Archive for
March 5th, 2007
Stories
Iran: Women Activists Jailed, Teachers on the Street and War Whispers
Iranian women’s peaceful protest movement on Sunday was repressed violently by police and more than 32 activists, including several journalists and bloggers, were arrested.Thanks to Kosoof you can see some photos of these activists who got arrested. Iranian bloggers have provided details about what happened, photographs of those arrested and the reason for the protest.
Chronology of a Repression
Khorshidkhanoum briefs us of what happened:
50 of the women's rights movement activists were arrested in front of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran.The security police forces attacked a peaceful gathering of women's rights activists that had taken place at 8:30 am in front of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran in objection to the recent governmental oppressions and the summoning of some of these activists. The police forces who used violence to scatter the crowd, arrested at least 21 of the protesters.
Nooshin Amhadi Khorasani, Parvin Ardalan, Shahla Entesari and Susan Tahmasebi—five prominent members of the women's rights movement—who had to attend their court hearing left the court session in support of their fellow activists. They, too, got arrested upon their departure from the court.
The blogger adds that the police officers hit Nahid Jafari's head against the police van and as a result of such violent actions, her teeth broke. The officers then refused to take her to the emergency room.
(more…)
Zimbabwe: cracks, fissures and discontent all around
Zimbabwean President, Robert Mugabe turned 83 a week ago. While he celebrated at a lengthy gala in Gweru, which was forced on residents and school children there, police issued a repressive ban on rallies and demonstrations in Harare. The ban, the regime's latest measure at calming an incessent tide of anger, is evidence that there are deep cracks and fissures in the nation's foundations as Eddie Cross notes;
The situation in Zimbabwe has deteriorated sharply in the past few days. The government has imposed a ban on public meetings, the strikes are continuing with the State run hospitals now completely paralysed, Doctors and Nurses refuse to go back to work. The Universities are due to open on Monday but staff is on strike and there are no signs of compromise. Students plan to join the strike on Monday in support of their lecturers and demanding attention to the stark conditions under which they are living. The ZCTU has announced a national strike in a month’s time and the State Security Minister has threatened them with dire action.Now a form of curfew is being imposed on the high-density townships across the country in an effort to bring the situation under control. These are clearly signs of panic in the realms of government.
Tomorrow should be the start of a 4-month freeze on prices and wages - however I understand the proposal has been abandoned as being simply unworkable. No statements are forthcoming from the authorities and to say the least, there is considerable confusion in business and Union circles. The Governor of the Reserve Bank speaks of a ‘Social Contract' but none exists.
Touring Libyan Blogs: Italian freedom fighters, niqab, road safety and the Libyan bloggers!
Abughilan - who has incidentally become one of my favourites haunts - surprises us with yet another beautiful lesson from the rich history of Libya. It is the story of an Italian soldier from the colonialist era who joins Omar Mukhtar's fighters, learns Arabic, becomes Muslim and marries a Libyan woman - Tibra Mussa Almejbri.
“When he was a teenager he had a dream troubling him many nights and told his mother who called the village priest. He told the priest that he dreamt that he saw himself at the edge of a mountain and being transformed into a great bird, and when he was ready to fly a great serpent jumped at him and while he was struggling with the serpent he woke up. The priest told him not to worry, that at sometime in his future he would become something else and his struggle with the serpent is the eternal struggle between good and evil.[..]”
To read the epilogue of what happened to Yousel Almuslmani go to Abughilan's blog here.
Libyan history needs more exposure as there are literally hidden treasures.
AngloLibyan had a rundown with a niqabi woman and her husband at the supermarket in the UK.. (more…)
Lebanon: Anxiety and Cautious Optimism
Most of the posts in the Lebanese blogosphere reflect the atmosphere of anxiety, pessimism and mistrust that is the general mood of the Lebanese nowadays. Here is a summary of some of the posts. An attempt has been made to include one or two light posts with brighter outlooks, but they did not drown the overall disposition mentioned above. Anyway, here we go:
Let's begin by mentioning Lebanon's loss of Joseph Samaha, a very prominent columnist and political analyst, last week. Many bloggers posted about the man and his works. Jamal Ghosn wrote a post about Samaha which he began with:
Life Goes On, but it must not go on dumber, less informed, mentally poorer. We were privileged to have our collective minds enriched on a daily basis by a ten minute read each morning that encapsuled decades of knowledge, a philosophical library, and a strategic eye that saw beyond all horizons. No single pen can replace these lines. We, each of us, must make up a little of this loss on our own.
It may be difficult to imagine that the Lebanese could be in the mood for love songs after hearing the news coming out of Lebanon, but that is not the case according to this post at A Diamond's Eye View of the World, whose observation may lead us to imagine Beirut as a city enveloped in a cloud of music: (more…)
Links for Mon, 2007-03
Somewhat belatedly, the Russian Dilettante shares his opinion of Vladimir Putin's Munich speech: “The problem with Putin's speech is Putin.”
“So I live in a place that is sunny almost every day and I can ride my horses out my gate into the Sahara Desert to visit pyramids and the food is wonderful because it's fresh all year round. So what can I possibly complain about?” writes Egypt-based blogger Maryanne Stroud Gabbani. To learn more about what's bothering her, read this. Among her concerns is: “over the women (mostly seem to be in their 40's or so) who are falling for some smooth chat on the internet with some of our charming Egyptian males (mostly in their 20's or so) and they contact me with ideas of coming to Egypt and marrying this adoring young Adonis.”
Darkness at Noon follows a Lenin look-alike from Lubyanka to Red Square; buys two old Soviet posters of Lenin and listens to what an elderly Russian selling them has to say about an imminent world war; and observes a bunch of “the original Russian democrats” during a speech given by Mikhail Khodorkovsky's lawyer.
“Someone has to give Thomas Friedman an education before he makes the view that Arabs and Muslims are congenitally amoral subhuman hordes completely mainstream,” writes Issandr El Amrani in The Arabist, adding that the man is “becoming dangerous.”
Bahrain-based blogger Bint Battuta spent a cultural evening out - the first left her annoyed but the second refreshed. “A disappointing performance was followed by a frustrating three-quarters of an hour spent trying to get out of the car park, because it seems that unless white lines are painted, people don't have the sense to space out when parking, to leave access,” she adds.
White Sun of the Desert had returned from the Thai resort of Pattaya right before two Russian female tourists were shot to death there.
Bahraini blogger Mahmood Al Yousif is urging his readers to have their belly full of camel piss - a drink he claims is Islamically sanctioned and therapeutic in one go!
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