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Palestinian Scarf Becomes Anti-War Scarf at Urban Outfitters


By Ali Eteraz
Posted on Tue Jan 16, 2007 at 05:23:04 AM EST
Tags: culture (all tags)

Update: Due to pressure by the right-wing, the scarf has been taken off the Urban Outfitters catalogue. They win. Instead you can read about our frontpager Willow's experience being investigated under Patriot.

 
Look at the cover of the Urban Outfitter's catalogue. Is the white boy rockin the same scarf from the intifada?

Yes he is. Urban Outfitters is selling the scarf as a "anti-war" scarf in all bunch of colors. Go here and change the colors to white/black.

The intifada has been Che'd.

If now I see you rockin this scarf imma call you a sell out. Having said that, if you're a shawty, you are exempt from any judgment.

What this scarf does do is provide Muslim dudes a very easy way to strike up conversation with a shawty. Of course, I don't need help in this department, but I do have anecdote nevertheless.

One time I was at a club and this Latina was wearing the scarf (I kid you not, I have witnesses) and I was like "ok this is too easy." I went up to her and was like "ahlan, takallum al-lughatul Arabiyya." "Excuse me, do you speak Arabic?" She was like "what does that mean." I was like "don't worry I don't speak Arabic either." Shelaughed. Then I was like, "I like your scarf." She was like, "you would!" (see, she thought I was Arab or Pali just cuz I recognized the scarf and that fed into her weird Eastern exoticization). Just like that, she dropped all the girls she was with and strolled over to me. I talked to her a few minutes, and, well, the Palestinians never came up.

h/t Cwzymuslima 

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Palestinian Scarf Becomes Anti-War Scarf at Urban Outfitters | 3 comments (3 topical, 0 hidden)
Nooooooooooo!!!!!(none / 0) (#1)
by AnonyMouse on Tue Jan 16, 2007 at 10:53:33 AM EST

It looks like they've taken it off or something... it says 'We regret that this item is not available at this time'. Meh. :(

Mind you, it doesn't really matter... my dad wears it every day anyway... :P


Musings of a Muslim Mousehttp://www.muslimmouse.blogspot.com


Trends come and go(none / 0) (#2)
by OmarG on Tue Jan 16, 2007 at 05:02:59 PM EST

Wearing a kafiyya was pretty hip back in the early 90's. I used to wear one as a scarf in the winter time. It was a really nicely made black and white one and meshed well with my jacket. I plugged into that trend while I was working at my neighborhood library and was constantly reshelving fashion magazines. 

Fashions come and go and come again...





Pretty awful!(none / 0) (#3)
by brooklynite on Thu Jan 18, 2007 at 02:31:56 PM EST

I used to wear one back in the early '00s also, and, granted, I'm a white boy, but I've done Palestinian solidarity work, almost traveled to Palestine with the ISM (I was set to go in June 03, right after Rachel Corrie and Tom Hurndall were killed, and the Israelis yanked my visa), and support Palestinian. Plus I had that West German student radical style going, but I digress....

I finally retired by beat kaffiyeh last winter after I started noticing all these hipsters wearing them. It has become a major fashion item, in Brooklyn and NYC, but completely drained of content. My friend and I made a game of asking people if they were Fatah or PFLP or DFLP supporters last winter to hipster kids wearing them, and about 80% had no idea what we were talking about, and about 60% had no idea that the kaffiyeh was associated with the Palestinian movement. They just bought it because it was fashionable, some weird military chic.

Alternately hilarious and depressing. 





Palestinian Scarf Becomes Anti-War Scarf at Urban Outfitters | 3 comments (3 topical, 0 hidden)

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