Meedan at the Oxford Internet Institute: Understanding the role of the internet in Egypt's revolution
The role that social media played in the Egyptian and Tunisian revolutions is one question among many in understanding these profoundly important social events. But perhaps it is a particularly important one for Meedan – after all we are strategically wedded to the idea that the web makes possible a more networked world in which information and ideas can be exchanged more freely. That this debate has gathered such steam through the Arab revolutions is in part a feature of the newness of social media, but also the extent to... Read The Rest →
Meedan Translates Libyan Blogger for Guardian Comment is Free
In a partnership with the Guardian Comment is Free, we are working to source, translate and edit comment pieces from bloggers on the ground in Middle Eastern countries experiencing revolutionary protests and reform movements. Our latest effort involved working with a brilliant young Libyan blogger based in Tripoli whose piece was published today after we translated it. Here’s a snippet from the Guardian piece: as the calls for foreign intervention grow, I’d like to send a message to western leaders: Obama, Cameron, Sarkozy. This is a priceless opportunity that... Read The Rest →
Middle East Protests: Follow Voices on the Ground
The protests sweeping the Middle East have taken much of the world by surprise. But perhaps that just means those of us outside the region need to listen better. We now have the opportunity to learn about emerging currents in societies in the region from the people who live there. Social media and the emerging independent press give us that opportunity. So in an effort to help you discover new people to follow on Twitter, new blogs and columnists to watch and new Facebook pages to fan, we have created... Read The Rest →
Hisham el-Gokh's #Jan25 poem translated
Two translations of a poem by Egyptian poet Hisham el-Gokh, performed on Prince of Poets Feb 9, 2011. The version marked “English” is by Scott Cole, while the “English, British” is by Michael Nevadomski (the language markings merely to distinguish the two translations). More translations welcome! Share → Tweet
Protests signal the end of Egypt's 'Pharaoh complex' – Meedani's article on Guardian
Meedan’s Riham Ibrahim today has an article featured on the homepage of the Guardian website. The Egyptian people’s demonstrations have not only broken the barrier of silence but have also driven the first nail into the coffin of the “Pharaoh complex” deeply rooted within the Egyptian psyche. We Egyptians have always seen our ruler as a faultless deity – or as the late President Anwar al-Sadat described himself, a Pharaoh. We have long thought it was inevitable that Hosni Mubarak would rule for life. At school, we had to write... Read The Rest →
Help Meedan curate, translate, annotate #Jan25 Egypt protests updates
Please join our community on curated.by curating, translating and annotating tweets. Here’s what you need to do to translate. First set up a curated.by account and connect it with your twitter account. Then: 1) Hit comment underneath an interesting tweet and write translation. 2) Check \”Tweet comment\” 3) Add #AREN to show translation ARabic>ENglish or #ENAR to show ENglish>ARabic 4) Add #jan25 5) post If you want to help curate, we can add you as a ‘collaborator’ to the feed. Just give us a shout on twitter @meedan. Meedan is... Read The Rest →