Archive for
March 4th, 2009
Stories
Egyptian bloggers unite in the face of terrorism
Eman AbdElRahman wrote about how the Egyptian blogosphere reacted to Al Hussein bombs on February 22 that resulted in the death of a French tourist and the injury of more than 20 people. Today, I will write about a group of Egyptian bloggers and their initiative to combat terrorism.
Spring wrote on his blog this invitation:
خدامينك يا مصر
The same group of bloggers created a Facebook group to spread this message.
Another group of bloggers who name themselves 14 February Movement who put Egypt First started another initiative that took place on March 1. A Flower for Each Tourist aims at showing tourists that they are welcomed in Egypt.
Photos of the event could be found here and the video is here.
Their final word was:
شل الله يد كل جاحد مريض تمس يده بلدنا بالأذي
Australia: Reactions to “Cricket Terror”
Cricket, that shared legacy of British colonialism, has taken centre stage in Australian blogs following the terror attack in Lahore.
Irfan Yusuf at Planet Irf saw it this way:
Pakistan may describe itself as an Islamic republic, but the real religion which unites all Pakistanis is cricket. This is a cricket-mad country. I remember being in Pakistan when an overseas team was touring, and seeing crowded city streets become almost deserted and shops open but with shop keepers having their eyes glued to the TV sets.
During the early 1990's, one Pakistani mufti became a laughing stock after delivering a fatwa that cricket was haraam (forbidden under religious law). His reasons? He claimed people who watched cricket rarely took time out to perform their nemaaz (the worship Muslims are required to perform at five set times a day). And that Pakistani women would get excited by watching Pakistani bowlers like Imran Khan rub the ball in a certain place as he walked back to start his run-up.
Perhaps the shock of the Marriot Hotel blasts in Islamabad shocked people in the middle and upper classes. However, cricket is something Pakistanis of all classes enjoy. Cricket is played in both slums and on the turf pitches of posh Pakistani private schools. Cricketers, be they Pakistani or foreign, are like the revered saints of this secular religion. Umpires (except when they are deemed to have made the wrong decision) are like the high priests.
Presenting others' claims about the usual suspects, he asks:
Who is responsible? Muslim extremists? Tamil Tigers?
Andrew Bolt, controversial journalist and blogger for the Herald Sun newspaper in Melbourne, is no friend of what he sees as dangerous lefties:
I think the apologists are running out of excuses. The US, we were told, brought 9-11 on itself through its aggression. We invited Bali on ourselves by siding with the US. India provoked the Mumbai slaughter by discriminating against Muslims. But the Sri Lankans? How on earth can even the barking mad blame them for this? Now, can we start discussing the role of Islam in political violence, and without the usual shut-ups of “racist!”.
Duckpond, a regular political blogger, started with a very popular figure in Australia, the former Pakistan cricket captain turned politician Imran Khan:
Imran Khan, who is close to matters cricket, says the level of security provided to to the Sri Lankan cricket team was scandalous. He is suggesting the Pakistani Government was negligent or incompetent.
He expressed his concern about Pakistan's instability:
It would not be the first time that attack on a soft target has organized to create maximum publicity. Pakistan with its history of military dictatorships, supported by the West, especially the United States, and its fractious ethnic populations, and a nuclear power, is not looking especially stable.
But he sees this attack as part of a failed global policy against terror:
The invasion of Afghanistan over seven years ago was supposed to be a quick fix, like that of Antigua or Panama, but as perhaps was predictable by those knew something about the area has proven to be very destabilizing, if not catastrophic.
Skepticlawyer, also referred to Imran Khan but with more negative connotations:
Despite Imran Khan’s repeated assertions that terrorists would never attack cricketers in Pakistan (even though the Taliban frowned on the game), terrorists have fired on the Sri Lankan team’s tour bus in Lahore, killing several local police officers and wounding several of the players, two seriously. Understandably, the Test currently underway has been abandoned, the Sri Lankan players have been airlifted home, and cricket lovers the world over are in utter despair.
This terror attack has taken bushfires off the front pages of Australian newspapers and the lead stories of the electronic media.
Update:
Jack the Insider, who also blogs for a Murdoch paper, The Australian, has similar concerns about Pakistan's stability:
Elsewhere in Pakistan cities like Lahore, Karachi and the capital, Islamabad, have become war zones where chaos and carnage have become a way of life. The cities have become grid locked as people travel from one military checkpoint to the next and the sound of car bombs exploding reverberates around the cities on an almost daily basis.
Just 10 years ago Australia’s cricket captain, Mark Taylor made 334 not out at Peshawar, Pakistan’s most northern city. Now the city belongs to the Taliban and no Westerner with a scintilla of sanity would consider travelling there.
It should come as no surprise that Pakistan’s national game and the game loved by millions around the world has become entangled in the violence.
The world needs to view this disgraceful act as a call to arms. The rule of law is on the verge of collapse in Pakistan and there is a real prospect that the nuclear-armed country will lurch into a civil war.
The comments are worth reading for their diverse range of opinions.
Israel: Cold Front Warmly Received
The snow and icy rains that chilled Israel this weekend received a warm welcome from its residents. As the rainy season draws to a close, many fear that this year's low rainfall will lead to dangerous summer drought.
Rain at the Western Wall (credited to Flash 90 at the Green Prophet)
Ilana Teitelbaum of the Green Prophet writes:
“Though we thrill to the sound of rain thrumming against the windowpanes, at the same time we mutter tensely, ‘It's not enough. It's not enough.'”
On The Muqata, Litvshe gushes:
Snow in Beit El (credited to Yishai Fleisher)
Finally! Snow has come to Beit-El!!! After months of waiting, Winter has finally shown up.
On Kumah, Yishai Fleisher also posts photos of snow in the Holy Land, including this scene in the hills of Beit El.
Dion Nissenbaum at Checkpoint Jerusalem notes that Israeli supermodel Bar Rafaeli has just been chosen by the Water Authority to educate the public on water conservation. Rafaeli will join other celebrities in an effort to draw the country's attention to the crisis.
Over at What War Zone???, Benji Lovitt, the consummate comedian of the Israeli blogosphere, gets into the act. When political party Kadima's website appeared to be hacked during the elections, Lovitt joked:
Kadima Site Hacked (credited to Benji Lovitt)
What's with the angry armed dude? To be fair, I don't know what he's doing with the gun so I can't call him a terrorist. It could be a water pistol which would REALLY be a crime based on the horrible drought.
In contrast, Matt Beynon Rees, has serious concerns about the geopolitical implications of the impending water shortage. Rees points out that regional water shortages threaten the delicately balanced security of Israel and its neighbors. Having sustained major damage from this winter's Cast Lead Operation, Gaza's sewage system is barely operational. To the North, Syria is entering its fifth year of insufficient rainfall. Both countries are desperately seeking international aid in order to prepare for the long, dry summer ahead. Rees observes:
It’s the latest dramatic chapter in what might be called the real crisis of the Middle East — the chronic water shortage affecting much of the Levant… Academics have been warning for years that a Middle East war could one day be fought over water, rather than land… Maybe deserts just weren’t meant to bloom.
Recommended Reading–
- Rainless Winter Worsens Middle-East Strife, Garden of Eden Hardest Hit (The Green Prophet)
Mexico: Two Musicians Selected for YouTube Symphony Orchestra
The YouTube Symphony Orchestra is a collaborative project using social media through the use of auditions through YouTube videos, and filtered by a jury of musicians and other YouTube users. Recently it selected the members of the symphony who will play the musical piece composed specially for the project by Tan Dun, a Chinese composer, who also composed the score of movies such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero, and who is also the author of the Internet Symphony No. 1 “Eroica” to be interpreted by 90 musicians from different countries, both professionals and amateurs, in Carnegie Hall of New York.
Two Mexican musicians have been selected for the international orchestra as mentioned by the blog Vivir México [es]. One of them is violinist Manuel Zogbi, from the northern city of Saltillo. According to magazine El Mañana [es], to play in the Carnegie Hall is one of his dreams as a musician:
…desde que tenía como 10 años siempre dije: sabes qué, cuando sea grande quiero tocar en el Carnegie Hall. Con el tiempo esos sueños se esfumaron, y ahora como que me cae el veinte de que, ¡ah caray!, los sueños pueden regresar y materializarse.
To celebrate his selection, Zogbi will soon participate in a concert in Monterrey, the city where he now lives.
Very little is known about the identity of the other musician selected. His YouTube username is Intisamente, and according to magazine El Mañana [es], he is from Veracruz.
However, the lack of details about the viola player has not been an obstacle for other Mexican users to be in contact and to congratulate him through the YouTube service. User SAME860331 comments on his channel [es]:
Que grata sorpresa me encuentro en el periodico cuando leo que un par de mexicanos seran parte de la Orquesta Sinfónica de YouTube!!!!! Mi primera reaccion fue de alegria pero ya que el internet puede conectarnos no importando donde estemos pues, que mejor que felicitarte.
Alongside the Mexicans, two musicians from Brazil and one from Colombia will participate in the YouTube Symphony Orchestra.
A Brazilian journalist in search of Iranian bloggers
Raul Juste Lores is a Brazilian journalist and Beijing Bureau Chief of Folha de Sao Paulo. He has recently taken a trip to Tehran, where he met and interviewed several Iranian bloggers and civil society personalities such as the Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi.
Why is a chief bureau of a Brazilian newspaper in Beijing interested in Iranian bloggers?
Actually I cover Asia, but not Middle East. Due to the elections in Israel, a colleague was there and my newspaper wanted someone else to go to Tehran to cover the 30th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. It was a great opportunity and I accepted inmediately.
In any country, bloggers can give you a fresh idea about what the youth is thinking — and in Iran, where 70% of population can be considered pretty young, blogosphere becomes more important.
You have interviewed several bloggers in Iran. What were their social/political background? What were their concerns, hopes and projects?
Most were middle class in Tehran, unfortunately I couldn't travel to the countryside, although I talked to one or two bloggers from other cities by chat. Anyway, they represent an urban, middle class and young generation where the internet is their territory of freedom, or at least the freer one. I've interviewed a conservative blogger as well, it was interesting to realize that religious conservatives are using the same platform.
I wish I had the opportunity to know more about bloggers from other groups. What I've seen is just a small fragment. Most of them really look like young people everywhere in the world: idealistic, full of projects, web-addicts, dreamers. But in Iran they tend to be much more politicized and interested about world news — they created their own way to break the isolation of the country after so many embargos and sanctions.
How do you evaluate the citizen media impact on the Iranian society?
It is a very big impact. In countries where all the media belongs to, or at least, is strongly regulated by the government, blogs can be an important alternative to spread news, to give voice to different sources, to express different points of view and criticisms. Many blogs are more focused about humour, jokes than political and intellectual issues, but it is the same everywhere.
How much of the Iran you discover was similar to the image of Iran you had in your mind?
The tension in the air is very similar to the one I had imagined. To see so many women covered in dark, long chadors… Nature is so full of colors, don't you think? The idea that someone can be put in jail because he/she is doing something pretty normal in the rest of the world. Also, the society is very, very conservative, sexism and the lack of equality of rights between men and women go well beyond the religious laws, even the so-called modern and liberal ones are definitely conservative.
On the other hand, Iranian youth has managed to live as best as it is possible, so somehow they break many laws, they have fought for their space against so many prohibitions. In a word, they are far less accomodated than young people in many other countries. Thay have to fight for things others take for granted.
How do you compare the Iranian blogosphere and the Brazilian and/or Chinese ones?
They have a bigger political role than in Brazil, because in Iran you don't have as many outspoken actors in civil society like in my country (free press, strong NGOs, many political parties, etc). Iranian Blogs can work as good opinion polls, or termometers of what a good portion of Urban Iran is thinking. In this way, they are closer to the Chinese blogosphere, they defy the rhetoric of the official media, they spread news that the governments think they can just block. They are more horizontal, from the bottom of the society to the top. Certainly the leaders in both countries are really aware and pay attention about what is discussed in blogs.
Morocco: Moroccan-American Author Releases First Novel
Over the past few years since her first book, a collection of intertwined short stories entitled Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits, was released, Laila Lalami has emerged as one of Morocco's best known authors. As few Moroccan writers' work is translated into English, and even fewer female writers', Lalami's books - penned in English - fill a gap in the connection between Moroccan literature and the west.
Lalami is also a blogger who is often quoted by Global Voices. In a recent post, she expressed excitement at the release of her new book, Secret Son, and shared an image of its cover:
As the publishing date for Secret Son comes closer, I find myself struggling to keep up with everything that is happening in the background: tour events, promotional trailer, advance reviews, foreign editions, and so on. Here, for instance, is the final cover for the novel, with bigger fonts and a more streamlined look:
the a la menthe, an American blogger whose primary blog focus is Morocco, also noted the release of Lalami's book and shared this book trailer:
The book will be available on April 21, 2009.
Links for Wed, 2009-03
J. Krishnamurti at Going Global refutes all the speculations regarding the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team: “I'm trying to tell you folks to calm down a bit and don't be so quick to judge. The attacks could have been carried out by anyone for any conceivable reason. Pakistan has been the target and location of many meaningless attacks over the past few years.”
Teath Maestro describes the blame game after the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore, Pakistan: “Right now, collectively, (media, bloggers, political parties and government) all search for escape goats elsewhere - primarily the focus of their diatribes (not in any order) is the US Administration, the Talibans, the Indians (Raw…if you hear Hamid Gul croaking after the CID report was released) and the euphemistically termed Agencies.”
beyond skin mentions some of the hilarious and racist statements issued by the Thai and Myanmar governments about the status of the Rohingya refugees. For instance, a Myanmar envoy described the Rohingyas as “ugly as ogres.”
After the tragic death of army officers in the BDR mutiny incident on 25th of February in Dhaka, Bangladesh, many are auditing the actions of the government pondering how the damage could be minimized. Unheard Voice discusses about some leaked audio files of a closed meeting between the Prime Minister and the aggrieved army officers and raises some questions.
When about 30 uniformed soldiers in Fiji's army — including the Chief of Staff — showed up at a trial where eight servicemen (and one former police officer) have been accused of killing a teenager in 2007, Fiji Today called it “intimidation of court witnesses by [the] Fiji military.”
Egyptian blogger Mohammed Maree posts a video interview with blogger and activist Hossam Elhamalawy about his work at the Center for Social Studies, including workers' strikes, industrial action and their connection to developments in Palestine.
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