Mideast Youth in 2009

2009 was a big year for us. We at Mideast Youth worked really hard throughout the year and as a result managed to release a lot of new or improved projects and experimental applications. I can’t possibly list everything here, and one of our editors will soon make a seperate list of our best content for 2009, but for now, here are some highlights of our achievements this year:

• Minority map which locates and provides basic stats and information about ethnic and religious minorities throughout the Middle East and North Africa.

Minority Map

• Free Kareem WordPress Plugin: a plugin which generates a customizable widget containing information about imprisoned Egyptian blogger Kareem Amer.

• Relaunched Free Kareem website.

Free Kareem Campaign

• Mideast Youth Arabic was founded.

Mideast Youth Arabic

• Mideast Youth Farsi was founded.

Mideast Youth Farsi

• Started our first Twitter account: @MideastYouth, and a mere few months later it got listed in JTA’s 100 Most Influential Twitterers list, with the description:
  

  Neither Jewish nor Israeli in character, this project appears to be re-shaping discussion about the Middle East among global youth.

• Launched Mideast Tweets, got a nod of approval from Twitter founder noting that it’s “very cool!”

Mideast Tweets

• Expanded our social media presence.

• Released Facebook application.

• Released Mideast Youth Arabic Facebook application.

• Launched iPhone application.

Middle Eastern social networking on your iPhone

• Relaunched BahaiRights.org with a new design and a #BahaiRights Twitter map. Our timeline of Baha’i persecution in Iran since 1979 was viewed almost 40,000 times.

Baha'i Rights Website

• Relaunched Migrant Rights, with almost daily updates now, being frequently referenced on Twitter and on mainstream news.

Migrant Rights

• Our Persepolis video for Baha’i Rights wins 2nd prize in the Politicool category at the Bitfilm Festival. Mideast Youth partners with Bitfilm Festival, having inspired the Politicool category at the re:publica09 event in Berlin where 3 of our videos were displayed.

• Released a new animated video: United for Baha’i Rights
  
  This video was selected to be shown in the Dawn Breakers International Film Festival, held in Zurich.

• Launched Postcards for Iran. Sent 812 postcards from around the world to Iranian prisoners and government officials.

Postcards for Iran

• Launched The March 18 Movement.

The March 18 Movement

• Released first video (animated short) for The March 18 Movement:
  

• March 18 Movement wins Think Social Award.

• Won 2009 Echoing Green Fellowship.

• Won 2009 TED Fellowship.

Mideast Youth recognized in TEDGlobal

• Released icon design package for human rights.

Icon design package for human rights

• Ability to add Mideast Youth headlines to your website.

• Launched alkasir, circumvention software, in beta with Yemeni developer Walid al-Saqaf. Over 10,000 people downloaded the software and a full-featured version will be launched early next year!

alkasir for circumventing censorship

• Widget generator for imprisoned activists and bloggers. Here is a recent example that displays how it’s put to use:

Example of widget generator

• Mideast Youth Mobile.

• Launched Israelis for Palestine: A collection of Israeli organizations, individuals, activists and free thinkers, dedicated each in their own way to oppose the oppression of Palestinians.

Israelis for Palestine

• Launched the Arab Association for Kurdish Rights.

Arab Association for Kurdish Rights

• Relaunched Kurdish Rights.

Alliance for Kurdish Rights

• Released directory of Kurdish victims: Documenting the cases of Kurdish men, women, and children who were imprisoned, unjustly killed, or forcibly disappeared for their ethnicity.

Directory of Kurdish victims

• Released Facebook application of Kurdish victims directory.

• Released new animation: Stand up for Kurdish Rights
  

• Released Mideast Youth BlackBerry Application. Try the VERY Beta release here.

Mideast Berry

• We’re now hosting over 150 websites (at least 60 of which we also developed and designed) for free to help activists, journalists, musicians and film makers across the region be visibly heard.

• Press coverage on CNN, BBC, LA Times and more.

So much more is pending that we can’t wait to launch in the coming months!

Of course, none of which would be possible without the Mideast Youth team itself, namely: Fatima, Kawthar, Ahmed, Ali, Vahid, Daniela, and more recently Eva and Misha. All of us are volunteers doing this in our own time, so pulling this off is a huge deal to all of us.

Last but not least, our many authors and a whole bunch of volunteers who helped us pull off our projects.

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