Young bloggers of the Arab world push boundaries of free expression

[chiquita]

IDDAH, Saudi Arabia --
When he was a college student in Washington state, Saudi Arabia's most popular blogger, Fouad al-Farhan, donned a T-shirt emblazoned with "Animal Rights Equals Human Rights" and slept on the campus lawn during a hunger strike protesting the slaughter of foxes.

That type of freedom during six years in the United States gave Farhan a taste for expressing himself that he was unable to satisfy when he returned to Saudi Arabia in 2001.

Article Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...00886.html

[BellisimaJ.]

Last month, Abdullah al-Jasir, an official at Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Culture and Information, described electronic media as "dangerous" and said Arab countries would meet in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, in December to find ways to monitor the Internet, according to the Saudi-owned pan-Arab al-Hayat newspaper.

I hope that they are unable to find a way to shut down the free expression of their citizens on the net. It is such a basic right----I so feel for them.

Young women make up half the bloggers in the kingdom, one of the most traditional countries in the world, where women are forced to dress modestly and are not allowed to drive cars or travel without permission from a male guardian. Lured by the possible anonymity of the medium, Saudi women have produced a string of blogs filled with feminist poetry, steamy romantic episodes and rants against their restricted lives and patriarchal society.

RIght on, sisters!

Chiquita, I really enjoyed the article--TY for posting it!!

[amy]

I hope that they are unable to find a way to shut down the free expression of their citizens on the net.

They've already found a way to severely limit free expression.  Saudi Arabia was one of the countries listed on Reporters without Borders most recent list of Enemies of the Internet.

The only way to completely shut down free expression though would be to go the route of North Korea and virtually cutoff all access to the Internet and eliminate the Internet from people's everyday lives.  So far North Korea is the only country to go this route, and the economic consequences of virtually disconnecting make it highly unlikely that any other country will follow its path.

[BellisimaJ.]

Saudi Arabia was one of the countries listed on Reporters without Borders most recent list of Enemies of the Internet.

I know. I was surprised to see that.A pox on that!

So far North Korea is the only country to go this route, and the economic consequences of virtually disconnecting make it highly unlikely that any other country will follow its path.

Let's hope!

Last month, Abdullah al-Jasir, an official at Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Culture and Information, described electronic media as "dangerous" and said Arab countries would meet in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, in December to find ways to monitor the Internet, according to the Saudi-owned pan-Arab al-Hayat newspaper.

The mention of this planned conference more than likely means that more censorship is planned, unfortunately.
  I hope not---talking/writing , giving our opinions freely, is so basic to us here---- I think I would lose my mind if we were to endure that kind of control. Very sad and very wrong.