15 Sep 2011 | Uncategorized
In February 2010, a group of 11 students disrupted a speech by Israeli Ambassador to the United States. They shouted protest slogans for 20 minutes before they were arrested during Michael Oren’s hour-long speech at the University of California Irvine’s campus . Last week, ten of the students went on trial for misdemeanor charges of “conspiring to disturb a meeting” and “disturbing a meeting”, they face up to six months in prison.
Both parties believe that their First Amendment right to free speech was trampled on in the incident. Prosecutors said that the disruption prevented attendants from being able to listen to Oren. The student’s defence attorneys argue that the students were expressing their views, and their prosecution violates their right to freedom of expression. On Tuesday (13 Sept), the defence argued that Oren actually left the lecture because he’d been given VIP tickets to a Lakers game — he was pictured with Kobe Bryant — rather because he felt threatened by the protesting students as the prosecution claims.
With the frequency of student protests on university campuses, the severity of the potential sentence is mystifying. John Esposito, director of the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University, pointed out the regularity of these kinds of protests on university campuses across the nation, including the UC Irvine campus, where a Muslim speaker was kept from speaking back in 2001. Others have pointed out the waste of taxpayer’s money, especially after the university already disciplined the students, handing them 100 hours of community service, two years of probation, and a quarter-long suspension of the Muslim Students Association.
The authorities insist that the student’s religious beliefs have nothing to do with the case, but according to Dan Mayfield, the attorney of one of the students, prosecutors were able to illegally obtain search warrants through focusing on the religion of the students, even going as far as calling the case the “UCI Muslim case”. As a part of the jury selection process, potential jurors were required to fill out an eight-page questionnaire, which asked questions about their views on the Palestinian and Israeli conflict, as well as whether or not they “harbour negative feelings towards Muslims”.
Focusing on the role of Islam in the prosecution of the students could easily turn the conversation into one about freedom of religion, which is not necessarily interchangeable with freedom of expression. What must be protected is the right of students to express their views, regardless of what they might be.
14 Sep 2011 | Egypt, Middle East and North Africa
The Cairo offices of Al-Jazeera Mubasher (Direct), an affiliate of the Qatari-based Al-Jazeera International news network, were ransacked by Egyptian security forces early this week. In a raid on the channel reminiscent of an earlier raid on Al-Jazeera International’s Cairo offices by Mubarak’s security forces during the mass uprisings last February, equipment was seized and a studio engineer was detained. Transmission by the network — devoted almost entirely to live coverage of developments in post- revolutionary Egypt, including street protests — was abruptly brought to a halt. But programming resumed a few hours later from Al-Jazeera’s headquarters in Doha.
The channel’s website quotes an unnamed security source as saying that, prior to the raid, several complaints had been filed by residents of the Giza neighborhood where the channel’s offices are located. The residents accused the network of being noisy and disturbing public peace. The source added that during an ensuing probe, it was discovered that the channel had been running without a license in violation of Egyptian media laws.
The channel’s lawyer defended the network, saying Al-Jazeera Mubasher had applied for a licence before it began operating in March, but had not received any response from the Egyptian authorities.
Earlier, Egypt’s newly appointed Minister of Information, Osama Heikal, had issued a stern warning that the government would deal firmly with stations that “endanger the stability and security of the country.” Media analysts fear the raid and the minister’s warning signal a slide back to the repressive ways of the Mubarak regime.
The decision was met with an outcry from journalists. “This is unacceptable in the new Egypt,” said Ibrahim Badawy, a journalist working for the independent El Youm El Sabe. “The raid is a serious breach of a basic human right — the right to free expression. If we remain silent, the government will not stop at this but will take more measures to curb media freedom.”
In the same speech broadcast on Egyptian State TV, Heikal announced that the government would discontinue the issuance of permits for new stations, citing concerns about broadcasts that incite violence. The announcement came after fiery protests in front of the Israeli Embassy last Friday turned deadly. Three protesters were killed and nearly 1000 others were injured after security forces fired tear gas and plankets to disperse the protesters.
Wealthy businessmen closely connected to the previous regime had a monopoly on ownership of independent satellite channels during the Mubarak era. They used their privately-owned channels to further their own business interests and stuck rigidly to the government line, spreading the same government propaganda disseminated by state-owned TV channels.
After the uprisings that forced Mubarak’s authoritarian regime out, there were small signs that Egyptian media was finally changing course, as independent TV and radio channels and publications began to emerge. Most declare “objectivity, clarity and free expression” as their stated goal. Some, like the January 25 channel launched by veteran producer Mohamed Gohar after the revolution, claim that their motive is the creation of a people to people channel — one that allows Egyptians to see themselves for the first time. “For a long time the underprivileged members of society were hidden and not given a platform to air their views. But no more,” Gohar told me.
The new January 25 channel — named after the date Egypt’s longtime dictator Hosni Mubarak was ousted — is almost completely run by young revolutionaries themselves. Although critics describe it as amateurish, the channel is as revolutionary in content and form as the young activists themselves who operate it. A live cooking show presented by a former cook and housemaid turned celebrity chef is just one striking example of how things are changing in post-revolutionary Egypt.
Meanwhile activist and media specialist Hisham Qassem — who is in the process of establishing a new media group that will produce TV and radio broadcasts, an online wire service and a daily newspaper — described the government decision not to grant licenses to new media outlets as a “disappointing development.” He added that, with parliamentary elections less than two months away, it was a knee-jerk reaction from Egypt’s tense military rulers who wish to avoid any kind of incitement.
Qassem however pointed out that the decision may have an opposite effect. With the mainstream media’s credibility at an all- time low, the crackdown may give the politicised social media the chance of creating the very tensions the SCAF is hoping to avoid. “The crackdown on media freedom could very well lead to an information meltdown where rumours dominate,” he warned.
Both Qassem and Gohar believe that the new atmosphere for free expression in the post-revolutionary era will prevail. “The trend is irreversible and with the fear barrier now broken, there is little the government can do to silence the ‘free voices’ or curtail free expression,” said an optimistic Qassem.
Journalist and television anchor Shahira Amin resigned her post as deputy head of state-run Nile TV on February. Read why she resigned from the “propaganda machine” here.
31 Aug 2011 | Events
Date: Thursday 15 Sept
Time: 5.30 – 9pm
Venue: Free Word Centre, EC1R 3GA
Tickets: Click here (valid for both parts of the evening, £5 / £3 concessions)
Index on Censorship, Article 19 and Culture + Conflict present an evening focusing on The Freedom Theatre, the extraordinarily inspirational and courageous cultural initiative based in the Jenin Refugee Camp on the West Bank.
The artistic director Juliano Mer Khamis was assassinated in Jenin on 4 April 2011, but the theatre continues its work. We are privileged to welcome film-maker Ahmad Alaraj from the Theatre, who will present Arna’s Children and a series of short films. He will appear in conversation with the new director of the Free Word Centre, Rose Fenton, co-founder and former co-director of the London International Festival of Theatre (LIFT).
The evening will be in two parts, with a single ticket, which is valid for both.
5.30 – 7.00: Arna’s Children (2003, 84 min) directed by Juliano Mer Khamis and Danniel Danniel, a documentary about the children’s theatre group established by Arna Mer-Khamis, Juliano’s mother, an Israeli Jewish political and human rights activist. This moving film, which won Best Documentary Feature at the 2004 Tribeca Film Festival, follows the lives of Arna and the members of the theatre.
7.30 – 9.00: Ahmad Alaraj of the Freedom Theatre will present and discuss four short films about the continuing work of the Theatre today with Rose Fenton: the challenges it faces working with young people in Jenin and the transformative effect it has on their lives. There will be an opportunity for questions and discussion with Ahmad.
Food and refreshments will be available.
