SAJAforum

JOB: Roving foreign correspondent for WashPost

In late 2009, SAJAforum posted jobs for Pakistani bureau chief of Reuters and Islamabad correspondent for the Washington Post. Here's a brand-new posting for what looks like an amazing opportunity for a journalist with the right experience, temperament, hunger, and frequent-flier miles.

DON'T FORGET: SAJAforum tips for American journalists going to South Asia for the first time.

Job Posting: Foreign Correspondent
   With the war in Aghanistan likely to intensify in the next year, we're planning to create a new, roving job on the foreign staff to help strengthen our coverage. Its  responsibilities will stretch from Iraq to Pakistan, and the duties will keep a correspondent on the road for at least seven months a year, dividing time between our bureaus in Baghdad, Kabul and Islamabad. The correspondent could be based in Washington or abroad.

    We're seeking an experienced war correspondent who has already spent time covering either the war in Iraq or the war in Afghanistan, if not both. Any candidate should be mindful of the dangers inherent in covering conflict zones, and should be prepared for long stretches away from home. We're seeking a minimum commitment of one year for the job, beginning no later than April 2010.

     A strong candidate would be an agile, self-starting reporter and a generous colleague eager to parachute into a new story every month or so. A strong internal candidate has already emerged, but we're eager to hear from others interested in this job or in other opportunities on the foreign staff. Applicants should contact Douglas Jehl jehld[at]washpostl by Jan. 18.

January 4, 2010

Please use code "SAJA" so they know you heard about it here.

CONV: Q&A with Dr. Reza Aslan

Dr. Reza Aslan, an internationally acclaimed writer and scholar of religions, was the keynote speaker at the SAJA 15th Anniversary Scholarship and Awards Dinner on Saturday.
The  author of "How to Win a Cosmic War: God, Globalization, and the End of the War on Terror," shared his views on the events unfolding in Iran, media, and President Obama in a conversation with SAJA blogger Sweta Vohra.

What is the role of South Asian and Middle Eastern voices in Western media?

In the 21st century we are going to be a multi-polar world, and what’s going to shape the Western World is going to come out of Middle East and South Asia, even Southeast Asia. We can’t have outsiders speak. The key is to have people within the diaspora bridge that divide, those who have their foot in both cultures and who can speak to their indigenous culture, customs, etc. And they can do it with the confidence that American media requires.

Can you speak briefly about the recent events in Iran and what this means for the future of the country?

Iran is at a precipice. Iran is going to look different and its either going to be more militaristic and isolationist or it could nationalistic and democratic. Whatever it is, its going to be a very long process. This is a war of attrition and it’s going to happen in the back holes of power. We should try to shy away from the media narrative that the uprising is over because its really just beginning. What we do know is we’re on a path to greater openness that can be slowed but not stopped; this is a population largely under 30 that is politically sophisticated and highly educated. This is a generation in change.

Is there a bias here in America towards the Middle East, or the muslim world in general?

I do think there is definitely a bias towards the Middle East – a narrow focus. The Middle East does not represent the muslim world. In fact, the muslim world exists outside of that and that term should not even be used. Communities of muslims around the world is the term to be used.

You have spoken about how the younger generation in America encompasses a much more globalized point of view of the world. 

I call this generation the "under 45s.” The formative experience of America up until now was WWII which for many generations defined American values and in many ways, America’s place in the world. But “under 45s”, thanks to Obama, have more of a role in defining these same values. They grew up in an Internet and globalized world where the world is a single space. Yes, they are nationalistic but have a whole different idea of patriotism.

So what is the responsibility of young journalists in the American media?

Well, they know what their responsibility is – it’s to inform people about global events. But the challenge is to do it in interesting ways and to convince people that what happens there matters here. There is still a majority of people who use “ink to paper” to get their news but for “under 45s,” the news is synonymous with opinion. The challenge to young people is to combine the reliability and responsibility of mainstream media with the immediacy and accessibility of new media technology.

You’ve already spoken a lot about the change under Obama – is this a more positive change?

Yes. It is different because he’s member of the generation that I’m talking about. And, he is the most powerful man in the world. He shares values that we have. He’s globalized, and he looks at world through the lens of decades not weeks. Obama said he is a “citizen of world” while someone like Newt Gingrich says “I’m not a citizen of the world.” You know what, Newt? That’s why you are irrelevant. That is why your thinking is irrelevant. Having Obama is having someone who gets it.

Photo by Preston Merchant

BLOGS: Kamran Pasha blogs from Mecca

A few months Sree posted an item about screenwriter Kamran Pasha's upcoming novel on Aisha, the young wife of the prophet Muhammad. It's called "Mother of the Believers" and will be out in April, from Atria books. Kamran's TV credits include Sleeper Cell and Bionic Woman, and his video game credits include 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand.

Right now, however, Kamran is on Hajj, with his mother, and he's blogging about his journey.

Here are some of his recent entries.

From November 19, before leaving the US for Saudi Arabia:

My mother was always afraid to go on Pilgrimage. She was terrified of crowds, and the idea of spending days in the desert of Saudi Arabia surrounded by three million worshippers gave her panic attacks. Every year she would say: “Next year, insha-Allah.” If God wills. I always smiled indulgently at her words, knowing that God’s will was a convenient excuse for her own stubborn inaction. A pint-sized Pakistani firebrand who has lived in America for thirty years, my mother is a modern Muslim feminist.

Upon arriving in Medina, they check in to the Hilton and walk with their pilgrimage group to the Prophet's Mosque, the largest house of worship in the Islamic world:

I don’t think I can put in words the emotions that ran through me when I stood at Prophet Muhammad’s grave.  A unique mixture of joy and sorrow.  Joy at finally being able to address the man who I believe to be God’s messenger.  And deep sorrow that I can only do so through barriers of stone and earth rather than face-to-face as had those who were lucky enough to have lived at his side.

LAWSUIT: Iraq Contractor Sued For Trafficking Nepali Workers

Many of you remember the brutal killing of 12 Nepali workers in Iraq four years ago.

The Washington Post reports that now a Washington-based law firm, Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, is suing Iraqi contract group KBR (Kellogg, Brown and Root) alleging that it was involved in human trafficking of Nepali workers.

Agnieszka Fryszman, a partner at Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, said 13 Nepali men, between the ages of 18 and 27, were recruited in Nepal to work as kitchen staff in hotels and restaurants in Amman, Jordan. But once the men arrived in Jordan, their passports were seized and they were told they were being sent to a military facility in Iraq, Fryszman said.

As the men were driven in cars to Iraq, they were stopped by insurgents. Twelve were kidnapped and later executed, Fryszman said. The thirteenth man survived and worked in a warehouse in Iraq for 15 months before returning to Nepal.

The lawsuit, filed in a federal court in California on behalf of the workers' families and the survivor, claims that the trafficking scheme was engineered by KBR and its Jordanian subcontractor, Daoud & Partners, according to Fryszman.

Thousands of Nepalis leave the country every year to work in Kuwait, the UAE, Qatar and other surrounding countries. And many end up in the military facilities in Iraq. The Chicago Tribune did an excellent investigative piece on this topic two years ago (for which it also received the SAJA award).

Please post your thoughts below.

DIASPORA: Rough times for some South Asians in Kuwait

Countries like the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait are filled with workers from all over South Asia. While working in "the Gulf" - as the area is commonly known in the Subcontinent - means much more money than they could possibly earn in a lifetime at home, many of these workers struggle with  dire circumstances and poor wages. Let's just say that worrying about the welfare of foreign workers often takes a backseat to the interests of the big local and multinational companies. [See SAJAforum posts about coverage by "60 Minutes" | The New York Times.]

But, occasionally, workers take a stand, as when a Kuwaiti company stopped paying salaries to its Bangladeshi workers. From the Christian Science Monitor:

What began as an internal dispute involving one company over the non-payment of salaries, flared into a general strike by thousands of Asian cleaning workers calling for a complete overhaul of the industry, in which some of the poorest people in world pay as much as $3,500 to middlemen in Bangladesh to secure jobs in Kuwait. Upon arrival, however, the promised salary often shrinks by more than half, as a host of expenses for visa processing and health insurance are deducted from their salaries.

"In Bangladesh, they say they'll pay 50 Kuwaiti Dinars ($188), but the company only gives KD 20 a month ($75)," says Nazrul (not his real name), standing outside the dilapidated seven-story apartment complex in the south of Kuwait City where he and several thousand other Bangladeshi workers live.      

More than 250 Bangladeshi workers have been deported from Kuwait following the violent demonstrations and strike by the South Asian workers demanding for better pay and work conditions, the CSM reports.

According to the BBC, people were manhandled as the Kuwaiti authorities deported them.

DOCUMENTARIES: Love for "A Jihad for Love"

"Gay" isn't always synonymous with happiness in many cultures across the globe. Most Muslim communities, known for rigid beliefs and practices, condemn homosexuality. But, in this modern day world, there is "A Jihad for Love."

In Outfest, the annual gay and lesbian film festival in Los Angeles, Parvez Sharma's documentary, "A Jihad for Love" received positive feedback from the Muslim community itself.

From the Los Angeles Times:

At last week's Outfest screening, several Muslims in the audience -- gay and straight -- said they were pleased to discover that Sharma portrayed Islam in a respectful manner.

"As a Muslim woman, I found your film incredibly beautiful and spiritually inspiring," Nagwa Ibrahim, 30, a civil rights attorney, told Sharma during a question-and-answer session.

"I was very moved by the humanity of your film," she added.

At a reception following the movie, Aryana Farshad, a documentary film producer and director originally from Iran, said she was surprised by the movie's even-handed tone.

"He had the courage to talk about homosexuality and Islam, and he did not trash the face of Islam," Farshad said. "I really felt for those kids -- they had to leave their countries because they were homosexuals."

The Los Angeles Times reported that Sharma's documentary was the centerpiece of last week's Outfest.

BREAKING NEWS: Indian Embassy attacked in Kabul, 41 Dead

According to the BBC News, at least 40 people have been killed and 141 injured after a suicide bomber rammed a car full of explosives into the gates of Indian embassy in Kabul. However, the New York Times reports that according to witnesses, the bomber rammed the car into two senior diplomats' cars as they entered the gate.

This has been called the deadliest attack in Kabul since the Taliban overthrow in 2001.

From BBC's website:

Five embassy personnel were killed - India's defence attache, a senior diplomat and two security guards - as well as an Afghan man.

Five Afghans died at Indonesia's embassy nearby.<snip>

The bomb exploded as people were queuing for visas at the embassy.

"We were standing in a line to get visas, the police told us to stand on one side, the women were in another line, then suddenly I heard a huge bang and I sat down. I was very afraid," Khan Zaman said.

Ali Hassan Fahimi said shrapnel had landed in his office, which is close to the site of the blast.

"It was so strong... and our staff were shocked," he said.

AFP reports that taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahed denied any involvement in the explosion.

UPDATE: Read Shashi Tharoor's Times of India column from two days BEFORE the explosion, "How America Made a Mess in Afghanistan" - its last paragraph is prophetic:

Some in India may feel that as long as Pakistan is tied up on its western border, we can breathe a little easier, since it keeps the Islamic radicals too busy to stir up trouble in the east. Such complacency is premature. As long as al-Qaida and the Taliban are at large and free to plan their next spectacular assault, there is no guarantee they will confine their targets to NATO or New York. After all, New Delhi is a lot closer to Waziristan.

Any thoughts? Please post them below.

AFGHANISTAN: The Trouble with Translators

Without translators, foreign troops in Afghanistan would only be able to communicate with locals by pointing to simple pictures on brightly colored cartoon cards. Translators are indispensable, and yet they rarely appear in media coverage of the conflict.

A remarkable 8-minute video report by John D McHugh on The Guardian’s website, "Afghanistan: Lost in Translation," highlights the extent of the problem by following some American soldiers whose work is hampered and whose lives are in danger because their Afghan interpreter literally lies to them. [Readers should be warned that the soldiers’ language is a bit salty.] As McHugh notes, “The translators have become unexpected powerbrokers…, and sometimes they just don’t translate everything they hear.” [photo by John D McHugh]

Of course, the media have often pointed out the fact that there aren’t enough trained interpreters who know the languages spoken in Afghanistan, but this 8 minute long report breaks new ground by showing what the stakes are for a soldier in a battlezone to be able to communicate with local people. This is my summary of the video:

An American position in Khost Province is hit by rockets launched from somewhere near a village. Soldiers from Charlie Company of the 173^rd Airborne Division go to the village to find out if the inhabitants know anything about the attack. They arrive to find the place deserted—“This is just like every other town, everybody disappeared,” says the American commander.

A lone, frightened-looking man carrying a shovel appears on the road. The translator asks where the elders are. The conversation is a bit confused but the man seems to be saying that they are in their houses. Here it becomes clear that the translator himself does not speak particularly good English. The commander snaps at the translator. “They’re in their house? Are they sick? What did he just say?” The translator tells the man to fetch the elders but he walks off seemingly in the wrong direction. Time passes.

PRESS FREEDOM: Pakistan & Dubai censor GEO TV again

GEO TV, an independent news channel in Pakistan, has been censored again. From Reporters Without Borders:

Reporters Without Borders calls on the governments of Pakistan and United Arab Emirates to explain how GEO News, a Pakistani privately-owned TV station that broadcasts by satellite from Dubai, was forced to drop two very popular talk shows under threat of losing its licence to operate in Dubai.

GEO TV president Imran Aslam told Reporters Without Borders that the Dubai authorities informed him last night that the station would lose its licence if "Capital Talk," a show hosted by Hamid Mir, and "Meray Mutabek" (According to me), hosted by Shalid Masood, were not taken off the air.

Officials at Dubai Media City, where the GEO TV group is based, said these programmes threatened UAE's relations with a friendly country.

Full RWB press release below. See similar rebuke from the International Federation of Journalists. Post your comments, updates, links, etc, below, please.

RELIGION: Caste oppression... in Yemen?

Usually on SAJAforum, I complain that articles in the Western media present a decontextualized, oversimplified picture of India, but today I was surprised to find an article that uses an example from India — correctly in my view — to explain a practice in another part of the world.

In Wednesday's New York Times, there is an article entitled "Languishing at the Bottom of Yemen's Ladder" by Robert F. Worth, which discusses the plight of Al Akhdam, an oppressed social class in Yemen. Although Yemeni society has in general lost its traditional stratification in the years after the country’s 1962 revolution, Al Akhdam — whose name means “the servants” — remain at the bottom of society, with virtually no chance of social mobility. The Akhdam have African features and so look different from most Yemenis.

In the second graf, the article refers to the Akhdam as “a kind of hereditary caste.” The article uses caste to help the reader understand professions based on heredity, which is a bit difficult for Western readers to grasp otherwise. That comparison is nothing new, but then the article explicitly contrasts the plight of Dalits in India with that of Al Akhdam: