On June 2009 Berkman Center’s Internet & Democracy team published a study that analyzes and maps the dynamics of the Arabic blogsphere. The research included 35,000 active Arabic blogs across 18 countries in the Arab-speaking region and the goal for the study was to:

Produce a baseline assessment of the networked public sphere in the Arab Middle East, and its relationship to a range of emergent issues, including politics, media, religion, culture, and international affairs.

So here’s the map of the study:

As you can see, some of us, Arab-speaking bloggers, are categorized into “Muslim Brotherhood” bloggers, “Secular reformist” bloggers, and “Islam focused” bloggers. The rest of the categorization is country-based.

First, I am not sure why the word “reformist” is associated with the word “secular”, are seculars inherently reformists? and what are they reforming exactly? that fact that our societies are not secular? and for some reason, that what needs to be reformed in our region? I am not sure why “secular” bloggers can be “reformists” while “Muslim Brotherhood” bloggers or “Islam focused” bloggers cannot. Can’t Islam be reformist?

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قال يا ستّي هداك النهار فيقتني رفيقتي من النوم, قال رزان قومي لشوف غسلي وشك وتعي لعندي عالبيت, كانت الساعة شي 10 الصبح, وكنت جاية من بيروت من يوم ملعون نفسي بدي بس نام, ماعرفت نام طبعا كرمال الخوشبوشية السورية.

قلنا ماشي الحال, فقنا وتحممنا ولبسنا وركبنا هالميكرو ياللي بوشو عالجديدة. رفيقتي نقلت من سكنا القديم لسكنا الجديد, وانا طبعا من هدول العالم ياللي بضيعو شي 15 مرة قبل ما يحفظو طريق جديد. وانا ضايعة بالجديدة, سمعت صوت معزاية, طلعت هيك لورا ولا لقيتلكن راس هالمعزاية علقان بين درابزين السوزوكي, المخلوقة ماعم تقدر تطلع راسا والله أعلم قديش صرلا هيك. وانا طبعا ما عاد همني انو انا ضايعة بالجديدة ورفيقتي عم تستناني, المعزة علقان راسا!

وقفت هيك بنص الطريق وبلشت اطلع فيها, كيف بدي طلع راسا من الدرابزين؟

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Excellent piece written by Rasha Moumneh, a researcher for the MENA region at Human Rights Watch and an LGTB activist in Lebanon. Read the whole article here.

A few weeks ago I was introduced to a gay European activist, a lovely, earnest, well meaning fellow who had this insight about Iran to share with me; he said: “you know, something has changed for the average person in your average Western democracy. We now see that people in Iran wear Chanel sunglasses and high heels and use mobile phones just like us, and that’s led to an amazing transformation. They’re like us, we can relate to them now, we can support them.” Of course he was making a point about how the media has the ability to shatter stereotypes, but that statement in itself is so incredibly loaded. Does that mean that if they didn’t possess the trappings of “modernization” then people from Europe would be less likely to support them? Or that “like us” amounts to having the latest mobile phone? Or that we need to start proving our credentials in order to earn European support?

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