Blogger: View from Iran
Article: Ashura: the pageant
Originaly Posted On: 2007-01-31 08:57:00

“America is trying to take Ashura from us,” the small, Ahmadinejad-like prayer leader called out to the crowd.

The crowd ignored him. Someone near me said, “He’s trying to make this night political. It should not be political.”

Still the man tried. It was like watching a rock and roll performer bomb while trying to get people to sing along with him.

Finally he gave up on politics and chanted the prayers for the sick. The crowd got excited then. That is what they came here for after all.

We were at the shrine in Tajrish in Northern Tehran. “Where are you from?” people asked me in broken English.

“America,” I answered.

“Welcome to our country.”

Inside the shrine, it smelled like feet, women with rainbow-colored feather dusters ushered the hordes of women to the grave. “We love Americans,” a woman in a black chador whispered into my ear. “It’s your government we don’t like.”

This was the night before Ashura. The next day we woke up to chants of “Hosseinjan, Hosseinjan.” We went outside where a neighbor offered us a rice dessert with saffron. Ashura is a friendly holiday in Tehran. People are excited to be out together. It’s an opportunity to express public emotion, to flirt, and to be part of a crowd. Iranians grab every one of these opportunities. Groups of young women looking their absolute best eye groups of young men with ridiculous hairdos while their parents and relatives look on.

The pageantry itself is amazing. Hazzans chant rhythmic mourning songs, men and women beat their chests. Men march, twirling chains and slapping them on their shoulders in time to the chanting. Giant mantles covered with bronze animals, shields, and feathers are carried through the streets.

And the food! Everywhere people were giving out food and drinks! We passed one group that was feeding 12,000 people. Mosques, private homes, private groups: everyone was handing out food. We ate ghemeh: a dish of split peas, potatoes, and mutton. Later we ate the heart, lung, and liver of one of the many sheep that gave its life that day.

Enough of that…

Blogger: Hakim Abdullah
Article: The Skin of the Burqa: Recent Life Narratives from Afghanistan
Originaly Posted On: 2007-01-29 17:34:40

Blogger: Point of no return
Article: Lisa Srour, the last Jewess in Lebanon
Originaly Posted On: 2007-01-29 15:46:31

Rare interview with Lisa Srour, who claims to be the last Jewess in Lebanon. Nobody can tell if she is correct, as the few Jews still living in that country are too fearful to stand up and be counted. With thanks to Iraqijews for summarising an article published on 6 September 2006 in Ana-News.

Abu Jamil Valley in Beirut was once called Jew Valley: 6000 Jews lived there. They belonged to high-class society and owned most of the wealth of the country.

They say that when the late president Rafik Al-Hariri wanted to renovate a synagogue there, the Jewish Community Association refused because of fear that it might be blown up.

Today, although there still is a Jewish community in Lebanon, nobody talks about it and almost
no one knows of its existence. There are no Jewish marriages since there is no younger generation.

Lisa, in her 50’s, lives in Abu Jamil Valley, on the fourth flour of a building almost in ruins. She lives on eggs which she shares with her cats. She said that she was once the most beautiful girl in the valley.

She is very poor but does not complain. Lisa is afraid to say that she’s Jewish.

In the past her family owned a luxurious house and a big store. Her brothers left for France during the (civil) war, her parents died, her uncles emigrated to Brazil. During the war, armed people came and abducted her father and forced him to sign a paper giving up their house and
their store.

She is hoping that maybe she’ll get some compensation like others have done (from the construction company that is renovating and rebuilding the whole area).

See Lisa’s photo and read article (in Arabic)

Blogger: Mideast Youth - Thinking Ahead
Article: Israeli-Palestinian Comedy Night
Originaly Posted On: 2007-01-27 14:16:17

I got an email two weeks ago about this small tour taking place and what enjoyable news it was for me. I had been toying with going plowing and planting with Palestinians, but sometimes that can be scary and stressful (not because of the Palestinians either), and because of the stress in my everyday life, I need something not-so-stressful. So when this item came up I immediately forwarded it to everyone I knew who was into peace activities.

The show I went to was last Thursday night at the beautiful American Colony hotel in East Jerusalem. The place was packed with many journalists there, curious as everyone else there, how this tour came about and who were these joksters anyways.

I went with my girlfriend because Hubby has been a troll of late and they don’t like to laugh much. There was free wine and chips/pretzels at the entrance, and I thought if I had a couple of drinks (and probably the comedians thought so too), I’d loosen up and laugh a lot more.

Turns out I didn’t need those drinks. The guys were so funny, my stomach hurt and my voice was hoarse from laughing for 2 hours straight.

There were 4 comedians - 3 Jewish, 1 Arab. Pretty much summed up the way the audience turned out as well. A smattering of Arabs and a whole bunch of Jews.

First up was Aaron Freeman, an African-American convert to Judaism, who had us in stitches about reactions to his converting - “Why? What they really want to say is “what’s wrong wit’ you!! You didn’t have enough trouble? You want to be an extra credit target for the Ku Klux Klan?” He explained that Ethiopian Jews in Israel have no idea who Martin Luther King was, and after he explained everything to them - a bit of US history, slavery, the 1960s riots, the deep South, segregation, they were like ‘Oh we see you Jews suffered too!” or something like that. Whatever. It’s much funnier when you hear it live.

Then Charley Warady was explaining how it was for him to make aliyah - and when he passed a checkpoint, he thought it was a toll booth and threw a couple of coins in and drove through only to get shot at…”Gee they get so mad here when you don’t have exact change..”

Ray Hanania, the sole Arab comedian, was up next. “I see you (the audience) as potential hostages!” and told us about his harrowing airport experiences because of his Arab heritage. “Are you on my flight?” is a question nervously asked of him by other passengers. And when he went to the bathroom on his flight into Israel, Alan Dershowitz met him on the way back to his seat to explain why there was someone else now sitting in his seat…

Yisrael Campbell, a ultra-orthodox-looking Jew, also a convert to Judaism, was explaining that he was the nephew of Jesus since his mother had been in a convent and it gets up great parking spaces in Jerusalem, like when he goes to the Church of Scotland he tells people - “I’m His nephew.” “Oh sure, go right in”. On his reasons for converting? “I was a vaguely Catholic but Catholic enough to know that I was going to hell, so I switched religions.” He said that Jerusalem’s clergy - Rabbis, Priests and Imams all got together to fight to Gay Pride Parade because they pleased “don’t affect the peace of our city!” Huh? Where do they live? They don’t get together when there are house demolitions in East Jerusalem or bus bombings in West Jerusalem - what brings them together?” He whispers - the Pride Parade.

I know, I should have written all that funny stuff up. But if YouTube works, I’ll get it posted there.

After the show I introduced myself to Ray and told him I work in interfaith. He was very interested in interfaith work himself and years ago he said most groups were afraid it could get offensive, sensitive, or whatever, so he never pursued it.

Someone from CNN interviewed me afterwards, asking if I found any of this stuff offensive. I told her absolutely not - I had seen Borat and if I found THAT funny, this surely wouldn’t be more offensive, and yes, I did understand Ray’s jokes, I understand Moslem customs about multiple wives and burkas, etc. and that we should have more of this sort of intercultural stuff taking place here, but it breaks down barriers.

My friend and I went to the fireplace lounge to have a drink afterwards. The music was soft Arabic music and the waiters were elegant and genteel and made me feel like a princess. I was feeling so high. And I was sad on the other hand that there was so little of these types of evenings where we can just laugh all together at our government and religious customs. I went home by bus and heard two young men in the front of the bus speaking Arabic. It’s quite unusual for Arabs to take “that” bus back from Jerusalem over the green line - they probably live in neighboring Azariya, which they did as they got off the bus just before the entrance of our suburban town. And no one hassled them on the bus, or gave a second glance, and I thought it should be like this all the time, shouldn’t it. Just a cacaphony of Hebrew and Arabic all the time, everywhere.

Blog, Events, General, Good news, Interfaith, Israel, Palestine

Blogger: Hakim Abdullah
Article: Baghdad: Birthplace of the Scientific Process
Originaly Posted On: 2007-01-27 05:02:37

Blogger: Ihsan
Article: Ya Shaheed!
Originaly Posted On: 2007-01-26 19:36:00

US Congressmen Issue Demand to Release Abdel Kareem Soliman, Who Faces Nine Years in Jail for Blogposts on Egyptian Politics, Religious Tensions, and Women’s Rights

CAIRO – With Egyptian student Abdel Kareem Soliman about to go on trial for alleged crimes committed on his weblog, an international coalition of bloggers, activists, and political leaders is demanding respect for free expression in Egypt.

The Middle East Interfaith Blogger Network (www.mefaith.com), an alliance of diverse bloggers, is calling upon Egyptian authorities to drop charges against Soliman, who currently faces up to nine years in jail. His trial begins on Thursday.

“Kareem spoke his mind on his blog and did not hide his identity,” said Bahraini blogger Esra’a Al-Shafei, co-founder of the Interfaith Network. “Even though he was critical of Islam, I and the coalition’s other Muslim members respect his right to free speech. Jailing him for expressing his ‘secular’ views is a sign of fear, not the action of an open society.”

Based solely on his blogposts, Soliman is charged with the alleged crimes of “defaming Egypt’s President,” “incitement to hate Islam,” and “highlighting inappropriate aspects that harm the reputation of Egypt.”

But members of the Interfaith Blogger Network argue that the decision to detain Soliman for the past 10 weeks without trial has severely harmed Egypt’s international reputation.

“Many international newspapers have all covered Kareem’s case,” noted network member Dalia Ziada in Cairo. “Millions of people are now aware that Egyptian authorities target bloggers simply for speaking their minds.” Over 2,000 people from around the world have signed the network’s petition demanding Kareem’s release.

In a dramatic development, members of Congress have today taken up Soliman’s case. Congressmen Trent Franks (R-AZ) and Barney Frank (D-MA) sent a letter to Egyptian Ambassador Nabil Fahmy demanding Soliman’s release and calling upon Egypt to respect freedom of expression or freedom of conscience.

Their letter states that the decision to arrest Soliman “simply for displeasure over writings on his personal weblog raises serious concern about the level of respect for these
freedoms in Egypt.”

Egyptian bloggers plan to pack the courthouse in Alexandria, Egypt, on Thursday, and millions of supporters around the world will be following the case via blogposts.

“We hope he will be acquitted,” remarked Al-Shafei, “But we are ready to act if he is convicted.”

Related article -
Congressman Franks Concerned by Lack of Freedom of Religion and Speech in Egypt

Blogger: Mideast Youth - Thinking Ahead
Article: Prisoner of His Words
Originaly Posted On: 2007-01-24 10:13:24

I wrote an op-ed about Kareem for Pajamas Media, and would like to thank Roger for publishing it:

Prisoner of His Words -

Abdelkareem Soliman, also known online as Kareem Amer, is a soft-spoken 22 year-old Egyptian blogger whose basic personal rights have been abused by the Egyptian government. His only “crime” was to publish critical blogposts on the Internet. Due to the “secular” views expressed on his blog, he was expelled from Al-Azhar University and turned over the police prosecutor in Alexandria, Egypt.

Blogging has become an integral part of today’s youth culture around the world. For any young person with Internet access, maintaining a blog is a way to get your name and what you represent out to the global public. For young Middle Easterners, blogs are a lifeline: they let a person safely reveal himself or herself from behind a screen to anyone who would come clicking through.

But, what if these electronic confessions instead became a way for repressive governments to track and arrest you? Rather than having technology set people free, could Orwell’s predictions about state monitoring instead come true? For one Egyptian blogger, 1984’s cautionary tale about a world without rights or privacy has become the very world we live in today.

Aside from his political and religious criticism, Kareem was known for being a staunch defender of women’s rights in the region. He also stood out because he actually revealed his identity, rather than hide behind the mask of anonymity. His site on Blogger listed his name, photograph, and even a phone number – quite a daring act in such an intellectually sheltered society.

Since early November, when Kareem was arrested for the second time, he has been locked away without trial. He has been accused of various crimes, all of which were based solely on his blog entries. These include defaming Egypt’s president and tarnishing the reputation of Egypt. The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information has stated several times that Kareem’s safety and life is at stake, as he is not fit to serve much time in prison.

On Thursday he at last goes on trial and now faces up to 9 years in prison – simply for speaking his mind on his blog. Legal experts in Egypt expect he will receive – at a minimum – a three-year sentence.

Kareem’s detention without trial and ominous fate are threat to anyone in the Middle East who values freedom of expression. For young people in the Arab world, the message is clear. Exercising basic human rights means risking your life and your freedom. With the US government silent (aside from a few Congressional leaders who have protest Kareem’s arrest to the Egyptian government) and the Egyptian regime increasingly assertive, it is becoming increasingly difficult for Arab youth to maintain hope in civil rights in the Middle East.

Nonetheless, many young activists from across the region have united in support of Kareem. And we have done this despite the fact that he harshly criticized our Muslim faith. The Free Kareem campaign consists of many young Muslims, including his lawyers, who not only accept criticism but feel the need to defend the rights of people to freely express such criticism, as it is our only path to a stable democracy.

If there is one positive development to emerge from the prosecution and persecution of Kareem, it is that young Muslim bloggers in the Middle East have sent a message about promoting freedom of expression in our turbulent region.

It would be exceptionally helpful for fellow Americans to join our Free Kareem campaign in support of a young and harmless Middle Eastern blogger. His trial begins (and could end) on Thursday (January 25). If we can stand together – Americans, Middle Easterners, and people of all backgrounds – in support of free expression, we just might be able to hold back the forces of repression.

Al-Shafei, a blogger from Bahrain, runs FreeKareem.org. She is the co-founder of Mideast Youth and the Middle East Interfaith Blogger Network.

Awareness, Blog, Civil rights, e Zine, Egypt, Freedom of speech, General, Media, Politics, USA, Youth