Global Voices » Mohammad Azraq

Jordan: Videos for Social Change!

Mohammad Azraq — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:35:50 +0000

In the last few years, and due to the high level of freedom on the internet in Jordan, a number of online social initiatives have risen to the surface. Ikbis.com, 7iber.com, and Watwet are just some examples of what young Jordanians have developed to find better and more effective ways to express themselves freely and without restrictions. Of all these brilliant initiatives, one that stands out for using the cutting-edge technologies of the 21st century to provoke a dialogue on social, political, economic, and environmental issues that concern the Jordanian public is Aramram.

In video segments of three to five minutes, Aramram highlights various phenomena that exist in Jordan. Amahl Khouri and I decided to do an interview with Aramram for the second phase of the Young Leaders Visitors Program being held in Paris later this month, and find out more specifically about their work on the dialogue between the subcultures and ethnicities that a live in Jordan:

In addition to their work in Jordan, Aramram hopes to expand and do similar projects in other Arab country to encourage young people to embrace the information age and utilize the internet to its full potential.

Arab World: Young People Gather to Learn Social Media Tools

Mohammad Azraq — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 19:33:37 +0000

Last May, I took part in a program called ‘the Young Leaders Visitors Program (YLVP)‘, organized by the Swedish Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. The program brought together young people from eight Arab countries and Sweden to learn certain leadership and organizational skills, and focused on how to use the tools of social media to advance social change. The participants will all meet again for a follow-up event in Paris, France, this November.

A few participants reflected on this experience, and shared some ideas on their blogs:

Jasmine Elnadeem from Egypt, wrote:

It was just only by chance…. I applied for the Young Leaders Visiting Programme (YLVP) 2009, which was organized by the Swedish institute.
The Swedish Institute Young Leaders Visitors Program (YLVP) is an intercultural leadership program with focus on social media as a tool for positive change. The program invites young opinion-makers from Sweden and selected countries in the MENA region who are actively working for social change in their respective contexts.

People nowadays are starting to say that social media is going to change the world; nothing could be farther from the truth.
Yes, for most of us, social media has changed our lives in some meaningful way, but social media can’t change the world, people do through social media, it’s a tool.

Nothing in this world is going to change unless we make it change. The responsibility for change does not fall onto technology but onto people. We can have all the greatest tools and gadgets in the world but if we don’t use them for change then guess what, change isn’t going to happen.

Let’s remember that social media and technology gives us the ability to make changes happen, but it’s ultimately up to us to use these abilities to make change happen.

Writing for Menassat, a regional news website based in Beirut, Lebanon, Alexandra Sandels from Sweden wrote:

The YLVP 2009 invited what the Swedish institute described as “young opinion-makers from Sweden and selected countries in the MENA region who are actively working for social change in their respective contexts.”

The program itself focused in large part on leadership and teamwork with a special component of training in social media tools. The first week was spent in Grisslehamn and the remaining two in Stockholm where participants attended lectures and worked on group projects at the digital media school Hyper Island.

In addition to the Arab participants, five Swedish journalists took part in the program.

“YLVP is designed to give you innovative tools to shape public opinion in cutting-edge media while strengthening your intercultural and leadership skills. You will be part of an exclusive network that will boost creativity and support your personal and professional development, while also laying the platform for a more connected future,” said the Swedish Institute in a statement describing the program.

At the beginning of the program, participants were divided into groups of 4-5 people and given the task to develop an idea for an innovative project using social media tools. A stream of initiatives was presented, ranging from web portals for alternative musicians in the Middle East to an online graffiti network, and a web-based recruitment agency for volunteers interested in working in human rights organizations in the Arab world.

And finally, Jordanian Rami AbdelRahman, who lives in Sweden, had this to say about the program:

To this extent, the Swedish institute arranged for an opinion building program, entitled “Young Leaders Visitors Program” targeting opinion builders in the MENA and Sweden, to work on their skills within social media, intercultural group work, leadership… etc. The course started in a very relaxed spa hotel in Grisslehamn, about an hours' drive north of Stockholm, right on the Baltic sea.

The idea was simple: work our brains out trying to find creative solutions in very stressful schedules. It turned out we were not creative enough: we were tasked with finding impossible things that could happen, we mentioned living underwater, living on mars, world peace, etc, and it turns out that 80% of our choices were predicted by our creativity lecturer.

Jordan: Beyond Stereotypes

Mohammad Azraq — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 15:39:42 +0000

Last Thursday, I attended an event organised by the Danish Embassy in Jordan and hosted at Al-Hussein Cultural Centre in Amman. The event creatively tackled the issue of stereotypes between Denmark and the Arab world. It featured a variety of activities such as a stand-up comedy gig by Danish-Egyptian comedian Omar Marzouk, who showed the audience clips from a Danish puppet film about Muslims, and an Egyptian film called The Danish Experiment. The event also featured Danish director Georg Larsen and Lebanese film maker Ahmad Ghosien, who showed clips from their film “an Arab come to Town“, which sheds the light on the lives of Arab immigrants in neighbourhoods of Copenhagen, and talked about their experience producing it. The event then concluded with a panel discussion that featured the Danish Ambassador to Jordan H.E. Thomas F. Lund-Sørensen, blogger Mariam Abu- Adas from 7iberdotCom, Larsen and Ghosien, journalist Adam Hannestad from the Danish newspaper Politiken, and Marzouk. The panelists engaged in a question and answer session with the audience, and the issues raised ranged between how to get past stereotypes and the future of the relationship between Denmark and the Arab and Muslim worlds.

Courtesy of 7iberdotCom

Ambassador Lund-Sørensen announced the event on 7iberdotCom:

Beyond Stereotypes – as the event is called – will put spotlight on stereotypes.

I suppose most of us would like to be looked upon as individuals and not as belonging to one big bulk or group of individuals that can be put into a box defined by one culture, one nationality, one linguistic group and/or one religion. I also suppose that most of us have tried at one point or the other to be stereotyped into one of these boxes and felt that we did not belong there at all – although we did share some similarities with the others in that same box?

In many ways we are lucky. Globalisation, satellite TV and the internet has given us opportunities that the majority of the generation before us had not even imagined would be possible. Opportunities not only to watch – but also an opportunity to interact.

These media are very powerful tools when it comes to creating stereotypes, transmitting them – or breaking them down. On Thursday 16th we are inviting you to meet a stand-up comedian, a journalist, a blogger, two filmmakers and an actor who will put spotlight on media and stereotypes. I hope that you will join us in a constructive reflection and debate over perceived stereotypes and how the media can help breaking down stereotypes – not building them up. To get the debate going I challenge you to start blogging about your thoughts right here and now and then we will follow up on the 16th.

Following the event, the Ambassador wrote some thoughts about the evening on his personal blog:

Thank you very much for your participation in the “Beyond Stereotype” event last night. It got nicely crowded and a little bit to warm in the theatre. The feedback I got in the lounge afterwards was very positive.

I didn’t get the possibility to comment on a sceptical remark from the audience about the lack of Danish negative stereotypes on the net. I do not claim scientific value to my research but I actually didn’t manage to find some really negative Danish stereotypes through Wiki or Google (only in English). Maybe it is because we are just a very small population of 5.5 million (like Jordan) or simply not interesting enough as an ethnic group. Even searching for Scandinavian negative stereotypes didn’t yield much. Didn’t look for specific Jordanian stereotypes - but I guess it will be difficult as well. These three links were the best I could find for Danish stereotypes.

What are Danes like? Yahoo Answers Yahoo Answers 2

Where can you watch the full version of “An Arab comes to Town”? I was told that it will be released on DVD soon - in the meantime the Embassy together with the Royal Film Commission are planning an open-air screening at the Film Commission late May early June - probably in connection with a workshop with the participation of the Directors Georg Larsen and Ahmad Ghosien. We will announce the screening in the same way as we did with the “Beyond Stereotype” - through the Royal Film Commission and 7iber.com

He also encouraged Jordanians to continue discussing the topic on different forums:

The discussion can continue - either on this site, on 7iber.com or on some of the other bloggers site as on Roba’s which have drawn a large number of comments (some aggressive) on Arab stereotyping. Unfortunately I didn’t notice this until today

On the same day of the event, blogger Roba Al-Assi, posted a video clip of a song by Lebanese Pop singer Jad Shwery, in which he tackles stereotypes about Arabs in his own way:

Roba wrote:

This song is the funniest […] ever.
Really funny. Wonder if it manages to break stereotypes anywhere.
I love the disclaimer in the beginning “Every individual that has participated in the following video is an Arab.” Wow.

The post spurred an interesting debate about how one should or should not tackle these stereotypes. Here are a few of the comments that were left on the post:

tarik
April 16, 2009 @ 2:15 pm

Ummmm…. interesting? (and you know what I mean when I say interesting, Roba)
So in his (sad) attempt to remove labels off Arabs, this dude has actually used every stereotype in the book and applied them to Arabs?!
So the west will accept us more when they see that we do botox and drugs?
And if being an Arab is such a big deal, then why isn’t he singing this in Arabic?
It’s so sad it’s hilarious!

Revelation
April 16, 2009 @ 3:27 pm

Bloody rocks! love it…. he made a point that dude…. i know quite few who live like that :) …. as the Americans say “Good Job!”… now need to wait for the arab - metallica =)
Cheers for sharin…

Ne3mat
April 16, 2009 @ 7:06 pm

Cute! But how come the Iranians do not resort to having TV orgies to prove their worth to the world? This video is another proof of westernized Arabs retardation. Instead of making our point through democracy and science and technology and culture, we show the world we we can get naked on camera. We have a totally screwed up priorities. NO wonder Arab youth seem to look up more and more to Iran. and that scares […] Arab regimes. Don’t get me wrong, I am not against this video, but separate from the other tracks, it proves we are not just a bunch of fanatics, but the rest are simply sleazy when we are not running around yelling Allahu Akbar [God is Great]. I really miss substance and moderation, something we seem to be awfully lacking.

Hareega
April 16, 2009 @ 5:13 pm

it’s not going to breal the popular sterotype that whoever is named JAd Shwairi is mentally retarded.
But the clip is well-made, and will be well-received

Lebanon: Activists Experiment with Social Media

Mohammad Azraq — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 20:53:05 +0000

The use of social media tools such as Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, and mobile technology has become increasingly popular in activism and advocacy work worldwide in recent years. In Lebanon, a group called Social Media Exchange conducts training for NGOs, civil society organisations, and activists on how they can utilise social media to promote their work and reach a wider audience. They produced a very interesting video about activists in Lebanon experimenting with social media, shedding light on various blogs, Facebook initiatives, and websites used for social, socio-economic, and political activism in the country.

Blogging

During the 2006 war between Hizbullah and Israel, young people like social and environmental activist Zena El-Khalil, who is interviewed in the video, used blogs to tell her side of the story and how she felt during that period. She was among a group of bloggers, some of whom had never blogged before, but felt the passion to let out their thoughts and feelings, and have their voices heard through online interactive forums. On her blog Beirut Update, and in her last post which dates back to November 2006, she wrote:

the war ended. maya's condition grew worse. she passed away and i have been left with a stain on my heart. what now? i have been living the past few weeks in total darkness, not know what lies ahead. not knowing if things could get any worse.. if i was going to lose anyone else… and today it almost happened in Palestine. i almost lost two more friends.

Twitter

Activists and bloggers in Lebanon have also begun using Twitter. For instance, Mustapha of Beirut Spring, recently used the popular service to campaign for better broadband connection in Lebanon:

And Nights uses it to converse with different activists from Lebanon and the world at large:

Facebook

Another group featured in the video was “Nahwa Al Muwatiniya” or Towards Citizenship, which is group formed by young people with the goal of monitoring parliamentary actions and legislations. Their impressive initiative “Naam Lil Hiwar” or Yes for Dialogue brings young people together in town hall-like settings to discuss issues that matter to them in Lebanon. The topics vary between social and political; issues like sex education in schools, protecting the environment, and reforming the economy, were among the those discussed. The group announces their events on their Facebook page and uses mass-mailing for invitations. On their website, they explain the purpose of their initiative:

The absence of real dialogue in the Lebanese society- and among youth specifically- is a major obstacle standing in the way of true democracy. Lack of communication and often leads way to more severe socio-political problems. Dialogue is therefore an essential feature of multicultural societies without which true partnership cannot be established. Naam lil Hiwar has successfully created an open space for dialogue by holding Hiwar sessions in Beirut for over two years. Open spaces for dialogue in different regions of Lebanon - where youth can discuss a kaleidoscope of political, social, and cultural issues - is needed as a communication channel. By creating sustainable Hiwar groups in different communities, Naam is taking the culture of dialogue to the streets where it belongs, with the aim of transmitting it to the political arena.

Websites

Al Majmoua is a micro-finance group that helps entrepreneurs around Lebanon connect to sources of funding from around the world. They are partnering with Kiva global network, an organisation based in the U.S that allows funders to lend money to entrepreneurs worldwide. They use their website to connect with these entrepreneurs and to also help them connect to lenders.

The recent years have witnessed a significant rise in internet penetration, particularly among young people in Lebanon. The service is being enhanced and the bandwidth expanded, and more and more organisations are realising the importance of social media and information and telecommunication technologies in their work. As all of this is happening, we continue to see more blogs, tweets, and videos coming out of Lebanon advocating for cultural, social, and political causes.

Jordan: Demo For Arab Technology Innovators

Mohammad Azraq — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 03:31:31 +0000

Last month I attended the launch of Arab Crunch Demo, an event organised by Arab Crunch Blog, a professional blog dedicated to promoting technology start-ups in the Arab World, in co-operation with Queen Rania Centre for Entreprenuership (QRCE), at the Princess Sumaya University for Technology (PSUT).

It was invigorating to see young Arab technology entrepreneurs take initiatives and realise their dreams. Companies such as, e-space and Al-khawarizmy from Egypt, Ishki and MailPacks from Jordan, and a few others took the stage and demonstrated their projects to an enthusiastic audience.

(Courtesy of Arab Crunch)

Ghaith Saqer, the editor of Arab Crunch, wrote:

The first version of ARABCRUNCH DEMO was a one day event which concluded on Monday 23rd Feb. 2009 in princess Sumaya University, Amman, Jordan. The event is the only free launchpad platform for newly developed technology products and services in the Arab world. Besides startups’ demos, the event included keynote sessions by regional and world class experts from companies ranging from e-marketing, venture capital, and IT.

In the event Ishki from Jordan, also demoed its website, which is the first Arabic website that enables people in Jordan to share complaints or concerns online and search for solutions. The websites seeks to be the voice of normal citizens regarding public, private or business problems. Ahmad Kharbat cofounder of Ishki said “We will add channels for each company that is operational in the Arab world, so people can voice their concern and feedback”. He also promised to add more local versions of the website for more Arab countries.

Hamdy Khalil co-founder of eSpace from Alexandria, Egypt showcased weNear a location based framework that competes with Yahoo’s Fire Eagle, the platform is geared towards developers in order to use its API so they can develop location aware mobile applications in a range of devices including iPhone, Android and Symbian.

The event also featured well-established entrepreneurs such as; Sumaya Kazi, the founder of the Cultural Connect, and Khaled Jabasini, the founder and CEO of the Dubai-based E-Marketing.

The young and driven was the last Keynote speech delivered by Sumaya Kazi Executive Director and Editor-in-Chief at The CulturalConnect, and Senior Social Media Manager at Fortune 500 company Sun Microsystems. She spoke about her experience in starting CulturalConnect. Sumaya showcased intentional successful entrepreneurs who started successful startups along with other social entrepreneurs she had interviewed before. She shared 8 tips for startups among them were “Surround yourself with people smarter than yourself and People sit on great ideas, Don’t be one of them”
The event, which attracted over 300 participants, was concluded with excitement and enthusiasm by both the startups and the audience. At the end of the event Saqer said he plans for another version of the demo event in the coming months or next year, he promised that the next event will be bigger and would open greater opportunity for outstanding technology startups in the Arab world.

India: Environmental Scholars On a Very Cool Mission

Mohammad Azraq — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 15:52:45 +0000

About two weeks ago, I read in Tom Friedman's column in the New York Times about two young scholars from the U.S who were on a very impressive mission in India. Alexis Ringwald and Caroline Howe are touring the country in an electric/solar powered car to raise awareness about the dire climate situation in the massive subcontinent. They are encouraging the young and energetic to innovate cleaner, greener, and more sustainable sources of energy. I was very impressed with their work and decided to share their story here. Their online portal India climate Solutions includes a blog, videos, photos, information on climate in India, and a lot more:

The three Reva cars

In the launching of the tour, Caroline wrote:

To learn more about the journey and see an example of the very basic climate solutions’ films that we are encouraging youth to create about their own solutions, their own crazy ideas, and their own thoughts on climate change, please do watch our first Climate Solutions Video — our first interviews about electric cars and our very first Reva Road Trip. We were limited to 1.5 minutes to enter Google’s ReCharge IT conference with the theme of “Why I Want to Drive a Plug-In”, but think it’s another example of how video contests can inspire new films and what we are trying to do.

Alexis wrote:

It wasn’t until the 4th day that I realized the magnitude of what we were doing. On January 3, 2009, a group of passionate individuals launched on a Climate Solutions Road Tour, an epic month-long 3,500 km journey from Chennai to New Delhi, India to demonstrate that clean transportation solutions do exist and call upon automakers globally to build them.

On the 4th day of this adventure, January 7, I truly understood the seeds of revolution that we were planting on our “Drive to Change.”

Anna Da Costa, one of their project supporters, wrote:

One of the simplest and most effective climate solutions we have come across as we traverse the Indian sub-continent is solar water heating.

Here in Udaipur, a city of mirroring lakes and canals, age old palaces, ornamented and armoured gateways and sleepy walkways, we have found just one such example.

The way they work is incredibly simple; a simple heat collector (the panels you can see), made up of a heat conducting material, such as metal, holds the water in a position perpendicular to the sun in a series of small tubes which link directly to an insulated water tank where the hot water is stored. As the water is heated within the collector, it naturally moves through the system by convection maintaining a flow of water through the system, and as such keeping it evenly heated.

This is one of the cheapest and simplest ways to heat water in hot countries, and can provide up between 85-100% of hot water needs for a household. An average 50-gallon system also displaces the use of 11.1 barrels of oil per year when replacing an electrically heated system.

The president of India has recently received the climate team at her palace, and Alexis had this to say about it:

We had the incredible honor to be invited to meet President Patil, the honorable President of India, at her home at Rashtrapati Bhavan! She was thrilled to hear about our Climate Solutions Road Tour and was supportive of our efforts to take action on climate solutions. We hope that all Heads of State around the world recognize the young people in their countries who are making a difference on this issue!

(Image credit: India Climate Solutions)

Jordan: 7iber.com Discusses Vital Issues For Jordan

Mohammad Azraq — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 01:57:41 +0000

For the last 10 days or so, 7iber.com has been discussing very important issues affecting Jordan, ranging from water scarcity, energy, unemployment and economics to the recent changes in the government. I decided to dedicate this round up to these pressing matters.

On the recent changes in the govenment, 7iber encourages people to take part in the dialogue about the viability of this cabinet restructure, and what it means for Jordan:

With the latest cabinet changes taking place this past week, we’ve been forced to wonder just what these changes actually mean for Jordan’s political landscape. While the tendency for the same family names to remain in the orbit of Jordanian politics, with a mismatch between those names and their ministerial portfolios, remains dominant, it only reminds us that in Jordan, the names are more important than the institutions.

Yes, the people may have no say in who becomes a minister, however, that does not mean they are rendered voiceless throughout this process.

This all begs the question of solutions.

What do you think about the constant changes in government? Is it done to appease families and centralize power or do you think it is part of a larger attempt to get work done? What solutions do you think need to happen in both the short-run (strengthening institutions) and the long-run (an elected-government?

Have your say here.

Ramsey Tesdell addresses the issues of water scarcity and unemployment, which are ever-increasing worries for Jordan:

Jordan’s lack of water poses a serious risk to the political stability of the country. The next wars will be fought over the dwindling water resources in the region and lands that have been inhabited for millennia may become uninhabitable. Jordan’s lack of employment also poses a problem for the stability of the state. Youth under 24 consist of 70% or more of the population and far outnumber the number of jobs available and the number of jobs being created.

Water and unemployment can be see as two important problems for Jordan, but at the same time they should be seen as opportunities. The government should entice the private sector to begin developing water saving technologies and begin installing them in urban areas. The state owned petrol company should start using the huge profit the company makes every year through its monopoly, and invest in technologies such as wind farms and solar panels.

In another post, he brings up a web forum run by Jordan Time's economic analyst Yusuf Mansour, which aims at looking at the impediments for building the foundations of a creative economy in the kingdom:

In a December 23rd column in the Jordan Times Newspaper, economist Yusuf Mansour asked a pretty basic question, “Can Jordan become a creative economy where young people’s ideas, those with the most creative minds in the world, can be translated into a powerful industry worth billions of dollars?” He then followed this column up with one describing the obstacles to the creative economy.

First off, the website was a brilliant idea. Finally, someone with a mainstream voice, decided to take advantage of all the social technology and new media technologies available to them, and put the community back into the discussion. For far too long, newspapers and the government in this country have tabled the most important aspect, the people. Kudos to the website and kudos to those contributing to the conversation online.

And in the latest post, Mansour asks how we go about building the creative economy. He developed a format to push the conversation forward. So how do we do it? Mansour thinks you need to 1. develop a creative demand, 2. provide more creative products, 3. develop creative resources (entrepreneurs, works, equipment) and 4. cross-pollinate disciplines and carry a more multidisciplinary focus.

While a creative economy seems like a great idea, it is subject to a long-term commitment. This isn’t like the ICT endeavor where you quickly train a couple thousand people how to set up databases and get certifications on this or that technology. Building a creative economy will require fundamental changes to the educational system, the political system, and will no doubt shake the current business and political elite. This resistance will and can be overcome, but it won’t happen easily nor will happen quickly. A sustained effort is required. It will take some time to develop the actors in the field to sustain a creative economy.

Jordan: Bloggers Reflect on Valentine's Day

Mohammad Azraq — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 16:22:22 +0000

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.

Jordan: Empowering Women, Emos and Live Mesh

Mohammad Azraq — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 17:33:10 +0000

Jewelry desigher/activist Nadia Dajani talks to 7iber.com about her profession, and how she empowers women in Jordan by teaching them how to make and sell handmade well-crafted jewelry:

Nadia Dajani is a rare woman who has been able to combine her talents, unique upbringing and passion to succeed on her own terms in Amman. Even rarer, she is bringing other women along a parallel path with her from some diverse regions of the Middle East. We had the privilege of learning more about Nadia herself, her work, and the where she is taking her expanding vision.

7iber: In addition to being an artist and business woman, you created a new niche in empowering underprivileged local women.

ND: I am a strong advocate for corporate social responsibility, and giving back to the community and to society inspires my work. All our products are handmade in Jordan by Jordanian ladies. Till now, I have trained over thirty needy women in the art of jewelry making in order to provide a livelihood for their families. Most are illiterate, have no education, some even physically challenged, but they are now learning the same principles which propelled me at St. Paul’s. Many have natural artistic inclinations, but of course, had no outlet for these artistic tendencies. I look for women who are enthusiastic about wanting to learn, and to create- for if the love of making a piece is missing, an element of its beauty will be lacking as well. It has been a joy to watch the ladies come alive as their creativity is integrated into satisfying work. They are reflecting the true soul of our country. Through their work, one has built an extension on their small home, another put her daughter through nursing school, and by and large, their self confidence has increased as well as their sense of identity as they have pride in their abilities and their talents.

The Arab Observer talks about the perception of teenage-adopted emo culture amongst older traditional writers:

So you have been to the mall, and were appalled of the behavior of teenagers?
It is not those who smoke that bothered you,
neither those young boys harassing young girls
or even those bored ones, not knowing how to spend their spare time except by strolling back and forth in boredom
What bothered you is their looks!
Guys don't look like “men”? huh
Girls don't look like “women”? huh

It is a totally new culture that you can't understand
so you freak out and warn of a disease!
Satanists are on the rise!
and then you discover homosexuality
It spreads like a cholera for the lack of strict rules! no?
and then
this is something new
a catch for the attention your readers
EMOS!

And Qwaider talks about the new software from Microsoft Live Mesh, which lets you synchronize all your data on your computer and access them from anywhere in the world:

If you've had to share files, pictures, music, favorite radio stations or -whatever- recently you, have probably received them through this AMAZING new technology that has been -literally- long overdue. But in this connected world. There is no such a thing as too late… This Amazing video (check the awesome MacBook Air in it), shows how you can simply and easily synchronize (and simplify) your life

Jordan: Clothes, Logos and Traffic Violators

Mohammad Azraq — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 20:06:20 +0000

Do the colours you wear reflect your personality? The Arab Observer brings up this issue in a rather interesting post:

I usually wear a trendy jeans with a colorful shirt. A couple of years before, at college time, my choice of shirts colors was limited in few dull colors. At that time, grey, black, and blue were the only common colors for men. Later on, when Bossini, Pull n Bear and Zara brought colors to our wardrobes, a lot of young men of my age were reluctant of picking up on the new found colors for dark dull ones were still part of the norms and perceived to be part of their masculinity. Men shouldn't wear red or pink, this is still alive in the perception of many of us. For those of the new generation, the rebellious ones, who wanted to say that they don't really stick to the norms of our society and follow the traditional intake of what we wear, colorful shirts became a trend.

Our style and fashion communicates where do we want to belong to the world, some people develop a sweet addiction to the latest trends of fashion around the globe. Styloholic is a new fashion blog for style fans. Glamour seems to be the styloholic writer statement of belonging. I am usually not a fan of fashion blogs, but this one is quite interesting. Check it out here.

Lass brings up the Amman city logo, which Global Voices reported on when it was still in its development stages, now that it has been selected:

The city logo is something that is linked to a city like a name to a person, it is a signature, an identity, and most importantly it should represent a mega entity, not a singular perception. It is something that shouldn't be put together haphazardly, fortuitously or without deep thought and consideration. It certainly is not an art work assignment, or a graphic design contest. A city logo is official, formal, or at least that's how it is known to be.

Changing the logo of the city is an effort that GAM should be applauded for for sure. But decisions are responsibilities, and that responsibility should be handled with ultra proficiency. I hope that they can be more sensitive towards creating a life-long legacy, rather than the flashy temporary brain storming oddities, that we seem to adore in Amman nowadays!

And kinzi brings up an important issue for Jordan, and that is traffic violations, which yields many deaths annually:

Am I missing something here? An important detail? Some cultural cue? Some tradition that went under my radar?

Traffic violators cause trouble for everyone on the roads. They should have to pay for it.

But of course, I guess we wouldn’t want anyone having to own responsibility for their own bad behaviour, it might be shameful.

Jordan: Water, Honour Crimes, Jordan Web Award, and Corporate Social Responsibilty

Mohammad Azraq — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 21:45:49 +0000

Water is a serious problem in Jordan. The scarcity of rain this year is of deep concern to the government and the general public. Blogger Tala talks about how people could rationalise their use of this very vital life resource:

Every Wednesday in Amman, the water line gets connected to our neighborhood so early morning, dad irrigates the trees around the house, we do the laundry in the afternoons, clean the backyard and our neighbors would wash the stairs and do the windows, most people do the same the stuff on that day.

All our home use water is done with fresh water!! imagine, if we were able to store the water we use while showering and doing the laundry and using this Gray water for stuff that doesn't require fresh water, lets water our home gardens with gray water & utilize space to grow home vegetables.

This way we save money because we use less water from the Water Authority, we would be doing Jordan a favor by lessening our consumption, we re-use the water and we get fruits and vegetables from our home.

Farah addresses what is an essentially a Jordanian social nightmare, and that is honour killings. Honour killings happen at an alarming rate in the kingdom, and many civil society initiatives have been launched to limit if not eliminate this troubling phenomenon:

“ Zarqa criminal prosecutor has referred a 17-year-old youth, who confessed to murdering his younger sister over the weekend, to a juvenile court for further questioning.

The suspect, confessed to stamping on his 13-year-old sibling’s head several times with his boots, then stabbing her 30 times at their family home on January 21, to defend his family’s honour, a senior official source said.

The suspect then headed to the nearest police station and handed officers on duty a dagger which he claimed he “used to stab and kill his sister”, according to the source.

The same disgustingly violent, ridiculous rituals of these crimes happening over and over again and nobody is doing a single thing about it. It's like honor crimes have become integrated into the country's traditions and customs.

And nobody is doing a damn thing about it.

And I don't understand how are we to change any stereotypes about us when murderers of innocent women are being set free.

It's sickening.

Naseem talks about the Jordan Web Awards and the honouring of 7iber at the ceremony:

I wrote this post in my head while sitting at a table at the Jordan Web Awards the other night. It was surely a proud moment to be honored unexpectedly like that but I have realized recently that 7iber is in fact life-changing. It’s an incredible journey and just watching it, which ever way it turns and bends in a chaotic sea of social media, is very interesting to me. I am incredibly fortunate to have this project in my life that feeds a variety of passions that drive me daily, while simultaneously surrounding myself with some amazing, bright and beautiful people. It’s not an easy task in a country like Jordan, or anywhere for that matter, to be part of a team that feels right; a group of people who have similar interests and passions that a single meeting becomes akin to watching random chemicals reacting in a crucible - like fireworks. And it’s something that you’re aware of, that you’re conscious of, every time you’re in their presence. Moreover, it’s something that is completely dependent on luck, fortune and/or divine intervention.

And the Arab Observer talks about the social programme carried out by the telecoms group Zain:

Zain group, the largest telecommunication provider in Jordan, has issued a press release in their annual strategic business meeting that was held in Amman this year. We all know how good these telecommunication companies make, and thus this post is not meant to focus on the company’s achievements and its prospects and plans for the coming few years. This may also sound like a free advertisement for the company, but it is a thing that I believe such companies deserve for the fulfillment of its social duties. It is worth highlighting the appreciation of people of such work in order for other companies to follow up.

For more on this issue, read here

World Runner Comes to Jordan

Mohammad Azraq — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 13:47:15 +0000

Danish Runner Jesper Olsen is running around the world crossing four continents to promote running as something all cultures have in common.The Danish Ambassador to Jordan HE.Thomas Lund-Sørensen writes about this:

As I am writing these lines the Ultra Runner Jesper Olsen from World Run II is crossing the Ramtha border control (hopefully without too much hassle) and entering Jordan. Jesper will be running through Jordan from today and is planning to exit to Egypt on the day before Christmas the 24th of December.

From December 18th to 24th, 2008, the Danish ultra runner Mr. Jesper Olsen will run through Jordan. He is completing the World Run II Project: The North - South Run, which is the world’s longest non-stop run, aiming at completing a distance of 40.000 km passing through four continents in three years. The run began in Nordkapp, Norway, July 1st 2008 and the finish point in New Foundland, Canada, is expected to be reached by the end of 2010. When arriving in Jordan Jesper Olsen will already have completed more than 8000 km of running.

Having met Jesper tonight I can say he feels fit and very welcome in Jordan. Passing the Ramtha border was a piece of cake - he was officially saluted “Ahlan wa Sahlan” by a small detachment in uniform and received various maps.

Today Jesper ended up just outside Amman on Jordan Street. Tomorrow he and Ammar Sabbah together with other Amman Road Runners will run to JRTV for a live interview on Ammar’s show “Beiti” on Jordan television and then continue towards the south. Other runners should feel free to join. Both Jordan Times and Jad’s blog wrote about the World Run Project. It is a truly unique and enormous project and for once something that is far away from politics.

Jordan: Amman's November Fuel Crisis

Mohammad Azraq — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 16:04:51 +0000

When Jordan's government proposed adjusting fuel prices according to the rise and fall in the international markets on a weekly basis, gas station owners protested and for a period of about 10 days refused to buy fuel from the main refinery demanding that prices are to be adjusted on a monthly basis. That, in turn, resulted in a severe shortage in fuel from many gas stations in Amman. Bloggers picked up the issue, and here is what some of them had to say…

In a post entitled ‘Falling Short: Amman’s November Gas Crisis!‘ on 7iber.com, Naseem Tarawneh writes:

What is perhaps interesting, at least from my point of view, is that this sudden crisis comes nearly a year after the government decided to lift fuel subsidies. The result has been a painstaking year for the average Jordanian as globally, a barrel of oil reached over $120 driving up local prices to unbearable amounts. The digits on the pumps have only very recently sunk to less than half that figure, in line with the impact of the global financial crisis. However, since the controversial lifting of fuel subsidies in Jordan, some might argue that station owners enjoyed a relatively decent killing in the market for a fairly long time. It is only now that stations are forced to sell consumers at the government-set rate, meaning a relative loss for them, that the industry’s muscles are being flexed. One important question remains: will we see a return of a limited subsidy granted by the government to station owners in order to get them back running, or will we simply see bankruptcies in the industry flowing like tumbling dominoes? Will stations be fined or is another compromise in the works?

Jad Madi said:

Two hundred and sixty gas station owner were able to impose their wishes on the government while the last found itself compelled to switch back to the monthly pricing system although they were about to install the weekly pricing system in favor of the six million citizen or we prefer to think like that.

For better coverage maybe you want to check Alghad or Jordantimes but my question is, do we have a government that is strong enough to protect the 6 million citizen from the greedy-businessmen starting from gas station business ending with shawerma?

And Jordanian popular cartoonist Emad Hajjaj brought up the issue in a humorous cartoon:

Congratulations Pour in on Queen Rania's Youtube Award

Mohammad Azraq — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 21:06:53 +0000

Bloggers from across the Middle East and North Africa are tipping their hats to Jordan's Queen Rania, and her visionary initiative on YouTube, after she was awarded YouTube's first-ever Visionary Award for launching an interactive online channel to combat stereotypes and misconceptions associated with Arabs and Muslims.

In a post titled ‘Why I love Queen Rania?’, Jordanian blogger Moey writes:

Maybe because she’s the most pretty ever and she knows what brands to wear and what to wear, or maybe because she won the Visionary Award on YouTube Live. I’m not sure yet, I just love her

Andaluss, from Morocco, notes:

I stumbled upon Queen Rania’s Youtube channel. Apparently she’s been Vlogging since 2007, and has as a mission; the breaking down of the stereotypes surrounding Arabs & Muslims around the world. She’s many video responses that you can watch on her Youtube channel. And by the way she’s just won a youtube award.

The sad thing though is that people don’t realize that Muslims were the ones who invented: Paper, shampoo, ink, coffee, chess (yes chess is an Arab invention), pin hole camera, vaccination, surgery, soup, earth is in a sphere shape, calender, numbers.. just to name a few!! Google & find out more.

From Israel, One Voice peace initiative posted on its blog, saying:

Her Majesty Queen Rania of Jordan has been given the honor of YouTube's first Visionary Award, for her outreach to youth encouraging them to confront and deconstruct stereotypes of the Muslim world. We are always so impressed with her courage, vision, and leadership.

“Queen Rania sets the standard for breaking down stereotypes and her YouTube videos are nothing short of inspirational,” Al-Arabiya quoted YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley as saying. “It is both a pleasure and an honor to present her with this much-deserved tribute.”

Also from Palestine, the Philistine writes:

She may be queen of an ancient land. But this week word emerged that Queen Rania of Jordan was winner of a distinctively 21st century honor. She has been given YouTube’s first-ever Visionary Award for launching an interactive online channel to combat stereotypes and misconceptions associated with Arabs and Muslims, Jordan’s Petra news agency reported.

Her video, “Send me your stereotypes,” was viewed by more than 1 million online users. Another video received 1.4 million page views within weeks, prompted 83 video responses from other users, and generated nearly 6,000 comments.

And finally, from the Queen’s kingdom Jansait posted the video which the Queen released on the occasion and wrote this one line :

We are Stronger when we Listen, Smarter when we Share

Jordan: The Queen's Vlog, Internet Socio-Economics and More

Mohammad Azraq — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 15:07:59 +0000

HM Queen Rania of Jordan, who has been vlogging for about a year, was recently awarded the YouTube's first-ever Visionary Award for launching an interactive online channel to combat stereotypes and misconceptions associated with Arabs and Muslims. She just released a humorous video spelling out the 10 reasons the made her start a vlog.

Blogger Roba Assi linked to the video on her blog, and commented:

When I started streaming this video, the last thing I expected was to find myself cracking-up a few seconds later. What I even expected less was having my colleagues scramming around my screen laughing too. But what do I know. The internet always has a lot of surprises up its sleeves.

Kudos to the Queen for such a good vlog; funny, short, and surprising. Plus, it the backdrop of the vlog is what I see out of our office window, Wadi Saqra, so that makes it even better, as far as I’m concerned.

And hey, she definitely beats Letterman

Here's the video:

Internet accessibility and penetration in Jordan is low when compared to the other countries. Recently, one of the main service providers, Orange, introduced a new internet connection at a speed much higher than what was already available in Jordan.Naseem Tarawaneh discusses what he sees as the socio-economic implications such a leap in speed might have on Jordanians:

A bit of news has been spreading like wildfire these past few days in Amman: the new 8mb ADSL Internet connection from Orange. The advertisements have been popping up all over town and it naturally got me thinking about what such a leap in speed might mean for Jordan. Yes, it is not the most significant event, but in a country this small the ripple effects of such a move can be pretty interesting.

Internet is not a commodity that is, as of yet, wide spread in the Kingdom. While many people do have access to the Internet through their workplace, through Internet cafes, through schools, universities and various other places, Internet penetration, as defined by the number of subscribers, remains relatively low. So for those who do have, say, Internet access at home, the pool is some what small.

My argument here is not against having faster Internet connections in the country, but rather suggesting that the direction this technology is advancing should be more towards making the Internet more affordable and therefore, more widespread, as opposed to more expensive and therefore more refined demographically.

Why can’t policymakers find a way to allow for free and/or very affordable Internet to various neighborhoods around the country? I’m not saying that all of Jordan should become a hot-spot (although that would be my ideal dream in the absence of private sector control) but, for right now, I think there are ways to turn specific areas in to “Internet Zones”. I would not mind my tax money paying for it. I’d admire more private sector companies picking up the tab with a little advertisement in it for them. Heck, how about a group of companies teaming up with a single Internet service provider?