žižek archive
archive / stories / Tamer Nafar at Columbia: 'I sing in Arabic to protect our women'

Tamer Nafar at Columbia: 'I sing in Arabic to protect our women'

example · retold in 3 talks

When radical leftists accused Palestinian rapper Tamer Nafar of enabling Islamophobic narratives by singing about honor killings, he replied that his critics do so in English for their English professors; he sings in Arabic for his people to protect women.

2015: 2 talks 2016: 1 talk
≤2000talks it is told in, per year2026

As told 3

“You who criticize me, you do this in English to get points from your English professors. I in my country, I sing in Arab to protect our women.”
“when you criticize me, you criticize my own community in english to impress your radical professors. i sing in arabic to protect the women in my own hood.”
“when you criticize me you criticize my own community in English to impress your radical professors I sing in Arabic to protect the women in my own hood”
35:55 Pervert’s Guide to Europe2015-11-21 · 1:52:33

What it carries

one story, many jobs: the ideas this anecdote is deployed to argue, one tally mark per use (an idea page shows the same relation from the other end, as its shelf of stories)

Its cast and sources

populated by
alongside works

Every retelling 3

When radical leftists accused Palestinian rapper Tamer Nafar of enabling Islamophobic narratives by singing about honor killings, he replied that his critics do so in English for their English professors; he sings in Arabic for his people to protect women., illustrating Palestinian feminism,authentic political engagement,double blackmail
Palestinian-Israeli rapper Tamer Nafar, after performing a song protesting honor killings, was accused by American anti-Zionist students of promoting the Zionist view of Palestinians as barbaric. His reply: 'When you criticize me, you criticize my own community in English to impress your radical professors. I sing in Arabic to protect the women in my own hood.', illustrating tension between anti-imperialism and feminist/gay rights,multiculturalist defense covering internal antagonisms,pseudo-radicalism
35:55 Pervert’s Guide to Europe2015-11-21 · 1:52:33
Palestinian rapper Tamer Nafar fights both Israeli oppression and honor killings in his own community. At a US campus talk, pseudo-radical leftists accused him of collaborating with the oppressor by criticizing honor killings. His response: 'When you criticize me you criticize my own community in English to impress your radical professors, I sing in Arabic to protect the women in my own hood.', illustrating patronizing leftism,universality of struggle,multiculturalism vs. universal rights