“Oppression is oppressed”

By:Nada Moselhy

“Don’t worry Am not going take your car license, am just going to take the driver’s to give him a lesson” This was the police officer answer to me when me and Yasmin went out of the Shepherd Hotel and found that he is taking the car license and the driver license from my driver!
“Are you out?”
“I just arrived, come because it’s not allowed to wait here for long” My driver replied.

I came out and saw the police security officer taking the license from my driver. It didn’t take me a minute to go out!!

So are people supposed to fly in to their cars or out of it so that the driver won’t take a minute to wait! Anyway, the police officer insisted on taking my driver license not because he waited for me, but because he was not very polite. I called my mum and she told me just pay the fine and take the license. I was totally confused on what to do. So I voluntarily asked, how much is the fine to give us the license? The police officer replied “50 pounds”

I gave my driver 50 pounds to go to another officer who has the license with him to pay and take it, and after three minutes he came back to me saying “He wants 100 pounds not 50!!!” We’re waiting for like 15 minutes just to take the license and the police didn’t stand that the driver will wait for like one minute and decided to punish him!!

I can imagine that my driver maybe replied to the police officer in a provocative tone, and usually anyone driving tries not to provoke any officer to avoid something like that to happen.

The use of power and oppression is such an annoying situation, I watched my driver literally begging the police officer just to give him back the license.

Later on that same day all the Boot Camp students got to meet Ayman Nour, who ran for presidency in 2005, was jailed for some time, and just got out of prison few months ago. I remember him saying “Even oppression is oppressed in Egypt” and when he said that I remembered the morning situation.

Boot Camp visits the Pyramids

This Is How We Do It: Getting Around in Cairo

Photos: Jillian Sloan

We cram ridiculous amounts of people in cars...



Ride small public buses with zero personal space and loud Arabic tunes...And have been spotted mingling with camels in the desert.

More funny transportation methods to come.

Journalists: Shapers of Perceptions

The Pope hates condoms and Muslims are terrorists. Right? Check the Internet or read the headlines before answering.

These concepts are less about truth and more about perceptions. These perceptions, in a way, are shaped by the media and consequently shape the public. Many of the problems between the Middle East and the West are (in part) perceived to be based on religious or cultural clashes. West v. East. Christian v. Muslim. White v. Brown.

Remedying these perceptions was the topic of “Us and They: Public Perceptions and How to Change Them” held Sunday, the second day of the Cairo Global Leadership Conference. Here, the speakers pointed to the media as both the cause and the cure for the status quo.

Roland Schatz, co-founder of Media Tenor International, and his colleagues pointed to the media’s “if it bleeds, it leads” news coverage, its culturally uniformed reporting and its reinforcement of stereotypes as furthering the gap between the West and East.

To counter this, the C-1 World Dialogue developed a strategy similar to a public relations campaign, only for cultures. Schatz, one of the co-founders of the C-1 dialogue, said to get positive news of interfaith relations above cultural clashes is possible by having larger and more newsworthy events for journalists to report on. When clashes occur, he proposed having mechanisms in place for the media, such as reliable sources available, to provide context to the situation.

There was some defense of the media by journalists present at the Sunday round table session.

“I feel very strongly that one has to be very cautious on relying on just the media to change perceptions,” said Jill Porter. “The press, in this part of the world anyway, often relies on opinion rather than facts and reliable opinion and this in turn reinforces stereotypes. I would suggest, to some extent, moving away from the focus on the media to shift the focus on education.”

Schatz also argued that cultures and religions need to educate their journalists, which the C-1 World Dialogue has begun to provide via seminars in Europe, Africa and the United States.

This discussion carried over into Monday morning’s press conference for the debut of the C-1 Annual Dialogue Report, which chronicles how trends in the media correlate to a society’s willingness to engage in interfaith and intercultural dialogue. The Reverend Canon Alistair Macdonald-Radcliff, director general of the C-1 World Dialogue and Abdallah Schleifer, AUC Journalism professor and a prominent member of the Middle East media, returned with Schatz to lead the press conference.

They were briefly joined by H.E. Ali Gomaa the Grand Mufti of Egypt, co-chair of the C-1 World Dialogue. Who had little time to chat with reporters from the AUC Journalism Bootcamp.

“We need profound change … to move religious discourse from aggressive and negative attitudes towards other religions, to the spirit of tolerance and co-existence,” Gomaa said in response to data in the report showing that 45 percent of Egyptians have negative perceptions of Christians.

Is anyone following you?

Only because I was at a meeting with Dr. Mohamed Habib - the first deputy chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood - yesterday, I never got any calls from my friends who used to call me on daily basis. So later on I called some and that's what I heard : 

My Palestinian friend asked "Are you sure no one is following you? What did you ask Muhammad Habib? Are you sure you'll be fine? "

My Iraqi friend said " What the heck ? Why did you go there ? These people are really dangerous."

My Egyptian friend said " I didn't call you because I felt for some reason you'd be arrested... and if they saw my phone number on your cell phone they'd suspect me."

I read a lot about the Muslim Brotherhood and I was really happy when we were at the meeting with Habib. I've always wanted to make sure how these people think and deal with others. I would say this is how a real Muslim should be like.

Muslim Brotherhood Visit Photos

Photos By: Cliff Cheney

We met with Mohamed Habib of the Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo on Monday for an informal question and answer session.





One of our own, Hind Al-Sulaiti, was drafted for translation duties when the professional translator did not arrive.

Whirling toward peace

The drumbeat began to slow. Men in white ringed the stage and turned back and forth to the beat, banging on large tambourines in time with the music. In the center, green shirt drenched in sweat, quilt-like skirt flying, one arm reached toward the sky and the other toward earth, the dervish was whirling.

As a kid, I used to stand in one spot in the kitchen and turn around endlessly. I would practice my spotting – a technique used in dance to avoid dizziness. Faster and faster I would spin, whipping my head around and around, transfixed by the same spot on the wall. I could last maybe five or ten minutes.

Last night I watched a man spin around for nearly forty-five minutes. He wasn’t spotting. Somehow, he managed to walk off the stage upright. To me it was remarkable. To him it was meditation.



The Mevlevi order of Sufis believes that whirling can bring one to a state of nirvana, the kemal. By spinning for long periods of time and focusing on the music and God, the semazen can abandon his ego and desires. It’s a way to grow closer to God and embrace God’s presence. The religious experience can last hours, so apparently forty-five minutes is the shortened, tourist-friendly version.

Sufis are generally characterized as the mystical sect of Islam. As my Muslim roommate Yasmin says, “Sufis are so chill.” They certainly seemed to be. The show started with dancing, music, and many smiles; as it progressed most of the dancers seemed to be elsewhere; their body was moving through the steps but their faces were deep in meditation, focused on some thing no one in the audience could see. The peace that came over them was far away from the cacophony of noises outside.

Cairo is a place of never-ending noise. There is always a car honking its horn. There are always shopkeepers in the market shouting things like “Welcome to Alaska!” and “Do you want to spend more money? I can help!” As I sit here, in our hotel lobby, I can hear silverware clanging, a phone ringing, and the low hum of what might be an air conditioner.

Last night we left the noise behind. That is, after five of us bargained for a cab, piled into the hunk of junk that emitted less than comforting noises, exited on a noisy street and got a little lost, and entered the standing-room-only courtyard thirty minutes before the free 8:30 p.m. performance. The crowd noise finally died down once the noise of singing, drums, and flutes began. Even the colors of the skirts seemed to contribute to the noise of the night. But looking up at the semazen, eyes closed, arms outstretched, I saw silence.

Somehow I doubt spinning in my hotel room will have the same effect.

Four star digs, courtesy Swine Flu

By Alexandra Moe

When I first entered my hotel room at the Shepheard Hotel in Cairo, I was in disbelief at the view. After hearing about the cases of swine flu in the dormitories of AUC, Caroline rescheduled our group to stay at the Shepheard in downtown Cairo. None of us thought that would translate into staying at a four-star hotel overlooking the Nile.

Small balconies with tables and chairs adorn each Nile-front room. It is breathtaking to sit outside and admire the skyline of Cairo and watch the cruise liners float down the river. I can’t say it is an all-around peaceful experience, as there is a major road beneath us on which drivers are constantly honking and slamming on their breaks - we definitely get a firsthand look at how people drive from up on the balcony.

My roommate Jen and I really enjoy relaxing on our balcony, sitting outside and enjoying the scenery. We have eaten dinner on the balcony, written postcards, and chatted about our experiences. It is surreal. We have been learning about the Nile since second grade and now we are staying in a hotel that overlooks it.

The view isn’t the only good aspect of the Shepheard Hotel, but is definitely what I consider to be the best.

The hotel was built in 1841 and has been a staple in the city ever since. In 1952, a fire damaged the hotel but the building was successfully restored. It has very historic architecture that is quite charming. With 300 rooms and six restaurants, plus numerous conference rooms, the hotel offers something for everyone. Many in our group love to sit on the 10th floor outdoors at The Terrace, sipping on Egyptian beer and smoking shisha while taking in the distinct-smelling air of Cairo and watching the Nile. In the lobby there are gift shops, a casino, and a small bank.

If I stopped writing now, the Shepheard Hotel would seem flawless and perfect, but it has its downfalls too.

The biggest hassle is Internet access. “I wish the Internet would work,” said Rachel, another student in our group. Being students, not to mention journalists, we rely on the Internet constantly to stay connected with family and friends and report on our stories. Back at our compound in Qatar, we took our wireless access for granted. Here in Cairo, Internet is only available in the lobby and mezzanine level of the hotel, causing all of us grief. The wireless is also spotty and consistently delayed. We are making the best of the situation but the lack of wireless and the quality of it is unfortunate.

Having said that, the hotel has been around for a while and undoubtedly is very old. But that is no excuse for not updating. Our room has a broken drain, another room has a broken toilet, and yet another has a broken doorknob. The elevators are slow, the chairs uncomfortable, and there is only one key per room. Perhaps I am just accustomed to hotels in America, but the issues we have with the Shepheard, a four-star hotel, seem as if they could be fixed relatively easily if the management wanted. We had to call three times until someone came to look at our drain and they still were unable to fix it. That seems unacceptable at such a well-known hotel.

Yet even with the poor wireless and broken appliances, I would not give up staying at the Shepheard Hotel. We are in the heart of downtown Cairo at a historic hotel with a breathtaking view of the Nile at a great price—what more could a tourist ask for?

"The policy we were longing for from America"

By Jennifer Cupp

The United States and the Arab world have a historic opportunity to enter into a new era of relations, said Ahmed Maher, the former Egyptian Foreign Minister, at a discussion on the Middle East and globalization on Saturday in Cairo.

The U.S. ambassador to Egypt, Margaret Scobey, joined Maher in his comments about the Obama administration’s emerging policy toward the Middle East. They spoke as part of a the Cairo Global Leadership Conference on globalization and the Middle East, hosted by Egypt’s International Economic Forum and Yale World Fellows Program.

Already, Obama’s response to the elections in Iran and the agenda he put forth in his recent speech in Cairo have given many Arabs hope for a new dialogue between the United States and countries in the Middle East, Maher said.

The Bush administration refused to meet with Iranian leaders until they met certain conditions. Under this administration, U.S. tensions with Iran escalated. The Obama administration is taking a different approach, with Obama saying even early on that he would be open to meeting with Iranian leaders to discuss tensions between Iran and America. The disputed presidential election in Iran hasn’t changed this.

The election controversy is an internal Iranian debate, Scobey. To help keep it that way, the United States has refrained from interfering, she said. “We don’t want it to become about the United States and its problems with Iran,” she said.

Regardless of the outcome, the United States will remain open to dialogue with Iran to resolve tension between the two countries in a peaceful manner, Scobey said. This isn’t a major switch from the Bush administration’s policy toward the Middle East, but the way of talking about it has changed. Obama’s acknowledgement and acceptance of the autonomous sovereignty of foreign countries is part of this change, Maher said.

Maher praised Obama’s decision to not confront Iran but enter into dialogue with the country. “This is what makes us respect him,” he said. “This is the policy we were longing for from America.”

Part of seeking peace in the region still includes addressing the same issues the Bush administration did and promoting the expansion of democratic options, Scobey said. Obama outlined these issues and his plans to start resolving them in his speech in Cairo. Topping the list were the problems of the Arab-Israel conflict, nuclear aspirations, and violent extremism.

But it isn’t only the United States’ responsibility to see the agenda for resolution through to completion, Maher said. The Arab world needs unity among its countries, so do the Palestinians, he said.

The Arab world, along with Americans, has high hopes for Obama, beginning with promises he made during the U.S. election and now those in his Cairo speech.

Maher said that Arabs are now looking for concrete actions from the United States. “We expect that when the president speaks he will follow words with actions,” he said.

Scobey said Obama has made it clear that America will take action and U.S. foreign policy is not an agenda based solely on dialogue.

Obama’s approach to Iran and the Middle East has the potential to forge a new future for the region and its relationship with the United States. Already, talk of attacking Iran has declined immensely, Maher said. Instead, it’s all about dialogue.

A throwback to the 1970s

By Jennifer Cupp

Thursday morning’s schedule afforded us a few extra hours of sleep. We then headed to the Egyptian Radio and Television Union building for a tour.

This was no Al-Jazeera.

The front lobby smelled like a barn. We waited there for almost an hour as Caroline negotiated with the men at the front desk. Eventually they led us through a security checkpoint and ushered us into a dirty, dimly-lit lobby. As a condition for entry, Caroline instructed each of us not to take pictures.

Our host led us to a dirty hall with a small elevator, located next to a bathroom, of all places. After waiting a few minutes for an elevator that never arrived, our host led us back to the lobby to a wall of elevators.

We exited the elevator into a smoky hallway. People lounged in the hallways, watching us as they puffed on their cigarettes beneath signs that read “No Smoking.” Three men prayed in a line on neatly laid out rugs. No matter where we stood, we were always in the way.

The interior of the building was a throwback to the 1970s. There were faux wood floors and walls. Employees watched us from their offices, sitting on faded brown, cracked leather seats. Pictures of reporters and the newsroom hung on the walls. They looked oddly similar to what we were seeing during our tour, but the quality of the pictures gave away their true age. It was as if the building was locked in a time portal from 40 years ago.

Our tour guide was a middle-aged woman in a hot pink, flowered head scarf. She rarely spoke in English, preferring to converse in Arabic with the Egyptian students.

First we visited a newsroom. Footage played on television screens mounted around the room and on the walls. Mirrors covered one wall from floor to ceiling, making the room seem twice as large.

We popped into a control room and a news studio where they film the news and current affairs shows. Then we headed down three flights of stairs.

The next studio we visited confirmed the building’s 70s look and feel. The walls were painted with bright orange, green, blue, and pink stripes. White bamboo completed the backdrop. Red leather chairs with white accent furniture completed the set, along with a bright orange wall with foil-covered vases. It was the set of Sabah Al-Kheir Maser, Good Morning Egypt.

Behind the cameras of the well-manicured set were dirty walls with exposed insulation and brown goop dripping slowly down the walls. We shouldn’t have been surprised, given our tour thus far, to find a room full of women on sewing machines in the basement. Even Karim, who works at the station, had no idea what they were doing there. We joked they were there for wardrobe, but it looked more like a sweatshop.

We stopped momentarily in a dark hallway as our guide talked in Arabic. Music drifted from an unseen room down the hall. A small wastebasket overflowed with trash. Cameras mounted on the ceiling watched our every move. The whole ambiance was incredibly eerie and summed up our experience at the station.

“This is the weirdest place I have ever been,” Rachel said, as she described a giant poster of a baby she saw in an office. The caption on the poster simply read “Lovly Baby” (sic).

Back in the lobby after a shaky elevator ride, we exited through a checkpoint and stepped out into the bright Cairo sun. We could finally breathe in fresh air—as fresh as the air can get in Cairo—and reflect on where we had just been.

“I think it’s always like that in Egypt,” Najude said.

“We are used to it,” Hind added.

The two sisters are living in Cairo as they attend the American University here.

The majority of us though were in disbelief—the tour was vastly different from our welcoming experience at Al-Jazeera a week earlier. The experience highlighted the difference not only between the editorial policies and ethics of Al-Jazeera and ERTU, but also the differences we’ve observed between Qatar and Egypt since arriving in Cairo.

"Mamnoo3"

By Nada Moselhy

Yesterday was our visit to the Egyptian Radio and Television building. I remember at the morning waking up very tired, since we didn’t take any rest after we returned from Qatar; all am thinking about is that I need more sleep. I couldn’t resist the feeling that I never visited that building before, though it came to my mind that it won’t be that promising like our visit to Al-Jazeera headquarters in Doha, but still I wanted to see how it looked like.

We arrived, and of course like many other places in Egypt you will always be interrupted by a police man saying to you “You are not allowed to take any pictures” and then as usual everyone asks “why?” and the perfect answer in Arabic is “Mamnoo3” (which means ‘not allowed’). Then what are we doing here?!! No pictures, not that interesting place and over all that we found out as soon as we entered the building that the person we are supposed to meet forgot all about us and he has a meeting!!! We spent like an hour standing waiting for the permissions to be issued for us to enter inside and for someone who can give us a tour.
After everyone was bored and tired of waiting, we entered the building. It seemed like everyone are out of their offices, so either they are not working or they are out to watch us!

We got the chance to take a look at the News studio, which surprisingly to me it’s a nice small studio with many screens in the back of the set that allows to show pictures or videos in the background of the presenter. Then we stepped in to “Good Morning Egypt” set studio, with its colorful setting, too bad we were not allowed to take any pictures in there!
“This was a waste of time” as Alex Moe said. Then the visit was done!! Nothing more to see.

"Cairo, It is love at first sight"

By Nada Moselhy

The plane became more near to land in Egypt airport, just a look from that small window felt like it’s been ages since we left to our trip to Doha (to us Egyptians). Usually people hate the pollution in Egypt and the smell that may come across their nose in many places, whether from cars or just the street smell. It was weird that we felt we’re breathing again, after spending 10 days in Doha; feeling frustrated from the heat and the lack of a city feeling. No crowd, no locals seen much, except in the malls and nothing much to do except shopping; that’s what some of us felt in Doha. The plane landed with the excitement the 12 American students have to explore the city, even in the airport impressions already started to develop. Carrie Sheffield a student at Harvard University said “Women are more colorful here”. Yasmine Amer who is an Egyptian American living in the States said “I miss Egypt; I just want to take a walk in the streets of Cairo”

I was amazed by the impressions I got from our American friends about Egypt. Clifford Cheney said “There is more energy and I feel like it is less oppressive. It isn't like what I expected.” The feeling of a city made its way in their minds, where Rachel Heaton added “When I arrived in Doha, the first thing I saw was McDonald's. That didn't happen here. Instead I saw crowded streets and a city, and I mean city like how I define city - a place with its own pulse and vibrancies.”

Instantly everyone changed their Facebook status expressing their impressions about Egypt, where Steve Furay posted “Cairo, it is love at first sight. Please, break my heart gently.” And Carrie also added “In Cairo, it's hot, loud and dirty. Love it!” And the difference between the two places was very clear, Gregory White added “In Cairo, Soaking up the switch from culture less coast to center of civilization's creation.”

Though after some days, every feeling we had about Egypt will return to its normal place; hating the noise, the crowded and dirty streets. But still you can’t do anything except getting used to that and enjoy your time. And for others, Cairo is like an adventure that has to be taken with no regrets.

Egypt Upsets Italy in a Cafe

By HIND AL-IBRAHIM

This is what one of Cairo's cafes looked like last night as many people were watching the soccer game between Egypt & Italy... Believe it or not, Egypt national soccer team upset the World Cup winner Italy in Confederations Cup 2009! Unexpected result and Egyptians went crazy in the streets of Cairo. The camera I held can tell you the story!

P.S.  Al Hayat TV happened to be there, so I got the chance to shoot the vox pops they did!

Video by: Hind Al-Ibrahim - June,2009

A (very brief) visual summary of our time in Qatar

Photos by Jillian Sloan

The hard face of Qatar

By Gregory M. White

The fancy glass towers and shopping malls of Doha were gone. Instead, intricate mazes of pipes pumped oil and gases into huge industrial structures, tied together by miles of power lines. Flares burned into the open air. Men behind barbed wire fences worked in the desert heat clad in bodysuits, goggles and helmets. This was the hard face of Qatar we did not see in Doha. This was where the country's real money is being made. 

We were 40 kilometres south of the capital, at Mesaieed Industrial City, a zone designed and controlled by the state-owned Qatar Petroleum. Its purpose is to provide a massive environment for the creation of petroleum products and construction goods, such as concrete and aluminum. Infrastructure investment in the project for 2007 to 2015 is predicted to total $7 billion. All of these production facilities align with the deep-water on-site port, which is home to shipping facilities, used both by corporations and the US military.  

“Its not only to produce oil…and gas, but to produce other products downstream,” said Dominic Carlone, acting manager of QP’s business and investment group.

Examples of these downstream products include polyethylene, the key component in the creation of plastic products such as bags and water bottles. While the presumed strength of Qatar’s industry is in energy production, its cheap access to energy allows these products to be made at significant cost advantages.

The industrial zone's roads are largely empty, its streets dusty with nothingness, Mesaieed appears as a ghost town until you enter its industrial heart. It is a restricted airspace, and no photographs are allowed. However, a picture would show a darkened skyline of towers, not unlike the minarets that dot the region, but topped by exhaust flares. Workers hide from the harsh sun under trees scattered throughout the complex, eating their lunches and taking naps. Officials estimated up to 10,000 workers are employed in the industrial area.   

The complex exhibits a litany of visible petroleum products; storage silos are labeled for the different products gained from the refinery process. These include methane, propane, and butane but also steel and aluminum. Plants that produce the liquid gas products cost up to $500 million each, our tour guide explained, and use 100 million cubic feet of gas per day in production. 

With four currently operational, there are still plans for more in the future. The other raw materials for steel and aluminum production are shipped in from countries like Australia, Brazil, and China where energy costs are high. 505,000 tons of aluminum per year are produced in the industrial area. Foreign companies such as Norsk Hydro ASA as well as QP produce in Mesaieed and ship to global markets from the same location. “It doesn’t matter who wants to invest so long as it fits with what we want,” said Carlone.  

These production facilities coexist with a community of people and the homes they inhabit. The design and placement of these homes is the decision of Qatar Petroleum. As a managed community, QP has decided to make Mesaieed more openly planned than other similar towns in Qatar. Without the gated communities of Doha and with the perceived free movement of the imported work force, Mesaieed should have a much more Western feel. But this isn’t indicated in its reality, which is as bleak throughout its residential area as its industrial.  

Representatives who spoke with us were keen to emphasize their commitment to maintaining a high level of ecological safety and an environmentally friendly operation. Mesaieed’s convenient proximity to the Arabian Gulf allows for hydro cooling in massive amounts, with 40,000 to 50,000 cubic meters per hour being used in the industrial area. QP acknowledged the threats to air quality, the underground aquifer, and wildlife in the Arabian Gulf from the facilities. QP publishes the air quality statistics online hourly and pursues extensive testing of the aquifer to see leaks from tanks before they have an impact on the local environment. They also mandate that production facilities have a limited impact on water temperature from cooling in order to protect wildlife.  

I thought reporting in Egypt was hard ...

By Riham El Houshi

"Don't call me back. I will get in touch with you if I find anyone willing to talk." Click.  

That was one of several similar conversations I've had with sources here in Qatar. They refuse to speak to me and when I ask for contacts, they brush me off and hurry to warn those around them about the journalist who might call them for information.  

The result: in a week of interviews I have two people who have agreed to go on the record- anonymously. Even my official source at the embassy didn't want his name mentioned.  

There is an epidemic fear amongst expatriates here that a small misstep will get them fired and deported. And rightly so. According to Arab New Network, 700 Egyptians were sacked in 1998 because of a dispute between Qatar and Egypt.  

However, as my partner Rachel, who collects examples of irony, would note; it's ironic that we are facing this problem since our story is about Egyptians that have already been sacked due to Qatarization and/or a dip in the Qatari economy. But no, the same fear persists, defying all logic. 

The greater irony is that this issue contradicts a lot of what we are being told over and over again in the lectures of this boot camp, about the liberalization of Qatar and its media.  

So much so that when I asked Ahmed Al-Sheikh, AlJazeera Arabic's editor-in-chief, what obstacles they faced in reporting about Qatar, he said that not only are there no obstacles, but there are no stories to report on in this tiny country with the highest per capita income in the world.  

But if things are so hunky dory, as both the press-release-plagued newspapers here and the most critical Arab medium are insisting, then how did we, 24 students from Qatar, Egypt, and the U.S. come up with so many Qatar-related stories to write about? 

Stories from restrictions on the marriage of women to non-nationals to the Westernization of the educational system and the buying by the state of lands abroad to try and grow crops that can feed the growing population at home. Is it possible that these topics don't crop up in news meetings here, not even in news room gossip?  

Another lecture we had was on journalism ethics and was given by Ibrahim AbuSharif from North Western University Qatar. It was a typical talk on the penetration of convergence and the debate on balance and objectivity, using martyr versus dead, genocide versus crime, printing the cartoons of the prophet or refraining from provocations.  

But, like many lectures I have received over the past four years, it was given from the standpoint of the American journalist; the one who has paper trails, numbers and official sources at his fingertips, and can objectively decide what to use and what to discard. But how do we, as journalists practicing in the Middle East, make that choice? We have only so many bits of information given on the record, how is it possible for us to present the multi-side story?  

I have been told for very long that the problem with Arab journalists lies in their training, in their inability to understand the meaning of balance and objectivity. If there is anything I am learning from this boot camp, it is that the problem is with the societies that these journalists operate in.  

Bootcamp checks out the Islamic Museum

Photos:

Jillian

Sloan

For a little flavour of the bustling city of Cairo before you all head there...

We’re Not in Doha Anymore

By Armand Emamdjomeh

Walking into the Irish Harp bar in the Sheraton Hotel in Doha, we stepped into a wall of smoke, sound and the sense that we weren’t in Doha anymore. Instead, we entered a world where despite the multiple nationalities present in the club, the languages were the universal – sex, dance and alcohol.

I knew it was going to be a long night when three Englishmen asked our group who performed the song “Creep,” played by the bar’s live cover band. This was instantly followed by the jovial cheers, whoops and display of general machismo that comes with winning a bet.

Despite the bar’s rule of women, couples and guests only the bar’s makeup was still about 80 percent male, of the international cheeseball variety complete with shaved heads, striped button down shirts and tight polo shirts meant to emphasize well-cultivated biceps. Perched at the bar was what must have been the last of Morrissey’s famous international playboys – complete with striped blazer, slicked back hair, cigarillo and tinted glasses behind which he could not so covertly scan the crowd.

(Disclaimer – this blogger was also wearing a striped button-down shirt, but was pretty sure that his Joy Division t-shirt underneath saved him from falling too far in with the crowd.)

I thought of a few days earlier, when we’d heard Professor Andrew Gardner of Qatar University speak of how the country compartmentalized different societies and cultures, with the goal of protecting the insular Qatari culture from Western influence.

Inside, drinks flowed freely – using the term loosely given drink prices – and the women donned the miniskirts and tight dresses that would never pass muster on the streets. Many of them – the “single women” allowed by the bar’s management – had the tad too much makeup and an eagerness to make eye contact that indicated they weren’t here just to drink and dance and wouldn’t be leaving alone.

Opposite the bar a crowd of male wallflowers silently sipped their drinks and watched the crowd. Some hunted to meet the eyes of the women, others seemed content drinking alone.

The bar-jam cover band, a couple notches above the karaoke pros that seem to dominate other bars in Doha, drove the crowd to a euphoric chorus during a rendition of Bon Jovi’s “Living on a Prayer.” Unfortunately this gave way to pop dance, then the sort of European techno dance music that no one has any business listening to without the aid of further recreational assistance.

While certainly not my preferred drinking scene, I resigned myself to my preferred corner spot and bided my time with $9 beers, generating an alcohol and cigarette-fueled discussion on the global culture of drinking, and the urge to just have a good time. One of my colleagues put it best.

“We’re all just *&%^$$# human, and we’re all just !@$&@#$ drinking.”

I guess he’s right.

Women and Sharia

By Yasmin Salah Amer

The lecture given by Dr. Aisha Almannai, who is the Dean of College of Sharia at Qatar University, raised a lot of questions. 

First of all, based on what Dr. Almannai said about women and men being equal in faith and religious accountability, what is the issue with women leading prayer or women giving the Friday sermon? 

Just a little bit of background, it is not typical for a woman to lead a coed prayer or Friday sermon. Among all women or family, yes, but otherwise, it’s very rare. Just as a note, this is traditionally the same case for all of the Abrahamic religions, but some newer interpretations are starting to state otherwise.

Amina Wadud, who I mentioned as an example, is a professor of Islamic studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. She became controversial after leading a mixed-gender prayer and a Friday sermon in the U.S. I’ve read a couple of articles by Wadud and much of her rhetoric sounds very similar to Dr. Almannai’s in particular to women having equal faith. She even mentions the way that the Quran addresses both women and men as a way of emphasizing that equality--“Muslimeen wa Muslimaat.”

The answer that Dr. Almannai gave was that women and men differ (mainly biologically) and therefore they have different roles. It’s basically the “separate but equal” philosophy. Almannai asked, “Would you [women] accept carrying luggage or being the security guard in front of a building at night? No.” This is an example of the fact that it inevitable that women and men are sometimes meant for different roles, but ones that are not supposed to privilege one over the other. 

However, I did not find these examples particularly relevant to her argument. Prayer and sermon do not need the same male muscle mass required to carry luggage nor does the mosque contain the same hidden dangers as a dark alley.

Here’s a good argument: prayer is a time of deep commitment and concentration and if you are familiar with how Muslims pray, you’ll also know this one. A woman can’t lead because then she’ll have to be in the front and so not only is this distracting to whom she referred to as “sick-minded people” but it also protects her from being looked at the wrong way. 

During the prophet’s time, women and men prayed side by side—separated by a few feet so it limits any “distractions” from one’s immediate or peripheral vision.” Also, I found the story about the prophet shielding the man’s eyes away from the woman interesting. As I interpreted it, this puts a lot of emphasis on male modesty, responsibility and self-control. These are points that I really wanted to discuss with Dr. Almanni if there had been enough time. 

In terms of giving a sermon or Khutba, I didn’t have time for a follow-up question asking Dr. Almanni’s view on it. She mentioned how women are leading in education and are starting to take on more leadership roles in society. She, herself is the Dean of Sharia at Qatar University, which is obviously an extremely important position. Obviously, Dr. Almannai gives many talks and lectures about Islam and Islamic scholarship. So my question is how is the fact that she is giving those talks fundamentally different from giving a sermon, which is meant to educate a group of people about religion?

Dr. Almanni brings up a very good point; she said that no one can possibly understand everything since mankind’s understanding of religion and divine power is limited. However, I think that a deeper understanding would come about from the debates, discussions and questioning of different interpretations. Now, to be fair and to take away some of my own credibility, I have not done a deep analysis of the Quran nor am I qualified to be a scholar—like Dr. Almannai. My critique is only based on the arguments that were presented to me in this lecture and my own limited understanding. So feel free to criticize or comment.

Grand Strategy

By Karim Gohary 
 
 "When looking at US foreign policy, the key is to view it is through the lens of 'Grand Strategy' (the overarching strategic framework that guides foreign policy)."  

This sentence started off our lecture by Steven Wright, Assistant Professor in International Affairs at Qatar University, who gave us a detailed explanation of the history of the relations between the US and the oil rich Gulf countries, starting from the Cold War up until President Obama's speech in Cairo last week.   

What was interesting to me was how each US administration did whatever it saw necessary to ensure a secure Gulf region and with it a constant flow of cheap oil to the world market. But each administration seemed to deal with the issue quite differently, leading over the years to past allies becoming present enemies.    

During the cold war the US strategy in the Gulf was that of a twin pillars approach, where the US supported Saudi Arabia and Iran to act as bulwarks of US interests and prevent any Soviet influence in the region. This of course changed following the Iranian revolution in 1979, which brought with it political Islam and the possibility of it spreading to other parts of the Gulf. Anything related to Iran at the time was seen as a threat to the other countries in the region and the US was seen as the way to protect them.    

One year later with the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war, the US strategy immediately changed to one of strategic balancing, where by keeping the two antagonists in the region weak through a prolonged war, thus not posing a threat to the rest of the Gulf States or to US interests. Iraq was given vast amounts of weaponry and money to continue the conflict. It's quite Ironic how security was actually achieved through war. During this period military relationships between the US and GCC countries increased dramatically. 

With the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, a different strategic situation emerged. The US now had a military presence on the ground, and as Wright points out, "it had enormous ramifications in terms of it leading up to the attacks on 9/11 and the growth of Sunni extremists, such as Bin Laden."  

During the 1990's the US followed a policy of dual containment, keeping Iraq and Iran weak through UN sanctions and containment, at the same time ensuring continued security in the Gulf. However, according to Wright this policy was ineffective.  

"It led to an enormous amount of suffering for the Iraqis because the oil for food programme, which was part of the sanctions, was a failure."  

The attacks of 9/11 were a turning point in US foreign policy and led to fundamental change. The doctrine during the years of George W. Bush could be described as a strategy of political transformation. 

"During the war on terror you could neatly replace every phrase of Soviet Union or communism with Al Qaeda and radical Islam, and you had the same rhetoric," Said Wright. "The US's overarching foreign policy on all regions of the world was directed with the objective of preventing the spread of militant Islam and terrorism." 

The US move towards fighting terrorism led to a drastic revision in the balance of power approach in the Gulf region. The US invasion of Iraq can be linked to this.  

The Neo-conservatives in the US saw that the root cause of terrorism and extremism was the lack of democracy in the Middle East and there was a need to fundamentally reform the region. As Wright stressed, "if you look at it from this perspective, the benefit of invading Iraq would be to establish a beacon of democracy in the region, which would cause a domino effect on neighboring countries and would make them reform themselves."  

But as Wright later made clear the US failed to understand the complexity of regional political participation and the informal political process in the Gulf region, such as the notion of "Majlis" (a meeting between the citizen and the ruler to discuss the people's needs and problems).  

"The US looked at political participation through the eyes of formal voting, elections and so on, but in the Gulf this has historically never been the case. It's always been a situation where you can have a more personal contact with the rulers." 

The blindness or ineffectiveness of the Bush doctrine led US – Gulf relations to reach an all time low, coupled of course with the war in Iraq, which as described by Wright "threatened the entire Gulf region". President Obama is already trying to change this situation, his speech in Cairo on June 4 started with, "This is a new beginning," but the road ahead will surely be bumpy. As for his approach to regional security in the Gulf, well as Wright puts it, "Till now it's still unclear." 

Al Jazeera English Newsroom - Video

This is a short video clip of the Al Jazeera English newsroom.

Al Jazeera English Newsroom from Cliff Cheney on Vimeo.

Reforming Qatar’s University System

By Armand Emamdjomeh

An effective higher education system is inevitably a priority for any country wishing to develop a knowledge-based economy. Developing an elite research institution is even more of a priority for Qatar University, considering that it is the only national research university, according to Dr. Abdel Aziz El Bayoumi, professor and advisor to the president of Qatar University.

While the country has used its vast oil wealth to develop “Education City,” which contains world-class educational institutions such as Georgetown and Northwestern Universities, the country also has ambitious plans for the country’s sole national university.

In a classroom on QU’s male campus, Dr. El Bayoumi described the reforms that Qatar hopes will bring the university to equal status with the Western institutions in Education City.

Dr. El Bayoumi described the obstacles faced by the university, which include the lack of comprehensive academic oversight, an overly centralized administration and weak academic and administrative mechanisms.

Addressing these issues will include integration of current programs into a central College of Arts and Sciences, establishing a new college of Law, accreditation, emphasizing the recruitment of a top-notch faculty and increased oversight and accountability of university structures.

The university has also begun to implement entry and acceptance standards for incoming students, requiring a minimum score on high school exit exams and a 500 on the Test of English as a Foreign Language. Tuition is free for Qatari students, who comprise about 80 percent of the 8,000-member student body, and students are also eligible for additional financial aid based on test scores.

Middle East Journalism Boot Camp student Steve Furay asked about environmental research initiatives at the university, to which Dr. El Bayoumi pointed out the Environmental Studies Center, which works with corporations wishing to develop new projects in the country.

Swine Flu disrupts Bootcamp plans

By Doha Al Zohairy

“I’m not going to school next week,” my 20-year-old sister Asmaa told me couple of days ago over the phone. She just started her summer courses, but now the course is on hold until June 14, and might be canceled for the summer.

Only two days ago, two students in The American University in Cairo’s Zamalek dormitory were diagnosed with swine flu. Now, there are eight cases and the dorm has been quarantined for a whole week.

Panic started in Zamalek area as well as at AUC. In addition to closing off the dorm, AUC is closing the new campus located in New Cairo and everyone inside AUC is wearing a mask.

Quickly we got the news here in Qatar where six students from AUC, six others from Qatar University and 12 more from different universities from the United States are gathered in a journalism program.  We are supposed to spend ten days here in Qatar and ten days in Egypt.

I’m not worried about going back to my country next week. I’m more worried about my family who live there.

Here in Qatar, most of the parents of my colleagues contacted Larry Pintak the director of the Kamal Adham Center and the organizer of the program, to make sure that their daughters or sons won’t stay at the AUC dorm when we go back to Egypt.

Others just decided not to go.

“Well I would if you convinced my mother and my fiancé,” said Mira Alkuwari organizer of the Qatar part program said. “But I know they wont agree.”

The rest of the Qataris are worried but they will still go.

But the students were supposed to stay in the Zamalek dorms, throwing the program’s planners into confusion.

“I have been planning for their accommodation and transportation for the past three months, now I have to re-plan everything again,” said Caroline Ghobrial, the organizer of the program in Cairo.

“I will be worried from the moment they arrive Egypt till the moment they leave about where are they going and who are they talking to. They are my responsibility.”

My American colleagues seemed to not be bothered.

“I’m not worried. Not at all,” said Anna Koulouris a senior student in Syracuse University. “We never had an epidemic before so that’s why we see swine flu, as, you know, just a flu, not more.”

“Plus all the people who died from swine flu in other countries had illness before so their bodies were already weak for any kind of flu,” she added.

Jennifer Cupp, a graduate student, said if there was an upside to getting swine flu in Egypt, it would mean her return trip would be delayed.

“(It would) actually will be ok with me, I would like to spend more time in Egypt,” Cupp said.

Eroding Arabic identity?

By Carrie Sheffield

Qatari leaders are struggling to implement sweeping changes to its K-12 educational system, which faces teacher shortfalls and concerns that anglicizing the national curriculum erodes Qatar’s Arabic identity.

During an address Tuesday, we heard from Mickie Mathes, an American-trained educator and professor at Qatar University’s College of Education, who told us about Qatar’s ambitious plan to move all public schools away from Education Ministry control to independent charter control.

Dismayed by dismal test scores, Qataris in 2002 adopted the charter system (it’s called the “independent” school system because the word “charter” didn’t translate well into Arabic) after commissioning a study by the California-based RAND Corporation. The think tank came back with three alternative models: charter, voucher or a modified centralized system.

The charter model proved most attractive, and by 2004, authorities certified 12 independent schools, 21 more in 2005, and 13 in 2006. This past school year, 85 independent schools operated, and by 2011, all schools must be independently operated.

Mathes said the beauty of the new model is its curriculum flexibility and the ability of parents to choose which school is best for their children. Schools must meet minimum requirements and test scores but are given wide autonomy. And the type of person or organization who can administer a school is wide open. For example, an oil company could bid to run a school or network of schools so long as they met a basic academic threshold.

“There’s quite a bit of independence, compared to what it used to be,” said Mathes, who said the country is experiencing a shortfall of qualified teachers who meet the new standards, including new licensure requirements. “It’s a fact. They need teachers, in all areas. They are just hustling to get teachers.”

As part of the curriculum reform, math and science must be taught in English, a hurdle for many teachers who are undergoing language training from British instructors.

Qataris in our group were concerned that adopting a Western-oriented system diminishes Qataris Arabic language abilities and diminishes the Qatari identity. Mathes acknowledged students’ Arabic skills are on the decline but said the English mandate was developed from within the country.

“Don’t forget this push came from the Qatari government.,” said Mathes, associate dean for academic affairs at QU. “I think this country really wants to put out there in the global market, and they want to have a global competition. They want to have citizens and future adults and children to be in global competition, and I think that is the focal point of doing this.”

Mathes said three subjects—Arabic, Social Studies and Islamic Studies—are conducted in Arabic, and this helps maintain Qatari social cohesion.

“I don’t think they are promoting losing their identity at all,” she said. “We want really strong teachers who have a strong competency in teaching Arabic. I hope that we never lose that.”

The "Mouthpiece"

By Hind Al-Sulaiti

Wherever I go, I always find someone who recognizes my country because of Al-Jazeera. The TV station that began its broadcast with a six hour slot in 1996 has become a "hot" topic in the Arab world for its controversial shows. It started airing 24 hours a day in 1999 and has expanded into a network with a global reach. Today it is the only channel with bureaus in the war zones of Afghanistan and Gaza.

Today we visited the network and met with four officials and toured the facility. The editor-in-chief of the Arabic channel, Ahmad Sheikh, was probably the most interesting speaker. He spoke about Al-Jazeera's ethics and reporting policy, and answered "We get them!" to the million dollar question about Osama Bin Laden's tapes, something Al-Jazeera became known for. 

Sheikh refused to be put in one group with channels like Al-Hurra and Al-Arabiyyah, saying offers to interview the U.S. President had been made to the three at once, but his network turned it down. He also said he was not bothered by President Barack Obama's decision to hold his first interview with al-Arabiya rather than Al Jazeera. "We can wait for the next president," he said.

Seeing Al-Jazeera and realizing just how much it has accomplished over 10 years, it brought a sense of pride. I really wished that Al-Jazeera was not government-funded, but even though it is, it still holds a certain level of credibility found nowhere else.  

Inside the Control Room

By Jillian Sloan

For many Americans, Al Jazeera is most likely a vague word they heard somewhere, some time ago, associated with terrorism, propaganda or links to Al Qaeda.  

Not even close. For its viewers in the Arab world, Al Jazeera (which means “the Penninsula” in Arabic) is a news network free of censorship and government control that serves as a voice to the voiceless—and it has nothing to do with promoting war. 

Shedding the sour image as the mouthpiece for terrorism, Al Jazeera is rising as an authoritative news source for understanding the world. With over 69 bureaus across the globe, the Al Jazeera network is covering stories in countries habitually missed or glossed over by other prominent networks.  

During a tour of the studio today, I looked out over the first-rate newsroom with its HD capability and computer-operated cameras. The state-of-the-art equipment and facilities have only been in place since 2006, just 12 years after Al Jazeera’s first steps as a small independent network that, in the beginning, aired a teasing six hours a day.

After building itself a name through the coverage of the three wars in Iraq since 2000, it now airs 24 hours a day, seven days a week and in over 100 countries, excluding (for now) the U.S. According to the broadcaster, it’s the leading news channel on YouTube and its website receives 22 million hits each month. This is a news organization that’s got its act together. 

In the US, coverage of global events, particularly of the Middle East, is mediocre at best. In our meeting today with Hassan Ibrahim, a correspondent for Al Jazeera English and principle role in the documentary “The Control Room” (watch it streaming), he said, “The American people are done a great injustice by their own media.” 

A peek at today’s top stories on Al Jazeera Net and CNN.com show the contrast in geographical and contextual focus. Al Jazeera’s lead story is the mosque shootings in Thailand, aided with a timeline for background information and numerous videos for added perspective. The story doesn’t make the cut on CNN’s top story list. In fact, the two top stories are an update on the France Air crash and Europe’s election.  

“We are less Western-Centric, European-Centric, which is appealing,” said Managing Director of Al Jazeera English Tony Burman. He said Al Jazeera provides a more global sense of this complicated world. 

In places like the Middle East, Africa and Asia where U.S. or British new organizations have sometimes as few as two correspondents, Al Jazeera has multiple bureaus and contacts with independent film makers who can produce material in some of the most inhospitable environments in the world.   

“I wish the understanding of the Middle East was a higher priority in the US,” Ibrahim said.  

The key is in the context. Ibrahim began to reference US history—some history that I’m not sure any American student in the room was even aware of—making the point (in this journalist’s opinion) that you can’t understand the present without knowing the past. US broadcasts and articles on the Middle East are mosaic tiles to a big picture never put into context. How does a car bomb or a shooting at a mosque paint any clear story of what’s going on and why?  

“Our goal is to help people understand the context,” Burman said. “The expectation from our viewers is a wider view and context for the issues in the region.” 

And many news organizations, particularly in the U.S., may argue that it’s difficult to convince people to eat the brussel sprouts of news. It seems that our attention only turned to the Middle East when it was suddenly our own countrymen in the danger.

Even then, the attention paid seemed minimal because the events that had been set in motion arguably thousands of years ago were already beyond our understanding, like trying to jump in eight rounds late to a game of Phase Ten. And many Americans I know have almost completely turned a blind eye to Middle Eastern news. 

Al Jazeera’s Deputy Director of Programs Giles Trendle said, “We had to find new ways to get people engaged in something they had heard about but probably did not know a lot about.”  

The Al Jazeera Documentary Channel is a new addition that airs Arabic documentaries that provide context to current events. All of Al Jazeera programs also run on Youtube, making it accessible even where the network channel is not. 

“[It] changes people’s perspectives on Al Jazeera,” said Trendle. 

Al Jazeera also received flak for broadcasting videotapes from Osama Bin Laden. To this, Sheikh said that former President Bush’s coined “Axis of Evil” began two camps, and “each one has to be given the chance to speak out.” It refers to the Al Jazeera motto, “The opinion and the other opinion.” The tapes are reviewed and edited and only what is newsworthy makes it on air, Sheikh said. 

One student asked how Al Jazeera got tapes from Bin Laden. Sheikh was not remotely surprised by the question and, smiling, said, “We get them. I don’t have to tell you how. Don’t expect me to tell you how. You have to protect your sources.”  

For at least this American, Al Jazeera is not a muddled conception of something evil or even foreign. If they live up to their promises of global understanding, I believe it will help reshape the landscape of world coverage and maybe, just maybe, convince America to get in touch with the world beyond our cousins.

I'd like to buy that

By Alexandra Moe

Qatar's man-made island, The Pearl, is roughly 1,000 acres of conspicuous consumption.

Stretching out from the shore of the capital, its entrance is flanked by a circle of tall, ornate apartment buildings enclosing an azure bay. That leads to a showcase of the tastes of the wealthy: multimillion-dollar yachts moored leisurely along a boardwalk, accompanied by a parade of stores offering haute couture, such as cashmere Italian suits ready for bespoke tailoring, and two car dealerships, one for Ferrari and one for Rolls Royce.

A mini-city comprised of elements of Las Vegas and Venice, the island's developers boast it will add almost 20 miles of coastline to the tiny Gulf county, and have 15,000 homes by next year. 

We visited the island's first phase of development, the Porto Arabia section. Advertisements surrounded us at every angle. Billboards of happy Caucasian couples with the words, “I’d like to buy that,” and “Fascinating,” dominated the few billboards with Arab couples.

It was evident that these ads were focused on luring foreigners not Qataris to come live at The Pearl. Since 2006, investor advisor Ahmad Q. Masri said that people from over 40 different nationalities have purchased the flats, villas, and private islands available on the luxury island. 

It was my impression, though, that the United Development Company that created The Pearl would not care at all if any Qataris lived on the island. 

Its plans include only one mosque on the island for a possible population of 45,000 people, a portion of its beaches for nudists, and the pervasive promotion of a materialistic lifestyle; things that are all far from my idea of the Muslim lifestyle currently existing in Doha. 

The people who will be living throughout this Westernized area are going to have no appreciation for the culture of Doha. The area is something I would expect to be built in America: an area to show one’s wealth and hide away from reality. 

It was no surprise to me that the Qataris who took the tour of The Pearl with us were super critical and showed signs of disapproval towards this new settlement.

Photos: Jillian Sloan

Obama's Speech in Cairo

Talk about a serious “make it or break it” moment. Obama is going to make his speech at Cairo University tomorrow and anyone who takes interest in the Middle East region is eager to see how this will affect future relations between the U.S. and the Middle East. I’m currently in Jordan, where I had the chance to talk to some Jordanian officials and every single one whom I’ve met so far has expressed nothing but complete optimism for future U.S.—Middle East relations. Even on the streets as a group of American students, we’ve received an Obama shout out from a Palestinian local living in Amman. The Arab media is definitely reflecting this positive sentiment as well. While watching the Al-Arabiya news channel in my hotel room, coverage Obama’s anticipated speech and his trip to the Middle East is continual, with most commentators expressing optimism that the speech will define a new relationship between the two regions, which will then ultimately help resolve the Palestine-Israel conflict.

Why is this particular speech so important? As Minister of State for Media and Communication of Jordan Dr. Nabil Al-Sharif says, it shows Obama’s commitment to the issue. As Dr. Al-Sharif points out, the United States is facing a domestic financial crisis—the worst one since the Great Depression. Nevertheless, Obama is still spending significant time and effort on the two-state solution and it is still relatively early in his term. To many Arabs, this kind of dedication is something new and for a conflict that has been going on for 61 years, “new” is definitely a good thing.

Why should this speech be any different than any other speech stating that “we are committed to a peace and a two-state solution.”? We’ve even heard Bush saying those exact words. The first and most obvious reason for why this speech would be different is the fact that Obama is a well-perceived figure in the Middle East (so far). His language is much different than Bush’s in the fact that it doesn’t employ the “us” versus “them” dichotomy (like Pintak describes in “Reflections in a Bloodshot Lens”). Secondly, Arabs and Muslims themselves have something new to offer to the current peace plan: the Arab Peace Initiative, which is a result of a summit in Doha, Qatar. Under this plan, the Arab League joined the Organization Islamic Council (OIC) in order to make Israel, as well as the United States, an offer. In exchange for a successful two-state solution, 57 majority-Muslim and Arab countries would recognize Israel. Recognition would ideally mean good (or relatively better) relations, strengthened security, and increased trade between Israel and its neighbors. I asked Dr. Al-Sharif, as well as another senior Jordanian official, whether or not he thinks that this is a sufficient incentive for Israel to agree to a two-state solution. He said that it would be “logical” for Israel to agree—after all, the recognition of 57 countries (1/3rd of the U.N.) is a serious milestone that Israel could not achieve otherwise.

What’s in it for the U.S.? Dr. Al-Sharif and another Jordanian senior official describe the Palestine-Israel conflict as the one issue that has the greatest effect in terms of defining Arab and Muslim attitudes towards the U.S. In his book, Pintak also mentions that many groups use the Palestinian plight in order to campaign their agendas. Because it is an issue that highly resonates with many Arabs and Muslims, finding a way to connect the Palestine-Israel conflict it to their own goals is an effective way for some groups to gain support. As we’ve seen in the past, this doesn’t always benefit the United States. Basically, the argument stands that the United States itself can enhance its own security by committing to a two-state solution that doesn’t favor Israel over the Palestinians.

I don’t think Obama’s speech has to lay out a 1-2-3 step “plan for peace” and it probably will not. The main thing is for him to confirm his commitment to the peace plan and reaffirm the overwhelmingly positive and hopeful attitude that seems to have taken over much of the Middle East. Mainly, I’ll be watching out for any statement directly at Israel and their part in future peace plans or of any specific reference to the Arab Peace Initiative and his attitude towards it.

Last word...?

This could be the last word, unless someone else writes after me.  I wanted to say that this course was great!  We had some very informative lectures and met fascinating people.  That aside, the most valuable part of the course was the people we were with day in and day out.  I am sure we will be seeing each other in the future.    Good luck everyone!

A little song to remember the trip by...

By Zachary Kineke

(To the tune of "Lola" by the Kinks)

You'll find it in a country called Qatar
where you won't get shot but you'll get hit by a car, oh, my Doha, D-O-H-A Doha
Where some people are rich, and some others are mean,
and the other half is coming from the Phillipines to my Doha, D-O-H-A Doha, Do, do, do, do, Doha

Where the sun is hot, and the air's really dry,
and you can walk if you want, but you're going to fry, in my Doha, Do, do, do, do, Doha
Well I'm not dumb but I can't understand
Why the Olympics would be held inside this hot, hot land
Oh my Doha, Do, do, do, do, Doha, Do, do, do, do, Doha

It don't help much if you speak Arabic,
cause with Urdu and Bengali, here it ain't worth a frick.
The hotel bars can be a bit hard to find,
and if you wear your sandals you'll get kicked out of line.

Well, I'm not the world's most classy guy,
but when I don't get in a bar I get a little bit mad at my
Doha, Do, do, do, do, Doha, Do, do, do, do, Doha
Doha, Do, do, do, do, Doha, Do, do, do, do, Doha

We got on the bus
We picked up the girls
We stopped at the mall
And always were late
But think of all those free meals we ate-

And that's the way that I want it to stay
So I can eat at once what I'd eat in a day in my Doha
Do, do, do, do, Doha
Life might suck when the curfew's at eight,
but at least you don't miss much cause night life's not so great in my Doha
Do, do, do, do, Doha

Well, we'd left Cairo just a week before
and the city seemed like just a bit of a bore
And first impressions, they are right, you know,
Besides the driving, life in Doha is pretty slow.

Well it's not the world's most exciting space
But in my heart, there will always be a hot dusty place
For my Doha
Doha, Do, do, do, do, Doha, Do, do, do, do, Doha
Doha, Do, do, do, do, Doha, Do, do, do, do, Doha

Admin note - for those of you who aren't familiar with the original song by The Kinks, here it is:

Democracy

By Olfa Tantawi

Democracy, in the words of Abraham Lincoln, is a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people."

Qatar is one place where this is evident. It is widely known that the Amir Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, assumed power in 1995 when, as heir apparent, he ousted his father, Amir Khalifa bin Hamad al-Thani, in a bloodless coup. This notion of a coup is a Western perspective. Since, a bloodless coup in a tribal context means an overwhelming consent of a need to change the leadership and a wide approval for the new nominee or heir to ascend to power.

In Western democracies presidents are not elected because they have sound foreign policies, rather it is the economy and the promise of wealth that gets them to office. So when the per capita income in a country is around $94,000, who needs elections or votes? This is an oil based style of democracy.

Meanwhile, democracy in the United States is as bright as the shining sun of Arizona or Florida. Human rights are protected. Freedom of expression is cherished. In such a free world, the free media act as the guardians of society providing information for the people to make crucial decisions.

However, the free media is also a business that often chooses - with a free will - not to tell or at least minimize all news that might upset their audiences. It is said that readers or television viewers, with their own free will, thanks to their tiny remote control, are shutting their eyes, ears and minds when the news is anything that is not of local concern.

A misinformed democracy can result in the loss of thousands of young American men and women based on a threat of some weapons of mass destruction that did not exist. It can lead to the election of presidents with bad policies and economic strategies that cost the people their jobs and homes.

Within every democracy it seems there is tyranny of some sort. Is it the tyranny of the individual whose concern with his very own interests blinds him/her to the wider context and the real threats? Or is it the tyranny of the businesses that create needs to be satisfied and a worldview for sale?

What is democracy really? Is it an Amir’s will to distribute wealth among his subjects and to build a modern state? Or is it a people’s will to have a say and to decide their own children’s destiny?

Anti-Israeli? Please, Act Constructively (AIPAC)

By Zachary Kineke
Photo by Jasmin Bauomy

Could you pick a more controversial topic to write a book about than the Israel lobby in the US? It's an organization that plays by the rules while using every trick in the book to make sure it gets its voice heard; an organization fighting for a foreign country while arguably doing more harm than good when it succeeds.

The talk given on the book The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy by Dr. John Mearsheimer and Dr. Stephen Walt discussed those points well while also addressing the harmful lack of two-sided debate on the subject in the US (a two-sided debate that is carried on quite thoroughly among columnists and politicians in Israel) and the American system and beliefs that provide a fertile ground upon which lobbies like AIPAC can sow their agenda.

Politically, the pair made clear that since Jimmy Carter, it has been the policy of American presidents to oppose settlement building because of its hindrance to a two-state solution. While saying that the two presidents that have done the most for peace there were Carter and George H. W. Bush, they also pointed out that American presidents have refused or been unable to exercise the considerable leverage the US could wield against Israel to stop this settlement building because of, among other things, pressure put on them by AIPAC. When the President can go in front of the Knesset and set off on a religiously-based half-hour funfest like this speech, and a man Arabs call "Uncle Obama" could say this in front of AIPAC, how would Israel ever believe that the US would try to stop them from doing whatever they want to do in the occupied territories?

Obama's mention brings up a very interesting point made by the authors during the speech in respose to a question from the audience. When asked what the future would hold in this situation with a new American president on the horizon, they first responded that it couldn't possibly get any worse than the one we have now (which was followed by the first of many, many applause breaks). They then answered that it would be John McCain, not Obama, who would be better for holding the Israel lobby back and working for a stoppage of settlement. Yes, that McCain.

It was a bit shocking to hear this personally- I was in Israel only weeks ago and engaged in numerous political debates with the Israelis who stayed in and ran the hotel in which I was put up. Besides hearing, "George Bush is the best president Israel has ever had!" (they can have him) and "I hope you got to work for Fox News- they are the only fair and balanced news channel in America," (the motto makes it true) I also was lectured on why Obama was the worst thing that could happen to Israel. "We wouldn't vote for him," one said, "because America shouldn't have a Muslim president." Never mind that Obama's biggest problem this campaign has been an angry pastor. But hearing that Obama would be Israel's best friend, because of AIPAC's attention to and pressure on him, was strange- but very plausible.

As with any book, and a talk regarding it, there were small exaggerations and omissions. There was a lot of talk about the power of the Israel lobby without much talk about the American opinions that already coincide with what they want to do. As well, statistics they gave about Americans, especially ones that said a majority find Israel and Hezbollah equally responsible for the 2006 war, seemed rather implausible. The pessimism of the talk was realistic, but a bit of a downer nonetheless. Still, the talk made important points for the most part backed up with strong evidence.

When you get together a group of people on such a controversial topic, it's pretty likely you're going to have a bit of a heated Q&A. The debate here was no exception. Moderator Mehran Kamrava set down three rules: questions not comments, keep it brief, and one question at a time. These three were broken with the very first question, from the Israeli ambassador no less, and set the stage for a session the audience used to make their own points in front of the TV cameras. Kamrava might have let a few people, notably Hassan al-Jaafari, everyone's favorite "man of peace," ramble on too long, but he did a good job of spreading questions throughout the audience while hitting the important ambassadors as well. And Mearshimer and Walt were composed and intelligent in their answers, whether I agreed with them or not.

Looking for any optimism in the speeches was tough, but an answer near the end gave some hope. The authors talked about the change in American media rhetoric between Israel's 50th anniversary and now- specifically, the use of the word nakba (catastrophe) and the acknowledgement that the celebration for Israel parallels a tragedy for Palestine. And, of course, there was a reference to this clip on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart.



They asked, and I agree: would that have been on the air even five years ago?

Re: American Express

By Sarah Wali

I am an Egyptian. I am an American. I have lived on both sides of the world, and am aware of the differences. In the States I’m treated like an Arab who doesn’t understand the American culture. In Egypt, I am treated like an American who doesn’t get what it is to be an Arab. As a result I have learned what it means to respect culture, and the importance of attempting to understand the situation I am placed in.

The American students at the Bootcamp have been treated differently on this side of the world. The color of their skin and language they speak makes them stand out from others. As a result, there are different expectations and sometimes different rules. This, in my view, doesn’t imply “arrogance” or an indication that “flash (ing) your white skin” will get you what you want, as Stephen Dockery put in his blog entry American Express.

I can understand Dockery’s point. However, the situation at the hotel that he and the other non-Egyptians were staying in has been misunderstood. They were housed at the Cosmopolitan Hotel located in downtown Cairo. The Cosmopolitan has rules and policies that must be followed. One of the rules is that non-guests, regardless of nationality, cannot go upstairs.

This presented a problem for the Egyptian students. We had each been paired up with an American student to work on a project. The day was packed with lectures and interviews and, at times, the most convenient place to work was at the hotel. In the beginning we went up without security noticing. When they did notice, they stopped me, and explained the policy. I was told anyone who was not registered with the hotel could not go up to the rooms. I spoke to security and the concierge and explained the situation. After a ten minute discussion, I was given permission to come and go from the hotel, as long as they had a photocopy of my identification. I happened to have my American passport with me. They took a copy, and I was registered, thereby able to come and go as I needed to.

I didn’t flash anything, blue or white. I merely talked to the people at the front desk, in Arabic. At the end of the day, this is what we are dealing with - people with different rules and ideas than what the Americans might be used to. Sometimes, when it is appropriate, we may be able to change someone’s mind. At the Cosmopolitan, it was appropriate.

The American students may argue that, beyond the incident at the hotel, the color of their skin got them preferential treatment. I agree. You are an American, and a guest in the Middle East. This is a region of the world where guests are treated differently, simply because there is an awareness that their norms are different, and they should not be held at the same standard that local people are held at.

We see this in Egypt, and even more in Qatar. The girls and I wear shorter skirts, while the Qatari students are dressed in black abayas (long robes) and scarves. No one says anything to us, or reprimands us for our dress code. We are held at different standards because this is our norm. Expectations are different, and as a result of the onslaught of Western ideas and culture in the region, this is understood.

For this and other reasons, political and economic, foreign visitors are not treated the same as other students. I can understand that it is frustrating to come here and want to assimilate with the culture to learn as much as possible, and not be able to. Yet I ask Dockery, if you went to China or Japan, where you look and speak very differently, would they treat you as a national? Would you gain the full Far East experience? Or would you feel the same as you do here? You can not expect people to treat you the same, when you aren’t. This, in my view, isn’t arrogance. It is recognition of differences.

Controversial Sheikh Says The West Has Moral Crises

By Lisa Munger
Photos by Ebony Williams & Jasmin Bauomy

Egyptian Sheikh Yousef al-Qaradawi isn’t allowed to enter the United States, but Bootcampers, including 12 Americans, held court with the Muslim cleric Monday at Qatar University in Doha.

Among his remarks in a lecture entitled, “Perspectives on Islam and Arab Society,” Qaradawi said the West has a number of moral crises that foment conflict with the Arab world.

He said a lack of values and church-going, materialism, discrimination and homosexuality disgrace the West and denigrate its position in global politics.

He did not, however, attribute the same crises to the Arab world.

“The Arab world has a scarcity of moral crises,” Qaradawi said through a translator to a group of about 50 attendees, including bootcampers. “Religious and spiritual values don’t exist in the West as they do here.”

Qaradawi said the Arab world suffers from financial corruption, falsified democracies and a lack of transparency in government.

He did not list morality among the obstacles to improving Arab-American or East-West relations.

“We have a few bad guys,” he said. “But, here, we have family values and virtues not present in the West.”

Qaradawi has drawn criticism from American officials for his support of Palestinian attacks on Israeli targets, including suicide bombings and violence against civilians. U.S. officials regard him as sympathetic to terrorist groups on the U.S. “terrorist watch list.” Because of these stances, he’s not allowed to enter the country.

He is also well-known as the originator of http://www.islamonline.com/. Qaradawi uses the website to issue fatwas, religious edicts and comment on Islam.

Reporter’s Note:

I traveled to Qatar and Egypt for Bootcamp from Lincoln, Neb., where I attend graduate school in my home state. Nebraska is what some people call a “drive-through state,” meaning just that – you drive through it on your way to somewhere else - no one ever really stops. It’s also a conservative state that re-elected George W. Bush in 2004 by 70 percent. Cows outnumber people 4 to 1.

Nebraska was on my mind today at Qaradawi’s lecture. How would people at home have responded to his remarks and gesticulations? How would I have written a story about his lecture in my capacity as a reporter for my local newspaper, to add proper context and foster understanding?

Qaradawi’s response to my question about the Arab world and the West, as described in the post above, left me cold. Though I may not agree, I understand how Americans might be frightened by his rhetoric, especially after the national trauma of 9/11. My suspicion is Qaradawi’s remarks today, and response to my question, would confirm some Nebraskans’ stereotypes about a Muslim cleric disallowed from entering the U.S.

This isn’t because Nebraskans, or Americans in general, are “backwards,” (as Qaradawi said some people label Arabs) – it’s because in a super-fast world of 24-hour news, lessening space on international news pages, and fewer staff reporters abroad, the nuance which once might have provided a context for understanding Qaradawi and his comments might be more likely today to produce a headline like: “Terrorist-Sympathizer Addresses Students.”

I left the lecture more pessimistic than ever about the chances for achieving greater understanding between the Arab world and the West. I told my Egyptian Bootcamp reporting partner how I felt.

She said, not everyone is like this man… I know, I said. But, where I am from, this man, his vitriol and sweeping generalizations of the West would not only anger people, it would frighten them.

Asking Statements

By Stephen Dockery

It seems like politics and frustration simmers just bellow peoples personalities and conversations here.

When someone’s given a chance to speak their mind, whether in taxi or interview, they seize it.
So many of the questions I’ve seen at our interviews (from people outside our program) turn out to be five minute statements, rather than actual questions.

People aren’t particularly interested in adding to the discussion or putting forward a question of accountability. Rather they take the time to say things that are not particularly extreme or unusual, they just want to talk and to be heard in a region where its difficult to do either.

Kebab and Curry

By Sarah Wali

In the midst of this development flurry,

A clash between kebab and curry.

Cash in one hand used for power

Giving small wages by the hour

Buildings rising from the desert’s midst

Islands give landownership a new twist.

Labor used, at times abused

Exit visas sometimes refused

Qatari national development

Ex-pats’ attempted adjustment

More than a million here to create

Something similar to Kuwait

A piece of advice for those who rule

Your laborer is no fool.

He sees your extravagant style

And may be thinking all the while

“Why should I be true to them

From where should this connection stem?

I work all day and sleep at night

My normal life is just not right.

I want my children next to me,

playing, and eating candy.

I miss my spouse in my bed

I can’t shake that feeling from my head.”

And from this longing for a life

You will create a deeper strife

Perhaps now you should worry

About a clash between kebab and curry.

A Question of Defining Modernity

By Yousef Gamal El Din

To travel to Qatar after being away from the Gulf for three years was exciting to say the least. There were bound to be similarities to neighboring Saudi Arabia, a country where I had spent roughly 18 years of my life. Amidst the impressive construction of luxurious hotels and business towers lies the question of defining modernity for a country that has opened its borders to business.

Anthony Gidden suggests that modernity is defined by Western conception of democracy, free-market economy and popular participation. The ethnocentric nature of this definition is problematic, and other scholars argue that modernity is simply using a given social system as a measurement standard to compare to other social systems. Dirkheim’s conception of the modernization theory, in tandem with the views promulgated by Giddens later on, perceives Western modernity as a development solution for all countries around the world. The lack of consideration for context has in turn led to further revisions of the theory.

The pressures imposed on countries from Western understandings of modernity are extensive. With a strong emphasis on personal gratification, hedonism and pleasant escapism in popular culture, indigenous Arab movements in the Middle East are at risk of losing out in what Samuel Huntington coins as the inevitable clash of civilization. This feeling of loss and interference is a sensitive issue to many people in the Arab world and hence often a source of tension. The task of maintaining an identity, to be seen as the primary responsibility of the state, is far from easy, especially with the overdependence on using wealth to "purchase" development with a Western-centric focus.

In any case, it will be fascinating to see how the people of Qatar find the balance.

Fallible News

By Jeanette Der Bedrosian
Photo by Jasmin Bauomy

The Bootcamp’s trip to Al-Jazeera yesterday went in an entirely different direction from our visit to EgyptTV.

Students sauntered out of the compound shaking hands with the tour guide and holding contact information—and hope—for the prospect of finding a position within the news brand. There was no feeling of hostility or fear of security coming to escort us from the premises, but rather a deeper understanding of both Al-Jazeera’s motives and the opinions of its management.

These two concepts, students discovered, are not always in line.

Scott Ferguson, head of programming for Al-Jazeera English, explained the need for journalists to use a “moral compass” to separate their personal beliefs from a story. He employed this method when he explained his own personal opinions—not those of the company, he was sure to emphasize—on al-Jazeera breaking into America.

“I would much rather be the channel of resistance in the U.S.,” he said, referring to the role Youtube and the internet play in Americans accessing Al-Jazeera.

Ahmed Sheikh, the Editor-in-Chief of the Al-Jazeera Arabic, disagreed, describing the brand as “a spot of light in the middle of a very dark sea.”

He detailed his confusion over Al-Jazeera’s reputation as a pro-terrorist organization within the United States despite its popularity in Israel. Al-Jazeera English, Sheikh said, is a necessary tool to educate Americans on differing perceptions.

Still, some students challenged that the channels’ refusal to use the word “terrorist” for groups such as al-Qaeda or Hamas, but its continuing use of the word “martyr” for dead Palestinian soldiers shows a flaw in the networks’ coverage, and that that could indicate a pro-Palestinian bias to an American audience.

“Palestinians are much weaker and on the defensive,” Sheikh said. “They are on the defensive, and if anyone is under the impression that they are on the offensive, they have to do their homework,” he said.

A bit later, Sheikh added, “We do not take sides.”

Each official, however, acknowledged that al-Jazeera is still working on its formula and is constantly seeking to improve.

“We are not infallible,” Sheikh said. “We are human beings.”

American Express

By Stephen Dockery

When I arrived in the Middle East I had an initial feeling of humility that came from traveling in a country where I can't really speak the language and don’t know the culture. But after a while, I also noticed an opposite phenomenon. Unintentional and subtle, an air of arrogance hung around everywhere I went.

Getting past security at the front of the hotel? No big deal, just flash your white skin. Don’t know where you are? Speak English, and expect someone to understand you. Our group of men (the dorms are segregated) paraded into the Qatar University dorm without showing ID to the security guard. He just stood by helpless - his English wasn’t good enough to stop us, and I think he knew it.

The whole issue is made worse by the fact that our rights are protected far beyond that of an average Arab citizen (Egyptians on the trip had to hide their own nation's passports and produce their American passports to get any respect from the police or hotel security). The hotel security would toss you out of the hotel if you didn’t have a room there, or at least an American passport.

This could be the tourist feeling in any country, but its made worse by how strongly we stand out. The whole experience feels slightly superficial at times - you can walk around all you want, but you can't really know what it's like to be an Arab citizen even on the basic level of how people treat you.

The Big Metal Door

By Farah El Alfy
Photo by Jasmin Bauomy

The big metal door closes behind us at midnight.

It’s Thursday night and we had an extension on our 10.30 curfew thanks to El Daktoora Sara our dear chaperon who told the supervisors we had a dinner we had to go to.

After a couple drinks around town, I'm starving. Sarah (the other one) and I go to sign-in, and ask the sweet woman at the desk if we can get anything to eat at this hour.

“Weren’t you guys at a dinner?” she asks naively.

“We were at the Indian, and we don’t eat that food,” I quickly say smoothly covering our tracks.

Sarah dwells in the lie, telling her how the food is way too spicy for her taste.

So yes, we can order chicken from a take-out place, but only tonight.

Sarah does the ordering as I laugh at her put-on khalidjy (Gulf) accent “dajaj.. dajaj…” (chicken)

We walk back to villa number 9, the house before last in the compound, change out of our dresses and high-heels, and walk back to the main building in more comfortable clothes to await our midnight snack.

We sit on the steps outside the main building, and the girl behind the desk comes out to sit with us. She’s Egyptian too, we realize. Shaimaa must be in her late 20’s, and has only lived in Doha for a few months. She wears a colorful scarf on her head, and has freckles on her nose.

The food comes, and the metal doors open once again - this time, only a tiny slit barely big enough for the food to pass through. The security guard brings it in for us.

Shaimaa smiles at us warmly and says, “I feel so safe here.”

At that point it hits me. This isn’t jail, or rehab. They are not out to get us, or trying to tear us away from the boys. They are simply trying to protect us, and keep us safe.

I’m not saying I’m going to stop complaining, but at least I get it now.

Perspectives

By Dave Botti
Photos by Jasmin Bauomy

As we continue this program past our second week, I've begun to recognize that perhaps the greatest lesson we're all learning here in that of perspectives. Coming to the Middle East I thought I'd had at least a decent understanding of how people from the region viewed themselves and the United States -- but, this understanding was far too simplified. The problem is when I try and start to think deeper about this idea, my thoughts quickly turn into a gridlock of conflicting emotions.

Take for example our visit to Al Jazeera's headquarters in Doha yesterday. Here we learned about their take on the use of the word "martyr." They spoke with near pride in telling us how these days the channel only applies the word to Palestinians who died as a result of violence with the Israelis. We also learned that "martyr" does not necessarily have to be used to describe a combatant. Al Jazeera staff killed while working in war zones are also considered martyrs.

Still, I'd venture to guess that for the average American the word martyr in the context of the Middle East, conjures up images of suicide bombers and masked men fighting in the streets of the West Bank. So, why does a news organization take no issue with using such (as many in our group called it) a "loaded word"? As far as I can gather it is because we have to understand how the Arab-Israeli conflict has affected the Arab world to it's deepest roots. This is something an American such as myself could never truly understand, or rather, feel.

The editor-in-chief of Al Jazeera Arabic took issue with the term "terrorist." He made the excellent point that we have no right to label a group this or that. We just call them what they are. As a journalist I agree with this. As an American this makes me incredibly angry. Walking out of Al Jazeera I wondered who gave him the right to use the word martyr to describe Palestinians fighting the Israelis, while we couldn't use the word terrorist to describe a group that killed over 2,000 people in downtown New York City. "Martyr" comes from the history of his people, and "terrorist" comes from the history of mine.

Yes, the word terrorist is overused, but in some cases I cannot help but feel it appropriate even though the journalist in me fights the use of this word.

The bottom line here is that there is still a lot to figure out. It is difficult to understand another perspective, respect it, and try to treat it with as much care as I would my own. It is difficult to fight a natural instinct to defend the perspective of my own country, even though the journalist in me still strives for middle ground.

The challenge here can be overwhelming at times, because it's far easier just to throw up our hands and criticize or hate. That seems to be what a lot of people do -- and, that's what results in a lot of the news that we all have to find a way to cover.

Like Oil and Vinegar: Video Journalism and Egypt

By Carla Babb

Video journalism and the Egyptian police simply don’t mix. Sure, the government allows Egypt TV to work under close supervision and censorship, but good luck to anyone else wanting to carry a camera and tripod around the country. While in Cairo, I attempted to produce a video report on archeology and tourism, but the production process turned into an experience filled with threats, denials, and a little “red carpet” treatment all in the same day.

Saturday is normally a weekend, but for me it was a workday. Thanks to Zahi Hawass, the Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Egypt, I was given permission to shoot video at four major historical locations in Egypt: the Cairo Museum, the government dig locations behind Giza, the well-known Giza pyramids, and Sakara, home to the oldest step-pyramid in the world. But as I soon found out, “permission from authority” is relative in a police state.

I arrived at the Cairo Museum at 9am with three friends from our American University in Cairo journalism program. I entered the gates, camera and tripod in hand, ready to shoot footage and move on to the next site. I handed the policeman at the gate my permission letter with Hawass’ signature, but he told me I couldn’t film there because I needed yet another permission form. My friends and I waited and argued outside for more than an hour before they finally let us in the museum. When we finally went inside, we only had one hour to shoot all the footage before the museum security kicked us out.

My next stop was the Giza pyramids. I initially thought this would be the easiest place to carry around a camera since tourist carry cameras there all the time. However, a guard met us at the entrance and accompanied us the entire time I shot footage. When I interviewed tourists, the police kept a watchful eye on my every move. I also interviewed a merchant working at the pyramids, and that interview was the last straw for police. They encircled us during the interview and then followed me to the bus and spoke forcefully to me in Arabic. I couldn’t understand. My Arabic-speaking friend explained to me that they were giving me three choices: I could either erase the interview, give them my camera, or go to jail. Obviously, none of those choices were acceptable, but arguing did nothing. I took a deep breath, rewound my tape for about thirty seconds in front of the policeman, and recorded two minutes of black. What the policeman didn’t know was that the interview was in fact about six minutes further back on the tape instead of 30 seconds back. Fortunately, he didn’t check the tape to make sure I had erased it.

Behind schedule and exhausted, we headed for the digs. We made it to the entrance road and no farther. They refused to let us in the area despite our permission, and there was nothing any of us could say or do.

Finally, we headed to Sakara. The pyramid was like a mirage, with nothing nearby for what seemed like miles. In the far distance stalked the shadows of tall, modern buildings, but there everything was tranquil and ancient. The manager greeted us at the door, read our permission form and ushered us in with excitement. He took us to all of the “great filming spots” and allowed us in tombs other tourists could not enter. He bragged how he had just taken National Geographic cameramen around a few months before, and he said he loved when journalists did stories involving the great step pyramid and its surrounding tombs. Not a single policeman objected.

I couldn’t believe it. Was I in the same country? How could he be so helpful while everyone else was so restrictive? I came to the conclusion that even when I jumped through hoops for policemen and archeologists, access ultimately depended on their mood and sense of security. Al Jazeera English programming director Scott Ferguson told me his video journalists deal with this problem of access all the time in the Middle East. “It depends on their [the police officers’] moods, which ebb and flow at any given point of time,” he said.

Maybe the Egyptian policemen I met thought they would lose their jobs if I went into a restrictive dig site. In America, however, my experiences with authority and cameras have resulted in the opposite way of thinking. Authority figures in the states have often thought they might lose their jobs if they did not let me into a place in which I had permission to film. Free press often trumps restriction in the states, but I found that restriction rules the day in Egypt. So video journalists, be prepared to move mountains, turn water into wine and mix oil and vinegar when you come to this country.

Judge Not, Lest Ye Be Judged

By Shafique Jamal
Photo by Jasmin Bauomy

Erica Barks-Ruggles has a difficult job. Ruggles, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Unites States Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, led a policy discussion at the Brookings Doha Center on “The Future of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Rights in the Gulf.” During the discussion, she explained why the U.S. State Departments publishes the Report on Human Rights Practices and how the U.S. is working with GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries to improve human rights practices. The 2007 Report was release on March 11 of this year.

Giving the talk was the easy part; the tough part was facing questions from an audience which included ambassadors, journalists, and students from the American University of Cairo’s Journalism Bootcamp.

During her talk, Ruggles noted the universal right of people to speak their minds without fear and to select their own governments. After the talk, an audience member asked why the United States did not recognize Hamas, the Islamist movement fighting Israeli occupation in Palestine, even though it was democratically elected. Ruggles responded that Hamas took over the Gaza strip, and must renounce violence before the U.S. would engage with it. The questioner, an American citizen, pointed out that the U.S. refused to recognize Hamas even before it took over the Gaza strip. Ruggles did not address this point. Nor did she address the fact that the U.S. used violence to take over Iraq. Although, in her defense, this point was not raised.

Ruggles said that she was pleased that Al Jazeera, a satellite news station based in Doha, was broadcasting the discussion. She also emphasized that free and fair elections are one of the essential elements of any truly free country. This prompted one member to ask how the U.S. could advocate for a free press when it attacked, and made statements against Al Jazeera. The U.S. military had bombed Al-Jazeera offices in Afghanistan and Iraq; one of which left Al-Jazeera camerman Tarek Ayoub dead. Ruggles response was evasive and brief: she said that her statements thanking Al Jazeera for being there and her confidence that they will report responsibly “stand on their own.”

Later on, an audience member asked Ruggles why the U.S. held Sami Al-Hajj for “no reason” for several hears without trial before dropping him off in Khartoum, Sudan. The questioner emphasized the contradiction between the U.S. advocating for human rights and their practices that violate human rights. Al-Hajj is the Al-Jazeera cameraman who was arrested by Pakistani authorities near the border with Afghanistan and transferred to U.S. custody. The Sudanese government released him immediately upon arrival.

Ruggles responded that Al-Hajj was detained because of “his affiliation with dangerous terrorists and extremists,” saying it was right to detain him and release him. She added that his association with Al-Jazeera was irrelevant to his detention and release.

Presumably, if the U.S. government thought Al-Hajj was dangerous it would not have released him. If it had evidence of this, it would have charged him. Since it released him, it must be because it concluded that he was not dangerous, though one wonders why it took over six years for the government to come to this conclusion. Perhaps Guantanamo is a sort of Betty Ford Clinic for terrorists, and the U.S. is so confident in its treatment methods that it can be sure that Al-Hajj won’t fall off the wagon. Of course, if he’s not a terrorist in the first place, that would also explain him not falling off the wagon.

Ruggles was also asked how to reconcile the America’s advocacy of human rights and democracy with its support oppressive regimes. Her responses were both verbose and evasive. She also was asked about the U.S. government’s insistence on immunity for private security contractors in Iraq. She duly noted and apologized for U.S. rights abuses “by individuals” such as in Abu Ghraib and by private security contractors. She noted that the U.S. “free and independent media” has held the U.S. government accountable for these “mistakes,” forcing the prosecution of these cases.

So the Iraqi people should rely on the U.S. media, the same media that was complicit in selling the Iraq war to the American people on a number of false premises, to protect them from private security contractors. Ruggles should also explain why the U.S. government does not have faith in the democratically elected Iraqi government, which relies on U.S. support for its very existence, to protect the rights of American security contractors.

The audience also has a challenging task; at these events the audience should coordinate their questions, so that sharp follow-ups can be raised on the heels of evasive and insufficient answers. Ruggles’ job is already difficult; we might as well make it impossible.

Big Brother is Watching

By Sarah Wali

While everyone was out and partying in Cairo, I was adhering to my10:30 curfew. I got a lot of heat for not “taking a stand”. 'You’re 25,' my colleagues told me, 'you should be able to be out as long as you like.' However, I’ve made a choice, and I will continue to express my respect for those I live with by following the rules. Monday night though, there were no rules, and I saw late night Cairo for the first time.

It was about 12:30 AM when my friend Ahmed and I pulled up to the Cosmopolitan hotel in downtown Cairo where the American and Qatari students were staying. Three cops were standing outside the entrance to the ally where the hotel entrance is located. As one of them directed us to a parking spot on the street, four police vehicles flew by. I turned to Ahmed and asked if this was normal.

“You are in Egypt,” he said. “What did you expect?”

I don’t know what I expected. I had never been in downtown Cairo at such a late hour. I know that there is a strong police force, and that Egypt is under marshal law. Yet I had been in Cairo for a year, and prior to that had come to visit every summer. Egypt was amazing because it is so safe. You can be out until three in the morning without worrying. How it stayed so safe with so many disgruntled citizens never really crossed my mind. By the time we crossed the third checkpoint though, I started to get it.

The presence of the force, in and of itself, did not bother me. I got over that shock when we took a road trip to Sinai and were stopped at almost a dozen checkpoints. Rather, it was the efficiency of the police force. Anyone who has tried to get any official documents done in Egypt without a wasta (inside connection), knows that it could take hours at least, usually days. Yet these checkpoints were efficient, organized, and precise.

I would have liked to have stopped at one of them to talk to the officers, but I was told that would not be a good idea. I don't think they wouldn’t have talked to me anyway. I do know I felt like I was in a war zone. That danger was around every corner. Yet, I felt safe in an odd sort of way. Like Big Brother was watching. No one could hurt me, except the police.

Staring Into The Abyss

By Ian Lee
Photo by Jasmin Bauomy

Nietzsche said, “When you stare into the abyss the abyss stares back at you.” I really never understood this quote until today.

While leaving the multi-billion dollar Pearl Island today, a bus full of construction workers pulled along side us. I am sure they were from Southeast Asia as I am sure they thought I was from the West but other than that we knew nothing of each other.

I looked at them and they looked at me. We knew nothing of each other’s lives or the struggles we have endured. We didn’t know each other’s families or the towns we grew up in. We both looked at each other staring into the abyss but for those few seconds we connected like two travelers passing in the night.

Life Behind the Veil

By Jeanette Der Bedrosian
Photo by Jasmin Bauomy

The girls left our villa in groups this morning, walking down the street filled with cookie cutter McMansion villas distinguished only by a small gold number next to each front door. Passing by the cafeteria house and the pool, we squinted our eyes and waded through the heat to approach the first villa.

It is at this villa that we have to tell a cluster of women where we are going, and get permission to leave. We sign out, initial our name, and receive a laminated “hall pass” of sorts to present to the guard. One woman, whose scarf rests around her neck rather than tightly around her hair, asks us if we want umbrellas to deal with the heat. We decline.

Before leaving, a woman asks us if we had all signed out and takes a head count.

The gates are at least ten feet high with sharp spokes sticking out as if to provide one last warning to any intruders. The guard sits resting at the window, waiting for women to hand him the pass before they are allowed to leave. He collects our passes and opens the gate just enough for us to slip through before pushing the button to slide it shut again.

We step on to the bus to the cheers of the men. We are out of supervision until we return tonight.

They've Got Strings, But You Can See There Are No Strings On Me

By Ian Lee
Photo by Jasmin Bauomy

Hollywood came to Egypt. The movie: Star Wars Episode One - The Phantom Menace. Let me set the scene: Chancellor Valorum is in the Senate deciding the fate of the Naboo. Queen Amidala of Naboo gives a passionate plea to the Senate in order to defend her people against the aggression of the Trade Federation. As the debate rages, the Chancellor’s two handlers, who are on the payroll of the Trade Federation, whisper corruption in his ear. And the Chancellor’s power dissipates in the midst of the Federation.

Now lets change some names. First we will change Chancellor Valorum to Abd El Faltah Allam, First Deputy of Al-Azhar Mosque, which is the premier Sunni religious university. Second, we’ll change the Trade Federation to the National Democratic Party or NDP, which is the ruling party in Egypt. Finally the people of Naboo are the Egyptians and the handlers are actually one man Abdel-Naby Faraq, Deputy of the Ministry of Religious Endowments.

Let me reset the scene. Today we went to Al Azhar to discuss issues pertaining to our areas of research. Mine happens to be Muslim-Christian relations, but that doesn’t matter right now. The interview started normally with Allam giving us an overview of Al Azhar. Then we dove into the question and answer period. Questions started as normal, but as the interview progressed things got more heated. The questions began targeting Al Azhar and their relationship with the government. This is when the Trade Federation, Faraq, stepped in.

The questions began to be answered by the ministry as we watched Al-Azhar’s power melt away. The question, if you are wondering, pertains to Al-Azhar sanctioning the torture of journalists who offend the government. As usual, they denied targeting journalists, but rather people who lie or defame someone (lying and defamation is up to interpretation here). Faraq, the Man from the Ministry, answered the rest of the questions for Allam.

As we left, the students among us who are Muslim, were astonished. A noble institute that they have looked up to so far, is now an arm of the Egyptian government.

Egypt's Adaptive Band of Brothers

By Justin Martin
Photo by Jasmin Bauomy

Directly in front of the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s largest Islamic organization, a Playboy Bunny sticker adorns the back window of a townie’s dusty SUV. A young man walks by wearing a Stella T-shirt, publicizing his support for Egypt’s most popular homebrewed beer.

Inside the Muslim Brotherhood’s offices, some of Egypt’s most conservative opinion leaders greet us.

The Brotherhood straddles two worlds. One world is characterized by Egypt’s recent resurgence of religious conservatism, while the other world contains the realities of secularism in modern Cairo.

At a press conference inside the organization’s modern workspace, a Brotherhood spokesman delicately tries to stay vertical while straddling the two spheres, answering some tough questions. One reporter's question involves relationships between Muslims and Christians in Egypt. People of these two faiths, he responds, are “people of the book” and, therefore, should live in harmony. When asked a question about punishment for Muslim converts to Christianity, however, he stops far short of condemning retribution for Islamic renunciation.

Asked by another reporter to comment on a lack of gender parity in Egypt, he responds by saying that women and men are created equal and that gender inequality in Egypt is not as bad as some critics allege. He neglects to reveal, however, his opinion on women in societal leadership positions, particularly in the Islamic power structure that would exist if his organization gained control of the country.

Visiting the Muslim Brotherhood is to experience adaptation. Men in business suits sit in leatherback chairs in front of modern computers. Meetings are held in sleek conference rooms with abundant air conditioning.

When pressed about its contemporary policies, however, the Brotherhood is not quite as modern as its facilities, and the distance between the two worlds it bestrides becomes clearer.

Revolutionizing Objectivity

By Stephen Dockery

My partner Sarah Wali and I, as well as the whole Bootcamp group, sat down with around 10 of the top bloggers in Cairo this evening in Cafe Riche.

Partially to gain knowledge of the region, but more to help figure out our mess of a story on the Cairo police force. We picked the brains of Wael Abbas, Sandmonkey, Ahmed Naje, Ahmed Driny & others, and tried to at least get more context behind our story, if not another primary source.

Yet after talking for a half an hour, I found myself slipping, I was still asking the same style questions that I usually try to ask (neutral, unassuming) except when the blogger answered, I was no longer just writing down their answer and thinking of a follow up question. But I would throw in an occasional eye roll, or excessive head nod. I would add after an answer "that just doesn't make sense". Maybe it was the bloggers youth, or their passion for their cause. Either way I was editorializing my journalism.

From our initial lecture, I had gathered that journalism in the Arab world, particularly in Egypt, was much different from in the U.S. I often made the comparison that Arab journalism had much more in common with the Revolutionary war than current US journalism today. Maybe its a shallow comparison, but I think there is something to be said about the youthful nature of Arab journalism.

Either way, the neutral ground I had based my journalism on was slipping away. How had I become so politicized? Maybe you can't practice objective journalism in Egypt, can you really not choose sides when your dealing with police brutality and torture? A tortured father, a sodomized bus driver? Can you give the NDP a legitimate voice in your article, which all sources point to corruption and incompetence?

I'm still figuring it out, but I think there's something to carry over from my US journalism knowledge. There's something to learn from a not overly politicized class of journalism. I as a journalist just cant choose sides. I decided I will stop rolling my eyes and nodding my head. Even if somewhere in the the back of my mind I am.