Global Voices Online

With the political divide in Bahrain usually framed in sectarian terms, blogger Mahmood Al Yousif has posted a code of ethics aimed at stopping the propagation of hate online.

Mahmood explains:

I believe that in the current circumstances, it is time to…stand united together against sectarianism and discrimination in all their forms. Therefore, I propose the following code to be adopted and signed by all Electronic Publishers, be they bloggers, webmasters, forum moderators, etc. The code was the result of discussions with friend and journalist Ahmed Al-Aradi of Al-Waqt who wrote an excellent series of articles about the situation in Bahrain entitled “The Manufacture of Hatred”. … I suggest we review the following text and come to an agreement on the final code which I propose that we all sign physically and electronically on the International Blog Day which coincides with the 31st of August.

One of the precepts that owners of blogs, websites, and forums are asked to commit to is as follows:

We refuse any suggestion or writings including a sectarian concept or an incitement to hatred, an abuse of the freedom of religion, doctrine or belief.

The full text can be seen in both Arabic and English here.