al-jazeera: Now we are five

So al-jazeera's english-language service is five years old. The CIA attempt to steal its thunder by setting up a US Arab-oriented news service hardly took off - more fishy (strictly small-scale) than phish. And the station's remit has expanded to give voice to the voiceless everywhere.

As Hilary Clinton said this week, America is still being left behind in getting its message heard. Even the Ruskies have an english-language broadcasting service. English, or "english" is the language of the computer age and is the long-established default option for any gathering of three or more differing linguists. Ironically, its dominance is due in great part to America's ubiquitous cultural presence (thank you, Mr Disney), so in a way, the US provided the rest of the world with the tool to cut it the cold shoulder.

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insert music here

As history is rewritten, most of the music of the 'seventies towards the century's end tends to get marginalised. For many, the sign that the Melody Maker had lost the place was that it had not made the death of the King of Kool, MilesDavis, front-page. Elsewhere, music from the heart continued to flourish in all its colours. Jim Mullen's Blues Bag is mainstream jazz, but very much of its time. Technology, hard bop and the rock cross-over have extended the range of possibilities.

Another new gallery for Bristol

In the last few years three new art galleries have opened their doors to the Bristolian public and in a departure from the traditional experience of local entrepreneurs, have remained in business. Now one of those galleries, View, has extended its reach from home-base in Hotwells to the Centre.

View @ Harveys is up Denmark Street, that lane curving round behind the Hippodrome and resembling an exotic little piece of Soho.






The current show, by Mark Youd, of oversize monochrome portraits painted with an effortless panache, leaving the surrounding areas white and given an "antique" treatment, will be up until 22 January.

Palestine Film Festival - Bristol

Another first for Bristol! This winter between 1st – 10th December, the Bristol Palestine Film Festival will be celebrating Palestinian film, arts and culture at multiple venues throughout the city. With screenings at Watershed, Arnolfini, the Cube, and Hamilton House, we will be inviting audiences to explore the multiple realities and identities of Palestinian people. On wednesday 9th November the full programme was published online at http://www.bristolpff.org.uk/. On 3rd December,after a tasting, facilitated by Zaytoun, we screen Jaffa – The Clockwork’s Orange presented by Dr Ghada Karmi – a leading Palestinian activist, writer and academic. She is co-director of the European Centre of Palestine Studies at the University of Exeter, and a patron of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and a member of the Executive Committee of the Council for Arab-British Understanding. Her memoir, ‘In Search of Fatima’, was widely acclaimed, and her most recent book. ‘Married to another man: Israel’s dilemma in Palestine’, is an analysis of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from the Palestinian point of view.Guests wishing to attend the film and talk following the reception are kindly invited to purchase tickets (which will shortly be available) from the Arnolfini box office.

Picture: Arnolfini Bristol

Israeli pirates strike again

As reported by Democracy Now! - the Israeli government continues to hold a number of passengers seized in international waters 0n Friday 4th November, including my fellow-Glaswegian Hassan Ghani. while trying to challenge the Israeli naval blockade on Gaza. The passengers were on two boats — one from Canada and the other from Ireland — as part of the "Freedom Waves" flotilla. Some 20 activists are believed to remain in custody after refusing to sign statements asserting they had entered Israel illegally. Flotilla organizers have accused the Israeli military of physically assaulting some of the activists and tasering at least one of them. Democracy Now! correspondent Jihan Hafiz was among those detained despite her press credentials. Hafiz had been filing daily reports for Democracy Now from the Canadian ship named "Tahrir." She spent three nights behind bars, where she was strip-searched and denied phone calls to relatives for 48 hours. Israel has not returned her equipment or footage.commandos on all of these boats were heavily armed... It looked like they were taking on an army of a foreign country," says Hafiz, noting the masked soldiers pointed their guns at the heads of those on board. The report includes a rush transcript.

Update 12 November:

Hassan has been in touch from Istanbul where he is fine although he has no mobile phone or any other belongings. He is due back in the UK from Monday. He said the FCO told him his friends were working on his behalf while he was locked up and it made a massive difference to him.

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