Three more blogs have been blocked in Tunisia this week. These blogs, Mochagheb (Disturber), Ennaqed (The Critic) and Place Mohamed Ali have all been particularly active in providing news of the struggle of The Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT), and especially about the latest social unrest in the southwestern phosphate mining region of Gafsa, where two people have been killed. One was shot dead by security forces and the other was electrocuted inside a local electric generator.

I asked the Tunisian blogger Ennaqed about the censorship of his blog in Tunisia. He said:

I think that the main reason of banning my blog is crossing the “red lines” that are constraining the media in Tunisia by talking about issues that are completely ignored by mainstream media. Last year, I was seriously engaged in covering the hunger strike of three Tunisian secondary school teachers who were expelled from their jobs for political reasons, and my blog was blocked temporarily. And like the rest of the Tunisian bloggers, I was blogging about the revolt in the mining region and recently about the prisoner swap between Israel and Hezbullah, and the remains of eight Tunisian men handed over by Israel. But, honestly, I think that the most direct reason for banning my blog might be my last blog post about the participation of an Israeli delegation in the 31st Congress of the International Geography Union (IGU) that is taking place in Tunisia. What I actually did is copy and re-post a press release about a group of Palestinian geographers who are boycotting the aforementioned conference because of Israeli participation.

On June 21 the censorship passed beyond all reason and banned the first and only podcasting Tunisian blog Radyoun (Radio) run by a group of Tunisian bloggers dedicated to discussing social and cultural topics. Apparently, the podcast debate about the sporadic protests in the poor mining region of Gasfa and about the freedom of expression led to the banning of the blog.

This is a non-comprehensive list of blocked blogs in Tunisia. Please keep in mind that the list does not include blocked websites:

1. Citizen Zouari‬, blog of Tunisian journalist and former political prisoner, Abdallah Zouari.
2. The Free Pen the blog of Tunisian journalist and former political prisoner, Slim Boukhdhir. In July 2007, this blog was also hacked and deleted.
3. ‫Mokhtar Yahyaoui‬, blog of a former Tunisian judge who was dismissed after publishing an open letter to President Ben Ali criticising the lack of independence of the judiciary.
4. Tunisia Watch, this blog is also run by Mokhtar Yahyaoui‬.
5. Astrubal
6. [fikra] blog of Tunisian activist and political refugee Sami Ben Gharbia.
7. Nawaat, popular group blog about news, politics, cyber-activism and Islamic reform.
8. Radyoun, the podcasting Tunisian blog.
9. Moaz Jmai. (this blog has been blocked in Tunisia where I'm writing this post)
10. Place Mohamed Ali (this blog has been blocked in Tunisia where I'm writing this post)
11. Sofiane Chourabi.
12. Nader.
13. Free Race.
14. Samsoum .
15. Tunisian Citizen.
16. For Gafsa.
17. Mochagheb.
18. Annaqued.
19. Zabbaleh.
20. Adam.
21. Moumni.
22. Free Word.

Attacks on video-sharing websites

Despite the fact that Tunisian authorities have permanently blocked access to both popular video-sharing websites Dailymotion and YouTube, on 3 September, 2007 and 2 November, 2007 respectively, Tunisian netizens have still managed to access these websites to either watch or share videos. And while the Tunisian government worked hard to ensure that the polished image of a “secular, modern and democratic” state would not be marred by any “negative” information disseminated by opponents on the web, Tunisian video activists and bloggers kept the spotlight on the Redeyef revolt exposing harsh repression and flooding both banned video-sharing websites Youtube and Dailymotion with footage of demonstrators, protesting against unemployment and nepotism, clashing with the police. And when the official media remained silent about the death of two demonstrators, videos of the victims, the wounded and the use of firearms against civilians, were smuggled out of Tunisia and posted on the video-sharing websites.

The anti-censorship campaigns

Interest in online censorship in Tunisia has never been higher since the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Tunis in November 2005 when a hardcore group of Tunisian bloggers and activists supported by sympathizers, organized a successful online campaign around Yezzi Fock Ben Ali (Enough is enough, Ben Ali) a “Freedom of Expression in Mourning!” campaign, the entire field of the online battle for freedom of speech has changed. The transformation owes to the growing number of bloggers, video and Facebook activists who are walking down the path of digital activism that was gradually and patiently traced by the first pioneers of the Tunisian online free speech movement who brilliantly used web 2.0 tools (videos, mash-ups, photos, etc.) to protest the crackdown on online free speech.

Badges of Tunisian online anticensorship campaigns

There is a growing number of blog posts and comments talking and/or protesting censorship. According to the advanced search engine of the recently launched North African Blogs aggregator, Berberus (Beta), of the 274 blog posts containing the word “censure” (censorship), 165 are Tunisian.

And of the 256 comments containing the same word, 98 were left on Tunisian blogs.

Compared with other North African Internet users, Tunisian Netizens seem to be much more interested in censorship than their counterparts in Algeria and Morocco. This trend is confirmed by the following graphs, generated by Google Insights for Search:

Back to April 2007. Following the ban on Dailymotion, Tunisian bloggers and activists from Nawaat.org launched the “Unblock Dailymotion campaign” in order to draw public attention to the aggressive online censorship policy adopted by the Tunisian regime. Cybversion.org blog was created to protest the ban of the Dailymotion and has since evolved into a group blog documenting censorship, anti-censorship and digital activism in Tunisia.

Fifty-one Tunisian bloggers are now running a new anti-censorship blog campaign launched on June 20 that encourages the local blogsphere to republish posts from censored blogs as part of the campaign to sensitize the public to the issue of online free speech. The blog campaign has received a lot of media attention from the Arab world and has been featured on the official website of Al Jazeera and the Qatari “Al-Arab” newspaper.

Badges and a headline widgets that use the free Feed2JS service displaying headlines of the anti-censorship blog campaign have been designed to build community around the blogs and help Tunisian bloggers stay updated about newly published content.
July 1st, is now “I blog for freedom of expression” day which Tunisian bloggers celebrate by blogging about free speech and/or by displaying a badge. Meanwhile, from time to time, Tunisian bloggers carry out ad-hoc campaigns to protest the banning of specific blogs or websites like the Blank Post Day that has been organized twice: the first time on 25 December 2006 and the second on 25 December 2007.

Tunisian netizens bid farewell to Facebook

On the social networking websites, Facebook, several groups protesting online censorship in Tunisia have been created.The most important one has so far gathered more than 620 members. Other groups have been created requesting the ATI (The Tunisian Internet Agency, which oversees Web distribution in the country) not to block Facebeook, which, unfortunately, seems to be blocked since yesterday by at least two of the country’s largest ISPs (Globalnet and PlaNet), as reported by several Tunisian bloggers and Facebook groups who were faced yesterday with the famous Tunisian 404 block page that states that the requested Web site could not be found.

It's far more than just censorship

Blocking web 2.0 websites (Youtube, Dailymotion, Facebook) and barring access to local outspoken websites and blogs is the most obvious way of cracking down of the online free speech in Tunisia. It should be emphasized, however, that this is only one tool in the regime's hand. Tunisia has adapted to the web 2.0 revolution by developing a broader strategy composed of a wide range of instruments including:
Punishing and persecuting outspoken online writers, bloggers and dissidents:
Between 2001 and 2008 more than 12 people have been arrested and/or sentenced because of their online activities:

1. The seven cyber dissidents known as the Youth of Zarzis;
2. The cyber dissident Zouhair Yahyaoui;
3. The forum administrator Ramzi Bettibi, known as the Tunisian “prisoner of the Net;
4. The online writer and Human rights advocate Mohamed Abbou;
5. The online Journalist and blogger Slim Boukhdhir;
6. The journalist and blogger Mohamed Fourati;
7. And while the last prisoner of opinion, blogger and Internet journalist Slim Boukhdhir, has been released from jail on 21 July, the Tunisian human rights NGO, Freedom and Equity, reported that a 22-year old ICT Student, Mariam Zouaghi, has been arrested, on July 26th, 2008, for visiting banned websites.

Creating an atmosphere of fear:

As is the case of China, creating a strong atmosphere of fear and a climate of intimidation has led Tunisian citizen to in general adopt a low profile vis-a-vis freedom of expression. During the last 7 years, most internet users and bloggers were censoring themselves by avoiding to raise their voices to address political topics or write freely bypassing the strict state censorship. Only a handful of activists, cyber dissidents and bloggers, usually the same men, are leading the free speech movement on the Internet, going well beyond these limits and even organizing an online anti-propaganda machine to the official one.

Hacking of dissident websites and blogs:

Almost every single Tunisian opposition website and self-hosted blog has been the victim of one or more hacking incidents. While there is no solid evidence that the Tunisian regime is behind attempts to take down opponent websites, there is quite a strong feeling among Tunisian opposition figures that the government is carrying out cyber-attacks, given their frequency and the nature of the targeted websites and blogs.

Moncef Marzouki, one of Tunisia's most prominent human rights defenders (former President of the Tunisian League for Human Rights and leader of the banned opposition party Congrès Pour la République) openly accused the Tunisian regime of orchestrating and waging these destructive attacks against the opposition Web: “In a week my website was hacked four times (…) All of this, of course, happened simultaneously with the hacking of web based email accounts that the Tunisian police is carrying out against Human rights advocates and political opponents.“

Screenshots of hacked Tunisian websites

What we have seen more recently is that the attack on collective blog Nawaat.org (deleting of the database and ftp files) happened simultaneously with the hacking of the personal blogs and email accounts of the activists running Nawaat. According to a press release issued on 16 June, 2008, Reporters Without Borders stated that:

The Tunisian news and blog wesbite Nawaat (http://www.nawaat.org/) yesterday suffered its most serious hacker attack since its creation. Its database was erased and its home page was modified (see photo). Blogs by human rights activists Sami Ben Gharbia (http://www.kitab.nl/ ) and Astrubal (http://astrubal.nawaat.org/) were also affected. Their blogs continue to be inaccessible and their databases have been badly damaged. The websites have been restored although some dysfunction continues.

This is a non comprehensive list of blogs and websites targeted:

Filtering emails:

As reported earlier by Reporters Without Borders and some Tunisian NGOs, Tunisian human rights defenders are having trouble reading their emails on the three important web based mail clients: Yahoo, Gmail and Hotmail:

Reporters Without Borders is also surprised by the problems Tunisian Internet users are having with their email. Messages sent to them by human rights organisations such as the International Association for Supporting Political Prisoners (AISPP), the Tunisnews website or Reporters Without Borders are illegible on arrival.

Several sources said the messages can be seen in the inbox and can be opened, but often there is nothing inside. Once opened, they disappear from the inbox. “It looks like badly concealed filtering,” a specialist said.

It is worth noting that the issue does not affect “fresh/new” webmail accounts and it only happens when you log in to these accounts from within Tunisia. I have personally run a test, from The Netherlands with Tunisian lawyer Abdel Wahab Maatar and Tunisian blogger, activist, and former political prisoner Abdallah Zouari. I logged into their email accounts and was able to read their emails normally. The content I saw displayed was not the same they were reading. Here are two screenshots of the test. The first is from The Netherlands where I'm base and the second from Tunisia:

So it seems the email accounts of some Tunisian Internet users are being monitored by Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) without their knowledge. DPI is a technology that has the ability to monitor the online activity and filter the traffic on the network by removing “unwanted” material from the actual body of received emails.

Recently, I asked Robert Guerra - a Toronto-base technologist who helps NGOs with data privacy, secure communications and information security about this. These are his comments:

At first glance, seems that there's some realtime interception of webmail and possibly other traffic is taking place. In a way, it looks like there's a network neutrality issue… Perhaps Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) is being used. If indeed DPI is taking place, it might be worthwhile to raise it on the numerous DPI discussions that are taking place. The discussion in Canada is quite active, one where activists could use the Tunisian example to help their case. (…) it might be that existing accounts have been compromised in some way. Should ask if the accounts that are being affected were accessed at public (ie. net cafe) pc's . if so, passwords might have been captured.

The official Tunisia.com blog congratulated Mellouli on taking home Tunisia's first gold medal in 40 years:

Congratulations to Oussama Mellouli who dug in when it counted to beat the legendary Grant Hackett over the 1500 meters swim in the games.

In what is a tough event Oussama beat the odds and delivered the first gold for over 40 years!

Algeria.com details Algeria's Olympic history, shares the stats so far, and gives a bit of encouragement:

It is hoped that between the track athletes and the boxers that Algeria will be able to add a few more medals to their collection, and walk away from another successful Olympic Games. Algeria has shown their ability to be worthy competitors and it seems that every year they are growing in strength and diversity.

Morocco's The View from Fez shared the exciting news of Hasna Benhassi's bronze medal, Morocco's first in Beijing, praising the runner for her success:

Benhassi was already among the greatest Moroccan women athletes in history even before her silver medal 800m performances in the Athens Olympics and the World Championships in Helsinki in 2005 and Osaka in 2007. She had won gold at 800m in the 2000 African Championships and at 1500m in the 2001 World Indoor Championships in Lisbon, becoming only the second female Moroccan athlete, after Nezha Bidouane, to win a World Championship title. But she has remained very much in the shadow of her brilliant compatriot, Hicham El Guerrouj.

Although Libya has not yet won a medal, its bloggers have been talking about the Olympics. Anglo-Libyan blogged the opening ceremonies and discussed swimmer Asmahan (Mercedes) Farhat's first race:

Yesterday I watched the swimming heats on BBC but they never showed the 100-meter breaststroke that Asmahan Farhat took part in, the picture on the left is Asmahan getting ready for her swim, she did not do that well although she did manage to break her own record but she enjoyed taking part, you can read her blog entry, it was funny reading how she was dressed in an east Libyan costume by old ladies, to me this is the best and most beautiful Libyan costume.

Farhat, a Libyan-American competing for Libya, wrote a blog post for her local U.S. newspaper about participating in the Olympics, and said this about getting to warm up in the same lane as Michael Phelps:

During warm up I got to swim in his lane. That's right, right next to him and I will honestly say that nothing makes you swim faster than when Michael Phelps is swimming behind you and you don't want to get in his way!

When he swims past you, you can feel the power that he pushes the water with and how smooth he moves in the water. Most swimmers I've swam in a lane with you can feel them fighting the water and the waves are choppy, but when he swims next to you there are barely any forceful waves.

It is unbelievable, it's almost like the waters moving with him. It was the most memorable warm-up swim I've ever swam for sure!

Although bloggers are proud of what their countrymen have accomplished, one blogger feels that Arab countries could do more. Musings of a Proud Arab posted on the eighth Olympic day, frustrated by the lack of Arab medalists. The Jordanian blogger, who lives in the UAE, encourages Arab countries to unite for the gold:

We should not be there just to participate for our national flags to fly within the Olympic Village and in the Parade of Nations. This got me thinking and I want to share a solution with you; have ALL of the 22 Arab countries contribute half of their budgets to a collective consolidated budget that will be used as a Regional Trial to choose the BEST ARAB ATHLETES and train them to bring us gold.There are several reasons for this; 1) the Arab common person is united in their support of Arabs in the Olympics as it reflects on all of us (where we are really united), 2) it allows the countries to still have their symbolic participation in the Olympics (with half their budget), and 3) it will derive the athletes of the poor excuse that I did not perform because I did not have the support, especially financial from my National Olympic Committee.After all, the Arab countries combined have the same population of the United States. And we never hear complaints from them that on there are too many Californians with their Olympic athletes and not a single Alaskan!So, will this be an ideal or can the League of Arab States seriously work on achieving it from 2009? As a corporate person, I would place 12 gold medals as our target for 2012 London Olympics!

The award-winning poet, whose work has been translated to more than 22 languages, is best known for his poems which depict the suffering of Palestinian people, their longing for their homeland and infighting between various Palestinian factions. Born in historical Palestine, in what is now Israel, Darwish leaves behind over 30 volumes of poetry and eight books of prose, and millions of fans.

From Jerusalem, the UN-Truth's Marian Houk says news of Darwish's death is:

.. the top news story here. Never mind the Olympics, or John Edward’s affair….

She also describes what makes Darwish's poetry special:

It’s probably true that you need to understand the history of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in order to really appreciate the poignant and intense economy with which Mahmoud Darwish described how Palestinians see the situation.

The blogger, who has also met Darwish several times, says the world will never be the same without the poet:

I saw Mahmoud Darwish over more than two decades in Beirut, in Damascus, in Washington, in New York, in London, in Paris, in Geneva — and last month in Ramallah. He was part of my life, and part of the lives of every Palestinian in Jerusalem and Ramallah and everywhere. And now, he is gone, and the world is not the same.

She shares her favourite poem with us - a biblical story of Yousef:

Oh my father, I am Yusuf
Oh father, my brothers neither love me nor want me in their midst
They assault me and cast stones and words at me
They want me to die so they can eulogize me
They closed the door of your house and left me outside
They expelled me from the field
Oh my father, they poisoned my grapes
They destroyed my toys
When the gentle wind played with my hair, they were jealous
They flamed up with rage against me and you
What did I deprive them of, Oh my father?
The butterflies stopped on my shoulder
The bird hovered over my hand
What have I done, Oh my father?
Why me?
You named me Yusuf and they threw me into the well
They accused the wolf
The wolf is more merciful than my brothers
Oh, my father
Did I wrong anyone when I said that
I saw eleven stars and the sun and the moon
Saw them kneeling before me?

Jordanian Samer Marzouq, writing at Jazarah, says Darwish's death is a big loss for the Arab world.

Bad news, the greatest Arab poet, the Palestinian Mahmoud Darwish has died today in a hospital in Huston in the USA, this is a big loss for the Arab cultural scene, rest in peace Mahmoud Darwish, rest in peace.

Tunisian blog Khil We Lil [Ar] marks Darwish's death saying:

عملاق آخر يمضي

Another giant passes away.

Radwa Osama, from Egypt, is shocked at the news and awaits a message from Darwish - via another poet:

يخبرنى عمرو منذ قليل بلهجة حزينة - محمود درويش مات -أكدت عليه أكثر من مرة أن لا يخبرنى بأخبار الموت مرة واحدة - بعدها بقليل يدير صوت محمود درويش على الكمبيوتر - أسمعه بحزن صافى - لا أجد كلاما كثيرا يمكننى أن أضيفه مرة آخرى - لكنى عن جد حزينة - حزينة جدا - كنت أفكر فى المرة القادمة لزيارة محمود درويش الى القاهرة ، تخيلتها فى الجامعة المريكية ، كنت أحضر نفسى لتلك النشوة - ياااااه منذ وقت طويل لم اسمع درويش - كلما ضاقت روحى ، استمعت الى صوته ، فهو قادر على تهدئتى دوما-يسألنى عمرو “تفتكرى محمود درويش بيعمل ايه دلوقتى”-أفكر بمنطقية شديدة فيما يفعله محمود درويش الأن -ربما يتأمل التجربة بعمق ، ليكتب قصائد عديدة ليرسلها إلينا نحن المشتاقين دوما إلى كلمة حقيقية - بعد قليل سأفقد مذاق الشعر -محمود درويش أمازلت ترى أن الموت يخطئنا؟! -أنتظر منك ان ترسل بقصيدة مع أول عابر عندك - فالشعراء لا يموتون

In a sad tone, Amr told me that Mahmoud Darwish passed away. I have repeatedly asked him not to break such stories to me in one go. A little while later, we listened to Mahmood Darwish's voice on the computer. I can hear his clear sadness. I don't find a lot of words to add but I am extremely sad. I was thinking that next time his visited Cairo, it would be at the American University. I was preparing myself for that event. It has really been a long time since I last heard Darwish. I used to listen to him every time I felt annoyed. He was able to calm me down. Amr asks me: “What do you think Mahmoud Darwish is doing now?” I think logically and say: “Mahmoud Darwish is now contemplating on the experience (of death), in order to write a poem, and send it to us, the people who are eager for the truth. Very soon, I will stop enjoying poetry. Mahmoud Darwish, do you still think that death mistakes us?! I am looking forward for a poem from you, with the first person who contacts you. Poets never die.

Photo of Mahmoud Darwish from Wikimedia Commons

Egyptian Nora Younis says she is happy for Chahine and the legacy he left behind.

Chahine passed away few hours ago. I am happy for him. He lived over 82 years and at least 60 out of which were thorough, intense, and edgy experiences. Chahine has also enjoyed a peaceful - but surely not quiet - exit. I am sure his funeral will be a red carpet Cannes. It is scheduled for Tuesday 29th, in “Cinema City”, Nahhas Studios, Haram

Commenting on the post in Arabic, Egyptian Leftist says:

انا اكتر حاجه خلتني ازعل على وفاته ان كان نفسي اقلبله قبل مايموت و اتكلم معاه كدا و اتبادل معاه طرف الحديث و دا كان حلم
انا شوفته على الحقيقه مره واحده كنت شغال مصمم جرافيكس في احد الجرائد و كانت في ايامها الأولي و هو كان بيزور المكان كنوع من المباركه للجريده و اهلها و قد ايه كان انسان جميل بيهزر و يتريق على الكل …
ارتاح و سايب وراه تاريخ كبييير عظيم
ربنا يرحمه

What saddened me the most when I heard of his death was that I have always wanted to meet him and talk to him. This was my dream.
I have met him once, when I was working as a graphic designer in one of the newspapers, which had just started, and he was visiting the paper to congratulate it for its launch. He was a lovely person, who joked with everyone. He is at peace now and has left behind a great legacy. May his soul rest in peace.

Egyptian Chronicles reflects the sentiments of many toward Chahine's activism when she says:

Some call late Chahien as the greatest director in the history of Egyptian cinema due to the fact that he was known aboard especially in France “But not in Hollywood” , I disagree , he was not the greatest but he was different with daring visions that broke all the taboos whether religiously or socially.

Still in Egypt, Fustat sheds some light on the filmmaker's career, which spans from the '50s, and adds:

He was an inspiration to me, and one of my proudest moments as a blogger was when my article on Chahine was posted on his official website.
My condolences to his family. May God rest his soul.

Egyptian blogger Baheyya eulogizes Chahine, sharing details of his career within the full post:

When I read the sad news of Youssef Chahine’s passing, a stream of images from his films passed through my mind’s eye, fragmentary and disjointed images that have stayed with me over the years. The scenes are nearly all in black and white; some are hilarious and others sombre, some are central to the drama and others peripheral, some I remember for their sheer beauty and others because they drove me to tears or deep laughter.

At the other end of the Arabic-speaking world, Moroccan blogger Citoyen Hmida [fr] is just as saddened by Chahine's passing:

Youssef CHAHINE a été un artiste qui, par sa culture plurielle, a su apporter un souffle chaque fois renouvelé au cinéma égyptien. Reconnu tant dans son propre pays – malgré des attaques plus que véhémentes qui lui portèrent les intégristes – que dans les pays arabes et aussi en Europe – Ours d'argent au Festival de Berlin en 1978 et en 1997 le prix du cinquantième anniversaire du festival de Cannes pour l'ensemble de son œuvre – Youssef Chahine aura été un des plus grands intellectuels arabes du XXème siècle.

Also in Morocco, Larbi [fr] shares a similar sentiment:

Avec sa mort, disparaît une icône et un citoyen du monde qui a contribué au dialogue interculturel et la promotion de la compréhension mutuelle. Un cinéaste qui a combattu, avec intelligence et élégance, le fanatisme religieux et l'autocratie là où il n'y a ni droits de l'homme ni liberté de croyance.

From Kuwait, Jabriya Za7ma posts Chahine's picture with the following comment:

Adieu Chahine

Commentators on the post are all praying for Chahine's soul to rest in peace.

Another Kuwaiti blogger, K80Economics, pays a fitting tribute and writes:

A prominent Arab film maker passes away. He showed us how to best fight authoritarianism and fundamentalism: through art and culture. Art and culture are the light that sheds away extremism and the breath of fresh air upon which liberty thrives. May his soul rest in peace.

Moving back to the Maghreb, Tunisian Carpe Diem [fr] mourns Chahine and celebrates his good deeds:

La longue carrière de Youssef Chahine a été une lutte constante contre son milieu, qu'il voyait comme l'oppresseur des pauvres, contre le pouvoir, la censure dont il a souvent été la cible, il dénonçait la montée de l'extrémisme islamique et militait pour la tolérance. Autant de thèmes qu'il développait dans ses oeuvres.

Another Tunisian blogger, Diana MagaZine, demonstrates Chahine's reach:

I know that Youssef Chahin was very liberate and open minded man. He was against tolitarism and dictaturship. He was fighting for freedom. But what I cannot understand is this unanimous agreement of tn-blogs to commemortae the brave man. I never seen such agreement in tn-blogs. Even duiring the events of Redaif and Gafsa, there was no unanimity, but only divisions and breaks.

Blogger Critical Montages has compiled several videos demonstrating Chahine's best works. It is clear from the reactions of these bloggers and others that Chahine, his body of work, and his idealism will not soon be forgotten.

This post was written collaboratively with Amira Al Hussaini.

Tunisian blogger Sami ben Gharbia hails the fighters, killed in the 80s and mid-90s, as martyrs, saying they deserve to be buried in Tunisia. He writes:

تزامن خبر تحرير الأسرى اللبنانيين الخمسة وعلى رأسهم عميد الأسرى العرب سمير القنطار و الذي جاء نتيجة أخر عملية تبادل مع الكيان الصهيوني التي صار يتقنها حزب الله اللبناني مع النداء باسترجاع رفات ثمانية شهداء تونسيين لقوا نحبهمه في جبهات الجنوب الللبناني المقاوم

News of the liberation of the five Lebanese prisoners of war, led by the dean of Arab prisoners Samir Kuntar came as a result of the latest prisoner swap with the Zionist regime, which the Lebanese Hizbullah has now perfected, and coincided with a call for the return of the remains of the eight Tunisian martyrs, who were killed on the battle fields of resistance in Southern Lebanon.

Ben Gharbia also links to a page which has the names and photographs of the Tunisian fighters here.

Annaqued [Ar] joins his colleague in calling for a state funeral for the eight Tunisians. He writes:

لم لا عودة رفات ابطالنا الثمانية الى تونس … بمراسم رسمية؟؟؟

Why haven't the remains of our eight heroes been returned to Tunisia .. in a state ceremony?

Commenting on this post, Al-Hallège writes:

هذا أبسط ما يكرم به الشهيد..و الأمة التي لا تحترم شهداءها هي أمة الى زوال

This is the least we can do to honour our martyrs .. and a nation which doesn't respect its martyrs is one which will be destroyed soon.

Another commentator, Abunadem adds:

فعلا هدا هو الحد الادنى لحق المواطنة في اي دولة وهو الاعتراف بالانسان حيا او ميتا .انظر مادا يفعل الصهاينة حين يفقد او يموت لهم انسان ؟؟يطالبون به حتى وا كلفهم التنازل عن الكثير اما نحن فلا يهتز لنا جفن ؟؟؟
لمادا لم تتحدث تلفزتنا الوطنية عن هؤلاء على الاقل ؟؟؟

It is true. The least a citizen deserves in any country is recognising that he is a human being, whether he is dead or alive. See what the Zionists do when the lose one of their sons or one of them dies. They demand their bodies even when that forces them to sacrifice a lot. As for us, no one cares. Why aren't our national television stations talking about those people at least???

Writing at Nocturnal Thoughts, blogger Tarek [Ar] reviews Tunisian newspapers and wonders why the story of the eight Tunisian fighters were not covered more prominently.

And last but not least, blogger Chiheb praises Hizbullah for humiliating Israel. He says:

خلال عمليّة تبادل الأسرى اللّبنانيّين {…} أثبت حزب اللّه قدرته على تركيع أسطورة الكيان الصّهيوني،وحرّك مشاعر العرب التّي تعاني المرارة من المحيط إلى الخليج ،ويعلن إنتصار المقاومة من جديد بعد حرب 2006

During the Lebanese prisoner swap, Hizbullah proved its ability to humiliate the Zionist regime and move the emotions of Arabs, who suffer from bitterness from the Ocean to the Gulf, and announce the victory of the resistance once again after the 2006 war.

Every invited country was represented, with the notable exception of Libya, whose de facto leader Muammar Qaddafi, refused to attend. Libyan blogger Anglo-Libyan expressed frustration:

Yet again the Libyan rulers prove they have no respect for their own people, for many years Libya has been portraying itself to the outside world as Jamahereya, which means something like the nation or land that is ruled by the masses i.e. Libyan people! yet in reality we all know that the country is ruled by one family and its followers.

The blogger explained Libya's absence from the summit and concluded:

Europe might not be perfect but it is for sure a better choice for Libya if life there is to improve for everyone, what can Libya loose from such a union? at the end of the day they can opt out if it is not for them.
I am sure Libyan people are just about sick of all that nonsense they keep hearing about why Libya can not become a part of the developed world.

God bless Libya and its people….

The attendance by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, on the other hand, was a pleasant development for many. On Saturday, al-Assad confirmed that Syria and Lebanon intend to establish embassies in each other's capitals, normalizing relations between the neighbor countries. Syrian blogger sasa explained the significance of this development:

Syria said it would open an embassy in Beirut when a friendly government is formed. That happened yesterday, and so Syria has come good on its promise.

But why does all this matter? When Lebanon was carved out of western Syria, and the two countries gained independence, Syria refused to recognise Lebanon as an independent entity. As Hafez Al-Assad said, one country, two governments. Syria retained its territorial claim on Lebanon until Bashar came into power.

Rime Allaf, referring to the French media's treatment of Syria, remarked:

As usual, not only has the subject been totally ignored by Syrian media, government and embassies (what a shock, I know), but most of them aren't even apparently aware that an anti-Syrian campaign is taking place in France. Isn't it time to put a stop to this, and to give Syria equal rights and equal duties to the others? And isn't it time Syria's position was explained by Syrians, and its image drawn by something other than Lebanese, Israeli or American paintbrushes?

Also from Syria, On Olives & Sake acknowledged the significance of the event but wondered what his country's leader was thinking as he headed to Paris:

On the other hand, as beautiful and elegant our First Gentleman and First Lady look together as they walk down that red carpet, I can’t help wondering whether people like Michel Kilo, Anwar al-Bunni or Aref Dalileh even cross their minds as they smile and shake hands. As they walk triumphantly through the streets of Paris, what kind of a country do they think of, that country that they left behind. What do they think of that? The poverty, the corruption, the pollution, the monopolies, and the stagnant social, educational, political and cultural life. What about Seydnaya?

Nearly as significant as President al-Assad's attendance at the summit was the notable absence of King Mohammed VI of Morocco, who sent his brother, Prince Moulay Rachid in his place. Although the King had a prior engagement, the press speculated that the King's aim was to avoid Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

Western Sahara Info. believes that the King's decision not to attend is justifiable:

After considerable coaxing, President Bouteflika of Algeria decided to go, while King Mohammed VI of Morocco sent his brother carrying some lame excuse. Some Moroccans are annoyed, but in all frankness, in this case, the Sarkozy government's slobbering over Bouteflika, contrasted with the shrug that accompanied M6's absence, probably had less to do with any preference for Algeria, or even for its gas/oil millions, than with the fact that Morocco has been cooperative all along, whereas Bouteflika threatened to try and undermine the summit by being absent as a point of principle — therefore, he was needed, while the king could send a representative instead, and no one would mind.

the a la menthe doesn't think the summit will have an effect on Algerian-Moroccan relations:

I hardly think warmer relations between Algeria and Morocco are imminent, particularly in light of the parlous state of the Algerian government, but I guess Sarkozy gets points for trying.

General opinion on the summit seemed to vary, though much of the blogosphere found some fault in it. Some bloggers, including Egyptian ramsesthesecond were less than impressed:

In his speech, Mr Mubarak, seemed very optimistic by the idea of the union, its aims and expected results… indeed his speech would be a dream come true if the things he said were done..
Common Projects, investments, progress, development and even cultural co operation, which is a strange idea from the man who refuses to establish normal relationship with Israel after more than 30 years of peace!

The blogger did acknowledge Sarkozy's role in bringing Syria and Israel into the same room, however:

Indeed it is a big victory for the French president to be the first man to get both Syrian president and Israel's prime minister below one roof for a common idea of development…

Tunisian blogger Stupeur!! Un Nouveau Départ!!! [fr] is displeased with the idea:

Alors bénite soit cette union. Union POUR la méditerranée vous avez dit ? Merci, ne vous unissez pas pour moi ni à mon nom. Je vous aurais pourtant prévenu.

Finally, from Tunisia, blogger Kissa-Online قصة اون لاين [fr] disagrees with the union, making a rather poetic point:

Je ne veux pas de votre union car elle est à sens unique :
Liberté totale pour vos capitaux
Les barques de la mort pour mes frères et sœurs.

Creative Commons-licensed photo by whodisan215

Meddah explains:

A lot like Wikipedia, the encyclopedia relies on volunteers to write articles and publish content.
Volunteers can post books, reports, studies, articles and even video, audio and useful programs to the encyclopaedia.

Writing about the project launched by Jordanian software and web development company Jordan Tek, at StartUp Arabia, Meddah adds:

Even though I usually encourage Arab users to try and focus on enriching the Arab version of a global encyclopedia like Wikipedia instead of launching smaller regional or local versions, this project is still a pretty interesting one as it covers some types of content that Wikipedia doesn’t support.

Speaking about the project's limitations, the blogger says:

The system isn’t as open as Wikipedia though, as users can’t change or edit articles by other users; they can only reply or comment on them. Which means that the site’s administrators have to be more involved in reviewing the submitted content, its quality, and whether publishing it violates any copyright laws.

A quick review of the site [Ar] shows a massive collection of articles, which could be easily accessed using a search option on the front page. They include:

عدد المواد المنشورة: 32330
عدد الأعضاء: 5661
عدد التصنيفات: 514

Number of published articles: 32,330
Number of members: 5,661
Number of categories: 514

According to the site's About page:

فمكتبة الموسوعة الآن تحتوي على حوالى 60 ألف كتاب ومجلد . كما تحتوي الأقسام الأخرى على آلاف البحوث والدراسات ، كلها مصنفة في مكانها الصحيح ضمن أقسام الموسوعة ، بحيث يسهُل على المستخدم الوصول اليها والاستفادة منها وتوفَّر عليه ساعات طويلة من البحث. هذا غير المواد الصوتية والبرامج والأفلام التعليمية والثقافية في شتى المجال

The encyclopaedia's library currently hosts around 60,000 books and collections. It also features different sections which contain thousands of studies and research papers, all properly categorised in their respective places, making it easy for users to access and make the most of, thereby saving him long hours of searching. This is in addition to the audio recordings and cultural and educational resources which span different fields and which are available on the site.

The About page concludes its mission statement with the following:

وما هذه الموسوعة سوى بوابة وأداة بحث لمنفعة المستخدم العربي والارتقاء بنوعية وجودة بحثه … الأمر الذي من شأنه إثراء الثقافة العربية الإسلام

This encyclopaedia is only a gateway and a search tool for the benefit of Arab users, in a bid to improve the quality of research .. which will in turn enrich the Arab and Islamic culture.

Photocredit: StartUp Arabia

Zizou links to several of Ftouh's articles, posted on various blog sites, including a recent piece on IdentiteJuive.com where he explains his views on Israel and terrorism:

Je suis un homme libre, qui depuis le monde arabe, admire le peuple juif qui a invoqué en premier un Dieu unique et qui est aujourd’hui contesté sur sa propre terre. Dans mon enfance, je ne savais pas exactement ce qu’était un juif. Je n’en avais jamais rencontré. Tout ce que je savais, c’était que les juifs étaient « des soldats terrifiants » qui voulaient tuer les enfants arabes palestiniens et détruire les maisons sur leur tête.

…J’ai réalisé à quel point la jeunesse du monde arabe continue à être mal informée aujourd’hui … Ça me fait une grande peine de voir la propagande, la désinformation, la haine et l’antisémitisme exacerbé, que j’ai connu dans à mon enfance se disséminer aujourd’hui à la nouvelle génération .

Le terrorisme n’est pas un accident, il fait partie intégrante de la doctrine officielle et de la culture du djihad, de la marche pour la domination mondiale qui s’est enclenchée voici une décennie dans le monde musulman… les haineux maîtrisent à la perfection l’art de jouer avec les faiblesses de l’Occident et utilisent à cette fin des mots tels que l’islamo-phobie.

Another where he explains the true nature of Palestine:

Elle n’existe tout simplement pas ! C’est un concept. Un concept ? Oui, prenez un couteau, retirez-en la lame et le manche, il vous reste le concept. La Palestine n?a pas d'Histoire autre que l'Histoire judéo-chrétienne, ni de peuple présent depuis plus d'un siècle autre que le peuple juif. C’est un concept.

And on rencontrejudaïquesfm, a piece on the history of Jews in Tunisia explaining how with the Westernization (or more specifically, the Francization), “the relationship of domination between Arabs and Jews could become equal for the first time” after “centuries of domination by Muslims” since Jews more readily adopted French culture and modes of dress.

Zizou's readers comment:

Profilo writes:

C'est totalement subjectif trop même. dire que les juifs étaient des sujets de second rang avant le protoctorat c'est vraiment trop mentir et trop bafouer l'histoire alors qu'ils vivaient ensemble sans aucun problème comme l'atteste tous les vrais historiens.

Soufiene writes:

En regardant ces versions de faits. Souheil ne peut etre qu'un avocat du diable. Il cherchait le coup mediatique comme-quoi. C'est son interveiw dans le journal Afaq qui a fait de lui un hero.

chiraz:

en fait, l'interview a été publiée par le magazine Hakaeq (version arabe de réalités). Bon, maitre Ftouh est libre d'avoir ses propres opinions mais ce qui m'a étonné, c'est lorsque le journaliste lui a posé une question sur les enfants palestiniens victimes de la sauvagerie militaire israelienne, maitre Ftouh a répondu que le Hamas en est responsable et qu'il avait une pensée pour les enfants de Sdirot!

Zizou's take?  “Long live free speech!”