Category Blogging

Ray of Hope

Following my latest post, Khaled has written that although we have plenty of good blogs, we are still far behind our counterparts in countries like Egypt and Kuwait when it comes to using blogs as tools for stimulating political and social change. I agree with him, but I think this is not surprising, and I have written about it on previous occasions.

There are, imho, two main reasons behind this. First, the process of making decision in our country has always been restricted to an exclusive circle. Normal people hardly have any history of political participation, and our first, and only so far, democratic experience took place two years ago when we voted to elect half the members of municipal councils that we yet to see their effect on improving the quality of our everyday life. Second, I think that we as a society, as I perviously wrote here, lack the concept of collective action, even in fields that might be considered much less sensitive and dangerous than politics.

However, this is changing. The past few years have witnessed a notable increase in political awareness, and thanks to the revolution of communication and new media, people now have greater access to information and more outlets for free expression, and they are more willing to voice their opinions and discuss issues that used to be taboos. Just look at our blogosphere today and you would see a new rising generation of young tech- and political-savvy Saudis who consider reforming their country a noble cause that is worth fighting for and should not be let go, and are more than determined to make the change they dream of a reality everyone can touch. They are the hope of this nation, and we cannot afford to lose this hope.

10 Must Read Saudi Blogs

Here is a list of ten blogs that I think one should read in order to get a sense of the Saudi blogosphere and feel the real pulse of streets in the country. This is strictly my opinion; if you think there are other blogs that should have been included in the list please do leave a comment or, even better, you can make up your own list and post it on your blog. Note: blogs from 1-5 are in Arabic, while those from 6-10 are in English, however, the list is absolutely in no particular order.

‬1.‭ ‬Heaven’s Steps‬:‭ ‬Hadeel al-Hodhaif is one of the few‭ (‬the only‭?) ‬Saudi female bloggers to use her real name online.‭ ‬Her blog was mentioned on several big websites such as‭ ‬BBC Arabic, and she was interviewed on Al Jazeera‬.‭ ‬Earlier this year,‭ ‬Hadeel was invited to speak at a media conference in Oman,‭ ‬where she talked about her experience in the Saudi blogosphere.

‬2.‭ Mashi97‭:‬ ‬Khaled al-Nassir’s frankness and courage have gained him popularity in a short time,‭ ‬but also cost him a temporary brief absence after writing some fierce posts a few weeks ago.‭ ‬Fortunately,‭ ‬he is back now,‭ ‬with a much cooler head‭ ‬:-‭)

‭3‬.‭ A Tribe Called Sarah: ‬This blog,‭ ‬written by a student studying in Bahrain,‭ ‬is a homogeneous mixture of love,‭ ‬poetry,‭ ‬and humor.‭ ‬Many readers feels that Sarah’s memoir-style blog is some kind of a novel in the making.

‭4‬.‭ MagicKingdom‬:‭ Mohammed’s blog does not only ask good questions and start interesting conversations, but also offers a much needed view on the scene of culture and arts in the country.

‭5‬.‭ Entropy.MAX: ‬Entropy has been blogging for only few months,‭ ‬but over that short time she has proved what an outspoken,‭ ‬articulate blogger she is.‭ ‬It is not only about the issues she touches on,‭ ‬but also in the way she explores the different sides of these issues.

6‬.‭ SaudiSphere: ‬Aya is a young Saudi woman blogging from New York City,‭ ‬and her critical,‭ ‬angry blog is one of most interesting blogs written by Saudis who live abroad.‭ ‬One thing you would find on this blog that you can’t find anywhere else in the local blogosphere is Aya’s occasional selections of cartoons from newspapers all around the world.

7‬.‭ ‬Annals of a Space Cowboy‬: ‬The name says it all‭? ‬Nah‭! ‬In this blog,‭ ‬Fahad al-Butairi,‭ ‬aka Fedo,‭ ‬a student at the University of Texas,‭ ‬comments on news and posts some interesting YouTube videos.‭ ‬He is also a‭ ‬contributer to Global Voices‬,‭ ‬covering the Saudi blogosphere on semi-weekly basis.

‭8‬.‭ An Englishman in Saudi Arabia‬: I wrote about this blog for the first time in last December, and now he is back after some hiatus. This British blogger moved to Riyadh a while ago, and started this blog to record his adventures with tailgaters on our streets and ninjas in our shopping malls. Quite amusing.

‭9‬.‭ ‬Crossroads Arabia‭‬: ‬It is not the only Saudi blog written by non-Saudi,‭ ‬but definitely the best one in this category.‭ ‬Blogger John Burgess is a former US foreign service officer who has had two tours in Saudi Arabia.‭ ‬He describes his work as an effort to put the country into context,‭ ‬and his experience makes this blog one of the invaluable sources about Saudi Arabia on the web.

‬10.‭ ‬Rasheed’s World‭: ‬Rasheed Abul-Samh is a Saudi-American journalist.‭ ‬He is a senior editor at Arab News,‭ ‬and also reports for Christian Science Monitor and the New York Times.‭ ‬His ability to bring us the-story-behind-the-story is what makes his blog stands out.

Honorable mentions: There is also a few many Saudi blogs that I consider worth reading. Here’s some of them. In English: American_Bedu, S as in Saudi, and Kingdom of Lunacy. In Arabic: Bandar, OS X Arabia, Arab Tech Channel vlog!, and Prometheus.

Announcement

This post was supposed to appear almost two weeks ago before some changes take place here, but somehow I totally forgot about it, and for that I apologize. The thing is: although I have owned the domain saudijeans.org for some time now, my blog has been hosted on Google’s blogspot.com domain. The blog is still hosted by Google, but I decided to use the new feature from Blogger to offer the blog under my own domain. You can still access/link to the blog using both domains: saudijeans.blogspot.com and http://www.saudijeans.org, but I prefer that you would use the latter one. The old feeds are still working, but you are advised to use the new ones. Thanks, and sorry for the inconvenience.

Eating Bitter Lemons

Well, not really, but I just felt like saying it :-) Now let’s get serious: Bitter Lemons International, a Middle East roundtable, have invited me to contribute to their weekly issue, which features four different writers providing their own perspectives on a particular topic. This week’s issue focuses on blogging in the Arab World, featuring Esra’a al-Shafei, Mona Eltahawy, Ammar Abdulhamid, and myself. Read, and please let me know what you think.

Blogging…

Blogging makes us more oriented toward an intellectual bottom line, more interested in the directly empirical, more tolerant of human differences, more analytical in the course of daily life, more interested in people who are interesting, and less patient with Continental philosophy.

I believe blogging can do all of that and more. What do you think? (via k)

Responsibility and Consequences

I have been following with much concern what is going on with my Bahraini friend Mahmood Al-Yousef over the past few days. Mahmood was facing a libel case in connection with a blog post where he criticized a minister in the government. Mahmood said this morning that the case is “coming to an amicable conclusion due to sincere efforts of intermediaries,” which is a good thing, but what happened here should be a lesson for bloggers in the region on how they can practice their right to express their opinions without going to jail.

Like Mahmood, I believe in working within the system, but I’m afraid that things can be quite different on the other side of the causeway. Just last week, ten reform activists and academics were arrested for allegations that no one, except for some hypocrites in our mainstream media, believes. Of course it is always much easier and safer to go underground, but I for one can’t see myself doing that. I believe that being known and out the in the public is more effective when it comes to the cause I’m working in.

This case reminds me with a similar case that happened to a fellow blogger here in Saudi Arabia. The difference is, when our fellow blogger criticized some minister he did not face a lawsuit, but he was taken for a scary ride with some officials who told him to shut down his blog without giving much explanation, or else face the consequences. Since this blogger owned a business that dealt directly with the government and keeping the blog would directly affect his business negatively he stopped all activities related to blogging. It is a shame, because he was one of my favorite bloggers, and his blog was absolutely one of the best in the Saudi blogosphere.

I wonder what bloggers can do to avoid situations like these. Mahmood’s suggestion to arrange a workshop run by professional journalists to teach us how to criticize, but not get legally caught for their efforts is a good start, but I think there is more to do here, although I don’t know exactly what to do. More suggestions?

Some friends have visited Qatif last week to exper…

Some friends have visited Qatif last week to experience Ashura Commemorations. I wanted to be there as well, but unfortunately my final exams this semester coincided with the occasion so I had to stay in Riyadh until the 15th of Muharram. Shiites in Qatif, unlike their counterparts in Ahssa (aka Hofuf), enjoy more freedom when it comes to celebrating religious occasions like Ashura. This is probably because Ahssa is a mixed area while Qatif is amlost purely Shiite. Although some say Qatifis are enjoying this freedom because they are more rebellious, but that’s another story.