As a follow up to his important interview about Jordanian media and politics His Majesty King Abdullah II left an interesting comment on the Black Iris blog (Naseem) regarding freedom of expression/press and its limits. I encourage you to read both the comments and the interview. King Abdullah advocates for blogging and commenting in a spirit of freedom. Among other things the King says “…..People must not be afraid to express their opinions without using aliases…..”, which can be perceived as an answer also to “whatever’s” dilemma about being anonymous. HM posted a similar but not identical statement on Ad-Dustours webpage and he drew a lot of positive reactions as a response.
Apart from the content of HM’s comment I think this also marks an important day for the Jordanian blogosphere – more and more people are paying attention to what is going on in this media including at the highest level. And it is definitely a thumbs up to The Black Iris recognizing it as one of the most important and most read blogs in Jordan.
July 7, 2008 at 12:37
That is so true, the king said over and over again that the sky is the limit. Still a lot of people fear speaking up. Hope that changes with time
July 7, 2008 at 17:00
Observer,
I don’t know how you define freedom..But your definition is surely distorted.Once you endorse a law that defines what you can and can’t say then this is not freedom, it is something else. And rest assured that no one is immune: Look up ahmad obeidat who at some was the GID director and the primeminister. he was forced to resign from his position as the head of the national human rights center simply because he stated his view..Why do you expect the average joe to speak up? What you are seeing is only a facade, but the truth hurts and what hurts more is seeing people pretend that we are a democracy!
July 7, 2008 at 18:01
Mohannad, when you work for a company, you stick to the company policies, otherwise they have the right to dismiss you. Same applies to the government, if you are going to wrok in a governmental position, you have to follow its guidlines, nevetheless, we don’t know how Ahmad Obeidat was forced to quit his job, maybe it was a personal choice of him.
He didn’t get prosecuted did he?
July 7, 2008 at 18:47
[...] the Danish Ambassador to Amman, Thomas Lund-Sørensen, had something to say about the news on his personal blog: Apart from the content of HM's comment I think this also mark an important day for the [...]
July 7, 2008 at 19:03
Are you serious? Lets leave it here. Lately I have been amazed by how effective the propaganda machine is in jordan.
July 8, 2008 at 10:45
With all respect to the King’s remarks and his intiative to dialogue with the people, and her majesty’s intiative to improve the image of Arabs and Muslims on You Tube, I still fear my level of freedom in Jordan, and I know that the GID against are always checking my profile and background. If the King has a positive vision for freedom not necessary the government and its agencies do implement it or even agree with that.
Let’s not fool ourselves.
August 1, 2008 at 11:56
What we (Jordanians) aspire to be and who we are right now are very different things. We continue to neglect truly answering the question: Who do we need to be for the journey?
Once each one of us answers that, it becomes easier to see how one can contribute, blaze a trail, follow a belief, defend/fight for what matters.
We should also try very hard to shed the conspiracy theory obsession that shrouds our better judgment – most of the time
The work ahead is massive. It’s messy. Challenging. Requires sincere responsibility. But doable. And can be so rewarding. It does need everyone’s participation – the performers must outweigh the spectators to dent the system, impact change, create a whole new amazing world for ourselves.
August 16, 2008 at 17:52
Maybe the King and this forum should watch this video and learn the truth.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8136133221213939183
September 10, 2009 at 23:09
Hi! I was surfing and found your blog post… nice! I love your blog.
Cheers! Sandra. R.