rami's wall

Tracking my family roots

2011-12-10T20:45:00.001-01:00

Watching Lawrence of Arabia (the film) for the first time a few days ago made me think about the Arab Revolution that overthrew the Turks as part of World War I, and divided the Middle East into small kingdoms and countries. One aspect that interested me - is the Jordanian tribal history - those who received and fought by Lawrence, and later on received the new Hashemite King.

So I started to search for my own family's history - both, my mother's and father's - and it looks like I have a mix of two bloodlines of revolutionaries, warriors and leaders, and well, some strange surprises.

My father's side
My official last name on paper is Abdelrahman - which is one branch of a tribe called Shawakfeh. Shawakefeh is a name that this family took during a late stage in the Ottoman reign. The name was taken because the family started a timber business - they were makers of firewood - shekaf - thus then name shawakfeh.

Shawakfeh is one of four families that changed their original name " Zayadna " or the sons of "Zaid," simply because they were sought after by the Ottomans and prosecuted, because one of the elderly Zayadna, Prince Zahir al-Omar al Zayadna - and his siblings - started a revolution in the areas known today as north Jordan, South Syria, and extending to Acre on the Palestinian shores. They made Akko the capital of the new Zayadna State and aliged with the largest bedoin tribe in Jordan, Bani Sakhr.

The Zayadna, or the sons of Zaid, came originally from today's Saudi Arabia, and got their name being the sons of Zaid the eldest son of Hassan Ben Ali and Fatima, Prophet Mohammad's daughter. After Hassan Ben Ali signed a treaty with the Ummayyads to give them the rule of Today's Iraq (in the period after Mohammad's death), he returned to Medina and was killed there.

The family then moved west and north - some as far as today's UAE to the west, and the as far as Syria to the north. The Syrian branch then moved southwards into today's Jordan. By year 1516, they started sending messengers to all Arabs and introduced the idea of Arab Unity against the Ottomans. But it wasn't until the early 1700s that their revolution created a short-lived independent state in the area around Lake Tibrias (after aligning with Jordan's biggest bedoin tribe, the rulers of Egypt, and support from Queen Catherine of Russia). Their dynasty came to an end the year 1770 . The dynasty was soon broken as the self appointed Prince Zahir al Omar was betrayed and killed by his own Moroccan aides.

Since then, the family was prosecuted and displaced. Today, tens of smaller families in Jordan, Syria, Palestine, Lebanon and the Gulf States trace their roots to Zayadna, the sons of Zaid ben al Hassan ben Ali, the first son to the first grandson of Prophet Muhammad on his daughter's side.

One story of significance: when the young Zahir (prounounced Tha-her) al Omar al Zayadna attended a meeting between the heads of Jordanian tribes around the late 1600s, the head of bani Sakhr, Jordan's biggest tribe held his steel arrow and placed it on top of a hard rock. He asked the attendees if anyone knew how an iron arrow could puncture through a hard rock and yet stay straight. No one had an answer, except Zahir who placed his hand on the arrow, above the hand of the elderly wise man, and then he said - the arrow does not puncture the stone, nor can it stand straight, if the arms of the brave do not hold it together. The wiseman was impressed by his quick answer and wit, but feared his disloyalty as the youngster placed his hand above his. However, Zahir won the respect of the attendees, and therefore he was given training and support in arms and politics, until he was able to spark a revolution against the ottoman in mid 1700.

On my mother's side

My mother's side is much more documented in the modern history of Jordan. Her family name is Lambaz, and they come from the caucasian mountains in the south of Russia. They are Circassians, given independence by the Austrian Empire until the late 19th century, when the Russians conquored their area (still an autonomous part of Russia to this date). During the conquests, Lambaz, like many other circassian families, fled south to modern Turkey, Israel, Syria and Jordan. Among the head of the Lambaz family was Jacob son of Simsar, whose son Isaac (my mother's grandfather) built the Hussaini mosque in Amman, and created the first cooperative society in Jordan in the late 1800s and early 1900. His sons, Ahmad and Saleh (my grandfather), built Jordan's first modern hospital in Amman.

Photos

Isaac Lambaz, who established Jordan's first cooperative society stands on its Balcony (Picture from 1910-1920)

A medal awarded to Isaac Lambaz by the Ottoman Sultan for his charity work.

A medal given to Isaac Lambaz by al Shari Hussain ben Ali, King Abdullah's Grand Grand father and the ruler of Mecca, for his contribution to building Jordan's first big mosque, the Hussaini mosque in downtown Amman.:

Isaac's son, Saleh, my Grandfather - clad in traditional Circassian warrior gear.

From Tahrir Square: lessons in unorganised resistence

2011-12-08T14:29:00.008-01:00

I spent three days ahead of first round of Egyptian parliamentary elections since the revolution in the very place that kick started it: Tahrir Square. On Friday, the 25th of November 2011, a so-called "million-man march" was taking place.

I arrived just as a couple of hundred thousand Egyptians performed Friday prayers. In this blog post, I will revisit some of the observations I noted during my three-day activist tourism on the square. As soon as I approached the end of Talaat Harb St. leading to Tahrir Square, I came across a "control point" - youngsters have tied a rope across the street, and stood there as a human shield preventing anyone from going in without her/his ID checked and bag and pockets searched for weapons.

A young man informed me, as is the custom nowadays, that there is no reason to be offended or to feel targeted - this exercise is done to all visitors to Tahrir Square, and guarantees their safety in the occupied area. Then he said something that really struck me straight at the heart, when I asked him how they organised themselves between the different entrances to the square - he said "we're not organised, there's no central unit that gives out tasks, this is all done by volunteers, who keep watch, shift after shift." True enough, even when I re-entered the square two nights later at 4:00 am in the morning, there were different volunteers guarding the same location, with one young man and one young woman tasked with searching the bags of visitors of their respective genders.

The "unorganisation" of the resistence that overthrew a dictator, took over Tahrir Square, and occupied the entrances to other key strongholds such as the Prime Ministry, the Parliament and the road to the Interior Ministry, etc, was what fascinated me the most. "The only thing that organises us is that we believe in the same thing" -- that thing, being apparently a governance system of integrity and equality.
Tahrir Square was a bazaar for the newly regained freedom of expression, it had a festive feeling. Food vendors selling all sorts of street sweets, cold drinks, tea, koshari, fireworks, etc. Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators were engaging in all sorts of political debates and other trivia - with views ranging from radical islamism to ultra liberalism. The salafis had their area, press centre and clinics, and so did the seculars, and many other non-aligned groups.

The real Tahrir "revolutionists," the disorganised organisers, seemed not to follow any particular sect, party or political ideology - but expressed rather deterministic opposition to the governance status quo, and to many of the options that the more organised parties are putting on the table.
Poverty was also something that struck me. A family consisting of two parents and their 6 children, slept on the street, simply because they received free food and blankets from the volunteers. An almost post-apocalyptic scene that I encountered at a later hour, and something that I'll never forget.

The most fascinating aspect of it all is the joy, the determination, the pride, and the strength in many faces - the type of faces that tell you, we're all stakeholders in this. The fresh scent of hope after decades of hopelessness. All with the modest twist of brotherly and sisterly sympathy. This last bit, is something I have never seen before, anywhere, ever. I could go into the political analysis of what is happening in Egypt, but it is irrelevant, in every possible way. This is the very atom-heart of a long due, generational revolution that will create a parallel world order, if it doesn't really break the rather fragile, illusionary, and patriarchal global political orders.

Anyway, I'll leave you with a voice from the square - here I interview the blogger Wael Abbas - who was courteous enough to take me to the Arab Network of Human Rights Defenders later on, and introduced me to some of the lawyers and publishers working around the clock to help bloggers, journalists and others througout their struggle before and after the revolution. Enjoy:

Take 6: first to film the worlds largest water conveyance project at Disi

2011-10-27T18:28:00.003-01:00

Water excavated is settling behind a sand-dam before being processed at one of the drilling locations.

A true oasis in the desert, billion years old ground water is excavated close to Jordan-Saudi Arabia border, to be pumped along 350 km to the capital city Amman. Truly fascinating experience, almost felt like the movie Armageddon with all the big drilling equipment and the dramatic desert landscape. Managed to also interview a local shepherd and an agro-engineer, both at a very large potato farm nearby that will be shut down as they are forced to close the irrigation wells pumping water from the same aquifer. I think I am very satisfied with todays trip, best tip: wear harder-duty jeans when you plan on going rock climbing in the desert to get the best shot :)

Take 5: interviewing the water journalist

2011-10-25T11:20:00.000-01:00

Today I interviewed Reem al Rawashdeh, a journalist covering water since 2005 for the largest Jordanian daily, Al Rai. Reem has a lot of knowledge about dealing with water scarcity in the country on both the domestic and the national levels.

Some of the highlights of the interview: there is more awareness of the water issue in less fortunate areas, but then again, there's less population growth in more fortunate neighbourhoods. There's also better coordination around the Jordan river basin in the east, than the Yarmouk river basin in the north, and an amicable agreement with the Saudis in the south on the shared Disi aquifer.

She says that dealing with water scarcity is part of every child's upbringing, but much can still be done on raising awareness to improve domestic water saving, rain water harvesting, water reuse, etc. She is quite hopeful that the solutions on the table will contribute much to improving water access for domestic use.

When it comes to water use in agriculture, she mentions workable pilot projects where agriculture uses treated waste water, saving fresh water resources for drinking purposes only.

However, her main concern is with how some interpret the human right to water - she says one of the most chronic problems in Jordan is when individuals steal water, reasoning that it is their god given right and not a commodity. On the other hand, the vast majority of Jordanians is willing to pay a higher price for water access, which is one thing that they will eventually have to do as soon as they start receiving water from the Disi acquifer in the south.

Take 4: Jordan's water and energy shortage will be history by 2022

2011-10-24T11:15:00.000-01:00

Good news. All Jordan's water woes will be over by 2022. This is the message I was left with while leaving the Ministry of Water. I went there earlier this morning to seek answers to very simple questions, what caused the severity of Jordan's extreme water shortage, and what is the solution.

The answer to the first question, as it came from the head of communications at the ministry, Adnan al Zouby, was simple and not totally unexpected: drastic population growth. Since 1948, Jordan recieved millions of refugees from Palestine, Iraq, and other countries in the region. Those usually came in groups over 100,000, and were immediately adding a strain on infrastructure and resources. More recently, since 2003, Jordan recieved a number of up to 1.5 million so called refugees - and huge development projects in the field of real-estate, hotel and tourism, etc, added also to this strain.

The solution to this problem - apart from the usual water saving business and waste water reuse is three fold: pumping water out of the disi aquifer in the south (starting 2013), which is a temporary solution until Jordan is able to finish linking the Red Sea to the Dead Sea, desalinating water along the way, creating hydro-energy and using waste water to cool a nuclear power reactor under the way - which in turn will provide enough energy for the desalination processes.

The Jordan Red Sea project is part two, as explained here. The third part would be linking this project with Israel and Palestinian Territories for optimal water sharing. By 2022, the three projects should be done and practical.

Meanwhile, or until the first project is completely operational, Jordanians could expect to recieve half as much water as they do today, or recieve water to their home for a few hours every second week, as opposed to every week now.

This means that both Nestle's Pure Life, and Pepsi Co's Aquafina will continue to enjoy providing clean water to about one third of the water bottle market. As the quality of water provided in these projects is another issue that will not be solved by 2022.

Tomorrow I am interviewing a journalist who will give me an explanation to what this means for the average household. And on Thursday, I will be joining others to visit the Disi project site.

Take 3: hard talk at the world economic forum

2011-10-21T15:06:00.000-01:00

I just came back from the Dead Sea, where I attended a closed, high-level meeting on paving Jordan's water future. Lovely. Now I can look for answers to many unanswered questions that I have gathered throughout the past few days - the farmer, the environmentalist, the young water professional, they all had unanswered questions too, which I put forward on the discussion table.

The meeting was held with the patronage of Prince Faisal Bin al Hussain, which was a good thing, in the sense that he was willing to listen, to answer and to discuss things openly, albeit in a closed meeting.

Following some presentations, the invited participants were divided into four discussion groups - water demand, water supply, water institutions and water politics - I happily ended up sitting on the later, with top level executives at USAID, Pepsi Co, Qatar Foundation, and the former President of Rotary International.

Questions that I raised were well received, I thought. As I brought up the environmentalist's dire wish to have integration of the work of all Jordanian authorities dealing with water - something along the lines of a regulatory body overarching the water, energy, environment and agriculture ministries. I also brought up the need for regional integration - where you could produce food in Sudan, desalinated water in Saudi Arabia, etc, capitalising on what has already been established before trying to find near impossible ways for self-sufficiency.

My examples and questions were then discussed at the meeting at large. To which the Prince answered: we cannot opt for regional integration when we do not develop reliable data on, for example, how much does agriculture contribute to our GDP (meaning that we don't know how much do we need to export - and that the market is free for products to compete without any regulation). On the need for integration within the Jordanian governement structures, he says there are attempts by the Royals to keep the water agenda on top, but there is a need for capacity building on the top managerial level - admitting what other participants already agreed on - the middle management is more equipped with information than top management along Jordanian governance structures.

He then highlighted an issue that 2-3 other interviewees in my documentary deemed very important: mentality - how people approach the water issue on all levels.

Finally, I got to interview many of the participants at the closed meeting, and I was happy to turn away and head back to Amman. One thing that frustrated me was the inability to record scenery shots, because everytime I put the camera up, someone would come and tell me its not allowed to film around here (yes, the level of security paranoia around this event is extreme - a trip to the dead sea usually takes 30 min - took me half day to fix the permits, park at parking places, shuttle myself to the meeting on two different closed-zone shuttles (although the security personnel were all quite helpful, the vulgar dispaly of military power was too much machismo.)

Take 2: Rsaifeh - a microcosm of global water issues

2011-10-19T08:26:00.002-01:00

Yesterday I joined a group of water experts from Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Palestine, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen for a field study to Rsaifeh - which is an impoverished industrial / residential area sandwiched between and linking two major cities, Amman and Zarqa.

Many decades ago, the area prospered around the Zarqa River, which later dried up to become a seasonal torrent, which was totally dry at the time of our visit yesterday. The river dried due to extremely rapid and disorganised urbanisation, industrial expansion, and due to pumping a major share of its water to serve the big cities, which in turn, poured waste water into the torrent. A treatment station was established to treat waste water downstream, i.e. after Rsaifeh. So the residents of Rsaifeh are meant to live with the fact that the big cities took their clean water and gave them bad waste water instead - without any compensation.

On the "bank" of the torrent, we met one farmer who grows different vegetables by the nation's only yeast factory. He irrigates his crops with the factory's waste water, which he says is "bio-degradable" - impressive use of terminology from a farmer who never finished his school education.

Farmer Abu Khaled (left) and friends, with their plot of land behind, and urbanisation crawling down on their land.

The factory owner thinks this is a good deal. He provides waste water from yeast production to the farmer for free, instead of having to transfer it to a waste water treatment plant and pay a large sum for them to clean and reuse the waters. The Rsaifeh municipality had earlier banned his factory from pouring its waste water into the Zarqa torrent, and deemed the water unhealthy. Both the farmer and the factory owner think this is a good deal, as crops grow successfully using this "free" water.

However, the agriculture ministry thinks this is a bad idea, and would often come and plough the crops away because they deem them harmful (although they've never tested the biodegradability of this sample of waste water in agricultural production). Farmer becomes unhappy.

Another problem, is the urban expansion. Ministry of municipalities has finally agreed, after lobbying from farmers, environmental activists, and a cooperative for local women to stop allocating this farmland as a low-cost residential area. However, urbanisation is closing in on the little green plots that are left, and air, land and water pollution is rapidly increasing. Which puts the quality of the agricultural products in question, regardless of the water used for irrigation.

Climate change increases the dryness of this area, also very noticeably. Poverty and underdevelopment there is easy to see and relate to. In short, this little farm plot is everything the world water community agenda is all about.

Take one still: booking interviews, going south

2011-10-17T10:41:00.000-01:00

Today I had a meeting with Reem al-Masri from 7iber, the leading jordanian alternative news and analysis source. Reem is working with a 7iber project called "once upon a water in jordan" which is a play on words in arabic to once upon a time.. what they do is arrange location shooting for social media activists, photographers, film crews etc, to report on different local stories, which they produce later for their own web and for different screenings.

This is their facebook page.

The meeting was very successful, we went through what they've done and what they'd like to do, and we agreed that they will help me arrange interviews tomorrow at the Ministry of Water which will lead to a trip to the controversial DISI project site in the south of Jordan (a 3-4 hour drive from my current location). The project is deemed as a solution to jordan's water woes, although totally unsustainable, as it will pump water from a ground water basin in the south desert along hundreds of kilometres to the capital - something that really pissed off the local inhabitants of that area, as they don't even get to do construction work, which is done by a Turkish contractor. Another controversy that arose recently were claims by a study group that water in the disi aquifer were contaminated and radioactive, the claims were shrugged off as a political play from Israel who wants Jordan to stay dependent on the jordan river basin, shared with Israel, and on the possibility (almost none) of going ahead with the red-dead project, pumping water from the red sea into the dead sea and desalinating a fair amount of that water for municipal use (check map).

IT will be interesting to interview the people down south, and then put their questions in front of the officials in the capital for answers. This bit of the film will be produced together with 7iber for a seperate screening in November, details are still to be concluded.

Things are just moving along!

Take one: I am producing a documentary on dealing with scarce water

2011-10-16T16:54:00.000-01:00

Four days since I landed in Amman, and after a short break by the shores of the Red Sea, I am back in Jordan's capital to start my months long self-appointed mission: to produce a documentary. Today I stepped out of my comfort zone and took the camera out of its bag, started ringing around and booking appointments for possible interviews and trips to different locations around the country.

But first things first. What is the documentary about? This is a good question that I have to keep asking myself all along the process. The initial idea is to document how ideas discussed in international forums like the World Water Week in Stockholm, the World Economic Forum, and Arab Water Forum translate in real life down at the bottom of the "supply chain". What ideas? Ideas of water management, dealing with water scarcity, waters role in climate change, and more NGO speech - do they ever leave conference halls and policy papers? Or do they translate at households, farms, and even at water ministries, management utilities, or just down at the street!

After making some calls, I headed to The Jordan Times newspaper, my employer about 7 years ago. I went there because I know they are excellent at archiving everything, including the so-called "water-beat". You won't find any other place in Jordan that has a more comprehensive archive of water stories.

I flipped through the 2010-2011 folder -- for some reason I like to flip through paper folders than search for articles on the Internet. And voila, there you go, 1 opinion piece, 3 articles with bylines from Stockholm (I work at www.siwi.org) and an article covering a local lecture on Green Water - a concept that was developed in Stockholm too by one of our knowledge leaders, Prof. Malin Falkenmark, back in 1995. Good, first stop with some achievement: a confirmation of something that I already know: many concepts like Green Water, developed at international forums, translate in many shapes and forms and end up in local newspapers and local academic lecture rooms.

Green water: a concept that was mostly developed and coined at the Stockholm International Water Institute, much of the work is attributable to Professor Malin Falkenmark. This paper clip was found in a local newspaper in Jordan.

Still, we're speaking NGO, intellectual elites within the water box. After all the journalist who wrote the article is very familiar with water issues and terminology, and so was the lecturer. Do politicians account for green water when they are negotiating water agreements with other countries?

I'll have to ask, and yes, I'll have to simplify this, I am still speaking NGO speech. Green water is the water that exists in nature in other forms than physical water: one example is rain water or waste water that is going into the ground - the idea is revolutionary: it means that no water is truly wasted, but is somehow recycled into other physical bodies in nature, such as land, animals, foods, etc. At least that's how I understand it!

It will be a challenge to get out of the water bucket (an inside joke which means to think outside the box in the water research world). But it is not impossible. I feel that I will learn much, and scale down, and simplify as I go along.

The shooting will take place in Jordan, Egypt, and hopefully later in Morocco, Spain and Portugal. Many maps as the ones below will be drawn, followed and explained. and you'll see a lot of faces, and hear many different dialects and languages, speaking water, not NGO speech.

Playing cajón for the swedish dream

2011-08-01T18:59:00.006-01:00

If the american dream was all about prosperity, the swedish dream is all about the humbleness that comes after prosperity. It is not about a big car, a fat flat, rock stardom or 15 minutes of fame on prime time commercial lameness. It is about having the possibility to have all that and yet going for a modest version. Taking only what you need, having a little ecological cottage in the country and a good earning in the city - the social status and security are almost guaranteed for all citizens in riches or in need.

How far would some go for the swedish dream, the bohemian pacifistic countryside life, versus a growing influence of the american dreams on young suburban tarzans - an identity in transition that fascinates only the most patient observers. Post-modern, ultra-liberal and yet barely ethnic.

Last weekend, I got to play with Diipak at Rosenhill - a big farm place where wwoffers, ecological aficionados and other odd nice folk like to hang out, pick veggies, make juice or eat together. Singing about love, life and the swedish dream, we were met with hopping hobbit-like hippies, humping black-tie fine types, and the odd yoga instructor, church goer, finance fiancé and other sorts of non-smoking yuppies.

In tribute to the swedish dream, I share with you two videos from our concert.. where I play cajón - fittingly enough for such a plot, cajón is a drum box made by african slaves brought to latin america to bypass a ban on traditional music, later becoming the essential instrument in spanish flamenco and tango argentine.

Enjoy it while it lasts.

There are 2 Rami Abdelrahman, I am not the Syrian one!

2011-08-01T14:06:00.001-01:00

Recently there has been another Rami Abdelrahman whose being quoted a lot in the media regarding what is happening in Syria. Apparently, the other Rami Abdelrahman is a Syrian based in London and working for a Human Rights Observatory. I am not him, I have never been in touch with him and I am not an expert on Syria.

I am from Jordan and I am based in Stockholm, Sweden. I have been working as a journalist since 1999, both in Jordan and in Sweden, but never anything related to Syria. I did meet Syrian activists on many occasions where I met activists from the Middle East and North Africa, but it is very important to highlight that there are TWO Rami Abdel Rahman. I am the Jordanian one in Sweden. Not the Syrian one in the UK.

I am writing this after I received one call from a Croatian journalist who thought I was the Syrian one. The other reason is that infosyrie.fr also had some doubts about the two identities. Thankfully they cleared the issue here http://www.infosyrie.fr/decryptage/mais-enfin-qui-est-et-ou-est-rami-abdel-rahmane/. And I am in touch with them to make sure that they see that we are two different persons and that I am not the one dealing with Syria.

A love letter

2011-07-17T20:01:00.005-01:00

This is the first of hopefully many letters that I'll start publishing here. Some will be in Swedish, some for officials, some to total strangers, some to people I love, and some to people I have yet to forgive. I have much to say to many, and this way I could keep this blog active while making peace with my past, present and future perfect.

A love letter...

I woke up at night, walked around the house like a thirsty madman in search of water. I was barely looking for anything, I just loved coming back to bed to lay beside her warm shoulder, knowing that in the next few seconds, we will scramble our tired bodies so that she'd lay her head on my chest, with our arms and legs entangled in a most comfortable position. As soon as we sleep away our embrace, ill wake up and walk back, and will do the whole thing once again. And when I finally surrender my sleepless body to deep sleep, she rolls around, and makes sure that she adjusts our bodies back.

Her breath smells like a faint after taste of white chocolate, and her heart is bigger than all of my absurdities and imperfections. She listens to me speaking three different languages to her, and she understands what is beyond all the words. She plays along, she speaks to my soul, she is the last of the endangered species of an independent, intelligent romantic in a world of lame commercial hedonism.

I'd lose count of nights, and sense of time, while I wait for her to come barging through the front door. The longer the distance, the longer the wait, the more intense our love elates. The longer the talks, the quieter the walks, the more our understanding deepens. And in between the depth and the elevation, I am loving this bipolarity of being two, giving and taking as we become one.

When I drop half the items off the store's shelf, she'd laugh with me. When I am the last to leave the party, she's laying down waiting for me, when I go out for a swim, she'll dip in with me, whether its - or + 20. She entwines a love story in my mad plot. She's always eager, always keen, and she keeps my heart kicking, my body ticking, and my soul afloat.

This is my love letter to the one I have only found and always lost.

I died two weeks ago

2011-07-10T20:16:00.002-01:00

I died two weeks ago. I had a wife and a daughter, I was 34, and was the first among my peers to die. I've seen them come and throw flowers on my grave before I was resurrected. Then I've seen how my own death changed their perspective on what's important and what's not. I became some sort of a silent angel, with yellow flowers growing behind my ears, and long white wings, like a greek god. I've seen my daughter grow with another father, I saw her lose her mother, I've seen an olden family house that once was full of life, I've seen how people turned to hobbies, got heart attacks from working or studying too much, and I've seen others eat eve's fruit before they died.

This was a real mind opening experience. In a short simulation where I was born again, and made my choices from scratch, where I had another chance, where I was a carpenter, and a university dropout. Where I was denied life, but learned to embrace it, after I died.

This was only one part of a life-workshop I took part in, in the beautiful Danish North Zealand city of Helsingör, with 20 other "people at crossroads" from all over Europe, aged 23-63.

We learned what it meant to be alive, not by lectures, but by reliving it. We also learned how valuable it is to go out and ask strangers for validation: we had a task to exchange one needle to stuff of a higher value, and many of us ended up with a bag full of worthy stuff in less than two hours.

We also learned trust - as we stage dived on bare hands, also feeling like greek emperors and empresses. We drew ourselves, our pains, our dreams, the happiest versions of ourselves, and wrote a "cook book" for achieving the desired happiness: tools, ingredients, and processes.

We learned that empathy only comes when we drop our egos, and then uncovered unimaginable levels of appreciation, of love, of humanity, of happiness, of music. Never before have I really believed that love can achieve so much, the unbelievable, the unimaginable. Random acts of love - like being a secret guardian angel to an unknown stranger.

We learned building consensus despite severe divides over what is moral and what is not, over judging and none-judgement, we learned the value of the consensus commitment.

This was all part of an EU funded workshop, at the Danish International Peoples College's entitled "At a crossroads" . Well worth spending every second of my vacation time, the changes it left me with are for a lifetime, and so are the friendships, and not least the love, the forgiveness, and the appreciation of just merely being alive.

And so began my seasons of love.... a life not measurable with years, days, coffee cups, laughter or strife... a life only measured by amounts of love.

arriving to the IPC with my lovely GF

Taking a rest at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Arts

Me and Nadia showing our sand artwork on the Helsingör beach

Stage diving 1 - the trust game

Stage diving 2: the trust game

Group Photo

Raising a glass of water

2011-06-13T20:33:00.000-01:00

Water has always been on my mind. When I was a kid, I used to wait by the water tank on the roof for it to fill up once a week, only to place a huge lock on its lid. I had to bath with only one bucket of heated water when we didn't get water at all, let alone clean water.

Yesterday, I went kayaking for 8 hours in the archipelago of Stockholm, the city where I live surrounded by water in every direction. Where bathing in the fresh summer water and skiing during the winter become weekly activities for a whole population.

Yesterdays Kayak tour in the Stockholm Archepelago.

On my upper right shoulder, which I cannot move because of yesterday's kayaking, there's a snow flake tattooed thickly in the center, for a good reason: this Aquarius is symbolically a real water carrier.

I also happen to work with water, or water policy issues at a global water research institute. We teach water professionals, give water prizes, lead water science, and arrange one of the world's most important water conferences. After 10 years of journalism, covering water among other topics, I found out that beyond freedom of expression, water is an equally important agenda that should be pushed across and along global political structures.

Raising a glass of clean water is a luxury for billions around the world. So raise yours, and look at it for a second - this colorless, odorless, secret of life. And think, there's water in everything, you're 70% water, the earth is 90% water, your jeans, food, couch, it all consumed a whole lot of water before it got to you.

So raise your glass for those who can't have it - mostly because you do.

Reflections on self distance and the 30 year old crisis

2011-06-07T19:52:00.002-01:00

Keeping a distant from others can result in a meticulous process of self absorption. Keeping a distance from yourself, can be socially appealing. Recently, I've been wavering between the two, only to discover that you cannot take a distance from yourself, if you do not know yourself well enough to take yourself lightly, i.e. make light jokes about yourself to make others feel at ease, drop their guard, and feel no need for a confrontational stance. I mean, seriously, why take yourself seriously.

I've been in a bit of self reflection recently. Going back in my mind, I reflect that I have:

- Never went to any of my own graduations: I missed them all on purpose.

- Hate weddings and funerals: Barely called mine a wedding when I got married (or a celebration when I got divorced).

- Despise religious holidays, national days, and traditions: anything distantly traditional or "normal" such as eating three meals a day, meeting family at high seasons, sleeping in one shot, joining any group that can call themselves "us" is remotely unappealing and rather appalling to me.

- Know a whole lot of people, but none that I could call real friends: no one who knows me inside out.

- Judgmental: my way or the high way.

- Breaks up relationships because of the slightest attempt to change my erratic ways of living. Or for showing any sort of religiousness towards a particular god, thought, group or party.
- Never succumbed to peer pressure, in fact, I drop the peer as soon as they pressure me.

- and most important of all, I love it.

There are many ways to analyse this: cowardliness or bravery? Self absorption or self distance? Anti-social or socially open to all? Nomad or inept to establish bases? I guess the answer depends on the perspective of the reader. In any case, I have decided that after reflecting on who I have become, I shall:

- Continue to disregard any form of normativeness.

- Won't feel no shame, for anything I do or anything I don't.

- Accept that the mind is a boggling mystery.

- Continue to play by the one simple truth: my life, my rules. I'll just continue to surround myself with those who have an understanding for the unshakable need for freedom and the parallel desire for closeness.

Being always "on the road somewhere" has been extremely helpful in making me adapt to anything that comes my way. But now, when I, for once, feel that I have established my own base, home, and roots somewhere, I am waking up to the fact that it is empty and rather lonely. I am no longer "on the road somewhere," I am "right here and right now" and I do have to face myself and my surroundings every passing minute.

Mastering the art of being right here and right now is not only about being witty and quick. It seems to me that it is about accepting that you don't need to make a point to yourself, nor to others, anymore, and instead, take it all with a light heart. It is about stepping out of self absorption, and taking a distance from yourself. And only then, you can actually enjoy others for who they are (not too hard, or is it?).

I still don't give a shit about normativeness.

a spring in verse with links

2011-05-08T19:23:00.003-01:00

Roger Waters performs The Wall in Stockholm last week.

I swear oath to the humming bee
slipping through the half open window
to awaken me.

I swear oath an to the division bell,
to the grass that is greener,
to the night that is brighter,
to the friends surrounding
to the nights of wonder
to the endless river

I swear oath under the spreading chestnut tree
that I'll never sell you, and that
you'll never sell me.

I swear an oath to dreams,

that even if they die,

life will not become a broken-winged bird,

that cannot fly.

I swear an oath to the people's will,

That fate will answer their call,

their night will begin to fade,

and their chains break and fall.

I swear an oath to Sabali

that I will not buy the stereotype,

the image of the images,

as long as I know what the image is.

(This was a poem about spring in many places - here and there - playing on words of other poets and lyricists, turning their worries around to make them oaths of mine.)

Jordan: the thin line between reform and deform

2011-04-10T19:50:00.006-01:00

As public debate in Jordan centers on reforms, Jordanians are discovering that they cannot stand apathetic anymore, despite their disagreement on what they want and what they need.

Since King Abdullah II took over charge little over a decade ago, billboards along the kingdom's highways and news headlines in newspapers have communicated many branded, reformist initiatives. Such initiatives like: "Jordan First," the "National Agenda," "Dream Big," mustered enough hope only to feed into public frustration over the unmeasurable failure of consequent reformist efforts.

For the non-ideological, well educated, networking Jordanians, the country needs immediate political reforms, for the vast majority, the priority should be set on achieving quick economic reforms that ensure equal opportunities and better, even barely decent, living standards.

The form of governance in the past years have focussed on minimizing the size of the public sector, while creating an "investment friendly" climate in the hope that the private sector would create enough jobs. Arguably, this model has not worked the way it was deemed to, as this so-called public-private partnership opened many back doors for shady deals and corruption, while the majority of mega projects in Jordan, employed a majority of non-Jordanians as the over-qualified locals refused low earning jobs.

Governments have continuously blamed grass-root hurdles such culture of shame: the fact that it is shameful for many young Jordanians, particularly women, to take low-wage, prestige-less cleaning or construction jobs. However, they never were self-critical in the sense that they'd admit they could have solved such problem by measures such as building fast track transportation to mobilize workers from outside the main cities into the car-congested, rapidly growing capital.

Jordanians remained as apathetic as ever. This did not reflect in better turn-outs at parliamentary elections, a less regressive parliament or an organised populous political movement. The reason is a general disbelief that things can become any better, as the contrast between rich and poor expand to unprecedented extremes.

Continuing on the same path of "reform" will only lead to deforming the country, forever. It is arguable that Jordan's understanding of a "liberal" economy is unfounded in any other international experience. The model of economy liberalization in Jordan is not balanced with fiscal measures to "redistribute" the wealth to its stakeholders, i.e. citizens, let alone a half-decent "welfare" system for the vast uninsured majority.

It is no wonder that this is coming even as the World Bank, announces that it would press countries in the Middle East and North Africa to apply economic reforms that ensure social prosperity - signalling that world powers at large, are now prone to think that the old forms of governance in the region are unsustainable, if not outright dangerous, as long as public dissent and opposition is suppressed to a ticking bomb.

Jordan's status quo is unsustainable. Jordanians are waking up to this realization, as public debate rages, rather subliminally, over the continuous failure of the country's system of governance - coupled with hooligan nationalism monopolizing the definition of citizenship - and an overwhelmingly illusionary government rhetoric that "Jordan is on the right track." The very euphemism that became a bit of an "inside joke" at certain western foreign aid departments dealing with the country, where the second part continues: "...but you know how it is."

Thank you, King Abdullah of Jordan

2011-03-17T22:24:00.007-01:00

Thank you, King Abdullah of Jordan for standing up for the free word of the youth, for taking it upon yourself to preserve our right to free expression. For the first time since you became King of Jordan, I feel that you have finally addressed something that really concerns me, and it looks like we, the youth, and yourself are stuck on the same side of this hard fight - and not against each other.

Who are we fighting against? The stagnation that prevents us from moving forward at our potential pace. The stagnation preserved by dictators along and across all levels of governance: the patriarchy, the tribalism, the nepotism, the inefficiency, the corruption and the ignorance hiding behind "loyalty" to god, the king and the nation. Those who put up your picture in their offices and restrain modernity and regress society in your name, and ours, throughout the establishment.

Just a few examples: bloggers invited for "a coffee" with state security personnel, demonstrators called traitors and faced with "anti-reformists" holding your pictures and our flag, a school system that teaches us to obey and memorize, not to think for ourselves and arise. Officials close to you and further apart employ relatives to keep the system stagnant, and prevent you, and us, from achieving the desirable change. Meanwhile, brainwashed ignorants troll around online and offline social networks to accuse reformists of "betrayal" as they hail your name and our nation.

To allow our freedom of expression, and your own, to prosper - we have to work to tear down this ignorance, enlighten ourselves and those around us that democracy is not a foreign conspiracy, but is a responsibility that we have to take upon ourselves.

It is, however, disappointing that this very ignorance is broadly represented in so called national dialogue committee, which is supposed to steer the reform agenda in the near future. The committee is made up of those who stand between you, us, and reform: Old men who do not understand the ways of the new modern world or who did not achieve any change when they had the chance. Only two women among a horde of such men is supposed to represent a society where women outnumber men.

We need to stop empowering bureaucrats, if we are to become the role model that we have promised the world and ourselves to become. We need to empower the society. We need to stop feeling that we are at the bottom of the world, that we are unable to change, that "nothing will ever improve". We all need to become the stakeholders of change that you, and we aspire to become.

We still believe, in all honesty, that you mean well. Thank you for your initiative.
We will surely make good use of it, and remain many steps ahead the oppressors, as we have always been since we started blogging.

We don't need any reformers, we will do it ourselves.

2011-03-03T18:27:00.017-01:00

I just posted this on the Facebook group: What do Jordanians need? (update, group was shut down the next day!)

Great news! I received a donor invitation to a meeting to finance a project to help social media activists in the Middle East get unbreakable tools and bring about more democratic change.

I have earlier posted on my blog that Jordan's political pandora's box is now open (read previous post here.) This means that, as many continue to observe and practice, what was taboo is now Friday breakfast family talk. Meanwhile, the government is stuck - it is stuck in the old way of thinking, of arranging things, of "reforming", and holding "dialog" with an opposition they have kept in regress since independence. They are missing the fact that young aspirations want to change the current forms of opposition just as much as they want to change the current form of governance.

They talk about "dialog" and stick to the old "dialog" proxies. Like Islamic Brotherhood, the Parliament, retired military personnels, and regressive family figures. And when they want to talk to students, they pick the Jordanian student council, which barely any student has ever heard of, let alone elected. The revolution is here, online, and since 2006 we, bloggers and social media researchers, have been saying... "Social media activists are always, always, many steps ahead of any authoritarian regime." Statistically, technically, and scientifically proven, now this has come out to the older generation as an undistortable truth.

What is happening in the Arab world comes from a huge generational gap in education, global access, connectivity and not least, aspirations. The kind of thing that goes beyond national borders, the reach of ministers, technocrats and bureaucrats, and the like. Then there is the digital gap, between the young and even the most advanced national communications bodies. Any blogger can spot authority visiting their blogs, or googling information about them, whereas authorities websites are painstakingly pathetic - an indication of their competence. Any blockage is breakable. And then there are global legions of human right defenders, hackers, etc who do not even know each other IRL or online, but are united in securing a better earth for all.

Addressing "need" and addressing "want" is a distinctive difference. Governments offer to satisfy some "needs" and think that covers all aspirations. They totally miss the fact, that what we want, is beyond what we need. In fact, most of us don't need anything, but we want: nations where every individual, man or woman, is free to choose the course of their lives, and has the means to achieve it.

Question is what do authorities need to do - reorganisation - the tools are out there, offered by the likes of Transparency International, UNDP, etc etc. But those offer the basics. What we aspire to, as Jordanian or Arab youth, is beyond food, shelter, jobs, marriage, a means of transportation and some "dignity." We want to see the kind of social revolution that brings people of all orgins, all beliefs, and both sexes together in one hand, as equals - and to that end - they all have a common goal - to secure that equality. The kind of thing that was sparked really in Egypt - where social media "anarchists" inspired millions of offline people to come out of the "closet."

Down with the old ways of thinking. We do not need parliamentarians who want to give us "pizza and hamburgers" because we use "facebook and twitter" and call us all sorts of derogatory names. We do not want a government that is stuck in models that make the 1950s sound progressive. And we certainly do not need a leadership which cannot fix all this, nor one that decides whether and when we are "ready" for democratic change. We want to do it ourselves, we don't need anyone.

It will take time, but we won't stand aside as fellow Arabs advance while we regress. Let alone the rest of the world - who finally is waking up to the fact that they too, have been decieved by our rulers - Jordanian officials are becoming an inside joke at European Foreign Ministries: "...everything is on track, like in Jordan, but you know how it is...". This is a revolution against authoritarian systems, from patriarchal homes to monarchical heredity... not from the top down, not from the bottom up, but flat!

This has been my rant after learning that the new government in Jordan - which has not even promised any substantial reforms got a vote of confidence from a parliament that dissed protests and protestors (and voted almost unanimously to give confidence to the former corrupt government). Same same, but different, like they say in Bangkok.

Anyway, here's another view with much more influence and credibility.

Jordan's political Pandora's box is open

2011-02-21T19:59:00.008-01:00

Jordan's median age is 21 years old. Picture is from recent protest.

As Jordanians continue to show unwavering support for Arab revolutions through social media, the majority of commentators seem to stand a little short of calling for similar action in their own country, partly due to a culture of self-censorship and partly to what seems to be uncertainty in what a democratic makeshift would lead to. Meanwhile, King Abdullah, being leader supremo in the country called his shots, calling for immediate and "real" reform, but also standing short of enforcing anything in this regard. Some western media reported the recent government change in Jordan as a sign of change, disregarding the fact that Jordan has had dozens of government changes since its independence from British colonialists in the 1940s. Almost each government was asked to perform adequate "reforms," but never stayed long enough to see that such aspirations are implemented.

The leader also expressed his, and Jordanian citizens "dissatisfaction" with how reforms in the past have not lead to substantial change that meets the ambitions of young Jordanians. Instead they continued with centralizing an ever shrinking government service sector, widened national debt, and hoped for foreign direct investment to fill in the gaps. Even as investments poured into the country, a very small minority of Jordanians could feel the effect - partly because of elite personal agendas, a fierce, capitalist class segregation, and because of social factors - i.e. Jordanians refusing to do low-wage jobs.

Jordan's king has, not too long ago, said Jordan is undergoing a democratization process and expressed clearly that he does not think that the country is ready for a real democracy, yet. Meanwhile, the blame game has been abound- while officials put the blame on "directions from the top", the king is asking officials now to shoulder their responsibility, saying there's no such thing as "directions from the top." As a leader, he seems to be concerned with the low performance of his appointed governments, while a weak elections law gives unwavering support to the establishment, regardless of who runs the show. Meanwhile, the opposition is old fashioned, ragged, and carry decades old slogans that do not fit for Jordanians 21st century aspirations.

Jordanians of all origins are worried. For once they are discussing the future of their country at homes, schools, workplaces and off record, with little discussion going on record on social media. Nevertheless, Pandora's box is now open - and what seemed to be totally bizarre ideas are now becoming options -- notions such as an elected government, and a renewed role for the King to be a constitutional monarch, European style, with an independent judiciary system.

Election law must be reformed to begin with- no doubt about it. A fair representation of men and women, Jordanians of all origins, must be ensured, if the establishment is serious about a plural and democratic progression. The aspired dialog is not a means to an end, it will be an ongoing process even as real democratic changes take place, if they ever do. Pandora's box, or national dialog, are not steered from the top, and will put all questions out for the mainstream to judge on.

A nation does not become democratic in one day, but it requires a very brave and well deserved decision or revolution to begin the process. The time now is ripe for answers, when all questions are being raised.

First and foremost question: when will Jordanians, like fellow Arabs, be "ready" for democracy according to our appointed leaders?

Why should any Jordanian citizen be obliged to like the status quo, and obliged to love an establishment that s/he does not feel like a stakeholder in?

Why should I be stopped on the highway by a solider, to find out that he is my poor cousin from the north of Jordan whose reality is ultimately grim and shockingly different than mine due to class segregation?

Why should kids shut up when they are beaten or mobbed in schools, at homes, and by friends because they dared to speak their mind?

Why should travelling between Amman and refugee camp slums or provincial villages feels like travelling through ages of human development?

Who should bare responsibility, when supreme leaders blame the people they are accountable for, for their "incapability" to become "reformed"?

(insert your own question here).

How to start a revolution? - a 10 step guide inspired by Egypt and Tunisia

2011-02-18T08:58:00.000-01:00

I attended the other day a panel discussion (recorded streaming) at the Swedish Institute organised by a civil society think tank called Sektor 3. The debate was on “How to start a revolution” in relation to what is happening now in the Arab world. I decided to blog all the points that the “experts” missed.

The 10 essential ingredients of starting a revolution (inspired by Egypt and Tunisia):

1 – Generation gap: The Arab world’s population is undergoing a big generational shift. More than 60% of the population are under the age of 25. They are getting connected; internet and mobile penetration growth is faster in this region than any other place in the world.

2- General frustration: Power structures in the Arab world today are a by product of colonialization, who were fed from both sides during the Cold War, and continued to enjoy undeserved support during the “terrorism era,” aka the past 10 years. Young people in the Arab world have felt the betrayal by their leaders and the world at large since they were born and throughout their upbringing. The fact remains that leaders in the Arab world cannot deliver anymore what they are paid to – they cannot secure international interests in the region, and they cannot deliver for local ambitions. Everyone is frustrated with the power structures.

3- Creativity: Opposition in the Arab world is mostly tight knitted to the power structures – at least in its bureaucratic form. They can push papers around, reuse old banners and slogans that do not fit for a 21 century society. To start a revolution, we have to look outside the current opposition formats in the Arab world, and seek to reform the opposition just as much as the power structures. New ideas are therefore needed. Clusters of unorganised, but networking anti-establishment activists have succeeded in driving the revolution in Egypt and Tunisia. The establishment will now try to turn them into bureaucrats – as Theodore Rozsak suggests in his book, and my revolutionary bible: “The making of a counter-culture: reflections on the technocratic society.”

4- Thinking beyond borders: As is the case with other ingredients – nations in the Arab world are a by-product of colonization. What is Jordanian civilization, or Libyan or Iraqi? Apart from Egypt and possibly Iran, the rest of the regions civilization history has been going through phases of unity and isolation. Arab young people see that there’s a need to reconnect with other Arabs outside their own region, and sometimes, when internet goes down, with others abroad. We have to think outside our borders. South Koreans just balloons to North Korea carrying flyers about the news from Egypt.

5- Remember Ghandi: No violence (unless in self defence). First they will ignore you, then laugh at you, and then they will fight you, then you will win (or they will join you)…. Enough public mobilisation of peaceful demonstrators can outtake any fascist dictator guard. Beware of the Army though, the Army is the Joker in this game, they are guilty until proven innocent.

6 – Mobilize: mobilize, mobilize: Social networking is beyond twitter and facebook; it is beyond all mass media. It takes place across all society structures: in the family, at the work place, in educational institutions, in the neighbourhood, down the street. Use face to face interaction; do not just depend on electronic media, mobile phones, etc.

7- Belief. Believe in a better world – a world of equal opportunities for young, old, men, women, across societal classes. We’re all brothers and sisters, and we all deserve a chance to be equal stakeholders in managing our lives, in owning our minds and bodies.

8- Dress properly: When going to a demonstration, wear running shoes if you have them. Take a scarf to cover your mouth and nose to minimize the effects of tear gas. Carry water, something to eat, and warm clothes if you have to spend the night outside. Do not worry about your looks; you look pretty hot when you’re leading a revolution.

9- Stick together. Help your fellow brothers and sisters with all you can. Build road blocks together, protect one another, and carry each other to safety. Doctors can nurse the wounded, for example. Muslim, Christian, secular, gay, straight, queer, young, old, poor, rich, all that doesn’t matter, we’re creating a world for all of us together, and all are of the same worth.

10 – The PR Campaign: Egyptians and Tunisians have been excellent in driving an unorganised PR campaign and managed to win the hearts and the minds of the world, and inspire people to stand up for their own even outside the region: from Gabon to Albania, Kazakhstan to Italy. The way to do this is to post online: make songs, put out videos of what happens on the street, twitter, start facebook campaigns, blog about it, and write to the media making yourself available for interviews and correcting media mistakes when they take place. Apologise for the bad actions of a few that could disturb the good image your protest is getting abroad.

Arab revolutionists must not forget Arab women

2011-02-13T21:29:00.002-01:00

The ongoing winds of change blowing in Arabia have not only reshaped the regions political ambitions, but mostly reinstated social unity. Observers have marveled at how young and old, men and women of all classes and beliefs are standing and calling for equal rights.

I say marveled because this is merely a politically organised campaign. It is rather a break from the image of social divisions that western media and patriarchal, ogliarchal, dictators have instilled in the Arab peoples' minds.

For many generations, the social structures in the Arab world have been weakened, where religious tolerance became division, gender equality became discrimination, and social security became poverty and lack of adequate services for children and the elderly. The workers movement died and became controlled by religious fanatics in countries like Jordan. In the aftermath of the revolutions that toppled the dictators of Tunis and Egypt - the role of social (media) activists behind those movements and beyond is to ensure that the demands they called for are met.

The ambitions in Egypt and Tunisia have been higher than those in Jordan or Algeria. Although all demonstrators across the region have similar calls for freedom of assembly, political organisation, free media, free expression, and fair and free elections - the reality remains that no one has taken up calling for equal rights for women.

My first visit to Cairo was to attend a UNIFEM conference on the right (or lack thereof) of citizenship for Arab women. The conference took place at Semir Amis hotel by the Tahrir Square. Memories of that 2005 conference echoed in my head as I shouted "Down with Husni Mubarak" at both my computer and TV high definition screens. I marvelled how women in Tahrir square were saying they never felt more secure in Cairo - no harassment - there was the real arab social structure - brothers and sisters protecting their collective interest equally.

Yet this has not translated into the demands of the protesters - although "fair elections" and "free political organisations" will give women in Egypt a better foundation for their movements and rights, this has to be guaranteed some how.

We have seen public display of affection on the Arab street, let us keep it going. I expect that we should not abandon our mothers, sisters, daughters, and friends and high-jack the revolution - the way Islamists in Jordan are doing (in a recent protests, they exchanged the picture of a dead Egyptian protesting woman with a bearded man on one of the signs raised).

Call for equal rights to citizenship for Arab women. Equal rights to work and education. Call for the right of women to feel secure wherever she is. Call for punishment of sexual molesters. Call for equal divorce rights, for equal fostering rights, for equal marriage rights, for the right of people to own their own bodies, minds and future.

Call for equal human rights. Now!

How media failed in covering the Arab revolution(s)

2011-02-05T22:12:00.008-01:00

Less than five minutes after Egyptian President Husni Mubarak announced he was not running for presidency in the next September elections -- CNNs main headline changed to "A future with the Muslim Brotherhood." A couple of days later, the Muslim Brotherhood announced it does not aspire to put a man on top, and distanced itself from leading the revolution into an Iran-like Islamic takeover.

A painting from 1500s baring stark resemblance to a recent Cairo scene.

The revolution tsunami sweeping across the Arab world is everything but Islamic. It is more to do with demographics and opportunity, than idiology. More than 250 million in the Arab world are under the age of 25 - and the number is rapidly increasing. Jobs and opportunities for self achievement are far from enough to ensure a decent future for these millions. Many of those leading the calls for revolution are internet savvy, well educated and rather secular, connected, young people - straight, gay, muslims, christians, different varieties from one middle class - before their calls were adopted by richer and poorer classes.

"I feel sorry for my own existance. I am university educated and working on a black taxi in Sharm el Sheikh, because a normal job barely pays for food. I really do not have hope, it is a very pathetic situation,"

this is what a taxi driver told me in Sharm el Sheikh, about 4 weeks before the protests erupted in Cairo.

CNN could not have been more wrong - despite excellent efforts througout its different programmes to analyse the political turmoil - they failed to provide a deeper analysis beyond the delicacy of the White House's take on things. They often described US officials as if they "managed excellently not to say anything" as they themselves did the same.

Their biggest miss was double fold - the loss of veteran Middle East correspondent Christiane Amanpour to ABC News, and the take over of Hala Gorani. Hala managed to interview Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ahmad Abou Al Ghait. She asked the right questions, why doesn't Mr Mubarak succumb to the will of his people? and why did not the Egyptian government condemn attacks on journalsts?

Abou Al Ghait managed excellently not to answer the first question, and she failed miserably when she did not pose the question again. CNN did not even broadcast the answer to the second question. Amanpour on the other hand, interviewed Mr Mubarak himself when she was in the palace to interview his newly appointed Vice President Mr Omar Sulieman.

As seen in the above clip, no live interview with Mr Mubarak was broadcasted - instead she reported over still photos of her and Mr Mubarak sharing laughs at the palace. She said "he honestly believes he's done many great things for Egypt - he is a proud old man." Is he even fit for presidency at his age, or is the future of millions of egyptians stuck in the head of a stubborn aged man? Anyhow, Amanpour's report was excellent, it reshaped the media agenda - all news outlets led with "Mubarak wants to leave power, but he think Egypt will be in chaos."

What amanpour lacked, is a deep follow up conversation with her ABC colleague - the kind of exchange she would have had if she was still with CNN. Gorani on the other hand, had a chance to follow up on Amanpours interview, but failed miserably.

Apart from American media, Aljazeera's viewer rate was increased by 2500% during the past few days. It provided updates round the clock, even at the risk of putting out contradicting figures and misspelled words. One example is the rolling breaking news bar on the Arabic service, which at one point repoted 100,000 demonstrators in Tahrir square, and the next line saying there were 120,000.

Twitter-like, minute for minute updates were a new comer in global media coverage. Al jazeera English, BBC and Swedish news sites like SVT and SVD were publishing updates minutes-by-minutes. Some updates became headline, even misleading at some point - like the Swedish Radio's main headline claim: The Army switches to the people's side. Where it still, to this day, unknown where the Army has its allegiances. The Swedish Radio later led with "Rumors and conspiracy theories are wide spread in Egypt," -- probably one of the most accurate, although grey, headlines in this whole charade.

All in all - the prize for best live reporting goes undoubtedly to Aljazeera. Whereas the prize for mind-opening, deep analysis goes to the Guradian. In any case, the revolution was not properly televised. Social media killed the TV star: it made politicians and mass media alike more honest, but keeps them lagging behind.

The truth is as complex as ever, it just became faster.

How I voted in Swedish elections

2010-09-15T17:33:00.007-01:00

As a resident, non-Swedish citizen, I got to vote in both Stockholms commune and county council elections, but not for parliamentary candidates. It came as a pleasant surprise: I have the democratic right to choose how my city will be run, but now how the country is run, i.e. I am a resident of Stockholm city, but not a citizen of Sweden, which makes perfect sense. It is little wonder that Sweden was recently acclaimed by Newsweek as having the healthiest political system in the world today.

The tough part is choosing who to vote for. Traditionally, Sweden is a social-democratic country, i.e. leftist, labor. But during the past four years, it has been run by the center-right coalition. New comers such as the far-right, anti-immigrant, Sweden democrats have gained much momentum during the past few years, and are much likely to make a parliamentary debut, when all is said and done by the end of this month.

Voting strategically would mean that I'd vote for the coalition that is most likely to win and form a majority government, in this case being the center-right coalition. I must admit I do like their small and medium business incentives, and their rather half successful attempts at cutting red tape in a very technocratic system.

Voting morally I find myself closest to the Green Party, which went into alliance with the Social Democrats and the Left Party. Unlike the last two, the Greens are creative, full of new ideas, and possess a huge drive to modernize Sweden (not that it is not modern, but all for the best). The problem with the Social Democrats is that they are stuck in old habits, old rhetorics, and assume that everyone knows what they're all about, where they themselves seem to have lost touch with modern day Sweden and still talk in ideals long over exhausted. The left is all about solidarity but barely offer any pragmatism.

More recently, I found Swedish parties and coalitions (all grown up in a social democratic society) coming closer to each other, and for that matter, to the center. The distance between the right wing and the left wing is much narrower, and way to the left, than US republicans and democrats. The European ideals of taking care of the citizen from cradle to grave shapes the politics of all Swedish parties alike, and there's no notion of free economy and personal liberties above all, despite that having a strong social welfare system, makes citizens as individualistic as could be.

When I balanced my opinions, I found myself leaning mostly towards creativity - I wanted to vote for a party with creative solutions to stagnant problems. A party who thinks outside the box, one whose agenda makes common sense. And just before I made my way to the ballot box, the Greens announced that they are ready to engage in collaboration with the center-right if their coalition won, despite that the Greens are aligned with the left.

The choice was relatively easy, I went for the Greens, in my first vote ever.

Settling down while you're on top

2010-08-15T12:24:00.006-01:00

Christiania, Köpenhavn, Danmark

The sweetness of nicotine gum is tainted by the bitter taste of morning coffee. Window wide open to trees hissing along early autumn winds. It feels like good time for closure, a call to unravel the muses that kept me away from typing away the things that made or did not make my days. This post is dedicated to new found freedom, to the heightening feeling of self achievement away from self absorption. To being self conscience without being selfish. Alright now, enough with the wisdom pills.

Two weeks ago, I was on the cross road. If I drove left, I'd head south, if I drove right, I'd head north. While debating the destiny of my short vacation, or long weekend as it is called up here, a pair of hitch-hikers turned up on the side of the road. I stopped. A girl with a flower in her hair dropped by, asked me where I was going, I replied with the same question. "Copenhagen." Alright, southwards it is, to Denmark. The land of the "happiest people on earth," continental liberties and in your face, positive racial slants.

My new found travel companions, guy with guitar and girl in the back.

The road took us past Vättern, Swedens largest lake, where we were able to lay off the "social complements" and become travel buddies, as we dipped in the sea in our underwear and entertain sun tanning tourists on the peer. For the first time since I started driving out of metropolitan Stockholm earlier that day, I found what I was looking for, the new found freedom of being myself on the road. After drying up in a hot Swedish summer sun, ecological sandwiches and not so ecological ice cream, we were back in the car for a few hours' drive to the half-bridge, half-tunnel Öresund "bridge", the only physical link between Sweden and continental Europe.

We "couch-surfed" at a Danish guy's place, arriving a bit later than we should due to the extensive network of traffic lights in Copenhagen. I felt I've been in monopoly Sweden far too long when I was amused that normal shops, like 7 eleven, sell wine round the clock.

Anyway, next morning, we made for central Copenhagen and the infamous, self-proclaimed autonomous, "Freetown Christiania", a place marvelled by my own teen hood dreams and tales. "You are now exiting the EU," read the sign at the neighbourhood's entrance. The law there is simple, three ground rules: No violence, No drugs, No photography. Ironic as it may seem to many, the town is known for its free and open attitude to marijuana - which is sold in many shapes and forms at booths around town. The graffiti there was stunning, but apart from it, one could feel that this town is nothing but the shadow of a former glory, like a deserted old town in a western film. Yet, there are the odd junkies who are stoned and barely active on odd corners and under trees.

Going through Christiania, and leaving it totally sober, was a sobering, yet marvellous experience. What sounded like a high point in life, was just a passing moment to marvel at, and look back at with a smile, I am over the party life, over exposing myself to the odd intrigues offered at every corner whenever I looked out for them. I am all settled down, and I do not do anything that I do not feel like doing for the sake of doing it. I do not put energy or spend time more than I need on things that don't make me feel at ease (ironic as this may sound, being in Christiania and all).

Fast forward and back home, up north and down to earth, my life has changed slowly but surely in the past few months. Having a steady, 9-5 job that I like, collecting karma points being a communicator at a prestigious global water institute, and spending my evenings in the comfort of my own 45 square meter flat. Being single with no strings attached anywhere, and resorting to the inner comfort of a heightened sense of freedom derived from a steady and good income, and the possibilities and promises of travelling further and further widening my perspective on life.

For the first time, I could relate to and understand the meaning of inner growth and the comfort of being oneself, without angst, without pressure. When putting myself in "uncomfortable" situations is synonym to "exotic and exciting" experiences that enrich and do not drag my life down.

I'll just save a penny a day for the ferry, and when autumn is in full gloom, I'll leave to a place where summer is just about to start, with a back pack, a notepad, and possibly a guitar.

Why companies need to address their water footprint?

2010-03-31T15:02:00.003-01:00

There is no doubt that international efforts to address water problems are gaining more momentum now than ever, especially in the shadow of climate concerns and a heightened sense of responsibility.

Here in Sweden, public, private and social media is arguably publishing more reports about water related issues now than ever before, reflecting global trends in environmental reporting.

The Swedish private sector is also getting more proactive on discussions around corporate social responsibility and water, which was very ripe during last year’s World Water Week – and continued through the Swedish Water House network.

So far there has been a positive response from some of the largest actors in the private sectors – with Swedish textile retailers joining SWHs efforts to exchange information on best practices in water utilization, production, marketing and environmental conservation.

Figure: courtesy of IBM Water

Read the rest of this article at the Swedish Water House's blog...

Address at 111: leaving journalism, going PR

2010-02-21T08:03:00.007-01:00

It's been long but exciting nine years, sitting at one end of the information world, the journalist side. But professional journalism is a dying old giant fastly becoming a tradition to keep rather than a developing profession. The lines are very vague between what is a news story and what is info-tainment, or panic tactics testing reactions or vaccinations (pun intended).

The balance is becoming far fetched - and more humanly impossible, as the job market becomes smaller. Journalists get lesser paid and more over worked. I felt this as I worked cross national boundaries as a freelance journalist for 9 years - starting with a self-developed, freely distributed student magazine at university, to consequently working for The Jordan Times, Reuters, the Swedish Radio... etc.

I have made the decision to leave journalism for communications/PR, where i'd design and package information for public and private dissemination, through traditional and unconventional channels. Luckily, I won't be selling my soul to the corporate world - I will be working in the international NGO world, with issues related to climate change, and human rights such as water.

My new employer, the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), is a leading global organization in this area. They arrange the World Water Week every year, bringing the créme de la créme of the NGO world, multinational organizations, UN institutions, policy makers and the private sector to Stockholm, a city built on water, to push water problems up the global political agenda and find tangible solutions to huge environmental problems related to water availability, quality, and related issues such as dignity, food, energy, sanitation... etc.

Anders Berntell, Executive Director at SIWI, explain SIWI's mission in this short promotional clip:

SIWI is involved in networking and advocating for better living for billions around the world, and works with building capacities in developing nations. I will be helping them to find creative ways to reach a wider audience among policy makers, NGOs, activists, politicians, water professionals and the general public.

Here's what I argued for, a journalist at the time, when I last attended the World Water Week - More social media!

The new job has quite many benefits, beside a fair, good and stable pay, gym card, massages, house parties, fantastic work mates and a wide contact base, I get to sit on a desk overlooking Sergels Torg -- the very atom heart of Stockholm, and my contact post address starts with 111, which sounds prestigious, but also beautiful.

The view from my desk.

I have not yet decided how I will use the blog in the future - but it would probably be a little more politically neutral and environmentally friendly than it has ever been - now I've got to make friends with policy makers, you know!

Jordan: good secuirty, bad public relations

2010-01-08T07:27:00.007-01:00

In 2001, when Jordan sent its troops to Afghanistan to participate in the ISAF force there in combatting terrorism, the government said its role consisted only of establishing and maintaining a field hospital to treat the wounded in the Afghani region of Mazar e Sharif.

In 2010, we got confirmation that this was not the whole truth.

A captain in the intelligence agency, General Intelligence Department (GID), was killed along with 6 CIA operatives in a suicide bombing at Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost, Afghanistan. The suicide bomber appeared to be a Jordanian double-agent who turned against his employer.

The CIA insists that despite this incident, Jordan's intelligence agency and personnel are the most effecient in the region and further abroad in combatting terrorism.

"The Jordanian intelligence service is the best intelligence service in the Middle East and South Asia, bar none... They are far more effective in working against jihadist groups like al Qaeda in Iraq like the al Qaeda core in Pakistan than any other intelligence service." - Bruce Reidel, a former CIA officer who has advised President Obama on al Qaeda.

The incident took place on 30 December 2009. Jordanian media wrote about it in brief, barely mentioning the story behind, until it was all over the international media - then Jordan found itself compelled to give an official answer.

“Jordan will not spare any effort to hunt and track down terrorists wherever they are and work to dry up their resources,” according to an unnamed official speaking to The Jordan Times. Finally, the government of Jordan admitted what every Jordanian suspected already, at least in broad lines.

Jordan has definately been taking part of the controversial rendition program (read article here), has recently completed all requisits to become a full NATO partner (read article here), and has contributed with personnel, infrastructure, and further aid to the war on terror and the war on Iraq (read article here), and not least, Jordan has been part of the 41 nation coallition engaged in operations in Afghanistan (read article here).

According to this unclassified NATO document, Jordan has insisted since day one, that all its NATO partners in Afghanistan refrain from mentioning its participation in the public domain. Now, every Jordanian knows what the government has been trying to keep secret for the past 9 years - the Jordanian presence in Afghanistan is not merely logistical or humanitarian, it involves intelligence and combat cooperation at the highest of levels.

Who ever was responsible for the decision not to tell the Jordanian public about the nature of the Jordanian participation in the war on terror did a grave mistake.

They lost 9 years of building confidence between the average Jordanian and the Jordanian security forces (which are seen amongst many Jordanians as "friends of enemies - being Israel, the US and other western powers involved in the Middle East conflict.)

Instead, the Jordanian government should have been working on a public relations campaign to convince Jordanians of its important role in the global security system - a backbone to defending the democratic world operating at the heart of the conflict. Jordanian officials should have been brave and convincing enough to persuade Jordanian people of all backgrounds (Palestinians, Jordanians and minorities) why it is better to sideline with the west against islamic fundamentalism.

When in 2005 Jordan suffered a terror attack killing more than 60 innocent citizens in Amman, Jordanians rallied in a united national tone behind the government, and many were glad to know that, a few months later, Jordan was able to track down and kill Al Qaedas leader in Iraq, Abu Musab Al Zarqawi - a Jordanian national.

However, the government missed the chance then to open up to its citizens about the security cooperation that has been going for years and that was not going to end any time soon. Meanwhile, radical, anti-democratic Islamists (such as the Muslim Brotherhood) banked on their relatively democratic presence in the parliament to use these events, amongst other regional developments, as an "opportunity" to spread their anti-western sentiments in mostly impoverished regions of Palestinian majorities, such as refugee camps, as well as all over the country.

The average Jordanian citizen is connected to the world - almost every Jordanian household has access to satellite TV, a huge percentage of Jordanians has access to the internet, and more than 93% of Jordanians have completed at least high school education. Jordanians have access to alternative sources of news, they no longer wait for the 8 o'clock news bulletin on Jordanian state TV, in fact, barely a minority still tune in on state TV - it represents the stagnation of the state's public relations apparatus, barely in any competition with local, regional and international media advancement.

The gap remains unquestionably wide between a security system that has proved its excellence in maintaining Jordan an oasis of peace in a mad region, and the average citizen who distrusts his country's alliances. It is time we asked why, and found a way to build a friendly relationship between the state and the citizen, who needs to feel that a security officer is his friend, not the friend of his enemy.

A wide, far reaching and effective public relations strategy is needed to build a culture of constructive debate. Jordanians are not dumb, nor is their government, but the gap needs to be mended with a consistant, friendly and honest public relations rhetoric - which will in the end prove very helpful in the fight against terrorism.

Link between attacks on CIA base in Khost and Fort Hood base in Texas

2010-01-07T10:00:00.003-01:00

In the past few months, the US security stronghold suffered two blows in a row, right in the very hearts of two maximum security facilities - by two entrusted doctors of Palestinian immigrant origins.

When Humam al-Balawi last week called his fellow Jordanian intelligence official to facilitate a meeting with 6 top CIA officers at Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost, Afghanistan, he said he would release important information about Al Qaeda no.2, Ayman al Zawahiri. According to reports, he blew himself as they gathered around him when he said he'd show them some sort of a document or a map.

The alleged double-agent was allowed inside the base without a body search, apparently, as he wore an explosive belt somewhere under his clothes. The bomb exploded killing himself, the Jordanian intelligence official (claimed to have barely passed high school education) and 6 CIA experts.

Several months before, Nidal Malik Hasan, a Psychologist working at Fort Hood US military base in Texas, opened fire inside the base, killing 13 military personnel.

The similarities are quite obvious. Both Nidal and Humam were granted access to the heart of these military bases. Both are doctors. And both are of the same origin, Palestinian.

Humam was born in Kuwait, and had to flee during the first Gulf War to Jordan where he worked serving Palestinian refugee camps - impoverished areas that prove to be an easy recruiting point for terrorists and where the majority of votes tend to support the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas in its extension.

Nidal was the son of Palestinian immigrants who fled the West Bank city to chase the American dream. Both had similar upbringing - Middle class Palestinian refugee families with access to relatively good educational institutes. Both believed in the Arab fight against Israel, and both decided to execute their terrorist actions when deployed in (or were on the way to) Afghanistan. They bit the hand that fed them, the minute it pointed towards "fellow muslims."

Both had also access to strategic information.

While Humam was allegedly a double agent, he was able to convince both the Jordanian intelligence and the CIA of his good deeds, meanwhile, he was likely giving sensetive information to Taliban and in extension, Al Qaeda. Whereas Nidal was in charge of receiving soliders coming back from Afghanistan in psychiatric sessions where they reveiled their experiences and fears.

Both were also active on internet forums. Humam allegedly was a blogger, and maintained a blog under a fake name that was "anti-western" in its content. Whereas Nidal was contacting Yemeni religious personalities on internet forums. The CIA knew of these contacts.

Lessons learned: terrorism is not organizational, it is a mentality. To defeat Islamic terrorism, one has to eliminate anti-westernism in Islamic discourse, and not least, eliminate anti-islamic sentiments that leaves muslims with radical tendencies as "outsiders" in secular societies.

It is no doubt that this is a long term process, which initiation has never really got off the ground. Meanwhile, western powers find themselves more and more in need of people of muslim background to help them in the fight against terrorism.

The trust circle is scratched, but not totally broken.

Jordanian - Al Qaeda double agent behind CIA attack in Afghanistan

2010-01-05T08:17:00.012-01:00

A confirmation to Jordan's cooperation with the CIA in the war on terrorism is finally made available by an unfortunate twist of events, not by official announcement. Jordan was actually doing intelligence work, not merely operating a humanitarian hospital in the Afghanistani region of Mazar e Sharif as the Jordanian official story claimed, year after year.

This provides yet another proof to the results of my research (read here):

Jordanian military forces in Afghanistan
NATO (un)classified doc proves jordan has troops in afghanistan
Jordan becomes a full NATO partner
Jordanian captain killed in Afghanistan

Jordan to this day does not discuss its participation in afghanistan openly, briefly mentioning the recent attack where a Jordanian captain (a relative of the king) died in a meeting with CIA agents and Canadian operatives (who were killed too).

Now the fact that this news comes a few days after the burials were done means one thing: This is the story the CIA and Jordan want to stick with. As one learns from monitoring this line of work, there are lies, double stabbings, fake press releases, and not least, fake bomb attacks.

I am not saying that the Washington Posts report, NY Times or the BBC or Swedish SVD are based on falsifications, what I am saying is that these media are sticking to the official story, whether true or not, and without regards to what purpose this story serves.

The story claims that it was Al Qaeda, not the CIA, that announced the name of the attacker, who was apparently, driven into the Khust CIA headquarters by its agents as a trusted collegue. According to the New York Times:

"In a telephone interview, a person associated with the Pakistani Taliban identified the bomber as Humam Khalil Mohammed, a Jordanian physician. Western officials said that Mr. Mohammed had been in a Jordanian prison and that he was recruited by the Jordanian spy service.

The bomber was not closely searched because of his perceived value as someone who could lead American forces to senior Qaeda leaders, and because the Jordanian intelligence officer had identified him as a potentially valuable informant, the Western officials said."

This means that this man had access, and he must have provided critical information to Al Qaeda. This may require a change of tactics and strategies in counter-terrorism, intelligence efforts in Afghanistan.

However, the above mentioned reports do not provide any answers as to what was King Abdullah's relative, Captain Ali ben Zaid, doing at the meeting. Was he charged with leading the Jordanian intelligence team there, and by that his death serves as a blow to the Jordanian efforts in Afghanistan? Was he responsible for facilitating the meeting with the attacker so smoothly, that the attacker was able to smuggle in explosives too? Such are the questions that Jordanians are asking, and I know of their questions because this is what they look after in Google when they reach this blog.

Too many questions - one thing certian, in matters of life and death, answers may yet arise to questions we have never asked before.

Jordanian captain killed in Afghanistan

2009-12-31T15:53:00.006-01:00

The jordanian military headquarters announced yesterday the death of Captain Ali ben Zaid in Afghanistan, a relative to the king abdullah, bearing the title of "noble - al shareef".

I got this news item sent to me as a comment on a previous blog post on the topic of Jordans cooperation with ISAF in Afghanistan. This is yet another proof that Jordans participation there is not merely logistic. The comment refers to Petra, Jordans official news agency, and refers to the incident as "martyrdom."

What saddens me to this day is that there is absolutely no debate regarding the legitmacy of this war internationally or jordan's participation in it. Added to that an overwhelming tone of unfriendliness towards government institutions in the public sphere in Jordan and no signs of sympathy to the deceased.

Text as recieved (google translate to english, swedish or other languages using the translation support button you can find on the left column of this blog)

استشهاد النقيب الشريف علي بن زيد في افغانستان

عمان - بترا - صرح مصدر مسؤول في القيادة العامة للقوات المسلحة بمايلي:- استشهد مساء اليوم النقيب الشريف علي بن زيد اثناء مشاركته في اداء الواجب الانساني الذي تقوم به القوات المسلحة الاردنية في افغانستان ليلتحق الشهيد بكوكبة الشهداء الاردنيين الذين قضوا نحبهم في ميادين الشرف والرجولة واعلاء سمعة الاردن والمساهمة في حفظ السلام ومساعدة المدنيين المتضررين في مناطق الازمات في مختلف دول العالم مسطرين ابهى صور التفاني والتضحية في القيام بالواجب خدمة للوطن وللانسانية جمعاء.

- Update: CIA confirms afghanistan attack, calls it worst on its personnel since 1983...Click here for more information.

Reflecting on YLVP and beyond

2009-11-16T16:53:00.001-01:00

Reflecting on the Young Leaders Visitors Program 2009.

heavy metal in Jordan in the 1990s: "we were rebels"

2009-10-08T17:22:00.002-01:00

“Wherever we came out we were branded Satanists,” writes Rami Abdel Rahman in this personal account of his experiences as a young metal head in the 1990s heavy metal scene of Jordan.

Read the whole history on FREEMUSE.ORG

Finding strength when living in limbo...

2009-10-05T12:03:00.010-01:00

...limbo is not a place, it is the state of mind. The place, though, is Lidingö, the island where I choose to live temporarily under this limbo period. It is just east of Stockholm city central, and is linked to it by two bridges, one for trams, cyclists and pedestrians and one for cars and buses, as seen below.

Live up on that hill, just right at the eastern side of the bridge.

The situation is as this. Me and the "ex wife" have been physically, legally, and emotionally separated for a few months now, and I needed an escape, a change of location, so I moved to an apartment in this fancy, healthy island.

Now, I live with "Donna Magadi Guru" - a friend that inspires me everyday to come up with something fun to do. She's half Polish, half Hungarian, born and raised in Gothenburg on the west coast of Sweden, and has lived in Central America, Poland and other places around the world - a la globe trotter. At home, we speak Arabic, English, Swedish, Polish, Hungarian and bits and pieces of Spanish, Italian, French and German. We listen to music from Brazil to Japan, and play on Instruments from Africa, India, South US, Scandinavia and the Middle East.

Me and Magdi on one of those nightouts with friends.

Our average day consists of breakfast with espresso, experimental dinner with friends over wine, a walk through autumns colors, a bit of yoga, some musical jamming on exotic drums and an acoustic guitar, and deep discussions as this one - recorded exclusively for the readers of this blog :)

Sound file: Rami and Donna Magadi Guru go ballisitic on drums on one of those night-ins

Meanwhile, my life is undergoing a recycle. I am no longer with the same woman that I loved. I thought it would end amicably, but I was wrong, it was a break up of the worst kind - and I will restrict to saying that I have only myself to blame. The next picture, probably symbolizes best where I stand, on a wall, between two edges, getting recycled. If I fall on one edge I'd be crushed by speeding motors, and if I fell on the other I'd be crushed by huge machines, so I have to maintain a good balance and a great zen, walking right on the edge - figuratively speaking.

On our doorstep, there is a note on the outside that reads: "No advertisements please... We love Spotify, spicy food and....," and a reminder on the inside that reads: "money - transport card - keys - cigarettes - mobile phone and LOVE." You've got to take the love that we have in and spread it out into the world.

The reminder on the front door's inside

This is probably one of the lessons I've learned recently, through the tough part of breaking up, that one could work all his life for a dream, literally, and lose it all in a split second because of a moment when we let our selfishness and hate take over our kindness and love. It is a lesson that hopefully will not hurt me forever, but it would be a scar that I have to wear inside for the rest of my life. Wisdom sometimes comes the hard way, and that way it comes to stay. Part of the personal development - I keep telling myself, as I live in this state of limbo, where I do not know how my future will look like.

Speaking of doors. Just when I worked all my life to open one door, it closed wide shut right at the last step. So I looked around, and I looked back, and I saw lots of hard work, all documented all the way, and through it I saw a new light, a new hope and another door opened, a little longer, with a few new bumps. It is by no way a short cut, and it is clouded with uncertainty. But I am closer to that door than any other, and most importantly, I am independent and the door keeper waved at me to walk that way - the independent way.

Unfortunately, in the process, and under this state of limbo - I cannot travel to see my family, and I had to miss my beautiful sister's wedding. But I will make it up for her, and good that my family understands my situation.

Rania Abdelrahman, my sister, tied the knot last friday.

However, now I walk alone - with lots of love from friends and family, but I walk alone. I am learning forgiveness, and just when we learn to forgive, we find the light of our lives. This period will prove to be the most beautiful, yet the hardest, and through love and hurt, hardships and ease, music and silence, we live life to the maximum extent, and gain character and wisdom. Who knows, maybe I will become a wizard one day. :)

I find faith in going solo.

Celebrating the end of the 00s - good riddance

2009-09-02T08:21:00.008-01:00

In four months, we will be celebrating the end of the 00s, a decade that would probably be more remembered for terrorism, social media, natural disasters, viruses, and the globalization of war (as opposed to world war I, II). In 1999, media around the world used the usual scare tactics of predicting a global shut down, the Y2K - We were expecting all electronic date registers to break back to the 1900s instead of moving on to 2000s. Both 00s nonetheless.

There was no nuclear armageddon, and machines did not burst out of order - quite the opposite, during the past ten years we've seen huge technological advancements. Social media, for example, reinvented and revolutionized media and public dissemination of information from the traditional Top-Down communication systems to people communicating on a flat level with other people, regardless of whether they are on top of things, or if they were laying low.

September 11, 2001 was the day that should not have been. The terror attacks on the globe's two largest financial icons - the twin towers of New York - paved way for the largest war in human history - a war fought globally against unseen enemies - and regressed the situation of human rights and human integrity globally. The west and the east, north and south were affected - we are now all under surveillance, everyone is a suspect of a crimes that did not happen yet.

2003 to date, the global war on terrorism takes another front - Iraq - sandwiching Iran between US-led NATO forces in Afghanistan and US-led Coalition watching over the oil interests in Iraq. At a later stage, oil prices hike to unprecedented levels, paving way for two important developments : the worst financial crisis / credit crunch to date and a shift in political rhetoric towards a much commercially-hyped switch to greener energy sources.

Katarina, the Tsunami, China's earthquake, to name but a few natural disasters took place around the mid to late 00s. Terror attacks spread out from Madrid, to London, Amman to Istanbul. Meanwhile, the shaikhs of the Gulf region made more money than they can ever spend, as well as the weapons industry - it sold more weapons during the 00s than in any other decade.

Then there was Google, the new all seeing, all knowing God - totally synchronized with our Facebook profiles. Human communication became more and more abbreviated: RnB, BrB, Y2K, LOL, Nasdaq, .gov, .net, .com, www, etc etc

On a cautiously positive note, the US hegemony placed an African-American as a president - just when the EU member nations and parliament is over-taken by formerly extreme right-wing parties, from Danmark to Holland and more recently Belgium andHungary. Meanwhile the Middle East sketched out its plans to go all nuclear, while Israel bombed Beirut, and almost wiped out Gaza.

A surge in ultra-orthodox islam shaped the Arab world's anti-globalization, anti-"westernization" opposition, ironically enough, being the only beneficiary of any democratic development. Democracy has been dying all over the 00s, all over the world, as anti-democratic parties come out winners of democratic elections.

Now, towards the end of the 00s, the whole western world will be taking the same flu shots, and this may spread to some priviliged nations too. The rest of the world will continue to suffer the lack of clean water or sanitation... and the picture looks grim, if we are to consider the effects of climate change on human development.

2010s (looks pretty symmetric) should be all about enforcing equality between men and women, promoting forgiveness as the basis for conflict resolution, and climate, climate, climate... But I have a good feeling that is not going to happen.

Translation: Controversial article about Israeli army stealing body organs from Palestinians

2009-08-25T06:57:00.004-01:00

I got this translation directly from the author of the article, Donald Boström. The article caused a diplomatic stir between Israel and Sweden, as the Israeli government demanded an offical condemnation from the Sweden, which responded that it has nothing to do with the article and that the newspaper that published it is the only body that is responsible for the content. (Reminded me of the Cartoon crisis, when governments in the Muslim world demanded appologies and condemnations from the Danish government, which in return defended the freedom of press in Danmark.

"You could call me a ”matchmaker”, said Levy Izhak Rosenbaum, from Brooklyn, USA, in a secret recording with an FBI-agent whom he believed to be a client. Ten days later, at the end of July this year, Rosenbaum was arrested and a vast, Sopranos-like, imbroglio of money-laundering and illegal organ-trade was revealed. Rosenbaum’s matchmaking had nothing to do with romance. It was all about buying and selling kidneys from Israel on the black market. Rosenbaum says that he buys the kidneys for 10 000 dollars, from poor people. He then proceeds to sell the organs to desperate patients in the States for 160 000 dollars. The accusations have shaken the American transplantation business. If they are true it means that organ trafficking is documented for the first time in the US, experts tell the New Jersey Real-Time News.

On the question of how many organs he has sold Rosenbaum replies: ”Quite a lot. And I have never failed,” he boasts. The business has been running for quite some time. Francis Delmonici, professor of transplant surgery at Harvard and member of the National Kidney Foundation’s Board of Directors, tells the same newspaper that organ-trafficking, similar to the one reported from Israel, is carried out in other places of the world as well. 5 – 6 000 operations a year, about ten per cent of the world’s kidney transplants are carried out illegally, according to Delmonici.

Countries suspected of these activities are Pakistan, the Philippines and China, where the organs are allegedly taken from executed prisoners. But Palestinians also harbor strong suspicions against Israel for seizing young men and having them serve as the country’s organ reserve – a very serious accusation, with enough question marks to motivate the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to start an investigation about possible war crimes.

Israel has repeatedly been under fire for its unethical ways of dealing with organs and transplants. France was among the countries that ceased organ collaboration with Israel in the nineties. Jerusalem Post wrote that ”the rest of the European countries are expected to follow France’s example shortly.”

Half of the kidneys transplanted to Israelis since the beginning of the 2000s have been bought illegally from Turkey, Eastern Europe or Latin America. Israeli health authorities have full knowledge of this business but do nothing to stop it. At a conference in 2003 it was shown that Israel is the only western country with a medical profession that doesn’t condemn the illegal organ trade. The country takes no legal measures against doctors participating in the illegal business – on the contrary, chief medical officers of Israel’s big hospitals are involved in most of the illegal transplants, according to Dagens Nyheter (December 5, -03).

In the summer of 1992, Ehud Olmert, then minister of health, tried to address the issue of organ shortage by launching a big campaign aimed at having the Israeli public register for postmortal organ donation. Half a million pamphlets were spread in local newspapers. Ehud Olmert himself was the first person to sign up. A couple of weeks later the Jerusalem Post reported that the campaign was a success. No fewer than 35 000 people had signed up. Prior to the campaign it would have been 500 in a normal month. In the same article, however, Judy Siegel, the reporter, wrote that the gap between supply and demand was still large. 500 people were in line for kidney transplant, but only 124 transplants could be performed. Of 45 people in need of a new liver only three could be operated on in Israel.

While the campaign was running, young Palestinian men started to disappear from villages in the West Bank and Gaza. After five days Israeli soldiers would bring them back dead, with their bodies ripped open.

Talk of the bodies terrified the population of the occupied territories. There were rumors of a dramatic increase of young men disappearing, with ensuing nightly funerals of autopsied bodies.

I was in the area at the time, working on a book. On several occasions I was approached by UN staff concerned about the developments. The persons contacting me said that organ theft definitely occurred but that they were prevented from doing anything about it. On an assignment from a broadcasting network I then travelled around interviewing a great number of Palestininan families in the West Bank and Gaza – meeting parents who told of how their sons had been deprived of organs before being killed. One example that I encountered on this eerie trip was the young stone-thrower Bilal Achmed Ghanan.

It was close to midnight when the motor roar from an Israeli military column sounded from the outskirts of Imatin, a small village in the northern parts of the West Bank. The two thousand inhabitants were awake. They were still, waiting, like silent shadows in the dark, some lying upon roofs, others hiding behind curtains, walls, or trees that provided protection during the curfew but still offered a full view toward what would become the grave for the first martyr of the village. The military had interrupted the electricity and the area was now a closed-off military zone – not even a cat could move outdoors without risking its life. The overpowering silence of the dark night was only interrupted by quiet sobbing. I don’t remember if our shivering was due to the cold or to the tension. Five days earlier, on May 13, 1992, an Israeli special force had used the village’s carpentry workshop for an ambush. The person they were assigned to put out of action was Bilal Achmed Ghanan, one of the stone-throwing Palestinian youngsters who made life difficult for the Israeli soldiers.

As one of the leading stone-throwers Bilal Ghanan had been wanted by the military for a couple of years. Together with other stone-throwing boys he hid in the Nablus mountains, with no roof over his head. Getting caught meant torture and death for these boys – they had to stay in the mountains at all costs.

On May 13 Bilal made an exception, when for some reason, he walked unprotected by the carpentry workshop. Not even Talal, his older brother, knows why he took this risk. Maybe the boys were out of food and needed to restock.

Everything went according to plan for the Israeli special force. The soldiers stubbed their cigarettes, put away their cans of Coca-Cola, and calmly aimed through the broken window. When Bilal was close enough they needed only to pull the triggers. The first shot hit him in the chest. According to villagers who witnessed the incident he was subsequently shot with one bullet in each leg. Two soldiers then ran down from the carpentry workshop and shot Bilal once in the stomach. Finally, they grabbed him by his feet and dragged him up the twenty stone steps of the workshop stair. Villagers say that people from both the UN and the Red Crescent were close by, heard the discharge and came to look for wounded people in need of care. Some arguing took place as to who should take care of the victim. Discussions ended with Israeli soldiers loading the badly wounded Bilal in a jeep and driving him to the outskirts of the village, where a military helicopter waited. The boy was flown to a destination unknown to his family. Five days later he came back, dead and wrapped in green hospital fabric.

A villager recognized Captain Yahya, the leader of the military column who had transported Bilal from the postmortem center Abu Kabir, outside of Tel Aviv, to the place for his final rest. ”Captain Yahya is the worst of them all,” the villager whispered in my ear. After Yahya had unloaded the body and changed the green fabric for a light cotton one, some male relatives of the victim were chosen by the soldiers to do the job of digging and mixing cement.

Together with the sharp noises from the shovels we could hear laughter from the soldiers who, as they waited to go home, exchanged some jokes. As Bilal was put in the grave his chest was uncovered. Suddenly it became clear to the few people present just what kind of abuse the boy had been exposed to. Bilal was not by far the first young Palestinian to be buried with a slit from his abdomen up to his chin.

The families in the West Bank and in Gaza felt that they knew exactly what had happened: ”Our sons are used as involuntary organ donors,” relatives of Khaled from Nablus told me, as did the mother of Raed from Jenin and the uncles of Machmod and Nafes from Gaza, who had all disappeared for a number of days only to return at night, dead and autopsied. Why are they keeping the bodies for up to five days before they let us bury them? What happened to the bodies during that time? Why are they performing autopsy, against our will, when the cause of death is obvious? Why are the bodies returned at night? Why is it done with a military escort? Why is the area closed off during the funeral? Why is the electricity interrupted? Nafe’s uncle was upset and he had a lot of questions.

The relatives of the dead Palestinians no longer harbored any doubts as to the reasons for the killings, but the spokesperson for the Israeli army claimed that the allegations of organ theft were lies. All the Palestinian victims go through autopsy on a routine basis, he said. Bilal Achmed Ghanem was one of 133 Palestinians killed in various ways that year. According to the Palestinian statistics the causes of death were: shot in the street, explosion, tear gas, deliberately run over, hanged in prison, shot in school, killed at home etcetera. The 133 people killed were between four months to 88 years old. Only half of them, 69 victims, went through postmortem examination. The routine autopsy of killed Palestinians – of which the army spokesperson was talking – has no bearing on the reality in the occupied territories. The questions remain.

We know that Israel has a great need for organs, that there is a vast and illegal trade of organs which has been running for many years now, that the authorities are aware of it and that doctors in managing positions at the big hospitals participate, as well as civil servants at various levels. We also know that young Palestinian men disappeared, that they were brought back after five days, at night, under tremendous secrecy, stitched back together after having been cut from abdomen to chin.

It’s time to bring clarity to this macabre business, to shed light on what is going on and what has taken place in the territories occupied by Israel since the Intifada began."

Launching my website

2009-08-24T09:45:00.004-01:00

It has been up for a while, undergoing fine tuning, but I thought I'd tip my blog readers about it. On this website you can find news articles that I have been writing, link to blog post, twitter feed, my CV and some more information. It will be updated regularly with new articles and media productions.

Your feedback is appreciated.

Social media in the water sector?

2009-08-21T12:44:00.002-01:00

Watch me complain at the World Water Week.

Reflecting: YLVP 2009 - Stage one: Sweden

2009-05-25T12:54:00.017-01:00

Three weeks.
33 young Arab and Swedish opinion leaders.
Different locations around Stockholm.
Reality TV style.
Goal: Change the world.
Tool: Social Media.

The whole group (except for mark, who suspiciously disappeared).
Photo taken by Jonny von Wallström.

It all started with a presentation about Sweden's image in the Middle East and North Africa (read about it here). Apparently, Sweden is losing business in the MENA region against competition, typically in the form of big nations with long history of trade with the MENA region.

Not only that, there are still many cultural stereotypes about Swedes: they have lots of sex then they jump off a bridge and suicide because they aren't challenged with any problems. Kind of like saying all Arabs are terrorists who drink oil and eat sand, live in tents and under camels.

Yep, ladies and gents, we still know squat about each other.

Participants Olof Jönsson, Alexandra Sandels (Sweden) and Yousef Al Ghalban (Gaza) after a sauna session, drinking beer on the balcony, and going over a myriad of photographs of recent Israeli massacres in Gaza.

To this extent, the Swedish institute arranged for an opinion building program, entitled "Young Leaders Visitors Program" targetting opinion builders in the MENA and Sweden, to work on their skills within social media, intercultural group work, leadership... etc. The course started in a very relaxed spa hotel in Grisslehamn, about an hours' drive north of Stockholm, right on the Baltic sea.

The idea was simple: work our brains out trying to find creative solutions in very stressful schedules. It turned out we were not creative enough: we were tasked with finding impossible things that could happen, we mentioned living underwater, living on mars, world peace, etc, and it turns out that 80% of our choices were predicted by our creativity lecturer.

To think outside the box is not an easy thing - we are all indoctrinated to think within a larger box, perhaps, through education, history, values, etc. Making the impossible become possible requires a lot of digging deep within on the constraints in our own conscious. I gathered my own need to break free, inside out.

Lots of salmon is always guaranteed at dinner time.

We were tasked to find a rope outdoors while blind folded, and shape a square out of it. We did, Arab democracy style - screaming and shouting at one another - a microcosm of blinded Arab liberals who lose their temper whenever cornered with a new challenge - I am politically incorrect, and I consciously choose to be so. However, we made a perfect square, thanks to a couple of people who took initiative silently and thought effectively.

Then there was the whole deal with social media, piracy (coincidentally, the Swedish pirate party was voted into the European Parliament while we took part in the program), and if I may, virtual intelligence.

Here are my notes from Mark's lecture:

Social media is like language - you can't learn it unless you use it with people who use that language.
Taking what is published on one medium to another doesn't work, you have to develop material that suits each medium.
Newspapers are no longer the voice of the people, people have gotten their own voice.
Journalism education should stop looking into how things were done, and try to see more into how things should be done. Educators should be working in the industry.
Changes will look like they are illogical and messy, maybe even chaotic, because they introduced untested ideas and a package of conflict until everything is fine tuned.
Digitalization is as revolutionary as industrialization. The real shift is in the way we think and relate, not really in the technical aspects. (the disrputive aspects of new media).
The future is already here but it is unequally distributed, due to the different speeds of broadband and internet penetration percentages around the world.
Quality of media is not affected by platform: a theater review on a news paper is no less or more quality than on its website... however the internet gives more possibilities for intercommunicaition... but does that makes it a better quality?
"Digital changes everything" it is not about the tools - Digital media will fuck you up, it is disruptive media that will cause you soon worry.
Influence modules... Generation y tends to rely on their network of friends and their recommendations not traditional ads or propaganda... because they are immersed in media, both online and offline, we are marketed to left and right .. but we rely to our friends....
People used to trust companies more than governments but even that is changing...
Website : go to a place where people are is better than where they are not!
You do not trust an organization - you trust the people of the organization...

Then again, you can find more on my related twitter feed (filed under #YLVP). More details about people's trust in media, government, corporations can be found in this study (thanks mark!)

The ladies are listening, attentively.

There was also the group work, and psychologically analyzing one's attitudes and attributes as an individual and participant of a group. Åsa Silfverberg and Roger Sjögren at Hyper Island were in charge of the pedagogy of this program. We learned through different lectures, seminars, reflections and hands on group work training that we are all in need to build trust amongst ourselves in order to achieve anything (think Israel-Palestinian peace negotiations, they never really left off the ground, or did they?).

Dependency and Inclusion, counter dependency and fight, trust and structure, performance and productivity and termination: the stages of successful group work as presented by Åsa.

Åsa and Roger and their white boards and beautiful smiles.

For my part, I was just as interested in the learning methodolgy as with the content or the networking possibilities. Thanks to the open facilitation method of our "mentors" we've learned, even as Arabs who usually agree to disagree, to reach consensus to reach consensus (Swedish style) through talking things out, dropping our guards, and just letting go and reflecting on each stage of group work at a time. I think I will use some of these methods in any future lectures about Social Media in MENA (which I usually give at various Swedish universities for international journalism students).

The beautiful Amahl, formerly owner of the blog EuroArabe, and one of the bravest persons I've had the honor to meet in my life.

Life went on after Grisslehamn. We met again at Hyper Island in Stockholm for a series of lectures on creativity, social media and leadership. One highlight of this work was the Strength Deployment Inventory (SDI) workshop by Jarl Silfverberg - where we placed ourselves in three different colored positions, each according to their characteristics - in result, it turns out I am the Assertive-Nuturing type. (Look at graph here).

Then there was the group projects: our groups came up with brilliant ideas - NGO-volutneer network, a networks for alternative arab artists, a human right abuses geographical alarm clock, a trusted funding umbrella for small ngos, etc, etc. Lots of linkages were created between Swedish organizations and different group, mine mainly with Subtopia and Freemuse (where I will soon be publishing an article about the Jordanian metal scene and censorship in the 1990s).

There's all that, and there's the lovely YLVPers.

Artists, journalists, bloggers, activists, social workers etc. This course would have meant noll without our inputs, our conflicts, our "coming outs," and our reflections (the extracurricular ones, usually after a few stiff drinks). There's the blood, there's the swet, there are the tears, the hugs, the fights and all that beer. I shall not report here about what you said or did, but I will say, you've changed me for ever and renewed hope within my heart that Arabs are on the right track towards a new renaissance where open minds will take us into a brighter future.

Good job, will miss you all, and see you in Paris next november for stage 2.

And to end on a thought stimulating note, I bring you heavy weight Egyptian blogger Wael Abbas (YLVP 2008) talking about European rhetoric on democracy in the Middle East (during the opening session of YLVP 2009). Beside him is the Swedish trade minister (center-right government).

A short film-presentation about me for YLVP09

2009-05-08T10:55:00.003-01:00

Special thanks go to Ryan Noble and Petra Hedbom for helping me with camera shots.

The middle east is getting armed to the teeth.

2009-04-27T09:40:00.008-01:00

Good news for the arms industry, apparently.

According to a new report published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, arms transfer rose by 38% in the Middle East between 2004-2008, compared to 1999-2003. The UAE rose to the fifth largest arms importer globally, while Iraq, and Israel are amongst the biggest importers of arms in the region during this period.

• During the period 2004–2008 the UAE was the largest recipient of major conventional weapons in the region and the third largest in the world. Imports in this period included around 80 F-16E combat aircraft from the USA and around 50 Mirage-2000-9 combat aircraft from France. The UAE placed a number of significant orders in 2008 and looks set to remain a significant importer in the coming years.

• During the period 2004–2008 Iraq was the world’s 28th largest recipient of major conventional weapons, with 40 per cent of its imports coming from the USA. In 2008 Iraq ordered 140 M1A1 tanks from the USA and announced plans to obtain advanced combat aircraft and additional armoured vehicles.

• Israel’s arms imports in 2004–2008 consisted primarily of 102 F-16I combat aircraft and related air-to-air and air-to-surface weapons. The vast majority of weapon systems ordered by or transferred to Israel during this period came from the USA. Israel also imported components for its weapon systems from a variety of countries, including EU members.

According to SIPRI, the Middle East's share of total global transfers of major conventional weapons currently stands at 18%, rising from 15% during the previous study period. The UAE's share stood at 34%, Israel's at 22% and Egypt at 14%. The institutes explains that despite all speculations about Iran's arms import plans, "it accounted only for 5% of total imports in the region," making it the 27th largest importer globally.

The report does not reflect on another development in the Middle East: Nations are starting to develop their own weapons themselves, well, apart from Israel which is already amongs the top 10 producers, globally.

Jordan's King Abdullah II Design and Development Bureau for example, recently finished developing a Russian anti-tank grenade launcher , and relaunched it under the name Hashim RPG-32. According to CNN Arabic, the new launcher is considered a national security threat due to its ability to destroy any type of tanks. RPG's were used by Hezbollah during the 2006 one month war with Israel, and caused serious damage to Israeli tanks. (Original post by Yugi). It is unclear whether the weapon will be produced for exports or for local use. It is worthwhile to note that Jordan recently finalised a partnership deal with the NATO, as I blogged here.

At the end SIPRI warned that such developments are very dangerous given the conflict potential in the region, and especially at a time when the need for collective solutions is extremely important.

Facts and figures on Jordan's participation in ISAF/NATO in Afghanistan

2009-04-13T20:01:00.008-01:00

Further research into the nature of Jordan's participation with the ISAF/NATO in Afghanistan revealed that Jordan helped military forces operating in Afghanistan and Iraq by providing medical support, a mine clearing team, police and military training and equipment and logistical support.

According to the US Department of Defense website:

"We have two hospitals, one in Iraq and one in Afghanistan," Royal Jordanian Air Force Col. Nart Alkhas said. A 50-bed Jordanian military hospital located in Masar-e Sharif, Afghanistan, cares for more than 650 patients a day, providing critical health care for thousands of Afghans who suffered neglect at the hands of the Taliban regime. More than 500,000 patients have been treated at the Jordanian military hospital in Afghanistan. Many of the patients are women, who were forced into a subservient role and feared to leave their homes until coalition forces entered Afghanistan in 2001.

In Iraq, a second Jordanian military hospital provides much-needed health services to Iraqis and serves as an ad hoc trauma center, treating patients wounded in terrorist attacks and moving them to Jordan or other locations "if they are in bad condition," Alkhas said. More than 4 million people have been treated in Jordan's military hospital in Iraq, and Jordanian military general surgeons have performed 1,638 surgeries, Alkhas said.
Jordan has committed nearly 600 health care practitioners to the medical assistance missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. They consist of medical personnel and Jordanian special forces, who protect the hospital staff, Alkhas said.
Jordanians have donated 250 armored personnel carriers to the Iraqi Ministry of Defense. The vehicles consisted of 50 Ukrainian-built BTR-94 armored personnel carriers, 100 British Spartans, and 100 American-made M113A1 armored personnel carriers, coalition officials said. Jordan also donated two C-130B Hercules transport aircraft to the Iraqi air force, as well as 16 UH-1H utility helicopters.

According to the US Department of Defense, the US military provides round the clock logistical support to the Jordanian operation in Afghanistan so Jordanians can focus on providing medical support.

However, there are also confirmed reports that Jordan did in fact help logistically in "Operation enduring freedom," by allowing US forces to use its bases and facilities. This document from the Library of Congress provides a detailed background to this participation.

In 2002, for example, Jordan was negotiating an agreement with the US " to allow US forces use this Jordan to defend Israel from Iraqi missiles." In 1996, more than 1200 US Military personnel established a camp in Azraq in the east of Jordan. Among a dozen other Arab ports, the Aqaba port in south Jordan was used by the US Navy to support operations in the Middle East, by coordinating fuel-related activities.

Among seven other Arab nations, Jordan participates in partnership dialogues with the NATO, it recently finalised a 2 year partnership agreement.

As to why the US supports Jordan as an ally, apart from its geographical proximity and its "expertise" factor, this document from the Library of Congress shows that the US considers the "stability of the regime and succession in Jordan" as a US interest.

The original “East Bank” Jordanians, through probably no longer a majority in Jordan, remain predominant in the country’s political and military establishments and form the bedrock of support for the Jordanian monarchy. Palestinians, who comprise an estimated 55% to 70% of the population, in many cases tend to regard their stay in Jordan as temporary, and some are at most lukewarm in their support for the Jordanian regime.

No official details were to be found yet of any other military cooperation between the US and Jordan. But it is no secret that the intelligence cooperation between Jordan and its allies is ripe.

Until more updated information surfaces, I am done with this research, which I did out of personal interest after finding a leaked NATO document mentioning that Jordan wanted to keep its participation at the ISAF as a "secret." Apparently, it was all over the internet before it got to me.

I am being asked why am I publishing this information, when discussing security matters in Jordan is considered a "taboo" and can get one in trouble. What I am doing is no more than copying and pasting information from official and responsible sources, out of my interest as an independent journalist in fostering a culture of transparency and accountability.

No honor in killing!

2009-04-08T18:36:00.011-01:00

Jordanian bloggers have been recharging against the so called honor killings . Every year, an average of twenty women are killed on suspicion of "adultery" in mostly-conservative Jordan. The murderers are their husbands or relatives who do so to reclaim the "family honor." More often than not, the victims turn out to be sexually inactive at the time of the murder. Many mistake this for being part of Islamic practice. The punishment for "adultery" in Sharia law is by whipping convicts, not killing them, provided that four witnesses caught them "red handed."

Real stories & reflections in my round up on Global Voices Online.

Jordan becomes a full NATO partner

2009-04-04T18:57:00.020-01:00

Former NATO Secretary General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer in Amman, Jordan 2005. Full speech. NATO appointed Danish PM Anders Fogh Rasmussen as the new Secretary General. He was at the center of defending Denmark during the so-called "Muhammad Cartoon Crisis."

Jordan finalized its Individual Cooperation Program (ICP) with the NATO, becoming a full partner with the north Atlantic alliance. The announcement came on April 1, 2009, at the NATO Annual Summit meeting in Strasbourg, France.

This ICP will contribute to the promotion of political and military ties between the Euro-Atlantic and the Mediterranean regions. Through enhanced security cooperation between NATO and its MD partner Jordan, it will reinforce Mediterranean regional security and stability.

It also helps framing NATO-Jordan political and military cooperation in a more strategic and prospective way. Jordan's decision to finalize the Individual Cooperation Program with NATO represents a significant step forward in its cooperation with the Atlantic Alliance.

This bilateral accord provides that Jordan and NATO cooperate on a wide range of categories such as "political and security issues; defense, security and military issues; public information; science and environment; civil emergency planning; and administrative, protective security and resource issues." Egypt was the first Arab nation to finalize its partnership agreement, Jordan is second.

Jordan started its dialouge with NATO back in the late King Hussains time, in 1995, one year after signing the Peace Treaty with Israel. The cooperation stepped up its pace when King Abdullah II, Chief of the Jordanian Armed Forces, was enthroned 10 years ago.

Following up on my recent blog posts and the buzz it created about Jordan's "not-so-secret" involvement with the NATO-ISAF operations in Afghanistan, I had an exchange with one of my ex-editors at The Jordan Times. He pointed me to the fact that Jordan announced it would send troops to Afghanistan in 2001 for "peace-keeping". The editor added that Jordanian journalists were flewn to Mazar-i-Sherif in Afghanistan to see in their own eyes a Jordanian military clinic in the war zone.

However, contrary to other "peace keeping" missions that Jordan was/is involved with, i.e. Croatia, Bosnia Herzogvania, Sierra Leone and East Timor, Afghanistan is still in a state of conventional war. Jordan's participation in the ISAF, as shown in a leaked NATO document, means it is not merely operating a "clinic". In 2007, the Herald Tribune reported that more than 90 Jordanian security personnel were deployed in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan, dubbed by the NATO as its largest and most important land operation outside Europe, is one frontline of the "global war on terrorism." Although both the UK and the US have refrained from using this term, the land operation is now expanding into Pakistan, while the intelligence action of the conflict continues to take shape on a global scale.

Jordan has participated significantly in the intellgentiance part and it paid a dear price, when Al Qaeda in Iraq killed more than 60 Jordanians in a 2005 bombing in Amman. Later on, Jordanian-US intelligence cooperation led to terminating almost all Al Qaeda operatives in Iraq.

The agreement between Jordan and NATO is yet another reminder that it is time Jordanians are fully informed about the global role of their nation and its global alliances. It will be good for everybody's business and would create more trust between citizens and the government.

According to the Acting Director of the Stockholm Institute for Peace Research, global opposition to the operation in Afghanistan is minimal, compared to other operations such as Iraq. More information about media and the global war on terrorism here, and to put things in context, here's some background from my own exchanges with Professor Noam Chomsky.

I left more comments on 7iber, where a "retired officer" replied: "Rami is a drummer and a veteran politician, I don't get why he thinks he's better than anyone else". So, to the "officers" dissecting my blog, I will save you the benefit of doubt: I am an independent journalist, I don't work for anyone but myself. There you go, a lot easier than having to go through 4 years of blog posts (as seen here).

Why opposition to the war in Afghanistan is so minimal (compared to Iraq)?

2009-03-25T14:22:00.006-01:00

Today I met with the acting Director of SIPRI, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Mr. Daniel Nord, on the side lines of a conference on water as a catalyst for peace treaties or future conflicts.

I asked him a question that has been on my mind for a long time, and particularly in light of the new NATO document which reveled that my home country is taking part secretly in the ISAF forces in Afghanistan.

The question was, why is there no global opposition to the war in Afghanistan, the same way the war on Iraq triggered so many global demonstrations and movements? Why is it more or less taken "for granted"?

He said the conflict in Afghanistan is not a new one, it has been going on for more than 40 years, but under different flags. The US-NATO-ISAF reintroduced the conflict in the context of the "war on terrorism" following the 9-11 terrorist attacks. The war was justified in the sense that Afghanistan refused to cooperate in eliminating the bad guys.

He said the war was introduced as a notion of "good will," that the world wants to get rid of an enemy of civilization. As opposed to Iraq, where everyone deemed it is a war for fragmenting the region to get hold of its resources, Afghanistan was seen as a nation ruled by extremist war lords and not a functioning state.

I asked if the location of Afghanistan or its resources were of any strategic significance to what the NATO calls its "most important operation today"? He said if the NATO forces pull out of Afghanistan today, Russia, India, Pakistan and Iran are likely going to interfere in its stead, and that is something that world powers do not accept.

"There's a limit though," he said, "there are casualties among NATO troops and that is why people back home want their soldiers back and safe." So it is only a matter of timing.

He agreed that the "war on terrorism" was a pretext for a lot of things, i.e. cracking down on any form of political dissidence, reorganizing the global financial power balance, etc. But in the context of the recent global changes, i.e. financial crisis, US Presidential elections result, etc, we're beginning to hear about its end, at least in rhetoric.

Proof of Jordan's participation in the international military force in Afghanistan

2009-03-24T15:06:00.021-01:00

This is a snippet from the original document unclassified by the NATO, which you can find here, it names Jordan as one of the countries participating in the international force managed by NATO in Afghanistan (and that Jordan does not want to go public about it).

I am publishing this just to be on the safe legal side, and to maintain the credibility of this blog and my reputation as a journalist, after publishing two days ago a blog post about Jordan keeping its participation from the international force in Afghanistan a secret to its own citizens. The original blog post can be found here.

Interestingly, analyzing readership statistics and domain addresses for those who monitored the blog, I found some interesting readers:

US Army Information Systems Engineering Command, (Headquarters Usaisc), visited 3 times on 24th March 2009, at 13:50:24, 13:50:38 and 13:51:22.

Royal Jordanian Hashemite Court (Rhc) visited once on 24th March 2009, 15:37:29

Jordanian Intelligence Department (gid.gov.jo) visited 12times (So far) on 24th March 2009 between 17:42:27, and 18:37:32

....among many other unique visitors between yesterday and today. I find it perplexing that no one leaves an official comment to explain, why does Jordan want to keep this a secret, when Jordanians understand and accept its alliances (as I mentioned in the original post)?

This is high time for transparency.

Jordanian military forces in Afghanistan?!

2009-03-23T09:34:00.012-01:00

Writing for the Atlantic, journalist Marc Ambinder refers to a newly declassified NATO document that shows the extent of Jordan's role in the war on terror. The kind of cooperation that has been long considered a national "secret," by demand of the Jordanian government, but is well known to other partners involved.

What's more interesting is that it includes Jordan as being among the countries that are part of the international forces in Afghanistan, but it also includes the notice that Jordan doesn't want its name in the public domain, fearing the internal repercussions. (See pp.29)

Jordan has tried to keep the extent of its role in various US operations a secret -- not from the world, which knows, but from Jordanian citizens. Even though its bases have been used extensively for staging and support missions, its intelligence agency cooperates with the CIA, thousands of U.S. troops are sheltered in the country and it participates in our rendition program.

Even though authoritative sources have included Jordan as among the countries aiding the United States and NATO, the U.S. government still officially classifies Jordan's participation as a secret. The idea is that even though the name might be out there, it's never been formally confirmed by the US or an official source. Well, now the NATO document confirms it. In the new era of transparency, maybe our government can advise Jordan about how to handle the inevitability that its role will be disclosed.

In my humble opinion, I think the extent of this secrecy is exaggerated, despite that the extent of cooperation remains unknown. Jordanians have long known that the US outsourced some of its terrorist interrogation activities to Jordan, thanks to access to international media.

Jordanians have seen US troops going in and out of the country like it is a summer parade. They have witnessed on a first hand basis how sloppy Jordanian policemen in ragged uniforms were superficially upgraded with state of the art SUVs, fancy walkie talkies, international training and uniforms made of "science fiction" material. Speaking of films, Body of Lies paints a very close picture entwined in fictional plot on how cooperation between Jordanian intelligence and the CIA works ( or does it, really? ) This is all, bearing in mind that the US is paying the salaries in Jordan.

I blogged a couple of years ago about this sort of cooperation, with testimonials from an ex-CIA operative in Jordan about the so called "rendition program," where Jordan received terror suspects flown secretly in from different regions around the world for thorough, and often sadomasochist, interrogation.

More recently, Johnson Chalmers, writing for Global Research about the 737 US Military Bases abroad drew Jordan as one example nation where the US deployed forces effectively to monitor operations in neighboring nations, namely Syria and Iraq. However, he insists that it is virtually impossible to tell the details regarding the nature and size of such deployment.

In Jordan, to take but one example, we have secretly deployed up to five thousand troops in bases on the Iraqi and Syrian borders. (Jordan has also cooperated with the CIA in torturing prisoners we deliver to them for “interrogation.”) Nonetheless, Jordan continues to stress that it has no special arrangements with the United States, no bases, and no American military presence.

The country is formally sovereign but actually a satellite of the United States and has been so for at least the past ten years. Similarly, before our withdrawal from Saudi Arabia in 2003, we habitually denied that we maintained a fleet of enormous and easily observed B-52 bombers in Jeddah because that was what the Saudi government demanded. So long as military bureaucrats can continue to enforce a culture of secrecy to protect themselves, no one will know the true size of our baseworld, least of all the elected representatives of the American people.

Wouldn't the NATO and its Middle Eastern allies do better if they were more transparent to their citizens about deals that would eventually be exposed? Why is there such need to hide, providing much space for opposition to fabricate stories and conspiracy theories and sell it cheap to the masses? Why leave us all, global citizens, resort to arbitrary interpretation, just when the need for public support is paramount? Anyone? Why can't we all stick to Jordanian intelligence chief character Hani Salim's motto, " never lie to me " ?

UPDATE: here is the proof that Jordan has forces in Afghanistan, from the original document.

Archive: Lisa Goldman and I on TV 8 talking Middle East blogs

2009-03-02T08:36:00.003-01:00

This is a clip from the program Världen i Fokus (The world in focus) on Swedish TV8, back in February 2007. The reporter speaks Swedish, but you can hear Lisa Goldman and I speak in English about some of our experiences as bloggers in the Middle East, especially at the time of the Lebanon(Hezbollah)-Israel war in 2006. The interviews were done ahead of a lecture we had at Stockholm University's Journalism College.

I found this gem hidden in my gmail inbox and thought it was time I put it up!

The ultimate guide to understanding world music

2009-02-20T19:20:00.004-01:00

I am inspired. I feel like sharing my inspiration with those of you who landed here one way or another. Follow me through out this guide, and I promise, you will learn something new today. I can't say what it is, because this post is weaved in such way to allow you to inspire yourself into a new level of perception, or at least, leave this page with one meaningful quote or three.

Take a break, you deserve it. Better even, turn off the lights, forget your name and let go of your ego for a while. Turn on a candle, open your mind and read with your speakers on, but not too loud, you want to hear the music within.

Understanding music is not about reading notes, it is not about your ability or disability to play an instrument. You make music all the time, and you encounter it in every second of your life. Understanding music is about "hearing" it resonate in your body and your mind. Catchy tones are not necessarily TV or Radio hits, it can be the pounding of a hammer in a workshop you pass by, the humming of cars at a cross road, the ticking of traffic light for the "hearing impaired".

And who is best to teach us about listening, than those who have "hearing disabilities". Let me start off with a very intelligent and charming lecture by a deaf percussionist, Evelyn Glennie, who will tell you all about "sound colors," and show you a different view on how you can enjoy the sounds of your life. You don't have to listen to the whole thing, it can be a bit long, so feel free to move on to the next passage whenever you feel comfortable enough to do so.

Evelyn has taught me a new way of understanding percussion - size does not matter - it doesn't matter how big your drum set is - it is what you do with what you have. Start tapping on glasses and mugs, on tables and the floor, once the tunes fit the rhythm, you have understood the very concept of making music.

Moving on.

This thread is about world music, which is not merely songs by different tongues and music of exotic instruments, but it is putting it all together, mixing it to deliver worldly messages beyond politics, economics, the entertainment industry copyrights - it is when culture becomes nature, and nature becomes a culture.

Now, I invite you to think of this last phrase for a while, before you click play on the next clip. The clip is a trailer for the documentary Baraka - one of the most articulate world music productions in history, despite that it features no narration.

One day I was watching a live performance of a French troubadour group at the French Cultural Center in Amman, Jordan. There were about 80 people sitting softly on their chairs as we watched the trio play music from the country roads of France. Then one child started coughing and then complaining in a soft voice, but was enough a distraction to many, including myself as I started to move in my own seat - the person sitting next to me told me:

- "Don't mind the baby, think of it as part of the performance." That line opened my "ears" into a whole new way of perceiving music - it is not a monologue, it is a dialogue between the performance and the audience, happening in our own minds.

Think about this for a while, before you move to the next clip. The next video is from another great world music production, "1 giant step", produced by members of the band Faithless - they traveled across the world with their recording equipment, looking for obscure musicians and un-heard-of philosophers to share their worldly views with us.

The clip is from the last chapter of this production and is entitled "Happy," so after going through all the contrasts of life and death, masculine and feminine, us and them, me and you, love and need, black and white, etc, they concurred that the very objective of music is happiness, it is the international language that unites us all.

After reading this post, please turn off your computer (and report back to me later) and just start listening to your life, to yourself.

And when you come back, please give me some feedback for this little bit of shameless self promotion, please check out my two new projects... one is a solo world music production, which you can find by clicking here... and the other one is a soul band, where am joined by a Frenchman, an Irishman, a New yorker and a lovely singer from the Swedish north to play wonderful soul classics to music lovers all over Stockholm. We are The Stockholm Deportees.

The story of my chinese name

2009-02-19T21:43:00.012-01:00

(Shān lóng)

A stroll down memory lane reminded me of one glad moment, about 6 years ago, at the house of my long best buddy, half Taiwanese, half Jordanian, Khaled (I lee da). His mother and father decided that I have already earned the honor of having a Chinese (Mandarin) name of my own.

After debating, and analyzing my original name, they concurred that Shān lóng suits me best. It literally means "dragon mountain," and it apparently is a name of honor. This was followed by a ceremonial dinner to mark the occasion.

Not that I have ever had a Chinese heritage of any sorts, but I did spend more time at this Taiwanese family than at my own place... I learned how to play golf, the basics of Zen, Chinese writing and cuisine in Jordan...

Later on khaled and I spent an awful lot of time, under the influence of the green herb, meditating in the mountains and desert of the Southern part of Jordan. We had two wooden Kendo swords and we trained out in the wild the arts of the Samurai - which is Japanese, and which khaled learned from his Japanese girlfriend's family.

I cherish those memories a lot. That is why I keep the sword handy by the bed, and a Chinese ink and brush set at my desk.

I met Khaled and his family again on new years eve 2008. They had moved to Aqaba and established a fancy Chinese restaurant there called Formosa. Khaled arranged for a new years party at the "VIP" upper floor, just like he promise he would when we were kids at school. He became a chef after studying for it 3 years in Taipei.

One birthday of mine his present was in the form of two Chinese hotties stripping on my couch all under the influence of the magical pill. A real treat, I must say, and it has nothing to do with my Chinese name, but just a nice stroll down memory lane.

Till we meet again!

Sincerely,

Shan Long.

In loving memory of Denis Ocwich

2009-02-14T19:36:00.004-01:00

Denis was a colleague of mine while we studied for the Global Journalism degree at Örebro University. He came from Uganda. Denis lived a very modest student life and was 100% focused on his career, which translated well after his graduation, as he was appointed a teacher at Makarere University in Kampala, Uganda and later a part time professorship at Rhodes University in South Africa.

Denis died suddenly of a multi-organ failure last week.

He was a gentleman beyond explanation, he respected himself a lot and everyone around him, and lived with much integrity. I was happy to visit him once and cook together with a third acquaintance (whom he had a bit of a crush on). And we also shared room for two nights out in the countryside, and one night on a boat en route to Finland. Denis loved his colleagues unconditionally, and he shall be forever in our thoughts.

This is the news item about his death, written in the Sunday Monitor of Uganda:

Mak don dies in South Africa

Peter Nyanzi

Kampala

Mr Denis Ocwich, an award winning journalist and lecturer at Makerere University, has died in South Africa. He was 35.
Mr Ocwich, who was in the second year of his PhD programme in Journalism at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, died of an undisclosed cause on Sunday after one week of illness.

In an email sent to his guardian on Monday, Prof. Gavin Staude, the warden of the Gavin Relly Postgraduate Village where he resided, said authorities at the Settlers Hospital declined to disclose the cause of death saying it was “confidential” and could only be told to family members.

“I had seen him during the last week when he said he was not feeling very well. I took him to the Rhodes Sanatorium and when I saw him the next day, he said he was feeling better,” reads Prof. Staude’s email in part.

Update: We just recieved news that Denis' body was laid to rest in his home town. Thanks to all who contributed financially and emotionally to make this possible! May he rest in peace...

When love and hate collide....

2009-02-14T09:06:00.004-01:00

A candle burns for two empty retro chairs at a cafe between "home" and "work" to attract customers by the light and warmth of a burning fire on a cold Wednesday noon.

I kept saying to myself, I won't let it get to me this time. But on a Friday afternoon just before I closed the 27th-year-chapter of my life walking up the stair case to our apartment on the fifth floor because some idiot did not shut the door of the elevator so it won't go down to pick me up, I realized, it has gotten to me again.

I could see nothing but darkened clouds of thoughts replacing peoples auras in the street and all around me. I switched off, and turned on the TV, and saw so much shit , from slaughtered children to reports about a world system that privatizes profit and nationalizes loss. Armani suits keep walking like ice cubes. All in a 5 minute news bulletin.

A few rays of hope outside our window over an almost empty church on a rare sunny Sunday morning.

Sure, there's always light at the end of the tunnel, or in the far horizon, or the southern hemisphere, there's light somewhere and it is coming at the end of this vicious cycle of the ebb and flow of my mind swings. It is not too bad to get down with your feelings and thoughts, take a long pause to filter them, and be ready to ride on the high tide. At least I will comfort myself for now by doing so.

I know I am a perfectionist, an idealist, but so imperfect that only on the edge, I learn how to change, and I only change skins and hats then. But now I will consciously throw my cynicism like cards on a gambling table, I have nothing much to lose and maybe a little bit to gain., and it won't be a thicker layer of skin.

An unpeeled clementine spoiled on a church's graveyard.

I suppose I am not alone. I read concerned views of others all the time, and I can't help but think that we: writers, bloggers, journalists, Facebook status aficionados, and readers, have one thing in common: the headache associated with a general sense of frustration and fear of the unknown. We all bought the sense of apathy we sold to ourselves that we are incapable of changing ourselves or the world around our little shells and bubbles and impotent against the breeding of intolerant greed in the world. But even dead leaves become fertilizers for new life, everything becomes a holocaust for mother earth.

Slussen, a bridge network linking the old center of Stockholm with the bohemian district on which I am tired of sleeping to the sound of drunk disillusioned youngsters.

While in our concrete jungles we rush like robots from one tube to another, on one escalator to an elevator, eating plastic packed portions of microwavable food and giving our brains a TV break, and from time to time, a catchy commercial jingle will find its way to resonate on the walls of our intimate dream theaters as a suitable interval. It is time I stopped with the generalizations, and cut to the chase.

I do not like how I sound anymore.

I do not like how I live anymore.

I am mad as hell and won't take this anymore.

Flowers to Petra on her birthday (she took all the photos published on this post). I got a book for mine.

I do not want to smoke one more cigarette. I want to save up to buy a house. I quit ideology. I want to reset my values. I want to leave the cultured upper middle class and join the ranks of hard workers, even if I have to change directions. I am putting down my breaks. I will run every morning. I am going to record my own first album. I will no longer do any work for free, but will volunteer for the Red Cross to balance my new found, albeit a little late, capitalistic lust.

I may have done it all wrong, but this time I won't be starting from scratch again.

"There is no democracy"

2009-02-08T10:11:00.002-01:00

Just when I do not find answers in academia, the media, or popular discourse, I turn to literature. From the 1976 award-winning film production "Network," I found one dialogue that sums up the thrust of my thoughts on our world today

I invite you to listen to every word, and report back to me, if you will, on how does this apply to our world and the little lives that we lead.

Drummers make the best lovers - they can keep up their rhythm

2009-01-23T13:04:00.007-01:00

This is a collection of photos from last weekend's live session at the quarter finals of the Emergenza Festival. We played three songs for about 30 minutes, and were enough to secure us 104 votes that evening and a fair chance to the semi finals of this competition. You can watch us play two songs with an interval by clicking here. If you are in Stockholm and like ~~progressive~~ rock / metal, stay posted here!

Adjusting the drum set before performing... nice sound on that drums, thanks to Sabian cymbals, Mapex drums, and my own lovely Pearl double bass pedals.

The Purify lads, L-R, Micke, Me, Kristian, and Andreas (Sorry Julia you were not included in this photo)

Julia, me and a part of Micke.

I got so high ripping up that drumset on this high throne, watching a few hundred people jumping around to my beats... wonderful feeling, especially when the drums sounds so powerful.

Live @ Emergenza Festival, Klubben, Stockholm

2009-01-19T22:15:00.002-01:00

Little me on drums with Purify.

War 2.0: role of social media in Op. Cast Lead

2009-01-17T04:26:00.005-01:00

I have been collecting information regarding how Israel, Hamas, supporters to both sides of the conflict and others have used social networks and new media to spread their (dis)information, influence public opinion and policy makers, and to gather aid and help to the victims (activism) during the period covering "operation cast lead".

Apart from my notes, I have re-posted some articles, facts, figures and discussions on a separate blog. Now that a ceasefire has become a real possibility (hopefully as early as early next week). I am beginning to analyze the information in a chronological order, and then will analyze the content of different media, i.e. facebook, internations, ...etc...etc. My theory is that while social and new media offered their users more choice, traditional media and military PR machines were able to influence these choices through bookmarking, restrictions, target marketting, and various other methods.

Any tips, links, on online campaigns, media restrictions, PR war tactics, ..etc, used in this war will be greatly appreciated.

Gaza - The day the world stood still.

2009-01-02T17:41:00.012-01:00

Demonstrations in Stockholm earlier today. Photo by Iman.

Bare with me folk, I am not pessimistic, and my quest for peace is not rhetorical. It is time I wrote something, to all arabs and israelis and beg them: Will you please SHUT UP (if you have nothing constructive to say).

Everywhere on the net, the same old tit for tat discussions are bouncing back and forth between Arabs and Israelis:

You started it, no you started it.
We were here first, no we were here first.
Peace is giving us our rights, no, peace is giving us our rights.
Recognize us first, no, you recognize us first.
Killing your people is justified when you kill ours.
Killing your people is justified since we have been killed before.
Your children are taught how to hate.
Your children are taught how to hate.

At the end, even the so called peace activists end up echoing corrupt politicians, war lords, and quote the propaganda machines to get their point across. Peace equals winning, no compromise. Everyone ends up believing their own lies and fabrications, while people die on both sides of the wall, tunnel or electric fence.

THIS is a time to be self-critical in a proactive sense, to be completely dedicated for conflict prevention rather than take responsive measures by shouting louder and have nothing really to say. (The latter option proves to be impotent against the interests of the arms industry, which sold more weapons in the last decade than the whole of the last century).

I am tired of peace activists talking among themselves with sugar coated words of pure political correctness.

You will find me throwing flowers at guns flashing back at me, you'll find me having a beer with an Israeli soldier to persuade him to give up his weapon, and the next day I will talk to a Palestinian mujahid to take him out of his suicide belt. You will find me pushing politicians in the corners of great halls and press conference rooms, facing them with their own lies. You will find me in lecture rooms and universities teaching about the propaganda machines to journalism students.

Arabs and Israelis tried war, tried peace, led to nothing but more war for peace, like fucking for virginity, completely pointless. Israel is a nation lead by military-minded politicians, who chose to do their deeds between the changing of presidencies in the US and the EU (not that they would have changed anything) and while they explained their plan in detail to neighboring nations. Fatah, corrupt to the bone, helped in the process of giving information to Israel about possible targets through their people in Gaza.

Truth of the matter: no body wants Gaza. The Palestinian Authority deserted its 1.5 million impoverished, uneducated folk. Egypt has long disowned them. Jordan has always given them a third class Palestinian citizen treatment, and Israel wishes Gaza would just disappear in the sea. Gazas problem is nothing that started last week, its been there for tens of years, while no body really cared.

Where are the voices of reason?

Israel is a nation, with global political and financial support, a very steady economy and with one of the most advanced military forces in the world. Gazans are unorganized, underdeveloped folk who will never be of any match to Israels power or intelligence. The swedish analogy is Israel is a big guy, hitting a small kid really hard, despite that the little kid might strike back with a hit or two. That is why Israel will always been seen with rolling eyes and people will have a hard time understanding their rhetorics, which really insult any intelligence on this planet.

To Israelis, I am tired of your rhetorics, but I pity you for having to live by your own propaganda machines. I am tired of Israelis who will always believe that they are victims no matter how advanced they have become in all walks of lifes and no matter how many years its been since their horrific tragedies. How many noble prizes would it take to find one single solution? 60 years and we still have no substantial solution in the horizon.

However, Israel is here to stay, Arabs should accept it. And Israel must learn that Hamas will not disappear either, its an extension of the Muslim brotherhood who has access to most Arab Parliaments. In Jordan alone, they run kindergartens, schools, collegues, and possesss a majority of seats in the Parliament.

Israels recent action is counter productive in every possible sense, but it is a call for Arabs to give up their prejiduces, stop shouting war slogans, and learn that the only way forward is to educate themselves out of the dark ages and into the 21 century as civilized people who have good access to all democratic channels to get their rights.

Truth of the matter, both sides do not want peace. Both sides will always claim they are victims. When will either side realize that the holy land is no blessing, but a pure curse, it is a place to long for that will corrupt any who seeks to control it.

Why can't Muslims and Jews live together in the holy land, they way they live and work in harmony in the US or Europe? Do you want me to spell it out for you? It is the only thing they do not have in common....

Sigh

WE need new ways of thinking.

Video: Live at an MC Club with Purify

2008-12-21T18:32:00.003-01:00

More info and music can be found here.

See you at Emergenza Festival - Fryshuset - January 17, 2009.

and the winner is....

2008-11-03T06:26:00.002-01:00

The winner for the first reader competition on Rami's wall is Mr. Martin, who wrote about his encounter with an Iranian bisexual. Please contact me to claim your prize. I would also like to thank Tololy for writing about her first times, Henry for submitting a glimpse into his fantastic airbrush art, The Arab Observer for writing about cultural understanding, the two anonymous posters who submitted a funny question and a meaningful photograph, and not least, Abu Shreek for solving Jordan's probelms his way. But mostly, I'd like to thank all other readers for coming back here over the days, months and years. Please be sure to keep sending me comments, questions and suggestions.

Arab universities internet ranking 2008

2008-10-27T06:47:00.005-01:00

Apparently 2 Arab universities made it to the top 500 universities around the world when it comes to connectivity.

King Saud University and King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals made it to the top 500 in 2008. Two years ago, they were not even among the top 1000. The sad reality remains that the Arab World as a region ranks very low when it comes to its overall quality of education... second lowest only to Africa.

Homosexuality in Iran: real encounters

2008-10-23T20:34:00.006-01:00

Martin, a Swedish friend of mine, traveled to Iran on a study visit where he had a rather unnerving encounter with an Iranian "bisexual" man. He decided to write about it and post it anonymously on this blog:

"I'm unmarried and I live on my own. It's very uncommon here in Iran."

I wondered where he wanted to take the conversation by stating this, but I had to wait no longer than half a minute to get the answer.

"I am bisexual, you know."

Actually I was suspecting that. Most of those thoughts appeared in my mind after the incident the night before, when the man came into the lobby of the hotel where I was staying, saw me using the computer, came up to me and put an arm around me and began to caress my cheek. I know Iranian men are much more physical towards each other than their European counterparts, but that was a bit much. I barely knew him. He had agreed to take me on a camel ride the next day so there was no reason for me to hang around. I removed his hand from me and went upstairs to sleep.

"Does anyone here know about it?" I asked him.

"I think my parents know, but they haven't said anything."

The next morning he came to pick me up at nine. I was expecting a car but his motorbike had to do. After an hour in the scorching sun, going the wrong way on the freeway several times, we arrived at the farm outside the city, just on the edge of the desert. It turned out that the owner wasn't there, so while I hid in the shade from the sun my guide went to find the owner and a camel saddle. I had forgotten to bring a hat. My head would be red as a lobster for several days afterward. My guide came back with the owner and he went inside the get the saddle. We mounted the camel while it was lying on its knees, me sitting behind the guide. It rose up, and a 14 year-old boy led us into the desert. If you have ever tried riding a camel you know it's a very bumpy ride. It was, in more than one aspect, one of the most uncomfortable things I have ever done.

"I like boys 16 to 18 years old the best. Their assholes are tight."

My guide had spoken once again. At same time he held his right hand up in the air, his fingers created a circle where they touched the palm of his hand.

I didn't know what to say. I was stunned by how freely he spoke, but did I really want to hear that? In my mind I cursed myself for not recording this conversation on my camera, but at the same time I kept thinking that this man has completely opened himself up to me and on a subject that's very sensitive. I owed him as much as not betraying his trust, right?

"How do you find other men to hook up with? It must be hard here in Iran considering the government's policy on homosexuality." I said.

"No, not so much. I know a few. And most Iranian men try it at least once in high school. Especially in a very religious and traditional city like this. It is hard to meet women, you understand? So they do it even if they're not gay, only to ejaculate."

I understood what he meant. As opposed to other cities, you seldom saw a woman in the streets not wearing a chador there. Also, I seemed to speak better Farsi than 80% of the population spoke English, not exaggerating the numbers. I met a good number of friendly people there, but communication was a big problem as all the salesmen of counterfeit Lonely Planet Farsi phrasebooks in the bazaar in Esfahan were sold out and weren't re-stocked before I left. Being one of few foreigners in the city, the words "khareji" (foreigner) and "sefid" (white) followed me in the streets. I was never uncomfortable, but it was different from other cities, where people in the street came up and talked to you instead of about you.

"And there's always rape."

"Uuuh what the fu-?" were my first thought. Once again in a short time I had no idea what to say. If I was surprised and stunned before, it was nothing compared with the feeling of sitting behind and holding your arms around a man who just said what he said. But I wanted to understand Iran and its people, and if I run into a man who's living proof of Ahmadinejads statement about there not being any homosexuals Iran, I want to know as much as I can from him.

"What do you mean?" I said.

My guide went on to explain homosexuality in the legal system for me. As homosexuality is criminalized in Iran, it turns out that if a man is raped by another man and goes to the police to report this, he will be punished for committing a homosexual act as well. Therefore, very few cases are reported and perpetrators often go free. I felt that I had to ask him the inevitable question.

"Did you ever rape anyone?"

My guide didn't seem shocked or offended by my very direct question. Instead, he laughed and slapped me on my legs.

"Nowadays I only have sex with those who want, but when I was 19 I did some bad things.
I can't say it made me feel very reassured, but I never felt threatened by him. I was a head taller and he was listed in a prominent guidebook, and I knew that the complaints of a tourist would not be taken lightly by the Iranian department of the interior. I could hurt him more than he could hurt me. But I was dependent on his motorbike to get back into the city, and with my limited Farsi vocabulary I couldn't afford making him my enemy and getting myself stranded in the desert. "What a son of a bitch." I thought.

"Do you have a girlfriend?" He asked me.

"No."

"Do you like men?"

"No. Not like that."

He asked me the same things yesterday, after which he told me he had heard that many Scandinavians are homosexuals. I pointed out to him that it's probably easier to be open about your sexuality there than here. It wouldn't surprise me if he looked at working with foreigners as an opportunity to get laid. After this, the conversation took a different turn. My guide claimed that 90% of everyone getting married are virgins, and that anal sex is very common among those who have sex before marriage because the women want to bleed on their wedding night. As we were getting close to the farm I presented my own theory on where I thought the perception that bleeding means preserved maidenhood came from, since I knew that barely even 50% of the women bleed their first time. I realized the boy leading our camel didn't understand English. That's why my guide had spoken so freely.

Back at the farm we took the motorbike into the city again. After a stop for a scenic photograph of the desert, squabbling with other customers at a couple gas stations (gas prices are fixed at about €0,14 but the gas is rationed) and more traveling on the wrong side of the freeway, we were back in the city.

"If you would like to, I can show you a nice restaurant where you can eat dinner."
"I think I'll pass." I thought. I wondered what the conversation in the desert had meant to him. For him it was as if it had never happened. The boy didn't understand English, and why should he fear anything from a tourist? Did he think that I gladly fraternized with rapists? I didn't want any further business with this man.

I paid him and thanked him for his help, and told him I was fine and didn't need any more services from him. I felt I had really gotten a glimpse into the world of one Iranian homosexual, but it was not at all what I had expected. Of course he had to maintain some secrecy of how he lived his life, but I realized that even among victims there are those that are higher up in the food chain.

Comment: Thanks a lot, Martin, for your post. You are a very eloquent writer and a patient listener! I found the same mentality in other nations ruled by counterproductive conservative and regressive laws - some lead to rape, some encourage killing the victim by protecting both the raper and the killer!

We all live in Amerika!

2008-10-17T06:18:00.005-01:00

The unprecedented amount of airtime the US presidential election is receiving in the media across the world is a yet another constant reminder that "we all live in America." I decided to contribute to the mass election-related infotainment and share this brilliant video by German Synth-Rockers Rammstein... it sums up the thrust of my thoughts about the hegemony's elections....

You betcha... if the world could really vote, more than 85% would vote for Obama. McCain would only win 100% of all votes in Burkina Faso... Apparently, they think he's a hamburger.

Jordan’s problems solved by Abu Shreek

2008-10-16T11:12:00.007-01:00

Now here's hopeful visionary...

Blogger Abu Shreek who is not short of witty and sarcastic, sent in a contribution to this blog, drawing a map to solve Jordan's problems - a developing nation sandwiched between two (or more?) conflict zones with little resources:

The solution to Jordan’s problems

Without introductions, the solution for all Jordan’s economical – and even demographical – problems is the reacquisition of Hijaz. Just consider the following factors:

- Jordan first: Taking a page from the great Qaddafi book, the whole idea of “Arab unity” is at this point – just ridiculous. It is every man for himself. When you see oil sheikdoms sucking other Arabs blood with their “international oil prices” and re-pumping it into the American economy, you realise that it’s time to act accordingly.

-Historical rights: As Hashemite we have the historic rights to the area. Shareef Hussein Bin Ali – Shareef of Mecca - was the one who lobbied and fought to kick the Ottoman’s out of it. And after 23 years of the Ibn Saud occupation, the grandchildren of the prophet have to reclaim their land.

-Minimal contributions: After 70 years of discovering the oil in Ibn Saud-claimed territory, and despite the astronomical revenues it generated, that area and its population have contributed absolutely nothing to humanity. Other than laughable ways of flashing wealth and other than distorting the image of all Arabs from London to Bangkok, no cultural, scientific, artistic or any recognizable contributions of any sort was made. It is a medieval regime that needs to be slightly undermined.

-The Jordanian Arab army: With all that human and financial resources we have invested in the army institution, we have to start seeing some return, beyond the “country fence” rhetoric. Not to sound like a war fanatic, but that is what armies are for: protect the strategic interests of the nations. Plus, in a volatile area, our army needs to be battle-ready and more importantly battle-tested. After all, some people are getting the feeling that those highly-decorated army officers are getting too comfortable in their big SUVs and Villas and have not done much to earn either – the decorations or the compensations.

-American support: At this point the US has no preference of who happens to be the honorary ruler of a certain area, as long as the ruler is under its wing and supervision. We have proved to be good allies to the US, and although Al Saud have not spared any effort when it comes to bending over (backwards, forward or on the knees) for the great empire, we’ve been a historically important ally and a model of a progressive, modern and moderate country in the American's favourite mold. And honestly, we need new means of maintaining this identity.

Now some may argue that Hijaz is not exactly an oil-rich area, but remember: we are not going after the oil or the money, we are soley after out historical right.
In the mean time we could also make use of:

Hajj: Forget about health tourism, education tourism or the SMS-voted world wonders, we are talking about 1.6 million annual tourists – guaranteed!

Refineries: They pump out the oil, we refine it and ship it through our multiple ports on the Red Sea. Sounds like a fair deal.

Coastal area: So 20kms of shore distance was the most Ibn Saud could spare? What generosity! Plus, what does Al Saud need beaches for anyway (unless they are in Mirabella)? Once we re-acquire Hijaz we can sell as much land as we want to investors and real state developers to build hotels, ports and even casinos. Seriously, where else can you gamble and “return as sin free as a newborn”, in the same tourism package?

Space: People sometimes tend to forget the fact that in helping the US deal with its Iraqi mess, Amman has gladly hosted about a million refugees. And it seems like not too many people are interested in moving to Karak or even to the airport road. When you remember that Jordan will also be a major player in the Palestinian refugees “solution”, you realize the need for more functional cities – with a sea view.

In this day and age, and after humanity has collectively chosen barbarism, nobody is going to hand anybody anything. If you need to live a decent life, you have to fight for it. Or soon you won’t be able to afford bread. Do you think a country like the United States chooses to send its kids to war because it is run by an idiotic administration? Or do they go to war as a necessity to be able to maintain the high living standards for their citizens?

Reply: War... Do we really need one more?

As far as I am seeing, reading and hearing... the ultra-conservative, Saudi-bred, Salafi ideology has been taking over Jordan by the thunderbolt, as a counter force to globalization (or westernization, industrialization, normalization, modernization, call it whatever you will) ... Not the other way around, unfortunately. Any how, thanks a lot for sharing your thoughts!

Fantastic airbrush art!

2008-10-14T20:05:00.011-01:00

And now for something completely different: Henry, a good old buddy from Örebro, is a multi-talented artist. While he is making it as a leading guitarist in his band, he works as a tattoo and airbrush artist. These are two examples of his fine work that he sent to me. For more, check his site!

Tololy's first time...

2008-10-14T19:32:00.011-01:00

Tololy , who is on a blogging-sabbatical, submitted a post to be published here as part of the so called "contest". She chose to write about her "first times":

There is a first time for everything.

This is my first time guest-blogging, and I must admit that it is unusual for me to write a post and then send it to someone for publication, instead of simply clicking "Publish" and doing the magic myself. As a matter of fact, I am typing this post in my blog, and I will later copy-paste it into an email message and ship it off to Rami. I am a creature of habit.

I am Tololy, the person previously active in Tololy's Box. My blog has gotten a little rusty because I stopped updating it some time ago. On that note, to be completely honest, I don't even know if I will resume blogging as I used to or not. There is a fair chance that I will "hang my keyboard," and move on to other activities. If that does happen, it will be the first time I quit blogging.

Since we're on the subject of first times, I feel like we should talk about this subject. I will start and you can participate in the comments section.

The first time I got disciplined in school was when I was in first grade. I was a good student, always imagined myself to be quite exceptionally polite, and so this particular incident left a scar in my consciousness. I had been talking in class; a long dimly-lit hall with triple wooden desks lined up on the sides. The teacher, whose name I don't remember, was at the back of the class and somehow managed to notice that I was talking to the girl next to me. She crept on me, stealthily, and smacked my back with a tailor's wooden ruler; technically a graded one-meter-long wooden panel. The corporal punishment itself was painful, but more lasting was its effect on me. I remember feeling very ashamed of myself, and very angry at the teacher who took me by surprise.

The other memory I want to share is when I saw a chameleon for the first time in my life. I was about eight years old, and playing outside our "country house" in the South of Jordan. I saw a small sand-colored dinosaur-like animal on the ground, staring at me, and I ran away as fast as I could. I had never seen a chameleon before, and I distinctly remember going back to the house crying. My eldest brother asked what the matter was, and I told him that I saw a scary animal. He asked me to show him what I had seen, so I took him to the chameleon and, surely, there it was staring at us. He grabbed it, and very gently explained that it is harmless. He even showed me how it can change colors and how its eyes can roll in its head. I owe my love of reptiles to my brother's wisdom that day.

Thus ends my trip down memory lane, and thus ends this lame-ish post. What are some of your first times doing stuff? Share something, don't be shy.

Reply: I had my first "girlfriend" when I was 14, we met 3 times in 6 months, before she broke up with me. Many years later, she came out and told me she's a dyke. Tja, I married a self-proclaimed bi, and now I am thinking, is there a pattern here?!

Moblogging a year in reverse

2008-10-13T22:01:00.005-01:00

Palestinian singer Rim Banna rocking the Re:Orient festival at Södrateatern, Stockholm.
Photo taken from the balcony.

Stockholm's Hötorget, a central market place where merchants from all over the world come to sell their foods, spices and clothes. Photo taken from inside the Concert House (Konserthuset).

A free Pink Floyd tribute concert at Kungsträdgården. The occasion: Pink Floyd won the prestigious Polar Music Prize. The tribute band: P-Floyd.

L-R: Firas, Kenny, Taleb and Maria - workmates at the Swedish radio posing after a summer party in the park. Location: Sergel's torg.

A lecture about life in Gaza, by Palestinian photographer Mohammad Omar. He was joined later by Gideon Levy, a leftist Israeli columnist for a very fruitful discussion. "Israel only learns the very hard way," the later suggestively said after a very graphic presentation.

Ånn, a sub-arctic military base in the north of Sweden, not too far from the Norwegian borders.

A fire-carnival at the Örebro Castle (Slottet).

Contibutions from readers

2008-10-10T08:32:00.010-01:00

So, these are the first three submissions from readers. No body has won the prize yet, but keep your contributions coming and you might as well win something!

Contribution No. 1

This contribution comes from a guy visiting Stockholm soon, and he sounded like he is really up for a party. This post is written by the Arab Observer, and it reflects his own ideas and not mine. He is looking for answers from the readers of this blog, so I hope some can write back to him in the comment section.

Lately, the cultural issue have been interesting me a lot. While being aware of some cultural differences not just between the different countries of the world but also in between small communities in each country, the issue of cultural conflict, the talk about cultural imperialism, and the fight people call for and engage in in order to preserve what they see important aspects of their cultures puzzle me.

The real issue here that I would like to find answers to is: When do we have the right to preserve a certain aspect of a culture, and when do we have the right to interfere and fight for change?

The notion of culture as a static entity is widely spread in the Arab world. There is a denial of cultural influence and cultural evolution among a lot of people. The Arabic-Islamic culture is perceived to be the same through its history of time of 1500 years, neglecting the dynamic nature of cultures and evolution of the very same culture through space-time dimension. It is even falsely assumed that an Arab living in a town in Jordan shares the same culture of another Arab living in a city in Morocco for instance. There is a strong over shadowing of local uniqueness to reserve an assumed projected static cultural attribute.

Cultural preservation is a good thing. It is beautiful to have this diversity of cultural attributes around the globe. It would be dull living in a world with everyone looking and behaving the same. But yet, at the same time, societies do progress. There are some cultural values that no longer hold the advancement of human values. There are cultural attributes that contradict with the universal law of human rights. So what give us the right to interfere and force the dismissing of such attributes?

Women rights organizations have been working for ages now to achieve gender equality, yet you find the same organizations working in local Arab countries in a different way that they work in a western country under the name of respecting local cultural differences. In truth, a hundred years ago, gender equality was suffering the same injustice in the west as much as it was suffering in the Arab world. So what if the west were faster to grab the notion of gender equality? Does that make us better preservant of culture?!

Media workers have always been faced with the *cultural sensitivity* flag. Opinions have always managed to trigger offence. It is impossible to please everybody. Everyone is ready to scream out for preserving his code of values and behavior. So what do you do when you think it is wrong and you have a loud voice of yours to scream from your place? How do you handle cultural sensitivities?

Reply:

I am looking forward to reading about your impressions, once you get to Stockholm! I personally believe that people should know their core values, and then again, be able to reset them whenever necessary.

Contribution no. 2

The second contribution was sent anonymously by a person who referred to him/herself as the "Norrlänning"... Blog statistics implied that this person was sending their message from the Northern part of Sweden, thus the "nickname" and the fascination with Saunas!

Hej Rami, maybe you can put up a picture showing one of those sauna parties you write about? ;-)

Reply:

Unfortunately I have none, but you will have to ask this blogger, since she has everything on record. However, I have an odd feeling that you have seen it all yourself! ;-)

Contribution no.3

The third contribution is from a dear friend who also wanted to stay anonymous.. The contribution comes in the form of a picture which I would love to share. The message reads in Swedish " USA: get out of Iraq.. This is what this war is creating!"

Reply:

That's a very "nice" contribution in deed, it is about time the mercenaries of war leave the country to its own struggle, hopefully with a UN peacekeeping mission filling the gaps. Very thoughtful...

Keep them coming!! (at the risk of sounding like someone who takes himself a tad bit too seriously)

Win exclusive prizes on Rami's wall

2008-10-02T13:32:00.011-01:00

Rami's wall has become one of the top 50 cultural blogs in Sweden, so I decided to give something special back to the readers.

The prize:
An full-invitation to a special dinner party in Stockholm at the trendy and exclusive Peacock Restaurant Club. Or if you can't make it to dinner, I will mail you an original painting by a Swedish artist of my choice. Want something else? Name your prize and we'll see if its feasible.

What you have to do:
Send a contribution in the form of a blog post that you would like to publish on this blog. It can be anything, what so ever, as long as it is original. It can contain images, texts, audio, video, or it can be a question or a suggestion to the writer of this blog. Your contributions will be published here (anonymously, if you will).

Send your contributions to ramiar82@gmail.com no later than OCTOBER 30.

P.S. The contributions can be sent in Swedish, Arabic or English.

My office, now!!

2008-10-01T14:50:00.007-01:00

I have been waging a tactical offensive on procrastination: turned off all sorts of social networking applications, and rekindled the good old journalistic spirit that seeks whats happening IRL. It is limited though, better say ironic, because the only means to deliver my end-products is virtual.

For the past two months or so, I have been working from home, the start and end point of producing the articles I write. However, I think all home-based freelancers would agree that it is quite hard to balance office and house chores: to focus on working at the same place where you eat, sleep, and where your partner is watching TV, using the telephone, or needs the computer.

But this does not work, I need 100% focus on work to be able to deliver as efficiently as I aspire to. That is why I am leaving home, well, between 9 to 5 at least, and moving into my own office.

Anna, a friend and a co-worker at the Swedish Radio, also has the same aspirations. So we decided to look for office space together. The pros of sharing office space are quite many: we can reduce costs, exchange contacts and story ideas, use each others language skills and perhaps start joint-projects, hire the same accountant, and naturally create a motivating and creative work environment... etc. So the search was on, and before we had a chance to sleep on this idea, we found a perfect office space in SoFo - just ten minutes walk from where I live.

There's no better word to describe this place other than "cozy". It is shared by 2 other journalists, 2 designers, and a funky hair stylist working at a separate deal of the locale. It has a recording room, which is perfect for our radio and voice-over recording sessions. Well, pictures speak much louder than words:

The kitchen at the entrance, and a piano in the corridor. Very Cozy.

Office space with the recording room in the back.

A cozy sofa in the back side of the room, where we will be placing our desks.

I probably shouldn't speak as though we rented it and moved in already, we were there today, and we landed an initial deal with those share it. Hopefully we'll be moving in next month or so, unless some other opportunities evolve. Well, in all case scenarios, I think this one's a keeper, it only costs 1600 SEK per month including rent, wireless internet, telephone, morning coffee , lovely company and cookies.

سجل أنا نصف عربي

2008-09-28T09:04:00.004-01:00

توجهت صباح اليوم الى البقالة على طرف شارع بيتنا لشراء الجريدة والسجائر. الشاب العامل هناك القى التحية قيل ما أصل اليه بطلبي. قال لي صباح الخير بالسويدية وبعيون سوداء عربية كريمة. طلبت منه علبيتي سجائر من نوع "كورنر" السويدي بكلفة قدرها 74 كرونة أو حوالي 8 دنانير اردنية وكما هي العادة في السويد، لم نتبادل الحديث اثناء قيامه بسحب كرت الفيسا على جهاز الدفع الالكتروني، ثم طلب مني بلكنة سكان الضواحي بادخال الرقم السري على لوحة المفاتيح

نظرت اليه بتمعن، مما جعله يضطرب قليلا وسألته بالعربية اذا ما كان كل شيء على ما يرام. فقال لي بلهجة السريان انه تعب نوعا ما فقد قطع مسافة طويلة من الضواحي الى قلب المدينة ليصل الى عمله. نظرت اليه مجددا، وشكرته بهدوء و غادرت الى منزلي. الحديث خلا من أي معنى أو هدف، مجرد مجامله باردة في صباح بارد

لا أعتقد أن هذا الشاب يبلغ من العمر أكثر من 22 سنة. كانت لديه لكنة سويدية قوية مما يجعلني أعتقد أنه نشأ في السويد اذا ما كان ولد فيها. بائج السجائر هذا، ببرودته وبعربيته المكسرة والحلق المتدلي من أذانه وثيابه الفضفاضة وطاقية المتزلجين في الشوارع، هو مثال الجيل العربي الاوروبي و الاف الشباب والشابات الذين يعيشون بين عالم أهلهم البعيد جغرافيا، وعالم ابناء جيلهم القريب على القلب

في السويد وحدها هناك أكثر من مئتي ألف شاب وشابة ذوي أصول شرقية وشخصية سويدية. اذا ما شاهدتهم في الحانات والتوادي الليلية فهم يجلبون اهتمام الجنس الاخر بعيونهم السوداء وشخصياتهم الملونة، وأما في أماكن العمل والدراسة فتراهم يجمعون في أساليب عملهم بين كفائة أهل الشمال وحماسة أهل الجنوب

بالمقارنة، هناك بقالة سجائر اخرى على طرق الشارع الاخر. ويعمل هناك شاب عمره 28 كان قد لجأ الى السويد من العراق قبل سنتين. أسلوبه يختلف تماما، فهو يتحدث العربية بطلاقه وشاعرية، والسويدية بلكنة مكسرة وتركيبة نحوية تشابه العربية. هذا الشاب يبيع السجائر أيضا ولديه نفس لوحة المفاتيح ولكن أغلبية السجائر التي يبيعها تجدها تحت الطاولة، فهي مهربة ولم يتم دفع اي جمارك عليها. فعلى سبيل المثال، ممكن شراء ثلاث باكيتات سجائر بسعر اثنين.

هذا الشاب يمثل جزئا مهما جدا من السوق السويدي، هذا الجزء المسمى بالسوق الأسود والذي يلجأ اليه السويديون في بعض الحالات لتوفير النقود فالضرائب هنا مرتفعة جدا، ولكنها تذهب فعليا الى دعم الأقل دخلا والحفاظ على الرفاه الاجتماع يبناء وتطوير البنية التحتية بحيث يعيش أغلبية سكان السويد بنفس المستوى الاقتصادي

هناك ايضا فئة اخرى من "السويديين العرب" ، مثل سالم الفقير والذي اكتسح لائحة اشهر المغنيين السويديين الشباب بأغانيه الغنية بألحان تجمع ما بين الجاز و البوب. هذا الشاب، ومثله رامي شعبان حارس مرمي فريق كرة القدم السويدي يمثلون فئة أنصاف العرب، أنصاف السويديين و الذين فعلا يجمعون أفضل ما بين الثقافتين. ومن خلال عملي تعرفت على الكثير ممن يشبهون العرب في شكلهم ولكنهم يتكلمون لغات اخرى كالأكراد والسورانيين و السريانيين و الايرانيين وحتى بعض الغجر أو الروما. وتعرفت الى من لا يشبهون العرب مطلقا ولكنهم يتحدثوا العربية بطلاقة كالصوماليين

اللغة المشتركة بين كل هؤلاء و غيرهم من الشعوب هي السويدية. وهم بختلفون تماما عن الشرقيين، و عن السويديين الأصليين. هؤلاء هم الجيل الأوروبي الشرقي الصاعد بقوة، وهم الفئة التي سأستهدفها في مشروع جديد، يهدف الى بناء شبكة اخبار ذات صبغة تجارية تهدف الى طرح القضايا الأوروبية باللغة العربية وبطريقة جريئة ومفتوحة تساعدهم على تطوير اللغة العربية في أوروبا و من دون و اساليب الطرح المحافظة والمتزمتة التي تتبعها معظم القنوات والشبكات الاخبارية الشرقية

لقد نجحت الى حد الان في استقطاب اهتمام بعض المستثمرين الأوروبيين الشرقيين، و لكننا لا نزال في مراحل التفاوض الأولية. أتمنى أن يتم انشاء المشروع خلال فترة لا تزيد عن سنة. المشروع الأولي سيبدأ في السويد ومن ثم الى ألمانيا ودول الشمال الاخرى خلال فترة 5 الى 10 سنوات. حاليا أقوم بطرح عطاء لانشاء الموقع الالكتروني و أتمنى على القراء أن يقدموا الي أرائهم واقتراحاتهم

The world is a boat - lost at sea...

2008-09-27T21:56:00.004-01:00

Stockholm behind, the Baltic sea ahead

As autumn blues rush to town, and sun light becomes ever scarcer, I was on the look today for something majestic, poetic and powerful. So I walked along the shores of three islands in Stockholm's Archipelago, only to get home to a house that has been on fire. I had spent the night at a friend's place, where we had wine till we dropped and where I slept like a rock. The morning after was pleasant, a high time for the sinful pleasure of sipping hot coffee by the window and looking over a carpet of golden tree leaves.

Reaching the shores of Oslo, on the North Sea.

I washed off my drowsiness and headed for a long walk - the beauty of Stockholm is that it is just small enough to walk everywhere, and wherever you walk, you walk along water canals feeding off the Baltic. At one point I was standing over a bridge , overwhelmed by the beauty of the sea reflecting cold sun rays, that is when I decided to write a post, dedicated to the sea and its melancholic magnificence. I collected photos I took on top of different boats sailing in Nordic seas. The first one is a personal souvenir from a trip to the farthest Fjärd in the Stockholm Archipelago, a small island where there is nothing but a camping site and a sheep farm. I snapped that photo as the boat departed from one of the central docking points in Stockholm. The second one I took last year, after a boat trip around Oslo's Fjords.

The house on the hill.

The third one I took of a side of Södermalm, the south central, bohemian island. I live on top of this hill, behind the big white church . But despite living so close to the sea, many days pass shamelessly without a glimpse of the water front, just being stuck in a house of concrete. In any case, the coffee by the window in the morning makes up for the loss.

A ship with real sails in the Stockholm Archipelago

Not too far from where I live, a friend of mine docks his house-boat near one of the high end streets in Stockholm. But more often than not, he takes it around different parts of the city depending on his plans that particular evening. Sometimes his little mobile pad is overshadowed by massive, 7-to-12-floor ships sailing daily to Finland, the Baltic nations and St. Petersberg in North Russia. Them boats are known as "party boats," as the sole purpose for people to go on board is to party all night long, where they can buy alcohol free of duty fees.

A real viking boat at the Stockholm Archipelago.

Net net? Today was a refreshingly a good day. A day of reconciliation and bonding with the sea, which bears a history of love and mourning, of enchantment and divinity, of desperation and melancholy, of longing and meetings. I had one thought taking form all day: this sea is so big, I can feel everyone else on another side of it. And now as I gather my final thoughts before I lay my head on a pile of soft pillows, a softer sea breeze is tickling its way through my window, and unto my bed. And with this note, I bid you all a good night.

My soul is for sale

2008-09-24T19:20:00.011-01:00

My notepad said it is autumn and the leaves confirmed, but I am still in lost in transition, from being full-time radio reporter and producer at the Swedish Radio, to being a full time "freelancer." Here is what the notepad says:

Write article about ethical investment funds in Sweden.
Write article about the EU Visa Information System.
Write an article about water consumption in food industry.
Present to investor own study for a Sweden news project in Arabic.
Contact Stockholm Uni. and Södertorns College for possible lectures.
Contact credit company for a new repayment plan.
Sell drums.
Fix blog design, affiliate marketng plan, Adsense, and blog about it.
Send invoice to Örebro University for last week lecture.
Follow up with Egyptian Embassy, Action Aid, IDEA and translation house on submitted job applications.
Find office space in Södermalm.
SEO, SEO, SEO!
Concert at KGB with Soul band in Oct.
Pay up!

And to add a little zen in my life, I have been taking long, long soul-searching walks, and the result was obvious: all I have is my soul to sell, as a freelancer, if I am going to make ends meet at the end of this credit-crunched fiscal year. Enough with saving the world, time to save my own.

Maybe this will be needed, after all.

the urban tarzans

2008-09-18T20:48:00.004-01:00

Karin was right, despite all our differences she got one thing right, plazma TVs are just as objectionable as super-slim-diets. She got it even better, when she said that one should surround themselves with a group of grumpy, smoking drinkers scoring low on character. Simply because when hell breaks loose, you will manage to get your doze of humor.

Let me give you the long story short. Last Monday I gave a lecture about Web 2.0 applications, including blogs, for a group of 20+ global journalists. The lecture started at 9, and finished around 5 in the evening. Meanwhile, we discussed the evolution of the world wide web as we know it, how to use it, how others are using it, and when do we get to the point where artificial intelligence would become the dominant form of intelligence in the universe.

Later that evening, I was sitting on a chesterfield couch, stoned, and looking at a plazma TV, despite that its off. I was in the company of my dear friend Camilla and a 20 year old young man from Kiruna. Camilla dealt the cards, and slowly we engaged in an almost silent game of Chicago.

My phone rang, it was Karin. She got the message I sent her earlier that day, very late in the evening. I told her I am keen to see her, when I am not so "tired," tired being utterly stoned. She asked me not to give her my "artistic" excuses and meet her down the road, and so I picked her up back to Camillas fathers living room.

Karin is actually a deacon, yes, a church deacon. She has always been on the verge of getting kicked out by the church because she likes to focus too much on "loving the enemy," and not just loving thy neighbor." She has communist tendencies too. She wants people (men?) to stop trying to be so sophisticated and stick to their instincts.

She cornered me with her aggressive debating capabilities. I was not up for a debate, hell, I wasn't up for socializing at all... but thanks for the rolling machine that sat beside me, I was too knocked down in my seat that I could not resist or surrender, and had to engage my heightened level of senses in Karin's conversation.

She argues that she lives in a real democracy, a society that is well developed beyond many others, and a nation where politicians do it with the goodness of their hearts. I thought that sounded very defensive, uncalled for. I asked her what is sovereignty in the age of globalization, of her views of the indoctrinated politics of racial and ideological supremacy in global institutions, including the church. I played smooth, lost an argument, won another, but eventually, we were both evenly intelligent as human beings, and just as screwed by the powers to be despite being native and immigrant, european and middle eastern, man and woman, or whatever other labels we use to make things easier to understand and hard to get.

Mostly, I told her that was exactly why I am here, in Sweden. It is a nation with a population that is way too smart, sometimes against their better judgment, since intelligence comes with an overdose of self-criticism, most of the time. I am here to learn, listen and see, interact and develop. It is good to be smart I said, especially when one can play dumb, or vice versa.

That is it, folks.

Georgian troops leave Iraq on US planes

2008-08-12T04:56:00.002-01:00

According to the BBC.

Read live coverage of what is happening in Georgia.

Live from Tbilisi, Georgia

2008-08-11T09:39:00.004-01:00

Map detailing the time line of bombing west Georgia, for the full map, contact me.

"My family if safe. We are all in the capital. The airports of Tbilisi were bombed three times but fortunately without serious results," word comes from Nino Zhizhilashvili, a Georgian journalist and a friend of mine who covered live the coup d´tat, known as the Rose Revolution, in 2003. The coup overthrew dictator Shevarnadze and installed a democratic government. Now, Nino is covering how Russians are overthrowing democracy in the last pro-west, former soviet bastion in the Caucasus.

"We are really in serious troubles. The Russian tanks are coming to the whole territory of Georgia - from all sides... there were a lot of air attacks during the two last days also. No idea what will be the future of my country. Even if the USA will decide to help Georgia by its military forces there would be the end of the country - it could become the land of the war of two empires...," Nino offers her take on what is happening on the ground. No parachute journalism.

For those not familiar with the history of this conflict, Nino provides a quick synopsis:

"South Ossetian autonomous republic was established by the USSR on the territory of Georgia in 1921. Georgians and Ossetians lived there together but Georgians were in absolute majority there. When the USSR collapsed the government of the South Ossetia declared the Independence and stated its desire to join Russia but of course, Georgian population and the government of the country refused. The wide escalation started then and it was the severe war there in early 90th.

But Georgia loose the war as Russian military forces went to the country and supported minority. We had a lot of Georgian refugees from the region which gained the status quo but stayed as a non-recognized republic until now. There never been the peace in the region during the years but the situation tensed last weeks when the massive shootings from both sides took place, because city Tskinvali - the center of the region, was circled by Georgian villages.

Do not ask me now, who started :) according to the Peace Journalism theory journalist never should ask this question :) and I really don't know... because there is no one truth in such situations. Then the government of Georgia started a special operation aiming to restore the territorial integrity of the state and to let the refugees come back to their homes but as it was expected, Russia immediately reacted and started bombing whole Georgia. I was just informed that the Georgian side just announced officially that the country is ready to fulfill Russia's ultimatum and to leave the territory of the conflict region. Let's see whether it would be enough to stop intervention. We are really expecting everything as fighting with this empire Georgia got a very sad experience during two centuries... Unfortunately, there are a lot of victims from the both sides and a huge material damage for the small country."

UPDATE, entitled *SOS* from Nino:

"Russian tanks blocked the autobahn connected the Western and Eastern parts of Georgia and wide intervention has started. They are attacking the country from the western and northern boarders. Troops are already at the capital Tbilisi. Nobody knows what are they aiming. The ultimatum was fulfilled by the Georgian government but they are going ahead - the international society is helpless to stop them. SAD! We are expecting the turning off the Internet so I don't know whether I would be able to contact you soon. But we are quite strong :) at least we think so :) let's see if our self-certification will be come true."

I hope that she will remain as strong as I have known her to be.

The joy and pain of being out of range

2008-08-06T20:20:00.003-01:00

I could write about summer, about the yellow flowers I received at my last day at work, and how I gave some to the familiar homeless faces and kept some to company me in this state of limbo I am going through.

I could write about a festival I have been to, about finding a long beach just walking distance from my place, I could write about nights out in the park, singing, swinging my sword half naked in a graveyard, or about learning how to play country music on my acoustic by the water. I could write about sailing between hundreds of islands off to the great big Baltic sea, about a home coming trip to good old Örebro, where I settled all my scores and finished all unfinished business.

I could entertain you, readers, if I wanted to, provide with pictures that would trigger your imagination and take you on my trips. But I will not. Today I will write about this state of limbo. The last steep mile before reaching the peak of my manhood, a place where I am totally honest and true to myself and absolutely content with it.

Certain flashbacks come to mind, as I think how I should write the next sentence.

I was probably no older than 12, four years before my grandfather died, he showed me survival 101 - for example, how to dissect a prey, how to cook a liver and "eat it like a man". I will spare you the grotesque details, and take you on the next image that comes to mind. Just two years ago, I finished studying for my masters degree, and got me a prolonged residence permit in Sweden - while I moved right in the middle of the forest in the caravan - the capital of my rebellion against all that fascinates and drives "normal" people. I was there, feeding off the forest, drinking earthly water, and creating useful things out of scrap. I got all the space I needed and had no obligation, I was totally out of range, I owned the universe.

Then I discovered that I just cannot reach happiness by running away from my demons, I had to fight them, and share my happiness with others who truly value it. So I moved back to the city, jobless, penniless, dirty, homeless, with no backbone to rely on. Then lots of good people came into my life out of the blue, and things kept opening up, two years later, I am living in the best location I could think of in Stockholm, built a career and a name as a journalist, got me a nice girl to come home to, and everything has become within my grasp.

All, except that feeling of being out of range.

Today I took a two hour boat ride to one of the farthest islands on the Stockholm Archipelago. The island is barely inhibited, except by some farmers and their sheep. No other animals treading on its trails. Just sea, rock formations and forests. As I sat on the upper deck on the boat ride back towards beautiful Stockholm I saw on my left side the island where I live, and on the right side the island where I worked, and in front of me the island with the city center. To the day, I am marking three years since I stepped on this land.

And I am in a state of limbo.

Within two weeks, I might leave for a dream job in another land, another nation, another start and another chapter. Or I could settle here forever, get a permanent job at a another company, buy an apartment, and just hold my horses, anchor my ship and build on the base I set. I could also, just disappear, but for the first time, I am thinking that that is probably a very, very stupid wonderful idea.

I will make myself heard in two weeks.

At the Bush House

2008-07-13T19:44:00.006-01:00

Wednesday, 9th July, 2008
London
17:00

It has been pouring all morning, typical London with its summer rain. Last night I flew in from Stockholm straight to Saif and Laras place in South London. They had prepared some lentil soup, grilled chicken, and a few nice cold ales.

Last time I had met them was in Amman, last Christmas, by coincidence. The one before was 2 years ago in Örebro, when they visited me on their second honey moon tour. I called Saif a few days ago, and told him I need a place to crash for the night - next morning I had a date with destiny, in the form of a second job interview, at The Bush House, or the BBC World Service headquarters.

I got my papers ready, and headed for the Holborn tube station. Coming out of there in the rain I asked two men to point me to Kingsway, they said I was on the right path. I took that figuratively and kept walking towards my destination. Once I arrived, I felt very small under the arches of the BBC headquarters - the whole building looked like the treasury of the Roman Empire or something fancy like that. I collected my thoughts as I brushed off the rain off my coat, and walked in with bald steps and a proud head - after all I am glad I got this far.

At the reception everything seemed polished, even the accent of that fine receptionist. She told me my name was on the list and they are expecting me, that they will pick me up shortly. I made myself comfortable on the sofas and looked around at the high ceiling and at the walls where big screens showed BBC World News. The world was talking about the not-so-new cold war in the Middle East with Iran and Israel scratching each others back while "threatening" one another.

The familiar sights and sounds of news production gave me all the confidence I needed, just in time for the nice HR adviser to pick me up and take me to the interview room. There it was, all happening, in a little room with a table, three chairs, three glasses of water and one clock.

The interview was scheduled to take 30 minutes, and I had answers prepared. But there was a twist, they said, Rami, we do not have any more questions for you. Then we had a very casual, informal meeting, and managed to discuss creativity, decisiveness, "eccentric" Arab writers, as well as faking a whole radio show. In the end, the nice HR Adviser led me down stairs through a maze of revolving doors and enchanting art and told me, "we will see you."

Now I am back in Stockholm and the coziness of my south-side flat. Had a nice movie weekend, detoxing and rejuvenating in wait for destiny to call back. Ill give destiny two weeks, and if I got the job, I will be moving to London, no later than next September.

If I did not get the job - I will continue to do what I love to do best - freelance!