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InterNations
Saudi Arabia

ARABICA - A Daily Shot Of What the Arab World is Saying/Hearing/Sharing

ARABICA - A Daily Shot Of What the Arab World is Saying/Hearing/Sharing

A R A B I C A ارابيكا

By Kristen Gillespie

CALLING MOM
Tweeters in Saudi Arabia are launching a new campaign to break the taboo of a wife and a mother's name being mentioned in public. Hashtag IsmOmi (Arabic for "my mother's name") calls on Saudis to mention their mother's names.

*Najla Fahad tweets: "My mother's name is Sara – may God protect her."

*Amal Faran says, "the man who is embarrassed by his mother's name is right because she did not raise him properly." The Saudi tweeters supporting the campaign by saying that saying their mothers' names in public shows love and pride, not embarrassment and shame.

A DIFFERENT REVOLUTION
Egyptian activist Wael Ghonim tweets that Egypt's revolution will not be a repeat of that in 1952 when the monarchy was deposed and the military took control of the country: "Sorry, but this will not be the revolution of 1952 – nor will we accept a dictatorial system with democracy as a sham. Transparency in all state institutions is our right and the right of every Egyptian."

SYRIAN VOICES
BBC Arabic asks readers, "Is it possible to implement a plan on the ground to resolve the Syrian crisis?" A sample of responses:

*"Opponents who insist on bringing down the regime will return to the fold, such as what is happening in Afghanistan."- Rafaat Nashwati, Damascus

*"The lying Syrian regime is stalling for time, nothing more, nothing less." - Mohammed, Algeria.

*"The conspiracy to destroy Syria is only an attempt to demolish what Syria has built…Syria has no debt and receives no foreign aid. Now, we criticize the regime because it was not elected democratically." –Mohammed, Syrian Arab

YEMENI DEMANDS
For the first time since protests broke out in Yemen in February, protesters, who have held almost daily demonstrations demanding the ouster of 32-year-incumbent President Ali Abdullah Saleh, held a rallying demanding that everyone must go. Under the banner of "Everyone Leave," demonstrators shouted: "All of you – go," referring not only to the president and the opposition tribal forces staging gun battles in Sanaa. "Go, go Hameed," they shouted, referring to tribal leader and business tycool Hameed al-Ahmar.

November 5, 2011

photo credit: illustir


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Society

Iran's War On Abortion Rights, A Toxic Mix Of Theocracy And Demographic Panic

Ending a pregnancy has become a major complication, and a crime, for Iranian women who cannot or will not have children in a country wracked by socio-economic woes and a leadership.

photo of a young child surrounded by women in chadors

Iran's government wants to boost the birth rate at all costs

Office of Supreme Leader/ZUMA
Firoozeh Nordstrom

Keen to boost the population, Iran's Islamic regime has reversed its half-hearted family planning policies of earlier years and is curbing birth control with measures that include banning abortion.

Its (2021) Law to Support the Family and Rejuvenate the Population (Qanun-e hemayat az khanevadeh va javani-e jam'iyat) threatens to fine the women who want to abort, and fine, imprison, and dismiss the performing physician, if the pregnancy is not deemed to be life-threatening. The law also bans contraceptives.

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The measures are in line with the dictates of Iran's Supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. He was already denouncing birth control policies by 2018-19, though conservative elements among Iran's rulers have always dismissed birth control as a piece of Western corruption.

Today, measures to boost families include land and credit incentives for young couples, but it is difficult to say how far they will counter a marked reluctance among Iranians to marry and procreate. Kayhan-London had an online conversation with individuals affected by the new rules in Iran.

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