 
globalization to literary criticism.  The siege of Arab states and the 
so-called peace process are analyzed in depth in terms of long-term 
social and political processes.  The journal is critical and provides 
refreshingly new perspectives without falling into the pits of defeatism 
and normalization.

If interested, email Adel Samara the editor at:  yazan@planet.edu
Otherwise call/fax (0119722)995-7215      
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**ARAB NATIONALIST LIST (In English):

Whether you're an Arabist, an Arab nationalist, Baathist, Nassirite, or 
independent, the purpose of this list is to roam in discussions and 
exchange news and views relating to Arab nationalist issues.

To join or if you have any questions, contact:

The listmaster Soha Faour:    soha_f@hotmail.com

or Ibrahim Ebeid:             ebeid123@bellatlantic.net

or Ibrahim Alloush:           alloush100@yahoo.com

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