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Bahrain, more cartoons and animated conversations

Mahmood Al-Yousif · 14:58 · Middle East & North Africa

Cartoon discussion was not exclusive to Bahrain or the Middle East last week. That subject took the world by storm; some for and some very against the depiction of the Prophet of Islam not only in a graphical form, which on its own is regarded by Muslims as blasphemous, but the representation was seen as obscene, callous and culturally insensitive.

Suffice it to say that the vast majority of Bahrain blogs have written about this subject, the first was Haitham who broke the story in the Bahraini blogosphere on Jan 11, 2006 with an extensive number of comments, followed by more discussions on Mahmood's Den with three posts: in the first he accused the Bahraini parliament as being childish and ridiculous for breaking their holidays and holding an extra-orderinary session just to demand an apology from Denmark, incite people and businesses to boycott Danish goods and called for country-wide protests, thus completely going against the very rules and laws which they are considering to limit freedoms of expression and personal freedoms in Bahrain, the second article came out when it become known that a French newspaper reprinted the cartoons and the third was after some 25 demonstrations after Friday prayers with a picture of a member of parliament burning the Danish flag.

Even one of Bahrain's intellectuals whose blog is rather popular didn't escape the cartoons; however, for his troubles he got featured on the front page of a national newspaper and accused of being derogatory to the Prophet himslef! (arabic) Of course, that paper, Al-Watan (arabic) just exposed itself as nothing more than a yellow journal.
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Haitian Election Countdown: Two Bloggers' views

Alice Backer · 14:36 · Americas

Are Haitians Really Safer Leading Up to the Election?

Haitian blogger Yon Ayisyen, a French-speaking blogger whose name means “A Haitian”, reports his impressions of the buildup to Tuesday, February 7's presidential elections from the capital city of Port-au-Prince. (Yon Aysien is one of the few Haitians blogging from Haiti.)

In a post titled Elections and Insecurity, one of of four posts made on Saturday (February 4) he doubts head of UN Mission to Haiti (MINUSTAH) Juan Gabriel Valdes' assertion that insecurity has in any way diminished in the lead-up to the election. While Mr. Valdes has appeared repeatedly on Haitian television in the past two weeks claiming that insecurity has subsided, Yon Ayisyen observes the opposite:

[S]omeone I know was shot in broad daylight in the streets while his companions were being kidnapped. Yet officials intoxicate the population with claims that “insecurity has dropped.”

Yon Ayisyen observes that the population believes the UN Mission's assertions about safety. He tells of one friend whose memory had to be refreshed about the above murder. He also surmises:

How many others have been assasinated this week without any press coverage? Many for sure, but because of the elections people have to be reassured even if lied to, as in “the streets are safer now than they were before.” But that is far from true.

In December, insecurity actually increased but people let their guard down and were surprised. Kidnappers probably wanted Christmas presents at the expense of honest citizens. But authorities were probably too busy providing security for the electoral process to actually care.

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Costa Rica Waits for Surprising Election Results

Juliana Rincón Parra · 14:21 · Americas

The supposedly predictable Costa Rican elections bring up surprising results as the Candidate Otton Solis faces off with ex-president Oscar Arias for the presidential seat, less than half a point apart, defying every previous prediction and poll result.

After a so called dispirited and cold campaign, the candidates to the presidency of Costa Rica faced off in the place that counts: the ballot boxes. The polls previous to the election date on February 5^th signaled a victory for ex-president Oscar Arias from the National Liberation Party, PLN. The supporters for Otton Solis and the Civic Action Party PAC, could only hope that lack of electoral majority for Arias, (established at 40% plus one in Costa Rica) would give them a chance to reach the second round.

Costa Rica has been under bipartisanship for years, and it is the first time that the two traditional political parties are not facing off in elections, but that a relative newcomer has come to take its place. Although the last poll before elections showed Arias going down in support and Solis rise, the 40% barrier was still dividing Arias and Solis, and many experts scoffed at the idea of a second round.

Nevertheless, political expert Alberto Cortés Ramos doubted the supposed poll results and pointed out in Informa-Ticothat not only was the second round likely, but that it was imminent. He cited the “silent vote” as a decisive factor: Costa Rican’s no longer trust the political system, and many will lie in polls about their vote, will adhere publicly to a party but will vote privately for another. In El Fusil de Chispas(The Musket), comments were bustling with activities as Costa Ricans exposed their opposing views on the poll results and gave an indication that the political environment was heating up and that spirits were rallying for the election. Even when not giving out their specific views, posters were urging others to just get out and vote, and to do so intelligently.

Some examples of bloggers expressing their political views and inclinations in the last few days:

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This Week in Palestinian Blogs: State of Denial

Shaden Abdul Rahman · 13:56 · Middle East & North Africa

One year of resistance in Bil'in…

Bil'in, which has been struggling non-violently for almost one year now, continues to be robbed by the Israeli occupational forces as the first anniversary of it's non-violent weekly protests (and another sad day) is fast approaching on the 20th of this month Februray, 2006.

Photo credit: International Solidarity Movement

News of the blogosphere…

Paradise Now is nominated for the Oscar, proudly has made it to be the first Palestinian film to ever be nominated for an Oscar in the best foreign film category.

Haitham Sabbah and Shaden were invited as delegates as well as panelists to Al-Jazeera Second Annual Forum held under the slogan “Defending Freedom, Defining Responsibility”. Haitham wrote about blogging and the focus it has gained in all the sessions, whereas Shaden posted pictures of her tour inside Al-Jazeera offices. Haitham has also wrote a very interesting post summerizing what happened and providing his thoughts.

Bil'in conference on Joint Nonviolent Struggle will take place in Bil'in, Al-Khalil (Hebron) on the 20 & 21 of Februray, 2006.

ISM asks, why did the state of Israel chose this specific route for the wall just near the Palestinian village of Bil’in, and why not move it westward closer to the nearby Jewish settlement of Modi’in Illit? People of Bil'in (Palestinians, Israeli and Internationals) demand an answer.

ISM coordinator in Al-Khalil (Hebron), asks that the Israeli government respects their commitment to Palestinians in Al-Khalil:

Since Hammas won in the Palestinian elections the entire world is putting conditions for dealing with the Hammas government. Here in Hebron we want to know why no one puts conditions on dealing with the Israeli Likud government?

From Ramallah Online, Israel to deport 40,000 in an attempt to judaize an-Naqab (the Negev).

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Pakistan: Blog-o-reaction

Omer Alvie · 13:07 · South Asia

Well, by now, everyone is well aware of the controversy that resulted from the publication of caricatures of Prophet Mohammad, and the resulting protests that have occurred around the world.

Being a Muslim, I naturally found the cartoons offensive, so no big surprise there. But I also understand and support the right of ‘freedom of expression', and realize that it is unrealistic to expect everyone to conform to the unwritten rule of human decorum and not ridicule someone's faith or belief system. I also think that it does not reflect very positively on one's intellect, when one decides to satirize a whole religion because of one's aversion to its selected extremist followers. But hey, that's just me.

I also feel very strongly that protesting such a derision of one's faith, should be restricted to verbal or written discourse and not breaking windows, burning flags, effigies or buildings. But hey, that's just me.

I protested the only way I thought logical, by writing about and exercising my own ‘freedom of expression', and so did many Pakistani bloggers, some of whom are listed below:

Suspect Paki comments on the reaction in England; Teeth Maestro highlights the incident and cartoons in question; Journey presents his own perspective; Fahd Mirza details his hurtful and angered response; and I comment on the Prime Minister's speech.

I want to end my sermon with a true parable of the author, Salman Rushdie. He wrote a book a called Satanic Verses which caused controversy upon publication, as many Muslims considered it blasphemous. Rushdie was surprised by the extreme reaction (death threat - extremists issuing fatwa against Rushdie) to the book and believed he had the right to do so because it was his ‘free speech and freedom of expression', and people just need to basically chill out.

Many years later a journalist commented on Rushdie's wife which caused controversy upon publication, as Rushdie considered it undignified. The journalist was surprised by the extreme reaction (death threat – Rushdie promising to beat the journalist with a baseball bat) to the article and believed he had the right to do so because it was his ‘free speech and his freedom of expression' and Rushdie just needs to basically chill out.

So what have we learned from this story. That no matter how intellectual or artistic you considered your work to be, if you ridicule something or someone people love, respect or consider sacred (the Prophet for Muslims, the wife for Rushdie), you are bound to get a furious reaction in return, so don't be surprised.

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Introduction to Russian Blogosphere

Veronica Khokhlova · 11:07 · Eastern & Central Europe

Everyone in Russia seems to have a LiveJournal, and that huge, cacophonous Russian-language playground (and, often, a battleground) dwarfs what would otherwise be considered a pretty sizable English-language blogosphere. So sizable, in fact, that I have to issue this disclaimer: the annotated Russia blogroll below is, most likely, far from being exhaustive – even though compiling it has totally exhausted me.

Blogs by Russia natives

The Russian Dilettante, by Alex(ei), turns three years old on Feb. 7. “One way of selecting subjects for blogging – for lack of originality – is simply to follow the posts of some bright, opinionated, and outspoken blogger and pick on them,” Alex(ei) wrote in one of his first entries. This, however, is what he rarely does, preferring instead to post his musings on culture, politics, literature, and occasional translations of the Russian poets few English-speaking people have ever heard of.

Russian Marketing Blog: “News, musings and rants on marketing and advertising in Russia by Konstantin Dlutskiy.” Also, occasional vignettes on subjects ranging from Soviet-time calculators to wooden chopsticks at Moscow’s more expensive sushi restaurants.

Russian Blog, by another Konstantin. Russian politics, Russian jokes, occasional flashbacks into the Soviet past. Much of the blog is devoted to watching the West watch Russia.

RUBLog, by Sergey Belyakov from Velikiy Novgorod. Named after the Russian currency – ‘rubl’ – RUBLog links to other blogs and media to tell the world about t.A.T.u., Putin, Lake Seliger and the Russian winter. Like Konstantin of the Russian Blog, Sergey is concerned about “growing misunderstanding in relationships between Russia and USA.”

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