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August 26th, 2008

Middle East & North Africa

Despite the Saudi Arabia's decision to ban Saudi women from taking part in the Olympics this year, Blogger Dilshad D. Ali writes about the emergence of hijab (veil) at the Beijing Olympics. Blogger Jana, also lists the 12 veiled Muslim athletes who competed this year in Beijing.

August 25th, 2008

Palestine: A New Blogging Revolution

Lasto Adri · 23:59 · Middle East & North Africa

lingua → ar

Blogger Times, a blogging magazine written by Arab bloggers, covering new developments and current issues within the Arab blogging world, has published a new story called Blogging.. a Palestinian revolution.” How is the blogging scene in Palestine and what should bloggers focus on?

According to the site:

رغم الانتشار الواسع للتدوين في العالم العربي,الآن المدونات لم تجد مكانها الطبيعي بين رواد الانترنت والكتاب والصحفيين في الأراضي الفلسطينية, رغم الحاجة الملحة لذلك نظرا لما يمر به الشعب الفلسطيني من محنة وما يحيط به من مخاطر , تحتاج إلى المواجهة وكشف غموضها ونقل المعاناة الفلسطينية إلى الخارج لكسب مزيدا من التأييد والتعاطف مع القضية الأكثر جدلا في العالم . هذا ما خرجت به ندوة ” المدونات الثورة الجديدة” والتي نظمتها مؤسسة الثريا للإعلام والاتصال, في صالة السلام على شاطئ بحر غزة , بحضر جمع من الإعلاميين والمدونين الفلسطينيين .

Despite the widespread use of blogging in the Arab world, the blogging has not found its natural place among Internet users, writers and journalists in the Palestinian territories. And that’s even despite the urgent need for it because of the misfortune and plight the Palestinians endure, which needs confrontation, uncovering the mystery and telling the suffering to an international audience to bring more support and sympathy for the most controversial issue in the world.
This is what has came out of the seminar, entitled Blogs, The new revolution, that was organized by El Thoraya for information and communications organization, in el Salam Hall, Gaza beach, and attended by a gathering of Palestinian journalists and bloggers.

The report adds:

فداء المدهون مديرة المؤسسة ومراسلة الجزيرة توك قالت في مداخلة لها حول المدونات وتاريخها بأن:” الحرب الأمريكية على العراق كانت سببا رئيسا لشهرة التدوين وانطلاقه في العالم , من خلال ما كان يدونه الجنود الأمريكيين حول تفاصيل الحرب حتى بات كمراسل عسكري ميداني ينقل ادق تفاصيل المعركة على شبكة الانترنت”. وأوضحت المدهون انه وبالرغم من حملات الملاحقة للمدونيين واعتقال البعض منهم في دول عربية كـ ” مصر , السعودية , الكويت والبحرين “,لم يفت في عضد المدونيين و واصلوا طريقهم نحو كشف الحقيقة والتعبير عن هموم المواطن العربي البسيط وأثرت في الرأي العام العربي من خلال ما يكتب ويدون على شبكة الإنترنت.
في حين شدد محسن الإفرنجي , المحاضر في الجامعة الإسلامية بغزة, على ضرورة حاجة الشعب الفلسطيني للتدوين , وقال في مداخلته حول واقع التدوين في فلسطين أن :” التدوين لم ينضج بعد في الأراضي الفلسطيني ولا زالت المسألة بعيدة عن المقارنة ببعض الدول العربية , حيث أن هناك موقعين فلسطينيين فقط , لحقا بركب التدوين , ويمكن الزوار إنشاء مدونات عليهما, وهما شبكة أمين للإعلام ومؤسسة فلسطين للثقافة”. ولفت الإفرنجي الى أن التدوين باللغة الانجليزية هو المطلوب اكثر من اللغة العربية, لما يحتاجه الغرب من تصحيح لقناعاته المسبقة عن الصراع في المنطقة ونقل صورة حية وواقعية عن معاناة الشعب الفلسطيني للغرب الذي يستقى معلوماته فقط من سي ان ان وفوكس نيوز وبي بي سي. داعيا في الوقت نفسه الشباب الفلسطيني الى التدوين باللغة الانجليزية وفضح الممارسات الاسرائيلية تجاه الشعب الفلسطيني.
من جانبه قدم , ابراهيم عمر, مراسل الجزيرة توك في قطاع غزة , لمحة تعريفية عن الجزيرة توك وإسهاماتها في عالم التدوين ,مشيدا بالدور الذي لعبته التوك في تأسيس اتحاد مدونون بلا حدود ,وحصولها على لقب المدونة الأولى عربيا, وبين خمس مدونات هي الأولى على مستوى العالم . وقال عمر, ان زوار موقع الجزيرة توك من فلسطين يحتلون المرتبة الثانية بعد مصر في حجم الزوار. واوضح مراسل الجزيرة توك, ان مراسلو المدونة قاموا بعدة تغطيات مميزة لعدد من الفعاليات والتقارير المميزة حتى باتت مصدرا رئيسا للصحف ومواقع الانترنت في العالم العربي.

Speaking about blogging and its history, Feda’a el Madhoun, the manager of the organization and Al Jazeera Talk correspondent, said: “The American war on Iraq was the main reason behind the popularity of blogging and its take off in the world, where American soldiers became on-the-field militarily correspondents, accurately conveying details of the battle on the Internet.”
El Madhoun further explained that despite the prosecuting campaigns against bloggers and arresting a few of them in Arab countries like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain, bloggers continued on their path towards revealing the truth and expressing the worries of the simple Arab citizen, impacting Arab public opinion through what is written and blogged on the Internet.
Meanwhile, Mohsen El Efrangi, the lecturer at the Islamic university in Gaza, emphasised the need for Palestinian people to blog, addressing the present situation of blogging in Palestine . He said: “Blogging in the Palestinian territories didn’t mature yet, and it’s still beyond comparison with some Arab countries. As there are only two Palestinian websites working as part of the blogging crowd, where visitors can create their blogs, and these are El Ameen Information Network and the Palestinian Cultural Foundation.”
And El Efrngi pointed out that English blogging is more necessary than blogging in Arabic, to correct the West’s prior beliefs and convictions towards the conflict in the region and to transfer a vivid and realistic picture of the Palestinian misery to the West, which only gets its information from CNN, Fox news and the BBC. At the same time, he invited Palestinian youth to blog in English and expose the Israeli practices against the Palestinian people.
Ibrahim Omar, an Al Jazeera Talk correspondent in the Gaza Strip, introduced Al Jazeera Talk and its contribution to the blogging world, praising its role in establishing the Blogging without Borders Federation and acquiring the title of the first Arab blog among five other pioneering blogs in the world. Omar said that the number of Palestinian visitors to the Al Jazeera Talk blog comes in second place after Egypt. And he added that blog correspondents wrote coverages for few events and excellent reports that became a major source for newspapers and internet websites in the Arab world.

However, some of the participants downplayed the role blogging plays.

على الجانب الأخر اعتبر الصحفي مفيد أبو شمالة من وكالة رامتان للانباء , انه لا حاجة للتدوين في ظل وجود الصحف والمواقع الإخبارية على شبكة الانترنت, وقال :”لو اعتبرنا ان لكل زائر انترنت مدونة , فيصبح كل المدونون صحفيين وبالتالي لن نجد من يقرأ ما يكتب على الانترنت”.
في حين قال خالد صافي مذيع باذاعة صوت الأقصى ان المدونيين يهدفون من وراء انشاء مدوناتهم الى الربح المادي والشهرة لا أكثر. مضيفا, بأن المحتوى والمضمون في المدونات لا يرتقى بأن يطالعه زائر الانترنت . من ناحيته اعتبر بهائي شراب, ان المدونات حاجة ملحة للشعب الفلسطيني في ظل ما يعيشه ,داعيا الى تطوير اداء المدونيين وجمعهم تحت مظلة واحدة ,كإنشاء اتحاد المدونيين الفلسطينيين. وفي ختام الندوة , اكد المحاضرون على أهمية التدوين في ظل الواقع الفلسطيني , ودعوة الصحفيين الى انشاء مدونات ومواكبة التطور في تقنية المعلومات وعالم التكنولوجيا.

On the other side of the equation, journalist Mofeed Abu Shamala, from Ramatan News Agency, said there is no need for blogging in the presence of newspapers and news sites on the Internet. He added: “If we consider that there is a blog for each online guest, all bloggers will become journalists and therefore there will be no one to read what’s written on the Internet.”
Meanwhile, Khaled Safi, a broadcaster in Voice of El Aqsa, said that for bloggers, the main aim behind the creation of blogs is no more than material profit and fame, adding that the content and subjects dealt with in blogs do not rise up to the standard to be read by Internet users. For his part, Baha’y Sharab said there is a pressing need for blogs for Palestinians in the light of what they experience daily, and he called for developing the performance of bloggers and to promote their work under a common umbrella, such as creating a Palestinian Bloggers' Union.
At the end of the seminar, the speakers stressed the importance of blogging for the Palestinian people, under their current circumstances, and invited journalists to create their own blogs and to keep abreast of developments in information technology and world of technology.

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Oceania

Australian Blogger Ange, from Hegab-Rehab, wrote about a collection of few dolls gathered from all around the world, some are Muslim dolls and others are just ethnic-based.

August 22nd, 2008

Egypt: Taking Down Sexual Harassment

Lasto Adri · 17:50 · Middle East & North Africa

lingua → de · mk · es · pt

A national campaign to fight sexual harassment in Egypt is making waves. Faith from the blog Muslimah Media Watch discusses a new campaign, entitled Respect Yourself, launched to fight sexual harassment on Cairo's streets.

She says:

Sexual harassment is a problem that affects women in all societies. Muslim societies are no exception. Where there is patriarchy, there will be sexual harassment. In both Muslim and non-Muslim societies, the “solution” to sexual harassment has always fallen on women. “Don't dress in revealing clothes, don't flirt, don't stay out alone, etc.” Even at my alma mater, the rape and sexual harassment prevention posters are in the women's bathrooms only, and the focus is on women's behavior instead of men's. The Los Angeles Times recently did a profile of a group (pictured to the right) in Egypt that is taking a different approach to sexual harassment. The volunteer group is sponsored by the Egyptian youth magazine Kelmetna. One of the great aspects of this group is the focus on men's role in stopping sexual harassment. The slogan of the group's campaign is “Respect yourself: Egypt still has real men.” I love this slogan for two reasons. The first is that it challenges one of the core values of traditional notions of masculinity: sexual power over women. Harassing women is not a sign of masculinity; it's a sign of cowardice. It's great that Muslims are beginning to recognize this.

She further explains:

Another reason I love this slogan is because it brings the responsibility for sexual harassment back on men. For too long, sexual harassment has been considered the responsibility of women. “Real men” take the responsibility in treating women with respect and sexual autonomy and they also take responsibility in stopping other men from disrespecting women's sexuality. This is why the campaign not only focuses on getting men to stop sexually harassing women, but to also stop other men from doing it, too. This is especially important when a lot of sexual harassment in Egypt takes place in public.

The focus on making men responsible also challenges the view that women's dress will prevent sexual harassment. The Los Angeles Times article cited a survey of Egyptian women which showed that 83% of Egyptian women reported being verbally and sexually harassed. Of these women, 70% were veiled. Nour Hussein, a volunteer with the group who wears hijab, was pushed to join the group after being sexually harassed. About her experience, Nour said “That was a month ago. I felt very insecure and this pushed me hard to join the campaign. I used to hear about harassment but thought that it only happened to non-veiled girls; I never thought it could happen to me.” Stories like Nour's only further validate that message of the campaign: harassment is not the fault of women; it is the fault of the man. Recognizing that is the first step in taking down sexual harassment.

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August 19th, 2008

Egypt: Death of Three Arab Cultural Icons

Lasto Adri · 22:18 · Middle East & North Africa

lingua → mg · fr · bn · ar

The Arab world lost three of its cultural icons in the spam of a month. They are Egyptians philosopher Dr Abdel Wahab El Miseiri and film maker Youssef Chahine and Palestinian poet Mahmood Darwish. Egyptian Blogger, ElGharep, or The Stranger, reflects on the loss in this post [Ar].

فى خلال شهر واحد تقريبا توفى ثلاثة من أكثر من أسروا الثقافة العربية وهم على ترتيب ميقات الوفاة د. عبد الوهاب المسيرى و يوسف شاهين ومحمود درويش
الأول كاتب والثانى مخرج والثالث شاعر ….يختلفون فى المجال الثقافى فعبد الوهاب المسيرى الفيلسوف المصرى صاحب موسوعة اليهود واليهودية والصهيونية والذى أعطى كل مالديه أسرئا للثقافة …يوسف شاهين مخرج الوعى والذى جسدت أفلامه كل ألم مصرى وعربى من فيضان النيل ف”بن النيل” و النكسة فى ” عصفور ” وتوقعه بالنصر فى “الأرض” والكثير من الأفلام التى عبرت عن شئ واحد فقط وهو المصرى وقضاياه وأخيرا…محمود درويش ” شاعر الأنتفاضة والذى كتب بكل أسى عن شقاء الاجئ الفلسطينى المسحوق أمام قوة الأحتلال الصهيونى الغاشم وتخاذل الأنظمة العربية المخزى

Three of the greatest people who impacted Arab culture have died last month, in the following order: Dr Abdel Wahab El Miseiri, Youssef Chahine and Mahmoud Darwish.
The first was a writer, the second a director and the third a poet. The three of them differed in their cultural dimensions. El Miseiri was the Egyptian philosopher who wrote the encyclopaedia Jews, Judaism and Zionism. He exerted everything he had to enrich the culture. Youssef Chahine was a director whose movies tried to record all of the Egyptian and Arab people's pain, such as the Nile's flood in Ibn El Nile (The Nile's Son), the setback in Asfour (Bird), and his expectations of victory in El Ard (The Land) as well as many other movies that discussed one thing: Egyptians and their problems. And lastly, Mahmood Darwish, the Intifada poet who wrote about the misery the Palestinian refugees due to the Zionist invasion, and embarrassing weakness of Arab governments.

He adds:

الثلاثة يتشباهون فى شئ واحد ورئيسى الشأن العام والذى ظل مسيطر عليهم الى أخر لحظة فالمسيرى ظل الى أخر نفس رئيسا لحركة كفاية المصرية المعارضة بالرغم من سنه الكبير الذى لا يتحمل المطاردات الأمنية لأمن النظام المصرى ….وشاهين صاحب أقسى الأفلام السياسة نهاية بفيلم “هى فوضى ” والذى عرى فيه النظام البوليسى المصرى والذى لا يعبأ بالقضاء ولكن بأمنه فقط ….وأخيرا محمود درويش والذى الذى أستقال من منظمة التحرير أثر توقيع أتفاقية “أوسلو” فلم يقبل التخلى عن أى حق فلسطينى

Until the last moments of their lives, the three shared a common interest - Public Affairs. El Miseiri, despite his old age, was a prominent leader in Egyptian opposition movement Kifaya. Chahine made the toughest political movies, ending with his film Heya Fawda (It is Chaos), which exposed the Egyptian police, who don't care for justice, but have other internal interests. Last but not least, Darwish resigned from the Palestine Liberation Organization after the signing of the Oslo treaty as he did not wish to abandon any of the Palestinian rights.

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August 17th, 2008

Middle East & North Africa

Egyptian blogger Zeinobia, writes about the letter jailed Egyptian politician Ayman Nour wrote from his prison to US presidential hopeful Barack Obama.

Middle East & North Africa

Egyptian blogger Sand Monkey, comments on the Egyptian Foreign Ministry's last protest to European embassies in Cairo, where Egyptians applying for entry visas are not treated with dignity and respect.

Egypt: Farewell Twitter SMS

Lasto Adri · 17:57 · Middle East & North Africa

lingua → mk · it

A few days ago, Egypt woke up to the sad news that Twitter is no longer delivering outbound SMS to few countries, including Egypt.

According to the Twitter Blog:

“Let's start with the bad news. Beginning today, Twitter is no longer delivering outbound SMS over our UK number. If you have been receiving SMS updates from Twitter via +44 762 480 1423, you'll notice that they've stopped and you may want to explore some of the alternatives we're suggesting.”

At first it was thought it's due to political reasons, as Twitter has played a very important role in enabling Egyptian activists spread information about their struggles , like during the last 6th of April Strike.

Writing in his blog Arabist, blogger and activist Hossam El-hamalawy says:

This is very bad news…

By deactivating SMSs in Egypt, Twitter just did the Egyptian government a huge favor the latter could not have dreamed of. The company has just deprived the activist blogosphere of one of its main tools for organizing and swift dissemination of information..

Soon enough, Egyptian bloggers started searching for alternatives.

Egyptian blogger Zeinobia guides readers on how to still “Tweet through the Mobile“:

Most of my Egyptian bloggers friends were so sad and shocked because of the news and they to move to the next best available in live and Mobile blogging , Google’s Jaiku , I like Jaiku and I am a member there , I like it because I can send it SMS as I want but the problem it is not as popular as Twitter.
Still there can be hope , I have found that Service “Tweet SMS” , it has not started yet but according to what they are saying users outside the U.S and Canada can use it as a bridge to SMS Twitter , so if you do not to move Jaiku, you can use it instead. Give it a try you will not lose but I must say that it can cost more than Twitter.

Another blogger, Jean-Pierre discusses other alternatives to Twitter in “Dumping Twitter? So is it Jaiku or Identi.ca?“:

So which one will it be? Will Twitterers Stick with Twitter, or jump onboard the Jaiku Wagon? Or are we going for open source solutions like idetni.ca? Personally, I prefer Jaiku on all three, but the simplicity of identi.ca is pulling my leg. I will however continue microblogging with twitter until I make my final decision, specially that I never used an SMS to tweet.

5 comments · »»

Middle East & North Africa

Egyptian Blogger Zeinobia, writes about an Egyptian woman, from Alexandria, who gave birth to seven babies - even though she claims she did not take any medicine.

August 12th, 2008

Middle East & North Africa

The Egypt Guy, from the Egypt Blog, links to a news story which discusses new measures being imposed by the Egyptian government, which aim to increase the extent of censorship on Internet users and violates their right to privacy.