ISSUE #22 CONTENTS:

• Taking on the E-Censor: Advox’s Sami Ben Gharbia
• Outsourcing Censorship: Doing Dubai’s Dirty Work
• You Can’t Stop Me: Algerian Rapper Tackles Censorship
• QUIZ: Something is Phony in Yemen
• Become a Partner in CRIME

SPOTLIGHT CASES:

Taking on the E-Censor: Advox’s Sami Ben Gharbia

Beneath Sami Ben Gharbia’s calm demeanor and measured words is a dynamic cyber-dissident working tirelessly to expose and counter online censorship. He developed a unique style in the early 2000s, creating eye-catching campaigns protesting censorship in his native Tunisia and advocating for young Tunisians jailed for their expressing themselves online. Today, he has an international mandate, leading the AdVox initiative of blogging-project Global Voices.

AdVox aims to strengthen the bond between bloggers and activists throughout the world to protect online free expression and information access. Ben Gharbia reaches out to bloggers who want to express themselves but “don’t have the technological skill to get around firewalls and do have the fear of being watched, persecuted, jailed and tortured.” These bloggers, Ben Gharbia argues, need moral encouragement and technical advice - from a global network of supporters.

On the one hand, all kinds of popular websites are banned by repressive regimes, including YouTube, GoogleEarth, LiveJournal, DailyMotion, Flickr, and Blogger.com. On the other hand, hackers are devising ways around the firewalls. “One Iranian programmer created a Firefox add-on to access Flickr,” Ben Gharbia explains. “It’s now being used by bloggers in China and other countries around the world.”

With an escalating technological struggle between repressive censors and free-expression hackers, Sami Ben Gharbia hopes inspiring and supporting bloggers under fire will lead to a free-speech victory.

Outsourcing Censorship: Doing Dubai’s Dirty Work

For the past 16 years, Prem Singh has been employed by the UAE government without being granted citizenship. An Indian-native who lives and works in Dubai, Singh wakes up before dawn every day to pore over international newspapers and magazines. He’s not a news junky; he’s Dubai’s censor.

Singh spends the day wielding a magic marker. His job: black out criticism of the country’s rulers, risqué photos of women, and supposed insults to religion. The publications he reviews include The Economist, Daily Mirror, and Sun, which are only released for public sale until after he has marked them up.

Less than a quarter of the UAE’s population are citizens. Becoming an Emirati citizen is nearly impossible process for the average foreign worker, all the more so for those who, like Singh, are non-Muslim. The only way foreigners can stay in the UAE for an extended period is with an employer-granted visa that can be revoked at a moment’s notice. So when it comes to censoring the news, Dubai’s dirty work is outsourced to disenfranchised foreigners like Prem Singh.

You Can’t Stop Me: Algerian Rapper Tackles Censorship

Rabah Donquishoot likes to speak his mind. The young Algerian is a hip-hop artist, and his socially-conscious songs feature a flow of commentary on the restrictions he and other musical artists face.

All public concerts in Algeria are organized by the Ministry of Culture, which has a monopoly on all professional concert equipment and large performance venues. The government also runs the country’s only official radio and TV stations. This means some artists are not invited to perform, while others will be blocked from singing certain songs or lyrics. In Algeria, only “politically-correct” material can be performed.

As a high-profile act of protest against this pervasive musical censorship, Rabah released an album with a cover featuring his own face placed atop the body of Algeria’s president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika. The album, “Rabah President,” was immediately banned.

With official channels blocked, Rabah uses the Internet to spread his music. “I was very surprised to be told by young fellows in my neighbourhood that I was known and some of them listened to me,” he tells FreeMuse. “They showed me what they had learnt and had downloaded from my work, thanks to the web!” he says. Although net access in Algeria is limited, Rabah is defiant: “I don’t need your TV nor your radio, I’ll do it anyhow!”

QUIZ:
If you live in Yemen, you can no longer receive SMS text messages with news updates.  Do you know why President Ali Abdullah Saleh just made this form of news distribution a crime? And do you know what type news sources are still allowed to send SMS text messages?

BECOME A PARTNER IN CRIME:
Here is a list of four quick ways you contribute to the Middle East civil rights movement:

• Forward this newsletter to friends & encourage them to subscribe.
• Write a letter to help free jailed blogger Fouad Al-Farhan.
• Write a letter to imprisoned Egyptian blogger Kareem Amer.
• Apply to participate in HAMSA’s civil rights fellowship program.

 

Neighborhood Watch

Quick links for further reading.

Organized CRIME:

• A Plight In Tunisia - HAMSA editorial in the Wall Street Journal
• Congressmen call on Mubarak to release imprisoned blogger - Daily News   
• Saudi Columnist: "Here, even culture subverts women's rights" - Al Watan  

Under Surveillance:

• Egyptian Denied Right to Change Religion on ID Card - AFP 
• Top Arab Singer Syrian Asala Nasri Banned in Her Home Country - Al Arabiya  
• What Not to Wear (cartoon) 

Editors' Note

The C.R.I.M.E. Report is a bi-weekly e-newsletter published by the HAMSA initiative of the American Islamic Congress. HAMSA supports the struggle for individual rights in the Middle East and aims to connect activists around the world.

CRIME stands for “Civil Rights in the Middle East,” a reminder that advocating for basic rights sometimes lands Middle Easterners in jail. As a briefing on alleged “crimes,” the newsletter spotlights the setbacks and successes of the region’s expanding civil rights movement.

The Report addresses two often-overlooked aspects of reform. (1) Civil rights - not democracy: Individual rights must be guaranteed for all people; otherwise, elections can simply enshrine repressive regimes. (2) Grassroots efforts - not foreign policy: As members of an open society, Americans are working outside of government to partner with Middle Eastern activists.

The C.R.I.M.E. Report does not cover geo-political hot topics like the Iraq War, the Arab-Israeli-Iranian conflict, and theological debates. Such issues receive extensive coverage, and people who disagree over them can still unite to support civil rights reformers.

We welcome reader feedback and hope the newsletter sparks readers’ activist spirit. Ultimately, our goal is to make you a “Partner in CRIME” – an engaged participant rather than a mere bystander to civil rights history in the making.