Latest posts by Ayesha Saldanha from March, 2009
Palestine: The Importance of Plastic
In Gaza, Eva Bartlett describes how plastic sheeting is playing an important role: “The siege is still on and cement is still unavailable. Major reconstructions and repairs won’t happen for a long time, just as the thousands of houses needing to be re-built won’t be so until Egypt and Israel...
Bahrain: Internet Puzzle
Bahrain blogger Hussain Yousif has a question: “As a provider, I know that deals for installing and configuring censorship solutions are held between the ISP’s and the providers. The providers are at most agents\resellers for an international provider. The new thing is that the “UNIFIED” solution is suggested by the...
Bahrain: A Mother's Perspective
Rick Beeman is an American living in Bahrain – and he asked his mother to write about her experience of visiting the country: “Here I am on the other side of the world for the first time in the Middle East… Bahrain so far has shown me some very beautiful...
Bahrain: YouTube Filtering On The Way?
Bahraini blogger The Dude believes that the Ministry of Culture and Information is planning to both block the torrent protocol, and to filter content on YouTube, and he is outraged: “Youtube is the world's biggest forum for self-expression. It nurtures creativity. It teaches. It entertains. Surely this is what the...
Palestine: Question for Galloway
Gull from the Gaza Beach has a question about British MP George Galloway, who was part of a recent convoy to Gaza: “Galloway said we are giving to the Hamas 100 vehicles and all of their contents, I ASK WHY? Are all residents of the Gaza Strip Hamas?”
Arab World: Culture, Culture Everywhere
Across the Gulf various cultural festivals and literary events have been taking place in recent weeks, and in this post we hear from some of the region's bloggers who have attended them. However culture is not a politics-free zone; even a book fair or a cultural festival can be a source of tension...
Qatar: The Job Interview
Qatari blogger Aisha describes her experience at a job interview – where she was offered the job, turned it down, then changed her mind.
Israel: Recruiting for the war of words
The Israeli government has been recruiting people for online hasbara, or promotion of Israel, and Mo-ha-med, who is based in Israel, decided to sign up.
Syria: Documentary Film Festival
Donatella Della Ratta, an Italian researcher on media in the Arab world, has been attending Dox Box 2009, a creative documentary film festival in Damascus.
Palestine: Giving Direct Help to Gaza
Canadian activist Eva Bartlett, who is in Gaza, has posted a list of people who need help to whom she will pass on donations.
Palestine: Book Based on Gazan Blog
Posts from the group blog Moments of Gaza are part of a new book: “Maximilien Le Roy [Fr] from France, showed his kind support to Gaza and its victims through art. He recently made a book [Fr] that includes quotes from this blog and drawings inspired by the events on...
Palestine: Documentaries of Gazan Lives
Gazan blogger Lina Hesham, writing at 360 km2 of Chaos, praises a series of documentaries by Al Jazeera English about life in the Gaza Strip.
Palestine: Gazan Blogger to visit UK
Gazan blogger and photojournalist Sameh Habeeb is on his way to London to start a speaking tour: “I'll be speaking at the parliament, touring at colleges and universities to bring more awareness about Palestine and the last war launched against Gaza.”
Palestine: Life in Shuafat Refugee Camp
Ruba Anabtawi writes about life in the Palestinian refugee camp of Shuafat – which is within the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem [Ar].
Libya: Berber Archive to Close
Lameen Souag reports at Jabal al-Lughat that a valuable online resource will soon close, possibly for political reasons: “Tawalt is a nine-year-old Libya-focused Amazigh/Berber website with a remarkable collection of audio recordings and resources for some of the least well documented Berber languages – those of Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt…If...
Palestine: Visiting Gaza's Bath-house
Louisa Waugh, writing at the New Internationalist's Gaza Blog, describes a visit to Gaza's only Turkish bath-house.
Palestine: Welcome to Hebron
Mo-ha-med introduces a documentary about Hebron: “While I found absolutely repulsive the horror the Palestinians live in, what shocked me the most was the normalcy of it all.”
Qatar: The nature of exploitation
Qatari blogger ALFARES writes a thoughtful post [Ar] about self-interest, and the tendency of most people to exploit others.
Bahrain: Defence Lawyer Dismisses Rape As “Harmless Fun”
A court case involving the alleged abduction and gang rape of a woman has caught the attention of some of Bahrain's bloggers, because of the act was dismissed as harmless fun by the female defence lawyer.
Palestine: Need for Change in the Journalists’ Union
Fadi Abu Sada argues that the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate should not wait for political permission before holding its elections: “Palestinian journalists as a community need to pressure the Syndicate and take clear steps to not only set the soonest date possible for elections but also to hold them outside of...
Palestine: Carrying Rocks to Syria
Samuel Nichols, who works with the Christian Peacemaker Teams in the West Bank, tells us about a request he received from a Palestinian refugee in Damascus: “Please go to my village just outside of Haifa. Bring me back something. A rock, a handful of dirt, anything.”