Arabian Citizen Kanes: Rosebud and Techno Salafi Cities..……....
Thatcher: Don't you think you are?
Charles Foster Kane: I think I did pretty well under the circumstances.
Thatcher: What would you like to have been?
Charles Foster Kane: Everything you hate….....
Walter Parks Thatcher: I think it would be fun to run a newspaper……." Citizen Kane
“The future of one of the largest Islamic websites in the world was in doubt today after hundreds of staff walked out, accusing new managers of trying to hijack the site in order to promote a hardline, conservative agenda. IslamOnline, which draws over 120,000 visitors a day and is one of the most popular internet destinations in the Middle East, was plunged into crisis following an attempt by the website's senior management in Qatar to wrest control of the site's content away from its editorial offices in Cairo. Insiders claim that the move, which would involve many of the site's 350 Egypt-based staff losing their jobs, is part of a broader effort by conservative elements in the Gulf to reshape the identity of a media outlet long viewed as a bastion of liberal and reformist voices within the Islamic world……. Analysts believe that the dispute at IslamOnline is part of a wider conflict between Salafist Muslims in the Gulf, who follow a more literal and traditional interpretation of the Qur'an, and the more reformist brand of Islam popular in countries like Egypt………”
Cairo and Beirut have lost out much of their roles as cultural centers to the conservative regions of the Persian Gulf states who tend to espouse a harsh fundamentalist version of Islam. It is also a more hypocritical version of Islam, since by necessity the harshest codes are the most broken rules, and not just by the powerful and influential.
Don’t get me wrong, Cairo and Beirut probably still produce the best in terms of Arabic poetry, literature, and music (I will not mention belly dancing, not today). But the ‘deciders’, the money sources, the financiers and owners of media outlets are in Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf states. Literature, art, and most of the journalism on my native Gulf is lousy, to say the least (I will not use a stronger term here, especially for the journalism). They are too restricted by conformity, censorship, and fear of offending to be anything but mediocre.
This is an unfortunate development, since the most reactionary (politically and socially) elements of the Arab world now control much of its media. Cairo itself is changing, becoming a weird version of other Techno-Wahhabi cities of the peninsula. Press freedom is becoming more restricted in the Arab world, as princes and potentates control major networks and outlets either directly or behind partners. The internet is becoming the only relatively free medium, and even that is coming under increasing control of the petro-oligarchies.
Cheers
mhg
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