It is no mystery that blogging is the new phenomenon of the Middle East, in particular, and the whole world, in general. In a place where other means of discussion are majorly controlled and even censored, blogs bring about easy discussion and convenient communication. One of the players of the Middle Eastern blogosphere is Esra’a.Esra’a runs the Mideast Youth as well as numerous other websites and campaigns, all aimed at defending and protesting against the violation of the rights of all citizens of the greater Middle East. Her work for defending Bahai’is rights was recently featured on Persian BBC [Persian].
This is the introduction of an interview with Esra’a Al Shafei, the Bahraini Muslim blogger and activist, whom I have talked about in this blog quite frequently.
In the interview she talks about some Muslims calling her a Zionist, because she defends Bahai’is. The title Neo-Con was recently given to her by Hossein Derakhshan (Hoder). The irony is, Hoder requested twice to be accepted in the Mideast Youth and to write in there (copies of his emails are available). He was rejected both times. Neo-Con or Zionist, or anything else, I know no other blog in which too many people from too many different backgrounds discuss such hot issues of mutual interest.
For the Persian copy of the interview please refer to Persian Kamangir.