Archive for
January 16th, 2008
Stories
A Muslim Britney Spears?
· 22:40
As if the media circus surrounding her wasn't enough, the latest news is that Britney Spears will be considering converting to Islam in order to marry her Pakistan-born paparazzo boyfriend, Adnan Ghalib. The Middle East and North African bloggers could hardly contain themselves.
Alarabiya.net reported the story on Sunday and has since received nearly 100 comments. One reader was concerned:
I hope she finds true Islam out of a sincere calling. It would correct her life that's for sure. But to convert just to marry a man that is only Muslim by name isn't what Islam needs. Either way I wish her the best and welcome her to Islam.
Another put it bluntly:
She is the LAST thing Islam needs right now.
One reader was happy for her:
i think its a very good desicion for britney and she will be very happy person by converting to islam. she will be living a true life with the true religion, there will be no more drugs for her only a clean happy life for her and her kids! GOD BLESS YOU BRITNEY and WE PRAY FOR YOU!
Another said:
the doors to God's mercy and forgiveness are always opened regardless of what sins have been done. if she wants to be a Muslim then its a great option for her and i wish she truely finds the love of God in her heart.
And still others felt that Islam might benefit Britney, if only in matters of dress:
I think the whole world would benefit if [Britney Spears] put on the hijab! A little modesty is just what that deluded starlet needs~!
Moroccan blogger Laila Lalami wasn't too thrilled with Britney's decision:
And all I can say is: Our nut house is full, Britney. Please take up another religion, we have enough crazies of our own.
Blogger Egyptian Chronicles wants the media to leave Britney alone:
Look I feel very sad for Britney but can we please just stop talking about Religion and race because from what I see that this guy is using her to get more attention for him and for his photo agency ,already I feel very sad for Britney Spears and sadder for her kids , all what she needs is to stay in Rehab or see a shrink that really does not care about media and fortune and wants really to help her.
From Israel, The Elder of Zion sums it up with the heading “Britney in a Burqa?” garnering comments such as:
Good luck with the jiyza & submission thingy Brit!
and
Cover(ed) Girl.
One reader quipped:
Scientologists – its celebrity members include Tom Cruise and John Travolta – believe humans are descended from space aliens.
Brittny is living proof of this.
New York-based blogger Hahmed.com responded to the story, saying:
Wow… you can’t make this up
.
Commenter Umm Layth from France is praying for Britney:
I’ve been making du’aa’ for Britney since I heard her say she didn’t know her purpose in life. Allahu ‘Alim what Allah (SWT) has in store, but we know that it would save her life and turn things completely around, insha’Allah (SWT). Let us also remember that she’s just human.
But Sabdi2 from the U.S. questions whether or not Adnan Ghalib is even Muslim:
Is Adnan even muslim? If you google his name you find multiple images of him clearly wearing a cross.
While only time will tell if this story is true, I have to agree with Egyptian Chronicles
- we tend to forget that Britney is human like the rest of us. I don't know if this is a sincere choice for her, but if so, more power to her for figuring out what she wants. One can only hope that she isn't being taken for a ride.
Jordan: The Impact of Bloggers on Politics
· 22:28
Writing for 7iber.com, American Sam Bollier poses the following questions and examines the Jordanian blogosphere and its influence on the political discourse in Jordan, by studying four different aspects that affect bloggers (access, ability/willingness, publicity and political culture).
How much influence do Jordanian blogs exert on political discourse in Jordan? What sorts of political change do bloggers effect in Jordan, and why is the Jordanian blogosphere tepid in comparison to many of its Arab peers?
Answering these questions proves to be quite difficult. While there have been a number of events in Jordan in which bloggers have
had a clear-cut influence, it seems fair to say that, at the moment, the primary impact of Jordanian blogging has been on intangible processes that are intrinsically difficult to measure.Marc Lynch’s 2007 essay entitled “Blogging the New Arab Public” is perhaps the most exhaustive study on Arab blogging as it relates to politics. The author argues that, although “it is highly unlikely that blogging will induce wide political change in the Middle East,” it “would be wrong to conclude that blogging has no role in Arab politics.”
Ohoud (Arabesque) shares her experience visiting the music conservatory in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Palestine.
Walking through the narrow alleys of Old Ramallah, past the tightly fitted houses we finally found it. It was a gem. Yeah, it was.
(One of the old houses of Ramallah, while we were taking pics a boy came out thinking we were foreigners shouting and telling us we should take pics of our wonderful buildings in the U.S)
Back to the gem. It was yet another old house but not quite the ordinary one.
In the middle of old Ramallah, stands the new conservatory to teach music, Al kamandjat.
It is a dream realized by Ramzi Aburedwan, who spent his entire childhood in the Al-Amari refugee camp in Ramallah. He then went to Angers , France to study at the Music Conservatory. His objective was to establish music schools for Palestinian children, favoring the most destitute children, those living in the refugee camps.
More on that here.
Shaher (Thoughts Expressed) talks about what he finds as a lack of pride in Arabic culture and language among some Jordanians, in a post titled “OMG I can speak English.” He further explains:
What's wrong with us people, we are Arabs, our mother language is Arabic, our first sentence was in Arabic. so what the hell is going on in our country. the other day I was listening to Mazaj FM, and there topic was about Arabic language fading and demolishing in the time being, and they are defiantly right. Its not COOL to speak in English and for sure not COOLER to have an English word between every two Arabic ones !!! and the most disgusting thing is when you see a mother in the street disciplining her child by saying NO NO NO NAUGHTY BOY !!!! what's wrong with LA2 ILLI 3MILTO `3ALAT. I was just on the phone with someone who called me and said :
” hello Shaher how r u DOIN !!! “
Read more here.
Liana, an American living in Jordan, discusses archeology in Jordan and its political and economic significance on the country and region at large. She explains:
Archeology is not only historically interesting, I have learned - it is also a political, economic, and cultural force in this region. The Jordan valley and Mesopotamia hold the remains of some of the earliest beings on Earth. I say “beings” very purposely because these sites date back so far (more than a million years) that the definition of “civilization” or even “human” is called into question when trying to describe these places. One of the archaeologists today (Susan, who has been running digs for more than twenty years) described uncovering layer after layer of different existences, piled atop one another. Imagine.
This act can become very political, for example, if you look at Israel-Palestine. Archeology is being used to make a case for who was there “first,” and thereby rightly possesses the land. As a result, there are accusations of some artifacts not being properly observed as the search goes deeper for the truly “original” inhabitants. People use archeology there to try to prove or disprove religious history as well.
In another post she talks about her new years' eve in Amman…
0 comments · »»The Western new year in Amman is a cause for celebration (and January 1 is a national holiday), but it is not the wild debauchery that we're used to in the States. Many of the classier bars and restaurants have New Year celebrations, but these are 40-50 JD minimum to attend, and didn't seem worth it to me. I didn't have any plans for New Year's Eve until that very afternoon, when happily some friends decided to have a party.
At any rate, I rang in the new year laughing, which is what matters to me. The party was lovely. When I think that at this time last year I was still an undergraduate student, and now I am celebrating 2008 in Amman as a Rotary Scholar with people from Jordan, America, Australia, Germany, Iraq, and even Saudi Arabia, among others, I can't even believe my good fortune. Quite simply, this year is changing my life. There will always be the time “before” Amman, and “after” it.
Happy New Year!
Free Fouad: Arab Bloggers Speak Up!
· 21:04
The dean of Saudi bloggers Fouad Al Farhan (Ar) is still being detained - a month after he was handcuffed from his office in Jeddah and taken to an undisclosed location. Bloggers from Saudi Arabia to Tunisia are rallying behind Al Farhan and calling for his immediate release.
Tunisia:
For Tunisian activist Sami ben Gharbia, the entire Arab world seems to be a prison, where words and those uttering them are buried. He explains:
Ben Gharbia also urges bloggers to stand by Al Farhan, by publishing his plight. He says:
Saudi Arabia:
From Saudi Arabia, where the issue is closer to blogger's hearts and freedom, 7ala Bezyadah calls upon fellow bloggers to recognise Al Farhan's efforts in blogging and demand his immediate release. He writes:
وواجبنا الآن هو أن نقف وقفة صادقة مع من فتح الباب لنا وضحى بوقته وجهده وماله ونفسه من أجل توسيع نطاق الحرية لنا كمدونين سعوديين بأن نبدأ بالمطالبة بإطلاق سراحه وأن نكون نحن مدوني السعودية أول من يطالب بذلك فلنا في فؤاد الكثير فهو ينتمي لنا وننتمي له… ومن حقه علينا أن لا نخذله بأي شكل من الأشكال… فلنبدأ بالمطالبة اليوم قبل أن نندم على تأخرنا…
Ftat Al Amal (The Girl of Hope) admits that she doesn't blog all that comes to her mind because she does not want to end up where Al Farhan is today. She explains:
عندما يصبح هذا المتنفس مراقباً ..هنا نضع يدنا على قلوبنا ..عندما اعتقل فؤاد الفرحان ..تخيلت نفسي مكانه ..فسجن المدونين لم يعد يقتصر الآن على الدول العربية كمصر مثلاً الذي اعتقل فيها عدد لا بأس من المدونين .. أما أن يصل الأمر إلى الدول الخليجية التي حرية التعبير فيها تكاد مسموحة للجميع خيرهم وشرهم ..فهي رسالة للمدونين بأن أفكاركم مراقبة ..
الكثير من المدونين لا يريدون شراً باوطانهم .. بل جل ما يعبرون عنه هي نقاط يجب أن تقرأ بعناية من المسؤولين لأنها تصدر من أناس أغلبهم يحملون درجات عليا من العلم والمعرفة .. ولا يعيبهم أنهم شباب وصغار في السن ..
انا عن نفسي لا أخفيكم لدي الكثير من الآراء التي لا تروق للجميع ..وأراء سياسية ..ولا أخفيكم لا اتطرق للسياسة في مدونتي خوفاً من المصير الذي آل له فؤاد الفرحان ..
قد يتهمني البعض بالجبن ..ولكن أنا لا أفكر بنفسي بقدر ما أفكر في عائلتي ..ولا أقول هنا أن فؤاد لا يفكر بعائلته ..بل بالعكس..لأنه يفكر بعائلته يريد لوطنه الأفضل..
Talal, a Saudi blogger who lives in the US, warns us about how vulnerable societies built on hypocrisy are, saying Al Farhan's arrest was a mistake. He further adds:
وأرى أن للقضية بعدين أو وجهين مترابطين، فالأول هو البعد الإنساني والمتمثل في إعتقال رجل وإبعاده عن زوجته وأبناءه وما يترتب على ذلك من أحزان ومآسي. أما البعد الآخر وهو الأشد مرارة أن سبب الاعتقال كان ضد حرية رأي لم يمس فيها دين أو عرض أو يصرح فيها بعصيان أمني!
هل تريد السلطات من الشعب أن يكون منافقا يظهر عكس ما يبطن، ويهز رأسه مبتسما وقلبه حانق غضبان؟ إن هذا لهو عين الخطأ وبعدٌ عن الفقه والكياسة.
إن المجتمعات المنافقة هي مجتمعات هشّة قد نخرها الدود، فهي إذا معرضة للسقوط أمام أي هزة خارجية كانت أو داخلية. وإن في قصص باقي الدول لعبرة. لعل آخرها وليس أخيرها ما حدث لدولة العراق وكيف أنها انهارت في زمن قياسي بسبب كبت حريات شعبها وقمعهم.
Jordan:
To protest Al Farhan's arrest hundreds of bloggers around the world posted the above banner on their sites. Jordanian Naseem Al Tarawnah writes about how the jailed blogger's ordeal is all about breaking the silence.
Blogger's Times:
Meanwhile, Blogger's Times calls for support for other jailed bloggers, including Egyptian Ahmad Mohsin, whose arrest they say “wasn't covered enough.”
كما أدعوكم اعتبار اليوم احتجاجا علي اعتقال المدون أحمد محسن أيضا والذي لم يبدي عدد كبير من المدونين الإهتمام بقضيته رغم أن اعتقاله يأتي بسبب نشاطه التدويني اضافة أنه استطاع كشف جريمة تعذيب محمد جمعة الدهشوري قتيل الفيوم الأخير وقام بالاتصال بوسائل الإعلام المختلفة لتغطية الحدث كما استطاع من خلال علاقته مشاركة حركة مصريون ضد التعذيب تنظيم مؤتمر صحفي لأسرة الضحي في نقابة المحامين بالقاهرة لتكشف عن المساومات التي تعرضت لها الأسرة للتنازل عن القضي
Egypt:
Egyptian blogger Abdulmonem Mahmood, who wrote the previous article, also commented on Farhan's arrest here. He writes:
Mahmood, a Muslim Brotherhood blogger, was himself jailed for his blogging last year!
Supporters have set up a Free Fouad site here and they are appealing to bloggers to show support to Al Farhan by linking the following badge to their blogs.
8 comments · »»An Introductory Guide to Global Citizen Media
· 18:17
Rising Voices proudly announces the first in a series of outreach guides meant to explain the fundamentals of citizen media to a non-technical readership.
The first guide, An Introduction to Citizen Media, offers context and case studies which show how everyday citizens across the world are increasingly using blogs, podcasts, online video, and digital photography to engage in an unmediated conversation which transcends borders, cultures, and differing languages. From the introduction:
A change is taking place in how we communicate.
Just ten years ago we all learned about the world around us from newspapers, the television, and radio. Professional journalists would go to faraway places and bring back stories, photographs and videos of the situations they witnessed and the people they met.
Sometimes at dinner we talk about these stories with our friends and family. But ten years ago we rarely, if ever, communicated directly with the journalists themselves. Leading members of society wrote editorials expressing their opinions about various issues, but the rest of us could only share our opinions and thoughts with a small group of friends.
Over the last few years everything has changed. Thanks to new tools like weblogs, it is now possible to easily publish to the Internet. From Turkey to Kenya to Bolivia, everyday people like you and me are starting to share their stories and opinions with the rest of the world.
While this new form of communication is now freely available to anyone, most of the people participating still live in the wealthy neighborhoods of urban cities.
The purpose of this guide is to show that anyone with an internet connection can participate in the emerging global conversation. Our understanding of the world is now shaped not just by the newspapers and television, but also by each other.
This first edition of An Introduction to Citizen Media is available in English, Spanish, and Bengali. Future editions will also be available in Swahili, Malagasy, and Aymara.
While there are already several excellent introductions to the principles of citizen media, they tend to overwhelmingly focus on the surge of citizen media initiatives in North America and Western Europe. This guide, on the other hand, hopes to show readers in North America and Western Europe that some of the most exciting and innovative developments related to citizen media are taking place in the non-Western world. It also aims to serve as a reference document for local citizen media initiatives that wish to provide a more international context to their projects when they approach community leaders, politicians, and foundations.
Throughout 2008 Rising Voices will continue to publish and release guides which document in greater detail the use and implementation of RSS feeds, blogs, digital photography, podcasting, and online video.
Download An Introduction to Citizen Media in English
Descarga Una Introducción a Medios Ciudadanos en Español
‘সিটিজেন মিডিয়ার পরিচিতি' ডাউনলোড করুন
Burkina Faso: foreign, local and international incidents
· 14:16
Just a few weeks into the New Year and normally placid Ouagadougou observed its first sensational crime of 2008. A Lebanese man allegedly killed a local Burkinabé money changer during a business deal gone wrong. By the time the victim’s body was discovered Friday morning, the alleged murderer, his driver and his family had all fled the country.
At first local media didn’t report on the incident for fear of fanning the flames of sensationalism, so everyone had to rely on the rumor network to speculate what had happened. In the midst of this, Burkina Mom was near downtown that afternoon and reported this:
As he told me all this, I saw that some of the shops were closing, even though it was only 5pm.
They were all reacting to the rumour that this death was going to be “avenged” by Burkinabé mobs, who would come and attack Lebanese businesses, which are numerous here…There is certainly lots of tension between the Burkinabé and the Lebanese community in daily life. Many of the latter have been here for generations, but retain a very separate identity. As a general rule, the Lebanese are resented for their prosperity. They are also seen by the Burkinabé as harsh employers.
I am hoping that it all comes to nothing. But I'm glad that I did my grocery shopping already and won't have to venture out tomorrow. People are saying that the weekend is going to “chauffe” (get hot!).
However, reading an online account of the events, Burkina Mom came across this comment at the end of the newsstory from “A Concerned Citizen.”
I will avoid citing the Lebanese particularly, even though it is them in general who carry out these kinds of acts with the support of politicians and police officers greedy for briefcases full of cash. I will not to call for a popular uprising against this community, of which some members are now real Burkinabès and take an active part in the construction of our Nation. But we must recognise that a considerable number of foreigners think that this is still the
Africa of the ‘ dirty negro slaves’ where everything is permitted to them .”
On a lighter note, for sometimes obvious reasons Burkina Faso’s ex pats always try to find methods to make themselves distinct from tourists. In the weeks around Christmas and Tabaski, the weather in Burkina Faso turns cooler, and tourists seem to be everywhere. One way not to be mocked by locals, instructs Valentine in My So-Called Life in Africa, is to break the tourist dress code. Here she describes how to spot a tourist (Usually in couples or large groups):
1)Usually wearing shorts. (A fast givaway!)
2)Both men and women wearing basball hats.
3)Carrying huge hiking backpacks and black plastic bags.
4)Wearing sun glasses. (I know it makes sense, but you just shouldn't)
5)Almost always the women have their hair braided Burkina-style with fake hair added in. (They think they will blend in more if they adopt the local hair styles - but a white woman with cornrow braids is a dead givaway that you don't belong!)
6)Followed by a large crowd of venders asking over and over again if they want something that they have already rejected about one hundred times. ( As if maybe by the one hundred and first time, the tourist might suddenly have a change of heart and buy that ugly keyring!)
7)Also sometimes followed by some Rastamen asking if you want to be their “Friend”.
From Dori, (265 kilometres north of Ouagadougou), Keith from Under the Acacias told a story that took place last month regarding a fight between a local man and a young soldier stationed in town.
It apparently started with a fight over a woman. So far, so predictable. What made this particular fight unusual was that it was a fight between a local man and a soldier – and the local man won, putting the soldier in need of medical treatment.
The soldier’s friends then apparently decided to take revenge, who then went on a wrecking spree in Dori. Any man they found on the street, they beat up, regardless of who he was, and without asking any questions. Two local pastors, friends of mine, who happened to be in town at that time, were among those who got beaten up.
…
A couple of days of high tension followed, with nightly curfews, and mutual threats of further revenge, and the possibility even that Tabaski would be cancelled in Dori. But now, following an “agreement” between the military chief and the local authorities, Dori is apparently peaceful again.
From AfricaFlak:
When I first met him at that nightclub, I was overtaken. I was just a few months in Burkina Faso, a few more months out of journalism school. This was a real, live battle-hardened African journalist. (One who liked dingy bars, also.) He had been jailed, threatened, seen his colleague assassinated and chosen to replace him. This was the kind of guy I read about in school. From the first moment, Liermè did much to tear down that lofty perch I built for him – no one person could be a model for perfection, especially a journalist. If Liermè taught me anything it was to be content with merely being human: Messy, imperfect and yet always striving to make something better for yourself, your family and your world.
Any foreigner spending time in Burkina Faso will tell you that there is much more to the country than disease, murders and revenge. Take green beans, for instance. Not only are they an important aspect of local cuisine, but this vegetable has become enmeshed in a huge global market. Green beans may be extremely popular – and important to local economies – but they can only be found in village markets during certain times of year. The beginning of the New Year is one of those times. Girl Raised in the South found the beans in a unique way.
4 comments · »»My friend, Rasmane, approaches us and asks if we would like green beans. Well OF COURSE I do!! He tells us that we are going to get green beans, but that I can't buy any of them. Hah…we'll see about that. After a long walk we arrive out in in this huge field. Thirty or so people are sitting on mats sorting through piles and piles of green beans, while others are out in the field picking them off the plants… We were immediately put to work sorting green beans with the rest of them–assuming that I would of course get a cadeaux for all of my hard work. Turns out sorting green beans is a lot harder than I thought. I got yelled at several times for not throwing out bad ones. They only accepted perfect un-blemished green beans to be packed in the box, the other rejects got piled on the mat. The good beans got packed in boxes and were being shipped to France, while the bad ones would be eaten or sold in our market.
Introduction to Somali Blogosphere
· 09:30
The first roundup of Somali blogs, a small but steadily growing segment of the African blogsphere. Most Somali bloggers, predictably perhaps, are young, based outside Somalia and write in English.
Royale Somalia reports about the planned launch of a wine version of Khat, a narcotic widely consumed in East Africa:
An Ethiopian scientist is preparing to launch a new tipple for those looking for a twist on the usual glass of the grape — “wine” made from khat.
Instead of grapes, Eyasu Haile Selassie has been making wine from khat leaf, which is widely chewed throughout East Africa and the Middle East for its narcotic effect.
Khat wine is just as good as any wine produced from grapes and has been well-received by wine drinkers,” Eyasu, who said he had sent out 500 tester bottles to consumers, told reporters.
Kenya Somali is dismayed by the situation in Kenya, he writes:
Because Kenya is getting off the hook.Kibaki is refusing an international meditation simply because he is guilty of election's rigging.
In further evidence of faltering peace prospects, Kibaki today announced half his new cabinet, despite a previous offer to form a national unity government.
East African Philosopher is anxious about the situation in Kenya turning into a civil war, he says:
2 comments · »»It has been over a week since Kenya’s elections were held and Kenya is still burning. In my previous post, I worried that the infant violence at the time (Dec. 30) would last longer or even evolve into tribal or civil war. At this moment, part of my worry has largely become true - tribal war is now threatening Kenya’s statehood. Let me be clear: I was not predicting or expecting the violence to evolve into a full-blown tribal war and I am certainly not saying now ‘I told you so,’ but the fact is, Kenya is now more close to civil war than it had ever been.
A Haitian Blogger on the Next American President
· 09:03
Pascale, a Haitian living in Abu Dhabi who blogs at Natifnatal, writes about the American presidential election from a “Third World” perspective. Given America's impact, the outcome of this election matters not just for U.S. voters, but people around the world.
And while America certainly needs hope, she writes, campaign promises have a way of evaporating as soon as the contest is over. Can politicians like Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton help the US write a new chapter?
(more…)
Belarus, Russia: Minsk-Murmansk Train 
· 01:02
LJ user af1461's blog has many wonderful photo entries about the Russian North, the Far East and other regions, as well as about Russian railways (see, for example, these photos of a “dead” train station in a town in Murmansk region).
The post translated below (RUS), however, isn't a typical one. It features a photo of a note pasted on the Minsk-Murmansk train - a note that's supposed to assist passengers in locating cars they've got tickets for, but is instead a great illustration of how easily something mundane may turn into the frustratingly surreal in this part of the world.
Quite a mess
Train #325/326, Minsk-Murmansk, is [mixture] of add-on cars - the Minsk-Murmansk kernel consists of only eight cars or so, while the rest are attached in [Grodno], [Brest], [Gomel], [Velikiye Luki], [Pskov] and other such places.
As a result, when the train departs from Murmansk, the numbering of cars is such that only a very sober and attentive passenger would be able to find his car:
[photo]
Here's the note's translation:
train 325 numbering [of cars starts]
at the train's head
31, 32, 34, 33, from 2 to 7, [handwritten 8 inserted], 20, 21,
29, 19, 22, 17, 18, 23, 15
[handwritten at the bottom] car 0 [is] between 5 and 6
And here are two reader comments:
1 comment · »»strijar:
Big deal! This is how apartments in [St. Petersburg]'s old buildings are numbered ;) On one floor you'd have apartments 3, 17, and 24.
alenok74:
This is an IQ test for Murmansk residents :)
There was time when my wife was riding this train, and there's another fun thing about it: half of its cars are [registered in Belarus], while another half - in Russia, and the tickets for the former are 1.5 times cheaper. So when you were buying tickets, you had to say, “I need one for a Belarusian car” - and it came out cheaper that way.
Israel: Ms. Magazine Shuns Ad Promoting Leadership of Israeli Women
· 00:13
In a surprising move last week, Ms. Magazine refused to accept an advertisement that highlighted the leadership of Israeli women in public service. The full page advertisement sponsored by the American Jewish Congress featured three high profile Israeli women with the statement, “This is Israel,” in large, bold letters. The female political figures featured were Tzipi Livni, vice prime minister and minister of foreign affairs, Dorit Beinisch, president of the Supreme Court of Israel, and Dalia Itzik, speaker of the Knesset.
| Photo | Leader | Role |
|---|---|---|
 |
Tzipi Livni | Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs |
| (No photo available) | Dorit Beinisch | President of the Supreme Court |
 |
Dalia Itzik | Speaker of the Knesset |
Magazine representative Susie Gilligan reportedly told the American Jewish Congress, “[We] would love to have an ad from you on women's empowerment, or reproductive freedom, but not on this.”
Ms. Magazine's executive editor, Katherine Spillar, further explained the rejection, saying: “Because two of the women were from the same political party, we understood it as political. [The magazine] does not get involved in the domestic politics [of foreign nations].”
(Both Vice Prime Minister Livni and Knesset Speaker Itzik hail from the Kadima Party.)
American Jewish Congress president, Richard Gordon, fumed, “The only conclusion that one can reach from this behavior is that Ms. Magazine feels that an ad highlighting the accomplishments of three incredibly talented and dedicated women would offend their readership. Since there is nothing about the ad itself that is offensive, it is obviously the nationality of the women pictured that the management of Ms. fears their readership would find objectionable. For a publication that holds itself out to be in the forefront of the Women's Movement, this is nothing short of disgusting and despicable,”
Bloggers Speak Out–
Observing the Israeli and Jewish blogosphere's reactions to the scandal, Women's Lens blogger Aimee Kligman remarks:
“I suppose we don't need Ms. Magazine at this point, because this ad is alive and well on the blogosphere.”
The author of the Hashmonean blog features a copy of the advertisement, commenting:
“Here’s the ad that has been refused by the Magazine because from my understanding it is too controversial. It features three prominent Israeli Women in positions of power to illustrate our free, equal society where Women are generally very well liked and considered quite competent (they also get to carry machine guns, you’d think this was a Feminist Mecca here [in] the holy land no!?) Apparently not.”
Note that in the tradition of leaders in the public sphere coming from elite military backgrounds, Dorit Beinisch was a first lieutenant in the Israel Defense Forces and Tzipi Livni was an IDF officer and served in the Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency.
Avi Green of Tel-Chai Nation believes that there is a:
“…double-standard being displayed by Ms. Magazine, which wouldn't run an ad featuring three left-wing - I repeat, LEFT-WING - women who have high positions in Israeli politics and government: Tzipi Livni, Dorit Beinish [sic], and Dalia Itzik. It's very bad, because it shows that Ms. is hostile to Israel even when it's leftists who are the focus.”
Solomon of Solomonia reacts to Ms.' explanation for their rejection of the advertisement, saying:
“Lame excuse. Tzipi Livni isn't exceptional because she's a prominent female Israeli figure, Israel is exceptional in her region because females are prominent (and in Israel, their gender is unexceptional).”
Women Leading the Way–
Livni, Beinisch, and Itzik aren't Israel's only prominent women. Galia Maor is the CEO of Bank Leumi, the national bank of Israel, Ester Levanon is president of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, and Dalia Narkiss leads Manpower, the largest employment agency in Israel. Additionally, Golda Meir served as Israel's fourth prime minister and first women in that position, from 1969 to 1974 (pictured left). And that's not all, Israel's first Olympic gold medal was earned by Yael Arad in judo in 1992.
What's Your Opinion?–
So what do you think? Should the magazine have offered the American Jewish Congress an opportunity to submit the advertisement with alternative figures? Is the issue being overblown? Is Ms. Magazine truly anti-Israel as the bloggers claim? What could have been done to avoid this international snafu?
Let's hear what you have to say.
20 comments · »»
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