Some of you may remember last year’s controversy that followed a Dunkin Donuts ad in which Rachael Ray appeared wearing a scarf that resembled the Arab keffiyeh, or hattah. Led by blogger Michelle Malkin, who called the keffiyeh “a regular adornment of Muslim terrorists appearing in beheading and hostage-taking videos,” conservatives pressured Dunkin Donuts to remove the ad, which the company did, much to the chagrin of Arab-Americans. It is true that the keffiyeh became associated with the Palestinian resistance movement in the 1960s and had been strongly tied to the image of Yasser Arafat. Yet, to many Arabs across the Middle East and in the rest of the world, the keffiyeh is nothing but a traditional headdress worn by men to protect from sun exposure and blowing sand.
Strangely, the keffiyeh, or palestina as Colombians sometimes call it, has become a fashion item in Bogotá in the last few years. People of all ages and classes wear keffiyehs as scarves, without any political consideration at all. You can find palestinas in every market across the city, mixed in with traditional artisan goods. The only person who has ever commented on my wearing of one was an Israeli backpacker, who asked, isn’t that an Arab thing?
The Michelle Malkins of the world would be shocked at how common keffiyehs are in Bogotá. Perhaps someday the conservative campaign to wipe them out as a fashion item will arrive here, as occurred with Urban Outfitters in 2007 (after complaints, the company stopped selling keffiyehs and said it had not intended “to imply any sympathy for or support of terrorists or terrorism”). For now, I can continue wearing mine without causing controversy.(Interesting final note: Jews also commonly wore keffiyehs until the first Intifada.)
1 comment:
I own one of these scarves - a black and white one, much like yours. I bought it because I thought it was cute. I had no "intentions" behind wearing it - Not terrorist sympathy or American liberal anti-war sentiment.
I didn't even think of the scarf in any relation to Yassir Arafat until the controversy. Then, I still thought, "Yes, it does resemble those scarves, but should we stop wearing double-breasted jackets because Hitler wore them, too?"
Did I mention I'm also politically Conservative? Some of my "friends" on the right need to pick and choose their battles more wisely. If Rachael Ray is a terrorist, then call me Jeffrey Dahmer.
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