Turkey’s online censorship just took a sinister Orwellian turn

Turkey’s online censorship just took a sinister Orwellian turn – Quartz "Over the weekend, Google reported that Turkey had intercepted traffic to its public domain name system (DNS) service—part of prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s increasingly draconian crackdown against the social media networks that are being used to distribute damaging information about him."

Real-time Tracker: #انتخبوا_العرص - Keyhole

Real-time Tracker: #انتخبوا_العرص - Keyhole:



Tracking the viral hashtag #انتخبوا_العرص - which relates to al-Sisi (other hashtags are available).   Also see middleeastmonitor.com, Anti Sisi hashtag goes viral

French and Belgian Jihadists Boast About the Syrians They Slaughter

French and Belgian Jihadists Boast About the Syrians They Slaughter - The Daily Beast "A cable news station in Paris has aired shocking video of French-speaking jihadists at work in Syria. The footage broadcast Thursday night on BFMTV played like a macabre postcard home, only the latest reminder that hundreds of French and thousands of European jihadists are waging war against Bashar al-Assad. The news channel has called it evidence that France’s own are “direct actors in the atrocities committed in Syria.”"

Radicalisation online

Social media is new weapon in war on British jihadis - UK Politics - UK - The Independent "Diplomats have quietly opened a new front in efforts to stem the flow of Britons travelling to fight in Syria by spending nearly £200,000 on "social media activity" to deter would-be jihadis from leaving the UK, The Independent on Sunday can reveal."

Facebook

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Iran condemns Muslim shrine desecration in Syria

Trend.az, Iran condemns Muslim shrine desecration in Syria "Photos of the mosque posted on the Internet on Wednesday showed extensive damage to the exterior walls and roof of the building. The pictures also depicted concrete and twisted metal strewn on the street outside the mosque with an interior wall collapsed inward."

'Jihad by social media'

Sam Jones, FT.com, Jihad by social media " How thousands of young Muslims are being radicalised through social networks and propelled towards violence in Syria."

Activities

I am presently pulling together a paper, on #Islam, Social Media and the Cloud. I have trying to compress thousands of archived images, assembled over a number of years, into something suitable for a 45 minute presentation! I shall be giving versions of this paper in a few locations this year. Details to be posted on this page in due course. I may put a version of this online sometime.

'Saudi teacher whipping 13 students caught on camera'

alarabiya.net, Saudi teacher whipping 13 students caught on camera "The video footage, aired on Al Arabiya News Channel this week, shows the teacher hitting the boys as they walk past him. In response, the education ministry announced that it had begun an investigation, Okaz newspaper reported."

Twitter and YouTube bans in Turkey: round-up

I have collected some of the stories associated with Twitter and YouTube bans in Turkey from the past week: 

hurriyetdailynews.com, Turkey widens Internet censorship

hurriyetdailynews.com, Far from succumbing to 'the ban', Twitter usage SOARS in Turkey

BBC News, Turkey Twitter ban is 'a losing battle', expert claims

Guardian, Turkey blocks YouTube amid 'national security' concerns

BBC News, Turkey moves to block YouTube access after 'audio leak'

Al-Qa'ida, the second act

Al-Qa'ida, the second act: The hate preachers fuelling sectarianism - Comment - Voices - The Independent final part of a series by Patrick Cockburn contains information on 'e-jihad'

Spain: 'Kebab Shops Financing Global Jihad'

Soeren Kern, gatestoneinstitute.org, Spain: Kebab Shops Financing Global Jihad:


"Elmedjeri, a specialist in forging documents, is also known for operating one of the best kebab shops in Málaga. Terrorism analysts say this points to another problem: many of the tens of thousands of kebab and shawarma shops operating in Spain and other parts of Europe may be using their business proceeds actively to finance global jihad in Syria and elsewhere." Some conjecture in this report.

Hijabers: How young urban Muslim women redefine themselves in Indonesia

Annisa R Beta, International Communication Gazette, Hijabers: How young urban Muslim women redefine themselves in Indonesia:
"This paper analyzes the dissemination of ‘Hijaber’ style through different forms of cyber media (blogs and social network sites) in order to determine how young, computer savvy Muslim Indonesians explore their gender and religious identities while working in the ‘creative economy’ through cyberspace. This article shows the plurality and flexibility of the Hijaber trend—compared to more conventional forms—and explores its significance for urban Indonesian youth."

'American Sharia'

Trailer for forthcoming comedy, crowd sourced - full details here americanshariamovie.com

'After the Protests'

Zeynep Tufekci, NY Times, After the Protests, 19 Mar 2014 "Media in the hands of citizens can rattle regimes. It makes it much harder for rulers to maintain legitimacy by controlling the public sphere. But activists, who have made such effective use of technology to rally supporters, still need to figure out how to convert that energy into greater impact. The point isn’t just to challenge power; it’s to change it."

Twitter in Turkey

NPR, 'We'll Eradicate Twitter,' Turkey's Prime Minister Vows
"Reeling from the anonymous release of audio that seems to implicate him in a corruption scandal, Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country would ban Twitter, no matter what the international community says."
BBC News, Twitter website 'blocked' in Turkey, 21 Mar 2014  "Some users trying to open the twitter.com website are apparently being redirected to a statement by Turkey's telecommunications regulator."

Syrian jihad, from Antwerp

Øyvind Strømmen, hate-speech.org, Syrian jihad, from Antwerp, 20 Mar 2014 "At least 100 people have left the Netherlands to fight in Syria. In neighbouring Belgium, the number is even higher. Family members and researchers point to the Belgian group Shariah4Belgium as part of the explanation." Strong social media emphasis in this report from Øyvind Strømmen. Recommended.

BBC Radio 4 - Russia: The Wild East - Episode guide

BBC Radio 4 - Russia: The Wild East - Episode guide:



Timely repeat of Martin Sixsmith's series. The first part discusses the religious foundations of Russia, including why Russia became Christian (rather than Muslim).

Al-Qa’ida, the second act

Al-Qa’ida, the second act: Why the global 'war on terror' went wrong - Comment - Voices - The Independent:



commentary from Patrick Cockburn

Liking Facebook in Tehran: Social Networking in Iran

Liking Facebook in Tehran: Social Networking in Iran | Iran Media Program: "Liking Facebook in Tehran: Social Networking in Iran

This report, based on an online survey of Iranian Facebook users, contributes to a small but growing body of scholarship on social and new media use in Iran. Our findings offer new insights into the Iranian Facebook ecosystem, including patterns of Facebook usage among Iranians, why and how Iranians are using Facebook, what types of content they are sharing, as well as perceptions of privacy and security associated with using Facebook. In addition, the survey addresses the key question of whether Facebook is being used as a tool for political engagement and civic activism among Iranian internet users, as initial assessments suggested."



This is a useful resource from the Iran Media Program.