· October, 2009

Stories about Middle East & North Africa from October, 2009

Western Sahara: Hunger Strike in Support for Separatists

  21 October 2009

Solidarité Maroc [Fr], an online forum regrouping some Moroccan human rights activist, publishes an appeal (video) by French national Jean François Debargue who's on hunger strike in solidarity with Sahrawis whom he says are living in “dire conditions” in Western Sahara – a territory administered by Morocco and contested by...

Tunisia: Electoral Campaign Not on Track

  17 October 2009

Tunisia is gearing up for its presidential elections on October 25. The election campaign started on October 11, but not all political parties and politicians are able to join the fray. Read this post to find out why.

Egypt: Campaign Against Abusive Publishers

  17 October 2009

An Egyptian blogger and author has had it with dealing with unscrupulous publishers and is taking the initiative to make the voices of authors not given a chance a a sounding board. Check out what Marwa Rakha is up to and how successful her initiative is.

Tunisia: Watching Arab Media on HIV/AIDS

  17 October 2009

Zied Mhirsi is a Tunisian doctor and blogger, based in the USA, who is dedicated to fighting the spread of HIV/AIDS in the Middle East and North Africa. Last year, he started a blog to monitor Arab media coverage of HIV/AIDS.

Morocco: Praise for Islamic Finance

  16 October 2009

In a recent blog post, Paris-based Moroccan blogger Larbi (Fr) takes a closer look at Islamic finance. He writes: “While global finance has collapsed and the world was plunged into a financial crisis like no other, a little village still resists to this wave. It is called: “Islamic Finance”. Crisis?...

Morocco: Banking fees uncovered

  16 October 2009

In a recent post, moroccan blogger Omar El-Hyani [Fr] explores banking fees in Morocco. He conducted a comparative review of major banks in Morocco based on the most common operations a bank customer is likely to perform.

Morocco: Blogoma participates in Blog Action Day

  16 October 2009

Moroccan bloggers expressed their concern for the environment on Blog Action Day 2009, which focused on climate change this year. Water scarcity and energy dominated the conversation, reports Anas Alaoui.

Israel: Civil Marriage Good for Women's Rights

  16 October 2009

Elana Sztokman assesses how a new civil marriage bill would improve Israeli women's civil rights. She asserts: “Anyone who has encountered the real suffering brought on by this system cannot help but be in favor…”

Israel: Future Gay Tourist Hub?

  16 October 2009

Is Israel becoming a hub of international gay tourism, I Googled Israel ponders. He observes: “There is a clear trend definitely geared towards bringing in more gay vacationers and, to be more precise, their holiday dollars.”

Israel: Charitable Giving at Every Level

  16 October 2009

“The difference between being charitable and being a philanthropist is having a strategy,” writes Richard Marker in eJewish Philanthropy, explaining why “You Don't Need to Be Rich to be a Philanthropist.”

Israel: What Other Countries Eat

  16 October 2009

Daniel Lubetzky's Peaceworks blog posts photos of what countries around the world eat in one week. Each photo shows a family in their kitchen surrounded by a week's worth of food.

Israel: Exploring Hebrew's Latin Roots

  16 October 2009

BaLashon (On the Tongue) explores the Hebrew term kalgas קלגס, meaning soldier. He discovers Latin roots: “Caliga- Roman sandals, secured with nails (which made quite a bit of noise)- were apparently frightening enough to give their name to the Roman soldiers.”

Israel:Blog Action Day for the Environment

  16 October 2009

On Blog Action Day, October 15, Israeli bloggers were already looking ahead to October 24 when environmental organizations, activists, and bloggers too, are planning a day of climate change protest across the Middle East.

Lebanon: Right to Left

  13 October 2009

Lebanese NightS remarks: “It has always bothered me the very limited collection of RTL(right-to-left) blog templates/themes..whether it’s for Blogger, WordPress or Drupal or any other Blogging platform or CMS.”

Jordan: Arab Crunch Arabic Edition Out

  13 October 2009

Arabic readers have something to look forward to online – “the launch of “ArabCrunch Arabic Edition which will be the first Arabic blog that focus on tech start ups, entrepreneurship, social media and mobile news and views and is based on citizen journalism,” says Arab Crunch.

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Mariam A.
Mariam A. is the editor for the Middle East & North Africa. Email her story ideas or volunteer to write.