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Saudi Arabia: Traditional menswear revitalised - meet the iThobe

Ayesha Saldanha · 15:10 · Middle East & North Africa

lingua → es

The traditional apparel for men in Saudi Arabia is a long white garment called a thobe. Recently a number of designers have been transforming the look of the thobe by adding colour – even designing an iPod-friendly iThobe. What is the verdict of bloggers on the new styles?

John Burgess of Crossroads Arabia comments on an article just published by The Washington Post about changes in thobe design:

The Washington Post reports that the dour uniformity of the white Saudi thobe is facing revolutionary pressure from a new fashion designer. What’s more, the ruling family is throwing its support behind him. I found it interesting that the designer, Yahya al-Bishri, claims that the white thobe is a relatively recent development to Saudi culture and that previously there was much more variety in men’s wear. He reportedly showed early photographs to the King to back up his claims. That got him the support he needed against religious conservatives who were convinced that he was trying to destroy the culture. Interesting read, particularly when taken along side the trend for Saudi women to break free of their plain black abayas.

Ahmed Al-Omran of Saudi Jeans welcomes the new designs:

As men in Saudi Arabia are usually dressed either in black – for women – or white – for men –, I usually try to appreciate the moments when I’m abroad and enjoy the colorful clothes people wear, spending much of my free time walking down the streets and observing others. That’s why I was glad to see my friend Faiza Ambah elegantly profile Saudi fashion designer Yahia al-Bishri, the man who put color back in menswear here. His boldness also inspired others like Siraj Omar and Lomar Thobe to redefine the traditional Saudi garb. However, and from what I have seen, it seems that young Hjiazi men [from the western region] are embracing the new trend more than their counterparts in Najd [central region], which is to be expected as people in the central area are more conservative. Although I only wear a thobe occasionally as I prefer my casual outfit of jeans and t-shirts, I personally like the idea of updating the thobe with new styles and colors, and I plan to get myself one of those cool Lomar thobes in the near future. The problem is that they are relatively expensive, as their creators admitted, but I think it is worth getting them for special occasions.

Last month Jordanian blogger Wael Attili who blogs at Sha3teely visited Saudi Arabia, and posted some of his impressions:

The Saudi culture is one of the most amazing and interesting cultures I have ever seen. I believe it is one of the most controversial urban environments in the modern world. The war between traditions and modernity, rules and freedom, religion and globalization, wealth and achievements. The place where you can do everything but you are not allowed to do anything…

He comments on the new fashions:

Another interesting thing is the concept of the Lomar Thobe. I found it really amazing where young Saudi designers are trying to develop new modern, cool trends based on their culture and traditional customs. The concept of merging the new, cool and hip with the traditional thobe to represent the needs of the new generation of young Saudis is really genuine and extraordinary. I wish that we can see this somewhere in the upper part of the Middle East. … Take a look at the ithobe designed specially for the ipod and the other interesting collection which they have. The Lomar thobe is originally comes from Jeddah and its spreading all over the kingdom.

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Morocco: Police Officer Shot by Member of Royal Family

Jillian C. York · 12:07 · Middle East & North Africa

lingua → fr

After months of relative quiet in the Moroccan blogosphere, two incidents have everyone talking. One, of course, is the recent case of Mohammed Erraji. The other is the recent news that a police officer has been shot by a distant member of the royal family. The bloggers tell the story…

Au début était le Blog … introduces the latest news:

Décidément, la rentrée est très chaude au Maroc. En voilà un incident qui va ridiculiser un peu plus la justice marocaine. 24 heures après le procès express et grotesque du blogueur Mohamed Erraji, le makhzen* s'illustre à nouveau.

For sure, the back-to-school season in Morocco is heating up. And now we've got another incident that's going to make the Moroccan Justice system just a little bit more ridiculous. 24 hours after the speedy and grotesque trial of blogger Moham Erraji, the makhzen* has distinguished itself once again.

Blogger Metalloman quotes [fr] Le Soir Échos**, which tells the story as it happened:

Le mari d'une princesse (sœur de Hassan II) a tenté d'abattre, mardi a Casablanca un policier en uniforme. Ce dernier lui avait simplement demandé les papiers de la voiture.A la clinique où il a été transporté d'urgence, Tariq Mouhib, policier de la circulation à Casa-Anfa, a du mal à croire ce qu'il a vécu ce mardi 9 septembre 2008. Les yeux larmoyants, il touche l'impact de la balle sur sa cuisse gauche, murmure quelques mots inaudibles, puis replonge dans un état second…

The husband of a princess (sister to [the prior king] Hassan II) shot a police officer in uniform on Tuesday in Casablanca. The latter had merely asked him for his papers and car insurance. In the clinic where he was taken to by ambulance, Tariq Mouhib, traffic officer [stationed at] Casa-Anfa, has difficulty understanding what he lived through this Tuesday, September 9, 2008. With tears in his eyes, he touches the spot where the bullet impacted his left thigh, mumbles a few inaudible words, then falls back into his state of shock…

…A la clinique où il a été transporté, la situation du jeune policier est jugée stable. «C'est une balle à fragmentation. Nous n'avons pu extraire que le gros morceau. Six petites particules sont encore plantées dans la cuisse. Nous ne pourrons nous exprimer qu'après 24 heures», explique un infirmier sur place. Dans la salle de radiologie, le jeune policier est en pleurs. Deux mots reviennent dans sa bouche : «Il m'a traité de bakhouch, de debbane. Je n'ai pourtant fait que mon boulot». Tarik est ensuite placé dans une chambre sécurisée, avec double vitrage. Une infirmière reste constamment a son chevet, pendant que plusieurs commissaires et autres responsables de la wilaya défilent dans les couloirs de la clinique casablancaise. La famille du jeune policier est d'abord interdite de lui rendre visite, mais sa mère est autorisée, exceptionnellement, à le prendre dans ses bras. En quittant la chambre, elle est visiblement sous le choc. Elle murmure des mots inaudibles, avant d'éclater en sanglots : «Je n'ai que deux fils et ils ont voulu me tuer le premier». A la tombée de la nuit : une question est sur toutes les lèvres : qui peut bien être le conducteur de la voiture ? «On sait que c'est quelqu'un de très important et qu'il est proche de la famille royale. C'est tout», affirme un policier présent à la clinique.

…At the clinic where he was taken, the young officer’s condition is deemed stable. “It was a hollow-point bullet. We were able to take out the largest piece. Six smaller particles are still implanted within the thigh. We won’t be able to say more until after twenty-four hours have passed,” explains a nurse present at the scene. In the radiology room, the young officer is in tears. Two words return to his mouth: “He called me bakhouch [insect], debbane [fly]. I was just doing my job.” Tarik is then placed in a secure room with double-paned windows. A nurse is constantly by his side, and for several hours several police commissioners and other top level officials with the wilaya travel back and forth through the clinic’s hallways. The young officer’s family is at first prevented from visiting him but his mother alone is authorized to take him in her arms. Leaving the room, she is visibly in a state of chock. She mumbles a few inaudible words before breaking into sobs: “I only have two sons and they wanted to kill my first one.” As night falls, one question is on everybody’s lips: who could the driver of this vehicle been? “We know that it is someone very important and close to the royal family. That’s all,” concedes a police officer present at the clinic.

A Moroccan About the World Around Him analyzes the situation and is left with this conclusion:

In a democratic country, Al Ya’koubi would have been pulled out of the car and handcuffed at the scene; he would be sitting in jail waiting to appear before a judge to be charged with assault and battery, and attempted murder on a uniformed police officer during the course of official duties. But here in Morocco, the sentence had already been cast the moment he shot and kicked you like a piece of trash, then calmly, remorselessly sat in his car making phone calls and waiting for your colleagues. You would think an insane man would turn his weapon against the crowd.

In a democratic country, even cops are not authorized fragmentary rounds because their use is inhumane and causes devastating internal injury. They are however used by criminals.

In a democratic country, even if, in the goodness of your heart, you decided to forgive your attacker, the government, as a true representative of the people, out of concern for their safety, would not concede its right to unleash the full wrath of the law on a psychopathic criminal who represents a serious danger to people. But here in Morocco, the safety and comfort of your high ranking attacker supersedes that of the common people; he is above the law. From a distorted perspective, you could say that the government is his representative against you.

Does the uniform you so proudly wear make you a representative of the law? A protector of the people? Does it command respect? Not by all it seems. Is there a law that punishes those who disrespect a uniformed officer (let alone shooting and then kicking him)? Of course there is. Will it apply to Al Ya’koubi? Let’s use Erraji as a standard for this one.

Are we all equal before the law, or are some more equal than others?

But I was told that the king does not stand for such overbearing, criminal attitudes as that displayed by Al Ya’koubi, nor does he stand for the actions of the officials who, by their toadyism, deride his efforts to drive Morocco into the 21st century.

This is an epochal moment. Let us hope.

*Makzhen is a term for the governing elite in Morocco, centered around the king and consisting of royal notables, businessmen, wealthy landowners, tribal leaders, top-ranking military personnel, security service bosses, and other well-connected members of the establishment.
**Le Soir Échos is a daily French-language publication in Morocco which is not available online.

Translations by Lydia Beyoud

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Bolivia: Government Declares Martial Law in Pando

Eduardo Avila · 10:52, September 13th, 2008 · Americas

lingua → zhs · fr · zht · es · mg · pt · bn

Bolivia continues to face social unrest, as anti-government crowds occupied government institutions in the city of Santa Cruz, and other clashes with pro-government supporters in the regions of Pando left 15 dead. As a result, the government declared martial law~~placed a state of emergency~~ in that department.

President Evo Morales has even called for the expulsion of U.S. Ambassador Phillip Goldberg, accusing him of conspiring with the opposition. Consequently, the U.S. government has also asked for the expulsion of the Bolivian ambassador in Washington, Gustavo Guzman. Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, in a sign of solidarity, also asked for the expulsion of the U.S. ambassador in that country [es].

Many bloggers are writing about the events, and many others are capturing dramatic photos and videos. On his Flickr account, Julio Ricardo Zuna Cossio provides first hand photos of the occupation of the institutions in Santa Cruz. Fernando of Vecino Barrio [es] also has firsthand photos of the destruction suffered by the public buildings.

Photo of disturbance in Santa Cruz. Taken by Julio Ricardo Zuna Cossio and used with permission.

Through rumors and stories, it is often difficult to find out the real story happening in each city. Renzo Colanzi writes in first-person format recounting his experiences during the tense and uncertain times in Santa Cruz [es]. In addition, to receiving SMS messages of possible confrontation and stories of arrest:

A la una de la mañana fui llamado por un primo que me indico que se dirigía a la Plaza 24 de Septiembre debido a que le habían dicho que un grupo de masistas venia enfrentarse. Como vivo a pocas cuadras me dirigí a la Plaza, pero no ocurria nada en el lugar. (…) En la Plaza ya se sabía de esta camioneta y que también había una vagoneta Land Cruiser, que estaba realizando el mismo acto con cualquier grupo de jóvenes que era encontrado por las calles del centro.

At one in the morning, I was called by my cousin who told me he was going to the Plaza 24 de Septiembre because they told him a group of MAS (the government's party) supporters came for confrontation. As I lived a few blocks away, I went to the Plaza, but nothing happened there. (…) In the Plaza, there was knowledge of this truck (that had stopped people) and that there was also a Land Cruiser that was doing the same thing with any group of young people that were found in the center of the city.

This uncertainty is affecting especially hard those that have not participated in marches, protests or confrontations. Karen Heredia of Santa Cruz writes about precautionary measures being taken by many families [es]:

Me toco ir luego en la tarde al mercado, ahí veía a la gente comprar como si mañana no hubiera tal. Creo que hasta ayer, todo me parecía surreal hasta que escuche la charla de dos señoras, mientras la casera les vendía comida en lata. Ellas contaban como cada una de ellas se preparaban para lo peor, en este caso una guerra Civil. Argumentos a favor, argumentos en contra…

Lo que dijo una de ellas termino la discusión de quien tenia la culpa:

“Bueno, sea como sea, quien tenga la culpa, lo cierto es que no hay gas, no hay plata para comprar mas comida, gasolina ni diésel y ahora todos los días estamos con la pena de que nos maten, no se puede vivir así”

It was my turn to go to the market, and there I saw people buying goods as if there were no tomorrow. I think until yestereday, everything seemed surreal until I heard two women talking, while the vendor sold them canned food. They were talking about how they were preparing for the worst case scenario, in this case Civil War. Arguments for, arguments against…

They ended the conversation with who was at fault:

“Whoever is at fault, what is certain is that there is no gas, no money to buy more food, gasoline or diesel, and now everyone is afraid that they will kill us, we can't live like this.”

The major points of disagreement between the central government and the departments of Pando, Beni, Santa Cruz and Tarija are the revenues from the hydrocarbons (IDH for its initials in Spanish), which has been decreased and channeled into another government program for a pension for the elderly, as well as the Constitutional draft that the government wants to put to a nationwide referendum. The governors of these departments want for the autonomic statues that were passed in a controversial referendum to be included in this Constitution.

The armed forces remain to be a major factor in resolving this crisis. Miguel Centellas of Pronto* writes:

Another question has to do w/ the military. So far, the military has essentially sat this out, despite direct mob attacks on military installations (which left more than a few conscripts & junior officers injured). Instead, the confrontations have mostly involved civilian groups like the UJC (pro-autonomy) & pro-MAS groups. Will the military eventually help restore order or guarantee political dialogue? Can Evo count on the military to back his government? So far the military has made clear that it doesn’t want to use lethal force w/o express written orders from the president (they don’t want to be held responsible for the resulting casualties).

However, a recent communication from the Armed Forces has hinted at an operation to retake the occupied buildings, according to a reprint in Al Minuto [es].

Mario Durán contributed to this story with the submission of links.

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Brazil: Justice aims at Twitter and hits innocent bloggers

Débora Medeiros · 09:05, September 13th, 2008 · Americas

lingua → es

Brazilian bloggers Raquel Camargo, Fernando Souza and Gabi Zago [all in Portuguese] had quite a surprise last Tuesday September 9, when Twitter Brasil [Pt], the blog they feed with news about the social network Twitter.com, was taken offline after a court decision.

Raquel Camargo [Pt] tells us how they were notified about it:

Hoje de manhã recebemos o seguinte email da empresa que trabalhamos para registrar o domìnio de nosso blog:

Prezado sr.,

Estamos entrando em contato para informar-lhe que o site twitterbrasil.org foi bloqueado em virtude de decisão liminar emitida pelo Tribunal Regional Eleitoral do Ceará.

Caso deseje receber cópia da decisão, favor informe um fax para envio.

Atenciosamente

Como podem ver, ao clicar no link do TBrasil, o blog está realmente fora do ar com a mensagem “Página em construção! Esse domínio foi registrado, porém ainda não está configurado…”

This morning, we received the following e-mail from the company we registered our blog domain with:
Dear Sirs,
We are contacting you to inform that the site twitterbrasil.org has been blocked due to a decision of Ceará's Regional Electoral Court.
In case you wish to receive a copy of the decision, please let us know your fax number.
Best regards,
As you can see, when you click on TBrasil's link, the blog is indeed offline, with a message that says: “Page under construction! This domain has been registered, but not yet configured…”

Apparently, there had been a misunderstanding on the part of Ceará's Regional Electoral Court (TRE-CE [Pt]), in the Brazilian Northeast Region. Liberdade Digital [Pt] was quick to take a screen shot of the decision page - before it was taken down from the Supreme Electoral Court's website, which now displays an error message.

One could say it all began with the electoral process Brazilian cities are currently going through to choose their mayors for the next four years. In Fortaleza, the state of Ceará's capital, the candidate Luizianne Lins is running for re-election as mayor. Despite the fact that several political parties support her candidacy, Lins is facing opposition both from citizens who regret voting for her in the previous elections and from other politicians. A few weeks ago, the opposition appeared online, through a fake profile [Pt] on the social network Twitter.com.

Fake profile

The first fake profile

Blog e-leitor [Pt] was among the first to spread the news, pointing out the fake profile's features, along with this screen shot of the page:

Na barra lateral, link para a página oficial de Luzianne e ironia com o slogan da Prefeitura (”Fortaleza ‘Bela'”) e um prognóstico (”Prefeita de Fortaleza até o dia 31 de Dezembro de 2008″).

A atitude de quem fez essa página foi típica de spammers: adicionou mais de 500 pessoas apenas na última noite. Até agora, 9h, dezessete pessoas estão “seguindo” este perfil falso.

On the sidebar, there's a link to Luizianne's official page and an ironic statement of the city hall's slogan (”Beautiful” Fortaleza) and a prognostic (”Mayor of the city of Fortaleza until December 31, 2008″).
The person who built this page shows an attitude that is typical of spammers: they have added over 500 people overnight. Up to now, 9 am, seventeen people are “following” this fake profile.

Hours later, the fake profile revealed its real intentions, no longer presenting itself as Lins' official profile, but as a disillusioned elector, since it had received a notification from Ceará's Regional Electoral Court.

“Promoting Twitter to the masses”, says the second fake profile in a screen shot taken by Desopilando [pt] blog.

Even so, Lins' committee requested that the page was taken completely offline. It was then that the misunderstanding happened, according to Lins' press office in an e-mail to Techlive [pt]:

Como forma de preservar a imagem de Luizianne Lins, a Coligação “Fortaleza Cada Vez Melhor” entrou com uma ação em que solicitou a retirada do falso perfil localizado no site www.twitter.com. Em nenhum momento foi solicitada a retirada do blog Twitter Brasil.

O juiz Emanuel Leite Albuquerque acatou o pedido dos advogados da ação de retirar o falso perfil na última terça-feira, 09 de setembro. Infelizmente, por um engano da Justiça Eleitoral, foi bloqueado o blog Twitter Brasil. Uma vez detectado o erro, o blog já voltou ao ar no mesmo dia, à noite.

As a way to better protect Luizianne Lins' image, the “Fortaleza Better and Better” coalition filed a lawsuit in which it asks for the removal of the fake profile located at the site www.twitter.com. The removal of the blog Twitter Brasil was never requested.
Judge Emanuel Leite Albuquerque agreed with the lawyers' demand to remove the fake profile last Tuesday, September 9. Unfortunately, due to a mistake made by the Electoral Court, Twitter Brasil was blocked. Once this mistake was detected, the blog went back online on the evening of the same day.

Lady Rasta [Pt], however, dug up the full decision and found out that the mistake may have actually been made by Lins' lawyers. She quotes the judge Emanuel Leite Albuquerque's decision in which he mentions that the coalition had said “that such website - Twitter - is a foreign entrepreneurship which has however an office in Brazil “hosted at the domain http://twitterbrasil.org/”.

Quickly, the story was all over the web and Twitter itself was bubbling. Several blogs posted about the issue, such as IceCream [Pt]:

Na minha opinião, o mínimo que o TRE deveria fazer é: Um pedido de desculpas formal pelo incidente e tratar de conhecer um pouco mais essas ferramentas e as novas tecnologias urgentemente. De que adianta nós brasileiros termos o melhor sistema de votação do mundo, se nossos Juízes eleitorais não conhecem o funcionamento das nossas redes de relacionamento digital?

In my opinion, the least TRE [Regional Electoral Court] should do is: issue a formal apology for the incident and try to learn a little bit more about those tools and new technologies immediately. Does it matter if we Brazilians have the best voting system in the world when our electoral judges don't know how our digital social networks work?

Fundamental [Pt] compared the Brazilian electoral laws concerning the Internet to the reality of elections around the world:

Enquanto muito do charme da eleição americana vem de todas as manifestações pela internet, assim como também foram movimentadas as eleições argentinas, espanholas e francesas, aqui a opção é pelas amarras. O estúpido disso, repito, é que a proibição atacará os candidatos que queiram fazer ações assumidas, positivas. Para fazer contra-campanha, hospedar blogs na Bratislavia, dissimular IPs, pra fazer diabrura, qualquer adolescente sabe. E mais: a Justiça não tem como fiscalizar. Infelizmente é este tipo de ação que eles estimulam.

While much of the charm of the American elections come from all the manifestations on the Internet, as well as the way this happened in the Argentinean, Spanish and French elections, here the option is for bindings. The stupid thing, I repeat, is that the prohibition will damage those candidates who want to take clear, positive action. Any teenager knows how to counter-campaign, to host blogs in Bratislava, to dissimulate IPs, to make pranks. And more: the judiciary system has no way of overseeing this. Unfortunately, this is the kind of action they encourage.

Blogger and journalist Leonardo Fontes [Pt] considered the consequences of the judiciary's actions to Lins' campaign and to the Electoral Court's reputation:

Do ponto de vista jurídico, é até monótono voltar a falar sobre o assunto dado o repertório de arbitrariedades que acontecem desde o caso Cicarreli, mas do ponto de vista político, Luizianne Lins já tem o que esperar:

* conseguiu que uma das comunidades mais ativas, unidas e com poder de mobilização, caso dos usuários do Twitter, se voltassem contra ela. E pior, na internet, isso nunca fica restrito a apenas um site, é de se esperar também algo no Orkut e outras redes de relacionamento, é simplesmente impossível medir com precisão o quanto isso vai feder na web;
* o site oficial de campanha vai sofrer Google Bomb em breve, já existe mobilização em torno;
* a coordenação de campanha vai se surpreender com a quantidade de reclamações que chegarão pelo site;
* posts e mais posts Brasil afora com toda uma antipatia à sua campanha.

Resultados colaterais? O TRE-CE ficará conhecido como um dos mais ignorantes na matéria, por errar totalmente o alvo. E, é duro dizer isso, mas o criador do perfil falso, se utilizando de uma prática que ronda a criminalidade e a total falta de ética, conseguiu exatamente o que queria. Sua estratégia não poderia ter sido mais certeira. Lamento que a campanha de Luizianne tenha caído em uma armadilha tão vulgar e elementar como essa.

From the legal point of view, it's even boring to talk about this subject again, given the repertoire of authoritarianism that has been happening since the Cicarelli affair, but from the political point of view, Luizianne Lins already has a lot to look forward to:
* she managed to turn against her one of the most active, united and able to mobilize communities such as Twitter. And worse, on the Internet, it's never restricted to just one website, you can expect something also on Orkut and other social networks, it's simply impossible to measure precisely how this will stink on the web;
* the official campaign wesite will soon suffer a Google Bomb, there's already a mobilization;
* the campaign coordinators will be surprised at the amount of complaints that they will receive;
* posts and more posts throughout Brazil will display rejection to her campaign.
Side effect damage? TRE-CE will become known as one of the most ignorant on the subject, for missing the target entirely. And, it is hard to say this, but the creator of the fake profile, using a method that's almost a crime and displays a complete lack of ethics, got exactly what they wanted. Their strategy couldn't have been more precise. I'm sorry that Luizianne's campaign fell for such a vulgar and elementary trap.

Twitter Brasil's team had also something to say, once the blog was back online. In their opinion, this isn't over:

E agora, a história terminou? Não. Não podemos nos calar diante essa falta de maturidade e responsabilidade. Fomos atingidos por um problema que não tem a menor relação com o trabalho que desenvolvemos aqui. Nosso país vive uma situação lastimável, onde nossa justiça eleitoral não sabe nada sobre internet.

Pelo visto, o Twitterbrasil.org foi o escudo do Twitter.com, afinal, se não tivesse errado o alvo, a plataforma de postagem estaria então fora do ar? Agora, que o “escudo” foi tirado da batalha, o que vai acontecer?

Is the story now over? No. We can't be silent before this lack of maturity and responsibility. We were hit by a problem that had nothing to do with the work we develop here. Our country is going through a deplorable situation, where our electoral justice doesn't know a thing about the Internet.
As we can see, Twitterbrasil.org served as a shield to Twitter.com, after all, if they hadn't missed the target, wouldn't the platform be offline? Now, that the “shield” has been taken from the battle, what's going to happen?

Not the first blunder

If you want to know more about the country's justice's blunders when it comes to the Internet, start by reading our previous article Brazil: Inventive censorship, and the case for anonymity. There are many links to previous posts on Global Voices Online.

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