How domestic workers protect and support each other in Jordan
EQUAL TIMES (16/6/2020) When she left the Philippines to work in Jordan, Rosa took two mobile phones with her. She knew that one of them would be confiscated by the recruitment agency that brings women like her to the Middle East to work as housekeepers, nannies and caretakers. The other one she kept hidden in […]
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Detained in Jordan for disobeying men, girls use art to tell their stories
OPENDEMOCRACY (21/5/2020) Madeleine is seventeen and dreams of being a chef. But her ambitions have been curtailed. She is behind bars in a juvenile detention centre in Jordan, waiting to be released into the care of a male family member. “This is the story of a girl in prison: me,” wrote Shahed, another teenage girl […]
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‘Like a ship about to sink’: Refugees in Jordan voice pandemic despair
THE NEW HUMANITARIAN (14/5/2020) When Jordan announced one of the world’s strictest pandemic-related lockdowns on 20 March, the kingdom gave just a few hours notice that 10 million people would be restricted to their homes, banned even from making trips to buy food. Fears grew quickly for the country’s close to one million refugees. How […]
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How a country in lockdown celebrates freedom
CSMONITOR (24/4/2020) For the past four decades, Col. Vasco Lourenço has spent every April 25 on the streets of Lisbon celebrating Freedom Day. This year will be different. There will be no parades, no concerts, no crowds walking down Freedom Avenue carrying red carnations. In 1974, Colonel Lourenço was one of the young Portuguese officers […]
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Gentrification and grassroots resistance in Amman’s historic district
AL ARABY (3/4/2020) ‘STARBUCKS OPENING SOON’, announces a large billboard placed next to an unfinished building just off the main square of Jabal al-Weibdeh, in central Amman. With no cars on the streets since the Jordanian government implemented a curfew to stop the spread of the coronavirus, the neighbourhood feels unusually quiet. Forced to stay indoors, residents of Weibdeh can’t wait for life […]
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‘He just wanted dignity’: the tragedy that captured the mood of a nation
THE GUARDIAN (27/2/2020) Anas al-Jamra carried more burdens than he could bear. As the eldest of 16 children, the fruit and vegetable vendor was the main provider for his parents, brothers and sisters, in addition to his own four young children. But continuously harassed by police and city officials, who confiscated his stock, the 28-year-old […]
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The anger on Jordan’s streets
AL ARABY (12/2/2020) Carrying two bundles of flags, Mohammed(*) moves swiftly between hundreds of protesters as chants grow louder in downtown Amman. He holds Jordanian flags on his right hand, and Palestinian flags on his left hand. It’s been a busy, tumultuous start of the year for the Jordanian-Palestinian flag-seller. Since January, hundreds have braved […]
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Jordanians voice concerns over imports of Israeli gas
AL JAZEERA (30/1/2020) With her clenched fists raised high, Ibtisam stands at the vanguard of hundreds of protesters who have gathered in Amman to rail against a gas deal. “The people of Jordan do not compromise! What a shame, what a shame! An agreement full of shame,” the protesters chant in unison. It’s Ibtisam’s second […]
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For these Syrian artists, humor is essential to coping with oppression and war
WASHINGTON POST (14/1/2019) When they hear shelling outside their apartment in Damascus, close to the front line, Rand and Hala start to laugh. They were just talking about artillery. “Rand called a bomb and it came immediately,” jokes Hala. “Call God,” she tells her friend. “But God won’t come,” she continues, as they keep laughing. […]
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“Ideas cannot be killed with weapons” – remembering Raed Fares
QANTARA DW (22/11/2019) “Black Friday Special Offer“ read a banner held by activists in Kafranbel, a small town in northern Syria. “Bring your enemy and come to fight in Syria for free“. When the Syrian uprising against the authoritarian regime of Bashar al-Assad began in 2011, Kafranbel protesters displayed eye-catching messages on a weekly basis. “ASSad is the source of […]
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