...Or Does It Explode?

Syrian Activists Michel Kilo and Anwar Al-Bunni Launch Hunger Strike

If we could only see inside the jail in Syria that holds Michel Kilo and Anwar Al-Bunni, two of the country's most prominent and thus most oppressed civil society activists. These intellectuals are in jail for the simple crime of signing a statement calling for better relations with Lebanon. It sounds like a sad joke, but it's actually an outrage. Yet the two men will not go quietly into the night:

Reporters Without Borders apoke about journalist and writer Michel Kilo, who began a hunger strike on 28 October 2006, along with lawyer Anwar Bunni and other political prisoners who were arrested in May after signing a joint statement calling for an improvement in relations with Lebanon.

The hunger strike, which is to last a week, is being held to protest against their prison conditions and the fact that the authorities did not execute a judicial order for Kilo's release on bail on 19 October.

Kilo's lawyer told Reporters Without Borders that his trial on the new charges that have been brought against him is scheduled to start on 31 October, before a Damascus criminal court.

Here's more on the new charges against Kilo:

In consequence of the approval of the Damascus court judge on 19 October 2006 to release the writer and intellectual Michel Kilo who was detained on account of Damascus-Beirut Declaration, the investigator charged Kilo with new charges. They include weakening the national commitment, degrading the respect of the state, encouraging hostile attacks, defamation, sparking sectarian hatred, etc. Consequently, the judge decided to keep him under detention. In addition, Mahmoud Essa, Khalil Hussein, and Soliman Shamar were charged with the same accusations and were re-arrested.

A Lunch Counter Monument to Inspire Us

Check out the story behind his seemingly bizarre public statue in Kansas:

In Wichita, Kansas, near the corner of Broadway and Douglas, there is a small plaza tucked in between two buildings. On one wall of the plaza is a sculpture of a lunch counter with several people sitting at it. It's so very life-like that in nice weather people routinely sit down on the empty stools to eat their lunches at the counter. There is no plaque to explain the sculpture.

If there were, that plaque would note that on July 19, 1958, several black teenagers, members of the local NAACP chapter, entered the downtown Dockum Drug Store (then the largest drug store chain in the state) and sat down at the lunch counter. They were ignored. They kept coming back and sitting at the counter, from before lunch through the dinner hour, at least twice a week for the next several weeks. They sat quietly, creating no disturbance, but refusing to leave without being served.

The store tried to wait them out by ignoring them. They kept coming back and sitting there, silently, day after day, waiting to be served. On one occasion three police officers tried to coerce and intimidate the teenagers to leave, and succeeded. But they came back, and the police did not return. They were breaking no law, only a store policy, and the store was not willing to challenge them directly.

A group of local white toughs came by trying to intimidate them. The police were called to break it up but left immediately without challenging the whites, saying they had instructions to keep their hands off. After an emergency phone call a group of local black men arrived, armed, to defend the protesters. The white youths retreated, leaving the store.

And the young people kept coming back and sitting there at the lunch counter, silently, day after day, waiting to be served.

They asked for help and support from the national NAACP, but the national organization refused to endorse or even acknowledge their actions. The confrontational tactic was against NAACP policy. The national newswires picked it up and the story ran nationwide, but quickly vanished.

On August 11, while the early arrivals were sitting at the counter waiting for their friends to show, a white man around 40 walked in and looked at them for several minutes. Then he looked at the store manager, and said, simply, "Serve them. I'm losing too much money." He then walked back out. That man was the owner of the Dockum drug store chain...

Something important started there in Wichita near the corner of Broadway and Douglas. Those who started it were almost forgotten by history. Almost, but not quite. And today, on a small plaza tucked in between two buildings in downtown Wichita, Kansas is a sculpture of a lunch counter with several people sitting at it. It has no plaque to explain it.

Mahmood's Den Blocked by Bahraini Regime

Click on the blocking order for more info:

Egyptian Government Report Denies Baha'is Exist

A few months back we reported on the controversy in Egypt over whether the Baha'i religion can be listed on Egyptian identity cards. The Ministry of Interior does not want Egyptian citizens of the Baha'i faith to have this right, and are currently appealing a lower court judge's decision to grant this simple right.

Now the Egyptian government has released an Advisory Report on the status of Baha'i in Egypt and the country's commitment to religious freedom. Let's listen in on the summary of the 24-page report provided by the Baha'i Faith in Egypt blog:

In brief, it concluded that since the Baha'i Faith is not recognized in Egypt as a "divine religion," therefore its followers in that land have no rights whatsoever and that they simply do not exist! Consequently, they concluded that Egypt's Constitutional guarantees of freedom of belief and religion do not apply to the Baha'is. That Egypt is not bound to its commitment as a cosignatory to the United Nations Universal Declaration on Human Rights, and that the Baha'is, in Egypt, should not be under its protection--since, as far as they are concerned, Egypt should have no obligations towards them! That the Baha'i are apostates (whether or not they descended from an Islamic background). That they are a threat to the "general [public] order" of the State, and that all their marriages are null and void....

That "methods must be defined that would insure that Baha'is are identified, confronted and singled out so that they could be watched carefully, isolated and monitored in order to protect the rest of the population as well as Islam from their danger, influence and their teachings." The report also calls for the original plaintiffs (the Baha'i family that won the case) to be charged for all court costs!

...It is essential that when religious tolerance is promoted, it must also include tolerance towards religious beliefs other than Egypt’s "recognized three." Anything less than that would be a waste of time and of no use. We can't say that “we are tolerant to only the few we recognize, and anything else is not our concern.” This would not be tolerance.

Ah, but this is exactly how tolerance is construed today in countries across the Middle East. It's a relative concept. The definitions of tolerance can be altered at the whim of a regime. What was tolerated last week may be be outlawed this week. And the Baha'i, with their nerve to follow a prophet who comes after Muhammad! How can that be tolerated?!

Photos for Friday: London v. Tehran

File Under: Things that make you go hmmm...

This photo contrast has been circulating on email. No editorial comment, just a montage. The comparison is a bit forced, but still worth contemplating. Anyway, draw your own conclusions.

London:

Tehran:

Iranians Stucks with 128 kbps Net Limitation

After appearing to be the dictatorship most ready to embrace the Internet (remember how Iran's ex-Vice-President was blogging years ago?), Iran is tightening the screws and constraining the pipeline. A new regulation caps Internet connection speeds for all private Internet connections. In other words, if you're not a government line, it's slow going. j|turn makes an astute point about this restriction:

I do not believe the only reason for this ban is to stop the influx of western culture. I think it is also (another) way of shortening the leash for freedom of speech inside Iran.

The Internet is a wonderful medium, and one I personally believe is excellent for the promotion of democracy, simply because it is inherently symmetrical. What I mean by that is that those who can receive can also transmit. This argument is well known though the debate of Net Neutrality in the United States (not so much in Europe). Anyone can set up a server and make just about anything available to a global audience. The Iranian imposed limit, however, effectively removes the opportunity to do so. You cannot run much of a web server on 128 kbps ADSL. Not if your intention is to get read. Also, you can’t set up TOR-nodes to hide behind with only that amount of bandwidth to spend.

The regime probably knows that this ban force people to use one of its authorized servers if they want to publish a blog or a forum. And these servers are so much easier to control. My point is that democracy builds on participation. If you can’t, for example, organize a strike or discuss political issues with your extended network, there will be no democracy...

"Press Under Seige" Arab Media Seminar Coming to Beirut

The World Association of Newspapers (WAN) is holding a seminar in Lebanon in December that promises to bring together leading independent journalists from the Arab world to discuss the "Press Under Seige." An-Nahar newspaper is hosting the event, which will will focus on the threats to journalists, government pressures used to control media, censorship and self-censorship, and how to support the development of commercially viable independent news outlets.

Newspapers throughout the Arab region face a number of obstacles, including repressive media laws, a lack of editorial independence and multiple commercial challenges. Journalists live under a constant threat of being physically harassed, attacked or even murdered.

The "Press Under Siege" conference will explore the efforts of Arab media to win their independence and freedom in an environment of continuing repression and harassment.
 
The opening session will pay particular tribute to Gebran Tueni, publisher of the An-Nahar newspaper who was brutally killed in a bomb attack on 12 December 2005.

Check out the schedule here.

Don't Fear the Reader

The title is a pun on the classic rock tune "Don't Fear the Reaper" by Blue Öyster Cult, from their album Agents of Fortune. Alas, it's the "Agents of Customs" at the airport in Amman whose actions have inspired this post. These gentlemen appear to have too much time on their hands and have now taken to confiscating the most dreaded of contraband: books.

Last week, Mental Mayhem noted this story from the Jordan Times:

The original officer, his superior and a couple of curious men were now hovering around our car. We were being questioned about these books. Telling them the box had several books, some on art others on psychology, was not sufficient. They wanted to look through the box, see every single book. I had to tell them the title, a brief of the content and leaf through each one, by the third book my mother had lost it. "I am a professor, a teacher, I have material to teach students, a university, academia, research, knowledge .... She, my daughter, is a student, at school, reading, studying... What do you expect us to have in the car?.... What do you expect us to own?"

Books were simply not an easy item to smuggle through to Jordan. To be honest, we knew that. We had anticipated it, but still, the truth is, we are continuously shocked by it. I always hide books I bring back home from travel. I always distribute the music CDs in my suitcase and very carefully wrap the films. I am always worried they will be confiscated for censorship. Although there is a "procedure," but in most cases one never sees these items again. Books are the drugs of Jordan.

When books are confiscated, it is a sign of fear. It means a regime is afraid of ideas and of the free flow of ideas. Of course, it also sometimes means that the customs agents are looking for a little baksheesh.

Ceci N'est Pas Un Post

A little humor in honor of Eid Al-Fitr. This photo montage comes from TuneZine. Enjoy the surrealist reference:

Sudan Boots UN Envoy over Blog Post

It's all over the international headlines, but we might as well note it here as well. The Sudanese regime of the ever-so charming General Omar Al-Bashir is kicking out UN Envoy Jan Pronk over a blogpost. It's good to see they've got their prorities straight and are cracking down on the important things. Can't have any negative blog posts in Sudan! Ignore the genocide happening behind the curtain.