A recent debate I participated in yielded the conclusive statement: “now is not the time for it.” It really got me thinking, whenever there is a crisis in this region, everyone socially is moved into one corner and an emergency circle is drawn. Anyone not in the circle must be punished, broken down, and brought in to the circle or outcast from that circle. This latest crisis in Gaza is another example of it. We are all of a sudden, flag-waving, Hamas-loving, Israeli-hating, song-singing, slogan-chanting, flag-burning patriots. And we wear our black and white kaffiyeh as proof of it.

And none of those physical manifestations matter to me very much. It’s when someone says something that is not in line with the sudden emergency-ideology that I begin to worry. That group of people believes in a list of things and you could agree with 98% of their general line of thinking, but express one little thought outside those realms and you are suddenly typecast as someone who wants to see Palestinian babies die. Or worse: you just don’t care.

I’ve been noticing it in the way people talk, argue and confront of each other. There are no debates, just arguments and confrontations. Whether online or in the real world. It is a strict, with-me or against-me state of mind. I’ve seen the most patriotic Palestinians I know express their distaste for Hamas’s role in this crisis and they are suddenly deemed to be traitors.

Your arguments suddenly become about everything you didn’t say. And if your argument ends up being rational, you’ll get a response of: now is not the time for it.

And what they really mean by that is, now is the time to unify behind a single state-of-mind. It doesn’t matter if you’re wrong or right, just as long as you don’t disagree with the general consensus. It is the war mentality. The one that says, if your country is at war, it is unpatriotic to be critical of anything it does or says. And while Jordan isn’t at war, it’s people might as well be.

It’s troubling because this is partly the aftermath of such a conflict: whenever Israel attacks, it forces everyone on the Arab street to an extreme. It’s either “with us” or “with them” and if you are really “with us” then that means you have to accept a list of beliefs you may not entirely agree with, just to prove you’re not “with them”.

This extreme environment is so overwhelming that nothing can be discussed during times of crises. We are all part of a collective entity with more extremist positions or, rather, more extremist tendencies towards keeping true to those positions. Israel forces us there, but we keep each other there. They are powerful enough to change the way we think with every action they take, but we allow ourselves to change.

We declare our own mental state-of-emergency, and it’ll last a few weeks after the crisis is over, maybe even a few months. It may take a year of relative calm before we return to some sort of “normal”, “middle-ground” thought. Our elastic-selves.

Until then, while we’re all raving mad and shaking our fists in the air, maybe there should be a moratorium on debates or arguments concerning the who whole Palestine issue.

We should also place a moratorium on other words like Hamas, Fatah and unity. Two-state solution, peace treaty, peace and resistance included.

By now, most people in Amman have already heard about the protests near the Israeli Embassy in the Rabia area. Protesters erected tents a few days ago and have been there on and off ever since. Today, a march was organized way up the street, starting from the Days Inn hotel, will plans of passing the embassy. So the 7iber gang scurried to go and document what was happening. It turned out only 40 people or so showed up, and to be fair, it was organized at 5pm when everyone was still getting off work. The main protest site, next to the Kaluti Mosque, usually gathers hundreds of people the later it gets in to the night.

In any case, at 5pm this small group wanted to start moving but hardly got 50 meters before running in to police. There were so many police they definitely outnumbered them five to one. It was disbanded within minutes.

But a while later, word came that the protesters at the main site were given a midnight deadline to take down the tents and go home. What ensued were several hours of gathering protesters who had come in defense of the tent. They lit bonfires as they have done every night. They chanted and sang patriotic songs. In the crowd, undercover police roamed around.

On 7iber, we had our own WatWet feed happening to document it blow by blow. Do tune in (you can also see it on the sidebar of the 7iber site) as it will be constantly updated as these protests continue in Amman.

The police were huddled in their vans waiting orders while a first warning was issued. Then a few hours of negotiations with some people deciding to leave and others gathering inside the main tent in order to serve as an obstacle to anyone willing to take it down. It didn’t seem to matter to the police that the protesters had a license. Every time someone in charge showed up, people gathered around to listen. I was interested in hearing what the excuse would be. There was the general feeling that the evening’s earlier protest up the street (independent of this one) was going to be used as an excuse to disband activities here. The police usually don’t need an excuse, but it would be interesting to hear one nevertheless.

Apparently it was an issue of noise. I found this a bit strange because (a) it’s a protest and (b) they’ve been here for several days now.

On the first night this protest took shape I was there and managed to hear the police official in charge explaining to protesters about how they wanted them to be able to raise their voice and show the world how democratic Jordan is so that, and I quote, “people can look at us and wish they were in Jordan”. End quote.

However, on Friday, protests forming soon after the duhr prayer turned a bit ugly and supposedly tear gas was thrown, while protesters cast stones at the police. I arrived a bit late but saw the whole side of one street lined with riot police, while protesters chanted at them from the other side. Meanwhile, the street between them was littered with rocks.

So evidently, it seemed this protest had dragged on a bit too long for someone’s taste.

But luckily, after a few hours of negotiations, and what I imagine, a lot of wasta-usage, they managed to come to an agreement where the tent would stay up but there would need to be a little more quiet.

The quiet protest.

Interesting.

These protests all feel so well-controlled if not perfectly orchestrated by the authorities. Like that policeman said earlier, there is the pretense of democracy or free speech and expression, but it is given by the authorities, controlled by the authorities, kept on a leash, pulled on when needed, and even refused by the authorities. Most protesters here, and elsewhere in this country, are pretty scared of the authorities. There is constant suspicion amongst the crowd of always being aware of who is talking to you, and whether they are undercover cops.

People are given small corners to chant their slogans and sing their songs, and when their numbers get too big or their voices too loud, someone pulls on the leash. They are almost always outnumbered by riot police who will some times line up across the sidewalk to make sure people are contained.

No one, not even the little kids who come to these events, are fooled by any feeling or sense of democracy. No one in any of these crowds is under the impression for one moment that this is the state ensuring their constitutional rights. In fact, one popular slogan chanted every time there’s trouble has to do with “our constitutional rights”. But even that is chanted almost sarcastically.

No one in these crowds believes it.

These protests live and die by the whims of the authorities.

Simple.

Electronic Intifada has a sample of the leaflets being dropped on Gaza encouraging its residents to snitch on any “terrorists”. They even called up the hotline to play a bit of a prank. The recording is actually worth listening to, and if you don’t understand the broken-Arabic you can read the transcript in English also on EI. This is probably my favorite part:

EI: So what’s your name?

Israeli officer: I’m Abu Ibrahim.

EI: So you don’t want to give me your name?

Israeli officer: And you, you too don’t want to …

EI: As far as the Israelis are concerned all Arabs are called Ahmad or Muhammad so what’s the difference?

Israeli officer: So you want to know my full name, if I asked you your full name … let me say a few words to you. Look, I’m a Jew and I’m from the Israeli Defense Forces. But unlike you, my great, great, great grandfathers were all born here, going back thousands of years. We never left the country. You Palestinians have never been a nation. The Palestinians settled here recently, only a short time ago. What’s that got to do with me?

EI: Ok, the person who wants to help the people of Gaza talks like that about the Palestinians? You deny their existence?

Israeli officer: Look, I’ll tell you …

Right now, medical supplies are in high demand in Gaza, even more so than food. I know a lot of people in Jordan have been asking how they can donate medical supplies. Fortunately, blogger Umm Farouq has managed to pull together a great initiative with “Pharmacy One”. So, if you’re in Jordan, you can now purchase a “relief package” from any of the 40 “Pharmacy One” chains across the Kingdom. The packages are 20JD, 50JD and 100JDs and all you have to do is walk in to one of the stores, purchase as many as you want, and you’ll get a receipt.

Aramex will be making the pickups from all the “Pharmacy One” chains. Here’s a list of all of them so you can find one near you:
Continue reading ‘How Jordanians Can Donate Medical Supplies To Gaza In One Easy Step’

It took me a while to figure out how to write this post. The campaign has been an interesting learning experience and even a glimpse in to a few truths I was glad to have restored. One absolute truth stands out: there is a population of this country, perhaps not enormous but definitely large enough, that, when pulled together, has the ability to move mountains. In this case it was mountains of donations, but it’s really the spirit that I’m emphasizing here.

We have continued to receive endless phone calls from young people still wanting to help with the packaging. People are watching their TV screens and seeing the death toll rise every day, not to mention the images you probably won’t see on western channels, and they are eager to do something.

What they seem to be sick of is all the labeling, categorizations and ideologies that come with participating in anything in Jordan. Platforms for volunteering in this country always seem to involve an agenda, there’s always some form of partisanship. It might be religious or political or even strictly ideological, but in any case, it’s not always inclusive and even when it strives to be, it forces people to either conform or step outside their comfort zone.

I think young people in this country shouldn’t have to make such a decision, and quite frankly, I think they’re all sick of it.

What I saw happening in this campaign is the creation of a safe environment where we had people coming for a common cause. Not because they were from a certain political group or from specific religious organizations. And I don’t see that happening in this country a lot. There is always a single entity with a prior agenda, spearheading a campaign, rallying its own people.

And you can see this happening right now in the streets in the way people are talking these days. A rally taking place in one area is said to be “lead by the Islamists” or “organized by the unions” or, or, or. A lot of these protests are being broken in to such categorizations, where the religious groups do their own thing, and the political parties do their own thing, and the unions do their own thing…

For the largest segment of this society - the youth - a great deal of this identity is yet to be formed, and for many it’s something they are so jaded with.

What the 7iber/AC campaign taught me personally was that you can mobilize this segment of society, which is inclusive of people that may or may not adhere to a higher order, and you can put them in a public space where they can get to know each other, work together, and even make friends. And you can do this away from all the protests and rallies; away from the slogan-chanting and flag-waving.

And what’s more, you can do this all using the power of the Internet.

It is the most unexpected thing to have hundreds of people showing up because of something posted on a blog or a website or Facebook, and to even have that electronic-based message trickle down so quickly in to the mainstream of radio, newspapers, SMS messages, email forwards and even word-of-mouth was just as interesting to observe. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that happening here and the circumstances were certainly conducive. It is unfortunate that it takes tragedy to yield such results, or to even form this growing community of online activism, but that is the very nature of tragedy: it manages to bring people together.

So hopefully this online community that has emerged will become something 7iber will look to cultivate and keep together as part of an ongoing process.

Also Read:
- The Gaza Campaign Part I
- Gratitude

Dear Readers,

Apologies for the ‘radio-silence’ these past few days but there are several reasons for that. The first being that Orange, the worst telecommunication company I have ever had the misfortune of dealing with, has left me stranded without Internet access or technical support. The second being that I have not been around a computer for the past three days of so, and this is because of reason number three: Gaza.

Our little campaign exploded in to something indescribable. You simply had to be there to see it and many of you reading this were in fact there, and I thank you for your presence, support and help.

Let me start by saying that this was meant to be a 48-hour, emergency clothes and food drive for Gaza in an attempt to get the goods across the border as quickly as possible. That was the idea. It was probably the first, or amongst the first campaigns to be launched in Jordan, and that affected the turnout immensely. With that in mind, it started as a 7iber-led campaign in partnership with the Action Committee, and via the 7iber website and the posting of a simple Facebook event, the campaign spread like wildfire. In less than 48 hours it had spread through email forwards, SMS forwards and on-air radio alerts, blogs and word-of-mouth.

On Tuesday night, the rain began to gently fall and as soon as members of our team arrived, a whole hour before the official start time, people had already begun to deliver their donation. Everything that happened after that is almost like a haze at this point. I remember people coming out no where; car after car after car. I remember the entire street outside the Cozmo area being pretty much shut down for over three hours. I remember young Jordanians of every background, people I didn’t know, hanging around on this muddy street corner, in the scattered rain, just helping load the goods on to these large red Aramex trucks. I remember the riot police, fully armed and under the impression we were demonstrating. I remember how they ended up directing traffic for us with their batons.

By ten, we moved next door to Cozmo, where people had been delivering goods all day due to a miscommunication about the drop-off point. This didn’t go over to well with the Cozmo people but luckily it was sorted out – to a degree.

I remember everything being organized on-the-spot. None of us had any idea the volume of goods we would be receiving. Trucks were loaded one after the other, with young people volunteering to tag along to the Aramex warehouses to help unload the donations and send the trucks back to us empty. I remember the fog being so thick that you could hardly see the car in front of you on the way there.

I remember seeing the sheer volume of donations piled up in mountains, sprawled across the warehouse floor.

The next day was New Year’s Eve but we managed to get just enough people, arriving in different shifts throughout the day, to help sorting. This process has taken about four days as of now.

We are talking about roughly 40 tons of donations.

All collected in 48 hours, if not less.

In my opinion, this has been one of the largest and quickest mobilizations of young Jordanians working for a single cause under emergency circumstances that I have ever seen.

During those three days of sorting, I think there were hundreds of young people coming and going. They worked tirelessly and unapologetically. They didn’t complain. They worked straight from the heart.

In the past ten years, I have personally participated in at least a dozen of such events and in all honesty, I’ve never seen something quite like this before. If the lights weren’t turned off in the warehouse and people forced to go home, I think everyone was prepared to work through New Year’s Eve.

And I have to admit, this has been a pretty interesting learning experience for me. I discovered that Jordanians, whatever their backgrounds or beliefs, can be united in times like these. I discovered that there is a young, active population just waiting to participate; just waiting for an undertaking like this. I also discovered the pitfalls of launching such campaigns and the dangers of underestimating the power of people’s willingness to be affected by what they see on TV, and immediately react to it.

Lastly, I learned that for something of this magnitude, a lot of people will come to your aid when called upon to do so and for those people I will need to dedicate a whole other post to thank them.

Forthcoming.

Happy New Years!

[You can see photos and video of the progress on 7iber]

“If Israel continues its unjust offensive and continuously refuses to lift the blockade on the brotherly people of Palestine and the Gaza Strip, the House will call on the government to reconsider Jordanian-Israeli ties. This includes recalling Jordan’s ambassador to Israel and requesting Israel’s ambassador in Amman to leave the Kingdom” - Official statement issued and voted on by 88 deputies in the Jordanian Parliament, which was later described by House Speaker Abdul Hadi Majali as a “realistic” statement. [source]

You’ve got to be kidding me. This is just incredibly sickening.

Also, 22 MPs signed a memorandum requesting the government to annul the Jordanian-Israeli peace treaty, while MP Khalil Atiyyeh burned the Israeli flag inside the Parliament building.

Meanwhile, other than official condemnations, the Jordanian government has done pretty much nothing other than sending humanitarian and medical aid. They seem to be the only ones able to do this and all the international relief organizations are going through them. This may be the only “benefit” of having a peace treaty with Israel, and even that word is seriously relative if not annulled in times like these.

On Wednesday, Arab leaders will get together to exchange even more futile words.

In the meantime, the Arab people are on the street yelling at the top of their lungs as 300 people have just been slaughtered in the span of two days…

The people at 7iber and the Action Committee are organizing an emergency clothes and food drive for the people in Gaza.

It’ll be a 48-hour campaign starting tomorrow morning, with the goods being delivered to Gaza by coming weekend.

This is all going to be driven through the virtual community, with contributions of Jordanian bloggers and their readers, as well as Facebook, emails and just about anyone connected online. It’s the fastest way to spread the word in a short period of time.

Right now, this post is under construction, with this preliminary message designed to get you in the right frame of mind and prepared. For starters, we’ll be looking for canned goods (no meats) as well as blankets and jackets (in good condition). So start putting those things by your front door (preferably in boxes, if not, then double bagged). We are going to try and mobilize and get this off the ground as quickly as possible, as time is of the essence.

The logistics and the details are forthcoming, and will be posted on 7iber accordingly. You can also check here for updates.

Stay tuned!

UPDATE:

Alright everyone, here are the details…

What: This will be a clothes and food drive. What we’re looking specifically for are blankets and jackets especially, which are in good condition (nothing torn or old), as well as canned goods (no canned meats). Also, avoid things that leak (oil, etc)

Where:

Date: Tuesday, December 30th
Time: 6:30pm - 8:30pm
Location: Cozmo Center in the 7th circle area, right in front of Smart Buy electronics store.

Please try and package your donations in boxes or at least double-bag them.

We will be delivering them ourselves to the Hashemite Charity Commission, which is the only convoy allowed to cross the border this week.

Join the Facebook event and spread the word

Map:

Click to enlarge

UPDATE #2:

There is a licensed emergency protest today in Shmisani. Be there!

Location: Shmisani, Thakafa (cultural) street, i.e. the main street in the Shmisani shopping district.
Time: 4:00pm

Groups will also be gathering at the Radisson SAS hotel at 11am today to prepare posters and banners for the protest. So go lend a hand if you can.

Check the Facebook event for more information.

UPDATE #3:

Dear all,

Books@Cafe is lending a hand by being a secondary drop-off point for our campaign.

So if you can’t make it to the Cozmo Center on Tuesday evening, you can drop off your goods at Books@Cafe on Rainbow Street off the First Circle, same time (6:30 to 8:30pm). I’m sure most of you know it but just in case, you can find a Google Map of it here.

Our thanks goes out to Median and Books@Cafe!

UPDATE #4:

Blood Donations: If you’re looking to give blood (which is in demand right now), you can go to the places mentioned in the list below. If anyone knows of others please inform me and I’ll add them here:

- National Blood Bank branch, behind the Khaldi Hospital, just off the Fourth Circle
- University of Jordan Hospital, contact: 00962788607870

UPDATE #5:

Folks, the reaction has been absolutely wild.

First: The good people Aramex are joining us to help out with the logistics tonight.

Second: Blogger Basem Aggad is helping us out as well through his company, Scooter Express. So anyone who can’t make it to either destination can call, sms or email his company and he’ll send you a scooter for a pick up. But please call him as soon as you can to arrange a pick up and please be aware that the dimensions of the scooter, while big, is around 70×70x70 so I’ve been told, so keep that in mind when arranging a pick up.

Here’s the scooter pick up information:

Phone: 06-553-5249
SMS: 07-4543-2101
Email: scooterexpress[at]wi-tribe[dot]jo

Third: Books@Cafe is already starting to receive a lot of goods so head on over there throughout the day if you like. Our primary location, parallel to Cozmo and Smartbuy, will be active in the times we’ve already set: 6:30pm till 8:30pm. We will aim to be there a bit earlier for those coming straight from work.

A big thank you to all the businesses who are helping out!

UPDATE #6:

Dear all, we’ve been told that our first shipment of goods has arrived in Gaza today.

But we still need a lot of help in the sorting and packaging at the Aramex warehouse in Il-Qastal.

Hundreds of people have shown up in shifts throughout the past few days but we need to move as quickly as possible.

The warehouse opens at 9am.

We’re going to try and organize more meet-ups by Cozmos but it would be better if people just loaded up their cars with people and went on their own.

Directions are not that complicated and I’ll try and put a map up later.

Simply drive out on Airport road until you get to Al-Isra’ University on your left and take the right turn that takes you up on the bridge. The bridge turns left right over the airport road. You’ll see a bunch of corporate signs, so take a left turn, just like the Aramex sign says.

Keep going till you get to a small gas station on your left and take the first left turn at this small intersection.

Once you turn left keep going straight, past the speed bumps and past the railroad tracks until you see the Aramex signs on your right side that lead you directly to the warehouse.

It’s about a 15 minute drive from the seventh circle.

Please check 7iber for any more updates.

UPDATE #7:

Dear All,

After several days of sorting and packing, our campaign has officially come to an end. A personal thanks from me goes out to every single person who took part in it, in all shapes and forms.

Aramex has just launched their own campaign and will still need help when it comes to volunteers, so please stay tuned to 7iber to find out when and how. We should be updating you with information in the next 48 hours or so.

Thanks again to everyone!

(more gratitude to follow)

Whenever an event of this magnitude happens, which in this region is at least twice a year, there is always the feeling of an obligation to say something. To express something. Something emotional. Something heartfelt. Typically, anger. Yet all I tend to feel is instantaneous frustration. There are things in this life of which we don’t really know the endgame. We don’t how they will end but we are comforted on some level by the realization that there is an end, and it’s not only inevitable tangible as well. That no matter how small the light, it does exist at the very far end of this dark, dark tunnel. With the Palestinian situation, it never feels this way. Hence the frustration. My generation has grown up with such events happening year after year, and on a smaller scale, day after day. And it’s all been a series of disappointments; a continuous cycle of frustration, with just about everything.

To the rest of the world, it’s just another news story. Hamas launched rockets, and Israel struck back. That’s how it reads. People pass judgment based on these “facts” as they are presented. No more, no less. And although this very event has happened many times in the past, the back story is almost irrelevant. On this side of the world, people live that back story every day, and the closer you are to the fire, the more you feel the heat. These events are almost designed for people to judge, in the same way a film, with its heroes and villians, are designed for an audience to make similar determinations. It drives them in that direction. In truth, there is enough judgment and blame to go around. Not one side, not a single variable in this complex equation is innocent, except the civilians, and that’s just the reality of such situations. Two warring sides, civilians in the middle.

On the surface, these events are always whittled down to simplest of terms, the lowest common denominator possible. One side launches rockets the other retaliates aggressively, just what the doctor ordered in this region.

Beneath it all, there are complexities that most people don’t even consider yet alone grapple with on a daily basis. But once you do, you begin to see where to more accurately throw your blame:

To the Israeli government and its policies regarding Gaza. Today, the world wakes up to an attack and yet few remember that this piece of land with all its people have been under siege for months and months now. Imagine a life where the most simple things in your day are determined by your enemy. Be it food you eat, the clothes you wear, the fuel in your car or the heat in your home. Even your joy or your sorrow are based on things completely out of your control.

To the Hamas and all the little movements operating in Gaza. The political grabs, the futile rocket launches. The vain leadership.

To the Arab governments. Actions speak louder than words, and our leaders display little of both.

To the Arab street, whose populations only wake up for a protest once or twice a year and then disperse, and then forget, and then ignore, and then lose hope.

To the American and western governments, not only for their support of Israeli policies but for the decade of ignoring the problem all together hoping it would go away.

To…To…To…

In a matter of weeks or months, these next few days will be completely forgotten. Things will go back to the way it was. Judgments will have been passed and forgetting. The policy of ignoring the situation will be reinstated. The cycle will restart itself.

That may be the only consistent thing about this ongoing situation: the restart button.

Also Read:
- Video | Young Jordanians Protest Gaza Attacks
- Gaza Today, Sameh’s blog

Dear Readers,

This morning, the 7iber crew will be hosting a little workshop on social networking in Jordan. Some of the topics that will be introduced and debated include privacy and ethics, the use of Facebook in social movements, the business community, and the political sphere, as well as its impact on Jordanian youth and the emergence of parallel lives. Some interesting guests will be there to talk about their own experiences, including media personality and once parliamentary candidate, Aroub Suboh, the Action Committee’s Eyad Ayesh, Fakher Daas of the Thabahtoona campaign and a godfather of the Jordanian blogosphere, Ahmad Humeid, to name but a few.

The idea isn’t to lecture anyone but rather to get people talking and grappling with the questions as they come about, especially given the fact that it is still a relatively new phenomenon in Jordan.

Like our first workshop back in August, this is being done on a shoestring budget and is just as much a learning experience for us as it is for those in attendance. That being said, since seating is so limited and it’s all done on a first-come-first-serve basis, we’ll be live blogging the workshop on 7iber throughout the day for anyone who’s interested and is missing out.

So head on over and check it out. You can even throw your own two piasters in the ring and we’ll voice those thoughts during the workshop.

UPDATE: Due to unstable networks today in al weibdeh where the workshop is being held, I might not be able to live blog or blog at all. If not, I will do a round up later with the works. Apologies.

UPDATE #2: It seems it’s stable enough to get some blogging done so go check it out.

8:25pm: Breaking news over the AP wire…

WASHINGTON (AP) - In a Dec. 22 story about gifts to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, The Associated Press, relying on faulty information published by the State Department in the Federal Register, reported erroneously that King Abdullah II of Jordan gave Rice jewelry valued at $147,000 in January 2007. The department now says the jewelry was given by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. [source]

It’s kind of ironic that the State Department of all people would mix up King Abdullah of Jordan with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, but the media does it all the time (both Arab and non).

It’s too bad this year it looks like it’s going to be a wet Christmas instead of a white one. But then again, it’s the Middle East. What did you expect? A miracle? Bah humbug. Consider it an opportunity to wear that red and green wool scarf your grandma knitted for you five Christmases ago that you told her you loved, but you didn’t really. Yeah, you know the one.

But seriously, for those in Jordan going to mass, bundle up. And have a merry, merry Christmas!

I saw this two-liner news report on Ammon last note as they broke it but the details were still to sketchy to post. Those details have not much improved over night, but the gist of the story is that two Jordanian journalists were stopped by an unknown body (most likely security-related) and held for several hours without charges. They were then released. According to updates this morning on Ammon, the Prime Minister played a central role in securing their release.

This comes a little over a month since HM King Abdullah declared that the jailing of journalists was prohibited.

Which forces me to wonder whether someone simply didn’t get the message, or if someone is sending one.

In other interesting media developments. Al-Ghad has an interesting column today about access to information. Lately, the daily newspaper launched a sidebar that showcases who they label as “officials against transparency”, featuring their name and a brief of what they’ve done to deserve a spot on the very public wall of shame. For over a week, the Minister of Water has been featured for denying a reporter from Al-Ghad the right to ask questions about the Disi water project. Given the continued delayed reaction, I’m assuming that this isn’t being taken too seriously by officials. However, I think it’s a great idea, and, if sustained, I think it will eventually catch on and be a source of embarrassment for public officials. Although Al-Ghad insists that the intention is not to humiliate but rather to hold people accountable.

Suffice to say, in reality, it manages to do both.

And that’s something that’s needed.

Jordanian boy Hazem Hawamdeh sits on a scale to show his weight at his home in Jerash December 3, 2008. Hawamdeh, an 11-year-old boy from the northern city of Jerash, could be the smallest boy in the world, weighing 5.6 kg (12 pounds) with a height of nearly 70 cm (28 inches) as his family struggles to solve the mystery of his small size.

More photos on dailylife

I would like to preface this post by saying I am well aware of the type of comments such a topic might draw, but as a blogger, staring at this article on my screen, I felt it would be utterly wrong and self-defeating to self-censor myself as a Jordanian citizen. There is an obligation to make this kind of news, the kind I know will not make it to the local mainstream media and the kind that will not please a handful of people - known. There is an obligation, as a citizen, to examine certain decisions and voice one’s opinion in the most respectful manner I know how. As for any comments from other readers on this topic, well, I can’t possibly be held accountable for what people say or think, but I will ask that they attempt to (for my sake) articulate such opinions respectfully. It’s winter, and I quite enjoy the comforts of my warm room as opposed to any other venue I might find myself in because of something someone said.

And with all that being said:

…While Bush himself didn’t fare nearly as well, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice raked in at least $316,000 in gem-encrusted baubles from the kings of Jordan and Saudi Arabia alone, making her one of top recipients among U.S. officials of gifts from foreign heads of state and government and their aides in 2007.

In January, Jordan’s King Abdullah II gave Rice an emerald and diamond necklace, ring, bracelet and earrings estimated to be worth $147,000, according to the State Department’s annual inventory of such items released Monday just in time for Christmas. The king and his wife, Queen Rania, also gave Rice a less expensive necklace and earrings along with a jewelry box valued at $4,630, the document shows. [source]

Now, I fully understand the type of arguments that could emerge from such news. I also understand that the Arab street has never been in line with Arab leadership and thus, there are things our leaders do that, at times, bother and annoy us, or even completely diverge from the mainstream of public thinking. Other times - not so much. It depends on the country, its people and its leadership. Political perceptions are fluid in the region.

But.
Continue reading ‘Presents For Condoleezza Rice’

The Islamic Action Front (IAF) on Monday expressed concern over news reports of an alleged government decision allowing MPs to sell vehicle customs exemptions. Local dailies reported on Monday that deputies were given the green light from the government to sell the customs exemption they receive on vehicles after assuming their posts at Parliament.

The news was attributed to a parliamentary source, but the government is yet to officially respond to the report. Officials at the Prime Ministry refused to comment on the subject. [source]

These car exemptions should be completely banished. Not for parliamentarians, not for ministers, not for the police, army, or anyone in the public sector. It not only feeds social inequality but encourages the purchasing of cars, which, as any Jordanian stuck in traffic would tell you, is absolutely the last thing we need. It messes with the supply and demand of fuel, places unnecessary burdens on infrastructure, causes traffic, pollution and now, these exemptions have become an instrument of corruption: selling them off to the highest civilian bidder. Legitimizing and legalizing corruption?

It’s simply embarrassing.

Furthermore, government officials, be they elected or appointed, should ride taxis everyday. It would probably do them so good.

UPDATE: even the not-so-right agrees with the Islamists.