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kristaf

CONNECTED in CAIRO | Growing Up Cosmopolitan in the Modern Middle East - 0 views

connectedincairo.com

shared by kristaf on 22 Sep 14 - No Cached
    • kristaf
      kristaf on 22 Sep 14
       
      Globally, Youth+ICT=Protest
  • Most of my work on globalization involves seeing it as a work of the imagination. Using ethnography, I
allieggg

http://mgt.guc.edu.eg/wpapers/005mohamed_hamdy2008.pdf - 2 views

DIIGO_FILE_HOME/4xj2f/byi0

watsa cronyism nepotism guanxi social norms middle east

shared by allieggg on 05 Oct 14 - No Cached
  • Jordanian survey, 87% of the respondents wanted to eradicate wasta.
  • Cunnigham and Sarayrah (1994) suggest that the modern oil boom in the Arab world may have perpetuated wasta by reducing the need for hard work.
  • human resource departments in the Arab world depend heavily on subjective assessment tools such as unstructured interviews.
  • ...21 more annotations...
  • most Arab economies suffer from very high levels of unemployment. Good jobs are scarce. This motivates applicants to use every mean possible to improve their chances of being hired.
  • For example, sons of police and military officers are given preference in admission to the Egyptian police academy or military college, respectively.
  • study conducted by Whiteoak, Crawford and Mapstone (2006) showed the young UAE citizens believed that wasta is more useful than do their older citizens. This finding may imply that wasta is strengthening rather than diminishing in Arab societies. Commenting on the spread of wasta in Egypt, a senior bank official told one of the authors that up to 25% of his staff were hired only because of their wasta.
  • many top governmental positions are reserved for members of the ruling families or members of their supporting tribes
  • First, to maintain their grip on authority, Arab political regimes tend to place close confidants in key positions even if they are not the most qualified for such positions.
  • In Syria, the key argument made in favor of selecting Basher Al Asad as the country’s president was that he was the son of the late president Hafez Al Asad.
  • study conducted by Kilani and Sakija in Jordan showed that 90% of the respondents believed that they would use wasta in the future.
  • In the Quran, Muslims are instructed that “the best that you can hire employee is one who is competent and trustworthy” (Quran, 28, 26). Prophet Mohamed is also reported to have said “He who is in a leadership position and appoints knowingly a person who is not qualified to manage, than he violates the command of God and His messenger”. He also stated “when a person assumes an authority over people and promotes one of them because of personal preferences, God will curse him for ever”.
  • Rising to high levels requires important connections. Receiving important privileges or benefits is contingent upon using the right connections.
  • Intercessory wasta on the other hand, involves someone intervening on behalf of a client to obtain an advantage or 2overcome a barrier from an authority figure. It is this type of wasta that affects hiring decisions.
  • Those who are supported by strong others will not be put down or rejected. Only the unconnected or unsupported are punished.
  • people who are related to important others (especially in government) are fortunate as they will have their demands or needs fulfilled. People serve those that are related to important people.
  • People tend to serve those that they know. Without knowing anybody, you will have difficulty getting the service you want.
  • The turban symbolizes a senior respected person. If you know a senior person, your demands will be meet. Similar to the second proverb
  • Intermediary wasta is utilized to facilitate the resolution of intergroup or interpersonal conflicts. In this system, wasta improves human relations and reinforces social norms.
  • Intermediary wasta is utilized to facilitate the resolution of intergroup or interpersonal conflicts. In this system, wasta improves human relations and reinforces social norms. Intercessory wasta on the other hand, involves someone intervening on behalf of a client to obtain an advantage or 2overcome a barrier from an authority figure. It is this type of wasta that affects hiring decisions.
  • feed feelings of injustice and frustration among those who are qualified for the job but do not have a wasta. Wasta is also different from the more popular nepotism and cronyism. While nepotism involves hiring of relatives and friends, wasta is not restricted to such groups and may involve strangers
  • may lead to poor job performance and economic decline.
  • Indeed, wasta is blamed for Arab world’s poor economic performance and brain drain (Al Maeena, 2003; Cunnigham & Sarayrah, 1994). Kilani and Sakijha (2002) stress that wasta is becoming a burden on its seeker, its granter and the government.
  • Arab wasta has been compared to the Chinese concept of guanxi. Both wasta and guanxi use social networks to influence the distribution of advantages and resources. However, while guanxi is based on Confucian ethics which focus on strengthening collective ties (Hutchings & Weir, 2006a; Hutchings & Weir, 2006b); wasta violates Muslim ethics which prescribe hiring the most qualified.
  • Wasta plays a critical role in hiring and promotion decisions in Arab organizations. Before applying to a position, applicants may seek out a wasta to improve their chances of being hired. A person with poor qualifications but a strong wasta will be favored over a person who is more qualified but does not have a wasta. Because many people may apply with wasta, the applicant with the most important wasta often gets the position.
  • allieggg on 05 Oct 14
     
    Compiled by faculty members at the German University in Cairo, this working paper series addresses the effect that watsa has on competence and morality in Middle Eastern economics and society. The authors define watsa as, "the intervention of a patron in favor of a client to obtain benefits and/or resources from a third party." In simpler terms it is a system of social networking in Arab culture in which family and social ties play a significant role in the attainment of economic advantages and resources, largely in the hiring process in businesses and organizations. A person applying for a job seeks out watsa to increase their chances of getting hired. Comparable to nepotism and cronyism, but is not restricted to friends and associates, watsa can also involve strangers linked through some social web of people. Watsa runs somewhat parallel to a Chinese concept of guanxi, based on Confucian ethics and focusing on strong collective ties. While guanxi is a part of Chinese ethics it actually defies Muslim ethical values, which advocates hiring the person most capable. In a Jordanian survey, 87% of respondents want watsa eradicated. While we know that unemployment in the Arab region is widespread, we can assume that this motivates people to do anything they can to improve their chances of obtaining a job. However, the practice of watsa as a whole is actually degrading the economic systems in the Arab sates even further. The article explains the linkage between watsa and poor job performance, economic decline, and the festering of injustice and frustration among the masses in Arab countries.
  • micklethwait on 07 Oct 14
     
    This looks super interesting, but I can't get the link to open. Thanks for writing a thorough summary of it!
sheldonmer

Egypt activist's suicide grips social media - Yahoo Maktoob News - 0 views

en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com/ps-social-media-092302791.html

Egypt egyptian revolution social media aftermath suicide

shared by sheldonmer on 16 Nov 14 - No Cached
    • sheldonmer
      sheldonmer on 16 Nov 14
       
      This article is a dark story about the aftermath of the Egyptian Revolution. Social has been an outlet for positive change, but just as positive things travel, sometimes negatives travel even faster. Zainab El Mahdy, a graduate of Cairo's Azhar University, was involved in many protests in the Egyptian Revolution. She has committed suicide because of a depressive streak following the uprising. This article goes on to talk about the backlash of social media and how the youth are starting to move away from it now that they see its downfalls. A statement by the "April 6" Facebook page reads, "Each one of you in Zeinab's place shares her dreams of a modern, free country that respects people's lives and honors their freedom and dignity.. Each one of you who is depressed and is struggling with helplessness and hopelessness like Zeinab did: You must not forget, that .... your life is the most precious thing for us,"  
alarsso

Understanding Syria: From Pre-Civil War to Post-Assad - The Atlantic - 0 views

www.theatlantic.com/...281989

syria understanding history causes war revolution transition

shared by alarsso on 08 Feb 15 - No Cached
  • xtreme temperatures
  • drought from 2006 to 2011
  • 2001 to 2010, Syria had 60 “significant” dust storms.
  • ...70 more annotations...
  • lessening of rainfall
  • as of the last year before the civil war, only about 13,500 square kilometers could be irrigated
  • agriculture
  • 20 percent of national income
  • employed about 17 percent
  • Syria’s oil is of poor quality, sour, and expensive to refine
  • densely populated
  • less than 0.25 hectares (just over a third of an acre) of agricultural land per person
  • population/resource ratio is out of balance.
  • So it is important to understand how their “social contract”—their view of their relationship with one another and with the government—evolved and then shattered.
  • threw the country into the arms of
  • Egypt’s President Gamal Abdel Nasser
  • or three and a half years
  • part of the United Arab Republic
  • A fundamental problem they faced was what it meant to be a Syrian.
  • 1961 Syrians were thrown back on their own resources
  • The majority of those who became Syrians were Arabic-speaking Sunni Muslims
  • seven and eight in 10 Syrians saw themselves as Muslim Arab
  • being a Muslim Arab as the very definition of Syrian identity.
  • Nationalists took this diversity as a primary cause of weakness and adopted as their primary task integrating the population into a single political and social structure.
  • Israel
  • Looming over Syrian politics and heightening the tensions
  • A ceasefire, negotiated in 1974, has held, but today the two states are still legally at war.
  • or Hafez al-Assad, the secular, nationalist Baath Party was a natural choice: it offered, or seemed to offer, the means to overcome his origins in a minority community and to point toward a solution to the disunity of Syrian politics
  • bridge the gaps between rich and poor
  • socialism
  • Muslims and minorities
  • Islam
  • society
  • hould be modern
  • secular
  • defined by a culture of “Arabism”
  • the very antithesis of
  • Muslim Brotherhood
  • military, which seemed
  • o embody the nation.
  • help the Syrian people to live better provided only that they not challenge his rule
  • his stern and often-brutal monopoly of power
  • foreign troublemakers
  • Hafez al-Assad sided with Iran in the Iran-Iraq war
  • During the rule of the two Assads, Syria made considerable progress.
  • locked into the cities and towns
  • they f
  • had to compete
  • Palestinians
  • Iraqis
  • Syria was already a refuge
  • March 15, 2011
  • small group gathered in the southwestern town of Daraa to protest against government failure to help them
  • government saw them as subversives.
  • He ordered a crackdown
  • And the army,
  • responded violently.
  • Riots broke out
  • attempted to quell them with military
  • what had begun as a food and water issue gradually turned into a political and religious cause.
  • interpretation of Islam
  • the Syrian government is charged with using illegal chemical weapons
  • All observers agree that the foreign-controlled and foreign-constituted insurgent groups are the most coherent, organized, and effective
  • astonishing as they share no common language and come from a wide variety of cultures
  • slam has at least so far failed to provide an effective unifying force
  • all the rebels regard the conflict in Syria as fundamentally a religious issue
  • pwards of $150 billion
  • a whole generation of Syrians have been subjected to either or both the loss of their homes and their trust in fellow human beings.
  • How the victims and the perpetrators can be returned to a “normal life”
  • First, the war might continue.
  • Second, if the Syrian government continues or even prevails, there is no assurance that,
  • t will be able to suppress the insurgency.
  • Third,
  • Syria will remain effectively “balkanized”
  • alarsso on 08 Feb 15
     
    This article captures Syria's geography, history, and all events leading up to the state Syria is in today.
cramos8

NY TIMES WRONG: Jihadists from at least four Al Qaeda groups in on Benghazi attack - 1 views

www.washingtontimes.com/...ast-four-al-qaeda-groups-in-on

ISIS politics revolution libya AlQaeda

shared by cramos8 on 08 Feb 15 - No Cached
  • cramos8 on 08 Feb 15
     
    The militants who gathered on the night of Sept. 11, 2012, to torch and kill inside the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, were a who's who of the modern al Qaeda movement, newly declassified documents show.
fcastro2

A daring plan to rebuild Syria - no matter who wins the war - Ideas - The Boston Globe - 0 views

www.bostonglobe.com/...story.html

syria plan war politics china russia the west

shared by fcastro2 on 23 Feb 15 - No Cached
  • The first year of Syria’s uprising, 2011, largely spared Aleppo, the country’s economic engine, largest city, and home of its most prized heritage sites. Fighting engulfed Aleppo in 2012 and has never let up since, making the city a symbol of the civil war’s grinding destruction
  • Rebels captured the eastern side of the city while the government held the wes
  • , residents say the city is virtually uninhabitable; most who remain have nowhere else to go
  • ...28 more annotations...
  • In terms of sheer devastation, Syria today is worse off than Germany at the end of World War II
  • ven as the fighting continues, a movement is brewing among planners, activists and bureaucrats—some still in Aleppo, others in Damascus, Turkey, and Lebanon—to prepare, right now, for the reconstruction effort that will come whenever peace finally arrives.
  • In a glass tower belonging to the United Nations’ Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, a project called the National Agenda for the Future of Syria has brought together teams of engineers, architects, water experts, conservationists, and development experts to grapple with seemingly impossible technical problems
  • It is good to do the planning now, because on day one we will be ready,”
  • The team planning the country’s future is a diverse one. Some are employed by the government of Syria, others by the rebels’ rival provisional government. Still others work for the UN, private construction companies, or nongovernmental organizations involved in conservation, like the World Monuments Fund
  • As the group’s members outline a path toward renewal, they’re considering everything from corruption and constitutional reform to power grids, antiquities, and health care systems.
  • Aleppo is split between a regime side with vestiges of basic services, and a mostly depopulated rebel-controlled zone, into which the Islamic State and the Al Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front have made inroads over the last year
  • The population exodus has claimed most of the city’s craftsmen, medical personnel, academics, and industrialists
  • It took decades to clear the moonscapes of rubble and to rebuild, in famous targets like Dresden and Hiroshima but in countless other places as well, from Coventry to Nanking. Some places never recovered their vitality.
  • Of course, Syrian planners cannot help but pay attention to the model closest to home: Beirut, a city almost synonymous with civil war and flawed reconstructio
  • We don’t want to end up like Beirut,” one of the Syrian planners says, referring to the physical problems but also to a postwar process in which militia leaders turned to corrupt reconstruction ventures as a new source of funds and power
  • Syria’s national recovery will depend in large part on whether its industrial powerhouse Aleppo can bounce back
  • The city’s workshops, famed above all for their fine textiles, export millions of dollars’ worth of goods every week even now, and the economy has expanded to include modern industry as well.
  • Today, however, the city’s water and power supply are under the control of the Islamic State
  • Across Syria, more than one-third of the population is displaced.
  • A river of rubble marks the no-man’s land separating the two sides. The only way to cross is to leave the city, follow a wide arc, and reenter from the far side.
  • Parts of the old city won’t be inhabitable for years, he told me by Skype, because the ground has literally shifted as a result of bombing and shelling
  • The first and more obvious is creating realistic options to fix the country after the war—in some cases literal plans for building infrastructure systems and positioning construction equipment, in other cases guidelines for shaping governanc
  • They’re familiar with global “best practices,” but also with how things work in Syria, so they’re not going to propose pie-in-the-sky idea
  • If some version of the current regime remains in charge, it will probably direct massive contracts toward patrons in Russia, China, or Iran. The opposition, by contrast, would lean toward firms from the West, Turkey, and the Gulf.
  • At the current level of destruction, the project planners estimate the reconstruction will cost at least $100 billion
  • Recently a panel of architects and heritage experts from Sweden, Bosnia, Syria, and Lebanon convened in Beirut to discuss lessons for Syria’s reconstruction—one of the many distinct initiatives parallel to the Future of Syria project.
  • “You should never rebuild the way it was,” said Arna Mackic, an architect from Mostar. That Bosnian city was divided during the 1990s civil war into Muslim and Catholic sides, destroying the city center and the famous Stari Most bridge over the Neretva River. “The war changes us. You should show that in rebuilding.”
  • Instead, Mackik says, the sectarian communities keep to their own enclaves. Bereft of any common symbols, the city took a poll to figure out what kind of statue to erect in the city center. All the local figures were too polarizing. In the end they settled on a gold-colored statue of the martial arts star Bruce Lee
  • “It belongs to no one,” Mackic says. “What does Bruce Lee mean to me?
  • is that it could offer the city’s people a form of participatory democracy that has so far eluded the Syrian regime and sadly, the opposition as well.
  • “You are being democratic without the consequences of all the hullabaloo of formal democratization
  • A great deal of money has been invested in Syria’s destruction— by the regime, the local parties to the conflict, and many foreign powers. A great deal of money will be made in the aftermath, in a reconstruction project that stands to dwarf anything seen since after World War II.
  • fcastro2 on 23 Feb 15
     
    While it is still unclear as to who will win the Syrian conflict, there are people who are already looking towards the future and a better Syria. Plans are being made but, of course, these plans will entirely depend on who wins the war. 
diamond03

BBC News - Egypt: Deadly risks, but female genital mutilation persists - 0 views

www.bbc.com/...world-middle-east-27322088

news egypt risks female genital revolution

shared by diamond03 on 27 Oct 14 - No Cached
  • youngster was frighten
  • female genital mutilation (FGM). She did not survive it
  • small farming communit
  • ...46 more annotations...
  • r lived and died
  • bedrock of faith and tradition
  • Both play a role in perpetuating FGM
  • It has been outlawed since 2008
  • religious duty
  • highest prevalence rates in the world.
  • Over 90%
  • under 50 have experienced it, according to government figures.
  • removal of all or part of the external genitalia
  • promoting chastity.
  • still widely practised in Egyp
  • girls aged between nine and 13
  • young as six,
  • unconfirmed reports of newborns being subjected to it.
  • "It is God's will
  • asked if it was right to subject Suhair to FGM
  • "Yes of course,
  • People here are used to i
  • circumcision, girls are full of lust
  • Hidden death toll
  • "We were four sisters, and we were circumcised in one day
  • Afterwards they gave us food and drinks."
  • Gypsies used to carry out the circumcisions, she told us, placing dust and salt on the wounds
  • 70% of FGM procedures in Egypt.
  • "It's perceived as being safer, but no-one learns how to do this at medical school. We should definitely assume more girls are dying as Suhair did,
  • his is a form of violence against children”
  • private clinic in his home.
  • dozen procedures carried out there every day.
  • enied performing FGM on Suhair and said he had only treated her for genital warts.
  • Dr Halawa on trial, together with Suhair's father, who brought her to his clinic
  • FGM is hard to quash
  • "The case has started a debate among the liberal-minded," said Mohamed Ismail, who works for a local women's rights organisation.
  • A thousand or so girls were circumcised after she died."
  • plans to have the curly-haired infant circumcised, by a doctor, when she reaches her teens
  • "In the past there was ignorance,
  • brought barbers to their homes to circumcise girls.
  • we are more modern
  • Campaigners warn that it will take more than one prosecution to spare other girls. More on This Story
  • they just turn up at the doctor's office with their daughters.
  • This is a form of violence against children,"
  • "It's an irreversible act. There are mental and physical scars that stay with the girl for a lifetime."
  • only one opponent of FGM in Suhair's village
  • "It's a very bad thing for girls," said Amira. "There's no need for it. It's wrong because it's dangerous."
  • he problem is the mentality of the farmers."
  • still easy to arrange.
  • Egypt: Deadly risks, but female genital mutilation persists
  • diamond03 on 27 Oct 14
     
    The article mentions an ogling trial about FGM. A young girl Suhair died during the procedure. Outlawed in 2008, FGM continues to happen.
mportie

The Evolution of Censorship in the Middle East - Near East Observatory - 0 views

neobservatory.org/...-censorship-in-the-middle-east

politics censorship government

shared by mportie on 27 Jan 16 - No Cached
  • mportie on 27 Jan 16
     
    The article details the history of censorship by Middle Eastern governments and how it has responded to newer technologies. Most notably social media and the Internet are the most prevalent targets of censorship by modern governments.
csherro2

What exactly does al-Qaeda want? - 0 views

www.theguardian.com/...alqaida.terrorism

Egypt ISIS Israel war iraq al qaeda

shared by csherro2 on 09 Feb 16 - No Cached
  • csherro2 on 09 Feb 16
     
    Modern Islamic militancy is varied and complex. Al-Qaeda is as much an ideology or a set of values as a single organisation led by a single leader. The values and ideas, the 'wants', of militants are very varied. Recent Islamic militants have shown many different motivations.
aacosta8

Egypt I: Cyberactivism - 0 views

www.psychologytoday.com/...egypt-i-cyberactivism

Egypt Cyberactivism History of Egypt

shared by aacosta8 on 23 Feb 16 - No Cached
  • aacosta8 on 23 Feb 16
     
    Egypt exerts a spell: the Luxor Sphinx, Cleopatra VII, those marvels of engineering, the Pyramids. Yet modern ills shook this legendary landscape as pro-Mubarak mobs brandished Molotov cocktails and satellite dishes ripped from rooftops.
aromo0

Egypt's Trouble With Women - The New York Times - 2 views

www.nytimes.com/...09iht-edalaswany09.html

women egypt rights organization

shared by aromo0 on 06 Oct 14 - No Cached
  • The first plane to cross the finish line was piloted by a 26-year-old woman named Lotfia El Nadi, Egypt’s first female aviator.
  • father had rejected the idea, but she did not despa
  • “I learned to fly because I love to be free.”
  • ...34 more annotations...
  • hero and a national treasure in the eyes of Egyptians.
  • Women saw her as an inspiration in their struggle for equal rights
  • women followed her exam
  • Gamal Abdel Nasser, women continued to advance, achieving positions in universities, Parliament and the senior judiciary.
  • women
  • 22 Arab countries for discrimination in law, sexual harassment and the paucity of female political representation
  • Egyptian women made advances in equality throughout the period of the monarchy
  • Egypt’s tradition of moderate Islam recognized women’s rights and encouraged women to study and work.
  • woman’s job is to please her husband and provide offspring.
  • promote female genital mutilation
  • cover her body completely and may not study,
  • women started to wear the
  • cannot even leave the house without her husband’s permission.
  • control women’s sexuality.
  • Wahhabism has influenced all Islamic societies and movements, including Al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood.
  • until 2005 that sexual harassment became an organized form of retribution against Egyptian women
  • hijab
  • 83 percent of women interviewed had been subjected to sexual harassment at least once, and that 50 percent experienced it on a daily basis.
  • When ultraconservative doctrine dehumanizes women, reducing them to objects, it legitimizes acts of sexual aggression against them.
  • many Egyptian women still went without head scarves, wearing modern Western-style dress, yet incidents of sexual harassment were rare. Now, with the spread of the hijab, harassm
  • The security apparatus paid thugs, known as “beltagiya,” to gang up on a woman attending a demonstration, tear off her clothes and molest her.
  • Dec. 17, 201
  • Tahrir Square in Cairo, soldiers pulled a female protester’s clothes off and dragged her along the ground, stomping on her with their boots
  • victim of the attack became an icon for Egyptian women
  • mocked the victim, blaming her for not staying
  • in the home
  • During the revolution, millions of Egyptian women went out and bravely faced snipers’ bullets
  • rity.
  • President Mohamed Morsi’s later attempt to rewrite the Egyptian Constitution would also have removed the only female judge on the Supreme Constitutional Court.
  • They tried to overturn the law punishing doctors who carried out female genital mutilation, and refused to consider the marriage of minors as a form of human trafficking by claiming that Islam permitted a girl as young as 10 years old to be married.
  • The revolutionaries are fighting for equality
  • trying to strip women of their political and social rights and make them subject to men’s autho
  • 10 female members of Parliament out of a total of 508
  • epresents a future that no one can prevent.
  • diamond03 on 06 Oct 14
     
    This article discusses how women have been treated differently since the beginning of time. Things began to change once women began to stand up for themselves in protests. 
  • aromo0 on 05 Mar 16
     
    Egypt's tradition of was not initially oppressive. The 1973 war in the Middle East introduced Egyptians to Wahhabis values.
sambofoster

The Womenís Movement in Egypt, with Selected References to Turkey - 0 views

iknowpolitics.org/...in20eg20and20turkey_unrisd.pdf

Women Egypt Turkey Civil Rights

shared by sambofoster on 08 Apr 16 - No Cached
  • sambofoster on 08 Apr 16
     
    Womenís movements in the Middle East vary in terms of specific historical trajectories as well as current ideas and practices. Yet, they are similar in that they share several historical and political factors, such as their links to nationalist movements, their links to processes of modernization and development, and tensions between secular and religious tendencies. Specificities and differences can be found in overarching general themes, as becomes obvious in the context of two case studiesóEgypt and Turkeyóexplored in this paper.
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