< PreviousWhat’s the vision for Jazzy Spa Sounds, then? I was working on a few things but put them on hold because we couldn’t meet the artists to record. There are things that have been affected [by the lockdown], but perhaps this gives us a chance to do something even better and enhance our skills. You’ve gone from Snapchat memes to Netflix releases, how do you reflect on that journey? How did it shape you? They all com- plete each other. In the beginning, I started making videos on Instagram, then I got to know others who make videos, and we started making videos together. Then Snap- chat came along. It gave me a chance to act there. It’s a stairway: all these steps complete each other. There’s Instagram, Snapchat, cinema, and I feel like they’re all there in one neighbourhood. When we shot the film Wa- sati in 2016, I thought that it was a lovely ex- perience that I learned from, but I also thought it would remain in the drawer and never be released to the world. There were a few screen- ings – one in LA – but still I thought that it would only premiere in certain places, and that no one would really see it. I could never expect that some- thing I acted in four years ago would bounce back and be on Netflix. But when it did, it felt great. Many of the projects you’ve worked on revolve around social taboos and extremism in the region. Specifically, Saudi Arabia. How do you connect with these topics? I find that these topics are rarely dis- cussed. One of the people that does it smartly is the director Meshal Al Jaser. He brilliantly tackles these sensitive topics and, through the work of somebody like him, we can be better placed to deal with these issues. He opens doors of discussion with- out pushing them in your face. Your Khaleeji heritage is central to the content you create, and it showcases things that are almost hidden from the world. How do you plan to take it forward? We have a lot of things here that haven’t been showcased outside of the region…the humour and the mannerisms that we possess individually in the Khaleej and Sau- di. We have a lot of things that we can do in our own way, but at the same time to a global standard. It would bother me if someone not related to our environment took what we have and gave it to the world. There are skilled people here that are continually learning. We need to control our own story. What do you think is the future for not only the Saudi entertainment scene but the Middle Eastern scene at large? The entertainment indus- try is changing rapidly, but there are still people who haven’t grasped its full value, or accepted that it shouldn’t be restricted to a specific time and place. Take Netflix. This is entertain- ment we can all enjoy from home, regularly improving, regularly expanding. So much has stopped right now, but the entertainment industry continues to evolve. There will be more digital-first ideas, more collabo- rations. People from the Khlaeej need to understand that entertainment shouldn’t just be kept within our community. Why not collaborate with people around the world, too? How has life been in Riyadh since the lockdown – and how do you think it will change once you’re free? I think this whole situation has, ironical- ly, made people closer to each other, especial- ly with their families. I think the way we greet each other could be different when we get out – less kissing and hugs. I’ve always been the type of person that washes his hands 10 times a day – now it’s about 300! – but maybe people will be more concerned with cleanliness going forward? What are your hopes for the post-COVID world? I hope that we can all act less selfishly. I would love to think that after this period we could grow closer to each other and realise that time spent being upset with people is time badly spent. Finally, what will be the first thing you do when you can go back outside? While we don’t have too many public places in Riyadh, my favourite one is the park. I’ll take a picnic cloth, some food and just sit there until the sun sets. 70 SUMMER 2020 @ G Q M I D D L E E A S T Copy Of GQME_017_64_79_FEAT_Cover Story_11283051.indd 7003/05/2020 10:21:20Copy Of GQME_017_64_79_FEAT_Cover Story_11283051.indd 7103/05/2020 10:21:35Copy Of GQME_017_64_79_FEAT_Cover Story_11283051.indd 7203/05/2020 10:26:53Copy Of GQME_017_64_79_FEAT_Cover Story_11283051.indd 7303/05/2020 10:27:03“Not Your Habibti”: that’s the phrase that sparked momentum for Baby Fist, the Palestinian apparel brand that’s opened crucial conversations on gender- based issues in the region. The group, through its colourful and defiant tees, hoodies and jackets, raises proceeds for the education and advancement of Palestinian women. As the Coronavirus took hold around the world, Baby Fist manufactured and donated some 60,000 masks to the people of Gaza. The group’s 23-year-old founder, Yasmeen Mjalli, has been self-isolating in Ramallah, and musing about what the future of the movement could look like. The region and the world are going through an extraor- dinary time. How has life changed in Ramallah? We’re in isolation here. We have a 5 o’clock curfew. With Palestine, it’s a really unique circumstance – we’re always fighting a war on multiple fronts. We’re not only battling this virus and the spread of it, but we’re also battling continued harassment under military occupation, right? We had a healthcare system that was already a shambles, now it’s being stressed unimaginably because of constraints being put on us. For example, in Gaza, there’s 60 ventilators for two million people. Nothing’s being allowed in. It’s devastating to see that our attempts of dealing with this crisis, in a system that’s already pretty poor, are being multiplied in difficulty ten- fold, under occupation. How did you go about manufacturing and distributing masks in Gaza? Our goal was [to raise] $15,000, in an attempt to make 30,000 masks. We ended up rais- ing double that, and now we’re making 60,000 masks. At this point, we’ve finished 40,000. We’ve partnered with the Palestinian Medical Relief Society… they’ve been working for the last two weeks to distribute the masks that we’ve donated. It’s been hugely rewarding for us and for them to be able to see that. Tell us about moving from North Carolina to Ramallah with your family. My whole life I’d never embraced my Palestinian heritage. I think that’s because of the environment that I had grown up with, which was a really conservative, Southern state with deep roots in racism. Subconsciously, I had pushed away my Arab identity, my Palestinian heritage, I refused to learn Arabic. I straightened my hair – even physically, I tried to embrace white- ness. It wasn’t until my very last year of uni that I started looking into Palestinian history, and I looked into the history through art. When I first got here, it was so difficult. Imagine your whole life growing up in the US, and you’re being told constantly, “You’re not from here, you’re not one of us,” whatever. And then I came back and everyone was like, “Where are you from? Because you’re clearly not from here.” It was realising and then struggling to accept that my identity is eternally going to exist in that liminal space between the West and the East. [ CHAP TER 3 ] The Activist YASMEEN MJALLI (Founder & Creative Director, Baby Fist, Ramallah) “This is an opportunity which have brought us do we change from here? Y A SMEEN MJ ALLI (F ounder & Creat iv e Director) W ORDS AD AM B AID A WI Copy Of GQME_017_64_79_FEAT_Cover Story_11283051.indd 7403/05/2020 10:22:41eWhat were those first few weeks like? Was there culture shock? It was tough. I grew up in the rural South. If you wanted to get anywhere, you had to drive. I never had to walk anywhere, so I’d never been street harassed. But I’m sure if I was living in New York or Chicago or any city where you can walk, I would have been exposed to sexual harassment. I hadn’t experienced it until moving to the city of Ramallah. Suddenly, all day, every day, I was walking miles and miles and of course, I got exposed to sexual harassment. I was so heartbroken. I kept thinking, these are my people, this is my culture and it is also the source of my oppression as a woman. I could not reconcile those two things. I’m sure women all over the globe struggle with this, when they first start experiencing the reality of the patriarchy. That was really difficult for me: trying to reconcile my love for my culture and my heritage, with the reality that women were facing. Baby Fist was created in part, as a response to those experiences, right? The shock at all of this was coupled with the fact that most people that I was trying to talk to about it were brushing it under the rug. I’d go home and tell my mum. She was like, “3adi. No, no, don’t talk about that.” Even friends: cool, radical alternative friends were like, “No, this is how it is here.” And completely dismissing it. It felt like there was no space within which I could even express my frustration and my trauma. So, I decided to make my own space. When did you first get an inkling that Baby Fist would resonate with other people? I made an Instagram account and posted a photo on International Women’s Day 2017, of this leather jacket I had hand-painted, super big, with the words “Not Your Habibti”. And people were going nuts over it. So I thought, ok, there’s a space here. Suddenly, I realised that everyone had a story… It wasn’t just me. There was just no place that we could unify our frustration and stories. What were the most common things you heard when people were resisting your story and experiences? I set up my typewriter project for the first time in Ramallah, in the city centre. That day, I think I recorded six different responses. for us to take pause, to assess systems here, and to ask how we can reform. What What does the future look like?” The number one that shocked me was that, we need to deal with occupation first, and then all the other issues like women’s rights, education reform, environmental issues… that all comes afterwards. We’ve been occupied for 70 years. So, it’s like… how long do you want to keep pushing this back while women are being killed or abused? I think people need to open their eyes to the reality that you can never achieve national freedom until you simultane- ously fight for women’s liberation. They’re very intimately interconnected. You can’t have one without the other. Likewise, women can never be liberated until national liberation is achieved. It’s got to be worked on in tandem. Tell us about how Palestinians have been included in the process of growing Baby Fist. I was painting these denim jackets that I was finding and thrifting from shops all over the country. It got to a point where I actually cleaned out every single thrift store – there was nothing left. I panicked. Someone reached out to me, and said they knew someone in Gaza who could manufacture them for me. That was the summer of 2017. We’ve been working together ever since. One of our biggest goals in the future is to open our own factory, which is just women-run, and women-led. You’re on the West Bank – why manufacture in Gaza? I like the obstacles that it presents. I know that’s really strange. From a business standpoint, it doesn’t really make sense. It makes more sense to manufacture in a factory here, where it’s far more stable. That’s where profit trumps community and solidarity. I don’t know why business and solidarity need to be mutually exclusive. We work in Gaza purely out of solidarity. You’ve never been able to visit the factory in Gaza, right? It’s all done remotely via WhatsApp and the phone. I’ve tried so many times to get a permit to enter Gaza. We have many expats that live here: white, European expats. And they come and go out of Gaza as they please. It’s almost insulting that Palestinians can not access Gaza. Copy Of GQME_017_64_79_FEAT_Cover Story_11283051.indd 7503/05/2020 10:22:5776 SUMMER 2020 @ G Q M I D D L E E A S T How and why did menstrual education become a key part of your mission? Every month, we wanted to dedicate funds to a specific cause within the community. One time it was clothing. One time it was school supplies and backpacks. Someone suggested that we could donate pads. We raised the money, we got the pads, and my team donated them. I had never seen people so energised. It was the first time we had seen direct impact. We didn’t just do- nate the pads – I asked the team to give a little workshop to the students about menstruation. They came back and said, “Within one hour, we saw change. We saw girls go from knowing nearly nothing about their bodies to knowing far more, and even being excited.” That was huge and we wanted to continue it. It’s been a year and a half. Have you seen gender attitudes evolve during your time in Pal- estine? Since I’ve been working, I’ve been getting to know about a lot more initiatives. There’s countless organisations and cooper- atives dedicated to advancing the status of women in Palestine. Last fall, we had a particular incident where a young woman was murdered at the hands of her uncle and cousins – that’s one of a few cases that happen every year. That incident was captured on video, it sparked outrage in a way that others hadn’t. That coin- cided with the launch of a grassroots community-based group, Tal’at. To see what they’ve been doing really gives me hope. They mobilised quite a large number of women – not just here in Ramallah, but in Gaza, in various villages, even over in Jordan. Has COVID-19 opened your eyes to anything new or unexpected? I think people would be grossly mistaken to look at this virus as just a virus. It’s the intersection of various systems that have estab- lished the framework that the world is facing right now. We’re not just dealing with a virus: we’re watching privilege manifest itself in unfair ways… This pandemic has exposed those cracks in the foundation of our society. They were there before, but now they’re glaring. Now, everyone is talking about this as an opportunity for us to take pause, to assess systems which have brought us here, and to ask how we can reform. What do we change from here? What does the future look like? You could say that Mona Tareen is better equipped than most to deal with the COVID-19 crisis. Working in palliative care means that she’s used to handling the toughest situations of all, and the hard conversations are simply part of her day-to-day. But these are unprecedented times, even for a doctor that faced the H1N1 crisis in the States just over a decade ago. Now a frontline health worker in the UAE, she battles the virus while the population stays at home – and when she’s finished, there’s home schooling to tackle. The biggest problems right now? Helping save lives and teaching her twin daughters French. We’re in unprecedented times right now, but what’s a normal day like for you? A typical day starts at 8am. I’ll check in with my patients or follow up with new ones. I’m in my scrubs – everybody at the hospital has to wear them now. Sur- gical masks, of course, too. After my rounds there’s outpatients pain management, which is part of what I have to do with the oncology department. That work has actually reduced, which I think is due to people being a little nervous about coming to the hospital right now. Time-wise I’m kind of lucky. Normally I’m home by 5:15. How about your direct involvement with tackling COVID-19? When it comes to the COVID units – the hospital actually has two – I only follow the haematology and oncology patients, not those from general medicine. Those units are a little bit scarier, at least visually – when you go in everybody is wearing a hazmat suit. But it’s just part of what we have to do right now. Have you ever experienced anything similar to the current cri- sis? I was actually in the States when H1N1, the pandemic in 2009, hit. It’s strange because we were scared of what was hap- pening, but we took it in our stride. We knew it was a part of the job, part of the oath we took. I remember that moment as being tough, really tough…but this is far worse, just because of how quickly and easily this virus is transmitted. [ CHAP TER 4 ] The Doctor MONA TAREEN (MD, Palliative Hospitalist and Geriatric Medicine Consultant, Cancer Care Center at the American Hospital , Dubai) W ORDS ANDREW NA G Y Copy Of GQME_017_64_79_FEAT_Cover Story_11283051.indd 7603/05/2020 10:23:17Do you actively worry about con- tracting COVID-19 when you’re at work? If you’d asked me this when it started to happen in the UAE, I would have said yes – I had severe bronchitis at the time. Looking at it now, I’m not scared to see those patients. As physicians we just get used to it. We all have the same risk, the same exposure. We’re managing. If you ask any of us we’ll give you the same answer. We didn’t take this job for the money. It has to be in your heart. It has to be a part of who you are…we’re all in this together. Is your attitude different to how you approached H1N1? Well, in 2009 I was on my own, didn’t have children and I didn’t worry about the exposure. Fast forward to now and it’s paramount to me to do everything I can to avoid bringing the virus home with me and exposing my daughters to it. How do you cope with such high mortality rates? It must be in- credibly tough to handle. Part of my background is palliative, hos- pice care and geriatrics, so I’m trained to deal with end of life and handle chronic illnesses and complexity. For me, it’s not unusual to have an elderly patient on 20 different medications and with heart failure and cancer and dementia. So, there is a familiarity to it for me. The death of a patient is never easy, of course, but we know that we try as hard as we possibly can with everybody. How do you handle it on a personal level? Knowing my kids are ok, that’s what gets me through this. I have twin girls – Zhalai and the Zafash – who are seven, and spending time with them helps me most. I also keep a diary. I started on March 21 and I’m writ- ing about what I go through every day. But more than just being a record, I’m using it to make memories for my children. I don’t want this to sound pessimistic or morbid, but being in palliative medicine there’s just a mentality of getting things in order. People might not want to talk about this, but it’s important. So, it’s a diary and I write about things like, “What I wish for my daughters’ 16th birthday or for the day they get married.” Do your children ask about what’s happening right now? I think they understand. We’re keeping busy, trying to do all the online learning and taking it one day at a time. I don’t know how other kids are handling it, but I think mine know that there’s a problem that will one day go away, and that we will then all get back to normal. And what do they think about your job? They think it’s just what I do. They get a kick out of me because I de-robe straight away when I get home. I don’t wait to go upstairs in my scrubs, I just throw my clothes straight in MONA T AREEN (MD) Copy Of GQME_017_64_79_FEAT_Cover Story_11283051.indd 7703/05/2020 14:54:4778 SUMMER 2020 @ G Q M I D D L E E A S T y a y . s e . , y friends y call me and ask how I’m doing, I say, g ‘I’m ok. yy It’s another day, thank yy god!’” the washer. They think that’s funny. They get frustrated when they can’t hug me. I tell them that I can’t right now, but every now and then they’ll spring one on me. They’ll run up and grab me and say, “I got you.” I’m living for those moments… my euphoria seems to last a week when that happens. Is it tough as a working parent? Well, I think I’m the only physician in the WhatsApp par- ents’ group, and I do feel a little Mumma Guilt for sure. I only have about 90 minutes each evening to do the work with my kids, and we can only really go through the basic subjects… but we’re planning on learning French and Arabic, too. Full disclosure – and I really hope nobody from the parents’ group reads this – but I have ignored a lot of the messages. They’re just constantly pinging and I can’t keep up. I just want to survive this apocalypse! So, how are we going to get through this, Mona? Well, I think that the UAE is dealing with the outbreak very well. But we have to continue doing what we’re doing until we come up with a vaccination. This virus isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, and physical distancing will slow it down. People need to understand that it’s not about them. It’s about the risk of exposing somebody else, who could be vulnerable, to the infection. Wear a mask, it’s not going to hurt you. Is it frustrating to see people not wearing masks, or practicing social distancing? I can’t really say what I think about that as you may not be able to print it. But yes, it’s frus- trating. Sometimes people come in and test positive for COVID-19, but when we tell them that they have to be quarantined they don’t want to do it. It’s frustrating. You have to do what’s right. Has working on the frontline through the crisis taught you anything about yourself ? I think it’s taught me to appreciate every mo- ment. Don’t sweat the small stuff, because the things we thought were a problem in the past, well…chances are they really weren’t. I’ve learned to appreciate every day as a bless- ing, too. So, when my friends call me from the States and they ask how I’m doing, I say, “I’m ok. It’s another day, thank god!” Copy Of GQME_017_64_79_FEAT_Cover Story_11283051.indd 7803/05/2020 14:56:32PRODUCER: MALAIKA NAIK EDIT ORIAL NO TE : THESE CONVERSA TIONS HA VE BEEN CONDENSED AND EDITED F OR LENG TH AND CLARITY In many ways, it’s been a life- altering 12 months for Amr Youssef. Sons of Rizk 2 – the Tarek Al Eryan-directed action thriller – became one of the biggest box-office successes in the history of Egyptian cinema. Now, the duo are imminently reuniting for El Tahweeda, or the Lullaby, a genre-bending blockbuster that Youssef says will be a kind of mash-up of thiller, drama and romance. Amidst all that, the Egyptian actor saw his daughter, Hayat, celebrate her first birthday. For Youssef and his wife, the fellow actor Kinda Alloush, the tumult of Coronavirus has been an unexpected opportunity to exhale and reflect. With his big-budget historical Ramadan series – based on the story of the commander Khalid ibn al-Walid – put on hold, the coming weeks present a moment to reconnect after a years-long grind, and a chance to think about what comes next. Firstly: how are you and your wife coping through this time in Cairo? Very well, actually. We are keeping our social distance by staying at home – that gave me the chance to spend more time playing with my daughter, Hayat. It also gave me the opportunity to ease my mind and to prepare for my upcoming projects through online meetings and conference calls. We did this photoshoot by using a mobile phone – so it’s safe to say I’m not bored at all. How have you and Kinda navigated the crisis together? How have you spent your time? We are looking at the crisis from the positive side. It’s intriguing that everyone has the chance to unplug; people have the time to slow down and take it easy. It’s happening everywhere in the world, not only in Egypt. I think we all needed to cool down a bit and find our own peace of mind. In fact, I think the entire world should begin a two-week shut down every year, where all factories close to give the environ- ment and Mother Nature the chance to take a break. It has been quite beneficial as the ozone’s damaged layer is now healing. That’s priceless. Do you have any special routines for taking care of your mental health? Generally I meditate by writing and organising my thoughts. I think about some stuff that I never had the time to think about before. I do meditation in the sense of sitting outside in the garden, looking up at the sky, doing nothing, you know? The nothingness brings ideas and clears your mind. Also, what’s happening is that the world is quiet. You don’t hear cars, you don’t hear motorcycles or people shouting. The place is calm. The world is calm. It helps you to meditate. It’s laying back and thinking, laying back and trying to think of many aspects of life – not only my work. You have a one-year-old daughter, Hayat. How has becoming a fa- ther been for you? It’s very interesting. It’s like you are watching a little cute tiny creature as it grows and acquires new skills. I’m enjoying every moment spent with her at home. Were you and your wife ever fearful through this expereince? To be honest, she feared what’s happening more than I did. I thought that I had the responsibility in the house to bring positive energy, and bring peace of mind. Sometimes, I was worried, but I didn’t show it. But to be honest, while I was trying to reflect the positive energy on her, it reflected back on me. We’re hav- ing a peaceful time. I know it’s not right to say this, but we are enjoying it. I’m enjoying staying with my little girl – she’s a year-and-a-half old – and spending so much time with her. It’s a privilege I wouldn’t have had if I was working right now. El Tahweeda is coming soon– what can viewers expect? This new film is a completely different theme from what we’ve seen lately. By the way, there’s a chance that title could change – it’s not con- firmed yet. But I’m working on it from home so that we have the chance to start shooting immediately once the situation gets better and the quarantine times come to an end. Which, hopefully, will be soon. Has this crisis opened your eyes to anything new? Changed your mind or your priorities at all? This crisis has opened my eyes to the fact that life is not only about working hard all the time, as family should always come first as a priority. I’m taking this quarantine as a chance to enjoy my time at home, especially with Hayat. I used to think about work, all the time: what’s my next step? What’s my next movie about? What should my next project look like? Now, I have so many things to think about be- sides my work. I’m giving work only 50 percent of my time. The other 50 percent, I’m giving to my family – I’m giving to myself. ■ [ CHAP TER 5 ] The Film Star AMR YOUSSEF (Actor, Cairo) AMR Y OUSSEF (A ctor) W ORDS AD AM B AID A WI Copy Of GQME_017_64_79_FEAT_Cover Story_11283051.indd 7903/05/2020 10:24:02Next >