Category Blogging

Back (to basics)

The past few weeks were difficult, but I’m glad they are over and behind me now. As you can see, I return with a new design (if you follow the blog using a feeds reader you may want to visit the site to check it out). The redesign is based on Sandbox, and it’s a throwback to the minimalism that inspired the look of Saudi Jeans in its first two years.

Longtime readers probably remember when I used to post a bunch of links to all kinds of stuff everyday. I kept doing something like this through the “shared items” on the right sidebar, but it was not exactly the same. As an experiment, I’m reintroducing the daily links in the main column of the blog with occasional context and/or commentary. However, these linky posts will not be open to comments initially. Based on how the experiment goes, this may or may not continue to be the case.

I’m mostly satisfied with the new design but it’s still kind of rough around the edges, so if you run into anything funny please let me know.

Down with the Tribe

After four years of suffering, the Supreme Court in Riyadh has finally put an end to the plight of Fatima al-Azzaz and Mansour al-Taimani, the couple who were forcibly divorced at the request of Fatima’s brothers for tribal reasons. According to the couple’s lawyer Ahmed al-Sudairi, the Supreme Court has reversed the ruling of Jouf Court that divorced Fatima and Mansour.

Abdulrahman al-Lahem, the couple’s former lawyer, wrote in his blog that he was pleased by the news. Al-Lahem hoped that the ruling would usher a serious beginning for an institutional reform of the judicial system in Saudi Arabia. He also praised the role of media and blogs in highlighting cases like this one.

Personally, I’m happy to see this issue come to a happy ending. Mansour, Fatima, and their children have literally gone through hell over the past four years, and it’s a relief to see the family finally come together again. This is a victory not just for them and their lawyers, but for all human rights activists in the country who supported their cause.

In the words of Fouzia al-Oyouni, it is “a victory for the nation over the tribe.”

PS. I’m not officially back, but I could not not blog about this.

Lull

It’s been almost a year since I took a break, so I think it’s about time to take some time off. This would be longer than usual, but I’m afraid it’s necessary and much needed. There will be no blogging for the rest of the month, but I shall be back in February with new content and probably a new design too.

Beautiful Mess

I hear that officials at the Ministry of Culture and Information (MOCI) are forging ahead with their dumb idea to regulate so-called electronic media. Asbar, a research center based in Riyadh that includes several members of Shourac Council on its board (conflict of interests, anyone?), has been working on a draft for the new law.

This Saturday, they hosted a discussion panel about the proposed law where they met with representatives from MOCI, CITC, KACST, and the Ministry of Interior as well as some government and media consultants.

Ironically, some owners of news websites are actually pushing for this law. They argue that it would make it easier for them to get funding and make money from advertising. What about their independence and freedom that could be threatened by the new law? Well, apparently these things are not high on their agenda.

I previously said regulation by the government is not the answer, and I stand by that opinion. News websites should operate under the same laws that regulate traditional media. If these laws are old and outdated, then they should be amended, updated, or even overhauled and rewritten altogether if necessary.

Although I find the government’s obsession with control hard to understand, I have to say it is not unusual. Someone should tell them that their constant attempts to police the internet are useless, really. Why get yourselves into this mess? Yes, it is a mess, but it’s a beautiful mess. Just leave it that way.

Read more:

This is for Talal

Talal and me

Saudi Jeans leaves much to be desired, I reckon. But I’m moody and lazy, and time is on short supply around here. I have been blogging for over five and a half years now, and lately I feel — you probably do, too — like I’m running out of steam. I can quit blogging for good; that would be an easy thing to do. But those who know me know that I don’t do easy. I hate easy. I just don’t think it’s time for me to stop. Not yet, anyway. On the contrary, I have been tinkering with some exciting ideas related to blogging lately, and my initial impression is really positive. Now keep in mind that I’m usually very pessimistic and I don’t use the word “positive” lightly.

All of this came to my mind earlier this week, when I revived Riyadh bloggers meetup after long months of hiatus and several requests by friends to bring it back. It was great to see the guys, as always, and the discussions were interesting and thought-stimulating. In the middle of the meetup, someone I don’t know called me up and asked me if I could speak with him for a minute. He then introduced himself: Z Theory, a longtime commenter on my blog. I invited him to join us but he politely declined. Holding his coffee-to-go in his hand, he said some nice things and then quickly excused himself and left. It was great to finally meet you, man!

After the meetup came to an end around 10:30 PM, I went to the nearby mall to buy dinner. I was standing at the counter, waiting for my food to be prepared, and at the other end of the counter there was a woman carrying her one-year-old baby. I noticed she was looking at me, but I’m used to being stared at, so I didn’t mind. Then she suddenly asked: “are you Saudi Jeans?” Um, yes, I said. She asked if she could take a picture of the little boy with me. “Sure,” I said. Except for these two words, I was speechless. I was embarrassed and I just didn’t know what to say.

Moments like these are strange and nice. Of course you can easily dismiss me as D-list celebrity wannabe, you can insult me and call me names, you can make fun of me and my obvious lack of social skills. If that’s going to make you feel better about yourself, by all means go ahead and do it. But for me, it’s much more simple. It is about doing what I like to do, and then being recognized for it. Fame? It has never been about fame, although, like my friend Abdulrahman al-Lahem, I don’t mind becoming famous for doing something I believe in. In this age, when some people are famous for being famous, being famous because of a blog is not such a horrible thing, I guess.

However, I certainly don’t blog for fame. I blog for myself, first and foremost. I’m selfish like that. But when I get frustrated and feel like this blog is a worthless piece of crap because nothing will ever change, I’d like to think that I’m also blogging for Talal, Joori, Mohammed, and Khattab. I believe that they deserve a better country, and we must not let them down. We cannot afford to let them down.

Thoughts on Jeddah

Three weeks have passed since the Jeddah catastrophe. People now are eagerly waiting for the verdict of the investigation commission. While we are waiting, it might be useful to look back and reflect.

The heavy downpour has exposed some nasty things such as the nonexistent infrastructure and the abundant corruption. But like what happens with many other things in life, sometimes we need to see the ugliness before we see the beauty. There are at least two good things I saw coming out of this disaster: the great spirit of the people, and the power of social media.

In the days and nights following Black Wednesday, we have seen more than 7,000 persons who volunteered to help in any and every way they can. I’m proud of Ibrahim al-Kushi who opened his house to shelter the displaced. I’m proud of Bassem Kurdi who decided to stay at the hospital when everybody else told him to go home. I’m proud of so many young men and women who, despite the harassment of some self-appointed guards of morality, rolled up their sleeves and spent countless hours at al-Harthi Exhibition Center to organize, distribute, and deliver the donations to those who need them in the most damaged areas of the city.

The relief efforts have been largely coordinated using the internet and social media tools. One Facebook group in particular was central to these efforts as it acted like an umbrella and a gathering point for volunteers. The group is called Rescue Jeddah, and it boasts more than 9,000 members. The content there is all in Arabic but you don’t need to read anything to see what they have been up to. Just look at the pictures and the videos and you will get a good idea on what they have done so far.

Beside Facebook, people were using blogs, Twitter, and SMS to circulate the latest news. They were also using Flickr and YouTube to document what was happening in real time. Some of the pictures, like the one of the dead little girl covered with mud, were really disturbing. But I think that in crises you need shocking images to make others understand the gravity of the disaster.

As for videos, estimates say more than 400 videos have been uploaded over the past three weeks. Most of these were taken by citizens using their mobile phones, but I have also seen some well-produced videos like this one by Mohammed al-Rehaili. In the end, I will leave you with this short film by Bader al-Homoud, who captures the tragedy but instead decides to focus on the bright human side of the story:

Read more:

  • One of my favourite blog posts about the disaster is this by McToom in which he offers an illustration on the basics of drainage systems. You know, because our officials are too busy to read long blog posts like mine.
  • Khaled al-Maeena, editor-in-chief of Arab News, wrote a letter to Makkah governor. “At the moment, the people of Jeddah and the surrounding areas are hurt, sad, anguished and in both physical and mental pain,” he said.