Global Voices

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The world is talking, are you listening?

Lebanese blogger Habib Battah narrates how he was held against his consent, forced to delete photographs of ruins from his phone camera and repeatedly assaulted in this post on the Beirut Report. When he reported the case to his local police station, the officers in charge said it was his word against theirs. He adds:

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Cairo Urban Initiatives Platform. Image from Cairobserver facebook page.

Supported by Ford Foundation and the British Council, Cluster has recently launched the Cairo Urban Initiatives Platform (CUIP), the first resource of its kind in Egypt.
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Sokhanesabz says [fa] that people send SMS to each other inviting Iranians to protest against internet interruption in front of Ministry of Communication on Saturday 11th May.

Yemeni blogger Noon Arabia writes an open letter to US President Barak Obama in which she says:

All Yemenis are against terrorism and condemn Al-Qaeda, yet are also against the violent and unethical use of predator drones in combating them. We are against the death of civilians, whom you refer to as collateral damage in the war against terror. We are against the long-term effects on their communities and their lives. We are against any extrajudicial killings.

Qifa Nabki writes:

“Lebanon’s Ministry of Energy and Water has launched a new [billboard] campaign promoting the benefits of off-shore oil exploration for the average citizen. The ads contain shots of smiling people aside captions like: “My children and I are staying in Lebanon“ or “I’m going back to work in Lebanon!“”

He continues, sarcastically “Why stop there? I think the Ministry needs a nudge in a more ambitious direction” and suggests adding: “Streets free of traffic jams, private jets, manaqeesh (a pizza-like Lebanese dish) with salmon and caviar, space exploration” etc.

KAFA (Enough Racism and Violence) posted [Ar] that the migrant domestic workers in Beirut celebrated Labor's Day by holding a demonstration in which they demanded an end to the Kafala System [Sponsorship System]. The demonstration culminated with a gathering in a public park where the workers shared different aspects from their respective cultures.

The Eleventh Room posted some funny tweets about Beirut’s first Social Media Awards event. They said the Social Media Awards hashtag #SMABeirut was going strong on Twitter days after the event. They added:

“As we were going through them, we couldn’t help but laugh out loud at some pretty sarcastic/hilarious ones. So, we thought we’d share them on our blog.”

Najib at Blog Baladi won the ”Blog of the Year” award in Beirut's first Social Media Awards event. He wrote this post about the ceremony in general with comments on some aspects of its organization. He also includes comments about the attitudes of some of the attendees such as those of celebrity Haifa Wehbe, among others.

According to Payvand site and several bloggers, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was swarmed by a group of Iranians protesting the loss of their money in the Tabriz Nasr Secured Loans Fund.

Nora Abdulkarim shares a Saudi-American perspective on the Boston Bombings.

She explains:

I won't try to simplify what is inherently complex. I will simply present and reflect, and nothing more. No fancy theorizing, no overarching message. This post is only meant to be a glimpse at personal identity – that wild thing which one cannot pin down.

Arabic hashtags finally trending worldwide on Twitter

Kuwaiti Hamad Al Sabah tweets:

@hmalsabah: Twitter is finally allowing Arabic hashtags to trend worldwide #كلام_مصري_مترجم pic.twitter.com/tb84Nkrk94

Netizens are using the hashtag, which translates to Egyptian Talk Translated, to translate Egyptian expressions and idioms.

A high commander in Iran cyber police says Facebook is ‘the most disgusting spyware and the most dangerous warfare of the U.S.’ which is also ‘responsible for one third of divorces in Iran’.

Facebook and other famous social networking websites are blocked by Iranian authorities. They blame this services as ‘tools to promote unrest and in favor of regime change in Iran’.

Explosion at the French embassy in Libya via @Eh4b10 on Twitter

Twitter user @Eh4b10 has posted several photos on twitter of a car explosion near the French Embassy today around 6:50 am local time in Tripoli, Libya.

An organization affiliated with Iran’s government says 60 percent of Iranians are connected to the internet, 40 percent of them are young people in their 20s.
Iran’s “Center For Managing National Development Of Internet”, MATMA, says more than 45 millions are connected to the internet,almost 2.5 millions of them through their mobile devices.

Carmen Weinstein, Egypt's Jewish community leader, has died at the age of 82. Zeinobia, at Egyptian Chronicles, collects reactions from the funeral service, which gathered a lot of media attention:

There is a huge surprising media presence as well security presence where those invited to the funeral have to show their IDs. I am surprised to see such media presence as I knew from a friend who is attending the funeral it was private event.

At Riyadh Bureau, Ahmed Al Omran sums up Twitter reactions from Saudis living/studying in the US following the Boston Marathon bombings here.

Arwa al-Hujaili has become Saudi Arabia's first female legal trainee – or three years of apprenticeship ahead before she earns her full legal licensure to become a lawyer. Free Arabs has more here.

Free Arabs’ co-founder Nasser Weddady – representing the American Islamic Congress – spoke today at an Interfaith Memorial Service in Boston alongside President Obama. To read the speech and watch the video, click here.

Saudi student Wael Omar Moathen shares this eyewitness account [ar] of his experience at the Boston Marathon bombing. Ahmed Al Omran offers a translation here: 

Like any human being who lives in this city, I picked up my camera and headed to Mile 26, the last mile in the race. I was taking photos and enjoying the cheers.

Click on the link above to read his experience as the horror unfolds.

The China in Africa Podcast discusses how social media is influencing China's engagement in Africa.

Hesham Qandil, Egypt's Prime Minister, is an illustruous expert in healthcare issues as attested by, e.g. his insightful comments about ‘dirty boobs breastfeeding’. The Prime Minister delivered another priceless advice to Twitter users, this time about a healthy diet:

“Doctor Smurf prescribes cakes, pies and smurfberries as part of a healthy diet.” Screenshot from Qandil's tweet

Doha News charts reactions from Qatar residents following the aftershocks of an earthquake which hit southern Iran today. The aftershocks were also felt in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, where offices in high rise buildings were evacuated.

Anger march to protest electricity and water cuts in Yemen. Photograph shared on Twitter by @Alaalsam

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Israel blogger Elizabeth Tsurkov tweets:

@Elizrael: Today is the 65th anniversary of the Deir Yassin Massacre, one of the worst crimes ever committed by armed Israelis

From Bahrain, where the ongoing anti-government protests are portrayed in mainstream media as a Sunni/Shia sectarian clash, blogger Nader AbdulEman writes [ar]:

أنا الطائفي الذي اريد حكومة منتخبة أنا الطائفي الذي ارفض التمييز وأطلب العدل والمساواة أنا الطائفي أطلب برلمان كامل الصلاحيات

@NaderAbdulEmam: I am the sectarian who wants an elected government. I am the sectarian who refuses discrimination and calls for justice and equality. I am the sectarian who demands a fully empowered parliament.

“Yemen’s Press and Publications Court (YPPC) has issued a summon statement against prominent investigative journalist, Mohammed Abdo Alabsi, to appear before court and interrogate him for his investigative reports,” writes Yemeni Afrah Nasser.

According to Nasser, Alabsi is being interrogated for a report involving corruption in the treatment of those wounded in the Yemeni uprising.

Satirist Bassem Youssef tweets:

A new investigation started against me accusing me of: insulting Islam(again), spreading atheism & insulting Pakistan #LOL

He was recently accused of insulting Islam and Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi in his TV programme El Bernameg [The Programme]. The court rejected the lawsuit.

Thirty people have been killed after a 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck near Bushehr in Iran. Several bloggers worry about the safety of Bushehr plant.

German Ulrike Reinhard links to a series of videos featuring Prem Shankar Jha, a well known journalist in India, who offers a different take on what is going on in Syria.

Ahmad Falsafi, an 82-year-old dentist and blogger who wrote in his blog for about eight years, has died. Many considered him as the oldest blogger in Iran.