Informed Comment: Thoughts on the Middle East, History and Religion

Ashton Kutcher ad in Indian ‘Brownface’ Pulled for Racism

Posted on 05/03/2012 by Juan

Ashton Kutcher’s ad for Popchips, playing an Indian character in brown make-up, has had to be pulled over charges of stereotyping and racism, reports ITN:

Reaction from Manan Ahmed, @sepoy:

Dear US media: Just remember, it is only Arabs you can be racist about.

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Top Five Reasons to Celebrate World Press Day (Rice)

Posted on 05/03/2012 by Juan

Alice Rice writes at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism; alas, the breaking news is that she could have added Tunisia to the list:

Today the United Nations highlights the pressures and dangers facing journalists across the world with a conference in Tunis and a themed day, World Press Freedom Day.

Tunis is a slightly strange choice of location for the conference – barely three weeks ago Reporters Without Borders issued an open letter highlighting a crackdown on protesters that saw 16 journalists assaulted, including two foreign reporters.

Still, here are five reasons a day dedicated to press freedom is still sorely needed:

Vietnam: Bloggers have been repeatedly harassed and detained after reporting on wildcat strikes and other topics the authorities would prefer to keep away from the public attention. In mid-April, Human Rights Watch called for the immediate release of Nguyen Van Hai, Phan Thanh Hai, and Ta Phong Tan, all members of the Club for Free Journalists, which HRW says was set up to ‘promote freedom of expression and independent journalism’. The three are currently facing criminal charges for conducting propaganda against the state.
Russia: In the run-up to the elections earlier this year, Reporters Without Borders highlighted a series of attempts to intimidate journalists, stemming from both the government and from other sources. Eight reporters were arrested covering the protests that followed Putin’s re-election and two were beaten, according to Reporters Without Borders.
Thailand: Chiranuch Premchaiporn faces up to 20 years in jail under Thailand’s strict lese-majeste laws, which criminalise comments that are critical of the King. Chiranuch is not accused of making the comments herself: instead, she is an online editor at Thai news website Pracithai. A number of anonymous online commenters had posted negative messages about the Thai royalty; Chiranuch is being held liable. Earlier this week a court delayed its verdict on her case.
Ethiopia: The government has employed anti-terror laws to crack down on journalists. Last summer, as the Bureau reported, reporter Martin Schibbye and photographer Johan Persson were arrested attempting to cross into the troubled Ogaden region, while Ethiopian journalists Eskinder Nega and Sileshi Hago were arrested for plotting terrorist attacks. Two further Ethiopian journalists were arrested after writing critical articles about the government. Last week, a prominent independent news website was blocked for at least five days, according to Reporters Without Borders.
UK: Although super-injunctions have dropped out of the headlines, thanks in part to the ongoing phone-hacking scandal, they are a key tool for the rich and powerful to silence press scrutiny. Despite a number of high-profile backfires last year, super-injunctions remain in favour among some of the UK’s more ill-behaved high-flyers. This week Private Eye cheekily suggested that two individuals in the top 10 of the Sunday Times Rich List are currently enjoying this particularly British status symbol.

Unfortunately, this list could have been 10, 25 or 50 examples long. Whether through incarceration, violence, intimidation, web blocking or lawyers’ letters, the threats to press freedom are plentiful, widespread and show no sign of subsiding.

Click here for more about World Press Freedom Day.

____
From The Bureau of Investigative Journalism

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Deaths of Protesters Lead Egyptian Politicians to Suspend Presidential Campaign

Posted on 05/03/2012 by Juan

Thugs, very possibly backed by the continued military dictatorship in Egypt, attacked protesters at dawn on Wednesday in front of the Ministry of Defense in al-Abbasiya, Cairo, leaving some 20 dead. The protesters suspect that they were actually plainsclothes police.

The 500 or so protesters had been gathered to object to the disqualification of their favored candidate, Salah Abu Ismail, a Muslim fundamentalist favored by many of the Salafis. Some of the protesters were leftist youth activists, from “April 6″ and other such organizations, who want an end to military rule and a handover of power to the parliament. Their assailants have not been identified.

Aljazira English has video:

As a result of the deaths, both fundamentalist and liberal parties cancelled a planned meeting with the officers, who still form a collective interim presidency in Egypt.

Likewise, several of the presidential candidates suspended their campaigns. Muhammad Mursi, the candidate of the Muslim Brotherhood, however, said that it would be unacceptable for the military to postpone the May 23 presidential election or to delay returning to the barracks once Egypt has a civilian president.

The reformist Muslim, Abd al-Moneim Aboul Futouh, called on parliament to demand from the interim minister of defense that he intervene to protect people who were merely exercising their right to public protest.

The secular, liberal candidate, Amr Moussa, warned the public against getting too caught up in a single such incident, and urged that the country move forward with its political process. He demanded that the military issue an unambiguous promise to step down once a president is elected.

There have been several such unfortunate instances of bloodshed by unidentified thugs, suspected of ties to the officers or to remnants of the old Mubarak regime, over the past year. None has derailed the political process, however, since the revolutionaries and the general public want elected leaders to take charge. Egypt’s presidential elections will almost certainly get back under way after a decent interval.

In the meantime, big demonstrations at Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo and elsewhere in Egypt were planned for Thursday and Friday to demand punishment of the killers and to demand a quicker move to democracy.

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Almohad Tower of Gold, Seville (Photo)

Posted on 05/03/2012 by Juan

Photograph by Juan Cole, July 27, 2010

The Torre del Oro in Seville, Spain, was built in the 1200s by the Almohad (Berber Muslim) dynasty to serve as a watchtower to guard the Gualdalquivir River (in Arabic, Wadi al-Kabir or ‘big river valley.’)