A R A B I C A ارابيكا
WHAT IS THE LIMIT?
A Turkish grassroots campaign to "welcome our Syrian brothers to our country" is organizing a caravan to transport citizens from Istanbul on July 16th to the Turkish-Syrian border where refugees are staying. Calling the effort "For Syria – we will go to the limit" (the Arabic word for limit also means border, creating a play on words), organizers write it will be "a day to support Syrian refugees in Turkey. Your brothers are there and they need your help." The convoy leaves on the 15th from Istanbul and arrives at the refugee camps along the border the next day.
HOW LONG WILL IT LAST?
The Syrian Revolution Facebook group is calling for a nationwide strike on Thursday. The group's home page features a "Closed" sign used on shop doors, with the additional words: "Until the regime falls."
WHAT WILL IT TAKE?
Bahrain's largest opposition bloc walked out on reconciliation talks with the government, saying it is not serious about political reform. The Al-Wefaq opposition is demanding a parliamentary-majority model, which would threaten the ruling Al Khalifa family's monopoly on power. One of the main demands of opposition activists across the political spectrum is justice for the thousands of protesters who were rounded up and allegedly tortured. That pressure led King Hamad to order an inquiry into incidents during a wave of protests that rocked the island kingdom earlier this year. But activists are far from satisfied, with Mohammed al-Maskati tweeting the names of alleged torturers. "One of those who was arrested told me the tortures were: Issa al-Majali, a Jordanian, Khalid, a Pakistani, Ali Zaid and Mubarak bin Hwail." Adjusted for population size, more Bahraini protesters were killed than those killed in Syria.
WHAT LEADS A MAN TO GOODNESS?
Large-scale protests continue in cities across Egypt demanding the removal of the ruling military council, the prosecution of officers who killed protesters and a faster pace of reforms. But at the same time, the Grand Imam of Egypt's renowned Islamic university, Al-Azhar, says that "absolute freedom is a chaos that threatens society." Ahmad al-Tayib said that "as Arab and Islamic peoples, our values and traditions are not compatible with democracy" and that "religion is what leads man to goodness."
July 14, 2011
photo credit: illustir
