CULF 3331: "Middle Eastern Revolutions"

When King Salman, Saudi Arabia's new monarch, issued a general amnesty for Saudi "public rights" prisoners on January 29, Saudi activists and observers felt the first glimmer of hope in some time that the kingdom's relentless persecution of peaceful dissidents and human rights activists may be nearing its end.

This article gives many different stories of survivors who were once a part of human trafficking. It includes the story of a 23 year old who was beaten and threatened to be buried in the desert when she refused to prostitute and men who sold family land for jobs only to be given only half the promised wages and nearly starved.

This article gives the story of Irina, a 16-year-old student form Southern Russia. A family friend told her and her mom that Irina could earn $500 by simply taking a "quick trip" to the Middle East. Irina was then stripped of all of her money and passport and forced into prostitution.

One of Saudi Arabia's most prominent female human rights campaigners has been arrested and jailed for allegedly running a Twitter account. Samar Badawi is the ex-wife of influential human rights lawyer Waleed Abulkhair, and according to activists has been accused of running his Twitter account after he was jailed in 2014. One of the most well-known campaigners for women's rights in Saudi Arabia, Ms Badawi received the 2012 International Women of Courage award, presented by Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama.

Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy and theocracy based on Islamic law located on the Arabian Peninsula. The World Economic Forum has ranked Saudi Arabia as 131 out of 135 countries in their Global Gender Gap Index | World Economic Forum Gender Gap Index retrieved 4 May 2013 with a score of zero for the category of female political empowerment.

From left, clockwise: Manal al-Sharif, Taffan Ako Taha, Raquel Saraswati, Malala Yousazai, Dr. Elham Manea There is a burgeoning women's rights movement in Muslim-majority societies today. From Pakistan to North Africa, each country has a network of activists, writers and academics struggling to bring women's rights to their countries and overthrow centuries of patriarchal oppression.

This article explains some of problems that women face in Egypt and why no one talks about it. The author describes that "Women's rights do not sell", and that sexuality does. Because of this, we have TV shows and other forms of media dedicated to sexuality.

In late 2013, the Thomson Reuters Foundation conducted its third annual poll on women's rights in Arab states. 336 specialists designed the poll to assess the extent to which states adhere to key provisions of the UN Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which most Arab League states have signed, ratified...

This article is based on some of the research that Nicola Pratt conducted over the past two years on women's activism in Egypt, Lebanon, and Jordan, from independence until the Arab uprisings. Nicola collected over one hundred personal narratives from middle class women activists of different generations. The article includes the rise of radical movements after 1967, the counter-revolution (post-1967), and re-popularizing and de-popularizing women's rights after 2011.

This article is based on some of the research that I have conducted over the past two years on women's activism in Egypt, Lebanon, and Jordan, from independence until the Arab uprisings. I collected over one hundred personal narratives from middle class women activists of different generations.

Algeria is a transit and source country for human trafficking. Many people susceptible to the Algerian human trafficking are sub-saharan men, women and children.

Another issue Turkey is constantly dealing with, is the problem with the thousands of Syrian refugees at their border, in addition to the mini-civil war w/the Kurds, and its questionable oil business with ISIS. This article points out Erdogan's requests for the EU to deliver more funds to control the border situation. Different point of view from the other two articles I bookmarked this week.

In Feb. the United Nations demanded Turkey to open its borders to thousands of Syrian refugees. Erdogan responded "are you mocking us?" and accused the UN for overstepping its powers and to basically back off from the Syrian conflict.

A more recent article posted by BBC News on Feb. 19th of Turkey's recent renewment of bombardment against the Kurds (People's Protection Units) inside Syria. The US and UN have both pressed Turkey to cease shelling the YPG and EU urged Turkey to stop shelling Syria.

Today, countries across the world are being terrorised and ravaged by extremism; both territory and minds conquered by a militant and ideological crusade. Right or wrong, the mere mention of the word "terrorism" conjures up images of bearded Muslim men - kalashnikovs in hand - intent on eradicating any thought, person or object which runs contrary to their narrow fundamentalist ideology.

A 26-year-old Briton on an EgyptAir plane Tuesday did what Millennials do all the time: He took a selfie. This wasn't just any selfie, however. The photo included the man authorities say hijacked Ben Innes' plane. Innes was one of the remaining hostages during a six-hour standoff at Cyprus' Larnaca airport, the Guardian reported.

In a recent breakdown of the different people who are often victims of human trafficking it was determined that 12% are men, 22% are children, and women make up 66%. Majority of the people who are part of trafficking belong to Africa, Eastern Europe, and Asian nationalities.

No one knows how Giulio Regeni was murdered, or by whom. But from the moment the body of the 28-year-old Italian graduate student was found on the side of the road in a Cairo suburb, suspicion has fallen on Egypt's security services. The Middle East Studies Association has now issued a security alert for study and research in Egypt.

I spent part of last week in Qatar with a brilliant group of scholars, discussing digital media in the Middle East. The article discusses primary work in Egypt focused on the ways children grew up constructing identities in which they could be at once Egyptian and Arab and at the same time modern and global

In the Middle East there is a lack of focus on culture in education. it focuses on the history of the "winners" and is promoting hate and ignorance in the education system. These issues have popped up before the Minister of Education since 1997. 

In Egypt there is a university which has been promoted as the ebst school in the Middle East. Except, it is very limited. It does not offer a reason to develop analytical skills, so often their students do poorly in the job world. in Egypt students are assigned a major and classes based off of their grades, they do not get to pursue what they want. 

This piece is talking about the efforts of Lebanon to support the education of Syrian children. The refugee students have been out of school for years which hinders their future quality of life. Only about half of the refugee children are attending some sort of school program.