The Tharwa Review

Generation Facebook

By Mona Eltahawy

May 1, 2008

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NEW YORK -- On any given day, the social networking site Facebook connects long lost friends and allows you to "poke" attractive strangers you wish would be your friends. But in Egypt, Facebook is the stage for the latest twist in the generation gap, playing host to politically hungry young Egyptians eager to take on their aging leader.

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On May 4, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak turns 80. To mark the big day for the man who has ruled them for 26 years, Egyptians who have known no other leader and who are increasingly going online to challenge him have urged their compatriots to go on strike, wear black, and write "No" to Mubarak on their money.

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I know all of this, not through news stories, but because activists publicized the details and demands of the strike on Facebook. I don't know most of my 724 "friends" on Facebook, but their messages and their status updates have become invaluable to me -- especially my Facebook friends from Egypt.

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A group promoting the May 4 strike has almost 74,000 members, up from about 60,000 a month ago. Its demands are a minimum wage, salary raises linked to inflation, and legislation and other measures to control prices. As admirable as those goals are, I am just as in awe of the creativity that pours into Facebook.

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One Egyptian posted a rap song in colloquial Arabic that sounded as if it was recorded at a coffee shop -- complete with the sound of water pipes and the click-clack of teacups hitting saucers. While the coffee shop patron's rap lists the country's woes, pictures of t-shirts illustrate the target of the song and the May 4 strike: A black one tells Mubarak simply "It was a black day when you arrived."

Blogging in the Arab World

By Mona Eltahawy

VELEN, Germany-- "If it's longer than three days, I want this message to reach everyone. I don't want to be forgotten in jail," wrote Fouad al-Farhan, a 32 year-old Saudi, to a friend in anticipation of his detention.

Now it's been almost a month since security forces picked him up at work, took him home to get his laptop, and then put him behind bars on December 10.

Farhan's "crime": Blogging.

How very telling that the Saudi authorities consider a blogger dangerous enough to be jailed. It is appalling that he is still detained without charge, but Fahran's ordeal is the latest example of a growing phenomenon in the Arab world:

one person + one blog = one very angry dictator.

Egypt imprisoned a blogger last year after convicting him of insulting Islam and President Hosni Mubarak. Other countries in the region have detained bloggers -- or threatened them and their families, or shut down their blogs.

Why are bloggers so feared by authoritarian regimes in the Arab world? Because they are young and blogging is, at last, a way to express themselves in a world where they are ignored. The majority of the Arab world is under the age of 30 and this majority has few venues to express their views -- political or otherwise.

DAGESTANI ACTIVISTS CONFRONT AIDS IGNORANCE

A pioneering group tries to turn around public attitudes on HIV-infection.
By Anya Zhuzhleva in Makhachakala

Introducing themselves, they give false names: Marat, Amina, Albina and Kazbek. The four form the backbone of the organisation SVOI (the Russian word means "our own" and is also an abbreviation for "freedom of expression of common interests".)

The quartet have sent themselves a breathtakingly difficult goal - to turn around public attitudes towards HIV-infection in one of Russia's most traditional and conservative regions, the mountainous autonomous republic of Dagestan.

After learning about their HIV diagnosis, Marat, Albina and Kazbek (Amina is not infected, but she is married to Marat) initially tried to cope with their problems on their own. They joined forces in May 2005 to found an organisation bringing together people diagnosed with HIV that aims to halt the spread of the infection and increase public awareness about it.

"Although the information about the infection and ways of contracting it are readily available, we constantly encounter ignorance about HIV," said Amina. "For instance, many believe that HIV-positive people cannot give birth to healthy children. But this isn't true! The family Marat and I have is proof of that - our three kids are absolutely healthy."

For HIV sufferers, a slight cold can be potentially fatal. "That is why when we come to beauty salons, saunas, restaurants and cafes, we check if the conditions are sanitary," said Amina. "We do this to reduce the risk of my husband and other guys catching diseases that are dangerous for them, rather than to prevent the spread of HIV."

The pattern of the disease is changing. Doctors say that HIV-infection in Dagestan is no longer a condition that affects only drug-addicts and prostitutes and that housewives are becoming infected as well.

ATTACK ON MUSLIM WOMEN JOURNALISTS:IRAQI REPORTER ASSASSINATED

PRESS RELEASE

June 7, 2007 (London) –The attack against Muslim women reporters continued this morning, as a courageous Iraqi journalist was murdered outside her home in Mosul.

Sahar Hussein al-Haideri, 45, was the top reporter working in the perilous Mosul region, fearlessly writing about efforts by extremist forces to take control of the city and foment sectarian conflict.

Haideri reported for a Mosul newspaper, for the Voices of Iraq news agency, and for the Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR), where she had participated in numerous training and exchange programs over the past three years.

Her most recent story was a moving feature on the stoning to death of a young Yezidi girl who had converted to Islam after falling in love with a Muslim boy. See:

http://www.iwpr.net/?p=icr&s=f&o=335541&apc_state=henpicr.

Haideri had long been concerned about her security, and for the past year had contributed reports to IWPR under a pseudonym. Six months ago her husband and four children moved to Damascus, and she had recently relocated to Syria herself.

She was on a brief visit back to her home in Mosul. Several individuals confronted her as she left her house this morning and shot her dead.

Earlier this week, Zakia Zaki, 35, a prominent Afghan woman journalist, and Sanga Amach, a 22-year-old television news presenter, were murdered in separate incidents in Kabul.

"Women journalists have demonstrated particular tenacity and bravery in Afghanistan, Iraq, Uzbekistan and other Islamic countries, reporting on the human costs of conflict and the efforts of mostly male-dominated power structures to undermine democracy," said Anthony Borden, executive director of IWPR, an international not-for-profit organisation which supports local journalists in conflict areas and maintains extensive programming in Iraq.

Egypt: Flawed Military Trials for Brotherhood Leaders

Human Rights Groups, Media Barred from Observing Trial

(Cairo, June 5, 2007) – The Egyptian government on June 3 refused to allow human rights groups to observe the military trial of 33 leading members of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, undercutting the government 's claims that civilians will have a fair trial before military courts, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said today.

Amnesty International, the Arab Commission for Human Rights, the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights, and Human Rights Watch had sent observers to monitor the trial of 33 leading members of the Brotherhood. None of the groups was allowed to attend. Among the accused is Khairat al-Shatir, th e Brotherhood's deputy supreme guide, who was arrested on December 14, 2006, along with 16 other prominent Muslim Brotherhood members in predawn raids. They were subsequently charged with membership in a banned organization, and providing students with weapons and military training. On January 29, 2007, a Cairo criminal court dism issed all charges against al-Shatir and his co-defendants and ordered their immediate release. Security forces re-arrested the men moments after the ruling, and on February 4, President Hosni Mubarak, ignoring the court 's verdict, ordered the cases, and those of 23 other alleged members of the Brotherhood, transferred to a military court. On May 8, a Cairo administrative court ruled that President Mubarak 's order was invalid, but on May 14, the Supreme Administrative C ourt reversed that decision after the government appealed. After the June 3 session, the court adjourned until July 15.

"Having failed to secure convictions from ordinary criminal courts, the government is now turning to a military tribunal to deliver the desired verdict," Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch , said.

From women's empowerment to peace

Deborah Weissman

JERUSALEM - The academic year of 1995-1996 was most eventful for Israelis. November saw the assassination of our Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and several months later, a spate of bus bombings led to the election of Netanyahu. In November, shortly after the murder, and then again in May, the Ecumenical Institute at Tantur, overlooking Jerusalem on one side, and Bethlehem on the other, sponsored a series of interfaith encounters among women. The women represented two nationalities: Jewish and Palestinian-Arab, and four religious traditions: Jewish, Christian, Muslim and Druze. The Arab women were both Israeli citizens and Palestinians from the Occupied Territories. The first day of the deliberations was devoted to "How does my tradition present me with obstacles as a woman?" But the second day was devoted to "How does my tradition empower me as a woman?" I had the privilege and the challenge of appearing on the second panel.

One of the important developments among Israeli women since that time has been the establishment of an Orthodox Jewish religious feminist movement called Kolech ("Your Voice") that started in 1998 and will hold its 5th International Conference during the summer of 2007. Each of the conferences - even those held during the height of the second intifada - have been well attended by Israeli Jewish women, from all sides of the political spectrum. A fairly high percentage of the women are settlers, living in the territories, leading at least one prominent Israeli religious feminist to boycott the organization.

For some - although by no means all - religious feminists (from the different faith-communities), the questions of gender equality are closely related to those of peace and co-existence between different national and religious groups. Both issues relate ultimately to the question of human rights and, for a religious Jew, are based on the belief that all human beings are created in the Divine Image. Some of us maintain that women should have special sensitivity to the Other, because of our own history of Otherness and oppression.

Can religion indeed be an empowering force for women and one that promotes the cause of peace and understanding among peoples in this troubled region? The prevalent image of religion in the world today - and especially in the Middle East - is an image of extremism, of xenophobia and of violence.

Israeli and Palestinian women: the rising force for peace

Patricia Smith Melton

WASHINGTON - Some people know a lot of things about some people who live in Israel or Palestine, but to apply the word "expert" to any one person for the region is problematic. One person's expert is another's fabulist, or even propagandist. "Expert opinions", and there are many, contradict each other, whether they read as rational or emotional.

Even with the best of intentions, no one person can have the brain power, detachment from conscious or unconscious personal agenda, historical knowledge, on the ground connections across the divides, or calculation moxie to be expert on the whole of the Palestinian and Israeli people, their histories, intents or hopes. The infinite variety of historical and perceptual "truths" form a mosaic that looks different depending upon where you stand and the amount of metaphorical sun or dark at that moment.

In the region we can only know what we witness first hand, and even that goes through personal filters. My own witnessing has been with Palestinian and Israeli female activists, on both sides of the wall. Over the past three years I have also witnessed, and put through my filters, several trends: subtle but significant changes in language, emerging concepts, and fluctuations in the hope quotient.

First, the women: by definition a female leader is a woman with both the personal power and a cultural "window" through which to rise to her uniqueness within the crucible of the Holy Land. She is tempered out of fire. These self-selecting women possess certain qualities that I witnessed across the cultural and physical divides of the region. They include emotional resilience and stamina, confidence in themselves that started when they were young, the capacity for inner joy, comfort with command positions, the ability to strategize, the willingness to try new methods, and the courage to face off entrenched male leaders in their governing bodies.

Whether the woman is Jihad Abu Zneid, member of the Palestinian Legislative Council from Jerusalem and founder of the Women's Centre of the Shu'fat Refugee Camp, or Tal Kramer, Executive Director of the Association of Rape Crisis Centers of Israel, these qualities prevail. Whether she is Shula Keshet, Executive Director of Ahoti, the umbrella organization for Mizrahi women (Jewish women from Arab or Muslim countries) of Israel, or Ghada Issa, co-director of Hope Flowers School in Bethlehem, the women know what they are up against and they are not daunted by it.

KARACHAI-CHERKESSIA: OPPOSITION IN RETREAT

Removal of top judge will hand initiative to local president.

By Murat Gekemukhov in Cherkessk

Opponents of the leader of the North Caucasian republic of Karachai-Cherkessia suffered a blow last week when the head of the Supreme Court, their unofficial leader, was told his term in office would not be extended.

On May 22, Russia's Chamber of Judges refused to grant Islam Burlakov, chairman of the region's Supreme Court, another six-year term. His tenure expires on September 1. Normally, the post holder would serve more than one term.

In Karachai-Cherkessia, where Burlakov had become the figurehead of opposition to the republic's president, Mustafa Batdyev, the move was interpreted as showing Moscow's backing for the beleaguered local leader.

In September 2003, Burlakov was defeated by Batdyev in presidential elections. Since then, Burlakov became a rallying point for those opposed to the new president, especially many from the ethnic Karachai majority in one of Russia's most ethnically-mixed republics.

Burlakov himself never spoke out in public - and the presidential administration has not commented on the rebuff given the top judge by the Chamber of Judges.

But he is associated with a number of important figures opposed to Batdyev, including members of the local parliament, municipal officials and media editors.

Since Burlakov had headed the Supreme Court, courts in the republic have passed a number of decisions that have undermined the power of the president.

Egypt: Muslim Brothers Arrested Ahead of Elections

Video Interviews Describe Torture of Brotherhood Detainees

(Cairo, May 30, 2007) – The Egyptian government has intensified its arrest campaign against the Muslim Brotherhood ahead o f elections to the upper house of parliament, Human Rights Watch said today, as Human Rights Watch released video interviews with former Brotherhood detainees. 

According to Brotherhood lawyers, between May 12 and 19, security forces arrested 87 members of the organization, which is Egypt's largest opposition group despite being banned since 1954. Sixty-four came from districts where the group is fielding candidates in the June 11 elections to the Shura Council, the upper house of Egypt 's parliament. On May 28, police arrested three candidates running as independents, but affiliated to the Muslim Brotherhood, from the Nile Delta town of Mit Ghamr.

"In the week Egypt boasted about its election to the UN Human Rights Council, it was arresting scores of people solely for exercising their right to free association and free speech," said Joe Stork, deputy director of Human Rights Watch 's Middle East division. 

Human Rights Watch today released video interviews with eight Muslim Brotherhood members recounting earlier detentions. In the interviews, they describe torture and abuse suffered at the hands of security forces and their sentencing by military courts. 

Human Rights Watch also listed the names of 223 members of the Muslim Brotherhood currently imprisoned for attempting to exercise their rights to freedom of association and expression. Human Rights Watch has collected names of more than 1,000 members of the group detained between March 2006 and March 2007.

Iran: Another Iranian-American Scholar Detained

Crackdown Against Iranian Civil Society Intensifies

(New York, May 24, 2007) – The increasing arrests and detentions of Iranian-American scholars in Iran points to an Iranian government campaign to deter local civil society activists from interacting with Iranians based abroad, Human Rights Watch said today. 

The Iranian authorities should immediately release the three Iranian-Americans and the dozens of activists, teachers and scholars arbitrarily detained in a recent government crackdown.

On May 11, agents of the Ministry of Information arrested Kian Tajbakhsh, an Iranian-American sociologist, at his home in Tehran. He is being detained without charge in Tehran's notorious Evin prison. The Ministry of Information is currently holding at least three Iranian-Americans, including Tajbakhsh. It has also confiscated the passport of a fourth Iranian-American, preventing her from leaving the country.

"The Iranian government is holding Iranian-Americans as pawns in its crackdown on local Iranian civil society," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "Intelligence agents are trying to force these detainees to make false confessions to incriminate the broader community of Iranian activists and scholars."

Human Rights Watch said that any statements made by the detainees, while in detention and in the absence of their lawyers, are not credible. The government is holding all of these Iranian-American detainees in incommunicado detention.

Tajbakhsh is a 45-year-old former professor at the New School for Social Research in New York. He has worked as a consultant for several Iranian government agencies, including Iran's Municipalities Organization and the country's Social Security Organization. In addition, he has consulted for international organizations such as the World Bank and the Open Society Institute. Tajbakhsh is being held in incommunicado detention without access to legal counsel.