Mideast Youth featured on WireTap Magazine
Our site and its many activities today was featured on WireTap Magazine. Excerpt below:
Students in the Middle East and North Africa, from all different nationalities and faiths, come together to form a cyberdemocracy.
The goal to eliminate extremism is an ambitious one to say the least. It may even be impossible. But a few students from the Middle East decided that the most difficult goal is the one most worth achieving and launched a web-based enterprise to battle extremism head on.
Esra’a Al Shafei founded Mideast Youth two years ago as an independent network dedicated to eliminating extremism and ignorance from the Middle East and North Africa. The group calls itself a “cyberdemocracy,” with Arabs, Iranians, Kurds, Israelis, Egyptians, Moroccans, Tunisians (the list goes on and on) blogging side by side to reach intercultural and interfaith understanding. The website prides itself on keeping speech free and opening up discussion to topics considered taboo, such as gay rights, atheism and sex.
“A few of us realized that we needed a common and independent place where we all share our thoughts without limiting the network to regional ideologies, religions or nationalities,” says Shafei. “We celebrate and take pride in our diversity instead of fighting over political or religious dominance.” Bloggers therefore welcome disagreement and heated discussion.
But it’s not just a forum for discussion, says Persian-American and Baha’i Omid Townsend, the legal advisor for Mideast Youth. “We are a medium of change and an outlet for places and people to voice their opinions in areas where they may otherwise not be able to,” he says.
Read more! It features some pictures from our gallery too.
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First MEY tv now this. I’m really happy for you guys.
We owe it all to the great team to be honest. Always willing to help and contribute. They should all be really proud, it’s been a hell of a year.
Congratulations. May God bless your work and keep you happy.
Thanks a lot Martijn.
Congratulations to you and your team.
How big is Wiretap? Is it sending any traffic?
It’s sending traffic - but I’ve no idea how bit is. I’m digging all their articles though.
Congrats. You guys are doing great and you deserve the best. Wish you more and more success
Democracy is a good thing. when and where a real one is less likely to happen, a cyber-one might set the scene for a real one, if we understand that it resembles just a transition state.
Speaking to Bahais was a great thing here (Omid!), for a real dialogue with them seems impossible right now.
good luck everybody