Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH)
June 27, 2006

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The Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH) aims to promote constructive perspectives and dialogue about Muslim-Western relations.
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ARTICLES IN THIS EDITION:

1. The person behind the Muslim by Anar Ali
Canadian author and journalist, Anar Ali, talks about the ups and downs of growing up in Western Canada. Although at times she found peace with her identity as a “Canadian”, since 9/11 she has felt as if her Muslim identity is all that others see: “This is all you are. Muslim Magnified.” Frequently asked to give special insight on terrorism or the psychology of a suicide bomber, she suggests that it might make more sense to ask “someone who was a skinhead, a member of the Irish Republican Army, a Tamil Tiger or a Weatherman”, otherwise she is happy to speculate, like others, from the sidelines: “I have no sense of what motivates a terrorist (except maybe as a fiction writer). Terrorists and radical Islamists live in a different place from me, psychologically and culturally, even if they were also raised in Canada.”
(Source: International Herald Tribune, June 16, 2006)

2. ~Youth Views~ Iraq needs more than the death of one terrorist by Bill Glucroft
Bill Glucroft, a student of journalism at Emerson College in Boston, warns that looking at Zarqawi’s death as progress in Iraq is like thinking that “removing one tumour is progress in a patient whose body is wracked by cancer”. He outlines the changes that must occur both inside and outside for a real “corner to be turned” in the situation in Iraq: the United States “must tenaciously engage the forces of instability without isolating the forces of progress among the people.”
(Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), June 27, 2006)

3. Mosques with foreign flags by Muqtedar Khan
Non-Resident Brookings Institute Fellow and teacher of Islam and Global Affairs at the University of Delaware, Muqtedar Khan, is dismayed at finding a Turkish flag flying atop a mosque in Germany during a trip to Berlin to attend a conference comparing the experiences of Germany and the United States in integrating their Muslim minorities. Considering the various obstacles facing integration in each country, as well as the challenges to the host countries themselves, he concludes “there is room for Islam in America and Germany…but there is no place for Saudi flags, or Turkish or Pakistani flags in Western mosques.”
(Source: Al Ahram, June 15 – 21, 2006)

4. Education key to moderate Islam by Ridwan Max Sijabat
Jakarta Post writer, Ridwan Max Sijabat, summarises some key comments made at a recent conference in Jakarta attended by 300 Muslim scholars from 53 countries. Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi opened the conference by stating that “Islam is a religion of moderation which is against extremism, fanaticism and the use of violence, and is neither inherently opposed to modernity nor antagonistic to the West.” Key activities were identified to support this principle, including creating an educational curriculum that firmly establishes the values of mutual understanding, tolerance, dialogue and multilateralism in accordance with the tenets of Islam, and promoting better understanding and awareness of the Muslim faith through interfaith and inter-religious dialogue.
(Source: Jakarta Post, June 21, 2006)

5.Saudi women unveil opinions online by Rasheed Abou-Alsamh
Rasheed Abou-Alsamh, a Saudi-American blogger and journalist, describes the “battle” between liberal and conservative bloggers in the Kingdom. Blogging has taken off in Saudi Arabia but what constitutes appropriate blog content is still up for debate. Recognising that blogging provides them with an international audience, and finding it a great way to express themselves, many keep on writing despite receiving warnings or being blocked within the country, providing a window into the day-to-day lives and thoughts of Saudi women.
(Source: Christian Science Monitor, June 19, 2006)

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ARTICLE 1
The person behind the Muslim
Anar Ali

Toronto, Canada - I went to a school in rural Alberta from sixth grade onward, and each year I had to endure the annual school rodeo. For most of the students, the rodeo was the highlight of their year. It was an opportunity for them to exhibit their award-winning cattle or show off their skills in events like barrel racing and bronco riding. In an effort to convert the few city slickers among us, the school also provided less challenging events like the greased pig race.

I wasn't interested in participating. My parents owned a motel, not a farm. I told my teacher that I was Muslim and it was against my religion to touch a pig, knowing full well that I was stretching the truth.

When Mrs. Ritchie refused to excuse me from the rodeo, I took the matter up with my father, certain he would side with me.

But I was wrong. My father insisted I join the rodeo, even bought me cowboy gear. He was keen for me (and my sisters) to participate in all things Canadian.

This battle portended the many I would have in the future - not only with my father, but also with myself on where to set the dial between assimilation and retaining my own culture.

After years of hard work (and 30 years in Canada), I finally arrived in a new geography. It was a cultural and psychological place, one that coalesced my identities into one and gave me a sense of home. I called this place Canadian.

Sept. 11 changed all that. So have subsequent acts of terrorism - or attempted acts of terrorism, like the ones authorities said were planned by the members of Islamic terrorist cells arrested here last week. These events have all, in one way or another, expelled me from my new home. It was dismantled; my Muslim identity was teased out like code from a DNA strand.

This is all you are. Muslim Magnified.

After 9/11, I soon became used to the new rules: double- checking at borders, detentions at airports, suspicious glances on subways, especially if you have a backpack.

I learned to do a lot of explaining. Something, as an immigrant or person of colour, you get used to from a very young age. (Where are you from? What does your name mean?)

Whether you want it or not, as a Muslim (secular and otherwise) you are automatically pulled into the debate on terrorism. Not that I don't want to discuss it, I do. But I want to discuss it as a citizen, not just a Muslim.

As a Muslim, people expect you to be an expert, to have special inside knowledge on the topic. They want your opinion on the issue, the history of Islam, the psychology of suicide bombers.

I have no sense of what motivates a terrorist (except maybe as a fiction writer). Terrorists and radical Islamists live in a different place from me, psychologically and culturally, even if they were also raised in Canada.

To better understand these young men and why they turn to violence, it might make more sense to ask someone who was a skinhead, a member of the Irish Republican Army, a Tamil Tiger or a Weatherman.

If you asked me, I would have to speculate, as most people do, from the sidelines.

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* Anar Ali is a Canadian author and journalist. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org.
Source: International Herald Tribune, June 16, 2006
Visit the website at www.iht.com
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH).
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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ARTICLE 2
Iraq needs more than the death of one terrorist
Bill Glucroft

Boston, Massachusetts - Many questions still surround last week’s killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the terrorist mastermind with an international bounty equal to that of Osama bin Laden. How exactly did the United States locate him? How did he survive two direct hits from precision-guided bombs? And were the photographs of Zarqawi’s dead body framed because Secretary Rumsfeld wants them hung in his office?

Immediately after his death, President Bush travelled secretly to Iraq to “get a firsthand feel for how those people are thinking over there, what are they like.” He said he was looking for leadership, determination, will and the desire to succeed. His conclusion: “That's what I found in Iraq.”

Let’s hope the president’s personal assessment is more accurate than when he visited Vladimir Putin in 2001 and “was able to get a sense of his soul."

The most pertinent question now though is what happens next.

The operation mercilessly reconfirmed the military’s ability to perform its traditional task of search and destroy. Unfortunately, that is not enough to win in Iraq. The United States has no choice but to succeed in rebuilding Iraq’s infrastructure, quelling sectarian violence, and convincing Iraqis their government is capable of governing. While Zarqawi’s death is a much-welcomed reprieve from three years of nearly continuous setbacks, it is meaningless if it does not serve as a springboard to revitalise reconstruction and restore security to this broken nation.

Like in Afghanistan, the Iraqi people are exhausted from all-consuming violence, and this sentiment has probably helped avert all-out civil war. The three largest groups in Iraq may retain intense political disagreements with one another, but among the members of these groups there is one area of unanimous consensus: the desire for some peace and quiet. Who succeeds in bringing this calm – the terrorists, the insurgents or American-led forces – is largely inconsequential, not because the population supports any one over the other, but because there is general dissatisfaction with all the warring parties and their inability to create order.

For America to achieve its goals in Iraq – and global security depends on this – U.S. forces must walk a fine line; they must tenaciously engage the forces of instability without isolating the forces of progress among the people.

To do that, the United States and other nations must provide more money for reconstruction and greater oversight of how reconstruction money is spent. In addition, they must see to it that the Iraqi security forces -- which according to many accounts are participating in militias and using torture -- are better managed. The United States also needs to work harder at cultural awareness and sensitivity.

Most importantly, ordinary Iraqi citizens must assist in the reconstruction. It is imperative that Iraqis develop a personal stake in a future, stable and democratic Iraq, not merely by joining the army and security forces, but also by creating small businesses and developing their local communities. If American-led forces reach out to Iraqis, it will create an open line of communication, providing a healthier and more productive channel of dialogue than roadside bombs.

Politically, the United States should make more of an effort to differentiate between foreign fighters – the Zarqawi terrorists - and local fighters – the predominately Sunni insurgents. The former will not stop killing until every “infidel” is dead. So blinded are they by a perverted interpretation of Islam, there is little chance of negotiation.

But the insurgents are different, and must be treated so. They are not fighting infidels so much as occupiers, fighting not under a false religious pretext so much as a vicious reality. Just as American soldiers often fight day-to-day to defend their fellow soldier, rather than for a lofty patriotic cause, so too are insurgents fighting first and foremost to protect their home and loved ones from perceived threats. Beyond the small coterie of Hussein loyalists, insurgent violence is the result of the Sunnis’ sudden fall from power, and their collective trepidation about their future role in governing.

The insurgents are mostly ordinary people, struggling to support their families. They feel abandoned and betrayed by the utopian doctrine of Western democracy. Convinced the Shiite majority will disenfranchise them completely, their motivation to kill derives from a desperate situation, not terrorist ideology. Remedy the situation, and this motivation will disappear.

To do so, the United States and the new Iraqi government must engage insurgent groups to address their grievances. Indeed, America’s ability to leave Iraq is inextricably linked to folding these insurgents into the new, democratic order. Violence will cease only when the insurgents see more value in investing in their country’s infrastructure than in destroying it.

The spontaneous celebration that erupted throughout Iraq in response to news of Zarqawi’s death proves that sectarian warfare is not the first choice of the Iraqi people. It is instead the result of a widespread and crushing sense of absolute helplessness and hopelessness. Only by providing help and restoring hope can we quell the violence.

Though we should not rejoice in any person’s death, Zarqawi’s has been welcomed by many. Yet it shouldn’t be mistaken for progress any more than removing one tumour is progress in a patient whose body is wracked by cancer. Americans must be wary of the “turned the corner” rhetoric; we have turned so many corners in this deeply-flawed effort we may just be turning in circles.

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* Bill Glucroft is a student of journalism at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts. He maintains a website at www.allbillnobull.net. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org (http://www.commongroundnews.org/).
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), June 27, 2006
Visit the website at www.commongroundnews.org
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH).
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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ARTICLE 3
Mosques with foreign flags
Muqtedar Khan

Newark, Delaware - We entered the mosque through a large iron gate closely watched by a score of Turkish men. Unlike most architecturally-interesting buildings in Berlin, which are open and easily accessible, this majestic and grand mosque is surrounded by a high wall and is accessible only through iron gates. I was in Berlin for a conference organised by the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies, and one of their scholars and a Berlin parliamentarian kindly volunteered to show me around the city.

As we approached the grand mosque, the Berlin parliamentarian remarked, "notice the Turkish flag on the mosque; do you see a German flag anywhere?"

The day-long conference in Berlin was about comparing the experiences of Germany and the United States in integrating their Muslim minorities. Throughout the day, scholars from both sides of the Atlantic struggled with political and philosophical issues involved in the absorption of large numbers of minorities whose political and cultural values may be at odds with those of the host nations.

While Muslim scholars argued for more openness, more religious and racial tolerance, and equal treatment of all religious communities, others called for more assimilation and insisted that immigrants must make the effort to learn local languages and adapt to the mainstream political and cultural norms.

As I looked at the mosque with its Turkish flag flying proudly, the high walls, the iron gates and the stoic faces, I suddenly realised that this was not a mosque but instead a sort of embassy, a foreign enclave, an extension of Turkish sovereignty in the heart of Germany. In the United States, one may occasionally find a U.S. flag on a mosque, but never that of a foreign country. The only mosque that has foreign flags is the Islamic Center in Washington DC which was established by diplomats from Muslim countries.

I sympathised with the Berlin parliamentarian's obvious displeasure concerning the Turkish flag. Several years ago I ran into a large contingent of Turks in the holiest of Muslim mosques in Mecca while circling the Kaaba. They were wearing tiny Turkish flags on their shirt collars. I found this display of nationalism in the House of God deeply offensive. Islam is a strictly monotheistic religion and nationalism in its extreme form begins to subvert the very idea of one God. Perhaps these Turks did not know that God is blind to nationality, ethnicity and race.

With Islamophobia on the rise in most Western countries, grand displays of Islamic religiosity combined with overt, in-your-face displays of allegiance to foreign nations can only be described as spectacularly stupid.

Both Muslims and non-Muslims are actively demanding the elimination of barriers between the Western mainstream and Muslim diaspora. While Muslims are insisting that host societies accommodate, recognise and respect all the differences that they bring, non-Muslims -- usually the dominant white Judeo-Christians -- are demanding that Muslims moderate these differences. In Germany the challenge is mainly that of Muslims learning the German language and of incorporating Islam as a German institution. In the United States the challenges are more related to the real or perceived sympathy of American Muslims for anti-Americanism in the Middle East.

Muslim immigrants bring three significant challenges to Western societies: cultural differences, religious differences and political differences. In the United States, the first two challenges are easily manageable. Most Americans believe in the United States as a multi-cultural society and deeply value religious pluralism. Unlike Europe where the elite preach secularism yet go against it in practice, America actually practices a separation of Church and State.

In the United States, the government is neither involved nor interested in how Islam is institutionalised or managed by Muslims, whereas in Germany the state not only teaches religion in school but also has religious clergy on government payroll. This becomes particularly problematic since Germany finances both Christian and Jewish institutions but does not even recognise Islam.

In the United States most people respect and even value cultural differences, jealously guard religious freedom, and consequently practice religious pluralism at all levels of society. Since most Americans are originally from a foreign country, the fact that Muslims also have foreign origins is of little issue.

American identity is open, flexible and continuously evolving. American citizenship is also easily acquired and hence becoming American in law and spirit faces less cultural and political barriers. Additionally, the "American dream" is a powerful positive that all immigrants aspire towards and often achieve. When travelling overseas, I frequently testify that coming to America for me was like joining the marines -- in America one can "be all you can be".

At present the key barrier to the mainstreaming of Islam in America is the relations between the United States and the Muslim world.

Germany has a long way to go. Even though it does not have foreign policy problems like the United States, it has several domestic policy issues. First, Germany must recognise Islam. Germany has been, for decades, a multi-ethnic society but very few Germans imagine Germany as a multi-cultural society. German intellectuals brag about being secular, but such a claim will remain false as long as Christian and Jewish institutions are on the national budget.

German identity is rooted in the past and is culturally tied to race, and ethnicity. Becoming German is very difficult, even for those who are born in Germany and speak perfect German but happen to look like me rather than Boris Becker.

German intellectuals must begin to imagine Germany as a political community that is a composite of values, rather than a nation-state based on a specific ethnicity. In the age of globalisation, narrowly defined identities are untenable. Germany, as an integral part of the emerging global society, must define itself in terms of global values that are sensitive to cultural, racial and religious differences. It must become a role model for other European nations like Ireland and Portugal that will soon face similar problems.

Muslims who live as minorities in the West or anywhere else must understand that their demand for tolerance of religious and cultural differences is a just cause. But they must align their political and economic interests with those of their neighbours, whose acceptance they seek, and not with those who live in foreign lands.

There is room for Islam in America and Germany. We can and we will build bigger and more spectacular mosques in the West, but there is no place for Saudi flags, or Turkish or Pakistani flags in Western mosques. They have their embassies and that is enough. They should not be allowed to use our mosques.

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* Muqtedar Khan teaches Islam and Global Affairs at the University of Delaware. He is a Non-Resident Fellow at the Brookings Institution and the author of Islamic Democratic Discourse [2006]. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org (http://www.commongroundnews.org/).
Source: Al Ahram, June 15 – 21, 2006
Visit the website at www.ahram.org.eg/weekly
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH).
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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ARTICLE 4
Education key to moderate Islam
Ridwan Max Sijabat

Jakarta, Indonesia - Islam is a religion of moderation which is against extremism, fanaticism and the use of violence, and is neither inherently opposed to modernity nor antagonistic to the West, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi says.

Addressing the second International Conference of Islamic Scholars in Jakarta on Tuesday, Badawi said Muslim nations should develop an educational curriculum that firmly establishes the values of mutual understanding, tolerance, dialogue and multi-lateralism in accordance with the tenets of Islam.

"We Muslims must also take actions to heal the rifts within the ummah (Muslim groups) so as to demonstrate, by words and deeds, that Islam is indeed a religion of moderation, which rejects bigotry, extremism and fanaticism, especially terrorism," said Badawi, who chairs the Organization of Islamic Conference.

Some 300 Muslim scholars from 53 countries are attending the two-day forum that was opened Tuesday by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Badawi said despite the different ways of championing the faith, which have frequently been a source of discord, Muslims must "reject those who deliberately kill non-combatants and the innocent; those who oppress and exploit others; those who are corrupt and greedy and those who are chauvinist and communal".

He said true Muslims were those upholding justice, fighting tyranny, seeking liberation from oppression and those who were honest, upright, universal and inclusive.

Islam was neither opposed to modernity nor antagonistic toward the Christian or non-believing West, Badawi said.

"Muslims can indeed be modern without being Western. They can modernise and do so without 'Westernising'."

A truly modern Muslim was one able to harmonise the revelations of Islam and the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad on one hand, with human reasoning and science on the other, he said.

Sharing Malaysia's experience in practicing a moderate form of Islam, the prime minister said Islam was no obstacle to progress and modernity, including democracy.

Although Malaysia was a majority Muslim country with non-Muslims making up 33 percent of its population, it was governed democratically in a power-sharing system with various ethnic groups of different religions and beliefs, Badawi said.

"Religious harmony is maintained by the constitutional guarantee of freedom to worship, and all citizens are equal before the law."

Badawi also stressed the importance of promoting fruitful interfaith dialogue between the West and the Islamic world to build peace on earth.

"To achieve this, it is imperative for the West to acknowledge first that Islam is not merely a religion but is also a civilisation, a cultural entity and a way of life all at once. In dealing with Muslims, one must take into account their religious sensitivities," he said.

He said any dialogue would succeed if there was mutual respect, equality and reciprocity.

Speaking at the same conference organised by Nahdlatul Ulama -- Indonesia's largest Muslim organisation -- Mgr. Khaled Akasheh, a special emissary of Pope Benedict XVI, emphasised the importance of strengthening inter-religious dialogue with the Islamic world to achieve global peace.

Akasheh said the Catholic Church under the Pope would continue pursuing dialogue with other faiths, especially Islam, to enhance existing friendships.

"In the strength of their faiths, Christians and Muslims, through dialogue, can and must give witness and work together so that our societies can reopen once more to the transcendental," he said, referring to what he called "ethical relativism" and secularism in the dominant Western culture.

Quoting the Pope in a recent discussion with Muslim leaders in Cologne, Akasheh said dialogue between Christians and Muslims should not be reduced to an optional extra. "It is, in fact, a vital necessity, on which in large measure our future depends."

Prince Ghazi Bin Mohammed of Jordan, the personal envoy and special adviser to King Abdullah II, was also in attendance.

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* Ridwan Max Sijabat is a writer for the Jakarta Post. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org (http://www.commongroundnews.org/).
Source: Jakarta Post, June 21, 2006
Visit the website at www.thejakaratapost.com
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH).
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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ARTICLE 5
Saudi women unveil opinions online
Rasheed Abou-Alsamh

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia - In this country where women are forced to completely cover themselves in public, are barred from driving, and need permission to travel abroad, it's small wonder many are embracing the freedom of anonymity on the Internet.

"I love blogging because it helps me to express myself and I like to write in English," says Farah Aziz, a translation student at King Saud University in Riyadh who started blogging in January 2005.

The content of Ms. Aziz's blog (http://farahssowaleef.blogspot.com), which chronicles the life of a college student, would probably do little to cause alarm among government censors. But other women bloggers are drawing the attention of the state as conservative male bloggers have taken to policing the Internet for bloggers acting in ways that they perceive as inappropriate according to Islam.

Saudi Eve, who regularly writes about her love life and religion, and who declined to be identified by her real name because of the sensitivity of the issue, woke up on June 2 to find that her blog (http://eveksa.blogspot.com) had been blocked.

"Back and blocked," she wrote on her blog on June 2. "I'm temporarily back in Saudi only to find that 'Saudi Eve is officially blocked in Saudi.' "

The closure of her site signals the beginning of a cyber battle between liberal Saudi bloggers and their more conservative counterparts.

Blogging under the name Green Tea (http://www.g-tea.com/), Riyadh law student Mohammed al-Mossaed recently formed a conservative group of Saudi bloggers called the Official Community of Saudi Arabian Bloggers (OCSAB). "I am not responsible for the blocking of any website," says Mr. Mossaed. "OCSAB also has nothing to do with it. Maybe [Saudi Eve] broke [the state's] rules by sometimes talking about God and sex."

Response and sympathy from fellow bloggers was swift, with many urging the Kingdom's Internet watchdog, King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), to unblock the site.

Deeply conservative, Saudi Arabia is among the most restrictive countries in regard to Internet access in the world, with most traffic going through a central hub at KACST in Riyadh. The biggest number of blocked sites are pornographic sites, followed by sites that discuss drugs, religion, and terrorism. But KACST itself admits that it sometimes blocks benign sites by mistake.

"The blacklist we use is a combination of an international commercial blacklist and a local blacklist," says Mishaal Al-Kadhi, the head of KACST's Internet Service Unit, in a phone interview from Riyadh. "Ninety-five percent of blocked sites are pornographic. But we do make mistakes sometimes and urge people to e-mail us with their unblock requests."

Saudi Eve, who is in her late 20s, single, and often travels abroad on business, says she was singled out for being female and for daring to write about her love life and God in the same post.

"My blog wasn't blocked because I wrote about romantic escapades, for as you know there are so many blogs on the Internet - both Saudi and non-Saudi - that write/blog about 'romantic escapades', among other Saudi taboos, which aren't being blocked in Saudi," she said in an e-mail exchange.

"In my opinion, my blog was singled out and blocked because I - a Saudi female - wrote about romantic escapades in Arabic, plus I committed the 'ultimate sin' by mentioning the name of God in those posts," she explained. "To a Saudi male, romance is only allowed if written in English or by a male. It definitely isn't tolerated if it's written by a Saudi female, let alone in Arabic."

Saudi Eve is not the only blogger to feel the wrath of conservative bloggers. Aziz, too, has had her run-ins with OCSAB and Green Tea, saying that they have threatened her in comments left on her site.

"First, they say that a blog cannot disrespect Islam in any way in order for it to be included in OCSAB," says Aziz. "Second, they say that they don't accept blogs that are personal diaries, which is ridiculous as most blogs are just that."

Yet Aziz admitted that OSCAB's aim to spread the culture of blogging among Saudis was working, though perhaps not to her liking.

One female blogger (http://www.classic-diva.blogspot.com/) said that she was stopped from using the Internet at home for several months after her conservative brothers grew suspicious about why she was spending so much time online.

"I've been blogging since April 2005. It's a way to vent my frustrations and to write," said Jo, who asked only that her first name be used. "My family knows that I have a site, but they don't have a concept of what blogging is."

Jo was forced to sneak out of her house to use the Internet at the house of friends or at a local Starbucks, and still has limited access to the Internet at home. She says that the blocking of Saudi Eve signals a battle that has already started between liberal and conservative bloggers in the Kingdom.

"We have this clash going on between us liberals and the conservatives in the blogosphere. I think that OCSAB is trying to scare us," says Jo.

For her part, Saudi Eve has not decided yet whether she will start a new blog to overcome being blocked in Saudi, or whether she will send KACST a request to unblock her site.

"I haven't decided yet whether to react to this block or just to ignore it. There are readers in the rest of the world, you know!" she said in an e-mail shortly before leaving the kingdom on yet another business trip abroad.

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* Rasheed Abou-Alsamh is a Saudi-American blogger and journalist based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Thisarticle is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org (http://www.commongroundnews.org/).
Source: Christian Science Monitor, June 19, 2006
Visit the website at www.csmonitor.com
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH).
Copyright © The Christian Science Monitor. For reprint permission, please contact lawrenced@csps.com.

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The Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH) provides news, op-eds, features and analysis by local and international experts on a broad range of issues affecting Muslim-Western relations. CGNews-PiH syndicates articles that are balanced and solution-oriented to news outlets worldwide. With support from the Norwegian government and the United States Institute of Peace, this news service is a non-profit initiative of Search for Common Ground, an international NGO working in the field of conflict transformation.

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Posted by Evelin at June 28, 2006 05:43 AM