Let slip the blogs of war ...
New plays inspired by online diaries include one woman's story of life in strife-torn Iraq
Rob Sharp, arts and media correspondent
Sunday August 6, 2006 The Observer
The traditional assembly of attention seekers, hand-waving thespians and artistic extroverts that annually descend on Edinburgh for a month of theatrical festivities is set to be joined this year by the antics of an unlikely soul-mate - the normally secluded bedroom blogger.
A number of new plays at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the annual celebration of new theatre, which starts today, are taking inspiration from blogs, the online diaries which bring prominence to anonymous wordsmiths. Blogs have proved game fodder for those writing plays for the Fringe, anxious for new material to inform both jaunty comedies and more hard-hitting alternatives.
The full story is here
I'm a big fan of one of the blogs they're talking about, Baghdad Burning. I have a link to it over there on the right.
Sunday, August 06, 2006
Saturday, August 05, 2006
Mel Gibson - priorities
Much as I abhor racism, isn't it a disgrace that it's Mel Gibson's outburst that's being depicted as the serious crime, not that he was drunk driving and endangering innocent lives. A breath test indicated Gibson's blood-alcohol level was 0.12 percent. California drivers 21 and older must remain under 0.08 percent. That's being ignored in the hysteria over what he said.
Where's the outrage at the real crime?
Where's the outrage at the real crime?
Thursday, August 03, 2006
The obscenity of war
This heart-rending front page photograph which Gulf News ran on Monday has caused much debate, with opinions very much divided.
There was a particular letter complaining about it in today's paper, with what I thought was a brilliant reply from the Photo Director:
How can the image of a dead child help?
Your newspaper was not allowed into my house on Monday morning. I had it thrown straight into the bin. It is distressing enough to read of the deaths of innocent children in times of war and conflict but completely unnecessary to show that image on the front page.
What happened to the classic photojournalism of war-torn countries which has won awards over the years for its clear message without having to resort to graphic and brutal pictures of burning bodies and crushed limbs?
We live in times when violence is so commonplace on TV to the point where no one takes any notice of real conflict and pain. How can the image of that dead child change what is happening in Lebanon? It appears to me the real reason this photograph has been published is to increase the sales of the paper.
When we live in a country where many things are taboo, surely sickening visuals of this nature should be sensitively handled and kept out of the press altogether.
How do you explain this photo to a child who sees it in the home? How does he understand that this is different from the game he then goes off to play on his Playstation or the internet?
From Ms S. Backhouse, Dubai
Our Photo Director replies:
Photojournalists covering the war in Lebanon have provided arguably the most harrowing images of death and destruction in recent times. They risk their lives to document the war crimes being perpetrated against defenceless women and children. We as a newspaper recording history are obliged to show the truth of what is happening and at times the truth is painful.
You contend that classic photojournalism images that have won awards do not depict the brutal imagery which has appeared in Gulf News and most Arab newspapers of late. I beg to differ on this issue as the greatest award-winning images have more often than not been violent. The napalmed children running through the streets in Vietnam, charred soldiers in a tank in Iraq, the pilot's body being dragged through Mogadishu streets, the Vietcong being shot in the head at close range, the man being beaten while being burnt alive during apartheid in South Africa, the starving child being watched by a vulture in Sudan, the killing fields of Cambodia, starving children in Ethiopia, the hacked bodies during the genocide in Rwanda, Bhopal gas explosion horror one can go on and on.
Great news pictures conjure up great horrors, great sorrow and inevitably are immensely brutal.
The child being hoisted from the rubble in Lebanon will go down as a great image of this war for its sure message: the war has killed and is killing the innocents. These images which are being widely used in the Arab media are being generally ignored by the western media. The result is outrage in this region and amazing apathy in the western world. Censorship of these images, the truth, only serves the perpetrators of violence and allows their crimes against humanity to carry on unchecked.
It is our duty as a serious newspaper to expose this.
We live in the Playstation age where children and adults alike are desensitised by the carnage on their television sets because apparent "death" is so common and "resurrection" is a mere press of the button away. In real war there is no second chance or "restart" button and perhaps parents should be duty bound to explain the difference between "real" death and "cyber" death.
By throwing Gulf News in the bin you may have lost a great opportunity to teach your children about the reality of life and how different it is from Playstation's artificial life.
You ask: How can the image of that dead child change what is happening in Lebanon? Time will tell what impact it has but for sure there will be and already has been an impact on the minds of those who saw it.
Reading US, UK, Australian newspapers I see sanitised photos of the destruction. Buildings collapsed, people in hospital with a bandaged arm, crying women, but rarely a graphic photograph showing the true horror, the reality of what's happening.
Hiding the truth, sanitising the effects of barbarity will only help it to continue. People need to face up to the reality of what happens in war. To people on all sides of all wars. That's the only hope we have of ever stopping it.
By the way, the little boy in the photograph shouldn't stay nameless. Abbas Mahmoud Hashem. Just one more innocent victim.
There was a particular letter complaining about it in today's paper, with what I thought was a brilliant reply from the Photo Director:
How can the image of a dead child help?
Your newspaper was not allowed into my house on Monday morning. I had it thrown straight into the bin. It is distressing enough to read of the deaths of innocent children in times of war and conflict but completely unnecessary to show that image on the front page.
What happened to the classic photojournalism of war-torn countries which has won awards over the years for its clear message without having to resort to graphic and brutal pictures of burning bodies and crushed limbs?
We live in times when violence is so commonplace on TV to the point where no one takes any notice of real conflict and pain. How can the image of that dead child change what is happening in Lebanon? It appears to me the real reason this photograph has been published is to increase the sales of the paper.
When we live in a country where many things are taboo, surely sickening visuals of this nature should be sensitively handled and kept out of the press altogether.
How do you explain this photo to a child who sees it in the home? How does he understand that this is different from the game he then goes off to play on his Playstation or the internet?
From Ms S. Backhouse, Dubai
Our Photo Director replies:
Photojournalists covering the war in Lebanon have provided arguably the most harrowing images of death and destruction in recent times. They risk their lives to document the war crimes being perpetrated against defenceless women and children. We as a newspaper recording history are obliged to show the truth of what is happening and at times the truth is painful.
You contend that classic photojournalism images that have won awards do not depict the brutal imagery which has appeared in Gulf News and most Arab newspapers of late. I beg to differ on this issue as the greatest award-winning images have more often than not been violent. The napalmed children running through the streets in Vietnam, charred soldiers in a tank in Iraq, the pilot's body being dragged through Mogadishu streets, the Vietcong being shot in the head at close range, the man being beaten while being burnt alive during apartheid in South Africa, the starving child being watched by a vulture in Sudan, the killing fields of Cambodia, starving children in Ethiopia, the hacked bodies during the genocide in Rwanda, Bhopal gas explosion horror one can go on and on.
Great news pictures conjure up great horrors, great sorrow and inevitably are immensely brutal.
The child being hoisted from the rubble in Lebanon will go down as a great image of this war for its sure message: the war has killed and is killing the innocents. These images which are being widely used in the Arab media are being generally ignored by the western media. The result is outrage in this region and amazing apathy in the western world. Censorship of these images, the truth, only serves the perpetrators of violence and allows their crimes against humanity to carry on unchecked.
It is our duty as a serious newspaper to expose this.
We live in the Playstation age where children and adults alike are desensitised by the carnage on their television sets because apparent "death" is so common and "resurrection" is a mere press of the button away. In real war there is no second chance or "restart" button and perhaps parents should be duty bound to explain the difference between "real" death and "cyber" death.
By throwing Gulf News in the bin you may have lost a great opportunity to teach your children about the reality of life and how different it is from Playstation's artificial life.
You ask: How can the image of that dead child change what is happening in Lebanon? Time will tell what impact it has but for sure there will be and already has been an impact on the minds of those who saw it.
Reading US, UK, Australian newspapers I see sanitised photos of the destruction. Buildings collapsed, people in hospital with a bandaged arm, crying women, but rarely a graphic photograph showing the true horror, the reality of what's happening.
Hiding the truth, sanitising the effects of barbarity will only help it to continue. People need to face up to the reality of what happens in war. To people on all sides of all wars. That's the only hope we have of ever stopping it.
By the way, the little boy in the photograph shouldn't stay nameless. Abbas Mahmoud Hashem. Just one more innocent victim.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
I give up!
That's it! I'm going to shut the computer down now. Not only is it the slowest I can ever remember, bloody Etisalat is spamming my e-mail box:
Al Shamil Quiz Competition
Dear Valued Al Shamil Customer,
As part of our constant endeavors to enhance customers Internet experience and enforce awareness of broadband Internet, we are pleased to announce Al Shamil Broadband Quiz Competition for kids during Knowledge Surprises, in partnership with the Land Department, between 3rd and 9th of August 2006.
By the way, don't you love the "...enforce awareness..." Oops, a Freudian slip.
Al Shamil Quiz Competition
Dear Valued Al Shamil Customer,
As part of our constant endeavors to enhance customers Internet experience and enforce awareness of broadband Internet, we are pleased to announce Al Shamil Broadband Quiz Competition for kids during Knowledge Surprises, in partnership with the Land Department, between 3rd and 9th of August 2006.
By the way, don't you love the "...enforce awareness..." Oops, a Freudian slip.
Slow? Almost motionless.
Are they, without the promised warning, moving the cables because of Fujairah's Big Banana Island today?
I can't believe how slow my computer is.
I can't believe how slow my computer is.
Stupid, stupid me...
I forgot the Golden Rule.
Never comment on a newspaper story quoting 'officials' on the day it's published. The reason, of course, is that the following morning a denial will be printed in another paper
So it was this morning with a story I talked about yesterday.
Yesterday's EmTod report that new companies would be allowed 100% foreign ownership was ridiculed in today's Gulf News story UAE denies plan for full foreign ownership.
Never comment on a newspaper story quoting 'officials' on the day it's published. The reason, of course, is that the following morning a denial will be printed in another paper
So it was this morning with a story I talked about yesterday.
Yesterday's EmTod report that new companies would be allowed 100% foreign ownership was ridiculed in today's Gulf News story UAE denies plan for full foreign ownership.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
We'll get there in the end
It was inevitable that the unprecedented development we're seeing in Dubai would charge ahead of regulations and laws. Playing catch-up isn't unique to this area - for example all governments are trying to write laws to deal with new technology such as the internet.
We're still working in the old laissez faire way and while it was all low-key and small we got away with it. But not any more. Now we're negotiating Free Trade Agreements, WTO looms large, we're on the international stage, particularly as Brand Dubai, in a big way.
There's an urgent need for legislation to catch-up with the new reality.
The new Property Law was a good start, in spite of it needing a lot more work. Now Emirates Today reports two new prospective changes, in company law and vehicle insurance. Both very good, very welcome moves.
Companies may not need local sponsor to operate
Foreigners may soon be able to open a business in the UAE without the sponsorship of a UAE national if a new draft of the commercial companies law comes into affect.
The draft deletes the provision in the current law that requires foreign companies operating outside of a free zone to partner with a UAE national who holds 51 per cent of the company – paving the way for much greater foreign investment in the country.
Good drivers will benefit
Motorists with good safety records are expected to benefit from a decision taken by the Ministry of Economy and Planning to amend some regulations regarding car insurance, a top industry executive said yesterday.
Under the new rules motorists will be given the option of having a named driver policy, said Omer Hassan Elamin, Chairman of the Insurance Business Group and a member of the legal committee of the Emirates Insurance Association, which collaborated with the ministry on the amendments.
At present, insurance policies focus on the car rather than the driver, which means that anyone with a licence can drive an insured car that they do not own and still have the right to file a claim if they cause an accident.
Elamin said that the new option will mean cars will not be covered if they are driven by anyone else but the poli cy-holder. However, drivers with good records are expected to benefit from the new rules, said Elamin.
Many more legislative updates are needed in many more areas. Let's hope they're not long coming.
Emirates Today
We're still working in the old laissez faire way and while it was all low-key and small we got away with it. But not any more. Now we're negotiating Free Trade Agreements, WTO looms large, we're on the international stage, particularly as Brand Dubai, in a big way.
There's an urgent need for legislation to catch-up with the new reality.
The new Property Law was a good start, in spite of it needing a lot more work. Now Emirates Today reports two new prospective changes, in company law and vehicle insurance. Both very good, very welcome moves.
Companies may not need local sponsor to operate
Foreigners may soon be able to open a business in the UAE without the sponsorship of a UAE national if a new draft of the commercial companies law comes into affect.
The draft deletes the provision in the current law that requires foreign companies operating outside of a free zone to partner with a UAE national who holds 51 per cent of the company – paving the way for much greater foreign investment in the country.
Good drivers will benefit
Motorists with good safety records are expected to benefit from a decision taken by the Ministry of Economy and Planning to amend some regulations regarding car insurance, a top industry executive said yesterday.
Under the new rules motorists will be given the option of having a named driver policy, said Omer Hassan Elamin, Chairman of the Insurance Business Group and a member of the legal committee of the Emirates Insurance Association, which collaborated with the ministry on the amendments.
At present, insurance policies focus on the car rather than the driver, which means that anyone with a licence can drive an insured car that they do not own and still have the right to file a claim if they cause an accident.
Elamin said that the new option will mean cars will not be covered if they are driven by anyone else but the poli cy-holder. However, drivers with good records are expected to benefit from the new rules, said Elamin.
Many more legislative updates are needed in many more areas. Let's hope they're not long coming.
Emirates Today
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