The Jordanian Blogosphere: February Clippings · Global Voices
Naseem Tarawnah

The Jordanian blogosphere is abuzz with two controversies this month. The first revolves around the proposal to build a tourist complex near the Dibbin Forest that will result in the cutting down of many trees. While a small online campaign has started up in recent days, other bloggers see the issue in a completely different light.
The other issue involves a recent decision to remove two bloggers from the central Jordanian aggregator – Jordan Blogs. It seems Several bloggers have thrown their two cents in. The central theme seems to be about whether there should be limitations on freedom of speech.
“Freedom of speech is not limitless, there are boundaries and the moderators of JB understand those boundaries and act upon them, accusing JB of oppressing freedom of speech is just ridiculous, think about it for a minute, what’s their motive?”, says Bakkouz.
Elsewhere on the Jordanian blogosphere…
Since Jordan Planet was shut down and Jordan Blogs was launched, bloggers got together for their first official “Jordan Blogs” meeting. Read the reviews from Khalidah and Kinzi (in Arabish)
Are Jordanian women worse drivers than men? Naseem and (Her Eminence) Lubna exchange male and female point of views respectively on the topic. They also tackle another social matter as well: the life line of Jordanian girls.
Mansaf is the national dish of Jordan but you'd be naive to think there isn't a right way to both cook it as well as eat it. Dino posts a short video (Arabic) on how to do both.
Dima and Lama Hattab, Jordanian twins and national sporting enthusiasts, are currently training to climb Mount Everest. Bloggers Natasha and Tamara have more on the exciting news. Meanwhile, Ammar plays with some prose to produce a post on what it means to be Jordanian.
In an entertaining post, Roba tells us how she overcame being intimidated as a new driver and learned the art of “zorabah”, while Moey has drawn up a list of top 10 blogging mistakes to avoid that are worth a read. Tololy goes down theology lane as she wonders whether our belief in God is genetically inevitable, which inspires a debate on what came first: God or the need for God?
A blast from the past! Natasha shows us how today's popular Zahran Street looked like over half a century ago.
In the political realms Firas is not too happy with the fact that a Christian has been given a leadership position in the Islamic Action Front party. Issam has similar feelings regarding the news. Firas also gives a review of Russian President Putin's February visit to Jordan.
Meanwhile Khalaf isn't the biggest fan of the Minister of Municipalities right now and for pretty obvious reasons. Naseem points out the legislative contradictions in the draft of the ‘press and publications law’, which was later shelved by the Lower House; Khalaf tells us why.
With elections expected to take place some time this year, Naseem wonders if the voting age should be lowered from 18 to 16. You can also check out this video (Arabic) by a sketch comedy show on the women's quota in elections.
Meanwhile, Batir takes a look at the political landscape in Jordan and what role the word “reform” has been playing.
In Amman, city hall is trying to alleviate high-pressure traffic areas with a new policy allowing drivers to pay for parking spaces via SMS. However Ash of JoLadies has her doubts that this will solve the problem. Meanwhile, one of the biggest complaints in Amman has been the presence of trees in the middle of sidewalks, as Lina tells us:
“Anyone who has attempted to take up the healthy habit of walking and making the most of Amman’s generally lovely weather knows that if it isn’t a near-suicidal mission, it can best be described as a measure of one’s elasticity and ability to zigzag and dodge branches sticking out right, left and center.”
Lina looks at the latest plan to remove trees from sidewalks in order to create a more pedestrian friendly Amman.