We’re happy to say that since last week it’s been available as an iPhone application as well, which you can download here. Screenshots below:

The protesters demanded the closing of the private broadcaster Nessma TV, which broadcast the film. Hundreds of attackers later attacked the house of Nabil Karoui station manager and set it on fire.

The film Persepolis from 2007 is based on a comic who lives in France. Iranian author Marjane Satrapi talks about her childhood and youth in Iran. She was nominated for an Oscar and won the Cannes Film Festival with a special price. Iranian filmmakers are becoming in internationally acclaimed works deal with the political and social reality of their country. Including Jafar Panahi.

In 2006 he received for his film Offside, the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in February that he would even sit on the jury of the Berlinale – but was allowed because he was under house arrest for not leaving Iran. Now he must go to prison for six years. As state media reported on Saturday, Panahi failed on appeal, his sentence was confirmed in this instance. The 20-year career and travel ban on Panahi has also been maintained.

If you saw the film you will understand it is a classic piece of art that needed to be shown all over schools in the Mideast ,many youth will find them connected with the tale of freedom against tyranny of radical mind ,the protester leaders may win points in the election but had lost for them self and the new tunisa points in respect ,open minded and the hope to build a model state to lead the Arabic future as they did when the lead the Arabic revolutionary movements , I believe they went out to stop the warning message of the movie against radical domination  of power in name of Islam ,and they used the God image as excuses.

As many Saudis would agree, unemployment is a serious crisis that is on the increase for quite sometime, with the market’s focus on cheap foreign labor and -sometimes- ignoring the Saudi laws regarding the minimum needed percentage of Saudi employees.

In Saturday’s show, guests writer Sa’ad Al Dosari and Dr.Hasan Al Ajami (both famous for their writing in different local news papers) criticized the lack of compliance, cooperation and initiatives of the ministries and authorities, holding them responsible for the unemployment rise, and asking them to abide by their “patriotic responsibilities” to help the Saudi youth.

According to several local and Middle Eastern sources (found -in Arabic- here, here and here) Hoda Al Hamid was fired from her job, and the rest of the cast were given warnings. The content of the show (in Arabic) can be found after the jump.

The first part and second part of the show are in Arabic, i can’t find a version with English subtitles (for the none-arabic reader)

To summarize the points discussed in the show:

. The Ministries of Saudi Arabia are not doing their best in providing more job opportunities to the unemployed and fresh graduates, limiting the number of available jobs vs the number of applicants.

. The Ministries are NOT implementing the “Saudization” policies properly, and its actions and initiative towards enforcing those polices are almost negligible, since the number of companies evading it, or not doing it at all, are increasing. Most of these violating companies are in the private sector.

. Setting the early years of Aramco as an example, almost no companies or government authorities are doing the same initiatives of taking in fresh graduates and training them to be more productive in the company.

I honestly believe that the voiceless were finally given a voice to speak of the struggles they go through, and all this to only find a job that pays LESS than the logical minimal wage (which is not fully acknowledged in the kingdom). Unemployment issues in Saudi Arabia are usually muffled in the printed and visual Media, and never do they take their fair share of discussion in regards to : The causes, What should’ve been vs. what is happening, and on whom does the responsibility fall.

The online community already suffers a good case of of pessimism towards the future of media in Saudi Arabia, and So far, there’s a steady increase in what seems to be the only source of realistic reactions and opinions through Social Media (like this Twitter Hashtag). In a reality that is threatened with censorship, the ports to speak out are shrinking, and Hoda Al Hamid (the show’s producer) paid her job (ironically, unemployed) for the sake of what her job description really is.

And with authorities that are not big fans of any kind of criticism, this is highly probable.

Currently, questions are showering the Media Minister’s twitter account about the reality of this story, but no confirmation yet. Personally, i doubt he’ll answer, because i think i already know his excuse.

What can you do to help?

. Bookmark this blog post to stay updated with the latest developments.

. Write a blog and express your opinion and how this case makes you feel, about you or your job (incase you’re in a related field). Send me a link to your blog and i’ll post it here.

. Start a Facebook page, or contribute to the Twitter trend, and demand answers on the reality of this story. If this is true, why was a reporter fired for merely “reporting” what we’re all witnessing first hand?

. The least you can do at this stage is share this blog, and the links of the news in this blog post, with all your friends and get this case it’s needed exposure to alert the higher authorities of such a threat to the integrity of reporting news and facts, and most importantly, the TRUE feelings of those affected by unemployment.

I’ll be updating you regularly as soon as more updates surface, and I really hope that this is not what it seems, a blind future for the moody-media, reporting fiction, never facts.

|| Progress ||

News is starting to pour in from various sources and an AlArabiya (MBC Group) media personality, that the Minister is bringing the show, and all of its team, back on air after a suspension that lasted all through last week. There is no official updates from Hoda Al Hamid herself, but this is as good as news can get at this stage.

And if this indicates anything, it indicates promising success in getting the cause heard. Have an almost-Congratulations, and i’ll keep the updates coming in.

Sources: ShreetNews . AlTaif Electronic News

Yours,
Lou..

Here are the Fatwa’s I’ve posted so far:

Fatwa of the Day #6: Wearing Nike Apparel is a sin

Fatwa of the Day #5: Why is Masturbation Haram?

Fatwa of the Day #4: Left-handedness

Fatwa of the Day #3: Emoticons

Fatwa of the Day #2: Breastfeeding Co-Workers

Fatwa of the Day #1: That Devilish Little Rat!

Recently, MTV Arabia released a new part in it’s True Life series, discussing sensitive social issues of Saudi Arabia..

Honestly, am not very decided on how much i like (or hate) the show in general, or this segment in specific.. It took social networks by storm, and everyone posting the links with either their full support, disgust or neutrality.. It did stimulate the fuss intended, afterall, MTV is a profit earning company with a certain target, and that they achieved..

But, how much were they “Right on the money”?

At first glance, i really didn’t know how to react to the videos.. The main direction of the videos were not clear, since they were halfway in between targeting core social issues and being provocative to how we should approach them.. I loved it, at first, but then the general direction and premise of the video, however, annoyed me.. Some things were manipulated and given a form of it’s own..

Feeding off the people’s lack of understanding of some religious stand points on certain issues (some of which are the ones discussed above), and using that weakness to provoke the youth to rebel against it.. To Saudi Arabia, and many of it’s citizens, the line between what’s traditional law and what’s Sharia law is blurry.. Not one side seems to understand the separation between the two..

Are we supposed to rebel against man-made traditions? (the Abaya color and design, women rights in general)
..or Are we supposed to rebel against Sharia? (premarital intimate relationships)

The video does not indicate those lines, nor does it help provoke open discussion of those lines.. It’s just presenting the lives of four “courageous” people who chose to “Resist the Power”.. Either they’re confused on what’s religious and what’s not (Aziz), or they have a clear focus on what the problem is and how it should be addressed (the others, so far, since the show isn’t complete yet)

For example, I oppose the idea of the Abaya as an “Islamic dress code” because, it’s simply not.. Islam is pretty clear about the head vail, but what about the dress code?

Islam asks us to be modest in the way we dress (nothing tight or revealing), and we should avoid any dress that attracts sexual attraction or attention.. In Islam, it applies to both sexes, yet in Saudi Arabia, Women are the sex objects, and thus must be tamed by a dress, while Men must be shunned for having a penis..

Then again, i just want to clear that it’s not the message that i had a problem with, it’s the way it was presented.. The dialogue was nothing close to constructive, nor did it seem to aim for gradual reform.. This “In your Face” approach works to a certain extent, given that we should have enough brain power to push the agenda all the way to the end.. Something we seem to need more than to overwhelm ourselves with the number of problems, rather than addressing what made those problems surface..

In the end, i guess it’s just Mtv being Mtv, supporting any counter culture to their targeted demographic.. Mtv’s agenda is clear, and having an Arabia channel is not any different.. To me, Mtv is the counter culture mainstream rapists who seek nothing but money, by all means necessary (any publicity is good publicity).. Even if it means being popular amongst a completely confused demographic (quite a big number in this country)..

Because of our general negligence we have towards these issues, socially and/or governmentally, we’re reaping the results of having such youth.. Some of which i feel proud to be amongst (miracles), and some i feel like knocking some reality sense into..

I can speak for hours on this issue, so i’ll stop here..

What about you? Any Thoughts?

Yours,
Lou..

p.s. You can find the prologue video embedded in my blog (i didn’t know how to copy it here, not that familiar with WordPress)..

The world premiere of The Taqwacores was on Sunday January 24th in Park City, with The Kominas, Al Thawra, Mike Knight, and many of us fans in the audience. We cheered wildly to the opening credits, as The Kominas song Sharia Law in the USA set the scene. From the start it was clear that this is about rebellion, but not without humor.

Eyad’s movie is based on a book of the same title, written by Michael Muhammad Knight. It tells a story of Yusuf, an engineering student, who moves off campus to live in a house, inhabited by people who are all Muslim, “from a certain point of view.” There is Amazing Ayyub, the Shi’a skinhead, Fasiq, the Indonesian skater boy, Rabeya, the Burqa clad riot grrrl, Umar, a straightedge punk, and Jehangir, a visionary mystic reminiscent of Dean Moriarty from Kerouac’s On the Road, a book that Taqwacores reminds me of so much because of its love of life, uninhibited by societal baggage. All of these characters are united by being outsiders, from a certain point of view, outsiders with a desire to belong, and to love Allah, in their own personal way.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1kDYlbQgOw[/youtube]

Eyad’s rendition of the book follows the original very closely, and the casting is just perfect. Dominic Rains as Jehangir and Volkan Eryaman as Amazing Ayyub got into those characters so deeply, that I have a hard time now thinking of Domic as Dominc, and not as Jehangir. Volkan gave such a beauty to Ayyub, an overgrown, passionate, wild child that I want to see the movie again just to see his quirks and silly shenanigans. The beauty of the movie is also in its cinematography, where color is toned down almost to the point of being black and white, emphasizing the gritty surroundings in which the punks live. The soundtrack of the movie of course features songs by The Kominas, Al Thawra, Secret Trial Five, and Sagg Taqwacore Syndicate, bands, that have been shaping the taqwa scene for a few years now.

The Kominas and Al Thawra, together with Filmstrip, played in Park City’s Star Bar on the 25th January to celebrate the premiere. Many of us agreed that Sundance was a life changing experience, and the Park City show, the best show ever. Of course this is personal, having met the people involved, and gaining some sense of understanding for their struggle. But these bands create such beautiful punk mosh pit mayhem that would be difficult to remain untouched by.

Filmstrip from Cleveland opened the show. Their drummer, Nick Riley, was also a production manager for The Taqwacores movie, and his Cleveland Tower 2012 punk house was used to shoot the movie. Filmstrip is a band to watch out for, with beautiful instrumentation and guitars that soothe the mind. Natalie Hammingson described their sound in her post Taqwacores Make Their Pilgrimage to Sundance as psychedelic punk, which I would like to borrow here. Yes to the psychedelic punk.

Filmstrip

Marwan Kamel and Micah Behzold

The Kominas have a more playful feel, they use a lot of humor and sarcasm to deal with issues such as Islamophobia, hypocrisy, or homophobia. The great thing about the Kominas is their openness. This is their second show that I was lucky to see, and in each of these shows, they slowly convert the show into a jam session, where everyone is welcome. At one point, The Kominas said that they needed some dancers on the stage, and so many of the fans, the movie cast, the director, climbed the stage, dragged Mike Knight on it too, and joined in the singing and moshing right there with the band. At these shows, one cannot remain a passive spectator, an involvement is inevitable because the bands will jump down and play right there in the middle of the moshing crowd. And I think this is the key.

The Kominas

There are probably as many definitions of taqwacore as there are people connected to taqwacore, and that is a great thing because to me, it is about an openness. It is somewhat ironic that taqwacore is becoming a label, just by the nature of it being a name assigned to a group of people, but at its essence, it is about removing labels. About being an outsider who belongs, and who creates something beautiful from this tension of being inbetween.

The new competition will put all the blogs of passing month, at the beginning of every new month, head-to-head to compete hot-on-heels for the elegant virtual awards, The Featured Blog of the Month.

The conditions of the competition isn’t very complicated, as any blog published on MEYArabic is eligible to enter, provided it’s; original, published in the period between the midnight of the first day of the month and the midnight of the last day according to AST, and categorised under any category, except the announcements, updates, current events, news, etc…

Every author has the right to enter the competition with just one article, provided its eligibility. In case the same author has multiple articles during the last month, the website administration will nominate one of them for the grand prize, if the author didn’t nominate himself/herself before the end of the month.

The authors and members of MEYArabic will have the right to vote 2 times to 2 different blogs, and maybe one of them to their own, however the non-members will have only 1 vote. However, if you want to have the eligibility to vote 2 times, it’s simple, just join us at any time of the month to have the eligibility to vote in the competition, unless you join during the time of voting process – the first 5 days of each month.

Check out the full conditions here!

The comments on the associated article following every month will be used the only way for us to count the votes. That means that the voting process would be public for everyone to see.

The winner will get his/her post stuck at the front page for couple of days to three days, be categorized under “The Featured Articles,” stay on the side bar of the competition, on the left hand side of the website, for a whole month, and will also receive an official thank you message from the administration of MEYArabic.

شباب الشرق الأوسط... نفكر للمستقبل: رأسيًا لا أفقيًا

Otherwise, we finally announce the launch of MEYArabic Facebook application, it should be like the English one, and will keep your profile updated with the latest articles published on MEYArabic, throughout the RSS Feed.

Install it on your Facebook profile today!

If you haven’t joined MEYArabic today, you’re definitely missing a big deal of fun, eloquence, creativity and originality! what are you waiting for? Join us today!

Most of the time, I leave the cinema hall feeling disappointed, offended and ripped-off. Here I am, after wasting nearly two hours of my precious life, feeling slightly older and bitter that my intellect wasn’t stimulated in any way.

The question we need to ask here is not why such pathetic attempts at film-making are still being made, it’s simply: why is the public still interested in such films?

After all, the supply of what Egypt Today, called “brainless comedies” reflects the demand for such films.

I have to admit, the Egyptian cinema was blessed in recent years with the production of films such as Sahr Al Layaly and Yacoubian building and even the recent controversial “Ehky ya Shahrezad”.

The aforementioned movies reflect Egypt’s bittersweet reality.

The divorce rates are increasing at an alarming rate, Sahr Al Layaly points out the reasons, it introduces us to the problems and challenges of marriage in modern day Egypt.

Yacoubian building takes us on a long rollercoaster-style journey into Egypt’s social ills, economic woes and the current politically-chaotic scene.

I’m writing this with poor Mona Zaki in mind, the media wasn’t particularly nice to her this summer. She delivered a memorable performance as a talk show host on a difficult mission to give a voice to voiceless Egyptian women. She gives them a voice and lets them take us hand in hand down an often painful memory lane.

Let’s go back to the other side of the wall. Egyptian comedy movies usually rely on the actor’s looks for “cheap laughs”. Maybe I’m naive, but I always thought comedy should depend on clever and witty writing. This is exactly what a lot of comedy flicks lack, good writing. Whether the movie features Mohammed Saad or Saad al Sagheer, the actors try to generate laughter based on their looks or their ability to play dumb. Al Limby, a popular movie, features Mohammed Saad, as a “mentally-challenged” person. Al Limby went on to become one of Egypt’s highest-grossing films.

It’s a shame that making fun of mentally-challenged, overweight, unattractive people makes a lot of people laugh, it doesn’t make me laugh.

Any Egyptian or non-Egyptian feminist or any woman interested in the portrayal of women in the cinema is surely mortified when she hears sexist jokes. Even good-old Adel Imam, one of the greatest actors in Egyptian history seems to be saying a lot of sexist jokes lately. Foul jokes about a women’s body are not funny, they are just foul, for lack of a more bitter word!

Then, there is the blatant racism, I cringe every time I hear “jokes” about dark people being dirty, ugly, or if there are women involved, then they are really ugly “prostitutes”.

In yet another Egyptian comedy, Ali Spicy, Hakem walks into a room only to find his friend in bed with a black woman. The racist epithets go on and on, until he scolds him by saying “they are not women, they are animals”. This was of course one of the many tasteless climaxes in the movie. I wasn’t as bothered by it as I was by the fact that it was one of the funniest scenes for most of the audience members. It was so funny, it deserved a round of applause.

It’s hard to think of contemporary Egyptian cinema without such nuisances coming to mind. I appreciate good films and I can name all the well-respected and talented Egyptian artists, but I just can’t be bothered to sit through another sad excuse for a movie.

My friends tell me the interest in such movies comes down to one thing:- economic problems. The Egyptian public wants to escape the difficult living conditions by laughing out loud. I reluctantly believe them….although I think the public deserves better.