That Libyan Metaphor on my Mind. Smoking the Peace Pipe in Tripoli, 1996, Free & independent...

On the occasion of the criminal aggression against Libya, we offer a founding text of The Sacred Narghile site, launched 1999.

The source is: Cafes, Hookahs and Conversation.  Rive, Universita del Mediterraneo (Rome), n°5, 1997 : pp. 47-53 (note: English version by Italian translator, not by the author).

Many readers will remember its universally famous beginning: “Although it is a familiar object for a billion people in the world, the four hundred year old hookah seems struck by a strange silence. Most encyclopaedias overlook [...].

 

In Libya, last year [that is: 1996, Folks!], at night fall, a walk around the part of the capital awash in the orange glow of magnificent street lamps, was a constant temptation to linger awhile in a good-natured atmosphere. Under tall palm trees, right in the middle of a colourful crowd of young men and women, of whole families and old men the waiters of an open air restaurant could be seen rushing between the crowded tables and the kitchen. After the meal, those who ordered a hookah that was already set up at their table would be provided with a kursy (pipe bowl, in clay or in metal, depending on whether the hookah was an arguila or a shisha) full of apple-flavoured mo'essel (tobacco aromatised with molasses).

Sometimes, the waiter would alternate this with the distribution of new live embers for burning the tobacco. Freedom Square, located in the city centre, is where during the daytime taxis for Tobruk, Benghazi, Cairo or Tunis wait far a full load before leaving. Their cosmopolitan customers assemble at the coffee house on the esplanade. There many of them order a hookah full of their favourite tobacco, chosen from the wide range of mo'essel brands on offer, mainly imported from neighbouring Egypt, It is also quite usual far customers to bring their own tobacco.

[...].

NEW (MAY 2011):Independent Scientific Journal (Jamahiriya) Publishes Debunking Critique (in green color!) of HOOKAH Totalitarian Science


CONCLUSIONS

Libya, like hookah, is a metaphor. The war on the former is based on huge hoaxes (bombing of civilians, ““African” mercenaries”, etc.) that have now been exposed (browse this site) just like similar mega lies about the latter (1 hookah = 20 to 900 cigarettes).

RELEVANT READINGS

Yves Traynard. Tripoli d’Afrique. Revue Qantara, Paris, IMA, n°29, Automne 1998, pp. 66-39.

Yves Traynard. The Shisha Ban. Etudiant solidaire 2007 (24 Jul)

http://ytjournal.blogspot.com/2007/07/shisha-ban.html

Left: Café de la Médina : 3 fumeurs de chicha (Tripoli – Libye)(copyright: Yves Traynard)

>> Some objective articles covering the war against Libya:

JULIEN SALINGUE et HENRI MALER. Les mots de la guerre au service de la guerre ? Lexique médiatique de la guerre de Libye

http://www.mondialisation.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=24108

Julie LEVESQUE. Libye : Les médias et la propagande en faveur de la rébellion

http://www.mondialisation.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=24095

CENTRE FOR GLOBAL RESEARCH

http://www.globalresearch.ca

CENTRE DE RECHERCHE SUR LA MONDIALISATION

http://mondialisation.ca

MICHEL COLLON

http://www.michelcollon.info/Ecartee-du-jeu-l-Union-africaine.html

URUKNET (INFORMATION FROM THE MIDDLE EAST)

http://www.uruknet.info

LE GRAND SOIR

http://www.legrandsoir.info/Libye-je-me-refuse-a-hurler-avec-les-loups.html

PIERRE PICCININ

http://pierre.piccinin-publications.over-blog.com/

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Think of Pigs, Think Like Pigs ! As if Jews & Muslims Hadn't Other Concerns Than That Framed Totalitarian Prohibitionist Artefact-Based Hatred Media Campaign Launched by Chief Imam & Rabbi Simon CHAPMAN !

Image (left): book by Gilles Chatelet [translated title: "Living and Thinking like Pigs"]. First off, this philosopher has nothing against those nice animals... Here's a presention of his work for the happy ones who can read French: "une réflexion sur la "Contre-Réforme néo-libérale", une démystification, l’analyse des présupposés scientistes (et ô combien " réalistes ") d’une idéologie dont la pensée n’est pas le point fort. Comment en est-on arrivé là? [...] Châtelet propose aujourd’hui une philosophie de combat qui fasse "plus de vagues et moins de vogue". [more with Fluctuat]"

In an article published in His antismoking journal, Simon CHAPMAN, the prolific antismoking militant, Big Boss of the world antismoking Big Pharma-funded Globalink Organization) relishes the artefacts of his pathetic  -Treif (non-kosher) science, Haram (non-halal) science - press release about pig blood in cigarette filters.

He actually raves about the “global reaction to a press release highlighting evidence that porcine haemoglobin (“pig's blood”) was sometimes used in cigarette manufacturing while never being disclosed to smokers. The case study illustrates the power of press releases to ignite major interest in tobacco control issues.”

Source: Ross MacKenzie, Simon Chapman: “Pig's blood in cigarette filters: how a single news release highlighted tobacco industry concealment of cigarette ingredients”. Tobacco Control 2011;20:169-72

Note: Globalink is “the world antismoking network of about 6,000 activists around the world, sponsored by the pharmaceutical industry (Pfizer laboratories among others)”. The pharmaceutical industry huge market lucratively covers (as far as smokers are concerned) the expensive though poorly efficient nicotine gums, inhalers, patches, etc.

Norbert HIRSCHHORN, one of Chapman’s Globalink colleagues, has posted there a falsely naive E-Letter asking: “Did Muslim and Jewish smokers quit after hearing the story?”

The Observatory on Hookah or Health had already reacted to the pathetic above mentioned initial “press-release”:

Simon Chapman’s Lost Battle of “Tobacco Control”. Wretched Intent to Mobilize Muslims & Jews Against the Tobacco Industry (Australian Pig Blood Story) 

The so-called “press-release” (These people actually do ”science”-by-press release) was in fact a reaction to an historic speech in The Hague (March 15, 2010) in which an independent non-prohibitionist researcher found, “further to numerous in-depth peer-reviewed critiques of biomedical publications (notably the WHO flawed expert report)”, […] that “Prohibition based on shoddy science also collides with the holy teachings of a great religion of the world. The latter commands that good sound science should be sought from the cradle to the grave.

Consequently, he invites States, particularly those for which this religion is central, to collectively withdraw from the WHO FCTC (Framework Convention for Tobacco Control) and demand accountability (International Court of Justice)”.

Of course, that shoddy “Treif”(non-kosher) Haram (non-halal) science is, to a great extent, that published in “Tobacco Control”, the main world antismoking journal whose Editor-in-Chief for one decade or so has been Simon Chapman himself. The loop is looped!

WHEN THE ANTISMOKING POPE GOES INTO ECSTASIES

Quotes:  

"The potential news interest of pig-sourced products in cigarette manufacturing was immediately apparent, particularly for Islamic, Jewish and vegetarian smokers."

"Following the release, author SC gave one interview to Israeli television, but was not interviewed by any other media until a visit to Indonesia in late June when about 15 journalists resurrected the story for local coverage."

"The gravity with which some organisations treated these media reports is suggested by the South African National Halaal Association, which issued a leaflet (figure 1), which was posted on its website and distributed to mosques across the country."

"In late July 2010, the story took a new turn when Iran’s semi-official news agency Mehr quoted Mohammad Reza Madani of the country’s Society for Fighting Smoking who claimed that: contraband Marlboros have been contaminated with pig haemoglobin and unspecified nuclear [CAUTION: no relation with NUKES, folks !] material. Madani claimed Philip Morris International, which sells Marlboro outside the U.S., is ‘led by Zionists’ and deliberately exports tainted cigarettes."

Finally, the antismoking Pope plays God when concluding, as Chief Imam or Rabbi ""Regulator"":

"By widely publicising an ingredient that would raise great concern in many smokers, our release could have contributed to raising awareness that tobacco products are unregulated." !

WARNING TO PROHIBITIONIST TOTALITARIANS: Mull over well the last popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, you ugly “tobacco control” dictators using “public health” as a fig leaf the same way Georges Bush pretended exporting his model “democracy” to the whole world. Peoples showed they are not so stupid and won't be deceived anymore.

Jews, Muslims, Believers of all other Creeds and Atheists of the World, Unite Against “Tobacco Control” Treif Haram Science (Pseudo-Science, Totalitarian Pseudo-Science)!

In his book titled “Thinking Like Pigs”, Gilles CHÂTELET showed how “political correctness” (one of the ugly aspects of Totalitarianism in modern “democracies”) had even made the word “imperialism” hard to utter. But the times are changing thanks to mass popular uprisings across the world. “Tobacco Control” is an imperialist totalitarian journal doomed to disappear when peoples (particularly those of Asia and Africa) demand accountability and stand up against its propaganda. 

RELEVANT READINGS

On Simon CHAPMAN and the world antismoking Globalink octopus (WHO, WHO TFI, WHO TobReg, Prohibition, etc.): see "A Global Prison ?" (interview with historian of antismoking)

On his antismoking “Tobacco Control” journal : Comfits of Interest, WHO TobReg, Globalink, Tobacco Control, etc. : Double Standard and/or Hypocrisy ?

Swine Flu Epidemic : Hookah Smoking Huge Aggravating Factor !

Simon Chapman’s Lost Battle of “Tobacco Control”. Wretched Intent to Mobilize Muslims & Jews Against the Tobacco Industry (Australian Pig Blood Story)

Dégage ! (Hands Off Egypt !), Say Egyptian People & Shisha Pharaohs to Totalitarian FCTC Prohibitionists!

Tunisian Graffiti. Pushing the Revolt Further, Against that Totalitarian Antismoking Ideology So Alien to Tunisian Culture !

JC Schroeder: “Communicating Science: Press Releases at EHP”. Environ Health Perspect 2010; 118:a58-a58. doi:10.1289/ehp.1001913

The Mystique of Hookahs. Health and Religious Misconceptions. SciTopics [research summaries by experts]. 2010 (25 Dec).  

 

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Wasim MAZIAK Sells «Arab Way of Smoking» Apocalypse for Quick US Prohibitionist Intervention in Narghilistan

 READ MOST RELEVANT UPDATE: 

Open Letter to Wasim Maziak, Syrian Political Opponent and Head of the US-Syrian «Research» Centre in Aleppo (US-SCTS). 7 Sep 2013

In French: Lettre ouverte à Wasim Maziak, opposant politique syrien et directeur du centre « de recherche » USA-Syrie à Alep (US-SCTS)

Syrian Waterpipegate. Our Man in Aleppo, Head of US Masterminded Screen“Syrian Center for Tobacco Studies”. 

Published 19 August 2012

« Independent Syrian experts are likely right to say that the ongoing pseudo-revolution there (17 months now) is meant, not only to achieve macro objectives in the region but, also, in the end, a certain lifestyle (all independent travellers knowing Syria will understand): the simplicity of daily life, its low cost, Middle East sociability best expressed by Syrian coffee-houses and patios with their gurgling narghiles, etc... What is at stake is the repeated intent, begun in Iraq, to implement the US Great/New Middle East Project at all levels: from the political hyper-structure to the socio-cultural aspects. In the view of their designers and their men in the region, the “Arab way of life” must be shattered thanks to the emergence of a consumerist society essentially based on competition.”

  

 _________________________

Their ""Arab Spring""'s UPDATES (bloody for some of them...):

US-Man in Aleppo (Syria) Wasim Maziak Once Again Highly Concerned with“Global” ««Waterpipe»» “Epidemic”

““Arab Spring””. Public Health Researchers from Universities of Cambridge, Florida & London School of Hygiene, Deny the Reality of One Million Iraqi Deaths – in pro-NATO Paper

Syrian Waterpipegate: US-Syrian Center for Tobacco Studies ["Our Man in Aleppo"]

 _________________________

Wasim MAZIAK, the world top ««waterpipe»»™ millionaire expert, major (however undeclared…) author of the the WHO flawed report on ““waterpipe”” smoking (“whose two first sentences contain an error and a misquotation…”) and many similar papers, is apparently in need for more money.

In an article ("The Global Epidemic of Waterpipe Smoking") published in Addictive Behaviors (an antismoking journal similar to "Addiction", "Tobacco Control", "Nicotine and Tobacco Research", and the lot), he makes an apocalyptic description of hookah (narghile, shisha) smoking. Basically, his paper hypes the hazards of hookah smoking by citing the usual (though updated !) list of his antismoking (groups of) friends’ “studies”.

Let's be clear: these materials are just “Treif science” as Jews say, “Haram Science” as Muslim do, "Bourgeois science" as Marxists, and “Bad science” as a professor of applied psychology in the United Kingdom would say: “Bad Science in a good cause is just bad science”.

Maziak is also, and above all, selling the myth that hookahs are highly nicotine-addictive (don’t laugh!). He claims that he has no competing interest. This is true, poor man. He is only funded by millions of dollars coming from institutions whose staff (and particularly those who decide to whom the money is granted) maintains close relations with the Pharmaceutical industry (nicotine gums, patches, inhalers, Chantix, etc.). He is also a "modest" active member of the world antismoking Globalink network which is funded by the same industry...

[Two following paragraphs added Nov 8, 2010] Big Pharma, as this industry is also known, is very interested in the opportunity of selling its medicines to hookah users. So its method is now exposed: supporting (in a way or another: congresses, personal contacts, etc.) researchers who will hype the “addiction risk” (You are hooked on hookahs and you need a doctor who will prescribe to you the above drugs!) or the “gateway” (to cigarette smoking) naughty Asian hookahs would represent for our teens in the rest of the world, the US first, of course. Big Pharma wants hookah users to become (or become again) cigarette smokers because it’s already got tons of evidence showing “without the least doubt” (to use the WHO phraseology) that its pills are very efficient with the the latter.

The same happened recently with the "Swine Flu" scam and the propaganda about vaccination by States and individuals। See from whom Kamal has received an innocent "suggestion" to change his method!

"Criminalising Dissent and its Undeclared Motives"

What else ? The fact that he has "won" his job at Memphis University (in which Kenneth Ward, his antiwaterpipe expert, was in charge of funding) was only but "a mere coincidence". By the way, US salaries are also a bit higher than in Syria…. No, please, don't be naughty by making allusions to possible personal interests.... Maziak knows how to make ««waterpipe»»™ studies "sexy” (according to his own word !). In other words, he knows how to draw funding।

In his article in Addictive Behaviors, he accuses The Sacred Narghile:

“hookah promotion and sales, at least in western societies, are done through the internet (Cobb et al., 2010), and at times are concealed under scientific disguise (e.g. the Sacred Narghile site www.sacrednarghile.com/en/index.php)."

If we, The Sacred Narghile, had received money from the Tobacco industry or the Hookah industry, we would have been so happy and even more happy to openly declare it.

We leave the readers consider the miserable state of this professional defamer (he and his likes: Thomas Eissenberg, Alan Shihadeh and Kenneth: see their pitiful comments on the critique of the WHO flawed report)।

CONCLUSION

Just like Ahmad Chalabi, Iraq’ “Master’s Manipulator” who “pushed America to War” by selling the CIA the “secret” that Saddam Hussein would have been developing WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction), Wasim Maziak is selling the US puritan prohibitionist funding agencies, the “secret” that ««waterpipe»»™ smoking, the « Arab Way of Smoking » (a Mass Entertainment Weapon !), actually represents a global threat and epidemic for the “Free World” US citizens are living in !

[following two paragraphs added Nov 8 & 12, 2010]

Please send your shoes to:

Dr Wasim Maziak
School of Public Health, University of Memphis, US-Syrian Center for Tobacco Studies,
Browning Hall 112, 3820 DeSoto Avenue,
Memphis, TN 38152-3340,
United States of America

The scientific content of his paper is debunked there:

Human Health, ““Waterpipe”” (Hookah, Narghile, Shisha) Smoking and the Global Epidemic of Misrepresentations and Errors

RELEVANT READINGS

BAREFACED LIAR ! Wasim Maziak :“No Research into Hookah Use Existed Before 2002” ! (to The Detroit News, Michigan)

«Post hoc Censorship» Editor-in-Chief & World ““Waterpipe””™ Millionaire Experts Scared by The Sacred Narghile’s "Undeclared" Comfits of Interests !

Syria Dismantles its Mass Entertainment Weapons ! Does Historic Ban on Smoking in Hospitality Venues Means Secret Big Deal with New US Administration?

Narghilistan : A Hot Summer in ««Waterpipe»»-Blitzed Lands

Shoe Throwing Journalist and World Hero Muntazer Al-Zaidi, Harbinger of Coming Hookah Hurlers ?

Image: Ahmad Chalabi, Iraq’ “Master’s Manipulator”, “The man who “pushed America to War”(Odd Andersen/AFP)

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