Al-Jazeera

So today we had the meeting we came all the way to Qatar for. We went to Al-Jazeera’s headquarters and got a full introduction, tour and even a nice Q+A session. I have to say, it was impressive.

The familiar tone throughout seemed to center around the defensive insistence that Al-Jazeera is as legitimate as they claim to be, that they are in fact more fair and balanced then almost any American network and that they truly do belong on the same level as the BBC. (They said the BBC and CNN International, but I put the former on a level above the latter.) After watching their operation it is hard to argue. I came to Doha understanding that Al-Jazeera is far from the right wing terrorist off spring of the Qatari government that it is sometimes portrayed as in the States. It has long been (considering its only 13) viewed as a very reliable and independent news organization that is constantly breaking new ground in journalism in this part of the world.

I think the most telling fact is that that mother network, Al-Jazeera Arabic, has been at one time or another banned in every Arab state. Every one. It is allowed again in most of them, but the network is consistently angering the powers that be in this region, since the powers that be are generally not very nice people. Giving a voice to political opposition has never been a sheik thing to do.

Al-Jazeera is going through a tremendous boom right now, particularly with the recent expansion of the English language channel. One of their most recent developments is that they will be available 24/7 in Washington D.C. starting July 1. Their expansion in to the US market is slow, but there seems to be little doubt it is inevitable. In addition to this, the network has 10 sports channels, a radio channel, a documentary channel and an independent think tank and publishing house. It is becoming a media empire along the line of Time Warner and Viacom.

The craziest part is that they aren’t even close to being commercially viable. We were told today that about 90% of their operating budget is covered by the Qatari government, which really means the royal family. If at any point they decided to pull the plug (which they wouldn’t) then Al-Jazeera would have some serious restructuring to do. This of course also brings up the question how they can possibly be as objective as they claim to be when it comes to local Qatari affairs. (The folks we talked to insist they receive absolutely no government interference, but still I imagine they choose to just leave Qatari issues alone.)

The network is only going to continue to expand. Their goal as told to us is to “Give a voice to the South” meaning lean away from the London and New York centric coverage provided by the BBC and CNN and focus on covering South America, Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. It’s an ambitious plan. But as long as they sit on a gold mine of a gas field they might just pull it off.

Back in the Land of (Expensive) Connectivity

We all arrived at the Movenpick Hotel here in Doha last night. Needless to say it is quite the change from Cairo and Damascus, and for that matter anything else I have ever seen. It is truly a bizarre city.

One of our guides at Al-Jazeera today mentioned that Doha proper was formed about 25 years ago, but tonight our unofficial Bangladeshi driver told us that everything here has sprung up in the last five years. And from the looks of it, he is right. All the buildings are new, newer or under-construction. Our hotel view consists of the Persian Gulf, some other very expensive looking hotels and construction lots. That’s it.

Damascus was clean, but this takes it to a new level. There is no trash here. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that there is no one on the streets since everyone is driving a Toyota Land Cruiser, a Mercedes E-Class or a BMW 7-Series. Not that I can blame people for not walking. It is bloody fucking hot here. Today it was 108 degrees Fahrenheit and humid. It combines the worst elements of the desert and the coast and turns the air in to an oven.

Doha is extremely expensive and not all that interesting. From what I understand most things shut down around 10 or 11 (in sharp contrast to Damascus) and if you do find somewhere for a drink, it’ll run you 10 dollars or more. For a country with a native of population of only around 200,000 and an ex-pat community of over 1.2 million, it would seem to me that liquor sales remain an untapped market ready to be exploited (this will take a serious overhaul of the country’s laws: currently foreigners need a license to buy or drink alcohol outside of restaurants.)

The nice part of this massive foreign population is that Doha may be the most diverse city I have ever visited. There are a lot of Indians, Pakistanis and apparently Bangladeshis here, but also people from all around the Middle East, East Africa and of course lots of Western business types. (Quite a few Chinese too.)

We got a pretty good sampling of them all today while walking around the mall, which is conveniently right around the corner from the Movenpick. I normally detest malls, but this one was pretty cool. It was enormous. It was extremely clean and most every thing was shiny. There was a skating rink in the center. I shutter to think how much money is spent annually on the air conditioning required to keep this ice skateable. There was nobody skating of course because it’s June and we’re in Qatar, but that is beside the point. It’s there, as if to prove it can exist. Cool guys, real cool.

Golan Heights

Of course our groups entire trip to the Middle East has been out of the ordinary. But yesterday we were allowed to witness something that is so rare very few Syrians will ever see it. We were given a tour, led by police escort, of the “liberated” portion of Syria’s Golan Heights. The Golan remains largely under Israeli occupation. Israel first invaded the Golan in 1967 and the portion we visited yesterday was “liberated” in ’73. There is a demilitarized zone stretching about 100 meters between the Syrian controlled land and the Israeli controlled land. This space is monitored by United Nations peacekeeping forces. It was the first time I can ever recall seeing UN troops and the first time I had ever been so close to a “war zone.” (There has been no active fighting here between Syrian and Israeli forces for a long time, but it only takes a brief conversation with anyone in power here to know that tensions remain high.)

We first visited with the mayor of Quneitra, a governate that lies on the edge of the Israeli border and claims to include most of the Israeli occupied Golan. Of the 110,000 citizens of Quneitra 30,000 live under occupation. He explained some of the conditions set forth by the Israeli army on Syrian citizens, the most disconcerting of which was their denial of freedom of movement. This places those 30,000 in a difficult position. If they are to leave “Israel” and return to Syria then they are essentially conceding their prized (and fertile) land to their sworn enemy. By staying they are denied the opportunity to live as a part of their own country, unable even to visit their own family a few miles away.

After our briefing from the politicians we moved on to sight seeing of sorts. This included a lengthy stay at a hospital which was used as target practice for Israeli forces on the surrounding hills. From the roof of the hospital (which has been left untouched since the shelling with the exception of graffiti) we were able to see the wire fence signaling the end of sovereign Syrian land just a few hundred feet away. We were notified that their were land mines throughout the surrounding fields, of course rendering the land next to useless. After a similar visit to a bombed out church we made our way to the UN regulated checkpoint separating the road from Syria to Israel. It was a bit surreal. Seeing the “Welcome to Israel” signs just yards away was eerie for lack of a better word. (I was also glad to have got my new camera before I left. Most people were not able to capture the image of the Israeli flag, but with my zoom I got some good pics.)

The ride back to Damascus was fairly quite. It seemed everyone had a lot on their mind. It is still difficult to process just where we were and what we saw, not to mention what can possibly be done about it.

“Tell me what you read, I tell you who you are”

This was one of the final messages from Adbul Fattah Ammourah, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in Syria. We had the privilege of spending nearly two hours with him on Sunday morning. I was somewhat taken aback by his candid, upfront style. He was everything the American embassy was not. While those talking heads blabbed for an hour without saying a single thing, Mr. Ammourah (His Excellency) gave both a history lesson and a crash course in Middle Eastern diplomacy. He said Syria was “In the center of the fire” and that “over the last 60 years, the region faces more deterioration every year.”

In regard to Israel he specifically said “Something has been implanted in this region” adding later “We are ready for peace” but that “Syria will never compromise land for peace” and that there is “No chance for peace” unless the entire Israel – Arab conflict is resolved.

This struck me as tremendously weighty language from a diplomat. But more so it was refreshing. Reality here is simply not comparable to the halls of American academia. War has been a fact of life for over 40 years and the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the Golan Heights is more then a sensitive subject. It is a source of anguish, anger and intense resentment towards the United States for its unjustifiable and logic defying support of Israel.

It took me three years of studying this region at the university level to reach this conclusion. As a political scientist I would like to believe I could contribute to the ending of war and violence here. The more I learn, the less I believe I will see it’s conclusion in my lifetime.

I have to add that I understand Mr. Ammourah is a representative of a state and not at all an impartial observer. His comments on Syrian involvement in Lebanon, for instance, were fascinating but also striking in their bias. Further more, his comments on terrorism – “fighting terrorism brought more terrorism” – are true but over simplified and lacked some credibility coming from a government who openly sponsors Hamas and Hizbollah. (Proving the complexity of politics in this region I again fell compelled to qualify this. Both of the above mentioned groups hold legitimate positions and should – must – be included in a peaceful resolution. However, both groups have also supported violence and terrorism and this can not be condoned.)

Part of the Herd

Written in Cairo:

After passing through three security checkpoints we were finally ushered in to the foyer of the Egyptian Museum. Our guide informed us this was the the first museum in the world to be constructed solely for this purpose. Personally, I don’t believe this – but no matter.

The whole thing had an airport feel to it. Thousands herded through the gates and in to a chaotic, overcrowded environment seemingly left to fend for ourselves. Some of our group stuck with our guide, hoping for some kind of insight. And insight he did have. Too much perhaps. At some point the brain is overloaded with information and you turn in to a spectator. None the less, there was an astonishing amount to see and the historical importance of it all made sticking with the guide worthwhile (if exhausting.)

As a final note, King Tut must enjoy a rich life in heaven. That man was buried in style.

Back on the Wagon

My apologies for the delay in posting. It has been a combination of terrible Internet access, taking the liberty to spend my time exploring our new base of Damascus and simple fatigue. But I’m in a pretty nice Internet cafe now, sipping the best coffee I have had since the States and getting down to business.

Michael Slackman

Monday we also met with New York Times Cairo bureau chief Michael Slackman. He is a Northeastern grad and had a very interesting story of how he arrived in Cairo. He shared some new details of life here. First of all, he explained how thinly spread foreign correspondents are these days. Excluding the Israel-Palestine conflict, he and one other correspondent are responsible for coverage from Marrakesh to Baghdad. For perhaps the most prestigious newspaper in the world, that sure seems insufficient.

Second, he shared with us the brutal details of how Egyptian officials have gone about slaughtering the hundreds of thousands of pigs in Cairo. This has been the biggest news story here since our arrival almost three weeks ago, and their actions continue to baffle just about anyone who thinks about this rationally for more then two minutes. (There is no Swine Flu in Egypt and from what I read, the US is ground zero these days.) Anyway, the details involve a front end loader, an industrial size dump truck, vats of chemicals and a mass grave. The process takes about an hour.

Finally, Slackman told is there is one police officer for every 35 citizens in this country. 1 to 35. That’s just crazy.

John from Sacramento

On Monday afternoon I headed to the lobby with a group of others, ready to head to the zoo to report for a story we had planned. I had already made one trip to the Giza Zoo, but had arrived at closing time and thus needed another visit. We had issues communicating the word “zoo” to our taxi driver when we went last time so this time I had the foresight to ask the front desk to write “zoo” in Arabic so we had something to show our taxi driver.

When we went outside there was the usual scene: a middle aged man leaning against his ancient Peugeot station wagon and smoking a cigarette. “Taxi?” he asked hopefully as we strolled through the metal detectors in to the street. We approached him and flashed the card. “Zoo?” Perfect.

As soon as we were all piled in, myself sitting shotgun with my knees pressed against the dash, it became clear that our Arabic translator had been unnecessary. John spoke excellent English and immediately asked me where in America we came from. I told him and he quickly replied “I’m from Sacramento.” At first I figured this was bullshit. I recalled from my days in Ghana that seemingly everyone claimed to be from Chicago, Dallas or Miami, or whatever city they had seen in a movie. Usually they chose the city where they had a relative, no matter how distant, or a one-time pen pal.

But John was not this. His English soon shown through and I pressed him on his California days. He told me he was an accountant by day and worked at an Indian casino in California with his wife. His two young boys where born there. To my shock he said he still has a Green Card. Why did he come back to Cairo then? He replied that his mother was very ill and he is her only son. His three sisters have all married and the responsibility had fallen to him to care for her. He now worked two jobs, accountant by day and driver by night, to provide for his small family.

It is not as if this oldest son family dynamic is at all unique, or even that impressive. What I admired about John however was that he had sacrificed what so many claim to crave more then anything. That is the opportunity to have an opportunity in the United States.

The Acropole and other Adeventures from Alexandria

Last night 10 of us returned to Cairo after spending two nights in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria (commonly shortened to Alex.) Overall it was a great weekend, but of course there were the bumps in the road that are to be expected when venturing to a new city in a developing state. The most immediate was the issue of our residence. We were informed before we left that there were so many hotels in Alex that we need not worry about planning for one and we would be free to find one that met our financial and sanitation requirements. As it turned out we were personally led to our rooms at the Acropole Hotel, just a block from Alexandria’s seaside boardwalk. The next day I found it was reviewed in my Lonely Planet guide as the worst hotel in this (surprisingly) large city of over 4 million. To be fair, it should not be called hotel at all, it is a hostel and really should be named as such.

Having had the pleasure of staying in hostels before, I was fine with the idea of communal bathrooms and sleeping four to a room. Especially for the promised rate of 15 Egyptian Pounds a night (around $2.50) However, this place really stood out in it’s overall miserableness. There is no need to really go in to the details, but lets just say I spent Thursday night sleeping fully clothed and using a pair of jeans as a pillow case. The worst of it came the next morning though, when we were informed that the “FIF-Teen” that had been so clearly repeated over and over the day before was actually “FIF-Tee” and since we had all just spent the night, there was no negotiating. Granted, were talking less then 10 bucks here, but it was hard not to feel swindled. We paid up and headed for the beach.

Most of Friday was spent on the sand, swimming in the warm waters of the Mediterranean and soaking up the sun (far too much sun for me, my arms are glowing red as I type this.)

We had come to Alex as a group of around 20 students, most of whom had endured the horrors of the Acropole on Thursday night. So it was no surprise that many in the group were happy to fill the van on Friday evening and head back to Cairo. I was determined to stay though, feeling like I had hardly got my bearings in Alex and wanting to see a little more before heading back to the craziness of the capital. Over lunch, Colby scanned my guide book and phoned a few hotels. One of them, the “Swiss Canal” was described by Lonely Planet as a “Cinderella story” and they claimed to have a couple of double rooms available for 90 pounds a night. We headed there in the afternoon to inspect the digs ourselves. What we found was an actual hotel, complete with clean hallways, individual bathrooms, 50 TV channels and apparently clean sheets. For $15 a night, I paid up on the spot even though the other guys on the group were still undecided about staying in Alex another night. And the best part was that since we had all day on Saturday we could afford to take a nap and hold off on the mandatory sight seeing until tomorrow! I kicked off my shoes, inspected my burned body and settled in for an hour of sleep. 4 minutes later the phone rang. Caitlin, who was doing the same thing as I a few doors down, informed me that our professor wanted us to report to his hotel immediately – apparently because he was angry we had gone and booked another hotel – and the van was waiting for us downstairs. This was not the plan, and I was not at all excited by this turn of events. None the less, I threw on a shirt and slacks and hobbled down 4 flights of stairs to the van. The next hour was spent driving in circles around Alexandria trying mostly in vain to communicate in broken English to our driver that, as best we could tell, there was absolutely no reason for us to be back in this God-forsaken van. The details of the situation really are too absurd to properly document here, but suffice it to say that the four of us who had been pulled out of bed were dropped off at our hotel after accomplishing precisely nothing and with no time left to nap before our scheduled rendezvous with the rest of the group. We quickly polished off a bottle of vino to release some frustration.

Despite all this, it was a great weekend. I had what I believe may be the most delicious piece of seafood I have ever consumed at a restaurant called the Fish Market on Thursday night. Being raised in Maine, I’ve had some good fresh fish before, but the Mediterranean Sea Bass I had that night was absolutely perfect – and cost me less then $15 (and that price included delicious, warm pita bread with hummus, an ice cold beer and a view across Alexandria’s harbour that almost would have been worth the price of admission by itself.) On Friday night, five us set out to explore the highly reviewed Spitfire Bar which happened to be just a block away from the Swiss Canal. It was the most authentically Western bar I have seen thus far in Egypt (out a small overall sample I must say) and was the type of place that encouraged patrons to whip out a Sharpie and leave their mark on the wall. After a couple of rounds of label-less cervesas we set off back to the hotel minus on Boston Public Library Card and one Husky Card, both of which adorn the walls of the Spitfire. Make sure you look for ‘em next time your in Alex.

The Campus in the Desert

Last night a group of us took a bus out to American University in Cairo (AUC.) The school, considered Egypt’s best, has a brand new campus in a suburb of Cairo brilliantly called “New Cairo.” It took over an hour to drive from downtown, where the campus had been until this year, to the new facility. The road takes you out of central Cairo, through a string of military camps and a stretch of bare desert. Finally you reach “New Cairo” where every building appears to be half finished and piles of sand and brick are everywhere.

The campus itself is the exception (minus the swimming pool which apparently is still under construction – to the chagrin of the student body.) All the buildings are beautifully built and it definitely has an authentic academic feel. The two students I spoke to said they liked it, and that’s what matters, so I’ll call it a success.

After taking our time to tour the campus a bit, our group of 14 sat down with some AUC students who were in a “Dialogue” group, interestingly holding the same title as Northeastern’s summer abroad program. It was impressive to hear the diverse backgrounds of the students, many of whom had lived in the United States (and lots of other places) at various points in their lives. They were all well educated and eloquent. (I don’t mean to suggest I expected anything else given that this is Egypt’s elite but none the less it was impressive.)

We spoke for over two hours about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and it’s many aspects. The focus of much of the discussion related to the role of media in the conflict (we are a group of mostly journalists after all) but politics and culture were of course there too. There was plenty of passion in the room, but never did the discussion deteriorate in to anything less then thoughtful and respectful. There was more agreement and disagreement. The one thing that was unanimous was that we were all privileged and well educated and therefore not indicative of the overwhelming majority of our respective populations. And therein lies the fundamental problem. The mass media in incapable of providing a sufficient analysis of the Israeli occupation. It will come down to academia and activism.