By James Petras* | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz

Introduction

Most accounts of the Arab revolts from Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Morocco, Yemen, Jordan, Bahrain, Iraq and elsewhere have focused on the most immediate causes: political dictatorships, unemployment, repression and the wounding and killing of protestors. They have given most attention to the "middle class", young, educated activists, their communication via the internet, (Los Angeles Times, Feb. 16, 2011) and, in the case of Israel and its Zionists conspiracy theorists, "the hidden hand" of Islamic extremists (Daily Alert Feb. 25, 2011).

What is lacking is any attempt to provide a framework for the revolt which takes account of the large scale, long and medium term socio-economic structures as well as the immediate 'detonators' of political action. The scope and depth of the popular uprisings, as well as the diverse political and social forces which have entered into the conflicts, preclude any explanations which look at one dimension of the struggles.

The best approach involves a 'funnel framework' in which, at the wide end (the long-term, large-scale structures), stands the nature of the economic, class and political system; the middle-term is defined by the dynamic cumulative effects of these structures on changes in political, social and economic relations; the short-term causes, which precipitate the socio-political-psychological responses, or social consciousness leading to political action.

The Nature of the Arab Economies

With the exception of Jordan, most of the Arab economies where the revolts are taking place are based on 'rents' from oil, gas, minerals and tourism, which provide most of the export earnings and state revenues(Financial Times, Feb. 22, 2011, p. 14). These economic sectors are, in effect, export enclavesWorld Bank Annual Report 2009). These export sectors do not have links to a diversified productive domestic economy: oil is exported and finished manufactured goods as well as financial and high tech services are all imported and controlled by foreign multi-nationals and ex-pats linked to the ruling class (Economic and Political Weekly, Feb. 12, 2011, p. 11). Tourism reinforces 'rental' income, as the sector, which provides 'foreign exchange' and tax revenues to the class – clan state. The latter relies on state-subsidized foreign capital and local politically connected 'real estate' developers for investment and imported foreign construction laborers. employing a tiny fraction of the labor force and define a highly specialized economy (

Rent-based income may generate great wealth, especially as energy prices soar, but the funds accrue to a class of "rentiers" who have no vocation or inclination for deepening and extending the process of economic development and innovation. The rentiers "specialize" in financial speculation, overseas investments via private equity firms, extravagant consumption of high-end luxury goods and billion-dollar and billion-euro secret private accounts in overseas banks.

The rentier economy provides few jobs in modern productive activity; the high end is controlled by extended family-clan members and foreign financial corporations via ex-pat experts; technical and low-end employment is taken up by contract foreign labor, at income levels and working conditions below what the skilled local labor force is willing to accept.

The enclave rentier economy results in a clan-based ruling class which 'confounds' public and private ownership: what's 'state' is actually absolutist monarchs and their extended families at the top and their client tribal leader, political entourage and technocrats in the middle.

These are "closed ruling classes". Entry is confined to select members of the clan or family dynasties and a small number of "entrepreneurial" individuals who might accumulate wealth servicing the ruling clan-class. The 'inner circle' lives off of rental income, secures payoffs from partnerships in real estate where they provide no skills, but only official permits, land grants, import licenses and tax holidays.

Beyond pillaging the public treasury, the ruling clan-class promotes 'free trade', i.e. importing cheap finished products, thus undermining any indigenous domestic start-ups in the 'productive' manufacturing, agricultural or technical sector.

As a result there is no entrepreneurial national capitalist or 'middle class'. What passes for a middle class are largely public sector employees (teachers, health professionals, functionaries, firemen, police officials, military officers) who depend on their salaries, which, in turn, depend on their subservience to absolutist power. They have no chance of advancing to the higher echelons or of opening economic opportunities for their educated offspring.

The concentration of economic, social and political power in a closed clan-class controlled system leads to an enormous concentration of wealth. Given the social distance between rulers and ruled, the wealth generated by high commodity prices produces a highly distorted image of per-capital "wealth"; adding billionaires and millionaires on top of a mass of low-income and underemployed youth provides a deceptively high average income (Washington Blog, 2/24/11).

Rentier Rule: By Arms and Handouts

To compensate for these great disparities in society and to protect the position of the parasitical rentier ruling class, the latter pursues alliances with, multi-billion dollar arms corporations, and military protection from the dominant (USA) imperial power. The rulers engage in "neo-colonization by invitation", offering land for military bases and airfields, ports for naval operations, collusion in financing proxy mercenaries against anti-imperial adversaries and submission to Zionist hegemony in the region (despite occasional inconsequential criticisms).

In the middle term, rule by force is complemented by paternalistic handouts to the rural poor and tribal clans; food subsidies for the urban poor; and dead-end make-work employment for the educated unemployed (Financial Times, 2/25/11, p. 1). Both costly arms purchases and paternalistic subsidies reflect the lack of any capacity for productive investments. Billions are spent on arms rather than diversifying the economy. Hundreds of millions are spent on one-shot paternalistic handouts, rather than long-term investments generating productive employment.

The 'glue' holding this system together is the combination of modern pillage of public wealth and natural energy resources and the use of traditional clan and neo-colonial recruits and mercenary contractors to control and repress the population. US modern armaments are at the service of anachronistic absolutist monarchies and dictatorships, based on the principles of 18^th century dynastic rule.

The introduction and extension of the most up-to-date communication systems and ultra-modern architecture shopping centers cater to an elite strata of luxury consumers and provides a stark contrast to the vast majority of unemployed educated youth, excluded from the top and pressured from below by low-paid overseas contract workers.

Neo-Liberal Destabilization

The rentier class-clans are pressured by the international financial institutions and local bankers to 'reform' their economies: 'open' the domestic market and public enterprises to foreign investors and reduce deficits resulting from the global crises by introducing neo-liberal reforms (Economic and Political Weekly, 2/12/11, p. 11).

As a result of "economic reforms" food subsidies for the poor have been lowered or eliminated and state employment has been reduced, closing off one of the few opportunities for educated youth. Taxes on consumers and salaried/wage workers are increased while the real estate developers, financial speculators and importers receive tax exonerations. De-regulation has exacerbated massive corruption, not only among the rentier ruling class-clan, but also by their immediate business entourage.

The paternalistic 'bonds' tying the lower and middle class to the ruling class have been eroded by foreign-induced neo-liberal "reforms", which combine 'modern' foreign exploitation with the existing "traditional" forms of domestic private pillage. The class-clan regimes no longer can rely on the clan, tribal, clerical and clientelistic loyalties to isolate urban trade unions, student, small business and low paid public sector movements.

The Street against the Palace

The 'immediate causes' of the Arab revolts are centered in the huge demographic-class contradictions of the clan-class ruled rentier economy. The ruling oligarchy rules over a mass of unemployed and underemployed young workers; the latter involves between 50% to 65% of the population under 25 years of age (Washington Blog, 2/24/11). The dynamic "modern" rentier economy does not incorporatethe street as venders, transport and contract workers and in personal services. The ultra- modern oil, gas, real estate, tourism and shopping-mall sectors are dependent on the political the newly educated young into modern employment; it relegates them into the low-paid unprotected "informal economy" of and military support of backward traditional clerical, tribal and clan leaders, who are subsidized but never 'incorporated' into the sphere of modern production. The modern urban industrial working class with small, independent trade unions is banned. Middle class civic associations are either under state control or confined to petitioning the absolutist state.

The 'underdevelopment' of social organizations, linked to social classes engaged in modern productive activity, means that the pivot of social and political action is the street. Unemployed and underemployed part-time youth engaged in the informal sector are found in the plazas, at kiosks, cafes, street corner society, and markets, moving around and about and outside the centers of absolutist administrative power. The urban mass does not occupy strategic positions in the economic system; but it is available for mass mobilizations capable of paralyzing the streets and plazas through which goods and services are transported out and profits are realized. Equally important, mass movements launched by the unemployed youth provide an opportunity for oppressed professionals, public sector employees, small business people and the self-employed to engage in protests without being subject to reprisals at their place of employment – dispelling the "fear factor" of losing one's job.

The political and social confrontation revolves around the opposite poles: clientelistic oligarchies and de clasé masses (the Arab Street). The former depends directly on the state (military/police apparatus) and the latter on amorphous local, informal, face-to-face improvised organizations. The exception is the minority of university students who move via the internet. Organized industrial trade unions come into the struggle late and largely focus on sectoral economic demands, with some exceptions – especially in public enterprises, controlled by cronies of the oligarchs, where workers demand changes in management.

As a result of the social particularities of the rentier states, the uprisings do not take the form of class struggles between wage labor and industrial capitalists. They emerge as mass political revolts against the oligarchical state. Street-based social movements demonstrate their capacity to delegitimize state authority, paralyze the economy, and can lead up to the ousting of the ruling autocrats. But it is the nature of mass street movements to fill the squares with relative ease, but also to be dispersed when the symbols of oppression are ousted. Street-based movements lack the organization and leadership to project, let alone impose a new political or social order. Their power is found in their ability to pressureseize power and protect the entire rentier state and economic structure while sustaining their ties with their imperial mentors. existing elites and institutions, not to replace the state and economy.

Hence the surprising ease with which the US, Israeli and EU backed Egyptian military were able to seize power and protect the entire rentier state and economic structure while sustaining their ties with their imperial mentors.

Converging Conditions and the "Demonstration Effect"

The spread of the Arab revolts across North Africa, the Middle East and Gulf States is, in the first instance, a product of similar historical and social conditions: rentier states ruled by family-clan oligarchs dependent on "rents" from capital intensive oil and energy exports, which confine the vast majority of youth to marginal informal 'street-based' economic activities.

The "power of example" or the "demonstration effect" can only be understood by recognizing the same socio-political conditions in each country. Street power – mass urban movements – presumes the streetlocus of the principal actors and the takeover of the plazas as the place to exert political power and project social demands. No doubt the partial successes in Egypt and Tunisia did detonate the movements elsewhere. But they did so only in countries with the same historical legacy, the same social polarities between rentier – clan rulers and marginal street labor and especially where the rulers were deeply integrated and subordinated to imperial economic and military networks. as the economic

Conclusion

Rentier rulers govern via their ties to the US and EU military and financial institutions. They modernize their affluent enclaves and marginalize recently educated youth, who are confined to low paid jobs, especially in the insecure informal sector, centered in the streets of the capital cities. Neo-liberal privatizations, reductions in public subsidies (for food, unemployment subsidies, cooking oil, gas, transport, health, and education) shattered the paternalistic ties through which the rulers contained the discontent of the young and poor, as well as clerical elites and tribal chiefs. The confluence of classes and masses, modern and traditional, was a direct result of a process of neo-liberalization from above and exclusion from below. The neo-liberal "reformers" promise that the 'market' would substitute well-paying jobs for the loss of state paternalistic subsidies was false. The neo-liberal polices reinforced the concentration of wealth while weakening state controls over the masses.

The world capitalist economic crises led Europe and the US to tighten their immigration controls, eliminating one of the escape valves of the regimes – the massive flight of unemployed educated youth seeking jobs abroad. Out-migration was no longer an option; the choices narrowed to struggle or suffer. Studies show that those who emigrate tend to be the most ambitious, better educated (within their class) and greatest risk takers. Now, confined to their home country, with few illusions of overseas opportunities, they are forced to struggle for individual mobility at home through collective social and political action.

Equally important among the political youth, is the fact that the US, as guarantor of the rentier regimes, is seen as a declining imperial power: challenged economically in the world market by China; facing defeat as an occupying colonial ruler in Iraq and Afghanistan; and humiliated as a subservient and mendacious servant of an increasingly discredited Israel via its Zionist agents in the Obama regime and Congress. All of these elements of US imperial decay and discredit, encourage the pro-democracy movements to move forward against the US clients and lessen their fears that the US military would intervene and face a third military front. The mass movements view their oligarchies as "third tier" regimes: rentier states under US hegemony, which, in turn, is under Israeli – Zionist tutelage. With 130 countries in the UN General Assembly and the entire Security Council, minus the US, condemning Israeli colonial expansion; with Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia and the forthcoming new regimes in Yemen and Bahrain promising democratic foreign policies, the mass movements realize that all of Israel's modern arms and 680,000 soldiers are of no avail in the face of its total diplomatic isolation, its loss of regional rentier clients, and the utter discredit of its bombastic militarist rulers and their Zionist agents in the US diplomatic corps (Financial Times 2/24/11, p. 7).

The very socio-economic structures and political conditions which detonated the pro-democracy mass movements, the unemployed and underemployed youth organized from "the street", now present the greatest challenge: can the amorphous and diverse mass becomes an organized social and political force which can take state power, democratize the regime and, at the same time, create a new productive economy to provide stable well- paying employment, so far lacking in the rentier economy? The political outcome to date is indeterminate: democrats and socialists compete with clerical, monarchist, and neoliberal forces bankrolled by the U.S.

It is premature to celebrate a popular democratic revolution....

* James Petras' latest books, Global Depression and Regional Wars (Atlanta, Clarity Press, 2009) is the third in a series, including Zionism, Militarism and the Decline of US Power (Atlanta, Clarity Press 2008) and The Power of Israel in the United States (Atlanta, Clarity Press 2006), analyzing the influence of militarism and Zionism in American foreign policy.

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My company - Zain, cancelled 2009 New Year's celebration in support for Gaza.

Translation: "No celebrations this year until Gaza wounds are healed and injustice is lift off on Gaza."

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• Vote for Homeless Families in Gaza, Vote for Rachel Corrie
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If you thought that Burj Dubai is the end of the "Arabian Dream", you are mistaken.

The new race in the Arab World (to be particular, the Gulf region) is building the highest towers.

Few years ago, Dubai announced that they are going to spend few "Billions" of Dollars to build the highest tower in the world, Burj Dubai, a 818 meter high building.

The tower is in progress and any visitor to Dubai can notice this landmark from anywhere around Dubai.

But that was just the beginning of the race to highest. More proposals are coming to reality!

Kuwait is planing to beat Dubai by building its own "highest tower" in the world, "Mubarak Tower," which is going to be a 1001 meter high. So once this tower is built (God knows how many years) it is going to be the highest tower in the world and is going to washout "Burj Dubai" record.

Of course Dubai doesn't like to be a looser, so they are planing to challenge their own record (Burj Dubai) as well Kuwait's Tower and spend more billions of dollars to take back the for Dubai. New proposals are in action and one of them is to build another tower, "Al Burj." Rumors are saying that it will be as high as 1050-1200 meter. So, Dubai wins again, but between Kuwait and Dubai new plans, Bahrain have a proposal to build something in between, "Murjan Tower," 1022 meter high, and the race goes on...

But wait, this is not the end of the "highest race". Saudi Arabia and it's multi billionaire Prince Al-Waleed Bin Talal is going to join the race through his version of the "highest building". But this one is really impressive.

Mark this...

"Mile High Tower" is the name of the tower which Al-Waleed is intending to build. As the name implies, it is going to be a "MILE HIGH", that is 1600 meter high (which is twice the hight of the yet to be highest tower, Burj Dubai). I say impressive because this number (1600m) is really crazy and will be crazy to compete.

(Click picture to enlarge)

"Mile High", the tallest in the world, will be built in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and no doubt it will beat all the records and hopefully stop the race. For ever! (I wish)

Will Dubai (and others) take a break and spend some of these billions in the development or building something other than towers?

If we have so many "freaks" for height, maybe they should think in spending these billions (or at least some) in building things like the "Space elevator" or something useful other than buildings?!

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It's time of the year for Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2007. With all my reservations regarding Reporters Without Borders neutrality (having doubt after knowing that France is their financial supporter, although they are an NGO!), yet, their report was always a good indicator, if not the closest to reality - at least from my experiences as a blogger from the Middle East with all the sorrow and sad stories that I went through and heard of - when it comes to measure the freedom of speech in general and freedom of press in particular.

Every now and then we hear about new rules and regulations around the Arab World that makes it harder for press to speak the 'truth'. Not to mention the censorship applied in many Arab countries such as - but not limited to - United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Syria, etc... worst is to know that this list is getting bigger day by day, but with different terms and means such as the official watchdogs of local authorities to monitor and nail bloggers and detain them, e.g. Egypt cases.

Having said the above, lets look on how do 'Arab States' stand this year, but before this, let's note the leading paragraph of the report:

Bloggers now threatened as much as journalists in traditional media

Doesn't sound good news at all... following that by few paragraphs,

Outside Europe - in which the top 14 countries are located - no region of the world has been spared censorship or violence towards journalists.

And who are these 14 countries? Iceland, Norway, Estonia, Slovakia, Belgium, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Ireland, Portugal, Switzerland, Latvia, Netherlands and Czech Republic. Congratulations to these leading countries, and shame on the rest!

Note that the Big Brother and the Queen are not in the above list. But anyway, they are better than some others.

Back to Arab States ranking, the story is as expected. Looking at the leading countries from the bottom we find that Somalia, Palestine and Iraq are ranked 159, 158 and 157 respectively. Not surprised by this due to what they are going through with the Israeli occupation from one side and from the USA 'Freedom Operation' on the other side, beside Somalia's 'brothers war', but this is not enough excuse for them to be leading the bottom.

The battle raging between Hamas and Fatah is the main cause of the large number of serious press freedom violations in the Palestinian Territories (158th). Hostage-taking, arrests, physical attacks and ransacking of news organisations - the Palestinian media and the few visiting journalist are threatened from all sides.

In Iraq (157th), what journalists fear most are the armed groups that target them without the authorities ever finding a way to put an end to the litany of violence. More than 200 journalists and media assistants have been killed since the start of the US-led invasion in March 2003.

Next comes Libya ranked 155, which is not far from Palestine and Iraq, but I guess this country is going through worst that Israeli and USA occupation, so they are excused.

Now comes Syria as rank 154 and they are also excused because the are in "continuous state of war" against God knows who?! (if you know, let me know).

Who's next? Saudi Arabia (148), Egypt (146), Tunisia (145), Yemen (143), Sudan (140). Great mix and match. Rich and educated countries with poor and highly illiterate percentage of the population countries, that if we give Sudan the excuse like their Palestinian, Iraqi, Libyan and Syrian brother and assume that they are in war against 'poverty'!

Algeria (123), Jordan (122), Bahrain (118), Morocco (106) and Lebanon (98). Not really good and can do much better, specially Lebanon. Next comes Qatar (79), United Arab Emirates (65), Kuwait (63) and Mauritania (50), which is the best position that any Arabian country could reach this year, so congratulations to Mauritania for being at least among the top 1/3 of the list!

Some non-European countries have made their first appearance in the top 50. They are Mauritania (50th), which has climbed 88 places since 2004, Uruguay (37th) and Nicaragua (47th).

Wow! Big hand for them.

Quoting the report again and looking at the Big Brother:

There were slightly fewer press freedom violations in the United States (48th) and blogger Josh Wolf was freed after 224 days in prison. But the detention of Al-Jazeera’s Sudanese cameraman, Sami Al-Haj, since 13 June 2002 at the military base of Guantanamo and the murder of Chauncey Bailey in Oakland in August mean the United States is still unable to join the lead group.
[...]
We regret all the same that only two G8 members, Canada (18th) and Germany (20th), managed to be among the top 20.

And as a blogger, this is the worst part of the report:

Government repression no longer ignores bloggers

The Internet is occupying more and more space in the breakdown of press freedom violations. Several countries fell in the ranking this year because of serious, repeated violations of the free flow of online news and information.

In Malaysia (124th), Thailand (135th), Vietnam (162nd) and Egypt (146th), for example, bloggers were arrested and news websites were closed or made inaccessible. "We are concerned about the increase in cases of online censorship," Reporters Without Borders said. "More and more governments have realised that the Internet can play a key role in the fight for democracy and they are establishing new methods of censoring it. The governments of repressive countries are now targeting bloggers and online journalists as forcefully as journalists in the traditional media."

At least 64 persons are currently imprisoned worldwide because of what they posted on the Internet. China maintains its leadership in this form of repression, with a total of 50 cyber-dissidents in prison. Eight are being held in Vietnam. A young man known as Kareem Amer was sentenced to four years in prison in Egypt for blog posts criticising the president and Islamist control of the country's universities.

Free Kareem!

Complete list in attached image (click to enlarge).

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• Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006
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I admit I have missed the news when it was announced end of last July, but better late than never.

Honored to be Bahraini by soul for living in Bahrain for the last four years, I am very happy to know that Wafaa Ganahi, a 23-year-old teacher from the Law Faculty of Bahrain University, won the title, while the first runner-up was Miss Egypt Shaimaa Mansour and Miss Lebanon Rula Bahij, 23, was the second runner-up. Out of seventeen women from 15 countries attended the final competition.

On the other hand, what does this contest and these photos tells us other than the general perceptions about such events? Well, for me they mean a lot.

First, let me congratulate Miss Arab World, Miss Bahrain. She deserved it, and this leads me to my first note. As you can see from the attached photos, Miss Bahrain is a veiled lady, which leads to the conclusion that Miss Arab World - as well miss world - does not need to be unveiled to win a beauty contest. At least in beauty standards if you agree with me that veil does not hide beauty. I know that bikini show in such beauty contests is suppose to be a standard event, which probably every male in this universe are looking for :-) but Miss Arab World, and Miss Bahrain broke this rule - if I may consider it as a rule - and won for her beauty, real beauty. Not only that, but she also received official tribute which reflects how open Bahrain is.

Second, I'm not surprised to see some unveiled beauties from the last place one can expect, such as Saudi Arabia. The girl is gorgeous, but I bet that she is on the 'top wanted list' by Saudi religious men now, not for anything related to terrorism, no, but for her unveiled beauty and daring to show up. In my terms, Miss Saudi Arabia won Miss Arab World for her braveness to participate with all what we know about how she was perceived in her home country. Most probably she lives outside Saudi and her dreams to visit her homeland vanished forever.

Third, I'm really surprised and happy to see beauties from other conservative Arab countries such as Miss Yemen and Miss Sudan. They are setting new standards along with Miss Saudi Arabia and breaking all the stereotypes that we hear day and night by the Western media. Yes, behind the Hijab's, Niqab's and Burqa's we have very pretty ladies and we are not ashamed of showing them, in a modest way. A new generation will always fight the taboos for better life.

Last but not least, as a Palestinian, I'm proud to see Miss Palestine participating in this event despite all what Palestinians and the occupied lands are going through day and night by the Israeli terrorist occupation. Unlike Miss Israel, just imagine how many crosscheck she had to pass to reach an Israeli occupied port to be able to travel to Cairo for the event. Even if she lives in Israel, her journey will be under the same rules that govern the travel all Arab and Palestinian from Israel (more humiliating example).

Alright, enough blah blah... back to business, here are some photos I gathered from different sources around the web. In no particular order, take a look at Miss Bahrain, Miss Libya, Miss Saudi Arabia, Miss Lebanon, Miss Tunisia, Miss Egypt, Miss Morocco, Miss Kuwait, Miss Iraq, Miss Jordan, Miss Syria and Miss Algeria.

(Click thumbnail to enlarge)

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Following is a letter from a Bahraini friend working with a NGO providing emergency relief to newly displaced refugees from the Nahr el Bared refugee camp in the North of Lebanon:

Dear friends,

Hope this email finds you safe and well.

From the Shatila (Palestinian) refugee camp in Beirut, I am working at an NGO called the Children and Youth Centre to provide emergency relief to newly displaced refugees from the Nahr el Bared refugee camp in the North of Lebanon.

So far, among the various NGOs (non-governmental organisations) operating in the camp we have registered 230 refugee families from Nahr El Bared (with an average family size of 6) who have escaped the bombardment of the Lebanese army and the firefight between Fath El Islam militants and the Lebanese army.

The number of displaced families has continued to increase during my two weeks in Lebanon, and could well continue to do so.

These families are currently living with other families in the already overcrowded, poor, and slum-like conditions of the Shatila refugee camp, or in some form of temporary accommodation in the surrounding area. Many of them left their homes with nothing more than the clothes on their back.

NGOs have been working to provide the displaced families with food, clothes and shoes, water, medicines, hygiene kits, baby milk and nappies, mattresses, blankets and other basic amenities.

Because of the current political instability in Lebanon it is unclear how long these families will remain displaced. To help their children cope with their traumatic situation we have begun work at the CYC to integrate their children with the children of the Shatila camp through activities at the centre.

Unfortunately, unlike the response to the displacement of Lebanese families during Israel's war on Lebanon last summer this pending humanitarian disaster has failed to draw the support it needs.

I am appealing to individuals, organisations, charities and societies and companies in Bahrain to revive the inspiring humanitarian response to Israel's war on Lebanon last summer and donate money towards providing relief to the Nahr El Bared displaced refugees.

Please contact me directly for information on how to help - I can be reached at kanwal.t@gmail.com, +973 39439990 till next Tuesday, or on + 961 3960367.

Alternatively, direct donations can be made to the CYC:

FIRST NATIONAL BANK-SAL
SWIFT: FINK LBBE
AIC#: 0007 - 138922 - 103
BENEFICIARY: MAHMOUD ABBAS/ ABIR KASSEM
BRANCH: JNAH BRANCH - BEIRUT - LEBANON

I really hope we can regenerate a similar response to support these beleagured people.

thanks,
Kanwal

Some pictures by Kanwal (click image to see full size):

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In the fifth annual Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index, in between 168 indexed countries, our beloved Arab countries makes sure to be among the worst.

Here is the list in order from "best" to "worst":

Kuwait - 73
United Arab Emirates - 77
Mauritania - 77
Qatar - 80
Morocco - 97
Lebanon - 107
Jordan - 109
Bahrain - 111
Algeria - 126
Egypt - 133
Palestine - 134
Sudan - 139
Tunisia - 148
Yemen - 149
Libya - 152
Iraq -154
Syria - 153
Saudi Arabia - 161
Oman - ?

Yemen (149th) slipped four places, mainly because of the arrest of several journalists and closure of newspapers that reprinted the cartoons. Journalists were harassed for the same reason in Algeria (126th), Jordan (109th), Indonesia (103rd) and India (105th).

But except for Yemen and Saudi Arabia (161st), all the Arab peninsula countries considerably improved their rank. Kuwait (73rd) kept its place at the top of the group, just ahead of the United Arab Emirates (77th) and Qatar (80th).

[...]

Lebanon has fallen from 56th to 107th place in five years, as the country’s media continues to suffer from the region’s poisonous political atmosphere, with a series of bomb attacks in 2005 and Israeli military attacks this year. The Lebanese media - some of the freest and most experienced in the Arab world - desperately need peace and guarantees of security. The inability of the Palestinian Authority (134th) to maintain stability in its territories and the behaviour of Israel (135th) outside its borders seriously threaten freedom of expression in the Middle East.

Reporters Without Borders compiled the Index by asking the 14 freedom of expression organisations that are its partners worldwide, its network of 130 correspondents, as well as journalists, researchers, jurists and human rights activists, to answer 50 questions about press freedom in their countries. The Index covers 168 nations. Others were not included for lack of data about them.

- Questionnaire for compiling a 2006 world press freedom index
- How the index was compiled

Evaluation of Middle East can be found here (and Middle East Index - PDF).

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Update Nov 2nd: Mahmood's Blog is back!

It's official, Mahmood's Blog (http://mahmood.tv) will be blocked effective immediately, by the orders of the Bahraini Ministry of Information.

Together with 6 other web sites (listed below), the official memo was delivered to all the ISP's in Bahrain this afternoon.

Mahmood is a prominent Bahraini/Arab blogger. His blog is the most famous one in Bahrain. His blog tagline read: "intelligent... informative... and fun!" and it is.

I just came from a quick visit to Mahmood and he looked very optimistic about unblocking his blog soon.

Immediately after Mahmood made the announcement, he received endless support calls from friends all around the world. He was interviewed in at least three Bahraini daily newspapers and his news will be published tomorrow in Al-Wasat, GDN and Bahrain Tribune. Several letters went out to some NGO's to support unblocking Mahmood's Blog.

Few hours after Mahmood published the official memo, his blog is going up and down due to unexpected bandwidth load from visitors and supporters.

Following is a list of the web sites ordered to be blocked in today's official memo (click on thumbnail to enlarge):

http://www.annaqed.com
http://freecopts.net
http://arabchurch.com
http://www.ladeeni.net
http://www.albawaba.com
http://kurdtimes.com
http://mahmood.tv

Among the above list, only Mahmood's blog is a Bahraini. Other web sites vary between news, religious and entertainment web sites.

Usually, no explanation is given to the web sites owners about the reason their web sites are blocked. However, looking at the official memo, it refers the press law no. 47, passed in 2002, which then added further restrictions on freedom of expression including the prohibition of "defamation of the person of the king and royal family members." On 24 April, 2005, the Information Ministry issued a decree instructing web site and blog moderators of any site that included information on Bahrain to register with the Ministry and to assume responsibility for all materials published online.

In the past, authorities have blocked access to a number of political sites, including those of opposition groups, because the officials claim that these sites incite "sectarianism" and contain "offensive content." The criteria for making such determinations, though, are not clear. In some cases, the Ministry of Information claimed it blocked only sites that seek to "create tension between people and to provoke resentful sectarianism."

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Bahraini citizens protest against Israel's war crimes in Lebanon.

Bahrain has been one of the loudest Arab countries to speak out against the war and that's something to take pride in. This is one of the biggest protests in the Gulf since the war began, Esra'a said.

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Not only they don’t want to help in putting an end to the barbaric terrorist Israeli war on Lebanese... not only they provide a passage for the smart (doubtful) bombs to reach the Israel Terrorist State... but they want us to keep our mouth shut and not to show the world the atrocities committed by their barbaric partners on Lebanon and Palestine.

A letter from the British Embassy in Bahrain to Al Watan newspaper was published today. The text reads:

So, there you go. U.K. talking on behalf of itself and USA as well asking our media not to show the destruction which they are part of. Are they feeling guilty? I doubt! I think they just thought they can frighten the media here.

I bet similar letter was sent to all the media outlets in the Arab world. So, check your daily newspaper, and if you are missing the daily dose of photos of the Israeli crimes, you know who is behind it, and you know if you can trust the newspaper which you are reading or not!!!

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Yesterday, Bahraini families toke their children to protest the terrorist war on Lebanon and the coward massacre by the Israeli terrorist army in Qana.

The Bahraini children made their voice heard and did most of the talking during the protest.

God bless you, kids of Bahrain. You are braver than most of our official who didn't even dare to condemn the Israeli massacre in Qana.

More photos and details of the protest by Esra'a here.

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From last night event at National Democratic Action Society - Bahrain (in Arabic). [Hat tip: ES]

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The following is an abbreviated translation from some of the Arabic-language blogs. It was initially published at Global Voices...

The Blazing Middle East

Third day after the beginning of the never ending Middle East conflict; Israel/Lebanon war, the Arabic blogsphere speaks.

Ranging between anger, celebration, condemnation and support, on both sides of the conflict, the bloggers views vary depends where they come from. Some sound extreme, others sound objective and reasonable, but all hopes that this ends with persistence peaceful and just solution for all, soon.

From Bahrain, Ali glorifies the Shia't Hezbollah operation and call them 'the most honored arab,' yet condemns Sunni's conspiracy against Hezbollah. He said:

From Jordan, Rami simply lay few unanswered questions, he said:

Moodless from Kuwait see this as 'Policy of Foolishness':

From Lebanon, in her last post, Eve first draws the sad pictures of the atrocities, damages, death at door steps, buildings, bridges, airport and all Israeli air raid targets. The second part of her post reveals her wishful unity against Israel aggression. She said:

From Egypt, Jar el-Kamar looks at Hezbollah operation from different perspectives and tries to understand who is benefiting from what:

Last but not least, Osama, a blogger from Palestine post few photos of debris on the Israeli side, caused by Hezbollah rockets and Israeli civilians sitting in shelters and title the post with one line; "They are suffering as much as you are."

Update: This post is highlighted on the CBS Public Eye website:
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2006/07/14/publiceye/entry1805900.shtml

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It was pleasant to read a small news piece in al-Watan newspaper this morning, which states some figures about increasing numbers of visitors through King Fahd Causeway to the Kingdom of Bahrain during last June compared to the same period last month.

The newspaper report that 316,757 car carrying 625,552 passengers passed the bridge between Saudi Arabia and Bahrain during June 2006, which is an increase by 34.75 percent compared to June 2005.

The nice thing is not the numbers (only), but what's behind the numbers. The newspaper put it very simple. It is 'The Da Vinci Code' and Shisha (Water Pipe).

It makes one feel proud that Bahrain was one of the very few countries in the Arab world in general and Islamic world in particular that does not put to many boundaries in front of cultural, art and music events. In spite that there are many voices that asked to stop displaying 'The Da Vinci Code', yet the government did not listen to them and like many other civilized countries, allowed the movie to be displayed.

Back to Shisha; well, it was related to World Cup 2006 and the café shops that aired the Mondial and the customers who are looking for both at one place; Bahrain is always the closest location to find everything. The reason is that Shisha bars are not allowed anywhere in Saudi because … don’t ask me why.

So, there you go… it is simple equation, civilized open country, get wealth that it deserves.

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The following is an abbreviated translation from some of the Arabic-language blogs. It was initially published at Global Voices...

Summer holidays, women rights, war in Iraq and war in Palestine. These are some of the permanent scene in the Arabic language blogsphere these days. Here is some of what few bloggers said:

The daily life of a normal Iraqi is not what one can wish to go through. Tara had a horrifying week:

And the summer holiday has begun. In Bahrain; like in many other countries around, people normally have plans to travel aborad and spend part of the holiday outside the country, otherwise, sit at home, watch TV and browes the net. Tafof is one one them:

?Women rights is not an easy taken subject in the Middle East. Ahmad from Saudi Arabia don't see that women are denyed their rights:

And finally, Kamel Nsirat, in a moment of anger, condemn the ongoing Israeli Invasion of Gaza. Yet, he see that all what is happening is not the fault of Israel or America, but, Arabs:

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