Archive for
February 16th, 2009
Stories
Iran: Bloggers Remember 30th Anniversary of the Revolution
Thousands of Iranians celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Iranian Revolution on February 10, by rallying in Tehran and other major cities in Iran.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, delivered a speech on this occasion praising the revolution's achievements and calling Iran a superpower.
Several Iranian bloggers, both citizens and politicians, blogged on this topic.
Potin has published several photos of the revolution anniversary rally in Tehran where people carried the Islamic Republic's flag, revolutionary posters that praise “30 years of freedom”, and anti-USA/Israel/United Nations symbols (above).
Contrary to the opinions of those who participated in these rallies and the Iranian authorities, Ghomar Asheghaneh, an Iran-based blogger, does not believe that Iran is a “free country”. He rejects Ahmadinejad's claim that there is “unique freedom” in Iran and says [fa]:
همه بهرهیی داریم از این نعمت سیساله؛ وبلاگنویساش باشی، نشانیاش امیدرضا میرصیافیی ساکن اوین و مجتبا لطفیی ساکن زندان قم، معلماش اگر باشی، روی تخته سیاه طناب برایات میکشند و میشوی فرزاد کمانگر، دستهایات اگر از سختیی کار پینه بسته باشد و کار به کارگری کرده باشی، منصور اسانلو میشوی و تبعیدی به زندان رجاییشهر…
Mohammad Ali Abtahi, the former reformist-vice president and blogger considers that the Islamic Revolution was a good thing. He writes [en] (sic):
Most of the events that happened and are happening in the country's administration can be acceptable or inacceptable for revolution generation and it is possible that current generation have different wills because of passing 30 years and new achievements in the world in the 30 years and communication will be the most important of them, but we should not forget that events should be reviewed in its exact time. Our generation is proud to their revolution which had happened 30 years ago and nothing can deny past events. If today's generation denies their predecessors of course future generation will deny them too and such chain will be continued for all generations. Also our generation should not be ignoring wills of next generation.
Mr.Behi belongs to a new generation who did not experience the revolution and wants “another Iran”. He writes [en]:
I was only one when Iran revolted in hope for change. Now I look back and wonder about those who made it happen. I can't put myself in their shoes though as my world is very different from theirs. Chanting ‘No East, No West' is no longer valid for me. I am neither ready to change my life for an ideology. If they wanted Iran to change the world with revolution, I now want it to embrace the world with open arms.
Ahestan published [fa] several links to Ayatollah Khomeini's speeches and revolutionary songs. The blogger reminds readers that political prisoners were tortured under Shah's regime.
Channel 4 News online in the United Kingdom has also published a report on Iranian bloggers' posts about the Islamic Revolution, 30 years later.
Arab World: Gasping for Air!
A massive dust storm engulfed the entire Arabian peninsula, leaving the people of Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates, gasping for air.
Usual for this time of the year, in Kuwait schools and public departments closed early on the day of the storm, as dusty gusts picked up speeds of up to 85km per hour, halting oil exports in the oil-rich emirate.
YouTube user q8lightning posts this video:
He further explains:
A sandstorm blew dust from Tuesday night and got worst in the next day Kuwait is now in the middle of winter and sandstorms are already blowing thats because we didnt get enough rain until now.
At Travel Off the Cuff, a message board for travellers, Mark Wolinski complains:
I arrived in Kuwait last night only to find that the dust storm which had descended over Bahrain was even worse in Kuwait. I looked out of the window of the plane and it was a wall of beige.
And still in Kuwait, Flickr user Mink posts the pictures above, with the following explanation for the first picture:
Two Black Cats Watching from atop the wooden fence. It's the first major dust storm in 2009 and it hit really hard. The skies were orange and the air laden with thick dust. When it fell within the next few days, it took a long time to clean up
Mink describes her second shot as:
A perfect view of a sandstorm
And for Granola Girl, dust is one of many reasons for her to pack up her bags and bid Kuwait goodbye:
Lebanon is the only country in the Middle East without a desert. Today, after waking up to howling winds at 2:00am and not sleeping well after that and then inhaling dust all day in a bad sand storm, I am very happy to leave the desert behind.
In nearby Khobar, in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, Assad Abu Hussain [Ar] posts a few pictures and calls upon his readers to pray to God for forgiveness and rain.
Still in the Eastern Province, Abu Omar posts more pictures of the dusty horizons on Aswaq City [Ar]. He also cautions his readers saying:
Moving to Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, Rusha also posts pictures from the storm and offers us an explanation about the different types of sand bowls you could expect to find yourself in the desert of Arabia:
Fine dust blows into everything, coming in through every crack- windows, doors, air conditioning vents, exhaust vents. Breathing is labored as it gets into your lungs. Land and air visibility is greatly reduced. People wax poetic about shamals, I tend to cough.
Looking up the various types, remember my last post about driving through a sandstorm with intermittent rain? That is officially called a haboob.
Jamaica: Explicit music banned
The long-standing controversy over the appropriateness of certain music for public airplay has once again reared its head in Jamaica. Following public discussion about a recent release by Vybz Kartel and Spice entitled “Rampin' Shop”, the lyrics of which are particularly explicit, the Jamaica Broadcasting Commission announced a ban on all sexually explicit music deemed inappropriate for airplay. This ban went into effect on February 6, 2009 and covered all songs that promote the act of “daggering”, as well as any songs that use editing techniques to remove expletives and other lewd content.
Jamaican blogger, Girl with a Purpose notes that while she does think the ban will be effective in reducing the lewd music that is heard “for probably 50% of the time…via radio and television”, a large part of the responsibility lies with the adults of our society, especially parents, who need to censor themselves and realize that:
To expose their young children to lewd and explicit music, thus making them prematurely ready and aware of sex and violent acts, is wrong.
Another trend in these discussions is the issue of other musical genres besides dancehall (i.e. soca and calypso, hip hop, rap etc.), especially as Jamaica enters its Carnival season - a time when imported soca music takes centre stage across the island. Amidst cries of hypocrisy by several Jamaican artistes who feel that dancehall is being unfairly singled out, MadBull, a Jamaican blogger in Cayman, writes that he fully supports the ban and thinks it should be extended to any genre of music being considered for public airplay. He exclaims on his blog:
What about soca and hip hop and so on? I don’t care what the genre is! If the lyrics dutty, drop dem too! That's what I think!
Outspoken Jamaican blogger, Agostinho, published on his blog a letter he submitted to the editors of various local media in which he discusses the need for dancehall to revamp its image. While he acknowledges the place of dancehall music in Jamaican society and its importance as the centre of popular culture, he feels that dancehall has a responsibility to the society from which it springs to reform its image…
not just in the interests of practicality given its increased powers of importance in the society, but also as a means of demonstrating its inherent versatility/creativity. The latter, as we are aware, goes beyond a focus on only themes of sex and violence. Excuses regarding a chronic lack of education on the part of many of its producers and artistes are an insult to the diversity of intelligence and depth of talent within the industry/culture. These must yield to the more urgent demands of true national development, cultural pride and meaningful progress.
Stunner's Afflictions also explains his thoughts on the ban. He fully supports the move by the Broadcasting Commission, noting that it was long overdue:
It is their job to police what is good for public broadcast as prescribed by Television and Sound Broadcasting Regulations. So why did they have to wait on public outcry and pressure for them to take a step to ban such material? What have they been doing and what are they doing, for my hard earned taxpayer dollars? The Broadcasting Commission need to pull up their socks and this incident really shows them up.
His followup post on Valentine's Day sought to remind readers of a crucial point:
Not all of our Dancehall/Reggae music is less than desirable. There are still very good songs being played on our airwaves.
He goes on to share a video example of one such song, “Love Reigns” by Tarrus Riley and Bugle, two of Jamaica's newer artistes.
Since this public ban on explicit music, support has begun for more positive products to come out of the Jamaican entertainment industry. YardFlex, tagging itself as the Ultimate Jamaican Entertainment Magazine, reported recently on Tychicus, a self-described healer and prophet who staged a one-man protest last year against “daggering”, and who has since come out with some clean dances that he says are inspired by the Almighty.
This discussion is ongoing as the ban is only 10 days old and the full implementation and its effects are yet to be seen. Jamaican bloggers have all come out in full support of the ban, and see this as a time for Jamaican artistes to step up and prove their creativity to the world.
Global: Appointment of Saudi Arabia's First Female Deputy Minister Makes Waves
As millions of women the world over marked Valentine’s Day with gifts from their loved ones, one woman - in a country that has banned the holiday and labels it a ‘sin’ - has good reason to never forget February 14, 2009.
Meet Noura Al Fayez, teacher extraordinaire, a product of the US education system, who last Saturday became the first ever woman deputy minister in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Bloggers around the globe were abuzz as soon as the news of Al Fayez broke, with thousands of ‘Twitterers’ microblogging about the new official literally minutes after networks, including Saudi state-run Channel One, reported it on Saturday.
Briton @lizaquincy wrote:
She added in a later tweet:
“For sure it's a giant step for ‘womankind' in Saudi Arabia, but really —- how can it work when women's right are often violated there?”
American @jeffwarrens responded to Liza’s ‘tweet’ by saying:
Another American Twitter user @Jacob1207 said simply:
King Abdullah on Saturday also dismissed the chief of religious police and a cleric, who condoned killing the owners of TV networks that broadcast ‘immoral’ content.
What has been widely reported as “the shake-up”, the king’s first since coming to power in August 2005, included Al Fayez’s appointment as deputy minister for girls’ education – by far the highest government position any Saudi woman has attained.
But as the news of the kingdom’s first ever female minister continued to sink in, global bloggers are fast expressing their concern for Al Fayez.
They are quick to question whether or not she would have any influence in a country, where women still face severe discrimination in many aspects of their lives – including education, employment and the justice system.
Eman Al Nafjan, the woman behind Saudi Woman’s Weblog hailed Al Fayez’s new appointment calling it a leap of progress for her country.
“Today is definitely a happy day. Saudi Arabia has made a leap of progress. King Abdullah surprised everyone yesterday morning with major overhauls to the judicial and educational system. And the biggest bombshell of all was that a woman was appointed as head of girl’s education. This is a position that has always belonged to the longest bearded most conservative muttawa possible and now to have a woman in it is FANTASTIC, notwithstanding the fact that the woman who was chosen is a moderate Muslim, educated and a highly qualified woman. She has extensive experience in girl’s education. I doubt that that they could have found anyone more qualified.”
Eman, who herself is a teacher in Riyadh, also noted that Al Fayez’s photograph in a local newspaper shows her face uncovered.
“Now there’s a lot of buzz that of course she wouldn’t be this progressive unless she was a non-tribal woman, probably originating from Jordan or Palestine and she definitely is divorced because no “real” Saudi in his right mind would allow his wife to appear publicly with her face uncovered. I am very proud to say that actually she belongs to one of the biggest tribes in Saudi, Bani Tameem from Al Nawayser part of it and she is from Al Washim here in Najd. Her husband very much supports her and is proud of her.”
Blogger, Rasha, who is also from Saudi Arabia, expressed her hope on MidEastYouth.com that this would be a turning point for her country.
“King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia surprised the nation with a shakeup that is considered the biggest change that happened in this country in 20 years.
“Noura Al-Fayez, an official at the Saudi Institute for Public Administration, was elevated to the new post of deputy minister of women’s education; the first time a woman has been appointed a deputy minister in the history of this country. Al-Fayez’s appointment appeared to be the king’s response to increased lobbying from women’s rights groups against discrimination.
“Other changes have been done in several ministries and hopefully this will be a turning point for this country. However, actual changes do not happen overnight. yet this is a step in the right direction I believe and I hope to see the fruits of all positive changes in my lifetime ..”
Reme Ahmad, whose blog OpEd took a break from Malaysian politics to write about Al Fayez in his post Saudi Appoints First Woman Minister.
“Alright, so she is a DEPUTY Minister. OK lah. Better than nothing. I wonder whether the Saudis would soon allow women to drive…
“As for women ministers, in other Muslim countries, I am glad to say this is a non-issue. We had two Battling Begums in Bangladesh, both of whom were prime ministers. One of them is now back as PM, fighting off the other. In Pakistan, Benazir (Bhutto) is still a top name despite her demise a year ago. In Southeast Asia, we have ministers-in-bujakurongs (different from bananas-in-pajamas) in Indonesia and Malaysia for a long time.
“Still, hurray for Saudi Arabia, the country that guards the two holy mosques.”
American Merv Benson, author of Prairie Pundit, believes the shake-up was necessary.
“(Sheik Ibrahim al-Ghaith, former head of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice) and his thugs were a continuing source of embarrassment to the Saudis. They arrested a business woman for having coffee at a Starbucks with a business associate. In another case they arrested an immigrant who was assisting a sickly neighbor.
“Perhaps their most heinous act led to the death of girl students who were not allowed to escape a fire in a dormitory because they did not have escorts or “proper” attire.
“This appears to be a wise move by the Saudi King.”
The Cylinder noted that King Abdullah’s shake-up represented “tiny baby steps”.
“Saudi Arabia has appointed the kingdom’s first woman minister in a cabinet reshuffle that also saw the dismissal of four ministers and heads of the powerful religious police and judicial bodies. King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz appointed Noura Al Faiz as deputy minister for women’s education, in a move considered a milestone in Saudi Arabia.
“Really tiny baby steps … and such a long way to go!”
Sabha999 wrote on Religion Compass that the world is definitely going to keep a close eye on women’s rights following the latest appointment of Al Fayez.
“While the religious police were busy with detaining salesmen for selling Valentine gifts, King Abdullah removed the chief of the religious police on the banned holiday.
“Educational changes too are expected, with the appointment of Al Fayez, the first woman ever to serve on the Saudi cabinet, as deputy for girl’s education. All of this is believed to shake up the religious establishment.”
It is a known fact that it is against the law to celebrate Valentine’s Day in Saudi Arabia. Each year, religious police make their rounds to make sure that no one marks the banned holiday.
Officers randomly check stores for gifts and other items that are red or suggest the holiday and have them removed from shelves. Each year, a number of sales personnel are detained for days for breaking the said law.
Valentine's Day, banned because of its origins as a celebration of the 3rd century Christian martyr, is also targeted because unmarried men and women cannot be alone together.
Zimbabwe: Why Arrest Roy Bennett?
“Why arrest Roy Bennett?,” reads the headline at My Heart's in Accra about the MDC Treasurer General and Deputy Minister of Agriculture designate, Roy Bennett, who was arrested Friday in Harare. He was charged with treason before these charges were dropped and replaced with attempt to commit terrorism, banditry and sabotage. Zimbabwean bloggers and others have not been silent about his arrest. Many bloggers consider the charges against Bennett to be false. One bloggers links his arrest to Mugabe's hatred for white farmers. Bennett was a commercial farmer before he went into exile in South Africa. It is reported that soon after his arrival in Zimbabwe from his exile, he visited his old farm.
But who is Roy Bennett?:
Bennett was once a star commercial farmer, but one without the stereotypical reputation of the Rhodesian-style white farmer. He enjoyed good relations with the surrounding community for one, even once winning election to parliament in a pretty much all-black constituency.
He strongly resisted the take over of his farm at the height of the farm invasions. Unlike the situation with the disposession of many other white farmers, Bennett was supported in that resistance by many in the local community. That contradicted the Mugabe narrative of white farms being taken over in order to benefit a grateful black peasantry. That initial eagerness and gratitude was indeed the case amongst local communities in many parts of the country, especially in areas where the white farmers had bad relations with those communities, which was far from unheard of.
So Bennett annoyed officialdom not only by his strenuous resistance to the takeover of his farm, but by that local support as well. Then there was the additional ‘insult’ of his being elected to parliament, where he further earned more enemies by his outspokenness. When he pushed close Mugabe confidant and government minister Patrick Chinamasa to the floor during a row in parliament, the political guns were set against him. He was jailed for for that un-parliamentary physical confrontation, lost his seat and then had treason charges made against him, causing him to flee to South Africa.
He only returned to Zimbabwe in the last 10 days or so for the swearing in of the new unity government. Just last week there were media stories remarking in surprise how he had not been harassed or arrested on his return, despite the old treason charges still being outstanding.
Ethan has trouble figuring out why the police in Zimbabwe would arrest him. He notes that no one will take “the new Zimbabwe” serious as long as Bennett remains in prison:
Bennett is a controversial figure - he’s the treasurer of the MDC, and an extremely vocal critic of Mugabe and ZANU-PF. As a white farmer, he’s an extremely symbolic figure in Zimbabwean politics. When his successful coffee farm was seized in 2004, he attacked fellow MPs on the floor of parliament and was arrested and imprisoned for several months. Accused of participating in a plot to overthrow Mugabe’s government, he fled to South Africa, where he’s lived in exile until last week.
Bennett was invited to join the power-sharing government as deputy agriculture minister, and came back into Zimbabwe. He was arrested Friday afternoon in Harare and taken to a prison in eastern Zimbabwe, where he was initially charged with treason. The treason charges were dropped, and he’s now charged with the three-year old charges of financing terrorism, the charges that led him into exile. My friends at Sokwanele describe these charges as “a fishing expedition”, and are demanding his immediate and unconditional release. American political strategist Joe Trippi has been calling a great deal of attention to Bennett’s case around the world, naming the individuals at Mutare Prison responsible for his safety, in the hopes of keeping Bennett safe from abuse or torture.
I’m baffled by the decision to arrest Bennett. Yes, he was a provocative choice for a ministerial position, a test by MDC to see whether ZANU-PF was serious about cooperating. His arrest seems to suggest that ZANU-PF isn’t serious, and is testing to see what would be required to get Tsvangirai to walk away from the partnership. If we could know more about the machinations behind the scenes, we might discover other factors at play - the Zimbabwe Times speculates that there may be pressure coming from politicians who seized Bennett’s farm with government cooperation, and are now worried that Bennett will be able to take his property back.
Why’s Bennett in jail? It’s hard to know for sure. But no one will take “the new Zimbabwe” seriously as long as he remains in prison.
Zim Review shows that the arrest of Bennett can be understood in the context of the continuing land contestation in Zimbabwe:
So these still-powerful but now very jittery people would not have been re-assured or amused by the symbolism of new prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai appointing, of all people, Roy Bennett to be deputy minister of agriculture. Despite his only being deputy to a ZANU-PF minister, this appointment must have symbolically been seen as extremely provocative by ZANU-PF fat cats. It would have revived the deep fears that whatever the terms of the unity agreement, the MDC’s ultimate lands agenda is to “reverse the gains of the revolution,” as the state media has accused for years.
Many of the ruling party fat cats, both those opposed to the unity government idea as well as those who might have been willing to take a wait-and-see attitude to it, must have seen Tsvangirai’s appointment of a Bennett who is a lightning rod for them to be deputy minister of the ‘emotive’ portfolio of agriculture as simply being too much for them to take.
Their worry and sense of provocation would have been compounded by the news that soon after his arrival in Zimbabwe from his exile in South Africa, Bennett visited his old farm. It is entirely understandable that he would want to do so, whether or not he is hoping to get it back, but this must have been sen in many ZANU-PF circles as being more cheeky provocation by Bennett. There is little doubt in my mind that in these worried powerful circles the visit would have been explained as, “he went to inspect his old farm back in obvious hope of/preparation for moving back onto it.”
Denford Magora considers Bennett's arrest as simply a fulfillment of ZANU PF strategy and tricks. He also observes that Mugabe hates white farmers and therefore Bennett has become its first and foremost victim:
Most of this took place before the arrest of Bennet but what puzzled people everywhere I spoke was why Jestina Mukoko and others remained in jail even though Tsvangirai was now Prime Minister.
Now Roy Bennett has been arrested and the world is also agog. Puzzled voices are asking why on earth the Prime Minister continues to take all this lying down. They had built an image of him as an uncompromising, stubborn man who was giving Mugabe a run for his money at every turn.
Well, what we are witnessing now is simply fulfilment of the strategy that we have laid down here as coming from Mugabe's ZANU PF. I told you some months back that the two options Mugabe was pursuing were as follows:
In the case of Morgan Tsvangirai and the MDC resfusing to take part in the government, the strategy involving the State of Emergency would be kicked into place. The banditry charges against Mukoko and others would be widened to take in even more people. The idea is to so paralyse the MDC that, come next elections, Mugabe would walk back into power. The soldiers who “mutinied” and who have now been “pardoned” according to the State Media, would have had a prominent role to play , accusing the MDC of having paid them to stage the mutiny as a precursor to a general insurgency.
The second option was in place for a case where Tsvangirai accepts to go into government. I explained this in a couple of articles on this blog going back to October last year. This second option, as I put it back then is to ISOLATE Morgan Tsvangirai. I used the words “stranded in office.”
So, the MDC has joined government and that plan is now being implemented. It does not help, of course, that in spite of my detailed explanation of the strategy on this blog, Morgan Tsvangirai has fallen for the very tricks I forewarned about.
There are two things at play here: First and quite obvious is Mugabe's hatred of white farmers in Zimbabwe. Mugabe's bitterness at what he calls “the spurning of my hand of reconciliation by Rhodesians” has to be seen to be believed. Bennett is first and foremost a victim of that hatred.
Writing about this arrest, Bearded Man complains, “Mugabe is allowed to rule as he wants, do whatever he wants, to whoever he will”:
Much of the news today is with regard to the arrest of Roy Bennett and discussion of Mugabe's true intentions in a power-sharing government. You and I know that he is never going to participate fairly in any power-sharing government - indeed, he wants nothing to do with a power-sharing government, preferring to surround himself with Mugabe apologists and place the MDC under the most incredible amount of pressure, thereby painting them into corner.
He managed to do exactly that with the Presidential election, and then brow beat the MDC into some sort of agreement - the same agreement that he now reneges upon.
And, while confusion and broken promises reign supreme in Zimbabwe, the watching does absolutely nothing. Sadly, Zimbabwe has fallen from the top headlines and no longer has any interest for other governments the world over.
There are many speculations about those responsible for his arrest. Palapye claims that the Zimbabwe Military Intelligence Directorate is behind his arrest:
It is understood that the abduction, arrest and charging of MDC Treasurer General and Deputy Minister of Agriculture designate Roy Bennett is being planned, directed and operationalised by the Zimbabwe Military Intelligence Directorate (MID), led by one Mzilikazi, and the Special Agency SAS, the torture unit of the army, led by one Manene . General Constantine Chiwenga is also party to it. These people are known for their declared passionate and fanatical hatred of Roy Bennett.
We are also aware of an intent to dump Roy Bennett into Chivero river.
Sokwanele blog asks readers to call the police holding Bennett to let them know that the whole world is watching:
TAKE ACTION:
The Mutare numbers to call are +263 (0)20 64212 for the main charge office in Mutare
This cell number, we believe, is for the man in charge: +263 (0)91301 1761
CIO: +263 (0)20 66314 and +263 (0)20 61102
CID: +263 (0)20 65645
Please call (or sms the cell) these numbers to let the police holding Roy Bennett know that the world is watching very closely and want Roy Bennett to be released immediately. Tell them you will continue to monitor the situation closely, and that you are conveying your concerns to your local MP and the government in your country.Ask them to observe the rule of law, and to treat Roy Bennett with dignity and respect.
If the person you are speaking to appears to be listening, keep talking, and ask him/her to carry a message to Roy Bennett to let HIM know you are watching over him from all over the world.
If they pretend they don’t know what you are talking about, or claim it is not a police station, keep talking and make sure you convey your message.
Joe Trippi writes about an account that has been set up to help with his legal fees and asks for information about an easy way to collect money online for a South African bank account:
Once again I ask you to please not let this story fade away. Roy is being held by relentless men being restrained only by the constant pressure and attention surrounding them in Zimbabwe and around the rest of the world.
Also, if anyone knows of a safe, easy way to collect money online for a South African-based bank account, please let me know (releaseroy@joetrippi.com). An account has been set up to help pay his legal fees, but we have not found a good solution to allow for online donations. If you can help, please let me know.
Jordan: Bloggers Reflect on Valentine's Day
Bloggers' reflections on Valentine's day in Jordan varied between wishes for a happy day, and raising important issues about the holiday. Here is what some of them had to say….
Eye on Jordan posted a picture of a donkey painted red in the northern city of Ramtha in celebration of Valentine's Day, and writes:
Viewpoints on the anniversary differ among people from all walks of life.
In the Ramtha district, 80 kilometres to the north of Amman, the celebration of the event was different this year as residents of Ramtha celebrated the event by painting a donkey red and placing it in the city centre for passers-by to see.
One of those who took part in painting the donkey was Ahmad Zu’bi, who said: “We painted the donkey with red to celebrate the event to show how ridiculous it is as if there is only one day to express love throughout the year.
The Diary Sequel wished everyone a happy Valentine's Day, and encouraged girls not to play monopoly with boys:
My late Happy Valentine's to all. I hope you all had a good one. I had a great one :)
I had an interesting pleasant and kind of funny day. Maybe I'll blog about it tomorrow if I'm not too lazy.
By the way girls, NEVER play Monopoly with boys….especially if you're good at it!
Hamzeh argued that only those who are not good at being in a relationship, would celebrate Valentine's and that a happy couple wouldn't:
Please think about it people, why would a happy couple bother celebrating valentine? I’ll tell you why, because they suck in relationships. They don’t know when or how to appreciate their relation, when or how to be passionate, when and how to fire it up and totally celebrate. That’s why, stupidly enough, they wait till flowers and roses prices are high so they mean something again,, crap! Happy couples don’t do valentine! Unless they break up on valentine :p
Siegex called for support to end violence against women on Valentine's Day:
Karama, Arabic for dignity, supports a regional movement to end violence against women and is led by women activists from eight sectors: politics, economics, health, art/culture, education, media, law, and religion. With headquarters in Cairo and a regional office in Amman, Jordan, V-Day Karama builds networks within and across Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Morocco, Algeria, Syria, Sudan, and Tunisia, providing a structure for activists in the region to come together and build the movement for women’s equity and rights. The V-Day Karama Program head office supplies training, funding, and ongoing support to these diverse women’s networks. Multinational conferences and forums take place annually to serve as vehicles for fundraising, visibility, and inspiration.
And kinzi raised an important point about the common perception of the holiday amongst Muslims in Jordan that it is Christian, and therefore Muslims should not celebrate it:
In it’s current form and practice, anyway, there is no religious connotation. Sure, there is some historical background, but nothing worth stomping roses over.
Lil Kinz came home sad from school. She had asked her dad to bring back Valentine’s Day cards for her classmates, and then carefully wrote out the names of her friends. She was excited to pass them out today.
She came home to say that a little boy told the other kids they couldn’t take them because they were “Christian”. Those who received them he took and ripped up, he even took them away from the Christian kids. We had the little discussion about rudeness being a state of all humanity, but I can see the wheels turning in her little mind.
Just in case anyone is wondering, these weren’t ’stealth’ Christian Valentine’s cards with a hidden evangelistic message. They were from Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda.
Ya salaam.
Links for Mon, 2009-02
Follow that elephant writes about the international school system in Thailand, including how it operates and recruitment of teachers.
Accused of violating Thailand's lese-majeste law, Bangkok-based professor Giles Ji Ungpakorn fled to the United Kingdom to avoid prosecution. FACT writes that “Thailand seems intent on sending its best and brightest into exile. If no free-thinker stays to fight lese majeste repression in Thailand, only tyranny remains.”
Jeff Mowatt draws attention to the plight of wheelchair-bound Irina Gavrisheva, who “writes and publishes website appeals and articles about helping sick children of Zaporozhye, on behalf of the Happy Child fund” - and needs money for a surgery herself.
Egyptian Chronicles points out that former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's nephew has a blog - Crime is a human instinct.
Ceasar of Pentra, from Iraq, shares 25 random things about himself in this post.
Free Kareem, a blog set up to rally support for jailed Egyptian blogger Kareem Nabil Sulieman, posts excerpts from Kareem's latest letter from prison, sent to Egyptian blogger Wa7da Masrya.
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