Anas Qtiesh

Program Manager at Meedan.net. Interested in social media, combating internet censorship, and creating Arabic content on the Internet. @anasqtiesh on twitter.

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Latest posts by Anas Qtiesh

Syria: Reactions to President Assad's Speech

President Bashar Al Assad finally made a speech Wednesday 30 March, 2011, at the Syrian Parliament after days of postponement and anticipation. The president's arrival at the Parliament was met with thundering applause and chanting by the Members of Parliament, and his speech was often interrupted by an MP reciting poems of praise. Twitter users did not receive this well.

Syria: Implementing Ushahidi to track protests

Syrian Revolution Map is a new Ushahidi instance launched in Syria to track ongoing protests in several cities based on citizen reports of protests, security patrols, dangerous locations, clashes, and anticipated gatherings. Six protesters have reportedly been killed in Daraa, and dozens have been arrested. The website is in Arabic...

Syria: Protests Across the Country, 6 Reported Killed in Dara'a

Syria is the latest country to join the wave of erupting protests across the Middle East. While previous calls for protests on 5 February failed, a renewed call to take to the streets on 15 March managed to bring several hundred people to the streets in multiple cities including the capital, Damascus, and Aleppo. Today, in the southern city of Dara'a, 6 protesters have reportedly been killed.

Levant: Bloggers start warming up for World Cup 2010

The World Cup will kick off in about three weeks and bloggers across the Levant have already been busy using their keyboards and camera shutters trying to capture the hysteria that engulfs the world once every four years. Anas Qtiesh brings us the reactions of Syrian and Lebanese bloggers in this post.

Syria: Commemorating Martyrs’ Day

Traveling towards God (الرحيل إلى الله)[ar] blog writes about a Syrian village's annual tradition of putting flowers on martyrs’ graves on Martyrs’ Day that's commemorated in Syria and Lebanon on May 6 of every year.

Lebanon: ArabNet discussed the future of Arabic web in English

Arabnet 2010 is a tech conference that was held in Beirut recently. While many of the participants considered it a success, there was a major criticism that kept people talking and writing about it days after the conference was concluded. The problem was that while the conference supposedly focuses on Arabic web it adopted English as its official language and the website, discussions, and presentations were all in English.

Syria: Youth Rally in Support of Syrian Air

  7 February 2010

The US is imposing a series of trade and financial sanctions which are affecting the daily lives of Syrian citizens in several areas. Syrian youth use the Internet to protest the grounding of Syrian Air's fleet, thanks to the ban on buying new commercial jets or even spare parts.

Syria: A Short Story

  29 January 2010

Medad blog published a sarcastic short story [ar] depicting a Muslim cleric and a Christian cleric passionately discussing virtue and interfaith understanding as each of them tries to claim a spot that allows them to peep through a crack in the wall of a women's bathhouse.

Syria: Journalist Maen Akel Still Detained

  18 January 2010

Maen Akel, a Syrian journalist, was arrested on November 11, 2009, by the Syrian Intelligence Department (State Security) in Damascus. Within 48 hours of his arrest he was also dismissed from his work at Al-Thawra, a state owned newspaper. The reason for his arrest remains unknown.

Syria: Internet Woes Continue

  18 November 2009

Syrian blogger Rami wrote [ar] a post comparing internet speeds and costs in Syria with those in Romania. He was frustrated with having to struggle to obtain a 256Kbps connection in Syria in contrast with 100Mbps in Romania for roughly the same cost.

Syria: Hyperlink Podcast Caters to the Arabic Tech Crave

  26 October 2009

Hyperlink Podcast is received with enthusiasm among Syrian bloggers as one of the best technology podcasts available in Arabic. Created weekly by two Syrian blogging brothers, Mohammad and Beshr Kayyali, the podcast features a wide variety of technology topics and interviews with influential IT professionals. Syrian bloggers react to the site.

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