Democracy in the arab world

Political Thoughts:

The only two countries in the Arab world with democratic presidential elections are Palestine and Lebanon. Both have political problems, attacked by Israel, and the world is against them. Isn't that Ironic? Maybe we are not ready for democracy, or maybe the west don't want a real democracy!

Starbucks VS Tsch Tsch

Last night after a nice dinner with my friend we decided to go at 10:30 Pm to check the new Tsch Tsch cafe in Swifieh, I don't usually go these kind of places but I thought of checking it out, my mood was into smoking an Arghellieh. We drove 20 min and we were excited to try the new place, but, it never happen.

As soon as we got in, the waiter asked us: Where are you going?
I answered with surprise: we are here and we need a table.
The waiter replied: It's not allowed.
I said: why, are you closing?
The waiter answered: no, it's only for Families.
I argued: what do you mean by families.
The waiter answered: you need to bring girls.
I answered: who do you think we are?

And we left, pissed off and I am still pissed off and that's why I am writing about it here.

I can argue and argue about it and say a million reasons for this sexiest, discriminated, unprofessional, (what other words can I use...I am so pissed) ok..unfriendly behavior but it didn't seem that the waiter was hungry enough to let us in.

Me and my friend Rami are in our 30's, a good looking handsome guys, he lived outside this country like I did, traveled the world and explored different cultures, decided to come back to our home country to celebrate it with our families and participate in it's development. We wanted to celebrate a local coffee, like our grandfathers did, then we end up being kicked out from it, and it happened also in other places too, just because we didn't have a company from the other sex.

We wanted to enjoy our bachelor life, but we left pissed off from the Hospitality of this Jordanian branded coffee house that we decided to abandon forever.

So we end up going to the other coffee house besides Tsche Tsche, which was Starbucks.

Oops, Starbucks! Yes, a nice clean smoke free place were they welcome you with smiles, and never ask you to leave, they sell the best coffee and offer the best environment, locally and internationally. You can bring your laptop there or sit on a table for hours without any interruptions, and they don't look at your pocket while you are enjoying their service.

I am not promoting for Starbucks, they don't need it from me anyway, but this is a comparison between us and the others. Between an equality culture VS sexiest cultures, quality vs no quality, healthy Vs unhealthy, between too services and too countries.


Finally, I will keep enjoying my cup of coffee at starbucks because our countries can't produce something like Starbucks.

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Dealing with Police officers in Jordan

Photo by Emad Salameh

I thought I am an attrcative person, but, today it was proved, but I shouldn't be happy about it. It came from a police officer who stopped me, just me, nobody else. The only person who was walking in the street going from Work to Home. I enjoy walking but each time I walk from work to home I suffer from many problems due to the undeveloped pedestrian or the noise that comes from the cars, etc.. Today it was different.
I first saw the Police car standing at the side of a corner, who was actually causing a traffic problem, but thats another thing, however, I saw the car flashing then as I approached the car he stopped me and asked for my ID.
I was surprised and I asked why?
The officer answered: we would like to know you?
I answered: Stopping me in the middle of my walk infront of all these cars just to know me?
The officer: where are you from?
I replied: Jordan, where else, I am on my way to home, enjoying my walk and the city.
He answered: Don't you have a car?
I answered: yes, I do, but I love walking, whats the problem did you guys start catching who walks?
I started complaiming and then another officer approached me and I told him: Whats wrong, is there anything?
The other officer replied, the same sentence: no we just wanna know you?
Then he gave me my ID back and said you can go now.

Thats strange, I lived in the US for 4 years and during my stay in NYC I never been asked to present my ID or stopped by any police officer. Even it's NYC, the city of 9/11 and my look and accent is Arabic, but, when I come here to my own country, they stop me and ask for my ID?

A week ago I was followed by a police car and they stopped me and asked for my ID and they took my camera. They said someone saw me taking some photos and they followed me. The officer said:" why are you taking pictuers? are you planning for some explosions in Amman?"

I said what are you talking about.

He took my ID and wanted to arrest me, but I told him to look at my camera and see if I took anything suspicious. The other officer, who was with a higher rank, started to ask me some questions and I showed him the pictuers.

After some talk, they let me go....

Again, in NYC, the city of 9/11 I took thousands of pictuers of buildings, people, interiors, and I never been asked to present my ID, never.
In a previous post I mentioned how I love seeing a police officer. They give order, and make you feel secure, they represent the government on the ground, thats only if they are effective and not just standing there.

I know I am pissed. Do I have the right to have this feeling? or Shall I stop walking? or taking pictuers? Or just Shut up!

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Watch out the Ceiling

This is a public announcement to all our lovely children to watch out the ceiling it might falls down on your head. So, stop watching your teacher and look at the ceiling it might falls down on your head too.

I was just making some calculations for how much a Child in the west will be compensate it from an accident like this one? Maybe a couple of 100 thousands of dollars plus media attention, sponsorships, etc.

So this way, who ever is responsible of this accident will make sure it never happen again.

Poor kid, hope he/she get better soon.

Read below:

Student sustains minor head injury from falling plaster

ZARQA (Petra) - A sixth grade public school student sustained a minor head injury when part of the ceiling plaster in the corridor fell on her. Director of the Zarqa Education Department Fawzi Jarrar said the girl was sent to Zarqa Public Hospital where she received the necessary medical assistance. Upon the directives of Education Minister Tayseer Nueimi, a technical committee was formed to look into the reasons behind the incident, Jarrar said, adding that the ministry will carry out the necessary maintenance work in the school. The director of the Zarqa Public Hospital said there was no evidence of any fractures, adding that the girl is in good condition and will remain under observation for 24 hours.

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Send your suggestions to GAM

Let's make a difference. let's be part of shaping the future of Amman, be proactive and share your recommendations and opinions comments on the Amman master plan and other projects GAM intend to implement.

Go to http://www.ammancityblog.com and send your comments and suggestions to Mr. Maani, The Mayor of Amman City.

GAM invites public to e-mail opinions, suggestions

AMMAN (Petra) - The Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) on Saturday called on the public to take part in roundtable discussions on the future of Amman through e-mails to GAM’s website. Citizens are invited to send their recommendations and opinions on the Amman Master Plan and other projects GAM intends to implement. Last month, GAM held weekly roundtable discussions, in which Amman Mayor Omar Maani and experts from both the private and the public sectors participated. Maani said such meetings aim to open the door for discussions and dialogue between various members of society to exchange ideas and views, adding that GAM believes in dialogue as a cornerstone for developing communities and economies.

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Elections Today ... Now and Then

Jordanian artist Wissam Shadid works on a 60 square metre piece of graffiti in Amman as part of a campaign led by the Jordan Media Strengthening Programme, an IREX media initiative, and other civil society organisations, aimed at stimulating more public participation in the November 20 parliamentary polls.
Hopefully we see more of these beautiful Graffiti after the elections. I hope that the same effort and enthusiasm will continue in promoting for awareness, volunteering, education, development, etc.
Many of our limited resources were spent on these campaigns. Will anyone be interested to spend as much money as they did in the last month to support a cause?
I heard that a single campaign cost about a $1 million. Not sure how much money were spent in total, add to that the lost opportunities of time and effort spent in campaigning. Will the same people be as much excited and aggressive in working for Amman city and Jordan? I wish it will be worth the effort to get the right people the right positions, so we say we do have an effective democracy.
In these coming years, Jordan is facing great opportunities if not challenges to stand as one of the best developing places in the region. This can be done if we have an effective leaders who have the competency to change and develop.
lets hope they will. But, I don't know yet who deserve my vote and whom I will be voting for!!!
Maybe I need another round in the streets of Amman to understand these banners, and ofcourse they were posted in the streets of the city targetting drivers since our lovely public spaces are streets made for people driving their cars.
So I wounder, after 4 years .... to be continued!This is something to talk about in my next post, like what most people say: After The Elections!

Did Jordan transperancy decline over the past year

Transparency International (TI) has ranked Jordan 53rd on its 2007 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), a setback from 40th last year.
However, TI sees the decline as “statistically insignificant”.
In its annual CPI, which covered the perceptions of public sector corruption in 180 countries and territories, Jordan scored 4.7, whereas in 2006 of the global watchdog scored the country at 5.3.
According to the 2007 CPI, Jordan ranked 5th in the Middle East along with Oman. Both countries were preceded by Bahrain, the UAE, Qatar and Israel respectively. Also in the region, Kuwait ranked 60, Saudi Arabia 79, Lebanon 99, Yemen 131, Libya 131, Iran 131, Syria 138 and Iraq 178.
The CPI is a composite index that draws on 14 expert opinion surveys. It scores countries on a scale from zero to 10, with zero indicating high levels of perceived corruption and 10 indicating low levels. It scores countries in terms of the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians.
Survey questions focused on corruption in the public sector and defined corruption as the abuse of public office for private gain. Surveys also included questions that related to the misuse of public power for private benefit, such as bribery of public officials, kickbacks in public procurement, embezzlement of public funds or questions that probe the strength of anti-corruption policies, to make sure they encompass both administrative and political corruption.
According to this year's CPI, Somalia and Myanmar share the lowest score of 1.4 while Denmark has edged up to share the top score of 9.4 with perennial highflyers Finland and New Zealand.

Thats surprising to see Denmark at the top of the list, was it related to the Prophet Mohammad's insults in the media?

Over the past year the Kingdom has created an anti-corruption commission and endorsed several laws on the issue such as the Financial Disclosure Law, the Access to Information Law and a law criminalizing the practice of wasta (favouritism).

Jordan transparency forum described the Survey as "biased", disputed the results and stepped back from the TI.
What do you think about the survey?

Volunteer in Amman

Volunteer

"A volunteer is someone who serves in a community or for the benefit of natural environment primarily because they choose to do so. Many serve through a non-profit organization – sometimes referred to as formal volunteering, but a significant number also serve less formally, either individually or as part of a group. Because these informal volunteers are much harder to identify, they may not be included in research and statistics on volunteering.
By definition, a volunteer worker does not get paid or receive compensation for services rendered."

Volunteering is cultural. It’s sort of democracy, when someone participate in his community, serving the country, and working side by side with the governments, they share the responsibility as a citizen.

Volunteering can build better societies, make people love each other. Sharing common causes and interests, and filling the free time with useful activities. Volunteering make you an active part of the city, shaping it and participating in it’s development.

Unfortunately, I don’t see it active in our culture. Why? Can we start thinking about considering it as part of our culture?

How to volunteer?

We can start this campaign by creating a weekly list of volunteering opportunities in Jordan. Send us an e-mail and we will distribute it to the members and post it on regular basics. We can use this website www.volunteermatch.org

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