Currently browsing posts tagged: arabic.

Why is the State Department Tweeting in Arabic? A Conversation with Dana Shell Smith

Recently, the US Department of State implemented an Arabic-language account on Twitter, @USABilAraby. My initial reaction was one of pleasure, but after a bit of thinking, I became curious as to why State would think Twitter to be the appropriate platform for such engagement; after all, despite increasingly large numbers of Twitter users across the [...]

21.03.2011

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“Democracy Defenders” Urge State Department to Meddle with Palestinian Online Conversations

The Foundation for Defense of Democracies has released a study on Palestinian social media entitled “P@lestinian Pulse: What Policymakers Can Learn from Palestinian Social Media.”  Researchers analyzed Arabic-language blogs, news sites, forums, and other resources, the majority of which were said to have originated in Gaza and the West Bank, in an attempt to take [...]

27.10.2010

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Ich bin in Bonn

I stumble onto the escalator heading toward the train tracks.  I feel ill; perhaps it’s from not eating, and then eating too much, but in any case, I feel as though I’m about to faint.  I shouldn’t even be here right now,* I think to myself as I collapse onto a bench, grateful for the [...]

22.06.2010

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The Inimitable Arab Bloggers

Perhaps you’ve wondered about my bit of a blogging hiatus: I spent December 7-13 in Beirut for the second annual Arab Bloggers Workshop. The workshop, sponsored by The Heinrich Böll Foundation and Global Voices Online, with support from HIVOS and the Open Society Institute, brought together about 80 of the most amazing bloggers from around [...]

21.12.2009

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Morocco: Disappearing the Amazigh

So it looks like the Moroccans are at it again. Instead of just letting people be who they are, the government is still going on about their naming laws. In other words, if you want to give your child an Amazigh (Berber) name, tough luck. Moroccan human rights groups recently proposed a list of Amazigh [...]

21.01.2009

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