SUNSCREEN

Web Thinking: The Manifesto

2010-03-30T13:01:00.000-07:00

Our field is maturing rapidly. The next generation of movement leaders is overcoming its fetish with technology and expertise as secrets to online success. Indeed, now faced with existential challenges from a fast shifting landscape, the time has come for us all to rethink our most deeply held tenets in this struggle to remain relevant. Thankfully, a brave few are trying – and they're finding answers. Looking beyond traditional online strategy, they're fundamentally transforming how they and their organizations work – shifting their entire perspective towards what we call "Web Thinking" – to better reflect the reality of our time. And they're winning. They're charting a path forward for us all.

The teams at EchoDitto and Biro Creative have been tracking and studying this shift for more than six years through their work with a wide range of leading social change organizations. After a decade of obsessive technology consumption, the sector is ready for a new chapter. This manifesto reveals new tenets for success. It is a call to arms for our next generation of leaders.

1. We Will Position Ourselves as Movement Leaders
We will be more concerned with our cause, our broader mission in the world than with building a brand or institution. And we will reflect this reality in all of our work. We seek to work across traditional boundaries of race, class, gender identification and religion to build alliances that truly represent the people impacted by our issues. We can't be afraid to talk about other efforts in our space, to link generously and be genuinely proud of the successes of our friends and allies. Their success drives our success and drives the change that makes our existence worthwhile.

2. We Will Engage Web Thinkers in Leadership
We will make it mandatory for the people in charge of Internet and digital strategies to be in senior staff meetings – and be sure they serve at the highest level of the organization. Planning a new campaign or initiative without "new media" at the table is as foolish as holding that same meeting without Communications or Membership Directors.

3. We Will Engage Everyone in Web Thinking
We will understand the difference between IT and the Internet and ensure all staff share responsibility for leveraging the web in their daily work. Not everyone will understand the latest tools and tricks, but collectively, we will appreciate the web's value and the critical role it plays in the lives of our audiences.

4. We Will Hire Digital Natives
We will embrace millennials because we understand the difference between learning about technology and growing up digital – between speaking Internet as a foreign language and speaking web natively. Internet culture is radically changing the way people engage not only with one other but also with organizations. Transparency, collaboration, and open dialog – millennials can show us how to develop these cultural norms and values. We will listen and learn with them.

5. We Will Look Outward
We will value the opinions of users, members and volunteers as highly (or more) than we value our own. Developing a deep understanding of our constituents gives us the information we need to establish strong and trusted relationships. We will talk with our constituents, listen, ask for feedback, and find out what matters most to them.

6. We Will Let Go of Control
We will try to be open and ego-free, and to give our campaigns away. We will trust our supporters with important work – as important as that performed by staff. We will prioritize building systems that enable our audience to carry out our mission, over building departments for doing that work on our own. We will consider it a sign of success to see our brand or message distributed far and wide in ways we could never anticipate. We will add value by providing frameworks, clear theories of change, and even leadership training and empowerment, rather than detailed recipes. The movement adds value by iterating, improving, and innovating on that framework.

7 We Will Tap Our Movements To Get Smarter
We will seek out the collective intelligence of our audience – recognizing it is greater than any number of us sitting around a conference table. By transparently asking for help and ideas when we need them most and by collaborating with partners, we will gain priceless insights and assistance. We will use new tools for facilitating dialogue, enabling the best ideas to rise to the top.

8. We Will Connect People Directly
We want movements – not foot-soldiers. People respond to people, not to brands or figureheads, which is why we will seek ways to connect people with shared passions, both online and in person. We've seen that great things happen when we get out of the way. We will provide connections, support, leadership, direction and venues, but ultimately look to empower people to build strong relationships that don't depend on us.

9. We Will Emulate and Innovate
We will watch intently, study and learn from others in the online space. We will share and track successes and failures. And we will shamelessly incorporate ideas that work. That said, the web is unchartered territory and we will also not be afraid to fail with new ideas. In fact, we will plan to fail. And we will rely on others to tell us where we're off so we can respond. The open source mantra, "release early and often," presents a useful model for organizations prepared to iterate rather than launch fully baked programs.

10. We Will Be Nimble
We will move at the speed of the Internet – and the instantaneous news cycle. We will set up structures that eschew bureaucracy and allow us to move both quickly and strategically. Organizations that are positioned to respond rapidly are rewarded. We will redefine what it means to be proactive on issues. We will create and distribute news directly and we will hijack, adapt, and redirect the traditional news cycle to fit our campaigns and issues.

What does 'satire' mean?

2009-07-16T03:57:00.000-07:00

Egypt: Reading about Mounir Said Hanna Marzuq and his sentencing in which he was found guilty of 'satire' after a colleague reported him and his poem to the Egyptian authorities has made me wonder to when will we be living in such authoritarian regimes... He has been sentenced to three years and was fined L.E. 100,000 for insulting president Hosni Mubarak. It seems also that the Orthodox Church leaders of Egypt are working hard to raise 90,000 L.E. to avoid Marzuq's jailing.
What does satire really mean? To when will we accept misinterpretations of laws, constitutions, human rights, etc. and definitely the 'Godly' profile of leaders around this region? What kills me is who told them they were Godlike? Haven't they looked into the mirror? Don't they shit, swear, lie, fart, yearn, desire, etc. like anyone else?
Enough.

Spread the words of Marzuq:
زغلل
ونورد فيما يلي إحدى قصائد منير حنا:
زغلل
زغلل زغلل زغللنى ياللى حبك جننى
زغلل زغلل زغللهم ياللى شكلك جننهم
كورال
زغلل زغلل يا مزغلل زغلل ع الكل خليت الدنيا حلوى وفل الفل
١- المرايا بتزغلل على واحد بس ولكن انت يا مزغلل زغللت الكل
٢- فلاش الكاميرا بيزغلل قبل الصورة ولكن انت يا مزغلل صوت وصورة
٣- زغلل زغلل يا مزغلل منين ماتروح بتخلى الدنيا حلوة وفيها روح
٤- زغلل زغلل يا مزغلل زغلل وقول مش أى حد ينفع يبقى زغلول
٥- اوعى تبطل تزغلل يا واد يا زغلول خليت الدنيا حلوة والفرح يطول
٦- زغلل زغلل ع الليلة وع الحاضرين خليت الناس فى حيرة وكمان تايهين
٧- زغلل زغلل ع الحفلة وع الحاضرين خليت الناس فى غفلة وكمان تايهين
٨- زغلل زغلل ع الفرح وع الحاضرين خليت الناس فى مرح وكمان تايهين

(for further readings check this link)

Kuwait's Salafis call voting for women a sin

2009-05-06T01:55:00.000-07:00

KUWAIT: After a long civil rights battle in 2005, Kuwaiti women finally could practice their right to vote. Since then, women had to struggle to put that right into concrete action. Much still needs to be done for women seeking a political role in this oil-rich emirate to prevail over religious conservatives.

Although women have been granted full rights to take part in Kuwait’s general elections, as long as they adhere to Islamic law, their participation in political life is still very modest. According to a report by Freedom House released last year, 27 women ran as candidates in the 2006 and 2008 parliamentary elections. But none of the female candidates have won a seat in the country’s National Assembly so far. The international pro-democracy group also noted that only 35% of Kuwaiti women voted in the 2008 elections.

On Monday, the Salafi movement, which believes in a strict fundamental interpretation of Islam, called for the boycott of female candidates in parliamentary elections scheduled for later this month. Fuhaid Hailam, a Salafi politician, told Al-Arabiya Channel that voting for women was a “sin” in Islam. He based his judgment on a saying by the prophet Muhammad, who reportedly asserted that a nation will not prosper if it is led by women.

The group’s statements were condemned by civil rights groups in Kuwait, which boasts one of the most democratic systems among neighboring kingdoms.

A Short Brief of 2009 Elections:

A total of 108 candidates including five women filed nominations papers for the May 16 general elections on the first day of registration as many hopefuls expected a more-than-normal change in the elections.Twenty-one candidates filed in each of the first and second constituencies, 28 in the third, 26 in the fourth and only 12 in the fifth district.

The May 16 polls will be the second in a year and the third in as many years in this oil-rich Gulf state which has been rocked by a series of political crises. The outgoing parliament was dissolved after Islamist MPs filed three requests to summon the prime minister for public questioning over allegations of misuse of public funds and mismanagement. Since 2006, five governments have resigned and three parliaments have been dissolved in OPEC's fourth largest producer which has amassed a huge surplus but where many development projects have been stalled by political bickering.

Elections in Kuwait is usually an individual process (with the absence of any formal political parties). Citizens base their electoral decisions based on family, clans/tribes and religious sects. With a patriarchal family structure, women have been voting according to what their husbands, brothers and sons have dictated on them. Also another element that was evident in previous elections, is the absence of women trusting other women's abilities.

Mubarak, who became the first women minister in Kuwait in 2005 after women received full political rights, said she was optimistic that she will enter the history books for a second time. "I was the first woman to become a minister. I am looking forward to become the first female to reach the national assembly" she told reporters after registering to contest the polls from the first district. Mubarak resigned after two years in the cabinet after Islamist MPs threatened to grill her over a fire that killed two people in Jahra Hospital in 2007.

Dashti filed to contest her third election and said that chances of women this time look promising since Kuwaiti people are now more aware of women rights and are ready to vote for them. Women, who won the right to vote in 2005, are taking part for the third time as both voters and candidates. They constitute 54.3 percent of the total eligible voters of 385,000. In the past two elections, a total of 54 women candidates have stood but without success.

(For further information check this out)

Kuwait emir calls fresh election once again!

2009-04-29T03:32:00.000-07:00

KUWAIT: Kuwait's ruler has dissolved parliament amid a political crisis that has prompted the entire cabinet to tender its resignation. Fresh elections in the oil-rich state are to be held on 17 May. With this in mind, candidates have started their campaigns amidst economical unrest. The submissions have dropped by 20% this year.

Kuwait's parliament has been involved in a series of disputes with ministers, which came to a head with the cabinet's resignation on Monday. MPs had been demanding a further pay rise for state employees - something the cabinet was against. Correspondents say constant political clashes between the cabinet and parliament have delayed planned economic reforms. Sheikh Sabah made the announcement in an address to the nation on state television. Under Kuwaiti law, elections must be held within 60 days of dissolution of parliament.

But in the past, parliament has been suspended for much longer - five years between 1976-81, and six years between 1986-92. The elections in 2006 resulted in a loose alliance of reformists and Islamists securing nearly two-thirds of the seats in parliament. MPs have accused the ruling Sabah family of trying to lay all blame for the impasse on parliament and some have called for changes in the executive branch dominated by Sabah family members.

Above is one candidate 'Wasmi Khaled Al Wasmi', a lawyer running in the 1st area of voting. His campaign doesn't shy off from using Barrack Obama's slogan 'Yes We Can'. Along with the usual passport picture and the slogan, a brief resume of the candidate and an open letter to Kuwaiti citizens make up the second page of his electronic electoral campaign.

72hrs: The Project

2009-04-28T22:52:00.000-07:00

BEIRUT: With two professional cameras, a webcam recording every movement and live feeds all over Gemmayzeh’s main street and also a handy cam capturing the audience’s feedback, Kiki Bokassa locked herself in a glass room gallery on Saint Nicholas Stairs and painted continuously for 72 hours non-stop (Friday, April 24, 2009, 10 am until Monday, April 27, 2009, 10 am).
Bokassa wanted to offer a chance to watch a painter in action where the artistic progress and journey on canvas was played live on screen. People were also given the chance to stand outside the gallery’s window and witness hours in the artist’s life in a living space designed for the event.
After the event, Kiki Bokassa will pay tribute to a 1964 Yoko Ono performance. In one of the city theaters, she will wear a painted dress, and ask spectators, each in turn, to cut a piece of this dress (made during the 72-hour performance). The cutting of the painted dress is intended as a pacific protest against all forms of violence anywhere in the world. Half the dress will represent human life, the other half, our environment.

Just a brief profile of Kiki Bokassa:
Born in Paris in 1975, Marie-Ange J.B. Bokassa (alias Kiki) is an autodidact artist of Lebanese and Central-African backgrounds. Kiki has over the past years participated in several exhibitions in Lebanon and overseas. Her paintings are displayed in private collections from the Arabian Gulf to the American Midwest, through metropoles such as New York.
She is also a writer and an active member in society, directly involved in a wide-range of humanitarian causes to which she devotes much of her time. In 2005 she started engaging in several humanitarian efforts, including the creation of non lucrative children’s books and activities such as “Let Me Tell You A Story” publication and “Paint for Peace” workshop. She also holds reading sessions under the umbrella of the Ministry of Culture, and works as an art educator periodically, by training children and volunteers in public schools and public spaces all over the country.

(For further info check this out)

Sois Belle et Vote = Be Beautiful and Vote

2009-04-24T12:19:00.000-07:00

Photo copyright Menassat

BEIRUT: With the election season getting hotter as the long awaited day approaches, election campaigns are certainly becoming more and more controversial. The new campaign 'Be Beautiful and Vote' (I first saw it on Beirut/NTSC blog) has become the latest billboard campaign to hit a nerve esp. with the Beirut-based Feminist Collective who have created a spoof version of the campaign (Be Intelligent and Vote Blank in addition to a hand written heading saying 'because no one cares about your rights) and listed 12 reasons on their blog for why they consider this campaign offensive to women.
The campaign initiated by General Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) plays on a famous French saying: "Sois Belle et tais-toi" (Be Beautiful and Shut up) by changing the second part into 'Vote' as part of their campaign to target women voters. But it has certainly raised some eyebrows particularly with the Feminist Activist Camp that denounced the whole attempt as a direct offense to women.

Personally, I don't know what FPM's initial intention was from such a campaign, but what I know is that they certainly haven't studied their target group, in this case women voters. Instead of creating a horizontal communication with those women they have resorted to a rather vertical one in which women have ended up on the lower end of that discourse. So please, stop thinking that you know how women think and instead start concretely involving them in every level of the democratic processes!

The Bicilavadora a pedal powered washing machine

2009-04-22T21:57:00.000-07:00

Machine could produce clean clothes and local jobs

In places where electricity is scarce and you don’t want to spend your day by the river doing laundry, how about settling for the Bicilavadora pedal powered washing machine instead? Taking four years worth of development so far by an MIT team, the Bicilavadora is composed of an oil drum and bicycle running gear for its main components. As for the machine’s outer housing, the standard oil drum is cut apart and welded back together for a shorter barrel in order to allow even puny humans to pedal it, so that mom and dad can have a little quality time together while the kids learn to help with the housework. We guess it will use rainwater to rinse the clothes inside and at the same time could be built locally and thereby create jobs.

The Bicilavadora, combining the Spanish words for bicycle and washing machine -- got its most rigorous workout last month when a team of MIT students took the latest prototype to an orphanage in the slums called Ventanilla outside Lima, Peru. With 670 resident children, the home generates enough laundry to keep the washer perpetually busy.

This is another example of how simple creative ideas can certainly help make lives better esp. in developing countries. This is designing like you give a damn! Get inspired people and start with your own communities instead of roaming the shopping malls for the next collection of D&G, Channel, etc. and moving from one Starbucks cafe to the other...

Check this YouTube video out

El Sistema Changing the World through Music

2009-04-22T08:35:00.000-07:00

VENEZUELA: El Sistema takes poor kids from the slums of Venezuela and trains them as classical musicians. Venezuela's pioneering classical music programme for children has produced world-class artists such as the young conductor Gustavo Dudamel. It has also quietly transformed the social fabric of the country.

Felix Briseno was brought up with his six siblings in a small apartment in Guarenas, a run-down town on the outskirts of Caracas. His father is a security guard and his mother is a housewife. As a child, he says, he found it impossible to imagine the world outside the scrubby grass forecourt where he was allowed out to play. "There are lots of people here who won't even travel the 45-minute drive to Caracas. The horizons are very limited."

While his schoolfriends and siblings scratch a living in local factories, Felix, who is now 22, has made a remarkable transition. He is a classically trained conductor, working with two youth orchestras in Guarenas. Last summer he became the first member of his family to apply for a passport when he travelled to England to attend a music summer school. His dream is to follow in the footsteps of his hero Gustavo Dudamel, the 26-year-old Venezuelan conductor who is one of the world's fastest-rising talents in classical music. "Music has not just opened doors for me professionally," says Felix, "it has opened my mind to a whole world of possibilities."

In the 30 years since its foundation, El Sistema has evolved into one of the most successful community arts programmes in the world. There are 250,000 children studying music under its auspices across Venezuela, from the most remote rural villages to the poorest barrios of Caracas. Its founder, the composer/statesman José Antonio Abreu (according to legend, he started with 11 children rehearsing in a garage), has said that it heralds a "new era in which great art is created by the majority, for the majority". In a politically turbulent country, it has provided a rare point of consensus, attracting support from a succession of governments including, most recently, that of the socialist president Hugo Chavez, who has financed a state-of-the-art concert hall and rehearsal space in Caracas.

I have always believed in creativity and art as the way to help save the world. Here is a country saving their easily lost youth (Could we save ours?) through music that "takes them to a different world" in more ways than one. This is a movement we could learn much from instead of attacking Chavez and the Venezuelan regime why not learn from what they are doing right! They have so much participation that they are making their own instruments. And honestly, I am sick of watching the crappy music clips broadcasting on Rotana... Haifa Wehbe, Nancy Ajram, Ruby, etc. do not represent us and certainly are not what I would like future generations to be hearing 24hrs a day...

Here are some inspiring facts: 800,000 children have been through the program, $80 million dollars from 8 Venezuelan governments has been spent towards helping these kids. Their National Youth Orchestra (they have hundreds of others) travels world wide.

Check out this You Tube on Gustavo Dudamel (one of the program's super stars) and the Simon Bolivar youth orchestra.

THE QANA MASSACRE

2009-04-19T03:02:00.000-07:00

BEIRUT: Yesterday marked the 13th anniversary of the Qana massacre, which took place on April 18, 1996 in Qana, a village in Southern Lebanon, when Israeli artillery hit the area of a UN compound near Qana. Of the 800 Lebanese civilians who had taken refuge in the compound to escape the fighting,106 were killed and around 116 injured. Four Fijian United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon soldiers were also seriously injured. The incident took place amid heavy fighting between the Israeli Defense Forces and Hezbollah during "Operation Grapes of Wrath".

WATCH THE VIDEO

(For further information check this out)

Israeli Arab Hacker Arrested for 'Internet Terror'

2009-04-19T02:45:00.000-07:00

ISRAEL: After an 18-month-long investigation, the Israel Police revealed late Monday night that they had arrested an Israeli Arab teen suspected of participating in what they called "Internet terror" - hacking in to Israeli Web sites and causing millions of shekels worth of damage.

The 17-year-old from the Wadi Ara village of Kafr Kara was arrested Monday afternoon after police searched his house and discovered that the youth's personal computer contained what police termed "implicating information." The youth's mother allegedly tried to hinder police during the search of the family's house, but to no avail.

The suspect, along with Muslim cohorts from countries including Saudi Arabia and Turkey, allegedly wrecked a number of Web sites including those of the Likud Party and Maccabi Tel Aviv, as well as shopping sites and sites used as servers by various other companies.

As yet, it is unclear if government sites were affected.

(via Jerusalem Post)

The Lebanese Arena

2009-04-15T23:41:00.000-07:00

LEBANON: Dropping by Lebanon for a few days has always been an adventure but this time around it was certainly unexpected! With the Lebanese Elections approaching (June 09), the streets throughout Lebanon (from the North to the South) have turned into an arena of staggering election campaigns reflecting different parties. The good thing about this particular election is that the political parties have caught up on the effectivity of smart advertising messages and left behind the 'passport picture' approach that we used to see in years before. They have become so consumed with each other that they forgot about the Lebanese citizens. One thing that was also interesting to note is that with the economical downfall, you would expect that political advertising budgets would be cut but it seems that the parties have money to spend!

Iran detains three women's activists

2009-02-02T08:12:00.000-08:00

Tehran: Iranian police have detained three women's rights activists, the latest in dozens of such arrests over the last few years in the Islamic Republic, a fellow campaigner said on Sunday.
They were seized in the mountains north of Tehran on Friday when collecting signatures in support of a campaign seeking changes to legislation which activists say discriminates against women. Iran rejects accusations of bias.
Sussan Tahmasebi, a leading member of the campaign, said one of those held was accused of spreading propaganda against the state, a common charge against women's rights campaigners.
A second detainee was released on Saturday, and the third was likely to be released on Sunday, she said.
Activists say 47 of them have been detained since they launched a campaign in 2006 to collect one million signatures in support of demands for changes in laws they say deny women in Iran equal rights in matters such as divorce and child custody.
Most were freed after a few days or weeks.
"Obviously there are people who don't want laws that are discriminatory against women to change," Tahmasebi said.
She suggested the latest arrests may be a message from the authorities ahead of the International Women's Day on March 8, when activists in the past have held rallies or meetings.
"We faced a lot of pressure all along," she said of the so-called one million signature campaign. The latest detentions could be an "attempt to reel us in right before" March 8.
Western diplomats and right groups say the arrests of women's rights campaigners form part of a broader crack-down on dissenting voices, possibly in response to external pressure on Tehran over its disputed nuclear program.
Activists say women in Iran face institutionalized discrimination that makes them second class citizens in divorce, inheritance, child custody and other aspects of life.
Iran dismisses accusations it discriminates against women, who are legally entitled to hold most jobs and can vote.
Despite arrests, Tahmasebi said the campaign had been successful in raising public awareness about women's rights.
A recent parliament decision to allow women to inherit land from their husbands or fathers was a "huge accomplishment".
She also praised judiciary directive last year under which women who suffer injury or death in a car accident will be entitled to the same insurance company compensation as men.
Under Iran's Sharia law imposed since the 1979 Islamic revolution, compensation for the loss of a woman's life, "bloody money" is half that paid for a man. This rule, which applies to physical injury as well, had also governed payments from insurance companies even though both sexes paid equal premiums.

(original source: Reuters)

Couldn't Say It Better

2009-01-26T03:23:00.000-08:00

Comfortably Numb

... I’ve been to the demonstrations, I’ve been to the vigils, I’ve written poetry, I’ve preached to those who’ve never cared before and till I’ve never cared again. I went to a demonstration on Saturday, for Gaza, for the people of Gaza, for those who had nothing to do with anything, for those who had everything to do with everything. I yelled at the top of my lungs, I chanted and held banners. I took photos and recorded videos. I wanted to feel like I was actually contributing. I wanted to feel like I was trying and that my trying was relevant, was necessary, that it actually might make a difference.. .But not even five hours later, I was strutting in heels, and make-up, down that same street, the demonstration street, Delmar Ave., headed toward a bar to have a drink or three with some friends. What’s the point of it all? What have I really done? I lit up a cigarette, I took a sip of hard liquor, I said I thought the world is becoming a horrible place to live in, maybe I said that out loud, maybe in my head, maybe the world always was a horrible place to live in, maybe I’m seeing it more now because we live in the “information age.” We also live in the misinformation ago. Words, words, words… They commit a genocide. No, they have a right to defend themselves. They kill women and children and bomb schools. No, these are places where the enemy may be hiding. They rain cluster bombs over the city. No, these, these are not cluster bombs. These are…um… these are… what are cluster bombs?

(Rewa Zeinati)

I've learnt something today : )

2009-01-25T06:08:00.000-08:00

iPod creator from Lebanese origins

While Steve Jobs has been taking most of the spotlight when it comes to creative ideas within Apple, the iPod creator, Anthony M. Fadell, is actually the real engineering genius behind the iPod. And where is Fadell originally from? Lebanon.
So, you probably didn’t know that the iPod creator was of Lebanese origin. But who is Tony Fadell?

Tony Fadell was born to Lebanese parents in 1969. After graduating from Michigan University in 1991 with a BS in Computer Engineering, Tony Fadell had a fast growing engineering career moving from a Hardware & Software architect in General Magic, to being the co-founder and CTO position of the mobile Computing group at Philips Electronics. Mr. Fadell later became Vice President of Business Development for Philips U.S. Strategy & Ventures, focusing on building the company’s digital media strategy and investment portfolio.
In the nineties, Fadell started his own company called “Fuse” to develop one of the devices he had in mind: a small hard disk-based music player. However, “Fuse” failed because Fadell did not find a second round of funding. Therefore, he presented his ideas to other companies. He first went to RealNetworks in 2000, but left after only six weeks. Then he got in touch with Apple.
Tony Fadell then joined Apple Company in 2001 as a contractor designing the iPod and planning Apple’s audio product strategy. He assembled and ran its iPod & Special Projects group in which he was overseeing the design and production of the iPod and iSight devices. He quickly moved to be the Senior Director of the Company’s iPod Engineering Team and in 2004, he was promoted to vice president of iPod engineering. In March 2006, Fadell became Senior Vice President of the iPod Division at Apple.
Fadell was also part of the executive team involved in the development of the iPhone, which has become the fastest-growing part of Apple’s business.
So while Fadell has not been getting as much spotlight as Steve Jobs, he is however increasing the list of Lebanese people who raised our flag in terms of business or cultural innovation.
More can be found on Tony Fadell within “The 50 Who Matter Now” CNN listing, ranked as No 27.
According to a recent company release, Fadell and his wife Danielle Lambert, a VP of human resources, “are reducing their roles within the company as they devote more time to their young family. Fadell will remain at Apple as an advisor to the CEO. Lambert will depart the company at the end of this year after a successor is in place.”

(original post by Mohamad Ali Mahfouz in Cedar Times)

No nudity at airports

2009-01-25T04:03:00.000-08:00

Berlin: German airports will not implement the use of full-body scanners that reveal outlines of passengers' bodies under their clothes, even if the European Union authorizes their use, said the interior ministry early November.
The comments by the German spokeswoman came after European lawmakers chose to delay the authorization of the scanners. The European parliament voted overwhelmingly for additional study on the privacy and safety implications of the scanner.
The European Commission, the EU's executive branch, had proposed to add the machines to a list of security measures used in EU airports. It has said the scanners would not be used routinely on passengers, and would provide a less intrusive alternate to strip-searching.
"It is unacceptable, if scanners are used; these are machines that see you completely naked," said Martin Schulz, leader of the Socialist faction in the EU assembly. "This is an offence against human dignity."
A number of U.S. airports currently use full body scanners, as do a number of EU countries, including the Netherlands.

(Source: www.esciencenews.com )

Swinging: A Swedish pastime?

2009-01-25T03:49:00.000-08:00

Stockholm: Judging by the number of column inches devoted to the subject in recent months, it seems that swinging is Sweden's new favorite hobby. "It's fun and I like to have several men at once," says Annika, a 41-year-old shop assistant from Stockholm. "I started swinging just for another experience," she says. "I don't have a boyfriend, but several lovers instead. So when I go swinging, I just take one of them along with me."
"Things can get pretty 'interesting' at times," says Leif, organizer and owner of Svenska Swingers. "At our 'relax' club night, anyone can come - there is no restriction in terms of sexual orientation: bisexuals, homosexuals, transvestites, transsexuals - everyone is welcome."
The Svenska Swingers website was launched in 1999 and currently has over 7,500 members, who reputedly include celebrities, judges, policemen and politicians. The Gothenburg-based organization holds an event once a month for about 50 to 60 people. Leif explains that one of the most common questions he receives from new members is, 'what will I do if I meet my neighbor?'
"People feel a shame connected with swinging, many may talk about it, but few actually do it. Swinging is not socially accepted at all. People condemn it as if it's some sort of disorder. There is a real double moral in Sweden. Freedom of speech and expression is held in such high regard for issues such as religion, but when it comes to sex, you cannot be public in any way."
The club doesn't admit any men under 25. Apparently, "they get too overexcited and just run around the place chasing orgasms. "The club does have some young women members though: "They call themselves 'nymphs'. These girls say that they need massive amounts of sex, but don't want the hassle of relationships. Some of these girls have 'parties' with multiple men at once on a weekly basis."
Leif adds: "A friend of mine said that he thinks every couple should try swinging at least twice. The first time can be a bit of a shock, so the second visit is a must."

(Source: http://www.thelocal.se)

Gaza children go back to school with scars of war

2009-01-25T02:29:00.000-08:00

BEIT LAHIYA, Gaza Strip: Gaza's children returned to school yesterday for the first time since Israel's massive offensive, many having lost family members, homes and their sense of security. The UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) reopened all of its 221 schools, which educate some 200,000 Palestinians in the territory and provided shelter to tens of thousands of people during the fighting.

Public schools operated by the Hamas-run government also reopened. At the UN-run Beit Lahiya primary school the children swarmed into the wide courtyard with their oversized backpacks, noisily running and playing beneath an upper-storey classroom scorched by an Israeli shell. The compound was struck a week ago and set alight, sparking panic among the 1,600 people who had gone there seeking shelter. Two boys, five and seven years old, were killed and around a dozen people wounded, including their mother, whose legs were cut off, according to the UN.

It was one of three schools sheltering displaced people hit by Israeli fire during the war. At another UN-run school nearby more than 40 people were killed by Israeli shelling on January 6. The Israeli military said it had taken fire from in or near each of the buildings, but UN chief Ban Ki-moon called the attacks "outrageous" and demanded those responsible be held to account.

As the hundreds of children were slowly brought to order it soon became clear that many of them bore the unseen wounds of the war, in which more than 1,330 Palestinians were killed, nearly a third of them children. "Come forward if your mother or father was martyred," headmaster Riad Maliha announced through a megaphone to the classes lined up outside for morning assembly. "Come forward if your house was destroyed.

More than 20 students walked to the front to register with UN officials so their families could receive aid, including Anas Abbas, a shy 12-year-old boy. "They destroyed our house and killed five of my neighbors. The Jews came very close to us," he said, his brown eyes looking away. Like the other children, he renders his experiences in one-word answers and simple sentences, keeping most of what he has seen to himself.

Maliha says the first few days of school will be given over to counselling, with teachers trying to help the children express themselves. "In the classes the teachers will encourage them to talk about what happened, or to draw pictures or to write about it," he said. UNRWA, which provides basic aid and services to most of the 1.5 million people living in Gaza, employs some 200 counsellors and is looking to recruit more in the wake of the war. "Imagine what the conversations are going to be like," UNRWA spokesman Christopher Gunness said. "There are going to be thousands of traumatised children coming to school today.

On the upper floor of the school the children drift in and out of the burned-out classroom, chalk graffiti scribbled on its blackened walls and charred blankets and broken desks littering the floor. In the classroom next door the teacher invites the children to come up to the front and tell their stories. The first boy to volunteer recalls when the house next to his was blown up. "The door was dancing. The windows were dancing," he says as the other children break into laughter.

Khitam Aziz, the school counsellor, says the children ask about the scorched classroom upstairs and the holes in the walls left by artillery rounds. "They ask me why they shelled the school, and tell me they worry it will be attacked again," she says. "But we tell them the Jews will not attack the school. They should feel safe. They should play.

Half of Gaza's population is under 18 years of age and more than 80 percent of its people rely on UN food aid. Both Israel and Hamas declared unilateral ceasefires last Sunday and Israeli troops had completely withdrawn by Wednesday. But vast swathes of the territory have been left in ruins, including thousands of homes.

( original source: AFP)

Rockers invite fans to remix new video

2009-01-25T00:00:00.000-08:00

Alternative rock band Hoobastank is using its single "My Turn" to give fans their turn at being music video directors. In addition to the regular broadcast clip for the song - the lead track from Hoobastank's fourth Island album, For (N)ever, due 27 January created an interactive version of the video that allows viewers to mix and match a variety of personalities to perform the song.
Many are the four members of the band themselves, performing in a series of costumes. Others include bikini-clad models, senior citizens, frontman Doug Robb's mother and father-in-law, and members of the production crew.
The video, housed at myturn.hoobastank.com and linked from the band's official website and MySpace page, also lets users personalize the clip by uploading their own backgrounds.
"It's starting to tap into new territory of what interactive music video is going to be," says director Brown, who worked with programmer Daniel Kim from Deep Fried Productions, whose clients have included M.I.A., Gwen Stefani and Nine Inch Nails. "We're at an early stage in technology where we can start to offer these kinds of choices for people online."
Robb, who credits Hoobastank manager Jordan Berliant with the interactive concept, says the group wanted to "take advantage of the medium... to do stuff you can't do on a TV video. Basically you'll never see the same video twice."

One of the world's oldest YouTube stars

2009-01-24T23:37:00.000-08:00

Vatican City: Pope Benedict on Friday became one of the oldest people to have his own YouTube channel, and he cautioned the young to use new media wisely and to avoid on-line obsession that can isolate them from real-life.

The Vatican channel, www.youtube.com/vaticanit, will broadcast short video news clips on the 81-year-old pope's activities and Vatican and church events, with audio and text initially in English, Spanish, German and Italian.

The video news clips will be about two minutes long each day. They will be produced by the Vatican's television centre and journalists and web managers of Vatican Radio.

The launch of the channel was combined with the release of the pope's message for the Church's World Day of Communications, whose theme is "New Technologies, New Relationships: Promoting a Culture Respect, Dialogue and Friendship."

Henrique de Castro, managing director of European sales and media solutions for Google, which owns YouTube, told a news conference Google would not make any money from the venture. "Our strategy is to get people to come to our sites," he said.

The YouTube channel will have no advertising and provide links to a number of Vatican and Catholic websites and video channels, including some run by churches around the world. The channel marked the Vatican's deepest plunge into new media. The Vatican's website, www.vatican.va, began in 1995.

Archbishop Claudio Celli, head of Vatican communications said the Vatican could not exclude that someday it would have its own space on Facebook, the social networking site.

In his welcome message to users of YouTube, the pope said he hoped the initiative would be put to "the service of the Truth." In his separate, written message for the Church's communications, he cautioned young people to seek quality and not quantity in their online relationships and not to forget human contact.

"It would be sad if your desire to sustain and develop on-line friendships were to be at the cost of our availability to engage with our families, our neighbors and those we meet in the daily reality of our places of work, education and recreation," the pope wrote.

"If the desire for virtual connectedness becomes obsessive, it may in fact function to isolate individuals from real social interaction while also disrupting the patterns of rest, silence and reflection that are necessary for healthy human development," he said. The pope also said it would be "a tragedy for the future of humanity" if a so-called digital divide were allowed to widen to the point where it excluded disadvantaged areas of the world that are already economically and socially marginalized.

(original source: Reuters)

There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.

2009-01-21T07:45:00.000-08:00

An atheist UK bus campaign which uses the slogan "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life" was launched earlier this month following fund-raising by the British Humanist Association.

Featuring on 200 bendy buses in London and 600 other vehicles in England, Scotland and Wales, they were backed by high profile atheists, including Professor Richard Dawkins.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said it would not be further investigating any complaints about the campaign, which was launched on British buses and the London Underground on the 6 January.

While some of the complaints claimed the adverts were offensive and denigrated people of faith, others challenged whether they were misleading because the advertiser would not be able to substantiate its claim that God "probably" did not exist.

Although the watchdog acknowledged the content of the campaign would be at odds with the beliefs of many, it concluded that it was unlikely to mislead or to cause "serious or widespread offence".

Last week, Christian bus driver Ron Heather, from Southampton, Hampshire, refused to drive one of the buses carrying the atheist slogan and walked out of his shift in protest.

The campaign made me think of how easier things would be if people would just chill. I think people in the Middle East in particular and the world in general are so boiled up about their own perception of God and his teachings (punishment, after life, God's promise land, etc.) that it has blinded them from truly experiencing their humanity.
If we look at the atrocities of Gaza, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait, Darfour, etc. only one thing is evident and that is 'intolerance'.
It is true.. Maybe it is easier to pretend there is no God and start living life as human beings regardless of religion. Can this solve all the problems we are facing in the Middle East and the rest of the world, well I'm not sure but at least we can try!

A CALL FOR SHOES

2009-01-21T06:51:00.001-08:00

As part of my new installation in May, I am asking people to give me their shoes (old, new, etc.) that they would like to throw on someone or something.

For those who live in other countries, their contribution is essential and therefore I have set up this space on my blog (comments section) for your input. I would like you to send me the names of the person(s), thing, etc. you would like to throw the shoes on and I will use this information on shoes gathered.

Please help me to round up the names and thank you for your support.

Cheers
/Hibz

China blocks 244 new websites in porn crackdown

2009-01-21T01:33:00.000-08:00

Beijing: China has blocked 244 new pornographic websites over the last week, the official Xinhua news agency said, bringing teh total number of sites shut down in a campaign against 'vulgar' content to over 700. Many of the targeted websites were unregistered and broke laws about distribution of sexual content, the report said. China promised last week that the campaign, which Xinhua said is scheduled to last a month, will be no 'flash in the pan'. It has been extended to cover content in mobile phone games, online novels and radio programmes.

Google, Baidu and other major websites have also been given a public dressing down for not being quick enough to wipe out targeted content, and outspoken blogging portals shut down for posting 'politically harmful information'. The internet crackdown has been described by analysts as another step in the Communist Party's battle to stifle dissent in a year of sensitive anniversaries, including the 20th anniversary of the government's bloody crackdown on the pro-democracy Tiananmen Square protests in 1989.

Iranian woman to be whipped not stoned for adultery

2009-01-21T00:35:00.000-08:00

Tehran: Iran's judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahrudi has commuted a sentence of stoning to death handed down to a woman convicted of adultery to 100lashes, a report said yesterday. The woman identified only as 48-year-old Kobra N, was convicted of being an accessory to the murder of her husband and engaging in an adulterous relationship, the daily Etemad Melli newspaper reported. She was sentenced to eight years in prison for the first crime and stoning to death for the second.

The report said the woman served the eight-year jail sentence and was kept in prison for another five years awaiting the sentence of stoning to be carried out. It added that her husband, a drug addict, had forced her into prostitution. The murderer, identified as Habib A, has been freed after serving a 10-year jail term.

According to the newspaper, Ayatollah Shahrudi's decision to spare the woman leaves nine other people, seven women and two men, in Iranian prisons awaiting execution by stoning.

Iran's judiciary last week confirmed two men had been stoned to death for adultery in the northeastern city of Mashhad in December while a third struggled from teh stoning hole and escaped with his life. Under Iran's Islamic law, adultery is still theoretically punishable by stoning which involves the public hurling stones at the convict buried up to her shoulders. Convicts are spared if they can free themselves. Aside from December's stonings in Mashad, five Iranians have reportedly been stoned to death in the past four years despite a 2002 directive by Ayatollah Shahrudi imposing a moratorium on such executions.

In August, the judiciary said it had scrapped the punishment in Iran's new Islamic penal code, whose outlines have been adopted by parliament but whose details are yet to be debated by MP's before final approval.

How can someone react to such piece of information? Do we say oh thanks God, good for them its whipping and not stoning? Or maybe thank you Mr. Shahrudi for sparing the women the stoning? Or maybe thank you to that editor from Etemad Daily that reported the adultery in the first place?

I don't get this. We live in the 21st century and there are still people, regimes, laws that think they are the one true reality and somehow try to substitute God on Earth. What is the goal behind such laws, regimes, etc.? Is it trying to clean up humanity from its flaws or maybe vacuuming all the dirt from our societies? Who gave them the right and what happened to the non-blind folded people of this earth?

(original source AFP)

Gaza: 'No Comment'

2009-01-18T13:08:00.000-08:00

As President-Elect Barack Obama vacationed in Hawaii on December 26, stopping off to watch a dolphin show with his family at Sea Life Park, an Israeli air raid besieged the impoverished Gaza Strip, killing at least 285 people and injuring over 800 more.
It was the single deadliest attack on Gaza in over 20 years and Obama’s initial reaction on what could be his first real test as president was “no comment.” Meanwhile, Israel has readied itself for a land invasion, amassing tanks along the border and calling up 6,500 reserve troops.

Another Manic Monday (Dec. 29, 2008)

2009-01-18T12:53:00.000-08:00

Monday morning, I leave my flat in the city, jump into my 4x4, put on my Dior shades and drive to work. On my way, my thoughts wander. I think of the up and coming New Year’s party and wonder what I might wear for that. My thoughts of lunch mixed with a bit of Suzy from BBC radio winging about ways to make this credit crisis tolerable were suddenly interrupted by news from Gaza- News that somehow broke the vain mundane and created a parallel reality.

My New Follower : )

2008-12-16T03:16:00.001-08:00

Lebanese women wed to foreigners want equality

2008-12-15T04:27:00.001-08:00

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) — Every year, Salha Solh spends half her small income of $3,600 just to keep her three sons and three daughters from being deported from their homeland.
Solh is Lebanese but her husband is Pakistani, and under Lebanese law she cannot pass her citizenship on to her children. They are Pakistanis in the law's eyes and need expensive annual residency visas, even though they were born and raised here and have never been to their father's country.
A few months ago, Solh's eldest son was picked up by police for not renewing his residence permit on time and imprisoned for three months until he got a new one.
Nearly every Arab country has similar laws, rooted in Islamic precepts that emphasize paternity as the source of identity. Women's groups have succeeded in changing such laws in Egypt, Morocco and Algeria and are leading campaigns elsewhere, usually against religious conservatives.
In Lebanon, reformers are finally gaining attention for the issue — through a series of small public protests like one that Solh recently attended, of 100 people, on Beirut Martyrs' Square.
"It is my children's right to have Lebanese citizenship," said Solh, who works as a cook and whose husband is unemployed after falling sick recently.
But in Lebanon, the opposition is not only religious but also sectarian and nationalist. Many Lebanese fear that allowing women to pass their citizenship to their children will upset the country's delicate sectarian balance, or open a backdoor for the large Palestinian refugee population to gain citizenship.
"Definitely there is sexism" in such worries, said Information Minister Tarek Mitri, who supports changing the law. "I fear that this might take a bit of time (to change)."
He pointed out that many more Lebanese men are married to Palestinians or other foreigners than the reverse, and no one sees their children as anything but Lebanese.
But in the eyes of many — not just the law — a Lebanese woman with children by a foreign father is seen as bringing foreigners into the country.
Lebanon's population of 4 million is divided between 18 sects, including Sunni and Shiite Muslims, Christians and Druse, and every community is highly sensitive to anything that tips the demographics.
Moreover, Lebanese of all stripes are deeply suspicious of the 400,000 Palestinian refugees who live on the country's soil. The Palestinians, who live in a number of impoverished camps, have not sought mass citizenship, fearing that it would mean permanent settlement in Lebanon.
Nevertheless, many Lebanese remain wary of giving them any foothold.
"The Lebanese constitution prevents all forms of settling Palestinians in Lebanon," said Christian lawmaker Naamatallah Abi-Nasr, who opposes changing the current law.
He said he would only support a change if Lebanese are given the same treatment by other Arab countries — a condition not likely to be met. "If a Saudi woman gets married to a Lebanese, he should be given Saudi citizenship," Abi-Nasr said.
Reformers face a similar situation in Jordan, home to nearly 2 million Palestinian refugees. Queen Rania has pressed for new laws to allow women to pass on their nationality, but lawmakers have resisted, fearing the move could open the way for Palestinian refugees to gain citizenship.
In Lebanon, activists and women married to foreigners have in recent months held conferences and sit-ins, including protests outside the prime minister's office and near parliament in October.
A draft bill to allow women to pass on their citizenship has been submitted to parliament, though it is not known when lawmakers will take it up.
"Lebanon is the least-advanced country in the region when it comes to this matter," says Lina Abou-Habib, executive director of the Collective for Research and Training on Development Action, a campaign leader.
It is not known how many Lebanese women are married to foreigners, but they are believed to number in the thousands. Many live abroad and are not registered.
Syrians and Palestinians married to Lebanese also don't register with authorities since Palestinian refugees don't need residency permits in Lebanon, while Syrians can stay up to six months without applying for a residency permit.
Without citizenship, husbands and children of Lebanese women are barred from government jobs and cannot own property or businesses. They must also renew their residency every year, each time costing around $300.
"We, Arab women, want our rights," Ikbal Doughan, a women's rights activists and the lawyer of the citizenship campaign, told a conference recently. "We are not asking for more."

By BASSEM MROUE

Lebanese Underground Hacked!

2008-12-10T01:01:00.000-08:00

The Lebanese Underground site was recently hacked and pictures of naked men were put on the news page.

They have issued the following statement on their site:

We hope u ll excuse us if u were shocked !
We need some time to secure the site many apologies...
We hope our gay hacker will stop playing with our site...

It seems that this gay hacker has understood Lebanese Underground as a place that can accommodate him and many others that don't fall into the mainstream category. I think that is a natural reaction when we live in a society that still has issues accepting ‘the other’ whatever his/her sexual, religious, etc. preferences might be. People must be allowed to live and love in honor.

(Lebanese Underground site)

Middle Eastern Operators Endorse Customer Value, Choice

2008-12-09T22:57:00.000-08:00

Dubai: One week until the 13th annual GSM>3G Middle East- Towards a Broadband World Conference which will be held on Dec. 15-16 at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre. It will be addressing convergence and new revenue streams and technological developments for operators in a market with high mobile penetration.

In a recent interview with Informa Telecoms and Media, Dr. Marwan Al-Ahmadi, CEO of Zain Saudi Arabia (participant in the conference), pointed to the opportunities created by the combination of Saudi Arabia's very low broadband penetration and its youthful, with 50% below the age of 15 and 67% below the age of 25. That is something that number two operator, Mobily, has capitalized on to achieve one of the largest HSPA customer bases in the world at the end of 1Q08, with an estimated 2.64 million subscriptions, according to Informa Telecoms and Media.
"It's a young nation," says Dr. Marwan Al-Ahmadi. "And these people, their consumption of information and telecommunication services is much higher than older people." Dr. Marwan Al-Ahmadi is scheduled to speak on day 2.

Another group involved closely with this year's GSM>3G Middle East Conference is Etisalat. As the UAE's leading telecom service provider, and an endorsing sponsor of the event, Etisalat has subsidiaries in markets including Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Egypt. Representing the group on the panel of speakers will be Nasser Bin Obood, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer and Ali Amiri, Executive Vice President Carrier and Wholesale.
A recent mobile market update by Informa Telecoms and Media found that although Etisalat's net additions were 4.8% lower than in 2Q07, they maintained their leadership with 6.8 million subscriptions by the end of 2Q08. Of these 1.9 million were 3G subscriptions.

A further addition to the speaker panel from outside the Middle East region is Anthony Corbett, Head of M&A at leading Russian mobile operator Vimpelcom. Vimpelcom has a long-established footprint across a number of less-highly penetrated markets across Central Asia and has more recently been active in SE Asia. Corbett is therefore well-placed to contribute to a roundtable discussion focused on the exploitation of further growth opportunities in emerging markets, joining co-panelists from Vodafone and Turkcell.

Kuwaiti Women Still Lag Behind: Watchdog

2008-12-09T22:47:00.000-08:00

Kuwait: As Wednesday marks the 60th anniversary of the World Declaration of Human Rights, the Kuwaiti Society for Human Rights issued a statement on the occasion enumerating its achievements so far and outlining the challenges ahead.
The statement pointed out that the past sixty years have witnessed significant developments, including the abolishment of slavery, human trafficking as well as the empowerment of the masses to exercise their human rights without restrictions.
"In Kuwait, we have seen significant political and social changes, including the establishment of a constitutional system in 1962," the Society stated in a statement. The Society, however, affirmed that although Kuwaiti women have been empowered to exercise their full political rights, they still lack some of their basic rights, including the fact that the children of Kuwaiti mothers who are married to non-Kuwaitis can't attain Kuwaiti citizenship.
"In the labor sector, there are obvious restrictions on the appointment of women to senior positions," the society lamented, while citing divorce and custody constraints as other issues.
Meanwhile, the statement decried the fact that stateless individuals, commonly known as Bedoun, remain unable to attain their basic human rights, adding that the issue needs urgent solutions.
Concerning the expatriate workforce, the society urged concerned authorities to consider the plight of foreign manpower by ensuring that they attain their rights in accordance with labor bylaws.
The Society also called for the endorsement of a new Labor Act in order to insure he rights and dignity of expatriate workers, including domestic laborers.

(Original Source: Al Watan Newspaper)

Leila Karam and Many Other Lebanese

2008-12-03T01:14:00.000-08:00

Lebanon: Tuesday 2nd of December 2008, Leila Karam finally surrendered to death after a long period of sickness spent in the hospital. But Leila Karam's battle was not only with sickness but also with extreme poverty especially in her last days since she had to be seriously hospitalized. She spent her last days between hospitals and her wheel chair without any money to pay for her medication.

Her need for money to survive is the reflection of Lebanon's non-existing social security programs and the neglect and abandonment we endure daily as Lebanese. This country that not only saw the diaspora of most of its youth but also the slow death of all those who have decided to stay and fight.

Leila Karam was a long-standing actress that participated in many Lebanese and Egyptian movies from the 70's and 80's. She is the younger sister of another Lebanese actress Nabila Karam. Her famous role as 'Umm Melhem' with 'Abu Melhem' (Adeeb Haddad) made her a cultural/pop icon in every Lebanese household.

But that was not enough to ensure her a proud life, esp. in her old age, in a country she has served and represented for a very long time. That country has betrayed her and many other artists like her that were left for oblivion.

Leila's story reminds me and many other Lebanese of our responsibility to our parents and elders who have no one but us. Unfortunately, we do not live in a civilized country (as they proudly declare) and certainly don't have rich resources (like oil, etc.) to bail us out. All we have is ourselves and our will to fight and live.

Finally as Leila, in one interview, said: "They don't remember us except when we are dead, that is if they do, so why should we remember them or show our admiration."

Material for a film: A Tribute to Wael (work of Emily Jacir)

2008-12-01T03:42:00.000-08:00

On Monday October 16, 1972, Wael Zuaiter left Janet Venn-Brown's apartment and headed to his apartment at No. 4 Piazza Annibaliano in Rome. He had been reading A Thousand and One Nights on Janet's couch searching for references to use in an article he was planning to write that evening. He took two buses to get from Janet's place to his in northern Rome. Just as he reached the elevator inside the entrance to the building of the apartment block where he lived, Israeli assassins fired 12 bullets into his head and chest with 22 calibre pistols at close range. Wael Zuaiter had become the first victim in Europe of a series of assassinations committed by Israeli agents on Palestinian artists, intellectuals and diplomats that was already underway in the Middle East.

A thirteenth bullet pierced his volume 2 of A Thousand and One Nights and got lodged in its spine. One of Wael's dreams was to translate A Thousand and One Nights directly from Arabic into Italian. He had been working on this project since his arrival in Italy in 1962. To this day an Italian translation from the Arabic does not exist.

In 1979, Wael Zuaiter's companion of eight years, Sydney-born artist Janet Venn-Brown published For A Palestinian - A Memorial to Wael Zuaiter. One chapter, titled Material for a Film by Elio Petri and Ugo Pirro, consists of a series of interviews conducted with the people who were part of Wael's life in Italy, including Janet herself. They were going to make a film, but Elio Petri died shortly afterwards and the film was never made.

Today, I am looking for others who can work with me to interpret Emily Jacir's installation 'Material for a film' into a short film.
This is a call for collaboration with people from diverse backgrounds...

Defense Team Of Jailed Saudi Activist Plans Hunger Strike

2008-11-25T04:32:00.000-08:00

The wife of jailed Saudi Arabian activist Matrook Al-Faleh sent CNN producer Mohammed Jamjoom this note from her husband's defense team.

Jamila Al-Faleh says the lawyers for Al-Faleh, whom human rights organizations say was jailed for criticizing prison conditions in his country, will go on a hunger strike to protest their client's detention conditions.

The Saudi Interior Ministry has not yet responded to CNN's request for comment. Below is a note from Al-Faleh's defense team:

"The Saudi Justice system and legal procedures (e.g., Criminal Procedure and Arrest and Detention Laws) have failed to render just judgments to jailed Saudi human-right activists who have been arrested with no official indictments, and incarcerated indefinitely in solitary confinement with no right to an attorney or access to habeas corpus.

After exerting all means to get fair treatments to the constitutional movement’s detainees, the defense teams decided to observe a 48-hour hunger strike. The proposed strike will take place on Thursday and Friday, 6-7 November 2008, in protest against flagrant human rights violations for all detainees in Saudi prisons who have been deprived of their basic rights as guaranteed by [the Saudi] Criminal Procedure Law and Arrest and Detention Law."

(original source CNN)

Saudi Hunger Strike - Your Thoughts

2008-11-25T04:29:00.000-08:00

Some brave Saudis are going on a hunger strike and they want you to join them.

These are no ordinary Saudis; they're the intellectuals of the ultraconservative kingdom. The human rights activists, the bloggers, and professional journalists and lawyers.

They have established a group on the social networking site FaceBook to raise awareness and recruit supporters. Their call is adding new members by the day and there is no telling yet how the Saudi government will respond.

The "movement" is lead by Saudis themselves after lawyers for 11 men detained by the government called for a 48-hour hunger strike in support of their clients. They attorneys claim that their clients have been detained with no clear charges and without the possibility of a trial anytime soon. .

What does the Saudi government say about all this? Nothing. We have been reporting this story for five months, and all attempts to confirm the detention of some of these men, the charges they face and an update on their status were met with silence.

So, in light of this latest development --- the call for a hunger strike --- we made another call to the Saudi Interior Ministry. They said what they've said before. "Call back in 30 minutes." When we called back at the agreed time, the answer was a resounding "No Comment."

Who are these eleven men? The list includes a former Judge and four former university professors.. All eleven are described as "human rights activists." The earliest detentions date back to February 2007.

The most recent person taken into custody is Professor Matrook H. Al-Faleh, political science professor at King Saud University in Riyadh, detained by security forces in May 19, 2008. His wife told CNN that she saw him last Saturday and that he "currently" is not on a hunger strike. She refused to comment further and asked us to speak to the lawyers instead.

In the FaceBook posting, the announcement of the hunger strike is coupled with a plea for "all activists and citizens who have conscious" to show "sympathy and solidarity" by joining in.

The FaceBook page indicates the group believes that their move is "daring" and "bold" in the defense of human rights.

Do you think this hunger strike will make a difference?

(original source CNN)

2008-11-24T23:30:00.001-08:00

Lawyer To File Case Against Ministry Over Failure To Ban YouTube

2008-11-24T05:07:00.000-08:00

Kuwait: A leading Kuwaiti lawyer Mubarak Al-Tasha has said that he intends to file a case against the Ministry of Information for not blocking the website Youtube or at least blocking infamous clips that are considered as insulting to Islam and Prophet Mohammed (PBUH). The lawyer said that since the ministry failed to carry out its promises, a law suit will be filed against it in order to ensure that this is legally binding, and added that the Kuwaiti Constitution protects freedom of expression, press and publication however freedoms should not in any way insult Islam.
He added that the State needs to uphold the Constitution and respect it since law 70/2002 issued by the Information Ministry states that internet providers should not promote or encourage pornographic, indecent and anti-Islamic material. A few months ago, local newspapers reported that the ministry ordered local internet service providers to block the website over clips that could offend Muslims.
"Since the website displays the Quran in the form of songs sung with the oud... and displays disrespectful pictures of the Prophet Mohammed... Please proceed with immediate effect in blocking the website www.youtube.com," read a copy of a memo obtained by Reuters.
However, following the circulation of this memo, the ministry went back on its decision and the site was subsequently not banned.
(Original Source: Al Watan Newspaper - 24 November 2008)

Female Ministers' Appointment Unconstitutional

2008-11-24T03:51:00.000-08:00

Kuwait: Parliament's Committee for Legislative and Legal Affairs, during its meeting on Sunday, signed off on a report stating that the appointment of female Cabinet ministers Nouriya Al-Subaih and Mouhdi Al-Humoud is unconstitutional. The decision is said to stem from the fact that both women do not conform to the Islamic dress code because they refuse to cover their hair.
The committee's convener, Ali Al-Hajeri, announced that the report has been unanimously endorsed by the committee's members and that it is backed up by Article 82 of the Constitution and Article 1 of the Elections Law that stipulates that women should adhere to the Islamic dress code.
(source: Al Watan Newspaper - Sunday 23/11/08)

Historical Background:
Kuwait's ruler Sheikh Jabir al-Ahmad al-Sabah issued a decree giving women full political rights in 1999. In a speech to the public, Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah said: "I congratulate the women of Kuwait for having achieved their political rights."
The change in the law, which was agreed at the end of a 10-hour session, had previously been blocked by a majority of tribal and Islamist members of parliament. Many of these had argued that Islamic law prohibited women from positions of leadership. The amendment requires women voters and candidates to abide by Islamic law. Correspondents say this is an attempt by the ruling family to reassure Islamists. But it could also place restrictions on women campaigners.

RITUEL ÉROTIQUE AU JAPON

2008-11-23T06:43:00.000-08:00

Quelque part au Japon, un homme, Haruki Yukimura, et une femme, Nana-Chan, s'adonnent au bondage. Une curiosité contemplative pour la nuit.

Une jeune femme traverse un jardin japonais, puis entre dans une maison traditionnelle en se déchaussant avec lenteur. Elle vient rendre visite à un « maître », un homme âgé d'une soixantaine d'années qui l'accueille avec solennité et respect. A peine le rituel du salut accompli, il va inlassablement nouer des cordes autour de son corps composant des figures de plus en plus complexes. La jeune femme est d'abord habillée, puis seins nus, puis totalement dénudée.
En expert, le maître fait et défait ses liens, élaborés avec une sophistication extrême, l'obligeant à prendre des poses improbables.
La scène se passe dans un silence vibrant sans qu'aucun mot ni son ne soit échangé, le maître contemplant après chaque composition son oeuvre. Quelques secondes de temps suspendu plus tard, il la libère laissant cordes et corps abandonnés sur le tatami. Avant de reprendre une nouvelle composition...

Les liens du cinéma avec l'univers du fantasme, le voyeurisme et l'érotisme sont bien connus. Du désir au plaisir (des protagonistes), de la pulsion scopique à la gêne (des spectateurs), le film de Xavier Brillat, en joue, nous mettant dans une situation inconfortable. Quelque part au Japon, un homme, Haruki Yukimura et une femme, Nana-Chan, s'adonnent au bondage. Mais la lenteur des gestes, la douceur des voix, le parti pris d'enchaîner les scènes par des fondus au noir, la présence ténue de bruissements de la nature, tout nous invite à sortir de l'évidence voyeuriste. D'une situation qui ne pourrait être qu'érotique, le film nous amène peu à peu vers la performance, la cérémonie ritualisée : le corps de la femme, corps attaché, corps soumis, corps contraint, lieu d'inscription du nouage patient et méticuleux de l'homme, nous offre une succession de poses, sinon d'étapes. Pour qui ? Pour elle, pour lui, pour nous ?

La juste distance adoptée par Xavier Brillat pour filmer les scènes confère au documentaire un statut singulier, comme si nous assistions à un rituel érotique secret.
Une curiosité contemplative pour la nuit.

Le film a été sélectionné pour une présentation en avant-première au Festival du Documentaire de Marseille 2007.
Un film de Xavier Brillat

Digital Communities

2008-11-22T23:39:00.000-08:00

Forming communities is what humans do. We join communities to find one another, to belong. We join communities to express ourselves, whether religiously politically or any other way. The drive to form communities is as old as civilization, in fact it is why we have civilizations in the first place.
But communities today work very differently. Everything is all sped up - over night is not fast enough anymore. In the past, we've always seen the big eats the small, in the new knowledge-based economy the fast eats the slow. Speed is the new BIG! But speed isn't the only change. Digital technology has amplified the ability for a single individual to reach out to its swarm. In social networking communities, the voice of one quickly becomes the voice of hundred and one or 1 million and one. There are no geographic borders, no boundaries and no limits. These communities are on facebook and myspace. They're in your e-mail address book, they're the 1200 volunteers who edit wikipedia, they're the assortment of people who created linux, they're the 9 million who play second life.. They're the free form digital communities that arise, interact and disperse and they are the blogs that are alive and responsive as a school of fish.
Technology has made it possible for human communities to behave like swarms of their own. We are more in touch and more in tune to our peers than ever before. Lets capitalize on our networks and push these communities to move towards positive change through engagement and co-creativity.

(Reference: Chuck Brymer's The Nature of Marketing)

The Beirut Manifesto

2008-11-10T14:48:00.000-08:00

Celebrate an absurd juxtaposition,
Glorify this informal language that is so easy and fast to learn and understand and how the absence of its limitations greets you in a chaotic manner.

Celebrate this roaring sound of the machines and the babbling of the people as we walk down the streets.

Celebrate while listening to the overlapping sounds of the mosques and the churches, the machines and the people, the sea and the mountains.
(One could perhaps never encounter war damage if they avoided most of the city. But it exists, and it adds a certain intensity to it. Perhaps only an intensity, which the individual brings. But the other intensities that the dichotomy between the two religions in the city, and the legendary hot-blooded middle eastern methods of resolving differences make Beirut memorable. Beirut’s true intrigue lies in its ambience as a tired postwar ghost town desperately trying to regain footing.)

Celebrate the informality, enthusiasm and magnificence of everything we see around us as we are taking a walk, where new compliments old, and high values low.

Celebrate this charming mix between East and West. Walk and contemplate the traces of where cultures interact and discuss their opinion.

Admire how smoothly this multi-cultural and yet identical city opens the floor to many discussions.
Walk, think and talk organically through a non-linear path, a movement that reflects in the daily activity of this city.

Celebrate a place where you feel that you are imprisoned yet free, lost but happy, mistreated but enjoying it.

Celebrate a whole that contains parts of ruined buildings as well as new ones, modern and classic, machines and people, Muslims and Christians, black and white, foreign and native, aristocrats and proletarians.

Honor old operating systems integrated with new ones.
Celebrate a city where everything is quite large and at an extreme edge.

A superheated atmosphere, watch how its molecules behave when everything is turned up.
A city of hope even with the never-ending destruction.
A multicultural homogeneity.
A cultural maturity and adulthood that is a result of several years of civil war.
An incompatibility of absolute place and form.
A reality of transforming history into an explosion of neutral colors and an overlaying of opinions.
Appreciation in a state of distortion.
A love for danger, adventure, risk and the habit of fearlessness.

Celebrate DENSITY.

Celebrate an immense Pompeii still whitening with sepulchers.

Enjoy pure spontaneity and subjectivity, complexity and contradiction, overwhelming contrast, constant recognizable change, mixture of colors, sounds and smell.

CELEBRATE BEIRUT!

The Wait

2008-11-09T01:58:00.001-08:00

I am waiting for a rebirth of wonder. I am waiting for
someone to really discover me and live together the
fairytale. I am waiting for lovers and weepers to lie
down together again in a new sexual rebirth. I am
waiting for the war to stop and make the world safe
from anarchy.
I am waiting for the second coming. And I am waiting
for them to prove that God is really a woman. I am
waiting for my number to be called and I am waiting
for the meek to rebel. I am waiting for forests and
animals to reclaim the earth as theirs and I am
anxiously waiting for the secret of eternal life to be
discovered by some Lebanese bimbo.

I am waiting to set sail for happiness and I am
waiting for Alice in Wonderland to reincarnate in me
her total dream of innocence. I am certainly waiting
for the garlic bread to be served at the last supper
with a strange new appetizer. I am waiting for the
dead to rise and the living to engage in a public orgy
in worship of Bacchus.

I am waiting for the day of truth that will make all
things clear and I am waiting for retribution for what
I did to my mother. I am waiting to write my great
obituary. I am waiting for the last long ecstasy and
I am awaiting perpetually and forever a renaissance of
wonder.

I am waiting.

We Die

2008-11-09T01:56:00.001-08:00

We die and we are rich with lovers and loved ones,
tastes we’ve experienced, fragrances we’ve sweated and
bodies we’ve entered.
We die and we are rich with multiple ecstasies, sexual
obsessions, unrealized dreams and city roundabouts.
We die and we are rich with erotic fantasies, human
parasites, whispered lies and garlic bread.
We die.
We die mutated freaks unrecognized by our own eyes.
She died and history is lost.
She died a Divine Freak.

MUSEUMS OR NOT!

2008-11-02T13:19:00.000-08:00

The online dictionary defined museums as “places of study, buildings where objects of historical, scientific or artistic interest are kept, preserved and exhibited”. To The Museums Association, a museum is “an institution which collects documents, preserves, exhibits and interprets material evidence and associated information for the public benefit”.

Since 1998, this definition has changed. Museums now enable the public to explore collections for inspiration, learning and enjoyment. They are institutions that collect, safeguard and make accessible artefacts and specimens, which they hold in trust for society. Mike Wallace (1996) categorised museums into four distinct types, namely National Museums that hold collection of national importance, Armed Service Museums, Independence Museums and Local Authority Museums. According to Wallace, the importance of museums lies in their role as a nation’s memory bank.

Personally, what matters most about museums is that they are one source of living history. But I guess the question here is not 'museums or not' but rather who defines what is of value and worth preserving?

I certainly get your point Fady... culture can never be restricted to museums but also can't be ignored.

WAIL "LEBANON'S NATIONAL ANTHEM"

2008-11-02T01:20:00.000-07:00

My generation sits on its
beat ass and tokes on grass
A group of overgrown corpses
bumbling around town
between orgies and street deals
casinos and jail cells
sticking their mojo pins
watching their arms swell

Forlorn, foresworn
to a country so small
a country so squashed
that it has become
the bedouin's brothel
the Disneyland of the East
As the girls stumble
from one bar to the next
down Monot street

Replace the -t with a -p
and you get a den of
crackhead bourgeoisie
sucking on Osso Bucco
with bleached teeth
and bleached money
"Here we party
like there's no tomorrow"
Repeated like a mantra

So the kids dance on coffins
With their sleek hair
and their silken skin
until the men in the military
attire bust in

Pills scatter across the floor
the manic paranoia soars
there's no escape now
(not even the gaping ceiling)

Somewhere on a balcony
A maid stares out to the sea
Expires, pulls up the rug and
retires
to her one foot room
with a mattress and a picture
of Jesus
to keep her company

As the workers drip with sweat
and the housewives shop
to forget
A boy stands on a windowsill
and screams:
"My eyes are my worst enemy"

Somewhere in a sleepy Mercedes
A hand surreptitiously slips
into another
as the driver rants on about
how his religion outdoes
all the others
and smiles, toothlessly

Pearls of sweat roll off
the side of his head
as the clandestine sunshine
peaks through the glass
and shines on your pretty face
Babe

Now we no longer burn
our garbage on the streets
now the pavement shines brightly
and the lights illuminate
the city

And somewhere in all of this
I found myself
in a smoke-filled dive
where thhick white threads
were rising and writhing
from the ashtrays

People numbing their wounds
with alcohol
their gazes bouncing
like tennis balls
off the walls

Somehow I found myself with
no place to call home
I stood behind my paintings
that was the closest i ever got
to home

I stood there
fighting the chatter
for silence
trying to speak to you directly
to bear myself to you unveiled
from a whisper to a wail

Think Different

2008-10-30T15:01:00.000-07:00

2008-10-30T05:51:00.001-07:00

Are we really apathetic?

2008-10-29T21:21:00.000-07:00

Wear Sunscreen

2008-10-28T08:22:00.000-07:00

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.

Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing every day that scares you.

Sing.

Don't be reckless with other people's hearts. Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss.

Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself.

Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch.

Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't.

Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees. You'll miss them when they're gone.

Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else's.

Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.

Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.

Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.

Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents. You never know when they'll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.

Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out.

Don't mess too much with your hair or by the time you're 40 it will look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen.

In a relationship!

2008-10-27T06:50:00.000-07:00

Like most relationships, it started with a spark of curiosity, a promise of encounter, fear and certainly a challenge. My relationship with the new digital is mainly the only full reciprocal relationship I have been in. Sharing has never felt comfortable and mindsets are definitely changed...