GroundReport.com

Japan: In a World with Automatic Translation

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:21:11 -0600

In a post titled I especially want to read ‘trivial information' (“くだらない情報”こそ読んでみたい), Japanese blogger Chikirin gives a fresh perspective on what's important or not and why.

Note: The post was translated in its entirety with permission from the blogger. All links were added by Tomomi Sasaki for reference.

You know how the online community is sometimes wowed with the emergence of services with new technologies and ideas like Google Maps, Google Earth, and YouTube? The one that I'm looking forward to the most is “Automatic Translation”.

Right now, if an English site comes up while you're searching (in Japanese), there's a little button that says [Translate this page]. Yes, the translation is still very underdeveloped. I'm not asking for it to be perfect, but wouldn't it be exciting if the translation was just “a little bit better” AND automatic?

It would be fantastic if whenever I did a search for something in Japanese, Google would retrieve results from all of the languages of the world. For example, a search for “鶏肉トマトレシピ (chicken tomato recipe)” would retrieve chicken and tomato recipes from all over the world with all of the results being displayed in Japanese. Recipes from French Italian, Chinese, Arabic cuisine, originally written in that language would show up in Japanese on the Google results page.

Then, let's say there was a blog by an Italian farmer's wife with a post called “Family recipe for tomato chicken pasta”. And the translation might not be perfect but it would be readable and have photos so I could nod along as I read the post, and perhaps I could even try cooking that dish.

And then and then! If the pasta was really good, I might comment on her blog saying, “I'm Chikirin from Japan, nice to meet you! I REALLY loved your pasta recipe <3 !!!”. And she'd be able to read it in Italian. Remember, it'd just BE in Italian, since it was automatically translated for her.

I want to live in that world of automatic translation.

It would be so much fun. A search for “wife mother-in-law troubles” might let you learn how the problem manifests itself in other countries. Or a blog about erotic games (エロゲー eroge) might attract a comment from a faraway land like Honduras, saying “What's an EROGE?” Or if you searched for “pirates”, you might accidentally stumble upon an underground Somalian pirate recruitment site… hey, anything could happen!

Of course, negative comments would be translated as well. And everything would be open for rating. Wouldn't this be exciting? How about a site called “Negative comments around the world” Obviously, 2channel would receive a flood of comments from around the world.

What if there was a Chinese junior high school student asking “Who is higher ranked, Hu Jintao or Wen Jiabao?” on a Chinese Q&A site. And then people from all over the would say “You're Chinese and you don't know the answer?” or “Join the communist party!”.

An oblivious American might interrupt with “What? The president and premier aren't the same person?”. And a Bulgarian might chime in with “Where's China? I couldn't find it on Google Earth… is it this island?” and someone might reply with “Nah, that's Taiwan!” and the conversation would veer off. That's the kind of thing I want to read!

Low employment rates among young people is a common issue throughout the world, right? A search with those keywords might connect us with angry Lost Generation youth from other countries. And it would be interesting to learn how youth in different countries expressed their anger.

A Korean student studying in Japan might post on her blog, “On the train today, I saw a woman do her make up routine perfectly during her commute. Japan is so incrediblimnida!”

These days, only important or relevant information gets translated. What I'm looking forward to is a world where even the most trivial and useless information is translated and available to anyone!

TV stations and newspapers broadcast news about other countries but they only cover “important news”: earthquakes, floods, forest fires, or political news. Personally though, I'm much more interested in the kind of information that I've given examples above, more than any forest fire.

In every country, there must be blogs that most people don't care about. (Well, I can't be certain but it's probably the case!) I believe that if everyone, everywhere could read all of the trivial information that's out there, we would truly be able to live together in a more peaceful world.

While it may be paradoxical, “What is truly important is to translate the unimportant.” and a world where only so-called important information gets translated is a boring one.

Thanks to Taku Nakajima for suggesting this article and Ziggy Okugawa for helping with the translation.

Videos attempt to explain Honduras political situation

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 09:09:50 -0500

After the recent confusing events in Honduras, where the elected President Zelaya was demoted by the military and shipped off to Costa Rica while in his pajamas and a new President, Micheletti has taken power and declared a curfew among other measures to keep order, while citizens try to make sense of the situation, as shown onthis past post. Some are using videos to express their perspectives, and we bring you a few of them. The following image is part of a set of images of unrest after the June 28 events uploaded by Bllq21 on flickr.

Image by Bllq21 under according to Creative Commons License

This first video in English, widely distributed through the microblogging site Twitter, gives an explanation as to why the recent events shouldn't be called a coup:

This next video, shows the opposite view, and calls the event a Coup d'état. The following quotes are translated from the text on their video:

Sunday June 28. The constitutional order is broken with the kidnapping and expulsion of the President of the Republic José Manuel Zelaya Rosales.

Access to information is interrupted, electric energy is suspended, telephone, internet access, all national and international news channels are blocked, they take possession of the alternative news networks.

They manipulate information through pro-coup networks.

Popular organizations, civil organizations, LGBT, students, teacher organizations, women's feminists and others defend the Rule of Law in front of the Government offices.

Men and women in the whole country defend the Rule of Law against the pro-coup members of the National Congress and Army.

In the face of repression… lets defend the Rule of Law!

Its not a change of power, ITS A COUP D'ETAT!

This next video shows some of the violent events that have followed the change in power this past June 28th in spite of the new government's statements of how the situation is currently calm.

Egyptian Woman Killed in German Court for Wearing Veil

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 09:06:57 -0500

It's been too long since Egyptian bloggers came together under the same opinion. But the new hate crime that took place in Germany against a Muslim Egyptian woman, Marwa El Sherbini, was one good reason for them to unite again, condemning international media for ignoring such incidents against Muslims in the West.

The story goes back to August 2008, when Marwa filed a defamation case against her killer, Axel, a 28-year unemployed German, after he called her a “terrorist” because she wears the hijab (Islamic veil).

However last Wednesday, Alex stabbed her 18 times to death in a German courtroom after the judges announced she won the case against him, and that he had to pay 2,800 Euros as a fine for his previous insults.

Marwa, 32-year-old Egyptian, was the wife of an Egyptian academic, who was on a scholarship in Germany. Her husband was also hurt in the incident and is now in critical condition in hospital, between life and death.

Zeinobia expressed her anger in a post titled “What If She Were A Lesbian“, and said:

The woman is 32 years Marwa El-Sherbini , she was a pregnant in her second child when she was was stabbed.
[…]
This is for sure a hate crime but unlike other hate crimes like homophobic crimes or anti-Semitic crimes, it did not make the headlines abroad and I do not know why !! This is a racism crime , a woman is ~~shot down~~stabbed like that so simple in the court room for God sake and it is not important to be covered in the media as it should !! She was a mother who was a pregnant for God sake !!
May Allah bless her soul , she is a martyr of racism and hate.

Ahmed esmat questioned on Twitter

The same thought was echoed by Hisham Maged on his blog, playing the What if game:

Let us play the What IF game, just imagine if the situation was reversed and the victim was a westerner who was stabbed anywhere in the world or -God Heaven- in any Middle Eastern country by Muslim extremists, or even what the media used to call ‘minorities’ in Egypt! You definitely would have heard the world’s buzzing and the internet goes down too!

Bikya Masr, who was closely following the incident, asked if Marwa can be the symbol to bring people together. He demanded an immediate action on the diplomatic and national levels:

Across the Middle East, anger is high. This anger, however, cannot fall into random diatribes against Germans, or Germany. It must maintain some semblance of coherence for any campaign that should be established to succeed. And it will if Sherbini truly is a symbol that can bring people together much like Neda in Iran did.
[…]
Do people believe Sherbini is a symbol? […] Egyptians should be outraged that a woman was verbally abused for wearing the veil and being Egyptian in the first place. The government should be sending a strong signal to Europe that this behavior is unacceptable, but they remain silent. That leaves it to the Egyptian population to take action.
[…]
Let us walk the streets in front of the German Embassy and demand a full investigation and report. Because if Germany cannot do this, then it once more proves that European hate for Muslims and Arabs is stronger than their so-called “freedom.” Yes, Marwa is a symbol, but she should be a symbol to bring people together, not divide them.

Another blogger Sadafat wrote:

لو أن يهوديا أصيب بكلمة أو مزحة ثقيلة في ألمانيا لأقامت رئيسة الوزراء الدنيا ولم تقعدها ولتنادت فوكس نيوز وسكاي نيوز بالدفاع عن العنصر السامي واعلان الحرب على اعداء السامية، وأما الأخت المصرية هذه فلا بواكي لها.
يجب ان تعلن الحكومة الألمانية ان هذا التصرف يمس المسلمين، يجب ان تضع في دستورها للغالبية الثانية من الديانيات وهم المسلمين حقوقا تحفظهم من العداء ضد الإسلام.

If a Jew was hurt, in Germany, even with a word or a joke, the prime minister would have done everything, and called Fox News and Sky News to defend Semitism and would have even declared war on anti-Semites. But no one will cry over the Egyptian woman who died there.

The German government should know that this act affects Muslims, and should put in its constitution for the second majority of its religions, who are Muslims, that their rights protect them from hatred towards Islam.

Egyptian bloggers commenting or venting out their frustrations on Twitter.

As for myself, I found myself writing these lines on my blog Lasto Adri:

بعد أن قال الغرب أن قاتل مروة الشربينى لا يمثل ألمانيا، وأن الحادث مجرد عمل فردى،
لا أتوقع من الغرب -ذاته- أقل من أى يلغى من كل معاجمه فكرة أن المسلمين إرهابيين، ويؤمن أن بن لادن وأعوانه -مثلا- لا يمثلون العرب أو المسلمين فى شئ، وأفعالهم كلها فردية!

وعلى رأى المثل.. لا تعايرنى ولا أعايرك.. دا التعصب طايلنى وطايلك!

After the West said that Marwa's murderer doesn't represent Germany, and that it is an individual act.. I expect no less from -the same- West than erasing the idea that Muslims are terrorists from all its dictionaries, and to believe that Ben laden and his friends -for example- do not represent Arabs or Muslims in anything, and all what they do is individual actions!

As the proverb says: Don't blame me for something you do too. We both have the same “extremism”.

Turmoil in Iran

Sun, 21 Jun 2009 12:34:41 -0500

Turmoil in Iran

I was very surprised by the protest to Ahmadinejad in Iran. I was even more surprised when it continued after the supreme leader ordered the protest to stop and Mussavi to accept the results. By defying the supreme leader his position is weakened and so is the regime. What has occurred over the past few days is truly historic and Iran will never be the same. My heart and prayer goes out to those that put their lives on the line in order to have a voice. To be honest I don’t know if I could do something like they did. The crackdown by the government only served to enrage the protesters. If there is a wide crackdown than people could feel anyone could be next, thus they have nothing to lose by protesting. This situation could have been resolved had the regime address the concerns of citizens. There are those who speak of the Obama effect I think to some degree it is the truth. The pictures and videos placed on YouTube and other internet sources are inspiring. At the same time they are horrific because of the bloodshed. I wish I could do something even if I am not Iranian because it is young people my age who are protesting. The courage presented by them is truly inspiring. The president is striking the right tone when he speaks of Iran. The Republicans who favor a tougher almost hawkish stance are wrong. The president can’t take ownership of this situation because we don’t know how it will end. No matter who truly becomes president we have to deal with Iran. The regime could say that the protesters are supported by the US; hence the legitimacy of the protesters will be eliminated. Considering the history of Iran and their distrust of the U.S we can’t appear to be interfeing. This has to be an Iranian domestic issue we can’t politicizes the situation. As far as I am concern American interference in the situation is arrogance. The Iranian people know what they do. They do not need American backing because they know what we stand for; US is for Democracy, freedom of assembly, speech and religion. This whole situation started from the grassroots let them continue on the path towards freedom. Iran is not the Soviet Union so for those who say the president needs tougher language much like Reagan said to bring down the Berlin wall are wrong. We can’t say we have your back only to turn our backs on the Iranian. What we can do is provide moral support but no political interference. The use of technology after the election is truly amazing. Who knew that Twitter and Facebook had such power? The Iranian government is not Islamic because it does not take religion to shoot civilians who are only asking for a revote. It does not take religion to release a bunch of thugs to terrorist protesters. It does not take religion to have home evasions. The next strongest action should be nationwide strikes. If there is a sustainable protest without concerns of demonstrators being addressed the tone could change from re vote to a regime change. The good news is that there seems to be a divide at the leadership level. This divide makes the next events difficult to predict and complicates the whole situation. The divide also gives some protection and support to protesters. Allah Akbar , the world stands with Iran and peace be upon you all.

Iran: Islamist bloggers react to protest movement

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 22:19:24 -0500

by Hamid Tehrani

As protests grow in Iran against the June 12 presidential election results that declare Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the winner, some Islamist bloggers explain why they believe Ahmadinejad won, and the opposition leader, Mir Hussein Mousavi lost.

While international media is awash with news about how Mousavi supporters are using the internet to make their views known, several bloggers are using the same tools to make a case against the opposition candidate.

Before the election, more than 100 bloggers publicly declared their support for Ahmedinejad on a campaign website created by his followers that made use of both YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.

Hamed Talebi, writes [fa] that we should consider several issues about the current situation such as:

اقلیتی وقیح می خواهند تصمیم خود را بر اکثریت تحمیل کنند و در این مسیر از ساده دلی مردمی که به میرحسین موسوی رای داده اند سوء استفاده می کنند.

A shameless minority wants to impose its will to the majority, and to achieve this goal they manipulate simple-hearted people who voted for Mousavi.

He adds:

جنگ، جنگ احمدی نژاد و میرحسین نیست. و نباید گذاشت به جنگ رای دهندگان به این دو منتهی شود. این، جنگ بین اکثریت مردم بی زبان و بی رسانه است با جریان تندرویی که پیش تر هم در حرکت هایی همچون تحصن نمایندگان مجلس ششم و غائله 18 تیر نشان داد ابایی از به آتش کشیدن مملکت و قربانی کردن مردم و منافع عمومی ندارد. میرحسین نیز در خوشبینانه ترین حالت، قربانی این جریان فریبکار است.

“This is not a war between Ahmadinejad and Mir Hussein and we should not let it become a war between the voters of both sides either. It is a war between a majority of people who have no access to media and a radical movement… Mousavi, in the most optimistic scenario, is merely a victim of this deceiving movement.”

The blogger questions how can we bring people's confidence back.

Ahestan says [fa] Mousavi tries to blame Ahmadinejad's supporters for burning public bulidings? Based on what evidence does he make such claims? It is just like his claim about his victory in the presidential election?

The blogger wonders if Mousavi claims all his supporters protest peacefully, why some of them tried to storm a Basij [para military] base.

Khakrism writes [fa] that several Hezbollah and Basij members were murdered during this crisis time, and that American and British media manipulated Mousavi's supporters to believe that the [Ahmadinejad] government is a liar.

Nasleh Khomeyni says [fa] that Mousavi's western style campaign made him lose credibility among voters and that the demonstrations after the election show his supporters are coming from one class of society, and that he does not have majority support.

Caste-based communities on Orkut mirror India's splintered society

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 16:01:56 -0500

By Gaurav Mishra

One of the main themes of my research on digital activism is that social technologies are value-agnostic.

At each of the four levels of Content, Collaboration, Community and Collective Intelligence, social technologies can lead to both good and bad outcomes.

I have written before about Shiv Sena's militant approach towards Orkut communities critical of the party, its leader Bal Thakeray, or its Hindutva ideology. Caste-based communities on Orkut are another disturbing example of online communities mirroring the dysfunctions in Indian society.

For instance, there are more than 1000 communities for Brahmins on Orkut. There are 461 Brahmin communities listed under culture and community, 591 under religion and beliefs, 87 under activities and 117 under others.

One of the most popular Brahmin community, with 28, 726 members, randomly claims: “we r clever & hardworking. no one can fool us…” The Brahmans community with 41952 members and the Brahmins of India community with 30588 members are also very popular.

The other popular Brahmin communities are those for the various Brahmin sub-castes like Gawd Saraswat Brahmin (GSB) (12,189 members), Kokanastha Brahmin (4038 members), Deshashtha Brahmin (4083 members), Garhwali Brahmin (3067 members), Daivadnya Brahmin (2654 members) and Gaur Brahmin (2055 members). Another group, Brahmin Culture and Tradition is “dedicated to the purpose of uniting Brahmins to revive, preserve, protect and propagate the Brahmin culture to descendants without intimidation or dilution from anti-Brahminical forces.”

Interestingly, it seems that most of the threads under topics related to Brahmins have to do with defining the different types of Brahmins under various sub-castes.

There are also more than 1000 communities for Yadavs on Orkut, including gems like modern yadav girls and boys (5759 members).

Similarly, there are more than a 1000 Rajput communities on Orkut, including the Rajput the Royal Family community with 35,481 mebers, which asks people to join the group “if your soul justifies that you are Rajput both by soul and by nature.”

Orkut's Debut to Indian Diwali - 2006, Image by Brajeshwar from Flickr (cc licensed)

Dalits have about 200 mostly small communities on Orkut.

Perhaps, the low number of Dalit communities on Orkut says something about Indian society in general, and Orkut users in particular. Higher, more powerful, castes like Brahmins, Rajputs and Yadavs tend to have more money and easier access to the internet and old disparities are further accentuated by the internet.

Caste-based communities, however, aren't unique to Orkut.

Brahminsamaj.org is “a global platform for the Brahmin Community where you will learn, share and find lot of information, knowledge and fun.” Thambraas Muhurtham wants that “all Brahmins should come forward to marry breaking the sects and subsects within Brahmins, particularly Brahmins of Thamizhnadu.” It also points out that “the entire sects and subsects of South Indian brahmin population are totally vegetarians unlike certain brahmins of other parts of India.” A couple on the homepage of Marry A Brahmin claim that its “focused approach on Brahmin matches helped us find each other as true soul mates.” Brahmin Connections is “proud to present an opportunity and a platform to our young Brahmins and their parents to connect with each other across the world for the matrimonial purpose.” Brahmins Matrimony says that “it is the right place to search for your life partner!”

There are dedicated websites for sub-castes as well. Sakhdwipi aims “to provide a common forum for the Shakdwipis to know each other and interact with each other.” KeralaIyers aims “to delve into the history, trace the roots, portray the life of modern day Kerala Iyers, and chronicle the achievements of this community.” iKalyanam claims to be “the only exclusive site for Iyer matrimonials.” Shivalli Brahmins wishes “to bring together all Shivalli Brahmins residing in different parts of the world, through meaningful discussions about their traditions.” GSBMatch is a matrimonial website for the Gowd and Saraswat Brahmin community. ModhBrahmin.org and BrahmanSamaj.org claim that “history proves that the people of Modh Brahmin Samaj are very enterprising and very resourceful” and aims to “bring all brothers and sisters of Samaj close.” Jangid Brahmin Samaj is a community for Jangid Brahmins. RSBNet is “a single stop source of information regarding the origin, customs, culture, history of Rajapur Saraswath Brahmins.”

Similarly, there are dedicated websites for other castes as well.

Kayastha Matrimonial is a matrimonial website for the Kayastha community. Rajput Samaj is “presently predominately taking care of the Rajputs of Rajasthan” but in near future aims to be “taking care of the Rajputs living in India, Pakistan and abroad.” JatLand, “the online home for the Jats” is especially proud of its wiki.

The Dalit community is fairly active on the internet, even though it's miniiscule on Orkut. The International Dalit Solidarity Network, which has the most sophisticated of all these websites, “works on a global level for the elimination of caste discrimination.” Dalit Solidarity Network “brings together organizations and individuals in the UK who are concerned with caste-based discrimination.” Dalit India has “papers on various specific issues of the Dalits of India living in India and abroad.” Dalit Freedom Network “partners with the Dalits in their quest for religious freedom, social justice, and human rights by mobilizing human, informational, and financial resources.” Dalit Solidarity is “committed to the principles of justice and equality for all Indians, regardless of caste, race, gender or religion.” Dalit Voice claims that India is “the original home of racism” as Dalits and Tribals, who “constitute the core of India's original inhabitants”, are kept enslaved by “alien Aryans”. Dalit Education aims to “transform lives and communities through the Christian message.” Indian Dalit Muslims Voice is a platform to discuss issues concerning Indian Dalit Muslims. Rohit Chopra has written about the tension between the elite Hindu nationalists and the disadvantaged Dalits on the internet.

In terms of content, the majority of these websites are focused on matrimonial match-making, but several of them seek to build international communities based on caste affiliations and offer tools like directories, bulletin boards and forums to their members. I have also noticed a tendency to establish a rather embellished history of the caste, with detailed biographies of the important personalities belonging to the caste. Ashok Kumar at Express India has a great description of the common features on these caste based websites.

Not surprisingly, Facebook has only 46 small Brahmin groups, 60 small Yadav groups, 126 smal Rajput groups and 41 small Dalit groups. The absence of caste based groups from Facebook is in line with its cosmopolitan user base. Orkut, on the other hand, should be a little concerned about its tendency to attract loonies of all types.

In the end, however, the cosmopolitanism of Facebook is an anomaly, and Orkut's crude caste communities merely mirror India's splintered society.

Cross-posted at Gauravonomics, my blog on social media and social change.

-------

[Note from GroundReport: For an explanation of the Hindu caste system, check out this BBC webpage from their "Religion & Ethics" section.]

Iranian election in photos

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:47:54 -0500

By Hamid Tehrani

The Iranian presidential election will be held on June 12. Only four men, out of more than 400 self-registered men and women, were given official approval by the Guardian Council for the candidacy. The sharp eyes of blogger-photographers have captured moments and scenes in the streets of Iran where people promote their favorite candidates and political demands.

Maryam Majd has published several photos on Feminist School about “women’s independent presence in the electoral space."

In Feminist School we read that “Tajrish sq. Emamzadeh Saleh (a holy shrine in the north of Tehran) and the memorable Tajrish Bazaar were hosts to the volunteer members of the “Coalition of Women’s Movement”. They enthusiastically demanded an independent presence for women in the city’s electoral space. Their slogan was: “We Vote for Women’s Rights.” Their wish is for Iranian authorities to put an end to all discriminatory laws against women.

Saba Vasefi also captured this movement in action on Feminist School.

In Zoherpix Photo blog we see how Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's and Mir Hussein Mousavi's supporters are waving the photos of their favorite candidates:

Moroccans' Love/Hate Affair with Obama

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:11:04 -0500

By Anas Alaoui

US President Barack Obama's Cairo address to the Muslim world sparked a blaze of reactions across the region and beyond; not least amongst bloggers from the Maghreb where a fiery of blog posts and instant tweets conveyed a whole spectrum of opinions ranging from outright, full endorsement to deep skepticism and even scorn and mistrust.

Even before Obama's inauguration, and well before he decided which Middle Eastern or North African country he would choose to deliver his so called foreign policy speech in, some Moroccan-Americans lobbied for President Obama to come to Rabat. Some others suggested Casablanca. A website, President Obama to Speak in Morocco, was even set up for that purpose:

[We invite] President Obama to make Morocco the home for his first foreign policy speech abroad.
Morocco is the ideal country to launch a message of peace to the Muslim world.
A peace loving country with a respected voice in the region, Morocco is a long time friend of the United States and would be proud to host President Barack Obama in this historical event.

Eventually, and to the big disappointment of many Moroccan Obama enthusiasts, the American President did not speak in Morocco but preferred - logically, some would argue - Cairo, Egypt.

The blogoma (acronym for Moroccan blogosphere) and many Moroccan Twitter users reacted differently to the Cairo speech. This is a run down of some of the reactions.

Eagerly Awaited

The Obama Cairo speech was quite anticipated. “What if I met Obama?” wonders Mohamed Malouk. Blogging on Elmafjoue [Ar], he says:

لو التقيت أوباما فسأطلب منه أن يقتطع من وقته الثمين جزءا يخصصه لحكامنا الميامين ليمحو عنهم أميتهم في فن التعامل مع الشعوب ، وليلقنهم بعضا من أبجديات اليموقراطية الواضحة ، وليعلمهم كيفية التخلص من عقدة التخوف من المواطنين .

If I met Obama, I would ask him to dedicate some of his precious time to our leaders so he could erase their ignorance when treating their people and teach them some basics of democracy and how to get rid of this fear they have of their own people.

Mohamed [Ar] continues:

لو التقيت أوباما لقلت له إن سلفكم ما ترك فينا إلا حقدا متصاعدا لأمريكا ، وما أنتج لنا إلا غضبا عليها ، وما صنع بيننا إلا كرها لها ، وانت جئت من كل فج عميق بأمل وأطلقت لكل فئة وعدا ، والعرب والمسلمون قوم تتحول عندهم بين لحظة وأخرى الآمال إلى آلام

If I met Obama, I would tell him that his predecessor left us with an ever growing hatred for America and that that only produced anger against it; a hatred cultivated amongst us; then you came out [President] with a deep hope and gave promises to every community whilst Arabs and Muslims usually see their hopes transform into pains.

Live-coverage

One of the innovations made by the Obama administration was the possibility for members of the public to follow the Cairo speech through quotes sent by SMS text messages. The speech was a hot topic on Twitter where many live reactions were reported.

Larbi_org [Fr] followed the event and he twittered:

Great and important speech of Obama in Cairo.

Although, Larbi later on, in a second tweet, wondered “What did Obama mean by ‘Muslim World’ ?”.

They were also some funny reactions when @annouss re-twitted @mbaa…

To all people inside Cairo university, Obama is not Husni Mubarak, you don't have to clap on each sentence.

Analysis

Citoyen Hmida has compared Cairo speech to the JFK's «Ich bin ein Berliner» speech. He stated [Fr]:

Le discours prononcé à l’Université du Caire a été ponctué par de nombreux applaudissements. En effet, le fait d’entendre un président américain dire « Assalamou 3alienkoum » peut redonner espoir. Cette formule rappelle le fameux « Ich ben ein Berliner » clamé par J.F.K. lors de sa visite à Berlin-Ouest en juin 1963.
Obama a eu également l’élégance intellectuelle de citer, fort à propos, certains versets du Coran.

The speech delivered at the University of Cairo was punctuated by much applause. The fact of hearing the American President saying «Assalamou Alaykoum» can give hope. This formula reminds the famous « Ich ben ein Berliner » stated by JFK when he visited Berlin in June 1963.
Obama had also the intellectual elegance to quote certain verses of the Quran.

Citoyen Hmida also wrote:

(…)ce discours tant attendu n’est en partie qu’un tissu de lieux communs sur la civilisation arabo-musulmane et sur les positions américaines contre « l’extrémisme violent ».

This long awaited speech has been, in part, a string of platitudes about the Islamic-Arabic civilization and about the American condemnations of “violent extremism.”

Abdoukili reacts in a similar manner. He wrote:

The words Obama used like quotations from the Koran (to which he referred four times) and Islamic expression like “assalaamu alaykum” , “azaan ” and “Mohammed (peace be upon them) ” is a good public relation strategy to have more effect on the Muslim audience.

Wait and see

Some other bloggers, even when they appreciated the Obama speech have adopted a «wait and see» position. Laila Lalami, a Moroccan author based in the US wrote:

One important test of this new approach, to my mind, is the settlements. Obama has already told Netanyahu that he wants a complete stop to Israeli settlements and that he won’t accept “natural growth” exceptions. If he can do that, then this speech will be remembered as a turning point; if he can’t, then it will go the way of all the speeches by the previous five administrations: nowhere.

The Skeptic

But not everybody was impressed by Obama's words. Abdelhak al'Koush, blogging on Afinina [Ar], launched a strong attack on the American president and questioned his motives in a discourteous post. He wrote:

توفق الرئيس في شد أنفاس القطيع العربي بمن فيهم البلهى من المثقفين العرب، ثم لوح بيديه الكريمتين كما يفعل ملوكنا وجبابرتنا الطغاة في لحظات نفاقهم المتميزة ،ـ وصفق له الحاضرون بحرارة ، ولينتهي الفصل الأول من المسرحية

… جاء أوباما إذن ليقبل العالم العربي الميت ” قبلة الموت”

الحقيقة المرة هو أن أوباما يمنح الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية فرصة أن تلتقط أنفاسها بعد حروب متتالية، اٍذ لم يتردد بوش في [تعبير جارح] العربي البارد ثقافيا وسياسيا ودينيا وحضاريا ، والحقيقة الأمر هو أن العدوان الأمريكي سيشتد بعد مرحلة أوباما .

Obama came then to offer a kiss… “a kiss of death” to the already deceased Arab World[…]
The bitter truth is, Obama is offering the United States the opportunity to take a breather after successive wars against the Arabs who are cold culturally, politically and religiously. After Obama, the American aggression will heighten.
The American president succeeded in capturing the imagination of the Arabic herd (sic) including those Arab idiotic (sic) intellectuals, and then waved his hands mimicking our kings and titan despots in their distinct moments of hypocrisy; and the audience applauded warmly ending the first chapter of a comedy[…]

A Last Note of Hope

Many things have been said about the Obama Cairo speech. Among them, Abdoukili expressed a note of hope when he closed his post by saying

On the whole Obama has carefully chosen his words and said what the majority of Muslims want to hear from him. It remains to see how he can enact his dream of an ideal relationship with the Muslim world where there is so much to do to eradicate the negative views many Muslims have towards the USA

Libya: Women, Writers and Artists

Wed, 06 May 2009 05:59:19 -0500

Apparently swine flu has not yet hit the Libyan blogosphere but I'm sure talking about the status of women would make a good icebreaker.

After exploring several Libyan blogs, Highlander who was
posting about Arab/Libyan writers and bloggers thinks that with
regards to writing it is preferable to use the blogosphere as a practicing space. There was no need to inform all to avoid trouble with the male half.

“I don't think that the Libyan males are against their sisters, mothers, wives etc. writing but more as social pressure and the 3ayb [ shame - dishonour] part - as in what cannot be seen then does not exist… or that the precious females maybe recognised and their ideas misinterpreted and God forbid their reputation ruined because Libyan dudes would be trolling their website/blog .[ref]

An oft forgotten aspect is that living outside Libya is not a guarantee of a different or similar attitude for that matter. Check what happened at the same event in London and Washington DC. Anglo Libyan who attended the London one is so frustrated he asks men to respect women.

“as I walked in the hotel I found most of the invited people standing outside the hall where the film was going to be screened as the doors were still closed, I noticed very few ladies there, they were standing with their partners, about 20 minutes later I saw a member of staff open one of the hall's doors slightly then suddenly from no where I saw a group of Libyan ladies, about 15 or 20 run past us and straight into the hall, it really was like a flash then the member of staff closed the door, obviously they were hidden somewhere out of sight until some body asked the organisers to open the door for them to keep them away from prying male Libyan eyes!!!! after the doors were open for the rest of us to go in the event hall, the first thing I noticed was how all the ladies were seated right at the back all in one group in a segregated section, I immediately looked at the few ladies I saw in the beginning who were standing with their partners, they all looked puzzled and confused, I am sure they wanted to sit with their families but eventually decided to segregate from their families and sat at back with the other ladies and they really did not look very happy” [source]

On the edge had a very controversial post about foreign women who marry Libyans and how some of them have unfortunately been treated. She says:

” I am constantly reading Libyan bloggers writing about how EASY my life as a foreigner married to a Libyan is here in Libya . […] What I do know for a fact is this …. our lives are dam hard . Real hard , harder than you can imagine at times . We don't have our mothers and fathers to protect us when our husbands and/ or their families decide to mistreat us like a Libyan woman would . Nor do we have a safe harbor to run to when things get bad or ugly . No place or no one there for us to go to , to listen to us and our problems . No helping hand to reach out in love , like a Libyan woman does . No , we just tough it out .We stick to it . We don't run away . We stand and fight for ourselves and our children for all we are worth , in whatever manner we have to defend ourselves by .
We do this because of love . Love , yes love . We love our husbands , even when we want to kill him . We love our kids , even when they disrespect us or are ashamed of us because we aren't Libyans , because we are different .Yes that happens to some of us . Love of our adopted home , Libya and all Her crazy , strange ,beautiful, wondrous , people , places ,and things .”

Needless to say this topic created such a hot debate that it prompted a follow up post.

On the other hand and on the topic of Libyan writers, Ghazi from Imtidad constantly astonishes us with translations of short stories by Libyan writers ( male and female). A published writer himself I think that Ghazi has good future before him. His latest translation is Omar Kikli's ” While drinking tea” which sent chills down my spine.

Shahrazad always the one to plug interesting Libyan things has put up a number of photos of paintings by a budding Libyan female artist.

” Here are a few paintings my sister took at a friends house. The painter is still in her beginning and has never had an exhibition. So I told her Id blog her paintings and see what the feedback would be.”

Personally I would buy one of the paintings if she can arrange a vernissage.

I'll conclude by posting Lostdubliner's experience as an Irish expat female in Libya. She has been here for about two months.

“armed with my camera I leave the hotel room in the hope of catching a bit of the local culture – this however turns from a fantastic idea to a disappointing reality. Practically every car that comes by with men in it horns or stops! I have numerous offers of a lift, phone numbers and friendship! Nervous and frustrated, halfway down the road I quickly turn on my heels and head straight back to the hotel.[…] Back at the hotel the staff are all extremely friendly and hospitable, everyone either knows my name or calls me “sister”. In general the Libyan people come across as a lot more warmer than in the West - they eminate a strong element of goodness and kindness which is very refreshing!” [source]

The above just shows that some Libyan lads are total losers and that others are lovely gentlemen.

Women in Libyan society are loved, respected and cared for as mothers, sisters, aunts, daughters and wives. The state guarantees freedom and equality between men and women but it still runs across cultural norms and traditions and here I don't mean religion. This post is not about feminism, it's just observations about anomalies plaguing our society and a reflection on how to deal with them.

This article was originally published here on Global Voices.

Tracking Swine Flu in China on Twitter

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 09:20:04 -0500

By John Kennedy

Swine flu for China so far is a chance to reflect [zh] on how SARS was prevented from becoming a pandemic, and the steps being taken now in Mexico and elsewhere.

Wang Jiadong has a post [zh] looking at how social media have been used to track the spread of outbreaks, from trending topics on the China Google to #hashmarks at the Twitter search engine, introducing the global Google swine flu map to his readers along with the QQ version.

The tech community at cnBeta have posted on the American CDC's [zh] use of Twitter and YouTube to disseminate the latest information, and actively discussing the situation in the comments:

能评论吗

Can we comment?

吃猪肉能传染么？

Can you catch it from eating pork?

如果中国的什么疾病控制中心用QQ发布某信息…… 那估计很多人就要喷代谢产物 ~~ 你觉得呢？

If the Chinese CDC or whatever started using QQ to spread information….then I bet a lot of people would be shocked silly…don't you think?

看看人家国家~~再看看天朝gov 。差异啊~

You look at other countries, then you look at our government. What a difference!

就是你这种人…… 外国用所谓的这些软件发布就是潮流要是国内用什么QQ发布估计你就要来喷代谢产物了! 不要看外国的月亮的时候那么崇拜实际上你这么崇拜人家人家未必把你当啥东西看

It's people like you…..it's the trend right now for foreigners to use these so-called programs to disseminate information, but if they started using QQ or whatever to do that here, I bet it'd be YOU that'd be shocked silly! You shouldn't be always worshipping the foreign moon every time you look at it. You know if you keep worshipping people like that, people are just going to ignore you.

Twitter真是个肥猪流网站! 这么废品的功能就想不明白为什么这么多人要用？？难道这就是外国人思想观念比较新的具体体现了？

Twitter is really a non-mainstream website! Such a crappy service, I can't figure out why so many people want to use it?? Is it supposed to be the latest manifestation of some foreign ideological concept?

差距是有的，但是和十几年前的中国比起来，现在进步了很多，应该鼓励不能嘲讽

There is a difference, but compared to China a few decades ago, there's been a lot of progress. You should encourage, not mock.

An earlier cnBeta post [zh] noted that usage of the #swineflu had reached a rate of 10,000/hour. A commenter there points out that the @CDCEmergency Twitter account had already reached 25,000 followers, to which another reader writes:

中国非典，禽流感的时候，又不见消息这么灵通？好了，现在其它国家有疫情了，中国就哇哇哇地宣传。果真是那样，三句话总结新闻联播:前十分钟,领导们很忙;中十分钟,全国人民很幸福;后十分钟,世界上其他国家的人民都生活在水深火热之中。

In China during SARS and avian flu, did we see free flow of information? So now it's other countries with an epidemic, and China is yapping about it all over. It really is like they say with the three-line summary of Joint News Broadcast: In the first ten minutes, the state leaders are very busy; in the middle ten minutes, the people of China are very content; in the last ten minutes, the people outside China are living in hot water.

This article was originally published on Global Voices.