Like a leaky boat, information on the new cabinet changes to Samir Rifai’s government have spilling out, specifically on electronic news sites, which seem to be beating mainstream media to the punch once again. According to Ammon, the changes include seven ministerial replacements as follows:

Minister of Education & Deputy Prime Minister: Dr. Khaled Karaki

Minister of Justice: Hisham Al Tal

Minister of Tourism: Suzan Afaneh

Minister of State: Suheir Ali

Minister of Media: Ali Al Ayed

Minister of Agriculture: Mazen Al Khasawneh

Minister of Labor: Sameer Murad

Minister of Parliamentary Affairs: Tawfeeq Kreeshan

Minister of State for Prime Ministry & Judicial Affairs: Dr. Ibrahim Amoush

Meanwhile, it was also reported that Dr. Omar Razzaz of Social Security was replaced by Dr. Maen Nsour earlier this morning. I have no immediate thoughts on the changes as of yet, as I’m waiting to see the names being confirmed. However, at a first glance one could place this in a certain context. A rising Jordanian nationalist sentiment, to say nothing of increased tribalism chatter unfolding on the streets, and an upcoming parliamentary elections that is likely to swing swiftly in that direction, to say nothing of the Jordanian good will tour the government has been on this summer initiated promptly after HM King Abdullah’s speech to the army. Moreover, the trouble that has loomed over some of these ministries, including Jordanian teachers (of the nationalist kind) facing off with the Ministry of Education, and the corruption charges at the Ministry of Agriculture. These are just some of the elements at play, and might help shed some light on the names suggested above - especially when one considers what influence these factors might have on the elections.

I have always been amazed at Emad Hajjaj’s ability to merge two issues-of-the-day together that are typically unreleated, and still gaurentee some comedic gold. Such can be said of his latest caricature depicting a frazzled Abu Mahjoob with gun in hand and Abu Mohammad pushing him on.

Rough translation:

Abu Mahjoob: “I jumped in and found him embracing her! He saw me and was surprised…and then he took her and ran! Man, my blood is boiling! What should I do?”

Abu Mohammad: “Go get him and shoot him without a moment’s hesitation! Stealing a gas cylinder in this economic climate is considered an honor crime! And take care of that cylinder. Haram…she’s innocent!!”

Lingering on the same thread of thought for a minute, it would be interesting - in a freakonomics sort of way - to see whether the economy does have an impact on honor crimes. One might deduce that tougher economic times tend to induce the elements that make up an honor crime, specifically things like unemployment and idleness, social frustration, concerns regarding moral degradation, a retreat to conservative norms that emphasize notions of honor, etc, etc.

Another note: while having increased dramatically in price over the past few years, gas cylinders are still subsidized by the government, to the tune of roughly JD70 million a year.

Muder Zahran recently published an article in the Jerusalem Post regarding the Jordanian treatment of its citizens who are of Palestinian origin - referring to the state as adopting a “well-established apartheid system” that is “no different than that formerly adopted in South Africa, except for the official acknowledgement of it.”

While this isn’t the first time Jordan is called an apartheid state, Zahran depicts Jordan as a country that essentially treats Jordanians of Palestinian origin as official second class citizens, with little to no rights. While I do acknowledge that the Kingdom is far from perfect, specifically with regards to equal rights, calling the country an apartheid state is a bit of a stretch. I mean South Africa under apartheid? Really? Zahran goes so far as to say that “Jordan is a country with a Palestinian majority which allows them little or no involvement in any political or executive bodies or parliament.”

All in all, it is a depiction of a country where the East Banker is “dominant” and “superior” compared to the “helpless Palestinian majority.”

While the article is essentially an attack on the right conservative flank in the Kingdom, Zahran seems a bit all over the map, and is fraught with generalizations. Probably the worst part about the article is that he refers to Jordan as New Jersey.

New Jersey? Really?

What is interesting is that Ammon apparently translated the English article and posted it up, resulting in Zahran writing a letter to the editor of the site claiming that he will never publish anything about Jordanian affairs again. Even more interesting is that he also included a letter his father wrote to him, chastising him and even disassociating himself and his family from his son’s article.

The only reason I’m writing anything about this is simply because Zahran’s words are rather exemplary of the kind of discourse that is essentially damaging to anyone or any movement that is attempting to have a genuine dialog about these very issues. By and far, Zahran paints an incredibly gloomy picture that is meant for effect, but in reality, it is counterproductive to those of us trying to grapple with this issue on a national level.

Yes, a true discourse is needed about Jordanian/Palestinian issues in the Kingdom - that’s for sure. However, this is what I consider to be a benchmark for the kind of discourse that seeks to be sensationalist as opposed to genuine; sacrificing candidness for hyperbole, and subsequently, the author’s credibility.

And that gets us absolutely no where.

If I’m not mistaken, it seems this incident took place on the First Circle in Jabal Amman, where Peta Asia decided to dress a local female activist in a gown made of lettuce leaves. Yeah, not the most interesting concept. The lettuce girl, Amina, held up a sign that read “let vegetarianism grown on you”. She was successful in generating enough onlookers to, well, look, so much so that it caused massive traffic on an already congested street. The police escorted the lettuce girl to the Zahran police station.

via jordandays.tv

In the above video, I found it interesting that upon being interviewed, the director of Peta Asia tells the interviewer that he didn’t know why it got stopped by the police, and that the scene was meant to be fun. It’s interesting because the head of a global NGO operating in Jordan doesn’t seem to be aware that there are laws against public gatherings in the Kingdom, unless previously approved and licensed. I’m not sure the extent to which they had permission to do it, but something tells me that a) they didn’t, and b) it was likely stopped because it resulted in a traffic mess in 35 degree weather.

The director also noted that this idea was thought up by the Jordanian members of the organization. It should be noted that this is an idea that Peta has implemented in the past, but usually with women who are, well, shall we say, not wearing the hijab (or much at all for that matter).

You can see photos of the whole thing here.

Hajjaj has a brilliant caricature on the topic, dubbed “Pedestrian Laws for Rainbow Street”, a comic rundown of what we choose to allow and what we ban:

Criminal Prosecutor Ali Abu Zeid on Saturday charged a 43-year-old farmer with premeditated murder in connection with the shooting death of his female relative over the weekend, official sources said. The suspect, who was not identified by officials, reportedly shot his 16-year-old niece with a machinegun at her home in Deir Alla on Friday, a senior official source said.

…The pathologists also established that she was hit by over 30 bullets that penetrated her head, chest and back, according to the source. The suspect was also charged with possessing an illegal weapon and Abu Zeid issued orders for him to be detained for 14 days at a correctional and rehabilitation centre pending further investigation into the case. [source]

This is an utterly disgusting and brutal honor crime. One would think that these stories would cease to amaze or surprise us with time, but an uncle spraying his niece with 30 bullets to cleanse family honor? And this was after the family “crisis” had been “resolved”? Moreover, Jordan really needs to start getting serious about gun control. There are far too many people who own weapons, especially illegally. This is a country where the most common sound is that of rapid gun fire at night, commemorating some sort of celebration, and despite the act being illegal, it is a small indication of the level of gun ownership in the Kingdom. Bullet control anyone?

On the bright(er) side - if such a contrast exists - a 20 year old man received a 10 year sentence for killing his sister by slitter her throat with a knife. The only positive thing about this sentence was that it may indicate the beginning of more stricter sentencing in the judicial system when it comes to honor crimes.

The court rejected the defendant’s claims that he should benefit from a reduction in penalty because he killed his sister to defend his family’s honour. “Article 340 stipulates that the defendant should catch the victim committing adultery and this condition does not apply in this case,” the court ruled. [source]

That’s somewhat of a rare outcome for a crime that would have usually seen the man getting no more than 24 months only a few years ago. Naturally, ten years is not nearly enough for the crime, but it’s a noticeable sign of improvement from the judicial system.

There is perhaps little doubt that Robert Fisk is probably one of the most knowledgeable and analytical minds when it comes to Middle Eastern affairs and his commentary is as insightful as it is enlightening. Suffice to say, when Fisk has something to say about the Middle East, which is frequent, it is wise to pay attention. With that in mind, I was surprised to see his latest piece regarding Jordan, titled “Why Jordan Is Occupied By Palestinians”, and its subsequent depiction of a country that is on the cusp of something rather dangerous. Fisk sits at a table at Al Quds restaurant with some powerful men who have, what I would call, powerful ideas, which, if ever put in to play, would likely reshape the Kingdom’s political status quo. Leaders of the so-called New Jordanian National Movement include army veteran heavyweights, General Ali Habashneh, Colonel Beni Sahar and Major General Mohamed Jamal. In the piece, they describe what they believe to be an emergence and legitimization of Palestinians with a political agenda taking the reigns of power and, in the process, laying the groundwork for a Palestinian state (be it intentional or not).

“We think the people around the king are not bringing up these issues,” one of the men at the table says. “After the Rifai government was established, the head of the senate became Palestinian, the head of the judicial system became Palestinian. There were changes in the army command. The Palestinian head of the Aqaba special economic zone did not have citizenship 10 years ago. Our letter said that personnel in government should have received their jobs through parliament.”

The piece goes on to quote Habashneh:

General Habashneh is as explicit as any of the men. “There is corruption, a widening of the gap between rich and poor,” he says. “Economic investment policies are destroying the country. This is what our national movement is all about. We are trying to get all our forces together to hold a national conference by the beginning of the new year, to decide on a strategic movement which will protect this country and remove the influence of the Israelis and Americans.”

While a political red herring in itself, the upcoming parliamentary elections may see this widening schism being played out at full capacity. As Fisk points out in the piece, this movement is beyond the mere realms of the army, but includes teachers, unionists, and so forth. It is thus increasingly difficult to avoid looking at any social movement as being politically motivated in this context, the recent teachers strikes being one example.

Although it might be easy to brush this off as an “ethnic” or “origin” issue, the concerns of these ex-servicemen, who represent a fair share of the population, are not without merit. Neoliberal economic policies are at the heart of what they fear - policies they view as having manifested in the sale of public land (which, from a military-minded background is something considered valuable) and economic corruption. Their anti-Israeli and anti-American sentiments have also been high on the agenda, which as Fisk points out, was something prominently featured in the King’s speech last month.

It may go without saying that these army men are destined to represent a growing problem for the state. They are not Islamists or fringe groups that the state can manipulate, buy off, marginalize, co-opt and essentially control - they are hardcore nationalists who have a history of putting country in front of anything else, even personal interest.

Nevertheless, this does not mean that the state will not continue to find new ways to preform all of the aforementioned task in an attempt to neutralize them. How successful this will be is up in the air but my take is that there will likely be some movement towards political regression in the Kingdom to put the balance back in more Trans-Jordanian hands. I would not be surprised to see, once again, bus loads of army men being shuffled around to certain voting districts, and a subsequent reshuffling of the cabinet a few days after the elections, hosting more east bankers.

Appeasement will be the name of the game. How much political purchasing power it still holds is yet to be seen.

I read this piece of news a few days ago and have been waiting to see how accurate it was as most of the major mainstream media avoided reporting it for some reason. Alas, a Jordanian computer science student has been sentenced to two years in prison by the State Security court for supposedly insulting HM King Abdullah during a chat with a friend on MSN Messenger. There are so many things that render that last sentence dangerous that it’s not even funny.

First, the fact that it’s the 21st century and Jordanians are still being tried for lese majeste - a law so archaic that it begs to reason why any nation would dare continue to use it and still promote itself as progressive - is beyond me. If anything, this is one of those laws that world history has proven to be pretty damn useless and ineffective. It doesn’t stop people from insulting the country’s ruler, in fact it encourages critics to do so (as is the case in Morocco these days), and more over, it solidifies the idea that one lives in an authoritarian state.

Second, the State Security court prosecuting a university student for something he said on a chat room? Not only does this erode the credibility and undermine the perceived legitimacy of this judicial body, but the same court that tries people for treason should not be sentencing citizens for the criticisms insults they inflict.

Third, I’ll just put aside the fact that MSN Messenger is apparently being monitored by the mukhabarat aside and thank the good Lord that I’m not a chat kind of person.

Lastly, there is perhaps some irony that it is a computer science student at the center of this mess. Ten years ago, King Abdullah came to power as the “IT King” - promoting the IT sector and encouraging young students to go in to the field like there was no tomorrow. Even promises were made that these students would find jobs in a thriving industry upon their graduation. Ten years later and of course none of those promises have been realized vis a vis the state, however, students are still entering the field, graduating, and working in a sector that is likely to become part of the backbone of the economy in the near future - no thanks to the government. So there is perhaps some irony that after all is said and done, it was a computer science student that the state has chosen to prosecute. I perhaps would not have minded as much had he been a philosophy major.

There is also a little bit of irony in the fact that these past few months have seen a rise in the number of state officials being present online, especially on Twitter and Facebook - as detailed in a recent article on 7iber. Yet, as liberal as their choice to be online is, they remain strongly entrenched within a system that will prosecute its citizens for what they say online.

The timing of the case is also quite interesting as we started this year off with a controversial ruling on a court case that saw one citizen being prosecuted for something he said online. Moreover, HM Queen Rania also very recently launched another online initiative to encourage tourists to come to Jordan.

I hope that this post is not taken as a suggestion or even as an act of encouraging Jordanians to, God forbid, insult the King. Heck, I don’t think anyone should be insulting anyone to begin with. But then again, I don’t think anyone should be sentenced to two years in prison by the State Security court for doing so.

Perhaps the most dangerous outcome of this case is that it will likely solidify notions held by certain proponents within the state who have been pushing for placing limits on free speech online.

Update: This post was spreading a bit on twitter today and someone tweeted something that I thought perfectly articulated my frame of mind in 140 characters, so I thought I’d share it…

@Aboosh: no1 condones insulting the King, but the extent of online monitoring is violating the basic privacy rights of citizens

Just wanted to point people’s attention to a few interesting things flying under the radar these days.