Dawn is Pakistan’s leading English language paper. Today it publishes a review by Mustafa Qadri of my book, The Blogging Revolution: Hot on the heels of his last book, My Israel Question (a history of the Israeli occupation of Palestine from the perspective of an anti-Zionist Jewish Australian), freelance journalist Antony Loewenstein delves into the…
Showing all posts tagged Saudi Arabia
The fate of the lone blogger
Sadly, many of the countries below that repress bloggers are the same nations I feature in my book, The Blogging Revolution: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has just released a list of the ten worst countries in which to blog. Topping the list is Burma, followed closely by Iran, Syria, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam,…
We shouldn’t be grieving for the death of newspapers
My following article appears today in Online Opinion: As a journalist who spends the vast majority of my life online, the seemingly never-ending debates about the future of the media and newspapers can be exhausting and predictable. The same mantras are heard over and over again. Where will the news come from when newsprint dies?…
The kind of ally we should not have
Human rights for women (and men) in Saudi Arabia are atrocious, something I examined in my book, The Blogging Revolution. But activists there continue to agitate, as they should. But where is the international support for their actions? Activists in Saudi Arabia have protested a government ban on women drivers before, but it’s never been…
Stop bowing to dictators
It’s hard to disagree with conservative commentator Michelle Malkin: I have expressed my disgust many times over the years with the Bush administration’s kowtowing to Saudi Arabia. That notorious image of Bush holding hands with Saudi royalty in 2005 and doing sword dances with Wahabbists in 2008 sparked outrage on both the left and the…
Talking Palestine in Ubud
I’m currently in Ubud, Bali after being invited by the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival to conduct an event tonight. The following article appears in the current edition of the local paper, The Bali Advertiser: 2009 Ubud Writers and Readers Festival presents Antony Loewenstein author of “My Israel Question” and “The Blogging Revolution” Just as…
The Jewish state likes being alone
Saudi Arabia is a brutal dictatorship run by crooks. Despite this, however, it remains a close friend of the US and “ally” of Israel. The recent war against Gaza may have changed all that, writes Prince Turki, chairman of King Faisal Centre for Research and Islamic Studies in Riyadh. He has also been director of…
Extremism rises from the ashes
Alastair Crooke, The Guardian, January 19: …The 22-day war has changed the parameters in the region: it has produced an unparalleled, overt challenge to Saudi Arabia and Egypt in the formal structures of Arab political power. The Doha informal meeting of heads of state on Friday gave legitimacy to the Palestinian resistance movements, called for…
Trying to stop flickering light
“Cinema is evil and we do not need it.” Saudi Arabian conservatives are finding that motion pictures are starting to appear in the closed Kingdom.
The net effect
The following essay about the web and my book The Blogging Revolution, by Richard King, appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald on January 3: Good, bad or a bit of both? Richard King asks whether the internet serves us, or we serve it. Perhaps new technologies meet with suspicion because of the perception they extend…