Garbage Warrior is a rather fascinating documentary centering around the life of Mike Reynolds - a 60-something year old architect who, with his long and gray hippie-like hair, has spent the better part of his career out in the New Mexico desert trying to create a different way to live. Nearly obsessed with the science […]

“If Bush and Blair can spin the truth about WMDs to justify bombing innocent people, then why can’t I spin Dalia’s story to save women from being murdered on a daily basis?” - Norma Khouri on fabricating her novel “Forbidden Love” about honor crimes in Jordan.
This quote comes by way of a review of the […]

While I still appreciate that the concept of Earth Hour has finally come to Amman, I am overwhelmingly disappointed with the outcome. Last night, several locations were supposed to turn their lights off in honor of Earth Hour, between 8:30 and 9:30pm, along with the rest of the world. What happened was nothing short of […]

A year ago, I used my powers of sarcasm to criticize Amman for not joining the rest of a lengthy list of world cities that turned off their lights for an hour to mark “Earth Hour” - an initiative to push the issue of global warming in to psyche of people and government everywhere. I […]

Likely one of the most pertinent issues of our time and our specific region, Reporters Without Borders and Amnesty International are launching the second annual World Day Against Cyber Censorship. Last year, if some of you recall, RWB put together an interesting, 24-hour virtual demonstration.
This year, RWB have updated their annual list of “Internet Enemies” […]

How do you define a protest? In the past three weeks I think the word itself has found new manifestations in Jordan. Each one catered to an audience and each one catered to a need. Some chose to go out in to the streets and shout, some chose to light a candle at a vigil, […]

Nuff said…

These people are just amazing. I’ve seen some familiar faces that have showed up almost every day and it’s good to see new faces as well.
If you still want to help out, more and more people will be coming over the weekend so keep yourself informed with 7iber when it […]

Volunteers

Still

Needed

Every Day
From 4pm to 10pm
Just Click Here

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All the updates are on 7iber but just in case my readers missed it, I’d like to re-articulate it here on the Black Iris. Suffice to say, the Aramex Campaign is going fairly well and we’re still helping them through 7iber and the Action Committee to mobilize volunteers. So far, the Aramex people have done […]

A lot of people have been wondering how they can still help do something on-the-ground in Jordan when it comes to the situation in Gaza.
Here’s three things you can do:
First: 7iber needs volunteers who are willing to help sort and package goods just like last time, at the Aramex warehouse.
Second: 7iber is raising funds […]

By now, most people in Amman have already heard about the protests near the Israeli Embassy in the Rabia area. Protesters erected tents a few days ago and have been there on and off ever since. Today, a march was organized way up the street, starting from the Days Inn hotel, will plans of passing […]

Right now, medical supplies are in high demand in Gaza, even more so than food. I know a lot of people in Jordan have been asking how they can donate medical supplies. Fortunately, blogger Umm Farouq has managed to pull together a great initiative with “Pharmacy One”. So, if you’re in Jordan, you can now […]

It took me a while to figure out how to write this post. The campaign has been an interesting learning experience and even a glimpse in to a few truths I was glad to have restored. One absolute truth stands out: there is a population of this country, perhaps not enormous but definitely large enough, […]

Dear Readers,
Apologies for the ‘radio-silence’ these past few days but there are several reasons for that. The first being that Orange, the worst telecommunication company I have ever had the misfortune of dealing with, has left me stranded without Internet access or technical support. The second being that I have not been around a computer […]

The people at 7iber and the Action Committee are organizing an emergency clothes and food drive for the people in Gaza.
It’ll be a 48-hour campaign starting tomorrow morning, with the goods being delivered to Gaza by coming weekend.
This is all going to be driven through the virtual community, with contributions of Jordanian bloggers […]

24 hours. 12,800 Bloggers. 14,053 Blog Posts. 13,498,280 Readers. 17 Top 100 Blogs. Thousands raised in micro-loans. Picked up by the Washington Post, The Guardian, Arab News and Reuters just to name a few.
Very cool.
Hats off to all the Jordanian bloggers that participated.
POVERTY…

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