2007/04/18 Beirut
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Mud wrestling

Hope

This afternoon I had to say good-bye to my fixer. Shortly before that I met her niece, who is slightly more religious than my fixer.
My fixer loves The Doors. Especially this quote by the Doors made me smile: ‘I need somebody who doesn’t need me.’ This evening in the company of a very nice Lebanese couple Mud Wrestling for Peace was invented.
It works like this: gather women in your neighborhood, from different sects, a Christian, a Druze, a Sunni, a Shi’ite, a Jew. And then let the mud wrestling start.
If we want to support the moderate forces we have to support moderate women -- I do hope readers of this site will take up the challenge and start organizing Mud Wrestling for Peace in their own neighborhood. (If you cannot find a Druze in your neighborhood no problem, the principal is clear I assume. And no men! Only women are allowed to do the mud wrestling.)
It might be our only hope. (And once again, no irony involved here.)


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21 comments Last_comment
I will enter as a transvestite! Peace or war, I always cheat, it is my nature…
said Jan Thys 18/04/2007 08:53 • x
Interesting, we recently had a family reunion next to some golf resort in Normandy (suddenly, my cousins have become people that play golf). They kick-started the event with mud wrestling. My alcoholic megalomanic aunt (who everyone ignores because that's what the AA says we should do) came out as the winner.
said tess molenaar 18/04/2007 09:04 • x
multi-etnic female mud wrestling is one of those things I wouldn't believe if I'd read them in a book, so I guess they must be real.

(Today my mom ripped her fingernail, and 2 minutes ago so did I, strange things do happen).
said Dens Powells 18/04/2007 12:02 • x
Tess, Den & Jan
I count on you when it comes to organizing the first Mud Wrestling for Peace event.
I will sponsor it, you are going to look for the female mud wrestlers and a good spot where they can compete against each other.
Don't let us down. (Us = Mud Wrestlers for Peace.)
said Arnon Grunberg 18/04/2007 13:27 • x
@Arnon
I will send my best (wo)man! Because, even as a transvestite I would surely lose…
said Jan Thys 18/04/2007 15:20 • x
Candidate
Maybe we can ask Hirsi Illegali ( Oeps, I mean Ayaan, the daughter of Hirsi, who is de son of a man who took the name Magan .....)

I don't think it will lead to peace, but surely an interesting battle.
said Herman Hartmann 18/04/2007 15:30 • x
Arnon: do you have more info for me to take a look at? I like the idea and I'm willing to help organize, as long as you're the official 'patron' of the event. We could put you up on a throne with a wreath in your hair and then you get to decide who wins.by putting a thumbs up or thumbs down.
Herman: maybe you should take a long hard look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself this "why are all the special, creative, brave and brilliant people that Holland once had either dead or in NY? What does that make of me?"
said tess molenaar 18/04/2007 15:38 • x
@Tess
I am dead already.
said Herman Hartmann 18/04/2007 16:03 • x
Tess (and others)
Please, ask Johannes for details. (johannes@arnongrunberg.com)
I'm not sure if the first Mud Wrestling Event for Peace should take place in the Netherlands. Maybe Belgium is a better option, or Italy, France? Poland?
And as to the comment that Mud Wrestling for Peace is not going to lead to peace - that is a commonplace. The result of Mud Wrestling for Peace will be at the lest bestter mud wrestlers. Only a warmonger can oppose better mud wrestlers.
And Tess, of course I'll be the chairman of the event, which is meant to support moderate forces in every community and to honor Andy Kaufman at the same time.
said Arnon Grunberg 18/04/2007 16:12 • x
Arnon - I'm trying to figure out what to do as there's this teeny tiny issue (no not the hysteria) that makes me entirely unsuitable as an executive/organizer of such events. Dens /Jan - either of you guys want to be the front man? If yes, let's email Johannes and get this going.
said tess molenaar 18/04/2007 16:27 • x
PS; the Netherlands is actually perfect. Vondelpark, open air stage.
said tess molenaar 18/04/2007 16:28 • x
issue
What's this tiny issue Tess?
said Arnon Grunberg 18/04/2007 19:31 • x
It's one week before I move to Turkey for the next 7 months (and stiill planning a bit to that event). But I'm willing to organise such an event once I'm in Turkey.This will be in two weeks. I'll stay tuned.
said Dens Powells 18/04/2007 19:49 • x
Arnon: I'll tell you over a coffee. Would the Figurantenbar (Amsterdam) appeal to you? I happen to live next to it.
said tess molenaar 18/04/2007 21:54 • x
And i who thought your fixer was a heavy man in his mid forties with a belly and a moustache.
said M. Dutoit 18/04/2007 22:27 • x
Dens & Tess
Dens: Turkey. Perfect. You will be rewarded for your efforts. And not in the next world, in this world!
Tess, if you are not willing to stand up for the Mud Wrestlers for Peace there is no way that we ever going to meet. I know that you are a man and that's not a problem: a she-male mud wrestler is a female mud wrestler. Or has your doctor advised you not to mud wrestle?
If you are not interested in peace, which is very understandable, please be interested in Andy Kaufman and honor his legacy. Don't postpone this important event! In 2009 it might be too late.
said Arnon Grunberg 19/04/2007 01:00 • x
I figured as much (that you wouldn't want to meet). But as the saying goes - actions speak louder than words. Strange thing to say to a writer though.
Oh and no: I'm not a man. So I'll be one of the wrestlers.

said tess molenaar 19/04/2007 09:22 • x
Great idea! Vondelpark or Turkey; enough interesting places to organize such a crazy event for peace. How about May 5th?
said andrea jansen 19/04/2007 10:07 • x
@ Jan Thijs: when did transvestitism become a religion?
Maybe you can be the buddhist in this. I'd love to see a buddhist fight. And of course everything has to take place in Turkey!
said Marieke Groen 19/04/2007 13:25 • x
@Marieke
I think you are making a mix of the comments of Dens Powells and myself. We are no palindrome.
The best fighting transvestite is Gary Busey in the movie Under siege.
said Jan Thys 19/04/2007 14:04 • x
candidates
Maybe you can ask this ladies...
http://dl.ziza.ru/other/042007/27/pics/21_pics_ziza.jpg
said Coen van Beelen 29/04/2007 03:59 • x
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