However , as with Afrofuturism , there is a persisting disparity in Arabfuturism between diasporic and “ native ” futuristic expressions . In the Palestinian context , this disparity is sharper than in the rest of Arab culture . The examples of Europe-based artists , such as Sansour , Baalbaki , and Majali , demand deeper examination of such discrepancies . One possible explanation may reside in the ways that power structures in the Middle East administer collective imaginaries that foster victimhood , nationalist / religious fixation , and catastrophic ( Nakba ) cognitions . The effect is divergent historic revisionisms expressed through varying notions of nostalgia and longing : in a way Palestinian ( and Arab ) localised nostalgia remains an object of a past unreachable from the present ; while diasporic nostalgia becomes a vehicle for visiting the future . It is something in the notion of loss that seems to work differently for those in the homeland and those in the diaspora .
The Palestinian-based music collective Tashweesh ( Interference ) also echoes some of the values put forward by futuristic expression . Their experimental short video project Intro ( 2009 ) is a condensed , fast-paced collage of archival visuals and sounds . Beginning with black-and-white images of sunny beaches , social gatherings , and happy , playful , singing people , the footage quickly turns into doomy , blurry , and distorted images of explosions and anxiety . “ Without understanding a word , it ’ s clear from the stuttered and looped clips that a catastrophe has occurred , ” claimed a recent review on The National . Yet , as the trip-hop sampled music makes another radical cut , the scene changes again into fast , flashing snapshots of uprisings , masquerading Oslo politicians , and a scene from an old Hollywood film , reading : “ I don ’ t know if he ’ s a negro or a white
Perhaps Arabfuturism might be eager a definition and it remains unclear what can be characterized as futuristic when it comes to the peculiarities of different Arab cultures . But it is nonetheless clear that such work is heavily invested in experimenting with history , revision , technology , and the absent future . In the words of Tashweesh collective member , Basel Abbas , “ at the heart of it is a reflection on the contemporary picture across the Arab world using both old and new material … In that way we are always seeing the past and present as part of the same moment , they are very much connected when you look at it politically .”