If you’ve ever heard the saying “breakdown before the breakthrough”, then you have some idea of what the women’s movement in the Middle East looks like. Rarely, on good faith and kind gestures, do women in the region get anything handed to them in terms of equality and rights . It’s almost always a fight. Every advance for women can be linked back to a significant event which triggered outrage or brought global attention to the issue. In 2013, many women activists and woman-specific issues dominated trending media and news ...

Three years ago, a fruit seller in Tunisia set himself on fire to protest against the corruption prevalent among the Tunisian police and the government. His act of defiance sparked off a series of protests that shook monarchs and authoritative governments across the Middle East, a region home to over 380 million people. When the protests first erupted, they inspired a sense of hope in the Middle East. People believed that their collective action could inspire change in a region dominated by calcified and oppressive power structures. The sense of ...

Ahhhh, the Middle East. 2013's been a big year in Arabia - the region's politics (not to mention dirty laundry) have been splashed across global newsheadlines and with lurking fears of an all-out international war played out on Syrian soil, the revival of peace talks between Palestine and Israel and Mohammad Assaf winning Arab Idol, there’s been enough to talk about. The Middle East is certainly never devoid of news - something is always rumbling and threatening to kick off. And although when you read BBC or CNN it may ...

Since the tragedy of 9/11, the Middle East makes the headlines of Western newspapers at a far greater frequency than ever before. And yet, people in the West fail to understand the workings of the Arab mind. They frequently misinterpret what they see and hear. They perceive the Arab world to be mysterious and incomprehensible, and so different from the West so as to rule out any hopes of future reconciliation between the two people a la Samuel Huntington's "Clash of Civilisations" . The misunderstandings caused by the cultural differences ...

For the last three days, historical snowfall Alexa has battered the Middle East blanketing the region in frosty layers of white. Areas in higher altitudes, such as Jordan’s capital Amman, have been covered with almost a meter of snow, and in Cairo, Egyptians received their first dose of the cold, white stuff since 1901! To put things in perspective, the last time there was snow in Cairo 112 years ago, Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Saudi Arabia-as we know them today-were not yet even established as countries! Other parts of the ...

When Mike Myers asked, Who throws a shoe? Honestly! … he had obviously forgotten the whole Arab quarter of the globe where any respectable angry Arab has thrown a few pairs by the time he’s grown a pair (and some stubble - and that’s sooner than in the non-Arab world). A vulgar habit, probably but common practice on the Arab street and behind closed doors, definitely. Austin Powers International Man Of Mystery Part 1 brought the cool to shoe-throwing courtesy of Random Task long before the man who tried to ...

Throughout his life, Mandela was a dedicated champion of the cause of Palestinian freedom. He famously remarked, “We know too well that our freedom will be incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.” Indeed Israel (a supporter of the apartheid regime in South Africa ) was one of the few countries that didn’t invite Mandela to visit when he was released from prison in 1990. Mandela wasn’t the lone figure from South Africa who drew parallels between the way the whites treated the blacks in South Africa and how the ...

Following the passing of Nelson Mandela last week , there has been an outpouring of grief from around the world. U.S. President Barack Obama said Mandela “achieved more than can be expected of any man”; French President Francois Hollande said “Mandela’s message will continue to inspire fighters for freedom”; while former Irish President Mary Robinson said that Mr. Mandela “represented the best of our values.” From the messages posted on social media to the statements made by world leaders, it seems Mandela’s life resonated with people the world over ...

To marry or to divorce? This was the big question for many of the Middle East's roving bachelor and smug married celeb-set this year, and these 'snap decisions' were taken quicker than you can say “I do.” The cupids won out though, there were more wedding bells than violin strings logged on Al Bawaba's love file of 2013. Superstar marriages are often taken with a pinch of salt by the general public or given 'less than a year' ; they’re seen as precarious at best or a simple publicity stunt ...

In a significant development for Egypt’s interim government, a 50-member “secular” panel has approved a new draft constitution for Egypt. It’s been deliberated for months, and now that it has been finalized, it will be placed before Egyptian voters for a referendum and ratification in the coming months. The creation of the new constitution (many of the articles of the country’s previous constitution were seen as being discriminatory) is a major milestone in bringing back democratic rule to the Middle East’s most populous nation. The previous constitution , which was ...

Are you heading to the Arab world and planning on renting some wheels? Your friends at Al Bawaba have decided not to let you go out there naked. Through years of near misses and full-on fender benders, our crack staff has compiled a dozen of the most important rules for driving on the Arab roads. Print these out, tape them to your passport and study them every waking moment if you know what's good for you. Searing these twelve rules into the subconscious of your brain can only cure the ...