Tuesday, March 23, 2010
'Shankaboot'
""In the first 10 episodes, we are introducing lovely, interesting characters that young people can identify with," producer Katia Saleh told The Times. "Down the line, [we'll] introduce other topics that would appeal to Arab youth and are not brought up in the mainstream media, something appropriate for the Web.""
Here's episode one (spot the CTU link) and two:
More episodes to follow (they're up to episode 4).
Labels: Arabic internet, BBC, Lebanon, Lebanon internet, television, YouTube
Monday, March 22, 2010
Dubai SMS
BBC News, Dubai jails Indian pair for 'sexy texts', 17 Mar 2010 "Steamy text messages have resulted in a three-month jail sentence for an Indian man and an Indian woman in Dubai."
Labels: Dubai, Dubai internet, Prosecutions, SMS
Netherlands online shopping
NRC Handelsblad Media Netherland, Online Islamic sex-shop opens for business, 19 Mar 2010 "Not knowing whether his religion would allow the trade in sex products, Aouragh visited an imam, who in turn consulted a Saudi sheik. It was allowed, he learned, as long as the products were halal and meant to improve sex within marriage. "There is even a fatwa on the subject." That just left the problem of how to tell his parents. "It's a forbidden subject for the first generation here,” he said. Whenever his parents bring the matter up, Aouragh tries to quickly change the subject. “I tell them: yes, um, could I have some more tea?”"
Labels: Dutch internet, fatwas, Halal, Islam and gender, Netherlands, sexuality
Haystack in Iran
Aleks Krotoski, Observer, Austin Heap: how I helped Iran's citizens to beat the censor, 21 Mar 2010
"Austin Heap, the programmer from California, explains how he created Haystack, the software that broke the grip of Iran's censors after the disputed 2009 election."
Details: Haystack
"Austin Heap, the programmer from California, explains how he created Haystack, the software that broke the grip of Iran's censors after the disputed 2009 election."
Details: Haystack
Labels: censorship, Iran, Iranian internet
Ushahidi
Anand Giridharadas, NY Times, Africa's Gift to Silicon Valley: How to Track a Crisis, 14 Mar 2010 "This kind of everyone-as-informant mapping is shaking up the world, bringing the Wikipedia revolution to the work of humanitarians and soldiers who parachute into places with little good information. And an important force behind this upheaval is a small Kenyan-born organization called Ushahidi, which has become a hero of the Haitian and Chilean earthquakes and which may have something larger to tell us about the future of humanitarianism, innovation and the nature of what we label as truth. "
Details: ushahidi.com
Details: ushahidi.com
Labels: crowd sourcing, Kenya, social networking
Friday, March 19, 2010
Cyber crime
BBC News, Cyber crime losses in US almost 'double' during 2009, 19 Mar 2010 "One scam that proved popular in 2009 involved people receiving an e-mail from the "Ishmael Ghost Islamic Group". The sender claims he has been told to assassinate the recipient and their family. Only by giving a donation to a UK group that helps Islamic expatriates will the death threat be lifted.""
Labels: crime
Islam Online "on-strike" [update]
Bibi-Aisha Wadvalla, Guardian, Comment is free, Why we're on strike at IslamOnline, 18 Mar 2010 "The dominoes came falling down as we learned that Qatar had blocked Egypt's access to the server. Then it was revealed that a contract – of which nobody seemed aware – between al-Balagh and Media International (which produces the website for al-Balagh) ends on 31 March and will not be renewed, and all employees will be released. The duplicity by Qatar persisted, with promises made to compensate those who resigned. They reneged on the deal a day later."
Labels: Egypt, Islam Online, Qatar internet, Yusuf al-Qaradawi
Anwar al-Awlaki
VOA News, Yemeni-American Cleric Calls for Violence in US, 18 Mar 2010 "Yemenis say he is little known in his home country, because he grew up in America, and preaches in English. But on the Internet, he is the jihadist equivalent of a pop-star. His audio lectures have gone viral, as he tries to radicalize young Westerners by tugging at their heartstrings."
Labels: al-Qaeda, American Muslims, Anwar al-Awlaki, Yemen, Yemen internet
Thursday, March 18, 2010
IOL update
almasryalyoum.com, Ashraf Khalil, Hossam el-Hamalawy,Islam Online staffers win?, 17 Mar 2010 "Strikers were informed around 9 PM that an emergency meeting had been held for the board and general assembly of the Islamic Message Society, the Qatar-based religious NGO that funds the site and which is headed by the influential Egyptian-born Sheikh Youssef el-Qaradawi. The attendees voted to suspend the authority of two new members, who striking staffers viewed as the primary reasons behind rising newsroom tensions that eventually led to the staff walk-out."
Abdel-Rahman Hussein, Daily News Egypt, zawya.com, Islam Online sit-in continues after mass resignation, 17 Mar 2010
Abdel-Rahman Hussein, Daily News Egypt, zawya.com, Islam Online sit-in continues after mass resignation, 17 Mar 2010
Labels: Egypt, Islam Online, Yusuf al-Qaradawi
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
arabcrunch.com, Facebook Shows Respect to its Muslims Users and Deletes the Fake “God” Fan page!, 16 Mar 2010
Labels: Facebook
'The New Landscape of the Religion Blogosphere'
Social Science Research Council Online, The New Landscape of the Religion Blogosphere haven't read this report yet, so I'm not sure how much of its content relates directly to this blog. See the comments from Heidi Campbell, SSRC & the New Landscape of the Religious Blogosphere
Labels: academia, blogging, research
Online recruitment
AP, Recent cases show challenge of US terrorists, 17 Mar 2010 "Jihadi groups that recruit and inspire are nebulous and in many cases small and connected only by extremist ideology espoused on the Internet. The appeal is the notion that "somebody does want me," said Jack Tomarchio, a former top intelligence official at the Homeland Security Department."
Labels: al-Qaeda, American Muslims, internet jihad
'al-Qaida in Aceh'
Niniek Karmini & Chris Brummitt, AP, Indonesian militants recruit fighters in video, 18 Mar 2010, "Part or all of the video briefly appeared on a militant-linked blog on the Internet, released by the militants soon after the camp was raided, the first documented case of a terrorist training camp in Indonesia for five years. Two short clips are currently available on YouTube."
Labels: Aceh, al-Qaeda, indonesia, Indonesian internet
"Pakistan Charges Americans With Terrorism"
NYT, Pakistan Charges Americans With Terrorism, 18 Mar 2010 "Pakistani authorities have said that the men, encouraged by Internet contacts with a Pakistani militant, traveled to Pakistan last year seeking to wage jihad against American troops in Afghanistan. They were arrested in mid-December in the city of Sargodha, and have been jailed there since."
Labels: al-Qaeda, Pakistan, Prosecutions
Uzbekistan censorship allegations
Forum 18, UZBEKISTAN: Internet censorship continues, 16 Mar 2010"Uzbekistan continues to impose widespread and swift internet censorship on Russian-language websites, Forum 18 News Service notes."
Labels: internet censorship, Uzbekistan Internet
New England 'radical network'
PR Newswire, New Video Shows Radical Islamic Network in New England, 17 Mar 2010
Labels: American Muslims
Sheikh Youssef al-Ahmad: "Rebuild Holy Mosque"
earthtimes.com, Rebuild Holy Mosque to keep sexes apart, Saudi cleric says, 17 Mar 2010"A hardline Saudi cleric has suggested demolishing the Holy Mosque in Mecca and rebuilding it in a drastic bid to prevent men and women from mingling during pilgrimages. Sheikh Youssef al-Ahmad told a Saudi satellite television channel Wednesday that the mosque should be demolished and replaced with a new one featuring "10, 20 or 30" floors.
"The floors would then be divided between men and women, al-Ahmad said in video footage posted on the Internet."
"The floors would then be divided between men and women, al-Ahmad said in video footage posted on the Internet."
Labels: mosques, Saudi Arabia
Islam Online update
bikyamasr.com, Deena Khalil, IslamOnline was more than a job, 17 Mar 2010 "We, the editors of IslamOnline.net and all its subsidiary websites, hold strong to the Qur’anic verse that says “Thus we have created you a community of the middle way” (Al-Baqarah 2:143). We are passionate about Islam, and we are passionate about the Islamic principle of moderation in all things. We are not here just because this is our job, we are here because we believe in this message, and we love this message, and we want to contribute to its being heard.
"I can safely say that the overwhelming majority of IoL workers, from managers to editors to journalists to everyone else, has lived every minute in this company based on this statement. IoL is not a normal company. This place has so much heart, it really did feel like one big family."
Abdel-Rahman Hussein, Daily News Egypt, zawya.com, Over 300 Islam Online employees resign, 16 Mar 2010 "The majority of Islam Online (IOL) Egypt's 330 staff submitted their resignation following a two-day sit-in spurred by warnings of mass lay-offs and employee investigations by the website's Qatari owner.
"The sit-in, at IOL's Egypt headquarters in Sixth of October City, continued for the second day Tuesday after staff at the Cairo office were informed Monday that the holding company Al-Balagh Foundation would not renew their contracts when they expire at the end of March."
Jack Shenker, Guardian, Workers' jihad at Islamic website, 16 Mar 2010 ""We're all resigning," Fathi Abu Hatab, a former IslamOnline journalist and one of the strike leaders, told me over the phone from inside the building. "If we lose this battle then IslamOnline as we know it will be dead. We were an exception – in our professionalism, in our moderation, in our refusal to be bound by hidden agendas. And like all exceptions in the Arab World, we've come to the end of the line.""
Ashraf Khalil, Times Online, Islam Online faces collapse after Cairo staff revolt over ‘religious pressure’, 17 Mar 2010
"I can safely say that the overwhelming majority of IoL workers, from managers to editors to journalists to everyone else, has lived every minute in this company based on this statement. IoL is not a normal company. This place has so much heart, it really did feel like one big family."
Abdel-Rahman Hussein, Daily News Egypt, zawya.com, Over 300 Islam Online employees resign, 16 Mar 2010 "The majority of Islam Online (IOL) Egypt's 330 staff submitted their resignation following a two-day sit-in spurred by warnings of mass lay-offs and employee investigations by the website's Qatari owner.
"The sit-in, at IOL's Egypt headquarters in Sixth of October City, continued for the second day Tuesday after staff at the Cairo office were informed Monday that the holding company Al-Balagh Foundation would not renew their contracts when they expire at the end of March."
Jack Shenker, Guardian, Workers' jihad at Islamic website, 16 Mar 2010 ""We're all resigning," Fathi Abu Hatab, a former IslamOnline journalist and one of the strike leaders, told me over the phone from inside the building. "If we lose this battle then IslamOnline as we know it will be dead. We were an exception – in our professionalism, in our moderation, in our refusal to be bound by hidden agendas. And like all exceptions in the Arab World, we've come to the end of the line.""
Ashraf Khalil, Times Online, Islam Online faces collapse after Cairo staff revolt over ‘religious pressure’, 17 Mar 2010
Labels: Egypt, Islam Online
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Islam Online "on-strike" [update]
There's a Facebook group: IslamOnline Supporters
Also see:
Ashraf Khalil, almasryalyoum.com, Islam On-Strike, 15 Mar 2010
"Hundreds of employees of the widely read Islamic news website Islam Online walked off their jobs Monday afternoon, plunging the organization into chaos and calling its future into question. As of Monday evening, several dozen employees were staging an angry sit-in at the website’s main office in 6th of October City.
"The dispute, according to current and former employees, stems from long-simmering tensions between the website’s Cairo newsroom and a new board of directors based in Qatar. Striking employee Fathi Abu Hatab said the site’s new directors had been interfering in editorial content and seeking to alter the moderate tone and diversity of that content, which he says are the site’s signatures."
Also see Joseph Mayton, bikyamasr.com, Islam Online in crisis as administration threatens to fire journalists, 15 Mar 2010 "Prominent Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawy, who is technically the owner of Islam Online, has been out of touch during the ordeal. Employees attempted to get in touch with him, but to no avail. HMLC said that the sheikh “had promised the workers all of their rights and the continuation of the Cairo branch or he would resign, but it seems the Qatari side has taken advantage of Qaradawy’s health and his trip to Saudi Arabia.”
"The law center said this was an attempt to take advantage of the situation while he is away.
"This left the Egyptian blogosphere up in arms over the development, which has been updating the situation constantly. According to reports, the new administration wants a more “conservative approach” to what has long been considered one of the few voices for moderate Islamic perspectives online in both English and Arabic."
One senses that a question to 'Ask the Scholar' on industrial action may be appropriate at this juncture. I will continue to follow this dispute and its ramifications.
Labels: Egypt, Egyptian internet, Facebook, Islam Online, Twitter, Yusuf al-Qaradawi
Skype in Persian Gulf
LA Times, Babylon & Beyond, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Skype plans to open Persian Gulf office in effort to tackle ban, 15 Mar 2010 "At a recent media conference in Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates, Skype announced plans to open an office in the Persian Gulf in the next few months in a move to try to lift a ban imposed on the service in several parts of the region and develop strategic partnerships in the area, media reports say."
Labels: censorship, internet campaigning, Skype, UAE
'Enemies of the Internet' report
See Reporters Without Borders, Web 2.0 versus Control 2.01, 12 Mar 2010 and read the report Enemies of the Internet (pdf)
Labels: censorship, internet campaigning, internet censorship
Skype ban rumours
Joseph Mayton, bikyamasr.com, Banning Skype rumors in Egypt, 15 Mar 2010 "Egyptian bloggers have been musing over whether the international calling site Skype will be blocked in the country. Global Voices first reported the rumors after a few bloggers commented on Vodafone Egypt purportedly told them they could not access Skype using their 3G mobile modem device. The rumors have yet to be substantiated and mystery surrounds the possible move to limit the use of the internet calling application."
Labels: censorship, Egypt, Skype
Halal food dispute
David Sapsted, The National, Halal dispute over Kentucky Fried Chicken
"A trial involving the sale of halal poultry at dozens of outlets of a fast-food chain across Britain has left groups of Christians and Muslims embroiled in two very different controversies.
"On one hand, non-Muslim groups are setting up internet petitions against KFC’s move to sell halal-only products in the trial at 74 of its outlets across the country. On the other, Muslims themselves are questioning whether, in fact, the poultry being sold is truly halal."
"A trial involving the sale of halal poultry at dozens of outlets of a fast-food chain across Britain has left groups of Christians and Muslims embroiled in two very different controversies.
"On one hand, non-Muslim groups are setting up internet petitions against KFC’s move to sell halal-only products in the trial at 74 of its outlets across the country. On the other, Muslims themselves are questioning whether, in fact, the poultry being sold is truly halal."
Dede Med, "internet hummus queen"
Wall Street Journal, Shawarma, Ready-to-Eat: Arab Cuisine Invades Camp Pendleton, 16 Mar 2010
"Before she opened her stand, Ms. Hazime, who is also a real-estate broker in Irvine, Calif., had already built up a loyal following for her cooking. Her online alter ego, "Dede Med," is the reigning Internet queen of the mashed chickpea spread called hummus. Ms. Hazime's Web site, featuring recipes, is called "Dede's Mediterranean Kitchen ." She teaches cooking with short, online videos.
"Her hummus video has had more than 343,000 views since it was posted three years ago.
"Ms. Hazime's husband, who owns a computer business installing Google applications, manages her online career. Each night, Mr. Hajibrahim logs onto his computer from the couple's small apartment and searches Arabic food recipes to see where his wife ranks."
Dede Med is here, and looks great. The site contains lots of familiar recipes! Of course, everyone has their own version of key dishes. We certainly need more food on this blog (not just food for thought). I plan to try this out in due course:
"Before she opened her stand, Ms. Hazime, who is also a real-estate broker in Irvine, Calif., had already built up a loyal following for her cooking. Her online alter ego, "Dede Med," is the reigning Internet queen of the mashed chickpea spread called hummus. Ms. Hazime's Web site, featuring recipes, is called "Dede's Mediterranean Kitchen ." She teaches cooking with short, online videos.
"Her hummus video has had more than 343,000 views since it was posted three years ago.
"Ms. Hazime's husband, who owns a computer business installing Google applications, manages her online career. Each night, Mr. Hajibrahim logs onto his computer from the couple's small apartment and searches Arabic food recipes to see where his wife ranks."
Dede Med is here, and looks great. The site contains lots of familiar recipes! Of course, everyone has their own version of key dishes. We certainly need more food on this blog (not just food for thought). I plan to try this out in due course:
Labels: cuisine, Facebook, food, Halal, Iraq, Popular culture
TRA bans Facebook site
Abdulla Rasheed, gulfnews.com, TRA bans offensive Facebook page in UAE, 16 Mar 2010 "The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) instructed all internet service providers in the UAE to block a specific site on Facebook that is insulting to God, the prophets and Islam.
""TRA received numerous calls and complaints from internet users expressing their anger against unidentified people who created a site on Facebook that is offending to God, prophets, messengers, the Holy Quran and even to all God's books," said Mohammad Al Ganem, TRA General Manager."
""TRA received numerous calls and complaints from internet users expressing their anger against unidentified people who created a site on Facebook that is offending to God, prophets, messengers, the Holy Quran and even to all God's books," said Mohammad Al Ganem, TRA General Manager."
Labels: Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi internet, Facebook, internet censorship, UAE, UAE internet
Jamie Paulin-Ramirez
NYT, In Ireland, a Hearing on a Plot to Kill a Swedish Cartoonist, 16 Mar 2010 "Ms. Paulin-Ramirez’s mother, Christine Mott, 59, said in an interview last week in Colorado that her daughter announced her conversion to Islam last Easter and became increasingly estranged from her family. She said that Ms. Paulin-Ramirez had been in contact with a man named Ali via the Internet, and that in the months before she left for Europe she had spent a lot of time on the computer, even neglecting her son from a previous marriage, Christian, 6, who is now in a state-run children’s home in Waterford."
Labels: cartoons, Ireland, Jihad Jane, Sweden
Monday, March 15, 2010
The LSDP Top 100 Global thinkers of 2009
Someone sent me this link today: the LSDP [Lo Spazio della Politica] Top 100 Global thinkers of 2009. I seem to have made it to No. 73 (!).
Labels: academia, Gary Bunt's publications, research
Workshop announcement: “e-Arabic and Cyberspace: the Marginalized Voices”
Sponsored by the British Academy and in association with the American University of Sharjah, UAE; Centre for the Advanced Study of the Arab World (CASAW); School of Modern Language and Cultures and the School of Government and International Affairs, Durham University, 10th and 11th June 2010
The recent proliferation of media platforms in the Arab World has provided an extraordinary number of perspectives from which to analyse civil society and its development. Hot on the heels of the ‘Al Jazeera revolution’, cyberspace is now viewed as having quickly overtaken satellite television in terms of its capacity to house and engender the discussion and expression of ideas and opinions that would not normally find their way to the public arena. These ‘marginalized’ groups with their diverse claims based on recognition are the focus of this workshop. Examples of these groups include, women, ethnic/religious minorities (e.g., Kurds, Berbers, Armenians, Shi’ites in Sunni-majority societies, Copts, Druze, Jews in Arab countries), LGBT, the socio-economically disadvantaged, to mention a few.
‘Arabic cyberspace’ is characterized by varying registers of the Arabic language and the incorporation of various dialects and borrowing from foreign languages. These various linguistic manifestations can be termed ‘e-Arabic’ and are a central theme of this workshop. This e-Arabic is a ‘new’ language used on the internet and mobile telephony which mixes, borrows and evolves, using numbers, Roman letters, Arabic script characters, emoticons and words from other languages, to engage not only with the globalised discourse, but also to highlight the specific ways in which the local frames the global. Blogging in particular, has become a popular way of reaching out to others with similar political, religious, cultural, social or economic interests and forming interest networks unrestricted by geographical boundaries. Recent findings published by the Berkman Centre for Internet and Society at Harvard University suggest that the largest dialectical linguistic groupings in the Arabic blogosphere were Egyptian, Saudi Arabian, Kuwaiti, Levantine/English, mixture), Syrian and Magrebhi/French mixture. Thus the usage of Arabic dialects is itself an important aspect of cyber discourses and provides a new area of inquiry for the assessment of the implications of diglossic manifestations in broader cultural forms.
Possible topic areas include, but are not restricted to, the following:
- e-Arabic in language and literature (new forms & mainstream literature).
- Gender and Arabic cyberspace
- Ethnic minority voices/publics (e.g. Kurds, Berbers)
- Religious minority voices /publics (e.g. Copts, Shia, Druze, Jews)
- The socio-economically disadvantaged
- The use of social networking technologies in civil society and political opposition movements.
- Relationship between groups and their registers of expression in Arabic
- The use of e-Arabic in the communicative process
- Potential dominance of particular dialects (Egyptian, Levantine etc.)
- The structural layout of ‘Arabic cyberspace’, i.e. who says what and where (geographically)
Papers concerned with oppositional and marginalized voices within the virtual realm and interdisciplinary approaches are particularly welcomed. Abstracts of 250 words should be emailed to Dr. Anissa Daoudi (Anissa.Daoudi@durham.ac.uk) Deadline for the submission of abstracts: 30th April 2010.
Labels: academia, Arabic internet, Arabic resources, research
Musical Interlude: Umm Kulthum
Neda Ulaby, NPR, Umm Kulthum: 'The Lady' Of Cairo "At a moment when the Arab world was buffeted by modernity — the aftershocks of colonialism, corrupt leadership and the new Israeli state, Kulthum's voice was a lodestar. Part of tarab is the idea that listeners are as important as singers; that there's a powerful, spiritual exchange between them that is crucial to the performance. And Umm Kulthum and her audience together created something sweet and whole."
Refers to the documentary A Voice Like Egypt (1996). Here's a clip:
Refers to the documentary A Voice Like Egypt (1996). Here's a clip:
Labels: Egypt, Music, Umm Kulthum
Opinion piece: 'Jihad Jane and the Muhammad cartoons'
Wajahat Ali, altmuslim, Jihad Jane and the Muhammad cartoons, 15 Mar 2010 "As an artist who relishes creative freedom, I resist calls that advocate artistic censorship or pander to political correctness. However, art – whether it be through words or images – has never existed within an isolated vacuum, and generally draws upon and animates the existing cultural context of the day." Opinion piece
Labels: cartoons, censorship, Islamic Art, Jihad Jane
"Shaykhs Need Advice, Too"
muslimmatters.org, Yahya Ibrahim: Shaykhs Need Advice, Too, 15 Mar 2010 "One of the problems with internet scholarship, convention groupies and seminar murids is the negative effect they inflict upon the heart of the “Shaykh.” This is not my unique observation. Rather, it is from years of observing, discussing and questioning various lecturers, callers and organisers of Islamic educational conventions, seminars and classes."
Labels: religious authority online
"Iran's cyber-police hack US spy sites"
The Register, Iran's cyber-police hack US spy sites, 15 Mar 2010, "Iranian security forces have arrested 30 people accused of waging cyber-war against the country with the backing of the United States.
"A few hours after announcing the arrests the Islamic Revolutionary Guards said they had hacked 29 websites they allege are funded by US spooks. The sites use a cover of human rights activity to disguise an espionage network."
"A few hours after announcing the arrests the Islamic Revolutionary Guards said they had hacked 29 websites they allege are funded by US spooks. The sites use a cover of human rights activity to disguise an espionage network."
Labels: Iranian internet, Security Issues
