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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A link across borders
THE NATIONAL (10/1/2020) The dusty chairs at the Amman train station are empty. There are no departures today. Vintage carriages line up on the tracks waiting for passengers, but the last train to Syria departed a decade ago. “When I travelled to Syria by train, I was just a child – I was this tall,” […]
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Reviving the Hejaz railway with a park
AL-MONITOR (4/12/2019) The century-old Hijaz Railway crosses Amman from north to south. Children play close by, jumping over the track that once connected Jordan’s capital to Syria, Palestine and Saudi Arabia. It’s been almost a decade since the last train to Syria departed from Amman’s train station. With the railway largely abandoned, families stroll along the line built […]
Read →Reading for social change in Jordan
THE NATIONAL (17/11/2019) Sitting at her desk in one of her three offices in Amman, Rana Dajani says she wears many hats – or rather, many scarves. “I am a mother, a teacher, a scientist, a social entrepreneur and a feminist. But instead of hats I wear scarves,” says Dajani, who sees hers as a metaphor for her many […]
Read →Crimes sem honra
EXPRESSO (10/8/2019) Kifaya tinha 16 anos quando a família decidiu que devia morrer. O irmão mais velho amarrou-a à cadeira da cozinha, deu-lhe um copo de água e pediu-lhe para rezar a sua última oração antes de a esfaquear. A jornalista Rana Husseini foi enviada para cobrir o assassinato num dia quente de Verão em […]
Read →‘Our cause is the same’: Teachers unite in demand for respect and a living wage
MIDDLE EAST EYE (28/9/2019) The school bell rings at a quarter past seven in the morning at the al-Rashid primary school in Amman. The day starts as usual with the national anthem and the raising of the Jordanian flag, but things have been a bit different lately. Teachers line up in the schoolyard, but there are […]
Read →Teachers on strike in Jordan demand higher income and ‘dignity’
AL JAZEERA (26/9/2019) Teacher by day, deliveryman by night. In a public secondary school in central Amman, a maths teacher moonlights as a delivery driver outside his schoolroom hours to supplement his income. An Arabic teacher works in a grocery shop. Others drive taxis or give private tuition on the side. Most teachers in the […]
Read →Darfur refugees dream of return
QANTARA DW (2/9/2019) Military and pro-democracy leaders signed a power-sharing agreement in August paving the way for a promised democratic transition after 30 years of authoritarian rule in Sudan. But refugees who fled genocidal violence in Darfur are expressing their reservations about the deal. When Ahmed Yusuf Ahmed heard that Omar al-Bashir had been overthrown […]
Read →Little hope for change among Sudanese refugees who fled violence in Darfur
AL ARABY (15/8/2019) Ahmed was 16 years old when he fled his village in the Karnoi area in west Darfur. “In the beginning there were planes bombing the area. In November 2003, the Janjaweed came. There were rapes, beatings. They killed my father and stole our cattle,” he says, referring to the Arab militias recruited […]
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