Comments on: Fouad AlFarhan & Breaking The Silence

By: Global Voices بالعربية » حرروا فؤاد: المدونون العرب يتكلمون!

Global Voices بالعربية » حرروا فؤاد: المدونون العرب يتكلمون! — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 10:07:59 +0000

[...] هذا الاعلان على مواقعهم. المدون الأردني نسيم الطراونة يكتب كيف أن محنة المدون هي بالنهاية لكسر [...]

By: Aakar

Aakar — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 10:35:22 +0000

Post is very touchhy….It shouldnot be happened but……..anyway we hope he will be free soon……..And by the way, I’ve published ur post in my blog too.I hope you’ll be kind for it.But I’m unable to give ur name,bcoz i’ve not find it.If you so,drop ur name by my site.

By: tinkerbella

tinkerbella — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 21:09:08 +0000

Thank you for this beautiful, touching post.. poor Fouad, and his poor family.

Allah eysaberhom and bring them justice

By: Sami Ben Gharbia

Sami Ben Gharbia — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 12:48:27 +0000

I totally agree with you that “Tyranny does not listen to silence, it does not take orders from silence; it simply grows and festers in silence” very well said!

By: 3ammania

3ammania — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 10:20:17 +0000

This might not be related to this thread, but it is related to the idea of freedom of opinion.

I think that most of us (arabs) did not understand the meaning of the ‘freedom of opinion’, maybe because of the taboo culture we live. A couple of years ago some danish reporter published some photos of the prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) and I saw thousands going down to streets to protest. Those who protested in the street or on forums (like myself) were admiting in the same time that they can NOT stand or live the freedom of opinion, because the freedom of opinion is the only freedom that does not (or maybe should not) stop on the limits of hurting another. My opinion may always hurt another,,, should I keep it inside?

I think this incident showed me then that the arab world is not ready yet for the freedom of opinion, because it leads to breaking taboos, as much as a religion can be a taboo, or a leader can be a taboo. Creating standards (or rules) in such an issue, is exactly killing the freedom of opinion. So the question here is , are we ready to hear all? anything that may touch our religious symbols? because this is the freedom of opinion, a one-package; take it or leave it.

I wrote this to say that we should consider this before we continue fighting for it.

personally I have no problem with the freedom of opinion. I can take all.
sorry if this comment is not very related to this thread.

By: Um Omar

Um Omar — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 07:02:45 +0000

I read on another blog that Fouad’s blog is still up and running and that the Saudi government would usually block an offender. There was some talk that he had been jailed for other reasons? Anyone know the truth. I don’t know where to look to find out.

By: Hamzeh N.

Hamzeh N. — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 23:02:02 +0000

Criticism is easy, shutting up for a day, well that’s a different story.

LOL, so true in this case! Certain bloggers only wrote about this to criticise the campaign. I couldn’t find a single post on their blog about Fouad before.

I’m sure you’ve heard the expression: khaalef to3raf! :p

By: secratea

secratea — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 22:58:35 +0000

In this case in particular, i see that choosing silence as a means of protest is valid since, as you mentioned Nas, after all Fouad AlFarhan has been silenced for 28 days till now, and only God knows when/if he will ever resume blogging, hence silence for one day (the stress is on one day) won’t hurt, rather it is a chance for bloggers to unite, support, and promote one cause.
The day is over.. now what? I believe that after this day of silence bloggers should raise their voices as high as they could for effective results.. us, Jordanian bloggers in particular, experienced change first had, remember who-sane’s family ordeal and how positive it was when most bloggers voiced their opinion? .. by the end of the day, the message has to be sent out, and that is of protest against the unjust treatment of Fouad..

By: Qwaider قويدر

Qwaider قويدر — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 22:39:50 +0000

Tyranny does not listen to silence, it does not take orders from silence; it simply grows and festers in silence. Martin Luther King Jr
I think this part is enough, silence isn’t the the message we want to send, it’s the other way around.
But you have your thoughts, others have theirs, lets all agree on the bigger issue of supporting one of our own, a person who was prosecuted for his ideas and thoughts. Let each of us pick the weapon of choice, pick silence if you like, I will pick loud protest, and lets hope that at the end our combined efforts will get to the deaf ears