The forgotten people: The start of 2009 offers little hope to the residents of al-Tanf, a refugee camp on the Syrian-Iraqi border housing more than 700 Palestinians who had fled persecution in Iraq. No country has given any concrete pledge to take any of the refugees for resettlement in 2009, leaving them to battle the…
Showing all posts tagged Syria
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…
The cards are shifting (and Israel missed the press release)
Zvi Bar’el, Haaretz, January 4: Hamas, as it turns out, has a single definition for victory. Like Hezbollah, Hamas knows that a few hundred rockets will not crush Israel, but rather serve as critically-needed leverage to establish its presence as a prominent and active decision-making force in the inter-Palestinian arena. This goes beyond Hamas’ standing…
The Blogging Revolution: a look at the repression of online journalism around the world
Democracy Now! is the world’s finest independent news service, based in New York and known for its fearless investigations of the major issues of the day (and many ignored by the corporate media.) I was interviewed live on their TV/radio program in the studio this morning about my book, The Blogging Revolution: JUAN GONZALEZ: A…
How much longer to wait?
An encouraging sign, from the International Herald Tribune’s Roger Cohen, that the Jewish state is dealing itself out of a viable future: Imagine Ehud Olmert, the outgoing Israeli prime minister, saying this to Barack… Obama: “The United States has been wrong to write Israel a blank check every year; wrong to turn a blind eye to…
The Blogging Revolution and voices of crisis
Juan Cole runs one of the finest and most popular US-based Middle East related blogs. It’s been a beacon of rationality during the Bush years. My following piece appears on his site today: During last week’s terror attacks in Mumbai, new technology reacted to the news faster than traditional media services. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and…
Going online in repressive regimes
My following talk was presented today to a full room at Harvard University’s Berkman Centre: Harvard University’s Berkman Centre for Internet and Society Luncheon Series, 25 November 2008 The Blogging Revolution: Going online in repressive regimes Antony Loewenstein Internet censorship is something that only happens in non-democratic states. Regimes that want to crush free speech…
Spreading the word in the US
After years of talking in Australia and overseas about the Israel/Palestine conflict and internet repression, I’m about to commence a US… speaking tour. My first presentation early next week, at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government/Centre for Middle Eastern Studies, is on “The Shifting Sands of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: An Australian Perspective“: A critical examination of…
Eternal vigilence is required
In an alarming report released Monday by the Central Intelligence Agency, Syria may be harboring upwards of 15 million known Arabs within its borders.
Why blog?
Australian blogger Amy Bradney-George on the ever-increasing importance of blogging in our media landscape: A few years back, around the beginning of 2006, I began reading blogs by friends and family as a way of keeping in touch with them. From there I realised how many people across the world are actually utilising this form…