International Women's Day

It is true that several days have passed on this occasion but this cause is an everlasting one not restricted by specific dates or events. This post has been co-written by both contributors of this blog; ZiZi Omeirat and Jad Hamdan.

Her point of view:

It is not a day on which wives, girlfriends, daughters and moms receive gifts (we have special days for that) but a day on which we look at the position of women in the world 100 years ago, the progress they have accomplished and the things that still need to be done! It was 1908 when 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights; and this is how the movement began. Year after year, more women cooperated with each other and marched towards the call of their freedom and equal rights until March 8th was declared an international day for women!

But it seems that after the year 2000 the wheel has stopped or at least slowed down. It is true that now women constitute a more active category than before through their emergence to the field of work and politics etc. but that’s not enough. There are still a lot of women in the world deprived from their basics rights with no laws protecting them. Recall for example:

•Unemployment just because they are females

•Lower salaries just because they are females

•The need for their husbands’ permission to get a passport

•Do you know that Article 209 of country X’s Constitution states that woman's life is valued only half as much as a man's life? (yeah believe that)

•Do you know that article 522 of the Lebanese Penal Code cancels prosecution of the rapist if a marriage is offered to the victim? What a way to encourage the man to abuse a woman and force her to marry him!

•And what about nationality laws, social compensation laws and many other?

With all that it is weird to see a lot of people who still don’t know about this day and don’t appreciate it! Well, all what I can say is that not giving women the rights and opportunities they deserve is a fear of the powers and capabilities they have!

His point of view:

In addition to the above, without any kind of disagreement with what women should have in terms of rights and everything. Some men still cannot acknowledge a woman as an active person in life, they consider her more like a gadget or, dare I say, a means to an end (the end being reproduction). But, on the other hand, a lot of women take that right of being equal and drive it to the extreme!

If you open up a door for her: “Hey!! I have hands to do that for myself”

If you pick up the check: “We are in 2011 dude!! I work and I can pay for myself!”

You know what I mean, with many other examples… Feminism is an amazing initiative that gave women a lot of their lost rights, whether they were lost due to some twisted religious explanation, or just based on a certain “sick” tradition that got stuck into some men heads!

The point is to seek equality, justice and respect for women, but never similarity.

The Net is Slow

While browsing the net, and in accordance with the @OntorNet campaign that just kicked off in Lebanon, I came across, in a forum, lyrics inspired by the song "Let it Snow!". I STOLE (God forgive me) the idea; tweaked, edited and customized it to suit the Lebanese internet connection speed:

Oh, the network in Lebanon is frightful,

And it makes my life so stressful,

Our packets have no place to go,

Net is slow, net is slow, net is slow.

It doesn't show signs of stopping,

All those packets our hosts are dropping;

Bandwidth is turned way down low,

Net is slow, net is slow, net is slow.

I don't wanna stay up all night,

I just wanna submit this form;

A decent connection is my right,

not one that cuts with every storm

The network is slowly dying,

And, I fear, we're still denying,

But as long as snail's the way to go,

Net is slow, net is slow, net is slow.

When Social Media Takes Sides!

With all the mayhem that’s happening in the MENA region, something is appearing repetitively in all the "revolts"; twitter, facebook, etc…

In a nutshell, if you're trending on the social media platforms it’s either your going UP, or most probably (nowadays) you're going DOWN! In order not to exaggerate, it might just mean that something is cooking and the word is getting out.

In this information age, nothing remains hidden, as much as nothing remains clear. To those that were following the massive (sometimes bloody) protests that are happening to overturn dictators, kings, sultans, revolution leader, etc (you name it)… have probably noticed how everything on the internet becomes like a rolling snowball:

1)      Hastags are created

a.       For every event, a corresponding hashtag is directly created to attribute a specified search criterion, mainly for those that want to know more about this subject or to those that want to update the globe with news regarding it.

b.      Hashtags have been personalized in a way that WILL mark history, bearing the name of a protest martyr, or the date where that revolution started, or simply a pointer to the place of origin of that special massive event

2)      Workgroups are initialized:

a.       You will see a bunch of people, peeps, tweeps, users…. That are getting along together (not necessarily physically, virtually is enough) to try and help as much as they can in providing the maximum amount of information (stop404.org) to all those interested in that particular subject, and the fever catches those not interested too just because of the traffic people are generating on the internet.

b.      Other than sharing information, workgroups have been started to actually help. Help in what when your behind a PC? Well, some have started missing persons list (@samerkaram). others have went on field and in the midst of the action to provide a live news coverage, not like the one a reporter would normally do but a coverage coming from people truly engaged in the action (@bloggerseif, @sarahkaram1)

3)      Alternatives found:

a.       The recent happenings have proved how easy it is to pull the plug off the internet, but not as easy to silence people. During a complete communications blackout, just get your hands on any telephone, call a number provided by the giant Google, your words are transformed and routed through the internet cloud for everyone to see.

Now this post is neither to state facts all of you already noticed, nor to praise people that have really worked (whether in good intentions or bad ones) to share what’s happening on the ground. It’s merely to state a change in the usual ways of information sharing especially that in addition to the users that are updating the whole world on what’s happening, major news agencies have followed the same pattern where their breaking and live news coverage sometimes reached the social media platforms before they even broadcast it on their TV/Radio stations, noting that they adjusted their news to the tags created by the users who initially started broadcasting the information.

But a couple of things arise from all of the above, the accuracy of the news shared, and that some people might use these platforms to spread some misleading info. Plus, we just need to hope that this new un-Orthodoxe way of acting doesn’t promote what @abzzyy referred to as “couch activism” because that’s when protests won’t make a difference no more!

 But the point remains; you don’t have Facebook and twitter (amongst other tools) on your side… You’re days are numbered!

Don't Stop

For more than 30 years I have looked at Egypt as the old mother whom kids have given up on! 80 million persons, 80 million descendants of those that changed the course of history, 80 million descendants of those that contributed to the wealth of the world’s culture, 80 million descendants of those that do not back down off their right, 80 million descendants of those that stood in face of tyranny and oppression, that stood in the face of wrong to make a right, that bled on its ground to make a change, showing the whole world what a real Arabic society is! A society of openness, of freedom! I saw these 80 million give up for 30 years!! Busy with searching for food without removing the causes of their poverty, searching for ways to fight with each other instead of fighting the regime that is throwing knives in their backs while allegedly protecting them!

On Jan25 you started your revolution, your voice broke through all walls, despite the blackouts and suffocations, despite the threats and violence you were heard! For once, u shook the very existence of a regime that was built on fear and constant intimidation!

 You’re getting closer to achieve your goals, you’re getting close to gain your freedom, and you’re getting closer to getting your rights! Don’t give up, not now. The regime started compromising; you’re getting closer!!! Don’t give up now! You’re making history; you’re giving the nation that is dubbed “The Mother of the World” a reason for that name after your oppressors made that calling a meaningless for more than 30 years. You’re in path for change, change is never easy!

But this post is to tell you that you’re not alone!! If u had a look at the timeline you will see that everyone is supporting you;

• Fellow Tweeps (@bloggerseif, @sarahkaram1) went to Egypt to be with you (those are the ones that I know)
• Activists are making your voices heard (literally) stop404.org (via @trellaLB)
• Google created workarounds for you
• Media collaborated for you
• People are tweeting and blogging about you (for you and your cause) from all over the world (#Jan25, #Egypt)

Those are example of people that are helping you make history, to provide you with support in any way they can. Continue your struggle; continue your fight, a fight to ensure freedom to you and your own descendants.

You've been handed a great and glorious land… That doesn't back down! Don’t Back down!