Stories from and

Global Voices Checkdesk Tracking Reactions to Morsi's Trial

  18 May 2015

Faten Bushehri tracks reactions to the trial of former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, who was sentenced to death on May 16, on Global Voices Checkdesk, a project in partnership with Meedan's Checkdesk to verify news. Morsi is being charged with collaborating with foreign militants to free Islamists during a prison...

Question Time: How Many Jihadists Have Military Backgrounds?

  25 April 2015

Taking the cue from a Der Spiegel report on the mastermind behind the structure of ISIS, Palestinian blogger Iyad El-Baghdadi tweets: After that Spiegel story about the "mastermind" behind ISIS's takeover of Syria – noticed just how many Jihadists have military backgrounds? — Iyad El-Baghdadi (@iyad_elbaghdadi) April 21, 2015 Der...

2015 Presents an Opportunity for Free and Fair Elections in Africa

  18 February 2015

Wekesa Sylvanus hopes that 2015 will be a year of free and fair elections in Africa: https://wekesasylvanus.wordpress.com/2015/02/18/will-2015-be-a-year-of-free-and-fair-elections-in-africa/ Since the advent of multi party democracy in Africa, electoral contests have become a do or die affair in majority of African countries. Elections in Africa are a high risk affair and in...

Questions About Australian Media Freedom After Egypt Releases Peter Greste

  3 February 2015

Max Chalmers, from Australian independent online media site New Matilda, welcomes the release of Al Jazeera journalist Peter Greste after 400 days in Egyptian prison. He also calls for “the speedy release of Greste’s colleagues who remain behind Egyptian bars”. However, he questions Prime Minister Tony Abbott's support for media...

PHOTO: Crowds Outside a Cairo Liquor Store

  28 July 2014

A photograph showing crowds outside a popular Cairo liquor store is making the rounds online. On Twitter, Tom Gara shares it with his 27.9K followers: Pic doing the rounds on FB of the scene at Drinkies, a popular Cairo liquor store, now that Ramadan is over. pic.twitter.com/VMsbiNtInH — Tom Gara...

When Maya Angelou Lived in Egypt and Ghana

  28 May 2014

Sean Jacobs writes about American author and poet Maya Angelou, who died at age 86 yesterday May 28, 2014: In 1961, Maya Angelou, already a civil rights worker, and her then partner Vusumzi Make, an exiled activist from South Africa (he was a leading Pan Africanist Congress member), moved to...

An African Tale of The First Love Story Ever Told

  20 April 2014

The website Histoire Africaine/African History [fr] narrates the tale of the oldest love story ever told, the story of Osiris and Isis [fr] and explains what makes it stand out [fr] from the other love stories. Osiris was the king god of Egypt and Isis his queen. Set, his brother, murdered...

MENA: Hijab and Western Discrimination

  27 March 2014

Egyptian blogger Nadia El Awady wrote a blog post in which she questions if women wearing Hijab face discrimination in western countries or not. Nadia, as an Egyptian who grew up in the US and lived prolonged periods in Europe, adds from her personal experience in regards to reactions she...

10 New Documentaries at the Luxor African Film Festival

  19 February 2014

Tom Devriendt lists 10 documentaries to look out for at the Luxor African Film Festival: The third edition of the Egyptian Luxor African Film Festival again has a wide-ranging programme scheduled for next month. Selected films will be showing in different competitions: Long Narrative, Short Narratives, Short Documentaries and Long...

An Info-Activism Tool-Kit on Women's Rights Campaigning

  9 February 2014

The Women's Rights Campaigning: Info-Activism Toolkit by Tactical Technology Collective is a new guide for women's rights activists, advocates, NGOs and community based organizations who want to use technology tools and practices in their campaigning. This has been developed in collaboration with advocacy organizations from Nepal, Bangladesh, India, Kenya and...

Campaigning for Women's Rights Made Easy

  9 February 2014

Women's rights campaigning is the focus of a new info-activism toolkit by Tactical Technology Collective. The toolkit is particularly useful to women's rights activists, advocates, NGOs and community-based organisations who want to use technology tools and practices in their campaigning. It includes step-by-step guides from basics like how to launch...

Human Rights Video: 2013 Year in Review

  3 February 2014

A video by WITNESS on the Human Rights Channel of YouTube wrapped up some of the most significant protests and human rights abuses of 2013. Dozens of clips shot by citizens worldwide are edited together to show efforts to withstand injustice and oppression, from Sudan to Saudi Arabia, Cambodia to...

Lebanese Blogger Spoofs Study on Middle Eastern Women's Clothing

  18 January 2014

The question “How Should Middle Eastern Women Dress in Public” posed by the University of Michigan is attracting hilarious spoofs online. The content is so rich that an additional post to our first one was necessary. When Washington Post Max Fisher shared the original image on Twitter, he wasn't expecting...

Egyptian Blogger Nawara Negm Calls it Quits

  18 January 2014

Outspoken Egyptian blogger Nawara Negm is taking a break from blogging politics. On her blog, Tahyyes, she writes a long post explaining her position [ar]: انا مش لاقية طرف مش متعاص كاكا… حتى اللي عاملين ثوار واصحاب مبادئ… طبعا مش لانهم عملا وجواسيس، بس لانهم متلخبطين، والواحد لما يتلخبط يعتزل…...

Young Egyptian Journalist Uses Indiegogo for Help

  13 January 2014

Menna Alaa, Egyptian journalist who was assaulted by angry mob earlier in 2013 losing her camera during her reporting, is using Indiegogo calling for help to buy equipment to help her document the ongoing events in Egypt. The appeal reads: Menna Alaa is a Cairo based freelance journalist and student...

Egypt: 27 Photographs from Hala'ib

  20 December 2013

Egyptian blogger Zeinobia shares this slideshow of photographs from Hala'ib, a Red Sea port and town, located in the Hala'ib Triangle, close to the Sudanese border: View “undefined” on Storify

A Pastebin for Arabic Content on the Web

  3 December 2013

“Arabic is the seventh most spoken language by Internet users but only three per cent of digital content on the web comprises of Arabic material,” estimate experts. Among the most frequent web usages is sharing text, through Pastebin and similar services. Yet these do not properly support Arabic text. Developed...

Egypt: Campaigning for Rights of People with Special Needs

  3 December 2013

Marginalized Egyptians with special needs have been protesting for their rights both before and since the #Jan25 revolution. However, their grievances are yet to be resolved. At the time when the Committee of 50 is voting on the most recent draft of the Egyptian Constitution, Zayee Zayak campaign, which translates...