I have met with them and their partners the Greater amman Municipality and the Traffic Department, Maher and his family have made great efforts to spare people from the pain they have gone through; regardless of where people live. You said you didn’t know the names of people who were tragically killed on our streets, Maher through his meetings with people in the poorest communities knows thier names, or at least is trying to create some change by lobbying, by putting in money. If you take the time to speak to people in east Amman, they know Maher, they know the Hikmat Road Safety Fund, is that BAD????

Yes I agree opportunities, choices, resources are for the West, but he’s putting in so much effort to direct these resources, opportunities etc, to less advantaged areas, not necessarily only in the East of Amman, but also the North and South of Jordan.

Take time to visit the Hikmat Road Safety Fund and learn of the activities they are doing, get the report that shows how traffic accidents have decreased since they started this initiative. Before making such assumptions. You said its about social perceptions, you should explore and research all dimensions first, as the way it reads it is YOUR perceptions only.

Change cannot happen overnight, but we cannot just sit and watch and criticize if we reall want to have a voice, lets take part in what we believe needs changing and do something about it, maybe what Maher Kaddura did.

I understand your article is not about a person, or family, but when initiatives like this happen lets take a moment to commend them and encourage others to follow, writing is easy, action is what leads to change.

Just letting you all know that the official website for the road and safety awareness NPO is up and runninf, although its not 100% functional as yet. Please visit it at the following address:

http://www.hikmat.org/

If you truely want to help decrease the number of road side related accidents within the whole of Jordan, then please contribute as much as you can by not only just donating and raising money, but by sending this link to as many people as possible and spreading the awareness of this Non Profit Organization all around the middle-east.

The more the merrier

Thankyou all very much and may God be with you

ok. You can hate me now:P

I respect your mind Naseem. Before and now and more than ever.

Lubna,

ps. You can add Mohammad Sha3ban, my school mate who died when he was in 10th grade, a 17 year old kid hit him by a car. When I hear of Hikmat’s or read about him, I get to flash Sha3ban’s mother’s face when we went to visit.

I also do/did realize that you were not attacking the Kaddoura family - but I thought I would like to reach out and praise them for their efforts - I only hope (I’m sure as you do) that their efforts are not in vain.

As for peoples choices, I do realize that the wealthy have more choices but the poor can also make a difference and a statement by small things that are open to everyone such as a candle light vigil, a march, or a statement to a newspaper. It does not take money but will to change what we do not like. “If there’s a will, there’s a way”.

Thank you for your time.

As for your previous two comments, i’m not sure you read my second author’s note, but in any case, let me point out once again the obvious: i am not attacking the family. in fact this has little to do with them.

Moreover, in reference to “choice”. I’m sorry, but I don’t think you are aware of the choices available to the wealthy in this country as opposed to the poor. Choices, rights, access, opportunities: these are fundamental elements for every citizen, but due to social inequality and economic catastrophes, they are usually made available only to the few.

You have access to the internet. You have the choice to choose between the best service provider. You have the choice to send your kids to great school; they have the opportunity, mashallah. Most of the country, doesn’t have that. You see my point?

You wrote: “In this case, the authorities who are hot on the trail of the hit-and-run culprit, saw fit to leak his nationality to the press. The man is Iraqi, and has apparently fled, leaving his wife and son in the country.” Wow! What a spineless creep - leaving a child for dead… do you really think he deserves the luxury of anonymity? His face, name and identity should be splashed in every paper in town.

Anyway, thank you Naseem for letting us hear your thoughts and for giving all of us a chance to express our thoughts as well!

Firstly let me start by saying that Hikmat (may he rest in peace) is my first cousin and is like a brother to me. I will love him forever and inshallah one day i will get to see him again.

inshallah

If you knew Hikmat and the purity of his heart im sure you would think twice about writing some of these posts, but that aside i am a strong believer in equality and enbedded within equality, lies freedom of speech. But when your illustrating input and aspects on a very touchy subject such as the one of my cousins death, i think its very crucial that you do your research before portraying the people that live in the the “western” part of Amman as rich stuck up snobs that dont believe in any aspects of equality or for that matter think that they are better than any other people that dont have money.

I say this in the most respectful and sympathetic way possible because i believe you do have great skills in writing, its just a shame you would go and post something like that on a messageboard that is Headlined “RIP Hikmat Kaddoura and everyone else”. I would also like to outline that my family, especially hikmat’s parents have done more than you can imagine in terms of giving money away to charity and helping those in desperate need.

first of all, this is a blog and not a message board; my own personal web space. second of all, you, as well as others, perceived this to be an attack on the family when NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH. I am a member of the west Ammani society, and this post is not about Hikmet’s family, it is about social perceptions. The way we, as a west Ammani society perceive certain things, and the way the rest of the country reacts to them simply because our side of town has most, if not all, of the power, money and influence.

It should be noted that Hikmet’s family reacted naturally and correctly, for if I was in their place I would do no less. Again, I am talking about the social reaction, the way we value one life to be more important than another and this being the sole cause behind such a reaction.

To put this in another way, this is a post about how the case of hikmet’s death and the resulting reaction was another example between the growing divide between rich and poor in this country, that has become a hollow abyss in which the rest of the country have been completely marginalized. it’s about the disconnect. no more, no less. it is in the same tone that people celebrate openly in amman over, say, a football game, when their brethren are being slaughtered in gaza and iraq. just as an example.

in any case, thank you zeid for leaving your comment and i hope my response helped you see more clearly that this post was not in fact any form of an attack on your family. i think those that know me or this blog best will tell you that that would be the last thing i would ever do.

my condolences.

I’m sorry that I can’t respond to every comment left, but to clear a few general things up:

1) true, not every car-related death was due to a hit and run. but if just 10% of those are hit and run, heck, if only 1 case was a hit and run…isn’t that one to many?

2) please stop spreading rumors about who the “real” culprit is. and especially don’t be low enough to mention their names.

3) i mention no solution because i have no solution. some are under the impression that this post is about traffic laws and their implementation. it is not. the implementation of strict traffic laws is an obvious conclusion. my concern in this post was about social equality or lack thereof.

4) lastly, i am not suggesting that hikmet’s family are pulling strings or using their connections to do whatever. again, this post is about social perceptions.

it is not about them

it is about us!

thanks

If you knew Hikmat and the purity of his heart im sure you would think twice about writing some of these posts, but that aside i am a strong believer in equality and enbedded within equality, lies freedom of speech. But when your illustrating input and aspects on a very touchy subject such as the one of my cousins death, i think its very crucial that you do your research before portraying the people that live in the the “western” part of Amman as rich stuck up snobs that dont believe in any aspects of equality or for that matter think that they are better than any other people that dont have money.

I say this in the most respectful and sympathetic way possible because i believe you do have great skills in writing, its just a shame you would go and post something like that on a messageboard that is Headlined “RIP Hikmat Kaddoura and everyone else”. I would also like to outline that my family, especially hikmat’s parents have done more than you can imagine in terms of giving money away to charity and helping those in desperate need.

In conclusion i think you need to focus more on the governmental influence that currently resides in Jordan itself, as that is the only way any of these problems can be minimized, but sadly enough not completely ammended. God save any of you from a day that we went through in this tragedy and thank you very for all of you who offered your condolences, i know for a fact Hikmats family are very much appreciative for the support. God be with you

I also want to say that I can’t help but agree with Naseem’s observations in this post. SO MANY PEOPLE are dying in Jordan every month (2 a day!) - many of them are young people - and they barely get mentioned in the media. It’s not that their parents “don’t want” to take action or see justice served, it’s that they are not empowered to do so,socially, financially,etc.

Surely the loss of any young life in this terrible way deserves the attention of the media and decison-makers and until protecting ALL our citizens from the recklessness of our drivers become an ENFORCED POLICY, Jordan will continue to mourn its children.

There is nothing regarding the fact that he comes from a prestigious school or anything means that they are trying to think it makes him more valuable, it happens his parents know a lot of people who are willing to support them in such a remarkable tragedy which none of you would want to experience, that is all. Do you think people in east amman care about people in west amman in return?

Stop this bullshit and nonsense because you would never know what it is like to lose a son until you have lost one, until you actually have one. Had any of you been in the Kaddouras shoes, you would have done the same believe me.

just because a person is in a well known prestigious school and comes from a well known family does not mean in any way that his life is more valuable than anyone else’s. when was the last time any of us heard about a car accident victim in east amman or nos il balad?

anyway, i hope that soemthing is done about our traffic laws, driving in Jordan has become unbearable, and we are the only victims of that.

ENFORCE existing laws. Period. That is all that it will take to make a start.

Defining soul as that “life element” through which we live and feel,and make decisions, and defining well as being at peace within one’s self, I don’t think it’s about where we’re from, how much money or power we have, what color our skin is, what our education level is, etc. Human beings, not always, but most often, do things from self-interest. Even the things society applauds.

Have law after law after law ever changed the human heart? How sad to think that we would be more moved by the need to obey a law than by love for our fellow man. If we arrived at that place where we genuinely cared for others as much as for ourselves, would lovingkindness and justice and righteousness prevail? What joy to think that it would!

apparently they are organizing “maseerit hikmat maher kaddoura” .. taking place at 10:30 at makka street - taqatu3 il 7aramain - dawwar il kilo sabiqan ..

and i quote ..
wa hadafuha nashr il wa3i bi i7tiram qawaneen il sair wal iltizam biha wa lil ta5feef min 7awadith il sair il mufji3a

btw .. i followed the link you provided (ammon) .. some of the reader comments are truly disgusting ..

anyway .. not sure if someone mentioned this already too many replies to read but you said ..

“”Orientalist thinking has always ingrained in us the idea that an Eastern life is worth less than a Western life. If 100 Arabs were massacred tomorrow, no one would ask questions. If an American life was lost, justice would be sought out. It is the type of thinking that has allowed the Palestinian situation to exist, along with Iraq along with Darfur, and in the past, Bosnia and Rwanda, to name just a few.”"

ummm bosnians are not eastern!!
their crime was being muslim..

Great post Nas, as usual.

Remember Bilal Tillawi? He got the right publicity because his parents did something about it. This is absolutely not a Western Amman vs. eastern Amman thing, but rather Western mentality vs. eastern mentality.

Well, be sure that the “anti-riot” police will be there to protect the citizens not to kick their asses..The irony is that at the same day they had the vigil, there was a peaceful gathering to protest the rocketing prices near the parliment, but those poor left-wingers got some kicks in the nuts and a camera was taken by the police(They didn’t have any beards and they were playing guitar so I guess they are cool by our new measures!)

It’s not east Vs. west, it is the powerful Vs. the powerless, many people in west amman can be considered powerless “socially” and politically and many people in east amman are powerfull both socially and politically…

“a newspaper would want to cover issues close to the heart and beat of the largest section of society.”

Yeah right!Maybe in East L.A but not east amman!

The divide between West Amman and East Amman definitely exists, and Hikmat’s story indeed attracted press coverage unheard of in similar cases that happen across the divide … however, I disagree with your position that lays blame on the ‘big’ powers of money, status and media.

To start with, I am incredibly ‘allergic’ to conspiracy theories that overvalue the role of macro politics, and underestimate micropolitics – i.e. the role of the citizenry themselves. I know that I am at risk of sounding incredibly cold and heartless for saying this, but I think it is important to consider to what extent the lives of East Amman’s citizens are of their own making .

If 40 students from a school in East Amman gather for a vigil in an area where their classmate was killed, and contact the media about it, I don’t think there is plausible reason to assume the media wouldn’t cover it. In fact, from a commercial point of view, East Amman is much larger than West Amman, so a newspaper would want to cover issues close to the heart and beat of the largest section of society. And while East Amman families can not afford long obituaries, any family can take the initiative to write ‘letters to the editor’ explaining how dangerous driving adversely affected their lives – these would be published for free.

Citizens always have choices, even in the most dire of circumstances, and it is the choices they make that determine their lives. True social and political development – the only way of overcoming the divide – can only succeed if it happens from the bottom up (from East Amman’s citizens) and much as from the top down.