Since Egypt’s historical January 25 uprising, the streets of Egyptian cities have been transformed into a massive canvas for political artists and their art. Before the ouster of former president Hosni Mubarak, many graffiti artists worked undercover for fear of persecution.

Although most their pieces have been removed, a new vibrant scene has stepped in to make their voices heard via graffiti. Here’s a bit of what I discovered around Tahrir Square. I will continue documenting and sharing. Enjoy! All images ©Simba Russeau.

CAIRO, Jan 27, 2012 (IPS) – Attempts by regimes in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to suppress the flow of information during the region’s pro-democracy uprisings has led a higher number of journalists killed, attacked or arrested.

Image Credit: Kewei SHANG

“At the onset of the Arab Spring, the control of information was a key priority for the authorities,” Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) Middle East and North Africa researcher, Soazig Dollet told IPS.

“Governments tried to ensure a complete media blackout regarding the security force’s repression of these protests by cutting mobile and Internet access while also attacking local and international journalists.”

Tunisia’s uprising in January 2011, which led to the ouster of former President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, gave birth to a wave of protests that quickly spread across the Arab world. On Jan. 25 Egypt followed suit by calling for the end of president Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule.

Given Egypt and Tunisia’s success, other countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) such as Bahrain, Morocco, Libya, Yemen and Syria launched their own revolutions.

Although journalists played a crucial role reporting on the demonstrations and their repression, they also faced increasing risks as authorities attempted to crack down on the spread of information.

According to a Reporters sans Frontières report, at least 20 journalists were killed and 553 attacked or threatened – making MENA region one of the most dangerous for media professionals.

“Regimes in all countries that witnessed popular uprisings initially tried to black out information,” executive director of the Samir Kassir Foundation, Ayman Mhanna told IPS.

“They started with blocking access to social networks like Facebook and Twitter, but then realised they should open up these sites to be able to monitor who’s writing what. Then they restricted access to foreign and independent journalists, unless they were totally under their control.

“The situation got a bit better except in Syria and Bahrain. In Syria, foreign journalists are only sneaking in, unless they accept to work under the control of the authorities, which does not guarantee their security; Gilles Jacquier’s death is an example.

“In Bahrain the situation is very difficult. The Gulf Cooperation Countries have a vested interest in blocking the revolution in Bahrain…All opposition media outlets are now censored in Bahrain and the pro-regime media completely distorts the information.”

Human rights advocates have long characterised the Middle East and North Africa as being one of the most heavily censored regions in the world due to the establishment of repressive measures such as regulations and laws, harassments and detention, surveillance and monitoring, and even physical restrictions.

Laws and regulations like the press and publication law, emergency laws, penal codes, Internet-specific laws and telecommunications decrees have been used to permit the jailing of journalists for undermining the reputation of the state as a means of suppressing reports of corruption or scrutiny of government officials.

In Bahrain, authorities use the 2002 Press Law to impose censorship rules. Syria’s penal code allows for the criminalisation of spreading news abroad. In addition, both Syria and Egypt maintain emergency laws that grant authorities the power to search and detain journalists, media professionals and political activists without due process.

“During the Mubarak era, many forms of censorship were taking place. Calling editors-in-chief, stopping particular editions from being printed, confiscating some daily issues, harassing journalists and taking their belongings,” Ramy Raoof, online media officer for the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights told IPS.

“These things are still taking place today but by different officials. Instead of people from the Ministry of Interior it happens by people from the military system. For example, on 22 February 2011, a letter from the Army was sent to Egyptian newspapers telling them in brief: Not to Publish Any Content About the Military.”

“Press codes, in most Arab countries, pretend to respect press freedom but in fact leave wide avenues for regimes to violate them. Some articles, such as ‘demoralising the nation’ have been recently widely used in Syria. Accusing activists of treason and cooperation with foreign enemies is another accusation that is frequently used,” adds Mhanna.

One year later, however, as several countries work towards building a democratic future while others continue to demonstrate, the freedom for journalists to do their jobs remains a difficult task.

“Now there are less red lines and journalists can express their opinions more freely because they broke the ‘fear barrier’,” Mhanna said. “However, expressing an opinion has also become more dangerous, whether in countries where the revolutions didn’t manage to overthrow the regime, or in countries where religious extremists are on the rise.

“So in a way, censorship changed in nature. Now it’s the aftermath of what a journalist writes or says that can be dangerous.”

“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.” Article 1 of the UN Declaration on Human Rights

Many of the earth’s citizens have voiced and achieved their quest for human rights. A right which is guaranteed under the law of nature.

Various conventions, declarations and laws have been created throughout time by individuals who themselves don’t believe in the principles they set out to create. In a sense, it’s something philosophical and to be adored by many rather than an honest way of improving the lives of the masses.

Image Credit: World Bank Photo

In Memory of Lila

Today, I became aware of a disturbing video, which you can see below, in the Guardian. It’s about a Nepalese migrant domestic worker, Lila Aacharya, who left Nepal with the aims of creating a better life for her family.

Her destination was Lebanon, where Human Rights Watch (HRW) has reported that domestic workers are dying every week. Placed in a posh neighborhood in the suburbs of Beirut, Lila began to complain about sexual abuse. A few days later her body was found thrown from the balcony. She returned home in a body bag.

To make matters worse, the recruitment agency in Nepal and Lebanon are now demanding that her family repay the debt even after her death.

If one were to look closely, Lebanese abroad and Nepalese migrant workers in Lebanon have something in common.

For example: In 2010, overseas Lebanese sent home an estimated $8.4bn in remittances – making it the world’s 12th largest recipient of overseas remittances.

They both aid in keeping their countries economically afloat and want to create a better way of life for their families.

Lebanon

“We want to make money respectfully without losing our integrity,” migrant domestic worker in Lebanon.

Social status, in countries like Lebanon, has been a driving force behind the increase of employing a domestic worker from abroad.

Trapped behind closed doors, migrant domestic workers remain vulnerable to abuse.

Women migrants employed as domestic workers face multiple discrimination on the grounds of their nationality, gender, economic and legal status. Restrictive contracts have denied most female migrants the ability to exercise their rights to freedom of movement.

They also face exploitation and abuse by employers, including excessive hours of work and non-payment of wages.

According to a recent survey conducted by the Lebanese NGO, Kafa, nearly sixty-five percent of migrant domestic workers have experienced physical and sexual abuse, forced labour or servitude.

“I had a case where a Nepalese girl was raped by the son of her employer and then he invited two Syrian guys to the home who also raped her,” says Dipendra, a Nepalese community leader and migrant worker. “At around midnight she managed to escape to a church that she knew. The next morning the members at the church took her to the hospital.”

“After she ran away the employer filed a police report claiming that she stole money and ran away, which later managed to get her detained,” he adds.

Located in South Asia, Nepal is the world’s youngest republic. It is bordered to the north by the China, and to the south, east, and west by India. The country has experienced constant political and economic instability, which has forced many nationals to seek employment abroad.

According to Dipendra, after 2006 Nepalese women comprised more than 90% of migrant workers in Lebanon, which currently has around 17,000 male and female workers from Nepal.

“Daily at least fifty to sixty women enter Lebanon from Nepal to work as domestic workers. Most are between the ages of 18-25 years old and some come under false employment contracts,” says Dipendra. “A lot of Nepalese men traffic women from Nepal because they earn a commission from local Lebanese agencies once the woman is hired.”

Human Rights

International treaties like the Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report and the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons have failed to protect women like Lila.

Poverty forced her to seek employment abroad. The recruitment agencies both in Lebanon and Nepal as well the Nepalese government are well aware of the mistreatment migrants face but continue to paint migration as a get rich scheme.

In fact, they are the traffickers.

Scott Anger is the founder and creative director at Pandau, an interactive company that designs, implements and manages campaigns around storytelling projects and documentary films.

As an independent journalist and award-winning documentary filmmaker, Scott has more than twenty-five years experience. He’s worked for The Los Angeles Times, National Public Radio, British Broadcasting Corporation, Voice of America and PBS’ FRONTLINE.

In addition, Scott has produced several feature-length documentary films, teaches storytelling and documentary production techniques and is a lecturer.

I had the pleasure of meeting this really amazing and humble storyteller many years ago. In the world of Simbaisms, he’s a wise tree. We’ve managed to stay connected throughout the years and I’m grateful because he’s a great source of wisdom.

In this interview Scott:

• shares the different mediums he uses to tell stories
• how he ended up in journalism
• the impact of covering conflict
• advice for aspiring journalists and photojournalists
• leveraging the power of social media

I hope Scott’s insights on journalism will inspire you so sit back and enjoy!

Photo Credit: Diana Baldrica

How did you get into Journalism? 

I started making serious photographs at age 16. One day, the local cafe caught fire and I happened to be nearby so I photographed the firefighters as they worked to save the historical building. They allowed me to work beside them, which allowed for intimate images of the battle. My photographs of the fire were published on the cover of the “metro” section of the local paper, which had a circulation of more than a half million readers. I learned two things from this experience; good photography is valuable because publications were willing to pay me for what I loved to do and that journalism allowed me access things the general public didn’t have. The still camera became a way to gain access to intimate parts of peoples lives and events.

I found mentors in the photography staff at the local paper who helped me develop my skills further. The day after I graduated from high school, they offered me a job as a contract photographer. For the next 15 years, I freelanced for publications around the world. I worked mostly on assignment but was also able to tell longer, in-depth stories which I sold back to newspapers and magazines.

What types of media did you start with and what medium do you prefer?

I am a visual person. Because I got my start in photojournalism, still photography is still my primary “voice” and the most comfortable medium I work in. I’m always thinking visually. Even while working as a radio journalist, I would always strive to create an image in the listener’s mind that would evoke the story. Radio stories should be visual.

I also love sound and the power of it being a single-sense medium like photography. Just like a good photograph, sound has the power to evoke an emotional response. My love of sound helped me move into full-time radio storytelling after years of still photography.

Documentary filmmaking is, for me at least, the perfect combination of photojournalism and radio storytelling. It combines both of my passions. But it isn’t that simple. In filmmaking, the challenge is to move the medium beyond its inherent passiveness. I don’t want viewers to simply lean back and consume my stories. I strive to use the power of the images and sound to produce something evocative that forces the viewer to actively participate.

As a journalist who has covered wars and the world’s struggles, how has this impacted your life personally?

I have always loved the access journalism allowed me to have to events and people. It allowed me to tell stories that I felt needed to be told. My passion for storytelling and love of travel eventually led me to cover conflict. The first “conflict” I covered was the aftermath of communism in Romania in 1990. Dictator Nicolae Ceau?escu had been overthrown and executed in December 1989 so I decided to travel to Romania to document the aftermath. It was a self-funded trip with promises interest and distribution from my photo agency, Gamma/Liaison. It was my first trip to Eastern Europe and after photographing very depressing stories about mental health, poverty and pollution, I was in the capital, Bucharest, when violence broke out. I photographed people being hacked to death and shot over the course of a few hours before order was restored. I had never witnessed anything so brutal. Two days later, I left still shaken by the experience. I was shocked at violence. My struggle to understand how our species can be so violent led me to cover conflicts off and on for the next 15 years.

Covering conflicts is one of the most unpleasant things I’ve done as a journalist. I don’t enjoy the danger, fear or witnessing of death and destruction that comes with it. However, I still feel driven to do it. It is important that the world knows – and hopefully begins to understand – the impact war and conflict has on societies.

Although I’m still driven to do so, I don’t directly cover conflict anymore. Today, I help facilitate others to tell the stories of conflict.  Journalism and storytelling has changed. Because of technology, there more ways for people directly affected by conflict to tell their own stories and bear witness. Of course, an argument can be made that journalistic objectivity is lost when participants tell their side of a story but it adds a powerful dimension to the overall history of a conflict or event. I’m very interested in giving people the tools they need to tell their own stories and have a voice.

What are you hoping to convey with your work?

I start a project with the sole purpose of telling the most compelling story I can while remaining truthful and fair. That’s the core of what we do as journalists. Legacy organizations within the industry are struggling now from the disruption and democratization, however, the pure form of telling truthful and accurate stories is still relevant and important.

Social media has offered various options for journalists to create, connect and work. How are you experimenting with social media to further the work you do?

I am trying to leverage the connectivity of social media to allow more people to practice journalism and storytelling. As I mentioned earlier, I think there is real power in people being able to tell their own stories. One of the projects I’m working on is an SMS-based, crowdsourced storytelling project to give people a voice in their communities in addition to having a network that provides information. The idea of journalism is that it provides a check and balance in an open society. Social media allows us to take it to another level by opening up the perspective and making it more participatory to a larger group of people.

What advice would you give to aspiring journalists?

Aspiring journalists need to find an area of focus or a specialization. Do something no one else is doing. Journalists today must be entrepreneurs. Few jobs exist in the industry and fewer will exist in the coming decade. To be successful, a journalist needs to not only be passionate about a topic, subject or place but also must become an expert in order to tell the stories no one else can tell.

We’re not done yet! To continue this discuss, Scott has agreed for a Q&A session. This gives you the chance to find out more about Scott’s work, journalism and some of his most memorable stories.

The Q&A will take place on Witnessing Life’s Facebook page so do join in on the discussion. I’ll be announcing the time and date via our Facebook and Twitter.

In the meantime, enjoy this film Scott co-directed and shot as part of the Stop Torture in Health Care series for the Open Society Foundation so that you have a full arsenal of questions for the Q&A.

Workers’ strike at Halyvourgia Ellados steel industry in Greece

Private Prison Companies Fund Anti-Immigrant Legislation

Oxfam Exposes How Aid Is Used for Political Purposes

How the ‘Scramble for Africa’ led to the partitioning of several ethnicities across newly created African states.

Follow @WitnessingLife on Twitter for interesting links every week.

Welcome to The Lede!

Women’s Security in South Sudan: Threats in the Home ?
The first in a series of reports on women’s security in South Sudan. Provides an overview of threats experienced by South Sudanese women (and girls) in the domestic sphere, including childbearing risks, food insecurity, early marriage, domestic violence, and widowhood.

Palestinians for Dignity: Saeb Erekat, Go Home
Palestinians for the first time took part in a protest right in front of the Palestinian Authority compound Al-Muqata’a voicing their opposition and anger against the negotiations between the PA and Israel, currently taking
place in Amman, Jordan.

From Aid to Enterprise – An African Businessman in London
Ghanaian businessman, Herman K. Chinery-Hess, shares his real life experience of how aid in Africa can play a role in poverty alleviation and assist local enterprise.

Oxfam Exposes How Aid Is Used for Political Purposes
In a new report entitled “Whose Aid is it Anyway?”, Oxfam has found that “billions of dollars in international aid, which could have transformed the lives of many people in some of the poorest countries in the world, was spent on unsustainable, expensive and dangerous aid projects that international donor governments used to support their own short-term foreign policy and security objectives.”

Private Prison Companies Fund Anti-Immigrant Legislation
Over the past four years roughly a million immigrants have been incarcerated in dangerous detention facilities in U.S. taxpayer-financed private prison system where children were abused, women were raped and men died from lack of basic medical attention.  Arizona’s Governor Jan Brewer received substantial campaign financing from Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and GEO Group, the nation’s two largest companies that design, build, finance and operate prisons.?CCA, based in Nashville, TN, and Geo Group, a global corporation based in Boca Raton, FL, are the principal moving forces in the behind-the-scenes organization of the current wave of anti-immigrant legislative efforts.

Days of Strike
Due to the financial crisis, workers at the Halyvourgia Ellados steel industry in Greece went on strike after the company called for drastic cuts in salaries. Days of Strike is a documentary produced by Kostas Kallergis and Giannis Vakrinos.

Malema is more trick than treat
In 2011, suspended ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema punted the phrase “economic freedom” with religious zeal.That dramatic march from Johannesburg to Pretoria, highlighting the demand for economic freedom, won him at least 24 hours of respect from many of his detractors. But there is something deeply troubling about Malema’s political trickery. He pulled the wool over many poor eyes.

The Scramble for Africa
The artificial drawing of African political boundaries among European powers in the end of the 19th century – led to the partitioning of several ethnicities across newly created African states. This columns shows that partitioned ethnic groups have suffered significantly longer and more devastating civil wars. It also uncovers substantial spillovers as ethnic conflict spreads from the historical homeland of groups partitioned to nearby areas where non-split ethnicities reside.

“To take a photograph is to align the head, the eye and the heart. It’s a way of life.” – Henri Cartier-Bresson

Magnum Photos is a photo agency founded in 1947 by Henri Cartier Bresson, David Seymour, Robert Capa and George Rodger.

When I first arrived at Magnum Photos in New York in the spring of 2006, I had no idea of its legacy. My friend Maryam called me one day and told me to go and apply for their internship as encouragement to not abandon my love of photography. I learned about Cartier-Bresson and his philosophy, it transformed how I looked at photojournalism – and life, for that matter – forever.

I’ve always believed that my soul is a camera. Always capturing images from the days journey. The lens is the soul’s eye. Journalism is just another way of learning to dig for facts. Whether it be uncovering stories of the world’s struggles or unearthing new discoveries of the self. The process is the same. We have to seek and seek some more.

We have to get close to the subject. Some photojournalists enjoying having a long lens. As it enables them to steal from a distance. I remember during the internship this photography teacher came in with his students to give them a glimpse of the space. While there, he started taking photos of me with his long lens. Naturally, I hid. When he followed and tried to steal a snap again, I approached him and told him that instead of using such a long lens it would be better to interact with me. Ask me questions about my life rather than engage in a hit and run.

Photographers and journalists, I believe, are ambassadors of peace. It’s not about following the hottest tragedy in hopes of making a name for yourself. Life is real. I came into journalism because I was the homeless, the domestic worker, the one without legal papers, the one about to be cheated out of my housing, the one whose voice was ignored.

Reporting Transformation 

Journalism, photojournalism or whatever you want to label it, is about transformation. Universities create institutionalised techniques. Witnessing Life is interested in transforming the way you approach photography and journalism.

Cartier-Bresson transformed the way I approach images and stories by showing me the importance of finding my voice in those topics I chose to report. This is the true art. Instead of chasing the latest fad, you learn to seek detail, uncover truth and shed light on topics that the mainstream media either ignores or glosses over.

Life is not a hit and run nor the latest headline. We have to get close and in so doing we learn about the world around us and ourselves.

Assignment

Study the above image of Cartier-Bresson drawing his self-portrait for a few minutes.

Then write. Describe how the image can be used to illustrate various aspect of ourselves. How journalism can be a tool for self-discovery and if communicated properly – an instrument of peace.

Post your thoughts in the comments below.

CAIRO, Jan 11, 2012 (IPS) – With a yearning for human rights playing a vital role in the Arab revolts; putting an end to discriminatory LGBT laws may determine how the future democratic process unfolds.

“As a gay Arab, I feel represented in these protests in every way and I’m confident that one day there will be a gay rights movement sweeping the Arab streets,” 22-year-old Egyptian biology student, Khaled tells IPS. “But to get there we have to achieve other levels of freedom such as transparent governments and building institutions where no human rights crime will go unpunished.

“Religion and certain traditions still play a major role amongst the protesters and once new governments are formed I believe that the issue of gay rights will continue to be unacceptable and we’ll need a hundred more revolutions to at least be able to discuss the issue openly.”

After many years of oppression under authoritarian regimes, Islamists have emerged as a major force that could shape the region’s future.

Following the ouster of long-time Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party and the al-Nour party are leading in the third round of Egypt’s parliamentary elections.

The moderate Ennahda party, which dominated October’s historic elections in Tunisia, is now poised to form an interim government and write the new constitution.

In Morocco, the Justice and Development Party (PJD) became the first Islamist party to run the Arab world’s oldest monarchy after garnering the most seats in last November’s elections.

However, the fact that the pro-democracy movements were led by Arab youth has lessened a fear that progress towards human rights and democracy will be halted with the rise of Islamists.

“Repression of Arab LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual) individuals under previous regimes no doubt existed. Having a non-Islamist government is no guarantee against the persecution of individuals for sexual and gender non-conformity,” Middle East and North Africa researcher for the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) Rasha Moumneh tells IPS.

“However, the fear over what is being called an Islamist ‘takeover’ completely ignores what is actually happening on the ground. The Tunisians had free and fair elections for the first time in decades. In Egypt, the primary concern is the abhorrent behaviour of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, and not the Islamists.”

In most countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), homosexuality is a criminal offence.

Sodomy laws such as Tunisia’s penal code article 230 criminalise same-sex acts for both men and women with a punishment of up to three years imprisonment.

Although Egyptian law does not criminalise homosexuality, authorities use a 1961 law on the Combat of Prostitution, which carries a custodial sentence of between three months to three years in prison and is tried in criminal rather than state security courts.

In the Queen Boat arrests in Egypt in 2001, 52 men were arrested at a club and charged with debauchery and blasphemy. The torture they suffered in detention under the Mubarak regime was well documented by human rights groups.

In the past, governments have used homosexuality as an excuse to maintain a conservative society.

“Sexuality has always been a politically tense battlefield. On the one hand, one of the more common accusations leveled at local groups working towards the rights of LGBT persons to discredit them is that they are Western cultural imports, or harbingers of Western imperialism,” says Moumneh.

“On the other hand, social anxiety brought about by homosexuality is not all that different from conservative fears that arise from the promotion of women’s rights and freedoms.”

In Algeria, law prohibits homosexuality and cross-dressing. Individuals prosecuted under Article 333 and 338 of Algerian law face imprisonment of between two months and three years and fines ranging from 500 to 10,000 Algerian dinars.

For many trans people societal discrimination is magnified by the lack of inclusion within the LGBT community.

“Within the community you have this hierarchy of gay men, the feminine men, the lesbians, the bisexuals and then the trans. Of course there’s also the class issue that plays a role in further dividing the community,” 39-year-old Randa Lamri, founding member of Abu Nahas, an underground LGBT rights association in Algeria tells IPS.

“What really makes me angry is the discrimination that I face within the LGBT community where I’m told that trans people give the gay community a bad reputation because we don’t respect our bodies. In a vulnerable community, exclusion can jeopardise our struggle.”

Dahr Jamail on birth defects in Fallujah’s newborns.

Obama’s latest arms deal with Saudi Arabia.

How the Syrian revolution’s media war has become almost as fierce as the battles on the streets.

Follow @WitnessingLife on Twitter for interesting links every week.

Welcome to The Lede…

Video: Film Footage from Palestine back in 1896
It is becoming a trend among influential GOP candidates to call out the Palestinian people as “invented” or even “non-existent”. First we had Republican candidate Newt Gingrich calling the Palestinians an “invented people”. Another rising star, Republican candidate Rick Santorum, has also said “There is no Palestine”.

In Iraq, War Without End
Home is the hardest place to find children of immigrants. But for me, nothing hits closer to home than when a bomb goes off in Baghdad. Last week, just days after American troops pulled out of Iraq, 63 people died and 176 were wounded in Baghdad.

Effect of the Arab Spring on Migration
The events in the Arab world, which was a center of illegal international migration even before the Arab Spring began, caused a surge in forced migration flows, which represent a serious challenge for both the Arab world and its European neighbors.

Iraq. Began With Big Lies. Ending With Big Lies. Never Forget.
Iraq is forced by Washington to continue paying reparations to Kuwait for Iraq’s invasion in 1990, an invasion instigated in no small measure by the United States. How much will the US pay the people of Iraq?

Fallujah Babies: Under A New Kind of Siege
While the US military has formally withdrawn from Iraq, doctors and residents of Fallujah are blaming weapons like depleted uranium and white phosphorous used during two devastating US attacks on Fallujah in 2004 for what are being described as ‘catastrophic’ levels of birth defects and abnormalities.

Framing Syria
Over the last forty years, the Assad regime has mastered the method of burying our stories almost as well as burying our people. Our cities, like their residents, carry the scars of brutality, hiding decades of bloody secrets within their thick stone walls. One city in particular, Hama, lives with a 29-year-old secret, its 1982 massacre.

Arms Dealer Obama Will Win by Default
Not only has Obama been a savior of the banking conglomerates that so generously financed his campaign, but he also has proved to be equally as solicitous of the needs of the military-industrial complex. He entered his re-election year by signing a $662 billion defense authorisation bill that strips away some of our most fundamental liberties and keeps military spending at Cold War levels, and by approving a $60 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia.

The Army and the Economy in Egypt
Until this very day, the role of the military establishment in the economy remains one of the major taboos in Egyptian politics. The Egyptian Armed Forces owns a massive segment of Egypt’s economy – 25 to 40 percent, according to some estimates.

Image credit

The Private Prison Industry is currently the largest and continually expanding industry in the United States. In addition to local and state governments, a large number of corporations and individuals profit from the industry. While historically African Americans, and more recently, Latinos, have provided cheap labor for prisons, in the last couple of years the target has become various immigrant groups. The Department of Justice, more than ever influenced by a free market economy, has allowed the enactments of laws that allow the mass roundups of immigrants. The Anti-terrorist Act of 1996, singed by president Clinton, was followed by Bush’s enactment of the Patriot Act of 2001 after the 9/11 tragedy. FSRN’s Simba Russeau brings us this special documentary “The Private Prison Industry in America Today”, the voices of African Americans, Latinos and various immigrants who have fallen victim to the present day market of prison profits and cheap labor.

Click to listen or download the full documentary

“Today, Obama called for freedom of the Libyan oil fields.” – As’ad AbuKhalil

Libya and China was rapidly becoming key energy partners as Beijing positioned itself to be the third-largest buyer of Libyan oil with more than fifty investment projects in the works.

Unrest in North Africa took its toll on Chinese investments with new contracts in Libya totaling $18 billion declining by nearly 53 per cent.

In this interview I did last April with Asian Times reporter and author of “Obama does Globalistan,” Pepe Escobar he highlights the focus of AFRICOM’s strategic policy of minimizing China’s economic interest in Africa.

AFRICOM’s Libyan Intervention

AFRICOM is a scam organized in Washington to assist military contractors like Lockheed Martin that use the revolving door between the Pentagon and various other security agencies like the CIA. AFRICOM was set up in 2007 as part of the war on terror during the Bush administration.

NATO is basically the Pentagon arm in Europe. This symbiosis of NATO into AFRICOM will translate into a militarisation of Africa.

Basically, the US badly wanted a base in Africa and Libya provided the opening. AFRICOM’s participation in the Libyan intervention was the Pentagon’s strategy of countering Chinese investments in Africa and of course Beijing is paying close attention to AFRICOM’s moves.

There were more than 35,000 workers in Libya working in the energy sector. For the Pentagon, China doing deals in Libya in a strategic part of the Mediterranean wasn’t acceptable.

If you look at the Lisbon summit in December 2010, the agenda is total domination of the Mediterranean and the establishment of a NATO lake. Only three countries escape this domination and the most crucial being Libya. Plus Ghadafi’s business dealings with China irked Brussels, Paris, London and of course Washington.

Chinese Penetration in Africa

Instead of taking a militarisation approach like the Pentagon or taking the IMF/World Bank structural adjustment or neocolonial western way, the Chinese approach individual African governments and inquire about their needs while at the same time voicing what they want. Then the Chinese go about building everything requested by these governments.

Currently, there are at least over 500,000 Chinese living all over Africa, with nearly 40 – 50,000 in Angola alone. It’s a mini migration from China to Africa, a business expansion of Chinese companies and a strategic investment by Beijing into Africa as well.

China has been successful in Africa because they always play up the fact that they are a developing country although China maintains a much higher level of development in comparison to most African countries. China also plays on the fact that the West colonized them. Another key contributor to China’s success in Africa is based on the fact that they don’t interfere in the internal affairs of these governments, which are the traditional methods of the state department.

Image credit: Master Isolated Images

“If there is light in the soul, there will be beauty in the person. If there is beauty in the person, there will be harmony in the house. If there is harmony in the house, there will be order in the nation. If there is order in the nation, there will be peace in the world.” – Chinese Proverb

Interpretation of the above quote: We can’t change the world unless we change ourselves.

Technically, I’m not a professional journalist. What I mean by that is that I haven’t been through the traditional educational routes. Life is my teacher and it was life that brought me to journalism.

Journalism, mainly photography, became my weapon of expression. Through it, I was able to learn my rights and document it. Through it, I’m able to dive deeper into my Sufi path.

Excited about teaching myself how to better use this new weapon of choice to transform my life of injustice into one of compassion, I embarked on a mission of seeking other voices plagued with a life of injustice. My aim was to not get stuck in a vicious cycle of self-pity.

By harnessing the art of journalism and storytelling I’ve been able to share what I’ve learned. While living in Lebanon I conducted several workshops with children of migrant workers and refugees on how to use interviewing techniques to deal with racism and stereotypes.

The idea came about when one of the Sudanese kids started making fun of the Iraqi kids and vice versa. I quickly interrupted them and asked, “what do you have in common?” They didn’t know how to respond.

For me they’re bond was the fact that they had both been forced from homelands and were now in an environment that neither accepts or wants them.

I paired them in groups of two and I quickly became unpopular when I opted to select their partners. The reason being that I wanted them to go outside of their comfort zone.

The end result was friendship. Even the director of the school told me that before the kids used to fight each other all day and after the workshop they get along. See how stereotypes keep us apart?

Imagine if the world were to do a massive interview with one another. We might discover that we have the same pain, desires and hopes. After all – we bleed, cry and love the same.

The Four Noble Truths of Journalism

1. Let Go of Your Ego

Although I’ve experienced a lot of hardships being a journalist allows me to step outside of myself. To leave a life of misery. The human community is suffering at many different levels and one way to free oneself of their ego is to step outside of one’s comfort zone and listen to someone else’s story.

Go to a community not of your own and do an interview. Listen without judging and then blog about it to share what you learned.

You might be surprised and find that you have many things in common with your new found acquaintance.

2. Freedom From Mental Slavery

Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting events, issues and trends in a timely fashion. The main idea is to inform the people. Zen is all about using meditation to go deep.

How informed are you? How often do you sit and investigate your life? Really dig deep into the issues that keep you from being the individual that you were meant to be. The idea here is to become informed.

Resolving the world’s issues starts with resolving our own.

3. Let Go of Attachment

Mainstream media outlets who encourage their journalists to focus on what’s hot rather than the truth, are almost always failing the public.

People want to tell you what you can and can’t do because of their fears. Let go of your attachment to society’s opinions of you, which are solely based on what’s trendy and polite. Become a citizen journalist of the self.

With a little research into your true path you’ll not only become informed but you’ll also be able to build a strong foundation with the bricks that others throw at you.

4. Path of Self-improvement

Zen Buddhism, Sufism and Hinduism all encourage practitioners to seek out the wisdom of trained mystics and healers to really taste life’s pearls.

Journalism offers a similar wisdom. We learn to love ourselves, are able to reflect on how our daily actions affect our environment and discover that we’re merely a single thread in the bigger fabric of life – which aids in developing a better character.

Be the media and self that you wish to see!

Over to you – are you actively seeking to improve your character? If you’re a blogger, has interviewing helped in stepping outside of your comfort zone? Can journalism aid in freeing our minds from stereotypes? Tell me in the comments below. When you’re done go ahead and share it.

Image credit: Danilo Rizzuti

Writing has given me an additional outlet to explore my voice. Since a child I was always told that my voice didn’t count and that others would think and speak for me. The camera offered one way to experience all the wonders of life without speaking vocally. It also taught me to see beyond the surface of an individual. While living on the streets, poetry became my weapon of choice since finding a pencil and a scrap paper was never difficult.

I wrote my first article as a journalist in 2007 after arriving in Lebanon. I was terrified. In a way, I still am as it takes many moons for the right words to come out. Blogging is helping to cure that. With that being said, here’s a roundup of the best Witnessing Life articles from 2011.

Environment

Libya: Water Emerges as a Hidden Weapon

Libya’s enormous aquatic reserves could potentially become a new weapon of choice if government forces opt to starve coastal cities that heavily rely on free flowing freshwater.

Sustaining Thyme Through Education

There is a saying in Lebanon: a strong man will come out of the thyme’s stem. Thyme is one of the most important wild plant in Lebanon for hundreds of years, since the Roman era. A traditional Lebanese herb, Thyme is widely eaten in foods such as Tabbouleh or Kebbe.

Land and Water Sparks New Fear of Civil War in Sudan

The escalation of violence around the north-south border in the run-up to Sudan’s big divide has sparked fears of a new civil war, but experts contend that the issue is more about land and water rather than oil.

Migration

Libyan Exodus Shrinks Remittances

The exodus of migrants streaming out of Libya due to ongoing unrest has highlighted the heavy dependence of some countries on remittances from their citizens working abroad. In several countries this flow has now become choked.

Never a Good Day for This Population

In dire need of money to assist her family back home, 27-year-old Makeda from Ethiopia was forced to return to the Middle East as a domestic worker.

Tunisia: Migrants Flee to New Traps

As African Union and NATO leaders push for a political solution to the Libyan crisis, many of the thousands of refugees and migrants stranded on the Libyan- Tunisian border say their plight continues to fall on deaf ears.

Arab Spring 

Europe Confronts It’s Borders

The influx of Tunisian migrants into Europe following the country’s ‘Jasmine Revolt’ has sparked a debate over the application of the passport-free Schengen Agreement.

Between Libya and the Deep Sea

NATO’s five-month bombing campaign in Libya, run under the guise of protecting civilians, is also killing victims fleeing the conflict, directly and indirectly.

Arab Spring Set to Music

Music has always played a pivotal role in many of the world’s social movements, so it was of no surprise that the Arab Spring was also set to music.

Arab Women Seek a Place in the Spring

As several countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) elect bodies to write new constitutions, women are looking to expand their rights through legislation.

Uprising Revives Entrenched Racism Towards Black Africans

Though most will deny its existence, in Libya discrimination is common not only against migrant black Africans, but also against darker-skinned Libyans, especially from the south of the country.

War Strangles Livelihoods on the Border

Tunisia’s border with Libya has been a major lifeline, keeping residents in Ben Guerdane economically afloat – so when the vital trade route is blocked by the municipality or by protestors, tempers flare.

Politics: Balkanisation of Libya

As the battle for Libya rages on – with the country’s economic heartland, Misurata, being the scene of some of the uprising’s fiercest fighting – experts are warning that a ‘Balkanisation’ of Libya is possible if the U.S. and NATO opt to exploit loopholes in U.N. Resolution 1973 by arming the opposition.

Social Media

Login 2 Life’s Infinite Possibilities

Five years ago director Daniel Moshel set out on an ambitious journey. His feat? ‘Login 2 Life’, a new documentary that examines how engagement in the virtual world is not an escape from reality but rather an extension of our everyday human existence.

Global Food Crisis

Global Food Crisis: Crucial Facts the Media Fails to Mention

In Global Food Crisis: Crucial Facts the Media Fails to Mention, we look at some reasons why the global population is struggling to feed itself.

What Everybody Ought to Know About the Somalia Crisis

In this roundup of news regarding Somalia, I offer you various analyst opinion on the situation.

Once again, this is just a sketch. To view my portfolio click here.

Image Credit: David Paul Ohmer

Doing the diplomatic two face, President Barack Obama has publicly lashed out at the greediness of the financial and banking sector while sweet talking his way to their wallets behind the scenes.

Obama has raised nearly $15.6 million, $12 million of which goes to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) but also funnels right back into his re-election campaign compared to Republican challenger Mitt Romney’s $7.5 million. Out of the $15.6 million Obama has secured a nice $3.6 million on the side from Wall Street.

In 2008, Obama raked in $15.8 million from Wall Street.

According to a recent Washington Post piece:

The battle for Wall Street cash has become a crucial subtext in the 2012 campaign, which is shaping up to focus heavily on federal banking and markets policies and the struggling economy.

Top Republicans have courted major U.S. bank executives and financiers, arguing that Obama’s policies have hurt them, while Democrats are seeking to turn the erosion of support on Wall Street to their populist advantage.

Obama’s ties to Wall Street donors could complicate Democratic plans to paint Republicans as puppets of the financial industry, particularly in light of the Occupy Wall Street protests that have gone global over the past week.

Obama retains a core group of supporters on Wall Street who are central to his fundraising efforts. About a third of his top 40 fundraisers, who have helped bundle together $500,000 or more in contributions, hail from the finance sector, including big names such as former New Jersey governor Jon S. Corzine of MF Global, hedge-fund manager Orin Kramer and UBS executive Robert Wolf.

Obama’s chief of staff, William M. Daley, was also vice chairman at J.P. Morgan Chase before coming to the White House this year.

Obama’s support within the financial industry tends to be more diffuse than the top Wall Street firms. One of his primary sources of cash, for example, is a small Chicago firm called Chopper Trading, which employs a technique of rapid, computer-assisted trading that some experts blame for volatility in the stock market.

Obama aides regularly point to his $155 million joint fundraising total with the DNC as evidence of the campaign’s momentum but have tended to ignore DNC money when discussing Wall Street.

In a memo issued Tuesday, for example, DNC spokesman Brad Woodhouse said Romney’s campaign “seems quite proud of the fact that they are leading the money race for campaign cash from Wall Street.”

Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt said in a statement that contributions from the financial sector show that many corporate leaders agree with Obama on the need for “an economy that’s built to last, not on loopholes and outsourcing.”

“There are business leaders across industries who agree with the president that steps needed to be taken to ensure that the American people are never again held hostage by risky Wall Street deals that threaten our entire economy,” LaBolt said. “Mitt Romney and all the Republican candidates believe the opposite.”

Occupy Wall Street

Under the slogan of we are the ninety-nine per cent, the Occupy Wall Street movement stated in September 17, 2011 in Liberty Square in Manhattan’s financial district and to over one thousand five hundred cities globally.

Inspired by the Arab Spring, the movement – which is led by Adbuster, Anonymous and AmpedStatus – has vowed to put an end to their monied corrupt democracies and the role major banks, multinational corporations and Wall Street play in the global financial crisis.

“We are a decentralized non-violent resistance movement, which seeks to restore the rule of law and fight back against the organized criminal class. One-tenth of one percent of the population has consolidated wealth in unprecedented fashion and launched an all-out economic war against 99.9% of the population. We are not affiliated with either wing of the two-party oligarchy. We seek an end to the corrupted two-party system by ending the campaign finance and lobbying racket.

Above all, we aim to break up the global banking cartel centered at the Federal Reserve, International Monetary Fund, Bank of International Settlements and World Bank. We demand that the primary dealers within the Federal Reserve banking system be broken up and held accountable for rigging markets and destroying the global economy, effective immediately. As a first sign of good faith, we demand Ben S. Bernanke step down as Federal Reserve chairman. Until our demands are met and a rule of law is restored, we will engage in a relentless campaign of non-violent, peaceful, civil disobedience.”

~ Sincerely, #A99 (The 99%) | Manifesto of the 99%

Persecuted Minority

Well let’s hear from some of those fat cats on Wall Street and what they think about the people’s discontent and the need for “an economy that’s built to last.

“Instead of an attack on the 1 percent, let’s call it an attack on the very productive,” Allison said. “This attack is destructive.” – John A. Allison IV, 63, a former CEO of the Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based bank and now a professor at Wake Forest University’s business school.

“If I hear a politician use the term ‘paying your fair share’ one more time, I’m going to vomit.” – Tom Golisano, 70, billionaire founder of payroll processer Paychex Inc. and a former New York gubernatorial candidate.

“I am a fat cat, I’m not ashamed. If you mean by fat cat that I’ve succeeded, yeah, then I’m a fat cat. I stand guilty of being a fat cat.” – Ken Langone, 76, Home Depot co-founder and chairman of the NYU Langone Medical Center.

“It’s simply a fact that pretty much all the private- sector jobs in America are created by the decisions of ‘the 1 percent’ to hire and invest. Since their confidence in the future more than any other factor will drive those decisions, it makes little sense to undermine their confidence by vilifying them.” – Robert Rosenkranz, 69, CEO of Wilmington, Delaware-based Delphi Financial Group Inc., a seller of workers’-compensation and group-life insurance.

Capitalists “are not the scourge that they are too often made out to be” and the wealthy aren’t “a monolithic, selfish and unfeeling lot. They make products that “fill store shelves at Christmas” and provide health care to millions. You’ll get more out of me if you treat me with respect.” – Hedge-fund manager Leon Cooperman, 68, the Omega Advisors Inc. chairman and former CEO of Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s money-management unit.

Hijacking Your Wallets

“Capitalism will not be defeated at battlefield, capitalism will be defeated at the marketplace.” – Predication of a Sufi Master

“You need something to break the bank cartel… They caused the crisis… and last year they had record bonuses… this is not rational. They are hijacking the American economy,” says Nassim Taleb, Risk Engineer and Financial Expert

“We wasted three years doing nothing but transferring money to the pocket of the bankers.”

Life Without Interest

The so-called global economy’s melt down is due to a heavily dependence upon usury or interest, which is forbidden both in the Old Testament Law and in the Final Testament (Quran).

Let’s be awake and aware of the “problem, reaction, solution” strategy that is so often craftily implemented by the New World Order advocates – of which the Global Banking Cartel is a key player – as they move ahead with their devious and evil agenda to further enslave us financially. Let’s not permit them to co-opt, infiltrate, sabotage, the current global awakening.

Let’s keep it focused on the design flaw of usury and how this malfunction of our orthodox, economic system of debt money must be abolished forever so that once again all debtors can experience “Life Without Usury.”

From a spiritual point of view, it’s important to be aware of the injustices that many of the global movements are highlighting. Most importantly, there needs to be a spiritual approach to dealing with the Global Banking Cartel.

Craving of the dunya (wealth, power, materialism) keeps money and power in the hands of the one per cent.

“From the Horn of Africa and South East Asia to Russia and Afghanistan, a year of floods, droughts and extreme heat has helped push tens of millions of people into hunger and poverty. This will only get worse as climate change gathers pace and agriculture feels the heat. Governments must act now to protect our food supply and save millions from slipping into hunger and poverty.” – Oxfam International

Right now, the global population is struggling to feed itself, with more than 800 million people lacking adequate food; 1.3 billion living on less than $1 per day and world population figures expected to reach 9 billion by 2050.

Extreme weather such as droughts, heatwave and fires caused global grain prices to soar by nearly eight-five per cent while monsoons in South East Asia caused the price of rice to skyrocket by 19 to 30 per cent. In a nutshell, climate change coupled with global warming are rising prices and threatening food security in many parts of the world.

Land grabs, which are forcing indigenous cultures from their land, has also played a major role in the rising prices. This is something I hope to address more in our land grab series.

For now, in part two of our series on the food crisis, I offer an interview I did with Executive Director of Global Policy Forum, James Paul.

Factors Causing Food Prices to Skyrocket

Transport costs, as oil prices increase, will impact on the movement of food but much more important energy like petroleum has a tremendous input into the food system. For example, agricultural machinery, pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers all rely on petroleum. Nitrogen fertilizer, which is made from petroleum, is one of the most widely used fertilizers in the agricultural system so these are all factors that are driving prices upward.

Commodity speculation has been around for a long but it has been nothing like what has happened in the past two to three years. New financial instruments in commodity food prices have been developed by firms like Gold and Sachs and others, mostly based in London and New York, who ensure that the global food situation gets tighter and tighter because they want to make a lot of money out of it.

Land grabbing is the process of buying up land or leasing it in very favorable terms for long periods of time, like ninety-nine years. An area it is said in Africa the size of France in the last three years has been subject to this land grabbing. In Africa, and other developing countries, the land is owned by the government and the people on the land use it but then these land grabbing actors come forward.

Sometimes they’re hedge funds, food producing companies, governments or a consortium of two or three of those actors. They snap up leases or purchase the land and sometimes it’s gigantic areas like a million hectares for example so this is changing the global food production system towards the most high yield commodities.

For example, you might have several hundred thousand hectares that would be in wheat but then the international financial actors would find that they would make more money exporting lets says strawberries to western Europe rather than wheat to local buyers in that country and naturally it’s a trend that is diverting basic food that keeps people from going hungry to fancy foods. Those could also be cut flours that may not be food at all but agricultural produce that command a higher price in the world market.

Dem Bellyful but We Hungry

The World Bank, one of its many terrible reforms over the past twenty-five years has been to insist that governments give up their official food reserves in favour of the magic of the markets. So food reserves have moved from being held by governments, and this is true for the United States, Western Europe and developing countries.

Big companies that are involved in the speculation of food prices are now holding food supplies. There is a bit of a movement now back towards official reserves due to a panic among governments that they’ve lost control of global food prices.

Historically, as early as ancient Mesopotamia the kings had to maintain warehouses of grain so that when there was bad weather or crops failed the state could supply the people and keep them from going hungry.

When we look at the French revolution – this is true for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) today – there were lots of political reasons driving popular anger like lack of food control by the state over bread and grain which caused prices to shoot up and people became outraged. So there’s a long history of this. If states don’t guarantee the basic rights of their people to survive with food and water then obviously people will get upset.

Many countries in the MENA region are dry so you might say they’re in the forefront of the food production crisis because the amount of land that is viable for food production compared to the population ratio is at its worst so its vulnerable to food shortages.

We’re not talking about education or better health care we’re talking about actual survival and right now food issues could be a tipping point of discontent worldwide.

Ignoring Potential Solutions

The policy solutions are difficult but they’re quite well known and there was a very important study that is generally referred to as the IAASTD, it was an international group of several hundred agricultural scientists that published a study in 2008 that set out the necessary conditions for sustainable agriculture that would feed the world’s people and it will not contribute to global climate change through the release of greenhouse gases.

Basically, industrial agriculture that has been practiced now for the last 200 plus years with its increasing amounts of mechanizations, inputs of fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides, urbicides are practiced on a very broad scale and now that includes these kind of seeds that are genetically modified. This is a completely unsustainable form of agriculture and the scientists said so but the governments don’t want to pay any attention to that so this study has been relegated to some obscure corner of international political discourse.

Here at the United Nations (UN) we speak with various senior ministers and all of them are unaware of this study. In fact, what they want to do is to create more of the industrialized agricultural system that’s leading the world in the wrong direction.

Killing the Environment

A recent United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) that report says that a very large population of the world’s bees are crashing they’re diminishing at a very rapid rate and bees are the primary pollinator of crops. They’re essential to crop production in a large percentage, I think 70%, of the major grain crops, and the crashing of these bee populations can’t be subscribed to any one single factor as far scientists know but they understand that it has to do with a combination of different things, including pesticides and changes of the natural environment as a result of industrialized agriculture.

Climate change is driven by industrial agriculture and nitrous oxide, which is a gas that results from the use of nitrogen fertilizer that is two hundred times as strong in its greenhouse affect as carbon dioxide. So the total effect of agriculture including land clearance is estimated by some to be as high as twenty-five to thirty percent of the total greenhouse gas burden that is being released into the atmosphere.

In this vicious cycle you have agriculture contributing to climate change and climate change contributing to a terrible diminishment of agricultural production capabilities through drought, flooding and torrential rains – which can be as bad as a drought because they drown the crops and they wash away topsoil.

Australia had both droughts and floods, crops were literally catching fire in the Russian Federation, droughts in Central America and basic water supplies in the Andes mountains, that relies on glaciers and snow packs that melt and bring water into the city, they’re disappearing so life on the planet is being changed at a rapid pace.

Profit Trumps People

Politicians reflect the interest of money and big business. In almost every country there are powerful agricultural lobbies and they’re not made up of small producers quite the opposite they’re made up of big producers. Government leaders very often have their hands in agricultural and land deals and this is the problem.

We don’t really have a democracy in the world.

We have an oligarchy that is interested in money and power and even their grandchildren will be affected but they would rather make a lot of money in the present system than to preserve the immediate future for humanity and these names will go down in infamy because they all refused to address this problem. It’s not a matter of public education because the public is ready and is always ahead of the leaders and looking to take on new ways of doing things.