Dhimmis du mois: Un autre chic tout en retenue (Dubai: Abaya chic, but no Jews, please, we’re Muslims)

Nous ne souhaitons pas politiser le sport, mais nous devons être sensibles aux événements récents dans la région et ne pas aliéner ou mettre en danger les joueurs et les nombreux fans de tennis des différentes nationalités que nous avons ici aux EAU. Salah Tahlak (directeur du tournoi de Dubaï)

Chaque fois qu’une équipe ou un athlète d’un état voisin du Moyen-Orient refuse de rencontrer leurs homologues israéliens sur un terrain de jeu, les gens qui cautionnent l’événement… feignent d’en être choqués. Alors ils promettent que la prochaine fois ils mordront la main qui les nourrit. Pour faire finalement ce qu’ils font toujours: prendre l’argent et renvoyer les Israéliens à la niche. Jim Litke (Associated press)

Ce qui est véritablement regrettable, c’est que la WTA et les joueuses elles-mêmes n’ont pas mis leurs principe avant leur argent. Dubaï a en gros accroché un grand panneau `Interdit aux juifs sur son court central, mais personne ne s’en est apparemment assez senti gêné pour annuler le tournoi. Michael Freund (The Jerusalem Post)

La lapidation est une nécessité pour conserver la sanctification de la famille. Zahra Shojaii (responsable de la question féminine juillet 2002)

La burkha est la garde-robe favorite de beaucoup de femmes musulmanes. ABC news (mars 2008)

En dépit de l’opacité du vêtement, on sentait l’harmonie du corps et sa jeunesse. (…) Entre notre pseudo-liberté sexuelle et la nudité trop galvaudée dans nos sociétés, peut-être un autre chic tout en retenue se dessinait-il là? Jean-Baptiste Mondino (juin 2008)

Les femmes ont le droit d’être sexy si c’est pour la seule satisfaction de leur mari. Le plaisir sexuel est bien vu, il n’y a pas de pudibonderie. Avoir des enfants est loin d’être le seul but des relations sexuelles. Elles apprécient les fragrances très lourdes. et aiment s’en mettre dans les cheveux. Elles font aussi brûler des essences avec du petit charbon dans des brûle-parfum qu’elles font glisser sous leur robe pour imprégner le corps et chasser le mauvais oeil. Philippe (connaisseur de la région, cité par Libération)

Et une styliste d’origine anglo-pakistanaise installée depuis cinq ans dans la ville, Hamra Alam, rappelle, par ses collections, que le voile, avant d’être la manifestation d’une expression religieuse, est un instrument de beauté et de séduction. Cécile Daumas (Libération, juin 2008)

Bienvenue au pays du voile intégral signé Tom Ford ou Jil Sander! (Mais pas de juifs, s’il vous plait, on est musulmans)

A l’heure où la nouvelle mecque des « quartiers fantômes » , « étrangers menacés de prison pour dettes » et « voitures abandonnées sur le parking de l’aéroport » vient (avec la WTA, Sony Ericsso, Barclays et les autres joueuses) de pousser la sollicitude jusqu’à interdire, “pour sa propre sécurité”, son tournoi à une joueuse de tennis israélienne …

Et où notre dhimmi en chef y passe quasiment tous ses weekends …

Pendant qu’en Amérique même le patron d’origine pakistanaise d’une chaine de télé islamique crée au lendemain des attentats du 11/9 pour « donner une autre image de l’Islam » vient de pousser la passion amoureuse jusqu’à la décapitation de sa 3e femme …

Retour, après le burkha show d’Oslo du printemps dernier, sur le cri du cœur du photographe de mode Jean-Baptiste Mondino dans Libération du 9 juin dernier (un publi-reportage-photo en fait dans leur supplément mode décalée) s’extasiant sur cet « autre chic tout en retenue qui se dessine là » …

Féminité (dé)voilée
Cécile Daumas
Libération
7 juin 2008

«Derrière l’opacité du vêtement, on sentait l’harmonie du corps» Quel rapport les femmes voilées, cachées en public et plus libres dans l’intimité, entretiennent-elles avec les signes extérieurs de la féminité ? Décryptage.

C’est l’histoire d’un regard éclair posé sur deux femmes dans un aéroport de la péninsule arabique. En transit à Doha au Qatar, le photographe de mode Jean-Baptiste Mondino tombe en arrêt devant deux silhouettes totalement masquées par une abaya, ce vêtement qui ne laisse entrevoir que le regard des femmes. « J’ai vu ces deux filles habillées de noir, portant sac et chaussures haute couture, et je les ai trouvées extrêmement élégantes. Pour la première fois de ma vie, je les ai regardées autrement et j’ai apprécié leur beauté. » Le trouble naît. « Comment pouvais-je considérer comme attirante cette image passablement effrayante de femmes qui ne semblent pas libres et dont le corps est enfermé ? » Malgré tout, la confusion persiste. « Accompagnées d’un jeune homme habillé de blanc, elles riaient et semblaient joyeuses. En dépit de l’opacité du vêtement, on sentait l’harmonie du corps et sa jeunesse. J’imaginais beaucoup de choses. » Dans l’aéroport bondé de touristes en short et baskets, elles sont les plus stylées. « Leur vêtement était parfaitement coupé, rappelant une élégance Saint Laurent. Entre notre pseudo-liberté sexuelle et la nudité trop galvaudée dans nos sociétés, peut-être un autre chic tout en retenue se dessinait-il là ? Mon regard se faisait moins machiavélique. »

Habit officiel.

La série photos que Jean-Baptiste Mondino a signée retranscrit ce trouble. Il ne s’agit pas d’affirmer que l’allure de demain passera par l’abaya ni de cautionner la situation des femmes dans cette région du monde. Mais simplement de constater que l’élégance s’exprime différemment, même a contrario des habituelles icônes de la femme libérée. Vue d’Europe, l’abaya, cette longue robe noire qui dissimule les corps féminins, semble dupliquée à l’identique. Sans forme ni fantaisie, elle est l’habit officiel des femmes des pays du Golfe. En fait, elle se porte de multiples façons. Les femmes les plus modestes se contentent d’une version en tissu synthétique, les coquettes adoptent l’abaya dite « française », celle qui prend légèrement la taille et souligne davantage la silhouette au grand dam des religieux les plus intransigeants. Les plus riches optent pour les modèles brodés, avec papillons et discrets dragons. Certains magasins de luxe, comme la Villa Moda à Koweit City, proposent des abayas signées Tom Ford ou Jil Sander.

Autre variante qui plaît en ce moment : les manches kimono soulignées de soie et incrustées de cristaux Swarovski. Outre la qualité de l’abaya, les riches Saoudiennes ou Koweïtiennes jouent volontiers de la chaussure ou du sac siglés pour se distinguer. Coiffeur de têtes couronnées, Philippe (1) fait régulièrement le voyage dans la péninsule arabique : « Les femmes que je coiffe aiment beaucoup la mode, les bijoux, les parfums. Elles sont très féminines, recherchent l’accessoire indispensable de la saison. Elles se tiennent au courant en regardant Fashion TV via le satellite ou bien sont conseillées par des assistantes libanaises très coquettes. Elles aiment Vuitton et Chanel, elles sont folles de Dior. Elles apprécient aussi Jean Paul Gaultier. Lors du dernier mariage auquel j’ai assisté, la mariée était habillée par le créateur français. »

En Arabie Saoudite, impossible pour une femme de sortir dans la rue sans revêtir l’abaya. Mais à la maison, elle s’habille le plus souvent à l’occidentale et sans voile. « Quand les princesses me reçoivent chez elles, explique Philippe le coiffeur, elles sont en tailleur ou en pantalon mais ont toujours les bras couverts et n’ont jamais de décolleté. A Paris, elles se font faire des jupes en deux longueurs : une aux genoux pour les voyages en Europe et une autre longue jusqu’aux pieds pour leur pays. » A l’aéroport, elles montent voilées dans l’avion et ressortent en tailleurs et talons à l’atterrissage. Elles ont appris à se changer dans les toilettes.

Lingerie.

Les jeunes générations, elles, n’hésitent pas à porter sous l’abaya, jean moulant et top à bretelles. Autre engouement que laisse peu présager l’uniforme noir : la lingerie. Les grandes marques font de belles affaires dans les centres commerciaux, un des seuls lieux de divertissement autorisés. « Les femmes ont le droit d’être sexy si c’est pour la seule satisfaction de leur mari, explique un connaisseur de la région. Le plaisir sexuel est bien vu, il n’y a pas de pudibonderie. Avoir des enfants est loin d’être le seul but des relations sexuelles. » D’où l’importance de revêtir une dentelle avenante ou de se parfumer le corps. « Elles apprécient les fragrances très lourdes, constate Philippe, et aiment s’en mettre dans les cheveux. Elles font aussi brûler des essences avec du petit charbon dans des brûle-parfum qu’elles font glisser sous leur robe pour imprégner le corps et chasser le mauvais oeil. »

Avec le doublement du cours du baril de pétrole en un an, les maisons de luxe bénéficient d’un gisement immédiat de clientèle encore plus fortunée dans les pays du Golfe. Pour la première fois cette année, Abou Dhabi, la capitale des Emirats arabes unis, a organisé une fashion week. En mars, des mannequins voilés ont défilé sur les podiums. La créatrice d’origine afghane Rabia Z. a imaginé une ligne mêlant streetwear et habit traditionnel. La Saoudienne Amina Al Jassim s’est inspirée des tenues d’apparat pour livrer des abayas surbrodées et chargées de bijoux. Mais la tradition était aussi bousculée par la présentation de tuniques et de robes légères dévoilant les corps. Et la présence de marques étrangères comme Missoni ou Pucci. A Dubaï, la fashion week, existe, elle, depuis un an. Et une styliste d’origine anglo-pakistanaise installée depuis cinq ans dans la ville, Hamra Alam, rappelle, par ses collections, que le voile, avant d’être la manifestation d’une expression religieuse, est un instrument de beauté et de séduction. Chez la jeune créatrice, la sombre abaya devient un long manteau à capuche ouvrant largement sur un jean usé ou une robe ultracourte et colorée. Hors des maisons, jolies jambes et nombrils se laissent voir le temps d’un défilé. (1) Le prénom a été changé.

Voir aussi:

Dubai Double Fault
A cosmopolitan city, unless you’re Jewish.
February 18, 2009

Praise Dubai. The Arab city-state, once fabled for its real-estate extravaganzas (and now for its extravagant debts), claims to be so concerned for the personal security of an Israeli tennis player that it is refusing her a visa to play in a championship tournament. Maybe next time the emirate will generously extend this security guarantee to all Israeli citizens.

Oh, wait: Dubai already forbids Israeli passport holders from setting foot on its soil. Which gives the lie to the emirate’s excuse for excluding Israel’s Shahar Pe’er, currently ranked 45 in the world, from competing in next week’s Barclay’s Dubai Tennis Championships. In another twist, the tournament’s director added that Ms. Pe’er’s presence on the court might have « antagonized our fans. » We used to feel that way about John McEnroe, but that didn’t stop us from watching.

Happily, the Lords of Tennis seem to be having none of it. Larry Scott, chief executive of the World Tennis Association, plans to weigh sanctions against Dubai, including excluding it altogether from its tournament calendar. And Ken Solomon of the American Tennis Channel has decided not to televise the games. « Sports are about merit, absent of background, class, race, creed, color or religion, » he told the New York Times. « This is an easy decision to come by, based on what is right and wrong. »

Just so. Meantime, Dubai may wish to reconsider not only Ms. Pe’er’s visa, but its attitude generally toward Israel. A city-state that fancies itself a global mecca for commerce, sport and recreation ought to be able to handle a few Jews in its cosmopolitan midst.

Voir enfin:

Fans boycott feared if Peer had played in Dubai
Feb 17, 2009
Reuters
Barry Wood

DUBAI (Reuters) – Local tennis fans would have boycotted the Dubai women’s championships if Israeli player Shahar Peer had been allowed to compete this week, organisers said on Tuesday.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE), which has no diplomatic links with Israel, denied Peer a visa for the WTA tournament.

« Public sentiment remains high in the Middle East and it is believed that Ms Peer’s presence would have antagonised our fans who have watched live television coverage of recent attacks in Gaza, » a statement read by tournament director Salah Tahlak said.

« Ms Peer personally witnessed protests against her at another tournament in New Zealand only a few weeks ago.

« Concern was raised about her well being and her presence triggering similar protests. Given public sentiment, the entire tournament could have been boycotted by protesters.

« We do not wish to politicise sports, but we have to be sensitive to recent events in the region and not alienate or put at risk the players and the many tennis fans of different nationalities that we have here in the UAE. »

The three-week Israeli offensive against the Gaza Strip, which killed 1,300 Palestinians and 14 Israelis, caused deep anger around the Arab and Muslim worlds. It ended in January.

The refusal to issue a visa to Peer violates WTA Tour rules, which state that any player should be able to compete where she wishes if she has the required ranking.

A WTA board meeting in Indian Wells next month will discuss the tournament’s future.

Peer backed the WTA’s decision to allow the tournament to be staged this week.

DIFFICULT MOMENT

« While this is a very difficult moment for me personally and professionally, and the fact that the visa denial was issued at the last moment, I firmly believe that my fellow competitors should not be harmed the way I was, » Peer said in a statement.

« They were in or on their way to Dubai and denying them the right to play in this year’s tournament at the last moment would not make the wrong right.

« It troubles me greatly that my doubles partner Anna-Lena Groenefeld from Germany will not be able to compete as we had planned.

« Going forward, I am confident that the Tour will take appropriate actions to ensure that this injustice is not allowed to occur in the future, and that the Tour will make sure I will not be further harmed in the short and long term.

« There should be no place for politics or discrimination in professional tennis or indeed any sport. »

The episode could be replicated next week since Israel’s doubles specialist Andy Ram has applied for a visa to compete in the men’s Dubai tournament starting on Monday.

The ATP said it would review the status of the event once Ram is notified about his application.

« We are still waiting an official decision on Andy Ram’s visa application, » an ATP spokesman said.

« Clearly this is an opportunity for the UAE to make the right decision. »

Voir également:

Dubai’s kind of sport: kick Israelis down the road
Jim Litke
The Associated Press
International Herald Tribune
February 17, 2009

Every time a team or athlete from a neighboring Middle East state refuses to meet their Israeli counterparts on a playing field, the people who sanction the event °X insert the name of just about any international sporting federation here °X pretend to be shocked.

Then they promise the next time it happens, they’ll bite the hand that feeds them.

Then they do what they always do: take the money and kick the Israelis down the road. The end game, apparently, turns on whether they run out of real estate or courage first.

The latest refusal came when the United Arab Emirates declined a visa request from Israeli Shahar Peer on the eve of the Dubai Tennis Championships, a tournament for which she qualified as the 48th-ranked player in the world.

The event is effectively sponsored and run by the Dubai government, and when he was there almost exactly a year ago, WTA Tour chairman Larry Scott insisted he « made it clear to the authorities, the representatives of the government » that if Shahar qualified, she must be allowed to play.

« They had a year to work on it and solve it, » he said Monday. « We’ve spent time through the year discussing it. We were given assurances that it had gone to the highest levels of government. I was optimistic they would solve it. »

They didn’t.

A brief statement from the tournament organizer, Dubai Duty Free, confirmed the visa rejection, but offered no explanation beyond a reference to « events witnessed in the region » °X presumably last month’s war between Israel and Islamic militants in Gaza.

Scott said fellow players were unanimous in supporting Peer’s right to play, and that the decision to stage the event without her °X as well as the Tennis Channel, which canceled plans to televise the championships in protest °X was made in consultation with the 21-year-old Israeli.

He also said the WTA would consider sanctions afterward, including whether to scratch the tournament from its calendar.

« I don’t want to get ahead of our board, » Scott said, « but I’m pretty sure the conversation will start with, ‘This can’t happen again.' »

We’ll see.

Last month, an Israeli basketball team fled to the locker room before a European Cup game in Ankara, Turkey, when hundreds of fist-pumping fans, some waving Palestinian flags and chanting « God is great! » advanced on the court and scuffled with police. After two hours in hiding, a shaken Bnei Hasharon team refused assurances the arena was safe and ducked out of the country at 3 a.m. under heavy security. Days later, host Turk Telecom was awarded a 20-0 win by forfeit.

At the Beijing Olympics, Iranian swimmer Mohammad Alirezaei withdrew from a 100-meter breaststroke heat rather than race Tom Beeri of Israel. Iran wasn’t even warned by the International Olympic Committee, maybe because four years earlier, its flagbearer at the Athens Games, who happened to be the reigning world judo champion, pulled out of the games rather than face an Israeli opponent.

In May, 2003, a Saudi table tennis player forfeited his match against an Israeli at the world championships in Paris, was suspended for the season and returned home to a hero’s welcome.

A month later, a Saudi Arabian soccer team refused to play Israel at the Special Olympics in Ireland. A spokesman for the organizers told the Irish Times the next team that skipped a match « for political or whatever reasons, they will forfeit that game. » Instead of punishing the Saudis, though, the hosts simply shuffled Israel into another « ability group. »

There’s neither time nor space to argue the Israeli-Palestinian issue here. Nor even whether sports and politics should mix; they always have, and likely always will.

But protests are one thing and boycotts another.

It’s why the Israelis have been scrambling for years to find people willing to play and places that will play host to them. Their national and club soccer and basketball teams once had to travel to Australia, New Zealand and Fiji to get games. Since the early 1990s, they’ve been forced to compete in tougher European competitions to qualify for continental and international tournaments. With opponents citing security concerns in recent years, they rarely get to play at home.

Even so, anti-Israeli demonstrators are racheting up both the volume and the menace, recalling the success of a similar campaign against South Africa decades ago.

« It’s not the same thing, » said Richard Lapchick, who is director of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics and Sports at the University of Central Florida and was a leading American figure in the sporting boycott against South Africa.

« I could go into all the differences, but two stand out: There was unanimity to take action against South Africa, which isn’t the case here. And even so, we made a point not to target individual athletes. That’s terribly unfair.

« But it will probably continue unless a few federations and some players show the guts to stand alongside her (Peer). I think the Americans, » Lapchick added, « would be a good place to start. »

Venus Williams has already done just that, as well as plenty of Peer’s other peers, among them Amelie Mauresmo of France and Elena Dementieva of Russia. Scott acknowledged the WTA could have forced the issue in Dubai, but he considered the time frame °X and no doubt, the cash that would be lost °X and put off any decisive action until the next board meeting at the earliest.

Money talks and the UAE has been throwing around petrodollars in recent years to lure world-class runners, golfers, racecar drivers and thoroughbreds to the desert, hoping to transform Dubai into a business and sports destination.

But the longer it gets away with doing business as usual, with the usual partners, the more it emboldens every other nation with sports teams and a grudge.

When asked during a phone call Monday night whether he viewed the situation in Dubai as a burden or an opportunity, Scott didn’t sound like a man in the mood for a fight.

« At the moment, » he said, « it’s just a very regrettable situation. I’ve already heard from a number of our partners, sponsors and other stakeholders. They’re all outraged. Tennis is the leading global sport for women, and we saw this as a broader story about how sport helps open up a region, breaks down stigmas and misconceptions.

« Considering what’s happened, it’s a major step backward already. Worse, » he added wearily, « it’s hard to see what good, if any, can come of this in the long run. »

___

Jim Litke is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press.

Voir enfin:

‘No Jews Allowed’
Michael Freund
The Jerusalem Post
Feb. 17, 2009

The normally staid world of professional tennis became the latest battleground in the Arab-Israeli conflict this week after the United Arab Emirates decided to bar Israel’s Shahar Pe’er from taking part in the Dubai Championships.

Peer, who is ranked 45th in the world, was scheduled to go up against Russian player Anna Chakvetadze on Monday in the first round of the prestigious $2 million tournament, which regularly attracts most of the sport’s top-seeded players.

But much to the chagrin of sports fans everywhere, Peer was denied an entry visa by Dubai’s ruling sheikhs, presumably because of her country of origin.

« I don’t know exactly why, but I can assume that it is because she is Israeli and not because she has brown eyes, » her brother and manager Shlomi Pe’er wryly noted.

Unfortunately, this unsportsmanlike decision prompted an equally unseemly reaction from the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), the governing body of women’s professional tennis.

Instead of standing up to Dubai’s apartheid-style restrictions, the WTA chose to surrender to them.

While acknowledging that association rules forbid a host country from denying a player the right to compete, WTA Chairman Larry Scott nonetheless consented to allow the games to go on.

Labeling Dubai’s decision « regrettable », Scott issued a tepid statement to the media, whimpering that, « The Tour is reviewing appropriate remedies for Ms. Peer and also will review appropriate future actions with regard to the future of the Dubai tournament. » We all know what that means: not very much.

Indeed, what is truly « regrettable » is that both the WTA and the players themselves did not put principle before prize money. Dubai essentially hung a large « No Jews Allowed » sign over center court, but that didn’t seem to bother anyone enough to cancel the tournament.

As criticism mounted over the decision, Scott changed his tone somewhat, telling the Associated Press that the WTA will consider « what types of sanctions are going to be deemed to be appropriate in light of what has happened, including whether or not the tournament has a slot on the calendar next year. » This, he added, could mean its future cancellation. But it’s a shame he didn’t take that step this time around, in order to send a clear-cut message to Dubai that their actions are unacceptable.

Not surprisingly, the contretemps over Peer’s visa has triggered a lot of predictable public hand-wringing about the need to keep politics and sports apart. Said tennis superstar Venus Williams, « All the players support Shahar. We are all athletes, and we stand for tennis. » That is a noble sentiment, but it misses the point.

Dubai’s unsavory decision to block an Israeli tennis player is far more than just an issue of mixing politics with sports. The fact is that it is symptomatic of a larger problem, which is much of the Arab world’s lingering hatred and rejection of Israel.

It underlines the extent to which numerous Arab states seek to undermine Israel’s legitimacy and existence by negating any contact – even across a tennis net! – with the Jewish state.

WHILE MUCH has been written in recent years about the waning of the once-potent Arab economic and trade embargo against Israel, the Dubai debacle is a compelling reminder that the boycott is still very much a factor.

Just two months ago, as required by law, the US Treasury Department published its quarterly list of countries that actively enforce the Arab boycott against Israel. The inventory included eight Arab regimes: Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

A ninth country, Iraq, was said to be « under review by the Department of the Treasury » with regard to its anti-Israel practices.

While the situation is clearly better than it was, say, three decades ago, when virtually the entire Arab world was off-limits to Israelis, no one should fool themselves into thinking that the boycott is entirely a thing of the past.

Sure, countries such as Egypt and Jordan ceased applying it after signing peace treaties with Israel, while others, such as Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia do not enforce it.

But the boycott might just be making a bit of a comeback. In November of last year, Bahrain’s parliament began pressing the Gulf Arab emirate’s government to reopen the country’s Israel Boycott Office, which was closed two years ago under pressure from Washington.

And in October 2008, Damascus hosted representatives of 14 Arab states at a three-day conference aimed at reinvigorating the embargo on Israel. Speakers at the conference spoke of the boycott’s importance as a means of pressuring the Jewish state and called on their fellow members of the Arab League to intensify its enforcement.

In the keynote address to the gathering, Muhammad al-Tayyeb Busala’a, who serves as commissioner general of the Arab League’s Central Bureau for the Boycott of Israel, said the trade embargo is vital in order « to challenge the legitimacy of Israel’s existence. » These sentiments appear to have picked up steam in the wake of Israel’s counter-terror operation in Gaza, which sparked renewed calls in various Arab countries to boycott the Jewish state.

IT IS therefore essential that the Obama Administration make this issue more of a diplomatic priority, and soon, particularly as it seeks to « reach out » to the Muslim world.

At the same time that Washington is looking to foster more engagement with Arab regimes, it cannot and should not countenance their ongoing disengagement from contact with Israel.

And yet, thus far, neither President Barack Obama nor Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have uttered a word about the Arab boycott, nor has special Middle East envoy George Mitchell. It is as if it doesn’t exist on their radar screens.

In light of Shahar Pe’er’s latest scrape with Dubai’s outrageous policies, now would be a good time for them to break their silence.