African and Arab Media Conference

Conferences and Talks, CyberOrient, Journalism and Media

The Arab Media Centre is pleased to inform you that its next conference will take place on 30-31 March, 2009 at the University of Westminster in London.

CALL FOR PAPERS
African and Arab Media Audiences:
Shared Agendas for Research

Conference jointly organised by the Africa Media Series, Arab Media Centre and Audiences Group, Communication and Media Research Institute (CAMRI), University of Westminster

Dates: 30-31 March, 2009

Venue: University of Westminster, New Cavendish Campus,
115 New Cavendish Street, London W1

THE TOPIC

Media research to date has largely neglected the fast growing and diverse media audiences in African and Arab countries. These countries share painful histories of colonization and broadly comparable experiences of post-independence media development. Today they share the challenge of adjusting to global trade and investment regimes that affect local media production and distribution systems but are crafted elsewhere. Yet when we speak of media reception in the Global South, we tend to think in terms of isolated geographies: of ‘Latin America’, ‘Africa’, or the ‘Middle East’. By contextualizing primarily in terms of place, we overlook memories, issues and features that media users in different regions have in common. We foster artificial boundaries and separate research agendas. As a result, opportunities for productive joint debates about Arab and African media consumption are missed. Continue reading African and Arab Media Conference →

Maliki drops the mask

Election 2008, Iraq, Iraq War


U.S. President George W. Bush walks with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki Tuesday, June 13, 2006, at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq.

Maliki drops the mask
Jonathan Steele in Baghdad, The Guardian, Friday September 5, 2008

What’s up with Nouri al-Maliki? As security anxieties subside in this slowly calming city, political speculation has rarely been so intense. First, it was Maliki’s demand that all US troops leave Iraq by the end of 2011. Then came signs that his government wants to undermine the Sunni tribal militias, known as the Awakening councils, on whom the Americans have relied to defeat al-Qaida in Iraq. Now there are moves to take on the powerful Kurdish peshmerga troops and push them out of disputed areas in the strategic central province of Diyala.

Why is the prime minister doing this? Is “the puppet breaking his strings”, as one Arab newspaper put it? Or is the more appropriate metaphor “dropping the mask”? Those who knew Maliki in exile in Syria during Saddam Hussein’s time now recall that he opposed the US-led invasion. His Daawa party did not attend the eve-of-invasion conference of US- and UK-supported exiles in London, and he opposed the party’s decision six months later to join the hand-picked “governing council” set up by the first occupation overlord, Paul Bremer. Continue reading Maliki drops the mask →

Congress is about to pour lighter fluid on Iran

Anthropology/Sociology, Iran, Terrorism Issue

Congress is about to pour lighter fluid on Iran

By WILLIAM O. BEEMAN, Star Tribune, Minneapolis/St. Paul, September 3, 2008

The U.S. Congress may inadvertently lay the foundations for war against Iran when it reconvenes in Washington this month.

Two essentially identical nonbinding resolutions call upon President Bush to “immediately and dramatically increase the economic, political and diplomatic pressure on Iran to verifiably suspend its nuclear enrichment activities.”

The House resolution has more than 200 cosponsors, including Minnesota Reps. Michele Bachmann, John Kline and Jim Ramstad. The Senate resolution has more than 30 cosponsors, including both Minnesota senators, Norm Coleman and Amy Klobuchar.

The methods for increased pressure differ slightly in the two resolutions. The House resolution calls for “stringent inspection requirements” of all goods entering or leaving Iran. The Senate resolution does not call for the inspection of all goods but joins the House resolution in calling for an embargo of refined petroleum products to Iran, which lacks the refining capacity to meet its need for gasoline. Achieving either goal would require a naval blockade — a de facto act of war on the part of the United States, though paradoxically both resolutions explicitly exclude authorization for military action. Continue reading Congress is about to pour lighter fluid on Iran →

Praise God and Pass the Nomination

Apocalypse Watch, Arab-Israeli Conflict, Terrorism Issue

[Much was made of Obama’s former church and his controversial Pastor, Rev. Wright. In the case of Governor Palin, it’s not the chickens that are coming home to roost but the dinosaurs that she no doubt believes Noah carried on his ark. Here is some sobering commentary on Palin’s apocalyptic dimensions. Webshaykh.]

From the Daily Kos, September 2, 2008

New information re Palin’s church…and what it could mean for you

In my original post, I noted Sarah Palin’s membership in a “stealth Assemblies” congregation, Juneau Christian Center–that is, an Assemblies of God church that tries very hard to hide the fact from outsiders that it is, in fact, an Assemblies of God church. This is pretty much a danger sign in and of itself, especially to those of us familiar with the Assemblies and its increasingly strident calls from district leaders for literal holy war with the rest of America.

However, a recent Harper’s Magazine article reveals just WHY she shouldn’t be near a borough dogcatcher position, much less a literal heartbeat away from the office of President.

For starters, JCC maintains very close relations with John Hagee’s “Christians United For Israel”. Continue reading Praise God and Pass the Nomination →

Accounting for Family Values

Election 2008, Luke R. E. Publican

The most fascinating thing about the GOP nomination of John McCain and Sarah Palin as their ticket to extend Republican control of the White House is that there is no accounting for family values this time around. Starting at the top, there’s John McCain himself. After fourteen years of marriage (the kind that most in the Bible Belt would say has “to-death-do-us-part” vows) he went to a party (not a revival meeting) and fell in love with a 24 year old socialite who just happened to be an heiress to a fortune from her father, who owned the main Budweiser Beer (a kind of alcohol that Christians must not let touch their lips) distributor company in Arizona. So he did what any other God-fearing gentleman would do, right? He dumped his wife, who waited patiently while he was a POW and had suffered a severe auto accident, and married the younger celebrity. Cindy’s daddy apparently had doubts about the love, since a pre-nuptial agreement kept John from access to her millions. Contrast this to Barack Obama, who fell in love with his wife, has two kids and is still married (imagine that, and he’s a radical liberal, no less).

Now we get to the bottom of the ticket, and indeed it scrapes the bottom. Enter stage right Sarah Palin, who virtually no one outside of Alaska had ever heard of until last Friday. Continue reading Accounting for Family Values →

Maverick Rolls the Dice

Election 2008, Film and Video, Luke R. E. Publican, YouTube Watch

John McCain is running for President as the maverick, not any old maverick but “the” maverick frozen in American popular culture. The original Maverick was an ABC television show that ran from 1958-1962, starring James Garner as an inveterate (rather than a veteran) and not very chaste gambler. You have probably seen some of the reruns even if you did not see it in your living room (as I did) almost a half century ago, and, of course, you can always go to You Tube. Here is how the nostalgia site for the show describes the Black and White version of the Red, White and Blue riverboat gambler:

Maverick told the story of Bret Maverick, a card shark who lived during the Old West era. The show was originally a straightforward tale of his adventures, but it evolved when the writers began adding comedy into the scripts. Bret quickly became the television western’s first mercenary, a character who would help the forces of justice only if he stood to profit from doing so. Continue reading Maverick Rolls the Dice →