Just came across this beautifully-written article about the first ever international women’s football match in the Westbank, which took place this week. Palestine was playing Jordan, they drew 2-2. Facts aside, this is a good read.
Now, I don’t much like football, but I can’t help liking its strangely powerful potential for breaking all sorts of barriers.
I just discovered Brownbook, a three-year old magazine based in Dubai, which was recommended to me by a friend. He told me it reminds him of Monocle, and its neat but playful manner certainly suggests that the team behind it has taken a thorough look at some of the more off-beat up-market titles in the West (i-D, Frame, Mark and Mono.Kultur maybe?) and come up with a MENA spin on them.
Editor-in-chief Rashid Bin Shabib says: “Our focus is to look at Middle Eastern agendas and Middle Eastern culture and find out what is important in the region. (…) Everything exported from the Middle East is always about conflicts or mega-projects. It’s never about skiing in Tehran or surfing in Yemen or a new movement in the Sahara region.”
Content-wise and visually it’s a joy - especially when held up against some of the other mags that originate here in the UAE. The editorial line is decidedly apolitical, but the Agenda section is full of edge-skimming stories about contemporary life across the Middle East, written by a roster of international correspondents. This is social reportage of the Monocle-variety, but with a lower degree of elitism.
Plus they produce Podcasts, most of which are excellent.
With so many international titles out there, it’s not easy to set a new benchmark. But Brownbook appears to be making the cut. As more local writers, designers and artists get (back) into regional media, Brownbook could well accomplish the fine-tuning of its regional style. If it can sustain its current editorial and production values, it may even plant the seed for a more authentic, witty and aestethical cosmopolitanism in the region’s media.
The magazine is distributed internationally and is available in UAE, KUWAIT, QATAR, SAUDI ARABIA, BAHRAIN, BELGIUM, THAILAND, AUSTRALIA, CANADA, FRANCE and LEBANON. Selected retail outlets:
EGYPT
-The Townhouse Gallery
-Diwan Bookstore
PARIS
-Colette (Rue Saint Honore, Paris)
MILAN, ITALY
-10 Corso Como
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
-FAMOUS APE (17 rue de la rôtisserie)
COPENHAGEN, DENMARK
-ParisTexas
BARCELONA, SPAIN
-The Rent Shop
AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS
-Athenaeum Nieuwscentrum
JAPAN
-BALS Store, Tokyo
INDIA
-Bombay Electric (10 Reay House, Mumbai)
SINGAPORE
-Anthropology (Raffles City Shopping Center)
After all, inequality ultimately leads to prosperity and opportunity for all - at least according to Brian Griffiths at Goldman Sachs. Speaking at a panel discussion on the subject “What is the place of morality in the marketplace?”, he also said that bankers should donate chunks of their re-inflated earnings to charity to make up for any perceived callousness.
So there you have it, that’s why Goldman Sachs has allocated an amount that is “just shy of the all-time high $16.9 billion allocated in the first three quarters of 2007″ for bonus payments this year. Out of charity.
All this at an event held at one of London’s oldest cathedrals on 20 October 2009, which was also attended by Financial Services Authority chairman Adair Turner, who called for a global tax on financial transactions to “redistribute bank profits to the world’s poor and to causes like fighting climate change”.
Wish I could have been there. Sounds like this debate, organised by the St Paul’s Institute got stuck right into the murky depths of the financial world’s moral quagmire. At least, that is what this Bloomberg report suggests.
The way the Bloomberg story is written has something incendiary about it, almost as if the agency reporter relished the chance to play off these two opposing schools of financial faith and really get the crowd going.
When faith meets finance, expect fireworks - in this case they take the form of deluge of criticism and, hopefully, a renewed interest in the question of if and how to reform the international financial system.
Until recently, the UAE were not on my relocation wish list. But, coming from Austria, I have always had a thing for odd little countries and the more I found out about this specific odd little country, the more curious I got. Abu Dhabi, more than the other Emirates, offers an intriguing mixture of local culture, cosmopolitanism, location and, erm, remuneration. The UAE are, in a way, the Middle East light, offering the prospect of an easy-going, lucrative kind of adventure, and a good base from which to explore a region I know only through expat friends and the media.
Now, after three days here in Abu Dhabi, a mild culture shock is beginning to give way to a comfortable sort of moodiness that depends on three factors: the availability of taxis, the sight of exhausted construction workers and the current state of various, rather Kafkaesque bureaucratic processes.
But all misgivings pale into irrelevance in the face of the city’s electrifying atmosphere. Years later than its neighbour Dubai, Abu Dhabi has brought forward a gold-rush of its own, stemming from a comparatively prudent economic diversification scheme driven by the Emirate’s rulers. Opportunity and misery lurk at every corner, but Abu Dhabi’s boom is more orderly, grounded and stable than the one that has just come to a brusque end in Dubai.
People from all over the world now come here to make the best of it; from Bangladeshi garbage-sifters and Phillipino nannies to Japanese engineers and British lawyers; everybody wants a piece of the ‘Diamond in the Desert’, as Jo Tatchell refers to Abu Dhabi in her brand new book about the city.
In deciding to come here, I have joined the ‘immigrant mercenaries’ Christopher Davidson likes to speak of. The world’s richtest city entices legions of expatriates, blue- and white-collar alike, with its tax-free earnings, healthy job market and stable, if undemocratic, government. London’s the-end-is-nigh ambiance feels pleasantly distant, as does Vienna’s bated breath.
The crisis may not have reached Abu Dhabi, but its fugitives have. And so have I.
Great article on The Samosa about France and Britain planning to share a chartered plane to transport Afghan refugees/illegal immigrants (take your pick) back to their home countries. French officials say that the plan will only go ahead “if it is certain that the people will be safe when arriving in Kabul”. Given the continuing violence in and around Kabul, it is questionable whether such certainty can be sincerely established anytime soon.
A good opportunity to check out The Samosa, a brand new site. It’s shaping up to be a good source of leftfield news and features about international relations and their focus on identity issues is unusual.
People from low-income families struggle to compete in the internship-based jobs market of the creative industries. Photograph: Think Publick/Flickr
You know things have reached a new low-point when even interns start to campaign to protect themselves from employers.
Youth Fight for Jobs and the Carrot Workers Collective, both campaign groups, are attracting hundreds of members, many of whom look back on formidable, but unpaid careers, mostly in the creative industries.
Theoretically, employers should make a clear distinction between work experience, internships and apprenticeships. Work experience placements should be short and structured; internships should last for longer and be paid. In practice, they often pay little attention to official terminology – let alone their moral and legal obligations.
The Government and industry bodies such as the Periodical Publishers Association (PPA) are adamant that unpaid work experience should be short and “focus on providing opportunities for learning and enables individuals to immerse themselves in the industry, helping them to understand the key skills and personal qualities needed to pursue a career in that sector”.
But with the recession well set, employers in attractive sectors such as journalism and advertising are leaning on free labour more than ever before.
Even the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) - not usually to be found championing workers’ rights - admits that the recession may be exacerbating things.
While Youth Fight for Jobs emulates labour unions, the Carrot Workers Collective takes a more philosophical approach to the issue.
Their Counter Internship Guide defines extended periods of unpaid work as a “condition of late capitalist cultural economy” and a “rehearsal for uncertain career paths, hyper-active networking, strategic lunching and infinite flexibility”.
In theory, internships are a great way to start a career. In practice, they are often abused as a cheap alternative to hiring entry-level staff. Photograph: William Couch.
It is also peppered with thoughts on the semantics of EU directives and academic references. Intellectual interns of the world, unite! This is not about a couple of under-performing and over-theorising moaners, who are miffed about not getting a job offer after two weeks of filing and making tea.
Many interns become qualified, experienced workers in the course of “paying their dues”, often being given the same responsibilities as entry-level employees.
Media and communications have always been the worst perpetrators when it comes to class-based selection and exploitation of interns, says Heather Collier, director of the National Council for Work Experience.
Because the sector is perceived as lucrative and glamorous, it attracts a higher number of volunteers than any other sector. But, according to Ms Collier, instead of selecting the best people, the industry relies on picking from a limited pool of people that “can afford to do it for nothing”.
That means “white, middle-class people, predominantly”. As a veteran intern at various media companies, I can confirm that most Western communications agencies, newsrooms and marketing departments have one thing in common: they are about as diverse as a polo tournament.
They are populated by cliques of well-heeled, well-connected and well-bred individuals. No wonder, considering that even profitable media brands such as the Financial Times use unpaid long-term interns.
A former intern at the business news giant, who preferred not to be named, lost hope of being offered a paid position at the end of his work experience when another intern confided in him that, after a year’s hard work, she was not even getting travel expenses or lunch on the house.
Both, the National Council for Work Experience and the CBI point out that interns must also get their act together and make sure their know their rights and make the most of the support schemes available to them, such as the Graduate Talent Pool and the Higher Education Funding Council.
But there is no denying that employers, especially in the creative industries, are firmly in the driving seat.
London’s legions of bright-eyed young jobseekers are having to learn a tough lesson: common sense and hard work are a dangerous thing to count on - especially when it comes to free labour during a recession.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) don’t do anything halfheartedly. Superlatives and hyperbole have become a second language to those involved in the many record-breaking projects that are underway in the country.
Now the UAE has embraced sustainability and is pumping billions into research and initiatives to advance green technologies.
Abu Dhabi is the epicentre of the UAE’s gigantic green drive, which came as a suprise to many. After all, the UAE are among the world’s leading oil and gas exporters.
But in the last decade the country’s long-term economic strategy has focused on diversification and the cultivation of non-oil dependent industries such as tourism, media, finance and now, sustainable technologies.
Much of this is due to the legacy of the late President His Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan, who ruled the UAE for more than 30 years and set forth an agenda of religious tolerance, economic reform and protection of the environment.
Masdar City, a living sustainability laboratory currently under construction, is now the centre piece of Abu Dhabi’s environmental strategy. The city will house up to 40,000 residents and employ 50,000 more, but produce no carbon emissions and no waste whatsoever. It will cost US$ 22 billion and is scheduled for completion in 2016. Masdar is the biggest single investment in sustainability to date.
According to Sam Nader of the Masdar Initiative, the project’s aims are „integrating various applications of existing renewable technologies, the cultivation of an innovative academic and business community and the generation of significant intellectual property in order to position Abu Dhabi as a world leader in renewables energy and sustainability.“
Unsurprisingly, the world media have lapped up the story and have bathed the UAE in green limelight.
But some experts have pointed out that initiatives such as Masdar have not yet changed much.
“The numbers must be put into perspective. They are spending welcome billions of dollars on renewables but trillions are still going into climate-changing oil economies. The future is the sun and renewables but there is no time to wait for this revolution,” Tony Juniper, director of Friends of the Earth, told The Guardian.
The 420,000 residents of Abu Dhabi remain among the world’s greatest emittors of greenhouse gases, according to the World Resources Institute.
Blood money (diyyah) is derived from Sharia law, which forms part of the UAE's constitution. (Photo by Moha' Al-Bastaki)
Within a week of judge Dr Abdul Wahab Abdool calling for a change in the Unites Arab Emirates’ (UAE)blood money (diyyah) law, which regulates compensation payments for the families of people killed in accidents, The National has published several stories outlining confusing and potentially controversial aspects of the law.
Diyyah is an ancient Sharia law, according to which a person who causes the accidental death of another must compensate the family of the deceased. In the UAE, diyyah is set at Dh 200,000 (US$ 54,000) for an adult.
On 3 May 2009 a pregnant mother who lost her child in a road accident was ordered to pay diyyah for the foetus. The bereaved mother must now pay Dh 1,000 (US$ 270) for causing the accident and Dh 20,000 (US$ 5,400) in legal diyyah for the death of her own baby - one tenth of the diyyah for adults.
The Dubai Traffic Court released a statement that confirmed that this was the first ruling of its kind and argued that diyyah was due because the mother had not exercised due care and diligence while driving.
Chief traffic prosecutor Salah Bu Farousha told the National: “This may be the first case of its kind and may appear unusual to some, but the case highlights the fact that an unborn foetus also has rights as any human being.”
Diyyah is a traditional and much misunderstood law. Its original intention was to reimburse families for the lost future earnings of a relative killed in an accident.
At the moment, the UAE’s more conservative muftis are known to award only half the amount if a woman is killed – in accordance to the way diyyah was awarded at the time of prophet Mohammed. At the same time, more liberal muftis support equal diyyah for men and women.
“There is a conflict in the constitution in this area,” Dr Abdool told reporters. “On one hand it calls for the equality between men and women; on the other hand it calls for the implementation of the Islamic Sharia law. Courts that have ruled women receive half the value of men relied on the Sharia law, while courts who applied equality relied on the constitutional right to equality between men and women. So legally speaking, both are right.”
Another complex aspect of diyyah was highlighted by the story of Sophie Francis, a British expat living in Dubai, who accidentally ran over a labourer from Afghanistan in December 2006. She was arrested and taken to a police station where she was held until her family paid the diyyah of Dh200,000 (US$54,000).
The money was for the family of the deceased, whose only form of identification was the handwritten business card he had on him at the time of the accident. He was not carrying a wallet and the courts were unable to establish why he was so far from his workplace that day.
The man apparently jumped out infront of Francis’ car as she drove towards Dubai Mall of the Emirates. There was no time to brake and the man died instantly.
Francis was later found not guilty by the court, meaning her family was reimbursed by her insurance company.
Only 20 when the accident happened, Francis was distraught when she found out that poor labourers who feel they have nothing to lose are known to resort to jumping in front of cars.
“It happens,” Francis told The National. “They have no money, they are ashamed to go back home and they want to leave something for their families.”
Diyyah, while being an integral and time-honoured part of the legal code in many Arab countries, appears to be in need of a 21st century update.
“More precise laws need to be adopted on a federal level to set this straight once and for all and avoid confusion,” argued Dr Abdool.
On 16 April 2009 the UAE’s supreme judges recommended to the UAE’s Judicial Co-ordination Council that equal diyyah should be paid for men and women. But it could be some time yet until the law is actually changed.
Are governments at war winning the battle of controlling the international media?
London’s finest are gathering at the Frontline Club tomorrow morning to talk about press freedom - and fellow City University journo Anabel Symington will receive the UNESCO Young Journalist award for her poignant article on the reporting of the war in Gaza.
Clearly, it’s an event not to be missed and here is how I am going to avoid
a.) having to get up early and dress neatly during the Easter break.
b.) missing out on what Jeremy Dear (National Union of Journalists), Andrew Gilligan (Evening Standard columnist) and Alan Fisher (Al-Jazeera London correspondent) have to say.
It’s all possible, thanks to the Frontline Club’s excellent website, which will feature a live video stream of the whole thing from 10am tomorrow. Easy. Should be good.
Last year, the audience voted on the question whether journalism was alive and well. The result? Three to one that journalism was doing just fine.
Tomorrow, they will vote on the following question:
“Are governments at war winning the battle of controlling the international media?”
Somehow, I have my doubts whether the crowd is going to come to such an optimistic conclusion on this one…
In any case, I’m looking forward to seeing Anabel collecting her well-deserved gong.
This stencil by street artist Banksy appeared on Essex Road in March 2008
I came across this on Essex Road in Angel the other day. Judging from the perspex-glass panel over the stencil, I thought it must be a real Banksy.
This was promptly confirmed by an Islington Council spokesperson, who described Banksy’s work as “thoughtful and funny”.
The Tesco flag is not the only work by the famously anonymous street artist to be protected that way. His image of a rat near King’s Cross and his stencil of a classic artist finishing a scawled tag near Portobello market were also put behind glass for protection.
The protective measures have been taken by the owners of the buildings that Banksy chose to adorn with his work - not really surprising, seeing as his work is now selling for almost two million pounds.
Banksy has a global following that includes the likes of Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt and Christina Aguilera.
Several UK councils are also fans. In Islington his works even get restored when they are vandalised and spared while others are painted over or removed.
“Quite a lot of residents are keen on them and, generally, they are in favour of them. So, where it has been possible, we have helped to repair them. If it would cost a fortune, we wouldn’t do that,” the council spokesperson explained.
He added that even a real Banksy would be removed, if it led to complaints - which none of Banksy’s works in Islington have in the past.
“If our residents say we don’t like this piece of graffiti, because it is aggressive or promotes guns or something like that, we’ll get rid of it. We are not going to say ‘Oh, let’s keep it, it’s a Banksy!’”
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