Stories about Middle East & North Africa from March, 2012
Egypt: Full List of Presidential Candidates
Egyptian blogger Bassem Sabry posts a full list of Egyptian presidential candidates.
Egypt: Tips for a Presidential Candidate
Egyptian blogger Mohamed ElDahshan writes a post entitled: 10 tips for Khaled Ali. Khaled Ali is an activist and lawyer who is running for the presidency elections.
Bahrain: Massive Rally Against the Regime
A massive march in Bahrain on Friday 9 March, came to renew public demands against the tyranny of the Bahraini regime which has been implicated in the killings, arrests, corruption, oppression and discrimination of citizens, according to a fact-finding mission.
Kuwait: Art Exhibition Shut Down for “Controversial” Content
Kuwaiti artist Shurooq Amin is in shock after her exhibition of paintings was shut down without an explanation. Reports say that men walked into the show, three hours after its opening, and took the paintings down, saying they had received a complaint over the content of the paintings. Netizens react to the censorship of art in this post by Mona Kareem.
UAE: Use of VPN to Fight Censorship
On Twitter, UAE commentator Sultan Al Qassemi writes: ‘The UAE is in the top ten VPN users of @golden_frog, company president says to me “You guys like the Internet but you don't like censorship”‘
Egypt: Mixed Reactions to Porn Ban Proposal
Only one month after the first session of the newly elected parliament in Egypt, much debate and controversy arose. The Egyptian blogosphere and twitterverse have been watching the new parliament and tweeting under the hashtag #EgyParliament expressing demands, concerns and sarcasm. A recent episode at the parliament stirred much discussion, but this time it was about pornography!
Lebanon: Proposed Law to Regulate the Internet
“I’ve previously called bullshit on the claims that the government wants to protect us. Oops, I just wrote “bullshit” and broke clause #1 of the proposed law,” blogs Mustapha in his post lambasting the Lebanese Ministry of Information's plan to discuss a draft law which aims at “regulating websites and protecting their owners”.
Lebanon: Is Social Media Useful?
“I always ask myself whether the Lebanese online community is actually making things better by raising awareness or is just trying to reach out to more people?” writes Najib questioning the usefulness of social media in inciting action rather than just being concerned with tweeting and blogging. His post was in reaction...
Palestine: Gaza Under Attack – Again
Throughout the night of March 9 and into the morning of March 10, Israeli warplanes attacked targets across the Gaza Strip, with a death toll of at least 12, and 20 injured.
Palestine: Rare Photographs of Nazareth
Blogger Iqbal Tamimi posts rare photographs of Nazareth city in Palestine, which go back to 1840-1940.
Iran: Cartoonists Rage Against Khatami for Voting in Election
Mohammad Khatami, the former reformist president of Iran voted in parliamentary elections on Friday, March 2, 2012 going back on his word that he would refuse to vote until political prisoners were freed and the constitution was respected. His actions drew ire from reformists keen on boycotting elections.
Iran: Women Say No to the War Monster
The Iranian Islamic regime has ignored International Women's Day for more than three decades. It does not recognize March 8, and has even banned women organizations from celebrating the day. But each year Iranian women both in the real and virtual world stil celebrate.
Brazil: Story of a 93 Year-Old Syrian Migrant
'Sito Badia', 'Grandmother Badia' in Arabic - as her grandsons like to call her - was born in the Western Syrian province of Homs. She immigrated to Brazil with her family 80 years ago, when she was only 13. The following story of her life recalls the early days of Arab immigrants to Brazil and Latin America.
Iran: Order for a ‘national cyber space council’
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,the Supreme Leader of Iran, has ordered [fa] a new supreme council to be formed on cyber space. In this order, the president of Iran, the head of judiciary, the parliament spokesman, the head of Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), the police commander in chief, the intelligence minister, and some...
Spain: Head of Journalist Association Threatens Activist With a Belt
The Head of the Press Association in Granada, Antonio Mora, threatened to hit pro-Palestinian activists with his belt when they protested during a photo exhibition of the relations between Israel and Spain.
Iran: ‘Crackdown on social network users’
Kheyzaran, an Iranian pro-government blogger based in Qom, says there has been a new wave of crackdown on Iranian users of social networks. He writes [fa] that in days before the parliamentary election, Iranian authorities have asked some users to ‘stop or reduce’ their online activities. In last 3 years and...
Mauritania: “Facebook is at the Center of the New E-Dissent”
In the wake of the Arab uprisings, the media often overlook Mauritania and its 3 million inhabitants - another country where dissent and social discontent are on the rise. Here is an interview with well-known Mauritanian Internet activist Nasser Weddady on the country's social media scene.
Saudi Arabia: Tweeting AlBajady's Hunger Strike
Saudi netizens joined forces last night to tweet about the plight of Mohammed Albajady, a Saudi activist who has been imprisoned for a year with no charges and no fair trial and who has been on hunger strike in protest against his detention for almost two weeks. Mona Kareem charts some of the reactions online.
MENA: Which Salafist Movie Would You Watch?
Iraqi Lebanese blogger Karl Sharro decided to start a new hashtag where people tweet movie names after putting a Salafist flavour into them. And like most of the humuorous hashtags, this one got spread in no time, when Twitter users in different Arab countries started using it.
Jordan: Amman's Welcome Snow Day
Amid a rough winter in Jordan with little optimism in the air, Ammanis found solace in getting snowed in on Thursday, making it a long white weekend; joyfully hyper tweeting and photo sharing snow covered neighborhoods and some whacky snow creations.
Iran: MediaFire is blocked
MediaFire, a famous free file and image hosting website located in U.S., is blocked in Iran ‘for second time’. Several reports and tweets from Iranian users including Tehran-based Ali say this website has been blocked in recent couple of days. Iranian users have already reported about some other hosting websites...
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