Wednesday, January 23, 2008

the anne frank kufiya virus


Just learned, thanks to a comment on my earlier post that alerted me to a post on Martijn de Koning's invaluable blog CLOSER: Anthropology of Muslims in the Netherlands, who saw my post...(I'm outta breath)...that you can purchase an Anne-Frank-in-kufiya t-shirt from an Amsterdam company called Print Revolutionaries. 27.50 Euros.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why are you shilling for this project? Are you so blinded by your own prejudice as to not see how this might be offensive to Jews?
Anne Frank is a girl murdered because she was a Jew. Her second cousin, Ayal Frank, was murdered by Palestinians in a kibbutz in Galil in the 1980s.

Anonymous said...

From Haaretz,

Dutch Jewish group slams image of Anne Frank wearing kaffiyeh
By Cnaan Liphshiz


A Dutch Jewish organization last week condemned the distribution of a postcard showing a manipulated image of Anne Frank wearing a Palestinian kaffiyeh, calling it "a tasteless falsification of history." The company that published the postcard described it as "an idyllic image of peace."

The Hague-based Centre For Information and Documentation on Israel (CIDI) called on cinemas, cafes and other businesses to ban the postcard, which has been distributed for the past two weeks free of charge across the Netherlands by T-shirt and postcard maker Boomerang.

"In Holland, Anne Frank is a distinct symbol of the Holocaust and persecution," CIDI's public relations coordinator, Tuvit Shlomi, told Haaretz. "The red-and-white kaffiyeh symbolizes Palestinian resistance to the Israeli occupation. We find this link offensive, false and unacceptable."
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In a press release about the postcard, CIDI said the image suggested the Palestinians were persecuted like the Jews during World War II. "Israel and the Palestinians are engaged in a conflict. The Palestinians are not persecuted, there are no extermination camps and there is no genocide," CIDI wrote.

Boomerang's chief editor, Pascale Bosboom, told Haaretz that the artist responsible for the image - who is known only as T. - combined the two symbols "to create an idealistic image in which both states exist alongside one another in peace."

In its official announcement, Boomerang said it agrees with CIDI that the historical connection CIDI mentioned "must not be made." Boomerang, the statement said, recognizes that the fate of the Jews in the Netherlands during World War II is nothing like that of the Palestinians.

Anonymous said...

The same site has an interesting update...with cards and with jesus...

http://martijn.religionresearch.org/?p=2405