Arabisc: Arabic Bloggers Ken
The following is an abbreviated translation from some Arabic-language blogs. It was initially published at Global Voices!
From Egypt… Malek who was scheduled to be free few days ago is now officially free. He just made his first post, titled: Free Morning. Malek writes:
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??? ????? ?????? ???? ?????? ??? ?? ??? ???? ??? ??? ???? ??? ??? ???? ?? ??? ????? ?? ???? ??? ??? ???
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I was released today at around four thirty
Until now, I haven’t read anything written about me, but seriously, thanks very much to all who wrote or stood by my side
I’ll continue writing soon
Speaking of Egyptian bloggers and the recent reaction of mainstream media, Al Jazeera Network yesterday aired a documentary program about bloggers in the Arab world and focused on Egyptian bloggers. Malek, Alaa and many other bloggers stories were covered. Viewers of the documentary said it was great and will be aired again twice tomorrow.
Bent Mesreya asked her parents to watch the documentary. She wrote about their reaction. She said:
Along the same line of support for the detained bloggers, few Egyptian bloggers are organizing a live music concert; “Sing, Baheya”:
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eheaam@gmail.com
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Sing, Baheya… Ceremony organized by a number of Egyptians Bloggers
In solidarity with our colleague’s bloggers and to honor those arrested and the released ones
Sing, Baheya… Live music concert and theatre play will be held at the Press Syndicate
Those wishing to participate in organizing the ceremony please contact us:
Eheaam@gmail.com
No later than 10 pm - Friday 26, May 2006
The Ghanne Ya Baheya (Sing, Baheya), bloggers (organizers) are welcoming any help. Among these bloggers are, 30 February, Taranim, Seeking Freedom, Ayoub El Masry, Bent Masreya, Tagreba and Shaimaa.
In Kuwait… Following last couple of weeks parliamentary unrest and following the conflict between the Government and large portion of the parliament member regarding the “election zones” law; Kuwait Emir dissolved the Parliament and called for new parliamentary elections by end of June 2006.
The new elections campaign started immediately after the Emir announcement, so did the local newspapers start reporting events and public meetings around the Emirate. However, some bloggers are critical about what pro-government newspapers are showing on their pages.
Jandeef, cut and pasted and then abrogated some photos to prove them fake. The photos that were published by Al-Watan newspaper shows the “Blue-Ribbon” gathering. They are the supporters of the Government proposal for the new “election zones” law. The opponent group is the “Orange-Ribbon” group, which Jandeef seems to be supporting.
Jandeef then writes:
In Lebanon… It was the week of celebrating the anniversary of liberation from the Israeli occupation of Southern Lebanon.
Watani, in support for the “resistance” (a term usually used to describe the Lebanese Hezbollah fighters) writes:
To Saudi Arabia… On reading and censorship… Tech2click asks, “With the internet betweens our hands, do we still don’t read?” While Saad writes about the brutality of the media censorship.
So, Tech2Click writes about reading online:
Saad has another type of problem with reading. He is complaining about the Media’s official type of censorship. He goes far into calling them ignorant. He writes:
??? ?????? ?? ??? ??? ??? ???? ????? ?????? ???? “??????? ?????” ????? ??? (18) ??? ?? ????? ??? ??????? ???????? ???? ???? ???? ?????? ??? ??? ?? ?? ??? ???? ????? ?? ??? ????? ????. ??? ???? ?? ????? ?????? ????? ?? ????? ??? ?? ????? ?????? ????? ??????? ? ??? ??? ??????? ?? ????? ??? ? ?? ??? ??? ??? ??????? ???????? ???? ??????? ? ???? ??? ???? ???? ??? ??????? ??? ???? ?? ???? ??????? ???? ??? ?????? ???? ??? ?? ???? ??? ?????.
??? ????? ????? ??? ??? ???? ?????? ??? ?????? ??????? ????????? ??????? ? ??? ??? ???? ?????? ??? ???? ???????? ????? ????? ????? ?????? ??? ????? ?????? ???? ????? ???? ??? ??? ?????? ??? ????? ????? ????? ?? ????? ?????? ????????? ???????? ???? ???? ??? ?????? ??? ???? ??? ?????? ?? ????? ?? ?????? ????? ??? ????? ??? ???? ???? .. ?????? ???? ???? ???? ????? ?? ???? ?????? ?? ?????? ???? ?????? ??????? ??? ???? ????? ????? ????! .. ??? ??????? ????? ?? ???? ?? ???? ?????? ?? ???? ????? ??? ????.
That was exactly what happened to me a few days ago when I purchased “Islam Today” magazine, where some pages were torn by hand, which distorted the magazine and demonstrated that the work is far from rational mind. As I mentioned before, I do not mind deleting material that contravenes the laws of the Ministry of Information, but this methods are not a satisfactory one, rather, it mocks reader’s mind. There are other ways to do this without readers can come to know about, or well structured methods at least.
This event reminded me of what used to happen at Saudi TV Channel 2, where a film with a lot indecent scene of course will be deleted, but the deletion affects the story of the film until the film’s events become irrelevant and thus the film end while you wonder what happened to this in that part of the story … The question arises: why the film was purchased at first place if nearly half of the film is unsuitable and will be deleted? This incident repeated with in so many films and I still don’t understand them.
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4 Comments on “Arabisc: Arabic Bloggers Ken”
Censorship is a form of control.
Censor anything and you are being controlled.
Some censorship is needed. Child pornography, explicit violence and hateful, radical views that demean other views.
This world is growing smaller and we have to learn how to live together. We have to learn how to accept each others views and understand them.
I am trying everything I can do understand everyones views.
I am just one individual. But I tell everyone I can that there are other views out there.
This site has opened up my eyes so much that I now need eye drops.
This is a good thing. My feelings before were never substantiated until I found this site.
I digress. Thank you for helping me learn the other moderate side that we don’t here in NA.
I pretty much agree. Let me try to spell correctly. My Arabic is weak to non-existant so I won’t try. I am pretty shaken to here about the detaining of bloggers. Detained for what? This makes me pretty worried. I mean here in North America we worry a lot about our rights buit overall we don’t get detained (overall) for what we write. However if what we write is sort of mixed in with some evenly mildly scary acts, and we are unlucky bad things do happen.
I spemnd a lot of time investigating all of this and some of it isn’t easy or simple. I freak out and become distraught a bit when people want everything very much simplified when life or the case at had isn’t simple, part of the problem is that many things aren’t simple. Alas I wish DAs(District Attorneys) would learn that with power comes responsibility even when one is worried, angry or scared.
This is very interesting as I have some friends in the Middle East but none are geeky and Internet oriented, so it is interesting so see people here who are.
Thanks and Have Fun,
Sends Steve
Saudi Arabia circa 1975-1980. No satelite tv. One hour of English language programming per day. 1/2 hour I Love Lucy, the other 1/2 hour Leave it to Beaver. Honest to God!! The rest was Arabic (mostly Egyptian) soap operas and Koranic teachings. You’ve all come a long way despite the censorship. Very glad to see Malek released. Wonderful, absolutely wonderful to be able to talk to all you guys in the Mideast and other places. Keep the channels open. The more we all get to know each other the more the barriers are broken down. Information flowing both ways, PROGRESS, sharing, all good. Thanks Haitham again for this format (and beware of that forbidden zone, tehetehe)