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I’ve been reading some very gloomy reports from Yemen recently. With unrest in both the far north (the long-runningHouthi rebellion) and the south (revival of separatism), and complaints about the economy almost everywhere, it sounds very bad.
But … People have been making dire predictions about… Read more
Back to the subject of blogging. The recent report from the Internet and Democracy Project at Harvard is well worth a look. As far as I know it’s the first detailed study of the Arab blogosphere.
The researchers found about 35,000 blogs in Arabic, which sounds a lot but when you consider… Read more
28 October 2007: Distorting desire (2)
Interesting to see a favourable review of Joseph Massad's "Desiring Arabs" in the Jordan Times. The book's publishers, Chicago University Press, are obviously delighted.
As you will see from the review, the book is "basically a modern Arab intellectual history… Read more
Homophobia in Lebanon
22 August 2007
Last weekend I found myself at a theatre in southern Beirut attending a discussion forum hosted by the Leftist Assembly For Change. Given their name, it’s probably not hard to work out who they are – a left wing organisation, seeking to promote… Read more
31 March 2007: Yacoubian Building
The popular Egyptian film, The Yacoubian Building, was shown at Bafta last night as part of the Arab cinema weekend in London. I arrived to find that tickets for all 230 seats had sold out three days earlier but got in at the last minute when a few people failed… Read more
7 April 2006: 'Did I see your photo?'
Articles about Unspeakable Love in the Daily Star and an-Nahar today. The Star gives it the best part of the back page, while an-Nahar has about two-thirds of a page inside.
Back to Starbucks (yet again) for a long interview with Time Out Beirut, which has… Read more
A series of failed prosecutions for qat possession has cast doubt on whether Yemen’s favourite pastime is illegal throughout the United States.
Although qat (or "khat") is not specifically mentioned in federal drugs law, and in only a few state laws, it is regarded by police as an illicit drug.… Read more
ARAB ART ONLINE: Susan Hefuna: Al Sabr Gamil (Patience is Beautiful) 2007. Ink stained on wood 140 x 170 cm. More information | Click to enlarge
