Did We Get the #Muslim_Brotherhood Wrong?

 

Nope. But it's time to revise our assessments. 

 The deterioration of Egyptian politics has spurred an intense, often vitriolic polarization between Islamists and their rivals that has increasingly spilled over into analytical disputes. Some principled liberalswho once supported the Muslim Brotherhood against the Mubarak regime's repression have recanted. Longtime critics of the Islamists view themselves as vindicated and demand that Americans, including me, apologize for getting the Brotherhood wrong. As one prominent Egyptian blogger recently put it, "are you ready to apologize for at least 5 years of promoting the MB as fluffy Democrats to everyone? ARE YOU?"

 

So, should we apologize? Did we get the Brotherhood wrong? Not really. The academic consensus about the Brotherhood got most of the big things right about that organization ... at least as it existed prior to the 2011 Egyptian revolution. U.S. analysists and academics correctly identified the major strands in its ideological development and internal factional struggles, its electoral prowess, its conflicts with al Qaeda and hard-line Salafis, and the tension between its democratic ambitions and its illiberal aspirations. And liberals who defended the Brotherhood against the Mubarak regime's torture and repression were unquestionably right to do so -- indeed, I would regard defending the human rights and political participation of a group with which one disagrees as a litmus test for liberalism.

But getting the pre-2011 period right doesn't let us off the hook for what has come since. How one felt about questions of the Brotherhood's ability to be democratic in the past has nothing to do with the urgency of holding it to those commitments today. Giving the group the chance to participate fully in the democratic process does not mean giving it a pass on bad behavior once it is in power -- or letting it off the hook for abuses of pluralism, tolerance, or universal values.  That's why I would like to see Egypt's electoral process continue, and for the Brotherhood to be punished at the ballot box for their manifest failures.

So what did we say about the Brotherhood, and what did they get wrong or right? I wouldn't presume to speak for a diverse academic community that disagrees about many important things, but some broad themes do emerge from a decade of literature. For one, most academics viewed the Brotherhood of the 2000s as a democratic actor but not a liberal one. That's an important distinction. By the late 2000s, the Brotherhood had a nearly two-decade track record of participation in national, professional, and student elections. It had developed an elaborate ideological justification for not just the acceptability but the necessity of democratic procedure. When it lost elections, such as in the professional associations, it peacefully surrendered power (and, ironically given current debates, it was willing to boycott when it saw the rules stacked against it). By 2007, it seemed to me that there was nothing more the Brotherhood could have done to demonstrate its commitment to democratic procedures in the absence of the actual opportunity to win elections and govern. I think that was right.

And of course it had developed a well-honed electoral machine ready for use whenever the opportunity presented itself.  Nobody in the academic community doubted that the Brotherhood would do well in the first wave of elections. Academics also pegged public support for the Brotherhood at about 20 percent, not far off the 25 percent Mohammed Morsy managed in the first round of the presidential election. They correctly identified the organizational advantages the Brotherhood would have in early elections, which would allow them to significantly overperform that baseline of support against new, less-organized opponents.

The Brotherhood's commitment to democratic procedures never really translated into a commitment to democratic or liberal norms, however. It always struggled with the obvious tension between its commitment to sharia (Islamic law) and its participation in democratic elections. Not being able to win allowed the Brothers to avoid confronting this yawning gap, even if they frequently found themselves enmeshed in public controversies over their true intentions -- for instance, with the release of a draft political party platform in 2007 that hinted at the creation of a state committee to review legislation for compliance with sharia and a rejection of a female or non-Muslim president.  As for liberalism, nobody ever doubted the obvious point that this was an Islamist movement with deeply socially conservative values and priorities. The real question was over their willingness to tolerate different points of view -- and there, deep skepticism remained the rule across the academic community.

Sleeping with the Enemy

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What happened between the Neanderthals and us?

The Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, in Leipzig, is a large, mostly glass building shaped a bit like a banana. The institute sits at the southern edge of the city, in a neighborhood that still very much bears the stamp of its East German past. If you walk down the street in one direction, you come to a block of Soviet-style apartment buildings; in the other, to a huge hall with a golden steeple, which used to be known as the Soviet Pavilion. (The pavilion is now empty.) In the lobby of the institute there’s a cafeteria and an exhibit on great apes. A TV in the cafeteria plays a live feed of the orangutans at the Leipzig Zoo.

Svante Pääbo heads the institute’s department of evolutionary genetics. He is tall and lanky, with a long face, a narrow chin, and bushy eyebrows, which he often raises to emphasize some sort of irony. Pääbo’s office is dominated by a life-size model of a Neanderthal skeleton, propped up so that its feet dangle over the floor, and by a larger-than-life-size portrait that his graduate students presented to him on his fiftieth birthday. Each of the students painted a piece of the portrait, the over-all effect of which is a surprisingly good likeness of Pääbo, but in mismatched colors that make it look as if he had a skin disease.
At any given moment, Pääbo has at least half a dozen research efforts in progress. When I visited him in May, he had one team analyzing DNA that had been obtained from a forty- or fifty-thousand-year-old finger bone found in Siberia, and another trying to extract DNA from a cache of equally ancient bones from China. A third team was slicing open the brains of mice that had been genetically engineered to produce a human protein.
In Pääbo’s mind, at least, these research efforts all hang together. They are attempts to solve a single problem in evolutionary genetics, which might, rather dizzyingly, be posed as: What made us the sort of animal that could create a transgenic mouse?
The question of what defines the human has, of course, been kicking around since Socrates, and probably a lot longer. If it has yet to be satisfactorily resolved, then this, Pääbo suspects, is because it has never been properly framed. “The challenge is to address the questions that are answerable,” he told me.
Pääbo’s most ambitious project to date, which he has assembled an international consortium to assist him with, is an attempt to sequence the entire genome of the Neanderthal. The project is about halfway complete and has already yielded some unsettling results, including the news, announced by Pääbo last year, that modern humans, before doing in the Neanderthals, must have interbred with them.
Once the Neanderthal genome is complete, scientists will be able to lay it gene by gene—indeed, base by base—against the human, and see where they diverge. At that point, Pääbo believes, an answer to the age-old question will finally be at hand. Neanderthals were very closely related to modern humans—so closely that we shared our prehistoric beds with them—and yet clearly they were not humans. Somewhere among the genetic disparities must lie the mutation or, more probably, mutations that define us. Pääbo already has a team scanning the two genomes, drawing up lists of likely candidates.

“I want to know what changed in fully modern humans, compared with Neanderthals, that made a difference,” he said. “What made it possible for us to build up these enormous societies, and spread around the globe, and develop the technology that I think no one can doubt is unique to humans. There has to be a genetic basis for that, and it is hiding somewhere in these lists.”

Pääbo, who is now fifty-six, grew up in Stockholm. His mother, a chemist, was an Estonian refugee. For a time, she worked in the laboratory of a biochemist named Sune Bergström, who later won a Nobel Prize. Pääbo was the product of a lab affair between the two, and, although he knew who his father was, he wasn’t supposed to discuss it. Bergström had a wife and another son; Pääbo’s mother, meanwhile, never married. Every Saturday, Bergström would visit Pääbo and take him for a walk in the woods, or somewhere else where he didn’t think he’d be recognized.

“Officially, at home, he worked on Saturday,” Pääbo told me. “It was really crazy. His wife knew. But they never talked about it. She never tried to call him at work on Saturdays.” As a child, Pääbo wasn’t particularly bothered by the whole arrangement; later, he occasionally threatened to knock on Bergström’s door. “I would say, ‘You have to tell your son—your other son—because he will find out sometime,’ ” he recalled. Bergström would promise to do this, but never followed through. (As a result, Bergström’s other son did not learn that Pääbo existed until shortly before Bergström’s death, in 2004.)
From an early age, Pääbo was interested in old things. He discovered that around fallen trees it was sometimes possible to find bits of pottery made by prehistoric Swedes, and he filled his room with potsherds. When he was a teen-ager, his mother took him to visit the Pyramids, and he was entranced. He enrolled at Uppsala University, planning to become an Egyptologist.

#Burma : Satellite Images Detail Destruction in Meiktila

Burma: Satellite Images Detail Destruction in Meiktila

 

 

 The Burmese government should thoroughly investigate and hold accountable those who incited and committed deadly violence in Meiktila in central Burma from March 20 to 22, 2013. Decisive government action to combat impunity, end discrimination, and promote tolerance among religious groups is needed to end the tide of attacks against Muslim communities.

An estimated 40 people were killed and 61 wounded in the clashes between Muslims and majority Buddhists in Meiktila in the Mandalay Region. Satellite images analysed by Human Rights Watch show the scale of the destruction: an estimated 828 buildings, the vast majority residences, were totally destroyed and at least 35 other buildings were partially destroyed. Areas with near total destruction were concentrated within three locations in Meiktila measuring more than 24 hectares in total area west and northeast of the city’s main market. The destruction appears similar to satellite imagery of towns affected by sectarian violence in Arakan State in 2012, in which arson attacks left large, clearly defined residential areas in ashes.

“The government should investigate responsibility for the violence in Meiktila and the failure of the police to stop wanton killings and the burning of entire neighborhoods,” said Brad Adams, Asia director. “Burma’s government should have learned the lessons of recent sectarian clashes in Arakan State and moved quickly to bolster the capacity of the police to contain violence and protect lives and property.”


Meiktila (Main Damage Area 1)
442 likely residential buildings destroyed or severely damaged.
Move the slider to compare images from before and after the violence.

Meiktila (Main Damage Area 2)
345 likely residential and commercial buildings destroyed and severely damaged
Move the slider to compare images from before and after the violence.

According to a needs assessment released by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of HumanitarianAffairs (OCHA), over 12,000 people were displaced by the violence in Meiktila and are in shelters around the town.
Since the Meiktila violence, attacks against Muslims have occurred elsewhere in central Burma, including Okpho, Gyobingauk, and Minhla townships of Pegu region. Soldiers reportedly fired warning shots in the air to disperse protesters in Pegu, and an estimated nine townships in Burma are under emergency provisions or curfew, limiting public assembly.
The spread of anti-Islamic sentiment and religious intolerance is a serious challenge to the rights of Muslims in Burma. Some well-known members of the Buddhist monkhood, or Sangha, have given sermons and distributed anti-Muslim tracts and directives that call on Buddhist residents to boycott Muslim businesses and shun contact with Muslim communities.
Burma’s 2008 Constitution contains provisions that ensure religious freedom and states that the government should “assist and protect the religions it recognizes to its utmost.” President Thein Sein’s office on March 28 called for “earnest effort[s] to control and address all forms of violence including instigations that lead to racial and religious tensions in the interest of the people in accord with the Constitution and existing laws.”
Such efforts need to be accompanied by strong measures, including holding those who planned, organized, and carried out the recent violence accountable, irrespective of the person’s position or the community from which they originate. The government should also make it clear that it will not tolerate incitement to violence, especially by clergy or others in positions of authority.
The government should also take urgent steps to ensure that the police respond impartially to violence. During the violence in Arakan State in June and October, police frequently sided with the majority Buddhist community against the minority Rohingya Muslim population. Frequently the police did nothing to stop the violence against Muslims and in many cases joined with Buddhist mobs to attack predominantly Muslim villages.
“Burma’s government and political, religious, and community leaders should demand an end to the hate speech that has fuelled violence and discrimination against communities in Burma’s fragile multicultural society,” Adams said. “Decisive government action according to the rule of law is critically important to deter extremists and anyone else using violence to further economic, religious, and political agendas.”

 

#yemen Smaller absolute In The world

Smaller absolute in the world facing her father to recover her money and save her sister

seems to be still a long way to go before the Yemeni girl, Nujood Ahdal , before they turn her dreams and reality to it.

After having gained fame after extracted the right of divorce from a husband associated with him against her will in the eight-year-old, Nujood finds itself again facing difficult circumstances with her ​​father, who put his hand on the money, and began planning to marry her baby sister.

Between her dream of becoming a lawyer defending the oppressed, press or pursue their rights, became Highlands - which has gained the title of the world's smallest absolute after they received the dislocation at the age of nine - in the heart of the new suffering, restore her father entered it.

The girl, who won the "Woman of the Year" in 2008 to become a symbol of all Yemeni in addressing early marriage, spoke to Mendoah site in Sanaa, she suffers today from beating her father to her and her sisters and her mother, after laying his hand on the full monthly amount which was received from the proceeds of selling novel written about Amabadtha caused by forcing them to marry.

Highlands lost money in the hands of her father

Nujood says, French publishing house that issued the novel translated into 19 languages ​​for their suffering, had been allocated a $ thousand dollars per month, in addition to providing a two-story house, securing education expenses.

But her father put his hand on the funds allocated to it, making it a material of living is very difficult.

She explains Nujood story, saying: "The father rented an apartment and shop on the first floor of the house, and combines it rents and puts it on his wives, and when I took Rent months to pay electricity and water bills so as not to separate us, shouted Ali and almost hit me .. was give me five thousand riyals ( about $ 25) then declined, and now my mother and my brothers live in difficult circumstances, because he spent on his wives, but I Voaich in my brother's house. "

She added: "I left home in search of safety from the screams and beatings that usually renewed when visiting my parents for the house, because he wants to output my mother and brothers of the house and soothe his wives."

She noted that the proceeds of the book up to her father's account, and spend it as he pleases, and said: "I have divorced one of his wives and marry another last year, and is now spent on his second and third wife .. But we have God."

Highlands: I no longer suffer only to my mother and my sister

And stresses the Highlands, which at the age of now 14 years, they are no longer hurting itself but "feared for her mother," and the fate of her sister small, Haifa, which at the age of now 13 years old, and wants her father to marry the brother of his wife last, which rejects Highlands .

Nujood says: "I support my sister not to marry, because I realized the existence of a legal age for marriage, and I do not like that tormented my sister like me."

And reveal Highlands, which preoccupied her story of millions around the world, all over the threat, saying: "miss my father when his wives for weeks and when it comes to home starts beating and problems, on one occasion Okhava Boukngerh .. my sister Haifa was forced to flee and resort to a uncles for two months, but returned home beyond because of increasing problems with my father and beat him for my mother. "

And conditions left to the school says Nujood, depriving her father of allocations for education, along with tense security situation during the recent demonstrations, and particularly measles region near the house, prevented the continuation of the study.

Also reported that it had received threats from a particular phone number, and had been prosecuted on one occasion when she returned from school, "which scared me in the absence of support me to achieve my ambition to return to school," according to the Highlands.

But Nujood still sticking to achieve the dream of educational attainment, she says: "I wish to travel out of Yemen, and go make me strong testimony to my father and in front of everyone."

Nujood lacks efforts lawyer

In the absence of a lawyer Shaza Nasser, which helped the art of legal battle and shared her award "Woman of the Year" "study abroad", did not find the boys Yemeni choice but to human rights activist Abdel-Alim Hamidi, who helped her to get ownership documents her home, as well as to extract passport.

Says Hamidi, who attended the meeting between CNN Arabic and Highlands, the latter facing many social problems, especially in light of the case of "ignorance and intolerance", which controls the case and their relationship with her family.

Nujood's father: boy and owned the right of the father

For his part, denied the father Nujood accusations by the daughter over placing his hand on the money and use it to link to the wives are new, and the attempt to coerce her younger sister for marriage.

Ali al-Ahdal for CNN Arabic: "I married my own money, I also borrowed from the people, and did not stretch out my hand to my daughter's money."

Ahdal reported that actually receive $ 900 out of thousand dollars Publishing House had pledged a month, and denied that he had acquired the full amount.

He said that amount is subject to the sharing, you get Nujood $ 500 of it, and the return of apartment and rental shop on the ground floor of the house back to them and to her mother.

Ahdal already acknowledged his desire to marry off his daughter Haifa, Nujood's younger sister, stressing that it already received her dowry, the amount of 500 thousand riyals (more than $ 2,300) from a man who Bouktabtha, "and was the disbursement of the whole family," he said.

He said: "I have the consent of the girl Haifa, her mother and her big brother Mohammad, a condition of this pony," he said, adding that if the family refused Haifa marriage, they should re-dowry that Qdoh.

Ahdal said he still pays 25 thousand riyals (116 dollars) rent the great house of his son Mohammed.

He argued: "The boy and have a king to his father .. or are they want Mkasemta in my children?"

By Nujood is still a long

And it seems, is still a long way to go Nujood to overcome the difficulties and achieve her dream, as it became clear that the access to freedom of divorce of man Ivegaha was various types of physical and psychological torment, what is the beginning of a journey of a thousand miles.

Baha’i in #egypt

January 2013- Despite the new year, Egyptian Minister of Education Ibrahim Deif reiterated his old comments about the (lack of) acceptance of Baha’i children in Egyptian government schools in an interview with the Egyptian newspaper “Al Akhbar al Yowm”.

The newspaper asked:

ما موقف الوزارة من أبناء من يعتنقون الديانة البهائية, و هل لهم الحق في الالتحاق بمدارسها بعد اعتراف الدستور الجديد بالديانات السماوية الثلاث فقط؟
What is the position of the Ministry regarding the children of Baha’is, and do they have the right to register in government schools after the recognition in the new constitution of only the three monotheistic religions (Islam, Christianity, and Judaism)?

The Minister of Education, Ibrahim Deif, replied:

 هناك ديانات ثلاث معترف بها، و لن أعتزف بأي ديانة أجري، والتربية الديانية مادة اساسية و إذا استطاعوا استيفاء شروط الالتحاق بالمدارس فأهلا و سهلا بهم، و من لا يرضي بشروطي فلا مكان له عندي لأن الديانات المعترف بها دستوريا هي الديانات السماوية الثلاث فقط ولم يعترف بسواها
[The monotheistic faiths] are only three recognized religions, and no other faiths are recognized.  Religion is a crucial subject in school, and if [a student] is able to full the conditions of enrollment in government schools, then they are welcome. However, there is no place for anyone who does not accept these conditions because the only constitutionally recognized religions are the monotheistic faiths, and no others.

If readers find the tautologically confusing and meaningless response of the Minister of Education frustrating, then so do many others. Professor Basma Moussa, a Baha’i activist in Egypt, has a response of her own to the Egyptian Minister:

I have a question for the Minister. What are these conditions that are required for a Baha’i child to enroll in a public school, a school that we all used to attend without conditions, a school from which we succeeded and went on to hold prominent positions that serve our dear country, Egypt?  According to the new constitution itself, education is the right of every child, so please tell us, what are your conditions for an education so that Baha’i parents can figure out how to enroll their children in Egyptian schools, school that are built from the taxes that are taken from us, like they are taken from all Egyptians without discrimination. Please respond, thank you.

The Minister of Education’s remarks are an echo of his comments to another newspaper on November 30th, where he claimed “State law in accordance with government procedures only recognizes three religions, and the Baha’i faith is not among them. Thus their children do not have the right to register in government schools.” His new comments add unidentified “conditions” to the enrollment of Baha’i children in school, which is in fact more dangerous than closing the door entirely.

By claiming that there is a vague method for inclusion, the Egyptian government has the ability to discriminate against Baha’i children and the entire Baha’i community while claiming that there is nothing inherently discriminatory about their laws. Just like the new constitution affirms that “Freedom of belief is an inviolable right” while denying the legitimacy of any faith other than Islam, Christianity, or Judaism, the Minister of Education’s comments pave the way for a discriminatory policy against Baha’is that is given constitutional legitimacy.

A practical guide to protecting your identity and security when using mobile phones

Many activists have been tracked via their mobile phones, and some countries conduct surveillance more extensively than others. You need to assess the risk for your own activities given the practices used in your country, how high-profile your work is, and what others in your community have experienced.

Phone companies have the capability to track and collect information about your use of mobile phones, including your location, and may share that information with the government if so requested. There is also the possibility of installing surveillance software on a phone that runs in the background without the user noticing. There is a risk of this, if your handset has been physically out of your hands for a period of time.

When your phone is on, it is constantly communicating the following information with towers nearby:

• The IMEI number – a number that uniquely identifies your phone’s hardware
• The IMSI number – a number that uniquely identifies the SIM card - this is what your phone number is tied to.
• The TMSI number, a temporary number that is re-assigned regularly according to location or coverage changes but can be tracked by commercially available eavesdropping systems.
• The network cell in which the phone is currently located. Cells can cover any area from a few meters to several kilometers, with much smaller cells in urban areas and even small cells in buildings that use a repeater aerial to improve signal indoors.
• The location of the subscriber within that cell, determined by triangulating the signal from nearby masts. Again, location accuracy depends on the size of the cell - the more masts in the area, the more accurate the positioning.

Because of this, when your phone is on and communicating with the network towers, it can be used as a surveillance device for those with access to the information that telecoms collect, including:

• Your phone calls received and sent
• Your SMS received and sent, including the information of senders and recipients
• Any data services you use (e.g., web browsing activities if not using HTTPS, unsecured instant messaging) as well as the volume of data transferred e.g., “did you upload to YouTube”)
• Your approximate location (from within a few meters to a few km depending upon density of towers)

It is important to note that if you think you are being tracked, it is not always enough to switch SIM cards, as you can be tracked by the ID (IMEI) of your mobile device/handset alone. There is also a lot of information on your phone that may be used against you if the phone is confiscated or taken from you. All mobile phones have a small amount of storage space on the SIM card, as well as internal phone memory. (In addition, some phones have a SD (or microSD) storage card for multimedia files.) In general, storing data on the SIM card and SD card (if available) is better than storing internally on the phone, because you can more easily remove and destroy

Data stored on your SIM, internal phone memory, and SD storage card (if present) include:

• Your phone book - contact names and telephone number
• Your call history - who you called, who called you, and what time the call was placed
• SMS you have sent or received
• Data from any applications you use, such as a calendar or to-do list
• Photos or video that you have taken using the phone camera, if your phones has one. Most phones store the time the photo was taken, and may also include location information.

For phones that allow web browsing, you should also consider how much of your browsing history is stored on the phone. If possible, do not keep a browsing history. Emails are a further potential danger should an attacker obtain access to the SIM card or phone memory.

Like the hard drive in a computer, the SIM memory of your mobile phone keeps any data ever saved on it until it is full, when old data gets written over. This means that even deleted SMS, call records and contacts can potentially be recovered from the SIM. (There is a free application to do this using a smartcard reader). The same applies to phones that have additional memory, either built into the phone or using a memory card. As a rule, the more storage a phone has, the longer deleted items will be retrievable.

So what does this mean for you?

Mobile phones can be powerful tools for activists, but they can also be incredible liabilities if the government or security forces are actively working with telecoms to track you. If you are in a country that uses mobiles extensively for surveillance, especially if you think you are being closely watched for high-profile activities, it’s recommended that you don’t use mobile phones to communicate. Conduct meetings face-to-face.

Ultimately, the risks you take are up to you: if you don’t think you’re being targeted as a high- profile activist or as part of a larger surveillance campaign and want to use your phone to communicate with fellow activists, record photos and video, or pass on information, you can use the following tactics:

• Create and use a code word system to communicate with fellow activists. Use “beeping” as a system for communication with fellow activists (calling once or twice and hanging up in order to let someone know you’ve arrived at a location, are safe, etc.)
• Don’t use the real names for fellow activists in your address book; give them numbers or pseudonyms. This way if your phone or SIM card is taken by security forces, they don’t have your entire network of fellow activists in hand.
• Bring back-up SIM cards with you to protests if you know they are being confiscated and it’s important that you have a working cell phone with you at an event. If you have to get rid of a SIM card, try to physically destroy it.
• If your phone can be locked with a password, use it. This can also be your SIM card’s PIN number: SIM cards comes with a default PIN number; if you can, change the default PIN number and enable PIN locking on your SIM. You’ll then be required to enter a password (your PIN number) each time you use your phone.
• If you think a protest is going to meet with an increased crackdown by security forces, you may want to put it in airplane mode while at an event; you won’t be able to send or receive calls, but you can still capture video and photographs and upload them to online sites later. This tactic is also useful if you think security forces are cracking down on everyone with a cell phone at an event. Later on the government can request call/SMS or data records for all individuals who were in a particular location at a particular time in order to perform mass arrests.
• Turn off location tracking and geotagging for various applications unless you are using this feature as part of a targeted project to geotag certain media at an event as part of an action. If you are using your cell phone to stream video live, turn off the GPS/geotagging option (Directions for Bambuser.)
• If you have a phone that runs on the Android Operating System, you can use a number of tools to encrypt web browsing, instant messaging, SMS, and voice calls via the tools created by the Guardian Project and Whispersys. When using your mobile device to browse the web, use HTTPS whenever possible.

Note for BlackBerry users:

BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion (RIM) provides two types of accounts with corresponding levels of encryption. For ordinary individual consumers, there has never been true end-to-end encryption on your BlackBerry communications – RIM or your mobile provider can always intercept your calls, emails, SMS, web browsing, etc. By way of contrast, enterprise users whose company uses a BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) will have end-to- end encryption on their email, messenger (BBM), and web browsing. However, if you’re an Enterprise user, keep in mind that whoever runs your company’s server, typically your IT admin, has the means to decrypt all of your communications, and there are a variety of legal (and not so legal) processes which a government can use to get your decrypted communications. Recently the UAE tried to force Research in Motion to give them the mechanism to decrypt all BlackBerry communications, but RIM has refused to do so. BlackBerry users should keep up to date on any news of negotiations between their government and RIM on these issues. They should also be aware of other attempts to intercept encrypted BlackBerry communications. In 2009, UAE’s Etisalat sent BlackBerry users an unofficial “update” that allowed the telecom to receive copies of all users’ messages. RIM soon sent users an update that removed the fraudulent software, but BlackBerry users should be aware of any suspicious software updates that do not come directly from RIM.

This article is an extract of Access Now handbook, A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO PROTECTING YOUR IDENTITY AND SECURITY ONLINE AND WHEN USING MOBILE PHONES. It was written for citizens in the Middle East and North Africa who want to use technology safely to communicate, organize, and share data (news reports, information, media, etc.) – but it can be used by anyone online anywhere who wants to protect their privacy and security. Download the complete handbook English, Russian, Vietnamese, Korean, Polski, Indonesian.

More resources

• Tactical Tech’s Mobiles in a Box (English)
• MobileActive’s Mobile Security Risks Primer (English)
• Jhack.info (English, French)

Files: 

protecting-security-online-english.pdf

protecting-security-online-russian.pdf

protecting-security-online-vietnamese.pdf

protecting-security-online-indonesian.pdf

protecting-security-online-korean.pdf

protecting-security-online-polski.pdf

The uprising of women in the Arab world انتفاضة المرأة في العالم العربي

This campaign certainly deserves our support. Islam will not become a safe religion for anyone until Muslim women are free to live their own lives, and here are some women who are determined to fight for their freedom. The Logo of the campaign (the woman’s hair is a map of the Arab world.)

Inspired by the Arab Spring uprisings, four Arab women have launched a campaign titled “The Uprising of Women in the Arab World,” aimed at gaining “freedom, independence and security” for Arab women. The campaign promotes gender equality in accordance with the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and calls to grant women freedom in the domains of expression, thought, schooling, employment, and the freedom to dress as they please, as well as political rights. The campaign’s Facebook page[1] features the full text of the Human Rights Declaration in Arabic, and there is also an official Twitter account.[2

 [Amongst those supporting the uprising is]
‘Alia Magda Al-Madhi from Egypt, who published nude photos of herself during the revolution in protest of oppression and attacks on freedom of expression: “I support The Uprising of Women in the Arab World because I was threatened with rape, incarceration, and murder. I was abducted, abused, and almost raped for posting an artful nude picture of myself and discussing women’s rights on my blog; for having sex with my lover; and for leaving my parents

I am with the uprising of women in the Arab world because I want to the society to see me first and foremost as a woman, before seeing me as a mother, a wife, a daughter"
Beirut, Lebanon - Zico House building, Sanayeh
March 8, 2013

ثماني مدن يقلن نعم لانتفاضة المرأة في العالم العربي
The Uprising of Women in the Arab World invades 8 Arab cities on March 8
(english below)

اليوم، الثامن من آذار/مارس 2013، تستيقظ كلّ من صنعاء وبيروت والقاهرة وتونس العاصمة وبنغازي وطنجة ورام الله وعمّان على صور نساء تغطي مبانٍ وتخاطب كل من تنظر/ينظر في عيونهن من المارّة. ستعلو صور النساء على مبنى وزارة الشباب والرياضة ومبنى مركزي بشارع السّتين في صنعاء باليمن، فندق السان جورج ومبنى زيكو هاوس في بيروت بلبنان، مبنى مكتبة مدبولي بميدان طلعت حرب في القاهرة بمصر، شارع 7 نوفمبر الطريق إكس باتجاه المطار في تونس العاصمة، مبنى وزارة التربية والتعليم في بنغازي بليبيا، مبنى الخزانة السينمائية بطنجة بالمغرب، ميدان المنارة في رام الله بفلسطين ومبنى في جبل الحسين بالقرب من دوّار الداخلية في عمّان بالأردن. ترتفع صور هذي النساء اليوم الجمعة، ليقلن بأن المرأة ليست عورة، ليقلن لا للتحرّش الجنسي ولا لكشوف العذريّة، ليصرخن بأنه من حق المرأة أن تمنح جنسيتها لزوجها وأبنائها كما الرجل، ليؤكدن بأنّهن كما شاركن في الثورات سيشاركن في بناء دولهنّ، ليستنهضن النساء والرجال للعمل سويّا من أجل نساء ينعمن بالحرية، الاستقلالية والأمان، ليقلن نعم لانتفاضة المرأة في العالم العربي. هذه اللافتات الضخمة هي مبادرة جديدة أطلقتها حركة "انتفاضة المرأة في العالم العربي" بمناسبة اليوم العالمي للمرأة. قامت بهذا النشاط مجموعة متطوّعة من ناشطات وناشطين مستقلين، بالتعاون مع مؤسسات ومبادرات منها "المرأة قضية وطن"-الأردن و"فلسطينيات" - فلسطين و"المرأة الجديدة" – مصر، بدعم من الفدرالية الدولية لحقوق الإنسان بالإضافة إلى أصحاب المباني المشاركة والخزانة السينمائية بطنجة. هذه الصور التي يتم تعليقها في الشارع العربي وفي يوم واحد هي رسالتنا لنندد بالظلم الذي تواجهه النساء في منطقتنا، لنحتفل بالنساء المنتفضات اللواتي يطالبن بحقوقهن ويدافعن عن حرياتهن، ولنؤكد على أن الثورات قامت من أجل الكرامة والعدالة والحرية، والمطالب الثلاثة هذه لا يمكن تحققها بتغييب المرأة عن المشهد العام.

Today, Friday March 8, 2013, the cities of Sanaa, Beirut, Cairo, Tunis, Benghazi, Tanger, Ramallah and Amman will woke up to pictures of women covering buildings and addressing each passer intersecting their gaze.
The women's pictures will be seen on:
- St Georges hotel as well as Zico House in Beirut, Lebanon;
- the Youth and Sports Ministry as well as a central building on the 60th Street in Sanaa, Yemen;
- Madboli Bookshop Building on Talaat Harb square in Cairo, Egypt;
- the Cinematheque of Tanger in Tanger, Morocco;
- the 7th of November Avenue, Route X, Airport, in Tunis, Tunisia;
- the Education Ministry in Benghazi, Libya;
- Manara Square in Ramallah, Palestine
- and Jabal al Hussein near Interior Affairs Ministry Circle in Amman, Jordan.
The photos raised on Friday March 8 will be stating that women are no shame. It will be saying no to sexual harassment, and no virginity tests. It will be crying out for women's right to give their nationality to their spouse and children. It will be reaffirming that women will participate in building their country, just like they have participated in the revolutions. It will be calling for women and men to work together for freedom, independence and safety of women. It will be saying a big YES to the uprising of women in the Arab world.
These huge banners are a new initiative launched by The Uprising of Women in the Arab World movement on International Women's Day. They are a joint action led by independent activists and organizations across the Arab world namely, "Almara' Kadiyyat Watan"-Jordan, "Filastiniyat"-Palestine, "New Woman Foundation"-Egypt, with the support of the International Federation of Human Rights in addition to the owners of the hosting buildings and the Cinematheque of Tangier-Morocco. These photos that will be raised on the same day in 8 cities around the Arab world are a message to denounce the injustice facing women in our region, to celebrate uprising women who are demanding their rights and defending their freedoms, and to emphasize that the Arab revolutions that were led in the name of dignity, justice and freedom, can not achieve their goals if women are being ignored or absented from the main scenery

على مبنى زيكو هاوس في بيروت: "أنا مع انتفاضة المرأة في العالم العربي لأني أريد أن يراني المجتمع كامرأة أولاً قبل أن يراني كأم، زوجة، ابنة"

"I am with the uprising of women in the Arab world because I want to the society to see me first and foremost as a woman, before seeing me as a mother, a wife, a daughter"

 

هذه اللافتات الضخمة هي مبادرة جديدة أطلقتها حركة "انتفاضة المرأة في العالم العربي" بمناسبة اليوم العالمي للمرأة. قامت بهذا النشاط مجموعة متطوّعة من ناشطات وناشطين مستقلين، بالتعاون مع مؤسسات ومبادرات منها "المرأة قضية وطن"-الأردن و"فلسطينيات" - فلسطين و"المرأة الجديدة" – مصر، بدعم من الفدرالية الدولية لحقوق الإنسان بالإضافة إلى أصحاب المباني المشاركة والخزانة السينمائية بطنجة. هذه الصور التي يتم تعليقها في الشارع العربي وفي يوم واحد هي رسالتنا لنندد بالظلم الذي تواجهه النساء في منطقتنا، لنحتفل بالنساء المنتفضات اللواتي يطالبن بحقوقهن ويدافعن عن حرياتهن، ولنؤكد على أن الثورات قامت من أجل الكرامة 

 والعدالة والحرية، والمطالب الثلاثة هذه لا يمكن تحققها بتغييب المرأة عن المشهد العام.

صورة ست البنات سميرة ابراهيم تعلو مبنى مكتبة مدبولي بميدان طلعت حرب في القاهرة بمصر.
المرأة رحم الثورات!

"I am with the uprising of women in the Arab world because she is the womb of revolutions"
Cairo, Egypt - Madboli Bookshop Building on Talaat Harb square

استيقظت تونس العاصمة اليوم في شارع 7 نوفمبر الطريق إكس باتجاه المطار على هذه الصورة وهي تخاطب كل من تنظر/ينظر في عيونها من المارّة.

"I am with the uprising of women because I am the revolution, I am not a shame"
Tunis, Tunisia - 7th of November Avenue, Route X, Airport
March 8, 2013

أما عمّان فقد استيقظت على هذه الصورة تعلو مبنى في جبل الحسين بالقرب من دوّار الداخلية في عاصمة الأردن.

"I am with the uprising of women in the Arab world because I am Jordanian and my nationally is a right for my children"
Amman, Jordan - Jabal al Hussein near Interior Affairs Ministry Circle
March 8, 2013

صورة ضخمة تعلو ميدان المنارة في رام الله بفلسطين: أنا مع انتفاضة المرأة العربية لاني فلسطينية ناضلت وأناضل وسأناضل حتى تحقيق الحرية والمساواة

"I am with the uprising of women in the Arab world because I have struggled, I am struggling and I will struggle to achieve freedom and equality"
Ramallah, Palestine - Manara Square
March 8, 2013

 

 صورة تعلو مبنى وزارة التربية والتعليم قيد الانشاء في بنغازي بليبيا.

"We are with the uprising of women in the Arab world
Just like we were part of the revolution, we will be part of building the State"
Benghazi, Libya - building under construction of the Ministry of Education

صورة تعلو مبنى السان جورج في بيروت تقول: "أنا مع انتفاضة المرأة في العالم العربي لأنو ما في اي سبب يمنعني كامرأة لبنانية من اني أعطي الجنسية لأولادي"

"I am with the uprising of women in the Arab world because I don't see any reason why I shouldn't be able to give my nationality to my children"
Beirut, Lebanon - St Georges Hotel, Ain El Mraisse
March 8, 2013

صورة على مبنى مركزي في شارع السّتين في صنعاء باليمن

"I am with the uprising of women in the Arab world because I will not hesitate in demanding my rights"
Sanaa, Yemen
March 8, 2013

 

على مبنى السينما في طنجة، تقول مروة: "أنا مع انتفاضة المرأة في العالم العربي لأني لن أصمت أمام التحرش الجنسي الذي اتعرض له يومياً في الشارع"

"I am with the uprising of women in the Arab world because I won''t stay silent facing the sexual harassment that I endure every day in the streets"
Tanger, Morocco - Cinémathèque of Tanger
March 8, 2013

"أنا مع إنتفاضة المرأة في العالم العربي لأنني حكمت اليمن وما زلت أمتلك القدرة والحكمة"
صنعاء، اليمن

   

Egyptian tourism targeted intentionally #egypt

After attacks on hotels and tourism sites in several areas in Egypt under the pretext of protests, Egyptian 

economic experts have asserted that the country's tourism industry is being targeted intentionally. The main target, they say, is the economy, which is unlikely to revive as long as there is daily turmoil on the streets of Egypt and security officers are deployed everywhere.

Many tourist hotels have been targeted during demonstrations called by the National Salvation Front (NSF). Analysts say that the NSF, which has never condemned the destructive attacks, provides a political cover for the violence. According to the Professor of International Relations at Cairo University, Mohammed Hussein, "The series of attacks on tourist hotels is carried out by paid vandals and they serve only to damage the tourism industry in Egypt."  He suggested that the reason is because tourism is one thing which can revive the Egyptian economy.

Prof. Hussein pointed to the role of the mass media, which projects what is carried out by the criminals as some kind of national achievement because they claim to be fighting for freedom. "However, they are just a few thousand, whereas the mass media speaks about millions taking to the streets," he said.

The head of the economic committee at the Chamber of Tourism Companies, Basel Al-Sisi, described the targeting of hotels as a "disaster" for the industry. Some tourism companies will be forced to make staff cuts if the attacks continue, he warned. Al-Sisi called for greater protection for hotels and for the security services to investigate attacks and arrest the culprits.

The Egyptian tourism industry has been suffering severe losses since the revolution which toppled former president Hosni Mubarak. It faces further difficulties after today's hot air balloon crash in which 19 foreign tourists were killed.

Eyewitnesses saw #Egypt balloon crash victims 'jump into the sky'

Eyewitnesses saw Egypt balloon crash victims 'jump into the sky'

 

 

  

Nineteen people were killed when a hot air balloon carrying 20 tourists exploded Tuesday morning in Luxor, Egypt. Eyewitnesses were able to take photos just minutes before and after the tragedy, and told FRANCE 24 what they saw.

The balloon was flying at an altitude of 300 metres over eastern Luxor, in south-eastern Egypt. The travel company that organised the trip says the victims are from France, Great Britain, Japan and Hong Kong. Two survivors – one of whom was the balloon’s pilot – were taken to a local hospital, according to an Egyptian security official.

When the person who took this photograph arrived a the scene, field workers were rushing to help the victims. Photo by Mahmoud Salem.

Mahmoud took the first photos of the crash, just after rescue personnel arrived on the scene.

“The field workers that are in my photos saw the hot air balloon suddenly explode, and saw passengers jump out of the basket. Someone from the company that organised the ride told me that a British person had survived. Fire-fighters arrived very quickly, as well as the governor of Luxor. Many people came to help get the bodies out of the fields.”

Pieces of the hot air balloon were strewn along the countryside in Luxor. These weights were reportedly thrown from the balloon as the pilot tried to regain altitude. Photo by Mahmoud Salem.

Moustafa works for the travel company that organised the hot air balloon ride.

I saw a fire in the balloon’s basket. Due to the fire, the balloon lost [altitude]. It was out of control. It jerked up and dropped down again 30 metres. There were some people jumping from the balloon and falling into the sugar cane fields before it crashed.

I know the pilot – he’s a good pilot. The problem wasn’t him, it was the balloon – what could he do? Everyone in our company is shocked and very sad about what’s happened.

Forty minutes before the tragedy, a trouist took this photo of one of the company's hot air balloons. Photo published on Twitter by samy qaid .

Protest Torture & Zero Dark Thirty

 

  "Zero never acknowledges that torture is immoral and criminal. It does portray torture as getting results."

• Click here to download flyer to take to your local movie theater in protest. 

 

 

• Click here for series of posters of Guantanamo prisoners cleared for release yet still unjustly held.

Here are some of the articles and opinion pieces outlining why people of conscience must take a stand against the justification and use of torture:

Michael Moore’s Repellent Defense of “Zero Dark Thirty
by Dave Clennon

Instead of being indicted, these torturers are presented as heroes, as brave and dedicated “detectives.”  No one gives Maya or Dan the kind of scolding, which you envision Obama giving, off-screen.  Chastain’s Maya, is presented as especially admirable, a feminist action hero.  She not only gets her man; she also muscles CIA male chauvinists out of the way, as she pushes ahead on “The Greatest Manhunt in History.”  And we’re supposed to empathize and cheer her on.

On Zero Dark Thirty
by James Spione

That a movie which at its core is essentially a revenge flick—evil guy kills innocents, heroine stops at nothing to kill evil guy—is even being compared to journalism by its makers or anyone else says more about the sorry state of journalism today than it does about the film.

The Zero Dark Thirty Controversy
by Ramzi Kassem

"The controversy surrounding Zero Dark Thirty has been as misguided as the film itself, which opened nationwide on Friday. Much of the debate has centered on whether The Hurt Locker director Kathryn Bigelow's latest opus leaves viewers with the false impression that torture led to the killing of Usama bin Laden. That both the means employed and the ends achieved in that equation are illegal and repugnant seems all but forgotten. Both torture and extrajudicial executions are anathema to civilized society, irrespective of their possible efficacy or expediency. More importantly, both the film and the controversy it has ignited treat torture at secret CIA prisons as though it were a thing of the past, masking the reality of an enduring practice."

Zero Dark Thirty and Truthiness
by Dennis Loo

"Bigelow, Boal, and Sony thus have portrayed the criticism of their film as censorship and wrapped themselves in the flag of free expression. But the opposition their film has sparked is not about censorship at all and their characterizing their critics as censorious is dishonest. People who oppose torture want torture to be shown to the American people. The fine 2007 film Rendition, for example, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Meryl Streep, and Reese Witherspoon, showed torture and was appreciated by those of us who admire well-made films and oppose torture’s immorality and illegality."

Colbert Takes On 'Zero Dark Thirty' Torture Controversy (VIDEO)

And the Academy Award for the Promotion of Torture Goes to…
by David Clennon

"Those who are protesting the easy tolerance of torture in Zero Dark Thirty have been dismissed by some commentators as having a political agenda. The problem of torture is not political. It's moral. And it's criminal.
I'm a member of Hollywood's Motion Picture Academy. At the risk of being expelled for disclosing my intentions, I will not be voting for Zero Dark Thirty - in any Academy Awards category."

Zero Dark Thirty: Turning the Spotlight on US Use of Torture
by Ralph E. Stone

"Extraordinary renditions apparently continue to this day.  These are secret abductions and transfers of prisoners to other countries where torture is used. Torture is torture whether it is done by Americans at Guantánamo Bay, Abu Ghraib, Afghanistan, or by proxy through our rendition program."

Martin Sheen, Ed Asner Join 'Zero Dark Thirty' Protest

Above, protesting at the opening of Zero Dark Thirty in NYC December 19, 2013

Dark, Zero-Feminism
by Zillah Eisenstein

"...the real problem with ZDT is that it lets the audience and the American public think that terrible things are allowable because they are doable.   A courageous telling of the U.S. anti-terror narrative would demand critique and defiance."

A letter to Kathryn Bigelow on Zero Dark Thirty's apology for torture
by Naomi Wolf

"By peddling the lie that CIA detentions led to Bin Laden's killing, you have become a Leni Riefenstahl-like propagandist of torture"

a critical choiceby Curt Wechsler

"The public "controversy" whipped up by release of the new torture movie Zero Dark Thirty is actually a re-hash of an argument that had largely been put to bed, that torture works to extract reliable intelligence from suspected terrorists (and even if it did, would that make the practice morally acceptable?) But torture IS effective in getting subjects to say what you want them to say, to fabricate rationale for government venture, such as the ultimate war crime of aggression on sovereign nations that pose no imminent threat."

Listen to Debra Sweet discuss the film on Flashpoints, KPFA (at 42:00 into the show).

Zero Dark Thirty: the Veneration of Torture and the C.I.A.
by Glenn Greenwald

Zero Conscience in “Zero Dark Thirty”
by Jane Mayer

Zero Dark Thirty: Torturing the Facts
by Marjorie Cohn

Torture is Wrongby Debra Sweet

Torture, Torture Everywhere
by Andy Worthington

Zero Dark Thirty's Wrong and Dangerous Conclusion
by Alex Gibney

Who will join me in protesting CIA's view of the world?by Debra Sweet

Ending U.S.-Sponsored Torture Forever from NRCAT on Vimeo.